The Sun Room.

If you've been to my house, you know what room the Sun Room is. It's the gloomy drab - 70's styled room with wood panneling and acron-leaf ikea curtains. Lets not forget the red brick and tan shag carpet. Amidst its unfortunate state, I had high hopes for re-decorating this room. And my expectations have been blown away.

  But not easily, quickly, or inexpensively of course. Its taken about 4 months to get the sun room to where it is now.  And it all started with us wanting to replace the carpet.....

.....which lead to us tearing down the WALLS, and floor......

I can honestly say now that it was a blessing in disguise, but in that moment where I was standing inside my house and there was nothing between me and squirrel on my porch - I was in utter distress and shock.

Water had leaked under our sliding glass doors and rotted the beams inside our walls and floor. Bummer. Yea. So turns out ripping some old carpet up and laying down some new carpet wasn't going to be the task at hand anymore. Forunately, I'm married to a super hero macho man, and he, along with the help of his father and friends, were able to repair everything and re-build new walls for that room. Good bye, sliding glass doors. With wood trim.

Here is a progression of the pictures from before we did work, to during, and to the (almost) finished product.

Before: 

Basically just looks like crap. Everywhere. haha.  Here is the DURING process.

 Me feeling empowered haha

The FINISHED PRODUCT!!

(still looking for something matching for these two walls - open to suggestions!!) 

(I'm recovering this chair in a navy and pink fabric) 

Look at that beautiful trim work. Thank you, Thank you. 

(We still need to put trim around the windows, and I'm getting one navy and white pillow for the couches) 

I still have a few small projects that I have to finish but for the majority of the work - WE ARE DONE! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where I got my design pieces:

Ottoman
Hand made Curtains
Round Gold Table
Gold mirrored tray
Pillows are from : amazon, h&m, target, etsy, TJ Maxx.

Thanks for viewing!! So happy to finally share it with everyone!!
XOXO
Bekah

The Perpetual Buffet Hunt Comes to an End.

I have been wanting a buffet for my dining room for a year and a half now. The problem is I would need to harvest a few of my eggs in order to buy one. And with a mountain of student loans we're focused on tackling, it seemed to be a frivolous purchase.

Good ole craigslist can offer great prices on great pieces, but you gotta act FAST. If I had a dollar for every time I called to buy a buffet and it was already sold... I'd have enough money to buy myself a nice finished one!

Well, the Lord was upon me when I found this gem. I practically stole it and its in really good condition! And it was a total miracle that it hadn't been sold yet. I also made a really great DIY-er friend in the process! :)

I had a good number of people advise me NOT to paint it, and about the same amount telling me TO paint it. I debated for awhile, but it was just too harsh for our dining room and wasn't my style. I think I did a good job keeping the natural wood beauty but shaping it to my likin'.

After 3 coats of Valspar paint+primer, 1 wax seal, 1 wood stain coat for the top, and 1 antiquing glaze layer for the crevices, she turned out reallll nice.

More pictures. I love having extra display space! 

From start to finish took me about 4 hours. I bought it and finished it the same day. Haha. I'm one of those people who obsess and can't stop working until my masterpiece is complete. :)

Hooray! I learned a lot with this piece and I'm so happy how it turned out. So much so, I decided to keep it. :)

Do you have a buffet/sideboard in your house?

Enjoy!
 Bekah

A Piano Makeover

I grew up with a piano in my house. I started taking lessons at age 7 and continued into High School. I love playing!! It is such a beautiful instrument. Unfortunately for me, my sister (the oldest - shout out to younger siblings!) got to keep it, so I have been piano-less for years!

I decided to buy my very own piano that I could keep for hopefully a very long time! I found a steal on craigslist. This lady wanted to get rid of a 70 year old, one owner piano. She had 3 other people wanting it that day! Thanks to good ole Venmo - I sent her $50 that night so she would hold it for me. :)

Here it is:

I love the legs and the music stand! 

Although the wood finish is beautiful and classic, it's not my style. I had intentions to  paint whatever piano I bought.  Deciding what color was difficult, but I eventually settled with ivory because I knew it would be more timeless and practical than mint or blush pink.

Thanks to the invention of chalk paint - I didn't have to sand or prime it prior to painting. And for any of you who know - chalk paint is SO expensive!! I had heard there was a way to make it. I did a little research and then headed to lowes! 

I used Plaster of Paris mixed with a little water and some left over interior latex paint I had! It turned out great! 

I used 5 tablespoons of plaster of paris, 1.5 tablespoons of water, and about 2 cups of regular paint (color of your choice). I mixed the water and plaster until it was creamy, and then added the paint to the mix and stirred until it was blended well.  Ready, set, paint! 

 It surprising dried very fast, which was nice since it took me about 2-3 coats. I lightly sanded between each coat to give a smoother finish. I used a medium grit sand paper sponge. I like the sponges because they are easier to hold onto! 

Here is after the first coat: (lighting is weird)

It gave it a pretty cool distressed look, but wasn't what I was going for. I lightly sanded, mixed some more paint and kept going! I just used a small rubber handled brush. 

A few more coats and she's a beaut! Turned out gorgeous! 

I had to tape off the keys and pedals which was a little time consuming, but necessary. Very important step to finish! There was a very small space behind the keys that would look awful had I left it brown.  

After the 3rd coat was dry, I took my sand paper and gave the edges a nice rough up. I didn't go crazy.. just very subtle distressing. I would recommend 3 sandpaper sponges. I only used one and regretted not having any more!

Regardless, I was VERY pleased with the way the wood showed through and how I chose to reveal it.

VERY IMPORTANT!! Probably the MOST important step is using a FINISH after you are done! Chalk paint will scratch and flake very easily and it will also retain stains. So you MUST use a seal/finish. I use Minwax finishing wax with an old rag. I love the smoothness of the finish and how easy it is to use!

And there you have it my friends! Go go paint your own piano, or dresser, or whatever you want!! :) 

Hope you found this helpful. Feel free to leave comments and ask questions!

XOXO Bekah

A Peek inside our CRAZY current life

Soooo where do I even begin? Our life right now... Hmmmm. I find myself sitting on the couch, blogging, and ignoring the mile high to-do list bouncing around in my head. And that's okay.  If you want to know what's going in our lives right now, buckle up - its about to get crazy!

Well, for those of you who I am close to know this and I won't go into detail about it, but the most pressing issue for us right now has been my dad and his health. But the incredibly stressful heartache has actually turned into a HUGE answer to prayer. A faith building love encounter of the Holy Spirit, and even me getting to see prophesy come to fruition in my own life. Amazing.

So although that is great, the journey of restoration is just beginning and there is a lot of future work to be done. Work. While that will require spiritual work from us, Nathan and I have been doing a lot of physical work.  We're replacing the subfloor - not just carpet - in two rooms of our home. And fortunately we have good friends who have come over and helped - but there is still a lot more work to be done. For now, all of the furniture from those two rooms are in the other rooms. I'm about to loose my mind. There is no clutter free room in our house except our bedroom and bathroom upstairs. But that's okay, because this too shall pass. After 3 weeks of mayhem - we're getting NEW GORGEOUS carpet laid on THIS COMING TUESDAY! I'm so excited I could dance down the street naked. Probably wouldn't end well. But I could do it.

Let's see. What else. Oh yeah. I'm running my first half marathon next weekend. No bid deal. It literally couldn't have come at a worse time. I was ready for it in August. And then I realized it wasn't until November. haha. So I  stopped training. And now I've had to pick up the slack from that. But I somehow managed to convince my sweet friend Anna to run it with me and we ran 10 miles on Sunday! Double digits baby! I had a 10:18 pace which I am proud of! Hopefully I will do that or even a little faster for the half. We shall see.

AAnnnnnddd we also have my dad's two tiny vocal poodle puppies - which are not potty trained. So they are only allowed outside, in their crate, or in the kitchen. I have thought about living in a hotel for the next 2 weeks. Legitimately.

