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

Sermon Notes - Rise Up

I always take notes during a sermon, but most of the time that's as far as it goes. I was really convicted over the past two weeks sermons, so I'm going to summarized them on here. This way, they don't sit on my notes app, never to be looked at again. I can study them, pray over them, and allow my friends and family to help keep me accountable. Also, I think it's good to practice humility and acknowledge your areas of weakness. That way, they don't stay in the dark. By bringing them to light, you conqueror them. So that's what I'm attempting to do. My husband and I are far from perfect, but we are hoping to grow closer to God and His calling for our life.

Let me just start with saying a few things. I have longed to be a part of a church home since I graduated high school. First Baptist Inola was where I was spiritually fed and invested. I went there for 10 years and knew EVERYONE! I was in choir, all the drama skits, piano solos, vocal solos, youth outreach, VBS volunteer, went to Falls Creek, Super Summer, etc. It was great and I looked forward to going every week. But when college happens, it is very difficult to get plugged into a church, because none of them feel like your old church home. And you're busy studying for school. And then you're gone for the summer. And then you move. And then you graduate. And then you plan a wedding. And then you get married. And then you're busy being married. And then..... The list goes on of excuses you have to keep yourself from getting involved.

Needless to say, Nathan and I have struggled with going to church consistently. We travel often and work a lot. Most of the time when we are at home, we're trying to clean up everything from the last time we were gone. We've been able to go on some awesome trips this past year, but it has really made it hard for our home life to thrive. Don't get me wrong; we're blessed and thankful for the opportunities we've had. But we also realize we need more balance!

We've been going to Frontline Church for almost 2 years now. And we LOVE it. We love the vision, the pastor, the people, the location, the worship. It's great. Even though a lot has happened in those past two years, we're not as involved as we would like to be. And I may be being a little hard on myself, but if I keep believing lies and making excuse, my spiritual life is just going to keep swimming in circles.

Now finally to the sermon notes. These messages are delivered by Rex Barrett.
3 Excuses of why we aren't being God's hands and feet.

1. I'm not worthy. We've messed up too much in the past and God can't use us. 
False.   2 Peter 1:8-9 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
Forgiveness allows us to be joyful and our hearts to be moved to do missional works for God's glory. God restores us and makes us worthy to be apart of his plans. 

2. I'm waiting for God's will.  "Oh yeah, once God reveals His will for my life audibly, then I'll start doing it." or "I was on my way to church and got a flat tire, and I know I missed hearing God's will  for my life." God is a big God, and His plans for you won't be screwed up because of a flat tire. We should be in the word, asking for God to reveal it to us there! 

3. I am too busy.   This may be true, but business will steal your joy. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. And your lack of joy is cancerous. In busy seasons, you have to fight for joy and plan for rest. When we are busy, we're more likely to make bad decisions, ie not going to C group. And being busy with church things doesn't mean you're more spiritual. Spending quiet, alone time with the Holy Spirit means you're more spiritual. Always searching for the next exciting thing is not of The Lord. We need Jesus to prune the unnecessary things away so we can be fruitful and grow in Him. 

In summary: Rise up. Be a leader. Get involved in your church, in your community. Love your family, your co-workers, and your neighbors. 

My hope and prayer is that God would continue to stir in our hearts and that we would continue to get involved in our church. And be consistent. I signed up to work the nursery a few weeks ago and I am waiting to hear back. Today at church, Nathan signed up with me. :) 

XOXO 
Mrs. Phelps

365 Days of Love.

July 8th, 2012. That was the day I married my very best friend. Sounds cliche, I know. But really, we are besties. Sometimes we want to punch each other in the mouth.  (We never do, of course. But what best friend have you never gotten mad at?) Sometimes, we can communicate without speaking a word to each other; a simple look will say it all. And other times, we just roll around the floor in laughter because we have the same sense of humor.

This week is our 1 year anniversary. 1 whole year has passed since we said our vows. 365 days. Cray. You know they say the 1st year is the hardest. I can see that being true, and I hope it is!  I have to say it's definitely been challenging. Nathan travels a lot and it's been hard being at home so much when he's away. But, its also been nice to have a lot of girlfriend time!  And I always have my other boyfriend to keep me company when he's gone. His name is Harvey, and he's a 7lb toy poodle. He's presh.

Just to highlight the past year with some pictures (bc you should know by now that's how I communicate). A year in review:
From July 2012 to July 2013!

We were blessed to take a 1 year anniversary photo shoot by our dear friend, Molly Gates! She did a fantastic job. Here's a few more from our 1 year anniversary shoot. And our cake was YUMMY!

This year has gone by ridiculously fast. But its been very eventful, and we've been fortunate to travel a LOT. Hopefully next year will much just as much to offer, if not more. :) 

XOXO Mrs. Phelps

My Sister.

I've been reminded a lot of our wedding lately. The 8th was our sixth month anniversary and my wedding was also featured in a really prestigious wedding blog! Super cool! Check it out after you read the post at The Every Last Detail - Lauren did an awesome job!!

Our wedding such so. much. fun. It really is the best day of your life. You get to celebrate with all of your friends, family, and your new family. Everyone is there for one reason - to support you in your marriage. I have been truly blessed with some awesome friends and family. I just wanted to share something about one special lady who stood beside me and celebrated with me on the best day ever.

Kathryn, aka Sister, aka MOH, aka ROCKSTAR
Kathryn was my backbone on my wedding day. I was a stress ball before the ceremony started and she kept my calm and collected and helped everything run smoothly. I literally do not know what I would've done with out her zealous attitude and eagerness to help out where was needed. The list is too long to go through everything she did for me, and I don't even know all of it either! She helped make the day be as perfect as humanly possible and helped me enjoy it to the fullest. She was an unrivaled example of what a servant should look like. And I don't mean literal servant; I'm referring to a spiritual servant, how Christ instructs us to serve one another. My heart is still heavy and humbled when I think about how much peace and confidence she helped bring me on the most important day of my life.

Kathryn and I were very close when we were little girls. I looked up to her SO MUCH (and still do of course). I remember watching her color and draw. I would just sit there and stare for hours at how talented she was and perfectly she stayed in the lines. As we got older, that progressed to how cool and popular she was at school and church. And I wanted to be cool and popular like her too. She was always a better pianist player than me - naturally! So unfair. :) But I always enjoyed watching/listening to her play and sing thinking, "Ill be that good one day" (still waiting on that one...).

Note: Yes, that's me on the right, not Harrison. The little mermaid shirt is proof. 

Then there were the up and downs of teenage years.. and she moved off to college and I was a heinous troll to everyone around me haha. But I got through it by God's saving grace and we started becoming friends again on a more mature level. I remember visiting her at OBU and I had a blast! It was so fun and I thought college was awesome and couldn't wait to get there. I even got to sit in one of her classes with her.

Fun fact: Kathryn was Miss America Riverwalk 2007!! She competed in the Miss Oklahoma pageant. So legit! Its fine, I was Miss Hay Day Queen Inola the same year! Partttyyyy.

See how pretty? Famous to all of Oklahoma. She should've won!!

Yeah... at least my entourage had crowns/hats too. Pardon the bales of hay in the background.

She came and visited me a few times when I was in college (still feels like I have to go back...) and she went to one of my Phi Lamb date parties with me. We were CLEARLY the hottest people there.

Clearly.

And then SHE got married. She looked stunning and her wedding was a blast. I had a moment on stage as the ring bearer woo! She married a legit guy too! :) Hooray Mark!

Fun fact: Our birthdays are a week apart (and 4 years). They fall on the same day every year - hers is one week after mine!

She threw me the most amazing shower... and SO many people came it was a little nerve racking haha! It was SO cute and everything was perfect. Loved it!!!! She and Tiff and my mom and Ruth and April  and Karen and Nathan's mom and sisters and (everyone sorry if I missed you) worked really hard making it such a special day. :)

 Lastly...here are some cool pics of us at my wedding. She's the best sister in the whole wide world! I'm glad I only have one (blood) sister because if I had more I would have to lie to the others about loving them the same. :)

She gave The. Most. Touching. MOH speech/toast at the wedding.  It had me in streams of tears and double over in laughter!

Our fam!

All in all I am blessed beyond measure to live the life with the people I do. Thank you for all you have done and do for me, Kathryn! I love you dearly. :) XOXO

This has been such a fun post! Hope you've enjoy reading it.

RAWR!

XOXO
Bekah Boo