Dining Room Table & Banquette Seating Area

Happy Thursday!  I hope everyone is finishing up their Christmas shopping and getting things wrapped. :)

Over the past few days, I have shared a hutch to wine bar makeover and a custom coffee table.  This same client needed dining room furniture.  We decided to go with the same rustic, farmhouse feel I created with the coffee table for the dining room table.

Back to this picture.  The dining room table is the second something beautiful I made with these supplies.

Rustic Farmhouse Coffee Table

A while back I shared this picture and captioned it, "The beginning of something beautiful."

Hutch to Wine Bar Makeover

Anyone have a niche in their house?  A recent client has one in their living and decided to use the space to put a wine bar/hutch.  We started looking for dressers and cabinets that would fit into the niche and found an old hutch.

Finally an update...

Hey everyone!  It has been a while since I have updated the blog.  Really, I have taken a step away from all social media the past month, not just from the blog.  Things have been busy and I haven't been interested in spending much time on Instagram or Facebook so there have only been a few posts on those, too.

The past month I had several large custom projects and I decided to wait to share those after the projects were completed and in their homes.  Also in the past 4 weeks we celebrated Thanksgiving, my parents were home from Germany for two weeks, celebrated my birthday and now prepping for Christmas.  Needless to say, things have been hectic.

Tomorrow I am going to start sharing my largest custom project to date.  My clients built a new house and asked for some design advice as well as had several pieces made to fit their new spaces.  All the pieces are finished, in the house and look amazing.

Here is the before shot of a hutch that I turned into a wine bar!

Check back tomorrow to see more before pictures and the beautiful after shots.

Blue Nursery with Navy Dressers

As y'all know, I love navy.  Blue is my favorite color but right now I have a thing for navy.  So when a client said she wanted her nursery furniture painted a dark navy, I was excited.

The pieces were in the family and needed to be updated from the 80's vibe.  I also painted the twin bed that is in the nursery which belonged to the client's husband when he was a kid.

Here are the before pictures.

Destinations & Directions Sign

Hi all.  Long time, no post.  I know.  Annoying.  I have consistently been waking up an 1 1/2 later than I usual.  This is not a bad thing because I do need the sleep and I am now waking up at an acceptable time.  Having said that, the 1 1/2 hours I am sleeping through used to be when I would blog and edit photos.  Normally, I wake up between 5 & 5:30, make my coffee, then sit on the couch with the dogs and edit photos and type blog posts.  Now, I don't have that much time in the morning so blogging, once again, has been neglected and put on the back burner.  One day I will figure out how to do it all...or at least that's what I tell myself to stay hopeful.  :)

We have had several home projects going on the past few weeks plus tons of furniture I haven't shared.  Today, I want to show you the destinations and directions signs we made for our yard.

The Coastal Kitchen Makeover - One Year Later

One year ago today, I revealed the first DIY kitchen update.  One year.  Where did it go?!  There have been many exciting things happen over the past year because of the kitchen.  Things that I never thought would happen to me.  Things that I didn't even think to think of.  Sometimes life is weird and crazy.

In late May, right before the magazine feature was out, I posted new pictures of the kitchen.  That post was to show the small details and decor I was added to give the space a little more character and the polished, finished look.

A Dock Update and a Look Back

Hi all!  I hope everyone is having a great week so far.  The paint booth is full and my schedule is packed.  It is a great feeling to be busy.  So busy, that I haven't really worried with before and after posts.  I just don't have the energy right now.  Sorry.  This month I have suffered from severe adult ADD and have had a hard time staying focused and getting my to do lists done.  It happens.  I am hoping its only a phase and will go away soon.

Anyway, this weekend Blittle worked on his fish cleaning station for the dock.  It is looking great.  We need to finish the plumbing, stain the wood to match the deck and a finish a few other small details but the bulk of the work is done.


BEFORE

Making Some Changes

You have probably been wondering why I haven't published my post on the details of the $6500 bathroom budget.  Some of you have no idea what I am talking about because Facebook only let 250 followers see the link to my budget post a few weeks ago.

