Leave Well Enough Alone

Today I decided I had had enough of moving Dallin's hair out of his eyes and decided to cut it.

I snipped off the offending lock.

I couldn't leave well enough alone.

I thought the back needed to be evened up.

Then it looked too girly. I needed to trim the back. Then the top was uneven...

I snipped.

I cut.

All of a sudden I found myself with a baby with very short hair. I couldn't believe what I had done to him. The poor boy. He looked so thin without all of that hair. He looked so foreign. I wanted to cry. I wanted to undo what I had just done. I couldn't. All I can do is hope that his hair fills in quickly and not make the same mistake again. Leave well enough alone.

Patio Furniture

After months of looking for affordable, cute patio furniture, I came across this set at an estate sale. It had good bones underneath the ugly paint and grody cushions. I got it (again much to Darin's chagrin) and set about refinishing it.

After many, many cans of spray paint I got it looking cute. We enjoyed our first outdoor dinner the other night and Darin admitted what a great purchase it was. I really love those moments.

I am still on the lookout for some cute clearance chair cushions but I do believe that my finger has finally recovered from all of the spray painting. I thought for a while that it was going to fall off, it hurt so bad.

Before:

After:

Room Reveal

The babies finally have a room that they can enjoy (they have been waiting for this for 15 1/2 months now!). It is not completely finished because there are a few more things I would like to get and hang up, but the painting is all done. I am very pleased with how it turned out. Yay.

Before:

After:

Surprise

Today a mysterious package came in the mail. It was addressed to Cameron and Dallin. It contained a pair of new scrub pajamas for each of the boys. They love them. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Ensign!

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?