Guest Room Progress

This poor tiny room gets overlooked all the time. It easily turns into a storage room where we throw everything we don't have a place for and shut the door...and forget it. See what I mean?

I recently rearranged the room and added some new touches. I tried my best to get good pics, but it is nearly impossible to do so with light coming in though the blinds. This is what most of the pics came out looking like...so bear with me.

The bed is now under the window (which still needs window treatments...I'm on the prowl for cheap sheer curtains.)

I am quite proud of the side table. It's my first attempt at repainting furniture!

This is what it looked like before when it was in our living room:

It took 2 coats of leftover paint from trim in our house and 1 coat of polyurethane. I used sponge rollers as suggested by Chris at Just a Girl and now agree that they are the only way to go when painting furniture. I distressed some of the table for an aged look, although a lot of it doesn't show up in these pics. Sorry...once again the lighting made it really hard to take pics. I also turned the table sideways by the bed for a bit of a different look from when the it served as an end table.

 

I like the look of the brown wrought iron of the lamp and this basket against the white in the room. The basket is from Southern Living at Home, and it's filled with magazines for guests and my favorite lotion to share!

I made the burlap pillow by covering an old pillow we were no longer using with burlap and adding our last name initial in twine.

The shelves hold my Willow Tree collection, special shells from my favorite beach, and other meaningful trinkets.

I made the chalkboard using a large frame we were no longer using. I spray painted the frame white and distressed the edges and spray painted the glass with chalkboard paint.

This darling wire bird basket holds my baby blanket made by my great aunt. And the old jar holds my husbands collection of wheat pennies.

As you can see, the other side of the room still needs work! And while it is hard to tell in the pic, there is much more floor room with this new layout. Now our friends with kids can fit a pack n play in here when they come to visit!

I won't do much more to this room as I hope to someday turn it into a room for yet another member of our family. But for now, I am much happier making this little place a brighter, more inviting room for our beloved guests.

This post is part of "Show Us What You're Workin' With" at Me & My Bucket  "Show and Share Day" at Just a Girl. and "Transformation Thursday" at Shabby Chic Cottage.

Sunshine Award

I received a very nice surprise today! The lovely Stephanie at Decorating Addiction granted me The Sunshine Award, which is given to bloggers whose positivity and creativity inspire others. 

Can you see me blushing?!? Thank you so very much Stephanie! I was feeling sort of bummed this morning as I am still feeling yucky and the rainy weather wasn't helping. But this award made me cheer right up. It was indeed a little bit o' sunshine in an otherwise gloomy day here in my neck of the woods.

And now it's my turn to pass the sunshine along! I am choosing 3 bloggers that I have just begun to follow recently. These ladies are inspiring me and teaching me so much!

1. Shelley at House of Smith's
First, let me say that Shelley has the most gorgeous smile! I originally "met" Shelley back in January when I stumbled upon her Wonderfully Wordy vinyl line while looking for some vinyl to spruce up my kitchen. I had a ton of questions and Shelley was incredibly friendly and helpful. I ordered an adorable pantry vinyl from her (see it here) , and went back to her  recently when I wanted a house number vinyl for our door (see it here). And the whole time, through two orders and lots of email exchanges, I never knew Shelley had a personal blog! Her home is bright and cheery and so very welcoming. I am having lots of fun catching up on her posts, and hope you will, too!

2. Cheri at I Am Momma Hear Me Roar
Cheri is an uber talented momma, and one super chic lady! I fell in love with the shirts she has been making for her boys and had to give them a try. It is just so darn hard to find cute inspiration for boys! Cheri patiently answered all of my questions about paint, removing pockets, etc and with her encouragement I made my first two shirts for my 3 year old son (see them here). I look forward to trying out many of the other tutorials Cheri provides on her site and I look forward to her super creative posts in the future. And if that wasn't enough, Cheri is also opening a small hair accessory business with her sister called Loopdeelou! Their headbands are cute, cute, cute! Their products will be available online soon.

3. Wendy at Relatively Unique
Wendy began her blog when she thought she was getting her dream home, an old farmhouse complete with a barn. Unfortunately, the deal fell through...the farmhouse wasn't meant to be. But instead of sulking and feeling duped, Wendy is taking what she is meant to have and putting her family's own personal mark on it. Wendy and her family have made their house a home, and I so enjoy following along their journey! Wendy and her dad make gorgeous photo frames that they sell in a little booth. And Wendy has such a talent for refinishing furniture that she and her husband also sell in the little booth, which they recently named "Portare Alla Vita" (Italian for "bring to life"). And lucky for me Wendy is a neighbor! Well, not a -right-down-the-street neighbor, but close enough that I hope to meet up with her and some other lovely bloggers in April!


So there you have it, 3 bloggers who bring sunshine to me through positivity and creativity! And hopefully they will choose to pass on the award.

Ballard Knock Off Bee Tumblers

Have you ever seen these bee tumblers from Ballard's?

I received a set of 2 small glasses and the matching carafe as a bridal shower gift over 8 years ago. At the time I had no idea what Ballard's was or where they came from, but I knew I loved them. Then a few short years ago I came across them in the Ballard's catalog. But at $45 for a set of 4 I just couldn't bring myself to buy them.

Well, as I was strolling though the aisles of The Christmas Tree Shop searching for items to use in my herb crates (which you can read about here and here), I saw them. My large bee tumblers! For $1.29 each! Yep, you read that right. $1.29 each. I grabbed 8 and with a huge smile happy forked over the $10. 32 for my bee tumblers wanting to shout to everyone in there they were indeed, as The Christmas Tree Shop slogan says, "a bargain!" I saved $80!

