Spring Mantel

 Well, Spring has arrived my friends!  

At least according to my calendar.. The weather may have something different to say about it.  But never the less, I am springing up the decor around my cozy little home and having a blast doing it.

Today, I thought I would show you my mantel scape!  Not sure if I've heard it called that before or if I just made that up, but it works, right?

 

I used a variety of spring greens and one of my favorite flowers to decorate with, Hydrangeas!

I have a few pieces of driftwood layered in as well...

 

Cute little birds in colors of green and blue are nestled on top amongst the branches...

I left my creamy distressed candlesticks up.. Just love the architecture of them..

And there you have it.  My Spring inspired Mantel!  Have a great day!

DIY Crate Buffet

 Good Morning!  I thought I should share my newest treasure!  I am just so in love with my Crate Buffet!  It could easily be used as a bookshelf, or craft room organizer, but for me, it's my so very needed dining room buffet.

I had seen something similar to this on Pinterest, so I was inspired and started gathering my materials needed to make my own! 

It really is a simple list of items needed to build this piece.  

Materials:

-6 wooden crates {all the same size, mine are 12 Deep / 12 Wide / 21 Long}

-2 pine boards {stained with the barn wood stain.,cut to size, mine were 13 Deep / 44 Wide}

-4 caster wheels {get the ones that turn and pivot around, I picked mine up at Lowes} 

-Nails and Screws  

Tools:

-Nail Gun

-Drill

-Chop Saw or Hand Saw (unless you get the lumber supply store to cut it to size)

And that's it!  Pretty sweet right?  

 

 I had so much fun decorating my new treasure!  I have a smaller home and feel like there is no room to decorate!  And now I have six shelves all in one!  Hooray! :)  I'm a nerd, I know.

 For the most part I had to use what I had around the house for my decor, with the exception of my new plant holder and Hydrangeas. {My Favorite}

I sanded the edges of the wood top for now.. I plan on beating it up a bit more later ;) 

I am seriously ready for Spring!  It's been a mix of wind, rain, sun, and snow here lately.. Umm.. okay, make up your mind and give us SPRING already! 

Here is a shot of my dining room at this point.  You might notice we're missing our trim.. We put in new floors and still need to finish the trim.  I wish I could tell you this was a recent change, but no.  My new floors went in over three years ago!!!  I'm a bit OCD, so I'm surprised I've managed this long with no trim.. I just tell myself.. It's rustic, right? Eh? ;)

So there you have it.. A crate buffet, bookshelf, extra storage.. whatever you need it for.  Simple storage, and beautifully rustique!

Well, I hope this has inspired you to restore something old and rusty, and get out your tools!  Have a great day!

xo Jen

Linking up with:

Miss Mustard Seed

Homemade Stain (Barn Wood Style)

 Okay!  So I decided to finally share my Homemade Stain that works perfect for creating that old grey barn wood look! I first saw this recipe on a fellow bloggers site, however, when I went back to check it out, her blog was gone!  So I had to kind of play it by ear with this.  Here is how I make my stain.

Here is what you will need:

2 pads of extra fine steel wool

2 cups distilled white vinegar

1 cup of water

 2 tea bags of Earl Grey Tea 

1 jar with lid

1 paint brush

Okay, so all you do is tear/shred up the steel wool into little pieces and put it in a jar.  Pour the vinegar into the jar, and let it sit for two days.  It needs this time to rust and make it's color!  When the mixture is rusted and ready, boil a cup of water and make Earl Grey Tea with two bags.  You want this strong!  The stronger the Tea, the better your grey will be.

Now you're ready!  It is that easy!  Now to get my look, I first put on a nice layer of the vinegar mixture.  Let it dry.  Then I did one coat of the Earl Grey Tea.  And there you have it!  Now you can do all sorts of fun things to rough up your furniture to get the right look!  Sand it, hit it with screws, hammers!  Your options are endless!  Keep in mind, you will definitely want to seal this.  I bought a Minwax brand Paste Finishing Wax from Lowes.

I hope you'll have the chance to try this out!  It's so neat and kind of addicting!

Butterflies!

Good Morning!  And happy Friday!

I wanted to give you an update of Isabella's room.  We started with a darker tanish green on the walls.. It was just too dark for a little girls room, and my office as well.  So I went with the same blue {Afternoon Shade}, I'm sorry I don't remember what brand it started as.  Anyway, we LOVE it!  It's fresh, and cheerful, and calming, and just everything we wanted it to be!  

These Pictures really do not do this color justice!

 I first purchased this Pottery Barn Butterfly Duvet and Sham.  That was my starting point for where we wanted to go with this room.  You can see my original design board here.  I really wanted to do a bronze wall sconce with a clear mason jar like the one I saw on Pottery Barn, but I am on a tight budget and I came across this lamp at Marshall's.  It was a beautiful vintage distressed blue and had a cute Burlap shade!  I'll take it! :)

I painted a fresh coat of cream paint called {Vintage} by Valspar, in a semi-gloss.  I love the color!  Its a warm white and really suits the room perfectly.  I'm trying to decide whether I want to distress the bed or leave it clean and creamy.  Any thoughts about this??

For now, I put up a vintage cream mirror I already had lying around.  There are a few more details that need to be added to this room, but it is coming together nicely..  And Isabella is LOVING it!  

Have a GREAT weekend everyone!

Art!

Hello Friends!  I hope you are having a wonderful Friday!

Today I am featuring some artwork!  I'm currently working on a watercolor portrait of my daughter Isabella.  So I thought I would share it with you all, and let you in on the process!  

Below is an update of where I currently sit with this painting.  You can find my step by step process here.

Happy Friday and have a GREAT weekend!

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day everyone!  I finished Isabella's Valentines just in time!  So I thought I would post them for you to see!  

This is my nine year old little girl, Isabella!  We had so much fun doing her Winter Shoot!  And she just had to have one of her very best friends in the pictures with her.. This is our little Boston Terrier, Sadie!  My two girls just {LOVE} our cute little Boston!

 

LOVE this girl!

 

 

You can catch the full post on how I made these and all of my fun editing ideas here.

I hope you all have a wonderful, SPECIAL Valentines Day!

 

Butterflies and an Office Makeover

Good Morning!  I hope you're all having a wonderful start to your day!  I personally have been so excited to put this post together!  

So my two girls are at the age {7 & 9} where sharing a room just isn't cool anymore.. :?  So!  That said.. my nine year old daughter, Isabella, has moved into our office and claimed the guest bed!  I currently have Pottery Barn's Karala Palampore Duvet on the guest bed, but I feel it's a little too grown up for her.  She needs something lighter.. airier.. {is that even a word?}, something that would work for a nine year old girl and my office.  So I started my hunt and it didn't take long {since I visit Pottery Barn once a month, okay, twice a month!}.  I saw the new Butterfly printed duvet and {HUGE GASP} I fell in love!  And so did she!  YEAH!  Her favorite color is blue, so we will lay on a nice coat of blue on the wall behind her bed.  The other three walls are just a creamy color to keep things bright in there.  I may just use the same gorgeous blue that is painted in the hall bathroom.

I put together my idea board and am slowly gathering what we need.  I already have the duvet purchased and washed and ready.. So just a few more days or maybe a week and I'll get everything else. 

I posted last week on my built in desk which you can find here.  Unfortunately the desk is just soaking up the lacquer, so here we are three days later still laying on coats.  And gosh is it ever stinky!  But I think tonight is the last coat and then I can start putting that room together!  The whole room is under sheets right now.  

Below is a floor plan of the room.  It really isn't very big and not much to work with as far as space goes... but I think it will be beautiful and fresh by the time we're done with it!  I just love the idea of using a mason jar sconce for her lamp, but may have to just go with a table lamp for now.  I plan to spell her name down the side of the wall with the gold lettering.  Now we'll just have to see if it looks as good on the wall as it does in my mind! :)

 I'm SO excited!  I'm also repainting the old wood antique bed in there which I haven't pictured yet, so if you have any great colors and ideas for that, I'd love to hear them!  Have a great day!

 

DIY Valentines!!

 Hello Friends!  It's February and

So that means the time has come to make your Valentines!

 I was over at Kelly's blog The Lily Pad Cottage, and she had a post on making school valentines with pictures of your little one!  You can find her post here  I found this to be the neatest and cutest idea!  So I dressed my little one {Olivia} up and took her out for a winter photo shoot..  She picked her dress and necklace.. This was my necklace that I wore on my wedding day <3  So these pictures are EXTRA special!  I then dressed up the pictures with cute little love phrases, hearts and butterflies.  All of which I created at PicMonkey.

I am SO in love with that website!  It's free and there are so many amazing things you can do and add to dress up your pictures!  You can also upgrade for like 4 bucks a month to have more options.  But the free version suits my needs for now. 

 
Have I told you how much I LOVE this little girl of mine?  She is so fun to take pictures of.  Always ready for a pose! Haha.. And she has ALWAYS been that way.  Very girly girl.

 I found these cute little baggies at Walmart for less than 2 bucks for 20 bags.  So cute and perfect for what I was making!  Next you just fill the bags with a small candy {I chose Hershey's Kisses} yum!  

 I did the assembly a little different than Kelly did.. But you could really do it both ways.  Her pictures were folded over the little baggies.  But I forgot to stand back far enough to be able to fold over the top of the photo.  So I just stapled mine to the bags as full size photos.  It still got the job done ;)  Now all you have to do is write the class names on there and you have yourself some adorable little DIY Valentines!  Thanks for the post Kelly!

Now I just have to do my other daughter {Isabella}!  She isn't as girly as Olivia, but she saw these and loved them!  So we have more to do!  I hope this has inspired you the way it inspired me!  I would love to see what you come up with or hear about your neat Valentine making traditions!  Have a great week!

Built In Desk with Wood Top

Happy Sunday!  Are any of you totally feeling Spring Fever??  I AM and have been since the 1st of January! :)  I know.. I'm a bit crazy that way!  I have started numerous projects around the house and have yet to actually finish one.. I am known for this... But I have every intention of getting them done this time! ;)  

Here is one that I am working on right now.

My hubby built this desk for me.. Isn't he sweet?  Well, after having this built in desk for over a year now.. I'm finally finishing it!  It's just been a raw wood desk {left to soak in markers, and paint, and coffee :-/} and I'm finishing the top with my homemade Earl Grey Tea Stain!  I will do a post on how to make that soon :)

 

Here I have shown you the process of each step and the effect it has on the wood.  Now let me say this.. I had originally planned to paint this wood top with a high gloss white paint when we had first put it in.  This desk acts as both my office space and my painting studio space.  So I was after something that would clean up nice!  But lately I've found myself leaning towards these grey woods and barn wood like finishes.. So I changed my mind and here we are.  

That said, if I had planned on leaving the wood exposed, I would have chosen a raw pine instead.  This is a poplar wood.. {a.k.a.- not that pretty when stained..}  But I'm going to choose to look beyond and just go with it! Haha.. This desk has a long way to go, but I'm on a mission!  So stay tuned, and your comments are always welcome!

Are you working on any cool Spring Fever related projects?  I would LOVE to hear about them!

Happy Sunday Friends!