Weekend Warriors

I just LOVE weekends.  Not only because I get a break from the office, but also because of all the adventures that lay ahead. The only thing I don't like about the weekends is that Monday always comes too soon.

A few weekends ago, we actually had not a single plan on the calendar.  You know what that means: PROJECT WEEKEND!!!! I tend to refer to us in this situation as weekend warriors.  I got the urge to look up the Urban Dictionary definition of this and it cracked me up.  This weekend of course, was an epic weekend! Here's Urban Dictionary's definition:

weekend warrior a person who holds a regular job during the week which restricts their ability to party/go on trips/partake in awesome activities, and thus plans epic weekend adventures to compensate. As much variation and quantity of awesomeness is packed into the weekends as physically possible, warranting the rest of the work week to recharge for the next weekend.

So yes, the hubby and I "partook in awesome activities with as much variation and quantity of awesomeness packed into our weekend as physically possible".  Our standard Saturday morning routine includes letting the dog out, giving her breakfast, then laying in bed and discussing the plans for the day.  I was totally stoked when Joe suggested the first project on the list. Here's a look at the projects we worked on and their story:

Kitchen Cabinet Update

Our house was built in 2000. The cabinet style in that day (not so long ago) included a piece of trim over the sink connecting the cabinets on both sides. I've always thought it looked a bit funny and I told hubby a while ago that I really didn't like it and the main reason was that I wanted a pendant light where the can light is above the kitchen sink. I was so excited to get this project going!  Here's a picture of the kitchen before.

And here's the style I'm dreaming for: a pendant light, the spring curtain rod, rings holding the curtain....the cabinet color? not quite my thing. I'll stick with our oak.

Source

Here's the steps we took:

1. Hubby used a small pry bar like this one to remove the long molding piece along the front of the cabinet and the piece placed below the molding.  

2. We tried to remove as many of the old nails as possible.  This was really difficult and we ended up just breaking them off and hammering it as flat as possible on the wood so there wasn't a gap when we placed the molding back up there.

3. We measured the length of molding needed on the sides of the cabinets and marked where that would be on the long molding piece. Hubby used his miter saw to cut the trim to the proper lengths.  I must say figuring out the angle was a bit tricky, so be careful if you're trying this at home.  It's definitely a measure 8x, cut once kinda thing.

4. Joe reattached the molding pieces and puttied any areas that will need sanded and re-stained.  

5. Since Daisy HATES the compressor and the nail gun, we took a little trip to Lowe's to pick up a recessed can conversion pendant light kit to hang. During our trip to Lowe's I hit the jackpot.  I know I just went for 1 thing, but I left with with two more projectss.  When walking to the lighting section, I noticed on the clearance rack, a chrome 3-light vanity fixture (just like the one we've been looking for), and they were clearancing out a TON of fans (also, just what we've been looking for).  So convenient right?

6. We hung the pendant light fixture kit and LOVE the final product.  We've still got to match the stain to patch up some small spots, and update the curtain rod, but here's the almost finished project.

I made the curtain from some linen material.  I'm posting the tutorial soon, so watch for it.

Here's the breakdown:

• Small Pry Bar: $0
• Measuring Tape: $0
• Miter Saw: $0
• Nail Gun (and compressor): $0
• Stain (from Lowe’s): $8 (Still needs to be done)
• Pendant Light Converter Kit (from Lowe’s): $30
• TOTAL: $38

Guest Bathroom Light Fixture

As discussed above, the coming about of this project was due to the trip to Lowe's to purchase the Pendant Light Converter Kit for above our Kitchen sink.  We already replaced the cabinet pulls and the sink faucet, but couldn't really find a new light fixture to match the style.  Here's the before and after of the fixture.

Here's the breakdown:

• 3-Light Vanity Fixture (from Lowe's): $40

Basement Fan

Again, this project sprouted from the Kitchen Cabinet update with the Pendant Light Converter Kit.  The gold fan in the basement was really getting to me, especially after painting the room and rearranging the set-up. Here's the before and after in the room.

Here's the breakdown:

• Fan Fixture: $40

Entryway 

I was totally inspired by Jenna Sue's entry way art and coat rack so I thought I'd come up with my own version.  Her art work is wonderful.  I love the geometric patterns and the simpleness of it.

Source

I also really LOVE the idea of having knobs as coat hooks.  I really was inspired by these drawer fronts used as coat hooks.

Source

We've haven't finished the project yet, but we're about halfway there.  We'll be finishing it up soon and revealing our entryway soon!

Kennedy's Baby Quilt

I started this baby quilt a few months before the baby was due.  Before I was finished, a beauty came along.  There is a precious little baby girl that is so adorable, Kennedy Caroline.  She was born in July with some life threatening issues.  She is such a fighter and is now doing very well.  I was inspired to design a quilt from the breathtaking one below.

Source

I designed my own pattern to be the perfect size for baby Kennedy.  Over the weekend I finished quilting, then a few days ago I made the binding and completed the quilt.

I can't reveal it just yet.  I have to make sure that Kennedy and her momma get it first.  I'll post soon though.

I can't wait to see what this coming weekend has in store!

What projects are on your plate?

Fall Pinterest Challenge Project

Oh Pinterest, how I love you.
Each and every day I explore your world and find even more reasons I love you.
I LOVE the Pinterest Challenge Fall Edition.

And now, here's your hosts:

Sherry of Young House Love 
Katie of Bower Power
Ana of Ana-white.com
Erin of House of Earnest 

I unfortunately am one of those people who has about 15-20 projects going at one time. It usually takes me a long time to finish a project since I have so many going at one time.  I really need to work on this! Here's a few pins that are currently being worked on at my house:

So there's five things I didn't finish for this Pinterest Challenge.  I'll try to finish them soon and post them here.

Make sure you check out the hosts' blogs listed above to see what other bloggers have completed with the Pinterest Challenge: Fall Edition.

What have you been pinning or working on lately? Leave link and I'll go check it out.

Countdown to Halloween...Even Though It's Halloween!

I have recently come to LOVE Halloween!  I'm not sure why I never really got into it in college.  I love the idea of spooky yard decorations, creepy cob-webs, pumpkins, and the best part: the food that goes along with it.

One of my favorite crafts seen last year is the countdown wooden cubes.

I think these blocks are sooooo cute!  I love how easy they are!

Here's the supplies needed:

- Two square blocks (mine were 2" x 2" from Hobby Lobby priced $0.99 each, on sale 50% off)

- Mod Podge Gloss (already had some but costs about $5)

- Foam Brush ($0.25)

- 6 different Halloween scrapbook paper

Directions:

- First you should paint the blocks.  I painted mine white. I've seen others painted orange and black.

- Use scissors or a paper cutter to cut the scrapbook paper to fit on the blocks.

- Use a foam brush to apply Mod Podge to the block and the back of the and place on the block.  Then paint Mod Podge over the top of the paper to seal it.  

- Cut out numbers or use some larger stickers.  Apply the same way you applied the square paper. 

- Apply a final coat of Mod Podge and let dry.

Place them out for everyone to see!

Here's My version!

Happy Halloween!

Now, back to handing out candy.

Light Fixture Transformation

I'm not sure if you know this, but light fixtures are expensive!!  I was in absolute shock!

My husband and I are trying to rid our house of the Gold EVERYTHING!   They are so hard on my eyes. Now don't get me wrong, I love shiny things but this just hurts my eyes.

We've been scoping out http://www.craigslist.com/ for fixtures for the past few months and... nothing :(  I finally had enough of the gold light fixtures in our bathroom, closet, guest bedroom, and basement entryway.  I read quite a few articles on spraying fixtures and ta-da they look so good!  You can't tell they're spray painted right?  Check out what a difference the paint made! 

I know, the glass shades definitely dated them, but at our house we go step-by-step.

We actually did this process many months ago, and I'm just now getting it posted but here's the process:

1. Caution: Be sure before you begin this project you turn off the electricity to the fixture from your breaker box.  We don't need anyone being sent to the Emergency Room with 'electricution' written on their charts.
2. Remove the light fixture from the ceiling/wall/ etc.
3. Disassemble and clean the fixture.  We removed all screws, sockets, and fiberglass insulation and were left with bare metal ceiling plates that didn't need any taping up.  Just remember where everything goes unless you want some extra parts here or there.
4. We used KRYLON Satin Nickel paint from Wal-Mart (about $2).  Two thin coats of paint later, our light fixtures have completed their makeover.
5. The only thing left to do is re-assemble, install, and admire!  

P.S. If you have assembly issues or installation issues like we did because we didn't pay attention to which wires we disconnected from which wire, just search the Internet for solutions.  BUT Be very cautious when turning the breaker back on if you're not sure.

Disclaimer: We are in no way professionals.  If you're cautions about installing light fixtures in any way, please be safe and contact a professional to install them.


Remember that day of garage sales during which I found the blanket chest?  (Post found here) I was luck enough to find some beautiful nickel light fixtures with alabaster glass to replace the light in the guest bedroom and entryway.  Now they look even better! See?

Sharing at: Mad In Crafts, Opps, I Craft My Pants, and Making the World Cuter

Blanket Box

Since we moved into our house and I started exploring blogland, I've wanted a bench of some sort at the end of our bed.  Our room is perfect for one, long and skinny.  I searched for an inexpensive blanket box or decorative bench at a few places on the internet.

Here's a few inspirational photos I discovered:

I love the idea of benches.  They look so elegant without looking too bulky.

Source

Here's kind of a combination style.  Upholstered and a chest perfect for storage.

Source

Here's an example of the traditional wooden blanket chest that I'm really imagining for the space.

Source

I found this one for $249 from Target, but the price is just a bit steep for me.

It was a typical Saturday morning and I was out searching garage sales for some wonderful finds. And then I saw it.....it was perfect! Well, not really.  It was pretty beat up, but I paid a whole $5 for it.  After cramming it in my car and getting it home, I immediately had regret.  What if Hubby can't repair all the cracked and broken pieces?  What if he doesn't want to re-finish it and stain or paint it? Within 15 minutes of wrangling it out of my car, my hopes of finally having a blanket chest were falling fast.  

So when Joe came home and saw the falling apart plywood he was less than pleased.  Then he found out I only paid $5 for it.  His opinion did a 180.  I was so excited I could barley contain myself.  I couldn't believe he was up for the challenge. 

A few weeks later we were out shopping at Lowe's for some other stuff when he dragged me over to the wood stain.   We took booklet of colors home and compared them to our bedroom furniture to see if we could find one similar.  I was amazed when we found an almost identical match! Minwax Red Mahogony.

Hubby labored a few hours to sand down the chest, stain it and poly coat it.  I'm so impressed with the turnout. He did a fantastic job and I LOVE the way it turned out.

It's perfect for our blankets, extra towels, and extra sheets.  See, we don't have a linen closet so our extra linens hung out in the guest bedroom dresser.  Now they have a new home in our wonderfully refinished chest.  What a beauty!

Here's the beauty in a close-up.

I think I'm in love!  Thanks Hubby for your hard work.  Our room is closer to being complete.

Cost Breakdown:

Chest: $5

Stain (from Lowe's): $8

Poly: $0 (already owned)

Foam Brushes (3: 2 for stain coats, 1 for poly coats): $1.50

Total: $14.50 definitely much less than the Target option.

Simple DIY: Guest Bedroom Full Length Mirror

My parents came to visit Hubby and I a few months after we moved into our house last summer.  With them, they brought boxes and boxes of stuff.  They called this stuff mine but I'm not entirely sure I'd seen any of the in the past 5 years {do I really need it then?}.   Hubby and I were still settling in so we just stashed them with lots of other boxes into our basement. FINALLY, about a year later I am finally getting around to going through this 'stuff'.  One of the first things I pulled out is my old full length mirror. 

Did you notice how the mirror is Red??  Well before it was Red it was Green.  Before it was Green, it was Gold.

When I was in high school, I started out my training to be crafty and creative when I was finally given free reign to decorate my room however I wanted.  I loved {and still love} the idea of using bright, bold colors for decorating. 

I had asked my parents for a few things for my room to decorate including a two-tone comforter in Pink and Orange similar to the one below from JC Penney.

I searched and searched the stores until I found the perfect turquoise valance for my small bedroom window.  My mom was gracious enough to make me some bright yellow curtains to replace the dark brown doors to my closet.  She also made me three different shaped pillows for my bed in Green, Yellow, and Blue.  The rose colored walls from a young girls childhood was replaced with a more mature white.  I took LOTS of time to create my own simple two-stripe border at the top in light blue and bright blue. I was also given permission, after much begging, to paint my light switch plate and outlet plates to be a bright green.  I also painted the frame of the mirror green as well as my entire bulletin board that hung above my desk. 

My parents eventually painted over the blue border in my old 'bright' room and switched it with what became the guest room when my sister got married and moved out.  During my 3rd year of college I received a co-op opportunity.  So I stayed at home for the fall semester and got some great experience working for a construction company.  I had previously lived in the Dorms then my sorority house at college and I was getting REALLY tired of seeing my original college bedding.  I decided once again that I would get new bedding and re-do a bit of the room that I'd be living in.  I went out and bought a Black Desk, a Black-White-and-Red bed-in-a-bag set, made black and red curtains to cover the old closet doors, and made a matching black and red valance.  This is when I noticed that the green mirror didn't quite fit.  So, I painted it red.  I do still miss the green a bit. 

So, we've lived in our house for 2+ years now.  The guest bedroom was almost the first thing that was 'done' as far as decorating and unpacking.  The only thing it was missing was a full length mirror.  I got out the spray paint, newspaper and tape and got to work.  Within a few hours I converted this mirror from something I'd grown up with to something our guests will be able to enjoy. 

After we finished spraying it, we used a razor blade to scrape off some of the green and red that I'd gotten on the glass part of the mirror. 

Oh look, here it is now in all it's glory!

State {of the} Art

Did you hear about the Pinterest Challenge that Katie over at Bower Power and a few others are doing? You MUST check out their video!  It made me laugh out loud for about 5 minutes. It's hilarious!

I decided to take it on because currently, I have 196 pins! Check out my Pinterest.

It was pretty easy to pick my project and I had everything I needed for it. (Thanks to finding Meredith's comment about her tutorial here)

I was wondering around Pinterest the a while back, saw this and was totally inspired. Joe and I have been looking for something to hang in our master bedroom above our nightstands for about 6 months now.

I fell in love with this beautiful (and genius) art!

I knew it'll be perfect for our bedroom and we already have the paint to complete it. Meredith over at "Welcome to Heardmont" posted her tutorial and it's pretty awesome.

I made two State {of the} Art paintings, Illinois and Missouri. We both grew up in the same area back in Illinois and we also wanted to mark where our home is right now, in Missouri. I used the leftover paint from when we painted our recessed ceiling.  The color matches perfect with our bedspread.  I could really use some work on the curtains in this room, but that's for later.

Here's our room Before:

The art turned out awesome! Meredith's tutorial was so helpful and great to follow, and it only took me about 30 minutes to do both of them! Here's our version:

We opted not to not put any hearts on ours for now.  This might change in the future, but we'll see.  I love them so much as they are.  Here's a picture of them hung up.

and then there were 9....(see my summer top 10 to-do list here.)

Linked at Bower Power's Pinterest Challenge Summer Edition and Hookin Up with HOH #60.

Organizing My Dresser

I get really tired of having stuff just all over my dresser: necklaces, earrings, laundry that needs to get put away, perfume, receipts, clothing tags, and plenty of other "junk".   I hate that it looks unorganized and messy ALL THE TIME.  After seeing a few decorating pictures of dining room buffets with trays on them to decorate/organize I thought to myself, why not move that do my dresser?

I went to Hobby Lobby and picked out a little wooden tray that was 50% off.

I took it home and used some gloss white paint leftover from little samples we'd bought a while ago.

I added some felt we already had to the bottom so it wouldn't scratch my dresser.

And voilà!
Perfect for dressing up my dresser and de-cluttering my stash of smelly-goods.

Total Cost: about $1.50
Total Time: about 1.25 hours (I did 3-coats of paint over 2 days)

Lessons Learned:
1. Sand your tray first, It'll be smoother and may not require the felt.
2. Cover it with some kind of lacquer to protect it.  I didn't do this and I'm not sure how long it'll be before it starts showing a lot of dirt.  Maybe never, who knows.

This project has been linked to:

Simple DIY: Bridal Shower Decorations

The cake was picked, the cookie favors decided, the invitations sent, the RSVPs are rolling in and the party is in a week and a half.  Until now I had no decorations planned.  It wasn't that I haven't looked at ideas, I just hadn't found something that screams "Kelly!".  I finally found a simple decoration using things I already had that I could modify to fit the color scheme. Surprise, surprise, Martha Stewart helped.  Behold: Tissue Paper Pom-Poms!

I got the tutorial from here.  The tutorial was great and had very helpful pictures.  I found that to make it a full 360 degrees, two would probably have to be put together to make it look full.  I used them on the table so half was fine for what I needed. 

I didn't want to buy cloth wrapped floral wire so I just used some twist-ties from trash bags I didn't use.

Also, I found that it was easier to draw where you were going to cut before breaking out the scissors.  It really helped when cutting through the really thick layers.

They will be placed on the tables in sets of 2 or 3 along with some Hershey's kisses and clear rocks (re-used from our own wedding), a martini glass (borrowed from my sister) filled with red hots, and bowls (re-used from my sister's wedding) with m&ms.