He came, he conqured, we forgot to take lots of pictures

I had an amazing time with my love this past weekend- it's always a breath of fresh air to see him! But...we only took a few {good} pictures. And we only took them on one day out of the 3 day trip. Cause we are awesome and forgetful and too busy making googly eyes at each other.

 We are fashionistas.

I am so blessed. That's all I know.

Seth is visiting!

This weekend! So pumped! Its extra exciting to see him now because I haven't seen him since he left for the summer. OVER A MONTH AGO. This time last year he came for an awesome visit too:

{We acted all crazy}

{We went to get rhubarb from the old lady in my neighborhood}

{We got the rhubarb. We did nothing with it}

{We were all, "Ooh, I like you so much!"}

Weekend Trip

Last weekend my bestfriend Becky and I took a whirlwind weekend trip down to Greenville, SC. By whirlwind, I mean we left at 5 on Friday night and got in at 3:30, then headed home on Sunday afternoon and crashed in my bed by 1am, all to wake up the that morning for a long week of work. No rest for the weary! But it was fun.

A highlight of the trip, besides seeing a lot of our friends and crashing my friend Cheryl's new apartment, was Greenville's annual Indie Craft Parade. A feast for your handmade eyes! I bought some cool prints and handmade goodies, and there were so many unique home goods, jewelry pieces, the whole nine yards.

Vintage mixed media by Loose Tooth Studio
Bicycle print by Perla Anne
Shirt by Parachute Clothing

They also had a free photobooth and handed out free "handmade" temporary tats!

 Along with the craft parade, I was thankful to spend a weekend catching up with good friends who live so far away during the school year. My girls are a blessing to my heart!

{Experiencing Bubble tea for the first time with Cheryl}

{My lovely friend Elizabeth and I}

Who knows what this pose is?!?! {Sarai, Ashley, Becky (the one who took the trip with me) and me}

2011 Fall Redo: Finished!

I Finished the bench that I bought for my Fall '11 redo! It actually was the quickest {and most messup-free} project yet.

Remember the before:

{ugly. stinky. full of bugs.}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Started with the prep of the wood frame:

Used chemical de-glosser to remove some of the old topcoat- it was a more practical solution than sanding in all those nooks and crannies!
2 coats of primer

2 coats of color

2 coats of satin sheen clear coat

{I love the way this metallic color is kinda navy and kinda teal. It even has a purple tint in some lights!}

Yada yada.

Anyway, then I went to the re-upholstering stuff. Man, foam padding is not cheap!

I don't know if there's any magic way to upholster something, and if there is, I probably didn't do it that way. As long as it looks good when it's done, right? 

Cut the foam to match the shape of the wood board

Cover with fabric. 

Staple gun, staple gun, hooray!

(Just had to make sure I could still get to the holes in the board to screw it all together.)

The result: legit 

{I have nowhere to put it in my room, so it will just sit pretty in the spare room for now}

{Overall satisfaction: Triple High}

Well, this project didn't take enough time. Maybe I'll do a second fall '11 project!

Annual Fall Redo

This September, I'm going to continue a tradition I started fall of '09- re-purposing an old piece of furniture. Who's excited?!?! Pick me!! Anyway, I figured I would show some before/after shots of my last 2 projects and then sneak a peek at the item I get to demolish redo this year.

You may ask, why did you start this tradition? Well, friend, I could lie to you and say its because there's nothing I'd rather do on a September evening than prime and paint. But really its because in fall of '09 all my close friends left for college and I'm the only one who stayed home. So {pathetically} awesome me decided to make NEW best friends with ratty pieces of furniture! Anyway, without further adieu: 

Fall 2009: desk
Bought if off craigslist for $25.

It was missing the front part of the desk that hinges closed and had several giant gashes in the wood. It also needed a hole for a cord because I was planning on keeping my laptop on it.

This is the after with the new hinged part closed...

...And this is it with the desk fully open! I drilled a hole for the computer cord on the back left hand side. I made the cubbies turquoise and made the rest a pale lemon-green.

Overall satisfaction: 9.5 {AKA triple legit for a first timer}

Fall 2010: bookcase

Bought it off craigslist for $65. Its Ikea's EXPEDIT bookcase

{Warning: I have a mad hot passion for Ikea. However, the quality of this bookcase's "wood" made the project incredibly frustrating. Just... just only be in love with Ikea if you plan on never painting it. That's all I can say.}

It was in decent shape, just needed a few nicks patched up. The frustrating part was, well, all of it. Primer didn't adhere to the "wood" right, paint didn't dry right, it couldn't be moved in 1 piece and when it was taken apart, the paint peeled in all the cracks, it had to be repainted once it was reassembled and the cracks never fully recovered. 

After: I continued with the green/turquoise theme from my desk and I sporadically painted 5 cubes turquoise. To counteract the confusion this brings to the eye, I keep every other cube totally empty for some order.

Overall satisfaction: 3.7 or so {that's an oddly specific number...} It looks good until you inspect the corners' paint jobs, but all the setbacks I had during the project just made me glad it was finally over.

Fall 2011: bench

Snagged from a cool store around here with the appropriate name of Miscellaneous Barn. They wanted $35 for it, but I batted my eyelashes and walked away with it for a sweet $20.

Hopes and Dreams: Re-pad and re-upholster the cushion, switch to spray paint for a seamless, glossy finish on the wood.

Overall satisfaction: ??? Started working on it today, we'll see how it turns out!