Friday Night Surprise!

Hi! I'm so happy that you stopped by.  I have mentioned before that life happens!  As I expand my blog to include how the many moments of life intertwine to make a story, let me share with you just a little piece of my life as it unfolded for my birthday a couple of weeks ago!

It has been a pretty rough year.  I have so many posts to do, to catch you up, but for now I'll let know that I lost my younger sister and brother within nine months of each other.  They were both ill, but nonetheless,their deaths were both sudden and unexpected.  We lost my Dad in May of 2015.  It is now just my Mom and me from my family.  Without going into too much detail in this post, you need to know that God and the hope that he provides is what has sustained us.  I have also no doubt that he hand picked my husband for me.  My guy and I have been through some trying times; when we focus on God we always triumph.  My guy has been my rock during this time.  Those are important details. 

I've also been working pretty intensely at my day job on a year and half project.  My piece on the project included leading the payroll conversion to a brand new system.  The last few weeks I have been working 70 plus hours a week and 7 days a week.  My guy during this time held down the fort!  He supports me - all while working his own day job and making sure we all have something to eat everyday! 

We know God put us together; and once we figured out how God intended each of our strengths to work best together (that's a post for another day) we manage to get by pretty well!

The Thursday after my project went live, my mother, who now lives with us, was admitted to the hospital.  After we knew Mom would be OK and that she was doing well, my husband told me that he and our kids had been planning a birthday dinner for Monday night.  What I didn't know was that he had also been planning a couple of things for me over the weekend leading up to that Monday night with the kids. 

It started after work on Friday - this is the first Friday in weeks I would actually have off and not be working the weekend.  What I love most is that he had planned it all around my favorite things! 

First stop was Nell Hill's. (not affiliated - just want to share it with you). This place sits in a shopping village above the river in the Northland of Kansas City!  I love going there to get inspired!  There are all kinds of pieces and beautiful seasonal arrangements that just make you feel good!  What I love is that although they have fantastic large pieces - Mary Carol also provides great small items, so you can always take a piece of the Nell Hill's ambiance home with you.  We love the candles... so we picked up two of our favorite fall candles, Gatherings and Mexican Pumpkin by Pickwick & Co.!  We love walking in to our home and having the seasonal aroma set the scene for the mind and heart to enjoy! Nothing like it when the house just smells GOOOOOD! 

Then, my honey suggests to me, let's head to the Plaza.  If you don't know the KC area, the Plaza is a beautiful place to shop and dine.  It's most known for the Christmas Plaza Lights and the Plaza Art Fair.   If you know me, you know I'm very difficult to surprise!  I have a super sleuth kind of mind -  I can get to the root of an issue and love doing it!  My family swears me to silence when watching a movie - I can usually figure out the whole plot in the beginning.  Not always a good thing when you say it out loud!  I'm not sure why, but I was not able to figure out where on the Plaza we were headed.  He has only been able to surprise me a couple of times in the almost 35 years we've been married.  He surprised me with a mother's ring on Christmas Eve a few years ago.  It is still one of my favorite ever memories.  Then, there was that one time he was traveling for work and tried to surprise me with earrings. I saw a strange purchase on the bank statement online and called the bank.  I ended up initiated a fraud case!  That day when he called me, I told him that someone was using our card!  Yep - I ruined the surprise!  He had to tell me that it was him!

Oh my, but this time... maybe I was just tired, or I think really I just enjoyed being with my guy no matter what we were doing.  I had missed him while working so much! We ended up going to pick up a Refresher at Starbucks.  We discovered them over the summer and really liked them.  One of my favorite things is to enjoy the process, the journey and that is what this was!  I was just enjoying that we finally had time together to just kind of hang out.  So, as we were sipping our refreshers,  I thought for just a moment, "What is he up to? I am not figuring this out!", but then I just went back to being in the moment! 

As we walked out of Starbucks and headed down the street, we were getting close to walking by one of my favorite jewelry stores, Kendra Scott.  I said, as we approached, "Hey it's my birthday month and I get a discount there!"  Thinking I was just mentioning it as we would walk by.  He said, "Oh, I forgot about that, now you can pick out three things!" He was opening the door and motioning me in!  What!?!  I didn't figure this out!?!  He surprised me! He did it and I had no idea until he was standing there holding the door open!   He had planned on me picking out a couple of things for my birthday!  I picked up three beautiful pieces.  I loved it as much as he loved doing it for me! :)

I have to confess, I love planning and styling events and making them beautiful!  I want the occasion to be an awesome experience and special, but I'm not very good at having that done for me!  I'm OK with buying things to make our home look beautiful, because this is for my family!  Anyone else, like this?  It's awkward and sometimes uncomfortable.  I know there's probably a pathology behind it, like I don't feel worthy of it or something like that, or putting my family first and me second.  But I have learned with my husband and now adult children, who love me so much, to let them do things for me!  They are the most precious people I know  -  and my dearest friends! 

So, in this moment, as I realize that I am supposed to pick out something for myself from my husband, I feel so special and loved.  I am humbled.  I don't have anything to prove or have to feel guilty for buying something for myself.  He never, ever, ever, ever makes me feel that way, that's my own issue.  In this moment though - I was able to let that go and let him make me feel special.  This makes me think of how we often try to do things on our own merit and not let God just love us! I'm consistently working on this - it's ok to just let him love you! 

