I have a confession.

I've lived in my house for two and half years and up until Friday my beautiful basement built-ins (one of the reasons why I loved this house) looked like this:


Empty! For over two years. Unbelievable.

When it came time to picking items to put there or even thinking about what they should like, I was just overwhelmed. It was too blank of a canvas.

But as Chris and I prepare to host a couple of holiday gatherings we decided that built-ins could be bare no more. So over Thanksgiving break, I did my best to fill those shelves with Christmas cheer.


Taking a tip from Young House Love, I lined the back of the shelves with some burlap looking wrapping paper for a temporary change. And then just started putting things up there and tinkering with them until I liked their placement.

How I wish I already owned most of the items but there was a little cost associated with this decorating adventure. Thankfully Hobby Lobby, Michaels, and Pier 1 all had great sales and coupons. I also shopped Goodwill and tried to get creative with things I already had - like the green "present" on the top left shelf are just my high school yearbooks wrapped in pretty paper.

Now that the basement is decorated we are officially ready for the holidays - at least decorations wise. Shopping is another story!

Well, well, well, it has been awhile! Some great things are happening 'round here, let me share the awesomeness.

1. Cardinals continue their postseason! We are 2 - 0 in the NLCS as we head out to LA to hopefully sweep the Dodgers. Chris and I went to Game 2 on Saturday with my mom and dad.

Something you should know about my parents and sporting events - they only like good seats or seats that come with extras. So we sat in the outfield with a primo view of everything with an all-you-can-eat buffet and free beer through the 8th inning. All inclusive + a Cardinal victory = AWESOME!






Of course I had to get my nails in the Cardinal's spirit.



My youngest sister turned 21. And we had the a seriously amazing Sunday funday birthday party complete with a party bus, a trip to Fast Eddie's, and topped off with Taco Bell.



While school has been keeping me busy, I have found some time to whip up some wreaths for mi familia...

I really can't believe it is mid-October. I worked on swapping out my summer and fall wardrobe today but I fear I won't be wrapped up in any cozy sweaters for a couple more weeks. It was still in the 80s this past week.

Well I'm off to get ready for the work week. Here's hoping it's a quick one!

Gotta love a three day weekend!

We did a little bit of everything this weekend: Friday night in, Saturday at the lake, Sunday dinner at my parents, and Monday spent grocery shopping and enjoying an extra day off.

I even found some time to get my craft on.


This wreath was surprisingly easy to make. I just pulled loops of burlap through the rungs of a wire wreath form and scrunched them together. Side note: When did wreath making become so expensive? If there wouldn't have been some great coups at Micheal's today, this puppy would have cost almost $40, sheesh! Sometimes it might be more economical to buy one off Etsy.

I can't wait to plant some mums which will really make our outdoors look more autumn like. I may have burned my sweet cinnamon pumpkin candle whilst crafting today - definitely wishing for some cooler temperatures and falling leaves. And bonfires. Just everything fall.

And now to look forward to a four day work week, a Friday night Cardinal's game with one of my best gals and her man, and my first ever gender reveal party. Can't wait to see what our friends, Joel and Natalie, are going to have!

Have a wonderful week!

Imagine my astonishment this morning when I looked at the calendar and saw that tomorrow is July.

What?!

I may have had a mini-meltdown before breakfast, "But I haven't even been to the pool yet! School practically starts tomorrow!"

When I finally calmed down I remembered that the Fourth of July is coming up and I should probably decorate.

After browsing Pinterest for ideas and saying 'Merica for a half hour I decided to get all patriotic with a simple chevron flag design. Is the chevron craze over yet? Hope not, cuz I'm still digging it!



I didn't want to spend all afternoon creating something so using supplies I had on hand - red,white, and blue scrapbook paper, scissors, a ruler, tape, and a spare frame I put this together.

The easiest way for me to cut the zig zag shape was following this tutorial from A Simple Kind of Life. I didn't think I would need instructions on such an easy task but sometimes my brain likes to make simple things difficult. In about 10 minutes I had my lines drawn and ready to cut.

Then I just arranged the chevron strips of paper in lines that resembled Old Glory, taped them down, and there you go!

Anyone else have a lady love for Sabrina Soto? I could watch the High Low Project all day long!

I debated on whether or not to add stars but figured that would have to be cut pretty small and wouldn't make much of an impact.

So in about 25 minutes of drawing and cutting I have a simple, patriotic frame to add to my tiny window ledge.

Did you decorate for Independence Day? I love celebrating the Fourth with a good BBQ and watching fireworks. Hopefully we will head to the river front this year to see some pretty ones!

Remember way back to four weeks ago when I bragged about my sweet $2 garage sale find tv tables?

No?

I almost don't either it's been so long.


Oh yeah, those!

Well I finally got around to finishing this project just in time for the Pinterest Challenge! Yay!

Young House Love

Nothing like the call of a challenge to get my butt in gear. When you last saw the tables they had been primed and painted white.


And that is how they sat for three weeks. Because apparently I am chevron challenged.

I've already told you about my love of chevron and I so desperately wanted to bring some pattern into my living room. I watched tutorial after tutorial and could NOT get it right. I used painter's tape, my Cricut, a ruler, gridlines...anything I could get my hands on to create some beautiful chevron action on these tables but alas it just wasn't going to work. And as much as I wanted to purchase a stencil, that wasn't in the budget.

So instead, I present my new striped tables!



I absolutely love them!

They were a pretty simple project too since I had already had all the supplies needed to spruce them up on hand from my desk project. In case you're wondering, they have a coat of primer, two coats of white semi-gloss paint, one coat for the stripes, and one coat of poly.

The boyfriend and I tried them last night and they work perfectly, just the right height to enjoy dinner while on the couch.

 Today, I pulled one over to make a temporary side table.


Love it!

Make sure you head over to Bower Power and YoungHouse Love to check out the hundreds of projects linked up, there are always some projects that just blow my mind. And while your at it check out my other Pinterest Challenge projects:

Crayon Wreath

Pottery Barn Inspired Desk

Anyone else troubled with chevron creation (or is that just me?) Did you create anything for the Challenge? Leave a comment with a link to your project so I can check it out. Thanks for stopping by!

It's Friday! I'm linking up with the lovely Lauren at From My Grey Desk to shine the spotlight on why every week rocks my face off (even when it sometimes is a little sucky).

This week's top 5:

1. I find it so hard to focus when my days aren't planned out, therefore I've become Listy McListerson to get through my days. Always so satisfying to cross something off the list.

2. My tv table project is coming along but I find myself taking my time (since I have some) - I've primed and painted. Next up...stenciling!



3. 6 year celebration with the boyfriend. We went to Maggiano's and had nothing short of a feast on Saturday. It was delish.



4. The boyfriend is getting a new J-O-B! Thank goodness! I'm pretty sure that we were both going to lose our minds with his current situation but within the next month he will be back to working days, making a little more money, and hopefully be much happier. Good riddance Walmart!

5. I made it another 5 days in a row to the gimnasio! And boy do I feel good! Something you might not know about me is that I have rheumatoid arthritis and have to receive monthly IV treatments. Usually I make it about three weeks before I feel like crapola again - I didn't even realize it was time to get my IV because I hardly felt any pain at all. It truly is awesome!

Have a great weekend!

This past weekend a couple of blocks surrounding my house had a huge garage sale. I was so pumped to get up Saturday morning and see what I could find but lo and behold the boyfriend kept me out 'til 3:15 in the AM for some party time and me needs my beauty rest so unfortunately I did not actually make it to said garage sale.

Luckily my next door neighbor was participating and he started putting things out Friday afternoon. Me being the nosey curious neighbor I am went to check out his wares. I was so excited to find these babies...


The boyfriend and I are those people who do eat/do everything in front of the television at our coffee table which involved pulling it closer to the couch...we noticed that the carpet was starting to wear down and we got a scratch on the underside of the table so these lovely, wood, buck a piece tables seemed just the right fit!

I've got plans to paint them this week and I'm feeling a little chevron action happening - I even made my own stencil - NERD ALERT! Hopefully I will be back later this week with pretty results. Did you make it to any garage sales this weekend? What did you find? Tell me about it!

