Beachy Dining Room Refresh

April 18, 2016April 15, 201614 Comments

Good morning! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! We have been enjoying some amazing weather here. A little bit of rain, a bit of wind and lots of sunshine!

The beautiful weather has inspired me to freshen up my dining room! This was the corner for spring. I still had a bunny there, some silver branches and some heavier quilts on the ladder, so I decided it was time to lighten up and add a few beach items.

First, I took everything away. As you can see, we have a lovely wall air conditioner here. Isn’t she a beauty! She’s not pretty, but we sure do need her in the summertime! So I had to move the door out of the way, but decided to replace it with a shutter. That way we can open it up when we need it. I’ve never done it before, so I will see how it works. Hopefully it won’t block too much of the cool air.

I put the ladder back, but added a lighter-weight blanket. The white and gold one was one of the Lily Pulitzer items from Target last year, but guess where I found it! Goodwill!! In fact, I found 2, this one and a pink one for Lauren. I also replaced the wagon and the driftwood bowl.

As you can see, I already changed where the driftwood bowl was placed! I decided to hang it like a wreath with a grey ribbon and I added a seashell garland, which I made with more of my stash of seashells.

I added some nautical pillows into a big metal basket. The anchor design is a pillow cover from Amazon. I love these! They store so much easier than a bunch of pillows.

I added a large driftwood candle holder and a basket of fishing floats into the wagon.

Here is a closer view of the seashell garland. I used a couple of seashell necklaces we received when we went to Hawaii and made them into one long string. I drilled holes into the different shells and then strung them on the necklaces using twine.

I moved the door to the other side of the dining room, behind the bar cart. I kept the Welcome sign, but added a fishing net that has hung in my bathroom forever!!

I also gathered up some flowers and blossoms from my yard, arranged them in some bottles and then placed them in a metal basket. Such a fresh look for spring!

If you want to look at last years spring decorating, click here. Although looking back, most of what I took pictures of, has completely changed!

I hope you enjoyed my little dining room spring tour! Thank you so much for stopping by!

Corner News-April 16, 2016

April 16, 2016April 15, 2016Leave a comment

Welcome back to Corner News! This is the time we share some random pictures and news that has taken place over the last couple of weeks!

I created this a couple of days ago. You can see everything looks pretty bare around it. We have had a lot of wind lately and I hate to put too much out because it will get blown away or full of leaves and sticks! My neighbor gave me the ladder and I already had all the buckets, so I just tied them on with strips of burlap. I hope to fill them with something pretty very soon!

Haley and I took Rozy to the vet this past week and we passed these sheep. There was actually a whole herd of them, but these were closest to the road. Rozy wasn’t too sure about these things. Her eyes were huge, she was shaking and the fur on her back was standing up! It was pretty funny! I’m not sure what she thought the sheep were going to do? We see small herds of sheep around our parts when they are brought out to do some grazing.

I also attended a workshop for a group of preschool teachers in our area. It is called C.A.R.E.S.-Comprehensive Approaches to Raising Educational Standards. Whew! That’s quite a title! I have been part of this for quite a few years. This workshop focused on math and I was able to get all of this stuff for free! It’s a great way to add to the classroom!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Teen to Adult with a Little Bit of Paint

April 15, 201610 Comments

Hello! I must apologize for this post being late. It was not intended to be late, but unfortunately it happened.

So, Haley had this TV stand in her room for the longest time. It was purchased at a yard sale for $5 and she covered the drawer and the sliding doors in duct tape, which was perfect for her room when she was younger.

But now, it’s been sitting on our patio for a few months. And as I am going to be moving into a house instead of an apartment in the summer where I will need more furniture, it was perfect for me to redo.

The first thing I had to do was take all of the duct tape off of the drawer and doors. It was actually a lot easier to peel the tape off then I thought it would be. I had to really work to pull the edges up, but pulling the tape off was pretty easy.

And of course, the animals had to help. Kiara…that was for painting, not for sitting.

