midweek ramblings

 Hey y'all! I hope you're having a great week so far. All's well over here except for the fact that the weather can't make up its mind...shocker! Last week we were enjoying perfect, sunny weather, and today we're cooped up inside with temps in the 30s and rain...BOO. I guess that just how it goes this time of year, isn't it? I definitely have some Spring Fever though!

I wanted to pop in and share some randomness with y'all. Basically the state of my mind as of late!

TL: Jaqs has been hauling "meow" with her everywhere lately! She had him in the car the other day, and I overheard her saying, "I lahve yew, meow!" Sweetness.

TR: My world has been rocked! Red Robin officially has gluten free buns. I haven't had a REAL burger since going GF in 2009, so this is revolutionary!! ;) It passed the test...I felt great after eating it. Well, except for normal cheeseburger fatiness, of course.

BL: Jaqs was hamming it up for some selfies...silly girl! Her smile is my favorite.

BR: As most of you know, we're at my parents' house right now while we're in between houses, and I think it's safe to say J is eating up. Girlfriend is going to be bored to tears when it's back to dear ol' mom & dad.

I bought this inexpensive, laminate dresser in college, and we didn't have room for it at our last house; it will serve as a TV console in our next home, so I wanted to give it a little makeover. I combed Pinterest in search of how to redo laminate furniture and decided chalk paint was the way to go. It's kind of intimidating if you've never used it, so I followed these tips and went for it!

I'll admit that I was super unsure while I was painting, but once I distressed & waxed it, I loved it!! I used Amy Howard's chalk paint in French Blue and used the light wax on top. SUPER easy to use! I'm curious if any of you have worked with the homemade chalk paints that are all over Pinterest? The store-bought is pretty pricey at $30 a quart, but when you consider no sanding or priming? Worth it.

In other furniture news, we bought this bad boy over the weekend:

It's going to be finished in an antique white and is going to have a vintage feel. I'm trying to decide what I want to do with the pulls and knobs. What do y'all think??

I am kind of loving this look with the card catalog style pulls...

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Help me!! There are 8 drawers that need pulls and 6 cabinets that will need knobs.

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This really isn't that big of a deal, but SERIOUSLY! The Hobby Lobby hardware aisle is overwhelming ;)

Happy Wednesday!

$10 Garage Door Update

When we purchased our house, I loved everything about it EXCEPT the fact that it has a front-facing garage. I loathe that, but it was the case for most of the houses we were looking at, unfortunately. I wasn't going to let the garage door ruin the rest of what I loved about our home! After living here for almost two years (unbelievable!) we have finally done a little something to add some charm to our big, ugly garage door.

The inspiration came from this pin:

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We purchased the "Decorative Garage Door Hardware Kit" from Home Depot for just over $10, followed the instructions that came with it, and voila! My dad & Rob had it done in 15 minutes!

 I thought I had a "before" picture, but I don't...I'm sure you can imagine ;)

I think it definitely adds a little curb appeal, and it sure does break up all that white from the garage door! Plus, you just can't beat a home update that is TEN DOLLARS!

I'm linking up with Katie & Stephanie for Saw It, Pinned It, Did It. 

Have y'all missed this link-up as much as I have?! Glad it's back!

Spring DIY

I've always got several craft or home projects running through my head, and I only wish that my budget allowed for everything I dream up! Today I thought I'd share a few inexpensive things on my Spring DIY to do list!

Our home has a front facing garage that I really don't care for, so I'd love to give it a little something by adding some decorative hardware! I think it definitely gives a home more curb appeal.

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 If you've been around this blog before, then you probably know that I make a wreath for just about every occasion! Why should Spring be any different? This one is so cute and may be the inspiration for my next front door pretty!

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I mentioned awhile ago that we had some plans for a "play area" in the living room, and I'm thinking these pallet shelves would be perfect for housing books, pictures and other decor for that space. What do you think? They look very simple to make; I think I could even pull it off on my own.

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As for my never-gonna-happen project? That would be this:

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Our home has a very small covered porch area that is big enough for our grill, some plants, and maybe a chair or two. The rest is grass with zero landscaping or any place for Jaqs to scoot around on her toys. I would LOVE to be able to extend our patio, add a pergola, and have some outdoor furniture, but it's probably not going to happen any time soon. WHY doesn't Yard Crashers visit Temple?! Our yard would be the perfect candidate! Oh well, a girl can dream.

