My girls...

For the life of me I cannot seem to take good pictures of my children.  I can hardly take a good photo of my furniture to show you, let alone a moving object ;-)  I am so grateful for these lovely photos...

Colbie 22 months ; Charlee 4 years

Unfortunately I am at work full time this year so my girls don't get to be home with me everyday any longer.  We are very lucky to have found Crystal. She takes care of our girls while my husband and I are at work.  This has been a very difficult transition for both the girls and myself.  We couldn't have done it without Crystal and her patience with my girls during this time.  Not only is she a life savor for us during the day, but she also has fabulous photography skills.  She took these beautiful pictures of Colbie and Charlee yesterday and I am just in love with them (the girls and the pictures ;-))! 

Chair makeovers are complete!!

I am so excited to not only put this project behind me (click here to see why), but because I am finally happy with the outcome...



Before





After

I am not sure where these chairs will stay because they actually work in multiple rooms, unlike the first 3 attempts...For now I have one in the living room and one in the Master bedroom.  I am just happy they are finally out of the garage and that my favorite fabric is put to good use :-))

 

The final product of these chairs was actually so easy and took very little time.  I just used Ace Premium Primer spray paint in Red Oxide and finished it with a coat of Ace Clear Cote Gloss spray paint.  When spray painting I normally use a primer and follow with the color I want, but in this case the only color I could find that I wanted was in the primer.  This turned out just as I wanted though.  For the seat I just unscrewed the old seat, vacuumed it off and stapled my new fabric on :-)  How much easier could it be.  Now if only I started out on the easy road the first time...

I'm linking up to these parties...

http://firefliesandjellybeans.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.makingtheworldcuter.com/ ; http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/ ; http://craftomaniac.blogspot.com/; http://thediyshowoff.blogspot.com/; http://runwithglitter.blogspot.com/; http://www.dittledattle.blogspot.com/;

http://www.craftskeepmesane.blogspot.com/; http://www.skiptomylou.org/ ; http://www.homestoriesatoz.com/ ; http://www.notjustahousewife.ne/ ;

http://www.myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com/ ; http://abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/ ; http://goodbyecityhellosuburbs.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.lilluna.com/ ; http://polkadotsonparade.blogspot.com/ ; http://sewmuchado.blogspot.com/ ; http://733blog.blogspot.com/ ; http://tearosehome.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.somewhatsimple.com/ ; http://thriftydecorating-nikkiw.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.houseofhepworths.com/ ; http://rhinestonebeagle.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.brandyscrafts.blogspot.com/ ; http://alliemakes.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.thrifty101.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com/ ; http://whipperberry.com/ ; http://www.missmustardseed.com/ ; http://www.mysimplehomelife.com/ ; http://www.atthepicketfence.com/ ; http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.stuff-and-nonsense.net/ ; http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com/ ; http://niftythriftythings.blogspot.com/ ; http://morrowsunshine.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.bystephanielynn.com/ ; http://www.iheartnaptime.net/ ; http://www.flamingotoes.com/ ; http://sumossweetstuff.blogspot.com/ ; http://sweetpeasandbb.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.laughloveandcraft.com/ ; http://www.thestuffofsuccess.com/ ; http://www.remodelaholic.com/

Bad chairs gone worse

I have been MIA once again because I have still been working on these silly chairs.  I should have been done with this project 2 weeks ago!
  

I picked up these ugly chairs at a garage sale.  I had envisioned yellow chairs with this beautiful fabric that I just loved.  After 4 hours of painting (yes 4 hours!!) I took them inside and was immediately disgusted!  Not only because they were a puke yellow/green, but because I wasted a whole Saturday afternoon on the darn things!

So I decided that I would just stain them brown with my walnut brown stain, which was again an ultimate failure :-( I was so uncertain of where to go from here...I decided to just let them sit for a for a few days.  So there they sat in my garage mocking me every time I opened the door.

After gaining the courage to paint them again I decided to head to Home Depot to try some Behr paint, because the type of paint must have been my problem ;-) I got a beautiful yellow that was the exact golden yellow color I was looking for.  Well it turned out yellow alright!  BLINDING yellow!  It took all I had not to just write FREE on these time wasting chairs and stick them out on the curb...

After banging my head against the wall a couple deep breaths I got to work again.  I decided to try mixing some of my white paint with my yellow paint to tone it down a bit.

I placed it in my dining room and stared at it for 2 days...It wasn't a horrible eye sore, but it certainly wasn't what I was going for.  Another battle lost... Chairs 3 Brooke 0  

At this point I have realized that these chairs are just not destined to be yellow.  I thought of painting them the same blue as my hutch but I didn't want everything to be too matchy matchy.  Then my mom pointed out the obvious, the rust colored red in the fabric.  How could I have been so blind!  I looked around and this color is everywhere in my living and dining room!  The best part is that I am using spray paint this time so it will only take me about a 1/2 hour instead of 4 hours. 

