Easter Mantle 2013

We're back from a fantastic visit with the Mouse.  There is nothing like Disney World with a 4 year-old.  He loved it, we loved it.  We all need a vacation to recover.

While I let the laundry sit and the grocery shopping go undone, I'll share with you the Easter mantle I put together, because folks, it's this weekend.  Say what?!  So. Not. Ready.

I kept it very simple this year by using things I already had, along with a wreath and eggs I stumbled upon at Kroger.

The wooden bunny is from Marshalls and the wire basket is from the Target $1 spot.  I think it was $3 though...

The mercury glass candlesticks from Pottery Barn are still going strong.  I love a purchase that keeps on giving!

I've had the wicker vase forever.  I think I found it at Big Lots.  The botanicals are from Pottery Barn.

And there you have it.  A fresh, clean, approach to Easter.  It makes me feel so calm.

Now, to get that Easter bunny cracking on the basket!

XO,

  Sara

Art Boards Part 2 - Staining

I'm back!  And I have A LOT to share with you!  Today, I'll give you the big reveal from the playroom art boards we've been working on.

Remember how I've been working on a new art display board for the playroom?  I showed you how I beat up some wood to distress it here.

The next thing I did was hot glue clothespins onto the wood.  I took a piece of my son't art to space out the clips evenly along the wood.

After letting the clips dry, the next step was to stain the whole thing.  I chose Minwax classic gray.

                                   

I originally thought I'd go with espresso, but when I added the chalkboard, I knew I needed to match the gray frame.

I added one coat of the stain and let it dry in the garage for several days.  I did not sand or prime the wood.  Remember, I was going for rustic.

It didn't have quite the same brown/gray feel I wanted yet, so I used a rag and some Old English to enrich the color.

                                

I didn't take pictures of this process because my hands were a mess for the staining and the Old English.  Just follow the directions on the can of stain and the Old English.

After Mister helped me hang it (in studs of course), here's what we had.

Not. Too. Shabby.  Well, rustic shabby.

I have to say, I am pretty darn proud of how close I got the chalkboard frame and the art boards to match.  Yay!

This is a project we will really put to good use.

Okay.  Another cross off on the list.  That feels great!

Guess it time to address those walls...

XO,

  Sara

Art Boards Part 1 - "Distressing" Information

Unless you haven't thumbed through a shelter mag recently, you're aware of the distressed trend happening in all things home related.  We are all after that chic, but lived in feel.

As I venture into our playroom project, the item at the top of my list was to create an organized space to display my son's artwork.  Let's face it.  A fridge can only handle so much.

Pinterest helped me out with the idea of adding clothespins (man have I been using these a lot lately!) to 1 X 4's and hanging artwork from the clips.  Easy.  One of my gal pals has this set-up in her playroom and it was neat and orderly, but still showed off her kiddos handiwork.  Sold.

I started my picking out to 1 X 4 pieces of lumbar at Home Depot.  I painstakingly looked through board after board to find the smoothest, cleanest looking pieces I could find. 

 Then I got home and decided to beat the snot out of them.

This wasn't the path I had intended to take, but when inspiration hits, you run with it.

Little and I took these boards out to the driveway and while he climbed trees and played on his scooter, Mommy worked out her aggression with a hammer.

The process of distressing is really quite simple.  And therapeutic.  Get a hammer and a nail or two and pound away.  Take some chunks out of the wood.  Don't be afraid!

I even flipped the hammer over and pulled the claw along the wood to make some deeper gashes.

I'm sure my neighbors thought I had finally lost it, but after 15 minutes, I had some pretty distressed looking wood.  Or pretty, distressed looking wood, depending on how you want to view it.

Then, I propped the wood up in the garage and awaited a warm enough day to tackle the staining step.  Is it spring yet?  (That post it to come later this week.)

XO,
  Sara

Playroom Progress - Detour?

Welcome back!  It's Monday again, but that's okay, because that means we're getting closer to spring days with more daylight!

I'm popping in today to share another (yes, another) project that added itself to my list.  Uh-huh.  It added itself.  I didn't plan on redoing the playroom, but then this chalkboard found it's way in, and well, now everything else has to change. :)

Remember when I told you about making over the pegboard from the playroom?  And once I made it over it was way more fitting in the office, rather than the playroom?  So I swapped the pegboard for the chalkboard?

