Our Very Own Waterfall

and no that is not a good thing. I had every intention of giving you a nice post about my sewing room today. Until we woke up to a huge puddle of water on the floor in the kitchen...that was from the upstairs toilet. AWESOME.  At some point last night the toilet overflowed and we aren't sure why or when exactly but we do see the results. yuck. So I will have to promise you an extra post next week  but I need to keep cleaning (and get Aleena from school.)

I will leave you with a lovely picture I found on pinterest that has become my new crush. Enjoy!

picture via interior divine

I don't even to know where to start about what I love in that picture- the table? the mirror? The candle pillars? The baskets? I love it all!

Enjoy your day!
~R

Oooh Shiny!

I feel like we are still in recovery mode from last week. We had a birthday party for the twins on Sunday (I need to steal someone's pictures from the party since we have none!) and then the first day of pre-school was on Tuesday. Aleena was unsure on the first day but still humored me in taking a picture even if it was not the happiest of photos.

The next day was the babies actual birthday which involved a trip to Red Robin (of course!) and also some car sickness and a trip to the playground. Thursday brought the 2nd day of pre-school which went much better and we took a picture that morning too since we weren't as rushed.

Saturday was the Fall Festival here in West Reading- which we checked out since it was our first time here for it and yesterday was the babies 2 year check up and all 3 kids got shots because we squeezed Aleena in for a flu shot while we were there.  See why we are in recovery mode?

My sweet hubby was kind enough to watch the kids on Sunday afternoon so I could get some "me-time" which involved a  trip to a consignment shop which was ok but not great and a quick trip to Marshall's which is what this post is really about.

For a long time- even before we moved- I was crushing on some mercury glass lamps. I am not usually into shiny but there is something I just love about mercury glass. Here are some examples.

 This one from Amazon  is on sale right now for $70 down from $150.

Then this one from wayfair I really liked too but it was $158 down from $237. Ouch. Of course my favorite ones were at Pottery Barn.

 I love the burlap shades on these! And while I love the rounded shape I wanted something a little more simple. Plus the fact that these are $200+.

This one is also from Pottery Barn and in it's current state of being shade-less still costs $200.

So being the good DIYer I like to think I am I tried to find a less expensive option. I searched on pinterest and there are several tutorials on how to DIY some fake mercury glass. I was totally up for the challenge. But I couldn't find a lamp that I wanted to try it on. I have been looking in every thrift store I go to without any luck. So when I got to Marshall's and saw this....

Mercury glass, simple lines and burlap shade for $30!!! I knew it had to come home with me. Thankfully the hubby likes it too. It's living in our foyer and replaced this lamp that I got at Target 8 or 9 years ago.

This lamp has a new home in the guest room so I think everything worked out just fine :)

I haven't had time to do much to the kitchen but take the doors off since we've been so busy. We found out the cabinets aren't going to be ready until the last week of October so we have a little more time than we thought.

One step at a time!
~R

Wallpaper -be-gone

I wish it were that easy!! After my rant on taking down the wallpaper in our kitchen and never putting wallpaper up in my house I was feeling a little discouraged by the amount of work I had already put in and the lack of results. My hubby actually got a 3 day weekend over Labor Day and he really helped get me back on track. When we left off I was here.

Not quite a third of the way done. I am proud to say that after last weekend we are now looking at this-

As you can see from the pictures we encountered a few not quite so great surprises.

When the electrician was here back in May there was an issue in the kitchen with the rewiring and he ended up having to replace the wiring to the ceiling fan. When replacing that wiring he found what was most likely an outlet under the wallpaper. We weren't totally sure what we were doing as far as the upper cabinets went at that point and if we were taking down the soffit I wasn't going to take down wallpaper so I didn't really think anything of it. Until I was taking down the wallpaper and found- not an outlet- but some nice scary wiring instead!

There actually were black marks on the wallpaper that was covering the wiring- so first thing after the holiday weekend I called. the electrician. He made sure it was disconnnected and we also dicussed rewiring and replacing the light over the sink because that one is a little scary too. Talk about old and crumbly.

