Curb Appeal - Take 2

This fabulous weather we've been having recently has motivated me to do some work outside and finally update our curb appeal. I updated some last year that I mentioned here, but it was time to freshen things up again. The first item on the list to upgrade was our mailbox. I don't have a picture of the previous one (I was so ready to get it out of the ground that I forgot to snap a pic) but trust me, we desperately needed a new one. The old one was tiny, thin black metal (post and box) and the door on the box would never stay closed. It would drive me crazy when I saw it hanging open.

So needless to say, I dragged Matthew to Lowe's one Saturday morning to pick out a new one. Sidenote: this is his least favorite place to go with me, especially on the weekend (probably because he knows it means he'll end up doing some of the work). Anywho, we purchased a new post, a large metal box, and of course some pretty flowers to plant around it. After 30 minutes or so, the hubby had it installed and ready for me to plant the flowers. It looks so much better!

While I was on this "curb appeal" kick, I also decided to repaint the front stoop. I painted it last year (you can see that here) but it had kinda lost it's luster and it was chipping in a few places. This time, I used the same porch and floor paint by Behr, but I mixed in a weather protector/ glossy sealant. I can already tell it's going to hold up better and it's much more shiny. :) I also picked up a new welcome mat, 2 planters and some red daisies. I chose daisies because they only need part sun and our porch only receives afternoon sun. They're doing great so far!

We've also had someone at the house this week painting all of our white trim (which is a lot!) and it's already looking so much better! It's desperately needed this for a while and I'm glad we finally got around to it.

That's all for now! Hope everyone has a Happy Thursday! Just remember, the weekend is almost here! :)

Wonderful weekend!

I have to say this past weekend was just wonderful! Friends, family, perfect spring weather... it doesn't get much better! Matthew & I had a great time at dinner Friday night at Five with some friends and enjoyed watching Bridesmaids at the house afterward. I could seriously watch that movie every day! :)

On Saturday morning, I went with my sister and nieces to Easter Fest at the park across from our house. We live in a great neighborhood for that event since we don't have to worry about traffic or finding a parking spot! Here are some pics from Easter Fest 2012!

Lily and me waiting for the Easter egg hunt to start

Lola petting the goats

Lily with the miniature horse

Lola with the duck

Lily

Lola absolutely loved getting to hold the animals :)

I wasn't able to get any pics of the actual Easter egg hunt because it was crazy once it started! I mean, hundreds of kiddos. But Easter Fest 2012 was a success! Later that day, the hubby and I carried Waylon to the Arboretum. For those of you who live in Tuscaloosa and have a dog, you should definitely come! It's an unofficial dog park where it's accepted to not leash your pup, as long as they're friendly. :) It's also an old golf course that UA now owns so it's huge. It's on the short list of my favorite places in T-town. The Mr. and I relaxed here for a while, soaking up some sun, while the pup was making friends with every dog that came within a 100-yard radius. :)

On Easter Sunday we went to church and then came home to watch the Masters and relax. We baked a ham and I made my Granny's homemade mac'n'cheese and a green bean casserole for dinner. We decided to take advantage of the perfect weather and dine al fresco.

So here's to a wonderful weekend! Hope you have a fabulous week! :)

I heart vintage finds

Hope everyone is having a great day! I've been busy crafting for an upcoming baby shower this weekend and it's been so fun! I finally went to Hobby Lobby this morning for the first time since the storm last April and it was just as fabulous as I remember! :) I fell in love with this fabric that I will probably have to use in the nursery if we have a little girl (it would make amazing curtains). If it's a boy, I might just have to find another room to use these in:)

 
I love the texture of this fabric; it's like a heavy linen, very natural fabric and up close the print looks like it uses the ikat dye technique. It really has a great texture and wonderful colors to create a fun, playful nursery. :) Not to mention the grey in this print would look fabulous with this doily rug I have picked out from Anthropologie:

It would be our one splurge item, but so worth it I think! So that's my random thought for the day... now, back to vintage finds! A few weeks ago my mom & I went to a great antique shop in Vernon called Falkner Antique Mall. The building has over 14,000 square feet and 70 dealers inside. I was really hoping to find an antique printer tray but it's really hard to find what you're looking for when you're shopping second-hand. My mom and I enjoyed an afternoon browsing away though and I didn't come home empty handed.

