Exciting News!

Those of you who know me personally might have heard/read the news yesterday, but for those of you who haven't heard....

WE ARE MOVING!!!!!!!!


IN LESS THAN 2 WEEKS!!!!!!


****Insert moving to Texas happy dance here****

Brian and I are both from Texas so going "home" is really exciting for us.  His job is taking us to the Houston/Galveston area so we will be close to our families and many of our friends.  New Orleans will always have a special place in our hearts, but we are ready to get back.  

Its crazy the things you miss from your home state.  Last month we flew to Corpus and were sitting in a restaurant taking in our surrounding.  It felt so good to see Texas A&M hats/shirts everywhere, hear Cross Canadian Ragweed and Cooter Graw on a regular country radio station and to see Blue Bonnets growing on the side of the road and in front yards.  We caught ourselves smiling, thinking the same thing....it feels good to be home.

In my last post I mentioned a few projects that were not ready to be posted.  Well, that was packing my POD....

and the entertainment center.....here is a before reminder

The previous owner had already cut a drawer front from the drawer body and most of the drawers didn't close all the way and there were some problems with the doors.  I fixed the alignment problems, built in shelves for the DVD/Cable box/etc, moved and updated the hardware, and painted it Bird's Egg.  It now looks like an entertainment center.  Here is the after.

I am planning on keeping the entertainment center for us.  Our home now has a niche for the TV so as soon as I found out we were probably moving, I decided to keep it and refinish it for us. I love the finished product and hopefully it will work great in our new house.  Click here to see it in our new home.

 Speaking of....we did secretly go house shopping last weekend and have been in negotiations on a particular home.  We are supposed to find out today if our last offer is excepted.  Please pray that it is and that nothing goes wrong with inspections and appraisals and closing goes smoothly.  If things work out, we will only be displaced for a few weeks and we can get started on updating our new house ASAP.  There will definitely be some DIY home posts in the future.

I promise to keep everyone posted and if you live in the Houston area and need furniture worked on, keep me in mind.  Hopefully I will be taking on furniture work in a few months.

SIDE NOTE:  Today is our 7 year anniversary!  Time flies when you are having fun.  Love you, babe!   Here are a few pictures from our special day.

 

When the doors opened and I started down the aisle.
This is one of my favorites.

On the boat 

My fisherman's groom's cake

A Few Updates

So, some how its been over 3 weeks since my last post.  Time flies when you are super busy!  Things have been crazy around here lately.  So crazy I really haven't bothered to take many before pictures or good quality afters.  Here is a quick overview of what I have been up to over the past few weeks.

 One client brought by this family piece and a bench that was made from an old bed.

Before

Before

After

After

I bought this dresser a while back and finally had time to work on it.

Before

After

After

After

Remember this dresser?

It was purchased for a baby girl nursery.  The client already had a creamy, distressed, glazed mirror and wanted her other nursery furniture refinished to match.  She had purchased a bookcase on Craigslist and ordered a Jenny Lind baby bed in white.  Now they both match the mirror and coordinate with the dresser.  It is going to be a super cute nursery!

Here is a desk that I refinished for a friend.  It is a family piece they wanted painted to match the beds in their girls' room.

Before

Before

Before

After

After

After

After

And another little project.  I have been working on changing this beautiful dresser into an entertainment center.  It already had a drawer front cut off by the previous owner.  She had started the project and couldn't finish so she contacted me to see if I could do something with it.  Since one drawer front was cut off, I couldn't use it as a dresser so I figured I'd stick with the entertainment center idea.  The dresser is solid wood (SUPER HEAVY) and has gorgeous lines.  I love it.  They do not make pieces like this anymore. I will post after pictures in the next few days.

I have been busy with several other things but they are not ready for posting.  Did I mention how busy the past few weeks have been?  On top of all of this, we went home to Texas this past weekend to watch my brother's girlfriend graduate with her Master's degree.  What an accomplishment!  So proud and excited for her. 

I will have the entertainment center finished in the next few days and will post a picture of it as soon as possible.   I hope everyone has a wonderful week and safe Memorial day weekend!

Gardening for Dummies: I hate Monsanto

***** Update: I'm sitting here late tonight totally stressed out about having just fed my plants a Monsanto product. How on earth do they do it?! How is Monsanto EVERYWHERE?! Clearly, I'm a rookie gardener ... I've been honest about that from day 1. I have to learn to read labels and research. Just like I search every label for high fructose corn syrup, I must now google search every company to find out if its parent company is Monsanto and therefore not consumable. Sorry to so carelessly promote something from evil Monsanto.

DON'T USE MIRACLE GRO. I'll be throwing mine out now ... actually, I'll probably take it back to Costco since they have such a great return policy. Or maybe call the money guarantee on the back of the box. Ugh. I'll let you know what I find as a replacement ... and how well my garden does without it.

How to: Clean your windows like a PRO

Okay.

So. Here’s the deal. We are all going to agree and take an oath and make a pact right now … that we don’t care about my dusty plant, okay?

Because it’s the truth. CLEARLY. I do not care about that plant. Superman loves plants. Me? Notsomuch. They’re just another thing to feed and take care of so they don’t die. Most days, I barely remember to feed my kids.

I’m joking. Kinda.

Okay.

I’m glad we made that deal/oath/pact. Now.

Let’s talk about my disgusting, nasty, grotesquely dusty windows, shall we?

We shall.

Because … this is where I’m going to teach you how to clean your windows like a pro … and I’ll pretend like I do it all the time … even though I don’t … and we’ll all save lots of money on window cleaning … and we’ll give each other high fives, fist bumps, and the thumbs up … and we’ll all go home feeling like rock stars.

Ready, set, go.

Now. Let’s all take a gander at my gross windows …

“Ewwwwwwwwwwwww. Agggggghhhhhhhh.”

I’m just keepin’ it real. I’ve never claimed to be anything but GHETTO.

I don’t know. I just don’t know how on earth I let them get so dirty. So, don’t ask. Cause I really don’t know.

Whew.

Now that my confessional is over and I feel totally naked and exposed, here’s all you need to do something about those gross windows in your house (I can’t possibly be the ONLY one with gross windows):

Sprayway foaming glass cleaner, a lint free cloth, and a squeegee. BAM.

Coat your windows with Sprayway.

** If you are doing the top portion of your window, I HIGHLY recommend placing the cloth along the bottom of the top portion (where the locks are) so that when you squeegee the cleaner off, it doesn’t fill the cracks between window sections. I hope that made sense.

So. Coat the windows with Sprayway … squeegee off … then use your lint free cloth to wipe away any streaks (from the edges of the squeegee). And BAM! Your windows will sparkle!

Sorry, guys. I forgot to get pictures before I put the blinds back down … no way was I muscle-ing them back up. Don’t get crazy. We all know I’m too lazy for that crazy business.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, there’s that dusty plant again … the one that we took a vow to pay no attention to. Thanks for not paying any attention to it.

** As for the outside of the window? … I just sprayed them off with the hose and let them air dry. If you want, you can go all crazy and take the ladder outside and squeegee those too. But, as you can tell … it’s not really necessary.

Happy Spring Cleaning, y’all! :D

Next time, I’ll show you how to dust off all those indoor plants …

Juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust. Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiidding.

Sorry

I am sorry to have to disappoint you all this month.  I am dealing with a case of the shingles and it's taking it's toll on me.
I will try and be back with you in June.
Kris