Advice Please!!!

I found this freakin' GORGEOUS antique iron bed at an estate sale about four weeks ago. It was only $75! I walked by it and immediately knew I wanted it for our guest bedroom (even though we recently acquired and painted a day bed for that room--this bed has so much more character than that bed). It came from Arkansas and is over 100 years old!

I love the shabby, old appearance of the bed. I want to keep that bed as it is and put a couple of coats of polyurethane on it to seal the old texture on it. Darin thinks we should have it sandblasted and paint it. I plan on accessorizing with white down pillows, white linens, and a colorful antique quilt at the foot of the bed. What do you think? Do you think it should be painted or left as it is?

Also, to go along with the bed, here are the other pieces of furniture that are going to be used in the room:

Antique Carved Commode and Green Wicker Chair


On a side note I love my husband very much and he is so fabulous to go along with my impulses for decorating. Love ya Darin ;)

Refinished Furniture

Today's blogs are all about furniture. Here are a couple of before and after shots of some things we have been working on lately.

Corner Hutch

You may think that I have the before and after shots of this hutch mixed up because it looks older after I redid it, but that is what I wanted. I bought this hutch for $20 on Craigslist. It was missing one of the panes of glass when I bought it and it also had the most hideous pulls on the cabinet doors. With a little bit of paint and some new antique hardware from ebay, this cabinet looks similar to one I saw in a Country Living magazine. You may be wondering why I have two hutches, well this one fits in this small corner in the hallway and now brightens up the space where as the other hutch is located in the kitchen. Please ignore the clutter in the upper cabinet in the before picture as well as the streaky mirror oops. :)


Chest

I bought this chest at a wonderful estate sale (I totally scored a ton of great things at that sale!!!) for only $19. When I got it home I wanted to strip off the paint and see what kind of wood was underneath. After literally HOURS of applying paint thinner and sanding we could only see a little tiny part of the wood underneath that horrible orange paint. Darin convinced me that we could not possibly strip all of the paint off in this decade so instead we painted it and my little sis and I did some stenciling on the top. You might also notice that it had some very chintzy rings on the sides that I removed. Apparently I am not a fan of fake metal rings. I am very pleased with how this turned out. I decided to keep the latch orange as a token of what the original color was.

Visitors Galore!

These past few weeks have been very exciting in our little home! We had the privilege of hosting my little bro and sis Mark and Sarah as well as Darin's Mom, Dad, and sister Janae. Mark and Sarah came the last week in July and Darin's family came the first week in August.

Cameron and Dallin loved the attention and fun from all of the visitors. I am happy that they are able to get to know family members even though we live so far from home!

There really wasn't much to show them around town, so we mainly hung out at home and took it easy.

It was so much fun to have visitors. It is time for other people to come visit and keep us company--who is next?

Southern Texas

This past week we had the opportunity to travel south a bit and enjoy some time traveling around Texas. We stayed in this adorable little town called Shiner. It is dubbed, " The cleanest little town in Texas." What is not to love about a clean, little town with beautiful old houses? We had a really good time the week we were there.

Over the weekend we decided to visit Corpus Christi for a little seaside fun. I did not find it fun. I did not like that overcrowded, dirty town with ugly houses (not all of the houses were ugly, but not all were pretty). I wanted to go back to clean little Shiner. It was not so. We stayed in that darn town. The only thing I enjoyed about the town was the family picture we got taken on the boardwalk.

These are some pictures of the cute old houses in beautiful Shiner. The first home picture is the main house of the Bed and Breakfast that we stayed at.

The Picture Worth A Thousand Words

Look Who Is Walking Now Pt. 2!

During the first week of August Cameron finally started walking around. It amazes me to think that both of my tiny babies are now toddlers. Cameron's main enjoyment in life right now is climbing. That same enjoyment is also spilling over to Dallin. It seems as though they are getting into everything! Sometimes I will turn my back for a second then a baby will be up on a table, or on a rocking chair. One time I went to grab something from the kitchen and returned to find Cameron up on a chair in front of the piano with one foot poised to climb on the keys and the other on tippy-toes supporting the weight of his body. Needless to say, I am on my guard more now than I have ever been. I am sure, however, that it will only get worse from here.