Thursday Randomness

Ah yes, finally getting closer to that weekend now…I can feel it! Happy Thursday, y’all! Not much going on around these parts…we decorated Easter eggs last night {and Breckin only managed to break ONE!}

Also, if you haven’t read them already, I suggest you hop on over to Skinny Mom and view my latest posts on dehydration, and also calf-toning exercises {hey, summer is on the way, and you need to be ready!} If you don’t already follow Skinny Mom, I suggest you start – there are a lot of great mommy bloggers on there posting all sorts of articles on fitness, health, fashion, food and more. I’m so proud to be a part of it. You don’t even have to be a mom to gain some good info from this site!

I feel like I’m finally on a roll getting things organized and projects done around the house. I’ve posted lately about our pantry makeover, the kids’ art area, the organized bathroom vanity cabinet and even starting to get Tanner’s room finished – see his upholstered bulletin board and his monogram art. I plan on revealing the boys’ rooms soon, but I reeeeaaaalllly would love to paint them first, however, I don’t know if that will happen in the next couple of months, so I may just have to post them as-is and then update once I finally am able to get them painted. Speaking of paint, we are finally going to paint our kitchen and living room a light gray…this was my final thing needed to call the kitchen makeover complete. The plan is to do it the weekend after Easter.

Speaking of the weekend after Easter, I’ve got the Cooper River Bridge 10K coming up that Saturday morning. For those of you not familiar, this is a crazy-popular race. It draws in over 40,000 participants. Last year, my time was 1:12, and it was my first-ever 10K…I had never run that distance all at once in my life before that. Since then, I had started training for a half marathon, and actually got to where I was running over 6 miles without a race to push me {this is big progress for me!} I fell out of training during the holidays, so I am not quite in the running shape I’d like to be, but I’m still hoping I can clock a faster time this year. Check out this craziness:

I just love participating in local races.

I am definitely in need of some new running shoes though. I’m thinking these:

{source}

or these {mostly because they are fun, but also supposed to be good}:

{source}

But, I’m willing to take suggestions on any great running shoes y’all might have to recommend!

Soooo glad we’re getting closer to the Easter weekend – we’ve got a lot of fun planned for the kids and some family coming to visit. Plus, we’ll finally be graced with some nice weather after this crazy late March cold front we have been experiencing {so odd for Charleston}! xoxo

Find me and follow on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram 

Add my RSS Feed to your Reader

Entryway Restyle

I’m at it again…moving things around here and there. I don’t think I ever go more than a few days before moving at least one thing in my house to a new spot. I’ve restyled my entryway console table and I wanted to share it with you. Let me know what you think because I know sometimes it needs a few pairs of eyes and some good suggestions to get a great final product. Thanks, darlings! xoxo

 I added those key hooks because I am notorious for forgetting where I last set my keys. I needed somewhere right in the entry that I could hang them. This was at Kohl’s on sale for $8.99.

Those coral geometric frames were a great find last year at Walmart – $4.98 each! They hold pictures of me with both my boys at similar ages, in the pool, wearing the same hat. The one to the right was Tanner in 2006 and the other is Breckin in 2011.

Speaking of coral, that white beauty you see there was one I ordered from Z Gallerie a few months ago. It was $24.99. The magazine and book stacks  contain all of my favorite home magazines {HGTV, Better Homes & Gardens, Charleston Home + Design, etc.} and a few of my favorite home decorating books.

The abstract art is the work of my first grader, Tanner – done when he was age six last summer. The pallet art is mine…hubby and I have talked about working together to make and sell these eventually.

And of course, my favorite Craigslist find to date is still that yellow Crate & Barrel console table…it was love at first sight.

Hope you enjoy my latest restyle {I can guarantee there will be more to come!}

Find me and follow on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram 

Add my RSS Feed to your Reader

Linking up to Emily A. Clark today!

Tanner’s Room Update/Progress

I’ve been meaning to get a post out on this sooner, but to put it bluntly, I have an incredibly messy 7-year old boy and his room is almost never clean…in fact, it’s usually quite the disaster area unless I get in there and regulate every couple of days.  It takes an act of God to get that boy to clean his room, much less stay on task…meaning, I literally have to be in there coaching him every step of the way…or else he will just move on to something else. {God love that boy…and his ADD.} 

But anyway, I managed to get it cleaned up {I did make him help me} enough to get some decent pictures taken of how it is looking now…compared to what it looked like when he had only the twin size bed in there earlier in 2012. We still have a lot to do, but I like the way it is coming along. If you remember, I made a moodboard a few months back and I am getting closer and closer to realizing that vision with his space. It’s maturing along with him. {The way this room looks is also important to me because now that he has the queen bed in there, it also doubles as a guest room when needed.}

Let’s go ahead and refresh your memories with a picture of my moodboard, shall we?

