Show and Share Day

I KNOW you had a more productive week than I did.  I haven’t cooked a single meal in 7.3 days, and I haven’t dusted in 7.3 years.  Soooo…show me what you’ve been up to!  I know it’s late, but I had to highlight some of last week’s entries.  You deserve it.

House of Smith’s knocked it out of the park.  I’m shouting it from the rooftops.  Project of the year for me.  I’m in love—like, “I wanna knock down some walls in my house to build a pantry” love.

Someday Crafts submitted something that Pregnant with Power Tools made.  Thanks to both of them for giving me yet another project that I must tackle!

Beautiful blue. Beautiful secretary.  Just beautiful.  Thanks to Our Suburban Nest, we once again witness the power of paint on some otherwise unassuming furniture.

Alright, fine.  I’m just gonna put it out there. I totally have a crush on Mindy from Our Humble Abode.  I want her to be my friend. I want her photography skills.  I want her to think I’m cool.

Can you tell what this is?  It’s a floor.  That was painted.  Go. see. over at Beautiful Nest.

MLE’s ABC’s shows off a desk with crystal knobs and adorned with black and white damask.  A perfect combination, no?  That book is probably something really great. And smart.  It’s probably not Junie B. Jones.

Sometimes I hate picking out my favorites because there’s so many fantastic ideas left behind!  I sure hope you’re taking advantage of these linky parties.  They have changed my life forever.  Well, not really.  That was an overstatement.  But I DO like them!

I’m Alive!

I have returned from a trip back home to visit with my brother and nephew who were in town.  I haven’t seen them in three years, so there was a lot of family bonding.  My computer was feeling left out, but I’m sure you guys did just great without me!

My 16-year old nephew was king for the week.  My little ones couldn’t get enough of him!

We celebrated my son’s 11th birthday.  Because tradition is very important to this family, you might notice that part of the cake is missing in the top right corner.  Can you guess who served himself that piece? I’ll give you a hint.

And, of course, you know how I feel about this guy.  I’ll leave you with a conversation he had with my brother while we were home.

My brother: “Pop, what did you guys do for entertainment back in your day?”

Pop: “Have kids.”

Tomorrow!

Show and Share Day

Oops.  I went out of town.  Didn't tell you that, did I? I haven't seen my brother in 3 years, and he's home for a visit.  That means I may not be around for a couple days.

As a little going away present to you, I took a couple more pictures of my mom's potting shed.  She had it newly painted, and extended her fence the length of her yard.  Just that much more charming, I guess.

Now, if you'd like to give me a present back, you could always link up some gorgeous projects from this week!  Show me what you've been up to, won't you?

Dear Home Goods,

I’ve thought long and hard about how to approach this issue with you.  I live 98.22 miles away from your closest store.  I’ll give you a moment to consider what that means for me.

Flickr

Basically, I’m tired. Tired of wishing that I could brag to the world about your delightful lighting section, and exhausted at the thought of having to live yet another day without every. single. one. of these lamps.

You see that platform cart below?  If I were shopping in that store, I would gladly move it out of the way. I wouldn’t even consider it a nuisance.  It would be my privilege really.  It would be the least I could do as your humble patron.

KCHblog

I felt compelled to write this letter because there are days when it is just too much to bear. I live in a very populated area.  We would make it worth your while. 

Freckles Chick

Consider this the first stop on my campaign for Home Goods Grand Rapids.  Has a nice ring to it, no?

Forever Yours (and I mean that),

Chris

Dining Room Shopping List

This is what I consider the “meat and potatoes” of a room transformation.  Oh sure, the board and batten tutorial was fine, but this is the fun part.  If you’re anything like me, this is the stuff I always want to know.

Again, the #1 question?  The chairs.  You’re going to hear this word a lot.  Ikea.  They were $59.99 (I think that included the slipcover).

The window treatments were also from Ikea.  They were $29.00 for a PAIR. You just don’t find window treatments that cheap.  They match the walls perfectly.

Another popular comment is on the “mirror” as many people thought it was.  In fact, it’s a candle platter I got at Ikea. It was on clearance for $14.99, and I wish I would have bought 10 of them.

Umm…the painting.  I did it. I bought a canvas (with a 40% off coupon) for $15.00. I simply used acrylic craft paint that I had on hand. Will it stay? Who knows. It was an extremely inexpensive way to add some color to the room, and I’m happy with it—for now.

Oh yeah.  The sticks were an Ikea purchase, too.  I bought them a long time ago, but it’s only fair that I mention it.  I actually think they still have ‘em. $15.00

I found these tall sticks (?) for $1.99 at Michaels on clearance.  The peacock feathers added a nice splash of color to a neutral room.  Love peacock feathers!

And finally, the lamp. It was a splurge for me at $39.99 (not $40) at TJMaxx.  I loved it because I didn’t have to do anything to it (woo hoo!), and it brought some curves to the otherwise linear room.

My friend Beth asked a question that I thought I should share.  I painted the birdhouse with craft paint. I use FolkArt Seamist, Raw Sienna, and White. It’s also the same colors I used for the painting on the wall. I just love them.

Board and Batten (Part 1)

Thank you for waiting for this post.  I know some of you have been patiently waiting for the “JustaGirl” version of this.  I will say that after searching every single board and batten project out there, everyone’s is slightly different.  As a matter of fact, I don’t even know if mine constitutes as B&B.  But—that’s what I’m calling it.

Perhaps the #1 question I’ve gotten is if I removed the original baseboard.  Yes, I did.  I stupidly didn’t go for it when we built, and it's my goal to implement it throughout the house. I figured I might as well start now.

The B&B is entirely from a couple of sheets of MDF.  I think they were @$25.00 a sheet.  For those of you asking for measurements, they are as follows:

• Space between battens: 14 inches (this is not perfect in all areas. We adjusted at corners, some outlets, etc.  We got lucky, though, and didn’t have to do that more than twice.)
• Batten width: 3 inches (kind of wide for batten, which is why I question the term)
• Baseboard height: 6 inches
• Topboard height: 5 inches (I didn’t want them to be the same because I feared it would look too heavy on top since I still had the shelf of wood to place over the topboard.)
• Shelf depth: 2 inches

To attach it to the wall, we used a nailgun. The trim being held on by blue tape is just “Liquid Nail-ed” on there.  The nails were too long for the quarter round, and it was light enough to be held by the glue.

A detail shot so you can see what I mean.

Below is the first color I painted it.  I LOVE the color, but it didn’t show off the new trim enough for me.  Darn.  I had to repaint the top.

Some tidbits I wish I would have known first--

• Prime and paint the bottom half of the wall (and the mdf boards) before you install!  It would have saved me HOURS of paint time had I done it first.
• Use a good, white gloss paint.  Don’t be cheap like me and and end up spending more money that you should have because you started with cheap white paint!
• Paintable caulk will become your BEST friend.  Granted, I was picky.  I wanted it to look just a certain way (no gaps, etc.).  You may not have to sand as much or fill as much as I did if you’re less worried about it.

There you go!  Hopefully, it answered the questions you have.  Next up?  The fun stuff!  I’ll share colors, purchases, etc.

If you need more info, feel free to Facebook!  I’m hoping it will help with communication!

SAS in Review and Facebook

Home in the Country made this chair into the dreamy state it’s in now. You wouldn’t believe what it looked like before!  Isn’t it gorgeous?

Amanda at The Hand Me Down House has created what I think is gonna be VIRAL all over blogland. I’m not telling you how she did it. Go see her.  You’ll be amazed.

Kelli Whimsikel has way more patience and way more talent than I do. She made this pillow. And it wasn’t even round when she started!

The Design Fanatic just made her closet into a chic apartment if you ask me!  I just keep looking at all the little details.

Show and Share Day is still going strong, but I wanted to feature some beauties before I proceed through the week.  Thank you sooo much to those of you who joined in!  It was a nice virtual tour for me!

In other news, Just a Girl has gone on World Tour!  Well, maybe that’s an exaggeration.  I have developed a Facebook page though!  I’m quite a moron about these things, but I’m pretty sure I got it to work!  Come say “Hi” and make all the panic worth it!

Show and Share Day

I’m back from camping.  I survived.  I will admit that my husband did his best to pamper me.  I did VERY little work, so it wasn’t as bad as I anticipated.  However, I still hate camping.

I’ve got some points that I need to write about, and I must share a couple of pictures of my little “warriors” as I called them.  After I wash about 31 loads of laundry, I’ll be back.  Until then, show me what you’ve been doing this week!  I set up a tent.  What did you do?

We’re Off!

I’m going camping.

I don’t camp. I don’t like to camp. I don’t want to camp. But…I’m camping. In a tent.

I had these grand plans of writing posts ahead of time, so you wouldn’t even notice I was gone.  Alas, you get stuck with a picture of our destination and some final complaints about the trip.

I’ll be back in a few days!  Enjoy your nice comfy beds and your central air.  I’ll be hangin’ with the mosquitoes.

The New and Improved…

Okay.  Well, it’s just regular ol’ Show and Share Day.  But it’s Friday, so that’s gotta make it better, right?

I’m afraid there’s no giveaway this week.  Blogger is not including all the comments that come through, and I’m afraid it’ll mess up any legitimacy behind all this.  Well, that, and I didn’t have a giveawayer this week. Heh.

Let’s get back to the basics, shall we?  Showing and Sharing!

The Dining Room (said with echoes)

Sorry…Blogger is having issues with comments, and I thought they’d be fixed by now.  They’re not.  Grr.

Let’s take this reveal back to the beginning, shall we?  We were just getting ready to attack it, so I wasn’t particularly concerned with lighting.

It was a green room with black furniture.  It was a pebble in my shoe, a thorn in my side—we didn’t get along well.

Prepare yourself for some pictures ‘cause I’m pretty happy with it.

 

Oh sure.  It’s not completely finished yet.  I’m looking for a new chandelier (pendant), and I can’t seem to find a vase for the arrangement that works.  It’s temporary.  I need to hem the curtains, but I’m simply too lazy.  Soon enough.

I will say that adding trimwork to any room can make drastic changes. Even without any accessories, it was galaxies better than what it was before!

I’ll come back with some details about the project. For now, I’m simply enjoying the fact that it’s done.  Almost.