Taylor's First Big Girl Room

I was going through pictures the other day, looking for a picture of a particular wipe case when I came across these photos of Taylor's first big girl room. We don't like in this house anymore, so while her current room has the same feel as this one, it's still a bit different. For some reason, I've never liked her current room as much as I do this one. I'm not sure why, but I think in some way it's because I wasn't quite ready to move out of our old house and have never felt that same connection with this house as I did with the old house. Who knows?

The dresser I found at an "antique" store. I put antique in quotes because that's what they called themselves, but I don't think anything in that store was old enough to be called antique. It wasn't the dresser that I wanted - they started a sale that day and someone got there minutes before I did and bought *the* dresser. I still mourn the loss of that dresser - it had cabriole legs and such a pretty shape. This dresser was option number two. I purchased it with the intent on painting it. You can't really see the detail in these pictures, so I'll do another post on it soon.

The hat lamp I adore, and it came from Ebay. I added the ribbon. The hat came adorned with some kind of tulle and fake flower atrocity. Blech!

The purses that are hanging on the wall in the first picture that are holding, well, purses were a collaboration between me and my dad. I drew the shapes, he cut and sanded the wood, and I painted. I adore these little purses - they just scream Taylor to me (she is such a purse girl!). One of these days I'll put some of these in my store.

The bookcase in the picture below runs the entire wall. It turns into a window seat and then goes back to a tall bookcase on the other side of the window. It's all one unit and all built in. I designed it, and then had a company build it for us. I love the functionality of it - it has an incredible amount of storage, but the footprint is small (it's about 14" wide), so it doesn't make the room feel smaller. I liked it so much that when we moved, it was the first thing I contracted to have done.

I spent a good deal of the day yesterday cleaning and organizing Taylor's current bedroom, and Megan's is on tap today. Once they are somewhat presentable, I'll photograph them and post them soon.

Father's Day Treat Jar

We had the Father's Day gift for Poppy (my dad) all ready to go, but we still needed a little something to round it out. We were cruising the bulk section of our local Sprouts when Hubby noticed the chocolate covered macadamia nuts. These are one of Poppy's favorite treats, so we loaded up a plastic bag full of the chocolate goodness. Since a plastic grocery bag just isn't all that gift like, I went and found a cute (but plain) jar to put them in.

Then, my trusty Cricut machine came to the rescue. I got out my vinyl and cut out the "P" for the front and then "Poppy's treats" for the back. I debated putting "If you aren't Poppy, Keep Out!", but kept it pretty simple (even though I knew Poppy would appreciate the "keep out!").

It was a cute, easy addition to a gift!

Knife Block Re-do!

Since I've got the itch to redecorate, I started in the kitchen. Nothing major so far, but I've updated the merchandising on my counters a bit and I'm much happier with what I've got going on now. (another post on that to come!).

Once I got everything placed where I wanted it on the counters, I knew I had to do something about my knife block. It's pretty necessary - I cook every night, so it gets a lot of use. That said, it has to stay on my counters, but I'm not digging the look of it. There's nothing really wrong with it, but it could be so much better! So out came the paint.

Here is the before:



And, here is the after:



So much cuter, isn't it? It took a couple of steps to get it to this point, but it was still a quick and easy process. Here's how I did it:
1. Sand the entire block to get the old varnish off. Wipe dust off with a damp cloth. Let dry.
2. Once it's dry, paint with a base coat. I used white on mine. Let dry.
3. Once dry, paint with a crackle medium, following the instructions on the can. I used a crackle medium by Behr that I got for around $10 at the Home Depot. Let dry.
4. Paint with a top coat, following the instructions on the crackle medium can. For my top coat, I used an off white/light tan color. Let dry. (are you seeing a trend here?)
5. Apply an antiquing glaze around the edges to give it an aged look (I used American Accents Distressed Ivory Antiquing Top Coat)
6. To get the monogram I used MS Word. I printed out the letter in the size I wanted on regular paper. I then went to a window and put the paper up with the printed size against the glass. Then I used a pencil to trace the image onto the back side of the paper. I then taped the letter onto my block, printed side out and traced around it. This will create a pencil version of the letter on the block. Then, I painted in the letter with craft paint.
7. Apply clear coat to seal it.

Now, I should say that since the knifes will be used on food that you should use paint that is non-toxic. I didn't check that (though I know I should have), but I didn't paint the inside of the knife slots - just the exterior of the block. But still - check just to be safe.

I just love the finished product!