Nursery Progres { Rocking Chair Steal }

I've been scouring Craigslist lately to find a couple of things for the nursery. 

Time is running out... down to 4 months...

I need:

A white dresser

Rocking Chair - preferably upholstered

A white bookcase

Worst comes to worst, I can get the dresser and bookcase at IKEA.  I think they'll make for a better look in the room anyways, but I can't pass up a deal...

Like this one I found on Craigslist the other day. 

Yep!  It's mine!  And it only cost me $30!  YAY!!! 

Can you believe that?! 

Now to reupholster or slipcover?!?  Hmmm.... 

I'm thinking a darker tweedy gray like the on in my nursery mood board...

Yes, that will be nice.  

And I'm going to darken the stain on the wood rockers!

Happy Friday Everyone!  Hope you have a great weekend!  

Ruler Growth Chart/Art { Part Three }

Final Product Alert!!! 

I have decided to stay with my own numbers.  They actually don't look that bad in the picture!  I was suprised how well they look!  Totally freehanded here!  Yay for me! 

But here's a cute little growth chart that will hang somewhere in the house for Baby Cakes...

I figure it's something that we can mark on, remember, and it will move with us and possibly with her when she goes away!  It's something she could use to keep track of her own child's growth!  If she wanted. 

I love the stain, the grain in the wood, and the bright white numbers against the dark! 

This was too easy too! 

And, ALL of it was just laying around the house!

Another DIY on the Cheap!

Stella & Dot Booth { Women's Expo }

Last weekend I was headed up to Valparaiso Indiana for the

Valpo Women's Expo to set up my Stella & Dot Booth!  Here's what we looked like! 

We were there to share the opportunity with everyone in the area.  There aren't many reps up that way and it is a great opportunity for growth and success!!! 

Many of the ladies passing by hadn't even heard of Stella & Dot! 

I've been hearing about it for over 2 years now so that was unbelievable to me! 

Our display was the blingy-est on the block!  We got oohs and ahhs from every passer by! 

We offered a raffle of goodies and we also handed out look books to all those who wanted them!!!

Just wanted to let you all in on a secret...

If you haven't heard of Stella & Dot, I'd love to send you some information on it.

Maybe you are looking to stay home with your kids more...

Maybe you are just looking for a little extra income...

Maybe you just like jewelry...

Whatever it is, Stella & Dot is a GREAT Company inspired by and created for strong women like you!

AND From September 22nd - October 31st New Stylists Receive $450 in FREE JEWELRY just for signing up!

I'd love to have you on my team and help you get started with a Stylish Career!

Adding Art to the Bedroom on a Budget

I recently added some art to my bedroom. 

It was feeling a little drab.

I found this set of three frames at goodwill and they were a total of $15.  They used to be green with children's pictures in them... actually the pictures weren't so bad, but I wasn't looking to put hot air balloon prints anywhere in my house so I slaved over these for a week, taking the backing off and trying to save the matting so it could be used again too.  I cut myself many times, but here's how they came out. 

I thought for sure I shared this previously, but now I can't find the post!  Hunting for it after I post.  I know I did!  I will find it! 

Any who... so they were in my room like this for a while... I liked the color of the frames, but I wasn't sold on it in the room.  I thought I wanted them gray like some of the accents in the room, but I just wasn't liking the look.  It was too dark in the room.  The room needs more light accents or at least subtly moody ones.

Once I decided it had to be changed, I went to Wally World and purchased three of their mini sample bottles for like $2.99 each.  I had actually brought the colors home previously and when I got there I just couldn't decide. 

When I got home, I immediately started painting away at the dark gray. 

Here's what that looked like. 

So I took this dark gray to a lighter shade but I wasn't sold.  This one was too light.  I didn't really like it.  It looked too bright on the walls against the sage and with the creams and muted tones in the room. 

Then I remembered some old paint that I had laying around in the garage and I thought this might be one of the perfect places to use it.  It's actually used on some of the artwork I made in the room so it should blend in nicely... right?

So I taped off the edges to keep the paint from getting on the glass and started painting away! 

When I removed the tape, here's what I had!

Voila!

Much Much Better! 

I got the two prints on the outside from A Brooklyn Limestone's Freebies and the middle is a poem I found somewhere on the Internet typed up in courier new and centered.  A friend came over the other day and read it and almost started crying.  I just thought it was sweet and lovey... just what you want in a master bedroom, right? 

So, what do you think?  I think I did pretty good. 

