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The Real Housewives of DIY with Holley from Lunges and Lashes

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I am SO excited to have the wonderful Holley from Lunges and Lashes doing this weeks Real Housewives post!! Holley has been a sweet friend since Jake and I got married and she is such an inspiration to me. Check out her blog to see why. :)

So without further adieu...Holley!

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This is how I have made MY space mine during the "transition" time of temporary housing so many of us often find ourselves in.

When living in temporary housing accommodations, it can be really hard to feel like you surroundings reflect you and contain a feeling of your personality. This girl (Me!) has some major house fever when it comes to having our own space, decorating and organizing my home. I just can't wait!

So living a college lifestyle can be hard when you know you are only somewhere temporarily and funds are tight already. I have held back from spending a lot of money on decorations or furniture knowing that our time here is short. I would so much rather wait and invest that money on pieces I KNOW will fit our future home's set-up instead of getting something now and regretting it. 

I have issues I know. Square dining table or a round one!?! So many questions!

And who doesn't love our funky crazy furniture! Right?!

I realize it's not that big of a deal but I have just decided to hold off on most things and just placed a few items around the house to give the house a little feel of us. We are lucky enough to live in a BEAUTIFUL older home so you don't need much to add to it's natural beauty. 

I am addicted to hardwood floors now. I have been spoiled. 

Despite my commitment issues on decor and knowing my taste will probably totally change by the time we are in a house of our own... I did put a lot of work in putting 1 room together. 

A necessity for me, A SALON.

I am a hairdresser and needed a little room to have my clients in! With a little work... well... maybe a little bit more work than that... and a small budget I was able to put together a great space!

The room was originally just a mud room that was an addition to the back of the house after the original construction. When we moved in the walls were off white and pretty dirty and had some terribly worn carpet.

So we painted the walls a cheery blue color and ripped up the carpet and put in some cheap linoleum. Since this is STILL a temporary situation we wanted to keep the expenses low.

I found this cute lime green retro chair online for $5! In the for sale photo it was pretty dirty but after a good scrub it was good as new! I couldn't turn down such a deal! Plus it was the perfect feel I was looking for.

I also snagged a great magazine rack from IKEA for $10 and the mirror at Target for $10 as well. The Japanese lantern hanging from the ceiling was a souvenir from a trip to Hawaii. It turned out to be a great extra source of light and it was something I already owned!

I found frames at the thrift store for $1 a piece and spray painted them yellow as my accent color to match the curtains that you can see in the next photo.

The curtains were already here in the home so that was a score.

I also found a little coat hanger at IKEA for $5 that I spray painted and use to hold all of my capes. 

A snagged a couple storage pieces from Ikea and Target and I had the room I needed!

Lots of little touches make a big improvement.

Including the little functional pieces I bought the price tag on this came in about $150 dollars. TOTALLY worth it in my book. I have used this space so much, and every time I am so glad i have it.

I love having my OWN little space in my house that I feel represents my personality and welcomes my clients into my home.

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Love Holley's style? Leave a comment and let her know! :)

Just call me Sandy

Sanding. We all got to do it at some point. 

But who am I kidding...I actually really enjoy it!

Before we left for North Carolina I went on a power sanding marathon, sanding my hutch, dresser, and a changing table for a client. 

And pathetic as it is, I was SUPER sore when I was done. 

So I thought that we should do a Sanding 101 post. 

Sanding isn't super difficult, but there are a few tricks that make it easier.

Sanding 101

  

The first thing you need to know when sanding is understanding the "grit" of sandpaper. Grit is a reference to the number of abrasive particles per inch of sandpaper. The lower the grit the rougher the sandpaper and conversely, the higher the grit number the smoother the sandpaper.The grit you use depends on what you are trying to do.

Here's a chart describing various grits/grades of sandpaper and their uses:

Quick chart - Sandpaper
30 grit	extremely coarse
60 grit
80 grit
100 grit	recommended for general purpose, drywall patches, furniture re-finishing
120 grit
180 grit
220 grit	recommended for general purpose, furniture
240 grit
320 grit
400 grit	recommended for fine finishing, polishing, gilding
600 grit
800 grit	recommended for fine polishing, hand rubbed finishes and gilding
1000 grit
1200 grit
1600 grit	extremely fine. Polishing, jewelry

 http://www.artsparx.com/quickchart.html#qcspaper

I prefer a 60 grit for removing old stain/paint and a 220 grit for buffing.

Once you have the sandpaper you need, make sure you've removed all existing hardware, screws etc from the furniture. Side note: It is SUPER frustrating to misplace screws, nuts, bolts, hardware etc. Make sure you put all hardware in some form of container. This is ESPECIALLY important if you are reusing the original hardware on an older piece.  Sometimes old hardware isn't produced anymore. SO DON"T LOSE IT!!

Now it's time to sand. Hopefully you've already decided if you want to stain or paint your furniture. If you are wanting to stain the piece, sanding is going to be a little more time consuming. Staining is much more difficult than painting...it requires ALL the old stain to be removed. If you try to stain over existing stain, the new stain will be darker in the places where the two overlap, producing an uneven color.  

With painting, just the varnish needs to be sanded off before it is painted. You don't need to sand it down to the original wood.  And there are some new lines of paint that don't even require you to prime or prep your wood before painting. Seriously amazing!! (See Annie Sloans website for more info) Another tip: I find it easiest to sand horizontal surfaces as opposed to vertical ones. I usually rotate the piece as I sand.

It should look something like this. 
I did sand it down a little more after the picture but you get the idea. 

You will periodically need to replace your sandpaper as you sand. My general rule is one piece will last you 1/3 of your project's size for large projects. Does that make sense? I'm not sure how to explain it better. 

Essentially, if your sandpaper looks like this

it's time to replace it.

For sanding detail work, an electric sander usually won't be able to get in all the nooks and crannies. This little guy is great for such situations. It's called a sanding block.

They are about $6 at Home Depot.

Finally, how to sand and look good doing it. 

1.  Don't wear anything you don't want to get dirty. I prefer a hoodie and sweats. They do wonders for my backside. :)

2. Make sure you wear some kind of protective eye wear. Sunglasses work fine.

        3.It is helpful to wear a mask so that you don't choke on all the dust. But I usually do fine                      without one so it's your call.

        4. Finally, it is SUPER helpful to either wear your hair pulled back or a bandanna etc.  Saw dust is actually really difficult to wash out of your hair, especially if your hair is thick.  

Now go get to work!! :)

Christmas Outdoor Lighting Ideas

Perfect Christmas Light House Design Theme | Alinskie.
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Lounge Furniture Walmart

Living Room Furniture - Walmart.
Living Room Furniture

Living Room Furniture - Walmart.
Living Room Furniture

Living Room Furniture - Walmart.
Living Room Furniture

Patio Furniture - Walmart.
Patio Furniture - Walmart.com

Living Room Furniture - Walmart.
Living Room Furniture

Going to find my Tara

I love Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind. I've read it every year since I was in 9th grade. I love Scarlet O'Hara and Rhett Butler. (Our son Rhett, is partially named after the character. I also once had a fish named Mr. Rhett Butler.) I love the tenacity of the characters and the descriptions of southern life. I love how much Scarlet loves Tara, her home.

We are flying to North Carolina tomorrow to explore and see if we want to move our little family so far away. I am so excited to go back south. I'm from Kentucky and I LOVE the greenness, the rolling hills, the gentle accents, the FOOD, the laid back "Come on in" southern hospitality.

Maybe I'll find my Tara while we're there. 

Maybe it'll look like this,

or like this.

And while I'm dreaming maybe I'll be standing on the front porch when Jake gets home in my hoop skirt that makes my waist look oh so tiny.

No-Sew Placemat Throw Pillows

I might have a small obsession with throw pillows. I love them on beds, chairs, couches. I love how comfy they make a bed look. Waiting for you to dive into their softness for a good nights sleep. Hmmmm.....to bad bed time is still several hours away. 

These are a few lovelies I found. 

source

source

My husband edited these and deleted the link to Etsy with the source for these two and I can't find them again in all of Etsy's vastness..  My apologizes to whoever made them!!

