turquoise dresser

This is just the beginning to my daughters bedroom makeover. When I tell you it is a pain in the bucket to re-do a bedroom for Christmas- BELIEVE me! Never again! One room renovation trickled on to a 3 room re-do. Might as well do her bathroom, I think to myself. Oh, and the other child will feel bad if she doesn't have a nifty new room, so I better do something special for her. And there goes my every second of the next 3 weeks! As if December ain't crazy enough! We decided to switch dressers between the girls rooms and paint M's new dresser her new favorite color turquoise. Her favorite color will probably switch tomorrow, so I'm thinking this dresser will have about 6 layers of paint on it before she goes to college.

Steps for finishing a dresser:

1. There is NO EASY WAY to do this. No product out there is magic. Nothing to come save you hours and hours of time. So, DO NOT try to buy paint and slap it on. You will regret it.

2. After my husband bought regular paint at the store, he sanded the entire dresser really well and began painting.

3. Wow! That was easy! ...... Wrong! Latex paint would not stick to a 40 year old dresser. Back to the specialty store to buy OIL based paint and primer and paint stripper.

4. My husband spent an extra 15 hour stripping and sanding all because he didn't use expensive oil based paint to begin with.

5. With the dresser now down to the bare bones, he primed it with oil based primer, tinted gray.

6. Paint with oil based paint and a brush. Let dry and do several coats.

7. Add texture with some gel glaze by minwax. We put it on too thick and used a clean rag and paint thinner (we use alot of that stuff around hear) to remove the excess glaze.

8. Add knobs and Walah! My daughter squealed when she saw it. A true designer at heart.

So the moral of the story is THERE IS NO EASY WAY. Do it right the first time. When I see these 24 hour makeovers on TV they make it look so easy. But have you every seen a close up in High Definition? It ain't pretty folks and even though I'm not a perfectionist, (thankfully my husband is) even I have standards!

Stay tuned for my daughter's bedroom reveal.... It's only a few craft projects away!

I've linked to this fabulous site:

And to the Nester here

Letters to my family

You remember how ultra (pour on the cheese & pull out the tissues) sentimental I am? I am grateful however, that I'm not a hoarder or this issue could be catastrophic! For Christmas one year I decided to write each of my family members a letter telling them how I felt about them. The letters consisted of memories of growing up, how I felt the day they came home from the hospital as babies, the funny things I remember about them, etc. It was theraputic to relive these memories in my letters. It made me happy to remember how kind my brothers were to me, how creative my siblings were on lazy Sunday afternoons and how thoughtful my sisters were. After I compiled letters to all 6 siblings and both of my parents and mailed them, I then made a book for my dad. I made the book thru a book editor online. It was complicated. It was miserable. It took forever and I would NOT recommend it. While I think my dad enjoyed the book and having these memories written down (I definitely get my sentimental side from him) I thought the book binding process could've been better. I always wanted to make one for my own family but the task has seemed daunting to go thru the process all over again. Then I thought how easy it would be to do it thru my favorite online scrapbook company and complete it with pictures. Because you know how much I love pictures! The finished product came in the mail the other day and I can't wait to give it to my husband and children on Christmas morning. However, I don't think it will be quite the reaction I would want (no one is as sentimentally challenged as me) I think they'll appreciate it in their own way. It makes me happy to know that if something happens to me or my loved ones, I will have told them how much they've meant to me. These letters bring me peace and this book is one way to show my family how much I love them. I used http://www.shutterfly.com/ and here is my finished product.


Each child and hubby have a two page layout with a letter from me.

Mini bathroom pick me up

So it's 10 days before Christmas. Most people are wrapping gifts, finishing their shopping lists, mailing gifts, baking treats and just enjoying this fun season. What am I doing? I'm redo-ing my daughters bedroom. Sounds insane even to me! And why just stop at a bedroom? The bathroom is just a few feet away and I don't want it to clash! So I throw in a bathroom makeover as well. Seriously, what's wrong with me? Why do I feel the need to make life more chaotic? Since I had painters coming for my daughter's bedroom, (you'll see her makeover after Christmas) I felt the need to get this bathroom done too. I had very little time to think about it and just threw it together in a night. Not my best work, but the kids love it and my eyes are getting used to the neon green. I thought I was pretty good at selecting colors, but this was not the best choice. It's granny apple green by Behr and it's BRIGHT! It's a small bathroom, shared by the 3 kids and I had to make it more gender neutral. Here's the interesting before's.

In case you were wondering, No I did not paint Ivy and bugs on the wall. If you thought I did, you don't me well!Yellow, blue and lady bugs. Sounds pretty but in reality, just odd. This bathroom has been neglected since we moved in. My kids never use it and it's just been one of those someday projects. Here's what some last minute Target shopping can do for a well needed makeover.
What's a makeover without some polka dots? You know I can't resist polka dots!

This bathroom certainly won't win any creative awards, but it's done and the girls are excited. Maybe they'll start using it now and stay out of my bathroom & the guest bathroom. Honestly, the bugs have scared them at night. Can't say I blame them. Goodbye bugs, grasshoppers and ivy. Hello apple green and turquoise.

Merry Mantel

So this year I needed to go more modern Christmas and tone down the country Christmas that I've done for years. While I love the sentimental ornaments I pull out each year, I remembered how clausterphobic I felt with all the decorations. I need to de-clutter my Christmas and it's made me feel a little less stressful with having less around the home and taking up every inch of wall and table space. Less is more they say and I'm embracing it! I keep seeing all white & silver Christmas decorations and they just ooze glam. Throw in a touch of blue/turquoise and I feel like I'm finally an adult and less college-dorm. After putting up some fun items from Hobby Lobby on my mantel, it needed one more thing. That's when I decided to make a garland with fun papers.







I bought a 2" circle punch at Joann's, and found paper in silver, white and turquoise. 5 different papers in all. I wanted to make sure the back of the garland was just as pretty as the front incase it turned. Which it does. I carefully put two circles together, held on tight, and prayed I didn't sew a finger! After each circle was sewn, I continued on to the next circle. Carefully holding them so the front and back wouldn't slip. You really only get one shot at this if you're sewing to make it continuous. I thought about having a ribbon glued in between the papers if you were hesitant to sew. Same idea. It really wasn't hard to sew though. I took a piece of string and draped it on my mantel to see how long I would want it. Mine ended up being 90" long. And 5 pieces of 12x12" paper is more than enough. Some were only 8.5x11". The whole project took about 40 minutes from start to finish. Quick and easy and I'm ready to make more for birthday parties!





While my street art above the mantel isn't very Christmassy, it is the right color! And it does say, industrial glam doesn't it? Either way- I'm liking that the whole mantel only cost $65.

New Additions....

SQUEAL! My little sis in the hospital right now having a baby and I couldn't be more excited! Two weeks early this baby just couldn't wait to meet his new family. I can't wait to meet him. I've been scouring www.etsy.com in search for the coolest baby products and guess what? I found some. Here are two things my new nephew can't live without. After all, it would be a crime NOT to treat this baby like the Rock Star he's going to be. His name is Max and with a name like that you're sure to ROCK this world!
I ordered little Max a pair in grey with white accent here.


White elephant gift or completely awesome? You decide. But you know your baby will be getting more than ooooh's and ahhhh's when he's chillin with these binkies.
Or just in case you want to get your little one in the Christmas mood.....
I know you want one. So here's where you can get it!

So as you can tell, I'm excited about this new little nephew who lives absolutely too far away. So I'm anxiously waiting to be texted or emailed a picture and hear his little voice. In the meantime, I will be chillin' with OUR new addition..... Can you believe it? Over Thanksgiving we took in a stray dog that hasn't been able to find its owner. He seemed like the perfect dog. For 3 days anyway. The honeymoon is over, the excitement is wearing off, and the poop cleaning/sanitizing has sunk in. But what can we do? After 3 minutes with this dog we fell in love and named him Oscar. (if his name is Oscar, does that make me the Grouch?) Not quite the same as a little newborn, but a new addition to the fam just the same, minus 9 months of aches and pains. Plus, it's not a crime if I leave him at home alone to run to the store..... For some reason the police frown on that if it's your child. (wink, wink) Now I'll be searching http://www.etsy.com/ for dog accessories. I'm pathetic. But fun, right?

Bedroom Makeover from Santa?

What the heck? My nine year old is asking Santa for a bedroom makeover! How is Santa going to pull that off? Yes, she still believes, although her 6 yr old little sis is questioning it. Go figure. So what am I gonna do? What 9 yr old wants clothes for her birthday and bedding for Christmas? I remember wanting a bike and care bears. At nine years old, my friend informed me that I had on two different socks, and all I could think is, "how sad that she wastes time finding matching socks rather than playing!" So here I am, with a to-do list a mile long and now planning a bedroom makeover before Christmas. Can it be done? I doubt it. Will I try? Til I sew through a fingernail! Where do I begin? I go to my favorite elaborate decorating blog for inspiration, Design Dazzle. Here are a few bedrooms I saw on Design Dazzle's blog I'm dreaming of.

Can you tell we like color? A girl with flair for sure! So as kids begin writing their letters to Santa with pictures of toys and bikes, my nine year old is sketching like crazy. Designing her room. Things on her list include a pearl beaded dust ruffle, a monogram duvet cover, a hammock or chair- she can't decide, polka dots, and a glitzy chandelier. She has narrowed her colors to hot pink, orange, turquoise, lime green, black & white. This could either be amazing or a disaster. There's no middle ground in our house! I need help.....

New Photo Prop

I'm always on the look-out for interesting photo props. There's a fine line between super cheesy props and WOW props. "Why use props at all?" you ask. Sometimes its hard to get a real smile. I can't tell you how many photos go in digital trash can because they look more like their posing for the dentist x-ray machine than smiling. Say cheese- and now you can count how many teeth are in their entire mouth! So that's why I use props. I get them acting like their diva-selves and I get some pretty great smiles that way. I can especially capture my kids personalities. The shy one, (nix that- NONE of my kids are shy when I pull out a camera) the sweet innocent one, the soon-to-be broadway star. It's all there, just waiting for a prop to show them how to be themselves. Here is my latest attempt at Christmas card photos. Take 3. That's right, 3 different times of dressing up, getting in the car, and bribing with candy. 3rd times a charm right? You be the judge:

Here are some chalk board thought bubbles: soon to be selling in my sisters store found here.
There are so many possibilities. Your child holding a naughty sign with an arrow pointing to big brother. A scrooge sign for the dad who doesn't want to pose for pics. What would mine say? Oh, that's easy. Trophy Wife. My hubs would say, Eye Candy. As you can see, we're a sarcastic family. But you get the drift. You simply write on chalkboard bubble and wipe off with a baby wipe when you've changed your mind. Easy peezy and a hint of funny. Best kind of pictures!