Finishing Some DIY Curtains

It's Friday, everyone!

Woohoo! The weeks are just flying by, aren't they?

Well, I have been a little busy taking care of my little girls. It is such a blessing watching them grow and being able to stay at home with them....I every minute of it!! Our youngest is already 5 weeks old and I seriously can't believe it. Our oldest is moving to a bigger bed now and she is doing great taking naps and sleeping in her new bed at night! My husband and I were talking about how bittersweet that is that she is growing up so fast and is so independent, but we are happy with her development and hope she doesn't grow up too fast....you know? Pretty soon we will be dropping her off at kindergarten...well not for another 2 1/2 years so I still have some time with her at home, right?

So crazy how quick things change and happen but I realize each and every day that it is all a blessing from the Lord and I am so thankful for that.

And just when you thought my post was about my children, I have more to share...hehe.

I wanted to also post about finishing up some curtains I hung a while back. They are the chevron ones I blogged about here. The ends weren't finished so I had to get a little creative.

When my mom was visiting a few weeks ago, she noticed that the ends of the curtains were choppy (of course) and suggested I use some ribbon I had to attach to the ends! Brilliant! So that is just what I did and I have pictures of the one I completed...but still need to finish the other one.

So this is what the curtains looked like before adding the red ribbon...oh yeah, I decided to add red ribbon to the ends because it was what I had on hand.

Gotta love using what you already own!

Here is the red ribbon attached with some glue.

The right curtain still needs to be finished but I wanted to post these just so you could see the process.

I wasn't sure about the red ribbon at first and was thinking of buying a more neutral colored ribbon, but once I attached the red ribbon and hung up the curtain, I kinda liked the look.

Plus, it can always be changed in the future...and you know how I am about that! If I don't like something, I change it up! :)

Have you ever attached ribbon to curtains to add a little color?

Thanks for stopping by!

Entryway Doors

Hi there!!

The doors are complete...well...ALMOST, but close enough that I can post them on the blog.

Hooray!!

And when I say that the doors are almost finished, what I mean is that the entryway door is a little too shiny so I am going to prime it and then paint over it again to get rid of the brush stroke marks. Hopefully that gets rid of the shine and the markings.

You can see the brush stroke marks on the main door in these pictures...it kinda drives me nutty to see them but knowing that primer will fix it makes it a little better. :)

 

I do love the color of the doors now...and it goes well with the flow of our home!!

Since our walls are a neutral color, the Porpoise (by Sherwin Williams) goes well with it and I like how it ties in with our rug and fabric patterns.

So...what do you think?!

It makes a little bit of a statement, wouldn't you say? It's better than the white doors we had before...at least I like to think so! :)

Thanks for stopping by and hope you are having a fabulous Wednesday!

Better Homes And Gardens Shop

Hi there!!

Did you know that BHG has an online shop??

I didn't know that until I was looking through a BHG magazine and found the website.

You should check it out...it's really cool. They have all sorts of items that you can order online and they connect you straight to the website that is offering the best deal for whatever item you search.

Check it out!!

http://www.bhg.com/shop/

There is the link above and I hope you find it as helpful as I did.

I haven't ordered anything from their site but it is fun to just browse their items. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

A Lesson Learned....

in painting!!

So the last couple of posts have been about painting the interior doors in our house and painting the kitchen nook table. But I forgot an important step in the painting process...

I never put a clear coat of paint over the colored latex paint I used to hold the paint to the doors and the table so we ended up with marks on them that were hard to remove.

So over the weekend, my hubby and I headed to Home Depot while my in-laws were watching our girls and I bought a clear latex cover paint to go over my Sherwin Williams Porpoise paint.

So hopefully today I can reapply some paint and cover it with the proper coating so we can actually clean the doors and the table when needed!

Hopefully this will be a good lesson in painting if you are trying to paint doors and table.

Thanks for stopping by!

Kitchen Table Repainted

Hey all!

So I repainted our kitchen table, yet again...but it's only the second time it has been painted so that's not too excessive, right? ;)

I have a few pictures of our new kitchen nook to show you and you will be able to see that it looks better with the new color.

So not much to see in these two pictures except for the painting process.

And if you remember from my previous posts, I went with painting the table in Sherwin Williams Porpoise which is the same color I used on the interior doors of our home.

Here is the gray colored table with our chevron cushions...I made those a while back.

The fabric was purchased online through Amazon.

 Here is the table next to our pantry door...same color that goes much better than the red table we had before...at least I think so.

Here is the table before in all it's red glory...

BEFORE

AFTER

Hopefully you think the gray works better than the red color we had before.

I also think the gray picks up the colors in our kitchen counter tops nicely too.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Repainting a Kitchen Table & Bench

Okay, so if you know me or have been reading my posts lately, you know that I love to paint almost anything.

Seriously folks, you can take something inexpensive and old and make it new just by painting it.

Some things require a little sanding and preparation before painting, but in the end it is worth it to have a new item that matches your space.

For today, I want to talk about a kitchen table I painted recently.

I used Sherwin Williams Porpoise, the same color that I used to paint these.

It is a lovely shade of gray that goes well with most paint colors because it is a neutral color.

Here is the before of our table...

The red color worked before until I added the chevron cushions and painted the pantry door, so I thought it needed to be changed up a bit to work with the space.

Here you can see the painted pantry door that I blogged about this week.

And you will have to stay tuned for more pictures of the final product! :)

I will say that the bench and table now work much better with our kitchen now that they are painted in gray. Yay!!

Have you been painting anything lately? You know I love to!

Thanks for stopping by!

Painting More Interior Doors

Hello, hello!

Did you have a good weekend?

Our weather has been so crazy the past week. We have warm weather with sunny skies one day and the next day it is cloudy, rainy, and/or cold. Eeekk!! Hoping that this week feels a little more like spring soon so I can enjoy the outdoors more with my girls.

Well, you know that I began painting our interior doors last week and love how the color turned out.

I am heading to Sherwin Williams sometime soon, hopefully this week, to get another sample color of Porpoise in Satin sheen to do another coat of paint just for good measure on the doors of our home. The samples of paint Sherwin Williams sells comes in a pretty good sized container that was enough to cover 2 doors and it cost me under $5.00 for it, so I need one more sample size to cover the two doors left by our entryway and I think it will look nice.

Here are some pictures of the doors as they stand now...

Here is our main door after 2 coats of Porpoise.

Again, I am planning on doing one more coat and then hoping to paint the other doors next to the entryway the same color.

Our pantry door also got a little makeover.

I love it!!

Have you painted any interior doors in your home yet?

Thanks for stopping by!

Sherwin Williams...Porpoise

Happy Friday all!!

The first coat of paint is up on the doors and so far, I LOVE IT!!!!

The paint color I used is called Porpoise from Sherwin Williams and it is a shade lighter than Urbane Bronze. I am in love with this color and think it compliments our house colors nicely.

Here are some pictures...

and remember, this is only the first coat so I still have one or two more to put on the doors.

Here is the first coat of Porpoise up on the front door.

So far I am only starting with painting 2 doors in our house...

I will decide later if I want to paint more doors in our home.

I love the way it compliments our hardware and the bronze colored light in our kitchen nook.

Have you painted any doors in your home?

Thanks for stopping by!

Ribbon-Trimmed DIY Tablerunner

I have a quick post today about my DIY table runner.

A few days ago, I bought some ribbon at JoAnn's for about $2.00 after I used my coupon and I hot glued the ribbon to the left over chevron fabric I had on our dining room table.

Here is the result after gluing the ribbon to the fabric...

This was a pretty quick and cheap DIY project which seems to be all I have time for these days with a newborn in the household.  ;)

And I apologize for the dark photos...

I took these pictures tonight so there wasn't much light to work with.

And that basket in the middle of our dining room table was a purchase from South Carolina...my mom got it for me as a gift. :)

I have yet to fill it with goodies like little candies, but I like displaying it as a table centerpiece.

I also bought some paint from Sherwin Williams today so hopefully I can start painting the interior doors in our house soon too!

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a fabulous weekend.

Upcoming Plans for a DIY Tablerunner

Hello all!

Have you ever made a tablerunner on your own for your dining table?

I am using leftover chevron fabric and I purchased green ribbon from JoAnn's today with a 40% coupon that I am going to add to the sides of the fabric to make a tablerunner.

Here is a sneak peek of my SMALL DIY project...

Not the best picture, but you get the idea...

and after it is finished, I will have better pictures of our tablerunner.

Here is to hoping I can get this small project done soon, but it is hard squeezing in projects with 2 little ones running around. ;)

But I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!

Thanks for stopping by!

Breast Check

Hello all!

So I know my post title is a little weird, but I couldn't think of anything other than "Breast Check" for the title since it states pretty much what happened last week to me and my family.

You see, after my daughter, Lydia, was born, I began nursing her- which was always something I looked forward to doing when she arrived. I love breastfeeding my babies and if we decide to have a third child in the future, I know I will breastfeed again. There are so many benefits to nursing your child, but that isn't really what this post is all about.

Shortly after nursing Lydia, I noticed a dense lump in my right breast. It was pretty obvious and could be felt standing up!

I was terrified when I felt it at first because I never noticed it there before.

Tons of thoughts started circled my head at that moment! What if it is breast cancer?? How could I have missed the lump? How long has it been there? What is it??

I immediately called up my lactation consultant and went to see her at the hospital. She did a breast check and felt my lump and told me not to worry...."The chances of you having breast cancer" she said, "at your age is very slim." So that calmed me a bit, but she told me to call my OB right away to make an appointment with her just to be safe.

I called the OB office and couldn't get seen with my OB because she was going out of town, so they scheduled me to see the on-call nurse that day.

I went in with my little Lydia and waited an hour because they forgot my paperwork and didn't realize that I had made an appointment to be seen that day...even though I made sure to tell the nurse at the front desk that I had been scheduled in for a quick visit. So that didn't help calm my fears.

All I can remember doing is rocking my little one to sleep in the waiting room and praying that all be alright!

After I met up with the nurse, she told me that she thought the lump in my breast felt like a fibrous adenoma, but to be sure, she wanted me to schedule an appointment for an ultrasound at the hospital.

I still couldn't believe it! Here I was sitting in my car after the visit wondering if my lump was cancerous or not and trying to hold things together for my family. I really don't like to cry (not sure why but it's something I am learning is okay to do every now and then) but I cried on the way home from the doctor's office and did more praying to the Lord...but I just couldn't shake the fears I was having at that moment.

When I got home, I told my husband about the appointment with the nurse and he comforted me and told me it was going to be alright. We sat on the couch holding each other and looking at our little girls...both wondering what the next week would hold for us.

That day, I scheduled an appointment for the ultrasound the nurse told me to have and they said I needed a mammogram as well. So my family and I went to the appointment together the next day- which helped me to be less anxious knowing my husband and girls were close by.

To leave out many details, I will skip to the day I had my ultrasound.

The ultrasound showed my lump to be a cluster of dense cells and the radiologist tried to reassure me that most likely the lump was what she called a fibroadenoma or lactating adenoma. I didn't know exactly what that was so of course I looked it up first thing when we got home to see what that term meant. I figured I should've asked her more questions, but there was so much going on in my mind that I didn't know exactly what to ask her. After the appointment, we went home and I looked up what a lactating fibroadenoma was. I read that it is a benign tumor that can occur in women who are pregnant or nursing and usually goes away after you wean your child. To be sure it wasn't cancer though, the radiologist wanted to schedule me for a biopsy because she said it was best if we found out what the lump was right away before waiting 6 months for me to nurse and begin weaning my daughter to see if it goes away or not.

A few days later, and after much prayers from our church family, friends, and my family and I, I had the biopsy done and waited for the results to come in about the cells they took out.

I will spare you more details about the days we waited to hear about the results, but lets just say I was on an emotional rollercoaster. I went from crying one moment to being okay with whatever happened in the future- which I know was the Lord comforting me. But I do know that I made sure to spend each moment carefully with my husband and daughters because I didn't know if I would see them for a few more months or many, many years to come (And boy did that first thought scare me a little bit! Not knowing if I would be around to see my girls grow up was terrifying!)

So jump to a few days later.....

On Thursday, which was yesterday, we got the call that the cells were benign and everything looked OKAY! :)

"Praise God" I kept saying and praying and held my husband tightly after we heard the great news! I talked with the Lord so much that day and the days beforehand and have never been so grateful for the blessings He has given me until now...which is very sad to realize that until now! Before I had been soooo selfish and prideful about many things in my life and took for granted the blessings God has given me. I am so thankful for the late night nursing sessions with Lydia, the tiredness I feel after taking care of two young girls under the age of 2, my wonderful husband for all he does for us, and friends and family who love the Lord and have prayed so hard for us. We really don't know what each day holds for us, but I tell you what, after an experience like this, I have looked at life differently.

Right now I have what they call a "marker" in my right breast to monitor the lump. In 6 months, I go back for another ultrasound to make sure the lump hasn't changed. We will continue to pray that it doesn't, but I do know that I need to trust the Lord my Saviour and be comforted by His Spirit, especially in times like this.

I share this with you to ask that you be thankful for the blessings placed in your life, even when things get rough, because only the Lord knows what tomorrow holds for us.

It is by His grace that I am saved and that I can be the wife and mother He made me to be.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!

I hope that you have a wonderful Friday and weekend ahead! :)

Storage Baskets in Our House

Do you use storage baskets to keep items in place around your home?

I have to say that using storage baskets in our family room and kitchen is a way to keep our house organized. There are so many uses for baskets and some of those uses I use around our home are to keep toys at bay, blankets off the floor, and cords or miscellaneous items out of harms way.

I recently made some storage baskets out of diaper boxes using green packing paper from Home Depot and some leftover fabric and twine.

Here are a few pictures of the storage baskets we have around the house:

In our entryway, I use this green box (a DIY project) to store my daughters' toys.

Thankfully, the packing paper has held up to little hands reaching in and out of the box to grab toys. :)

The gray box on top of the shoe storage bins from IKEA was a $1 purchase from Target a few months back. It holds our gloves, paper, pens, and sunglasses.

The other DIY box I made sits in our family room and holds blankets and toys for our girls.

The circular basket (sorry for the blurry pictures) might have been a gift from years ago...maybe Easter, but I don't remember. We keep more stuffed animals in it....

Can you see a pattern here with the stuffed animals??

This little basket sits under our TV stand and holds cords and other miscellaneous items.

And this picnic basket (a gift from dear friends of ours for our wedding) holds hot chocolate for those cold wintery nights!

How do you store all of your items?

Thanks for stopping by!

Home Goods and Many More

Hello all!

Today's post will be all about shopping! YAY!

Who doesn't love to shop, especially shopping for a great deal?

I admit, I LOVE to shop and probably get it from my mama! She loves bargain hunting for things and always buys something on clearance only...I don't know if she ever pays full price for anything.

Anyways, my mom is visiting this weekend to see our little ones and of course my husband and I...and on my list of things to do with her is shopping! Maybe that doesn't sound fun to some people, but we enjoy it. :)

In our area, there are a few shops that are opening up nearby and one of those shops is Home Goods! I seriously can't believe it because we don't have one in our town and the fact that one is opening next week that is only about 10 minutes from us makes me smile! :)

I feel like a lot of bloggers and shoppers out there talk about Home Goods all the time and the great deals they get when they browse the store, so I am super excited about getting one near us.

Did you know that Home Goods also has a blog!! ?

You can also check out this website on their page to take a style quiz to figure out what your shopping style is! So handy!!

In the meantime, I am planning some small projects to get accomplished around the house and am looking forward to family visiting in the next week! Hooray!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are having a great start to the week!

Updated Dining Room Mirrors III

 

 Hey everyone!

This post is a little late because of the new addition to the family, but I needed to take some time off from writing a post to be with family these past few days. :)

But I wanted to post pictures of our new mirrors in the dining room.

To read more about how these mirrors started out, click here. 

I still would like to add some embellishments to the mirrors at certain points to glam them up a bit, but I need to think about what those embellishments will be before I purchases anything at the store.

So there you have it, our new dining room mirrors.

Have you ever changed up plain mirrors and made them your own style?

Thanks for stopping by!