Well, once that happened I loved it.  I love how the rustic, weathered frame connects the feel of the rest of the first floor living space to the playroom.  However, now the very boy-like, very vibrant playroom is majorly clashing.

Yikes!  My eyes are hurting!  Never you fear.  This girl always has a pen and paper handy for a fresh new list.  Shall we?

new shelving around windows

build in window seating

trestle table 

window treatments

artwork space

walls

storage baskets - repurpose/buy

artwork

This weekend I laid on the floor as my son repeatedly "climbed the rock", which consisted of him crawling up my bent legs and body slamming me.  In between blows, I dreamed up a space that is totally kid friendly, corrals all the necessary trucks and dinos, but also yields a fun space for my crafting.  This space has to also tie in with the rest of the house, which means, you guessed it...new colors.  Sensing a theme around here?

I wish y'all could crawl in my head and see it...it's so pretty.  Sigh.

It'll take some time and some muscle, but I'm excited to chip away.  Don't worry.  My other projects are still active as well...

Tomorrow I'll be sharing some very "distressing" news.  Nothing serious!  Just how I distressed some 1 X 4's to get that artwork display started.

See you then!

XO,

  Sara

V-Day Decor

Are you ready for the day of love?  I know.  Me neither.  I have valentines to make for Little's class, cookies to bake, cards to fill out...

However, our home is ready!

You already saw my mantle last week...




...and yesterday I shared the simple craft Little Man and I did together.

Today, I'm just showing a few pics of the others lovey touches around the casa.

I'm a big sucker for seasonal pillows.  This is why I have a white sofa.  I just can't commit!  To pillows.  Don't worry Mister.

I've had the Pottery Barn red ticking pillows forever and stumbled upon the heart lumbar pillow at Ikea last year.  It makes me so happy, even if it is only out for a month.

This little tic-tac-toe game always sits here, but it's so apropos right now!  Don't you love that word?  Apropos.  I feel a little bit fancy.

                               


I made this little garland last year with some leftover red felt.  Easy-peasy.  I just cut out some hearts and hot glued them to a long piece of ribbon.  I love how it looks draped across the hutch.

I pulled out the vintage valentines from last year and put them in the exact same spot in the kitchen.  They're all food related so I thought it was fitting...

                                

And that's it.  It's kind of refreshing to not go crazy after all the hoopla of Christmas.  You know me.  I love to put it up, but I love taking it down maybe a little bit more!

Not too much longer and we'll be busting out the Easter eggs and bunnies!  But first, I have a certain almost 4 year-olds birthday party to plan.

Back to that list...

XO,
  Sara

Valentine's Day Mantle 2013

Happy Friday Eve!  Today I've got a lovey-dovey mantle to share with you, complete with an easy DIY.

I didn't spend a dime and I'm loving the touch of fun it's brought to our living room.

You may have spotted the framed Tunnel of Love ticket.  This was a quick DIY.  I found the printable from Flamingo Toes.

I just printed it on cardstock and cut a piece of burlap for it to sit on top of in the frame.  Done-zo!

The "X" and "O" are actually pieces of a tic-tac-toe game I keep on the coffee table.  Perfect for V-day!

You can see how I made the wreath here and learn more about the vintage valentines here.




I just used painter's tape to adhere them to the candlesticks and the basket.

The basket vase, botanicals, and candlesticks are from Pottery Barn.

And there you have it.  A mantle fit for a day of love.

How do you do V-day?  Just a heart or two, or do you like to do it up big?

Next week I'll be showing you some other touches of love around the house.  The big day is fast approaching!  Did you hear that Mister?  It's a week from today.  I mean, I think.  I'm not keeping track or anything...;)

XO,
  Sara

Idea Board Clips

I love to look at pictures of the people I love while I work.  It makes the mundane job of paying bills more happy.

Although my Idea Board is for just that, ideas I've clipped, right now it is showing off some great pics of my fam.  I really don't like to push pins through my photos so I dreamed up a little project to solve this problem and still get my smiling faces on the board.

Walmart had little packs of tiny clothespins.  I knew they would be perfect for holding up a picture, however, they had no pins to adhere to the peg board, and they were a little plain jane.

No problem!  I gave the pins some love with a little craft paint.  I stuck with a navy, white, and mustard theme to compliment my office colors.

I painted each pin white first.  Then, I went back over with navy or yellow to make my rugby stripes.  No measuring here!  Just eyeball it.

Then, after the paint dried, I hot glued a thumb tack to the back of each pin.

Not only are my fav pictures on display, but the cute little pushpins add another layer of character and fun to this evolving room.

I love how it turned out!  Really simple, cheap, and very useful.  My favorite kind of project.

Grab a pack of pins and make a set!  I have another set serving a different purpose to share with you later...

XO,

 Sara

Office Idea Board

Have you ever started a project, only to have it lead you in an entirely different direction than you anticipated?

That's what happened to me when I set out to just cover Little's playroom peg board with some fabric.  A drop cloth and 200 thumb tacks later, and I have a new Idea Board for my Office!

Here's how it happened...

We were playing a rousing game of "Dinosaur Stomp" (Little's creation) when I just couldn't take the unsightly peg board anymore.  I mean really, a 3 year-old and push pins?  What was I thinking?!



So, I yanked it down and decided to cover it with some pretty fabric since his artwork will soon be moving to a new and awesome location (to be announced at a later time!).

I had a leftover Home Depot drop cloth from my curtain project, so I ironed it up...

and stapled that sucker on the bulletin board.

Well, that didn't look finished, so I whipped out a few boxes of thumb tacks I had lying around.

Wow!  It actually looked really good.  And way too grown up for a playroom. I could just see the pile of thumb tacks after Little was alone with it for 5 minutes... Hmmmm.....

So, the giant, weathered chalkboard that I LOVE (which I don't think I've shown you yet), was relocated to the playroom and the new and improved Idea Board found its home in my office.  I really feel like I'm in a Restoration Hardware catalogue when I sit at my desk.  So dreamy.  So modern, yet so traditional.  Perfectly me.

Not bad for an impromptu, no cost project, eh?

Tomorrow I'll share how I'm "pinning" up things to my new cute board.  Also, a really cheap and easy project.  I'm sensing a theme around here...

See you then!

XO,
  Sara

Blog Update and a New Project

Hi Guys!  I didn't forget about you yesterday.  I'm having major issues with the photo uploader on Blogger.  Is anyone else having a problem?

I select my pics and then the whole computer locks up and I have to shut it down and restart.  It makes getting a post written a wee bit difficult to say the least!

Bear with me.  Hopefully Blogger will fix it soon.  Did you hear that Blogger?  Fix it!

You already know I've been working on our master sitting room, doing some updates to the playroom, and making over our office/guest room, so why not add just one more project?  What happens is, I get to a stand still on a current redo and then start a new one...Hopefully I'm not the only one this happens to.

Our laundry room has always been tidy and neat, but it's been lacking in the style department.  I mean, it's a laundry room.  There's a reason it's been at the bottom of my list.

I wish I had a before, before to show you.  Imagine that the washer was pushed up against the dryer.  That's how it was.  Then, I realized that if I moved the washer over, I could fit an Ikea expedit in the space with oodles of storage.  THEN, I realized that I have these awesome cubbies that keep moving from space to space as we need them.  They fit perfectly!

However, the black was looking a little ominous, so I headed to Home Depot for a few (4) cans of Almond spray paint.  It matches the appliances perfectly!

As you can see, the cubbies are slightly raised from the floor.  This is due to the metal tray the washing machine sits in.  In order to balance it out, I put a few books under it near the dryer.  This is very high tech.  All the pros do it...

I don't have my after pics ready for you yet (because I can't get them loaded!!!), but here are a few teasers before the big reveal.

Can't wait to share the after with you!  I'm really loving the cheery space.  And anyone with children knows you spend a lot of time in the laundry room, so it better be cheery!

I haven't forgotten about my other unfinished projects.  I really have been busy!  This little comic sums up my decorating style to a T...

I'll have something to show for it soon!

XO,

 Sara