The truth is, I am not happy with that budget.  Ever since I came up with the budget and shared the decisions with y'all, I have had anxiety.  I want a specific look and feel in my bathroom and $6500 is not an unreasonable amount to invest in the master but, I just don't want to spend that much.  Period. And it was probably going to cost more.  As I was getting quotes, and realizing some of the prep work we will have to do, it was actually going to cost OVER $7000 and was getting closer to $8,000 everyday.  Um...no.

How to Plan & Budget for a Remodel

This is one of those posts that you have to actually read.  No pictures.  Boring, I know.

For a budget to be successful, you must plan ahead, research and be realistic.  Seriously people.  You can't just make up a number and then think you can actually stick to it.  It might be absolutely impossible to do everything at that price.  Planning and researching will help find a realistic cost.


Here are a few questions I asked myself when starting this process.

Master Bath Decisions

Hi all!  I hope everyone had a great weekend.  Things have been quiet on the blog but that is because I am super busy with work!

Furniture projects consist of a huge, multi piece entertainment center (delivered yesterday) and a farmhouse table.  This weekend, two dressers and a bed were dropped off to get their update before they go in a sweet nursery.

My other project is planning for the master bathroom.  I am really tired of looking at this....

Our Master Bath ~ Before

So today is the day I finally show you what my master bath looks like.  It is a good size but the layout is not the best.  I feel there are too many doors in such a small space and the closets are pretty small.  As I said in yesterday's post, see it here, we are going to leave the footprint the same.  Nothing is going to move but everything will be replaced, painted and updated.

Here is a floor plan I drew yesterday so you can get an idea of where every thing is located.

And now for the big reveal!

The view from our bedroom.

 Yes, that is blue carpet you see in my bathroom.

The tub & shower unit is a puddy color and it always looks dirty.  It doesn't matter how much I scrub.  

I hate the awkward L-shaped vanity.  We don't even use the sink shoved in the corner.  The blow dryer usually lives in that sink.  :)  Don't you love the seashells with the built in soap shelf?!

Blittle uses the towel ring to hang his belts.  

I do like that the toilet is separate.

This window is the only source of natural light in the space.  We usually keep this door shut so it is not very helpful.

This room needs help.  BAD.  I can't wait to get rid of that yuck carpet, get more storage (there isn't a good place to put towels and the doors are so small on the vanity that most items won't fit through) and I really need a designated space for laundry.  Right now the laundry basket is on the floor of my overflowing closet.  Even when my closet is clean there is a laundry basket taking up tons of room and it feels more claustrophobic than it already is.

I want to build custom shelving for shoes and other storage all the way to the ceiling and change the hanging rods so we can fit more hanging clothes.

There is tons to do.   I am hoping to get some tile samples early next week so I can start making decisions on colors and textiles.  Also, I want to see how much this is going to cost.  We have a guest bath that also needs updating and I would like to do that project right after the master but to do that I have to keep costs under control.

Master Bathroom Inspiration

Hi y'all!  I hope everyone had an great labor day.  The storm in the gulf kept it super rainy and gloomy around here.  Saturday and Sunday I allowed myself to be extremely lazy and it felt amazing.  Monday, the sun was out so we work around the house and spent a lot of time outside.

With being lazy this weekend and spending so much time inside, I finally started planning for our master bathroom makeover.  This space is a challenge for me and I can't seem to get inspired.  I hate the L-shaped vanity.  The closets are small.  There is not enough room to have a large soaking tub or whirlpool AND a shower.  It must be a combo which for a tall girl like me, I might as well not have a standard tub because I don't really fit.

Charleston Food

And it's Thursday already!  This time last week we were flying to Charleston for our last minute extended weekend vacation.  Read about the tours we did and where we stayed here.

