The New Mantel

So how many of you knew by my hint, "boo fantel" last post that we built a new mantel??!! Every single one of you??? I knew it! Smarties, all of ya'll.

When I say "we" built a new mantel, what I really mean is my friend Chelsea and I built a new mantel.

Be. Hold.

This was a project I tacked onto our 2016 To-Do list that I figured we'd maybe get to juuuuust in time to hang stockings on it come next Christmas. But then a few weeks ago Chelsea and I were chatting about projects (psst, she's a DIY blogger too) and I casually mentioned my mantel dreams and then a few days later she emailed me and asked me if she could help me build it for her web show (I was like "WHOA...YES!") and then she said maybe we could do it the next Friday (and I was like "OH MAN! That's really soon and I have no idea what I want quite yet and the kids and no babysitter and and and...but how do I pass that up??!! YES, FRIDAY IS GREAT!!!) So she came, she saw, she conquered...and I followed her every direction because little 'ole me has never even used a circular saw but she told me she'd teach me.  Ha!  Anyway, the best part of all is that you can watch the WHOLE VIDEO of how it was built over on her blog!  I hope it'll inspire you to go out, grab some wood, and build your very own. Let's ditch the curvy/old/not-our-style for the sleek together, shall we?

Speaking of...

I'm so happy to be rid of that thing. The color, the shape; everything about it had me at good-bye.

I'll have more details later on the whole living room because I pretty much spent all of last week tweaking here and there so that our new mantel had a chic-er place to reside but for now, check out the video!

And just to pound in how much better it looks:

I mean really, our first mantel didn't even stand a chance.  Poor thing.

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Quick side note:  In case you noticed, we decided to replace the rectangular molding at the top with crown molding post-project.  The previous molding was great and the easiest to build onto the mantel but we wanted to add a little bit of traditional to the modern, clean lines so we just cut some crown molding and put it up right where that other molding was.  :)

Our Paint Chip Family

Ooh, DIY art.  It's my favorite.  And since I'm really, really, really bad/slow at getting real pictures put into real frames, it's really easy too.

So, when I saw the above gallery wall done by Jessica at Pretty Providence, specifically that framed triangle artwork in the upper left, I was inspired.  I got to work one nap time and created my own version of it in the form of a little abstract family portrait, a very abstract family portrait.See?

It's Anthony and I on the left (he's Neutral Gray even though he's anything but neutral and I'm red/orange or "Red Hot" as Behr calls it...ha!), and the kids are two blues and a golden yellow (or boring "Sunwashed Blue", "Honey Beige", and "Harbor").  It's going to have to get tweaked a little bit here in the next few months but since I did this project months ago and am just now getting around to sharing it, we'll stick with five triangles instead of the six we really need now.  The question that now remains is, what color should the new little lady be?  I'm accepting ideas...

The five of us are hanging in the toy corner in the living room; a little area we moved all the toys to last year when we rearranged this room for better functionality.

Want a little triangular fam of your very own?

You know you do!!  Here's how you can birth one...

Grab some paint chips.  I used chips I had on hand from prior projects.  

(Soapbox note:  I don't condone just going into a home improvement store and grabbing paint chips for free for projecting.  I feel like, and maybe this is a little dramatic, but that's almost stealing.  Somebody pays for those and even though they're up for grabs and free for us consumers, I don't think that means going and grabbing a bunch for non-paint related purposes is cool.  However, I do think that going into a home improvement store to buy something and supporting them financially in another way gives you a little more justification to maybe grab a few for a project.  Just my two cents.)

A few of them were squares so I just penciled a line halfway down the middle on the back to create two little triangles.  Then, I used one of those triangles as a template to cut triangles out of the chips that weren't squares.

Then I just cut out the triangles...with my food scissors, yes.  Sometimes they're just the closest and sometimes I'm just lazy.

 

And then I apparently didn't take or lost any and all pictures of how I got them in a frame but luckily, that's Kindergarten-level stuff.  I just grabbed an old frame I had laying around that I had broken the glass to years ago, stuck a piece of white, matte photo paper inside, and glued my triangles in the order I wanted them to the photo paper.  I used photo paper because it's a little thicker than regular computer paper but really, you can use any kind or color of paper you want.  It's your family.  Make it how you want it.  :) 

Along with our family triangle portrait, I hung this print from Hatch Prints (also used in our recent pregnancy announcement) in a thrifted oval frame that I spray painted white and the mat black (they were a nice shade of gaudy pink), and framed picture of the kids I rehabbed from this thrifted frame:

I bought it for the color of the frame but painted the mat white and then went back in and painted in the gray border for flavor.

