The "I Told You So" Shelf

This project has been awhile in the making. I actually picked up this laminate board from the wet grass one morning while pacing the neighborhood trying to get my son (already a week late) to decide he'd actually like to come into this world. He's now over a year old. 

Yeah. It took me that long.

(Beautiful, isn't it? LOL.)

Long story short, the rest of that walk my husband did his dead-level best to convince me to put that piece of wood down. It was wet. It was dirty. It was junk. It wasn't even "real" wood. I would never do anything with it. Etc. etc. his reasons went on and on. The remainder of that walk was exhausting and I'm not even talking about hauling around that week overdue baby boy on swollen ankles. Lol. I kept telling my husband about all the potential projects I saw and he wasn't buying it.

I've heard about this shelf more than once since that walk. I can't say that I blame my husband much. Afterall, it did take me more than a year to get around to this little project. Sometimes I'm just a slow mover. :)

However, a couple of weeks ago my husband and I were organizing a bit in our little guy's room trying to make some space for the little sister who will be arriving before we know it. We needed a spot for all the Baby Einstein CDs and that's when it came to me! A little white paint left over from this project, a quick trip to Lowes for the metal shelf holder "thingies" and, VOILA! The perfect little shelf for our son's room. :)

The best part of the whole thing....

My husband loves it and has commented on how perfect it is more than once. He's even gone so far as to tell me to keep my eye out for more scraps like that when I'm out and about. Now THAT makes for one sweet shelf! :)

Front Door and Porch - Before and After :)

Well we finally did! I've been NOT lovin' my porch for quite some time. It was just so very.....

P-L-A-I-N

See what I mean? 

We finally got our slow as molasses HOA people to approve our new paint color for the door and shutters. Yea!! 

Then yesterday, we stopped by an awesome plant sale in Coronado (I DO love Coronado). Check out my smiling husband bringing it to the car...

And this is how we fit it into my little Honda mobil. :)

My little man thought it was hilarious.

He could see all the leaves in the mirror in front of him and seemed to think it was pretty funny.

We added this to the very empty corner of our porch...

and when it was all said and done, here's the finished product.

Much warmer and more welcoming, don't ya think?

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Lamp Remodel

Well, we're 4 days past our due date and into overtime waiting for this baby. While I've been waiting, I've been working on projects here and there. One of my projects was this lamp. I really hate this lamp...always have. It's one my husband had before we were married. We Craigs Listed it, along with the matching floor lamp, several years ago. To my chagrin, the people who responded only wanted the floor lamp and not the pair. So......

Here's my attempt at making it a little more my style. 

One afternoon while blog hopping, I came across a cute little blog entitled On My Side of the Room. Kendra created an adorable little ribbon lamp which you can check out HERE. When I saw her post, I knew immediately what I wanted to do. I adapted her idea a bit to fit the supplies I already had. 

Below are the "BEFORE" pictures of my "ugly lamp." 

I went to the garage and dug out some fabric that I had used years ago for curtains in my little basement apartment in Richmond, VA. I LOVE it when I can recycle something that I've been holding on to for ages thinking, "I'll need this for something one day." :D Well, "one day" finally arrived for this fabric! 

My mom (who is visiting and waiting for baby's arrival too) and I went to work tearing it into different width strips. I was going for a very shabby chic look. Pictured below are two of the many, many strips we tore.

All I did was tie the strips directly around the lampshade, having the bows fall in different spots. Some strips I just knotted on the back so I wouldn't end up with too many bows and have major overkill. 

Below are the "AFTER" pictures.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I'm not sure if I'm finished or not. I still may want to do something with the base, but it's far more my style now than it was. :D YEA for recycled fabric/Richmond, VA curtains. :D

Here's a shot of the room it's in, just for kicks. 

Now we're back to just waiting for baby. :D

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I Highly Recommend....

Rocks In Your Guest Bathroom Sink! :D

I saw this in one of my girlfriend's guest bathrooms and thought it was awesome. Of course, she had this really cool bronze faucet that looks like an old-timey water spout. It was just perfect. However, these are still is dressing up my little sink a bit. I think it gives the room a bit more personality, don't you? I had never seen it before, but apparently others have. My friend and neighbor around the corner has some rocks in her guest bathroom sink as well! 

I'm playing catch-up apparently. :)

A Remodel for My Craftin' Corner

The other day my husband and I were working to clean out a little more of our overly-crowded and cluttered garage. As we were going through one box, I found this.

Immediately I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do with it and what I wanted to use it for. It took a little convincing to get my husband to let me have it. His mother He had decorated in quite a bit of the Americana style before we got married. I like it, but it's not really how I decorate. So....after much conversation and an agreement that the flag would be saved, he let me loose! :)

He was TOTALLY wonderful and even did the spray painting for me since I'm still pregnant and still not supposed to do it myself. What a trooper! :) Thanks, Honey. 

I don't have a picture of it, but I had gone to Lowe's earlier and gotten some thin sheet metal. However, they would not cut it for me there. :( I thought they did everything, but apparently, they don't do this. Sooooo......

I went and purchased my very own pair of these. 

I think they're called tin cutters. I don't really remember. My husband says it's usually the man who always hears his spouse complaining about the "buying of tools." In this family, it's turning the other way around. I told him that I only wished they could have been pink and black. Then I really would have loved them. :)

They worked "ok." They weren't the easiest things to use. However, they did the job and cut the sheet metal to the size I needed. 

Here is the finished product.

