All in the Paint: Paint Project Reveal Part One

Hello!

I'll have to be short and sweet today, but I've got two fun photos to share.

As I mentioned, we've got Operation Paint Project going on here at our house. It will be a three stage process over the next few weeks: 1) the kitchen cabinets, 2) the breakfast room and 3) the adjoining dining room.

Today, I've got a fun before and after of Part One- the kitchen cabinet makeover! Phew. No one told me how difficult it is to paint cabinets! I'm hoping that it will make painting the walls a breeze, in comparison.

And it makes it really difficult when you are painting cabinets lime green! Ha. Only kidding. We actually took the cabinets from a dingy, off-white beige to a stark, bright white.

Ready for the big reveal? Voila!

Here's the not-so-white before (if only the picture could capture how dingy/yucky/not crisp and clean this color really is!).

And the oh-so-white after.

You'll also notice that we are getting rid of the orange/salmon/pink color that currently graces our kitchen walls (check out our House Tour for more pictures of this vivid kitchen/breakfast room color). Our "out with the salmon, in with the grey" theory is a huge part of Part Two, so get excited, because I certainly am! :)

So, what do you think so far?

Linking to:
Between Naps on the Porch
Skip to My Lou

My Weekend: Fall in the South

How much do you love a beautiful fall weekend? It makes starting the week (especially on a rainy, dreary Monday!) a little bit easier. This weekend, I did so many fun things- spent some amazing quality time with my nieces, watched UGA win against Kentucky (Go Dawgs!), walked away from church Sunday morning filled with joy-- we sang "How Great Is Our God", which is one of my favorites!, and got a lot of things done around the house.

On Saturday, David and I, along with my brother-in-law, Greggory and his girlfriend, Brooke, took our nieces to Jaemor Farms, which is just down the road from us in north Georgia.  The farm has a corn maze, pumpkin patch, tractor hayrides, a food market, and lots of fun games for the kiddos.

Of course, I took a ton of pictures. Here are the twins celebrating a victorious turn in the middle of the corn maze (we let them lead the way, which actually got us through in less than an hour!).



The pumpkin patch.

And here are the sweet little pumpkins we picked out, already out on our front porch steps.

The farmers market part of the farm was definitely my personal favorite.

The market had lots of fun fall gourds.

And, of course, lots of pumpkins of all shapes and sizes.

They had some absolutely beautiful mums.

And ohhhh, the Southern food.

Boiled peanuts.

Fried peach pies.

And yes, the fried peach pie tasted as good as it looks :) We also got some homemade apple butter, which is just perfection on top of a fresh, homemade biscuit.

On the home front, I'm excited to say that I'll have our big reveal pictures of Operation Paint Project: Part One ready tomorrow! I'm so excited to share- our work is finally paying off and we're more than happy with the results so far.

What kind of fun did you get into this weekend?

Thank Goodness....

It is Friday.

As I was falling asleep last night, I started thinking thoughts like- oh! I never finished this project or oh! I never wrote that blog post. To be quite honest, I constantly feel as if I am pushing against time and it just pushes right back! Why oh why isn't there 30 hours in the day?

So. I decided that instead of being negative about what I have not accomplished this week, I thought I'd be positive and think about what I have accomplished since I woke up Monday morning.

I have...

worked fifty some-odd hours... presented at a community council hearing... cooked our favorite spinach pesto pasta (on the one night I was home from work before 8 pm!)... paid our bills... loved on our pups... helped my college-aged sister handle a crisis about which boy she should let take her out to dinner on her birthday (I know, the problems we have when we're only 19!)... wrote my sister a beautiful birthday card... had a lovely conversation with my beautiful grandmother on her birthday... loved on my husband when he had a bad day... watched an episode of Sister Wives (has anyone else seen that show? crazy!)... attended a home owners association meeting... created a "looks for less" mood board... had lunch with a Georgia Supreme Court Justice... and worked on our big painting project.

How's that for a to-do list?! Now that I'm taking a positive perspective, I see that I should be patting myself on the back instead of being frustrated at myself for not getting everything done. Sometimes all we need is a little bit of positive.

Now to the fun stuff. As I mentioned, we've got a big painting project going. Let's dramatize this- we are actually in the middle of

Operation Paint Project 2010

at our house! Our project will be a three stage process. And, of course, you all know about and have given me some incredible input on stage three of the project.  Hopefully we'll be ready to unveil

Operation Paint Project 2010:
Phase One

early next week! But until then... here's a little sneak peek.

No wonder I'm a little stressed- this has been the state of my kitchen for the last week!!

What's that I see in the corner? Awwww.

And while we're at it, here's a sneak peek into

Operation Paint Project 2010:

Phase Two

Lets hope this day goes by quickly, as I know we're all looking forward to a weekend of fun and relaxation! Happy Friday, everyone!!

The Look for Less

Let's just be honest here. For me, finding a bargain on home decor is kind of like winning the lottery. I love it like a fat kid loves cake. Or as much as I love cake... which is a lot.

I've shared some of the bargains we've found and put into use in our house- for example, our living room is filled with fabulous Craigslist, Target, and Ebay finds. But I thought I'd try something a little different today.

Today, I'm going to try and get this West Elm look:



image via West Elm

...for less! How gorgeous is this West Elm Parsons Console? This is the perfect little vignette for any entryway or hallway, but the table and ottoman alone are each $349... that's almost $700 smackaroos! I don't know about you, but even though I adore West Elm, that figure (PLUS whatever the accessories cost!) is not exactly in my budget. So, let's get this look on the cheap.

Ok, work with me here, as this is my first mood board and I really have no clue what I'm doing! After digging around for a couple of hours online, I think I've found some pretty nice alternatives to the West Elm look. And the sticker price? I can do the entire vignette for approximately $600. Yeehaw! Who wouldn't want to get the whole kit and kaboodle for less than the West Elm furniture alone? Here's the breakdown.

1. Overstock.com desk: $176.99
2. Ikea ottoman: $129.00
3. World Market pashmina: $25.99
4. Pier 1 rug: $79.95
5. Etsy recycled wine bottles: $25.00 each (account for two)
6. Ikea bottles: $9.99 for three
7. Pier 1 mirror: $129.99 (on sale!!)
_______________________
TOTAL: $601.91

And there are always some free alternatives to any of these fun items. Add in a couple of your favorite hardbacks (or the prettiest ones!) from your library and stack them up on the desk or on the ottoman. Or opt to recycle some of your favorite glass wine or sparkling water bottles instead of purchasing anything new (you can see where we did that, here!).

Like I said, it's always fun to get a deal and create a look for less! What do you guys think? Have any of you found any good steals lately?

Linked to:
Blue Cricket Design

True Love

My sweet hubby...

...spent his entire Sunday in our master bathroom with...

...tearing up the four inches of concrete and wire meshing that lay beneath...

...which he turned into a pile of concrete like...

... (only kidding, the rubble pile was not that big!) when he could have been watching...

... or even doing....

If that isn't true love, I don't know what is! Thank you, honey!!!! You rock!

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of this weekend's handywork ready to share yet, but check out this post or this post for updates on our bathroom renovations thus far!

PS. Thanks to Rambling Renovators for featuring our office on their "Love List!" Such an honor :)

A Few of My Favorite Things

Some things I am loving right now....

marigold yellow sweaters



Anthropologie



the fabulous voice of Missy Higgins

missyhiggins.com

pumpkin spice latte cheesecake recipe



the bright life



my University of Georgia bulldawgs



UGA bookstore



silvery nail polish



Sephora

blankets that look like sweaters

PB

By the way, thank you for all of your thoughts, opinions, and help with my little design dilemma yesterday! You guys are the best. And I am totally going with the navy. :)

Help!

I need help! Well, in a million more ways than one, but that's another story for another day.

Even though I wake up each morning and the first thing I see is a tarp covering the entrance to a completely-stripped-down-to-the-floor-joists master bathroom and my yard is a mess because we've started seeding in hopes to have grass in the spring and I'm still continuing to dress up our guest bedroom and the hubby and I have each been working a bazillion hours lately, I've started another project. [See! I told you that I'm completely insane I need help!]

My new project is pretty simple: paint. A couple of the rooms in our house (namely: the kitchen and dining room) need to be freshened up with a little paint. See?! Not too big of a project... and since the bathroom renovation is at the point where we need some professional plumbing work and about twelve plus hours of man power, it is on the back burner. Don't worry, it will get some attention this weekend.

Back to the paint. Some time ago, I ran across this picture (and I can't, for the life of me, remember the source?!).

Amazing, isn't it? Up until, oh, about 8:30 last night, I was hands-down, 100%, most certainly planning to paint our dining room this fabulous navy color. I thought it would work perfectly with the neutral rooms that are adjacent to the dining room.

Our neutral living room plus a bit of yellow (which, of course, would go fabulously with navy).

And our adjacent kitchen is soon-to-be all white. Think something like this.

So what is the painting hold up? Well, I started picturing the navy dining room with furniture in it. Our previous house did not have a formal dining room and so we currently do not have any dining room furniture (only a breakfast table). David and I have a pretty good idea what kind of furniture we want for the dining room, though. And it goes a little something like this.



Image via Pottery Barn



Yes, the outside of a barn is our dream dining room. So pretty, isn't it? But not too formal. Nothing about our home is too formal, so that certainly suits our fancy. BUT, when you look at all of the pretty furniture in my navy-dining-room-inspiration picture, you see furniture that is delicate. Light. Fancy. Formal. Certainly not farmhouse style. With that said, I am now worried that the type of furniture we want in the dining room will be too bold and heavy for the navy walls. Especially in such a small little room as our (empty!) dining room.

Just for an idea, here is our dining room with the previous owner's furniture in it (don't worry, the chandelier is going to go- it's already on Craigslist!).

So, I'm in a conundrum. I think I have to drop my beautiful navy. I just don't think it will fit in. But I have absolutely no clue what color to replace it with. And it will have to be a fabulous paint color in order to repair my sans-navy broken heart!

What do you think? I seriously need some help! Go with the navy? Is the navy too much? Do you have any suggestions for any other fun colors? I really would love to know what all of you think. And please email me pictures if you've got any inspiration photos!

Faux Sho: My Faux Flower Canvas

Hello, friends! Have you ever had one of those projects on your to-do list that just keeps getting pushed to the bottom of the list? Well, over the weekend, I finally finished the middle piece for the art collage on my guest room wall. Read about the rest of my do-it-yourself wall art in this post. And what was my piece de resistance??

This adorable faux flower canvas. Several weeks ago, I saw a tutorial on this cute little project over on the blog Twelve Crafts Till Christmas. I knew it'd be perfect for our guest room wall, which just got updated.

Here's a close up of the guest room wall art collage.

See that blank middle canvas? Perfect spot for the faux flower wall art.

It took me awhile to find fabric that I wanted for the project. I love the purple, green and coral scrapbook paper that I framed and wanted something fun and funky to accompany it. After searching through several fabric stores, I finally found exactly what I was looking for in the form of tea towels from Cost Plus World Market (on sale, half off! yesss). Let's be honest, I did a happy dance in the aisle- the towels match the existing wall art perfectly!

I simply started by cutting circles in the fabric, alternating sizes and patterns. I then scrunched all of the circles up in a plastic baggie, so that the flowers would have a wrinkled, 3-D look.

Next, I threaded each flower with a straight pin stuck through a faux pearl. This makes the flower's center and it also connects each flower to the canvas.

On the back side of the canvas, I bent each straight pin back with a pair of pliers so that it wouldn't scratch against the wall and so that it wouldn't slip out easily.

Here's a close up of the finished product.

I love it! It's exactly what I was looking for. Here's my new art hanging on the wall in the guest room.

You'll have to forgive the empty frame on the left... the frame fell in the middle of the night and shattered the glass. Until I replace it, the frame is just sitting empty. Another thing for the to-do list! :)

Lets not forget what this guest bedroom looked like before.

Don't you think it's looking a lot better these days?! :) Thanks again to Twelve Crafts Till Christmas for sharing the idea! What do you guys think?

Linked to:
Between Naps on the Porch
The Girl Creative
Skip To My Lou
Remodelaholic Craft Blog
Fingerprints on the Fridge
Today's Creative Blog
Blue Cricket Design
The Girl Creative
Tatertots and Jello