Showing posts with label diy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diy. Show all posts

17.6.13

family photos


I had been wanting to take family pictures since Scarlett was born, but after looking for photographers I could never bring myself to pay the big bucks. I totally think pictures are worth the money, but I couldn't justify the high price tag when I knew other things (like diapers) were more important. So I enlisted my sister and we went out and did a few snapshots outside. I am so glad we did, I know I will cherish these first family pictures forever. It also happend to be the Saturday before our Scarlett girls blessing, which makes them even more special. 

Thanks Jenny for taking these... you are totally a natural photographer!





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29.5.13

copy cat dresser

Jed and I refinished this rose dresser a few months back and I just loved how it turned out so I decided to copy it. It's not the exact same color, but fairly similar. We purchased this dresser from craigslist... of course. It was solid wood (which is a must) and all the drawers were dove tailed and the tracks worked good. All of which is what we look for when finding furniture to refinish. If it doesn't have those qualities its most likely not worth the effort of fixing it up.

It was a pretty straight forward project of sanding, staining, priming, and painting. We did redrill the holes for the knobs to fit the antique finished pulls that I scored for $2 from hobby lobby.
dresser before





dresser: $30 (Craigslist)
paint: $3 (Valspar--Lowes)
wood filler: on hand
knobs: $12--Hobby Lobby
total: $45
SOLD

funny story... we ended up selling this dresser to a family that we go to church with, but had no idea it was them until they showed up at our house! 
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4.1.13

buffet love

 I scored this awesome buffet table off of Craigslist a couple months ago. Craigslist had been pretty bare the last few months, but when I saw this beauty for only $40 I sent Jed straight over to pick it up.

It had really think layers of paint and even after sanding it down we never found the true wood grain. I chose a bolder Coral color by Valspar and antique rusted knobs from Hobby Lobby.

 
Aren't these legs awesome?
We weren't quite finished with this when my sister, mom, and I decided to do our first craft fair. We decided the buffet was a great addition to our booth so I had Jed and my dad haul it over and we used it to display some of our products.

At the craft fair I met such a nice lady selling Rice Doll's from Belize. I ended up buying two doll's and she ended up buying my buffet table. She had to convince her husband a little because the color was a little 'girly' in his mind. But in the end she went home happy with a new piece of furniture and I went home with a little more cash.

I really didn't think that it would sell at the craft fair so I didn't take any pictures of it before we left. Which kinda annoys me because now I only have these grainy cell phone snapshots that my sister and I took. 
 
buffet: $40 (Craigslist)
paint/primer: $16(Valspar via Lowes)
wood filler: on hand
knobs: $21 via Hobby Lobby
total: $77
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19.11.12

Rut

I've been in a rut lately.. for a lot of reasons, but mostly for lack of motivation. Jed and I live in such a small apartment that redoing furniture sometimes becomes more on an inconvenience then actually fun. When we get a new piece of furniture it kinda turns our apartment upside down until its finished and sold.

But we have started up again and are working on a new piece that I love and and am trying to convince Jed that we need.. he's not buying it.

But before that I wanted to show off a Mid-Century Modern Dresser and Nightstand that we redid a couple of months ago. I love this style and wish I had more of it in my own home.


Apparently I am super lazy and didn't take before pictures... or during, because I can't find any. I do know that the stain is Natural Oak by Miniwax and the drawer fronts are painted with Olympic Pegsus White
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20.8.12

Updated Living Room

I'm a little embarrassed to post my before pictures of my living room. They aren't even the original pictures... they are more like half way before pictures. At this stage I had already painted the wide horizontal stripes (tutorial here) to try and hide the humongous blank wall taking over our living room. In hindsight I think the stripes made the wall look even bigger and blanker.


The room started to come together when I scored this awesome buffet and turned it into our current entertainment center. After that I was given (which means they were FREE!!) book cases, and decided to try for a more built in entertainment center look.

The book cases were sturdy and solid, but not quite the right color or look I was going for.

I painted them the same color as the buffet/entertainment center and then wall papered the backs with an ivory damask Allen Roth design that I purchased from Lowes. This was my first time working with wall paper and I loved it. It gave them great texture and dimension.


I love the way it came together and how it gives my big blank wall character. It has also bee a blast organizing all my books and knick knacks to put them on display!

Linked:
sumos sweet stuff 

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29.7.12

Weekend Find

Jed and I drove out to a tiny town named Estancia Friday night after work to pick up this beauty. I love the mid century legs and that it is solid and sturdy. Mandi is my inspiration for this desk and we are going to attempt something similar to her desk.. wish us luck!
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23.7.12

Caster Wheeled Dresser

We currently have four dressers, one night stand, a kitchen table, six chairs, and an armorie taking over our dinning room. It feels beyond cluttered and looks a little overwhelming. We finally finished two dressers this past weekend so hopefully some of it will be gone soon so that we can get back to a somewhat normal house.

This dresser was a monster. We bought it off of Craigslist from a strange woman that felt the need to tell us every detail of her life... strange. It was originally lime green sponge painted, with globs of extra paint everywhere, with chipped veneer coming off all over. I thought I loved the dresser enough that all the work would be worth it, but once we got it home I was so overwhelmed we just stared at it for about three weeks. 

We Jed finally broke down and decided that we better start. 
1. He started by wood putting all the areas that were missing veneer and letting it dry overnight.
2. He then sanded the dresser about 7 times to get the paint even. 
2. While doing that he realized the top of the dresser was loose, so we wood glued and clamped it back together.
4. We painted the dresser with Annie Sloan Antique White chalk paint. It was my first time using Annie Sloan's paint and was so excited to try it out. I personally think I need A LOT more practice using it, but initially am very  please with the turnout. I love the texture it gave the dresser and the matted look. Because this dresser was in such bad shape we ended up having to give it three coats of paint.

5. We were able to use the existing hardware, which I think gives it a great antique look to go along with the original caster wheels.

Linked:
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15.6.12

+


So excited! The fed ex guy just dropped this off...

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13.4.12

little boys


I snapped some shots of the boys on Easter in their adorable outfits. Carter is getting so big and talks NONSTOP. He's not a little baby anymore, he is smart and getting bigger everyday. Every time I see him I practice with him on saying 'Peggy's my best friend'. haha I am sure one day he'll think I am that creepy aunt that he hates to see because I squeeze his cheeks and give wet kisses, but for now he loves me.
I made Carter this bow tie using the tutorial here
Jack is just so lovable, you can't help it. His adorable rolls, and chipmunk cheeks are precious. We fight over Jack, well unless he is hungry.. then there is no messing with him. He takes eating pretty serious as you might be able to tell.



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30.1.12

Hi, my name is Jenny and I have no follow through...

You can see the best examples of this here and here. The first being back in 2009 when I first decided that I wanted to try out Blogging, that became a 3 year saga of ZERO follow through and procrastination. Seriously I think I blogged like maybe 13 times in those three years. The second is a example of my most common lack of follow through...EXERCISE!!! Yep, I've started and stopped this process more time than I can even remember. So, when I wrote that post about exercising I thought if I became accountable to my little blogging world, then maybe I would keep it up. HA, I showed myself, not even being accountable would help me follow through. Now let me just say that its not a lack of wanting or desire that keeps me from completing my goals its...PROCRASTINATION!! I seriously have a problem with this! Like with blogging, its not a lack of ideas or projects its my constant thought of "I'll do it a minute" that kills me! I constantly am telling my sister, Peggy, that I have posts already written in my head its just a matter of sitting down and writing them out. I always find myself sitting down to blog and two hours later I've got nothin...but my Facebook status is updated, I know whats going on in all my friends lives, Im up to date with the latest celebrity gossip, and I've blog stalked all my favorite blogs including reading all their archives AGAIN (oh but how I love them)! I seriously have a problem! That being said here is a little peek at what you can HOPE to expect here at Pictures of Happy in the near future...











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24.1.12

I mentioned before that I love free things, especially free furniture. It doesn't phase Jed to just ask strangers what there plans are for discarded furniture in backyards and garages; and the majority of the time people are glad to have him haul it away. 

I was counting all the different pieces of furniture in our house and also pieces we have sold and given away and it totaled to about 12; 2 dressers, 2 dinning tables (one with 6 chairs), 3 entertainment centers, 2 night stands, 1 coffee table, 1 headboard, and 1 lounge chair (we also have gotten lamps and a bike, but they were way ugly so I don't count them). We've made about $400 dollars reselling free furniture, and furnished about half our house. That's why I love FREE stuff!

This is our newest free item that Jed picked up from a sweet old lady. She also told him that she has a matching dresser that she wants to give us! (but that probably won't happen, since we don't know her name)

Jenny and I have a small obsession with mid century modern furniture and this is one of the first pieces that I own now. It is somewhat worn out in places but I really love the natural wood color and couldn't bare to paint it. We used some Old English polish on it and now it looks so much better.


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5.11.11

DIY

Striped Wall
I had this big blank wall in out living room and hated it. I really don't know what to put on it and the blankness just makes out TV look even smaller! Jed kept telling me the solution was to buy a bigger tv, but I decided to paint instead! (so much cheaper)

After researching the best ways to paint clear and clean stripes I began. I first measured my wall and decided how big I wanted each stripe. My wall was 8ft tall so I made it easy and went with 1ft stripes. I started the taping process, BUT Jed kept telling me the tape wasn't straight and the level was crooked. So I gladly let him put up all the tape himself (which most definitely was the hardest part of the whole entire project), while I sat on the couch and watched.

Tip #1: After you have taped your stripes seal the edges using a some type of credit card.

Tip #2: Using your base paint (or lighter shade), paint over the sealed edges of the tape. This will prevent your contrasting colored paint to bleed.

Tip #3: pull your tape off away from the stripe before the paint has dried.

wall finished prep work
This is the final result! I really like how the stripes camouflage the blankness of the wall. I was really worried that the lines weren't going to be straight and the paint was going to get everywhere, but using the tips really worked!

Linked:
mad skills + mad in crafts
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