These chairs may have one the battle, or several battles, but I am darn well going to win the war!  So tonight I am turning up the Rocky theme song (you've got it in your head now, don't you ;-))and getting to work!

Why is it that the simplest solutions that are right in front of you are so often missed?  Sometimes I wonder if all these paint fumes are getting to me :-))

Whoo Hoo my new wall piece!!

I am so excited to show you this project!  Remember the top to this dresser and how I mentioned I would be completing 2 projects in one with this fabulous find?  Well here it is...

I love my clearance Lowe's pots :-)

I had no idea what to do with this since I would have 2 hutches on the same wall if I kept it with the dresser.  Then my mom suggested it would be perfect for my large, blank wall , genius!!

I am so thrilled with how well it turned out and it makes the room feel so much more complete!  There is still a lot to be done, but it is nice to have some of the big pieces finished. 

Any ideas of what I should put on the wall to each side of it, or on top?  I am thinking maybe 3 or so plates along each side and I have no idea about the top...

I'm linking up to these parties...

http://firefliesandjellybeans.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.makingtheworldcuter.com/ ; http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/ ; http://craftomaniac.blogspot.com/; http://thediyshowoff.blogspot.com/; http://runwithglitter.blogspot.com/; http://www.dittledattle.blogspot.com/;

http://www.craftskeepmesane.blogspot.com/; http://www.skiptomylou.org/ ; http://www.homestoriesatoz.com/ ; http://www.notjustahousewife.ne/ ;

http://www.myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com/ ; http://abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/ ; http://goodbyecityhellosuburbs.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.lilluna.com/ ; http://polkadotsonparade.blogspot.com/ ; http://sewmuchado.blogspot.com/ ; http://733blog.blogspot.com/ ; http://tearosehome.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.somewhatsimple.com/ ; http://thriftydecorating-nikkiw.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.houseofhepworths.com/ ; http://rhinestonebeagle.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.brandyscrafts.blogspot.com/ ; http://alliemakes.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.thrifty101.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com/ ; http://whipperberry.com/ ; http://www.missmustardseed.com/ ; http://www.mysimplehomelife.com/ ; http://www.atthepicketfence.com/ ; http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.stuff-and-nonsense.net/ ; http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com/ ; http://niftythriftythings.blogspot.com/ ; http://morrowsunshine.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.bystephanielynn.com/ ; http://www.iheartnaptime.net/ ; http://www.flamingotoes.com/ ; http://sumossweetstuff.blogspot.com/ ; http://sweetpeasandbb.blogspot.com/ ; http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.remodelaholic.com/; http://www.itsoverflowing.com/; http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com

My new herb garden!

Sorry I haven't posted much in the last week, I have been working hard...

We went to a ton of yard sales 2 weeks ago and really scored!  I have been working my tail off to get projects complete to show you,  but somehow I have multiple unfinished projects.  I don't really understand how that happened??

Here is a sneak peak at what I am going to be showing you very soon...

Remember the top to this dresser?  I really, really want to show it to you right now because I am super impatient!!  Hopefully it will be complete tomorrow.

We also picked up these horribly ugly chairs and I completely re-did them and I am not happy with the outcome :-(  Therefore this is the state in my garage at the moment. (Also notice the dresser and hutch in the background staring at me, impatiently waiting their turn).

I was so excited that I finished this big project over the weekend and now it is a total flop.  Hopefully something even more beautiful will emerge, right?

I will be lucky if I get this all done by Christmas!

For now I do have one small project that is complete though. 

I found this adorable crate for $8 bucks at a yard sale and fell in love!  I wasn't sure what I would do with it.  I was trying to think of places to hang it, when my brilliant husband suggested that I put it on our new dresser in the living room and put plants in it (I am starting to think that he should be the one writing the blog).  Immediately when he suggested plants, I thought HERBS!!  I {LOVE} this crate and I can't wait until I have more to show than dirt ;-)

I promise I will get in gear and finish my other projects soon. 

Transformation complete :-)

It is finally done!  Here is the dresser transformation... 

 

Before

I ended up painting it an off white with a little distressing.  I didn't want to spend a ton of money on hardware at the moment, so I did ribbon for drawer handles.  I also had these two little holes on two of the drawers that I could have filled and painted, but I decided to pick up a couple buttons for $1.25 and hot glue them on :-)

If you would like detailed instructions one how I completed this look click here :-)

Linked up here

Behold the ugly dresser!!

I am so thrilled I can hardly contain myself!  My wonderful husband got it in his head to go to a couple garage sales and he scored!  He is seriously the best husband in the world :-)

What he got me was exactly what I needed...I just said in my last post how I wanted a dresser to replace our entertainment center, and that is exactly what I got today!  I know you are probably thinking, "wow, really pretty Brooke..." but just wait till you see the finished product!

