Lots of Projects!

How've you been??  I've been doing pretty good..!  This is the end of spring break week and I have missed my youngest son...  He went to the beach with a friend for the whole week!  How nice is that?  He came back yesterday afternoon and I couldn't wait to see him :o)  We picked him up and then went out for wings - great night!

As I was going through the pictures on my camera I realized that I have lots of projects going on here..  One small one was finished yesterday, but there are a couple that are just kind of lingering on...

Here is the state of my buffet.  It sits in the basement hallway.  The drawers and doors are stripped.  The top is too.  I think one side is done.  I'm tired and it's kicking my rear. I was going to work on it more today, but it started raining.  And we bought a new TV (completely unplanned) for our bedroom and had to start rearranging furniture.. More on that in another post...

Another thing I started a couple of weeks ago is a complete redo on Rachael's room.  She is away at college in Tennessee and seldom comes home.  Her room got the big queen-sized bed from my old house when the boys and I moved in here.  It was always too much bed for the room.  My plan is to paint the walls, rearrange the furniture and get a daybed set up in here.  It will be a nice place for her to hang out with her friends while she's in town.  While we were taking the bed apart I realized I had no picture of the room with the bed so I quick grabbed my camera and took this..  don't you love how we were storing the odd twin box spring under the bed??  Niiice.  and time also for the old "poofy" curtains to go~~

In this picture you can see the little white head/foot boards of the twin bed frame that I got off of craigslist a few weeks ago that will be the daybed.. I am really excited about this room!  It's going to be sooo cute!

Then I did this yesterday!  I have had it on my mind for three weeks now and finally got around to it.  I originally bought this table to go on our deck and it has lived out there for a couple of years.

But I have also been searching for a small table to go beside the crappy old recliner  (which I plan on getting rid of the first chance I get!) - I can not find anything I like that doesn't cost over $100.  Seriously!  You can see what we have had next to the chair for. ev. er.  One of my husband's pieces from back-in-the-day. It was too big for the space so I didn't even consider painting it.

I saw a gold metal table with a white top on some blog somewhere and thought I can do that with my little metal table! (also, you can see in this picture the little silver & glass top table I tried in that spot too - didn't like it either)

I used my Rub N' Buff on the metal base and my hubby sprayed the tile top for me.  It took me about an hour to do the base and about 15 minutes to spray the top and another hour for it to dry...

 (and yes, this is our very own spray technique - the super-safe and technical unside-down-bucket-by-the-fence-who-cares-about-the-grass technique)

And this is the result

She turned out so pretty..  I can't even get over it.  I'm in love.  She fits perfectly by the ugly recliner.. and lets the beauty of the curtains that I showed you here show through! And the lamp (blogged about here) is one of my early blog posts :)

And now a side-by-side

What do you think?  Pretty cute, huh?  Now, I will be keeping an eye out for just the right chair to replace the recliner..  It will have to fill some pretty big shoes!  I am the only person in this family who thinks the recliner needs to go.. all they know is that it's comfy-cozy when they want to snuggle up and watch TV.. 

Let me know what you think about my various projects - I love getting feedback on this stuff :o)

Have a great week!

Love, Kelli

Update:

On Purpose Link-up with lifeingrace!

And Thrifty Decor Chic!

All Around Updates

ARg!  I'm so bad about writing blog posts..  I love blogging, but most days I just don't have the time/energy to sit down and write..  I have stuff running through my head all the time that I want to say.  If I would just be disciplined to sit and write.  It's kind of like getting pedicures for me..I want to get them (need to get them) but I seldom take the time. Weird analogy? Probs.

So I just wanted to share a few things that have been happening around here this month~~

A couple of weeks ago I found this little guy and brought him home for my dining room

I guess you would call it a buffet?  There are shelves behind the doors so it's really not a dresser, it must be a buffet - so anyway, we sooo did not like the paint job on it and right away went to Lowe's and bought all the tools we needed to strip it!

Well, we got more than we bargained for - a full post to come.  We are still working on that thing!

If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen some of the other activities we've had going on - Robbie's guitar class had their Spring Concert, and of course he was awesome.

And we prepared a Passover seder on the first night of Passover..

I don't think it's suppose to be a joyous occasion, but we always have fun with the kids, singing silly songs and each person reciting part of the service.  This year we were missing three of our kids due to travels and being away at college, so that part was a bummer - but that's what happens when you have grown kids!

Today I'm going to get back to working on stripping the buffet.  I also have another small table project that I can actually complete this weekend..  more Rub n' Buff involved!  It is going to be a gorgeous day in Georgia!  What do you have going on this weekend?  Or month?  If you're anything like me things do tend to be month-long projects - have a great one!

Love, Kelli

Pinspired!

Welcome to the first ever fashion-related post from yours truly ~  Normally I just talk about the little projects I do around the house, and once in a while throw in some stuff about my kids - but when I saw this fun post here at Pinterest Told Me To I knew I had to join in the fun!

