{Only 9 More Days}

We leave for Texas in 9 days & I am so excited! 

I cannot wait to see my family & friends. 

The best will be showing Landry off to everyone!  It's so important to me to show her my roots as well as her dad's.  My family is definitely a lot closer than my husband's so it'll be nice to show her a different family dynamic.  I love my husband's family but there's nothing like your own family. 

We've been busy finishing up projects.

The kitchen floor is finished.  I hope to post pictures before we leave.  It turned out beautifully!  We are both pleased with it & love how it doesn't show every single piece of dirt like the last floor did.  We were definitely sore for a few days afterwards but it was worth the pain. 

I have major OCD when it comes to packing so I've been working on that the last few days. 

We'll be gone for 3 weeks so it's not like packing for a weekend trip.  It gives me anxiety to be honest.

I am super excited because I was commissioned to do my first job last night.  It's a huge one too!  I cannot wait to share our new business with y'all.  It's perfect for our family!  We are finalizing some details & hope to reveal soon! 

Well, I'm going to try & get some sleep. 
Hope everyone had a great Monday!

{Grrr....}

Last year I bought a thing called Chalk Ink.  I thought they'd be easier to write with than regular chalk & they are but they DO NOT remove as easily as chalk. 

I purchased a pretty Santa Claus at Hobby Lobby that I hung on the chalkboard wall at Christmas & wrote part of Twas' the Night Before Christmas around it.  It was really cute & I'm almost positive that I have a picture somewhere. 

Anyway, I went to erase it today & this is what happened....

I scrub the top part for probably 30 minutes to get it to go away.  The bottom part will not erase no matter how hard I scrub!  I'm so upset because now I'm going to have repaint the chalkboard wall. 

So a lesson learned.  No more Chalk Ink pen.  There's a reason the old school chalk has been around forever.  If it ain't broke don't fix it right?

I'm working on the window above the sink right now.  I had a curtain there & had my husband take it down tonight to fix the hems.  They were way off.  I used one panel & made into two. 

Upon taking them down I realized that I never painted the sides & top of the window. Oops. I'm working on that now & trying to decide if I want the curtains back up or if I want to do something else. I have a gorgeous piece of art that I'm thinking about hanging there. It won't block the light coming in from the laundry room but still block enough of that room that you can't see the madness happening in there now.

If any of you have tips on how to get the chalk ink off the wall I'd greatly appreciate it.

Hope everyone is having a great Wednesday!

{Kitchen Floors}

When we purchased this house 5 years ago we knew that we were taking on quite the project especially where the kitchen was concerned.

It had to be completely gutted.

It was a process.

One that isn't finished.

The floors in the kitchen, living room & hallway were disgusting.  It was the ugliest thickest linoleum I have ever seen.  Our original plan was to pull it all up & refinish the hardwood floors underneath.  That didn't work out the way we planned so we bought a cheap peel & stick floor from Lowe's.  My husband & his best friend put it down & we've been living with it until December 26th. 

One of my Christmas presents per my request was a new floor.  I didn't want to invest a lot of money because we have some major plans for this room & will eventually refinish the hardwoods that lie underneath the madness of linoleum. 

After many nights of research online we decided on the Novalis luxury vinyl plank in Cherry from Lowe's.  

It received great reviews & after seeing that House of Smith's & The Lettered Cottage used it I knew it would be perfect for our home. 

It goes down so easy.  And it looks amazing.

We got more than half of the floor done when we hit a snag. 

This piece is not level.  There used to be a cabinet here but we took it out to make room for the refrigerator we wanted.  There wouldn't have been enough walk room had we placed another cabinet here.  We never fixed the problem before because the guys were a tad lazy in putting the checkerboard floor down. 

You can see here the difference in height from the hardwoods to the floor we have now.  My husband is going to work on this tonight so we can finish this floor.  It's been driving me crazy not having it finished. 

This really is a beautiful floor for cheap. 

Each box covers 40 sq ft & we purchased 4 boxes. 

I don't remember what the exact price of each box was but they were around $46.00. 

So for around $184 we have a brand new floor.

Fingers crossed this project is done tonight & we can mark it off the list!

{365 Days of Landry: Week 2}

{Building A Legacy}

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about our home & finances. 

My husband is an 8th generation farmer. 

We've always had dreams of passing our farm down to a son. 

Well, we don't have a son & after two really bad pregnancies & emergency deliveries 8 weeks ahead of schedule we were told no more babies for us. 

And that's not to say that a our sweet girl can't farm one day if she wants to.

