My oldest daughter has recently become quite interested in doing crafts.  I guess I could be biased, but she is becoming quite the crayon artist!  I love watching her drawings get better each day.  Her sidewalk chalk drawings are also pretty good, and she really loves to paint.  I have to admit the painting doesn’t happen as much as she’d like {it’s a big mess that I don’t want to deal with everyday}, but I try to provide occasional opportunities for that outlet. We’ve been working on re-doing the kids’ bathroom and I knew that I wanted them to have a part in the decision-making and decorating.  They each picked…

The kids’ bathroom upstairs has been a work in progress for quite some time.  It started off builder’s grade tan, then I used the same green from the girls’ bedroom to change it up a bit {I had leftover paint}.  I didn’t like it, though, because with black accents it looked a little too much like mint chocolate chip ice cream.  We finally installed beadboard and I painted the upper part of the walls a nice gray shade, and it’s looking much better. I purchased a white shower curtain sometime last year, knowing that I wanted to dress it up a bit, but not sure how.  While on my trip…

Our dining room walls have been barren for the majority of our time in this home, a little over two years.  I just couldn’t seem to decide what I wanted to do in there, and what I really wanted was too expensive. So, I waited.  Decorating a home on a small budget takes time, thought, and patience.  Sometimes that can be frustrating, but in the end it’s rather rewarding when you end up with something you really love and don’t have to spend tons of money to achieve. Last summer my mother-in-law let me go through some of her silverware, I believe it was her grandmother’s, and I chose a…

Shortly after we moved into our house, over 2 years ago, we purchased a wooden desk that has been in our foyer ever since.  I bought it knowing that it would need a makeover at some point, but I couldn’t make up my mind how to fix it.  I thought about trying chalk paint, and then even milk paint.  But, after much deliberation, I decided to sell it. I decided to sell it while I was out of town, and my husband had no idea that is what I was thinking.  He had other plans.  Great plans, actually.  When I opened the door after being gone for 2 weeks, the…

Several pieces of furniture in our home have been given to us by Bradley’s parents.  Not family heirlooms, but special pieces that were made in Togo, West Africa, where they served as missionaries for 16 years.  I love our woven dining chairs that sit around our kitchen table, the teak rocking hippo in Mason’s nursery, and now I’m really loving this teak tufted rocking chair that graces my Master Bedroom sitting area. This rocking chair was upholstered by a gentleman in Togo.  He did an excellent job with the original fabric, matching it up perfectly, tufting it quite nicely, and placing some decorative nailhead trim along the back.  This is…

Two years ago, almost to the day, we began our move across the country from Monterey, CA, to good ol’ Georgia!  Our first stop was in Nevada, where my husband’s sister and her family live.  We enjoyed a few days with them and celebrated Christmas early.  We had a wonderful time!  One of the things I distinctly remember from that trip was my sister-in-law’s gorgeous tree. So, I asked her if she would be willing to send me some pictures of her tree, all decked out this year, to share with you.  You’re going to love it! The attention to detail is gorgeous: burlap garland, black and white framed photos…

When we started decorating the nursery for Mason, we knew we wanted to hang a verse over his crib.  Bradley cut out the wood, making it look sort of rustic, painted it white, and hung it up before Mason was born in April.  Until last Friday, it hung on the wall just like that. I’m glad, though, because the original verse I had chosen wouldn’t have been as fitting as the one that is now there. Here’s a little of the process: We measured above the crib and then Bradley figured out how long each piece of wood should be to give it the pallet-like look that we wanted.  It’s…

We are almost finished with the Christmas decorating around our house.  The girls LOVE having the tree up with lights and decorations.  My almost 3 year old came downstairs on Sunday morning to snuggle with me on the couch and said, “Oh, I LOVE you so much, Christmas tree!”  She can be quite expressive. I finished putting together my mantel this morning and I’m happy with it. Last week I saw a post on Kate’s blog about a table she had refinished.  The table truly is lovely, but what caught my eye was the vignette on top.  She had beautifully mixed gold and silver decor and it was stunning. Source:…

We purchased our home almost two years ago, and knew it wouldn’t need any updates, as it was a new construction.  However, as many neighborhoods are these days, most homes on our little corner are pretty similar.  So, when we started thinking about re-sale, we knew we wanted to do a little bit to the interior to make it stand out from the others. An easy, and fairly inexpensive, way to add character is with beadboard.  We decided to add this to our downstairs bathroom and I love how it turned out! We purchased two 4’x8′ sheets of primed MDF beadboard at Lowe’s, and had them cut each one in…

Over a year ago during a trip to Goodwill, I picked up an old, tired, wooden frame.  It was only $2, and because of the wood and the depth of the frame, I knew it would make a great tray. I’ve looked at it and have never been sure how I wanted to fix it.  After I finished my end table last week, I had a little bit of paint left, so I decided to use it for this tray. The old wire and hooks needed to be removed, the nails in the back got pounded in a bit {so as not to scratch any surfaces}, and the entire thing…