It's Official - I'm Retired!

Today is my final day with my current employer.  I handed over my computer and my badge, said my goodbye's and took one last look at where I spent the last 8 years.  It has been quite the journey, which made today bittersweet.

I met my husband here and my coworkers, whom I now view as an extended family, supported me through my engagement, marriage, purchasing of our first home and motherhood.  That's a lot! They are truly the most incredible people to have worked for and alongside with for so many years. I will carry with me the lessons learned and memories made long after I leave here today.

Even through all the sadness, I am 110% confident that I am making the right decision.  Since I put in my notice, I realized just how much "growing" my son does on a daily basis.  It really is incredible.  And knowing that I will be able to experience that with him fills my heart with joy.  I am so thankful and blessed to have this opportunity and know I will have no regrets - even on the hairiest of days when he decides to really give me a run for my money. :)

In other news, I am working on a new side table that I will be sharing with you shortly.  It's inspired by the song "You Are My Sunshine" meaning...??? You guessed it! It's yellow. :)

-Ashley

Pantry Makeover

I have the bug!  The "organization" bug, that is and I have it in a bad, bad way. :)  Once I completed the dining buffet, I knew I wanted to spend more time on the inside of our home maximizing all the potential storage space we have.  It's amazing just how much space my toddler and his "stuff" takes up!

I immediately bought an over-the-door storage system from The Container Store (loooooove that place) for our loft closet, but soon realized that the first place I needed to start was the kitchen since it is probably our most used room in the house.  And with the hubby away for a few nights, I had the perfect window.

Along with cleaning out and reorganizing all the drawers and cabinets, I spent a lot of time on our pantry.  I apologize for not having a "before" picture (I promise I'll get better) but here is my "after"!

I love how clean it looks!  I scored these two wood crates from Home Goods along with these super cute baskets.

Somehow seeing 5lbs on the "Sweets" basket tends to keep me away. :)

I also found this at Marshalls - veeerrrry functional!

But what I love most are the labels (big shocker, right?!).  I found these chalkboard labels and chalk pens at Michaels and to be honest, was very skeptical of both.  But take my word, each and every one of you need to run out right now and grab these for your home, to be used anywhere! They are amazing!

I can't wait to tackle the loft closet now!
-Ashley

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ready for a little home tour?  I'm excited to share what Valentine's Day looks like at our house!

Guests are first greeted by the hand-made door wreath.

Did you notice it's slightly different than what I had in a previous post?!  Good eye!!  I'm much happier with this version.

Once inside the entryway, you step right into our family room.  If you look left, you see the fireplace and mantle and if you look right, you see the bookcase - both gussied up for the holiday.

 

Continuing on, you make your way into the kitchen - just a small touch here above the desk.

And finally, as you head upstairs we have this enormous ledge, which at first I never knew what to do with, but now is one of my most favorites places in the house to decorate.

There you have it!

I hope you all have a very special day filled with lots of love and laughter!
-Ashley

Mail Sorter Redo

In need of a new mail sorter - and by "in need" I mean I got sick of our current one - I spotted this at Home Goods.  It was a very solid piece that would be extremely functional.  However, even before I bought it, I knew there would need to be a couple of small tweaks.

First, it needed to be black.  The original color blended into the wall too much.  And second, I wanted it to say MAIL on it.  Cute, right?!

Having always wanted to try the "sticker" technique, this seemed like the perfect opportunity.  By the "sticker" technique, I mean you use stickers to write out a word (in this case "MAIL") and then paint the entire piece, stickers and all.  Once dry, you peel off the stickers and just like that you have perfectly stenciled letters!

I finished it up with a little distressing of course!  Now it's perfect. :)

 

 -Ashley

Dining Buffet Redo

I had been wanting to redo a dining buffet for quite some time and one December day, thanks to Craigslist, I found this beauty for a great price AND in fantastic condition - score!  I always knew I wanted to go black on the exterior - simple, yet elegant - but the possibilities on what to do on the inside were endless!  I spent quite a few nights tossing ideas back and forth with the hubby (bless his heart!). I thought, why don't I just start and I'll figure it out as I go, which by the way is soooo against my norm!

I had also just taken an advanced techniques class from The Rustic Duchess (if you ever have wanted to learn how to paint furniture, definitely check her classes out - super fun!).  In the class, we worked with glacage, which is an embossing creme that you use to stencil designs right on to your piece.  Then when you paint over it, it looks as if it was always part of the original piece.  Love it!

I started off by painting the drawers and doors black.  I like to paint drawers and doors first so that when I get the main piece finished up, I can immediately start putting everything back together. Instant gratification. :)

I also knew that I wanted to try lining the drawers with paper.  After doing a little research, I decided to line the drawers with a soft grey design using Krylon Spray Adhesive.  This process was super easy!  Just cut, spray and line.  The adhesive is very forgiving, making it easy to adjust the paper as needed. 

I thought I would seal it with Modge Podge, but unfortunately that back fired.  Luckily, I only tried it out on one of the drawers, but you can see how wrinkled everything became.  

After doing even more research, I decided that not sealing the paper would be the route I'd go so that if someone wanted to remove it and or switch it out - they could easily do so.  Next time, I think I'll try lining with fabric!

With the drawers and doors painted, it was time to make a call on the inside.

Considering I already had grey in my paint stash, the decision on color was a simple one.

And for a bit of a surprise, I decided to paint stripes on the shelf and the inside of the doors.

After the inside was finished, it was time to tackle the body.

And then I finished up with a little distressing - my favorite part!

Viola - just as I had envisioned!

I have my heart set on doing a coffee table next, just got to find the right piece.  At least I already know the color - red!!!

-Ashley

When You Can't Find It, Make It

I hate it when you have something in mind for your home and you cannot find it anywhere!  Every now and then, some of those things are fairly easy to make and in all reality, probably costs much less too - win, win!

There were two things that I really wanted to add to my Valentine's Day decor, a door sign and flower balls.  After searching high and low, I came up empty handed.  So I packed up my little one and headed to Hobby Lobby.

For my door sign, I found the following materials.

And created this cutie. :)

What I'm even more excited about, however and what I want to share with you today are my flower balls! :)  These are SOOOOO easy to do, just takes a bit of patience.  Here is what you'll need:

• Hot Glue Gun
• Foam Ball
• Bunch of Flowers

Even though roses are THE flower for Valentine's Day, I LOVE hydrangeas and felt these would better compliment my decor.  And Hobby Lobby had them in exactly the colors I wanted!

To start, pluck off all the flowers from your bunch while your hot glue gun warms up.

Once you have your pile of flowers, take one, place a small amount of glue on the bottom and stick it into the foam ball. That's it - easy peasy!

 

Fluff out your flowers as you continue placing them.  This will take up more surface space and save on flowers. However, if you do end up with a small bald spot on the bottom, like I did, don't worry - just place it on top of a candle holder and no one will know the difference. :)

As we get closer to Valentine's Day, I'll be sure to give a small home tour of my decor!


-Ashley

Fun Toddler Activity for VDay!

Thank you Pinterest for yet another winning idea!  As I prepare to be a SAHM, I figure a lot of arts and crafts are in my future.  And this one is as easy as can be!  SAHM or not, if you've got 10 minutes, you can do this too.

Here is a list of materials you'll need:

• blank canvas
• painters tape
• craft knife
• finger paint

To prep, start by taping the word LOVE onto your canvas.  It won't look pretty, but that's where the knife comes in - you'll trim off the areas necessary.

The best place to let my little guy go to town is right in the middle of the kitchen floor.  I taped down some scrap paper, but will definitely be buying a drop cloth that we can reuse in the future.

To start him off, I squirted a little bit of finger paint right on to the canvas, letting him create from there. It worked great, however, he was only sooort of getting it, so I tried to show him what to do. Stepping back to give him another try, I realized that during my demonstration I basically covered/erased the work he had already done.  Noooooo!!!  I had to think of another way for him to personalize his piece of art and quick! Then I had it - handprints and footprints!

I love, love, love how it turned out. :)

Now every time he sees his painting on display, he smiles from ear to ear, points and yells - "PAINTING!!".  It melts my heart. :)

-Ashley