PAINTING KITCHEN CABINETS || part 1

It has already ben eight months since we moved!  We haven't done any major renovations on our own home, since having children {about four years ago}.  It's not that we forgot how time consuming it is to do a renovation on our own home, it's that we can't find the time to do it…..without little people helping. We thought we would have the basement completely finished before football season started.  Nothing has changed in the basement for two months, and we still have a ways to go!  Anyways, the point is…..we plan on doing a major renovation to our kitchen next winter.  But, I am quickly realizing that it may be a couple of years before we renovate.    Since we moved into this home, I haven't touched the kitchen.  Well, the rain came this week and I decided to start painting the kitchen!  I started with the walls, and yesterday I painted the kitchen island.  I was reminded of how much I love Chalk Paint®!  It truly is an amazing product!  I still have more cabinetry to do, but I thought I would share some tips and tricks for painting kitchen cabinets.

Use steel wool or a scotch bright pad to remove gunk, spills and food.

Wipe down cabinetry with low-odor mineral spirits or a degreaser cleaner.  Finally, wipe cabinets with warm water and a clean rag, let cabinetry dry completely.  Tape any area that need to stay 'clean'.

You can see that the first coat can be a bit scary.  The first coat always looks bad!  The dry time is fast.  Once the paint is dry to the touch, you can start with the second coat.  After the second coat is dry, you can distress the edges, if that is the look you are trying to achieve.  I always distress in areas that look like they would naturally get worn and beat up.  If distressing, sand with a high grit sandpaper and wipe down the cabinetry.  You don't want any paint dust on the cabinets when you wax!  Wax with soft wax and you are done!  This island {which is really big} only took me a few hours.  I finished it during the girl's nap time and then finished waxing while I was making dinner….it really is that easy!  I will post more pictures when I finish the other cabinets.  Until then, I have listed a few tips below!

Helpful tips for painting cabinetry with Chalk Paint®

-The simplest way to paint cabinetry with Chalk Paint®, is to paint them in place.  You may choose to remove the doors and drawer faces for painting.  Make sure to mark each cabinet with a labeled  piece of tape, then you aren't playing a guessing game when it's time to put the doors back on.

-Remove knobs and pulls, place all of the hardware {including screws} into a ziplock bag.

-If you are painting the interiors of the cabinets, remove the shelves and support clips and be sure to mark each shelf accordingly.

Painting over previously finished cabinets:

-Make sure that the surface is clean and free of loose particles.  Use a scotch bright pad or steel wool to lightly scrub the surface.  Next, remove any old, greasy, waxy or oily residue (you can use low-odor mineral spirits, TSP, Crud Cutter or any cleaner that cuts through grease}.  Rinse with clean rag and warm water and let it dry completely.

-Fill any cracks or holes with wood filler or speckling.  Allow to dry and sand smooth with fine grit sandpaper.

-Typically there is no need to sand or prime.  Although in areas that receive a lot of use, it might be wise.

-Tape any areas that need to stay clean {floor, appliances, etc} and begin painting!  It typically will take two coats of paint.  Distress if that is the desired look.  Wax with soft wax.  Cabinets will clean with a mild soap and warm water.

VINTAGE VANITY || painted with milk paint

Customers all always asking me which I prefer….Milk Paint of Chalk Paint®?  My answer is usually the same; it totally depends on the piece of furniture and the scope of the project!

This vintage vanity is feminine and very detailed.  Not to mention old with really darling curves an.

Four years ago {when I was very pregnant with my first} I stripped and sanded {well, my not-pregnant-sister sanded for me} this vanity down.  This was before Chalk Paint® or Milk Paint had become popular, before Pinterest, before I could google 'low odor' or 'natural furniture paint".   Anyways, I researched about Milk paint and I was able to locate a brand of Milk Paint that was carried in Portland.  I painted the vanity and a dresser a light green…I was hooked!  Milk Paint gives a very authentic finish, it adds to the character of an old piece.