With all that said I've been caring a lot of guilt about not being able to contribute financially to our family.  I worked in the legal field for over 10 years & quit 2.5 years ago when we decided to try & have another baby.  It was always our plan for me to stay home with our child.  We knew we would have to make sacrifices but we were willing to do whatever so one of us was always with our baby.  My husband does well with our farm & cattle & we don't ever go without but I want to do something to help to take some of the stress off my husband but that allows me to still home with Landry. 

It wasn't until several months ago that the light bulb went off. 

I've been a long time follower of Miss Mustard Seed's blog. 

I've seen her slogan "Move mountains in your home." many time but for some reason it struck a cord with me late one night. 

I realized that it was time to stop dreaming & to act.   

I know what I want to do & the most important part is my family is behind me 110%.

I've been experimenting for months with our product & am so excited to be getting started on a dream come true. 

We are still months from launching it but I couldn't wait to share tease y'all a bit.  I'll be honest with y'all I'm scared, nervous & anxious.  This is all because of a sweet girl named Landry.  She & her sister have inspired me more than I ever could have imagined.  I want to be able to give her the life she deserves while still having her mom with her for all the special moments.  It's important to both of us that we leave behind something for her so whether she decides to farm or do something else she's covered. 

Please keep us in your thoughts & prayers as we let God lead us on this new journey. 

I saw this on Pinterest & knew it fit me perfectly...

 I know she doesn't read my blog but I hope MMS knows what an inspiration she is to me & I am sure so many of you too!

Now off to work.... practice makes perfect!

{Buffet Makeover}

My husband picked the buffet up on Tuesday & the minute we got it in the house I started work on it.  The piece is HEAVY!  It took us a good 35 minutes to get it out of the truck & in the house because I'm not that strong. 

We put it in the living room in a space I had semi cleared out. 

And while I worked on it our tv sat like this.

There is nothing fun about watching tv while it's on the ground. 

Just an FYI.

I was so excited to put the first coat of ASCP Olive on it. 

 The color is so rich & sublte at the same time. 

It brings some much needed color to our living room.  I want to bring more color in on some pillows I'm going to attempt to make as soon as I find the perfect fabric.

I put two coats on & one coat of clear wax.  The piece isn't finished because we need to do the bottom but that will have to wait until we get back from Texas. 

I'm still trying to decide on which hardware to purchase.  You see in the photo above the MS pull handle.  I forgot I had purchased one several months ago for another project I was working on.  I never used it & once I put it on here I loved it.  My husband loves it too but I want to check out some others before I make a decision.

Something I didn't plan on happening did.  I thought our cable box & receiver would fit in the doors but they don't.  I was a little upset but decided that I could figure something out.  I'm thinking about taking out the 2 middle drawers, paint the insides & put the components in there.  I've seen it done several times on different blogs & it looks great.  I was trying to hide them because Landry will be mobile soon & didn't want her to be tempted by them. 

This is the piece today.  It looks great.  This picture really doesn't do it justice.  I love the height it gives our tv & I love that it's not a traditional piece.  All that's left to do is finish the bottom & find the perfect hardware. 

We are both very pleased with this piece. 

I'm linking up over at Miss Mustard Seed!

Happy Weekend!

{2012 Home Goals}

I decided to join the linky party over at Nesting Place & document my home goals for the year.

We always have some kind of project going on in our house but we decided to prioritize them this year so that we actually start getting stuff accomplished versus a million projects half done.

First off is the laundry room. 

I shared with y'all our plan for this room & I'm excited about getting it done although it'll take some time because we don't have a money tree in the backyard. 

{The dirt on the door is from my husband.  He's a farmer hence he's dirty.}

We want to remove the window & door on this side of the room.  Since installing the stairs at the french doors we don't use this door anymore.  Our goal is to drywall it & put 2 of the IKEA Hemnes cabinets there for extra storage.

There's no lighting in this room besides the lamps I put in there so we'll fix that too.  I want 2 of the Turner light fixtures to go above the cabinets. 

We need a new floor in here too. 

As you can see from this picture we need to clean out the junk.  The room normally looks 50% worse than this but I actually got rid of some stuff the other day. 

On the other side of the room is the washer & dryer.

I want to add some cabinets above the washer & dryer. 

You are getting a sneak peek of the black too!

One day we'll replace the w&d with the front loaders but not until these stop working. 

There's a lot going on in this room & I'm trying to be patient but it's hard. 

The next space is the living room.

Please excuse the mess.

Our entire house is a disaster zone right now.

I find playing with Landry is more appealing than cleaning. 

