lima bean wreath

I could hardly contain my excitement Sunday when I got home with my bags o' lima beans. I pulled out the glue gun, got out my styrofoam wreath and got to work. Being ever so impatient, I ignored all instructions I had read to mark a spiral and glue along the line, or place at an angle. I also didn't glue the beans in rows; I did the top, outside, and inside separately. Once I figured out there was a slight disconnect between the planes (yay, geometry!), I tried to correct it by gluing the beans at slight angle where the corners met. (Am I making sense??) I also read it took Brooke HOURS to glue hers on. Mine? Not even close. Glued, painted and hung within the afternoon.

Here's the wreath before the coat of white spray paint..

Final product.. iPhone photos. I'm just going to quit warning you :)

And then this morning, Preston closed the door a little too hard, and now I have this..

Can't say I'm too upset. I have another bag of beans, and to be honest, walking by and seeing the foam peeking out between the beans was driving me nuts. Maybe I'll try again when the season comes. Maybe I should try acorns? Where do you get acorns??

(The inspiration before the fail)

top 2 tuesday: top 2 halloween or fall crafts/decor/party ideas

I've already completed my pumpkins for this season, but I can't wait to try this idea from Real Simple next year.

Since I'm pretty much done decorating for the fall, I'm already looking for Christmas ideas. Again found this project in my current Real Simple mag. And I already picked up some red and green hard backs from the thrift store to get this project started. (That place smelled AWFUL today! Worse than normal...ick)

Happy Halloween!

finally feeling like fall

I finally got the fall decorating bug and glittered some pumpkins last night. I forgot how glitter sticks to EVERYTHING! I still loved how they turned out.

I used fake pumpkins that were half off at Hobby Lobby, normal cheap, black and gold glitter, foil, and Elmer's spray glue that I had on hand from my lamp shades.

I sprayed and glittered the pumpkins twice. 

Not too bad, right?!

Some of my favorites from the week:

I'm all about these wreaths -  fall burlap wreath (instructions here). I found these two from Aubrey + Lindsey -bean wreath, and acorn wreath. I've already picked up my foam wreath and lima beans :) I love the look with the red ribbon.

I stumbled upon this blog Strawberry Swings and Things blog surfin' the other day. She has some really great style finds and is super cute. You should check out this super sweet and stylish post she did featuring her own mom!

I'm finally finishing up painting our doors. I can't wait to have this project complete. Swapping out our old door handles for new ones has been a pain. Apparently door knobs used to be different sizes? So we've had to drill, sand, paint. It's a mess.

Hope everyone has a good weekend! Boomer Sooner!!

lotsa love

I must've been in a good mood this week. All those endorphins or whatever the happy drugs are from exercise.

celebrities as moms
Spray painting cheap light fixtures. Adding this to my project list.
striped walls without the paint
Spray paint FAQs
loving leather
What Would Emma Pillsbury Wear?? (Loved her bee sweater this week!)
yummy cookies

Fall is my favorite time of year because owls are EVERYWHERE!
owl lamps
vintage owls

If you have a full time football watcher inhabiting your home, beware of this dirty trick :)

Hope you have a good weekend!

image

i love lamp

Patience is not my forte. Recovering these lamp shades proved to be challenging, but I'm super pleased with the results. Creating the stencil was the hardest part!

the tools:

newspaper

fabric

and shades! (I also used spray elmer's glue)

Done! The inside of the shade is bugging me. The edge of the fabric is messy. Hoping to add trim soon.

You think you can tell which side of the bed is Preston's?! I didn't even attempt to tidy up in fear of discovering capri sun straw wrappers. The damn things haunt my life.

Maybe Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I don't know, I don't know if we'll have enough time.

Name that movie?! Preston and I had a nice little weekend, including two trips to the grocery store, two trips to Lowe's, a trip to the park with the dogs, a sooner win (a bummer of a tigers loss), all topped off with a yummy steak dinner cooked by the man of the house and a wrap up of Dexter season 4 (WOWZA). I also watched a little more True Blood. I still can't say I'm hooked, but I am digging the opening song.

I completed and started a lot of projects around the house that I can't wait to share this week. I was concerned about the interior doors needing trim, but figured I could always go back later and add it if needed. I got about half of the doors painted, and I am IN LOVE. I can't wait to have them all finished. We used Valspar's Dark Kettle Black (4011-2) in a semi gloss interior/exterior paint.

The owners before us did a crappy/quick job repainting the doors and trim, so all if it was really sloppy. All door handles were painted on, trim has just been primed, etc. Real annoying when you're trying to get knobs off the door.

front door before

 (I hate that freakin' white storm door, but P swears he'll die before we get rid of it, so storm door it is)

back side of front door and front closet. see the cream?

back of front door after

front closet during :) I used old magazine pages so I wasn't using gobs of tape.

office closet doors (iPhone pic. call me over eager. whatevs)

office door

The doors are really glossy. And again, I'm in love! I can't wait to have them completed, especially the doors to our closets. They're currently blue.

After a long, productive game day, we were all exhausted. Some more than others..

This week's menu:

Sunday

Steak, potatoes and pasta salad

Monday

meatloaf

Tuesday

creamy Italian crock pot chicken

Wednesday

pizza

Thursday

pork chops

Friday

My first time to cook Tilapia!

