Farm Table Inspiration

I've got farm tables on my mind.

Mainly because I've got barn wood in my garage.

I've had this desire for a farm table for, well, forever. I love them. LOVE. Since way before they were cool and Pottery Barn went and decided to make them.

So, we're making our own. I picked up some barn wood I got from a guy tearing down a 100 year old barn. It's pretty dirty. And smells like, umm...barn. And cows. Which, for me is good, since now the secret is out about how I love cows. Tom asked if we should go and pick up some manure and rub it in the cracks so that it makes it smell even more. I figured we could skip that part. Gross.

Yesterday I sanded it. Ugh. With my arch nemesis - the belt sander. Love/Hate with that thing. I'll show you pictures soon. Plus I'll do a tiny little tutorial.

I thought I would show you some pretty pictures to get you in the farm table mood. I'm not sure if anyone likes farm tables these days, but once you see these, you'll want one too. Promise.

This one is from White Flower Farmhouse. Have you been there? Go. You won't be disappointed. It is similar to what my vision was. I love it. Of course, I'm not a carpenter so, we'll see how mine turns out!

How about this one:

LuLu of Dusty Lu Interiors via The Old Painted Cottage

How can you not love these two from Pottery Barn?

And then of course...

The Fabulous Fifi

I also love my own tiny farm house table in our bedroom.

I've also got an idea for the lighting above the table. More on that another day... but I'll give you a hint, it involves barn wood and Ikea.

Mom Ramblings #17.

1. I have a problem. Be forewarned. This is serious. Hide your eyes if you must.

That's my head right now. Those are my roots. Hello! If my friend/neighbor/hair dresser doesn't get home soon from galavanting around Disney World with her family and a bunch of crazy people dressed up in costumes I am going to have to go drastic and do it myself. Or, just shave my head. That's a look, right?

2. Today Jack wrote all over our stair risers and landing with an orange marker. It's his favorite color, of course. Thank goodness they are washable. Thank goodness he is cute and has the same little cowlick on his head that I do, because otherwise I would ship him off to Goodwill. Except that he smiles and then he wins.

3. I showered today. That's my head with clean hair.

4. I don't like Olive Garden. I know. The horror.

5. I love scary movies, but Tom hates them so I never get to see them. The last scary movie we went to was The Grudge with some friends that love scary movies too. Tom covered his eyes. The entire time.

6. I secretly want to be a farmer. Oh. Secrets out. Only so I can wear cowboy boots every day. And hang out with cows. I like cows. But rarely drink milk. I know. Osteoporosis. Back off.

7. Porter got off the bus today and the bus driver said, "I wish I had a bus full of Porters. He is so great. My best rider." How awesome is that. My little bus rider.

8. Jack drew today. A pumpkin with arms and legs. So proud. And wrote his name. Total genius.

9. Gus had a snack today and after he was finished he walked over to the garbage can and threw away the wrapper. No joke. He's 17 months. Total genius.

10. Love those kids.

11. Cougar Town. One of my favorite shows.

Transition of a half bath.

I'm the type of person that will paint a room a hundred times until I really like it. Or, I like it and then a year later, I'm sick of it and so I'll paint it again.

Hubby. Hates. Painting. So, I don't even talk to him about it, I just do it.

I was sick of the color of our half bath right off the kitchen. When we first moved in it was a deep dark mauve. In a tiny little space. It made it feel even smaller. Then I painted it this tanish green. Not bad, but not what I was looking for, but it stayed that way for awhile.

This was the mirror I put in because I didn't like the plain oval mirror that the builder put up.

This was a big ol' antique mirror that I found for six bucks, painted it white, decided I didn't like it white and then painted it ORB. It stayed that way for quite awhile.

Then I changed out that mirror a few weeks ago to this smaller white one (of course I painted it white, it used to be just a basic wood.)

So this is what this bathroom has looked like for awhile now.

 

Gus apparently hated the color of the bathroom.

Because I am a person of change. I like it. I thrive off of it. Truthfully, I get bored and need to do something, so I paint. I grabbed my favorite Behr Antique White and a custom mixed blue that I can't remember the name of and I'm too lazy to go and look back and find it, but it was on a couple of pieces I did last year.

I also took some 1 x 4 and quickly nailed (with my pneumatic nailer) it into the wall at a random height. I did use the laser level to make sure it was semi-straight.

And here's the result so far.

Tom came home and the first thing he said was, "Wow. I like the bathroom." So, in my book that's a good thing. When he actually notices a change, then I know I've done good.

I'm on the hunt for a new cool light fixture, as this one just doesn't fit the space anymore. It's actually a rusty brown color. I'm looking for a brushed nickel or something, i think.

And, I'm thinking of hanging some hooks on the trim and putting some pictures or jars or something on them. It just needs a little more detail. Otherwise, I'm enjoying it.

And, off to paint trim. I have a deadline of having it all painted by Thanksgiving. Slowly but surely. Slowly but surely....

State of my garage.

This is the current state of the third stall of our garage. There are some pieces of furniture in there.
Hubby is trying to figure out how to heat this space so I can paint in there. We would love to build a shed, but our association won't allow it....I wonder if concessions can be made?

Remember this dresser that I asked you about? I was tempted to paint it aqua or teal with a chalkboard top, but ended up with a different color.

I decided to go for gray with a little smoke glaze on the side.

So sorry about the garage picture. Okay, no I'm not.  This is just real life.

As soon as I convince hubs to extend our wood planks to the entry as well, I will have a better place to photograph the pieces. Until then, enjoy the garage photos!

Polka dot dresser.

Sometimes I wonder what people are thinking....

I wish you could see this better. I decided to strip this dresser because of the checkers and polkadots. I normally don't strip things...why? PAIN IN THE TUSH! But, I just wanted to see what was underneath. When I do strip pieces I use Citristrip. That's it. Nothing else. It smells like a giant orange and is safe to use indoors and out.

Here's what I found:

I started stripping and the first layer came off great - Under that was this fantastic light green and I just didn't want to go beyond that. So I didn't.

It took forever to get it clean. FOREVER. The best thing I used to get the residue was my fingernail and goo-gone. And a TON of sandpaper. My hands hurt. My fingernails hurt. My arms are tired. This took forever. But that's okay, because look at it!

It's all scrappy and mis-colored and I seriously love it. I mean. I HEART this dresser. It's too big for the spot that I wanted it in, so it may be going in the guest room. Or, it may be going to the store....I just don't know yet. But, I love it.

Installing a new door.

Talk about a boring title.

This is actually a quite riveting post. Read on. Riveting, I tell ya. Ri-vet-ing.

I picked up a door at Goodwill a few months ago. That's right, a door....a few months ago... I looked at the door and thought it might fit on our house. Umm...no, I didn't know for sure. But, it was $25. If anything I could use it for something else...sometime else. I wasn't worried.

The door sat. For at least two months. At least.

Then finally hubs decided to help me put it up. It was a little bit of a struggle, I won't lie. New hinge sites, things not lining up exactly. Whatev.

But, we got it up.

Here's the old boring storm door. Eh.

Not bad, but not utterly cool. See that mark on the right side that looks like a hole? It's not a hole. But I did dent it with a piece of furniture. I was pregnant. That stuff happens when I'm pregnant. Don't ask me about the van and the side of the garage on our old house in the hood (kid #1), or the van and a green dumpster (kid #2). Or the parked car that I tapped ON THE DAY that I found out I was preggers with #3.

Where was I? Stay away from baby talk. Stay away from baby talk. Stay away from baby talk....

Here's the new door all gorgeous and cool.

Now. Of course there is more to this story.