I LOVE IT!! It's exactly how I wanted it to turn out. It's the perfect place to hang pendants that I'm working on, store supplies and keep the bottle cap magnets, etc. :D

Another "Southern Living at Home" purchase from the past.....

now being used to shelve some of my craft supplies. 

A $25 shelf from Walmart and one of my favorite signs I already had were just perfect for the space and....

VOILA!

my very own little crafting corner! 

I'm just thrilled to pieces! :D I still have some work to do, but it's a start! What do you think?

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Home Project On Father's Day

We have had pictures that we've been meaning to hang since we moved in....about 9 months ago. Finally this morning we got around to it! These are Southern Living at Home prints that I bought when they went on liquidation. I got the frames at Michaels on clearance and just added cardboard to the back and taped it down with packing tape. Not fancy, I know. But really...who sees the back? We're on a budget and going for great decor without spending lots of $$$. :D The hooks are some of my all time favorites from Ballard Designs that I asked for for Christmas several years ago. Here is the before and after. :D

BEFORE

AFTER

So much better than a blank wall! :D

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A Desk Makeover I LOVE!

A couple of weeks ago, I was out garage-saling, looking for baby clothes for my little man. There was a garage sale right down the street from me that was a God-send - literally! I found a friend AND an adorable desk! :D The new friend has a cute 5 month-old little boy and I found a few outfits for my little guy. She also had a desk sitting there with $15 on it. I knew as soon as I saw it exactly what I wanted to do. However, I wasn't quite ready to pay $15+the cost of the makeover. I gave her my email address and phone number and asked her to call me if the desk didn't sell. That evening I got a message from her letting me know that she still had the desk and that, if I wanted it, I COULD JUST HAVE IT FOR FREE!!! :D Whoo Hoo!!! What an unexpected blessing. I love it when little "happies" just fall into your lap like that! 

Below is the story of my little desk makeover....

Here is the "Before" picture of the desk

The baby's crib had just been delivered, so conveniently, we had alot of cardboard to lay out on our pavement for the painting project. We removed the drawers and got out our WHITE Rust-Oleum spray paint. It's my favorite because you can hold it at just about any angle and it doesn't clog up on you. I also used this same type of spray paint for my bathroom cabinet makeover.

Because I'm not supposed to be around paint fumes while I'm pregnant, my wonderful husband painted the desk for me while I watched behind the closed glass door. Our little fur-baby Lexi was trying her very best to be his little helper. :D 

What a good man! :D

Below is the desk after one light coat of paint. We still had another coat to go.

After the 2nd coat of paint, Dan and I headed down to my ALL-TIME FAVORITE STORE, Anthropologie, and found some adorable knobs. This evening we put them on and the desk looks exactly like what I had pictured in my head when I saw it sitting out at the garage sale!! I had a chair with a black and white toile cushion that I had purchased via Craig's List several years ago.....and here is the completed project! :D

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!! :D 

What is even better though is the fact that I've also made a new friend who is just as cute as she can be! She was just over this past weekend for a lady's brunch and I snapped a quick photo for the blog. :) 

Thank you, Charisa, for the desk donation! It's a perfect little spot for me to learn to sew and to work on my little craft projects! :D 

A Little Bathroom Makeover

A couple of years ago, while we were living in Portland, my cousin came for a visit. She is amazing! Very creative and enjoys alot of the same kinds of projects I do. One of our projects while she was visiting was to give my guest bath a little facelift. Sadly, I was in such a hurry, that I didn't take any before pictures. :( However, the cabinets were a light colored laminate particle board. I was so NOT in love with them. All we did was tape the area off and buy several cans of this handy-dandy product at Home Depot.

Afterwards, we had BLACK cabinets! My favorite. :D 

Granted, the bathroom was still a work in progress. My next goal was to paint the walls a lovely shade of anything but white, add a nice light fixture and paint my mirrior frame (a Craigslist find for $25) black. However, around this time we found out we'd be putting our place up for rent and moving to San Diego for my husband's job. DARN IT! I'd just gotten started!  So....my guest bathroom is still not finished. I look forward to getting back to all those projects at some point if we ever end up back in Portland. I LOVE the way my cabinets turned out though!! It was exactly like the picture I had in my head. Don't you just love it when that happens? 

Well, since it worked so well the first time......

When we finally bought a home in San Diego, I decided to do the same thing in our master bathroom. Can I just say that the "Before" picture was NOT taken while we lived there!!! We had hold-over tenants in the home for awhile and were not able to move in right away. So this picture was taken BEFORE we moved in. That is NOT all our stuff everywhere. LOL! :D I was just glad that the tenant was okay with me taking pictures, as I had alot of planning to do. :) 

Below is the "Before" of the Master Bathroom

Just a little over a month later, Dan I finally were able to move in to our new home. We had the nasty blue carpet taken out and replaced with gorgeous tile, the walls painted and, I'll admit it, I cheated this time and had the painters do my cabinet painting for me. I was busy, people. I was unpacking our whole lives while my husband was still up in Mammoth Lakes!!! I went to Home Depot and picked up my trusty ole Rust-Oleum Spray Paint and told the painters what I wanted. They were skeptical and said they didn't think it would work. I assured them that indeed it would. The head guy said he didn't want to be held responsible for a botched job and I told him I'd done it before and felt very confident it would work out fine. I'd take full responsibility. A day later, Voila! :D My beautiful bathroom cabinets!

This picture was taken right after our floors were put in. I threw a few canisters up to make it look "lived in." But have done my decorating since. Don't you just love them. My black cabinets totally make my heart smile. :D

About a month ago, our awesome painter Hector called to ask what kind of paint I'd bought. He wants to start using it too. LOL! :D