2 Feeling the Love: February Recap

Not possible. Tomorrow cannot be the kickoff of March 2011. February just started!…Now that I’ve put in my obligatory “say it ain’t so” intro, truth be told, I’m so stinkin’ excited for March to grace us with her presence. Warmer weather, a time change in our favor and one step closer to summer. Let’s get this party started…but before we do, February did have it’s finer moments.

…and as always, a big hug and kiss to those fabulous bloggers who’ve linked to LTHL!

A Touch of Arkansas
AJW Design Co
At Home in Arkansas
Bellatina Creations
Brixton Nole
Bubbles and Money
Building Moxie
Cara Beth Photography
Casa Sugar
Custard By Design
Dabe to Dream
Details Weddings & Events
East Goes West
eHow
Five Little Rules
Frugal with a Flourish
Home Decor News
Home Sweet Home
I design, you DIY…e-decorating
Jessica’s Journey
Keeping Up with the Joneses
Life Lessons
Live the Life You Love
Lovely Tonight
Oh The Place I Want To Go
Quaint Oaks
Rambles with Reese
Show Home Staging & Design
Take Life with a Grain of Chocolate
Tearing Up Houses
That’s What She Said
The Buies
The Cape on the Corner
The Dooses
The Deacons
The Divine Mrs. EM
The Flipping Couple
The Good Life
The Hopper House
The Jones Family
The Lowe Down
The Married Life Diaries
The Rich Hard Life & Sons
Two Dogs & a House
Two Poms and a House
UAMesSing It Up

Happy March y’all! I’m feeling really good about this one.

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1 Just Sold: 182 Courts Lane

Congratulations to Chip, Brooke and their little guy Tripp on the purchase of their new home!

You guys have been great to work with and I fully expect an invitation to the first pool party. Congrats!

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2 True Confession: Slacker Behavior

Since we are friends, I feel a terrible compulsion to be completely honest and open with you. Full disclosure. Slim to nothing has been happening around my construction site this week. Unless your definition of major progress is attacking furballs with the dust buster because you are too lazy to properly sweep, it’s slim pickins in the LTHL DIY department this week.

In a failed attempt to make myself feel a little better about my slacker behavior, I glanced back to what I was up to exactly one year ago today. Sure enough, Cara one-year-younger had been hard at work…and when I say Cara one-year-younger, I really mean Mike the-hardwoods-guy had been hard at work. I was just thrilled I was finally able to walk on my freshly buffed and polished floors.

 

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4 What Where When Why

What: Pretty little daffodils/spring’s welcoming committee

Where: My front yard

When: This morning

Why: My toes are tired of being frozen and I’ve never been so happy as when I spotted them while backing out of my driveway…I may or may not have run over my trashcan out of pure excitement…and recycle bin.

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2 A Little LTHL Dialogue

It was brought to my attention earlier this week that we hadn’t heard from Gran in a while, and that just won’t do…

Back story…Gran loves to celebrate, so celebrate we do. Birthdays. Holidays. Dental appointments. Pedicures that last more than 2 weeks. Everything…

Jessica (sister): Gran, thank you so much for taking us out to dinner tonight. Are we celebrating Valentine’s Day?

Gran: Valentine’s Day? No, not Valentine’s Day! We are celebrating that it hasn’t snowed this week.

 

Jessica: Oh…well you know what else we will be celebrating soon?…My 30th birthday.

Gran: 30 years old?! Oh Jessica, I remember when you were just a tiny little baby. Just this big. A tiny little thing…Now, Cara. She was not tiny. She was big. Really big.

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3 What Where When Why

What: Big sister, little brother, yours truly

Where: Unsure, but most likely not church since brother is going topless. Wait. Scratch that. Totally possible.

When: Circa 1990

Why: Just been thinking about my loves…I’ll hang out here and await angry “Cara, how could you” phone call from brother.

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2 Stained, Sealed, and…Getting There

The master bath vanity saga continues, but I guess that’s what I get for dreaming up a do-it-yourself plan that’s never been tackled before, at least not by me or the real man behind my madness, my dad/Architect Chuck.



Here’s where I last left you. Wood cut to size, complete with holes for the sinks and faucets. Don’t allow me to mislead you. Sinks and faucets aren’t actually installed. I just wanted to play pretend for a bit.

…and here we are with the vanity stained. I’m melting. It looks just as I imagined.



After three coats of oil-based stain with a 24 hour dry time between each coat—you can imagine the fumes floating around my house and I’m fairly sure June and I killed a decent number of brain cells in the process—it was time to seal this bad boy.

A bit of online research (by my dad, mind you. I just nodded along and entered my debit card number) and we settled on Waterlox sealer/finish to keep this chunk of wood protected from future water damage.