This little corner of the living room is set now but we've made some major progress in other corners that I can't wait to share with you.  Stay tuned for one rather large update next week!  I'll give you a hint, it rhymes with boo fantel...

Spotted: Goodwill

It's time for Roooouuuund Two of Spotted errbody!  (Did you miss Round One?  Click here to read it.)  I hope you're as excited as I am!  Seriously though because I spotted some pretty awesome stuff...all which I didn't need.  Ugh...  The tug and pull of materialism...I think it's even worse when it's cheap.  :(

Let's just start with these:

I'm a little frustrated with myself that I walked out without them.  I think our master bedroom is too.  Dang...I might have to go back first thing tomorrow.  There's no filter on this picture so you can see with your own eyes how gorgeous the brass is - not too gold or yellow.  They were a little crooked but that's never stopped me from buying anything before.  Plus, I think the shelf was a little unlevel, making them look worse.  They were also really heavy and I'm sure if I just tinkered around with them a little, maybe tightened the screw below the base, they'd be good as new.  They were $9.99 each.  Update:  I went back today to get them and got cold feet.  :(  I messed around with them and got the main pole screwed in tight enough where it was straight but I couldn't figure out how to straighten the top from that piece that adjusts the height and so...I left them.  I'm hoping maybe I can do a little research on how to fix them and go back this weekend.

I thought this was a cute twin, bamboo headboard: 

It would add a natural element to a room just left as is or would be so fun painted white or a bright coral or mint or cobalt blue or any hue you can think of.  Polish it off with some cute pillows from my shop and bingOO.  ;)  It was $14.99. 

 This mirror would've come home with me if it was under $10:

They had it at $14.99 and I thought that was a little high considering it definitely needed a paint job.  But in white?  Gorgeous.  I'll be checking back for it in hopes of a price drop.  I'm thinking white paint and hung above our bed horizontally once we get our headboard made?  And then after I wrote this I couldn't get it out of my head and was dreaming about how amazing it'd be with some skewers glued around that recessed area like what I did to this mirror?!  Definitely going back for that thing.  If you beat me to it, I will cut you.


This painting or print, I couldn't tell which, was huge and the colors in it along with the color of the wood frame were so pretty:

It was seriously like three-or-four-feet-wide huge.  It'd be perfect over a big sofa or loveseat or even over a bed/headboard.

This frame would make a great fixer-upper:

It had a linen-looking fabric mat atop a second mat over the three picture openings.  You can see the quality of the framing in the (sort of blurry...sorry)picture below.

But if you painted the second mat under the fabric one gold, taped off that gold trim on the inside of the frame, and painted the rest of the frame white, it'd be so beautiful.  If we weren't pregnant with #4, I would've gotten it to house a picture of each little bean present day.

I loved the mat of this frame:

You could replace the picture, paint the under mat gray or gold, paint the lighter pink mat white and the frame whatever and, once again, so pretty and different.

I didn't have much time to go through clothes this trip since I had all three nuggets with me but the lace from this dress was peeking out at me while I was looking at the frames on the shelf above:

It was such a pretty navy blue and looked to be fitted and if I didn't have a belly in the way, I might've taken it home with me...or at the very least, to a dressing room.  It was made with some quality lace over a satiny shell and it wasn't stretchy at all; definitely well-made and probably very expensive for the first owner.  It was $6.

These pants were hanging on the end of a rack and I wanted them bad but didn't feel like paying $5 for them:

Our Goodwill has $1 days once a month so I'll be checking back for them then.  The picture doesn't do them justice though; bad angle.  They were super long (which is perfect for my stilt legs) and the fabric was a linen/cotton blend so nothing pajama-y.  The crotch wasn't quite as low as it looks in the picture but they probably would've hit at the hip in height.  So cute, pregnant or not.  I'm thinking beachy with a white tee and some strappy sandals with some simple gold jewelry...

And, the best find for last, these:

    Oh yes, Toilet Tattoos.  Need I say more?  Every toilet lid that wants to be a toilet lid needs one.  Flush away your elasticized carpet covers and grab a few of these puppies.  Change them out with the seasons and your house, ahem, your toilets, will be theee talk of the party.  My fave was the animal print.

Rawwr.

Here & There

I just finished scrubbing our kitchen floor and call me weird, but I kinda love doing it.  For one, it's good exercise, something I need more of and two, the thought of a sparkling kitchen floor gets me all giddy.  I know, I said you could call me weird.

So, in leiu of writing about how I scrub my kitchen floor or how to get that cleaning solution mixed just right, here are some betters to capture your attention:

Stephanie at Captive the Heart asked me awhile back to give a few thoughts on different things about marriage and married life that she is and is going to post in several blog posts while she basks in the newness of her sweet baby girl.  It's been really fun to take a jog down memory lane and also to read the thoughts of a few other women - thoughts on our wedding dresses, how we tried to incorporate peace into our wedding day (the two usually are tough to meld), and honeymoon stories.  And then of course if you're a sucker for birth stories, you can indulge in part I of Stephanie's while you're over there too.

I've been hankering for a long, flowy tunic for the past few months, one that would be great during pregnancy and beyond.  In fact, Groopdealz just rolled out these and they're only $14.99 plus shipping which is a pretty great price!  But, I really want a few (but I'm on a budget) so imagine my delight when Merrick posted this tutorial on how to make your own!  I can't wait to try it!  I should be able to get a couple made and come in under budget.  :)

I asked a mom's group recently what they'd recommend as far as affordable maternity leggings and their recommendation was a resounding nod to these* from Old Navy.  It was fantastic news for me since I had in my possession a gift card to the place.  So, I went, I bought, and I'm wearing.  And, they're just great!  I got two pairs on sale in-store for $11.95 and I plan on wearing them along with my faux leathers for theee rest of the pregnancy.  Not even kidding.

The grandparents went in with us at Christmas to buy the girls these Vilano bikes*, in pink of course.  I didn't want to write about them until we had tried them out so now that we have, let me tell you, they are great so far!  The girls are at the very beginning stages of learning how to ride a bike so they literally inch along but we're hoping that, by doing the whole balance bike thing vs. training wheels, that they'll be able to be on two wheels and skip those training wheels in several months.  The reason I love this bike is because, when we feel that the girls have got their balance, we'll be able to just install the pedals and go.  We won't have to buy a whole new bike, something we probably wouldn't be able to do financially anyway.  So, if you're on the hunt for a bike for one of your toddlers, I'd recommend these!  They cost just a smidge more than the cheapest training wheels bike we could find but you're only buying one bike so that extra is totally justified, in my opinion.

Last but not least, I feel like I should've done this months ago but, while we were traveling back to my home state of Nebraska over Thanksgiving, I suddenly saw those flashing red and blue lights coming for me for the fourth time in my life.  It was like 1:00 in the morning and I was just coming off this really cool steel bridge and daydreaming about the fact that it felt like I was driving through the twilight zone going over it.  So cool.  But anyway, turns out the speed limit on that cool bridge was 55 and I was going...wait for it...wait for it...SEVENTY-SEVEN.  When the policeman told me that I was shocked and I started to get weak with thoughts of bankruptcy, okay, maybe that's a little dramatic but really, I was picturing a spending freeze for the next year because of this dumb mistake.  So you can imagine my delight and utmost shock when the nice officer came back to my car after running my credentials, handed me back my license and registration, and told me to just be more careful and slow down!!!  I wanted to jump out the window and give him a big 'ole hug but I decided against it since he might've taken is a move of an insane woman and tossed me in the back of his cruiser.  Anyway, here's a shout-out to that police officer.  I have no clue who he was or any way to find out but THANK YOU dude!  Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you...

TGIF

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*Denotes affiliate links to products I purchased.  If you click and/or purchase on these links, these retailers toss a few referral pennies my way at no extra cost to you.  These extra pennies usually go to paying for the gallons of milk we go through every month so thank you!  :)

When Fake Works

Sometimes fake is better.  (Hypocrite much?)  Ok, wait.  Scratch that.  Fake is probably never better.  Fake is definitely cheaper though.  And sometimes, just sometimes, cheaper is better.

I'm talking fake penny tile and a fake window over a fake sink and fake faucet and an entire fake kitchen made especially for three very real children.  Remember that fake kitchen we made two Christmas' ago out of a $6 entertainment center?  Read all about it here if you need a refresher.  It was definitely a project for the books.

That fake kitchen is holding up pretty well.  We did realize that we need to rework the oven to open from the side instead of from the top like a real oven.  The kids just didn't get that they really couldn't put any weight on it when it was down so put weight on it they did and now we've got some bent hinges.  Fixing it is on the to-do list.  Other than that, Sebastian did rip the sprayer off the faucet which just needs to be permanently glued on along with the oven and stove knobs which he learned how to remove by some diligent twisting.  That kid...or should I say, boys!

Anyway, I meant to create a fake backsplash for it way back when we built it but that never happened until right before this past Christmas.

Best thing about it?  It cost me zero dollars.

I had penny tile in mind from the very beginning in hopes that I could sort of live my penny tile + kitchen dreams out vicariously through their little kitchen.  How I did it?  Well, we ordered a rain barrel this past fall and it shipped to us in a big 'ole box so I cut out a big section that was a little wider than the width of the wall over the kitchen sink and stove and a little taller too (and then in the end I decided I wanted to slice a tiny corner off just because so that's why that upper corner is gone).

Piece 'o box:

The space is so big I had to use the body and one flap of the box so that's why there's a fold on one side.  A non-folded piece would've been even better but I didn't have the motivation (first trimester of pregnancy will do that to ya) to hunt for a bigger box so fold it was.

To get a matte background to mimic the matte look of grout, I painted the side of the cardboard I'd be 'tiling' with primer since it's super matte.  Then, I laid a drywall square we have horizontally across the width of the cardboard to use as a guide for making straight lines.  You could also use a ruler or a yard stick to guide you but you'd have to make some marks across whatever you're 'tiling' to make sure you're straight when lining the straight edges up since they might not stretch the expanse of space you're 'tiling'.  If you're doing this to a wall (which would be uber cool!), painters' tape would make a great guide.  Then, using the 3/4" sponge from my favorite sponge pouncer set*, I just sponged circles along the drywall square using leftover paint from our guest bathroom (Lyndhurst Celadon Green by Valspar).  The paint has a semi-gloss sheen so it shines in comparison to the ultra matte primer which is exactly what I was going for.  Originally I was also going to give each circle another coat of a super gloss acrylic but then I realized that that might be a little overboard since I was, after all, painting a piece of cardboard.  Ha!  As far as the circles lining up, I didn't do any measuring and there were a few moments while I was sponging that I was sure things were going to look really imperfect and crooked but when I was all done, any imperfections that there were, blended into the pattern really well.

I'm super happy with the way the fake penny tile turned out and I'm wishing I would've thought of doing this to our kitchen backsplash during those first few years when we couldn't afford a real tile backsplash.  Next house...or maybe an accent wall in the laundry room?  Hmmm...

Next up, the fake window above the sink.

I love the idea of a window over any kitchen sink to give the dishwasher (person, not thing silly) a view so I had to create one here.

To make it, I used a thrifted frame and watercolor painting I found at our church's yard sale last year.  I spray painted the frame and mat white and to add a little more 'architectural' interest, I added some faux molding to the window.  My dream house has this molding on every window so when I have a chance to fake it somewhere, I must.

It was easy to make by just taping four strips of white paper behind the mat of the frame and then placing the watercolor over it from the back.  (I cut out four strips of freezer paper since I didn't have any other pieces of white paper big enough to extend the entire width of the frame).

I love the watercolor painting.  It's of an old general store and it hearkens back to those good 'ole days when I was still just a future idea and when things were so much more simple.

So basically, my girls live in on an imaginary Main Street of Old Small Town, America across from the general store and where people wear big dresses and hats and wave at each other and peace and harmony run like milk and honey.  It's a great place to fake live.  ;)

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I hope you all had a great Monday!  I know they don't have the greatest thoughts associated with them and sometimes I think those thoughts a lot but in the past few weeks, I've been loving my Mondays.  I wake up with this renewed sense of what I'm going to accomplish for the week and I usually make a pretty good head start and that usually continues into Tuesday and sometimes Wednesday but usually fizzles out by mid-morning Thursday.  And then for the rest of the week it's all big pep talks to myself, telling myself I really should get moving and Lord knows if that ever happens but...Monday.  You're not as bad as you're made out to be.  ;)

*affiliate link

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In case you ever want to fake tile something, you might want to pin this: