Refreshing Tool Box....

Back in January, I posted about some fun finds I found while digging through an old farmhouse. One of them was an old tool box. I sanded it down, layered on some paint, added a chalkboard label and she is ready for our first Spring Party! I see us using it for a cute drink container for entertaining or planting something fun and using it as a center piece for the patio table.

Here is a before shot...

And the after shots...

The pictures are horrible, I know, they were taken this evening with my camera phone. I was too lazy to get my real camera out. I will repost better pictures later!


I linked up at WhisperWood Cottage...there are some AMAZING chalkboard projects!

Newbie love...from Thrifty Decor Chick

So my blog is technically only 10 posts old...but I have had SO much fun with these 10 posts. I have listed my top 3 (out of 10) posts. Drum roll please...

Amazing Chair Redo...

I got SO much love from blogland about my chair. Even though I am a newbie to the blog world, I have been doing restoration type projects FOREVER...I also do tons of woodworking, which I haven't posted about yet, but includes building a deck, several outdoor daybeds (PB and WE style) and a sweet coffee table ottoman out of a pedestal table.

Tis' the Season

This window came out of my b-in-law's house...it added so much fun to our Christmas decor this year

Handmade Holiday Garland

So there are my top blog posts...I have some super cool photo posts as well. Thank you to everyone for ALL the LOVE and a HUGE thank you to Thrifty Decor Chick for the LOVE....

Thrive Project: 2.0

I had a blast linking up last week at Farmgirl Paints: thrive. Everyone had so many interesting pictures. I started taking classes two years ago as I was preparing to apply for grad school. Aug. 2010 we moved to Southern Indiana for my husbands job. I haven't taken time to do much photographing since early summer. Linking up to project last week, and playing with picnik, I sped through 3 hours and totally lost track of time. Good thing I set multiple alarms on my cell, I tend to lose track of time frequently.

So, here is my photo for thrive and a couple other images!

A side street in Charleston...

I applied the rule of 3 and cut out some clutter from the left side of the image

old sign on the marsh side at Folly Beach,SC

I grew up on Folly Beach and totally remember this sign, love the photos I took of it this summer. Again, I used picnik to apply the rule of 3...

Folly Pier

Can't wait to see who else links up to thrive...

DIY Sawhorse Desk: Inspiration

I am on the hunt for the perfect sawhorse desk to replicate! Here are a few borrowed photos of some amazing inspiration ideas!



a life's design

courtesy: southern living, photos: anita calero

Copy Cat Chic

Ikea's Gruvan/Artur = $149

Decor Pad
Blair Gordon & Peter Murdock Photography

There are so many options. I am leaning toward the first two images, from the Southern Living spread. But I have a few specific things I want in mine. I am looking to make a chunky base, with a Craftsman style"esque" feel. I want a weighty looking bottom, with some heftyness to it. I am also going to go with a slim profile desk top. I would love to find a unique door, but I may just get half a bi-fold door from Restore. It will stand in as a nightstand on my side of the bed. I may try to add some shelf space at the base of the sawhorses, we'll see.

This project is slated to start tomorrow morning, but we'll see, we just got pounded with more snow. Whoever told me that Southern Indiana doesn't get much snow, straight up lied to my face. I haven't seen grass since before Thanksgiving!

Have a safe and warm weekend!

Farmhouse finds...

The week after Thanksgiving, we made our first trip to my in-laws. We recently moved to Bloomington, IN from Columbus, OH (Go Bucks!) Anyway, what was originally a 3 hour trip is now a grueling 7-8 hour trip. So, we bundled up and headed East...not fun!

One of the perks of going was I got to raid the abandoned farmhouse on their farm. Here is what I found...

Old fireplace floor grate...they used these in the faux fireplaces, and underneath was a gigantic hole, where the heat came out...

Old tool box, galvanized pail, super cute oil can (just like the tin man), and some files and a little jar!

 Wonderful old window/door. Its 4 and a half feet tall. The bottom middle pane is broken, but what a find!

And a super cute little wooden box. Its my favorite find, though I have no idea what I will do with it!

So that was all my finds, which were all FREE, which make them even better!

A door...

Isn't this just amazing...the texture, subtle color, aged to perfection

Okay, totally gushing about my own picture. But I don't care, I am totally in love with this image...While on vacation in Charleston this summer I took some time to do a little photographing...I have taken a couple classes in college and leading up to grad school, however,  I am still a beginner. But I did get a couple that I thought I would share.

I edit most of my images on picnik.com, and that is terrible because I have PhotoShop. I love the simplicity and ease of picnik. I love adjusting the saturation levels. All of these images I have removed almost all the the saturation, which leaves a hint of color! Hope you have enjoyed and one last time...

(all images are copyrighted by ME, please feel free to enoy but just give me credit)

Linking up to:

Farmgirl Paints THRIVE

Amazing Chair Redo...

We recently moved and a family member gave us some extra furniture to take up space in the playroom/family room of our new space. Over the holidays we needed additional seating and carried this little lovely upstairs...

Now to be fair, it wasn't in this bad of shape when we were given the chair. What happens in the playroom can be scary and its an enter at your own risk type of place. This chair didn't stand a chance. However, once it was upstairs we realized it was quite comfortable and add a nice conversation area in the corner of the living room. So, with the idea of not much more harm could come to this chair, I jumped right in and here is the journey...

 I found the process of taking apart the chair helpful when I started to recover. It was actually way more simple than I thought it would be...

 And the chair looked even scarier with all of its clothes off...

 My biggest fear was actually covering the large back, because there were very few areas in the back that I could actually staple the fabric to secure...

 However, the hardest part was the arms, because I really hadn't planned that part out very well, and didn't plan on sewing the cover....

 Here is the finished chair from the side...

From the back...

And finally from the front...It was a long 3 days, along with two monsters fighting strep throat and the stomache flu at the same time. However, its the perfect reading chair and is so much fresher looking. I still need to run the steamer over the fabric to get a few wrinkled areas out! The best part of the whole transformation was that is cost just over $30...its drop cloth fabric from Lowe's and decorative nail tacks from JoAnn's.

Tell me what you thinking and what might have made it better!

I also linked to my first linky parties be sure to check them out!

Primitive & Proper

Trendy Treehouse

The Shabby Chic Cottage 

 WhisperWood Cottage 

Beyond the Picket Fence

Funky Junk Sat Night Special

Drab to Fab Chair Party

BTW, how do you get the button to pop up?