I figure I can always change out the artwork and I might even add a $10 picture ledge for them to sit on so that they compliment the other side of the room (shown below) where we already have some ledges... would that be too much?    I'm also thinking about changing the colors of the ledges... removing the paint and just staining them might be nice... oh, I digress.

(This picture is old... they now have some "stuff" on them
although the "stuff" does need to be updated!)



Breakdown of Cost:

Paint not used - $6

Frames and matting- $15

Artwork - FREE

Paint Used - already had so FREE

Total Cost - $21

Hopefully Tuesday is better than yesterday!!! 

Mood Board Monday - Mom & Dad's Bedroom Idea

Happy Monday Everyone! 

I swear... the weekends are just way too short... or maybe I just try to fit too much into them! 
I have a good handful of updates to talk about this week from the weekend!  Progress was made around the house!  YAY!!!

But now for progress elsewhere!  My parent's bedroom! 
I have been thinking about working on this with my mother for a long time now, but I figured a mood board would be a good place to start. 

My mom is a good mix of modern and traditional as far as her style goes.  As far as her personality, it's a bit kooky, funny, and lovey - she does some mean impersonations and noises - I'm just sayin'.

Her house is a mix of tans, browns, gray blues, and creams and it's actually quite lovely!  Everyone loves it when they come over!  She recently just redid her kitchen and it is in those colors too and it does look FABULOUS!!!  She has a great sense of style so when I asked her the other day what colors she was thinking in her bedroom, she told me same as the rest of the house so it would flow.  I have to say, I agree it will be nice!  And she said she'd like an upholstered bed. 

So here's what I came up with! 

Colors towards the middle might be paint options... if she doesn't like those maybe the blue-gray colors could play in there instead.  I like the dark grayish one shown here. 

The Chocolate curtains kind of anchor the room against the cream and light colored furniture. 

LOVE the love script ottomans at the end of the bed. 

Art would be ivories and wood tone pieces.

And maybe I'd add some more mirror accents in here...

What do you guys think? 

I think I like. 

Maybe I see a makeover in the future...

Garden Ridge

So excited!!!

The other day we were driving to go get Sushi at our most favorite sushi place in our little town - Sushiyama - and we were driving by an old building that used to be sears/kmart and has been empty for probably 2 years now... and low and behold it said...

Jack to the pot!  JACKPOT!!! 

Before, the closest Garden Ridge to our house was like 40 minutes away!  And now, 5 minutes! 

Yes, you read that correctly... 5 minutes!  I about lost it when I saw it! 

I think I almost peed my pants when we drove by the first time! 

And what great timing!  Just in time for Christmas!!!  Oh yea!!! 



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Might be time to redo the tree this year!!!

And in Mr. K's case - Halloween!!!

YAY!!! 

Ruler Growth Chart/Art - Part Two

Last week I showed you progress on my Ruler Growth Chart. 

And I'd stated that I was thinking about throwing some vinyl on it...

So here are the options I found on Etsy.



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This Ruler Growth Chart Vinyl Lettering is from Orange Blossoms Shop AZ.  I think this would work perfectly on my little piece of wood.  What do you think?

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Orange Blossoms also has this one... which I have a fondness for!  I like how the numbers are all different!  I do wish though it had more and small dashes for the markings in between. 



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Or this one from Abbie's House.  They actually show it on the wooden "ruler." 

This would make my life so much easier!



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This one is also cute from Scraps of Love by Jen!  And I love dotted letters and numbers!  It would look really sweet in a babe's room.  However, I am going for something a little more modern some I'm not sure how well this would fit. 

So... now I must decide what to do what to do!  Hmmm....
I think once we get the room painted this weekend, I'll put what I have in there and see how I feel about it!
I'll share with you, don't worry!

Mood Board Monday - Nursery (take two)

Good Monday Morning to you! 

I feel like the weekend was not a weekend this weekend!  haha.  How many times can you say weekend in one sentence?!?  I was at a Women's Expo this weekend hosting a Stella & Dot booth and I ended up driving back and forth instead of staying in the area.  That was 2.5 hrs each way.  Talk about drained... seriously drained! 

But the good news it that I've gone 8 days without being sick and without a headache!  WOWZA!  That's gotta be a record for the last 5 months!  No sickness!  yay!  I can't even explain how good it feels to not feel your 100% best, but to not be sick!!!  I am ecstatic! 

So... with that being said... remember my mood board for my nursery before we found out it was a girlie?!  Well, now that it's a girl, I've had to change my plans a bit.  And let me tell you.... Olioboard is probably my new bestie!  That and my heating pad!  But it's helped me pare down what I'm going to do and at least given me a game plan!

Here she is...
Now, let me first say that this nursery is what I'd like to call The LOOK...
And my nursery will be called FOR LESS...

The walls will be a gray like this:

Seriously though... This one is a bit pricey... I'm working on figuring out DIYs, different options, and you know, just ways to bring the cost down in general. 




So...
Bedding - Olio - $399
Dressers - Ikea - $379 & $399
Artwork - Etsy - $35 each
Bookcase - Etsy - $70
Rocking Chair - Joya - $800
Mini Rocker
Ceiling Light - $318
Floor Lamp -  $358
Table Lamp - Jonathon Adler - $395
Pouf - $99-150

See what I mean --- Mad total of $3373
which could all be spent on diapers, right?!  :)

I'll share my game plan as I work my way through this crazy process... I can't believe that this is where I am in my life.  Finally starting to get a little excited - in the words of my RZ - There's a vampire/alien/baby growing inside my stomach!  Hopefully the excitement will grow as the baby does... maybe the actual belly will help... Either it will help or just make me feel fat! 

Feedback welcome on this nursery too! Ideas! Words of Wisdom from one Nursery to another! Suggestions! Things I'll definitely need!?!?


Oh well... Happy Monday!

It's a ...

Ok, so last Friday we found out what we are having...

I thought I was right and Mr. K was wrong... and I was right about that! 

Mr. K's first thoughts - 5am pracitices and having to pay for a wedding. 

Can you guess what we are having?!? 

It's a ....

Now on to shopping and nursery planning for the baby cakes.

Ruler Growth Chart/Art - Part One

I've had these left over pieces of wood forever now...

Since we redid my brother's bedroom. 

We were going to use them for the top of a desk and opted for something else.

So they've just been sitting in my garage for a while now... stained and ready and waiting!

So, I decided to attempt to make this...



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I started with this piece of stained wood and measured off 12 inch segments.

Then I marked the 6 inch segments to actually paint little darts on. 

Here's how that looked.  I don't mind that the marks aren't perfect, but I am wondering how to do the numbers.  Any thoughts? 

Some people used vinyl... I haven't looked into that yet.  I thought I could paint them on, but after doing one and letting it sit in our living room to see if I got used to it, I do not like it. 

Hmmm....

I'll share the final product once I figure this out.

Sick Day

Not a lot of sleep tonight... that's why you are missing me today!  :(

Major Sinus Headache and felt like I was on my deathbed so I think I'll take a day off! 

From Blogging that is...

This was my thought process last night! 

Enjoy this beautiful weather (if it is for you too!)

Sara's Wedding

I do apologize in advance for the crappy photos.  I think my camera has seen better days... or needs a good maintenance.  Hmmm...

Anywho... this past weekend we went to Sara's Wedding. You remember, the one with the brooch bouquet my mom made?!? 

It was my first Jewish/Quaker wedding...

Yes, you read that correctly.

And I loved every minute and detail of it!

It was a circular ceremony - not more than 20-25 minutes.  Once the wedding party had walked in, we all closed the circle around the Hoopa.  Sara and Joe stood up there together looking so dashing and darling and dapper! 

How stinking cute are they?!?  I only took a few pictures with the flash as a courtesy to the photographer who was moving all around the circle.  Someone at our wedding ruined quite a few photos by flashing in our photographers pictures so I decided to not ruin their moments. 

Look at Sara - Isn't she just too cute!?!

The little hat attached to her veil was her grandmothers from her wedding 57 years ago.

Loved how they incorporated that something old.

After the ceremony, there was Bluegrass entertainment. 

Which, I was a little leery of at first, but it was a blast! 

We ended up square dancing and just bouncing and tapping our feet all night!

Sara had the sweetest little vignettes placed on each table.  Just something simple and lovely.

Sara & Joe had also made these little cross stitch hangers for the back of their chairs. 

They say Mr. & Mrs. Fox. 

The bouquets sitting on the wedding party table.

The entry table had pictures of all their family marriages as well as a typewriter, which they used as their guestbook.  Everyone was asked to type a little message to the bride and groom. 

Then there was the skating crew being represented of course. 

Please don't judge me in this picture.  No clothes are fitting anymore and this one clearly was not flattering!

Me, Jill, Sara, Nancy, Jennifer



Sara & I - She's "holding" the baby

All in all it was a wonderful night with great friends, entertainment, food, and feel!  The atmosphere was so great!  I heard that the drinks were to die for... like Candy was what I kept hearing.  They served a signature punch in mason jars.  Love.  But it was just another great party! 

Thanks to The Darling's for having Mr. K & I.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and wish you all the very best!!!