Glitter makes everything better. One of my final projects of Spring Break was to make some pretty glitter eggs I saw over at Sew and the City


I couldn't find smooth Styrofoam eggs like the ones in the tutorial but happy to report the textured ones work just as well. My dining room table looks pretty happy with the bright, new placemats I purchased from Target. I think  I have been to Target every day this break...sometimes I just can't help it! I never like spending a ton of money at one time on stuff for the house, two pillows one day, placemats the next....my bank statement looks like I'm one step away for needing an intervention from being a Target addict.

And check out my new turquoise glass. I visited a new consignment shop out by my parent's house. It was small but had some nice items. Snagged this beauty for $10.

Well it's back to the grind tomorrow and usually I feel renewed after a break but with the nice weather and breezy schedule I've been keeping I'd rather stay on break. Only 45 more (school) days until summer!

Oh my goodness, it's here! It's Pinterest Challenge Reveal Day! Woo to the hoo, I think I might be more excited than a kid on Christmas. Although I have to admit, I have rushed to put this post together because finishing up my project to reveal has taken way longer than I thought it would (isn't that how it always is?)

{Via Young House Love}

If you remember a couple of weeks ago I posted about my need for a large desk space that both me and the boyfriend can sit at and also double as a great place for crafting. Thanks to furniture goddess Ana White, I can check "desk" off my list of things to do.

The inspiration for this project came from Pottery Barn. I fell in love with the Bedford Project Table when I searched for craft tables on Pinterest.

{Via Pottery Barn}

But its $1000 + price tag me no likey. So after a bit more searching on Pinterest I found a knock off version on Ana White.

Though the magic of the internet, here is what I created! Ta-Da!





There are still some kinks to work out and some styling that needs to happen in the room in general because right now it is basically a box with desk in it. But hey that is what spring break is for :)

But let's back up a second, how did this table come to fruition being that I own no power tools? Nor a car that could transport giant pieces of plywood or lumber. After considering going to Lowe's (then not considering after many people I talked to said that often time their cuts were crapola) I found a wonderful local lumber yard that cut all my wood to size for free! Boo-yah!



They even marked all the sizes on the wood so I wouldn't have to re-measure. Talk about the most wonderful customer service that made this DIY newbie feel all warm and fuzzy. Total cost of lumber, screws, wood glue, and finishing nails: $124.37.

Following Ana White's plans was easy. We (my handy Aunt Cyndi and I) had everything put together in about 3 hours, which included drilling pilot holes and screwing everything together. When we were finished it looked like this:

This thing is solid as a rock but surprisingly not too heavy and it is actually three pieces. The only part I can't lift by myself is the top. Next came the finishing which is where my project when from being quick and easy to long and challenging.

There was one snafu with the Ana White plans, pieces that helped finished the shelves were too short, so I was left with a small quarter inch gap in four places.

Nothing a little wood filler can't fix. Actually it took a lot of wood filler. The first go around gave me the above. A second coat and some sanding left me with this:

I am happy to report that after priming and painting, you can't even tell there was a gap.

After filling all the holes and sanding everything within an inch of its life, I was ready to prime and paint. Check out my gansta sanding gear - yes, I was too cheap to buy a mask. I may have been sneezing dust for a week.


There aren't any pictures of the painting process mostly because it took two weeks. I made sure to let everything dry completely before painting additional coasts. I used Zinser Cover Stain Oil Based Primer, some off the shelf satin white Valspar paint, and Minwax Polycrylic.


 After one coat of primer, two coats of white paint, and two coats of poly, this baby is dunzo.



 Unfortunately the room is too small to fully capture its glory (these picture were taken from the closet so I could get as much of the desk in the frame, haha).

Total cost of this project was about $200, luckily I taught one section of 6th grade math last year so I know that I saved 80% of my hard earned dollars by crafting this baby myself. Heck yes!

 Now I just gotta move everything from our spare bedroom, organize, and style...my favy! Definitely stay tuned for some updates over spring break. I am thinking the color palette in here is going to be with some cool blues with pops of yellow. Design Seeds provided some color inspiration.

{Via Design Seeds}

{Via Design Seeds}

I can't wait to check out all the other great Pinterest inspired projects on Young House Love and Bower Power. If you are stopping by from the link up be sure to leave a comment with a link to your post - I would love to see what you did and see some new blogs.