Quick and Easy Towel Bar

This project was such a breeze and made such a difference in the towel organization (and presentation) for our bathroom! Before we crammed our towels on the tiniest metal bar. I mean were the builders of this house serious? They expect people to use that bar for their towels? How?! It barely holds one towel? And don't get me started on the aesthetics of the beautifully crafted bland metal! In any case, it was time for it to retire.

The new towel bar was actually made out of scrap pieces. We had some scrap wood from other projects sitting in the garage...I lucked out and didn't have to cut the wood at all because it was already the perfect size for me. After making my selection, I then applied some leftover paint and screwed in the hardware. Done! It was that easy and is so much more functional! Now my husband has no excuse to throw the towels on the floor because there isn't room on the towel bar...problem solved! :)

Before:

After:

A 'Blogover'!

Awhile ago one of my best friends, Lacy, inspired me to create her a new look and feel for her new blog. Lacy and her husband are expecting a baby boy in early January and wanted a private blog to catalog their new journey, so I immediately jumped at the opportunity to provide her a new look! After designing the header and background, I modified her blog code a bit (set up similar to my layout) and voila! I am really pleased with the way the blog came out...kind of makes me want to redesign mine and give mine a 'blogover' soon...we will see. In the mean time, check out her new 'blogover'. Since her blog is private, for now a picture will have to do. Enjoy!

Click to enlarge:

Pink Week Photo Challenge

In honor of October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the I Heart Faces blog has posted a challenge to submit any pink photo. I have to admit, when I read about this challenge I really wanted to participate, but honestly I'm not a 'pink' kind of girl...my heart goes to baby blues, but I was determined to find a photo that would work! So in digging through photos all I could find was blue, until I came across a photo of my niece, Caroline. Thank goodness some pink and lots of it! The original photo was a bit saturated in the pink, so I toned it down a bit, adjusting the lighting and desaturating the colors a tad for a softer appearance.

I am really proud to participate in this challenge in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This challenge hits close to home for myself, and I'm sure countless others. A few years ago my aunt was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, but thankfully she is a fighter and through medication and prayer she was able to fight it and is cancer free to this day!

Enjoy my contribution to the Pink Week Photo Challenge, and be sure to check out the other amazing entries and read their empowering stories as well.

Before and After Home Improvement-Kitchen

WARNING: Picture overload. I apologize in advance!

A lot of my local friends have personally seen the transformation of our house slowly take place, but when I saw DIY Show Off post a Before and After Home Improvement party, I felt obligated to join and share some before/afters of our house. We bought our house in May of 2008 and I love every minute of personalizing it and making it 'our' place and our home, but I do feel the work is never done!

Before we even moved into this house the first thing we did was transform the kitchen and dining area. Now, don't get me wrong, the before wasn't bad (so if any one of you have this same color or style, I'm not judging, it just isn't us), but the space before felt a bit dark and drab. I seriously felt I was walking into a Duck Head commercial kitchen with the forest green and the wood cabinets...I felt any moment I was going to turn the corner and see a deer head hanging off the wall--that is just what the color palette felt like to me, personally (again, no offense to anyone with this color palette!).

I wanted natural light to shine in and a more soothing color for this space that people often congregate in--so we took action in creating a brighter, more open and inviting space:

Before: Kitchen

Before: Kitchen
Before: Dining
(not our furniture, previous owner's)

Before: Primed Dining

Before: Cabinet Doors Off
(prep for painting)
Before: Primed Kitchen

After roughly 2 weeks of working on this project, the following is exactly what we did, which wasn't much, but made a great transformation to our kitchen and dining. Again, amazing how paint makes a world of a difference!

• Walls: taped, primed, painted
• Cabinets: sanded, primed, painted, new hardware, accent lights above cabinet molding

Below are some after pictures. The kitchen/dining are still not completed, as I previously said, I feel my work is never done. When time and money permit I would love to put up a tile back splash and crown molding, and maybe redo our counter tops....ahhh to dream!

After: Kitchen

After: Kitchen
After: Cabinets

After: Dining

B o o-tiful pumpkins!

I saw this idea last year when looking at HGTV's Fall decor postings, and I just couldn't pass it up this year...I HAD to make these! I mean who doesn't want some adorable, plastic-but-look-so-real pumpkins with the letters 'B', 'O', 'O' carefully cut out?! HGTV showed them being placed outside, however, with the crazy wind we have here because of the beach, I was afraid they would blow away...or some wild animal would walk away with my work of art in its mouth---so they are my inside decorations for now!

These were fairly simple to make and pretty cheap (would have been cheaper if I just waited until after Halloween for the sales like I kept telling myself...but I couldn't resist!). I bought these medium sized plastic pumpkins at Michael's. They were on sale for $5.99 each, but I also had the lovely 50% off coupon, so not bad at all!

I came home and picked the font on the computer. I chose one of my favorite fonts, 'Monterey'. Now, I know you can print out the font and trace it, but I just eye-balled it and drew on the pumpkins with a pen. Two HUGE things to keep in mind (that I didn't even think of until cutting) is to make sure you make the letters have enough support and that you make sure you draw the letters in a way that you aren't cutting out the centers of the B and O's...if that makes sense. You can see one of my O's has support at the bottom of the letter instead of it being 1 piece like the other O...I learned my lesson.

Cutting is the trickiest part. I started by cutting a hole in the bottom of the pumpkin for the lights to go in. I then took the small knife and started cutting. I tried all sorts of methods and I can't tell you which is the best...I did the sawing method, the puncture method and I then even resorted to scissors--all were challenging. I do have to say I feel it was pretty similar to cutting a pumpkin though--you have the harder outside and the foamy/squishy inside, so very similar.

I then placed these on top of our hutch with some rope light weaving in and out of it. I know you can also get those fake tealights if you wanted to set them outside. I am REALLY happy with how they came out and thrilled beyond words I get to use them next year!

Oh, and these pictures do not do these cute pumpkins justice at all! They are much cuter in person.

Fabulous Fall Cards

Now that it is most definitely, officially October, I feel safe posting some pictures of the adorable cards made in the monthly card class. The cards we made this time around were Halloween inspired and are just so precious! I have tried to get Monica, my friend who leads the class to create a blog and post her awesome card creations, but she refuses...so I will just post for her! Below are the ones made in class and I can't wait to address and send these out! They were all so easy to make! My favorite is the candy holder, which was a bonus in the class. Seriously to make this, you just create a cylinder of paper and pinch the ends--done! So simple and so cute! Enjoy these fabulous fall cards.

Furniture Makeover

DIY is hosting a furniture makeover celebration and I thought this would be the perfect time to share my craft table makeover! First off, a little history lesson on this table...it has been in my family forever! It was one of my PARENT'S wedding gifts and it was my family's dinner table for as long as I can remember. My parents generously passed it along to my care when I graduated college and moved to Atlanta. Below is the picture of the table taken in my very first apartment of my own!
Now, I must admit, in looking at this picture, I crack up to myself how 3 things in that picture are still around in my house, but have a TOTALLY different look than shown in that picture! Ha ha! The stools seen in that picture now look like this. The picture collage seen in that picture now looks like this. The cat sitting on the table (OK, I didn't change, paint or redesign her, but I wanted to share!) now looks like this. And finally, the table looks like the below. At least I know I get good use out of my furniture! Just because it may not be my style initially, that is what paint, fabric and a creative mind can do for you!
Now, not much was done for this transformation, but it is amazing how a little bit of paint can really make a difference. As you will see, my before table picture makes the style of the table seem a bit country, and after sanding, painting and adding seat cushions the style has been updated/modernized a bit. I just didn't have the heart to throw this beautiful piece of furniture out. It is hard to find solid wood pieces these daysd, and this table has a lot of childhood memories woven into the wood grain, so I had to keep it! Even though it isn't our current dining table, it still gets plenty of use...actually MORE use than our dining table because it is my craft table!