We purchased the new sofa in September but it was delivered the week before Thanksgiving.  It gives us tons of space & actually makes our small living room feel larger.  We are thinking about moving it to another space in the room but haven't decided on that just yet.

{Yes, thats"s our surround sound on the ground.  Remember I've been painting the buffet}



This room needs a lot of work.  All of it is cosmetic. 

The wall behind the tv is going to receive an amazing treatment too.  That'll be talked about in detail in another post.

The next space is the bathroom.

We have one bathroom in the house.  We hope to change that in the next few years.  It works for us because there are only 2 of us that use the bathroom.  It's never been a problem in 6 years. 

I have some major plans for this room.

New mirror, lighting, vanity, floor & a board & batten treatment.

So there's our list of home goals. 

What are you home goals for 2012? 

I'm linking up at Nesting Place.

{Tranquility}

I've had a long time love affair with colored doors.  I've never been brave enough to paint any of ours except the front door until recently.

Sometime last year I was on a blog & saw that she had painted her interior doors a Valspar color called Tranquility.  I can't remember the name of blog so my apologies.

I sent my husband to Lowe's to buy 2 quarts of Tranquility & without hesitation started painting the doors the minute he got home with the paint.  I put two coats on & they look amazing!

Unfortunately, I've only gotten 2 of the 4 doors painted. 

I got bored painting doors so I started on another project. 

Does anyone else ever do that?  



I have Landry's door & the bathroom door left to paint.  We still need to replace the bathroom door with the 6 panel style like we did the others.  The original doors were solid wood & plain jane.  We've slowly started replacing them all but doors are expensive so a little at a time.  We did purchase one for the bathroom but it was the wrong size.  That was totally my fault too.  Oops.

So like a million other things in our home we have to finish this project. 

Once the doors are done I'll take a better pic of them in the hallway. 

The color looks great with the stripes & new light!

I'm so glad I didn't paint them black.

{Laundry Room Design}

The laundry room is one of the projects that needs to take priority on our project list.  I finally have a vision for what I want in this space.  I know it seems odd to spend so much time on a laundry room but this room will lead out to the deck we are having built in March. 

It's measures 19 x 7.5.  It originally had 6 windows but when we had the windows, siding & doors replaced we opted to take out two windows for some beautiful french doors.  We have never regretted the decision. 

Right now it's the catch all room.  It looks like an episode of Hoarders to be honest.  We are slowly cleaning it out and getting rid of stuff.  We want to be able to use the space better especially when summer comes. 

As it is now we let no one go in there.  It's where our dogs sleep at night which means it doesn't smell too hot & it's full of junk.  It's an eyesore & a space we keep hidden from most who come in our home.  Eventually we want it to be a laundry/sunroom where people can go through to get to the backyard & deck. 

It wasn't until I saw the MS Silhouette paint that I knew what I wanted to do with the room.  It's the room that gets the most light in our house so painting it black made sense. 

Elizabeth over at The Mustard Ceiling put together a design board for me because I have no idea how to do so.  I'm sure it's simple but it's not my thing.

1.) Turner light fixture from Rejuvenation

2.) Martha Stewart's Silhouette Paint

3.) Lasting Greatness in white by Flor

4.) Ikat stencil from Olive Leaf Stencils

5.) Hemnes glass cabinet from IKEA

6.) Wallace light fixture from Rejuvenation

7.) Love seat I purchased at my favorite used furniture store

I hope this helps y'all see my vision. 

The painting started Sunday & will resume Wednesday. It should all be done by Thursday.  Then I can start elminating some of the junk in there so that we can order the floor & lighting.  I'm still uncertain what I want to do for the windows.  Right now we have bamboo blinds & I'm kind of starting to like them again after I saw them against the black paint.  I'll make that decision later on in the process though.

I am extremely excited to see this room come together. 

My mom is going to help me work on it when she comes to visit in February.  Landry is starting to stay awake more during the day so finishing projects are not an option most days until her Daddy gets home.  It's okay though because I'd rather spend time with her! 

We leave in 3 weeks for Texas. 

I cannot wait because I miss my family! 

We will be working on some projects up there too that  I can't wait to document. 

Hope everyone is having a great week!

{365 Days of Landry }

I started taking a picture of day of Landry starting on the 1st of January.  I'm hoping it's a project I can keep up with because I think it would be so awesome to see her grow through pictures throughout the year of 2012.  Here is week one of our precious miracle!

I love this little girl so much! 

She has healed parts of our hearts that I thought were forever broken! 

I spent yesterday with this beauty instead of doing projects. 

It was so much fun & much needed!

