Picture Display? Oh, how easel!

I know that there are people out there that say they don't like Pottery Barn (Phoebe...), but I don't believe them...

I know there are people who say that they nothing from Pottery Barn is worth the price they're asking, but I've gotten really good sales...

I know there are people who could never afford to furnish their house with everything they love from Pottery Barn, but I just say... "build it"

Love this?

src : pottery barn

Love this?

src : potterybarn.com

Yeahhh.... neither did I.

Love this?

At $9?

Me too! Unfortunately it does NOT look good in my house, but I quickly found a taker for it! But when I saw that on potterybarn.com.... ohhhh, I was in love. And I think with a few modifications, I can make one that works for me!

Instead of being 48" wide, I can make it 30.

Instead of being 58 1/2" tall, I can make it 40 (or leave the height alone... who knows?)

If I want it to be blue, or yellow, or green, purple or pink... I CAN!

Because I built it for $9. Including the hardware...

And the one with the PB specifications didn't work for me, so I can build one that does...

Can you get "perfect" from pottery barn?

Not always. But they sure have some GOOOOOOOD starting points!

I'll update when I make the one for MY space. A tutorial, plans, and finished photos.

For now, this li'l beauty gets to find a more perfect place.

I WON! And Ayana Caddy.

I know I've mentioned this blog in a few posts (and since I only have about 6 posts, that's sayin' something), buuuutttt... I LOVE The Design Confidential! I followed Rayan (I keep calling her Marissa, but she seems to like Rayan better :-p) since her blog was "The Frugal Designer" - and was surprised with myself when I made SOME effort to keep following her (many pages I've started following have migrated elsewhere, and I just didn't care enough to go and resubscribe to their new site, remove my subscriptions to their previous site, and "like" their new Facebook page - too much work for my lazy fingers). But it's been worth it. She's great, and she helps me with stuff I'm usually too embarrassed to ask the hubby (he has high expectations of me, and when I ask stupid questions, he lets me know it's stupid).

Anyhow, she had a building contest last month (?) and i somehow won. Probably since I'm the only one that's submitted photos (and there are more! i just haven't gotten around to "finishing" everything else). So, I won by default, and got a $100 gift card to Lowe's in the mail the other day. YAY!

So.... THANK YOU, RAYAN!!!

On another note, she blogged a plan that I started to build literally minutes after I saw her post.

I was planning on building some ledges for the bathroom (plans also on her site), but I just couldn't convince myself that those would look good in there. They just seemed like they'd be too chunky for the short proportions I needed. When I saw this plan, I KNEW I needed that for the bathroom! My daughter's hair ties and brushes were overtaking EVERYTHING! But the measurements weren't right, so I made it shorter and thinner and.....

it was still too big :-/ 

I mean, the caddy held all of her hair supplies & accessories, but it was just too big for the bathroom. I tried it in a few spots because I had painted it that pretty orange that I want to accent the bathroom with (I think I'm the only one on the planet that loves that color - it's called Sassy Peach, and it goes beautifully with my shower curtain). 

When I knew it wasn't going to work, I tried the caddy in a few other places. I tried to make it hold my make-up in my bathroom, but I already have a "caddy" for my make-up that came with a bag that I can just throw the whole caddy in for travel... So.. no.

Tried to have it hold my sewing supplies, but it was just awkward..

Craft supplies didn't fit..

Toys didn't fit...

Hmph!

Then baby goat needed her diaper changed...

YESSS!!!!

This was more than perfect! I mean, except for the paint color... but all of her changing supplies were scattered throughout the house, and now I have one place for everything!!!! SCORE!!!!!!

I now have a great "baby station" that holds diapers and wipes, creams and ointments, thermometer, comb, aspirator and q-tips. And I can move it with ease.... Any time I want! I. just. love. it.

If you're a mom, and you only use your changing table for storage... this is for you :-p

Florabella, *sigh* I just love it!

Florabella is having a giveaway ($100 credit for photoshop actions/textures/overlays). Ohhhhhhh, I just love it.. The vintage feel the actions give to all the photos, the softness, the warmth.... Count me in!

So head over to Florabella's blog and see how you can enter in this giveaway!

Unless I win, I'm gonna try (and fail miserably) to emulate the beautiful actions...

baby goats - 10 months

Hall Bath REVEAL!

I used to have another blog.
And everything was goin' good!
Then I had another baby.
And I didn't update it like I should...

Yeah, I'm jammin' out to my failure song over here. Sorry! This was started to document my crafts/projects/updates, and I haven't updated AN.Y.THING, huh? Let me tell you that it's almost half a quarter not my fault. A little! When I initially wanted to update about the finished bathroom, my amazing daughter spilled sweet tea on my bluetooth apple keyboard.

My husband and I both have iPhones, so we weren't in a rush to get a new keyboard... and then my excitement to post about the bathroom waned. It doesn't really help that I only have one follower right now ;-) SO! I've put it off... and put it off, and put it off...

Until I commented on another blogger's post (which I'll share after February - gonna make the project in the post as a gift). Then I realized, "What if she's like me and clicks on the commenter's link? Is my blog interesting enough to keep her interested enough to answer my stupid question? Let me go check!" - and it ISN'T! Whoops! So! The bathroom I started updating... is FINISHED*!

*i still have a couple things i want to make, but they're not happening soon enough for me to wait on posting... and they're minor...


Before (or as before as I got)

After!

I kept the basics, because I LOVE them (shower curtain/fishy towel rack), and changed the light fixture, cut down the mirror to frame and put in the medicine cabinet. Here are a few close-ups...

i painted the inside orange - i plan on continuing this accent throughout

faucet's still... awful (as is the shape of the sink), but i'll get to that soon!

I had initially planned on distressing the mirror. Because of this, I chose to leave some of the knots and holes in the wood. After the first coat of paint, I decided I was not going to distress... The color was just too gorgeous!!! So I now have a beautifully painted mirror... with character!

There were a few.... snags... along the way. Having never built a cabinet before, I wasn't aware of how the hinges fit or how the mirror hook... thingies... (yes, technical term).. worked! Or interfered, really. Because that's really all they did... So I had to trim down the mirror, and it BROKE! So I had to trim it down some more! Eventually, the mirror became too small to fill the opening, and you could see the cut edges. Wanna know How I made it blend....? DUCT TAPE! Metallic duct tape, that blends the mirror beautifully! There are still visible ripples, but you can't tell the mirror is too small ;-)

clearance hardware. yay.

I had SO many issues figuring out the darned hinges. How hard could they be?!?!?! Well, apparently you have to think about those before you build, or they're stuck on the outside of the cabinet... 

The chipped paint from moving the hinge..? Still chipped! I don't plan on touching that up any time soon... 

Forgot to patch the hole before painting...

Here's a huge "issue" - what do you do with these things!?!?

Order picture frame moulding! I'll update once this is finished (it'll be orange, too!)

my beloved shower curtain with not-so-darling dolphins... but they're fine for now...

My friend gave me this picture and towel rack. The towel rack was broken when we were moving (see photo below - behind the fish), but I just think it's too cute to just throw away! Eventually I'll get around to touching it up.

99 cent store find - he's a picture clip

My daughter in front of an aquarium at some casino in Vegas... It went..

There ya have it! My bathroom update, all on a $50 Lowe's Gift Card!