Happy 2nd Birthday, Ward! (And a impromptu vacation)

My, we have been busy!   It all started a couple weeks ago when Trey and I had been discussing going on a small & easy family trip with Ward (a babymoon plus a baby, so to speak) to spend some quality time together as a family of three before I get too far along.  I thought we had plenty of time until we realized that Ward wouldn't be able to fly for free after he turns two...which was in 10 days.  

Luckily, we were able to quickly book a trip last minute to Naples (yay, skymiles points!) and Trey's aunt and uncle were nice enough to let us stay in their house while they were traveling.  It was SO nice to get out of frigid Atlanta and hang out in 80 degree weather for a few days. 

We went to the beach

Swam in the pool

Saw Dolphins at the pier

and even fed a Giraffe (or as Ward would say, Gee-Raf) at the zoo

When we got home, Ward's birthday was that weekend so we had a quiet birthday (with a cupcake of course)

and then a family party the next day (with more cupcakes....the boy loves cake)

Yes, that is my O'doul's.  Keeping it classy.

After all the festivities last week, we're hoping to relax this weekend! 

Have a good one!

Garage Sale Retro Dresser Makeover

Wow.  It's been Halloween since my last post.  Yeaaah...sorry about that.  But I have an excuse....

Actually, two excuses....

Actually, three excuses if you count my toddler too (this list could go on and on so I'll just stop there) :)
So the big news is we are expecting identical twin boys!  We have a long road ahead, but I am finally starting to feel like myself again and therefore can finally share this dresser project I did a couple months ago.  (Note: Once I found out we were expecting, Trey actually did most of the work...painting, polishing, sanding, etc.)  I just directed :)

I had been looking for a tall dresser for our bedroom for a long time when I stumbled upon this piece at a garage sale...(excuse the iphone photo!)

It's a little retro, which I thought could be a fun touch in our muted bedroom.  I loved the warmth of the wood, but it wasn't in the best shape.

I initially thought I would just sand off the top finish layer and re-stain but this gave me a lot more trouble than I had hoped.  We started sanding and discovered that veneers don't really sand down...hmmmm.  Then we started sanding EVERYTHING which was a huge mistake.

At first, it was looking slightly better, but the hardwood turned out to be yellow pine and it was SOOO yellow.  Here is a shot of the doors-  on the right the door is sanded and on the left is when I started adding the stain.  As you can see, the wood veneer is still showing the hardware mark and the frame was waaaay too yellowish for my taste.

YUCK.

I felt like I wanted to scrap the project at that point.  BUT THEN, I found this image on Pinterest....and it gave me some new inspiration on what to do.  

Via Cup Half Full

I loved the idea of insetting leather into the doors/drawers and painting the frame a slightly darker tone.  Because the hardware was real brass, I thought these light colors would really help the hardware stand out.  

So, I went a new direction and had Trey paint the frame Annie Sloan "Old Ochre" and bought some cream textured vinyl for the doors. I was looking for faux ostrich leather like in the photo, but again, was SO over this project at this point I just went with what they had at the fabric store.  Because I knew I would never be able to get the edges of the vinyl cut perfectly (and didn't want the edges to turn up over time), I found the smallest trim moulding I could find at Home Depot and had Trey cut the pieces for me using his miter saw to frame the door and drawers.  This trim pieces covered the edges making the drawer and doors look clean and tailored.  The moulding was attached at the edges using a brad nailer, and filled the holes with wood putty and then touched up with paint.


For the  hardware, I had my Dad cut off the backplates (which I thought looked dated) and Trey spent some time polishing with Brasso.

Instructions on the bottle say not to let it sit on the brass, but the tarnish was so intense we disregarded this and put all the pieces into a plastic bag with the Brasso and let is sit for a while before trying to polish...seemed to help.  I didn't want it to be shiny, there is still a bit of patina on it which I think looks great.

Sorry I don't have more progress shots, after the wood finish stripping fiasco, I was so tired of this I just wanted to get it out of my garage!  

But here is the piece all finished- I absolutely love how it turned out!   

And for fun here's a side by side before & after:

Ahhh...so much better.  I don't know how much time I'll be having over the next few months to do anymore big projects, but do know I have a new nursery (and big boy room) to plan!  Hopefully it won't be another 4 months before I post on that! :)

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!  We went to our neighborhood Halloween party Sunday and took a couple snapshots of Ward in his lion costume (in case we have rain tonight, fingers crossed the weather holds out!)  

At first, he wasn't so sure

 

But then he got into character, so he was cool with it

This evening we're going to try some trick-or-treating and go to our in-laws neighborhood parade, which is what we did last year...except I have a feeling Ward will be a little more interested this time (last year he just wanted to eat leaves) :)

We've come a long way from then!  

Hard to believe this is probably the last year I will choose his costume, I'm sure he'll have an opinion next Halloween!

Have a great day!

Planting a Fiddle Leaf Fig (or any plant, really)

Editor's Note:

I have received many, many comments and links to this post in the past year (thanks, Pinterest!).  Just and FYI, the technique shared below is my own experience with my FLF.  I am in NO WAY an expert on FLF's or any plants in general as I mention below.  There are many other recommended ways to pot indoor plants.  So...on that note, plant at your own risk and make sure to do thorough research depending on your climate and plant's needs.  Good luck and thanks for visiting!  :)

I am one of those people who can't keep any plants alive (unless it's a cactus and requires basically no watering).  BUT- I have been eyeing the Fiddle Leaf figs since I spotted the 5-footers for only $35 at Home Depot a couple months ago.  Despite my terrible watering tendencies, I decided to give it a try and see if I can keep this one alive.   Here is a quick summary of what I did:

I already had a glazed turquoise planter that my Mom didn't want anymore and it was just begging to finally be used!  I started by adding some felt sticky pads to the bottom of the planter to prevent scratching the hardwood floor.  There was a small hole in the bottom, so I cut down a wine cork to plug the hole and added a line of gorilla glue to the perimeter of the cork to seal.  

Next, I added a plastic liner cut down to fit the bottom of the planter (just in case to prevent any leaks!).  After the liner, I put in a layer of pea gravel (about 1") to ensure the plant will have good drainage and won't ever be sitting in over-watered soil.  

After the pea gravel I popped the plant back in the pot with some potting soil and covered the dirt with (dollar tree) floral moss.

My fingers are crossed that it will live!  The room is pretty bright so hopefully it should do well here.  I am loving how it brightens up the little corner in our dining room.  

PS- Anyone notice the toy car?  I can't seem to snap a photo in our house without one hiding somewhere.


Disclosure- My FLF has been in the pot for 2 weeks now and is still alive...hooray! BUT that obviously makes me no kind of expert in caring for plants- so please use your green thumb at your own risk :)

Family Photos- Ward 19 months

We have this problem in our house where I don't exist in our family photo album.  We have pages and pages of adorable pictures of Ward and Ward with Trey, but almost zero of me...Can any other mom's sympathize with this?  
The other day I was looking for a picture of myself and couldn't find one since last year when we had Ward's 8 months photos taken!   Anyways, I figured it was time for another family photo shoot.

We met my friend Sarah with Fresh Design Group at the park where she got some great shots if you'd like to see....

DIY Painted Chalkboard Pumpkin

Even though it's only officially been fall for a couple weeks, I feel like I'm at least month behind everyone else when it comes to Pinterest.  Since this summer, I've seen lots of pins having to do with pumpkin recipes, pumpkin decor, and all things fall-ish...(you know who you are early pinners).

Well, now it's early October and the only reason I have completed a fall craft is because I volunteered to paint a pumpkin for Ward's preschool fundraiser.  Each class donates a decorated pumpkin for an auction at their fall festival next weekend.

I went to Michael's and bought one of their pumpkins (on sale 50% off).  Although I love fall, orange has to be one of my least favorite colors....maybe it's because I went to UGA and almost every opponent has orange in their uniform??  Anyways, I wanted the pumpkin to be white and gold, not orange.  (Didn't take a before picture, whoops!)

I had heard good things about Design Masters gold spray paints, so thought I would give it a try.  I used the color "gold medal".  After taping off the stem, I sprayed the entire pumpkin.  

Then, using painters tape, I cut 30-45 degree cuts in the tape and applied to the pumpkin.  This by far took up most of the time.  Here is a shot of the first couple of lines with the tape.

Once all the tape was secured in place, I went back over the pumpkin with Rustoleum white matte spray paint.  I highly recommend using a white matte spray paint instead of a gloss because in the end it really makes the bright gold paint stick out...almost giving it a gold leaf stamped effect.  After I removed all the tape, here is what it looked like:

I would have been fine with leaving the pumpkin with the overall pattern if it was for me, but I felt I needed a little something extra since it was for Ward's school auction.  I painted an oval in chalkboard paint on the front of the pumpkin and then using chalkboard pens (if you haven't tried them, they are amazing!) wrote "trick or treat" on top.

Here is the final result!

The cool thing is, whoever ends up taking it home can write whatever message they wish, so the pumpkin can last through Thanksgiving and not just for Halloween.

Now I just wish I had made an extra for myself....

What did you do this weekend?

Decluttering & DIY photo board

No idea why, but I have been on a decluttering roll lately.  We have a built-in desk in our kitchen (circa 1980 style) that rarely gets used....let me re-phrase, rarely gets used as a desk.  Typically, it is my catch all place for the diaper bag, purse, little shoes, mail, and the list goes on.   Every time I walk into the kitchen, it's one of the first things I see and the clutter was driving me crazy.  Here was the depressing view, don't judge ;)

I knew by adding a designated place for mail, catalogs and just everyday stuff I could eliminate the mess and visually it would feel so much better.  I was on the hunt for a cheap photo board, but decided I could make one myself and save some $.  BUT then I found this at the goodwill for 3 bucks:

I knew I couldn't even make the board for that cheap, so decided to do an easy recover with scrap fabrics I already had.  I like to call this a "nap time" project because it is so easy and I can finish it while my little guy is sleeping.  I won't bore you on the fabrication details, this is pretty self explanatory!  Here is it recovered...

  I already had the gray & cream fabric, and found some navy blue shoelaces (!) that I thought could work as a nice accent.  (PS- no idea why or when I accumulated them, but hey- it works).  For a finishing touch, I spray painted the buttons gold.

I added a basket that I already had for mail and the photo board can now be used for important mail, pictures, invitations, etc.  I still need to remove the ceiling mounted fluorescent light (gross), tweak some of the accessories...and maybe find a fun chair.  But for now it looks clean and it works!

No one has actually sat at the desk yet, but now that there is no more clutter maybe I'll start ;)