Busy Busy Bee- Project 12

Before

Whitewashed & a coat of Blue

Close Up

Dining Room with 4 Chairs :)

Herbs starting to Grow Yea!!!

This week has literally been a week of  Insert Four Letter word here starting in an H ending in a Big L.. it has been non-stop at work (meetings, grading, parent emails/conferences), students just going crazy because Spring Break is so close, tons of assignments for my Masters Program and the house a total wreck because lack of time to organize and too many projects started at once.  I am in deep need of vacation in such a bad way.  But for relaxation what I do.. find more projects to do..lol.

I'm one of those people I think of projects while I am going to sleep, showering, driving to work and I will think about them, contemplate them and obsess until they are done. I think I mentioned that I spoke with Melissa from The Inspired Room about our kitchen. I was getting really TIRED of the red.. it is just not me and is too warm. I know people like Red it is actually my hubbies fav color. His office is St Louis Cardinal Red.. but I don't like it all over my house. I like neutral with a punch of color. So I search for my inspiration for the kitchen with out re painting and adding the neutral tans and whites with a touch of blue..

Than it hit me sea spray wreath I have ( I kinda have a rug and wreath addiction).. this is my inspiration for my kitchen- the colors, touch of classic traditional, touch of vintage with modern.. love it. So on my long hallway wall are some vintage iron wall decor in a red color. The color just didn't fit the new kitchen. I went to the garage and got a plain dry brush and white washed the wood. After it dried I distressed it and re hung on the wall. I liked the white. But it was just too white and too much of a contrast on the walls. So I went back to the garage and found some leftover Blue Paint from the upstairs (all the rooms are various shades of blue-robin, teal, aqua, sky) and dry brushed over the white being sure the distressed areas were still noticeable as well as the white. The finished product is above. I really like it and once you see the whole finished kitchen I think you will too.

On top of my kitchen decor project with paint, finally the two other seagrass chairs came in. Nate originally bought the first two seagrass chairs for me as an anniversary gift on our 3rd year. We were living in our first apartment together. I loved them so much and had wanted them so bad but couldn't afford them while in college and working as a bartender and nanny.  When he surprised me with them I was so excited and I still love love em.  The only thing I hate is my cat will try to sharpen her claws on them..ugh. I have been wanting to get more but at one point they were back ordered in my color and then I just didn't have it in our budget. Finally I did. So I ordered them and they came today. The newer ones are a slightly darker color. But I think they match fine because of the color variation of the seagrass. Aren't they beautiful??  Dining Room is officially DONE!! 

Oh and the Herb Garden I planted on the kitchen window has sprouts in all three containers..yeah!

Here's a hint on a future post to come in the kitchen.. good luck on guessing.

HINT!!

Spring has Sprung at the E's Casa- Project #11

Mounding Flowers around the front tree & mailbox

Mounding Flowers with my trailing rosebushes in front beds

My Easter Lillies coming up in the bed under the bay window

we added new bouganvia to the planters & trailing flower ground cover in the back- sorry Ill have to take a close up of the back bed..

Hanging baskets for the gazebo (also mounding)

Trailing flowers for the planters on the spa brick (there is a cover on spa to keep the birds out and heat in)

boungavia for the planter by the swing on the deck

trailing flowers for my strawberry planter

Herb Garden for the window sile in the kitchen

If you didn't already know I work for a private school and on Fridays we have a half day.. which means I typically get home around 2 pm instead of the regualr 5pm.  So it seemed natural to have mulch dumped in the driveway friday so we could start the backyard. We thought we would only be able to get the back done before dark and do the rest Saturday. But since we built up the beds  for the past two years with mulch twice a year we didn't need as much mulch this year, which meant less work really.  We started mulching around 3pm and finished around 5:30. We trimmed the palm trees and crate mertals next.

But the three yards of mulch only covered the backyard beds and two of the front yard beds. We were so tired that we decided we would get more mulch Saturday. The mulch place only delivers with a load of 3 yds or more so we went to Lowes and got 10 bags of mulch, tomatoe plants, bell peppers, jalenpeno peppers and onions, as well as tons of flowers to add to the garden. I love spring and I always end up spending about 100 bucks for flowers that last till fall. I feel it is so worth it to add color to our yard because we enjoy our back yard so much in the warmer months. 