So this is what the drawer and the door looked like originally. They were a pretty grey color, but I was going paint them white. I only painted one coat of white because I wanted it to have a bit of a weathered look.

I then went to paint the the actual TV stand. I went with Navy Blue Rustoleum paint and covered the whole stand. That included the top, sides, and a few pieces on the front. It covered really nicely and I love the shine that comes off of it in the sun.

And here is the finished product!

I love the nautical look and think that it’s going to look great in my living room. It turned out better than I expected with all of the work that went into taking the tape off. I like the colors together and know it will be used someday. Thanks for coming by!

Fabulous Finds and Fashions-April 13, 2016

April 13, 2016April 12, 20168 Comments

Hello! Welcome to another edition of Fabulous Finds and Fashions. A time where we show off the clothes that we have purchased and now have to figure out what to wear with it. Fun!

Alright, so the item on the docket today is this beautiful cover-up. Honestly, I have no idea what I would call the style of the jacket, but I really like it. I bought it when I was in 4-H for a Fashion Revue project and love how it fits and how it looks on me.

Unfortunately, I have only worn it with a single style of outfit.

I have always worn this with a white shirt and jeans. And, even though it’s cute and it looks good together, I really need to find other things to wear it with. So here are two different outfits that I found in my closet to pair with my jacket.

1. The Gold Skirt

I started off my closet raid by finding this gold J.Lo skirt that I bought on clearance from Kohls. I’ve always liked the skirt, but it can be difficult to find things to wear with it. I then added a brown tank top because all of my brown shirts either had design or weren’t the right style to add with the jacket. So, I went with a simple tank top. I then added a pair of brown American Eagle heels that I purchased from Payless. Overall, I thought the outfit looked really cute and I like how it looked in it.

Isn’t it cute together? I am glad that I found this outfit hiding out in my closet.

2. Blue and Khaki

I’ll start off with the shirt. I have had this shirt for forever! Like, since high school (okay, that was 5 years ago, but still). But, I pulled it out of my closet and liked the color under the jacket. I then added a pair of khaki shorts that I bought from Torrid that fit me really well and they are extremely comfortable. I added a pair of gold Vera Wang flip flops that I bought off season at Kohl for $5 and a gold headband.

Before I leave it here, I must say that I pulled off the boho headband better than I thought I would. All I had to do was pin my bangs back and I pulled it off swimmingly.

Thank you everyone for stopping by and I hope to see you all on Friday!

Pallet Project Update-Kitchen Plate Rack

April 11, 2016April 9, 201619 Comments

I’m finally back with a project today!! I’m sure you are all thrilled! 🙂

Steve cut out this pallet rack for me several years ago, so I don’t have a tutorial for that part, but you can find them on Pinterest. Lauren, a friend and I did some craft shows a few years ago, and I had made pallet racks to hold books. This one had never sold and had been just waiting for me to come up with a project for it. Finally inspiration struck!

I spray painted black over the letters first.

While it was drying, I picked out the phrase I wanted to put on it and found the fonts and size on Microsoft Word. I printed them out and then cut them down to make them easier to work with.

To transfer the lettering to the wood, I rub pencil on the back of the paper. Then I turn the paper over, place it where I want it to go and trace the letters. When you are done, there should be a faint outline of the words. You can see how I did this for another sign too.

Once my tracing was on the board, I painted it in with white chalk paint. I used a really stiff brush to fill in each letter. After it was dry, I sanded it down a bit to look more worn. The last step was to go over it with a clear varnish. I knew I was going to hang it in the kitchen, so it needed to be protected.

(please don’t look too hard at the kitchen, ugh! It really needs a make-over. BADLY!!!)

So here it is hanging over the stove. The perfect place to store some platters, plates, and cutting boards.

After looking at the pictures, I realized it was kind of bare on the wall above it. I was roaming through my local Goodwill and found this little cow head. Perfect! Her name is Amelia. She is a little small for the space, so I mounted her on some old boards we had. I didn’t even know I had the one with writing on it. Love it!