{Guest Bedroom Updates}

Back in September I posted about our guest bedroom.  It was okay then but after looking at it for a while I realized the yellow was tired looking.  I know it's a very trendy thing right now but I'm so over it.  I think mainly because the room has been like that for 4 years now. 

Anyway, here's the room today. 

We took the yellow & gray pillows off along with the gray & yellow quilt.  I added the linen duvet cover from the Shabby Chic collection from Target.  I need an extremely fluffy duvet insert to but inside so it'll be full versus flat. 

I want to have our monogram embroidered on the white standard shams in gray. 

I am still completely in love with the headboard. 

A few things we've added since the post in September are:

I just realized that the pictures are a tad crooked and the sign needs to be adjusted to the center of the gallery.  I love the way this wall turned out.  It's very simple but just the touch the wall needed. 

I also threw this together & love it!

 I bought the urn 2 years ago in Dallas.  I never knew what I wanted to do with it & it's just been sitting in the room holding magazines. 

Well, my husband started picking cotton in late November & I went out to take some pics & it hit me like a ton of bricks.  I love the look of cotton.  It's so beautiful to me.  And it doesn't hurt that we have an unlimited amount of cotton at our disposal. 

The room is not easy to photograph.  I need a wide angle lens which is on my list of things to purchase. 

We need a rug, , find a chest, paint the ceiling & add crown molding.

I'm falling in love with this room. 

{No Ordinary Nighstand}

One of my favorite blogs is Nine & Sixteen. 

Tessa's home is amazing. 

When I saw her bedroom makeover a certain piece stood out to me & my brain hasn't stopped thinking about it since. 

I love everything in this room.

My favorite is the small chest turned nightstand. 

So after seeing this & finding my inspiration I did what all normal women do & headed to Pinterest.  I was blown away by the images I found.  I especially love all the gorgeous vignettes!

I love the idea of using a small chest as a nightstand or even an end table. 

It's something different from the ordinary. 

In our guestroom we have a bookshelf that we use as a nightstand on one side of the bed but I want a small dresser to replace it to give the room more storage.  The closets in our house are SMALL.  It's one thing I really dislike about our home.   

I'm excited about finding the perfect piece.  We will be traveling to Texas next month for 3 weeks & I know I can find an amazing piece there if I don't score one here first. 

How do you feel about using a non-traditional piece as a nightstand or end table?

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

{Blondes Always Have More Fun}

I mentioned in another post that I purchased this amazing piece on Thursday.

It's a 1940's blonde mahogany buffet.  It's a solid piece & has amazing storage!

Ever since seeing this

at Miss Mustard Seed's blog I knew I wanted to go in a direction similar for our tv.  Right now we have a standard tv cabinet we purchased from Target when we got married 6 years ago.  It's always served it's purpose but two years ago my husband bought me a 58" Samsung flat screen for my birthday. 

It was what I wanted. 

I love tv people. 

Our bigger tv swallows the tv cabinet.  It looks okay to most who come in but it drives me insane.  I've been on the hunt for something different but didn't want the typical tv cabinet.  I found a piece in Charleston, SC when we visited in April 2010 but I didn't purchase it because the piece didn't justify the piece.  I found several online from Pottery Barn & Ballard Designs but I didn't want a copy of something.  I wanted my own. 

So I gave up & just settled for what we had until I found a piece sometime last year that I loved.  It's a bookcase with 4 glass doors.  Really pretty.  It needed some work but I knew I could make it what I wanted it to be.  After looking at it for a while I decided that it wouldn't suit our purpose.  It was really too thin for such a big tv.  It's in our tobacco barn along with countless other pieces of furniture that I need to sale.  That's another post for another day though.

I was super excited when I came across the buffet today.  I pulled out my trusty tape measure that I keep in my purse & the measurements were perfect.  I paid $125 for it.  I have no idea if that's too much but in my mind it was a steal. 

I knew immediately what I wanted to do with it color wise. 

It's going to be ASCP in Olive. 

I haven't decided on the hardware yet.  I don't know if I'll keep what's on it or change it out. 

I did find these that I love by Martha Stewart.

{1/2/3/4}

We don't have much gold in our house because I've never been a fan.  I think I'm growing up because I'm actually starting to love it.   I could never go all gold because I'm not down like that but I think mixing metals is like mixing woods.  It's a must in decorating. 

There are 10 handles & 2 knobs on the piece so I'd have to figure out if it would be worth the money to replace them all.  Who knows what I'll do with the hardware. 

My husband will pick up the piece on Saturday & I'll start painting it then. 

I can't wait to see it transform in a piece that fits our home.