I came home with a few things including this awesome vintage wooden whiskey crate, which the Mr. loved. 

 

I also started my collection of vintage, mismatched china...

The crate was $45 but when I got to the register to pay I was told it was on sale for $31.50. Score! The two dinner plates we $8 each and the bread/butter plates were $3. I really loved how the plates resemble the Willow pattern but I don't think I'm going to limit myself to just blue/white. I'm really excited about building a vintage china collection! :) 

That brings my grand total to just under $58.

Last weekend on another antique outing, this time in Tuscaloosa, I went to a local shop called Jarman Interiors & Antiques. Here's their facebook page if you want to check them out: Jarman Interiors & Antiques This might be my favorite shop in town now. I would've loved to bring home several things but in the end I only bit the bullet on one item. I finally found an antique printer tray! I had been on the lookout for one of these for several months so I was super excited when they had 2 for me to choose from! :) Please excuse my junk on the table... I was just too excited to clean it off!

This may find it's home in the nursery or the dining room, which I recently painted. Or anywhere else for that matter. Who knows where I'll hang it?!

I love to add pieces to our home that could tell a story. It's much more fun to me than buying everything brand new. Not that there's anything wrong with buying all new, I just like to have a mixture. Has anyone else found any vintage treasures lately? Where is your favorite place to shop for antiques?

News from the Elliott House!

So I know I haven't blogged in what seems like forever, or at least it does to me, but trust me, there is good reason. I've had like zero energy the past several weeks and today's little announcement is mostly to blame. In a good way though. :)

Yep, that's right! Our little family will be growing this year, hopefully Baby Elliott will make his/her debut around the end of September! And yes, I completely stole this picture idea off Pinterest but it was just too cute not to copy. :)

Here is what happens when I'm setting the automatic timer and Waylon decides he ready for his close-up.

I got to use my new camera lens for these photos, yay! I got a 50mm 1.8 which is good for portraits and the bokeh effect. For those who may be wondering, bokeh is basically when the subject of the photo is in focus but everything else is blurred. Fortunately, Waylon was being a good model that day. :)

I'll also add that while I've had zero energy for house projects for the past 6-7 weeks, I've managed to keep running, for now at least. I've always wanted to stay active through pregnancy and some days that is exactly what I have to tell myself to get off the couch. ;) I really can't complain though because I've had zero morning sickness and nausea. I'll be 14 weeks Wednesday and from what I've read/ heard, most women feel their best during the second trimester. That's what I'm hoping for!

This past weekend, the hubby and I were super productive around the house and it felt great! Stay tuned for some house-related posts soon.

Master Bath: Sink skirt

I'm not sure if I've told you yet but I got a sewing machine and free sewing lessons for my birthday! (both from my mom) This mini-project was my first test of actually making something for our casa by myself. :) I decided to cover up the ugly pipes under the sink in our master bath with a sink skirt, just like I did in the guest bath. Remember, this one:

Sink skirts are perfect for concealing a trash can.

It was very easy and took around 30-45 minutes from start to finish. First, I measured the length around the sink so I would know the width for my fabric. Then, of course, I measured the height. I added 2 inches to the height and width so I could use a 1/2 seam on each side.

Just to give you a refresher course, this is the sink in our master bath. It's hard to tell in this photo but the pipes are exposed underneath and I finally got tired of looking at them!

So I whipped up this sink skirt and now it looks like this:

Much better on the eyes, don't you think? Total cost for this project = around $5. The only thing I had to purchase was the velcro because I found the fabric in my mom's collection. I bought the heavy duty sticky-back kind from Hancock's and it was 50% off. Yay. I stuck the hook (rough side) to the sink and sewed a band of the loop (soft side) to the top of the skirt. That way when I need to wash it, lint won't stick to the velcro. :)

Happy Tuesday!

Pinterest Project and Gallery Wall Update

So raise your hand if you're addicted to Pinterest? Yeah, me too. ;) This week I was browsing all of my "pinned" items and thought it would be fun to actually make one of them. I've already made this one, the chevron art piece to hang over a mantle, but that was several months ago. So as I looked through I saw this cute idea:

I had been wanting to spruce up our gallery wall since this post, so I thought this little project would be the perfect addition. I already had a bag full of old buttons that belonged to my grandmother plus a few that I got from my mom. So the only thing I had to buy was a frame, which I got from Wal-Mart for $9. The first thing I did for this is print out an "e" that I found online, cut it out and trace it on a piece of white cardstock.

I played around with the placement of the buttons for a while...

And then glued them all down once it looked right to me. ;)

And here's how the rest of the gallery wall in the hallway looks:

Btw, don't you love that rug?! It was handmade by my dad's mother probably 50ish years ago. I'm convinced that we would have very similar taste in decor, if only I had had the chance to meet her.

Here is a close-up of each frame:

A stereotype USA found on Pinterest that the Mr. and I think is funny.

 It's hard to read what each is so here is a larger version.

A sweet little saying found again on Pinterest :)

 These next 2 are my attempts to include more of Matthew's taste in our decor. (I also accomplished this when I hung Batman in the hall bathroom, which I guess I need to show you)

Grand Theft Auto (one of his fave Xbox games)

Winter is Coming... from Game of Thrones (which I also like although I haven't read the books, yet...)

 

Postcard we bought while we were in Kentucky last summer for Matthew's 30th birthday. We went on the Bourbon Trail.

Now for one last view:

 I love all of the color that this wall adds to the small hallway! Oh and those two print on the back wall are from the Etsy store, Freshline. The prints are 8x10 that I ordered last year. I got 11x14 frames from Target that are matted for a 8x10. This is what they look like up close:

What I love most about this little gallery wall is that there's plenty of room to add new frames with new memories. Or I can switch up the pictures inside, maybe with something seasonal...? Who knows? But for now, it's a nice little burst of color in what-could-be a boring little hallway.

50 cent yard sale eye-sore!

So, I know I haven't posted in a while, but it's not that I haven't been doing any projects. Really. I've just gotten out of the habit of blogging so here's to hopefully getting back on track for 2012...yay!

And yes, you read that right. I got this lovely, rusty eye-sore for less than a dollar at a neighborhood yard sale about 2 months ago. Then it just sat in the garage for several weeks, all depressed looking...

...until one day when I was in the garage working on another project (the thrifted art deco desk peaking in the back that you'll see in a future post). I once again lost my focus and started working on this puppy. The first thing I had to do was scrape off the white chipped paint from the racks. So I grabbed the nearest tool that looked like it would scrape off the paint, a garden spade. :)

All of that white, rusty paint got pretty messy!

So I scraped paint for about 10 minutes or so and then it was time for some spray paint. Spray paint projects are definitely my fave because they take very little time, usually, and they give you instant gratification! After a few light coats of Oil Rubbed Bronze spray and overnight drying, the once eye-sore found it's new home in the hall bath.

Turns out the baskets are the perfect size to hold toilet paper... who knew? And I really like the industrial look of it - it balances out the other decor mentioned here. Kinda reminds me of something from Restoration Hardware. I'm sure it will move around the house when I find new places to use it, but for now I kinda like it in here.

As for the wicker basket that once held the title of toilet paper holder, it now resides in the living room holding all of our cuddly blankets within an arm's reach. :)

Total cost for this project = around $4.50. Not too shabby, huh? Has anyone else found any steals at yard sales, thrift stores, etc...? Or had fun with spray paint projects?

Happy Wednesday!