A new place to call home....?

I finally did it! By "it" I mean finished the hutch I purchased forever ago off of Craigslist..... Remember from this post here....?

 

 It has been hiding in my dark, dirty garage for several months now but after I cleaned out my garage this past weekend I was inspired to finish it. It was collecting more dust and getting destroyed by other DIY projects. For example, when I was spraying the lamp I accidentally sprayed part of the hutch see..... Ooops

This really bummed me out because I wasn't sure that I wanted to paint it. I kinda liked the two toned wood color. But now I was stuck to paint the beast. I really didn't know what color I wanted to paint it. I knew I needed to mute down the bright colors in my house because I am out of control with color. That's when I found myself in Home Depot picking a navy blue color.

Here is the hutch all washed up ready for it's first coat.... The Before...

Here she is all sprayed out after one coat. ( I did three.) I kinnda freaked at first because the paint did not look navy at all until it dried.

Now this peice is old and musty smelling. So I took out my wood cleaner washed it down. Then I took some decorative papers I had and lined the drawer and doors with them.

 I did this with spray adhesive. I love this stuff by the way...

Then it was time to purchase some new hardware for the hutch. So I headed down to my local vintage hardware store where I purchased four knobs; two for the drawer and two for the doors. (I still am not 100% sold on the light blue knobs. I might exchange them for yellow.)

So are you ready for the before and after!!??? Here we go....

Before

After

 Sorry the pictures are washed out. I had to take these on my phone since our camera battery is dead....

The Hutch works in our house. It is growing on me day by day...

 I am constantly changing whats on top of the hutch but for the sake of these pictures I have one of my long time favorite post cards called "Hey Hey Sugarcube." Oh and there is the wise old owl candle holder.

 On the other side of the hutch I have my DIY spray painted mason jars....

 Look how stunning the decorative paper looks lining the drawer. I am in love with it. Not to mention I love the color orange!!! LOVE LOVE IT!

Now I need to explain the title of this post to you. You see since the minute we brought this piece in the house, Lucy has discovered it as her new little home. She loves to open and close the doors, sit inside it and close herself in it. It scares the heart out of me that shes going to crush a finger or somthing... But she loves it like crazy. See....

 Open close.. Open close... All the other cupboards in our house have magnetic locks... This is freedom...

Here she is trying to save her best friend Weston from the dogs by helping him hide in the hutch... Best place ever....

 To say the least we love staring at our new fun furniture piece in the house.... Did I mention that there is a mirror over the hutch so we can stare at ourselves. We really like doing that too because we both think we are pretty funny making each other laugh a lot....

What do you think?

Banners & Birthdays...

Whew... What a wonderful weekend in Astoria... On Saturday we celebrated Lucy's 1st birthday with lots of close friends and family. It was a GREAT day! The best part about the day was that the weather was A-mazing... I mean people left my house and ventured into the back yard... Where they enjoyed our finished deck. Wouldn't you know it...?  I took zero before and after pictures of our deck. My Mark worked all day Saturday to finish the second level of it. (It was our Christmas present) I also didn't take any outdoor photos. My head was in the clouds I guess. I want to share a few details from her party with you and another craft I made for her party. So I will start with the banner I made her.

Last week I set out to make her a banner. I recently purchased some great oilcloth scraps and knew I could do something cool with them. After I made her banner I realized I didn't like it because it looked Hawaiian which was not the theme of the party so I set out to make her a better one...

 I decided that on  my second go around I would back the letters with burlap. I just had to decide which oilcloth I liked better for the letters. I decided on the blue/green one.

Then I went to the computer to find a font I liked. I used "storybook" I think. Then I blew the font up to like 500+. I cut out the letters and placed them strategically on the fabric. I don't want to waste any of this stuff cause its too cool.

 I traced around the letters...

 Cut them out...

 Then I cut out some large triangles from some of my coffee sacks. Still the ones I scored for $0.99. Even though people have been telling me that I can get them for free from one of the local coffee shops in town.

