Guest Bedroom

Not sure if anyone out there still follows this blog, if so you deserve a reward!!! 8 months with zero posts is seriously a new record for me. So I have no idea if I ever posted the "after" pics on the blog ... on a side note, there are too many social media outlets to keep track of what I posted and when. So if this is a repeat, chalk it up to the 8 month hiatus and brain freeze.

Tah-Dah! Love! Thanks for the inspiration Pinterest. It was definitely not easy and had me second-guessing myself throughout, but this is now our favorite room in the house!


A panorama of the entire room.


I love that I was able to use my "little-girl" furniture from my childhood. Even though it's been updated, it still holds sentimental value.


Still waiting for the just perfect picture or painting over the desk.


Just waiting to be used so y'all come and visit!

*Written in a rush using BlogPress for iPhone.

An update on the Guest Bedroom

So, after spending some time with the walls from my first round of "DIY-ing", I realized I hated them.  They were too much part of the blue family.  You can see it below ... I just couldn't stand keeping them that way so this past weekend I repainted.

So that was round one of the painting and you can see a smidge of what the old furniture looked like.
Next, Grayson and Thurston and I made a trip to Lowe's to design the headboard for the bed.  After painting the furniture white and getting my new bedding in, there was just too much white.  After looking on Pinterest some, I decided that it would be pretty simple to build a new headboard.  I only had to ask Thurston nicely to help us b/c neither Grayson nor myself are very handy.  So Thurston was kind enough to spend an afternoon or two helping us with the headboard.  We are 90% finished with it and I can hardly stand it.
Here is a pic of Grayson staining.  He was in charge of staining, Thurston was in charge of wiping and I was in charge of ... well, taking photos apparently :)
This was the wood after we stained it and waited for it to dry.  I LOVE the color!!!
So here is a pic of the headboard (90%) finished with our old brown/tan bedding and the blue-ish walls.  This project has taught me how to let things lie for a while.  I normally am the type who likes to start and finish a project on the same day.  I like instant gratification which is probably a large reason why I'm not a huge project person.  Grayson has to remind me often that a project is called a project b/c it takes time.  So, I'm learning, albeit slowly.
Okay so here was the bed with the white bedding and white headboard that I painted.  See how you just can't see the headboard, it blends in.  So after we made the new headboard, I was able to give this one to a sweet friend down the road who is using it as her "little girl" headboard.  It's so fun to see what I used as a little girl being passed down to another little girl.
Here you can tell where the new paint meets the old paint.  I guess no matter how hard I try, I will always be drawn toward warm colors rather than cool.  Even though this was a grey paint as well, the warm undertones suit our style much better.  Thankfully, I'm like a master painter now (ha!) so redoing the bedroom only took half a day and was very well worth it.

So here is a sneak peak at the "upcycled" guest bedroom.  I spray painted our old lamp and put it to good use on the desk.  I think all that is left is finding some curtains and then doing some stuff on the walls and then we'll be ready to go.  We both already love this room and have started spending more time here.  Grayson is actually dying to sleep upstairs, but until the headboard gets finished I just don't feel right about it :)  Hopefully this will be completed in the next couple of weeks so I can show off the finished product. 

Then I am planning to work on our patio space ...

My first DIY project

With the increasing popularity of Pinterest, I decided I would give the world of DIY projects a go. I'm not the crafty type at all, which is why in 6.5 years of marriage this is the first project I've taken on.

I decided to "up cycle" our guest bedroom. I had considered this on and off, but never had the guts to do it. About four weekends ago I went for it (with the help if a friend).

The room originally was yellow and matched the rest of our house. We actually have a lot of guests stay with us and on occasion, Grayson and I will sleep upstairs for a change of pace. Because of this, I decided I wanted the room to feel and look totally different from everything else.


I went for a grey/white color scheme to create a cool and relaxing environment. Everything in our house is in the "warm" hues and so I thought why not go for a cool?


My OCD is having a tough time with this, but I have committed to follow through with my plan. After spending a weekend painting, I next painted my little girl furniture. This was a big deal for me too b/c it was nice wood and once it's painted, it's done. The non-existent risk taker in me got stretched.


We love the way the furniture turned out!!! It is so crisp and clean.


I made my own chalk paint to avoid having to sand and prime. It added a little texture which is cool too. At this point I have about half of the project done and am mostly loving it. Ill keep you posted as the project progresses!

Adventure!

Yesterday morning, after we woke up, I decided I wanted to be spontaneous and adventurous.  These are two terms that normally do not describe my personality and with me only have two days left off work before having to go back, I decided why not?  So, we packed our bags and headed to Hot Springs for the night.

I had never been before and Grayson had only been for a few hours on his weekends off when he was a summer counselor at Camp Ozark.  We jumped in the car and while driving, booked a hotel and an appointment at a local spa. We made it by early afternoon and had a great time relaxing with a massage.

We stayed near Lake Hamilton and enjoyed a nice dinner date at "our" restaurant (Outback).  We met a lovely couple at dinner and enjoyed good conversation and great food.  We attempted to squeeze in a movie before bed, but the times just didn't work out.  Instead, we drove around Bathhouse Row and made our plans for the following day.

We gave ourselves a pretty good tour of Bathhouse Row, seeing as how it was Sunday and 90% of them were closed.

After visiting the Lamar Bathhouse (the current tourism spot) we went to feel and taste the mineral water.  It was actually really hot and tasty.  

After touring the street, we visited the historic Arlington Hotel and then did a tour of the Mobster Museum.  We learned a lot about the city and its relationship with the mobsters from the 1920-40's.  After we felt we had experienced the "row" we jumped in the car and headed back to Ruston.

We made it back with plenty of time for Grayson to get ready for small group at church and for me to unpack.  I am not normally a spontaneous person, but I think in a way, that may be unspoken New Year's Resolution.  To care less about having a plan for everything and be more comfortable with doing things spur of the moment.

Speaking of spontaneous, in about 30 minutes our family is coming over for an impromptu Downton Abbey season premiere party!  This was not planned and I'm embracing it :)  After a little anxiety over "what will I serve?" and "is our house even clean?" I decided to forget about it.  We will pop some popcorn and enjoy one our new favorite tv shows. And after that, it'll be off to bed and back to work tomorrow!

Color Run New Orleans

This past weekend we headed down to New Orleans for the Color Run. I heard from a few friends who did the one in Dallas that it is a lot of fun, so some of us decided to register for it last April. Me, Grayson, Thurston, Maddie and Natalee ran it while Winston served as our cheerleader.

I am glad we registered early because it was sold out by May. Thankfully it wasn't your typical 5k so we got to sleep in and have breakfast before getting to the starting line.


There were so many people. We think maybe around 11,000!? We were in wave #10 and so while we were waiting our turn we got to do some great people watching. Turns out this was less of an athletic race and more of a costume contest. People were very creative with their race attire.


This was after we hit up all 5 color stations. We didn't get as much color as we thought we would, but it was still really fun. We saw two proposals after the event which was neat too.


Later that evening after we laid out by the pool (yes, in November!) we then prepped dinner and had drinks and appetizers at W.I.N.O. (Wine Institute of New Orleans)


It was this cool place in the Warehouse District where you can taste wine by the ounce.


It was such a cool place and a neat experience. We went during the end of the Tech game and when we realized they were going into overtime, we made a mad dash back to the apartment in hopes they would pull off a win. Sadly they didn't and so we spent the rest of the evening enjoying dinner together and watching the demise of the #1 ranked teams.

We are now looking forward to the TCU/Texas game and of course, the ND/USC game. Hope you are all having a great Thanksgiving week!