My first Ikea hack

We were given an ikea tv cabinet a few years back and we used it for awhile but eventually replaced it.  We kept it though just in case and it sat in the basement for the last year.  Well along came Rowan and we needed something that would hide all of our media devices so I took to Pinterest to get some inspiration and am so happy with the result!  Check out the before and after...

My husband didn't like the idea of glass doors with a walking 11 month old so I commissioned my dad to find some radiator screen while they were in Florida.  I looked everywhere here but could not find it.  Here is the after...

We're pretty happy with it.  So on to my next ikea hack, turning a basic lack coffee table into an upholstered tufted table/coffee table.  Stay tuned...

Wedding details

My friend recently got married and they were doing a rustic theme.  She wanted some wooden table numbers and this is what we came up with...

We bought a long piece of wood from the hardware store and her fiance cut it into pieces and sanded them.  Then we used craft paint and painted them all with a coat of brown.  After they dried we did 2 coats of white craft paint.  She had purchased old printing press stamps to use.  Unfortunately only half of them worked because they are made out of wood and were warped so I ended up hand-painting quite a few.  Another bridesmaid added the stenciled leaves.  This is what they looked like before...

And this is what they looked like after I took my power sander to them...

This same friend also had her fiance cut out a sign out of barnboard and I painted their initials to point guests in the right direction...

Lastly, she had seen this idea on Pinterest and wanted to duplicate it.  Like the #'s, I painted a coat of black, then 2 coats of white and did the stencils in black.  Then I power sanded the edges and the surface.  I purchased the vinyl lettering online and added those after, then sealed the whole thing with 2 coats of varnish...

I'm back!!!

So my little one is 7 months now and I'm finally able to get back into some projects.  The first is a dresser I found on freecycle for free, hence the name.  Have a look at the before and after.

After

I just used the furniture and cupboard paint I had leftover from the change table project and spray painted the handles with leftover Rustoleum high gloss black.  The only thing this project cost me was a bit of time. 

 

Where have I been?

So I thought since I've been rather slack on the postings that I should probably just give a quick update.  As of tomorrow I will be 37 weeks or full term.  I haven't had any real projects on the go lately.  Imagine that!  Well actually we did paint an old tv cabinet to use as a pantry in our mudroom so I will have to remember to post some pics of that.  But really I have just been trying to get the house in order and go through all of my clothes to find things that might still fit....not much luck there!

We still don't know if this little one is a girl or boy and we are very anxiously awaiting it's debut!  My plan is to take on lots of projects while I am on leave but don't worry I am not naive.  I know my time will no longer be my own so it's probably just wishful thinking.  However, should I manage to accomplish any I will post them as soon as they are done.  I also want to brush up on my photography skills so I'll have to post those projects too.

So this post is really just to say don't give up on my blog.  I will be back and hopefully better than ever!  In the mean time you can follow me on Pinterest and see my growing list of things I plan to make.

I finally took some pictures of my finished owl mobile.

I got the idea on pinterest from homemadebyjill.blogspot.com

I also made a jungle themed one for a friend but forgot to take pictures so I'll have to get some next time I'm over there.

Only 8 more weeks to go until baby gets to enjoy this room!

Baby's room so far

Here are some pics of the baby's room.  We are almost done.  I finished the mobile last night and hopefully we'll hang it this week.  Hubby still has to dap and paint the trim work but after that we're finished!  Sorry about the picture quality.  These were taken on my cell phone.  Better ones to come...

Change table update

Well I had to re-paint the baby's changing table as we tried to put some varnish on it and it turned yellow.  I also wasn't in love with the finish of the paint so we took a trip to Rona and bought some Sico furniture and cabinet paint in white.  I also bought some in Amalfi Coast and this is how it turned out...

I like it a lot more!  Plus it works better for a boy or a girl since we don't know what we're having.  I highly recommend this paint as it goes on really smooth and it's super durable.

We're getting there with that room but have also been busy painting much of the rest of the house.  Hopefully I will be able to post a picture tour of the finished house before our early April due date. 

Also, big congrats to our friends Cate and Ian who just welcomed baby Audrey yesterday!  I can't wait for our little person to meet yours!