Labors of Love

I have to admit I've been horribly distracted the last little bit.
A week and a half ago our 3rd squirrel Fifi disappeared, at dusk, which only means one thing.
Big bird gobbled her up.  No not the one from Sesame Street, most likely a Great Horned Owl.
We're not sure we are liking owls very much right now.

She has been our sweetest squirrel so far and our little family is heart broken.
I know, you're probably thinking, wow, it's a tree rat, a rodent.

There is something that happens when you feed and care for a little creature from the very beginning of it's life, it awakens the Momma in you.  I'm especially sensitive to this since I have suffered with infertility.
If you wonder where my crazy animal/pet fetish comes in, it's because I've always wanted to be surrounded by the pitter patter of little feet.  I just didn't know "how small" they would be.

So when my Dad called me the night before my hubby went out of town last week
I completely jumped at his offer to help me with a project I've been wanting to tackle for years now.

I've been wanting to rip out our fireplace ever since we moved in here.
Yes, that's popcorn ceilings~that's another project to tackle...eventually.  That's my hubby in his lucky Ohio State hat.  I don't think people even recognize him if he doesn't have it on.  Go Buckeyes!
I realized I don't even have a picture of the "before" fireplace wall really.

The wall is about 12" deep, with a faux wall, laid over a solid brick wall (so the house would look updated to sell~to us of course.), then the original wall.  When we moved here I traded in my large house for one almost half the size which was fine because the yard was too die for!  Huge trees and not a sign or peep from any neighbors, my very own little private park!

Right before Turkey Day my hubby and his friend installed 2 windows that I fought tooth and nail for with the hubby.  Now he can see the errors of his ways.  Period.

My hubby~I let him be "the man" for the day.  I didn't even touch a power tool, just ran for drinks and lunch.  It was really nice!

I bought cabinets for my birthday 1 1/2 years ago that have been sitting in the garage waiting for the "opportunity" to be used.

Here's my Instagram photo of my Super Man Dad!  He gave me 30+ hours in just 3 days to remove everything and haul it to the dump.  Oh did I mention that we also lost his hearing aids in the debris and had to dump out all 4 garbage cans of rubble to find them?  We did find them though and they still work.  He is the most amazing man I know, he'd do anything for his girls~and boy does he get the opportunity for us to take him up on it!

Stay tuned and I'll keep sharing everything as we get closer to being done.  I ripped off the entire mantle yesterday and got all my wood cut to rebuild it.  Also next Friday we'll be decorating doors down at the school for Teacher Appreciation Week.  Photo's will be posted that night, I promise!  Now back to installing those cabinets.....

Master Bedroom ~ Reveal!

Hooray!  It's finally done!

Last year I hired Autumn from Design Dump (Nicole's Sister In-law) to create an e-design for my master bedroom.  Ever since Nicole introduced me to Autumn several years ago, I have admired her classy style. My master bedroom has been baby central for eight years and was in need of big change. I knew she would be the perfect person to help make our bedroom a pretty and peaceful place to be. I think it worked, because I keep finding my hubby in there relaxing. 

My request for the e-design was to keep the cost low by diy-ing most of the projects,  But to be totally honest, even when diy-ing,  it's still expensive to decorate a room when you are starting from scratch. I started with two dressers and a bed, that's pretty much it.  I stretched the expenses over a year, buying items and materials monthly to make it affordable for me.  I love that these projects pushed me to sew and build way beyond my comfort level, and save a few bucks in the process. I have learned a lot over the year!

Here are some of the changes we made to the room-

I had to throw in a couple of before & after pictures!  The changes even shocked me!

What I love about Autumn's designs are the details.  She has an amazing eye for detail, from the trim on the pillows and curtains, to the contrasting fabric in the bedskirt. I really love everything about the room! 

Here is a list of all the diy projects from the past year.  Hopefully they will get your wheels turning and help you make a room in your house a place you LIKE to be! Thanks Autumn!

(And thanks Nicole for your hard work on the ikea dressers, they are definitely the highlight of the room!)

Bedskirt With Constrasting Box Pleats

Re-upholstered Benches

Sunburst Mirror

Fixed Roman Shades

Ikea Curtains with Trim

Plant Stand

Paint Choices

Ikea Rast Dresser Makeover

Ballard Designs Headboard -Knock-off

Pillow Shams with Trim

Greek Trim Pillow

 

Fabric is here!

The bed skirt fabric for the Master Bedroom Makeover arrived in the mail and I couldn't be happier.  Autumn sure has an eye for picking and coordinating fabrics. The fabric choices are Robert Allen Pontoise ( Mimosa), and Moda Maisonde Garance (Silky Stripe Brown). The room is going to be all in earth tones...lots of green, blues, and browns.

 Autumn has opened my eyes about purchasing fabric online.  It beats a stressful trip to the local fabric stores with my kids. They know when I'm about to enter a fabric or craft store, because the spazzing out immediately starts!  I was able to order all the fabric for the room while sitting in the comfort of my own home. Yes!

I was hesitant about purchasing fabric online because I couldn't see and feel the fabric. Thanks goodness I have total trust in Autumn's talent and  for only a dollar a swatch, most stores will send a sample in the mail.  Surprisingly, the shipping is pretty cheap. The shipping was free on one of my orders because I spent over thirty dollars.  You can't beat that!  An added bonus, the sites Autumn referred to me are mostly discounted.  She did try and keep all fabric around ten dollars and under-yes, she's catering to my "frugalness".

If you are interested, here are a few of the sites Autumn gave me for the fabric and trim-

Fabric Guru

Fabric.com

Trim Fabric.com

Beacon Fabric.com

And now it's off to the seamstress!

Oh crud...that's me.

Wish me luck!

:)

E-Design Services available by Autumn Clemons

Master Bedroom Makeover

 Since we moved in seven years ago, this has been my Master/Nursery.

Over run with cribs, porta-cribs, diaper changing tables, and buckets of baby clothes.

The wall has been smeared with diaper ointment and had been decorated

with baby toys, burp clothes, binkies, and blankies.

Yeah, I cleared it out for photos. ;)

It's time for my hubby and I to reclaim our space,
which hasn't felt like it has ever been ours to begin with.

We are moving the last baby out and into a room of his own,
and we are ready to have a pretty room that we both enjoy being in.

To pull it all together, I have recruited some help. If I'm going to invest in such an important room,
I really want to do it right! Plus, if I have someone to help and motivate me, I'll probably get it done.:)
  Example, my son's room.  Yeah, still working on that one. 

I knew I wanted the best help I could find and there was no question who that was!

Autumn over at Design Dump is FAB-U-LOUS!

Did you know she is Nicole's Sister-In-Law?

 I remember meeting her about 15 years ago when Nicole was newly married. 

She took me over to Autumn's apartment and my jaw dropped! 

This was no ordinary student apartment. 

Well actually it was but Autumn had claimed her space with such style!

She had just finished sewing the most gorgeous velvet curtains 

that hung on her large living room window and was putting the finishing touches in the room. 

It was then that I became her #1 Fan......

(hee hee hee, I couldn't resist!)

Ever since then Nicole would always give me the latest on the current home
Autumn and her husband were building. 

She was so inspiring that when it came time to build our own homes in our family,  

or to choose paint colors or really to do any design style it was Autumn we went to consult with.

  To say the least....I am extremely excited to have her helping me!

We hope you all want to follow along with this mega adventure

 because I have requested that we have lots of fun DIY projects

since I have a limited budget (or should I say no budget).

 First up we'll have a couple of side tables and a headboard to tackle!
If you haven't yet, head over and take a look at her wonderful site!

Design Dump

Haunted Village

Here's a little Halloween craft we're sure the kiddos will enjoy.  My son didn't think that it was too scary....but I know he liked it! 

 We had tons of K&Co. paper left over from papering our pennant banners and we were determined not to let this cute paper go to waste.

We bought our paper pack at Michaels but I know you can purchase it here.  K&Co used the same design to make chipboard pieces and pop up Haunted houses, this inspired us to bring to life our own Haunted House.

We wandered down to the unfinished wood section and picked up these birdhouses for a dollar a piece.  Perfectly shaped for haunted houses!

We pulled the strings out and gave them a good coat of black paint.

My son was playing around with them the other day and lined them up in a row.  We thought it would be great to make a haunted row with them on a 2x4.  We cut up smaller pieces of wood to give the houses some height.

Using Mod Podge, we papered away.

We ended up pulling out the little perch for the birds so we could paper over the holes.

We drilled some holes for the dowles to hang the banners. We didn't glue any of the dowels so you can remove them for storage. I always end up with so many broken crafts, so we thought this would be a good solution.

We did the same with the large dowels. 

And this is where I stood back and watched Nicole work her paper magic on the wood.  I wasn't a lot of help, just a back seat driver ordering doors on one house ...pumpkins on the other. She's just so darn good with paper and wood...so I let her take over. :)

We made mini paper pennants, cutting paper triangles and hot gluing them to ribbon.  Nicole backed the top pennants with wire so we could shape them easily. 

We added more spider web yarn and ribbon to dress up the wood blocks. We used really fine wire to  hot glue the bats, ghosts and moon.  

My kids love chopping paper...any paper they can get their hands on.... I think I have six to eight pairs of  confiscated scissors tucked away on a high shelf.

These little paper triangles would be perfect for little hands to practice their scissoring skills. :)

I think this little haunted village needs to go straight to Nicole's house

~ where it can be adorned by her little girl with Little Pet Shops!

Sharing at Tatertots and Jello's FALL Linky Party