The best part of it all is that with this one unit, we will accomplish two major needs at once!  I can't wait to reveal the finished project tomorrow, it is turning out better than I could have ever hoped :-)



How to declutter your home in minutes

On the journey towards having a clean house with less stress and getting rid of my perfectionism I am on the search for easy decluttering ideas...

Have you ever gotten the call that someone was on the way over and you just about died because your house looked like a bomb just went off and you only had 5 minutes to clean?  I have some quick decluttering ideas to help you clean on a whim and to help keep your house looking picked up.

Today I am going to start with kids toys...

I always had this fear that once we had kids our house was going to look like one big play room. We don't have the luxury of a separate playroom in our house and I definitely wanted our house to still feel like adults live here.  I used to try to get all toys picked up and out of the living room so that it looked adult friendly ;-) but that is down right exhausting.  I have since decided that the best solution to a clutter free home is to incorporate some of the children's toys into our decor. 

I hide some of the unsightly, but often used toys, such as the blue one you see in the corner ;-)  Then for the million little toys and puzzles that get used often, I use a big red tub that we just throw everything into. 

It isn't the prettiest arrangement, but it is certainly better than toys all over the floor and easier than putting everything back in it's place.  The key for me is to have everything be simple for putting things away so that my girls can help as well.

My goal is to replace this entertainment center, since we don't need it any longer, with a cute dresser.  That way I will be able to hide even more toys.  My girls are currently sharing a room, so the more space I have in their room the better!

How do you all avoid clutter and the kid's toys taking over your house?

Doing laundry naked

I bet I got your attention now ;-)

Don't worry I'm not really doing my laundry in the buff, but I have a confession to make...I could definitely relate to how this woman felt when I read this story.  I have the same mentality when doing laundry and cleaning my home.  I want things to be perfectly clean and stay clean!  I hate the day after cleaning because you would never know that I spent 5 hours deep cleaning and doing laundry.  This is completely ridiculous and unpractical especially with 2 kids and 2 dogs; I am setting myself up for torture each week! 

It never really hit me that this was a problem (having a clean house is a good thing, right?) until I looked at it from the perspective of doing laundry naked.  The amazing part is when I first started reading this story I thought for a minute, "how smart!" when I should have been thinking, "how ridiculous!" 

I usually deep clean my house on Sunday (I want the laundry basket empty, the dishes clean and put away, the floors mopped, toilets sparkling, etc.) so that everything feels like a fresh start on Monday.  This has always seemed like a great idea.  However, what I failed to see in my perfect planning, is that come Monday morning there will be clothes in the hamper, toys on the floor, dog hair collecting on the ground, dishes getting thrown in the sink, and Heaven forbid if someone used the toilet!! Instead of feeling like Monday's a fresh start I feel like all my hard work has gone down the drain. There is no end to the messes in life, they just keep coming...

The more I visit blogs and admire other's homes this problem is only going to continue to worsen.  I am nipping it in the bud right now and I am going to focus on having a clean, but liveable home. I am going to make sure my priorities of God, my husband, my girls, and the rest of my friends and family are on the top of my list. 

This doesn't mean that I am going to boycott cleaning since things will get dirty anyway, but it does mean that after I clean my house I will not allow the crankiness and frustration of the clutter and laundry to follow ruin my day :-)  I am also going to start emplimenting easy solutions for a tidy house that will give me more time with my family (I will start sharing some of these soon).

Something I need to always remember is that some people would give anything to trip over their child's toy just one more time, pick up their beloved dog's hair one more day, or clean their departed husband's dirty socks just once more...instead of sitting alone in a clean house. 

God has blessed me with a wonderful family and from this day forward I am vowing to keep a tidy home, full of life's beautiful messes!

Outside decor - Part 2 (flooring)

We all know when it comes to a room, the flooring can make all the difference in the world, and your patio is no different.

I have found a great alternative to your traditional outdoor rug!  Look at these floor cloths made from table cloths!  How clever and cheap!  I am going to take this idea outdoors and make myself a unique and thrifty outdoor rug.  Now I am just going to be on a mission to find the perfect table cloth.

I also think this is an amazing idea for a patio floor. You can pick any stencil you want and get to painting! The best part about this is that you wouldn't need to worry about animals, weather, children, etc. ruining it. 

flickr.com

If you prefer a traditional rug to add some comfort for those little kiddos or just want some texture, there is no better time to buy than now, clearance time!   Pier 1 is have a clearance sale on their outdoor furniture & accessories, as are most of the big box stores.

Since we moved in the middle of summer and I have not finished my patio to my liking, I am going to spend the end of summer and fall stocking up on clearance items for spring!!

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their patios this summer!  Happy BBQing!!