This post is all about the food.  Yes, an entire post for the food.  I would call Blittle and myself, amateur foodies.  My family did everything around food and I tried to absorb as much information from my grandparents and parents as I could about cooking.  I am not afraid to try new recipes at home and neither of us are picky eaters.  When we moved to New Orleans, we both started trying new foods and looking for places that offered different dishes.  I have eaten things that I NEVER thought I would.  Some things are delicious, others not so much but I tried them and that's what counts.

Falling For Charleston

Hi!  I hope everyone is having a great week!  Blittle and I are trying to get back into the swing of things after being gone for an extended weekend, mini vacation in Charleston.  I think I fell in love while I was there.

We have been talking about getting away for a while now.  Both of us have been super busy with work and have been feeling very overwhelmed.  A few weeks ago, I finally got fed up with talking about leaving and bought plane tickets.  I was ready to get away and it needed to happen ASAP.

Charleston, South Carolina isn't a place we had on our travel list, but it is a place that has come up in conversation quite a bit in the past few months.  We were told it is like a clean and safe New Orleans.  That the food is great and the scenery and homes are beautiful.  There is also good fishing and beaches there (this was supposed to be a non beach, non fishing vacation but we ended up doing both).

So when I was checking for flights, I just happened to check Charleston, along with Cancun, Key West, and a few other islands.  Blittle kept saying he wants to do something "America" and see more of our country before we go back to the Caribbean.  So that's what we did.

I found a great, super cute rental through VRBO.com on Market Street.  This is a great location to walk to everything!  You could get away with not renting a car if you plan on staying just in the downtown area.  Here are the pictures of our rental and the link to it's page that has more info about it.

White Bedroom Set & Some Updates

Hello y'all.  I hope everyone is having a great week!

This is my third attempt to write an update and post for this week.    I have been a little stressed and all over the place the past few weeks.  I think I am finally getting focused again.

Things have been quiet on the blog but they have not been in my life.  I told y'all about taking a day off to bring my parents to the airport and spend the rest of the day with my best friend and her family.   After that, the week got a little crazy and ugly.

On Thursday of that week, two of my nieces were burned in a cooking accident and were brought to Shriner's in Galveston for treatment.  We spent a lot of time at the hospital over the next week.  My BIL and SIL have 6 kids so we helped take care of the other 4 children along with BLittle's parents.   Our 7 year old nephew stayed the weekend with us and he had a blast.  He loved fishing, taking boat rides, and sleeping in his own bed.  :)  Thankfully, the girls were released late last week and only come back for bandage changes and check ups once a week.

Hometalk & Pet Food Stations

Have y'all heard of Hometalk?  If you love Pinterest, you will love Hometalk.  It's a place where you can ask questions, make boards to clip your favorite posts, as well as many other features.

Some of you may have noticed in my side board that I added my Hometalk feed.  Be sure to follow me and all my boards!

DIY Dock Update

Happy Friday!

I realized the other day that I never posted updated pictures of the dock.  Remember, I surprised Blittle for our anniversary with the boat lift he wanted.  When I went to New Orleans, Blittle and a friend installed the boat lift.  How exciting...I didn't have to do any work!

There are only a few things left on the to do list.  We have the electricity and lights that need to be installed and a few detail things like rub rails and boat cleats.  The fish cleaning table needs a little work before it is put up but we do have one.  Also, I need to build a few more pieces of furniture for the seating area.  Seating and furniture projects will be done when I have a break in client work.

There are many new readers and followers to blog so I am going to remind every one what we started with.  A very small, sad and unsafe dock.

This is what the yard looked like when we moved in.  There was a large concrete walk way to the dock.  We tore it out and built a fence.

Painted Gray with Glazed Furniture

Hi all.  I hope every one is having a great week.

Over the weekend, I worked both Saturday and Sunday and I took Monday off.  My parents needed a ride to the airport for their big move to Germany, so I dropped them off then, spent the rest of the day with my best friend and her family.  They live about an hour from my house but only a few minutes from the airport.  We spent the afternoon out on their boat swimming and tubing.  I haven't been pulled on a tube in at least 10 years.  My friend and I were pulled on the tub and we laughed hysterically the entire time.  So much fun and a little frightening.

