Friday Update ~ 08/14/2015

Do y'all ever have weeks when you just can't get in the grove and be productive?  I had two of those in a row.  Yuck.  Then all of a sudden this week, I was on.  I mean, really on.  Things got done this week and it felt good.  I had help though....my mom worked with me two days this week.  Having two set of hands working really makes a difference.  :)

FURNITURE

Many of you know that my parents have been living in Germany the past year.  Now that they are back in the States, my mom is trying to get some projects done.  She has been using a mix of furniture for years and now she is wanting refinish or paint the pieces she likes, and replace the pieces she doesn't love.  I mentioned I had a dining set in my storage unit and things snowballed from there. This week the buffet was stripped, sanded, prepped for new stain, stained, and clear coated!  It is drying today so tomorrow I'll put the pulls and doors back on.  Here is a sneak peek:

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.

DIY Dock Progress - Part 5

Hello, everyone!  I hope y'all's Memorial Day weekend was as good as mine.  It has been a crazy 4 days.

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you know I got my copy of the magazine in the mail!!!!!

The Better Homes and Garden Kitchen and Bath Makeover, Summer 2014 magazine should be available for purchase this week in stores.  I am on the top half of page 23.

Elevator Makeover

I have another makeover to show you today!  A while back I mentioned I was wanting to give our in-home elevator a makeover.  I was trying to come up with something brilliant but nothing great came to mind.  I didn't want to add any weight, take away any room, or do anything expensive.  My main goal was to make it cute and make it feel less like a coffin.  Here are the before pictures.

DIY Coffee Table

So I know some of you are wondering where I have been all week.  And then there are some of you that probably didn't even realize I have been MIA.  :)


Well, I have been tired. And when I say tired I mean exhausted.  So exhausted I started to go to that crazy place in my mind.  Things started to shut down and quit and I felt like I was on drugs of some sort.  So exhausted I stopped doing push ups at bootcamp to lay in a dirty parking spot of the San Luis Resort because I could not lift myself again.  So exhausted that when I woke up to BLittle sending a work email on his phone from bed at 4am I had thoughts of smothering him with his pillow.

DIY Dining Room Table Tutorial

Happy Friday Eve!   Today I am going to tell y'all about how I built my table that I showed you in yesterday's post.

This is a what I am calling a semi-tutorial.  The Ana White plans I used are good so you can download and/or print them out here.  This post tells you about some details that aren't in the plans and what I added or did differently.

DIY Dining Room Table

Happy Wednesday!

Yesterday, I told y'all about my office and how messy it was (read about it here).  It is coming along great.  Organizing and purging is extremely time consuming but I made great progress.  I am still not sure about my furniture placement but you can see the top of my dresser and desk!  Also, the closet is now clean and organized.  Hopefully, I can get it finished in the next week.

Reupholstered and Refinished Rocker

Happy Friday!  Today, I get to show you another Christmas surprise!

I am so excited about this project so let's get right to it and see the before pictures.

3 Month Anniversary

It's been 3 months already!  3 months ago we were spending our first night in the house.  Time flies when you are working yourself to death.  :)

The house has gone through so many changes and is finally starting to feel like our home.  Overall things have gone smoothly (I know things could have been a lot worse) and there have been only a few bumps in the road so far.  Having said that, I am exhausted.  Everyday I wake up and see what needs to be done.  Living through an update is hard on the mind.  It is a constant to do list reminder.  When the kitchen is finished I will be taking on client work again and will be taking a break from the house.  There is a 12 month to do list but nothing urgent needs to be done.


Here is a list and a look back on what's happened over the past 3 months.  I plan on writing posts about each room when they are finished but for now here is a quick review.

Pottery Barn Inspired Dresser

If you have read my posts about our living room and our bedroom,  you know that we have a Pottery Barn, coastal vibe going on.  Even though I LOVE Pottery Barn, I HATE paying for their stuff.  Especially, their furniture.  Most things are solid wood and the quality is good but the penny pincher inside always reminds me I can find a better deal.   I did buy our sea grass chairs from PB (30th birthday present to myself so I feel it was an acceptable purchase) and our living room rug is PB but I bought it on eBay for a fraction of the store price.

Here in New Orleans we have a Pottery Barn and a Restoration Hardware in our mall right next to each other.  Again, LOVE the styles and spending time in the stores drooling over the beauty of the pieces but HATE the cost.  So when I saw the 4-drawer dresser I knew I could make it have that PB/RH feel without the PB/RH price.

Here are the before pics:

Overall, it was in great shape but definitely needed some updating.  The drawers are very deep so they can hold a lot of clothes!  I used a chocolate/java colored stain (again, this is a stained piece, not painted) and distressed the edges to give it a bit of a worn look.  Also, I did paint the original hardware and was going to reuse them but when I put them back on I felt like the dresser was missing something.  I decided to update the hardware and it really brought everything together.  It is a BEAUTIFUL result and this is one of my favorite pieces.

After pics:

As always, thanks for reading and following my blog.  Have a great weekend everyone!