Last month I participated in Carlton Crush-a local street fair/carnival event.  My theme was white pumpkins with pops of muted orange and pink.  I painted the vanity with a new color of Milk Paint {MMSMP apron strings} and used it as a display piece.  Last month I had no intention of selling it!  Now I need room in the studio for more furniture pieces I have picked up, so I am going to sell this darling vanity.  It would be perfect in a girls' bedroom, bathroom, home office or even in a living or dining room!

46" Long x 30" Tall x 19" Deep

White Milk Glass Knobs

$195 ~ free local delivery available

MILK PAINT || my favorite colors {at least for this week}

I promise to start posting some 'after' pictures!  We have been busy with projects {both Matt and myself} but I am so bad about documenting the finished project with pictures!!  Maybe next week?!?

On another note, I have slowly been getting the studio organized and it feels so good!  A few months ago I started carrying the line 'Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint'.  Next month I head to California for a two day training so I figure I better start working on color samples!  Here are my favorite Milk Paint colors….and when you see them in my living room you will see why they are my favorite {for right now anyways ;-}

MMSMP colors from top to bottom~

LUCKETT'S GREEN

BOXWOOD

KITCHEN SCALE

FRENCH ENAMEL

FLOW BLUE

EULALIE'S SKY

ARTISSIMO

GALVANIZED CLOCK || adding a touch of industrial

So, the Fall Vintage Sale was awesome!  A huge success and so much fun!!!  I was tired for days afterwards, and of course hardly snapped ANY photos!  I can't believe it….I only snapped a couple with my phone, right before we went to open the gate and let the flood of shoppers rush in!  Thanks so much to all of you lovelies who came, and to new peeps, it was fun to meet new faces and hug on the old ones!

On a different note, I have slowly starting gathering and ordering items for when we have a downtown space.  One of my favorite things so far has been this galvanized clock!

Anything galvanized has become so popular over the last few years.  I love that it can really go with anything and yet totally changes the look of a space!  I bought two of these clocks….one to keep and one to sell.

DETAILS::  33.5" W x 33.25"L.  $128

If you are interested in purchasing it, just let me know!

CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES WITH CINNAMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

When Fall rolls around, I love everything 'pumpkin' and 'spice'.  I wanted to make some cupcakes and was going to resort to spiced cupcakes, but decided to add a 'Fall" twist with frosting instead.  We ended up with chocolate cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting….perfectly chocolate with just a hint of spice!

When I make cupcakes, I usually use a box mix-just being honest.  I love the texture and you can't beat the ease of adding a handful of ingredients and turning on the mixer!  I almost always have cream cheese on hand, so these little babies took no time at all!  Below is the recipe, if you can even call it that…..Enjoy!!

RECIPE

Chocolate Fudge cake mix-prepare cupcakes per box instructions.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting-

8 oz. package of cream cheese, room temp.

1/4 cup of unsalted butter, room temp.

1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. of vanilla

2-3 cups of powered sugar, depending on desired consistency.  

With a hand held, or stand mixer, mix cream cheese and butter together until smooth.  Add remaining ingredients and mix until smooth. Garnish with dried cranberries or anything else that sounds good!

ADDING 'FARMHOUSE FLAIR' TO A RANCH HOME

As most of you know, we sold our home and  moved about 6 months ago.  We just moved a few miles, but we now have a couple of acres.  Just enough space to grow a big garden, raise some animals and give the girls room to run and play.  The house we bought is a classic ranch and we are slowing adding a little farm house flair.

Construction for the barn started a few weeks ago.  This beautiful barn is actually very similar to what ours will look like.  Matt put a lot of thought and time in to designing the barn….I can't wait to see the walls go up!  I won't bore you with all of the details (widths of batts for the board and batt siding, color of siding, style of barn too, etc.…..but we sure had fun figuring out all of the details)!  Our goal is to make the barn look likes it's original to the house (1948).

We have plans to add 'farmhouse flair' next Spring.  We will paint the exterior, add corbels, cupolas, shudders, all of the extra touches that give a home personality and character.  We are having the chimney re-built and I am struggling with the type of brick to choose.  All of the little details that can really make a big difference!  In the mean time, we started switching out the exterior lighting.

