Haven… I’m in Haven

South Haven that is.  And really, I’m back home already.  No way was I hauling my laptop on vacation to blog (realistically there wasn’t room, what with all the baby gear we had to truck). But I have to tell you about the little piece of heaven that I found in South Haven, Michigan: a little place called Bayberry Cottage.

  

Oh… my… goodness I want EVERYTHING in this store and I really can’t say that about any other store I’ve ever been in.  It was staged so well, not overstuffed but layered enough that your eye was always busy.

They feature unique pieces including furniture from Joe Ruggiero, gorgeous silver pieces from Mariposa and textiles from Company C.  If you’re in a position to stop by I highly recommend it! 

Bayberry Cottage

510 Phoenix Street, South Haven, MI 49090

(269) 639-9615 

www.bayberrycottage.com

What the hail?

 

Can someone smarter than me explain how little ice balls hit my house/car/yard when it’s 90 degrees out?  Science isn’t my strong suit.

Easy Does It

My blog has been neglected now that the weather has turned nice!  I’ve been busy working on projects and more importantly, socializing.  Last week I visited my style icon Kate of Starr Family Blog.  Every detail of her house is gorgeous and perfectly planned.  My little spy wanted to explore every room in her house so I got to see all of the awesomeness that she features on her blog first hand.  

In regards to projects, I’ve been working on a number of painting projects.  If one exists, I’m probably on a spray paint watch list.  Even the kid at Home Depot was asking what I was working on and then asked me to paint his room.  Uhhhhh… I was glad the transaction was complete at that point.  Peace out, kid!

Here’s a simple project that I completed recently.  When we revamped my husband’s bathroom we removed the old medicine cabinet and replaced it with a modern mirror.  I thought the original mirror was gone but I found it in the basement recently and thought I would give it a little makeover and put it in my bathroom.  I primed it and then painted it a glossy white.  A simple project but I love the difference and I used what we had to add a little pizazz to my space!

Before

After

We have a few projects yet to do to complete the bathroom, such as framing out the bathroom mirror, painting the ceiling to cover a stain we got when our roof leaked this winter and finally, adding crown moulding that we bought a few years ago but never got around to installing. 

For funsies, here’s our stained ceiling: 

Gross.  Have you ever had your roof leak?  Did you paint just the stain or the whole ceiling?  We’re planning on painting the whole ceiling, but it sure would be nice to not have to!

This is sooo mediocre of me!

I write to you today to humbly ask for your help, bloggy friends.  I have this crazy wall that I do NOT know what to do with!  It belongs to a cathedral ceiling and spans the living room and part of the kitchen.  It is also where our TV resides.  This wall has remained untouched in the 4.5 years we've lived in the house.  In fact, save the kitchen {which is at the top of our to-do list} it is the only wall that we haven't painted.  As far as paint is concerned, I think we've finally decided to paint it the same color as the rest of our living room, Sherwin Williams Nomadic Dessert.  A lovely tan if I ever saw one.

Here's where you come in.  How in the world do I decorate it?  Do I try to cover up the doorbell box or remove it altogether?  {my husband and I can't agree on that one} Stencil?  Moulding? Art?  I would love to hear your suggestions!

Shake it fast, watch yourself, shake it fast, show me whatcha workin' with:

Zzzzzz.

What's that?  ::shakes head::  Sorry, I just fell asleep because this wall is so booooring!

Halp!

2 Confessions, 1 Post

Confession 1

I was schooled by a toddler. Occasionally a life lesson slaps you in the face and yesterday I happened to get such a little smackeroo.  I’ll spare you the backstory, but it involves trying to put my newly painted mailbox on the post with my little boy helping me.  Because the post was DIY’d using leftover cedar beams from our old mantel, the box wasn’t sitting on it quite right so I was drilling, screwing, adding scraps of wood to level and shore up the thing {all of which will be hidden by the box--don’t worry.}  I reached my frustration point when I split some wood and said to my little helper, “welp, I’ll just have to have Daddy help when he gets home from work.”  My 2.5 year old looked up at me and said, “Mommy, twy twy again?”