So cute right?!

When Jake and I make our first million I don't know if I'd rather buy a ton of shoes or throw pillows...tough choice. But for now, these lovelies are out of my price range so I came up with a more affordable alternative.

{ The No-Sew Placemat Throw Pillows }

Here's the tutorial.

What you'll need:

• 2 placemats per pillow
• batting
• fabric glue

Here is one that I've made.

I started with these dinner napkins that were my grandmother's. I love them.

• Because I used napkins and not placemats I made an X in the middle to hold both sides of the napkin together. 
• If you are using placemats you can forgo the X in the middle.
• Just apply glue to 3 sides of the placemat leaving one side unglued for the batting to go into. 

• Once your glue is applied, spread it with a foam brush so that you don't get a glue line/mark on the finished product. 
• Let it dry for at least 45minutes. You don't want to try stuffing before the glue is dry, otherwise you'll split the glue seams.
• Once the glue is dry, stuff the pillow with the batting. To ensure that your pillow maintains shape during use, knead the pillow periodically while stuffing it. This will help the batting lie as it will while your using it and help ensure you don't end up with a flat pillow. My rule is that if I can still pinch the opening so that it closes, I can put more batting in.
• Once all the batting is in, glue the remaining side. Since the pillow is now stuffed, it will be harder to glue the edge without it popping open so lay a heavy object on the final side to help it stayed glue.

And tada! A throw pillow!

The whole projects takes about 15 minutes of work and 45 minutes of wait time. 1 hour total.

Most placemats cost about $3 a piece and batting is usually about $7 for a large pad which will stuff 2 or 3 pillows. 

Not too shabby!!

I promise we're not rednecks.

If you walk past our house, 9 times out of 10 we'll have a half finished piece of furniture on our front porch.

I feel bad for our neighbors. 

I try to be a responsible DIY'er and not sand too early or too late in the day.

I try not to paint when kids are getting out of school, 

so I don't overwhelm them with paint fumes as they walk home. 

(And mom's you can stop giving me dirty looks if I'm painting...

I don't know of a more well ventilated place to paint.)

But this is what happens when you don't have a garage. 

There is saw dust over everything.

And maybe I accidentally painted our fence.

(Graffiti isn't one of my talents.)

 When you come to visit, don't trip on one of several power tools littering the porch.

And did you know, stroller cup holders also double as storage for furniture hardware?

At least our neighborhood doesn't have a homeowner's association.

I'm not sure if they would like us.

But I promise we're not rednecks.

The Real Housewives of DIY

I want to start a new weekly guest post segment featuring YOU!

I am often so impressed with the projects that you do and the ideas that you have and I want to feature them here. The idea is to show ideas that are budget friendly and not crazy difficult. 

I'm calling these posts "The Real Housewives of DIY"...but without the drama of other certain "housewives" shows. :)

So without further adieu the first post from my wonderful friend Jackie. 

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Pretty soon, in 2 weeks, I will be an official "Stay at Home Mom." I capitalize it because it is a job title. I pretend to think that Sofia is going to take all her naps and let mom clean and start some projects. I know it's not going to happen, but a girl can dream right? I HOPE I can do something good with my time, rather than sit and watch Oprah while eating bon bons. (p.s. anyone else so depressed it's her lastseason...yeah, right when I'm finally home to watch it!)

I've looked around my house and asked myself "what could I take and make better?" Ummmm, a lot. So here is a picture of Sofia's little dresser. Maybe some cute knobs to add to it? (Did you notice the bottom knob broke off?? Oh wait, I cut that out of the picture on purpose. The knob is sitting there, on the top. See it?).

I feel that I am pretty good at decorating my very little home. I do what I can with what I have.  So here are some pictures to show off, and prove that I do have a little bit of talent...(btw, my house is so dark and has lots of brown, so I really want to bring out the blue this summer).

I'm thinking of adding blue toned pillows to my brown couch, and replacing my brown curtains with some other color. Suggestions??

Another talent...I am also really, really good at dressing my daughter. (But I can't sew a button).

(Isn't her little lady the cutest!)

Email me your projects/ideas for next week!