A taste of our family vacation 2014.. Hooray for Chattanooga!

I know this blog was set up for sharing home decor ideas and diy projects but I also want to share what its like in our lives as well. When the kids make good grades all year as well as good behavior grades we take a trip during the summer. This year we chose Chattanooga, TN. If you didn't already know I did portrait and wedding photography for about 6 years. I quit doing it for compensation this past year so I could focus more on my family and home. I still have my camera and it is still one of my favorite things. These images were taken at the Chattanooga Aquarium, one of our many adventures. These were edited... because well I like editing. I am thinking they need printed and hung in the house some where. Andrew agrees. They kinda of look like paintings! 

I will have a more detailed break down of our trip with LOTS of new photos. So stay tuned! 

If interested in prints of these contact me for details. 

Jadyn and My Birthday Extravaganza!

So.. I turned 30 today. I was not looking forward to it but here I am... 30. My initial plans were to go to New Orleans and pretend I was 21... That is the key word... pretend. In reality I do not look or feel 21. I decided instead I would rather have close family and friends over to my home and cook an obscene amount of food and sweets. A good time was had and I am still stuffed. I am older, a little thicker but... a whole lot happier than I was 9 years ago. As I think back on my adulthood so far being 30 is really not so bad. I have grown tons and I have become a better person. My life is more stable and just all around awesome. So I will take 30 and not feel like I have lost anything because I really have gained so much. Here is to more happy times and to an awesome life with awesome people. Oh we also celebrated my little nieces birthday! She is turning 5! What another great milestone age. I am glad to have shared my awesome day with her! 

Bookshelf from simple to awesome!

This project is part of my son's room remodel. It is almost finished so a full reveal will be coming soon! This gives a pretty good sneak peek at it though! Anyhow again while cleaning out the shed I found another piece of furniture that I knew I could put to use. It needed cleaned up pretty good and then I put a couple coats of paint on it and it looks as good as new. I chose to do the inside a bright color and the outside white to make it more interesting. 

Found a gem in all of the disaster!

While we were cleaning out the shed (the mess was not ours but in there when we bought it!) I found this! I love it. Its naturally rustic and beautiful! I knew instantly I wanted to use it as a bench at the foot of my bed. 

 I went to Home Depot and bought two 2 inch foam cushions for about $6 a piece and then I headed to the fabric store and bought a yard of fabric for $10.95. So the whole project cost me about $24! I used a staple gun to attach the fabric to the bottom of the top. I made sure to stretch everything really tight. Its not perfect but it will do! Then I just simply waxed the bottom. I wanted to bring out all of the natural wear. I put two coats of wax on it then buffed it out! It was a great addition to my room.

Night Stand Transformations.

This is the second time that I have painted these night stands. The first time was this black shiny finish with some funky art on it. This guitar one was on Andrew's side of the bed. Mine had birds and leaves on it. Stuff we were interested in. With the direction I am going with the bedroom they no longer worked. I didn't really want to buy new night stands because well I do not really like spending money. ( These were given to me like 9 years ago!) This post is actually going to have two projects in it. Besides repainting the night stands I also bought these trays from Michaels for $4.99 and the wood applique for $3 and knew they would be great for night stand decor. 

 I used left over grey paint from the living room. It is a shade darker than the bedroom wall and a big warmer. I mixed it up as chalk paint and set to work. I did slight distressing but nothing major. I used Minwax finishing paste to put a protective finish on it. I did not buff it too much because I liked the matte finish.

 To do the trays I first painted them. I mixed up my own color using teal and grey. It came out a little green but it was pretty so I used it. I painted the appliques and applied a little dark wax to bring out the details. Then I mod podged strips of scrap book paper in the bottom and applied poly acrylic over that to really seal everything down.

I had tossed the old hard ware to the night stands because I didn't like them. So I really needed to do something because being lighter it was a whole lot more noticeable. So I made a trip to Michaels and bought wooden plaques ranging from under a $1 to $1.50. I painted them white and on a couple added some floral details. Yes the flowers are free handed instead of stenciled but I think they look pretty good! I got the knobs from World Market. They were so perfect! Just the right amount of detail! 

 Here is the finished styled night stand. That is the mirror that I had posted in a previous post. And if you have seen my post on the old doors then here is a peek at what they were used for! 

Can you guess what I am going to use these for?

I scored these beauties for a whole $10 a piece! They were old, with great chipping and peeling paint. I was in love. First I had to clean them up. Then I did a quick sand. I wanted the texture of the old paint to show through. 

 After I cleaned them I painted them. I didn't bother getting them perfect because I wanted some of the old paint to show through. That is part of what made them cool! 

 I had mixed up my own chalk paint for the doors so I used a wet sanding technique on them using a sanding sponge. I would wet it and then rub the paint off in the spots that I wanted the old paint to sow through more. 

 After that was finished I then used a glaze in areas to add more contrast and character to the doors. They were a little brighter than I had planned and wanted to bring them down a notch. 

 After the painting, distressing and antiquing was down I put poly acrylic over everything. 

So do you have any guesses what I am using these doors for? I will be posting a reveal soon ( I hope I still have some work to do).

A little DIY Fire Place Decor

After finishing the fireplace I stared at it for a long while feeling like it looked a little bare after white washing. It all of a sudden looked bigger and a whole lot brighter! So I looked around the house for thing I already had. First I had recently bought a grapevine wreath for $4.99 and had not done a thing with it. So I tea stained some coffee filters and made big flowers out of them. Then I used some left over tissue paper to make smaller flowers. I glued them on and finished it off with a burlap bow that I had used on something else. Then came the jar lanterns. They were originally red. Red was not going to work. So I broke out the craft paint mixed up some colors until I was happy and painted them. I added left over burlap bows to match the wreath and then I was happy! 

I used two more of the jar lanterns that I had on hand for the foyer. I had bought a shelf at a flea market and had not been able to decide how to jazz it up. Finally it hit me! The kids had some art work from school that I had been wanting to showcase some how. (Their art teacher is awesome and they have brought home some pretty cool stuff.) I went out to the shed and found a bored. White washed it white, nailed on the pictures. Fancied it up a bit and I had something that resembled a rustic frame. It needed just a little something more. That is when I decided to paint more jars. This time I broke out some free hand skills. I did alright. My cow looks more like a calf but that is ok!