Happy Fall Y'all!!!

Well, Fall officially started today! And I am STOKED! I love Fall. The crisp morning air, the leaves beginning their slow change, pumpkins and mums adorning front porches! It.is.AWESOME!

Earlier this week, I started decorating the front of our house for Fall. This is our first fall here, so I was just feeling out where I wanted things to go.

This was a Pinterest project. I have a metal pumpkin in the attic that I was going to use, but I couldn't bear to paint it. This one was $15 at garden ridge, and was a little sad looking by itself. So I added the dots and the name. :) Note: Corrugated metal is NOT your friend on such projects! That is why the name is a little screwy! Oh well! I might paint it orange and begin again next year! ;)

What I had so far. We just got these new carriage lights hung. LOVE THEM! I am still really stuck on a door color. But I am just about tired of thinking about it, so I think I might just paint it black (or maybe use Anne Sloan Chalk Paint in Graphite) and see what happens. It's only paint, right?!

That space to the left there is where I want to put a bench. I will have to work on that so that I can add some adorable "trick or treat" outdoor pillows I found on Pinterest. Which reminds me, I need to find some outdoor pillows on sale! HA !

Using my canvas again this year. Not gonna lie, I am thinking about adding the big white polkadots to the outside purple border. Thoughts? If you can't tell, I am loving polkadots right now! :)

Speaking of polkadots- this was another Pinterest idea. The blog that the picture linked to wasn't actually about the girl's dotted planters, but I fell in love! I just dig how they bring a touch of whimsy and fun to an otherwise very traditional front entryway.

I bought the planters for 50% off at Garden Ridge, and painted the dots on when I got home. Like, AS SOON AS I got home!

The ghost and candycorn stakes are also from garden ridge.

$4 each. Yes, please!

They had pumpkins, too.

(excuse the dirt patch. we have a drainage issue that I am addressing now)

The mums are all from Lowes. Good prices and pretty mums! I have them placed so that the sprinkler will hit them each morning. Hope this keeps them alive! Ha! The red pot is just a terracotta pot from Walmart that I spray painted red.

Happy Fall!!!

Project: Dresser

div>So things have been a bit, um, stressful here at the Brewer house! We are having some issues with Ava that I don't really want to get into, but I would ask that you just keep us in your prayers as we try to figure out what is going on and how best to handle what we find.

So because of all of the happening, I haven't really updated. Sorry. But I have a fun project to share that will hopefully make up for it! Most of my friends know that when I get stressed, I tend to decorate as a means of coping with sed stress. Well this has been my stress relief for the month...

I found this handsome guy on Craigslist a few weeks ago. The lady that had it "upcycles" furniture, and had already done work on it. I loved the shape and size, but the style wasn't what I wanted. BUT, it is an antique (circa 1917 according to my research) and I knew I could make it what I wanted. Not to mention, I had been DYING to use some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and this was the perfect excuse!

I bought the dresser for my foyer. The foyer has 12' ceilings, and our little sofa table that was in the entry way was too short and too long and just not right in there. So I knew when we moved in I wanted something different.

And the result?

Pardon my photography skills! HA! I wish I could blame the camera, but it really is just me.

Another angle...

The paint is Annie Sloan Duck Egg blue chalk paint (which is a nice paint to work with, but I don't think it is as grand as everyone seems to think...not for 35$ a quart anyway). I stripped the top to reveal beautiful walnut and then stained it dark (it only took a couple of coats of stain & poly mix from Minwax to get that color. The wood is a beautiful dark walnut- how could anyone paint that?!?!) I then *painstakingly* painted the keyholes with oil rubbed bronze paint to make them stand out, and replaced the hardware. I had to fill in the holes on the bottom two drawers and re drill holes for the pulls. Not an easy task because my handy plastic hardware templates don't work with those pulls! Ah!

But he is done and proudly standing in my foyer. I just love it and honestly, I am really proud of myself for taking the time and doing it. I am usually not great with projects that take a lot of time, but this one paid off I think!

DIY Curtains and Large Purchases

Sorry I have been an absentee blogger lately. Things just seem to keep getting busy. Mostly because of Pinterest and my desire for large and time consuming projects. :)

We have made a lot of large purchases lately. And by large, I mean several hundred dollars for one item. New house, new tires, and this big bad boy... :)

So new, I haven't even thrown the box out yet (that is it sitting on the deck there...). I always wanted one as a kid, but they didn't have those cool nets back then and my parents would never cave. So I finally talked Cole into getting one, despite his trying to convince me that it would make our yard look trashy! HA! Don't know where he got that! Ava loves it! She always loves to play on her cousins so I knew she would. It will be a few years before she is allowed to really jump, but for now she loves to sit and bounce. :)

In other news, Pinterest is the devil and takes up ALL of my free time. Seriously, I love it though. So fun! I had been agonizing over window treatments for the living room for a while (really since we first saw the house) but when I saw these http://pinterest.com/pin/166617269/, I knew I had to have them! Problem was that the picture links to a blog (and not just to post, ugh) and when I did dig through and find the post, she didn't say where she got them! plus, I really wanted tan and black. So then I found this pin http://pinterest.com/pin/165927178/, and she did a whole tutorial on how to paint curtains! So I found some curtains at JC Penny (on sale AND I had a coupon) for $20 a PAIR, in a great burlap color. And I dug out some black latex paint from the garage, some painters tape (I used the blue with "edge lock technology) and got to work!

Here is the results...

I LOVE them!!! So happy with the results!!!

I was worried about the curtain blocking the built-in, and it does a little, But not as badly as I thought.

If you are wondering, yes, they are a little stiff where the paint is, but not too bad. The tutorial says they will loosen up. If they are still really stiff in a few weeks when the paint has cured some, I am planning on steaming them VERY carefully to see if that might help. Might do a test piece first to make sure I am not going to mess them up.

This was my Gummy's chair. Gummy was my mom's mom, and she was so called because she always carried Juicy Fruit in her purse. My sister started it, and it stuck. :) She was all about fixing up furniture. This chair was wood (don't have a great before) and is the only thing I have from her. I fought with myself about painting it for a LONG time. It isn't a great quality piece, just special. My mom voted no, but my sister made a good point- Gummy would have wanted me to LOVE it, and she always re did pieces, so I should make it into something I love as an homage to her. And I did! Still living with the purple. I tried lime and it was too much (and was going to take 100 cans of spray paint to finish). I like the purple. Might go with a light blue though. Who knows. :) It is a work in progress! I got extra fabric of that print to make throw pillows with. Love my new edgy living room look. It is a work in progress.

And lastly, a question: Has anyone ever used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint? It is pretty pricey, but I just got a piece I want to paint with it. My question is, is the price worth it? All of the retailers say it is, but I am hesitant. It would have to be FREAKING AWESOME paint to be worth 35$ a quart!!!