Here are a few inspiration photos….

Arn't those homes darling?

I am so weird about remodeling my own home.  I am always wanting to hurry things up and just be finished, but on the other hand I really enjoy the process!  Does anybody else have the problem when it comes to projects around the home?

xoxo

BEFORE + AFTER || oak table

Matt has wanted to build a farm house table for our dining room, but the reality is, it's falls short on the priority list.  My wood working skills do not even compare to my handy husband, so I knew there was no way I would attempt to build my own!  My in-laws lent us their extra oak dining set since we sold our last dining room set with our house.  A few weeks ago I was telling Matt's mom that we just couldn't agree on a new dining room set to buy.  Matt really wants to build something but I want something sooner than later.  :-0

She said we could just have the dining room set we were borrowing!  Perfect!  The next day I started painting..

The table is in great shape.  Solid oak and the perfect size for our dining room.  I painted the base with Chalk Paint® {Old White}.  Just one coat since I wanted it to be heavily distressed.  I then applied one coat of clear wax and a bit of dark wax to age the base a bit more.

The top is painted with Chalk Paint® {French Linen} and thinned with water, for more of a washed look.  I sanded the edges and applied two coats of the Annie Sloan lacquer.  The lacquer has a matte finish and is very durable, great for our family who uses this table almost three times a day.

I bought four metal chairs and two upholstered chairs to replace the oak chairs that were part of the original set.  I love mixing different styles and finishes.  Plus, these chairs are pretty indestructible…..good for a family with little people and messy big people ;-)

A FEW {more} FALL TOUCHES

We leave this morning for Crater Lake.  A few nights away with my little family is always so good for my soul!

I thought I would post a few photos of a bit more Fall decorating around the outside of our home.

Have a lovely weekend friends!

**corn stalks and pumpkins from our garden

**fire wood delivered and stacked

**our front door dolled up for Fall

**our new barn is ready for the concrete foundation

A FEW FALL TOUCHES || using what I already have to decorate for fall

This time of year always gets so busy for me (and I know for so many others!)  The tourism is so seasonal here and our vacation rental reaches the peak of busy-ness in August and September.  For me that means a lot of cleaning, gardening and paper work.  But, even during the busy-ness of life, it's so important to make time for family and friends.  Saturday was spent hosting a booth at Carlton Crush ( a darling, local festival ).  It was a long, fun, successful and exhausting day, but the good kind of exhausting!  Sunday we spent the day at Pacific City with Matt's parents….celebrating his dad's birthday.  Pacific City is one of our favorite places to spend the day.  We drive the truck down onto the sand and set up camp for the day.  Football, fire, food and lots of sand and salt water….the best kind of day!

And today has been our first 'slow' day at home in a while.  So, the girls and I have been cleaning and slowing adding touches of Fall.  When decorating for Fall, I like to go 'all natural' and use things from nature.  Mostly branches, berries, pumpkins and gourds.  It's easy, cheap and looks great.  A couple of years ago I painted all of my fake orange pumpkins white and light green.  I used Chalk Paint to paint my pumpkins, but I am sure any paint would work just fine.

As you can see by the dining room photos, the room is in progress.  When Matt starts paneling the stairway to the basement, he is going to add an opening to the dining room and panel the entire room.  We contemplated wall papering but we would need to tear off of the layers of wall paper and it honestly would be easier to panel the room than to try to remove the wallpaper, patch the holes and hang wallpaper.

The girls and I are planning on adding some Fall touches to the their bedrooms and the outside of the house later today, I will post pictures later in the week!

xoxo

FALL CLASS SCHEDULE

Just a quick note to let you know that the Fall Class Schedule has been updated on the 'paint + classes' page of the website and I will post it here as well.

I am getting ready for a booth at this weekend's Carlton Crush Festival, as well as tending to my sick baby girl and recovering from a yucky flu bug…so I probably won't  do a fun blog  post this week.  But next week I will be back 'on my A game'!

Have a great week!!