::SLAP!::

Seriously, how could I have driven the point of perseverance home to my little buddy yet given up so easily… over a mailbox?!  Well, I marched back to that box and twied, twied again… aaannnnddd still ended up needing help.  I mean, sometimes you have to know your limitations.  But- I did give it another shot.  Lesson learned: I need to practice what I preach a little more going forward.

 Confession 2

The blog world has turned me into a dumpster diver.  Oh how I wish I was kidding.  There is a house on the way to my sitter’s that ALWAYS has a heap of “trash” at the curb every week, full of useful looking items.  Seriously, I don’t know how they have anything left inside at this point.  I still regret not stopping for a table I saw about a month ago, but I figured my husband would not be thrilled with yet another unnecessary piece of furniture in the garage. I digress.  I drove by the other morning and saw a bunch of children’s toys.  I was running late so didn’t stop, but when they were still there on the way home I couldn’t resist and pulled the car over.  I figured at the very least I could resell them at our upcoming garage sale for 100% profit.  How could the hubs argue with that?

I snatched a big wheel and a little tractor.  There is a piece broken on the tractor, but I think it can be easily fixed with some super glue.  I believe I saw some John Deere green spray paint once upon a time—wouldn’t that make this little tractor adorable?  I had planned to sell it, but my little buddy seems pretty fond of it so it may stick around for awhile.  Ugh, how am I ever going to get my car back in the garage?

 

Gaudy to Mod-y

One night while perusing Craigslist I came upon an ad for two tables and a chair.  I didn’t really need anything, but since I shop by dollar amount and the price was <$100, I took a looksie.  I think there was something lost in translation, because when I opened the posting the pictures showed an end table, a small desk and this chest.  

Before

After a number of back & forth negotiation emails, the seller and I agreed upon $50 total for the chest and desk (which will debut sometime in the future) so let’s just say I got this bad boy for twenty. five. bones.  Booyah!

Picking up the darn things was a harrowing experience that involved: many texts, talking to the seller’s brother, waiting for the seller’s brother’s wife to answer the door, us leaving and going back, the wife waking up and opening up the garage door (still in her jammies [at 7 p.m.]), getting a banana’s foster shake from Culver’s (I needed something after all that!) The thought that someone posted sweet, sweet outdated furniture online as a scam to murder me did cross my mind a time or two.  I need to stop watching crime dramas.  

Anywho, we got the pieces home and after priming and trying three different whites here she is in all her glossy glory.  The fabric is Dwell Studio Bella Porte Twilight from fabric.com.  I also spray painted the hardware Rustoleum oil-rubbed bronze.  Here is the sassy after!

 

The chest is cedar lined, which I didn’t realize until I had it home.  Bonus!  Now all of our blankets will… smell like cedar?

Here’s the official before and after!  

Before

After

Linking to:


 

Super Sweet DIY Art

Have you ever made something so truly spectacular that you were almost embarrassed at how incredible it was?  Yes?  Me too.  

I decided to make my sister a little gift just to let her how much I love her.  I started with a scrap of poplar wood left over from my stool project.  Nothing says love more than scraps!  I gave it one coat of spray paint and slightly distressed the edges.  Look how gorgeous that wood grain is!

 

Next I applied an adorable picture I found in the coupon section of the newspaper with a healthy slather of Mod Podge.  Since she was on her way over I zapped it with the hair dryer to speed up the curing time.

And voila!  A high style, low cost, one-of-a-kind piece of art! 

Look how excited she is!  I’m sure she’s dying to find a special place in her house for my masterpiece.

{she does have an upper lip, she was just trying to match the pup’s toothy grin}

Backstory: When we were younger, we found a similar picture in Reader’s Digest and that little pup made its way around our house, hiding in various spots just waiting to incite giggles when found.  My sis recently gifted me that same little (well-preserved) pup for Valentine’s Day, as seen here:

If you think we’re goofy, you should meet the rest of the family.