Keeping in mind the horrendous fumes from the staining process, I made the executive decision to move this project to the backyard. The scary warning label on the front of the can may have aided me in my decision. Something about “combustible liquid and vapor” just doesn’t sit well with me…


First coat of sealer down, and two more to apply once the vanity is reassembled…

 
I couldn’t help myself. I had to play…

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7 Putting on Our Party Pants

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby June! Oh dear. 3 years old. 21 in puppy years. We need champagne, stat.

 
In honor of my Valentine baby, just a few reasons why I love this bearded angel…

#1 She looks like a gremlin that ate after midnight. Not following my thought process? Happens all the time…click here.

#2 She’s passionate about squirrels. Every life needs a purpose, and June’s is chasing furry-tailed rats around the backyard.

#3 She pays me no mind when I talk to myself/scream at (insert electronic device here)/butcher the words to Dexy’s Midnight Runners Come on Eileen.

If you think you may be as big a fan of British boys playing banjos as I am, do yourself a favor and join me on this journey…

 

Happy Birthday to my littlest love! Your momma loves you more than Starbucks coffee in the proper mug.

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1 What Where When Why

What: Camellia bush

Where: My front yard

When: This morning

Why: Snowpocalypse 2011 leaves me with a strong compulsion to head outside with a blow dryer

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6 We Know What Fun Is

Now don’t think that all we do around these parts is sand, paint, demo and craft. No way. We know how to kick back and have a little fun too. Just take June’s highly effective “sit & stay” lesson for example…

See? I don’t lie. A barrel of monkeys. Jealous much?

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4 Furniture Flipping: Christie’s Bed

Next up in line for a furniture flip is Christie. Let’s see what’s cookin in her neck of the woods…

Hello from Louisiana! I am wanting to paint my 4 poster bed black. It is still the original finish from the furniture store. How do I do it? Our walls are dark brown and we have blue/brown bedding. We need new nightstands and will work on that to. I also want to add lamps that have a cleaner look... white shades, maybe silver lamps. I like Pottery Barn. Any suggestions will be gladly accepted! Thanks, Cara!

Oh yes. We can definitely work this one out. Here we go!…

 

For we Pottery Barn junkies on a budget, rehabbing furniture to get the same lovely beach-y feel is a must. Fortunately for Christie, transforming her 4 poster bed from a dated stain to chic black will be a pretty simple project.

Listen to me Christie. It’s all in the prep work. Because there is already a finish, you’ll want to give the wood a light sand (fine-medium grit sandpaper should get the job done). This step is the least fun but most important since it will give the primer a good base to stick to. Once sanded, wipe down the wood with a clean cloth to remove any grit then follow with a coat or two of good primer—I always sing the praises of Kilz. You can pick up a gallon at Lowe’s, Home Depot, Walmart…just about anywhere. It will become your new best friend.

Once you’ve given the primer plenty of time to dry, put that paint brush to work with a big bucket of black paint. For this project, a satin finish will be heavenly.

Just for your Pottery Barn-loving heart, I threw in a few of my favorites for this room. Forgive me if I’ve gone a little bird happy. 

Happy rehabbing!

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2 Anniversary Recap: The Gremlins

While I’m obviously pretty dang proud of myself for all the elbow grease I’ve put into my construction site over the past year, let’s be honest with ourselves, there are still a few gremlins hanging around my house waiting for their number to be called. We’ve revisited the pretty spaces this week, but what about the trolls? Less before & afters. More then & nows.

My den has gotten a bit more air time over the past few weeks since it’s steadily creeping up the gotta-get-done list, but still a definite work in progress…

The kitchen. By far the least blogged about space in my house. Oh dear. The pitiful lighting, pink countertops, far too dark cabinets. My kitchen in its present condition is built less for preparing a Julia Child-esque feast and more for mixing up a batch of margaritas. Fortunately, this works out well for me.



And finally, my pink beauty. You know I couldn’t let the anniversary recap come and go without mentioning this dime piece.

That’s it, my friends. I have to admit, I almost have the hint of a tear in my eye. I just can’t believe my 52 year old baby is another year older…but really, enough reminiscing. Let’s get back to what we do best around these parts. Tearing and repairing. See you next week!

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3 Anniversary Recap: Master Bedroom

If you’re having a smidge of déjà vu, it’s completely understandable. Picture what my guest room looked like pre-intervention, then flip-flopped, with about 30 more square feet and you have the before shot my master in all of its (soon-to-be) glory.



So long carpet. Welcome fresh paint & refinished hardwoods…oh, I’m drooling. Forget the furniture. I could sleep on an air mattress just to be closer to these virgin floors in all their not-yet-even-a-scratch-let-alone-a-(gasp!)-dent beauty.

…but furniture soon followed—all rehabbed, of course—and, true confession, a guilty pleasure of mine is mixing brown and black. In my house. In my wardrobe. Whatever. My master was no exception…

 

There you have it. My master a year later. Bored yet? Don’t worry there is only one day left in my jaunt down memory lane and then we jump right back into all of the DIY, furniture flipping, home obsessed goodness you actually show up for.

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