Here are my lovely bee tumblers with my matching carafe and small tumblers. Can't wait to use them for Easter! You can't tell a difference at all! Wish they had also had the small tumblers.

 
I also brought home these adorable little glass lanterns for 89 cents each. I plan to add a burlap runner to outside table on the deck, fill these glass containers with sand and tea lights and add them to the table. Can't wait for some night time cookouts!

I am linking to Rhoda's "Today's Thrifty Treasures" party at Southern Hospitality and "Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays" at Coastal Charm.

I am still feeling very under the weather. I stayed home in bed today, and am hoping to find the will power to get to the office tomorrow. Thanks for all the get well wishes!

Herb Crates 1/2 Reveal

This is as far as I got on my weekend challenge.
What I thought was allergies turned into a full blown head cold. I've been tearing though tissues like nobody's business.  Taking this picture and posting here is the most productive thing I've done all day, unless you count blowing my nose til it's raw and red as productive.
I made it to The Christmas Tree Shop on Saturday before I gave into the cold. I got the extra large white plates for $1 each! I also scored some awesome drinking glasses that I will share soon! Stay tuned.
I had the napkins already. The faux grass in the pails were from my Easter Tablescape Attempt #1. (I only had enough for 4 place settings but need 8 so they've been scrapped.) The battery operated candles were also in my stash. The smallest box remains unfilled. I'm thinking maybe seed packets?
I hope to have these up on the wall as soon as I can breathe and find my energy...or when my dear husband decides to do it for me, whichever comes first. But since he is manning the house and our 3 year old wild child, I won't bet on the hubby getting around to it.

How did your weekend challenges go?

Weekend Challange (Herb Crates)

After stalking package tracker for 2 days, looky what arrived on my front doorstep today:

Seen them before? They've become a bit of a home decor fad among us home decor bloggers. The fabulous Layla of The Lettered Cottage started the trend:

Layla originally found hers at Home Goods. We should all be so lucky, although I am sure I would have moved right by them assuming they were meant for adorable garden sheds, which I do not have. I have got to start learning to think out of the box--or herb crate as it may be--more!

I am a total copy cat, and so I had to have these crates. I have the perfect wall to hang them on in my kitchen/eat-in area, and have already secured a stool from Goodwill to make over to go in the corner with them. It took a few attempts to track down these crates. I believe Layla ended up making sets of these herb crates and selling them, but doesn't seem to be doing so any longer. I also know that Whitewash Sundries used to sell them on etsy, but they've been sold out for a while now. I finally purchased my set from Blessed in Maine's etsy shop

My new goal is to post each Friday what my weekend challenge will be, whether it is decor, organization, craft, or shopping related. I hope you will join me by sharing your weekend goals/challenges in my comments section. (I hope to eventually host link parties, but I'm still too chicken to give this a try so early in my blogging presence) And if you have suggestions on how to accomplish my challenges, please let me know! At the end of the weekend I'll post an update sharing how the challenge turned out.

This weekend's challenge:
Finding the perfect touches to add to my new herb crates!

Decorating Toddler Shirts

Wow...this week flew by!
My obsession this week was shirts for my 3 year old son. The incredibly talented Cheri over at I Am Momma Hear Me Roar inspired me with her adorable shirts. I have spent the past few nights running to the craft store after work and then staying up way past my bedtime making freezer paper stencils, painting, sewing, etc. Here are two of my favorites that I've made so far:

 Be sure to visit Cheri's blog for more information on how to make these adorable shirts!
 

Sprucing Up the Garage

We recently added a mud room to our house. I designed it and my husband and father in law made it happen. I love it, and will share it with you soon. We live in a tall, skinny townhome and our front door is actually on the 2nd level of the house. We have quite the set of concrete stairs leading to that front door.  And I was always terrified that I was going to fall down them when I was pregnant and later when I carried my son up and down them. Once my son started walking and insisting on doing everything on his own, we started entering the house through the garage, which leads to the basement, in an effort to avoid those dreadful stairs. This new habit led to the creation of the mudroom...which has led to the sprucing up of the garage. Everyone now enters our home through the garage and into the basement...so I wanted them to be greeted with something more appealing than this:

( I almost forgot to take before pics--bad blogger!--that's why the ladder is there...I had just started painting.)

Now our guests are greeted with this:

It doesn't really look like it in the photos, but let me assure you that I painted those walls! I used left over paint from our living room and kitchen (Benjamin Moore's Dunmore Cream). I still have more painting to do. (Can you spot where it ends?)
The shelves were once in a closet and were moved to the garage.
The galvanized buckets were purchased several summers ago for ice and drinks at a party. I added the numbers using peel-and-stick chalkboard paper I had in my stash. I printed out the numbers, taped them to the chalkboard paper and cut the out. Easy peasey.
I also already had the watering cans...I just spraypainted the larger one black with a silver spout. And who doesn't grow flowers in their garage?!? The other pot is holding a stash of twine.

I love seeing all of our boots lined up ready for use at the first sign of a rain cloud!

We hung the curtains--which are drop cloths--last fall all across the width of the garage to hide our storage area. We have shelves full of stuff, stuff and more stuff behind there. I still need to iron those drop cloths!

I painted the door black and added the white vinyl house number, which I purchased from the fabulous Shelley at Wonderfully Wordy. And I found the L rug on clearance at a Marshal's that was closing for under $10!

I think our guests will appreciate entering our home much more now...I know I do!And here's a little sneaky peek into the mudroom! I promise to show you more soon.

Where do you enter your home? The traditional front door, the garage, or somewhere else?

This post is part of "DIY Day" at A Soft Place to Land and "Get Your Craft On" and Today's Creative Blog.