Thrifted Hutch Makeover


Instead of sharing one of my creations this week, I thought I'd share this thrifted hutch makeover from my sister. My sister is amazing and crafty but doesn't have a blog so it falls on me to share her awesomeness with you.


She found this hutch at one of the local thrift stores around here. Not too much to look at, so she and her hubby painted it a creamy white once they got it home.


And then added some pretty black and green floral fabric from Walmart and green glass knobs from World Market.


The backing was a little damaged and warped so she covered it with the fabric. All she used was a regular office stapler to do the job!


Look at that before and after!




So pretty! What do y'all think?

Summer Garden Update

Since it is now summer and smack dab in the middle of the growing season, I thought I'd give a little summer garden update. I'm quite impressed with myself as I haven't really killed anything yet. Unless you count the non-growing strawberry plants...not sure what happened there. Probably something that will be really embarrassing and make me feel royally stupid when I find out what I did.


And I was so looking forward to strawberries.


There are a several carrot tops poking up here. I'm not sure what to expect when I pull these babies up. I'm guessing I won't get much as a lot of the seeds didn't sprout.


A lot of the lettuce didn't sprout either. I have five things of lettuce.


I have two red pepper plants and two green pepper plants. It's been slow and there's been lots of blossoms, but they are finally starting to bring forth their fruit!


The tomatoes are my babies. This particular bush tomato plant has over 20 tomatoes on it so far! And it got so big and heavy that I had to rig it so it wasn't laying completely on it's side. The other tomato plant is rather puny but that was our fault for waiting so long to plant it after the first one.

Not too bad for a first-timer! I feel quite accomplished. Except for those strawberry plants. Anyone have a guess as to what went wrong there?


And I leave you with some random adorableness from helping hubby's family move last weekend. Little Man perched on top of the stuff in the moving truck. It was a long weekend and we are so very glad to be home now!

Inspired Fridays

Welcome to the weekend! I hope you all have had a good week. Mine has been full, happy, and tiring. Lots of new things are happening around here. Hopefully, I'll be able to share some of them with you soon! Lots of new projects on the horizon!

It's time to share the fun things I've found lately. I hope you enjoy them and find some inspiration for your own home!



Doesn't this look so fun? I found this neat idea for outdoor Twister over at Sassy Style. All you need is spray paint!



I'm loving these planked shelves by Forever Cottage. I so want to do this in our built-ins! Just cut some planks or ceder fencing to size and screw in on. Fill in the holes, add paint, and tada! So easy!


DIY Basket Pendant Lights - lizmarieblog.com

When I saw this over at Liz Marie Blog, I started thinking of light fixtures in our house I could do this to. She just used baskets from Target with her existing pendant light fixtures. Love the neat texture!



Check out the recipe for these healthy oatmeal cookies at Tickle My Fancy. I made a batch yesterday and today they are gone. It's easy to rationalize eating that many when they are so healthy...


10 Paint Secrets: what you never knew about paint. Good to know! Check this out!

Live Love DIY shares some great ideas for your painting projects! I absolutely love the paint chip key ring. I need that in my life.


funny-Star-Trek-Vulcan-pulse

And this just makes me laugh. 


Happy weekend!

Around The House

It has been pretty crazy house-wise around here the last couple weeks. I think I have about 4 or 5 projects I'm working on, and we've been having our upstairs bathroom worked on.  Let's just say that its been interesting.

Behold, the Around the House Tour!


I've made significant progress on our kitchen wallpaper. About half done, I think. I cannot wait until this is done! My goal is to get the wallpaper out and all the walls and cabinets painted by Christmas. I know, I know, I really need to hurry if I'm going to make that goal. Seriously, I do.

I've been taking my sweet time about it and I keep getting distracted. This week I am buckling down and working on it with a vengeance...right after my nap.


Doesn't it look so much better already with all that busyness off the walls?

And now we come to our upstairs bathroom. I've mentioned a few other times that this room has issues. Well, we never knew how bad those issues were until now. They are legion.


The walls were peeling, the ceiling was bubbling, and the mildew was growing. The fan was so cruddy up inside that it wasn't pulling any air, causing massive mildew and rust problems. When the paint was scraped off, it started taking chunks of drywall with it. Apparently, there wasn't primer underneath it. Humid bathrooms plus no primer underneath the paint is a very bad thing.


And so there were multiple layers of drywall mud to be applied and sanding to be done. But we weren't done yet. Even with the ceiling scraped and mudded, it started bubbling again within 24 hours! The short term fix was to screw 1/4 inch drywall slab over the ceiling.

I'm planning on getting the bathroom primed this week to get everything sealed up. Then I have to pick a white paint that goes with the white tile. The previous paint was too bright a white and it bugged me. Now I can fix it!