It had a different lock and handle, It was an ugly brass and I was going to live with it, but I figured I might as well try painting it. Ummm....not good. I sanded. I primed. I sprayed with Rustoleum Nickel spray paint. I didn't even take pictures of the event because I wasn't sure it was going to work out. And, low and behold...it sucked

(donkey butt. Ha! See how that's funny?) Too crass? Too bad. Dad, you get it, right?

I ended up running to the store to get a new handle and deadbolt and installing that alone, without any help, unless you count the three littles that were constantly in the way. Of course, that didn't go off as planned either. Duh, what project does? I had to drill a new hole at the bottom, try and figure out how to get it to open pulling down instead of up....the problems were endless. But, I DID IT. BY MYSELF. Yes. That's yelling from excitement. I'm always a little amazed when I can do something without assistance from anyone else, specifically hubs.

I am loving it now. And of course, want to change out all of our handles to match.

I haven't decided if I want to paint it yet. I really like it the way it is right now. I may even take off the screen door to show it off!

Painting the island dresser.

 Last year I put together this dresser and a piece of butcher block for our new kitchen island. I picked up the dresser for eighteen bucks and then we spent $37 on the block at Ikea.

We took off the original top of the dresser and just attached the top with an L bracket. Not a biggie.

After painting our kitchen gray and brightening things up around the house, my sweet neighbor kindly suggested that I should paint our island too. Of course she was right.

So I painted it the only bright color that I can actually stand for any amount of time.

I am so glad I have a nice neighbor to gently shove me in the right color direction.

I love it. LOVE. It.

Oh, color is Rustoleum, Strawflower.




Goodbye.

Painting a silver coffee pot.

1. Just watched a commercial for Cami Secret....do they not remember the Dickie?

2. American Girl keeps sending me magazines...are they trying to send me into a deep depression? It's called market research. I have a family of boys. Please don't send me magazines for girls....

3. I took a technology hiatus for one day. I also made that entire day without candy corn....connection? I think so.

4. Remember this?

I got the idea to paint it from someone else....someone else are you there? Tell me who gave me this idea! I am lost, and can't find it.

I picked this up at the thrift store for 5 or 6 dollars.

First I primed it.

Then I painted it.

Then I fell in love with it.

Color is Rustoleum Aqua!


So stinkin' fun!
 
See ya tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Hubs.

Today this hottie turned....well, a year older than last year. In honor of his birthday the boys wanted to make him a pie. Pumkin pie. So we did. He wanted mexican food for supper, so I made my famous enchiladas. His supper consisted of enchiladas and pumpkin pie. Interesting combo for sure!

To sum this man up in one word is easy. Hot. Frustrating. AMAZING. Okay. That's it, he's amazing. 

He is the man that I had dreamed of since the age of 6. Is that when you start pretending to get married?

His head isn't currently shaved. Although, it is still bald. But, that's okay, cause he's a dreamboat.

He loves to have fun with the kids. (That's Porter by the way, about a millions years ago. Tom still has that shirt. Uhhh....he may have a problem with getting rid of things...but that's okay 'cause he's a fantastic man.)

He's a guys guy. (That's him in the brown shirt and his brother behind him.) Although, he doesn't participate in Fantasy Football and stare at ESPN every chance he gets. Instead he looks up Dream Home Source....yeah. We like to dream about that stuff. Go check it out. He's a dork. But that's okay, 'cause he's funny too.

He helps me with projects that I want to do, but he doesn't. Because well, he loves me. And he's the best. And, I've said it before, look at that tush. Sometimes I just like to stare at his ummm...tush. Okay,you can stop.

He helps with the kids a ton. And even does the dishes. 


He is my rock. He keeps me grounded, he keeps my dreams in check and he is the man of my dreams. I could have married a man that doesn't wear socks with holes in them to the airport, remembers to put the toilet seat down, and doesn't forget to turn in his expense reports, but what fun would that be? 


I love you babe. You probably won't read this (ummm...maybe you should start!). Happy Birthday. You rock.