coming soon...

I have been doing some projects at home. Having the life of a substitute teacher, there are weeks where I don't work. This being one of them, I have had some time to do some projects at home. I have been working on my chalkboard, and it is turning out great! Also, I decided to tackle the backyard. So.... check back soon!

Autumn

In the spirit of Fall, here are some things I'm dreaming of...

Thanks to BHG for the pictures

I'm planning a fall party in October and am so excited because I love this season! I grew up in a place where this was a common sight in the fall:

Anyways, these are some things I'm thinking we might have at our party:

Cute centerpieces are a must

Squash soup anyone?

While we're on the subject of food.... how about some pie?

I was thinking we'd have some autumn cookies - how about decorating them?

For entertainment, I was thinking we'd do some pumpkin carving.

One last picture that I just love...

French Fry

I know I haven't posted in a while, and I thought I would introduce you to our baby, French Fry. She is a one and a half year-old French Bulldog.

She has a lot of personality and loves people and most people love her!

She also likes to take naps and lay in the warm sun. (sorry if this is sounding like a personals ad!)

Last year for Halloween she was a cheerleader! Her outfit this year is just going to be awesome, so you'll have to come back in November to see what she was.

She is also a trouble maker, and when left alone for too long gets into things that she shouldn't. In this picture, she has torn apart a doggie bed.

I'll leave you with some cute pictures of her. Enjoy! (p.s. the red pillow in this first pillow was made by me!)

Entryway

This is a project I've been working on for a few days. Remember that huge black bookshelf that is now in the office? Well, when we had someone living with us, it was pushed up against this wall. So, in the last few weeks since I've been re-doing the office, I've now had this space free to decorate. So, here is a picture from our front door looking into the house. My mother-in-law had this table from ikea that she used a while back and then wanted to get rid of. We gladly took if off her hands. The baskets underneath are from ikea as well. The table is now working well as a place we put our keys, and mail. Sorry about the mess in this picture.

Here are some different angles looking at the wall. (and with a clean table!)


Here are some close-ups of the pictures on the wall.


In order to hang these pictures so nicely, I cut newspaper out the same size as the frames. I "hung" the newspaper using a nail. Then, I ripped the newspaper out, leaving only the nail.


Lastly, I'm looking for ideas/inspiration for this last wall. See when you walk in how this wall just is so blank? It sticks out like a sore thumb......

My Office

So, I posted quite a bit ago about my office. Here is a history of this room.


This first picture is what the room looked like when we moved in. Not too bad, just a little plain.


So, I thought a red paint would liven it up. Which it did. Maybe a little too much!


This is what the room looked like first. It was going to be the "office" and I had just started arranging things.


We had someone come live in that room for a few months, and when I finally re-claimed it, I wanted to update it before it became the office again.


So, fresh coat of paint helped a lot! In the next pictures, you will see what the room looks like now. Certainly it is not done, but we're further on the way!


This is where I have been doing some crafts. I borrowed the sewing machine from my mother-in-law and have figured out how to use it!


This picture is the bookcase. Things are not quite organized right yet, but its a great storage area for me!


Finally, this is how the red dresser looks in the room. Doesn't it just pop? Do you notice the bulletin board above it? Eventually that will be hanging on the wall, but baby steps....

Dresser Part 2

I have now been working on the dresser for a few days. It has been stripped of the paint and sanded as best as I can. The next thing I do is to paint it a dark brown color. The top of the dresser is a laminate, not wood, so painting it was a little difficult. Anyways, here are some pictures of what I've been doing. This picture is a drawer. It has been sanded and is ready for painting. It is a beautiful wood!

Along with doing the dresser, I also painted the handles. They were an ugly gold color (from the 70s), and with some metallic spray paint, I drastically changed their look.

It took a few days of sanding and scraping to get the dresser to where I wanted it to be. Finally, I was able to paint the first coat. I chose Behr Spiceberry. It is a dark chocolatey brown.

If you notice, I didn't paint the whole dresser that brown color. There are still a few spots where the original wood shows through. That is because I want to distress it and have the wood show through in some spots and the brown show through in others.

When I was done painting the brown, I covered the top (remember - laminate!) in a thing called Weathered Crackle Glaze. I got it at Lowe's, but I believe that have it at Home Depot, too. You can see the glaze on the picture. It is shiny colored, compated to the dull brown. I did not cover the entire dresser in the glaze. I didn't want the whole thing to be crackled, just in certain spots. After the stuff dried, I began painting the top coat. I chose Behr Awning Red. It is an awesome, bright red color.

When I paint over it with the red, you can see the brown from underneath. See how the brown is showing through? That is thanks to the crackle glaze. Coming soon is the big reveal!

Dresser Part 1

So my biggest project lately has been the dresser that I bought at the Salvation Army. This is a picture of it on our patio.

What I first did was remove the drawers and hardware. I bought some of this

and sprayed it onto the dresser to remove all the paint. When I was done it looked like this.

Since it is not perfect, I took a scraper to it and scraped away any excess paint. This is a picture of the front of it in progress.

Here is an up-close picture of some of the work I'm doing. More to come later!