Post It!

When Taylor and I moved into our quaint townhouse, we put whatever we both had up on the walls without much thought put into it.  It was "hmm...this looks good here" and "oh this will fit this wall here".  Then whala, our first place together felt like home!  
One of the pieces we hung was this photo of the Appalachian State versus Delaware championship game in Chatanooga, Tennesse in 2007.

  It's a nice photo, and we didn't have many walls that could hold a photo of this size, so it was one of the pieces that I said "oh this will fit this wall" and so there it was.  At first I was happy about it filling up the large space, but as time passed, I began to brainstorm other ideas that would better fit the wall.   While Pinteresting away, I came across this pin and other similar pins that gave me the brilliant idea to re-purpose my floor length Walmart mirror that was still at my parents house, and make a board that would not only fill the large space because of the mirror's length, but also become useful for us by the back door.  I thought it would be a great way for us to post photos of memories, important dates, or even cute notes to each other that we could see on our way out the door.  
So the crafting began!  Taylor helped me detach the mirror from the frame, and then I spray painted the frame white.  It took about three coats to completely cover every inch of the frame.  Once the paint fully dried, the distressing began.  (I am kind of obsessed with the distressed look these days!)  I took sandpaper from my Dad's barn and lightly distressed areas I thought would look natural.  I got a little carried away with some areas on the frame, but for one of my first distressing adventures, I'm pleased.  Plus, I didn't want to start all over with spray painting.
Once I finished distressing the frame, Taylor helped me attach the chicken wire to the back of the frame using a staple gun.  We used pliers for snapping the wire.  When we finished attaching the chicken wire, I measured the length and width of the frame, adding an inch to my measurements, to figure out how much burlap to cut.  I wanted to be safe because I knew we would start attaching the burlap and come up short.  When I finished cutting the burlap we were on the homestretch.  Taylor stapled the burlap to the back of the frame, and then we were done!  Or at least I thought we were...when I went to hang my new board I quickly realized I needed something to hang it with.  So...Taylor put some hanging hardware on the back of my board and in no time my Walmart floor length mirror turned into a fabulous board that we now use to post memories, wedding announcements (since all of our friends these days are getting hitched), and cute notes to one another.  I couldn't be happier with the way my board turned out! 

(Taylor's mom taught/helped me sew the adorable cushion on the bench!)  Here is a before and after of the cushion...

  Back to the board...I am even working on making another board for a fellow teacher's daughter who just graduated from high school.  She thought this board would be perfect for her daughter's dorm room, and I couldn't agree more.  I can't wait to see how this next board turns out!    

Key West Buoy Ropes

Summer is on my mind...now that Taylor and I finished his Momma's Christmas gift from this past year.

On the left is what I was going for and on the right is my creation.  They turned out bettern than I ever expected!!  I. AM. IN. ABSOLUTE. LOVE. WITH. THEM!  

Where the idea sparked from...

Mrs. Mary raved over how adorable the nautical buoy ropes were that hung from various docks at Ocean Isle Beach that it sparked an idea.  I thought these ropes would be such a great gift for Taylor to give his mom for Christmas.  When we searched for the nautical buoy ropes on the internet we were in absolute shock at how expensive they were!  Around $100 for a rope!?!?!  Well, not being a quitter, I couldn't just give up on the gift idea, so the DIY in me began stirring around.  I began brainstorming ideas of how to create the cute balls like the ones in the picture on the left.  My first thought was Styrofoam balls, however, I nicked that idea when I realized how easily they would get beaten up from the wind at the beach.  Then Taylor came up with the brilliant idea of researching what type of buoys the balls were.  He came across a website that sold them for around $1-$2 each.  (I'm not sure what the website is called, but if you Google small round buoys then you should find exactly what you are looking for.)  Well, by the time we found what we needed to make the buoy rope, Christmas was already around the corner.  Knowing they probably wouldn't come in time, we went ahead and ordered ten buoys.  For Christmas, we wrapped the picture to the left and placed it under the tree.  

On Christmas day when Taylor's momma opened her gift, she seemed a little confused until we explained to her what we were going to make.  She was then very excited!  

The DIY process...

Taylor and I went to OIB for the weekend in January to celebrate his 25th birthday and our 5 year anniversary!  It was a wonderful, quiet, and relaxing weekend.  Too chilly to be outdoors, so it was the perfect weekend to be crafty!  We used some fabric from a pillow that Taylor's momma used at the beach to pull colors from and matched them to paint swatches at Home Deopt.  Then we began painting each side of the buoys a different color.  We put several layers of paint on each buoy, and then followed with A LOT of layers of polyurethane.  It's very important to use a lot of polyurethane because it helps protect the buoys from weathering fast at the beach.  Everything at the beach deteriorates faster because of the salty air.

Assembling...

Taylor and I decided to wait to assemble the buoy rope until we had his momma with us.  This was a great idea because she ended up deciding not to have one long rope of ten buoys, but two short ropes with five buoys on each.  We assembled the two buoy ropes last weekend when we went down to OIB to begin de-winterizing the beach house.  The two ropes was a great idea because Taylor's momma will now be able to hang the buoy ropes from the banister as shown below or move them down to the dock on the canal.  Either or they'll look FABULOUS!  

P.S. She loved them so much that she wants us to make two more!  

Now that the nautical buoy ropes are done, all I need is consistent warm weather!

Townhouse Decor

Following my graduation from Appalachian State University in the spring of 2011, I have gone from living back at home, to an apartment, to my townhouse where I currently live.  Being at home, I was so tired of not having my own personal space that I ended up moving out 10 months later into an apartment.  I loved being on my own again, and having my own space to decorate how I wanted.  After living in my apartment for 15 months, I was ready to move again because I was tired of climbing stairs just to get home, having to hunt for a parking spot, and having loud neighbors.  The apartment felt too much like my college days, and I wanted something more grown up like.  

So the hunt was on!  I juggled around with the idea of buying a house because the market was perfect.  I went as far as talking with a real estate agent to getting pre-qualified, but the timing wasn't right.  I wasn't sure where I wanted to live, and my boyfriend of then 4 years wasn't sure what he wanted to do either, so I made the decision to rent instead.  While browsing craigslist for homes to rent, my boyfriend and I began to toy around with the idea of living together.  We always bouncing between his parents’ house and my apartment, and it seemed like the best thing to do money wise.  He wanted to get out of his parents’ house at the time.

So the BIG conversation that I thought I would never have with my parents...happened!  To my surprise, my mom and dad seemed to be okay with the idea, but would never clearly give their blessing like I wanted them to.  Daddy would always say “You are a 24 year old that can make your own decisions”, however, that was not enough for me.  I truly needed his blessing.  After a long heart-to-heart phone conversation with my mom one night, my dad called back and had a conversation with me that brought me to tears.  I had to pull over from driving because tears were flooding my eyes.  He gave me his blessing! 

From there, Taylor and I found our townhouse and moved in just a few weeks later.  We have lived together for 10 months now, and it has been amazing!  We have so much fun together cooking, going to the gym, being lazy, and him helping me with random DIY projects.

This is a picture of our townhouse during one of our many snowstorms.  Here in NC, we don’t typically have as much snow as we have this year.  My school has had 6 snow days!!!

My favorite spot in the townhouse is my hallway décor.  I got the desk from Target when I lived in my apartment.  I made the table runner using HGTV How to Make a Hand-Painted Burlap Table Runner as inspiration.  Instead of using basic burlap, I used silver shimmery burlap that I found at JoAnn’s Fabric, and I didn’t stencil Joy on the sides so I could use it year around.  The vase and the dried hydrangeas are from my parents surprise 50^th birthday pig pickin’.  The mercury jar, white bowl, brown grape vine balls, chic chalk board, and baskets below the desk are from TJ Maxx.  Yes, as you can tell, I love TJ Maxx!  Overall, I love changing out the chalk board and table décor based upon the holidays and seasons.  I hope you like it as much as I do!

Hello Blogger World!

Hey Bloggers,
School was let out early yesterday due to icy weather, and then last night they announced that we would have a three hour delay today because the roads needed time to thaw.  I was really excited about the three hour delay because that meant I could sleep in a little.  So this morning I got up when I am typically walking out the door, and fixed my coffee.  I was super happy to take my time getting ready, but then the unthinkable happened...I saw Wake County Public Schools were out, so I figured I better check on my school, and WHOLA...school was actually CANCELLED for me too!  Yep, that's right...no school meant I could stay in my pajama's all day!!
While drinking my coffee and reading various blogs, I decided I should contribute to the blogging world so I can share my thoughts, interests, and ideas too.  What I thought would only take an hour or two ended up being a day of work!  Let's just say that html codes are NOT my best friend!  If it wasn't for The Cutest Blog on the Block, Rekita at Her and Nicole, PicMonkey, and Photobucket, I would not have been able to make this blog.  I am pretty happy with how it looks so far, however, if you have any suggestions that can make this blog even better then please share!
Overall, I am super excited to start this blogging adventure,  and cant wait to share!  :)