Hope everyone had a productive, sunny, victory filled weekend! Check back throughout the week for more projects from the weekend!

is it fall yet?

I'm really looking forward to fall weather, food, and being outside again. But I'm sure Oklahoma won't feel like fall until November. I'm just thankful I'm not in Florida anymore and we actually have a fall!

This week's super cool bookmarked posts..

Megan posted these cute pumpkin crafts. I can't wait to spray paint or glitter some of my own!

Also adding this to my to do list- a framed color block wall. LOVE

A stunning chair makeover
And a homemade, suburst mirror from sticks and a Target mirror

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I'll be repainting doors, cuddling with my pups, test watching a lil' more True Blood, finally ripping apart this chair, and cheering on the sooners and tigers!

(It's articles like these that make you proud of your football team AND your state despite all the hoopla about the national anthem.)

top two tuesday - things i wants to accomplish.

1. Be more active. 
Carrying the groceries from the car to the house and taking the stairs at work no longer cut it. I need something to validate my trash tv watching. I've never been a runner, but I've heard great things about the iPhone app. I think having tangible goals and guidelines will really help me stay on track. I'll keep you posted :)

2. Refinish this chair.

I've never re-upholstered something this size. I've been bookmarking good links for months now. Preston's family has a re-upholstering shop in SC, so he claims it's in his blood. This chair was given to us for free, so I'm not super concerned about ruining some fab piece. I must conquer this chair. I'm thinking orange with a bold stripe to give our office a little pop...should pair well with my black desk.

Now that I'm really putting these out there, I really have to stick to it :)

friday faves

Preston and I are both doing fun, exciting things with friends and family this weekend. But I'm really going to miss him. Thankfully, Netflix is sending me season 1 disc 1 of  "Damages" and "True Blood" and I have a nice cheesy recipe to cook up to feed me while the cheese-hater is away. I've been watching "Pushing Daisies" which is so cute! I'm sad there are only 17 episodes, but I kind of see why it didn't stay around very long. There's not much character development. But I love Kristin Chenowith and the murder mystery, in a whimsical kind of way has been some crack I can't get enough of this week.

This week's favorites:
Amazing room inspiration
Black door love..planning to do this at some point in time.
Joi's DIY faux bois art. LOVE THIS!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! The weather is beautiful in Oklahoma and football season is finally here!!

whatsa happenin' hot stuff

My baby is sick today. He was up all night (and kept me up), and didn't budge when the alarm went off to eat. Which is really strange. He is a food lover and usually nudges Preston out of bed in the morning. He didn't even lift his head when we called his name. Poor guy. Hopefully he's getting lost of rest at home.

Alaina at Live Creating Yourself posted some shots from the upcoming Rue. I thought this looked similar to my current redo. Should I rough mine up a little bit more? I love the exposed drawers.

kitchen storage

Our kitchen has newer cabinets and counter tops, but there was this extra space that wasn't really being used. I wanted to find some kind of metal dresser with wheels to put there and use as an island, or to find something that could provide storage but also be functional. Well, as you all know, funds don't always allow for the "perfect purchase". I was given this dresser when I moved into a house, senior year of college. We decided it would do for now! I could use one drawer for paper items, one drawer for koozies, one drawer for dog items and...well you get the idea. I needed something to hide all the clutter.

I used the paint we used in our office. Also, I didn't prime. (I'm lazy (and cheap). And I'm not really concerned about it getting beat up or looking perfect.)

**WARNING: Messy kitchen counter ahead!

If we leave this in the kitchen for awhile, I will for sure be replacing the knobs. But, right now, it works! What do you think?! It's been great having the extra counter space and drawers. I'm having trouble filling them all!

back in action!

Preston and I got back last night from our week at the beach in South Carolina. More on that later, since I haven't had time to upload any pics, but we had a great time. I love Charleston and the beach we were at was perfect for relaxing and lots and lots of reading. Stay tuned for extra details.

We left last Monday, but I was overwhelmed with travel preparations to post July 30th's favorites. And I haven't completely caught up on my reader from last week...but I'm going to go ahead and post links that have recently caught my interest. No time for pics and quips, I've got laundry to do and DVR to catch up on :)

• Perfectly chic summer hair-do from Happiness is...
• I've already emailed Lindsey to find out where she purchased this Okie Grown print
• Chalkboards in the kitchen from High Street Market
• Chalkboard decals for your chalkboards in the kitchen also from HSM
• White or a pop of color in furniture..I share this current dilemma with Starfish and Sundresses
• Hair crushes of L&L. Have you seen Hermione's new pixie cut?! (OK - 1 quip. Anne Hathaway has THE.BEST. hair. Love her.)
• 30 days of blogging from my friend Meggi. I love this idea..I may take on the challenge
• Homemade trellis stencil
• Painted wood floor DIY by High Heeled in the Front Door
• Donut muffins posted by For the Love...sharing the love via Pioneer Woman
• Dirty Risotto via Giada
• Hoisin Chicken
• Creamy Chicken Toquitos from PH&HH

Happy Monday!

Did anyone watch The Bachelor Pad??? I chronologically catch up on DVR so it will have to wait... any thoughts??