So those are the big project happenings around here at the moment that are keeping me from all my little projects. This weekend we'll be helping my In-Laws move into their new house and helping arrange furniture and such. I'll bring my trusty camera along to snap some pictures of the progress so I can share it with you later!

Ever have a really big project that got bigger once you started? Horror stories like our bathroom? Do share!

Blogging And Blessings

Lately I have been thinking about why I began blogging earlier this year. It's so easy for me to get caught up in trying to get all the projects done and have some DIY thingie to share every week. But that's just not realistic for my life right now. Probably because I am a lazy planner. There, I admit it.

I am a lazy planner and I have to be there for my guys. I'm not always sure how to juggle everything. I have had a pile of ironing in our bedroom for an embarrassingly long amount of time. I hate ironing.

Anyway, as I've been thinking about my goal for my blog, I've remembered that I never started it to be a DIY blog. Sure, it's been so great to have that motivation for getting things done. But that's not the purpose. The purpose is to talk about my home. To share my journey to make our home a haven.


Honestly, on most days, my living room looks like this. I swim through piles of never-ending laundry...

That should be an Olympic sport. Or maybe I could start Mom-lympics. It would look like this:

  • Speed-Ironing
  • Toy Relays
  • Laundry Swimming
  • The Lego Toss{because that's what every mom wants to do after stepping on one!}
  • Mental Gymnastics {"Am I doing everything right?!" "I'm a terrible mother!" That sort of thing.}
  • Toddler Diaper Change Wrestling

Yup, I could win the gold in Toddler Diaper Changing.

Sometimes I just need to remind myself where my focus needs to be. And today, with my living room covered in laundry and toys, I am happy. This room tells me I have many blessings. This blog reminds me to share those blessings with others. Even if I am swimming in laundry.


Who's with me on Mom-lympics?!

Summery Herbed Tomato Pie

I want to share this recipe for Summery Herbed Tomato Pie with you. It is that good. It sounded pretty nasty to me at first but now I love it!

For real, this is good stuff.


I originally found this recipe in a Gooseberry Patch recipe book, promptly said "ewww" and moved on. For some strange reason I actually decided to try it one day. Probably because I had 5 tomatoes very close to going bad on my counter. And a pie crust.

And it was so good. Hubby was just as surprised as I was and now it's one of his favorite meals. I don't make it regularly, partly because we PIG OUT on it!

Summery Herbed Tomato Pie {adapted from Gooseberry Patch Best Ever Casseroles}


Serves 8-10                              Cook Time: 35 minutes


Ingredients:

9-in pie crust {I use Pillsbury ready made refrigerated pie crust}
3-4 tomatoes, sliced
1/4-1/2 cup fresh chives, chopped {the original recipe calls for 1/2 cup but it always looks like too much when I put it in so I usually do a bit less. Also, I have used freeze-dried chopped chives for this and it still turns out well}
2T fresh basil, chopped
2 cups shredded or grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
Salt and pepper to taste


Press pie crust into a 9" pie plate. Bake at 425 degrees for 5 minutes. Reduce oven to 400 degrees. Arrange tomato slices in crust; sprinkle with chives, basil, salt, and pepper. Combine cheese and mayonnaise; spread over tomatoes. Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes.




I promise this is delicious! And super easy to put together quickly! It goes great with a side salad. And I'm not sure who came up with the 8-10 servings because we can almost polish it off in one sitting, gluttons that we are. I can't wait until I can make it with tomatoes from our own little garden, which I haven't killed yet, in case you were wondering.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!



Dear Creatives





30 Days Accessory Free: Week 1

Well, we're a week into our accessory-free house experiment. And, so far, it's going along swimmingly. Our house is nekkid and loving it!

I admit, there are a few things that I decided not to take down.


These giant chess pieces belong to Hubby. They are special to him, so I left them up.


When I cleared out our living room, I moved Little Man's toys out of this basket to another. It was on its way to the junk room but I happened to set it down on the stairs to take up later. I liked it there, and decided it was now the stair junk holder. Now there's a pretty place to put the stuff I'm too lazy to take upstairs at the moment.

Everything else is gone.

I haven't really missed our accessories yet. And there are several reasons why:

  • Not having to constantly get on to a rogue toddler for knocking over picture frames{unfortunately, we are still having that problem with the lamps.}
  • Hubby is absolutely happy as a clam without our clutter. He's much happier and relaxed with everything neat and organized. And less a pillow or two.
  • The house feels open.
  • Dusting is easier{well, it would be if I were actually dusting...}
  • I have realized just how much of that stuff I can live without.
  • There is room to set my coffee down{this is important, people!}

I still love pretty things, but I'm realizing that, sometimes, less really is more. And big really is better. I have a lot of little knick-knacks, but their littleness gives off a cluttered vibe. Bigger things make a big statement without that cluttered feel. I've spent a lot of time trying to find homes for all these little things without making it look cluttered. I haven't succeeded, and I've wasted a lot energy over it.

