FEATURED!!

Hop over to Better After and see our Kitchen Table redo, have to admit I'm a bit giddy about being featured! ;)

A table Re-do

 We've had this table for 6 years but for 20+ years before that it was my family kitchen/dining room table.  Birthday's were celebrated around it, friends &  family gather by it's side, homework and tutors made their mark, and memories were made.  When we were "gifted" the table it was a back up, with plans to get something we liked within some time.  As a newly married couple we had hopes of new dining sets, espresso finishes, modern lines, and something that screamed us.  Little did we know that "us" was something that could not be determined within in the first year of our marriage (as we are noticing with other first year purchases) and "us" didn't have any money when we first got married.  So a free table won and we welcomed it with open arms.

Last weekend after months, no years of browsing stores and catalogs we decided to take the table into our own hands.  We've found our style and more so - I've stopped rejecting my roots as a girl who loves herself some distressed pieces that look like they've spent years in a farm house or were rescued from a barn.  I grew up in the midwest and I can't deny those county decorating roots - now we try to steer clear from powder blue & mauve and you won't find forest green in our home unless it's Christmas but we enjoy some french country style.

When I saw this table & chair set I knew that it was speaking to me and my kitchen.

I'm a sucker for barn red anyway, so the chairs (and cabinet) drew me in.  I also have a weakness for not being "matchy matchy" so this set played to that affinity too!  I showed it to the mister and we set out to create our own, much cheaper, PB kitchen set.

 Very similar, right??  We'll work on our letter chandelier later (hahaa) & the plates aren't far from hanging on the wall oh and I'm gonna need to be on the look out for a rug  like that (that doesn't cost a gazillion $$ :)

 yup, these pictures aren't so great - I need to take others, maybe she just wasn't up for the photo shoot

All "falled up" and no place to go ;)

Let's just say we gave our table a face-lift & it looks 30 years older :)  The years of pencil pushing, silverware sliding, craft creating, and homework happening around this table gave it just the distressed look we were going for and we couldn't be happier with the way it turned out!!

Hang a verse....

Probably could of come up with a more catchy title but I don't have one.  I made some cute wall plaques for some friends tonight and love them!  They were super easy and I love the fact that they can be personalized with a verse that is fitting for that person.

Care to see a closer look...

How about one of these for family, friends, or a favorite teacher during this holiday season?

A kitchen for 2!

Our sweet niece turned TWO in late July and I wanted to make her the perfect girlie gift.  Upon getting the "go ahead" from my sister in law, Ryan and I got to work.

Spray painted sink faucet & knobs (later to be repainted silver and H&C written on them, the bold colors clashed with the pretty pink)

More sprayed parts; knobs for the stove and burner pieces

The sink; a little scuffed so we sprayed it to match the rest of the brushed nickle accessories

Ryan tracing for the burners - who knew small flower pots would be the perfect size

Making the cut for the sink - he insisted on doing this part because we just got a knew tool and he wanted to use it :)

There are no pictures of me painting because well...I was painting.  I used Behr two in one paint (with the primer) and the color was Cafe Pink -- it covered so well and only needed two coats.  I will advise to refrain from doing this in the heat because the paint did not wanted to stick and resulted in us peeling all the paint off and painting it ALL over again.  OOPS :)

Loving the finished product:

We added a handle on the outside to mimic that of an oven and the three flower decals add the perfect girlie touch and cover the hole from the previous knob to the drawer

I added a strip of velcro to the top of the oven door and where it meets the shelf so it wouldn't fall accidentally.

On the side we added the little hooks so she could hang the fun little kitchen tools, that I failed to take a picture of.  Some heart shaped measuring tools; cups & tbps, a couple rubber spatulas, a hot pad and a lil' tot sized apron.

This was such a fun project and one that I'll definitely want to do again :)

PBK inspired bookshelf

If you spend any time flipping the pages of designer store catalogs then you know there is a lot of inspiration to be had there.  I pair a lot of gasping with my page flipping since typically the prices are SO ridiculous -- or I'm TOO frugal.

A few months ago I saw a cool bookshelf and that was all it was -- a cool bookshelf.  I didn't get it much more thought until my sister in law mentioned wanting one for my nephew's room but not up for paying the price.  At the time I was not spending any time doing woodwork or even giving it a thought.  When the topic of the shelf came up it was actually to see if I knew if someone could re-create it.

Fast-forward a couple of months and it is winter.  Just a couple of weeks prior to Christmas I got the woodworking bug and decided to make good chunk of the presents we were giving.  (I get wild hairs like that and just go out and tackle things - I will have to say my husband was a bit shocked when he got a call from me at work in regards to the usage of his circular saw.  Always keep'n him on his toes). It was on one of my late nights of working where the spray paint fumes and saw dust were starting to cloud my brain and I decided that I was going to make the bookshelf that my sister in law had been eyeing.  I looked over it several times and developed a plan.  After several trips to the home improvement store and hobby lobby; I had my supplies.

Well Christmas came and went and my goal was to finish the project for my nephew's birthday (early January).  Well wouldn't ya know that it came and went and the weeks wore on and it just didn't seem like I could spare any amount of time to be out in the garage playing carpenter.  So finally in March I drew a line in the sand (eerrr..sawdust) and decided I HAD to get the bookshelf done.  

There were many ideas I had rolling around in my head and as I sat out to do it I realized that I was going to need some help from my mister.  He has terrific ideas and can execute them so wonderfully -- I have to admit that my ideas aren't always executed well, especially in uncharted territory.

Here are a few "at work" pictures : 

(the hood of my car is an appropriate work space - right?)

Coming together -- except not "together" AT ALL!

After 2 coats of bright white spray paint (matches my nephew's room and I didn't have the budget or patience for stain)

Here she is

And a view from the front

We (or I) opted for 2 shelves instead of 3 since it was my first go around and I wasn't sure how it was all going to come together.  It works well for my nephew since this piece hangs over his bed and I didn't want it to be too heavy.  They just picked some of his favorite books to display - I'm not sure there is a bookshelf big enough to contain all the books our kiddos have (with have some book loving gift givers in the fam...so there is no shortage)

I'm linking up here