the holiday wrap-up.

The Holiday season of 2011 was great. But to be honest. It was more stressful than anything. I think we celebrated Thanksgiving twice and Christmas five times. That's right, five. I feel like we are getting farther away from the purpose. I was exhausted. And I think I ended up feeling pretty run down after the whole ordeal. And I felt sick about the amount we had received and spent.  The older I get the more I want to simplify. Especially around the Holidays. I am going to find a way! Even if it's the last thing I do!

Ok... Totally being dramatic. But there is some seriousness to what I am saying.  

Beside the exhaustion of going to all of these crazy events, there was an overall feeling that Jay and I are blessed beyond belief.

Thanksgiving morning. We took some family photos. Millie wanted to be involved. We involved her.

We picked out our tree. It was fun.

 

We lost the battle of "Millie, get out of the tree right now!" I plan to lose every year.

Tree-decorating-pizza-making-night.

Christmas Eve. Millie is ecstatic.

Robot man. And panda girl.

This is what I wore to my family's Christmas dinner. What a lady. A gem. This is how I keep my reputation for being the 'little one' or the 'baby of the family.' Keeps people's expectations low. Just wear a panda hat. People WILL have lower expectations. I promise.

Favorite present from Christmas 2011: Pizza sent from Jayson's cousin Blaine. Not just any pizza. Chicago deep-dish pizza sent frozen and cooked in our oven. FROM Chicago. Yeah, we felt pretty cool. It was not by our own doing. So, thanks for making us feel cool Blaine.

figuring it out.

Being young, poor, and newly married = used furniture.

Right?

Most of our furniture was either given to us, bought at a consignment store, found free in someone else's garage, or bought used and repurposed.

We are doing ok.

The idea of being able to purchase new furniture makes me giddy. Picking out something, having options, customizing fabric, sheesh, I am so excited.

Ok, that day is not here.

However, buying furniture is a lot of pressure.

It's a commitment.

A commitment to a style.

I better start figuring out who I am as furniture.

The first thing I would want to replace is this chair.

I'm loving this chair from World Market. Super cute assorted buttons in the back with a neutral fabric.

And it is on sale right now...

Figuring it out.

$3.85

Happy Monday, my friends. 

I am happy because I get to go help out at the shop (where Jay works) because his boss needs some clerical work done. This means, not only do I have a little job to do, I get to do it with Jay.

I am also happy because of my wall. The wall with the trays. 

Well, it didn't use to be the wall with the trays. It used to be the wall with the calendar.

This wall.

The wall that I am referring to is the small wall that divides my kitchen and dining room.

With its lonely adornment.

I went to Goodwill, I spend $3.85 on trays. Yep.

And hung them on the wall.

And since the trays are metal (3 of them), they can hold magnets! Like our awesome burnt spoon magnet (which was hand-crafted by yours truly). I know you don't get the wooden spoon thing,  it is sentimental. And silly.

So, there you have it. $3.85 and a new wall. I like it. You don't have to. No pressure.

Like I said, happy Monday.

Unsure.

Hi. I'm in a decorating rut. You know, I am second-guessing my choices. 

But the good news is it is not too late.

I want to recover my dinning room chairs. With fabric. Ok, now that you know the final goal. Here is the situation.

These are my dishes. I am committed to these. For obvious reasons. The colors include emerald, chartreuse, and light blue. And white. My serving dishes are white.

See the fabric in the back. Those are my dining room curtains. They have all the colors of my dishes. Lovely.

See this fabric? I bought this fabric MONTHS ago. Months before the dining room curtains. Months before living in this apartment. I got two yards for $10. And it is that nice thick furniture fabric. THIS is what I planned on using to recover the chairs. But now with the curtains, I am doubting my choices!

Here is the fabric with the curtains. So.... what do you think? 

Too much pattern? Should I go with a solid?

This is not the time to hold back. Help a girl out. Let me know what you think.

FRIDAY FLIP.

Hi! Today is the FRIDAY FLIP! Are you excited?

Well, this time I decided to flip a wall in our apartment! 

Remember THIS.

Well, it got flipped.

And I love it so much more. Things are coming together people.

The color we used was BEHR 'Porpoise' and we repositioned all of the frames.

Before you know it, our apartment will be completely decorated and will have to move to a new place! Ok, not really. But it is coming together! 

What do you think?

THE FRIDAY FLIP.

HI!

Today is my first 'The Friday Flip'!

I bought this dresser from Goodwill for $25. It was ugly and gross.

However, with a little elbow grease, some primer and paint, it became THIS:

Here it is with the drawer handles. SOO much better.

 

This dresser helped turn this area in our bedroom to 'that good lookin' area in our room. So thankful for something functional and beautiful.

Hope you enjoyed this Friday Flip!

Make sure you check in the first Friday of every month for The Friday Flip.

Let me know what you think! Do you flip furniture?

Put your work clothes on.

Hey. 

Last Friday, Jay had the day off! I loved it. It is rare that we get to spend an entire weekday together. It was awesome. So, since we had the whole day together, we woke up and didn't know what to do with ourselves. We had the WHOLE day. Go on a hike? Go for a bikeride? Do a project?  Jay said he felt like building something. Sure. I went with it. What shall we build? Hmmm.

After my coffee table post, I had received a message from a friend asking if we could make a bench. Well, we hadn't made a bench... We didn't know. So Jay thought before we committed to making something for someone, we could make one for ourselves to see how it came out. {When I say 'We', I shouldn't because Jay does all of the work.}

Anyway, we have a little bar in our kitchen and I really wanted to buy some bar stools. But we really don't like spending money. So this is how the idea for our long bench-bar stool came about. I wanted a bar stool and Jay wanted to build. So we got busy!

Back to the workshop!

The table saw!

 Here he is! The moustache is growing in nicely, I might add.

At one point during the project, Jay received a call from his work with the news that someone came in to get propane and also offered to buy one of their shop cats (Babushka). The man wanted Babushka in order to make carne asada. Or should I say gato asada. Thought you would want to know. Weird things happen.

The little bench bar stool is taking shape. What a guy!

 While Jay was out there, working hard, I was wandering around doing silly things. Did some laundry. Painted a few frames white from our frame wall, sanded a rack, painted a rack, and took pictures of this silly dog. His name is Hunter. He is really a crotchety old man stuck in a dog body. He doesn't really enjoy being petted or played with. He gets agitated when a human face gets to close to his face. Kisses, forget it. Picking him up and cuddling him, no way. He growls. He exposes his old-man doggie dentures. And even when I went in here to take pictures of him, he just acted annoyed. Leave him alone, it is for your own good. He makes you feel insecure. Why doesn't this dog like me?

 

Ok, back to the point. 

Here is the bench being painted. We white-washed the top and gave the legs a coat of a gray/blue.

 And here it is in our APT! It is perfect. We have eaten there. We use it! Yay! I sit here often while I am on my computer. It is a perfect little work space.

Bench Barstool = Complete

This project took one whole day. We spend a little under $20 to complete it.

Framed.

BEFORE:

This weird little grouping of frames. It all started with the big one which was $5 at a garage sale.

It didn't fill the wall space well and just wasn't what we wanted in general. Gross.

Then we went to Goodwill. We got all of these for less than $12. A family of frames.

So I put Jay to work. This is a patient man. He is so sweet. When I change my mind, saying,"No, not there... it's just not right." He is is fine with it. As far as decorating goes, Jay doesn't have much of an opinion. He just wants me to be happy. Oh, the lengths he will go when doing crafts. What a guy.

My little decorating elf. Again, what a guy.

AFTER:

The finished product. It is looking better. Eclectic. I would love to paint the back wall a light grey and paint all the frames white for a more simple look. I think it will look less heavy. But that all depends on how long we are staying in this apartment. To be determined.

Daytime view.

dress-up for the headboard.

I have been eyeing these banners for quite some time! This etsy shop has some really great stuff for weddings. If I only would have know 9 months ago, one of them would have had a place in my wedding. Oh well. They inspired me to make my own. Ok, I copied them. Totally. But the banners are so cute. I decided to dress-up our awesome headboard.

I decided to copy the 'Sweet Love' banner. Simply & Sweet.

The front view.

Made from all remnant scraps and yarn! So great. It was quite time consuming cutting out all the individual letters, but was worth the effort! Plus, it cost me nothing. You know how I love FREE things!!!

I plan on making more of them... Next time, I will show you the steps to make your own!

The Headboard.

BEFORE:

(No Picture)(Because there was no headboard before the headboard)

To make a headboard:

Steal more palettes from your boss's shop.Go to your workshop (your husband's parent's backyard). Take the palettes apart. Make a frame.Screw the palettes into the frame.oh wait, have your husband do all of these steps as you sit inside, chatting it up with your mother-in-law and drinking green tea.

AFTER: