Tackling Those Home Projects

For the past few months I've been itching to cross off two major home updates off my list but frankly haven't had the time to do so with Mara underfoot.  Having my mom around for a few days proved just the ticket to finally tackle them!

Cushion off!

First I wanted to recover an old stool we have behind our couch.  The stool itself is in great shape for it's age but the fabric was just so dated...and pink.  I found a fun fabric at JoAnn's Fabric that was on sale and quickly purchased a yard for this project.

I have never recovered anything but this was surprisingly easy.  I just unscrewed the seat from the base and then proceeded to pull all the staples from the fabric.  I found once I had removed the pink fabric that the original fabric and foam was still on the cushion.  Deeming it in good condition I just did what the former owner did and recovered over it!

I worked in opposing directions and stapled the new fabric on pulling it taunt as I went.  After I was done I simply screwed it back into the base.  I think the whole thing took 20 minutes.  It's such a fresh look and brings some color to our neutral living room.

The finished stool

The second project I wanted to tackle was the night stand in the guest bedroom.  Josh got this night stand free off of Craigslist before we were married and frankly it screams bachelor.  The wood is like three different finishes.  It's just kind of an eye sore.

Why not just get a new one you ask?  Well that's just too easy and the bones of this table were ok.  The shape was nice and it was pretty sturdy.  I mean I love our guests but it's not a major focal piece in our house so I didn't want to spend too much money on it.

I decided a fresh coat of paint and some new knobs would do the trick.  Again our guest room is pretty neutral so I decided a pop of color was the key.  Lately I've been into teal so I went with a beachy teal green with some silver knobs.

The sanding of this piece was really the most work.  It took forever to get the varnish off as there seemed to be layers upon layers of it on the table.  But once this was done and the sawdust removed the painting went quickly.  The table just soaked it up and after two cans of spray paint I was satisfied.

The color is bold and I think I need a little more time for it to grow on me but I love it in the room already.

A little blurry but all finished and ready to go in the guest bedroom

First Birthday Planning

With Mara's birthday around the corner, I've been thinking about all things party for the last couple of weeks.  I didn't want to do anything big especially with us being here in Illinois rather than North Carolina but at the same time I wanted it to be special and a little bit unique.

I love to craft and make my own decorations so I immediately began looking for themes.  I didn't want to go to the party store and just buy all of one of the prepackaged themes.  After a little bit on Pinterest, I came up with "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star".  I thought it would be pretty simple decoration wise and wouldn't be the typical first birthday bash.

So I started crafting!  I cut out a ton of stars in coral, teal and gold to make star garlands.  Then I just adhered them to some hemp cord of different lengths.  I'll string these in the kitchen over the table.  Streaming down from the chandelier in the dinning room and in the living room over the picture table.

I also created two cake toppers for the regular cake and then Mara's smash cake.  I kept them pretty simple.  I wanted something on the cake but opted to not have a candle.  One year olds and candles don't mix.

Cake toppers

I want to have a lot of pictures displayed around the party.  I glued some simple gold stars on clothes pins.  On the day of the party I will string 12 pictures of her in her monthly stickers on some hemp cord.

Star clothes pins

I made a small plaque that I'll put on the picture table as well simply painting it and stenciling out one of my favorite star quotes.  I also painted a 1 gold to add to the decor.  My largest project is probably the only one I don't have finished yet.  I picked up a board at goodwill that someone had painted with chalkboard paint.  I spray painted the boarder gold and redid the chalkboard finish.  The last step will involve some chalk markers and my non existent art skills.  I'm hoping to copy those fancy chalkboards you see all over Pinterest recapping Mara's year (ie her favorite foods, number of teeth, weight, height, etc.)

party shoes

Overall I can't wait for party day.  I know Mara won't remember this day but I hope she'll look back at pictures and see how much thought went into the day.  I want her to enjoy her day.  Birthdays are important to me and I love to celebrate and shower others with love on their special day.

One banner

Party outfit

I can't believe she's going to be 1

Fall Craft-tacular

Even though its still 80 degrees outside, I feel like Fall is around the corner.  Fall here starts mid October/early November but I can't be deterred.  My nesting instincts have kicked in and I have been all about decorating the house for the season.  I'm also not one to spend a ton of money on the typical decorations so I've been scouring Pinterest for some fall inspired crafts that I could do with some of the supplies we had on hand.  

My first project was these glasses.  I had them left over from our wedding and they were just calling to be used in the house somewhere.  This project was super easy.  I bought some letter stickers and adhered the word "Thanks" to them.  I put one letter per jar and then filled the jars with some small pumpkins, acorns and pine cones I had found on sale at the local craft store.  Around them I just arranged some fall floral and the table runner is something Josh had before we were married.  I love the overall look and only wish you could see the word better.  All in all I think this will be the perfect centerpiece through Thanksgiving!

Our new dinning room centerpiece

The mantel was a bit more work as the burlap banner really took a lot of time.  We had a TON of burlap left over from our wedding so after deciding what I wanted it to say I cut out the appropriate number of pennants.  Then I printed out letter stencils from my word program and used a brown permanent marker to fill in the letters.  Because I wanted it to last multiple seasons I painted a layer of mod podge to give the pennants some structure and to stop the burlap from shedding (if you haven't worked with burlap before, its messy).  From there I just whipped out my hot glue gun and got to work.  I adhered the pennants first to some juke and then attached the orange trim.  This is by far my favorite project I did.  I love the look and can't wait to make another one for the Christmas season!  The other decorations are little things that I picked up from the craft store.  I can't resist a good deal and the florals and small pumpkins were on sale!
 

Love the mantel for Fall

This next project has been on my agenda since we've moved in.  I really wanted a wreath for our front door but didn't want to buy anything.  Again we have a ton of burlap left over from the wedding and frankly I just love the look of the fabric.  I bought a metal frame and the accessories and got to work.  The burlap had to be cut into strips and then just looped through the frame.  I used pipe cleaners to secure it making sure to hide the cleaners along the way.  The letter I just painted and attached with a navy ribbon.  The flower was the same story and I just used the wire on it to attach it.  Overall it doesn't scream fall but that's what I wanted.  I plan on leaving this on the door for most of the year.

Welcome to our home!

My last project was the dreaded bulletin board in our entryway.  Since we toured the house I've wanted to do something on this board.  I saw it as a family center where we could keep track of things, maybe put up a calendar or two.  I tried to get started on this project multiple time but ended up hating everything I did.  It just looked like a classroom board to me.  I decided that I first needed to cover the cork.  I found this fabric remnant at the craft store and took a chance that on it that it would fit.  And guess what?  Its perfect!  I love the green chevron and think it will work for multiple seasons (Christmas, spring, etc.) I didn't really know what to put on it this month so I just did a simple countdown to baby girl's arrival and a calendar with our family events on it.  The words say, "Blessings Fall Every Day" and the fall accents were just leftovers from the other projects.  I'm still not in love but think it will grow on me a bit.  Its definitely better than my first few attempts.

Our family cork board