So here are a few pictures of the what the room is looking like right now. My favorite part right now is probably the bulletin board revamp I did the other week.

And here is my to-do list for the space {in no particular order}:

1. Bulletin Board Revamp

2. Hang Wall Art & Pictures

3. New Pillow Covers from Etsy

4. New Rug

5. Create Map for Wall

6. Finish Wooden Monogram Project {You’ll see this soon!}

7. Curtains

8. Paint Walls {Very Light Sand Color}

9. New Desk Lamp

Find me and follow on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram 

Add my RSS Feed to your Reader

Kitchen Update: Floors

Earlier this week, I let you know about the kitchen floor replacement project my husband decided to take on this past weekend. {See our first kitchen update post here.}

I am so excited to share with you the finished product {though the entire kitchen has yet to be finished} – and just in time for Tanner’s birthday party tomorrow. I told Jake he absolutely had to have it done by then due to all the guests we are having over. {Having the refrigerator in the living room just isn’t convenient for a party…well, not this kind of party.}

So here’s another series of update pics – I’m hoping you can start to see how the black, gray and white are all starting to come together now.

Laying out the tile with thin-set

The tiles had originally been large squares, but Jake wanted to cut them to create the subway tile pattern.

Hubby even made me help scrub the grout off after he slathered it on. Not the most fun job in the world, but necessary!

For fun, here’s some before pics:

 And the afters {so far}:

Even our dog blends in now!

Here is our progress list so far:

1. New Countertops & Sink
2. Install Backsplash
3. Install Ceramic Tile Floors
4. Paint Cabinets – White
5. Paint Walls – Light Gray
6. New Dining Room Table & Chairs

Stay tuned for more progress soon! xoxo

See the parties I link up to here.

Find me and follow on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram 

Add my RSS Feed to your Reader

Monday Musings

Unfortunately, this was another work weekend for me…can you believe I was actually GRATEFUL for the time change because I got to sleep an extra hour before having to be at work by 5am on Sunday? I must say though, I’m not excited about the early sundowns to come.

While I was at work, handy hubby got to work on the next step in our kitchen makeover – the floors. This is what I came home to on Saturday:

All of that cement-looking stuff is the sticky paper underside of the linoleum that he tore up…we got unlucky that it didn’t want to all come up together…so it was a bit of a process to scrape it off.

Here are a couple pictures of the tile we are going to install – I love it because it’s a textured slate-like tile and will go so well with the black/white/gray backsplash we installed, as well as the black granite countertops. The best thing: It was completely FREE. Jake’s dad had them extra from a job and gave them to us.

The next steps in the kitchen makeover process are painting the cabinets white and the walls a light gray. I can’t wait to see it finished and share it here with all of you.

Sunday afternoon, we took advantage of the high 70s/low 80s weather and the boys and I headed to the play park for a little fun time to give Daddy some peace while he continued to work on the flooring {I had wanted him to take a break and come with, but he wanted to trudge through}.

Hope y’all had a great weekend! xoxo

Find me and follow on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram 

Add my RSS Feed to your Reader

Autumn Entryway Display

So this post is coming a little later than I planned, as tomorrow is already Halloween, but I figure I’ve got through Thanksgiving with this decor, so I’m not doing too badly.

Here is my autumn entryway display – hope you like!

 

Hope y’all are having a great autumn season! xoxo

 

See the parties I link up to here.

Find me and follow on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram 

Add my RSS Feed to your Reader

Living Room Progress

As I mentioned recently in this post, I have the majority of my living room redecorated. There are still some minor things like hanging shelves and more wall art to take care of, but I am so happy with the progress so far. I wanted to take you back to what my living room looked like before and show you what it looks like now.

LIVING ROOM – BEFORE:

There was nothing particularly wrong with the space, but I wanted to challenge myself to try something more bold than my usual go-to earthy tones. I had been using these tones forever and was ready for a change, plus with the lack of natural light this room has, it was definitely in need of some “brightening up”.

