Pine Dresser Face-lift

My husband had this pine dresser from his childhood home that we decided to re-use for the baby's nursery.  I decided not to paint it yet [one- because we've got so many other projects going on right now that I didn't feel like it, two- I couldn't decide what color to paint it yet anyway, white, grey, teal..., and three- because I think it will cute with just the updated knobs in the spot I have for it right now]

[before] 

 [after]

It was just an easy update that took me 5 minutes to switch out the knobs for!  I bought knobs that I liked in pairs at Anthropologie a while back in hopes of using them for this dresser.  I just got all different styles and patterns, but in coordinating colors of aqua blue.  I usually see what kinds of knobs they have on sale and even if I don't know what I'm going to do with them yet, I'll buy them marked down for future use.  They just have the cutest stuff you can't find anywhere else!

 Photos of the dresser in it's new nursery space to come...

Published Idea

 If you pick up next month's issue (July) of This Old House when it comes out you will see my little project on page 18!  This was from a whole room makeover I did last summer for my cousin Makenzie when she turned 10 years old.  You can see her full room transformation HERE!

They loved the idea of using a frame to display jewelry on the wall and using found and mis-matched hooks to hang each item.  The frame was from an antique store and the hooks were form Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters.  I would love to collect them from Architectural Salvage and antique stores in the future, but the project timeline didn't allow me to accumulate a collection of found objects for this specific project.  Here's the tiny little blurb and photo below in the upper right corner below:

Minor detail: It was actually my cousin's room I redesigned (not my niece) but she's so much younger than me she feels like my niece! 

Another friend saw the jewelry display I did for Makenzie and wanted one too.  She bought the frame and hooks (many from Hobby Lobby) and I put it up for her.

Side note: If you use knobs (that are meant for drawer pulls with a screw end) you need to put a drywall anchor into the wall first that the knob can screw into to be secure.  Hooks usually have holes for screws or nails to go through.  If you hit a stud it's easy, if not, I used drywall anchors again just so it wouldn't ever rip out of the wall. 

Farmhouse Update

Our family farm is in need of a facelift.  It used to belong to my great grandpa ("Poppy") and great grandma.  My grandma grew up here and then moved to Raytown when she married my grandpa Bob.  They retired in Lee's Summit, where she lives now, and we've always come back to the farm to play, hang out, have bon-fires, hay-rides, celebrate birthdays, etc...  It's been since December 2010 that my great grandma, at the age of 101, passed away and no one has lived in this house.  We want to revitalize it and make it a place ready for large groups of friends and family to gather, make food, drink, and be merry!  But also a place that the younger generations continue to enjoy and cherish with many memories.

The kitchen needs new cabinetry, counters, and flooring.  We will be reconfiguring some of the plumbing/appliances and taking out that peninsula for a cute island in the center of the room.  This should help with traffic flow a lot and add charm with a place to sit and snack.

This one-piece sink is just too cool (probably worth a bit of money too).  We would keep it here, but the cabinets aren't in great shape, so we're going to move it to the barn where there's plumbing and use it for big parties down there.

 This cow head dish towel holder is too funny- we have to keep and re-hang it in the new kitchen!  Apparently, my mom gave it to great grandma at one time.  Makes for a very country kitchen look!

 Here are the current bathrooms.  they will be sooo different after we get our hands on them.

The living room is sort of an odd shape, but spacious.  We'll just be updating the paint, carpet, furniture, and some lighting fixtures to make it fresh.

The back screened-in porch needs some cleaning and new screens.  We will be replacing the outdoor carpeting and putting new cushions on the repainted chair frames.

 The deck just needs to be power-washed and sealed, but is a great place to sit and talk.

 Can't wait to show you photos of the process, and especially the after photos of our soon-to-be adorable country kitchen!

Raised Garden Bed

My husband, Matt, has been wanting to build this raised garden bed for some time now.  He built a 3'x6' bed using cedar from Home Depot, screwed it together using galvanized metal/outdoor screws, and installed it in our backyard the other weekend!  It's sort of our "practice" version for our larger-scale plan to have an organic community garden at our church, Leawood Presbyterian, next year!

It's on a hill that gets the most sun in our yard, so he had to dig a trench to be able to make it level into the hill.  We also bought organic soil for our organic garden.  

He brought home two shipping palettes from work the other day for free to construct a compost bin [pictured below].  It's actually about half full right now. 

We have a small metal bin in our kitchen for all of our scraps- which has been great for less waste!  Plus you can use grass clippings, leaves, coffee grounds, and lint from your dryer!  Plus my mom has a copper compost bin to match her kitchen that she brings us when it's full.  We got ours at Bed Bath & Beyond.

There are a ton of shipping palette projects going on in home DIY blogs right now, here's a few of my favorites:   

Right now our garden is not full.  It only has cabbage and broccoli in it- since a friend from Matt's work gave them to him for free!  He just gave us some Radish and Leaf Lettuce seeds to add.  We are planning on planting tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, and herbs like cilantro and basil.  Matt really wants corn although it gets so big- not sure yet.  We might end up putting our herbs in pots if we end up having too many veggies!

We also have a rain barrel that's connected to our downspout for reusing water to hydrate plants.  It is a converted old greek container for shipping olives that he bought on ebay two years ago!  Because it collects and filters water that is run-off from our roof we didn't think it would be good to use to water our food, but we will use it to water our non-edible plants around the garden.

Here's a tutorial to build a raised garden from This Old House.  It's much more intensive than what we did, but very informative.

The only thing I might want to add to our bed is a ledge for leaning/sitting when picking veggies like this one:

Here is Matt, smiling from ear-to-ear, after a long evening of work drinking a beer!  Don't worry- that Margarita is mine; can't hold a camera and a drink at the same time!

The broccoli and cabbage have already grown so much!

[That is cut ornamental grass from our front yard fountain grass that we trimmed before it started growing back green to use as "hay" on the new plants]

A work in progress...

Grey & Yellow Nursery

I am so excited to share Brighton & Violets' adorable grey/yellow Nursery with you!

Aren't these twin girlies just the cutest little things?

[Left =Violet, Right= Brighton]

Their awesome crafty momma, Melissa, painted wood letters from Michael's black and hung them on the wall with 3M stickies.  She also used left over fabric scraps in old-fashioned wood cross-stitch loops hung on a tiny nail.  She made the fabric bird mobiles too; using a tutorial much like this one. You can download the free pattern here!  Melissa also made the framed family tree illustrations in the background of mom and dad's side of the family with the girls.  She was inspired by Rifle Paper Co.'s Personalized Stationary.  She did the drawings and watercolor herself!

These are the oh-so-cute wall book holders her mom sewed from Melissa's fabrics (some Dwell Studio, from Calico Corners) and hung on double curtain rods!  The cute framed artwork above them is an illustration from the artist Aled Lewis.

Pause for some play time...

Melissa & Jeremy previously had the long dresser and painted it a mustard yellow to match the fabrics.  The cribs are from Nebraska Furniture Mart and the glider is from Babies R Us.  The walls were custom screen printed by The City Girl Farm! Her mom also sewed the bed skirts, pillow, and curtains.

One last look at those cute personalized vignettes above the girls' beds!  I love the shadows of the birds on the wall.

Nothin' like ending a day of photo-shoots with some outdoor swinging!

Too cute.