I mean I love Pinterest just as much as anybody - maybe too much!  I am always finding time to hop over there and scroll through to find outfits, furniture, recipes - obviously the list goes on and on!  But like I have confessed before - I do a LOT of looking and just a little bit of DOING - so when I saw this pin, I knew I could re-create it!

(All Things Katie Marie)

This is a fun, relaxed, weekend-kind of outfit!  I wish I had her awesome selfie picture skills!  Check out her blog - lots of fun outfits!

See, I just couldn't get the pic to look like hers..  When my son saw this he said "Mom, I didn't know there was a place to post pictures of a mom trying to look like a 20-year old.".. Really?  yeah.

Okay so side-by-side.. not too bad, eh??

Yeay for Pinterest!!  What have you been inspired to create?  Did you find it on Pinterest?  I'm going to share more soon and I would love to hear about you!

Love, Kelli

Another Quick Before and After - Let there be Light!

Linking up with Thrify Decor Chick!

 

If you have read my blog for a while you probably know that I don't get around to actually doing a lot of what I want to do.  I make big plans, but then take a while to carry them through.  Some might call that procrastination - I just call it lazy being thorough.  Making sure before I start anything..

Back here I worked up a wish list for my dining room.  OMG that was literally a YEAR ago. The only thing that has been accomplished in that room (until now) was the hanging of the gold mirror. Period.

I still haven't painted the room, or found/made the perfect tablecloth, or painted the table, but last weekend I did do one thing.... and if you follow me on Instagram you probably saw a peek!  What I really, really have always wanted is a beautiful brass and crystal chandelier - that costs around $2500!  We all know THAT ain't happenin' for some time..  And then it hit me (like, I-coulda-had-a-V8 kinda hit me) why don't I Rub N' Buff the light fixture?!?  DUH.

This thang - in my humble opinion - had an enormous case of the Uglies.  (Don't let Hubby hear that because he picked it out and he really liked it - oops)  I mean the boring metal and those brownish globes!  It just wasn't jiving in here.  Enter Rub N' Buff in Grecian Gold.

I didn't even clean it very well - I took the globes off, dusted it with a rag real quick, and started rubbing and painting. I'm a little impatient when it comes to getting things going.. I just want to jump right in.

 (i spy someone in the mirror hehe - oops!)

 I couldn't BELIEVE how great it was turning out!  I was in love!  I used a small artist paint brush for most of it, but on the long, flat pieces that swoop up I just used my finger.  Just like when I painted my bench, I used a small amount of deglosser in a little bowl.  I would dip the brush in the deglosser then drag it through the Rub N' Buff that was poking out of the tube.  (And alas, as usual, I didn't photograph that part - I was so excited about how this thing was looking!)  Sammy at Renew Redo has great instructions for using Rub N' Buff here...

Can you get over how it is the same gold as the mirror?  Why had I not done this MONTHS ago?  Why?  Once I was finished all I needed to do was run to Lowe's and grab some new globes~

I am seriously in love with the light now.  If I don't get my fancy brass and crystal chandelier for a while it won't matter because I think this baby is perfect!  Once I put the new globes on you could see the white socket thingy that holds the bulb.  Hubby suggested I go ahead and paint the sockets gold too, so I did..

I love how the Rub N' Buff doesn't cover like stray paint; it has depth.

It took me a few hours to do this - I did not take the fixture down, so I kinda got a little crick in my neck, but it was totally worth it.

So yeay!  I have a "new" chandelier for about $17 (the cost of the 5 globes and part of the tube of Rub N' Buff).  I still have almost the entire tube of Rub N' Buff left that I can use on another project.  Next I will be painting the room gray.  Hubby needs to do a little maintenance on the wainscoting in the room first, then we'll be ready to go.

So tell me what you think about my chande!  Do you like it?  Think it's pretty?  As usual I have been dragging people in to look at it~~

Have a great week people!  And shout out to my youngest, Robbie, on his 14th birthday today!! Love you kid!

Love, Kelli

Happy Valentine's Day

It's a fun day, isn't it?  Full of pretty hearts and lots of love!  Since I didn't do any wonderfully sweet craft/dinner/breakfast/card or anything else like that for my family to show you - I thought it would be nice to share some things that OTHER bloggers did..  Here are some of the blogs I follow and the cool & crafty stuff they are up to.  Yes, I have blog envy :/

{Hi Sugarplum!}

{Angie in the Thick of It}

{For the Love of Cooking}

{Young House Love}

Hope you all have a beautiful Valentine's Day!

Love, Kelli

Crafty! Arm-Knitting

Hello!  It's a beautiful day here in Georgia.. cold, but the sun is shining and that goes a long way toward making it a good day.

Have you ever seen a craft/project on Pinterest that you thought was awesome so you pinned it?  Yes!  I love finding stuff to pin!  I'll sit for hours finding recipes, outfits to wear, fun things to do..  But I realized I haven't been so good about doing the things that I have pinned... Am I the Lone Ranger here?  Exactly..  So recently I found this pin and immediately thought of my BFF, Joanne, who knows how to knit (I don't) and thought, if anyone could figure this out it would be her.  So I sent her the link and thought, okay, one of these days we'll do this.. (haha, yeah Right!)