LIVING ROOM CURRENT {PROGRESS}:

What do you think of it? I know I’m enjoying coming home to a brighter space each day…it really does wonders for your mood! xoxo

Find me and follow on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram 

Add my RSS Feed to your Reader

Breckin’s Room Moodboard

So yesterday you got to see my vision for Tanner’s room after we take a lot of his current stuff out and move it over to Breckin’s room. I do plan on adding a few new special touches to complete Breckin’s room as well. Here’s a moodboard to illustrate what direction I’m going with his room:

1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9

Of course we won’t be getting all of these things brand new, for instance, that dresser is in the moodboard because it is extremely similar to the one we already have in there, with it’s bamboo like trim and drawer pulls. The nightstand is to illustrate what I am going to do with an old nightstand we already have – I plan on sanding it, priming it and painting it orange to be a nice accent piece. We do already have a brown area rug as well, and also that toy bin from Target. I try to utilize what we have around the house as much as possible so we can keep a small budget, yet make big changes.

I am so excited to finish putting this room together and can’t wait to show you the space!

Find me and follow on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram 

Add my RSS Feed to your Reader

Tanner’s Room Moodboard

You may remember from this post, that we were coming up on the time to move Breckin from a crib to a twin size bed {which I did this past weekend}. Since Tanner is now using our former master bedroom queen-size bed, we are using his old twin bed for Breckin {love saving money like that!}

Jake and I had pulled it out of storage and found that he had {not so smartly} placed a too-heavy item on it while it was in there and it cracked part of the base that holds in the 3 drawers on bottom. Handy hubby was thankfully able to repair it and make it even sturdier.

With the transition of Tanner’s old bed going to Breckin’s room, we are also using the same super-cute Target bedspread that Tanner was using when the bed was his. Still relatively new and in great condition. Which means, a lot of Tanner’s decor {lamps, rug, curtain, etc.} will be moving to Breckin’s room once the bed gets repaired and set up in there. And that means, Tanner is going to need some new decor to replace those things! Since I love the surfer/beach theme {will be using it in both boys’ rooms} and Tanner’s room was already surf-themed, I am going to go with some nautical-inspired decor for the space.

I created this mood board to show you where my mind is going with this:

1/2/3/4/5. Our Huntington Beach picture/6. My old Cali License Plate/7

Can’t wait to get it all finished for him! It seems so much more mature…my little boy is growing up!

Find me and follow on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram 

Add my RSS Feed to your Reader

A Little Love & A Lot of Yellow

You get two posts today, you lucky ducks, you!

So let’s start this post off bright and happy…

I can’t think of any other way to do that other than to show you my favorite Craigslist score to date:

Oh-Em-Gee, right? I was on Craigslist lurking around for fun DIY candidates when I stumbled upon the post that held this beauty. A Crate & Barrel yellow lacquered table being sold for 25% of the original price. It was a little steeper than I wanted to pay for a Craigslist console table, but it was so perfect for my space {both color and measurements}, I wouldn’t have to do a thing to it and it was in excellent condition…so I didn’t even bother haggling. I just wanted it to be mine.

And mine she is. God is good. {Well, God is way better to me than just perfect bright yellow console tables, but you get the gist.}

I’ll be showing you how I styled her in just a hot second…but I first want to show you something I created just for the table. I’m sure many of you have seen and admired the lovely work of Jen Ramos of Made By Girl. I had been teetering and tottering over purchasing this piece from her online store the last couple of weeks:

via

After careful decision, I decided I actually wanted something painted on canvas, so I recreated the print myself using gold metallic acrylic paint. I purchased a 16×20 frame for $14.99 from Target and voila:

{I highly recommend you check out Jen’s shop, especially if you are not the DIY type. I just happen to love making art myself, so when I see something I love and am able to do, I DIY it rather than buy it. She’s got some great stuff though, and great ideas…I would have definitely purchased this print if I couldn’t have painted it; it’s not a bad price either.}

And here this LOVE-ly painting is on my beautiful yellow console table…styled up and pretty.

{This is not permanent styling – just threw some quick things together for now, and that top mirror key rack will be gone as soon as I finish my DIY project for what is going in that spot! Can’t wait to show you…}

So what do you think of the new piece? {Or rather, both of them!}

I’ll be coming back very soon with an update post showing you my living room befores/afters…there are still some things in progress, but I am so happy with how far it’s come since earlier this year when I started to brighten things up. Stay tuned…xoxo.

Find me and follow on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram 

Add my RSS Feed to your Reader