so long radio silence

I took a little break from the ole blog but it ended up being much longer than I originally planned.

We have been steadily plugging away at small projects around the house and I have been helping all sorts of clients beautify their spaces!

We had a wonderful holiday season and made so many memories.

The biggest thing I learned in 2014 is I was spreading myself way too thin between designing, projects, monogramming, room mom, and trying to be a parent to three with a husband who travels full time. 

So hubby made a career move and we couldn't be happier to have him home more.

So be prepared to see lots of rooms come together much much faster!

c hasn't been impressed by the radio silence either! haha

glad to be back sweet friends!!

Christmas 2014

For those of you who follow on insta know i was pretty quiet throughout the holidays. 

I.was.so.busy.with.orders.i.couldn't.breathe.

So I unplugged.

real life pic of our rare elf movings and laundry basket in the background. haha

We made saltdough ornaments, gingerbread houses, we sang carols and read our favorite stories!

Our most favorite is the hot chocolate and abc family movies!!

Thanksgiving and Dauphin Island

We had a great time shopping, eating and catching up with family in Alabama. 

Yesterday we snuck away for Mimi to show us one of their favorite fishing spots. It was a hike with three little ones but such a blast! 

Fun was had by all and we are glad to be home!! 

Thankfully we decorated before we left so it's time to grab the wrapping paper, hot chocolate and start the Advent calendar tomorrow! 

Oh.... And Roll Tide! Good game Auburn! Always is one of the best games of the season!!

Christmas Styling: Inspiration

Everything about this picture has me singing Deck the Halls!

via 

So many textures and colors and pretties. 

Tis the Seasons right y'all??

I think this would be a fun craft for my daughter! Every little girl loves crafts!! 

And this mantle is so fun and cheery! 

Off to sort boxes and start decking these halls! 

When will you start decorating?

One Room Challenge Final Reveal

Paint brush down folks. 

Whew!! That was fast and furious and I am sooooo glad I attempted this space. 

Let's take a quick look at our before.

And you can check out the previous 5 weeks work:
week 1, week 2, week 3, week 4, week 5

Sorry it's grainy! 

And the after!

There was so much painting to be done. Soooooo much!!! 

So glad it's behind us!!!! 

 

What is still left to do:

get oushak for the area to the left of the cooktop

build small prep table for the cooktop/prep area (stone is in another city and wont be delivered until next weekend)

pick out countertops (a project hopefully for this spring)

pick out smooth cooktop.

(i spend an extensive amount of time on consumer reports selecting things, like too long!)

paint the one lone drawer I forgot and the cabinet door that broke. Yes. seriously

finish the cushions for the bar area (just simply ran out of time)

rework the electrical over the bar area (electrician was super backed up so we are attempting this on sunday, check back!)

We would have never made it this far without the challenge so thank you again Linda for hosting!! Can't wait until next time!!

Orc: Week 5

Seven days. 

S E V E N. (Minutes in heaven. Just kidding) 

I feel like I am running a triathlon with this room. Swimming was easy, biking has been so so. But running this last leg errr week in. I am having to dig deep and see what we can pull off. 

Paint finally arrived for the hardware. 

I bucked my gut feeling and instead of the beloved brass I went with chrome. 

Chrome paint is hard to find... No? 

Well it is. I read a lot of reviews and tried rust oleum. Then bit the bullet and purchased Champions Sterling silver spray paint. 

Look at the difference y'all. 

It's eons above the competition. Worth the splurge. 

See bottom left? 

Killer!!!!!

We purchased the fabric For the bar stool cushions!! Then we traced and cut the foam to place the inserts in!! 

Real life pics y'all!!! 

And most notable progress is the venthood surround. 

Getting so close and this is going to make such a huge impact!!!

Now that hardware, majority of fabric and the grit and grime of the cabinets is over time to start the cabinet doors. 

So close yet so far away! 

Time to run the last leg of this crazy fast Reno race!!!

Hop on over to Calling It Home and see how everyone else is doing! 

The hosting designers are KILLING it!! 

Happy Halloween Eve y'all! 

Orc: Week 4 Do or Die

Yall.... this week of the ORC kicked my tail!!!

Ps dont forget to go check out everyone hosting the event! So much progress!

This past week....

We primed and primed and painted and painted, and removed hardware, and hardware grime and just wow. 

Paint is soooo overwhelming.

So with the week that basically says get it together, its Do or Die.

So the kitchen island is sadly dying for now. 

We just don't have time with the magnitude of cabinets we have to paint. 

I spent two whole days on a goose chase finding the ideal foam rollers for priming and the proper purdy rollers for the finishing paint. 

So here is where we currently are. 

It's not where I want to be, but... its progress.

We did get the fan hung and the old light taken down.

And the vent hood is hunt but not wired in. 

Just working like mad this next week and hope to have some exciting almost finished news!!

Join me and hop on over to orc and see how everyone else is doing!

Orc: Week 3 Kitchen Laziness

Ever had one of those weeks where you were on the hamster wheel and thought for sure it was a cross country race?

 

That was this past week.

 

If y'all want to click back through to Week 1, or Week 2, click the highlighted text!

 

Fabric still hasn't arrived, one of my kids broke a cabinet, the vent hood came in and its hard wire not plug in.

 

Just simple issues no longer simple.

 

We DID however drive to Mobile to pick out a different slab of granite from a good friend of ours.

 

I got excited thinking maybe... he could hook us up with stone in a couple minutes but DUH the whole logistics of moving the stone has to happen before it can be fabricated.

 

So lets drool until we can pick it up either early November or over Thanksgiving.

 

Again. forget about the time and drool.... think about how these splotches in the slab look like Jadeite.

 

OBSESSED!!!!

 

In other news we de-glossed and got to business on the cabinets. The "island" part of the cabinets are primed, then the fumes got to me and I had to switch gears.

 

BUT we have progress!!!

 

And.. my incredibly sweet mother in law had this fabric at her house she wasn't going to use so toying with the idea of totally switching gears with fabric and doing this!

 

Basically need my swatches to show up and figure out what will coordinate.

 

so bam. Week 3 in the books. I have some MAJOR ground to cover this next week so pray for these paint fumes and nice days so we can air out with windows open!!

 

and for those wanting a better view of the tile here is a quick one I snapped of that!

 

Really pleased with the results.

 

Head on over to Calling it Home to see the other linking participants progress!

Left to do: 

Paint cabinets

Purchase ceiling fan and install

Install pot lights

Install vent hood

Build island

Make draperys 

Make cushions for chairs

Install outlet extenders for electrical

Orc: Week Two

We hit the ground running this week! 

This was the scurrying, gathering and trying to decide week. 

We went to the stone yard and selected our granite for the island we are building. 

Something grey, taupe, white and with lots of veining please. 

Next up we grabbed our vent hood, and ordered fabric samples. I am all over the place with fabric so stay tuned. 

 Either the greens or maybe this:

I have measured, know my yardage, and have cut my template for cushions. 

Need to gather zippers and gasp the tacky and dreaded clear vinyl. The kids only sit in 2 chairs so a removable sleeve will be used so I can still have pretty cushions. 

Green leather seemed over the top and this room Needs softness and color. 

After grabbing the venthood I grabbed all my painting supplies and read and read and read some more, quadruple checking I have everything needed to get to work! 

We got busy on the backsplash and I am happy to report that is fully DONE!! Feels good to have one of the major things checked off the list. 

Next week we: 

prime all cabinets

Hang cabinet over the fridge

Determine which fabric 

Select which Oushak we will use for in front of the sink

Pick out wood from trim

Start building island

Refinish kitchen table

Nothing like pedal to the medal!! 

And remember that money pit comment? 

This weeks excitement was the washing machine going out. We bought that sucker in no time flat. Nothing fancy, just need something to wash. Seriously Lowe's fastest washer sale ever. In and out with 3 kids in tow within 20 min. 

Then a cabinet broke, oh well. Will get that repaired over the weekend!! 

Now time to scoot so I can check out y'all's awesome progress!!! So inspired by all your work! 

If you are new and have no idea what  I am talking about click this link to take you to the blog, Calling it Home, she is hosting this 6 week event!