Thanksgiving + Project Updates

Hi! I hope that you had a great Thanksgiving weekend! We were celebrating with family in Maryland. It was so nice to have a little more time there.

Things have been pretty crazy since we moved to Ohio. We've also been traveling almost every weekend which has made it difficult to work on projects. Between that and not being able to find materials at my go to places, it has caused a project slow down. We're going to be staying put for a few weeks (yay! Traveling is exhausting!) so we should be getting lots done.

Here's a few project updates.

Friday we were driving past Ikea so we stopped to pick up a few things (luckily it was later, so it wasn't too busy) The tassel trim also arrived this week (from eBay).

An Ash tree recently died at David's parent's house, so it was cut down about a month ago. Unlimited project potential, right!? We finished one project, and started another ...

I'll be back in a day or so! :)

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Today I'm at Pretty Handy Girl

Hello all! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Today I'm over at Pretty Handy Girl sharing a super easy diy gift idea.  Stop by and say hi :) and make sure to check out all of the other diy projects!

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our BIG news!

Hi! I hope that you had a great weekend! Things are moving in the right direction, so I can finally tell you the great news!

We're buying a house!! :) Surprised? Considering we just moved to Ohio .. let me explain. It's in Maryland, close to our parents. We're hoping to move back to Maryland in April, but nothing is set in stone. We move for David's job, so even if we don't move back it will be nice to have a place to call home (close to our parent's so that they can watch things while we're gone) and to centralize all of our things. One of the biggest stressors from moving was figuring out what to do with all of our stuff. If you're a diy/design blogger, you know how much space it takes up. It's definitely not practical to move everything from place to place for 6 months to a year or so. Moving next time should be much easier (I hope :)

We're SO excited to start some new DIYs!!

David's also excited to have a two car garage .. you probably don't know, but he loves fixing up cars .. he has one stripped down to the frame (and a lot of extra parts) floating around his parent's garage, so at least half of the garage will be devoted to that. The rest will be for our DIY stuff. BUT there is a side room (used to be for a pottery kiln) that we'll set up to use as the wood shop. It will be so nice to keep the dust contained.

Enough talk :) Here's a couple pics of the main living space. Full tour once furniture is moved out..

Hardwood throughout (except the kitchen and bathrooms) and so much potential!! Of course we already have some plans :)

The home inspection came back with no major problems (just nickel and dime stuff) yay!!

I decided to wait to share since there was a "home of choice" contingency in the contract. The owner was waiting to find another home until they were under contract .. and since they were looking for a home with space for horses, (they currently have horses that are boarded) we were a little worried. Friday we found out that they put an offer on a property and it was accepted! So everything is moving in the right direction!

We're scheduled to close in January, but since the current owner found a home, we're hoping to move the date up to just before Christmas. Hopefully, since we'll be spending time in Maryland at Christmas!

So between the closing date and April, we'll be working on projects the weekends that we're in Maryland. Also, David's schedule is switching to 6 / 12 hr days in February so I may be spending some time in Maryland since he'll be here basically just to sleep :( So I might DIYing solo - we'll see how it goes ...

We're so excited :) I hope that you'll follow along on our next adventure!!

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White and Gold Ombre Lamp at Infarrantly Creative

Hey everyone!! Happy Friday! Sorry for the lack of posts recently ... We are finally getting settled yay! so I'll have more time to work on all of my recent thrifting finds.

Yesterday I found lots of great things at Goodwill and Habitat Restore (pics soon!) Also, we brought David's old truck back from Maryland ... so I'll probably be borrowing that a few days a week to haul my finds.

Today on Infarrantly Creative, I'm sharing my .97 thrifted lamp makeover. YES, only .97!! It needs to be rewired, but you can't beat the price!

Make sure to stop by and check it out!

I hope you have a great weekend! We'll be staying put, so knocking out lots of projects!!

p.s. big news soon!! probably next week :)

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Design Plan | Lauren's Contemporary Cottage

Before we left California, I met Lauren through one of my Craigslist furniture sales. I wasn't looking for any clients at the time, but she was super sweet and her house was so cute, I had to do it! Plus, a while ago, she pinned our old bedroom, so it was kinda meant to be.

I finished up the plan a few weeks ago and never shared, here it is!

Living room now:

Living room plan:

pinterest |  burlap and lace | pinterest  | the hunted interior 

The entry is connected to the living room, so to make the most of it I suggested creating board and batten molding with coat hooks. There is also built ins next to the door, so a deep charcoal trellis stencil would help them stand out. 

I adjusted the space planning using their existing sofas, but turned it towards the back wall so that the entry and living room would be a little more defined. Lauren wants to find a faux fireplace, and I instantly thought of the hunted interiors stacked logs. To help the TV blend in I suggested building a gallery wall around it, similar to burlap and lace's TV area.

Sunroom, now:

I fell in love with this room right away. It's a finished garage but the roof line and the french door really make this place special! 

Sunroom plan:

By the french door, I suggested putting a rattan hanging chair - perfect for reading! For storage, two long buffets against the long wall (similar to Young House Love's) Lauren and her husband need something with taller storage, so this would be a good option. The seating area on the back wall was created with their existing sofa (I swapped the legs) and two caned chairs that Lauren just purchased from a friend. 

To help camouflage the washer and dryer, I turned them the other direction and placed screen.

 Bedroom now:

Since the bedroom was so tiny, there was only one place to place the bed. Since it would have to block part of the window, I suggested an open iron headboard so that it would still feel open.

the hunted interior | pinterest | haskel harris 

To balance the off center window and bed, I suggested creating an asymmetrical gallery wall similar to the hunted interior. For bedding, a mix of black and white pattern with a pop of coral mixed with natural elements. 

Guest room, now:

Used as a spare room, there needed to be room for an air mattress and still function as a dressing room. 

Guest room, plan: 

This was such a fun space to work on. I can't wait to see the space finished! I'll be sure to share as Lauren completes the spaces. 

--

ps, I'm still wifi free, something about them not having the address on file, so they need to come verify first ... grrr ... going to stop in for the third time since Wednesday today. Hopefully they figure it out asap! 

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Chair Fabric Options. What do you think?

Thanks SO much for all of your support!! One of the things that I love about blogging is the supportive community - you all are the best!

We are in our new rental and it feels great to unpack (except for the fact that we brought two boxsprings .. we forgot to check the boxes before we loaded the uhaul, whoops!! We assumed since the movers had put corresponding numbers on the boxes, that they were a set) We'll swap them when we go back to MD.

Yesterday I started tearing apart my $9.99 chair.

We're planning on swapping the back channeling for tufting, since I don't think we could replicate it. 

Here's some fabric options that I already have ... 

Kravet Archipelago Haze Gray
   

Kravet Riad Clove (dark brown) I only have one yard, but I could get more.

Kravet Xu Garden Orkid 

I also love the idea of using a wide black and white stripe.

I'll be using it as my office chair here - it's going with our natural x leg desk. Since the fabrics are designed for light upholstery, I'm planning on layering it with a sheepskin to help with the wear. Then I can use it as a side chair later - hopefully it will hold up well. Has anyone used these fabrics on a chair?

So what do you think? Do you have a favorite? I think I want to paint the legs glossy black, but I'm open to suggestions!

Happy Friday, I hope that you have a great weekend!

(p.s. I'm at McDonalds now ... still waiting on our wireless to be set up. I'm working mostly off of my phone now ... so I may be a little slow publishing comments, etc.)

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the GOOD, the BAD, and the UGLY

The coffee table/island has been put on hold .. where to start, I want to end on a happy note, so I'll start with the ugly. 

the UGLY

Friday night we received a call from management where we were staying. To say that it didn't go very well would be an extreme understatement. I won't go into the specifics, but it was very unprofessional and led to us deciding that we couldn't stay there. Also, the fact that they weren't able to fix the extremely slow internet (not good for bloggers .. and anyone in the 21st century) and the water was strange, after you got out of the shower you felt like you got out of the pool, it tasted horrible (I think it was river water that was chlorinated, yuck!!). I won't be providing a name or link, but if you're on Lake Erie, OH send me an email and I'll tell you where NOT to go.

Lesson learned - do not rush to get into a place because you want to get out of a hotel ... we had to stay at a not so nice hotel (when we got here in October) since the only decent hotel in town wouldn't accept dogs, and since we needed an extended stay to look for housing .. that wouldn't work. 

the BAD

Saturday we were scrambling to find a place .. we did find one (yay!!) but then we had to coordinate moving all of our stuff out. We rented a Uhaul on Sunday (had to drive 40 minutes one way since that was the only one open, yuck). Loaded it ourselves, it was a long walk to and from the unit to the truck. I'm still sore. We got on the road around 6pm and headed towards Maryland. Why Maryland??? I gave up on finding an unfurnished place, because practically everything is personal vacation homes. However, the people where we are renting are allowing us to move a few things into their other rental next door, so we'll have our own sofa, mattress and desk .. SO we left over half of our things with our parents in Maryland. In 24 hours we spent 12 hours driving and 12 hours sleeping/unloading sorting organizing boxes. 

the GOOD

Last night when we arrived back in Ohio, we met the owners at the little house we'll be staying in. They are super nice, and they completely built or remodeled (can't remember, but he is a contractor) the little house we'll be staying in. Since this is their home during the summer, they wanted to make sure that we were "ok" and go over a few of the specifics. I hope to share my good news that I mentioned on Friday soon .. I want things to firm up more before sharing too much. Even though it's very good news, it has made things a little more difficult. 

I'm definitely not sharing all of this because I want your pity, but you might be wondering what's going on with my photos since it won't look the same as they have in the last week or so. 

The last few months have been extremely draining and stressful - It helped to take a few deep breaths and remember that the one of the most important things - the thing that really mattered was healthy and next to me - David and Annabelle too :) We are extremely blessed. 

I know that everyday I learn something new - recently I've had a lot of days with much bigger lessons. But in the end I'm stronger. 

Wondering what this will mean for my blog? I'll still be sharing projects, but we won't be building as many things from scratch as before since we don't have a garage and it is going to be COLD (got a taste of the sideways blowing snow last night). We love designing and building things, so we'll be back to that very soon. Stay tuned! :) 

I should have normal internet and be back up to speed in the next day or so (when I can get it installed at our new place) Thanks so much for your continuous support!! You all are the best! 

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