Deakon's Room...

So let me just say that this little bedroom has been a labor of love. I knew I wanted to do something that was more big boy than his nursery but we would have plenty of time for a sports theme or motorcycles in the future as well. I fell in love with some striped bedding from pottery barn but with my little budget that wasn't happening. I knew I wanted stripes somewhere (little did I know exactly how many stripes would actually be in the space. Ha.) So I decided to put big neutral stripes on the wall and get solid bedding. 

Well the paint went up and I was in love, a week later I found a knock off of the bedding I loved so much at Target, I bought it thinking that Deakon was not going to be in the room for that long. It's meant to be a nursery and it's connected to our room. We moved him in there when we first moved so he would be close to us. Eventually he would need to move to a bigger room and I loved the bedding to much to pass on it.

 I know that it's a lot of pattern, A LOT. 

Although, right now though our life seems to be stuck in transition mode if that makes any sense.

 Deakon might be in this room for a year or more and he might not be, so I went with it.

 I tried to find pictures of loved one's we miss in Idaho, so something feels familiar for him.

As well as a collage of our past years instagram photos.

 I plan on changing them out and putting them in an album when the year is done.

I re-purposed the magnet board, It was an old decoration that came from my mom's house that framed some quilting (not done by her). I loved the frame to much to give it to Goodwill. 

Alyssa made the prints for the wall, they ended up being really cute. 

We of course had to have some Idaho pride. :]

The little blue book shelves are spice racks from IKEA, that I painted.We are working on our ABC's so these little magnets were perfect for the wall, although when they came in the mail I had two C's and no G (annoying, and possibly confusing for Deakon). I ordered it from one of those daily deal sites online and there was no way to return it or contact the shop it originally came from. Buyer's beware.

All in all I think his little room turned out really cute, he loves it and I love doing it. 

I May Be Getting Ahead of Myself...

Thanksgiving is this week. Ca-razy. 

We move next week. Ca-razy.

Christmas is three weeks after that.Yep Crazy.

So in the midst of trying to brainstorm gift ideas and packing boxes I decided to make a Christmas planner. The girls at eighteen25 have made them for three years in a row.

 I stumbled upon their idea midst midnight blog stalking.

 I am a list person, a planner person, and a label person so this little notebook will be great to fill with ideas and plans while I'm trying to move the house as well. Now that I'm thinking about it I should've made a moving one too. I have never moved out side of the state so this is a whole new adventure for me. Let's cross our fingers that it's a good one.

Halloween Projects, and a Package...

Like everyone else out there I LOVE Halloween. 

Actually if we are being totally honest I love any reason to make things and decorate my home {let's be real}. The gory, creepy frightening part of Halloween I could live without. I cannot watch anything slightly terrifying without looking around corners and flipping on every light switch in the house for a few weeks after. That's just been my thing since I was little. When I was a teen and in college however I went along with the scary stuff because it gave me a reason to cuddle with a boy. Now that I married I can cuddle with my guy anytime I want...no need for terror.  

Although I do have a confession I love to watch The Walking Dead with Preston. He was watching it one night in the middle of the second season and I was painting my toes trying to not pay attention. It got me. I started asking questions and Preston tried to fill me in but begged me to watch it. I caved with a few conditions: 1- I can shield my eyes and watch Preston watch it on the scary gory parts. 2- he narrates through the eye shielding parts letting me know what I'm missing 3- We watch something light and fun a little while afterward 4- he stays awake until i fall asleep. The plot line and character profiles are amazing! As well as the costumes and special effects. Mind you I could live without the gore. He got me all caught up on Netflix and now we watch it every Sunday night. Anyway that was quite the Zombie side note.

 I like the cutesy child like memories type of Halloween. This is the shelf that's in my living room. I think it turned out pretty darn cute. The subway art is from the blog eighteen 25. and most everything else i have had in years past or bought at the dollar spot in target. I also printed off Deakon's costume pictures from the past two years. So fun.

I also found this Cute printable at it works for bobbi's blog. Even though I only have one little monster I thought it was still cute.I put it above my desk {which I refinished and haven't even taken a picture of}.

Then there was this little project that i undertook... I saw a wreath like this on Etsy for like $40.00 and thought phsst...I can make that.

 This baby took some diligence and patience, and a lot of burlap. It is huge, mainly because Joann's didn't have an 18" wreath frame when I was there, all they had was a 24" frame. I didn't think it would make that big of a difference but man it did. I bought the burlap with double coupons which made it pretty darn cheap. Then the very next morning I got this little lovely in my mailbox...

