Show Us Where You Live Friday!

This Friday, Kelly is hosting Show Us Where You Live Friday Dining Rooms. I had such a wonderful time viewing all of the beautiful guest rooms last week, that I definitely wanted to participate again!

There are so many things I love about our dining room...probably because they involve refinishing, refurbishing, and good bargains!

Hope you enjoy the pictures:

Here is a view of the dining room from the living room. I made sure to stage Jake, our goldendoodle, into the picture....have you noticed how every magazine designer room always features a dog these days? The table was my grandparents. When it was given to us, the finish had seen much better days. I will always love our dining room table, because it was the first project Jason and I worked on together as newlyweds! The drapes are also a favorite of mine. They are Pier One drapes; however, I found them at Big Lots for $15 each (they were originally $45 per panel...I just love a great deal).

My very talented Momma crackled the desk above and I think it makes a cute console table.

This chandelier is my pride and joy...and the focal point of the dining room. Above are the before & after pictures. I purchased the chandelier and lampshades for $25 off of craigslist. With a little bit of paint, fabric, trim, and hot glue (and a lot of time and patience)...I think that it turned out to be quite charming. I would love to post pictures of each and every shade (I honestly do not have a favorite); however, that would make this post entirely too long!

I hope that you enjoyed a tour of our dining room...it is definitely not perfect or even close to finished, but there are many aspects that I just love. Please let me know if you have any ideas on how to better the space, I am all ears!

My Husband the Handyman

So I think my husband has been holding out on me the past three years! I just love all things crafty and creative and seem to always have some type of project started. I think that Jason has wanted me to "think" that he does not know how to do certain types of projects...so that I wont overload him with honey-dos.

He recently installed a new ceiling fan in our bedroom. Here are a few pictures:

Can you tell how excited he is?

Wiring like a pro :)

Final Product

I was quite proud of him...and even prouder as we slept soundly beneath our new fan later that night.

Jason has started to work on the antique dresser I purchased off of craigslist for $75! I just love a good deal and after a little research, I think the 9-drawer antique dresser with the matching mirror is quite a steal. Jason began sanding the dresser tonight. A little bit of primer, paint, and new hardware that I have already picked out from Anthropologie, and I think the dresser is going to be perfect in Luke's nursery.


Here a few pictures of Jason and the dresser:

Don't you love the curves of the dresser?

Let the fun begin!

To my husband: I love you honey...thanks for following along with all of my crazy ideas!

Please Be My Guest....

Tomorrow is the "Guest Room" edition of "Show Us Where You Live Friday" on Kelly's Korner Blog. Kelly is the oh-so cute mom of a precious little girl named Harper. If you have not ever taken the time to read her story, you should! Kelly is so great to share stories about her family and faith. Definitely a must read!

Our guest room is tiny! I could try and "cute" it up by saying how "cozy" it is, but the simple truth is that it is just plain small. As you will see in the following pictures, I have not done much to help it with the huge wrought-iron sleigh bed that takes up much of the room....however, I just love it and am not ready to let go.

This picture is a view of the room from the hallway...and pretty much captures it all. When I was in high school, I found a picture of a wrought-iron sleigh bed in a home decorating magazine and was instantly in love. However, the bed was extremely expensive. My wonderful mom is from this tiny town (Bowie, TX) and happened to know of this great store called "The Back Forty." They make all sorts of beautiful furniture, garden planters, and accessories. They were more than happy to make this sleigh bed for me, and later on even made a gorgeous candle light wrought-iron cross that we used as the main focal point for our wedding!


Here is another view of the room...can you tell it is tiny?!? You may not be able to tell, but the lampshade is made up of fake flowers that I hot glued on to a very worn out shade. I have always been thrifty and tackled this project when I was in high school. Back then my room was painted red, which really made all of the other colors stand out.

Here is a close-up of the bedding. It is a "flea market" quilt from Anthropologie...one of my very favorite stores. I have had this bedding since I was in college, but still love all of the wonderful colors. I would love to match it with a beautiful pair of black & white toile drapes one of these days!

I only have the two "lady" paintings as art on the wall, and have never gotten around to painting this room. Please let me know if you have any suggestions on how to make it more "cozy!"

It has been confirmed....

We are so thrilled to be having a little boy. Neither Jason or I had a preference, so it was simply music to our ears for the ultrasound to show a healthy and growing little boy. He is constantly on the go, despite the obvious limitations of my small belly! The ultrasound tech was quite impressed by how he seemed to move into the perfect position exactly when she was ready to snap each picture. I, of course, let her know that I had given the baby a little pep talk on the way to our appointment about how great it would be if he/she would cooperate :)

Here is a picture of his profile: If you look closely, you can see his little hand by his head. Although he was constantly in motion, he always seemed to return to this position.

I have started to work on his nursery and recently received the fabric swatches I ordered from this cute website: www.polkatotdesigns.com. I had no idea that four little pieces of fabric could be quite so exciting. I was in love the moment I opened the envelope!

Here is a picture of the fabrics:

I do not think I could possibly plan a nursery without a little bit of toile! Thank heavens they make it in a manly blue and brown.

We are so blessed that Jason's Aunt Carol has offered to make the baby bedding. She is super creative and amazing with a sewing machine. It makes me so happy to know that our little one will be surrounded by things made with such love. Thanks again, Carol! We love you!

P.S. We are still working on the perfect name...I will be sure to post once the final decision has been made.