Entryway Update

While I feel like this space is still a work in progress, I fear it will be awhile before I actually get to do any of the things I'm wanting to put in here so I better just blog about it now!  As I mentioned in the previous post, I recently repainted the entire house.  This particular area was very dark (and green!) and needed some love!
When I painted the baseboards last fall it fell victim to the "pull paint off the wall when you remove tape" trick.  BUG ME!  In my awesomeness lack of picture taking I failed to get a clear picture of just that, but this should give you some idea...

Pretty hot, right!?!
And I also did not get a picture of the space BEFORE I built the table you see here, but here is a comparison of the paint before and after:

The paint took some time to grow on me, but I LOVED that it wasn't so dark and green! It really opened up the area and made it much more inviting in my opinion.  With a double decker trey ceiling that is easily 12 feet high, only a four foot ladder, and the goofy alcove, you can imagine the fun I had painting this space!

A pregnant person should NOT be on a short ladder painting this. Ha! This shows the contrast in the colors pretty good.

As always, there were several areas that were patched but never painted from the previous tenants that irritated me SO much!  I love seeing those go!!

That's probably what got me through repainting the entire house... seeing all these nasty spots disappear!!Like I said above, the table was a recent build and has been AWESOME because I finally have a place to decorate with seasonal and holiday decor.  I LOVE that! 

It was pretty drab without it, but after a year of searching and never finding exactly what I wanted I decided to give building a try and I'm so glad I did! My friend shared her expertise and within an hour and a half we had this thing completely built and assembled! 

Starting the building process... If you don't have a Kreg I highly recommend one!

My drawer is a "faux" one... I really had no need for it and just wanted the look! This is how it looked after the hour and a half!

I used THIS link from Pinterest and modified it to fit my space.  I left the shelf off the bottom for now, maybe when my kiddos are bigger and I won't fear them climbing on it or bothering whatever is on it I will add something, but for now it works great for me!
Finishing it took longer than I hoped because I'm crazy OCD and had a really hard time committing to how I wanted to do it.  I'm happy with the end result though.

See, even the pocket holes were painted. Took forever and NOONE sees it, but I know it was done and that's all that matters! Ha!

Paint and stain combo was what I finally decided.  I can always change it down the road if I want but for now it matches the rest of my house pretty good.

With the drawer handle.

 So while this post really doesn't show a great "before" with the table missing, I'm sure you can picture it.  There is one small wall that I have my eye on for a project, and I think there needs to be something above the picture frames on the right wall, but I have yet to pinpoint what that is. But for now, here is something that shows I am in fact doing things around here... blog worthy things, even if I lack the time and enthusiasm to blog about it! :)

Just a taste...

For proof that I've been busy painting I wanted to post some of these before and after pictures I took from just my hall.  The rest of the house is still a work in progress with decorating (or I can't find the "before" picture!) but this gives you an idea of what I've been up to the last couple of months!
Throughout the entire main living area of my house we have a beautiful chair rail that has a little darker color on bottom and a lighter color on top.  The colors always had kind of a greenish undertone to me, which I am not a huge fan of.  I was given the go ahead to repaint as long as it stayed neutral, so colors were up to me.  While I appreciated that, picking colors is SERIOUSLY the hardest part of the project in my opinion!  I second (and third and fourth) guess myself during the whole process, and I have to admit, even after it was all done it still took a couple of weeks for me to feel completely happy and satisfied.  What can I say, I'm my own worst critic!  Anyway, here is a good picture that compares what I started with to the finished product...

You don't realize how nasty and dinged up your walls are until you start taking pictures!  I couldn't believe how it looked until I did!  I knew there were a few areas that were bad, but c'mon, some of this is down right gross!! 

Better Before

And after! LOVE!

 And my favorite part was getting rid of the white paint that I had left on the walls when I repainted the trim last summer!

SO glad to see that gone!
This picture gives you an idea of the color I was working with.  Next to the new color it looked REALLY green.  I'm pleased with the change.

My favorite part was getting to FINALLY put up the "Masterpieces" wall I have had envisioned for months. 

 

My sister gave me this awesome vinyl (as seen on Pinterest) at Christmas time, and I had two of these frames already... pair that with my burlap obsession and I'd say it turned out pretty cute!  I love being able to switch out the different projects, and E loves seeing his art work on display as he comes out of his room!  He will pick one project out to talk about and relive the experience, which I think is really neat!
So there you have it!  A little glimpse as to why I have been MIA, and a taste of the fun things I've been up to!  It has really been quite the undertaking of projects, but has made this deployment fly by!  With my countdown to A returning and baby brother coming, I assure you more of these posts will be happening as things are completed!  I, myself, am looking forward to the "finished" product!!

Missing In Action

Love how I start a new blog and totally never come back to it?!? Ha!  Wow, what a whirlwind the last few months have been!  There has been A TON of things keeping me busy... mostly home improvements and projects I've had in mind for well over a year.  For instance, I've repainted about 2,000 square feet of my house BY MYSELF (still have a couple rooms to go), been building desks, tables and a few other "projects", cleaning and organizing every inch of my house (thank you, nesting!), planning and pulling off a sweet boy's 3rd birthday and trying to keep up with being a temporary single mom, keeping up with my callings, and all the other "fun" stuff life seems to throw at me.  The GOOD news is, I've got a LOT of pictures and things to blog about, some things have taken a little longer to get the "after" picture, but in my opinion it should be worth the wait!  Get ready for some before and afters and some project reveals coming soon!!

Put Your Heart Into Personal Progress

For my church I am able to work with the youth, specifically girls ages 12-18.  One of the most wonderful programs we have is called Personal Progress (read more about it HERE).  It's a great program, and something I hold very dear to my heart as it was something I was able to participate in and complete as a youth.  I really feel like it makes each girl so well rounded and prepares them for the future roles they will take on in life- whether it be during college years or in a career, but especially that of a mother and wife.  Twice a year we celebrate this program with parents and the young women, the first of the year being New Beginnings.  We also have the opportunity to welcome in the new girls that will be joining us throughout the coming year when they turn 12.
Our ward held New Beginnings this past week and it was such a great time.  Because it was so close to Valentine's Day we went with the theme "Put Your Heart Into Personal Progress".  These were the invitations I came up with that we mailed to all of the parents:

I was also in charge of the decorating for the night, and I'll be honest... if I never have to cut out another heart I would be happy! Ha! Our budget wasn't much, but I was pretty happy with the results.  It's amazing what you can come up with by using things you already have on hand!  Here is what the focal point of the room looked like:

Because it was for personal progress, there are eight values associated with the program- we had eight girls come up and read what the value was, the scripture associated with it and talk about what it meant.  After they read that they added the heart value to the board... here's what it looked like with all the values added.

The program was really neat- we talked about each class in Young Women's (split into three- Beehives, Mia Maids, and Laurels) and we introduced the new young women that would be joining us this year!  Can I just say, I'm so excited for these girls to turn 12!  We are going to have so much fun with them!  At this point we split up- all of the youth went on a scavenger hunt, looking for clues that were associated with each value, and the parents got to sit and hear about the new curriculum the church has put out for this year, the theme for the year (Stand Ye In Holy Places) and the Personal Progress Program.  I think the girls probably had the most fun! Ha ha!  But it went off without a hitch, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Once all back together we heard from our awesome YW President and got to watch a beautiful slideshow she put together of all of our girls.  I can't even express how neat the slideshow was- she had a vision before hand and the pictures went EXACTLY with the words of the song- it was incredible!  And watching the girls' faces scroll across the screen and seeing the fun we have together made me realize how awesome of a group we have and made me thankful to be part of their lives!

We ended the night with a milk and cookies bar, where we served 5 different delicious cookies and milk or water.

The last clue of the scavenger hunt led them back to the room where we had these gifts waiting for them.

Each girl had told us what her favorite temple was prior to the date, so I was able to make these blocks to fit each girl and her personality and likes.  It was a lot of work, but really a lot of fun.  I hope they enjoy them for years to come!
I am so thankful I had the opportunity to help decorate for this event and to celebrate an awesome program with some really wonderful people!

Hi. And Welcome.

For some time I have been considering starting a blog separate from my family blog (which I keep private) to document all the things that I get to do when the kiddo is asleep.  A place to post pictures of handouts for church, or projects for the house I am working on or possibly almost completed, and those sorts of things.  I am truly inspired by the amazing things that people do, and love getting ideas from PINTEREST and making it my own (what did we do before Pinterest!?!).  Every now and then I surprise myself and come up with something original, but I fear the more children I add to the household (one coming this June), the less that will happen!
I guess I wanted a place that was just for me.  No kid stories (although I love my kid, and mentions may be made), no ins and outs of the day to day stuff, just something that represents me.  I hope anyone who reads this enjoys it as much as I do!