Talk about timing. I was annoyed, I got the burlap for cheap but this would have made it even less.

Oh well. I just started cutting the burlap in strips, tying, and bunching. Multiple hours and $20.00 later it was  it was done. I do understand now why they wanted $40.00 for it.

 Other than prepping for halloween and getting Deakons costume together we have been busy sending a greenie car package to our favotire missionary in Ohio. B has been in Ohio for a few eeks now and had said in emails that it has been quite a culture shock but he is loving every minutue of it. Deakon has been asking "where's B" and I tell him he's on a mission and he always replies "B on a mission? I want to go on a mission"
It's cute. So we thoguht we would send him a little :greenie" package. Hopefully he gets it and loves it.

Another Little Ugly...

One day while being dragged along from garage sale to garage sale by my insane husband (he loves garage sales more than I do) I stumbled upon this little ugly...

 (I actually remembered to take a before picture!)

Isn't it a bute!(such a serene ocean/lake scene) The lady wanted ten bucks for it, and mentioned we should look online to see if it was worth anything. Ha. It wasn't.

I knew it's potential but was not willing to pay that much. Preston talked her down to five, because ya know he's good at that kind of stuff. Me, not so much. I try to haggle with people but they can usually sense the awkwardness that I feel seeping out of me. I end up looking down and twiddling my thumbs and paying what they are asking for anyway. I stink at it.

Five bucks later this is what I ended up with! I just painted the frame and distressed it. Although, I did end up having to buy a ten dollar slab of chalkboard at Home Depot. I tried to just paint over the original painting with chalkboard paint...FAIL. That didn't work. So I bit the bullet and paid ten bucks for a real chalkboard. All in all I'm into the project $15.00, not to shabby. It has found a home in our kitchen. I can now write down what's for dinner and items I always seem to forget to remember when I go shopping. Or I can doodle to my hearts content. It's going to be a great photography prop as well.

Excited to Celebrate...

With the recent freedom from school, we are excited to celebrate the 4th of July as well!

Bring on Summer!

A Pennant Banner or Two...

 I am jumping on the bandwagon. The pennant bandwagon that is. There's something about them that just brings a little whimsy and charm to wherever they are placed.

 I have wanted to make one for quite a while now but making one from scratch seemed so daunting. Also I have issues with cutting a straight line (I think I have crooked eyeballs) and well, that's all a pennant is. So making one completely on my own was just not going to happen. At Porter's they have these cute chip board pennant cut out's that were begging to come home with me. I grabbed some cute paper and had it done the next day. It seems a little bare still, I might embellish it if I get bored later but for right now it's cute to me.

I made this little message magnet board on a school break. It's an old calendar hanger from DI for three dollars just painted and distressed. I went to Lowe's and bought the metal and had Preston cut it to size. Is it just me or is it hard to find magnet boards these days? We needed this to go by our desk to keep coupons, appointment cards, and  important receipts. You know the tings that clutter up a desk top. I wanted everything to have it's own spot, now it does. I added the banners the same time I made the big banner, and slapped magnets on the back. Turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself. 

I love making things.

it"s been a process...

This little ol' bedroom makeover of mine. Filled with tons of DIY projects, and slowly but surely it's starting to come together and look like an actual grown up bedroom.

Last year Preston let me makeover our bedroom for my birthday (best present ever) when I say this was done on a tight budget I mean, this was done on a really tight budget. He let me choose the color scheme, bed spread, and sheets and let only one little comment slip through his lips "pink?...really?...my man parts are going to run away screaming." Sooo dramatic, the pink is here to stay.

This is what it looked like after the initial makeover...

  I wanted the room to have a somewhat eclectic feel to it so over time I collected treasures whenever I was lucky enough to find them. Like this bad boy...

Oh wait, i had a before picture then the old computer craped out on me.  Just picture it with a nasty dirty gold frame and a beautiful serene lake scene of a picture (circa 1975). Um... not my thing. DI let me take it home for $10.00. They wanted $20.00 but that was just outrageous (is it just me or does DI think they're Nordstroms lately?) So the hubs with his persuasive personality talked them down. I got home and got right to work. Painted the frame and covered the pretty ugly picture with leftover fabric. Perfect substitute for a headboard. I'm currently searching for a  curly willow wreath to complete the look, but no such luck yet.