Source: Simply Maggie

Isn't that the coolest scarf?  So warm and cozy looking!  I wanted one so bad.  The opportunity presented itself a couple weeks ago when I was working on my curtains and my sewing machine started acting up..  I had to finish just one hem, so I called Joanne and asked for her help.  She was wonderful and told me to come right over. 

She not only hemmed my curtain for me, she also says "hey I figured out how to do the arm knitting, do you want to make a scarf?"  (Seriously?  I just sent the link to her three days before!  Dang, she's good)  I wasn't sure there was enough time, because you know, I had to get home, make dinner, be the mom, blah blah blah.. (I mean, really, I can't actually take time to DO something like a CRAFT; two in one day is just outrageous) but she's like, no, seriously, this takes about 30 minutes..  And it did.

Sorry for the crummy pictures - I took them with my crummy phone because I was not prepared! (see my curtains in the background there?)  Joanne is a "DOer"  She doesn't say "oh I can't do that" if something seems complicated..  no, she says "humm, how can I do that?"  She's awesome and has been one of the most influential and inspirational people in my life.  Love her!

So if you are interested in making one of these for yourself you should go to Simply Maggie's blog and watch her awesome tutorial!  I love my scarf!  

The yarn Joanne bought cost about $9.  She got it at Hobby Lobby, but I'm sure you could get it anywhere they sell knitting stuff. So, yeah, you get a super hip scarf, you get to say you made the scarf, and the price is unbeatable.   I made mine a little larger then Maggie's.  I, uh, have to be able to get it off quickly... like super quick if I start getting hot.. hot flash hot.. and so as not to mess up my hair either.  So, am I the Lone Ranger here?  Didn't think so.

What Pinterest projects have you done/attempted/completed?  I would love to hear about them!  I would also love to know that I'm NOT alone in pinning lots and doing little.. 

There are obviously so many awesome pinners out there.. Some of my favorite people to follow on Pinterest:

Sheaffer Sims

Jillee

Sammy - Renew Redo

You can follow me on Pinterest here.  And you can follow Joanne's here, but honestly, she's out there Doing stuff, not sitting here pinning stuff.

Have a great weekend!!

Love, Kelli

Low and Behold - Curtains!

Well I'm so excited! First of all I'm excited that I am actually sitting down at my computer and writing a blog post!  It is something I really enjoy doing, yet I don't do it nearly enough.

Secondly, I have done a couple of things to actually blog about!  You know my sob story - work, work, work; housework, housework, housework; tired, tired, and more tired.  But, hey, I'm getting better.

Okay, back to my thing that I'm so excited about...  I hung curtains.  YEE HAW, right?!  Right!  A plain, simple pair of curtains - oh, but I did some customizing - let's start from the boring beginning.  Here is the window.

No kidding, this is my den.  It's been this way forever and really, I had not even thought about hanging curtains in here.  That was way further down the list of things I wanted to do.  But I was in Kirkland's right after Christmas and they had a ton of great stuff on sale.  I found this set of curtains on sale, and then got another 20% off.  They ended up costing around $30.  I couldn't pass them up!  They were the perfect color and everything.  Well, almost everything.

Since I wanted to hang the rod higher, half way between the top of the window and the 9 foot ceiling, they were going to be way too short.

 (it is so hard to photograph a window when the sun is shining in it!)

I didn't let that deter me.  I found what I needed at JoAnn Fabric.  A solid, somewhat heavy material that matched perfectly, to sew to the bottom of each panel.

I am not the most accomplished seamstress, but I can sew some straight lines.  It wasn't too difficult - I took the hem out of the curtain, cut the new fabric to the right width and sewed the sides so they would be nice and finished..

I sewed the new fabric to the curtain, using the original bottom fold of the curtain as my guide.  Then I hung them back on the rod (forgot to photograph that part) to measure/pin the bottom of the curtain.  I took them down, pinned the hem and hung them back up to make sure the hem was in the right place.  Once that was done there was nothing left to do but sew that hem and they were finished!  See the difference~~ and the weight of the solid fabric makes them hang better.

I am completely smitten with them.  They add so much to the room I can't believe I didn't do this sooner.  And I'm feeling all "accomplished" with myself, asking everyone who walks in the house "did you see the new curtains?" "uhm, yeah, mom, we've seen 'em.  Like 10 times already."

I did have a little problem with my sewing machine while I was working on the second panel.  The darn thing left me high and dry with only the hem to go!  That's when I called my BFF and asked for her HELP!  She just so happened to be working on her quilts and told me to get my butt over there ASAP.  She finished the hem for me so fast and we even had time for another fun craft... 

So here they are, in all their glory..  I love them!  They add so much warmth to the room.   And they tie into the other bits of red I have in the room.  (Now if I could only get new furniture)

Getting back to my BFF, once she finished the hem on my curtain, she showed me a fun Pinterest project she'd worked on.  I'll be sharing about that in a few days..  What's that?  More crafty fun-ness?  Yes!  Low and behold, I'm on a roll!

What has been gettin' you excited lately?

Love, Kelli