 Then I glued them on with my hot glue gun and strung them up with yarn and mini clothespins and wouldn't you know after they adorned the party as a decoration I hung them above Lucy's crib. Pretty stinking cute huh?

 Close up on the mini clothespins. I love these...

 This picture is pretty washed out from the sun (and I am no pro-photographer)so you can't tell how awesome the banner really is but it looked neato hanging at the party next to the poms I made here.

I really like the banner and I love that it is not a one time use piece cause now it decorates the little ladies room. I might be a new found banner freak and make banners as gifts for all of our upcoming parties... Watch out...

Lets take a peek at some more b-day highlights... (Keep in mind Buckaroo theme)

This was the dessert table my Marcia, Mommy and Sis made cupcakes and I made a cream puff topiary... Very addictive...

 Long time love of my life Lynds and Lucy's future husband Charlie... Matching hats from her hub...

 Check out Lucy's dress. I mean I think its the cutest thing ever. It was a Target score. One of Gwen's pieces you can buy here. Also Lucy loves candy now.. Thanks Grandpa...

 I had this really cute little station that asked the guests to take a second to offer Lucy some words of wisdom to live by. Yet No one did it. It was really my fault though because I was sort of a lame hostess and didn't tell people to do it. Once everyone showed up I kinda shut down. I walked around like I was in a dream. I usually love being the center of attention but I think I was overwhelmed by the thought of my baby being one. Birthdays are crazy and emotional and exhausting.

 This was the goody bag/ stick horse table. Here are Lucy's boots which she refused to put on so we used them as decor. They are still too big so I guess it was ok.

Here are the poms hanging...

I really don't like this picture of myself but I have to share it because it shows the headband I "tried" to make for Lucy. It was a craft FAIL. Last week I made felt flowers for her headband.... They were cute, until I put it on her head. It popped out like something you see on a roast Turkey leg. She hated it so I ditched it. (This is also the only picture I could find that showed my awesome new tablecloth, its a yellow oilcloth. LOVE

Ok so I didn't take nearly enough pictures of Lucy's party. I didn't even pick up the camera really but I did clean before the party and I wanted to share a clean house pic with you guys. Also this picture shows the new chairs I got from Craigslist for $30....For the Pair!! I love them and I cant wait to reupholster them...someday. For now I added a decorative pillow to fancy them up.

All in all we have a one year old now, and the sun was shining all weekend. What more could a girl ask for...Oh yeah a flowerbed, which I got yesterday after some hard man and woman sweat... I will post more on that later cause it is pretty impressive...

Craigslist Saves

 Just when I thought I had nothing to blog about today because I ran out of time, I found it. By "it", I mean a fabulous antique credenza on Craigslist. The best part was that it was in Astoria (not 2 hours away in Portland) so I picked it up today! Drum roll please....

A beautiful antique credenza. I love it. Yeah its a little warped and needs a lot of love but I know I am the girl for this job. I picked it up before I had to go in for for parent teacher conferences tonight. I was so giddy that nothing was going to break my spirit. I am sure the parents thought I was on crack but I was too excited about my new find. The best part is, it only cost me $30.  Instead of focusing in on my parents tonight  my mind was racing with the different colors I could use to finish the piece. I also want to find some new hardware for it. If you know of any neat knob sellers please let me know. Take a look at this detailing.

 

In my mind I have also been imagining this pieces history. I live in the oldest town west of the Mississippi, which leaves way for my new find to be really old. It came out of an old Finnish fisherman's style basement. Who knows, all I know is that its been around the block fo sho.

So with that said... Let's take a look at some of the ideas I have for finishing the hutch...

 I really like the color of this green one from Knack Studios. The white knobs look killer too.

I also really like this yellow and white one from Design Sponge. If you have never been to Design Sponge you NEED to go. It's an awesome site of before and after masterpieces.

My other thought was to finish it in white. Cole is getting tired of all the white and I read a great quote the other day(I can't find its source), "Color is like the soul of your home." With that said I really don't want a soulless house. So let me throw this out to my readers. How should I finish this baby? I know I want color and cool hardware. Help me out! Alright time for this girl to go to bed.