Getting Things Done Week -- First Edition, Volume Four

I told you we were getting things done around here and I was not joking!  We had a minor influx of cash... well that might come off wrong... I found about $150 in my budget that I could spend however I wanted and I decided to go to Ikea.  Yay.  Anyone else have a major love affair with Ikea like me?  I know you are all out there!  Anyways, I love them.  Probably more than is a normal amount and I know my husband probably hates them equally, but they take me to my happy place!  

So my friend Whitney and I made a day of it and hopped over to Cincy.  She is comical and I keep trying to get her to write a guest post because I think you'd all really enjoy it!  She had walked a 10 mile walk that morning and decided she's make the trip too. We did a few other things while there too, but that did not involve getting things done so that will have to wait.  You'll see more of that next week!  

I've been talking about a banquette in my home since we moved in.  It's been on the list as long as a fence.  And no, we still do not have a fence.  Although, I think I've finally proven the need for one to Mr K.  But no doubt I am on cloud nine right now with the progress in my home!  The fact that I bit the bullet and bought them made me nervous, excited, and anxious all in one!  

But nevertheless, it was time.  My original plan was to use Ikea Expedit bookcases on their sides as benches.  Easy enough, right?  Well, then I saw someone use the Hemnes TV stand as a bench and fell in love with that idea.  But with my $150 budget I decided to go with the expedit plan to save on time and money.  It was less involved and I think a better use of space for us. 

My kitchen really hasn't changed much since we moved in.  Same color.  Same table and chairs.  Same Art. 

It's pretty boring.  And it's our only place to eat so it needs to be functional and lovely at the same time. 

I would say too that I think it's like a waste of space because it just seems to use a lot with out it actually being used.  The window is hard to work around and it's almost an odd placement, but with a banquette I knew it would sit right at or under the sill = perfection!

Just wanted to share from both angles. 

So when I got home from Cincy last weekend, we ate some pizza because we were starving, said our goodbyes and I was too excited to sit so I decided to put the stuff together.  Mr K was so annoyed, but really I know he was super excited that he wasn't going to be the one putting the Ikea stuff together.  We both swear that Ikea has probably had to cause at least 60% of all divorces.  We just randomly came up with that number but never put these things together with your spouse.  E. V. E. R. 

And here we go... this is what I came up with....

I decided to go with one long (5 openings) and one short (2 openings) due to the kitchen.  I didn't want to feel too constricted over by the refrigerator (to the left in the above picture.  And I pushed the longer one all the way into the corner and butted the short up against it so we lost an opening, but this way there isn't a hole in the corner. 

I love it.  I love sitting at it, Baby Kakes love sitting at it and it really does open up our kitchen. 

It does look a little washed out with all the white but I believe that it will all come together with the fabrics and I'll be change the fabric on the chairs too. 

It still needs a cushion made and probably a few pillows. So I grabbed a couple from the living room to see what it would look like. 

Next up -- Baskets, Staging, JoAnns to see if they have any swoon worthy fabric!

My house is quickly transforming and I'm loving it!!! 

I'm thinking at some point I'll go back to Ikea and grab the baskets that fit in and use a couple for Baby Kake's art supplies, coloring books, paint, and other things we will want to keep downstairs. 

And what to do with that wall up above.... Shelving?  Racks? Chalk Menu?!?  Hmmm... 

xoxo,

Getting Things Done Week -- Edition One, Volume Three

You might remember these tables from a long time ago if you are long time follower.  I am guessing you don't though.  They have lived in all rooms of my house.  They started in my bedroom, then they moved to the living room for a while then they moved to the guest room, then the loft, then back to the guest room, and now they have taken up a home in the garage. 

I moved them down there because I was going to redo them and sell them at my booth "I Love Pickles."

So I sanded them down and gave them some loving. 

Whoever painted these the first time did an amazing job with the TAR that they used!  Like Woah!  This stuff was not wanting to come off or even sand down.  I sanded them at least 6x before I gave up and went back to my favorite primer again, hoping for the best.

I mean look -- It's like Chalk.  Seriously.

So I primed, and primed, and primed, then moved on to spray paint with primer and painted and painted and painted and finally gave up again...

But I now had a white table...

Then I figured why not try this table of mine back in the house.  I kind of liked the details I gave it. 

I "dipped" the legs of it with gold spray paint.  See addicted.  I really am.

But I just taped off the legs at 6 inches and did a quick gold spray.

But I needed to get rid of this janky table anyways... an old target table with a tray on top. 

Tray might get to stay in the room, but not the table.  It's time for Craigslist or a facebook garage sale page.  Someone else can love it more than I can.

And this looks so much better. 

Please don't judge that slipcover either because it could use a good wash as well as a dye. 

But I'm loving the way it looks.  I love that it also provides a little bit of storage as well.  YAY!

And look how cute the little "dipped" legs are! 

Then I got bored apparently and decided that it needed a little more sass to bring the gold into play and sprayed a little spray paint in the lid and hand painted this on. 

It's the little details, right?!?

Glad I didn't let this go...

But I do still have one more matching table that I don't need. 

Maybe it will not get a makeover (because I'm pooped).

Someone might love it as is too...

xoxo,

Getting Things Done Week -- Edition One, Volume Two

Here we go again... more brown wood to light!  Getting things done never felt so good!  I think my real "you must make this happen" moment was when I woke up a couple weeks ago and it was FREEZING and I realized I would probably want to park in the garage here soon!  So... I call it getting things done, but you might just call it cleaning out the garage! 

And let's be real, we all know I'm super bad a taking before pictures so hopefully this below will suffice.  Here is my gorgeously sad (well not really) new-to-me pedestal dining table.  We drove by it at a garage sale one day and I thought it looked different.  Then we we got out to look at it, they were just taking donations = super awesome deal alert! 

So, I offered them $40 -- which I think was fair.  In retrospect, I probably could have offered $35, but it was a solid wood table (that did have a few dings in it) so I'm ok with the $40 I paid.

I then went to Lowe's and followed the instructions I found from Cate on Centsational Girl for how to redo a table.  Below is my version of her instructions. 

1. Find Table

2. Sand table

3. Prime table with my new favorite primer - Zinsser Primer - I can't believe I didn't know about this before!

4. Choose a Satin Paint Color - I choose to do a paint with primer in it just to be safe too.

5. Paint!  I will say I used a brush for the bottom and a roller for the top and would have done brush on all if I could do it over again.

5. Let Paint sit for 24 hours.

6. Sand out any imperfections... Like Roller marks hence the earlier comment.

7. Paint 2nd coat.

8. Let sit for 24 hours.

9. Buff/Sand out any thing you'd like, rough up the edges, etc. 

10. Wipe down and then apply wax finish.  You will want to do this about 3x in a row rubbing in circles and let it cure for a day or two.  I did another 3x coat about 3 days later. 

And Voila!

I am in love with my new white table (still in two pieces)!  I did end up buffing out the edges to give it a little dimension, and I do want to add the copper plates back on after I rub & buff them, but here she is at the moment.  There are also some holes I'd like to fill as well ;)

This project did take me a while, but it's now "getting done" and has made a move from the shop aka garage to the kitchen!  Yay!  Check back later this week to see it in it's new home!

xoxo,

Getting Things Done Week -- Edition One, Volume One

Welcome to my FIRST EVER "Getting Things Done Week."  I feel like some things in my house are starting to come together and it's all about Getting Things Done! 

It's only been about FOREVER since we moved in and I had all these grandiose ideas for what my house would look like and pieces of furniture redone etc etc etc (said King & I style).  Now the time has come that I had a HUGE weekend of accomplishments and clearing a few projects out of my garage and it's time to share! 

Volume One

Vintage High Chair

My sister knew that I was looking for an old high chair to put somewhere in my kitchen.  Mind you my kitchen is small and I really prefer the look of an old high chair to a new bulky one or a booster seat (which we had previously).  So when my parents neighborhood had a garage sale she was walking around and came across this beauty.  For $15.  Yes, only $15.  Sold.  Score.  Awesome.

She bought it without consulting me but I love it.

I knew it would look good as a crisp white or gray since that's the way my kitchen is headed.  But since I find grays to be a pain in the buttocks, I decided to go with white rather than have 500 shades of gray in my kitchen when it's all said and done (when that day actually comes).

I ran to Wal-Mart and grabbed my favorite Rustoleum 2 in 1 Spray Paint & Primer and had at it!

What an easy job this one was...

No Sanding, just a nice quick clean up with a lysol wipe and then spray away...

I swear my neighbors are going to turn me in for doing too much spray painting, but seriously, it's just soo easy! 

And I'm really happy with how it turned out not to mention that E loves it!  She seriously loves this chair!  I think because it makes her feel more like a big girl. 

Any Spray Paint Projects you've done lately? 

And don't worry, there are more projects to come with GETTING THINGS DONE WEEK!

I have Volume's 2, 3, & 4 Ready to share so check back tomorrow for more! 

xoxo,

Whale of a Sale

Last week I took a couple days off of work to set up a Stella & Dot booth at an Upscale Children's Consignment Sale.  I'd never done this sale before so I had no idea what to expect.  To top it off, I put some clothes in the sale myself so I had to drop those off the day before the sale. 

Let me tell you... this sale was HUGE! GINORMOUS! AMAZEBALLS!
It was held in about a 5500 square foot building on the Indiana State Fairgrounds.  If I remember correctly, they've had to relocate 3 of the 4 years they've done this sale.  There was just so much stuff!

When I first walked in to drop my measly 20-30 items off, the lady asked me if I needed a rolling cart and I kind of looked at her funny.  No... why would anyone need that?!  Well after I saw 3-5 women seriously make 10 trips back and forth from their cars to the loading/drop off dock, I knew why she asked me that!  I'm totally going to do it again!  I've already got a pile ready for the spring sale!

But seriously I made $50 really by doing nothing and all but 2 pieces of mine sold!  I mean, I couldn't have asked for a better first experience.  Aside from me freaking out because of all the rules posted online and giving myself a heart attack for stains, dog hair, hangars, and tagging it really went very smooth! 

Then I had my Stella & Dot booth set up which was fun.  While this is a great demographic for us people wise, moms with kids and stay at home moms, we do sometimes have a hard sell due to our price point.  While over half the line is under $50, at these types of events people are naturally drawn typically do the higher price points.  So we look at these type events as an opportunity to meet new people and still be sharing our name with all!  Overall it was very successful for us... A few sales, but hopefully a few trunk shows too!

And there were lots of other vendors there too!  All doing giveaways or advertising great deals! 

So, if you are every in Indianapolis either in March or September you should look up Whale of a Sale.  It's a great place to grab some play clothes, find a few toys for christmas gifts (lots new with tags), and then hop over to the vendor tables to shop for yourselves! 

xoxo,

Abby

Goals for the Week - 9.16.13

Just another Monday has come again... anyone else feel like the weekends are never long enough?  I'm sure I've said that before, but seriously I feel like I've not had a moment to think since maybe the end of August?  Ugh... I'm so tired...

So in an effort to keep myself on track this week and try to check in here on the blog from time to time, I think I'll post my goals.  Maybe this will help me get my garage cleaned out and keep up with what actually needs to be done.  Along with all these things I would like to NOT have to go to the grocery this week, keep up with the laundry, and BLOG! 

So here are the goals for this week:

1.  Finish Dining Room Table

• Finish Feet
• Fill holes
• Figure out top protective coat - wax is confusing me

2.  Sand and Fill the Buffet

• Must clear out of garage!
• Needs sanded down and painted!

3.  Finish Moms Who Drink & Swear aka READ

4.  Asses September Calendar and fill in holes.

• Work on Stella
• Organize projects

5.  Bed by 10 - 3 out of 5 days - Good Luck

6.  Figure out FREE projects around the house

7. Paint Frames for Living Room Art

• Figure out if I really want to paint all of them or not -- I'm thinking the golds might coordinate as is

8. Take Pictures of E

• This girl hasn't had pictures taken by me in forever, probably because we've been busy and she doesn't sit still anymore!

9.  Work on Command Center

• Figure out how to make desk
• Organize Inspiration - Mood Board?
• Get everything organized and ready to go when desk is completed

Do you guys ever make a weekly goal list like this? 
I think I might start... It might help.

Happy Monday!
xo,

Reading Nook

This past weekend was a whirlwind.  I don't remember when it started, but honestly I was secretly hoping it would end.  Don't tell anyone... We had company all weekend which I love, but I think I needed more veg time.  My Sister came and to visit from Thursday thru Saturday, then followed by my mom and brother from Saturday thru Monday, and then followed by Mr K's parents on Monday.  Needless to say I didn't get much accomplished on my to-do list.

My hubby and I are waiting on hockey money to start coming in so we are running kind of low on dough for a little while and honestly there is enough stuff in my house for me to work on projects for probably at least 6 months.  So I've recently been scavenging the house to try to finish PlayLand and put some finishing touches on other rooms in the house without really spending a penny.  Seriously -- We have spray paint, sand paper, paint, wax, etc... enough to keep me busy... I think...

But after everyone left last night and I created tags for some items for a consigner sale,

I did have time to work on a corner that's been bugging me for a long time.  It's the corner right outside of our bedroom, but I'm still considering it PlayLand.  I did have the doll house here, but it seemed croweded and dark for some reason, plus the table I had it on will soon be in E's room (hopefully - another project) and was too high for her to play with the upper levels.  On a side note, should I be worried that she enjoys throwing everything down the stairs?  Everything -- like the people and furniture?  Hmm....

 

This K I've had forever.  I painted it and it used to sit at the top of our stairs with no real purpose.  These Lucite bookshelves I purchased for E's Nursery and they never made their way up.  I'm not sure why but probably because her room is much smaller than my mind would like to think.  However, I am pretty sure I like them here much better than anywhere they would have ended up in there.  Then we have her random bean bag chair which I always thought I wanted to replace, but now I'm kind of loving it in the comfy corner reading nook.  It works over here and the colors all go so well together.   

I don't even think my husband noticed at first until this happened and I called him up to check her out. 

Even Froggie likes it too...

Hope you all had a lovely Labor Day weekend!  I can't wait until I have a lake house (#wishfulthinking)!

xoxo,

Abby