BEFORE & AFTER || a sewing table

A few weeks ago I picked up this darling little sewing table at Goodwill.  It was only $8 and I was looking for a little table for our master bedroom.

Now I forgot to take a 'BEFORE' picture, but I took one shortly after I started.  I think it's even better than a true 'BEFORE' because it shows how the first coat of white paint looks.  It looks bad and if you haven't painted with Chalk Paint® or Milk Paint, you may get nervous or discouraged after the first coat.  Fear not, the second coat always looks great!

A majority of the table is painted with PURE WHITE Chalk Paint®.  It took two coats, and then I distressed the edges.  This is an old piece and I want it to look old and full of character.

I then painted the doors and the fluted detail on the legs with TROPHY MMS Milk Paint.  After one coat of the Milk Paint, I sanded the doors, I still wanted to see the beautiful (but damaged) wood underneath.  The entire piece received one coat of clear wax and it was tucked into the little corner in my bedroom that afternoon!

One of the many things I love about both of these paints is the fast drying time.  I can finish a piece in one day and have it decorated or functioning that evening!!  I am an instant gratification kind of girl and this paint works perfectly for refinishing a piece quickly!  Love it!

BEING THANKFUL AMONG THE MESSINESS

I am learning to embrace the way I am 'wired'.  Creative, orderly, energetic, hard working, sympathetic and a lover of beauty.  But, I also struggle with not letting these things demand how I will live each day.  Living with people is messy, both physically and emotionally.  I can choose to love on the people around me or get frustrated because they don't allow me the time or the ability to keep things orderly, clean, organized, etc.  I can easily loose perspective!

Everywhere I look we have un-finished and half finished projects.  The chickens are crammed into a little pen with a shanty of a home.  The excavator will break ground this week for Matt's barn.  The basement looks like somebody started construction and then walked away.  And those are all such trivial complaints!   All around me friends are hearing hard medical diagnoses, family and friend's marriages are falling apart, people are loosing jobs, and I can hardly even think of the heartache happening in the Middle East.

But, I am learning to embrace the messiness of life and enjoy the beauty in the little moments.  Life is hard and when I start to feel overwhelmed by it all, I kiss my babies and thank God for the goodness around me!

PAINTED CERAMIC TILE

Every time I talk to one of you lovely ladies (or gentlemen) who reads the blog, you always say how much you love seeing pictures of our home projects.  Matt and I both love working on our home, so it's fun for me to share pictures and projects!  We have A LOT of 'un-finished' projects, as 'one things leads to another'.  The beauty of this is that all of the sudden a lot of projects will be wrapped up at the same time ;-)

I am slowly working on making changes to our powder room.  I hope to wallpaper within the next couple of weeks and I just finished painting the ceramic floor tile last week.  I thought I would share a few photos and my thoughts on painting tile.

Here is the 'BEFORE' photo.

Now, let me start by saying my approach with painting the floor tile was that if it didn't turn out, we could rip it out and replace it with new tile.  That wouldn't be ideal, but I knew it was an option.  **I may not have been so brave as to paint the floor tile if I didn't know that we could replace it if it was a total bomb.**  Also, we had some extra floor tile stored in the basement.  I tried painting and sealing several pieces before actually painting the floor.

I began by scrubbing the floor with TSP. I let the floors completely dry and made sure they were clean before I moved onto taping the trim and plumbing fixtures.  Once everything was clean and taped, I painted the entire floor with 'Country Grey' Chalk Paint® decorative paint.  As you know, I love (and sell) Annie Sloan's paint.  I love it and use it on everything!  I have used it on concrete floors, and was curious as to how it would paint and hold up on a tile floor.

After two coats of the 'Country Grey', I cut in the alternating squares with 'Pure White'.  'Pure White' is the bright white offered in the line up of beautiful colors.  I used an artist brush to cut in.  I probably could have used tape to tape off the squares, but I didn't want to risk the tape pulling off the freshly painted grey paint.

I cut in (two coats) of 'Coco' Chalk Paint® over the grout lines.  I wasn't loving the look because the grout lines were not straight.  I just looked like painted tile, but not necessarily in a good way.  My sweet and well intentioned husband kept making suggestions and I knew he was trying to think of a polite way to say it look a bit tchotchke.

So, I took my own advice…..keep working on it until you love it!  You can always change something to make it more of what you like.  I lacquered the floor with the Annie Sloan Lacquer.  It's an awesome product.  It seals and protects and has a beautiful matte finish.  Not to mention it's water based for easy clean up!

After two coats of lacquer, I applied a light coat of dark wax.  The dark wax provided just the bit of aging and distressing I needed to make the imperfect grout lines look worn and a bit more authentic.  I kept everyone off of the floor tile during this entire process and followed the instructions on the lacquer container.  I also kept everyone off of the finished floor for a week, this little powder room gets a lot of foot traffic and I wanted to give the floor a fighting chance!  So far it looks really great and has held up very well.  And for those of you who know my husband, he is a tough critic!  He likes it and said it looks great ;-)

The last picture makes the wallpaper and floor tile color look a little off.  It actually matches perfectly and looks really good against the oak wood floor which is right outside of the bathroom door.  Hopefully I will have pictures to post soon of the new wallpaper!  Until then, I am off to paint the ceiling of the dining room and living room.  Not super fun but I love what a fresh coat of paint does to a room!!

If you have questions about painting tile, don't hesitate to shoot me an email or ask in the comments section.

xoxo~

Darci

REPURPOSING CABINET DOORS || painted signs

As you may already know, I love to use cabinet doors to hand paint signs.  I love that they are already 'cut and framed'.  No building or prep work, just paint and hang!

I made these these two last summer and hung them in our covered outdoor space.  Matt used old square-head nails to hang them, they were my favorite.  When we sold our home, we sold it furnished, these two signs were included in the sale.

Since we have moved, I haven't taken the time to make any new signs.  Last week a friend/client gave me some extra cabinet doors from a kitchen remodel she had done years ago.  She was keeping the doors for a future project, but was finally ready to just clean and purge.  I know that feeling well ;-)  Anyways, she sent me home with four large cabinet doors…..

Simple little reminders.  And they just cost me an afternoon and a little bit of paint!  My kind of project!!

**For any of you who might want to make a similar sign, here are some very technical instructions {wink}…

I painted the cabinet door with two coats of French Linen {Chalk Paint®}.

Typed the wording than printed the wording in black.

Cut the words than traced over them firmly with a ball paint pin.

Used an artist brush and painted the letters with Graphite {Chalk Paint®}.

Distressed with 180 grit sandpaper.

Waxed the entire sign with clear wax.

Happy painting!!

ONE PROJECT LEADS TO ANOTHER || the joys of remodeling your own home

We are loving this sunny, warm weather!  What about you?

We have been working hard, but balancing it out with some fun play too.  Matt is just finishing up a couple bathroom remodels and starting to build the cabinetry for a client's home library, it's going to be a beauty!!  (I hope to get pictures of the bathrooms soon, they turned out really nice.) On the weekends and some evenings, we have been working on our basement.  The playroom is progressing….

And one thing always leads to another….Matt has to rebuild the stairs leading to the basement, which leads to new trim work, which leads to 'why not add paneling to the wall', which leads to ' let's make some changes in the powder room since you see the wall and stairs from the powder room'….we have a sickness.  Seriously.  And the worse part is, we feed off of each other!

So, now with all of my other half finished projects, I am going to start on the powder room.  Below is a quick sample board I threw together and a few pictures of the powder room as it sits now.

We are going to cover the existing wall paper with a neutral buffalo check wallpaper, add new doors and new trim to the current built-in and then paint it blue, new lights and plumbing fixtures and I am going to attempt to paint the tile.  I am thinking a black and white check?!?  I have seen a lot of painted tile projects online, so I am going to try my hand at it!

In the mean time, I am off to make paper chains with my sweet pea!

Happy Summer!!