 Most of our plants except some of the hardy palms basically go dead looking all winter and come back in the spring. Alot of them especially the cana is coming up and I love seeing it come up and get as tall as the fence and flower. My favorite large bird of paradise plants on the fence are brown and I thought they didn't make it thru the freezes but they both have babies coming up at their bases..so there is hope and as ugly as a brown plant is I have to let it be to survive. So I planted trailing flowers in the planters, bouganvia which is a favorite of mine and mounding flowers in the hanging baskets and in the front of the house. Every year I plant Boungavia in the planters by the pool and the planter that Nate says is throwing up by the spa.. it is a planter that looks like is is sideways (I'll have to take a pic of it).  But once the cold comes they go dormant and loose all life other than their roots. Last year I left them in their planters and it took till August for them to bloom (they got leaves). I was much less patient with them this year. I transplanted them all except the large on in the throw up pot by the spa into the garden. That way the garden they can get larger but also I can have some color in my pots now. So I added new bouganvia to the large pots and one smaller pot that had a hibiscus plant in it last year (it died due to freeze).  On top of my bouganvia we also planted tons of trailing and mounding flowers. They are my favorite because I love to see the flowers spilling over a pot. I planted similar plants in the pots on the spa last year and they got huge! They were gorgeous.. so I can't wait to see them mound and trail this year. As always I add hanging baskets around the gazebo for a touch of color. I loved the mounding penunias and last year I did pink so I felt purple would be a wonderful touch of color this year.

Thankful Nate loves flowers and yard work as much as I do. He loves seeing the progress it makes and watching our yard develop over the seasons. Ill post pics once everything is green, full and lucious in May! May, June & July my backyard looks like a tropical oasis instead of dead!

I also added a mini herb garden in the kitchen window! Can't wait to use them.. well Nate to use them.

Hope you enjoy my pics and Ill post some of when the lilies are blooming and the yard is lucious soon! Happy Spring!

Spring is here.. well at least in my living room- Prject #10

The house is still decorated and ready for St. Patty's but it is the time of year where all the flowering trees and bushes are blooming. I love this time of year and I want the house to feel the same way- springy!

I feel in love with these Robert Allen fabrics that have an awesome Hawaiian Name! They are called Kukula Pinata & Kika Pinata. I thought they were so lovely and had a hard time finding two of each becaue the fabric is now discontinued. If you know me I adore stripes and I loved that these had spring colors and aqua my favorite color. I got two striped and two flower covers and inserted my own pillows. Waaa laa Spring is here. I love that our living room is neutral with pops of colors in accessories like the hydrangeas, my candles, and pillows. Thus way it is always easy to update with new seasons and trends. But I usually stick to things I love more than trends.

I also ordered the book that Melissa at Inspired Room recommended "Live with what you Love". It is a great book and has made its way under my candles, shells and corks on the living room table till I finish reading it. It is about incorporating heirlooms into your house and items you love and how to display them.

The lovely flowers pictured were treats from the hubby and he brought in the mail which had the new PB catalog and Ballard.. love him! I put the yellow beauties in the kitchen and the pink ones on my nite stand. I love fresh flowers and the hubbs knows it.

In other news I am over all the red in the kitchen and Melissa at the Inspired Room gave me some great tips. I don't want to repaint the green I just dont want the accents to be so bold and loud (red) so stay tuned for some changes. I purchased another sisal PB rug yesterday for the living room and the current one will be moving to the eat in breakfast area in the kitchen.  I also found two more of our dining room chairs (they were sold out forever) on sale with free shipping so I bought two more. They should arrive over Spring Break and we can now sit 4 in the beautiful chairs and two more on the bench!! We have a bench that is resident in the kitchen that we move to the table in there and the dining room to use for additional seating. I'll take pics soon and share! Can't wait to show you all the updates. Hopefully we can install new lighting too ;) wishful thinking on my part..lol

Simple Matters Makeovers for ME :)- Project #9

Alannah Vintage Rocker- Before

Mirror which will be painted white

Paisley Material to refinish stool and rocker














If you haven't discovered Simple Matters yet you definitely need to check out her website, blog and facebook page! I purchased a beautiful antique black headboard/footboard for our guest room and she is currently refinishing one of our antique dressers to put in the nursery (see previous post).  Well Jannet at Simple Matters finds vintage pieces and re-finishes them for others.  She has the business out of her home on the side in addition to being a stay at home mom. I applaud her awesomeness to refinish pieces others want to throw out. On top of that I love that it is green, and it is furniture that is quality furniture but yet antique, vintage, classic with a story that is going in our home.  Love it.. gushing sorry. Simple Matters recently posted a huge lot of new/old furniture that she was going to refinish to the clients taste.. I fell in love with the vintage rocker above Jannet calls Alannah. It reminds me of the chair my Grandpa used to sit in everyday in his den and my mom now has one in her living room.  Recently I spoke about the post Inspired Room did on making your home resemble you and living with things you love and have meaning. I am really striving to make rooms resemble us and our history. The crib is the same style Nate and I had as babies. The dresser is an antique and now the rocker looks just like my Grandpa Tom's.  I also thought it would be a nice addition and it could be used in multiple rooms other than just a nursery.  I went ahead and purchased it from Jannet.. paid the deposit to start the work(good thing because some other ladies had their eyes on my rocker Jannet named Alannah). She is going to paint Alannah's wood white to match the other existing pieces that are going to be in our nursery and to lighten the look.  After she is going to recover in my choice of fabrics. Ideally if it was going in our master room I would have done a linen with  blue ticking strip (PB inspired). But it was going in the nursery probably for a couple of years and will later take residence in our living room or master. The colors in all of these rooms are consistently shades of  blue, white and chocolate.  I needed to find a classic fabric that  wasn't too trendy but also with those colors and not to masculine or girly. I thought stripes first but I wasn't thrilled. I kept going back to the paisley design.  I bought the yardage and it is being sent to Jannet to refinish.  I think the paisley will fit the era of the rocker well and might even look like it was made for it.  I also found a stool on etsy that I am going to paint and recover to match the rocker.. perfect!  My mom's and Grandpa's rocker's had a matching foot stool and seeing how the chair will be in the nursery first and later in our living areas of the house I felt it needed something to kick up our feet. I am going to paint the wood of the stool white too and cover in the exact same fabric and the feet of the stool don't match Alannah but our beautiful Jenny Lind spindles from the crib.  Here is the bonus- Nate loves watching golf and rocking in  his office chair ..I think he will be watching lots of golf in our new addition of Alannah. Hoping Jannet will have Alannah and the dresser ready around Spring Break.  On top of all that goodness!!! I found an awesome mirror too! She is going to paint it white so I can put it in the nursery or it might find residence above the mantel for a bit.  I can't wait to see all the pieces in our cleaned out 3rd bedroom (cleaning out over spring break). I think it is going to be the perfect mix of vintage classic mixed with modern.. just my style.

Enjoy the before pics and I hope to post after pics soon!! Wohoo Spring Break is 6 work days away!!!! I can see the light..

Go Ahead and Pass your Judgement Now..

Jenny Lind Crib

Our Antique Dresser to be finished as the one below (without the glass knobs)

So you are probably looking at this thinking.. hmm did I miss an announcement?? No you haven't. But since I am more comfortable talking about the joys and pains of my life, I felt this is a safe place for me to share. In October of this past year I lost a child. I was almost thru the first trimester and clearing into the second and I lost the baby. We weren't trying to get pregnant, we actually had plans to wait. I wanted to finish my Masters in Education and get thru my first year of teaching. Nate and I also wanted to travel more..save more.. enjoy life prior to kids. But even with out a planned pregnancy it didn't hurt any less when I lost that baby.

