fireplace sneak peak

A few weeks ago (before our vacation) I decided the fireplace had to be painted. So I did.

I painted the brick white and sprayed the brass black. In keeping with the current financial climate around here (I have hardly worked in the last 2 months) I used all stuff we had on hand.

Here is what it looked like before we moved in. No, I don't think it looks dated either.
After a few months of being in the house. I always wished those cabinets were white.

This past winter. I didn't want to go to the trouble of painting the cabinets white so I painted the mantel dark. It didn't have the effect I was after.

So now, I am almost ready to show you the current state of things. But not quite.

A gift

My sweet sister came by last week and brought me some beads she picked up. She was thinking of me and just bought some and brought them by. Isn't that lovely? I used some of the shell beads to make this:

I also took apart a too short wood bead necklace and a too long chain necklace to make up the rest of the necklace. N says it looks like shells and driftwood. Very summery.

What I wore - vacation edition

Because we have been in and out over the last 2 weeks I have missed 'what I wore wednesday' over at the Pleated Poppy. But here are a few of my outfits some from home and some from 2 of our 3 mini trips.

The camping trip saw me in things that were a bit too big, or had stains, or generally things I wouldn't be concerned to see smeared with marshmallows! But for the next 2 trips I chose navy, grey and turquoise as a sort of capsule wardrobe - see last 2 outfits. The green stuff was from the days between trips.

one of the first hot days this year:

Navy dress - Superstore (Joe Fresh Clothing)

White sports bra

Tan leather flip flops - Clarks

Turquoise necklace

Navy flower clip - by me (trying to be Lindsey)

This dress is great over my turquoise bathing suit too. So cool. I bought it a few months ago anticipating a hot summer which has just recently arrived.

One of the days we were running around and packing it was a bit cloudy:

Green tank - Gap

Jeans - Gap curvy fit

Tan leather flip flops - Clarks

Necklace - my latest creation, green and blue stones from Michaels

Day at the park with friends:

Green top - Roxy (bought at an outlet way back when we lived in NC)

brown jersey skirt - old navy

tan leather flip flops - Clarks

brown necklace

white legs that my friend Lesley said couldn't be any whiter!

On Lainey - dress - Carter's, sandals - Superstore

At the trailer....

It was hot and we were in and out of our bathing suits. For the drive down I wore:

Jean skirt - Reitmans (with the nice stretch waistband)

grey tank - Old Navy

grey filp flops - Old Navy

turquoise necklace

Another day of beach then pool. Wore this in between wearing my bathing suit:

short sleeved hoodie - Reitman's (it has great embroidery on the back)

white ruffle tank - Gap ( it does have a ruffle around the neck and arms, just can't see it here)

Jean shorts - Reitman's last year

Tan leather flip flops - Clarks

The rest of my travel wardrobe included one pair of jeans I never wore, one aqua tank, one turquoise ruffle tank, a grey cardigan, and a navy t shirt, my turquoise bathing suit and swim shorts and the navy dress from the top of this post. It worked great and saw me through 2 locations and situations from the beach, to the boat, to shopping, to biking and frisbee with the kids.

It was nice and warm, and never even hinted at rain (amazing for this neck of the woods) so that helped me pack lighter than normal. But the whole capsule wardrobe thing was a great way to pack lighter. Our car was pretty stuffed, and I brought a bit less clothing than my hubby which is amazing! But I felt very prepared. I will definitely do the capsule thing again.

Linking up to the Pleated Poppy...

A bench 3 ways

after

We inherited this bench from my mom when we moved to this house. Finally we had some room to take all the furniture she offers us. For instance, she has a queen sized bed in garage and a loveseat in her crawl space just waiting for our basement to be finished.

This bench was given to my mom by, I think, one of her aunts. It is beautiful and pretty comfy too. For a long time it had been covered with a tapestry and has moved around her living or family room in various furniture configurations. I remember that the tapestry used to be on the wall then my parents used it to cover the bench, but I can't remember when that was. Suffice to say it had been there a while.

Best picture I could find of it!

This is my oldest as a Mickey D's drive thru guy a few years ago.

Then we got it to our new house, my in laws lent us their pneumatic nail gun, I bought way too much fabric that was a little too yellow/gold and we recovered it. It was easy. Like 15 minutes easy. And it suited the less traditional style of my house.

look at my baby, she was so bald

Then someone wiped their nose, or drooled or something on the side of it and it had a stain. And it was always too yellow anyway. So I wanted to recover it, again. But since I haven't sewed in a few years, I try not to go into the fabric store. You know, it is so hard to resist the cute fabric and I know I am not going to be sewing so it seems like a big waste of $$.

Anyway, back to the bench. I found a very neutral, taupe cotton in my fabric stash. I think I bought it before we had kids! I thought I would just lay it on to see how it looked.

And I think it turned out quite nicely. No pneumatic staple gun involved, I just tucked it in. That means the next time a stain crops up I can just wash it. It stays very tight because I tucked it in under the cushion. I know in these pics the 2nd and 3rd fabric look similar, but in reality it suits my grey couch MUCH better. I love free makeovers.

But I am considering redoing it again in a pattern. It is easy to change after all ;^)

wow

I accidentally stumbled on this blog, Momastery, and all I can say is WOW! I was looking at a crafty blog and in the comments someone referred to a post about her living room decor. I though, wow, she's seems cute and funny I should check out today's post. That was her one year blogiversary post where she basically tells her story. Wow, what a blessing. This is why I don't believe in accidents. Go read, now. Especially if you are a mommy. Wow.

my main men

I know I have been writing less often lately. The sunshine and these two dudes are partly to blame. Along with two other cuties, one big and one small.

The whole vacation chronicles can be found here (part one).

one more necklace

I keep forgetting to put up this wood (like) necklace I made a while ago. It is nice and neutral and goes with just about everything.

Somehow I am very drawn to wood accessories in the summer. Why is that? Not sure, but it does look great with my leather flip flops.

I still have a bit left on my Michaels gift card. Trying to decide what else I need to complete my necklace wardrobe. Hmm.