Jun 30, 2011

Little Switch A Roo


Hi All! I wanted to quickly share a little project we worked on the other day. We were inspired by the black drawer pulls on the recently refurbished cabinet in our kitchen. There are plenty of things we would LOVE to do to this kitchen if we owned this house, but in the meantime we'll make simple cosmetic changes that make it feel more "us".

Here is our kitchen before. The hardware is silver and a bit more modern looking than I usually pick.


And here's our kitchen after we switched out the hardware for some inexpensive black knobs and handles.

*Disclaimer: I'm still getting to know all the settings on my camera, but at least these aren't phone pictures anymore!


Here is a close up so you can really see them. I definitely think it flows better with the style in the rest of the house.


I couldn't resist posting this picture. I asked Ruby to move out of the way because she was in the picture, so she laid on the ground thinking she wouldn't be in the picture anymore. Nice try!


I was hired to do a birthday party over the weekend. I just loved how it turned out! I'll share pictures, and a few diy projects I did for the party soon!




Jun 29, 2011

The Most Practical White Dining Chairs


You never know what will be the most popular questions when you start a blog. I think I've been most surprised by how many times I've been asked about the white chairs we have in our dining room... 

"Are they hard to keep clean?"

"Do your kids eat at the table?"

"White chairs... with kids??"

Now here's the crazy thing... I find them more practical than the black wooden chairs we have. Seriously! They totally get dirty, like really dirty, but I just pull the covers off and wash them. They come out perfectly white every time. Our black chairs get grimy and I really have to scrub to get them clean. 

Here is what our chairs looked like yesterday before I took them off to wash them. Gross, but not as bad as I've seen them.

Here they are all squeaky clean! I usually take them out of the dryer when they are half dry and put them on the chairs to dry the rest of the way (that way they don't get as wrinkled), but since we had friends coming over I let them dry all the way.


And what will I do if we get some major stain on them that I'm unable to get out with good ol' bleach or Oxy Clean (my fav!)?? I'll buy a new cover. The white ones on my chairs are only 10 bucks each at Ikea!

Now if only my couch was this easy to keep clean...



Jun 28, 2011

Kitchen Cabinet {Refurbished}


I had originally purchased this cabinet for my little workroom, but  it was too large for the space so I started searching for somewhere else to put it. We have the most awkward nook in our kitchen. If you look at the picture below, it's on the right side between the fridge and the wall by the sink. In this photo we had two small butcher block carts to fill the space, but they were just too small. So, when we realized the cabinet would fit perfectly in that spot I was all too excited.


Here is my $5 cabinet. I forgot to take a before picture so I quickly stuck a couple drawers back in just so you could get the idea.



It has two cutting boards built in as well. Look at that lovely mixture of random white paint and old, chip-y stain.


Before painting I laid down a drop cloth and propped the cabinet up with four paint cans so I could paint all the way to the bottom.


I lightly sanded the piece. I'm not a big fan of sanding projects but all the chipping stain made it mandatory for this job.
 Then I got to painting!


I painted it with two coats of paint. *Hint* Don't paint the bottom of the drawers or the track, it will likely get sticky and not slide as easily if you do.


And here it is in its new home! We plan on adding a new butcher block to the top to extend the piece out. I think it would make a nice little spot for the girls to sit and help me while I cook. 


By the way, the cabinet hardware is by Martha Stewart, you can get them at Home Depot for about $5. I love these, they make me want to add pulls to everything! Kinda funny to think that each pull cost the same amount as the whole cabinet. 



For those of you who like all the nitty gritty details, here it is!

Cabinet, thrift store (half off from $10)- $5.00
Paint, Behr Premium Plus Ultra- I bought a gallon but used about $10.00 worth
Martha Stewart Pulls- $32.00


Total= $47.00




Jun 27, 2011

Insta-Friday {Linking Up}... A Bit Overdue


Last week was quite full and busy for us, which is seen in my lack of blogging, and this minuscule Insta-Friday post. Most of my time was filled with watching my girls while also preparing for a birthday party I was hired to do.

Here are the few pictures I did snap over the week. I needed to buy about 15 yards of fabric for the party decorations which meant a trip to M&L Fabrics was a must! I love this store, it's in my top 5 favorites for sure.