That day they told me I had misscarried it all changed in a blink of an eye. My heart hurt in ways I wasn't sure it had ever hurt before. My mind and heart started playing war against each other. Placing blame on myself and just wallowing in the loss I had just lost. I had a hard time seeing other babies, seeing pregnant women.. it was hard for a long time. I am happy to say I am much better now than a couple months ago.

 So Nate and I soon decided after the loss, I would not take precautions anymore such as birth control and we would leave it in God's plan. Jump ahead 2 months to Christmas. I was majorly late (think 2 weeks late) and we started to think (get excited) that I might be pregnant again. But God had other plans and I am trusting in his plans that he knows when we will be blessed by a baby (whether it be naturally or adopted). I know God knows that I would love to be a mother and that he has plans for our family.

But accepting God's plan isn't as easy for me as it is for some. I had this huge loss and than each month I'd get my hopes up thinking maybe I am expecting,  to be told by my body I am wrong again. So not everyday am I focused on it but there are little reminders all that time that dig at my heart, dig at that pain of my loss each time. I know if you have lost a baby you know exactly what I am referring to.

Nate & I have been slowly preparing our house for a baby. One because it is time consuming, but two because it involves planning and money. Due to the fact that we are both teachers that means our budget allows for big purchases to be spread out and planned for because it is not in our bank accounts to purchase it all at once. We are really trying to not put things on credit cards and pay off all debts before baby too. So we have planned and planned. I love planning..lol.  Spring Break is right around the corner so we are cleaning the garage in preparation for the book shelves to come out of the 3rd bedroom. We plan on moving the kitties boxes and food out of the 3rd bedroom to the garage too. We are also planning on painting it since it is the only room in the house that hasn't seen paint yet. It will also be upgraded to a new fan/light fixture because fans are a must in Texas. As I said planning is my best friend. Nate & I have talked of all the changes that need to be made, alot of em involve things I couldn't do once I am expecting (paint, cat boxes, lifting), so we see it fit to be done over Spring Break when I can help. That way it isn't so many projects to be done once we are and relying just on Nate to do em. 

Even with all those changes being made I sometimes feel like a baby won't happen.  Though deep in my heart I know God has a plan, I feel as if I am not in control. If you didn't already know this about me I am kinda a control freak. With Nate around I can say truthfully this bad habit has calmed down a bit- but I am still a control freak. Guess what I am saying is we have to plan for a baby for $ reasons but I also wanted to feel as if I am in control.

The process for planning for a baby started when I lost the baby. I thank decided I was going to pro baby and get our lives in order for one. Slowly Nate & I have been doing this. I get free books online thru Scholastic and I have started collecting them for the baby. Kind of like a hope chest. My gf did a hope chest full of baby items for her little one. So I felt saving books is educational but also helps me realize that one day I will have a little one. Than it moved on to budgeting for furniture for the baby's room.

We needed a dresser for the nursery and Nate wanted it all wood. So in comes our antique dresser. I want the nursery to be all white. Nate hates painting wood.. but I want it white...lol. So he gives in and we have Simple Matters paint the dresser. The finished product will look very similar to the picture above but with out the glass knobs. I love the glass knobs but I am not sure they will work for a boy. The dresser is currently with Jannet at Simple Matters and is waiting to be painted. I can't wait to see it. So we have the dresser.. next big item to be purchased would be a crib. But we are on a budget and I have had my eye on one that wasn't.

I love Jenny Lind Cribs and since we chose the antique dresser I felt it would be a perfect tribute to the room and to Nate & I. Jenny Lind Cribs were big time popular when we were little. I had one as a baby but in walnut color. So I have sat and drouled over Jenny Lind cribs in nurseries all over blog land. Check our Holly Mathis Interiors to see a beautiful baby boy nursery.  Her website is http://www.hollymathisinteriors.com/.

I started looking online and couldn't find one that was in our budget. I thought about waiting to purchase one used but with all the recalls I decided I would purchase one new and be safe. If we were going to have to go thru lossing a baby and trying for another I wanted to make smart choices in what we chose for our future child..especially for safety of things.

