AND WE ARE BACK!!!

And we are BACK!!!! Yay!!!! I know it's been like forever. But...I finally just got the keyboard in the mail about a week and a half ago. First I sent it to my old address and then I had to have my mom send it to this house. So it took a little detour to get home. It's been well missed. I have been going crazy not being able to properly write a blog post or to be able to take pictures and upload them. Now, I can. Aren't you glad?  Did you miss me? Huh huh? Cause I missed you. I missed sharing my life with you. I missed posting super cool updates and DIY projects with you.

Speaking of updates!!!! Boy have we got A LOT!!! As of lately The Hubbs is out to sea. He'll be gone for about a lengthy amount of time. Which delays the building projects a few months. But not to worry! I will be repainting and refinishing furniture all around this place. Let's get up to date.

The Master.

We've got the bedding, the fabric and the lamps!!! We are missing the furniture. But hopefully that'll be here in about two weeks!!! EEEKKKK!! I'm SO excited. It's our first real legit ohmygoodness store bough piece of furniture. Not the Ikea stuff(which I love), but something that's substantial.

Here are some snappies!!

I don't have this exact lamp, but it's quite similar to the one I found in HomeGoods.

This mantel is similar to the style we'll be building. Not so big or with as many grooves. I'm not that groovy (ROFL!!!)

We bought 2 of these exact rugs from HomeGoods for $159 a piece!!! They are 5x7's, if I could have gotten one larger rug I would have. This rug is so soft under foot it's like walking on a cloud.

This is a mirror similar to two that I purchased at Home Depot on clearance $19.99!!! I'm spray painting them an oil rubbed bronze to match the curtain rod(72in-144in.) I purchased there for only $37.95!! You'll get to see those once the Master bedroom drapes are finished. What? I have to save something for later.

I'm totally going to talk up this furniture store, Country Cottage Furniture, I just ordered from. So I'm assuming you've all heard of unfinished furniture stores. You know, stores that sell completely built gorgeous pieces of furniture unfinished or for an extra dollar or two to do the hard work for you. I opted to do the hardwork myself. One: it's cheaper and B: it's cheaper.

First I'll be staining it in the same stain I've used on every other DIY project in this house. Minwax Wood Finish in Red Mahogany. If you live in the MA, NH, South eastern ME areas order from them!! They are so sweet and are willing to accommodate you. Their prices are fair and they have a low delivery cost. 

The Bed: Alder Shaker

The Nightstand x2 : Alder Three Drawer McKenzie 

The Dresser(we'll be sharing this baby. Similar DIY woodworking plan here.):

Alder 12 Drawer McKenzie Dresser

And the bed dressing:

The duvet cover, bedskirt and shams are from PotteryBarn. And the sheets are from Target. The king sized pillow shams are from a duvet set also from Target and the little pillow is from Ikea. Although everything ALWAYS looks better on websites or in magazines don't they?

The Dining:

Now, I've shared with you how to strip, prep and paint a dining room table. I've also showed you pictures. Right now I'm in the process of making pinch pleat drapes for the dining room. I'm making them because I don't feel like paying the hefty price tag of custom drapes. They can run from $50 a panel to over $500 a panel depending on the style and fabric used. Later on I'll show you how I made them, where I bought the materials and which genius seamtress I chose to follow for inspiration.

An inspiration of the drapes I'm making.

The chandelier. I'm really sorry for the terrible picture. Learning how to shoot on manual.

Candles on our table. I love the smell of ginger peach. You can snap these beauties up at Pier 1 Imports.

This natural linen will be the fabric of choice for the newly upholstered seats. That and a ton of scotchguard. I do not trust my kids in any way, shape or form when it comes to not spilling on my furniture.

And the refinished table. Which has seen better days. Yeah...I didn't know that you need like 4-5 coats of polycrylic when using it over paint. Plus curing time for the enamel alkyd paint(if using). You know to make sure every thing is nice and hard. I totally didn't follow those things and although she looks gorgeous she hasn't lasted more than two months unscathed.

Here's a little sneak peak of the drapes coming together!!! My first pair of professional quality drapes. And you know what? They're not as hard as you'd think. Using drapery fabric is nice.

Side hem.

Bottom hem.

Now, for a little family update in an array of photographs.

Enjoy!!

Super snow storm preparedness. I totally thought that we were going to lose power for at least 2 days. I made my room into the living quarters and Seamus' room into the kids play room. Yep...I was all that and then some. But we never lost power. I almost feel that all that work was pointless.

Some extra water for the non-existent power outage and loss of running water.

My hand crankable NOAA storm station. It's super cool. There's an LED flashlight on the front, a am/fm radio that taps into weather related stations, a hand crank so that you can charge it without power and it also comes with a slew of adapters to charge via wall and computer and you can charge your cell phone with too.

BDubb playing with a blue car. I love this stage of a baby's life. How they can find everything, that to us is so usual, new and exciting. Even if they stare at it every day over and over again.

The Hubbs modeling his new hoodie in Japan. It was so good to hear from him when he was there. It's hard being apart and it makes you appreciate the little things in life.

One of my fave pics. My two little ones sleeping together and holding hands. Maddy has this dependency thing where she has to be holding your hand on the way to sleepy land. it's a comfort thing. And Blake was smiling and I had no clue when I took it. I was focused on Maddy and how sweet she was. Sometimes her sweetness clouds everything else. Hey it's her thing.

A view from the bridge connecting Kittery to Kittery Point. It is beautiful up here. It's just that the housing ain't so great ;)

Slight profile of me. Eh what can I say? It's...Me.

Thanks for checking out my blog and reading a long just for the heck of it.