Some good FUN news is that my two best friends got engaged with in two weeks of each other! And I am super pumped for their weddings! I'm so happy for them and their new chapter of lives. Married life is great and they're going make great wives. :)

I also started making and selling burlap wreaths! This has been so much fun, but it has also been just another block to juggle in my wobble hands. I enjoy it and want to keep doing it! Just don't have a lot of time for it right now.

Anything else.... going on..... I don't think so. I can say that I am incredibly blessed and I serve an AMAZING LOVING GOD!!! Even in these times of crazy chaos - God is ALWAYS good, ALWAYS loving, and ALWAYS faithful!! And for that, I am thankful for my currently stressful, beautiful, blessed life.

XOXO
Bek

The Color Run!!!

 As some of you may know, I have signed up (along with some others in my family) to run a half marathon in November. I have to say its been really fun training for it! And I'm pretty proud of myself! The most I have run without stopping is 8 miles so far. And let's be honest folks, that's a big deal. Although most of my friends run full marathons in their spare time, I do not. So for me - I ran a third-a-thon. There should be an award for that.

Running is one of the best ways to get in shape. And if you aren't eager to run 13+ miles, you should train for a 5k! They are so much fun and you pretty much run off adrenaline the whole time. Aaannnddd you get great pictures and a t-shirt. So why NOT sign  up is the real question! And if you're looking for a 5k, the Color Run is known as the Happiest 5k on the Planet!!

Nathan and I are SUPER excited to participate in this years Color Run 5k in OKC! We have never run it before so it's going to be really fun!! And we want you to run with us!!! Even if you don't live in OKC - you can find your city's Color Run HERE!! Seriously, look how much fun this looks like!!

And even one MORE reason you need to sign up - and quickly - you get $5 off by entering this code in a city not sold out!!

COLOR5OFF !! DO it!! And hurry, because the spots fill up fast! We hope to see you out there!! 

XOXO

Bekah

The Lively Living Room

Now when I saw this is long awaited.... I mean this is 1.5 years long awaited. And its still not perfect, but what in life is? Im SO excited to share the transformation of my living room with you. It's come a LOOOONG way.

 

Since the rest of the house is more vintage style, I knew I wanted to go with something fun, trendy, and a little more modern. If you remember, my mom helped me make mustard chevron curtains last year. And I knew I wanted to paint the walls grey, which trusty Harry and Tiff came to the rescue to help me with that. But other than that, I didn't know how else to decorate my living room.

My dearest sweetest patient friend (yes, I clean her teeth) is an interior designer. After a few appointments of me venting to her about my frustrations of empty ideas, she asked me to let her help me. And did she ever! Macy Mason at Designs by MK transformed my living room from shab to fab. And I mean that literally. I had a few things going, but she helped me pull all of my ideas together with her master plan she created for me. What a blast it has been working on it and trying to replicate her layout below:

Pretty freaking adorable, I know right!! I took her advice and couldn't be happier. Although some of the stuff I bought is a little different, it is still apart of the same design/color scheme. :) Go check out her blog HERE! She is incredibly talented!!

All we need now is a grey couch and a few more finishing touches. But for now, we are perfectly content. (Especially considering every piece of furniture was given to us besides the ladder shelf).

Here are the rest of the picture of our living room. We absolutely LOVE our rug. (Harvey is enjoying it as well).

Little note about this beautiful quilt: Nathan's grandma made us this as our wedding gift. I told her I wanted these colors in our bedroom, but ended up using them in our living room!! And it couldn't look more perfect on our couch. Thank you, Mamaw!! 

The "Wedding Ring" pattern

Okay. Now prepare yourselves for this. When we moved in - this is what our living room used to look like haha. This is what I was working with, people. Baby diarrhea brown walls and this really awesome fire place..... LOL! I actually kind of like it. We moved the TV to the other wall!

Hope you've enjoyed seeing this transformation!

XOXO
Bekah