Project #3

I saw a really cute idea in Pottery Barn's summer catalog. I almost soley restrict myself to simply getting "ideas" from Pottery Barn as most of their items don't fall within my slim deocrating budget. There was an old shelf with cute mason jars hanging with candles. I thought it was precious.

Lucky for me... I had the perfect shelf. It was one my mom had seen at a garage sale and picked up for a buck or two. Its just been sitting in my garage, waiting for the perfect project.

I didn't want to pay for mason jars, so I just emptied a few things out of my fridge (that probably needed to go anyways!). I used a jelly jar, pizza sauce jar, and an alfredo sauce jar. I like this because the jars are a variety of sizes, which adds to the look. I filled them with some beans I had from another project that I got for $1 at Fred's.


I took some jewelry wire ($1.50 for the spindle that I used a tiny bit of), twisted it together to make it strong, and then wrapped it around the top of the jar. I made little loops on each side so I could connect the hanging wire as well. I twisted the hanging wire and then looped it through the holes I had made. It is plenty strong enough to hang the jars by.

I bought $1 candles from hobby lobby to put down in the jars. I let them burn for a little bit so they would appear like they have been used a few times at least.

I don't process pictures for the shelf, but it started out just a boring brown color. I spray painted it white and then took my sander to it (of course). After roughing it up a bit, Smith hung it in our dining room for me and we put the jars in place. LOVE how it turned out! I did the whole project for less than 1 of Pottery Barn's mason jars would have costs me! I mean no disrespect to one of my favorite stores, but I must say... Booyah, P.B.

See below for more of my recent projects! I know you must be thinking..."What? More than one post in a period of a few months?"... yes, shocking. Enjoy!

Project #2

I have been really wanting a small table for our entry way (are you starting to see a pattern...). So Smith and I thought...what better to do on a Tuesday night than build a table?



I actually took some process pictures for this one. I don't have the starting point, but as it was "from scratch" once again, you can probably imagine a pile of wood for yourself.



It took us about 2 hours to build this beauty. I got up the next day and painted it while Smith was at work. We are really happy with how it turned out. All the supplies cost right around $60- which isn't our cheapest project, but it definitely beats the $200+ tables I was finding for the space.

Here is the table "bare bones" after we constructed it.

We used stair spindles as the legs to add a decorative element that wouldn't have been their with just straight board.

We picked an inexpensive peice of wood trip to wrap around the table to add additional detail. I think it made the table look more "finished".

I painted a rough coat of red, not worrying about coverage because it makes the distressing easier in the end. After that coat, I used the sander to light rough up the entire peice and then went back and really distressed areas that would naturally see wear and tear (edges, corners, etc.) I then took the stain and went over the entire table in order to darken the whole thing up. I added additional stain to the areas where I did extra sanding. It came out looking like it was many years older than it is!

Finished project!

This windows came from another project I did last year (sorry no process pictures!). They came from my childhood treehouse that my dad tore down last year. I thought they worked perfectly in this space.

We has the best time building this and are really proud of the end result. I have to give credit to where credit is due though- Smith once again was my indespinsable handy-man. I would be in a rough spot without him! What a great husband! :)

Project #1

I had been really wanting a bookshelf in our living room to display all our pictures of family and friends that didn't have a place. So a couple months back... Smith and I decided to undertake our first "from scratch" furniture project.

I had already refinished multiple peices, but this was our first time to build the peice. Thankfully, I have a super handy husband who can figure out just about any project he sets his mind too. Otherwise... this gorgeous bookcase would not be in existance :)

Sorry I don't have process pictures... I'm trying to get better at that! Anyway, here is the finished project. We are really happy with it... and it was cheap too. Always a plus!

Just Call Me Martha...

So I guess I got a little Martha Stewart fever this past week. I have been eying some curtains in the Pottery Barn catalog for over a month now. I have been waiting and waiting to put up curtains in my living room because I wanted the perfect ones. I have looked a lot of other places, but just kept coming back to these curtains. But once again, there was a small problem... the price. As you might can tell from some of my recent post, I have expensive taste at times. The drapes I wanted were way to expensive. I searched and searched and found the fabric at Calico Corner, but it was still pretty expensive. Luckily though, it went on sale in March and so Smith and I went to look at it. Guess what... Smith loved how much I loved it so we bought the fabric and I set off on the adventure of making my first ever curtains. Thankfully my mom is quite handy in these kind of situations and was definitely my right hand woman- guiding me every step of the way. My curtains turned out GORGEOUS! I was so excited. My resident handy-man, Smith, hung them for me soon after. I know you must be dying to see how great they look...

My living room still isn't finished. We need to move over that clock on the wall obviously. I plan on making more throw pillows and getting a new rug for starters, but its much closer to being how I imagine it! If you have any suggestions of cute and inexpensive decorating ideas please share! I am always looking for new ideas and projects!

Hope you had a great Tuesday!

Fun in the Sun (finally!)

We have been waiting and waiting for this! I HATE the cold weather. Saturday was such a gorgeous day so Smith and I decided to enjoy some of this warm, beautiful weather we have been waiting. We headed around the corner (literally) from our new house to Shelby Farms for some Frisbee Golf. Smith hesitated at the idea at first because its hard on him to be so badly beaten at Frisbee by his wife, but he finally came around. Ok... so maybe that is totally not true and maybe I have to throw about 3 times for his 1 throw... but we still have fun being outdoors and active together. :) Here we are after a couple of holes!

Smith acting crazy, keeping me entertained while we were out on the course. He's so funny :)

Logan and Jennee joined us about 1/2 way through the course. Logan actually was a little hesitant to play because he thought he wouldn't be bad. I quickly made him feel good about himself by going first and getting about a 6 on a par 3 whole. I quickly had to retire because my arm was getting too tired. Jennee and I just cheered on the boys instead.

Logan and Smith showing off their sweet throwing skills.

We had such a great time and really enjoyed being outside for the day. After our hard work, we headed to sonic to refresh ourselves! It was fun to have some time with Logan and Jennee before he leaves for Chile for 3 months! We are really going to miss Logan!

I hope everyone else is enjoying this beautiful weather, too!

Stay tuned in. I recently made curtains for my living room and will be posting them soon!

Something New

So while this last week was very boring work wise (I had an 8-5 schedule of more classroom orientation everyday and did not get to spend ANY time on the actual unit!), we had some good times with family and friends.

Friday Night

We went bowling with 2 other couples and had the best time! Hunter and Maggie Mitchell go to Germantown C of C with us and we are really enjoying getting to know them. Hunter always has something clever to say and Maggie is always so sweet and encouraging! Brandon Edwards and his sweet fiance' Elizabeth came as well. Its been a while since I got to hang out with Brandon (one of my best friends from HS). We had a great time with both of them and hope to continue to do things with them both. We also were babysitting Neesha this weekend, which is always fun. She LOVED bowling and did surprisingly well. I guess all her WII bowling paid off :)

Saturday

So this was definitely not a relaxing Saturday, but overall it was extremely exciting because we bought a...

NEW CAR!

Smith's truck was getting on up there in miles (125,000) so we decided it was time to trade it in for something in a little bit better shape. It was somewhat sad to see the good ole truck go considering we went on all our dates, trips, etc in that truck, but we are so excited about our new SUV. We got a 2007 Ford Edge with less than 30,000 miles (big change). Its fully-loaded which Smith isn't used to. He's loving his new ride :) He was quite the negotiator and got us an incredible deal. This is the only picture of it I have right now and it's off my phone so sorry if it isn't the best!

Sunday

We had a wonderful day at church. I went with Neesha to her Volleyball practice. She is doing so well and working so hard. My mom and dad got home from their trip to Arizona and we were all glad to see them back.

Monday

Mostly I did laundry, cleaned the house, and worked on some projects for people that I needed to catch up on. But I did take a break to go eat with my best friends from Nursing school. Lauren Flatt, Katie Soldevila, and I met at Bahama Breeze for a girls lunch. It was so great to spend some time with them. We were used to spending each and every day together in school sharing multiple lunch dates a week. Now, with my job, Lauren's interviews, and Katie's new sweet baby, it is much more difficult to get together. It was so great to see Campbell, Katie's 2month old baby boy. He is so precious and she is doing such a great job with him! We definitely missed Sarah and Jenny... the other two girls who complete our little group. Hopefully a girls trip out to TX will be in the works soon to visit ole Jennster!

Well that brings us up to date... sorry if my life isn't all that interesting haha. I hope everyone's week is off to a great start!

Pricey VS. Priceless

One of my favorite stores around Memphis is Bella Vita. Thanks to my wonderful friend, Lauren Flatt, I discovered this amazing sanctuary of adorable furniture and household items in Collierville. Unfortunately, this adorable boutique is just a tad out of my price range these days (or ever). This normally does not pose a problem. Instead of buying all the super cute items I spot at Bella Vita... I use the store as a source of inspiration and ideas for my own projects. This saves me a lot of time and is a super fun hobby (some of my own projects will be exhibited on the blog in the near future). Lately, though, I have been in a small bind. I found the most beautiful paintings there that would be just PERFECT for my living room. Unfortunately again... they were a bit to pricey. The big one that I wanted was priced at $800 and the smaller 2 were somewhere between $300 and $400. Even if I were up for spending that much for a painting (which I'm not), there is no way in the world my thrifty hubby would ever go for it. This was all a problem because while I can make and decorate furniture and other household items all day long... I am definitely NOT a painter! So normally the story would simply end here...and I would have to settle for some lesser decor for above my couch. Lucky for me... it doesn't end here.

I have an incredibly talented brother that turned my pricey dilemma into a priceless experience! After seeing the paintings I had my eye on, he created gorgeous replicas that are practically identical! See if you can tell the difference!!!

Isn't that crazy? If the picture of mine was a closer shot, you would see the detailed texture that is present on the Bella Vita paintings as well. I still am in shock at how incredible they turned out! So I am happy to say that I have some priceless (instead of pricey) paintings hanging above my couch that make my living room look all the more gorgeous!!!!

THANKS, LOGAN!!!!!