 Well I ran across Jenny Lind Line at Land of Nod. You can find this beautiful Jenny Lind inspired crib here: http://www.landofnod.com/cribs/baby/time-to-turn-in-crib/f7006 . But with the hefty $600 price tag and it doesn't convert I couldn't rationalize spending that much on a crib to be used for a year. Plus it has a ton of feminine details and we aren't sure we are having a girl so I wanted it to be a girl or boys crib. Back to the drawing board to find an original inspired Jenny Lind Crib.   I searched tons of websites- some had them with drop downs- NOPE, some had em not in our price range and some had them but were out of stock.

Finally, I found one! This weekend it was 25% off and there was free shipping. I recieved the email between Friday and Saturday morning. DONE!! I couldn't resist free shipping and a sale. Plus with the sale and shipping the crib was now under 200 bucks (which means it is definately in budget)!! Hello the sale gods were telling me to order it. On top of all that goodness it is a 3in1 crib so converts to toodler and day bed. Horray!!

At first I thought kinda crazy to buy a crib before I am even preggo. But than I thought about people who have saved their own cribs for their future kids (wish my mom had my crib still), people who start buying stuff before hand, or getting stuff passed down from others and I felt it was justified right? In the end I don't feel guilty. We already have a closet full of baby items from friends just waiting for our baby. How is it any different than a crib. I feel like I am making a responsible planned descion towards our family's lives togeather. Especially since it was in our budget and I paid with cash!

I ordered the crib knowing it was in budget but that Nate was going to say your crazy! So I told him after I ordered it that I ordered the crib. It was on sale with free shipping. Suprisingly he was like 'oh great we'll be ready for a baby!'  I was shocked. I think after recieveing all the baby items from friends he is really ready too now that it is more of a reality with baby items in the house and not just in our imagination. He did mention that planning the bedding, paint, rug, curtains will be do much fun for me he is worried I might obsess a little once we know we are preggo and what it is..lol. Which he is right. I will prolly sit and plan our nursery for hours once I know we are preggo and what we are having. He knows me so well.

The crib is on back order now because I guess it is such a classic popular crib. I won't be expecting it at the house till May. Hopefully in May I will recieve the crib and be able to announce that there is a baby soon to sleep in it. Like my Mom says she is just as excited too but we have to Trust God and Pray.

Like the title reads- Go Ahead, Pass your Judgement Now.. I am okay with you judging me for preparing a nursery before I have the baby..I've been judged for worse things.   Like I said my heart is ready and I know God knows when the time will be right.. until than we'll wait with our beautiful crib :). So judge away- life has given me plenty of lemons already and I am choosing to make awesome pink lemonade with em. Happy Monday to all!

St Patty's Decor- Project #8

 Mantel Decor- Greenish Blue Hydrangeas, Nate's Baby Cup (tribute to his red hair on the mantel), Ireland pic, heart st patty's garland

 Close up

 Entryway vingette- Chalkboard with yarn wreath, greenery and lettered blocks

 Close up of Dingle Pennisula in Ireland

 Front Door

My Newest Additions:Our Adorable St Patty Pillow & Sign

So Valentine's is over which means yea St Patrick's Day is soon!! Which is one of my favorite holidays for many reason..after St Pattys means spring break and flowers blooming, I am of irish hertitage as well as my red-headed hubby, and it is my saints day. Being raised Catholic you have a saint's day and my saint is St Patrick. 

One day this past week I got tired of seeing all the pink and red decor. I love pink but the frillyness of Valentines was getting old. I was ready for Spring, St Pattys Day and Spring Break! I took all the valentines decor down and pulled out my lil bit of St Patty's decor I have. I say lil bit but if you go to my decor closet I have boxes of decor for each holiday. I can't wait till I get to pull out my easter/spring stuff! Wohoo. I love decorating for holidays and I love having things different for each one. I also like changing things such as pillows and accessories with seasons so it feels as if the house is changing too. In fall I use reds and browns, Christmas I add more whites and blues, spring I love all the brightness, and summer I love the aquas and blues. I will have to blog more about the seasons.

Anyways it brings me to my St Patty's. I added the celtic welcome cross to the front door. I added the letter blocks on the entry table with a green tree instead of the typical orchids. I felt the green was welcome for st pattys. I than added my yarn wreath on the chalk board with a cheery Happy St Patty's Message. On the mantel I added heart four leaf clover garland, nate's baby tin cup, and a picture of the homeland Ireland. I kept the Hawaii Map and our wedding pic. I love them and I feel they are welcome all year around, plus Nate loves art and pictures up..when I was putting them on the mantle he said OH I really like that.. wow ok!! Just seeing the map of my happy place- hawaii and our wedding pics make me happy. When I was putting up the decor, Nate was sitting on the couch and I said mind if I put the Ireland pic up and your baby cup. He said really I always wanted my ireland pic on the mantle. Glad he can enjoy the decor too.  Lastly I added our sign a wee bit irish and our pillow. I think it is just enough st patty's touch and I can't wait for Easter!

Side Note to St Patty's: Inspired Room just did a beautiful post on decorating with things you love and things that are important to both you and your spouse since you both live there. I always try to keep Nate's taste in mind. I say I because I do most of the decorating and he does the installing (hard work).  But he has clearly stated that decor is my area and he is okay with what I do. With that said I know what he dispises (anything grandmaie lol, country, floral and a lil too shabby chic). Nate doesn't like alot of change. He likes simple, functional and true to us. He likes a room to reflect my perspective but as he puts it he lives here too.  He appreciates art, pictures of our travels, photos of our families, accepts my love for all things coastal and white. He has specifically stated he hates words (like subway art..lol) and prefers art and photos on the wall. He is dying for me to put a collage similar to the one in the entry in the stairwell.

He dispised white before but likes the idea of bleach now..lol. He is truely a mans man and likes practical things- but he adores a comfortable house such as the one we live in. He accepts my disorganization behind closet doors and love for decorating, throw pillows, milk glass, seagrass baskets and clutterless rooms. I say clutterless rooms because they look clutterless till you open my disorganized closets..lol! He swears I will change when we have kids and accept clutter. I love him for accepting my flaws, wants and desires and I truely hope my house reflects us both. I know that both of our favorite items in our house have been hand me downs or given to us by our families. Which makes me beam that I have a hubby that likes furniture with a story!! Our dining table, kitchen table, pool table, guest room headboard, dressers, and bar cart were all others before they came to us!!But we like to make them ours and I am proud to say it is ours!

Thank you dear for putting up with my crazt DIY obsessions, listening to me and guiding me when I get frustrated with a project and you have to finish it. You are fab!!

New Mantel- DIY Project #7

PB Rug, New Seagrass Baskets to hold Mag & Books

New Chalkboard basket to hold shoes

Close up of the chalk board

Hawaii Vintage Map from 1930's and our wedding pics (wedding & Luau Celebration)

Milk glass & Hydrangeas

Antique Ceiling tin tile cross

Mantal with Map, Pictures & Hydrangeas with Valentine Garland

Willow Basket next to new tall lamp

So if you read my other post we had a DIY weekend. I didn't get to everything on my list but we did alot! when we bought out house there was slat tile going up the front of the fireplace on both sides but no mantel.  I feel like a mantel completes a fireplace. I wanted one for decorating for the season esp. christmas with stockings. I found one on Home decorators (home depots chain) and bought it in white.. nate and I agreed white would match the trim but it looked horrible next to the slate.  So I returned it for a chunky black one. Nate installed it with the help of our neighbor Roger whom we adore! He is always willing to lend us tools and help.

I than played around with decorating it. I have shutters in aqua and my subway art to put up for the summer. But I think the vintage map, wedding pics and hydrangeas work for now. I also have heart paper garland up from Valentine. I am changing it out this weekend to St Patty's decor! Than to easter.. I love easter/spring decor.

I also put pics of the new floor lamp and all our new seagrass baskets. There is one in the entertainment cabinet from Khols but the rest of the segrass baskets are from Target- with the exception of the one under the floor lamp which is an antique. I adore the extra large sqaure chalkboard basket. It has chalkboard on two sizes and I felt it was welcome by the front door for shoes! Well that is all that is new for the E Casa.. I will take pics of the St Pattys decor and share later.