Remember my cry for help on what to do with this table and chairs? Let me remind you:

It’s not a great overall shot of the chairs, but I’m sure everyone here has seen these before. They’re county looking, not really my style.  And while I would love to splurge on some new chairs that are my style, with the new house and the many (many) purchases we’ve had to make to be able to live in our house (like, shower rods, blinds, the every day things add up to be a lot!) it’s just not possible right now.  So I was determined to make this bargain steal for $50 work for me to tolerate it.

After some thinking about what was do-able at my skill level, what would cost too much and wasn’t worth spending on (I contemplated adding cushions but the cost of fabric and batting wasn’t worth it once I added up the costs), this is what I’ve created:

I had my father in law cut off the pointy tops and simply painted (and painted…and painted…) for the last 2 days while enjoying our spring-like weather. Yes, it’s still country looking, but it’s more classy as well. Crisp and clean.  I love it! The table is being painted white as well, still working on it.  Also haven’t even started on 2 of the chairs. But, at least it’s progress…

It’s amazing what a coat of paint can do.

I’ve mentioned before that now that we’re getting serious about moving out, I’ve been collecting furniture as well and finding inspiration online.  I’ve been finding amazing deals on my local Mommy Board and Craiglists that are just too good to pass up. However, sometimes I find things that are a great deal but will need some work to become our style.

Take for example, this kitchen table and chairs I just scored for $50!  The table is exactly what I’ve been looking for, well, shape wise, I plan to either stain (or paint) it an espresso brown to match our other furniture or paint it white. But the chairs?  I’m not loving the chairs at all. And while I could go out and by brand news chairs for $50 a pop (bringing me up to over $200, which I might as well buy a new table set for) I asked for some help over on Better After to generate ideas.  I’d rather take these chairs and make them into what I fits our taste.

So far I’ve heard great things like painting them a contrasting color, adding slip covers, sanding down the extra bumps on the backs for smoother lines, remove the seats and make them padded fabric cushions (if I can?). So, so many great ideas that my head is buzzing with the opportunities to create something! I’ll take pictures once I get a game plan together and finish the project. I can’t wait to see what it’ll turn out looking like!

What would you suggest?

(Also, head over to Better After to at least give her some love. A “Troll” has been attacking her amazing blog and we all remember how frustrating that is!)

I’m attending a funeral in the next few hours and as I figured out what the heck to wear, I realized that my dress pants desperately need hemming.  I’m short. Like, under 5 feet kind of short, and it’s hard to find pants to fit me.  I usually wear jeans, which Charlotte Rousse happens to make a “short” size that fits me perfectly, so pant length usually isn’t on my mind anymore that I’ve found them.  But, dress pants? I stay at home with my 2 year old or go to school, if/when I go to church it’s very casual and I can still wear jeans. I haven’t thought about dress pants in nearly 2 years!

While I have been known to wear these dress pants out in public in the last 5 years, super long and everything, I couldn’t make myself do it this time. Without a sewing machine (or the knowledge on how to use it…),I decided to bring out the no sew iron on adhesive to help get the job done…but it didn’t work.  Maybe it’s the fabric? Or I’m just iron on adhesive challenged? Either way, it did nothing for my pants. Having to leave in just a few hours, I pulled out…tape.  Heavy duty packing tape.

It gets the job done for the few hours I’ll wear it (I hope), and no one will know it!  Well, except me and now the entire internet…

Still, it’s too funny to me to not post about it.

With a lot of the house talk Mark and I have been doing lately, of course it’s made me think about decorating our future house.  I’ve always loved the idea of design, I even wanted to be an interior designer for about two years of my life. But now, I have this fear when I actually have my own space where I can paint and do whatever I want, it will be a failure. Oh well, I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get there, huh?

For now, we are starting to add to our furniture collection but doing so with as little money as we can. Hence, stalking my local mommy board for deals, like where I got a couch for $100! I’ve also been known to stalk Craigslist, in hopes of the perfect opportunity to find what we need. However, I’ve stumbled across some blogs that have helped me shift my focus.  My focus in the past months has been to find something used that already is what I wanted and fits our style. But, these blogs help show how a old and outdated piece of furniture (and a whole house) can be turned into what your style is. Inspiring! All you need is a little creativity and look past the ugly colors.

Blogs that have inspired me lately:

Better After

Mod Podge Rocks

Young House Love

My favorite so far has been this table. Especially since that’s the next bigger furniture purchase we need to get.

Where do you get your design inspiration? Send me links!

I’ve been working on several letters, mostly for Christmas presents for my girls and siblings. I’m trying different styles, decorations, and colors and enjoying the creativity :-)

S for Savannah, more contemporary style. I love the ribbon! So fun.

And a T for my first customer! Her little boy is getting John Deere decor for his room and wanted a letter to match.

I think they both turned out quite well.  Anyone else want to order a letter? I’m really considering setting up an online shop, these are so much fun!

I’ve been a horrible blogger! Has it been like…a week? Forgive me.  We have been busy with tests, speeches, a growing little girl who is makes us laugh as she learns new things every day, and we took a few days to visit with family during fall break.  I’ve been preoccupied by playing in the fallish weather (though…it’s 87 degrees right now?!) and picking out pumpkins.

And…being crafty with my little sister.  I made this for Kaylee’s Christmas present and was quite proud of myself it.  It’s a K for her wall (see the cute pumpkins and how gorgeous it’s been here?!).

I loved making it so much I want to make more! Anybody want one? I so would start a little etsy shop if I knew people would buy it :-) Maybe I’ll do a little giveaway as well!

In our latest trip post, I forgot to show what I made for Breanna and Aaron as part of their wedding present. As some of you may know, I’m all about giving sentimental gifts (Like the book for Kaylee’s birthday). Yea, Bre and Aaron could use money to help furnish their new house or something, but I wanted a gift that was meaningful to go along with it. I wanted something that they could display or use that Bre would look at it and think, “Aw! My Leah gave me that for our wedding! What a beautiful day that was. Hey, when is the last time I talked to Leah? I should call her. But oh, what a wonderful day our wedding was. I’m so lucky to have Aaron, I love him so much…” Etc. At least that is how I envision it. ha!

I decided to make this hot plate, (ya know, for at dinner time when you don’t want to hurt your table with your bowl of steamin’ hot mashed potatoes) but it can be simply displayed as well. It was done at one of those local pottery painting places (You really should take your kids and go have fun!). I chose the pink and brown because it matched their wedding colors.

So it serves 3 purposes: 1) To be a hot plate or just look pretty. 2) Remind Bre of me. And most importantly, 3) Remind Bre and Aaron what love and marriage is all about and what it takes to keep a healthy marriage going. Love for each other, living for each day, laughing with each other, trust, and lots of praying together.

Hope you enjoy it, Bre! May it bring you the reminder you may need on those rough days, and joy on your most joyous days with Aaron. I love you!

I guess it’s just scrapbooking week for me here at the O house. Really, not much is going on in our lives, which is a good and relaxing thing! I’ve gotten several pages done both digitally and with “real” paper supplies. Score!

Some one commented with an awesome scrapbooking link that I just had to share with you guys:

Each day IkeaGoddess takes the time to post several links to freebies she’s found on other scrapbooking blogs. So therefore, it saves time from doing your OWN search for freebies and helps connect you to other great sights for freebies, inspiration and tutorials. I love it. I do have to warn you though, some links lead to blogs in another languages, seeing that IkeaGoddess lives in Germany. But, apparently the word “freebie” is one word that is the same in both languages so it’s not hard to download.

I really think I need to invest in an external hard drive with all the freebies I gather up. Good thing my Birthday is coming up! (well, in a few months…but you know how time flies by).

That said, I’m going to be even more quieter on the blog the next few days as we’ll be without internet visiting family. Enjoy your 4th of July, folks!

Can you believe June is over already? How is it already July?!  This month is looking to be a busy one with lots of trips planned and weddings to attend, therefore, it’s sure to fly by even faster than June. Which, stinks because I’m not looking forward to going back to school in August.

Anyway, I wanted to share some fun scrapbooking stuff while life is boring around this blog.  This is my July Desktop, thanks to Shabby Princess.  I had fun editing the photos and adding my own touches.  Last month was definitely one of treasured moments from watching my girls play together to a smiled filled creative day with Savannah and I love seeing that reminder each day.

You can find other July Desktops at Girl Talk and Misty Cato Designs.

Last Wednesday was the first really warm day we’ve had in a while. Since last year Savannah was a tiny baby and didn’t play much we don’t have any outside toys. So, I brought out some sidewalk chalk and bubbles for us to play with! She’s just getting the hang of how to color (ya know, scribbling!) and it’s super cute to watch her discover this whole new world out side. I’m so glad spring is here!

This was my lovely sun, inspired by the real sun shine beaming down on us. You can also see Savannah’s scribbles to the left:

For more Photo Friday visit Crazy Hip Blog Mamas.