We would like to be able to leave that light on if we have guests or even just for us once it starts to get darker earlier but the wiring scares us a little. Once we get him back to do the work we will have this beauty from Lowes over our sink.

Or at least that is the plan. I love the vintage-schoolhouse-light look of this light! I know plans change so I will let you know what we end up with!

The other issue we encountered in taking down the wallpaper was water damaged plaster.

Yuck. We knew there was water damage. The home inspector was the one that pointed it out initially and the bathroom is over the kitchen so we are thinking something must have leaked! So was it really a surprise? Ehh not really. The extent of it- yes! We have been researching how to deal with it. We aren't ready to paint yet so we have some time to figure out what we are going to do.

So you have probably guessed that we are keeping our upper cabinets for now. That is why we just took down wall paper instead of demoing the soffit. Since our bottom cabinets are finally ordered I need to start thinking about painting the top cabinets. There are a lot of amazing bloggers who have already tackled painting their kitchens and so there are a lot of resources to pull information from. I am a little intimidated by how much work there is to get them painted. Mostly I am not looking forward to having to empty all the cabinets. Good news is that the color sample of the bottom cabinets was dropped off today (thanks Dad!) to the paint store and they are matching it and we will pick the paint up tomorrow. Then the fun begins.

So it might not seem like huge progress but for us getting that wallpaper down was HUGE. It makes the kitchen look at lot bigger too! I will try to come up with a more comprehensive list of what is done and what is still left to do for my next kitchen update.

 We are celebrating my babies turning 2 tomorrow -even thought their birthday isn't until Wednesday. AND Aleena starts preschool on Tuesday. This is a big week coming up so I don't know how much stuff or blogging I will get done. But I am sure I will have more to share soon!!

~R

My Friend Craig

I am really excited to share this furniture makeover with you today but I wanted to show you a quick little something first. I will probably never call any room in this house 100% finished because I am always tweaking things and moving them around. This morning I made a little adjustment to the foyer by my key holder that I showed you yesterday. I am trying to put things away before we take everything out of the kitchen.

I hung my hydrangea wreath above the key holder which balances the height with the other stuff that is hanging in that room. I loved it enough that I wanted to share it :)

Back to the real post!

So a little over a year ago when we moved to our rental place in Lansdale we had no night tables. I was pretty much focused on taking care of my family so my mom was awesome and found these for us.

Beautiful right?? Excuse the funny picture because this is actually what I just sent my mother-in-law and it was the only picture I had handy. I will explain more in a bit. I love the look of these nightstands but as far as function goes- even though they have 2 drawers -the drawers only open about half way. Which is really annoying. So last week while I was trolling through craigslist looking for a cabinet for fabric storage for my sewing room I saw these.

Craigslist has been very good to us since we moved so I wasn't too surprised to see a pair of matching pier 1 night stands for $40. I ran it past the hubby and he really liked them so Aleena (who really has become my driving partner- she goes on all my "missions" with me)and I took a drive and brought these home. There were a few condition issues. In the picture above you can see the bottom left corner was pretty beat up and the top was on this one as well.

When I saw them I knew I was going to have to do something to them, so as soon as we got home I got out the sander.

I knew I wouldn't be able to get the same look that they have coming out of the factory so I went a little darker and that night I stained the top.

When my milk paint came yesterday and I was done painting my key holder I added white milk paint that I already had to make gray and started painting. A little about my milk paint experience. When I initially tried milk paint I wasn't totally impressed. It didn't mix very well and got really foamy. Miss Mustard Seed's milk paint was a totally different experience for me and now I want to buy every color. (No one paid me to write nice things- just telling you my experience!) If you have some furniture to paint and you like a possible chippy finish I would totally check it out! She also has instructional videos and other finishing products as well.

So after making my custom milk paint color, painting, putting on a top coat and re-attaching the hardware. Here is my finished project.

(Cat photo bomb!)I think they turned out pretty well. And as you saw I left the insides the wood finish which saved me time and provided some nice contrast. If you are still wondering what we are going to do with our lovely flower night stands or why I would be sending my mother-in-law pictures of furniture we aren't even going to be using anymore this may help answer your question.

My mother-in-law, Jill, is an amazing artist. This came for me today. She painted this birdhouse for me. I picked it up at Michaels and had no idea what to do with but she took it and made it something Beautiful. So as far as the night tables go? Remember how I said craigslist has been very good to us since we moved? I found a matching pair of twin beds for $50. That's it. I almost fell off my chair.I also didn't think my hubby would go for it even if it was an AMAZING deal because we would have to store them for about a year until the twins are ready for them but he agreed that we couldn't pass them up.

Cute right? They are lower to the ground and perfect for 2 little girls. Well all this is leading up to the fact that EVENTUALLY we are going to paint the beds and when Jill comes to visit she is going to do something on the headboards to have them match the nightstands. So we are going to reassign where they belong. I am totally excited about it but I am glad it is going to be on the back burner for a while because we have a kitchen that needs a lot of attention right now!

After the visit from the electrician yesterday I should have a the kitchen update for you tomorrow. Sigh. Old houses mean surprises and not in a good way. But hey we are making progress and that is ALWAYS good!

~R

A Litte Pin-spiration

Hi, my name is Rosemary and I am addicted to Pinterest. I haven't been spending quite as much time on there recently but it is still a website that I check a minimum of twice a day. If you don't know what Pinterest is- it is an online Pinboard for all the interesting things you find on the internet. Or if you are like me I spend time going through other people's pins to see what they've found. I have been getting better about pinning things and actually making them. A couple of weeks ago I pinned this:

We are forever looking for our keys and I thought this was a fantastic idea! So after I read through the blog post from the blogger who made this one I knew it would be super easy if I could find the right picture frame. So on my next trip to the thrift store I found a solid wood, unfinished frame for 99 cents. Score!  I started this project when we were camera-less so I am lacking in before pictures. Sorry!

My frame was less ornate that my Pinterest inspiration picture and much more my style. Since I was loving the color from the picture I pulled out my paint brush and painted it light blue. I used milk paint  leftover from another project. But it wasn't the right color for this project.

I don't know if any of you follow Marian's blog over at  Miss Mustard Seed but she just came out with her own line of milk paint. (She is also located here in PA.) She does amazing things with furniture! If you ever need a little inspiration for a furniture makeover I would check out her blog! Since I was dying to try her milk paint I pre-ordered some and guess what came by UPS today???

(Sorry for the not so great pictures. Our camera just hasn't been working right.)

There are a lot of black accents in the foyer where our key holder has been living so Typewriter was my color. And my after pictures.

I really like it. Since I distressed it the blue just barely peeks through which I love even more!

I know I told you I would have a furniture makeover for you this week and while I had the paint out today I finished that project too. Here is a sneak peak.

 
That would be my own custom milk paint color but I will tell you more about that in my next post!


~R

Manufactured in Maine State Prison

Last week I was able to get out of the house for a relaxing afternoon. (Love my Hubby!) It included a quick stop at one of the better thrift stores that I have found since we moved. I picked up a few things including this stool for $6 which I thought would be perfect for the powder room since up to this point there has been nothing for the kids to stand on to wash their hands.

It's really sturdy and I love the legs! Matthew even liked it when I brought it home and his favorite part was that there is a stamp on the bottom that says, " Manufactured in Maine State Prison." I will give the Maine State Prison it's due- They make good furniture but I don't know about anything else!

It's top was a little messed up and it had paint drips on it.

So I sanded and resealed the top using 3 coats of satin Safecoat Acrylacq. That is a low VOC and low Odor sealer that I purchased here and I use for most of my projects. But with this one- no stain- I really liked the wood as it is.

I didn't take out all the imperfections. I like the fact that it is showing a little age and character. I think I should paint the legs though. Just haven't been able to decide on a color. I am open to suggestions!

 Even in it's current state the babies LOVE this stool. They carry it around and sit on it where ever the mood strikes. I am never quite sure where I am going to find it. 

I should have a kitchen update for you this week- we spent a good portion of our Labor Day weekend trying to take down the wallpaper. We found a few surprises and we are almost done. Hope you all enjoyed your weekend!

~R