DIY Wood Bead Garland @ The City Moms

This weekend I was a progress machine...
And you can only half tell by the current status of my house...
I swear the next time it's all clean I'm going to have someone come take photos for when it's time to sell so I'll just be like "Oh you need house pics, right here...DONE!"


But... I did, along with tons of cleaning, get a few DIY projects done this weekend... One being for the other girls room <-- a="" all="" and="" baby="" came="" current="" currently.="" dad="" ells="" fit="" for="" girl="" give="" he="" her="" i="" in="" it="" just="" loving="" most="" my="" nbsp="" nickname="" other="" over="" p="" possible="" s="" said="" stuck.="" swear.="" that="" the="" them="" throwing="" to="" told="" toys="" up="" was="" way="" when="" with="" would="">

DIY Wood Bead Garland...
Not for the faint of heart with weak drilling skills...

Check out the tutorial over at The City Mom's blog...

House Tour 2016 :: Kitchen & Living Room

I feel like I do a home tour every year and it sometimes is a mess, sometimes it doesn't get finished, and almost always have bad photos because of the maddening light in my house.


But here we go again... I shall try. 
And I feel like many things have changed since last years home tour so... my downstairs.

My lovely teeny tiny kitchen.

Last year we finished off our island cabinet and I can't even tell you how much this pretty lady has come in handy!  In a kitchen as small as ours, any extra cabinet space comes is necessary!   And since it is so teeny tiny, this is really the only photo.

:: Still needs work ::
*New kitchen table
*Paint Cabinets - We got the Rustoleum Kits for Christmas (you can't see cabinets obviously)
*New counterstools & chairs
*Curtains
*Bench Cushions
*New counters
*New Sink

Then we have the living room, right off the entry & kitchen.  Right now it's feeling very bland which I'm kind of liking and kind of not.  I'm torn by decluttering and the love I have for eclectic things.  I don't want to be too wacky.  I think I came to the conclusion that I'm a bit of a hipster and I'd like to infuse my hipster feel through artwork.



We are a bit still in the stage of hand-me-down furniture and mismatched items although I don't really mind. 

We are loving our new sofa from IKEA - I can't tell you how well it washes, wears, and its just so comfy!  Very pleased with my big purchase.

And I like the pop of red that the leather chair gives so it will stay with us probably long past it's glory days.

:: Still Needs Work ::
*Baseboards
*New Sofa Table
*New Lamps
*New Artwork


Not too much to do in the living room, but the kitchen needs some love.  It's still pretty cookie cutter and I'd love it to be a little different. 


Next time -- Entry, Pantry/Office, & Potties!

xo,

DIY Animal Jewelry Dish

Ever see those adorable little jewelry dishes in magazines and styled photos and just ooh and ahhh over how cute they are?!

Well, I do...

So... I saw this recently at Home Goods and died...

Now, normally I would just put it in my cart and move on, walk out with it (after I paid of course), and go home and use it like it was going out of style.  But, I'm trying to not buy so many things or at least budget and this would have been something fun and not necessary so I passed...

And ran into goodwill to see if they had any plastic animals in their grab bag section and some mini plates...
They did.

And here's what I came up with...

And they've ended up all over my house and have many different uses but most importantly there is now one on my bedside that collects the jewels I take off at night! 

Rugs { Again }

Can you believe the weekend is over? 
Do you ever get that moment on Sunday night when you think back to Friday and all the things you were going to accomplish over the weekend and realize, while you are sitting there exhausted, that you didn't get to do any of them?  I feel like that's my every Sunday.  And then it starts all over again...


Anyways, my mom came down this weekend to help me find a rug.  I'm not a very big help when it comes to actually going to shop for a rug besides going to Home Goods because honestly that's the only place I know to look that might have something big enough and for a decent price.  Besides online...


So... after we scoured all week last week we were down to three favorites on Rugs USA.  BTW they are having a phenomenal sale and it ends TODAY!  So hop on over to Rugs USA Rugs USA and get yourself a new rug for 70% or 80% off when you are done browsing my favorites! 


Remember the Threshold Criss Cross Fleece Rug that I've had my eye on?

Well {insert Kylie Minogue tune}, I can't get it out of my mind!  After all, it's what I thought I wanted in the first place and had it been 8x10 it would have been in my living room weeks ago... but alas it wasn't so the search continued. 


And after hitting the two Home Goods closest to my home Saturday, I hadn't seen anything that tickled my fancy... there was one with the cross pattern in it, but I looked tan... so we kept searching...


I just kept coming back to these guys...
This one -- The Felted Wool Dhurrie Rug -- in gray was my absolute favorite.  It loved the color, the texture, the neutral-ness of it and the fringe!  But... even at 70% off, it was a little bit out of the price range and it didn't come in an 8x10 so I would have been settling for a 7x9 which would not work as well. 

Next was this one -- The Tuscan Moroccan Shag Rug -- in Ivory... and it was pretty much the closest thing to the Target version.  However, at 70% off it came in at $504 for an 8x10... still a great price on an 8x10 rug, but I wanted to stay right around $300 if possible.... Home Goods was my price gauge! haha...

And this little guy -- The Marrakesh Shag Rug -- melted my heart with it's soft shag and adorable braided fringe!!  I mean, that fringe is to die for, right?  Why wouldn't someone want that in their house?  Ahh... I still melt every time I look at it...  And with 70% off, the price was almost right at $374.  This one was high on my list.  My mother thought otherwise because she said the fringe would never be straight and it would drive her crazy.  But seriously, this handsome thing could never drive me crazy...

When I showed these to my momma after our long day of shopping Saturday, she said, well I'm just going to go back to Home Goods and grab that one...

So Sunday morning we did just that...

We drove right back up to the Home Goods to grab it and bring it home..

My mom is an instant gratification person... I like to find things on my doorstep.

Guess that's the difference between the baby and the oldest, right? 

But we ended up home with this lovely...

And it was only $299!

Plus in my house, with all my paint colors and decor, it really doesn't look tan...

It takes on the charcoal look I wanted! 

And someone likes it very much...

So I'm #HomeGoodsHappy this Monday morning! 

Anyone else find anything good at #homegoods this weekend? 

DIY Target Table Redesign & A Promo Code

Does anyone else just love Target? 

Wait, dumb question.

We all do (I think)... except for when they messed with our credit cards, but ok, I forgive them! 

I could get lost in the "halls" of target for an entire day...

Well maybe that's an exxageration... but you know what I mean! 

So one day LAST YEAR I came across a wirey looking table just like it.

And the price tag said $9.99 so I couldn't pass it up.  



via

I had seem another blogger do a restyle to this table and thought... hmmm... I could do that... Of course, now, a year later, I can't find that picture so just trust me on it!  ;)  But I did fall in love with a table that Sarah M Dorsey Designs had done that was kind of simlar...





via

 
I honestly can't remember what the wirey part was originally colored... this is what happens when you have so many projects going on in real life and in your head.  I believe I immediately sprayed it this gold. 

And you might notice the top was a little messy, but I didn't care because I was going to cover that up.

With this lovely piece of $10 round that I found at Lowes. 

It's got a good weight to it which helps keep the table in it's place and make it feel more supstansial! 

So I took it outside and stained the top...

(This only shows the edges stained)

And we used wood glue with a little Gorilla Glue to stick the two together...

And voila! 

A nice new, $20ish side table that is unique and different.

It's perfect for my coffee, the stain is different from the wood floors, and the gold gives it a little pop! 


Also, do you like my candle holders turned vase?!  Yea...  I got bored one day last week and felt like I needed some color and greens and this is what I came up with! 

So there you have it!

An easy ReStyled Dorm Table turned Sophistocated Chic!

And since we are talking makeovers of dorm furniture, why not talk back to school! 

Have you heard of Little Passports?  I'm anxiously awaiting my first box to explore with Ella! 

They are offering a special to you guys just for trying a new subscription!
15% off on all new Little Passports subscriptions for 3 days only!

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So Happy Monday!  Happy Clean Houses just because mine pretty much is and it never is!!! 
Happy Exploring with your kiddos as we all head towards back to school!
Can you believe some Indy Kids went back to school today?!  Remember the days of going back to school at the END of August?!  It's still summer and that kind of sucks...



**The links in this post from Little Passports are affiliate links and I will receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on my link.