Check out the inside. This picture doesn't begin to show the massive amounts of fabric that are crammed in here. Plus, the back of the store has (what seems like) thousands of fabrics stacked all for $2.50 a yard. This would make some people (Kristin) break into a sweat, but it's pure delight to me!


Here are the cupcake toppers I made. The party was for a little girl who was turning seven, hence the giant seven on the toppers.


And... A glimpse at the actually party. I'll do a full post on this when I get the pictures from the party. 


And that about sums up my week of Instagram. I've got a lot a fun stuff I'm getting ready to blog about so please come back!!

life rearranged




Jun 20, 2011

Monday Favorites


I always find it fun to read about all the little, silly, frivolous, cute, random things people are into. With that in mind I decided to share some of my faves at the moment. These are just the first 5 random things that popped into my head, but they're all tried and true goodies!



1. Keihl's Lip Gloss
Ok, I'm a lipgloss kinda girl. I don't have time or patience to fuss with lipstick (though I wish I did) and this is my "must have". Yes, it's like $15 which is crazy to spend on lipgloss in my world, but it's oh so worth it. It doesn't make my lips peel like cheap lip gloss does and it's super moisturizing. I get it at Nordstroms but I'm sure you can find it other places too. Love it!

2. J.R. Watkins Hand Soap
This isn't as amazing as the lipgloss but it still has several things going for it; it smells refreshing, comes in a pretty bottle, it's available at Target (there's no way in heazy I'm ordering hand soap online), and it's only about $4. But really, I mainly buy it because it comes in a pretty bottle.

3. Febreze Scented Candle
My friend Olya turned me on to these candles a while back. I was skeptical at first thinking they were going to be funky smelling or not really work at actually scenting a room, but I was wrong! Some of them actually smell quite nice and they can get so strong at times that I have to blow it out after 20-30 mins because the scent is getting a bit too overpowering for my liking (that's good and bad, I know!). For a scented candle that doesn't cost $20 bucks, this is the way to go. I also buy these at Target if you wanna get one too.

4. JavoEdge IPad Cover
I consider myself pretty plain Jane, but when it comes to accessories I really like to hunt 'til I find just the perfect thing that suits my style. When hubby got me an IPad a while back I started hunting and hunting for a cover that fit my style, had a low profile, and didn't cost an arm and a leg. I stumbled across this cover on Amazon, and I was sold!
*FYI- I have a friend who ordered the exact same cover for her IPad 2 and it doesn't stay propped up nearly as well as mine does. Other than that, it's great.

5. Mr. Clean Magic Eraser
If I could only keep one of the 5 things listed on my Monday Faves it would be these. That's even odd for me to admit, but these are seriously Ah-maz-ing! They work on the nasty stuff that you think "no way this will come clean". But it will! I have a feeling I'll do a whole blog post on these one day, but in the meantime go buy one and try cleaning your stove top or kiddo's fingerprints off of your doors and walls.

I just realized how random my 5 things were, but like I said "they were the first 5 random things to come to mind". What are a few of your favorite things??

Happy Monday!



Jun 17, 2011

Insta-Friday {Linking Up}


I'm recovering today from a very long photo shoot yesterday. I'm really excited to show you all the projects I did for the shoot (along with some tutorials), but I can't share them till they're published... more on that later. Needless to say, I'm beat today! I'll be spending the day relaxing with my girls and working on planning something special for Father's Day.

It's time again for Insta-Friday! I'm linking up with Jeannett over at Life Rearranged.

First up, chicken pot pie. Not any chicken pot pie, but chicken pot pie made with a roasted chicken and Boursin garlic herb filling. It was kinda amazing!


I spent the day with this cute little thing. Her momma was ready to brush out her braids and I asked if I could do it. I did pretty good considering she still had a smile on her face when I was done!


Pretty white and pink daisy from Trader Joes.


I am seriously baffled to think that Gracie could cut her whole toe nail right in half and have no idea how it happened... Craziness! It was bloody and so painful looking, owie!


Woodland cookie cutters from Ikea... this has birthday party idea written all over them.


This girl of mine is scrumptious. She's cuddly, love-y, sweet as pie, and has the most gnarly hair to brush out.


I used dozens of yards of fabric over the last week preparing for our WHITE Wedding Magazine shoot. I won't be sewing for a little while, I need to recover.


This was what I looked at for the last 4 days...


I find it more than a little cute that Gracie plans out parties, then draws pictures of what she would like them to look like. This one was particularly special cause she was planning ideas for my birthday... it's in September, she's an early planner! She drew a quick picture to help her remember her ideas. My favorite things are the hanging lanterns, chandelier in the upper left, and the cake stand.


A quick little glance at a few things that were going on this week! Thanks for stopping by.

life rearranged



Jun 14, 2011

Office Cubbies {Reurbished}


One of my favorite things to see is an old, ugly piece of furniture given a face lift. I knew I wanted some cubbies in my workroom the second my husband said the room was mine. So, I searched online stores, thrift stores, and Craigslist extensively till I could find something in (or under) my budget. Eventually I found a school on Craigslist that was selling their old school cubbies. We picked them up at the school, and I thought they were a good deal at $15 a piece. Then came the long, hard, relentless, exhausting part of it all... Painting them!!

Here are what the cubbies looked like when I got them home. I cleaned them up, wiped them down, and prepped the area to get ready to paint.


Now, I know I should have known better, but I did buy paint from Walmart for this. I will never do that again! Each cubby took over 1 hr to paint, per coat, due to all the corners and awkward angles in the cubbies. Here is what cheap paint looks like (I actually think my iphone pics don't even show how translucent the paint really was). Below on the left is the cubby painted with one coat all over and two coats in all the edges. On the right is three coats on everything...


Here is what they looked like after four or five coats. Like I said, the iphone pic isn't very clear so it's hard to tell, but there is no smoothness or consistency in the paint, it was very blotchy with tons of paint brush lines. This is where I caved. After using nearly an entire gallon of cheap, Walmart paint, I went to Home Depot and purchased a gallon of Behr Premium Plus Ultra paint. At this point one cubby had 4-5 coats (seen below) of paint and the other had 1-2 coats (above left), both cubbies only needed one additional coat of the Behr paint to cover them sufficiently. I've learned my lesson.


And here they are! This picture was not taken with my iphone, it was taken by my friend, Kristin.


Here's the breakdown:

Cubbies- $30.00 (total)
Cheap paint from Walmart- $20.00 (I can't remember the price, but whatever it was, it's a waste of $$)
Behr Premium Plus Ultra- $33.00
Misc supplies, drop cloth, paint pans, small brush- $15.00

Total= $98





Jun 13, 2011

Best Gift Ever


When it came time to figure out what we would do with our third, and quite tiny bedroom, we tossed around ideas like using it as an office, playroom, library, or school room. But when it came down to it my hubby insisted that I use it for a workroom for all my business and crafty things going on. I was most excited about the idea of freeing up some space in the garage that's filled with my props and crafty things.  I'm also looking forward to not using my dining table for whatever project I have in the works.

I've just barely started working on this room. I basically grabbed whatever I could from the garage and threw it in here. The only thing that will actually stay when all is said and done are the white cubbies (more on those later), the crate hanging on the wall above the cubbies, and the rug.


The room has quite a way to go, and it needs some major organizing, but I've already enjoyed it so much. I bought that painting at a thrift store for $6 and hung it on a nail already in the wall. I'll find a better home for it in time. The pile of white frames are a few of the ones that will be on the wall of frames I mentioned in this post.


Below are a couple of shelves we made out of old crates. I got the idea over here. They're cluttered with random items that needed a place to sit... they're not staying either, too big for the space.


Now for the part of the room I love, love, love! I think my favorite thing is seeing all my little trinkets and knickknacks all tucked away in cozy cubbies just waiting to be used. The down side... they really don't hold much stuff, not for what I need anyway. They're staying. I'll just have to figure out another way to store all my stuff. The cubbies have a little history of their own and got a mini-makeover, but I'll post that another day.


 Well, if you can ignore the clutter on the floor that needs a home, messy desk, and random stuff on the walls, I really think you can see the potential. No?  Well, just keep checking and hopefully I can pull it together!