I'm linking up once again for the Hello Spring link-up party!

play area plans

First of all, I just want to say "hi!" to my new followers! I'm thinking most of you came from Mateya's blog, and I'm so excited you found my little blog interesting enough to follow along! I'm glad you're here! :)

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I think anyone that has a child can attest to how quickly their stuff can take over your house. Even though our little bit is not even a year old, she's been given plenty of toys and trinkets in her little life, and I find myself corralling all of it every day! We don't have an extra room to dedicate to a play-room in our current house, but we do have a spacious corner in our living room that would work perfect for a "play area." She's a little young right now, but I'm envisioning a kid sized table with a place for creating, coloring, and imagination! Add in some storage on the side, and we've got the perfect place for all the toys to go!

 I was looking around on Pinterest (where else?) when I came across the PERFECT play table! It has a PB-Kids look without the price tag, and the plans look pretty simple. I'm hoping Jaqs & I can talk G-Pop & Daddy in to constructing this one for us ;)

How adorable are theses DIY pallet shelves? I think I could even pull this one off!

Here are a few other inspiration pictures I came across:

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I love, love bright colors, but I also need the area to flow with our living room, so as much as I love sunshine-y yellow, that probably won't be happening. I'll file that one away for a future playroom! I do love the pennant banners (obvs) and the frames for interchangeable art in the future. Such a great way to put your kids' masterpieces on display without them cluttering the fridge!

How do you keep the toys organized and put away in your home?

operation: lighten up!

No, this is not a post about weight loss or personalities ;)

This is a post about bathrooms!

Kids bathrooms to be exact.

I've been wanting to lighten up our guest/future kid bathroom, so we did just that several weekends ago. Before it was super dark:

sorry, terrible picture, but you get the idea

The inspiration was the BRIGHT, fun frames I found at the ever trusty, Hobby Lobby.

I didn't want it to be over the top with these bold colors, so everything else went from chocolate brown to white or got a coat of spray paint! Easy peasy.

Ah, it feels so much happier now! I love what a little color can do!

incredibly easy DIYs

At one of my baby showers, this adorably shabby frame was hanging on the door with an "Oh Baby!" scroll across it. Seen here:

We had it on our front door for awhile, but it's been hanging empty and lonely on a wall in our guest room for the last several months. I don't spend much time in there, so I kinda forgot about it, really. I finally got around to doing something with it a few weeks ago, so I wanted to pretend I was crafty and share it with y'all!

 I stapled 3 rows of jute to the back of the frame, printed off some pictures plus one cute little printable I found on Pinterest (where else?), then attached the pictures with mini clothespins. Voila! I love it! It will be so easy to update here and there as well.

 I also glued jute around a wine bottle to add to the table beside the guest bed:

Both of these projects were super simple and inexpensive. It's kind of a stretch to even call them "DIYs" because a 4 year old could literally do it. Although, I did withstand a pretty legit hot glue-gun burn from the wine bottle project, so maybe a 4 year old shouldn't be left unsupervised with that one ;)

DIY burlap cork-board

There is a huge wall in our living room that has stumped me since we moved into this house. The builder intended for the TV to be mounted there, so there were outlets halfway up the wall. Well, I could not get our furniture arranged in a way that was cohesive with that plan, so I was left with a very large, empty wall.

before

It finally hit me to make a cork board of sorts that I could change photos, printables, etc. out regularly. After all, we have a baby girl that is changing by the day now!

So I ran the idea by my mom, and we put my plan into action.

Supplies:

insulation foam board (the blue stuff at Lowe's) - we cut ours down to about 3'x5'

rolled cork (the thin kind)

spray adhesive

burlap

Cut the foam board down to necessary size with a box cutter, adhere the cork to the foam, then adhere the burlap to the cork. It's important to pull the burlap tight and smooth it as you go or you'll end up with a bubbly mess. You don't get many chances with spray adhesive...it works fast! 

I can hardly take credit for the construction of this little project...my mom and dad did most of it! All I did was print out pictures and gather the supplies to put on the board.

after!

I found the prints on Pinterest, of course! 

The number five represents our anniversary (July 5th) and our baby girl's birthday (April 5th). It just may be our family number now!

The cross, "G", numbers, and football sign all came from HobLob.

Let me let you in on a little secret...Office Max is the place to get pictures/prints printed off! It's super cheap! Definitely the most inexpensive place I've come across anyway. I love a bargain!

 I may fill it in a little more, but for now I'm happy with what is on it!

I'm so happy to finally have this wall filled! It's been bugging me for the last year. I also love that we can change it out easily and inexpensively...this will allow me to change pictures often if I want to and be able to add seasonal prints/decor. Fun!

Hope you like it! :)

Linking up with Simply Kierste: