Gotta check this girl out!!

I know I've already mentioned Ana White before when I posted the beginning of the Farmhouse Table {almost done with it by the way, pics to come soon}, but seriously I am in love with her site.  I visit it at least daily and usually it ends up being more than once a day.  Just check out some of these projects.  My to-do list is growing so long.

I love that her site not only highlights her own projects, but guest and other bloggers can share their awesome projects as well.  These washer and dryer pedestals with organization is simply brilliant.  I love it better than any pedestal I've ever seen in a store.

I want this little table so bad.  I think it may be my next building adventure.  I have the perfect place in my oddly shaped living room for it.

I told the farmer that I wanted this media cabinet system from Ikea:

But check out this plan on Ana's site.  I think I'd rather build my own media cabinet.  I'm sure it would ultimately be better quality and actually made out of real wood as compared to composite stuff.  I'm not sure which would be most cost effective, but seeing how I have to drive 2.5 hours to Ikea it probably all evens out.

This is a must for our family room in the making.  {ever notice the lovely blue room in some of my pics?  that will one day be the family/dining room and no, it won't be blue}  I love the hidden storage.

 

One day far, far away when we are able to build a new laundry room and make our current washer & dryer location our mudroom, this is a must.  I can already see it in my mind and it's beautiful, beautiful I tell you.  See that wood there.....that will be for shoe storage, ahhhh shoe storage.....a girl can dream.

I could go on and on sharing, but I'll show you just one more.  This is definitely going to be my next project.  I think I'm gonna make two of these and retro fit another one with two baskets to fit in the hall linen closet next to the kiddos bathroom.  I can't wait to see how much easier this is going to make laundry day.

Go on over to her site and check out the hundreds of plans and ideas she has.  She is my new idol.  Also, check out her community.  There are awesome message boards where members share projects.  It's great to see how other great crafters/DIYers take her plans and make them or tweak them a little.  It's a wealth of knowledge and a great place for inspiration.

Big Girl Room in the making……

I think it’s safe to say that I’ve been planning the Lil’ Princess’ big girl room in my mind since she was about 6 months old.  I’ve actually been working on it for the last 2 months or so.  It’s taking me awhile to get it all done, but the end is now in sight.  Last Thursday I finally got a project done that I’ve had bookmarked since I saw it.

Go check out this book sling tutorial over at Penny Carnival.  Aren’t they just the coolest, cutest thing ever.  I thought so, and I fell in love when I stumbled upon them one day.  I knew I had the perfect place in the soon-to-be big girl room.

 

Believe it or not, they were so easy to make.  I think sewing on the rick-rack and making the appliques took longer than getting the sling itself put together. 

I found my double curtain rod hardware at Ikea.  They came in a 2 pack for $3.99!!  I found the dowel rods at our local hardware store for a mere $0.89 each.  Also, I picked up 1 1/2 yards of pink fabric for $3.50.  I actually only ended up using 1 yard of fabric and lined the sling with white fabric from the sheet I picked up from Goodwill for $2.13.  I already had the fabric for the "A" and "Z" in my stash along with the rick-rack.  All in all this project has cost me about $15.00 to complete so far.

I really want to find some cute little knobs to go on the ends of the dowels and paint them, but I couldn't wait to go ahead and get them up.

They actually hold a lot of books.  I was a little surprised that I could get as many in them as I did.  The lil' princess has already checked them out and they managed to stay up despite her pulling on them, so I think we're good.

You can probably tell, but I went for a pink and green theme for her room.  I found a super cute ladybug fabric forever ago and made her that quilt hanging on the chair.  The quilt is actually for her pallet bed that I'm also slowly getting done.  I have all my hardware for it & I've gotten it cut to the proper size, but I still have to get it sanded and painted.

Also, remember the sheet I picked up at Goodwill?  Here are the curtains that I made for the long window.

There is also a smaller window in this room that I have a curtain for.  Yes, I was able to make all these curtains and line the book slings for $2.13!!  Now that's what I call a deal.

I can't wait to share the finished project with you soon.  I still have several projects in this room to finish, but I'll keep you updated!

Linking up at these uber cool sites:

Homemade Farmhouse Table

I've been dreaming of owning my very own Farmhouse table ever since we moved into this new house.  I mean hello, I live on a farm so this MUST be a necessity, right?  When I found this table and this table over at Ana White's, I just knew it had to be fate.  Sure I could have pinched pennies for years and spent $1000+ on a table, but I'm cheap and that was just never gonna happen.  Plus the thought of doing this ourselves just sounded cool.