This little nightstand was found randomly one day while perusing the Vintage Farm Blog. I was lucky enough to run to pocky and snag it before anyone else for $45.00. Part of me wishes it came with a twin just so I could end the night stand search all together. Although that wouldn't add to the eclectic feel I'm going for. I  love it!

You know when you start a project and you think this will be amazing and then halfway into it you really start to doubt the amazingness?... Ya that was this project.

 

Before:

 Well after stripping five layers of paint off, sanding, Priming (with paint not primer on accident) and three coats later, paining it the actual color (another three coats) and then glazing it. whew! Part of me thinks that was the biggest waste of time EVER!

Ya that was this dresser. It was my dads when he was a baby and made it rounds through the fam. All in all it turned out ok, but just ok wasn't worth the work that was put into it.

On the other hand this bad boy was worth all the sweat and finger cramps. 

We snagged this at a yard sale for $27.00.  I remembered half way through the process to take a before pic.

 Before:

Sanded the varnish off, primed, and painted using Rustoleums Heirloom White (my new favorite white!) I had to control myself from distressing the thing before it was dry because I was so excited to see it in the bedroom. It took forever! but it's now in it's pretty little spot begging to be used.  I think this is my favorite piece in the room.

After:

Preston and I found this ginormouse chest at another garage sale for $25.00.  No before picture (I always get to excited to remember to take one) but I painted it black and distressed it. The one he got me for Christmas was put in Deakon's room to hold his precious things and this one holds ours.

I made the jewelery displays with inspiration from blog land. It prevents me digging through a mess of pretties in my jewelery box and puts it on display for me to admire. The earring frame was a yard sale find redone and Preston made the necklace board from scratch, the knobs were found at the Mini Bazzar.

Our room has really come together, and it has been so fun for me to collect things slowly but surely. The one thing I would probably do differently is make it a little more masculine for Prestons sake (even though he tells me he doesn't care) My favorite part is practically every thing in there can be re-done to match my next extreme bedroom make over.

yep, I already have a new color scheme in mind. I'm not telling Preston about it for a while though. This work needs to last a while. :]

an invitation for m & t...

Tuesday is a pretty big day for Mom & Todd, they're getting sealed in the Salt Lake Temple. We're so happy for them .It's a big step for this family. To celebrate I decided to make invitations for family and close friends that were invited. The invites were inspired by my little ol' necklace. They were some work for sure but totally worth it, I think they turned out pretty darn cute!

Congrats M & T. 

We love you.

front porch reveal...

 Summer = break from school, much needed time with family, and CRAFTS and PROJECTS for Me!

Love it!

 Anywhoo, I was looking through my old posts and realized that I never finished this post. I left all (two) of my readers hanging :]  The door has been finished for a while but I did a little summer sprucing up. ...as of right now it's still a work in progress. I'm finding out there is a very thin line between an attractive front porch and  grandma's flamingo and pinwheel plastered place. ( Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with pin wheels and flamingo's, it's just not my style) 
 

Before:

 After:

 

With the door I used a red color (surprise!) and then glazed it for more dimension and an aged look, the twinkle lights were found at big lots (thanks for the info Lacey) for $12.00 a box. I had wanted these type of lights for forever but whenever I had found them, they were way to much mula for a tiny box. The hanging baskets were my mothers day flowers. All in all I think it looks pretty good for little to no budget...

There's still some things I think need to happen. Hanging the star by the door, finding a cute bench and sewing some fun pillows. The big question is weather or not to paint the concrete white. I kinda want to but at the same time I kinda like the roughness of the concrete too. Luckily my landlords are pretty cool about letting me paint and add whatever. I would love some feedback on this!

the naughty spot...

 Being first time parents Preston and I are finding ourselves a little unprepared in the "how to discipline your toddler mode of parenting". Toddler attitude has come in full swing around our household and we have decided that right now having a "time out" spot for Deakon is the best way to handle him when he's being naughty...

 Naturally, if I can spray paint or slap vinyl onto anything I'll do it and this stool was no exception. I originally wanted a chair just his size that I could re-paint and make into a "Naughty Spot" but after months of looking and not wanting to pay $30.00 for a chair (we hope not to use often) I settled for a stool. It was half off at Joann's, so I brought it home and whipped out the spray paint, distressed it a little and slapped some vinyl on the thing.

I think it's pretty darn cute, although I don't think Deak agrees with me. : ]

I realize six months or even two weeks from now this could be just a huge waste of time, and he'll sit on the stool to watch Handy Manny every morning.  But as of right now though this is our plan, let's cross our fingers it works!

No Lie.