Pink & Gold Dipped End Table

This beautiful end table matches the pink & gold dipped dresser I shared last week.  The end table was in good condition but needed an update.  I can't wait to see this set in the finished nursery.

Here are the before pictures.

Updates on Furniture & My Parents Moving

Woah, it's Thursday already!   Wow.  I have been busy with many exciting makeovers but today is a post about something personal.

Yesterday, on Facebook, I posted this.

Pink & Gold Dipped Dresser

I hope everyone is having a great week!  Things here have been crazy!  When it rains, it pours and when one person wants a bedroom set painted or refinished, apparently so does everyone else.  I am so grateful for the work and I can't believe things have gotten so busy, so fast.  Having said that, my house is the messiest its been in months and we have family pictures tomorrow and I don't have a complete outfit.  EEK!

Today, I am featuring a dresser that I am in love with.  I know I have said that before but this one is for real.  Totally infatuated with this dresser.

Green & Brass End Tables

Every piece I makeover, I enjoy.  I have a passion for paints and stains and how some elbow grease, sometimes a lot of it, can totally transform an outdated piece.  If you have toured my house, you know I have a fondness for neutrals, soft blues and navy.  The majority of my clients are the same.  Whites, whites with glazing, creams, grays and walnut stains are popular color choices.  They are all beautiful choices but when I have a client come along that requests a bright color, I get a little extra giddy.  I love painting colors I don't normally use.

The client purchased some end tables I had available for custom color.

Driftwood Finish End Tables

And its Friday already.  Again.  When I was a teacher, Friday meant I had survived another week and summer vacation was that much closer.  Now, Friday means another week has flown by and somehow vanished before I knew it.

Here is what I have been working on this week.

The New Orleans Trip & Flip

I finally get to tell y'all about the New Orleans trip I took back in June.  It was so good to go back.  As much as I was ready to move back to Texas, New Orleans  has a special place in my heart and will always be one of my favorite places to visit.

Do y'all remember the story of my first customer?  If not, read about it here.  Nothing better than meeting friends on Craigslist!  Well, Regan is having a baby and asked me to help with the dresser for the nursery!  Of course I wanted to help!  The paint sprayer and sanders took their first flight.

DIY Adirondack Chairs

***A one year update is at the end of this post - 6/22/2015***

Hi.  My chairs are finished!  (Insert happy dance here)  All 6 adirondack chairs are built and stained.

A Year Later....

Today marks one year in our waterfront cottage.  June 27, 2013 was the first night we spent in the house and the next day we rented a jack hammer and started the updates.  It has been 12 months of work.  A LOT OF WORK.

Blittle and I were sitting on the dock the other evening baffled by how we did so much in a year.  No wonder I am so tired!  Once I am done with the dock furniture, we are taking a break from DIY for a while.  People have repeatedly said, it doesn't have to all get done right now.  I know this. But I want it done right now.  When I am home there are constant reminders of what needs to be done and I have a hard time ignoring them.  I get anxious.  If I am not crossing things off the to do list, I feel like I am wasting time.  The past month has shown me it is time for a break.  My body is tired, exhausted, drained, done...I can't really find a word to describe the level of physical, mental and emotional exhaustion that I am on.  It is time to rest and slow down a little.

The next few months are for working on client furniture and saving money.  There are some HUGE projects on the list for 2015!

Knock Off Decor Feature

Happy rainy Thursday!  The weather here is wet!  Rain, rain and more rain.  And rain is in the forecast until Sunday.  Yesterday, I was on the island for bootcamp and saw a tiny waterspout off the beach.

Today, my DIY Restoration Hardware Planter is featured at Knock Off Decor!

I LOVE her site.  There are amazing knock off tutorials from some of my favorite stores.  Places like Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware, and Anthropologie.

Be sure to visit Knock Off Decor and see all the great tutorials.  You might find your next project!

Click here to see my feature.