THE PLAYROOM || progress

So the 'to-do' list is never ending, as well as the grocery list, the 'project' list, the 'friends we would like to have over for dinner' list and so on.  I have always been a list maker.  But, shortly after we moved in February, I realized the lists had a bit too much control over my mind and my attitude.  What's with that?  That's not how I wanted to live.  I wasn't leaving room in the margins, and if someone or something came between me and crossing off an item on my list, I was snappy.  Not so fun to be around!

All of our house projects are taking a lot longer than we anticipated.  We have hit some speed bumps with the house, but that is just part of any remodeling project!  But you know what?  I have let go of the lists (not all of them ;-))) and it doesn't bother me that the house projects are taking longer.  A lot of things don't bother me like they use to.  This 'letting go' business turns out to be really good for my heart.  And my family appreciates a wife/mama who isn't so project oriented all.of.the.time.

I thought I would post a few photos of the play room.  It's taken quite a while to get to this point, and it will still take me at least another month to get it finished.  But, it's further along than it was when we moved in {wink}.

There is no natural light in this space, so it's hard for an amateur like me to get decent photos!  You can see I still have a lot to do!

I am curious to see how the door knobs turn out.  They don't lock, they act as a handle to open the doors.  Once I paint the oak doors, I will wax the doors and the door knobs, I will let you know how it turns out.

The flooring all comes up soon so I am trying to paint everything now while it doesn't matter if paint gets on the floor.  In the mean time, the girls love playing in the space and I can't wait to get it finished for them.  There is something so sweet about siblings playing together, even if it only lasts for 30 seconds at a time ;-)

SUMMER GARDENING || favorite garden recipes

I starting my hand at gardening the first year Matt and I were married.  I was so happy to have my own little house.  A place where I could create a home, love on people and try my hand at 'domestic' things'.  My first attempt at gardening wasn't too successful!  But, once I realized that I was over-complicating it, things seemed to grow!  You put a seed in the dirt, water it and watch it grow.  AMAZING.

For the past 10 years, I have been gardening out of raised beds.  I am learning how I need to approach things a bit differently when gardening on a large, flat plot of dirt.

 The weeds are killing me!  Definitely using ALOT more mulch next year.  But what a sense of accomplishment to enjoy the fruits of our labor!

Most Saturday mornings, Addilyn helps me in the garden while Savanna naps.  What a joy to listen to her chat, build mud pies, look for worms, pick fruits and veggies and just get dirty in the garden.  It takes 10 times longer to pull weeds and work when she is with me, but it is a special time for us.

I thought I would share a few of our favorite summer recipes, so far this summer.  I am trying to be creative with food we typically don't eat, but are growing in the garden {kale, cabbage, leeks, etc}.  We do a lot of grilling in the summer, and a lot of 'winging it' when it comes to summer meal planning.  I love having a few favorite recipes and then tweaking them a bit according to what I have on hand.

warm kale salad

kale salad with warm garlic and raisin vinaigrette 

grilled roasted corn salad

lemon basil pizza with spinach and mozzarella

pizza with summer squash and feta

Mediterranean baked chicken

Enjoy!

4th of JULY || and savoring the little moments

Ever since Addilyn was born, we spend most of the Fourth of July at Cannon Beach.  It's a sweet little tradition that we look forward to every summer.  The bakery, the shops, the darling parade, the sweet smell of the ocean air, it's one of my favorite things about summer.

I am definitely learning to savor the time I spend with my little family.  The girls are growing so fast.  I want to pour into them and love on them.  And honestly, some days are just hard.  I loose my patience too many times to count.  I snap and nag, and these sweet little ones love on me anyway.

We slowed down for the day.  We sat and enjoyed the parade.  We enjoyed each other's company.  We were present and it was just what this tired mama/wife needed.

Little Miss loves to savor everything around her.  Truly.  She inspires me to constantly look at things through a child's perspective.

After a long {but so great} day at the beach, we headed to my parent's for a BBQ and got to spend more time with family.

Sometimes I can be so overwhelmed with motherhood.

Am I spending enough time with my babies? Am I working too much? Am I teaching them enough? Am I pouring into them enough? How do I carve out time for my handsome husband?

