From Wood to WHITE!

Good morning everyone! 

Can you all believe today is the 30th and tomorrow is HALLOWEEN!? October is GONE, and Thanksgiving and Christmas are a knockin' on the door. It really hit me when I was talking to my parents, and when asked the next time we would be home our response was "well I guess Thanksgiving..." Dang! Fall is just whizzing on by. 

We've been super busy this month, gone almost every weekend for parties, little trips, or other obligations. All fun things I assure you, but it definitely is the reason why I feel like I've blinked and this month is already over. 

Since we've been gone a lot, our home projects have kind of been put on hold. We've discovered that after working all day, the last thing we want to do when we get home is start painting something. Weekends are our main days to tackle projects, so hopefully November will let us get a few more things off of our "to-do" list. 

One thing we have gotten done is  painting our cabinets! 

Remember when I posted this picture in our Wellman Weekend Warriors post? 

My mother and sister-in-law were troopers, taking down all of the doors and sanding them. 

Our next step was getting everything out of the kitchen. 

It seemed like I had just finished unpacking and putting everything in those cabinets, and here we go taking everything out and putting in the dinning room. 

Having to walk in here a million times while making dinner was SUPER FUN, I tell you what... 

Anywhoo....after a few coats of Sherwin Williams Simply White (with some sanding in between) we were in business. 

What a difference! As soon as we put the first coat on, Eric stepped back and was like, "we need to paint these walls ASAP" and I agree. The white cabinets and the cream walls are just way to washed out together. 

So now we're all taped up and ready to paint! These walls are textured, and after a few suggestions from friends (THANKS!) we purchased extra thick/fluffy rollers which should help the paint cover better.

I would love to say that we're ready to call our kitchen cabinet project done....but the doors and drawers are still out in the rec-room. I've only finished one coat (and 4 doors still need that) but don't fret cabinets! You won't be hanging naked for much longer! 

Lastly a little before and after, because that's just too much fun :D

The white is just so fresh! I am giddy just thinking about what the final kitchen reveal will look like. 

Stay tuned! 

Pumpkins with some GLAM!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!

Yesterday I was featured on my friend Michaela's blog, Happy Apple, to show how I decorated my pumpkins this year. So I thought I would also share that post with all of you! 

If you're anything like me, you want EVERYTHING to do with decorating for Fall and Halloween, but want NOTHING to do with the mess that is carving pumpkins. There are a lot of options out there for alternative pumpkin decorating (be sure to check out Pinterest) ranging from paint, sequins, leggings, plastic spiders, push pins, googly-eyes, you name it! 

For my pumpkins this year I chose paint and fabric as my main two mediums. 

For my first little pumpkin I tried to replicate the "gold-dipped" look that is all over the place. I was able to tape off an area and paint with gold acrylic paint. If I were to do this project again, I think a gold spray paint would be an easier option than painting on with acrylic. 

My second pumpkin is a simple little herringbone pattern. Fun story about this little guy! I totally dropped him on me while painting, and now my black yoga pants have an awesome white stripped pattern on them! Wooo! 

With my last pumpkin, the giant one, I took a different approach to. Instead of paint, I cut strips of fabric and glued them all over the pumpkin using Modge Podge. I absolutely LOVE how this one turned out. It looks like it's completely wrapped in wrapping paper, almost not even real! This would be a perfect idea to do with a bunch of fake pumpkins so you could keep them year to year. 

So there you have it! Some alternative ways to decorate pumpkins, if chopping them up and getting your hands all covered in gooey pumpkin guts isn't your cup of tea! 

Have fun decorating and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Guest Blogger: Michaela from Happy Apple talks Pumpkins!

Today we have my blogger buddy, and real-life awesome friend, Michaela from Happy Apple  to talk about how she decorated her pumpkins this season. Take it away Mikey! 

Hey everyone! This is Michaela from Happy Apple and I am so excited to share my pumpkin decorating post!  I absolutely love Halloween and fall so decorating my pumpkins is a definite on my Fall To Do List! 

This year I used black and white paint with silver sequins to decorate my pumpkins. I really like using paint instead of carving pumpkins because it cuts down on the amount of cleanup and the pumpkin doesn't go bad as quickly. 

On the little pumpkin I just painted swirls inspired by scroll work on iron fences. And then Mod Podged the sequins on in random places to give it some bling.

On my big pumpkin I just did a half and half of white and black. I think next year I would write a message in the black part to give it an extra pop, but the monochromatic color really stands out! 

Thanks for sharing Michaela! Those pumpkins are ADORABLE! I'm always game for anything with some bling.

Be sure to check out her Halloween post about caramel apple bites, they look scary good :)

Getting Festive for Fall

This quote perfectly sums up how I feel about Fall. 

I've always been more of a "cool weather" kind of girl. When everyone else was craving shorts and swim suits, I was usually more comfortable in jeans and a sweatshirt. Honestly, I think it was because of my body image. I mean who wants to show off tons of skin when they're not proud about how they look? This past summer though, I actually really enjoyed the warm weather and the chance to wear sun dresses everyday. 

(Wooo progress!!) 

But true to myself  Fall is my FAVORITE time of the year. Everything becomes crisp, and the trees are ablaze with spectacular colors of red, gold, amber, and orange. 

This is the first year that I had a nice big space to decorate for this wonderful season. Last year I bought accidentally stole (little mishap with the self-checkout at Kroger) two small pumpkins  and decorated them the best I could in our little apartment. 

Cute right? :) 

So THIS year I was uber stoked to get normal sized pumpkins and go to town! 

We had an extra hay bail from seeding our yard that Eric brought to the front for me, then I arranged the pumpkins and mums we got until I was satisfied. Then I drug my chalkboard menu window out of our hallway (where it has been since move-in day) and drew some festive fall pictures on it. 

This was made from a shutter I bought from Building Value for $4. I attached some fake flowers I had in a vase to it with some wire, then tied scraps of burlap that was leftover from my Christmas wreath project (featured HERE, and the tutorial to make your own is HERE!). 

All together now!

YEAH FALL! 

Even my paint swatches go with the color scheme :) 

I have to tell you though, last night I could hardly sleep. I had visions of waking up and everything being stolen. My pumpkins smashed in the road, and my shutter and window long gone. I know we live in an "OK" neighborhood, but you just never know. 

Well low and behold, one of the pumpkins was missing this morning. Luckily it wasn't smashed, just brought all the way down the block and plopped down in someones yard. 

Idiot hooligans.

I brought everything except the hay, flowers, and my window inside before I left for work today. So hopefully it's all still sitting there when I get home. 

Have you decorated your house for Fall? Are you more of a seasonal decorator, or a Halloween decorator? I'm not one for scary stuff, so I like to keep it charming and hopefully leave it out through Thanksgiving. 

That is if my pumpkins survive...