LOVE

Valentine's is the perfect time to reflect on the LOVE God has for us. Thank you Clary for posting this link sharing images that trully capture your heart and the beauty of God's creation.

Love your God. Love your neighbor as yourself. Simply simple, yet we make it so complicated.

May you feel LOVED today and EVERYDAY....

And the Armoir!

Yes, the almost final piece (we still have a $25 Craig's List desk to paint black) to my sister's room makeover is looking oh-so-pretty with a fresh coat of gray paint. See...

But that's not all this lovely armoir is adorned with. Looks what's hiding inside...

Gray, floral, wrapping-paper-covered back walls (yes, the patterns are turned opposite directions, but it was easier to do it that way!). Did you notice the new knobs that I first mentioned here?

But seriously, the most important question regarding this armior is, "How did the chalkboard doors turn out?" Well, I am pleased to anounce that with a little bit of this...

(a $2.50 bottle of unsanded grout- pretty exciting huh?)
You too can have custom color chalkboard surfaces that work wonderfully!!!

Just to prove it, I had my sister send me a picture text of what she has written on them now (sorry, camera phone's aren't the greatest quality). If you look really close though you can see a Thank You Debra written; what a sweet sis!

In case you are wanting to make your own personalized color chalkboard, here is exactly what to do.

1. Pick a fun paint color and buy semi-gloss paint (satin may work too, but I was going for wipeable)
2. Go to local hardware store and purchase white, non-sanded gout (I found mine at ACE Hardware)
3. Mix 1 cup paint and 2 Tbsp non-sanded grout in old bowl (like on old cottage cheese container) until grout is pretty much smooth (mine still had small lumps but this came out while I was brushing it on)
***I only used a little less than half of this amoutn to paint all 4 doors of this armior***
4. Paint the surface you want painted with a nice thick layer (I used a sponge brush)
5. Wait 3 days for paint to dry (this may be more than necessary, but I didn't want to sand too soon)
6. Lightly sand surface with 150 grit sand paper for nice smooth look
7. Condition chalkboard by rubbing side of chalk all across surface then wiping it clean
(Thank you Martha Stewart for the recipe)

All in all, this project was QUICK, CHEAP, and WORKED GREAT.
So great, that I already bought a new color of paint for my own chalkboard painting addition to my own house...let the fun begin again...ha!

Dresser + Details

Yes, this gorgeous gray dresser didn't remain undecorated for long!

Remember this lovely free mirror from Brandon's Gma...

Well a couple coats of primer and black spray paint later, it was looking polish and crisp hanging over my sister's lovely dresser.

I added two free black frames from Gma Allen to balance the mirror out and a few choice accesories to top off the dresser. This was just another part of her surprise she got to come home to.

Just wait till you see the armior!

Border Blues

Have you ever tried to remove a border by yourself? I would highly NOT recommend it!!! It only took a whole bottle of this...

And 4 hours of scraping with this...

(Yes, Lynn. It's a pampered chef pan scrapper!)
And all this so that her new bedspread that I blogged about here wouldn't clash with my sister's purplish pink walls when I made over her room. I got to thinking those purplish walls weren't so bad after scraping off all that border to paint though...ha! But seriusly, this process wouldn't have taken half as long had I had someone to help me do it. This is because the DIF spray only works when it is wet. It kept drying on me before I would get to everything I had sprayed, so I would have to rewet it and wait 5 more minutes before pealing. Not so much fun.

I also sanded, primed, and painted this...

and used this stuff...

to do this...

(see inspirationg for pillowcases here, and directions here)

And all this was to make this surprise possible...

This is what Kara came home to after her basketball tournament in St. Louis last weekend; and it's not even half the fun! Can't wait to post some more pics soon...just gotta find a little more time.

Paint Party

Remember this Craig's list find dresser...

Well we had a little paint party Saturday.
See my sister Kara...

See my sister's BFF Maddie (practically my other sister)...

And now see the dresser after all the sanding, taping, and painting (two coats primer, two coats gray)...

Doesn't it look FABULOUS! She has got 9 whole drawers to organize her clothes into : ) I can't wait to see my sister's room start coming together. Just incase your wondering, the paint is Dutch Boy- Satin. The gray color is called Fired Steel from Color Place.

I wish the painting was done, but we still got more to go! The headboard will likely be finished up tonight, and then the armoir will hopefully be finished up this weekend (due to the chalkboard doors, which I will be sure to post about to tell you how they come out).

What Budget?

When you buy a house with unpainted walls and unfinished wood floors like this…

And an empty, blank-slate basement like this…

You know your going to have to spend some mullah to get it up to par! Since I love a budget breakdown from my fellow bloggers (yes, you all thoroughly impress me with your budget making abilities), I decided to add up just how much we put into our house in hardware store runs getting THIS LONG LIST accomplished. So, here it goes:
Nov $896.63
Dec $401.47
Jan $1019.71
Feb $626.31
Mar $755.72
Apr $197.04
May $87.95
Jun $20.22
Jul $0.00 (cuz we spent every weekend at the lake…gotta enjoy a little summer!)
Aug $70.27
Sept $1416.19
Oct $169.96
Nov $359.03
Dec $585.48
Jan $189.58

GRAND TOTAL THUS FAR = $6795.61
Why did we not invest in hardware stock before purchasing our house??! And to think this total does include our heater/air conditioner and new window instillation costs (more on this later)….geez.
Unfortunately, we simply had too many projects overlapping to accurately keep track of which money was spent on which project for the most part : ( The only projects that I actually took the time to calculate our expenses for separately where replacing the GUTTERS ($763.92) and the EXTERIOR PAINT ($479.01 for trim paint, house paint, caulk, rollers, etc). If only I could find the price quotes we got the professionals to show you just how much we saved; darn my good bad throwing away skills!

Oh Cove

Don't you just love when your dog does something absolutely adorable. I come home from my rotation, let Cove inside, and go through the mail in the kitchen. I walk in to the living room after going through the mail and find Cove laying like this:

My sweet puppy dog decided the blanket I always put over the seat cushions (hey, when your using a I-don't-know-how-old hand-me-down couch with cracking leather you try and make it look as nice as possible) just wasn't good enough for her- notice blanket laying on floor. She decided to pull up her doggy bed, which normally lays on the floor by the couch, right up on top of the couch.
She's a thinker!