After getting some awesome gift cards for Christmas and discussing it with the hubby, we decided to go for it.  We bought our wood and all the supplies we needed for about $125.00.  We will need to spend a little more on stain, but $125.00 for a farmhouse table is awesome!!  In my opinion that is. 

So, the hubs and I worked on the plans for our very own table.  Ana's tables are awesome but were a little narrow and long for our space plus I really wanted to incorporate turned legs in our design.  After a bit of sketching we ended up combining the two table plans.

Lil' Princess on her way to help

The world around here in SC has pretty much been on hold for the last few days due to the blizzard of 2011.  Since the farmer was home for his 3rd snow day from work we he got busy.  He managed to get the frame built and top cut out.  It looks great so far and I can't wait to get it all together.  For now I'm living with saw dust and wood pieces in what will one day be our family room/dining room but strangely enough it makes me happy to see it this way.   I can't wait to share with you the finished product. 

Coming soon….

Ever believe in love at first sight?  I do.

Hello love.  This bed has been floating around the web for a while now, but I have to share it.  Ashley Ann over at Under the Sycamore is brilliant.  Just simply brilliant. 

I’m in the process of slowly designing the little one’s big girl room.  She won’t need to move into it for awhile, but I think other than doing her nursery in the old house this is my favorite room in the house so far.  I have my pallets ready to go.  I bought some legs for it on our last trip to Ikea.  I just need to put it all together.  I’m even going to hang pom-poms above her bed like Ashley did in her daughter’s nursery.  I can’t wait to share my finished result with everyone.  For right now I’ll continue to drool.

Before and Almost After.....

I'm so excited I finally get to write this post.  When we moved to the new farm this past summer, we knew this was going to be one of the first rooms we renovated.  I've loathed this kitchen since day one.  I don't know what I disliked more: the mismatched counter tops, the cabinets by the sink without doors or the tile they choose for the back splash.  It was a functional kitchen, but man-oh-man was it an eyesore.  

There were actually drawers here but no doors on those beauties up on the wall.

Forgive me for the writing on the fridge.  Little one's did it, I swear!!

I loved the deconstruction part.  It was so therapeutic to rip all the ugliness down and see it go out the door.  We started trying to just remove the tile, but ended up finding it easier to cut the drywall out.  We had recently had some practice hanging drywall upstairs, so we were feeling pretty confident about it.  It seemed a little intimidating, but it went up rather easily.  The end pictures don't do it any justice, but when we were done with the drywall we painted the kitchen a pretty shade of yellow.  It was yellow before, but we choose to go with a warmer shade to cozy up the space.

Bye, Bye ugly tile!

Hello Studs!!!

We got our cabinets and counter tops at Ikea and did all the installation ourselves.  It really wasn't that difficult and we probably saved ourselves a couple thousand dollars.  Other than getting the cabinets shipped to us, the process was pretty easy.  Of course my favorite part was picking out and planning the kitchen.  Life was a little rough without a fully functioning kitchen, but with my great crock pot and the little makeshift kitchen in our family/dining room we survived.  We just got our counter tops installed a few days ago, but I was in love within a few minutes of the installers pulling away in their truck.  We lucked up on our new appliances when a great friend sold them to us before she moved.  So far I'm glad to report we've only spent approximately $6000.00 on everything.  Not bad for completely gutting the space.

This is the only place we changed our layout.  We moved the cabinets closer to the fridge and added an above the fridge cabinet.  I think it makes it look much more finished.

My favorite parts are the sink and the integrated dishwasher.

We still need to pick out tile for the floor and for a back splash.  Change out the lighting.  I'm wanting to find a cool pendent light to hang over the farmhouse sink.  I don't know if you can see the pantry doors in any of the above pictures, but I'm also painting them with chalkboard paint.  We also need to finish installing the trim pieces above and below the cabinets as well as the toekicks so I can quit fighting with the little princess about pushing things up underneath the base cabinets.  Sounds like a lot, but we've come a long way baby!! 

Well, that's all I have to share for now.  I'll share more from the farm as we get it done.  I'm off to do a little more sanding and painting!

Linking up over at: