Shattered Dreams

Ok, that title is a little dramatic, ok, really dramatic. You may remember I wanted to make a chalkboard out of this mirror.

But, it was sitting up against a wall by the slider in our home and I shut the door too hard and it toppled over shattering into a million pieces. Hence, the title. It was a big bummer moment for sure, but now it means I have one less thing on my giant to-do list. Except, for the fact that I know have a giant pretty wooden frame with nothing in it. Hmmm. Maybe I will figure out something to do with it, ohh there goes that list not getting shorter again.

lamp re-do and fail

Inspired by one of my favorite bloggers  miss mustard seed I found a recent post of her HGTV summer tutorials, this beauty in particular caught my eye: 

I thought hey! I've got an old lamp that I can do this to, here is my old lamp looking quite sad and dated:

And here is what it looks like after:

*the console table is still a work in progress

Handy hubby spray painted the lamp base first, with oil rubbed bronze by Krylon. I then used miss mustard seeds tutorial by hot gluing the twine and wrapping it around my lamp base. 

Half way through the project,

it was looking like a hot mess. Picture me and my lamp tangled in twine, that's not an exaggeration. I'm guessing the shape of my lamp was too detailed to pull it off. I unfortunatley dont have a picture of the ugly twine wrapping dilemma, I ripped off all the twine and then just ended up buying a new lampshade and calling it a day. Sometimes you gotta know when you've been beat when it comes to d.i.y projects, and I'd been beat. So it may not be an amazing transformation but it sure beats the brassy nasty that was residing in my home. And I've got a new lamp that only cost me $15.79, that's a small accomplishment to say the least.

thoughtful thursday

Don't leave your husband unattended with a pair of scissors; the results might make you cry.

* thankfully I'm taking him to my aunt who is a hairstylist today so she can fix this mess.

The new addition to the family

No, nope, no. Don't let the title fool you this post has nothing to do with babies it's not that sort of new addition but it got your attention, right? The new addition to our family is this darling gaping hole in our wall and ceiling. 

As some of you may know the northwest is notorious for being wet and rainy 7 to 8 months out of the year. And our 40+ year old home just can't take that much abuse year after year. Shortly after we moved into our little home we noticed during particularly bad rainy days it not only was raining cats and dogs outside but also in our dining room. Oh the joys of home ownership. After countless trips up to the roof and a lot of head scratching, we concluded that the leak was coming from our chimney. Where exactly, still remains a mystery. The hole that you see is from a recent rainstorm that left the wall and carpet soaked. I, trying to be helpful grabbed a towel and stuck it under the underside of the mantel, one little push and my hand went through the wall!  Apparently the entire wall next to the fireplace was soaked. I showed the hubs my oops, and we decided to just take down the drywall, hoping it would give us a better look at where the water was coming in at. All it told us was that it had three places where water was coming in it, that it had leaked before, and that the previous owners had tried and failed to fix it as well. We have a definite problem on our hands, my husband assures me that the tar he bought will work to seal up any holes. But I have a sneaky suspicion we will be calling the professionals sooner than later. Hopefully before we look like this.

A tale of two night stands- (Design Fail!)

Beware!- Avert your eyes if you cannot stand the sight of lazy blogging and failed projects! OH THE HORROR!!!! 

My mom gave me these night stands recently, I wonder why? Yikes, they were in some desperate need of some t.l.c. or a little L.M.V. {*little miss vintage ;) } So I got to work sanding, priming, and painting. I wanted my little night stands to have an antiqued look to them. And let's face it, I wanted any excuse to try out some of my new crackle glaze I had purchased at Lowe's.  

{After 2 paint colors}

I painted the night stands 3 times and with 3 different colors. First, by using some left over paint from my dresser project. Then I bought silver glaze, crackle finish, Valspar white paint, and bun feet at Lowe's. The left over blue paint from my dresser and the silver glaze looked great on my little night stands, I kept them like that for a little while, but I really wanted to try out my crackle glaze. I had a vision people, and it included a crackle finish!

 I must admit it was my first time working with the stuff. But it seemed easy enough, paint on the clear crackle, let dry, then paint on your desired paint color, instant crackled finish, violà! It didn't work out as easy as that. The crackle glaze looked funny and pooled in awkward places. Needless to say I'm very unhappy with my results!

                                                                          Before:

After:

 

 Am I thrilled with the outcome, NO! {Terrible After shot, I know but that's the best I can do for now}. 

Are they a bit more tolerable than the hideous evergreen color they were before? Of course! But am I satisfied in there current state of being? NOOOOO!!!! Hopefully soon I can post 'A tale of two nightstands' and not have it be a colossal design FAIL!

Paint Schmaint

   A little less than eight months ago we moved into our first home. Yay! What a thrill to be home owners. Of course me being me, I couldn't wait to get started painting and decorating. I set my sights on our master bedroom. My goal being, make it a relaxing retreat at the end of the day. Something similar to this room designed by interior designer Susanne Kessler for Ballard Designs.

Ballard Designs

   So in my spare time between diaper changes, nap time, and feedings I worked on our room. I decorated, bought bedding, lamps, d.i.y.-ed my first dresser. Then all I needed was paint, the white walls had to go, they were screaming at me I'M BORING!!!! OK, a little dramatic but you get the point the white was not cuttin' it. I went to my local hardware store where I picked up some valspar paint in a shade called Cocoa Creamy. I'm a sucker for paint colors that not only look yummy but sound yummy as well :). After painting 3/4th's of the room the unthinkable happened, I ran out of paint. Hmmm, oops lesson learned one gallon of paint is not enough for 4 walls. So I begrudgingly put my paint brush down and told myself I will come back to this project. Uh, four months later I'm still staring night after night at my bedroom with three walls painted and not well I might add.  After thoroughly being annoyed with my bedroom I drove past my town's only hardware store determined to finish my project only to find to my dismay to it had shut down. NNNNOOOOOOO!!!! Now I will have to live with my unfinished room a little longer, what's a girl to do. My room looks more like this: 

   

  And the more I look at my half painted room the more I'm rethinking my paint choice. Maybe something a little more dramatic, and a little less safe. Decisions, decisions, decisions. I will hopefully finish this project someday soon, before my son goes off to college. Time will tell, I'll have to keep you posted on the progress.