This week I'm hoping to tackle that room and clear out a lot of the stuff. The little things that have been draining me dry have to go. I have to let go of the good things to move on to the best things.

But that's just like life, isn't it?


May Recap

It's the beginning of June and I thought I'd take today to recap my favorite posts and and look back on what was going on around here in May. Lots of bathroom updates apparently...
















30 Days Accessory Free

30 days accessory free? Clearing out the clutter and letting my house breathe? Letting us breathe? Our house is overrun with clutter, and that is why I decided to take the challenge!

i'm in!

When the Nester brought up this challenge, I thought it was a great but just not for me. I didn't think I could do it. Especially as a new blogger. A new home blogger. What would I write about?

The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do it though. I've been trying for weeks to de-clutter our house and get rid of stuff but I've gotten overwhelmed. I knew it was getting to Hubby too. When I asked him what he thought about the challenge, he was all for it!

A lot of our little decor items are things I've had since high school. In trying to save money, I just tried to do what I could with them and I couldn't bring myself to throw any away. I either get sentimentally attached to things or think that I need to hang on to them for "someday." Weird how that someday never comes but I still keep waiting for it.


I've been talking about doing a Great Purge lately and here is my chance. All my stuff cornered in one room so it can't escape. It's brilliant, really. 

I started in with gusto, grabbing all the things and stashing them in our one unused room upstairs and pulling out garbage bags to sort everything into.

That room now looks like an episode of Hoarders.


In my defense, Not all the stuff in there is ours. Hence the random Pikachu.

Our In-laws have been storing some of their stuff here{which they will be coming to get in a few weeks}, and the baby stuff is waiting for their stuff to be moved so it can take its place in the attic. Just thought I'd let you in on that tidbit before I showed you the full picture. I really don't need an intervention. I promise. Maybe.


I am royally embarrassed over this room.


On a better note, the rest of our house looks great! Hubby came home from work Friday to a completely clear office and I think that made his day. Little Man has been running around the rooms like he's been freed. We all are feeling so amazing about the direction our house is headed!


What I put away is anything that sits on a surface to look pretty, candles, tabletop picture frames, decorative pillows and blankets, and stacks of books that aren't neatly set on a bookshelf.

What I left is wall art, two plain pillows on the couch for comfortable relaxing, lamps, books we are actually reading, and objects that were decorative but served an organizational function, like holding toys, mail, pens, or cotton balls. 

I think this is definitely a great challenge for me and it couldn't have come at a better time. Now that everything is stashed away, the house truly feels like it's free. And it is amazing the difference it has made in our attitude and outlook. And while I don't think I'll leave the house completely naked after this month, I know already that I don't ever want to go back to the way it was. I will be choosier and more purposeful in my decorating.

I will be writing though out the month about the challenge and how it's going for us, along with my regular posts and projects. 

I'm truly excited about this month without accessories! 

DIY Gold Dipped Vase

Yes, I really made a gold dipped vase. I've already mentioned that I'm not a gold person, but lately I find myself figuring out ways it can be used that don't look so bad. Okay, that look amazing. Like the little bit of gold on my new lamp.


I'm not sure where this vase came from. It showed up on my kitchen table sporting pretty pink roses around Mother's Day a few weeks ago. But now I have it and vases are a nice thing to have around. I decided it should stand out from all my other glass vases though.


And so, the vase and I took a trip out to my laboratory the shed and got started. I used Press and Seal wrap to cover all the glass I did not want to become gold and then used painters tape to hold it all down and make a nice clean line where I painted.


And now I am the owner of a gold dipped vase.

Update and Clarification

I have come to realize that my original post was not super clear about what paint I used. I apologize for this. This post went up on a day that I was dealing with a fussy, teething, toddler. Anyway, I used Krylon metallic gold spray paint to get the dipped look. 

I was out of spray primer but if I had to do this again, I would have sprayed primer on it first as the paint wanted to peel off with the tape. I just had to peel it off slowly and smooth the paint back down as I went.


Linked up at:
Fieldstone Hill Design~{ditto} DIY link party
Essentially Eclectic~Summer Bucket List Inspiration
Liz Marie Blog~Inspire Me Link Party
VMG206~DIY Showcase
Suburbs Mama~Sunday Link Party
Rain On A Tin Roof~Give Me The Goods Monday
Snippets of Inspiration~Pin It Monday
Hickory Trail~Efforts and Assets
Love Grows Wild~Time To Sparkle Link Party
VMG206 &Bebetsy~Brag About It Link Party
House of Hepworths~Hookin Up With House Of Hepworths
I Gotta Create!~Wildly Original Link Party