Happy Saturday!

I hope you have had a wonderful week!

I’m sorry I didn’t get my party up last night.  I’ve had computer “issues.”

But are you ready to par-tay now?!

I am so excited to see all of the amazing DIY projects that you have completed in March.  You’ve been very busy bees, I just know it!

My best project would definitely be tearing the wall down that leads into our new addition.

However, it still looks like this!    Hopefully, by the end of April, I will be able to show you the new entry way with beautiful new molding.

Baby steps, people, baby steps. 

So, now let me see your inspirational projects!

Here is a reminder of the party guidelines…

• Your project MUST be about DIY home decor or home improvement.

• Only ONE project per blogger, please.

• Your project needs to be from the month of March, 2012.

• Please enjoy visiting other great projects by other bloggers and leave some comment love. 

• Please link back to the party somewhere in your post.  (Only those with a link back to the party will be considered to be featured on my blog.)

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

I was able to take a quick trip down to Franklin, TN this past Monday to participate in the Annie Sloan American Tour.

Some of you have probably heard of Annie Sloan before and some of you haven’t.

Annie Sloan is from England and is the creator of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.

Annie Sloan chalk paint has become quite a big hit in blogland over the past year.  Especially with the help of prominent paint bloggers like Marian from Miss Mustard Seed.

I have always been intrigued by ASCP, and I have wanted to try it out.  I am especially interested in the fact that you do not have to sand or prime a piece of furniture before painting with using ASCP! 

Doesn’t that sound awesome?!

Well, Annie was coming all the way over from England for an American tour, and I was fortunate enough to get a free ticket from a blog reader, Liz.

Liz is an Annie Sloan stockist in Lexington, Kentucky.  She has a studio called Liz Douglas Designs that I am so excited about going and visiting SOON!  She is an absolute sweetheart.

The first part of the day, we got to listen to Annie Sloan talk about the versatility and quality of her amazing paint.   She was very entertaining to listen to, and I just loved her English accent!

The second half of the day, we got to go into separate workshop rooms to practice using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and Wax for ourselves.

(This was my favorite part.)

I was lucky enough to get in Liz’s workshop!  There she is in the hot pink shirt, and her husband is to the right.

We had supplies set out as our seat…

We listened to Liz tell us how to use the paints…

Then we got busy working with different paints and different techniques on the pieces of wood that were given to us.

I was like a kid in a candy shop.  I am so in my “element” when I am painting or creating.  It was sooo much fun!

Those paint colors in the bowls make it look like I was dying Easter eggs, doesn’t it?! 

Well, we just go to practice on little pieces of wood, but Annie’s paint is capable of creating the most beautiful pieces of furniture. 

Just look at these pictures all of which are from the Annie Sloan website.

I am soooo very excited about using Annie Sloan chalk paint on a piece of furniture now.

It makes me want to run down to Goodwill and just buy the first piece of furniture I see, so I can paint it!!

Thank you so much, Liz, for allowing me the opportunity to attend this amazing day with Annie Sloan!

As a side note, I also got to spend time with two of my very favorite bloggers while in Tennessee.

I met Layla, from The Lettered Cottage, in Franklin on Sunday night.  We ate dinner at The Loveless Café, and it was amazing!!!

We had fried chicken, hash brown casserole, amazing homemade biscuits and jam, AND coconut cream pie for dessert!  HELLO!!

We were stuffed!

Then we went back to our hotel and our sweet blog buddy, Myra, from My Blessed Life, joined us.  It was such a blessing to hang out with those girls for a night.  Of course, we talked all about blogging and sat on the bed with our laptops while we talked.  It was a little blog slumber party and my cup runneth over with gratefulness for my blog friends.

God is so good!!

Lastly, I wanted to announce the winner of the

$50 American Express Gift Card from Rentals.com!

Thank you to everyone who entered!

The winner is…..

Andrea Watts

Congratulations!  I will be contacting you soon!

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

On Wednesday, I showed you a little “treasure” I found in my shed.

I laughed at how many of you thought I was going to show you a big snake, raccoon, or some other critter.

Luckily, that is not what I found in my shed, but we do have those all around where we live.

I’ll show ya someday!

I know y’all were extremely jealous of the picture of my rust colored shed. 

I think she has some potential, don’t you?

Well, one of my readers sure does.

I got a sweet email from Diane after she read my post.

Diane is a self-proclaimed “shed junkie.”  She shared some adorable pictures with me, many of which are in this post.

Thank you, Diane!!

Seeing these pictures made me very excited about the “potential” that my shed possesses.  I see big changes in her future.  I little “nip”, a little “tuck”, maybe some color?

Voila!

www.summerwood.com

Wow!  Isn’t she a beaut?!

Here are some more beauties for you to enjoy…

www.summerwood.com

I love the colors of that shed and those cute little window boxes.

Look at the beautiful landscaping around this quaint little shed.

www.summerwood.com

I want to get a sleeping bag and spend the night in this one!

www.summerwood.com

I would love to create a cute little walkway up to our shed…

www.summerwood.com

Wouldn’t a bench look cute in front of my shed?

Source unknown

Not really diggin’ the little blow up thingy, though.  That thing would be busted in about two seconds flat at my house!

I found this beautiful shed online too.

It is the result of an amazing shed makeover at High Street Market!

Check it out!

Before and After pictures like that just makes me plain giddy!!!

It’s going to be a while before we can do a makeover on our shed.  But I’m hoping that we can paint it at the same time that we paint the exterior of our home.  I would like for them to match, ya know?

So, do you see potential beauty in my ugly little shed?

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

The older I get, the more I value the meaning of “HOME.”

A home is so much more that a building with walls and windows.  Whether you live in an apartment, a townhome, a trailer, or a house, there are many things you can do to make it feel like “home.”

Your home is a representation of your family, the things you like, enjoy, or make you smile.

source

If you are looking for ways to make your home fit (or reflect) your family’s style, Rentals.com has great tips to help personalize your place.

Click “READ MORE” to read the rest of this post and enter to win a $50 AmEx Gift Card!!

[Read more...]

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

The weather here is Kentucky has been unusually warm lately, and I have loved every minute of it!

I am so glad that Spring is finally here!

I’ve been “itchin" to do some Spring cleaning lately, but it’s kind of hard to do when you are in the middle of a major home renovation. 

But one thing that I HAD to do quickly, because of the hot temperatures, was to clear out our winter clothing out of our closets and replace them with our Spring clothing.

For the boys, I was needing to head out to the shed and grab the tubs of hand-me-downs and go through them.  Luke gets Jonathan’s clothes, Adam gets Luke’s clothes, Eli gets Adam’s clothes, and Jonathan gets nothin’!  (He’s the lucky oldest child who always gets new clothes.)

When we moved in to our home last June, we literally threw a ton of stuff into our shed.  I had no time to organize it.

I don’t think I have ever shown our shed on my blog.  It’s nothing much to look at, is it?  It is painted the most hideous colors I think I have ever seen in real life! 

We are hoping to do a little makeover on our shed this summer.  We’ll probably paint it to match our home.

Though our little shed it pretty ugly, it has been a huge help for us.  I don’t know what we would do without it! 

Since I hadn’t organized the shed since we moved in, when I went out to find the tubs of boys’ clothes, I had no idea where they were.   I had to empty the shed of its entire contents to finally find the tubs I needed.

It was a total pain.

BUT it was beautiful outside, and it forced me to organize the shed.

When I opened the doors, my eyes quickly caught something in the back of the shed.

There are two tall wooden cabinets in the shed that were left by the previous owners.

I hadn’t really paid much attention to them because I figured they were full of junk or supplies.

But once I cleared everything out of the shed and got to look more closely at the cabinets, I found out they were completely empty!

They are dirty and need a new coat of paint, especially to cover up the little pictures of fruit on the front door…

But when I get my hands on these two cabinets, they are going to be PERFECT lockers for Jonathan and Luke’s room!

I love these wood lockers from Pottery Barn.  I could easily paint my cabinets and stencil a number on the front like these.

pottery barn

Or maybe wrap them in beadboard and add some cool handles…

Meridian Road

I also think it would be fun to paint them a bright color like red!

source

What do you think?

Do you like the little surprise I found in the shed?

Do you think they will look cute in the boys’ room?

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Happy Tuesday!

I just wanted to take a minute to share with you two wonderful new events in blogland.

First, my friend, Darlene is hosting a wonderful serious on her blog called, Overcoming Decorating Paralysis.

If you have never been to Darlene’s blog, I would like to encourage  you to do so.  You will be so inspired by her and her talent in interior design.

But more importantly, you will be blessed by her heart for Jesus.

Darlene wrote a very heartfelt post today about what she really thinks about decorating, and I would love it you would take the time to go over there and read it.  All I could think when I read it was, “Amen!  Amen!  and Amen!!”

Darlene sent me an email asking me to pray over her God-filled post.  She truly wants to honor God with her words, and I feel she did a great job of doing just so.

I also wanted to let you know about a new linky party series over at my sweet friend, Richella’s blog, Imparting Grace.

It’s called Grace at Home.

Here’s what Richella says about her party:

This party will be a place for you to share anything related to making your home a place of grace. I invite you to link posts about

• DIY projects
• decorating
• recipes
• hospitality
• homemaking tips
• parenting
• marriage
• faith
• self-care

Whatever you do to make your home a place of grace, I’d like to hear about it.

The party will take place every Thursday, beginning March 22.

Richella is one of the sweetest ladies I have ever met!  And she has a HUGE heart for God.  If you do not follow her blog, I encourage you to do so as well.  Her words will encourage and uplift you.

Click HERE to read more about her linky party.

Have a great day, friends!

Btw,  do you receive my blog posts through email?  If not, would you like to?

Just enter you email address below to receive them.

Thanks!

Tweet

Share on Tumblr