DIY Bench Seat

Remember the bench seat over our fireplace from this post?  Well my hubby finally had a weekend off to work on it.  And with the kiddos feeling better (after almost 2 weeks, eek!) I knew we could get it done.  I love productive weekends!  Here's what we did:
If you'll remember the seat is a very long diamond shape so we measured a few times and then drew it up on our MDF board.

Then it was time to cut.

Then we cut our 2" foam to the same size as our board and glued it down (just so it would be easier to keep in place while covering it with fabric).  Covering this thing was a lot more challenging then we had anticipated.  The corners were so difficult and I did not want it to look wrinkly and ugly (which is why I got no pictures of this part!) so it took us awhile.  After working with it and trying different folds and tucks, we used our trusty staple gun to keep in all in place.  Here's how it looked before:

 

And after!  

I love it!  Now how do I keep the kiddos from ruining it?  I got the fabric here. 

Time to start accessorizing the mantle.  

p.s. Erin commented that I should do something for myself after my kids get better.  You know, to reward myself for taking care of them. ;) So I did.  We booked our trip and I CANNOT wait.  64 days and counting!!

A Tutorial and a Warning: Excessive Use of the Word Ball

I've been looking for cute ways to spice up my daughter's room (because the bright pinky-purple walls and board & batten wasn't enough!) so when I saw some hanging flower balls at a local baby boutique I knew I wanted them!  As they were way out of my price range, I decided to make some myself and do them a little bit smaller.  After googleing (that's a word right?) and searching for ways to make them I couldn't find anything--which really surprised me because this seems like something that would be out there in blog land (it very well could be I just didn't find it). My sister in-law told me how someone she knew had made them and we found a place to buy all the flowers. So off I went.....actually a year ago I started and am just now finishing! Yay for procrastination.  So here's what you need:

A styrofoam ball in the size of your choice, hot glue gun, ribbon (I used regular old white grosgrain in 3/4") and let's pretend that container of tacks is actually push pins.  I used push pins on the other two balls I made but after our move I couldn't find them so I had to settle with the tacks.

 Oh and you need flowers.  I buy them in bulk here for super cheap.

 Since I want the hanging piece to be built into the ball I hot glued a realllllly long piece of ribbon all the way around the ball like so:

Then I put push pins or tacks all the way around to ensure it was secure.

 All the flowers I bought have a built in small stem so I use that to poke a hole, fill with hot glue, then attach the flower.

 

 Then keep working....

 Until you are done!

 Easy peasy!  We used these hooks to attach them to the ceiling:

I might make my hubby take the hooks down and spray paint them white, but other than that I love it!  So fun for my little girl's room.

Sorry horrible bad night-time lighting but you get the idea.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!  We are celebrating my baby's 2nd birthday.  Time with this kid has absolutely flown by, and I love him to pieces.

Top Ten Projects

I know I just disappeared for awhile but I'm back!  Can you contain your excitement?  I can't!  I'm coming back to share with you the top ten projects for our humble abode (taking a cue from this stylish blogger--seriously I'm obsessed with her playroom and her whole house for that matter).  Our house is wonderful, but honestly it has absolutely zero decor/style/evidence that humans live here.  There's nothing on the walls, nothing on the beds, everywhere you look: nothing.  So I'm ready to change that.  Here are the projects we want to tackle in the next year in no particular order.

Entry from the garage:  We want to do a faux mudroom type of thing here with a bench, hooks, and boxes for our shoes that are always piled high as we come inside.

 Breakfast nook: I'd love to do some sort of bench seating here with storage and pillows, also a new table some day.

 This is the spot we are currently working on.  The bench seat has proven to be a huge pain--mostly because I have no idea how to do it.  I mean I could slap something together and have it look ok, but I want it to look nice.  I don't think that's too much to ask.  Also I want to style this mantel somehow...possibly a family picture or sunburst mirror, and some other cool finds for the shelf.

 Kitchen back splash: we are probably going to tile this area, but it's going to take some cash so we'll be waiting on this for awhile.

 Front Entry: Oh this entry.  I have NO IDEA what to do here.  But it is so blah and plain I've got to do something!  Yes that is my beautiful door.  Love her.

 Entertainment center: I'll either redo this piece of furniture OR we'll get a new piece to go underneath the giant TV we'll buy.  Yeah, I'll probably be redoing this.  Just not sure on the color.

 Laundry room: We need to put a counter top on the cabinet, add upper cabinets, and make some sort of basket shelving for the end of the room.  This room is a pretty good size so I'm excited for its potential for complete organization.

 Hallway to the bedrooms: I'm not sure if I would dare to do this but I think it could be amazing.  I also have a gallery wall type of thing in mind for this space.  Something like this, this, or this.  Which reminds me, our little family really needs to get family pictures done.

 The girl's room: Her room has the most decoration out of the whole house, but I still have a couple of things I want to do in here.  Curtain tie backs, hanging flower decor, and more pictures on the wall.  

 Master bedroom: This is the room that I've neglected since we got married.  Before kids we got our bed,  bedding, nightstands, and an ottoman that goes at the foot of the bed.  But since then I have done zero to spice it up.  I need to bring some life to this space and I have a few ideas.  Redoing our dresser like this.  Adding some molding to the walls like this.  And then more pillows, more interesting lamps, window treatments, and furnishing our reading nook area.

Oh man this list is daunting (the things I could do if money were no object).  But I'm going to try not to get discouraged.  Just take each space at a time and do what we can, when we can.  I'm looking forward to making this house a home...or you know, something not so sterile!

Buried--And What I've Been Pinning

I've been gone for awhile.  We finished our house and moved in and instead of giving you all the boring details of how behind/unorganized/scattered I feel, I'm just going to jump right into some new posts.

Lately I've been addicted to Pinterest.  If you want to follow me click here:



Here are some fun things I've pinned lately:

• Cute hairstyle tutorials from The Small Things Blog.  Seriously, her stuff is darling and here's the kicker--they are totally doable.  Even for a hair-styling-impaired person like myself.  I'm going to try this half french twist this Friday night for our annual Christmas dinner.  I've also done this and this recently and love them!

• Doesn't this candy cane trifle from the The Scrap Shoppe Blog look amazing? I'm going to make it Christmas Eve.  YUM!

• The fashion on Pinterest is so inspiring.  I have yet to actually copy an outfit, but I'm always drawn to the more casual looks that still look put together--something that seems like such a challenge for me lately:

• I somehow stumbled upon Sara at The Yellow Cape Cod, and I love her style.  I'm thinking about incorporating a lot of her ideas into our new house, particularly these striped drapes:

• And finally, a little humor:

Source: someecards.com via Amber on Pinterest