A New Life for Stumps: Plans for Outdoor Seating

A few months ago our neighbor had a backyard tree removed. They hauled out the chunks of tree trunk to the curb for trash pick-up later in the week. For several days I looked at those stumps and dreamed of how they would look sitting around our little campfire pit. So, I finally convinced Hubby to roll several of the heavy beasts into our backyard. 

I was so giddy. I started thinking up ideas on how to paint the tops to make them a little modern. 

And yet, they've sat. Just tree stumps sitting around out fire pit. The spring rain has made them look grungy and sad. So, now that we're back to a somewhat routine schedule again around here, I've decided these beasts need to get beautified before Hubby says they need to go. :)

My inspiration:

 (via Pennyweight)

A stump used as a coffee table :)

(via Bleu Nature)

This is similar to what I have in mind.

I like the look of the white tops, but I may leave the rough bark on the outsides as well.

(via House & Home)

See that gray stump? I love it!

If I do decide to take off the exterior bark, I think I'll keep the wood most natural looking. 

I like the look Becca gave her stump.

(via Pinterest)

Look how nice these stumps look when paired up with a table for eating outdoors.

I can't wait to get started on my stumps!

Ideas for a Big House Outdate: Guest Bathroom Inspiration

I have several ideas for how I'd like our guest bath to look, but what's within our budget is an entirely different story. With so many updates needed throughout the house, I'm hopeful to make some easy bathroom updates within a small project budget.

We recently has someone come out to the house to give us a quote on installing a new acrylic bathtub & surround. I was willing to consider this route only because I thought it was a quick turn-around and would be cheaper than installing our own tub & surround. Instead, what we found was that the wait time for ordering our tub could be over a month and the price was much higher than I expected for acrylic walls.  I'm hopeful that I can price out a much cheaper bath reno and perhaps learn some essential DIY tips along the way.

I've been saving up some inspirational images for our tiny guest bath to get my mind going on what materials and overall look I want in this space.

Lowes inspiration via Pinterest

I'm adding small nooks like this as a "must" to our new design.

We have a low vanity (29" high) in this bathroom and as much as I'd like to replace the vanity all-together, it's not in our budget. So, I've been looking into getting a classic white vessel sink to bring the sink up higher.

Vanity via Censational Girl

I like how this bathroom vanity turned out. Plus, I like the white vessel sink.

Contemporary Bathroom via Houzz

I love the look of lower tub surrounds. To me, they make the tub seem spa-like.

Planked wall bathroom via DecorPad

Here's another example. I've been toying with the idea of adding horizontal wall planks around the bathroom. I love how the planking is tied in to the tub surround here.

  

Pantry doors via Apartment Therapy

We have a very odd door placement that really crowds the entire bathroom. So, when I spotted these slim double doors, I started tinkering with the idea of creating a similar door system. I'm not sure how I could address privacy concerns, but for now it's still an idea. 

I'm in the process of pulling together my ideas board and staying occupied with wallpaper removal. Ugh.

A Project Here And a Project There: Home Renovation Projects

We've been busy, busy at the house lately. My job as a stay-at-home mom has proven to be difficult when adding on all the little house renovation projects we've let build up. 

My kitchen is still missing several cabinet doors for project: Remove, Sand & Repaint. I started by removed all the outdated trim from every cabinet door. Since then, I've tested a paint remover on one cabinet door and then neglected this project all together.

We started building my dream built-in: a window seat bench that has filing drawers below. Hubby got a good start on this project while the Little Mr. and I took a trip to see my sister and her family. We have the entire seat framed out, but we still need to build the drawers, paint everything and I need to make a seat cushion.

I also went crazy during a good naptime from the Little Mr. and decided to rip all the wallpaper down from the guest bathroom. I removed all the hardware and fixtures, but only got the first layer of wallpaper off before naptime ended. So, our guest bath is barely functioning.

And the #1 house project going on right now are floors! We ordered flooring from Lumber Liquidators several weeks ago and Hubby finally got some time to rip out all the teal carpet from the living/dining room. I spent time the other afternoon pulling up old carpet staples from the subfloor. We hope to get the floors installed this weekend so the Little Mr. has some space to play again.

So, please excuse my long absence and wish us luck on getting some of these projects complete so I can finally share some after photos with you! :)

Gray + Color: Living Room Inspiration

I spotted this great color scheme on BHG's website. 

We're in the process of finding the perfect gray paint for our living/dining room, so this image is very inspiring.

Getting a Garden Ready: Origami Seed Pots

I dreamed of having a garden as soon as we purchased this house. Of course you can't just start planing a garden any time of the year, so I've been patiently waiting for "planting season" to come around again so I can get started on my little garden. 

Hubby & I haven't really determined the exacts of the garden location or style, but I realized I could start some of my seeds inside in the meantime to see how this brown thumb works. :)

I've been wanting to make seed pods out of newspaper like I'd been spotting all over Pinterest, but I realized most of the tutorials available use glue or tape to hold the pots together. I finally came across Allyson's tutorial on origami folding pots. Her directions were very easy to follow and I whipped out about 30 pots very quickly.

Once I had my seeds planted, I realized I had no markers to distinguish the pots from one another so I made these quick twig plant markers by following directions here.

Now I'm just waiting....

Please sprout, little seedlings, please.

New Year, New Goals: The Saga Continues...

As with every approaching new year, my mind starts swirling around with ideas on new goals I will achieve in the next 12 months. And, as with every "new" year before, I forget those goals within the first 2 months and get back to my comfortable living.

Well, this year I decided to take a new approach. Rather than make up individual goals (that usually turn into something more like a "to-do" list than actual goals to achieve), I've decided to give myself a new mantra for the new year. I used the mantra, "healthy mom, healthy baby," while going through my pregnancy/labor and I found that it really kept my mind focused. I've decided to take the same approach to my New Year's goals. 

My typical New Year's goals usually consist of exercise, eating healthy, a long list of creative home projects, and planning fun activities to get out of the house with my family. I have noticed that after February, my lack of enthusiasm is what gets the best of me and I slack off on all these hopes & dreams. So my mantra for this new year is, "get active!" 

"Get active" applies to getting off my butt and working out, but it also means, "Stop pinning all those amazing house projects that would be perfect for your home and instead, DO them! Do them TODAY, not tomorrow or next week. TODAY!" I am so good at procrastinating. This year my goal is to get active immediately with the things I want to do.

So far my mantra has been effective:

Example 1: I've been talking about going to Baby/Mama Yoga since before Mr. M was born... four months ago. Last week I said, "Macy, get active on that now." and we went. We loved it! 

Example 2: I'm bad at eating breakfast...especially something healthy. I'd rather eat a box of donuts and a big glass of milk than eggs and toast. My husband is the healthy breakfast one in this house...protein shakes, eggs, yogurts and some kind of cereal that looks like bland, dry cardboard. I knew I could still eat a good breakfast without eating cardboard, but that would require me to change habits (and a few tastebuds). But, I told myself, "Get active." And BAM!

Healthy breakfast that tastes good:

Iced coffee, plain greek yogurt with some delicious gingerbread granola my sister made us, and a sweet, juicy grapefruit from our friend's orchard.

Example 3: I have along list of low-budget kitchen renovations that I want to do. I started taking of decorative mouldings off our kitchen cabinets several months ago and got about half way through before I found a different task to distract me. I realized it was silly that we've been living with our kitchen in such disarray when we have detailed plans of updates we want to accomplish. So this past weekend I "got active" on that list. I finished removing all the cabinet moldings and ripped up the yucky vinyl from under our kitchen sink.

Example 4: Speaking of distracting projects, Hubby decided to "get active" on my built-in window seat I've wanted since we moved in. He created a scale drawing and purchased the lumber to start building the base for the drawers. We ripped up carpet in front of the window and cut the baseboards to fit our base. Yay! We're on our way!

I hope you're doing well keeping up with your new goals for the new year!
Let me know if you have a mantra to keep you going.

Thankful for Family: Trip to Idaho

We flew back to Idaho to spend Thanksgiving with family. This was the first time most of our family had ever met our little one. It was a very special time!

I'm very thankful for the opportunity to visit with our families. Family is so important to me!

 Trying out the old jumper.

 Playing the piano.

Ice skating with Dad.

I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving!