Catching Up, October Style

Hola! Happy October! Okay, so it is almost mid-October. Little late! Sorry! :)

I have been cleaning, hanging new curtains (more to come in a later post- PROMISE!) and generally doing nothing today...and I LOVE IT! Ava has been sick with a double ear infection for the past week, and is finally on the mend, so that has been nice.

Just wanted to share some updates with you on our house and Halloween decor...

These are my "pumpkins... on a stick" (if you watch Jeff Dunham you might get that!)

I got the idea from Pinterest, and adapted it as I usually do with Pinterest ideas. I used a stencil from HobLob for the letters. Stenciling onto pumpkins is harder than you might think- FYI.

Here is my entry table. You might remember it from the before & after post I did about it. I just love getting to decorate it for each season!

What I didn't share was this chair I found at a junk store for $3. I painted it and recovered it with some fabulous fabric called "Love Letters" that I ordered online. I painted it the same color as the dresser, but I am not loving it with the fabric. I just ordered some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in their new color, Coco, so I might repaint it that color. I don't know, I will just have to see what the color looks like.

These are my knockoff PB ghosts. You can see their version here. They want $45 for theirs (ON SALE)...mine are hanging in the yard after $20 and 20 minutes. :)

This is my neighbor across the street. I snuck this picture going back inside after taking the ghost family's picture. THIS is what I have to compete with people! HA! I love them and they have a beautiful yard anyway. And their house has oodles of curb appeal. But it just looks AWESOME with the mums and pumpkins! I can't wait to see what it looks like at Christmas!!!

Oh, I painted my door! It was an awful reddish purple color. But now it is Iron Mountain by Benjamin Moore. Happy happy, joy joy!

And we got new living room furniture! YAY! Ours was mine in college, and before that it was my parents. So it was about time for something new. I am not sure about this arrangement. There are definite pros and cons. But I am loving the pieces! Now after we get our granite, that will be the end of our major purchases for a while!!! Granite is coming hopefully within the next month! YAY! I am thinking about either recovering the storage ottoman or bringing back the old black coffee table and painting it with my AS Chalk Paint Coco paint. We will see. And the set came with about 10 throw pillows, but they are U-G-L-Y, so I am going to recover those too!

This is a chair that I snagged from my sister's garage sale pile. She has these around her dining table, and this was an extra. It is primed to paint red, but I think I am going to paint it with my AS Coco paint too. :)

And last, but not least, I *finally* got a station clock! I have been wanting one forever, but we never had a good place for one. Now we do, so we trotted to HobLob this past week and picked one up for 50% off! I just love it, and it is practical too! You can see the time from the living room area and the kitchen area! Lovely!

Well, I think I am caught up. Except sharing about the new curtains. But I am not ready for that project reveal just yet...but I promise to share when I am done! I will give you a hint- the new curtains are in the Master BR. :)

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!!!

Helicopters and Windows

I have been a bad blogger. Sorry. I have just been super busy the last week or two. And honestly I am not quiet sure what all I have gotten accomplished? Don't ya just hate that?!!? At least I know what I have accomplished today! Which actually has been a lot, including reorganizing my pantry (and drat! I forgot to take before & after pics! Sorry!).

My hubs, Cole, as most of my loyal readers know, is a military and commercial helicopter pilot. For the last six weeks, we have been in pseudo deployment mode while he was in Louisiana learning to fly these big boys....


That, my friends, is an Sikorsky S-92 helicopter. They are very fancy and VERY large. In fact, only some of the oil rig platforms that he flies to can even accommodate them. They hold 19 passengers and 2 pilots. That is a BIG helicopter! I am so proud of my husband! During the training, he was also able to obtain his helicopter ATP Certification (airline transport pilot). Most people know about private and commercial pilots licenses. An ATP is an add-on to a commercial pilots license. It means that you have gone through enough school and have enough real world experience (flight hours) to pass a written and oral exam & check-ride. Basically, Cole now knows all there is to know about flying a helicopter, according to the FAA. I already knew that... they should have just asked me! :)

He is finally home and we are getting back to our "normal" schedule. Which is not normal to anyone who doesn't work in the gulf. But it is our normal two week on, two week off schedule.

Back on the home front-literally!- I am struggling with what to do about window treatments in the living room. They are bare, and need...something. I just don't know what.

I thought about regular ole' curtains or valances, but I have a problem if I do that....

See that space? Right there between the window and the bookcase??? Well that space is only about 8" wide. Too narrow for a curtain or valance to hang and look normal. Especially considering the other side (above) has a much larger area. I just think it would be too close to the bookcase and close off those shelves.

What to do, what to do?!?!?! The only solution I have come up with is to do plantation shutters. These are usually so beautiful in and of themselves that they don't need any other type of dressing (in my opinion). But OH MY WORD have you priced them?!?! And can I even do them on the french doors? I guess I could do them on the windows and do curtains on the sides of the doors. But is that too much going on? Anyone have any advice or opinions??? HELP! I have been searching my new obsession (aka Pinterest) for idea, and so far nada!

Door Dilemma

I don't have much time....I hear munchkin in her crib laughing and playing. Today's nap time is officially over! But I wanted to put this out there....


I want to paint my front door. I know you are shocked. Rachel Brewer wants to paint something- stop the presses!!! HA! I do think Cole was right...given enough time, I will find a way to paint everything in our house. ;)

But I really think this needs painted! My first instinct was to paint it black. BUT, we switched the hardware (and soon the carriage lights too) to oil rubbed bronze. So they would just disappear on a black door. I then thought a bright, fire engine red would be lovely. But A. I might end up dying of frustration painting something red (aka the hardest freaking color to paint ever), and B. I am just not crazy about red doors on red brick homes. Just not. Sorry if you have one- don't mean to offend. I just think that there needs to be some contrast, and red on red brick isn't enough for me.

I thought about doing something really bold like lime green or cobalt blue. But that might be a little TOO much contrast. And Cole would not like that.

So what do my beautiful readers think? Suggestions? Ideas? I gotta get away from the burgundy. It is a must. :)

And by the way, in case you were wondering, the glass storm door is the same taupe/tan color as our home's trim.

So much to share...

and I promise I will soon! I have been working like a dog getting our house put together, and we are ALMOST THERE!!! Whew! I haven't forgotten about my poor little blog. I ***promise*** to share pictures soon!

Maybe I will take pictures before our family get together this weekend. When it is nice and clean. :)