.Our first official IKEA Hack.

I know, I know..

..it's been done, but that didn't stop us from trying it! 

Adam and I completed an IKEA RAST Hack! 

We started with this little gem:

And we ended with this little beauty:

I have had this design in mind for months and finally took action on our last Ikea venture, when we purchased two of these end tables at $34.99 each.

Unfortunately for me, being pregnant meant I would not be able to stain and paint the wood like I had hoped. Luckily for me, after sharing my idea with Adam he gladly accepted the task of stainer and painter--what a guy ;)

The brand and name of wood stain we used is Home Depot's Behr Natural Sequoia. I wanted the stain to match our dining chairs and must say I impressed myself by eyeballing the perfect shade. We bought 1 quart and have plenty of stain leftover for future projects. I forget the exact total but it was around $15.00 for the stain. We also selected 1 quart of Behr's Ultra White High Gloss for the drawers. The paint came to $14.00. Our last purchase from Home Depot were new knobs for the drawers. I cannot find the exact ones of their website but each knob came to $2.17. I had originally picked out beautiful vibrant knobs from Anthropologie but could not bring myself to spending over $100 for the hardware since it defeated the purpose of making over the guest bedroom on a budget.

The rough final cost for our two IKEA RAST Hacks: $125.00

Adam and I feel pretty good about our furniture makeover and think the two end tables really add personality as well as function to our guest bedroom. We also love the view from the hallway of our dining chairs and the end tables--the colors really lead your eye from room to room.

I had a little fun trying my hand at staging and styling the end tables, take a look:

 To view these little beauties in our "new" guest bedroom click here.

Thanks for reading!

(linking up to some of these great parties)

.Guest Bedroom Makeover REVEAL.

As promised...a house post for you! 

You were probably thinking Adam and I had been working on Penny's nursery--nope! We decided since she will be sleeping next to me for the first few months in a moses basket we will have plenty of time to prepare the nursery after her arrival. Our priority went to making over the guest bedroom. We are anticipating many visits this summer with loved ones from all over and wanted them to have a room to feel 'at home' during their stay. This poor room has stayed the same for almost two years and lacked some serious personality for our guests. 

Just take a look at this sad before picture:

This room makeover was truly a team effort and I am so thankful for my sweet husband putting up with me and my 'nesting' instincts. This may sound silly but I actually felt like I was a host or designer on an HGTV show and Adam was my carpenter/painter/handy man/on call man. It was fun and if you didn't know..my husband, well..

He's a keeper.

Adam and I make a great painting pair. Even at 32 weeks pregnant I was still able to tape off the entire room and cut in for my man! Believe me when I say I was done for the rest of the day after that. Adam then rolled on two coats of Benjamin Moore's Rodeo. We matched the paint color, which is a nice warm gray, to a subtle color found in the new duvet cover. Thankfully the trim was freshly painted two years ago when we bought the house so it saved us a lot of time and back ache. It's a rather tricky thing to capture the true color in pictures but I think these photos are pretty accurate:

 To furnish the room we used our old queen size bed from our first duplex, an upholstered bench we purchased as newlyweds, owl lamps from our bedroom, a large round mirror from our first dining room, curtains and curtain rod from our duplex, two new end tables from Ikea, and a DIY wooden hook rack as well as a DIY headboard. 

It felt really good to 'shop our house' and use what we had and I must say, it made the hubs a happy camper :) 

The new items we purchased for the room were two end tables, a Pottery Barn duvet cover (which was sold to me for only $40 in perfect condition!), bamboo roman shades, two pillow shams with matching bedskirt, two throw pillows, knobs for the end tables and closet doors, hooks for the wooden rack, two small throw rugs, and fabric and foam for the headboard. 

More decorating and accessorizing could have been done but I wanted to keep the room feeling calm and simple knowing our guests bring their luggage, coats, etc with them when they stay. 

Now on to the REVEAL pictures!

This room really came together nicely and without any stress. It was fun playing around with new colors and different wood stains. Next week I will share posts with you about the end table makeovers and my attempt at staging/styling them. I am also hoping to have tutorials written on how to make the chunky wooden hook rack as well as the headboard. Thanks again for taking the time to read this post, I'd love to hear what you think about our guest bedroom makeover.

Anyone else recently do a makeover? Share your link below!

Happy Living--Happy Room Makeovers

and remember

--Little Things Bring Smiles--

(linking to some of these wonderful parties)

.House Posts in the Works.

I am in my 32nd week of pregnancy and finding true what "they" say about the nesting period.

I am in it..
..this means Adam is also in it.
Oh marriage, you're pretty fantastic.

House projects actually began a few months ago with a few minor changes here and there but now things have evolved onto a much larger scale.

It's been awesome.

My blogging has definitely taken a back seat but once I have lovely 'after' photos to share with you I will be back. Keep your eyes open in the next week or so and thanks again for sticking around even though I've been missing!

And get this..
..only 8 more weeks until we meet Penny! Come on July 7th!

.Welcome 3rd Trimester + Announcements.

Friends..

I have made it to 28 weeks! 

That is 7 months!
3rd trimester people!

Let us celebrate by ending every sentence with an exclamation point!

After sharing the not-so-pretty side of my pregnancy a few weeks back, my heart has truly been filled with an abundance of love. I was and still am moved by your kind, caring words..by your personal stories of conception, pregnancy, and birth..and by your encouraging, uplifting prayers.

Thank you!-each and every one of you who has

prayed for my physical body..

prayed for my baby..

prayed for my emotions..

prayed for my husband..

prayed for my spiritual life.

(the list continues)

Thank you!

Your prayers, along with my own and those of my husband and family, are being answered. I am feeling -dare I even say it- better! My third trimester has welcomed me with new excitement, new energy, new positive outlooks, and has restored my mental and emotional state. There are still struggles of sickness and more migraines than I would care to to admit, but I am doing better. 

I am smiling more.

Laughing more.

Loving more.

And I even deep cleaned 3 rooms in my house!!!

The funny thing is I do not know for sure if I am 'getting' better or simply coping with the ailments of pregnancy better. Either way--I am happy and my heart is full, what more can I ask for?! 

I realized the other day I never shared some rather exciting news with you--

what we are having! 

This was our photo announcement we shared on facebook and now sharing with you! 

It's a..

GIRL!

Adam and I are welcoming a little baby girl into our hearts and home this July. This news took us both by surprise during the big ultrasound but now we could not be more excited..we are having a girl, a daughter! 

Would you like to know her name?..

 Can you handle another announcement?..

Here it comes..

Penelope Layne!

We will call her Penny for short. I love it--Adam loves it--And my dad loves it. Let's just say he raised his baby girl to have good taste in music ;)

Thank you again for your prayers and good thoughts you have been sending my way. I'll be back soon with more photos and a new update..keep those fingers crossed! 

Here are some candid 28 week belly shots, baby girl is growing as well as this momma!

Happy Living--Happy Pregnancy

and remember

--Little Things Bring Smiles--

.Today.

Today has been a good day and it is only 4pm.

Snow fell for hours yesterday giving most people in our Virginia town a snow-day, myself included.

Today..

I slept as late as my body allowed this morning which unfortunately was only until 9:26 am.
Cereal, yogurt, and a blueberry muffin were consumed..well, gobbled up in record speed!
I sat on our couch with Colden snuggled under blankets while perusing a few things on my lap top.
The snow reflected the morning sun into our front window filling our home with warmth and beauty.
Adam stepped out of work to bring me lunch, a delicious salad, and to take photos in the snow.
He then kissed me goodbye and headed back to his studio.
I finished my salad and loaded the photos to share with you of my ever growing baby bump at 25 weeks.

Here they are..

And wrapping up with a candid..

Today has been a good day and it is only 4pm.

Now..

I will crawl back into bed for an afternoon nap ignoring the dishes that have taken over our kitchen, living room, and dining room.

I will ignore the piles of laundry, both clean and dirty, and fall into (hopefully) a deep peaceful sleep.

When I wake, my man will be home..and we will eat and talk and cuddle. 

Yes, today will continue to be a good day regardless of pregnancy sickness and skipping a much needed shower.

Yes, I will make sure of it.