~love your home challenge~

~Hello~

Do you all know Melissa from The Inspired Room? Well, I  was invited to complete a simple Love Your Home Challenge inspired by her new book Love The Home You Have written by her!

This book is fabulous. 

It really hit home for me, everything she shared about her experiences being a homeowner and trying to keep up with the Jones'

If you would like a copy for yourself you can buy one on Amazon here.

This book will teach you how to transform your rooms (and your life) from plainly livable to fabulously lovable.

So, the challenge was, for me {and other fabulous bloggers}

to transform one space from ordinary to extraordinary, in a very simple way.

I chose to do an exterior space. 

After a long winter, everything outside starts to look plain and drab. Not much color, plants have no leaves, and while the sun is starting to show it's face, there is still not a lot of excitement going on.

Our steps leading to our deck were feeling very plain and overlooked.

After sweeping off the stairs and doing a little weeding, I planted a couple vintage olive baskets with fresh flowers.

Just raking the dirt made everything come to life!

I also made a sign out of a old piece of wood I had, using simple letters I painted.

{come back Thursday to see the tutorial and to get details}

A couple hours on a sunny afternoon made all the difference.

This space makes me smile now when I pull up into our driveway.

Go here for the full list of participants.

Have a great day!

xoxo

~table turned dog kennel~

If you are a dog lover like me, you like to make comfy little spots for your pets to sleep.

One of our labs sleeps peacefully on a bed in our room, but the other is a puppy and he would be running laps around the house and chewing everything up if we let him be on the loose at night.

So, at night time, he goes into his crate.

You know, those black wire ones that you can bring in your car, etc.

Well, lets just say after a year I was tired of looking at the metal dog crate in our living room and decided to finally do something about it.

Here is how I turned our console table into a little dog kennel for the puppy.

I removed the door from the wire crate and attached it to one end of the table.

My husband rigged up a latch to keep it shut.

Then, in order to avoid the back of our couch getting dirty, and also from Oakley sticking his tongue in the electrical outlet, I nailed up 1x8 pieces of pine on the other 3 sides.

It's the perfect size for him and he loves it!

After I finished I remembered that I had ordered this name tag from Pottery Barn, 

{no longer available}

and was able to use some strong adhesive glue to add it to the front.

The best part, you would never even know it's there!

I love functional practical ideas!

xoxo

~things you can buy from our kitchen~

Whenever I see a room I love on the internet, I always want to know where to purchase the items in it.

Not that you are just dying to know where I buy my things, but in case you are curious, I have come up with a list.

The door decal of our address I bought off etsy years ago and I don't remember the seller.

You can find similar here.

The urn that the lilacs are in is one of my favorites.

It moves room to room, and it comes in various sizes. You can find mine here.

The barn wood framed photos are from here.

I have had this clock for about 10 years and it moves from room to room.

It's huge, love it's scale.

You can find it here.

The vase below is antique but similar ones can be found here.

This rug runner is super.

It actually burned when our dishwasher caught fire, and I need to replace it!

It's funny how it's sometimes the small things that make a space.

This hand soap has the freshest scent and while it is a little pricey, I say it's worth it!

These barstools came from Pier One years ago and they don't carry them anymore.

However, I found similar ones here.

And they are on sale!

{I painted mine}

Every time I go into Anthropologie I pick up another one of these mugs. 

Love, love, love them.

I have two kinds here. 

These and these.

They are really fun to spell out words too like "love" and use them as vases!

This mug rack is vintage but you can find a really inexpensive smaller version here, 

which I have as well.

To read more about our kitchen and for more details, go here.

Happy weekend!

xoxo

~thrifty Thursday~{French crate}

Here is how I made this tray for $3.00, and you can too!

I started with this piece of expanded steel. You can buy this at home improvement stores.

I happen to have this in my studio, so I didn't have to buy mine.

Think outside the box here. You don't necessarily need a piece of expanded steel for this project.

Look around for unusual pieces in the right size.

Perhaps plexi glass, grates, old windows, etc.

My piece of expanded metal measured 32" x 19"

You are going to need to pick up 3 1x2's at the hardware store.

These are I believe 8' long and are only 97 cents each.

I purposely picked out the roughest ones I could find because I wanted my crate to look old.

So grab ones that are cracked, rough, and a little beat up.

For my crate 

{you will need to adjust to the size of your insert, meaning metal piece, etc.}

I cut 6 bottom pieces slightly larger than the 19" width.

I cut them at 20 1/2"

Then I cut 4 end pieces at 18 3/4" and 4 side pieces at 34" and finally, 4 short pieces to brace everything together in the corners. These are 5"

Again, you will need to adjust to your own measurements, this will just be a guideline for you.

Next you will need to darken up those pieces of unfinished wood.

You can use a stain, or if you are impatient like me and want a quick dry product, wipe on a little dark wax. I bet you could even use shoe polish. Does anyone still have any of that?

Now it is time to assemble.

I first laid my 6 pieces flat on the ground. This is what your metal will lie on top of.

Place the metal on top and make sure the bottom pieces are straight.

Add the end pieces and the side pieces. I used a air nailer to attach them all together.

If you don't have an air nailer, wood glue and small nails would work.

Note that the sides and end pieces of wood should be sitting on the taller side, not laying down like the bottom pieces.

{sorry, I am horrible at tutorials!}

Here is  a close up of what it should look like at this point.

Next, take the 4 shortest pieces and place them in each corner securing with your nails.

Attach the 2 remaining sides and the 2 remaining ends flush with the top of the shortest pieces.

Notice how one of my pieces of wood is totally broken off and because my measurements were slightly off, the pieces of wood don't meet up?

Yep, I like to call that character :)

Here it is all done!

Oh, and I don't know if you can see it real well, but I used a French stencil to add some wording to the centers of each side, just to really give it that old crate feel.

So, are you going to make one, or have I totally lost you with these directions?

xoxo

~carrot silverware rollups~

In our community we have a neighborhood Easter party at our lodge.

This is one of the committees that I am a part of.

This year I made these cute little silverware roll ups that are supposed to look like carrots.

If you are not doing anything too formal, these plastic and paper items are perfect.

I found everything at Hobby Lobby.

All you need is green plastic silverware, green ribbon, and large square orange napkins.

Just roll the silverware up in the napkins and secure with the ribbon.

Perfect for a large crowd, or little ones.

More Easter decorating to come!

xoxo

~bedroom bench~

Looking for a little change, I just covered our bedroom bench in a sheepskin rug.

I also painted the legs graphite, to match the walls.

It was hard to get a good photo, but hopefully you can see a glimpse of it.

It is so cozy, the kids love to sit on it when we are watching movies.

xoxo

~French crate in our dining room~

Ok, so the title might be a bit misleading.

It's really not a French crate, but I have always wanted one, so I made one to mimic the real deal.

I will be showing you how you can make your own on Thursday, so come back then if you are interested.

p.s it cost me $3.00

xoxo