I love my work and I love being with my kiddos at home.  It's a hard balance between loving your job and loving on your kids.  I am working on letting go of the guilt and learning to celebrate the sweet little moments.  I am finally finding peace with my work/home schedule.  Not balance, I don't know that I will ever find that, but peace.  God can fill in the spots where I am lacking, and believe me, there are plenty.

I hope you will be encouraged to let go of the guilt and fill up on God's peace!

A LITTLE GREEN || adding new {magnolia} life to an old wreath

When we moved {a few months ago} I did a lot of purging.  It felt so good.  We accumulate so much stuff!  I don't know if you are like this, but when we moved and lived out of boxes for the first few weeks, I realized how little we needed.  As we remodel our home, I am working at cleaning and organizing as we go.

As I am slowly starting to decorate some of the rooms, I am working hard at re-purposing items I already own.  It's so easy to go buy new {which I seem to do a little too often}.  I am really going to push myself to be creative with what I already own!

I was cleaning the storage shed last week and just about tossed this wreath into the burn pile.  It survived the 'purge and move' but it was just taking up space and I was ready to toss it.

I changed my mind set and tried to think of how I could fall in love with this little darling of a wreath.  So, I loaded the girls into the car and we ran to the store in search of some artificial flowers….which can be tough since some look we too artificial.  Especially when I didn't want to have to leave our little town of McMinnville in search of   fake greens.

Believe it or not, I found some decent magnolia stems and leaves at Wal-Mart.  I directed the flower stems, and hot glued the leaves and one of the  flowers to the wreath. It gives it a little personality, and I spent $10 and less than 10 minutes on the project.

We are looking at tile to resurface the fireplace.  My top two contenders are...

and

both are from Pratt and Larson.  If you haven't been to Pratt and Larson and you are thinking of adding tile in your home, it is my absolute favorite place to purchase tile.  They have a 'seconds' store which is fabulous for smaller projects.  Their tile is hand made and B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L!

I am slowly adding accessories here and there.  I have a few bigger projects I want to tackle for the living room, but I need to steal doors from the house and a dresser that's being used to hold our tv.  So, I will wait until my new doors are installed and the basement is finished.  All in good time….at least that is what I keep telling myself ;-)

Have a lovely weekend!

MONSTER COOKIES || a sweet treat recipe

This weekend my sweet hubby pressure washed the garage roof for me.  It's a really steep roof, and it was really dirty, so it was a really big deal to me.

I love to pressure wash!  It's instant gratification....from yucky to clean, in just a matter of minutes.  Matt won't let me get up on a ladder to pressure wash {he is smart man}.  By the time he got the harness, his big ladder, and had pressure washed the roof, the afternoon was gone.  He spent his entire weekend afternoon doing a yucky chore for me.  Such a sweet man.  Anyways, I made sure to have cookies baking in the oven when he walked in the door.

They may be our new favorite cookie.  And we LOVE our chocolate chip cookies around here.

There is something so special about the yummy smells coming from the kitchen.  Bread, cookies, dinner, whatever is cooking, it just makes a home cozy.

Go bake these cookies soon.  Your family, especially your sweet little babies, will love you for these!!

There is something about warm, baked goodness.  It makes hearts happy and makes your home a little extra cozy and sweet.

These cookies take less than 5 minutes to make, and the oven does the rest of the work.  Make them today, and maybe give away half because they make a big batch...and who doesn't love fresh cookies?!?

MONSTER COOKIE RECIPE::

Pre-heat oven to 325.

Mix 1 cup butter softened, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup packed brown sugar.

Add 2 eggs and 1 ½ tsp vanilla, mix blend.

In separate bowl: mix 2 cups flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt.

Combine all ingredients and then ADD:

1 cup choc chips, 1 cup walnuts(or pecans), 1 cup peanut butter chips, and 3 cups quick oatmeal.

Mix all ingredients by hand and drop large, rounded spoonfuls onto baking sheets.

Bake at 325 for 10-12 minutes.

Take them out before they fully cooked.

Enjoy!!