What an awesome feeling!  My guy is very kind, and loving!  I was excited to be spending this first evening on my birthday weekend adventure with just him.  Next he took my hand and lead me to what may be considered one of the best patios in KC, Gramm and Dunn! We love dining outside!  We ordered wine and a charcuterie tray as our starter.  It was awesome.  It had some of our local favorites, sausage from The Local Pig and cheese from Green Dirt Farm.  If you haven't been to either of these two places, please be sure to get there!  Yum! 

Honestly, we didn't even notice that our server hadn't been back to take our dinner order yet, when another server let us know that she was called home for a family emergency. I remember thinking, I hope everything is ok.  We decided that we weren't hungry for now anyway, and not to order dinner.  We pledged we'd be back,  I really want to try those scallops! 

As we walked back to our car, we stopped by West Elm to do some browsing.  I love the clean lines and the touches of brushed gold.  More inspiration!  I'm in the process of adding gold finishes back in to my decor. I hope to share this with you soon!

We make it back to our car and head back to the Northland. We decide that we aren't ready for this birthday date to be over and we start to realize that maybe we do want dinner!  Or maybe we just want to share some more time on a romantic patio with another glass of wine!  So we head back to the Northland to The Villiage at Biarcliff.  We're headed to Treso Mare.  A lovely restaurant in the same shopping village above the river as Nell Hill's.  This is our favorite patio with a beautiful view.  We order a wood fired pizza and a glass of cab!  I love when we have time to really catch up on life together, we needed this time so badly.  I'm thankful!!!

As I reflect on the fantastic time we had, the lovely gifts and shared glasses of wine, I cherish most the time spent with my guy!  I love his serving heart - he loves to see me happy!  This will be another memory that we share together in this short life.  We'll remember how he was actually able to surprise me, but I'll also remember how I am not surprised at all that he would do this for me! 💕

Are You Ready FAUX a Garage and Front Door Makeover!

I'm so excited to share with you the transformation of our front door and garage doors!  We decided to keep the front door for now, but we needed new garage doors, no doubt, it was time to replace them!  I don't want to have to replace the garage doors again, for a long time!!!  The original garage doors were made of wood.  The bottom section had begun to warp due to water!   The house was built in 1999.  We bought the house in 2007!  Everyone in the neighborhood was replacing their garage doors.  It was just plain TIME to replace them!

With that said, I'm not gonna lie!  I really did want to replace the old garage doors with new stained from the factory wood carriage doors!  I just love that look!  I would pick out the color of the stain and they would be installed and done!  It was the look that I wanted and would match the plans we had for the rest of the house exterior, too!   I could see it in my mind!  Do you do that too?  You can see the finished look in your mind and then, you just have to figure out how to get there!?!

So we headed to Home Depot - we started there because of a sale!  I was so excited that they had them!  The door I saw in my mind, the look that I had envisioned!  OH NO!  They were way over budget!  NOPE - this is typical for me!  I have very expensive taste - but just don't want to spend the money unless its absolutely necessary, but usually drawn to the expensive beautiful stuff!  Thankfully, my husband knows me so well, and has talked me through so many of these situations!  He's so patient, he listens to me and walks through what "could be" and how it "could work out"!  THIS TIME THOUGH... I was really disappointed.  How will I ever get that wood door look if I can't get the real wood door!?! I DID NOT WANT WHITE GARAGE DOORS! PLUS, what will I do with the front door!   UGH! *DEEP SIGH*!

Well, my honey kept talking and walking me through the process!  He reminded me of what I had mentioned to him before we decided to replace the old garage doors, the FAUX option! I was going to FAUX the front door anyway to match the garage doors! That's right!  Honestly, I had considered trying to do this to my old garage doors at one time.  I had even purchased a video from Jennifer Allwood, on exactly how to do this exact thing!  So we did the responsible thing and opted for the Beautiful Clopay Coachman Collection insulated metal doors, which were nearly half the cost.  We decided that we would get the carriage door style with the heavy decorative hardware.  They were perfect, the look that I wanted with a high R-Value AND wood grain embossed metal.  This would make it easier to do since I would have to do the faux wood look myself!  That was the compromise.  The one thing that we overlooked when ordering is the recommendation on the video to order the garage doors in a color that was close to the faux color that we would use.  This is so that when the door is opening or closing, the color between the sections isn't so obvious, but that's ok!  It doesn't bother me.  The door isn't opening or closing for that long!

So, when we had our house painted in the Spring, we had the painter apply the base coat on the front door and garage doors. That's right folks - Sherwin William's SMOKEY TOPAZ.  I wonder if our neighbors thought we were a little bold for choosing that color for our front and garage doors!  My kids actually said they liked it!  SIDE NOTE:  Only regret is that we didn't have the painter put a primer on the doors prior to the Smokey Topaz base coat.  I think it's ok now, but this would have made it a little easier on some touch-ups we had to do to the base coat.

We followed Jen's video and did the dark walnut stain with a satin topcoat!  It was a three day process and we had to make sure that we were staining in the right temps, not too cold and not too hot!  We did wait for the stain to set up for a few weeks, because of rain, before putting the top coat on!

I did the front door first! It was a smaller area; this allowed me to get used to the process and materials first.  I needed to learn how to do this stuff!  Plus, the front door didn't have the wood embossed metal.  So I created a line across the top and bottom of the door right where a board would be.  This created the illusion of a board on each end.  I also created the illusion of the grain running horizontally on the "boards" across the top and bottom and vertically on the sides, just like a door constructed of wood!  I think it turned out pretty well!  I was ready to get a new front door, but I'm going to keep this one for a while!

I have to say, all in all, I LOVE how the doors look!!!  That vision in my mind - It came together and was right there before my eyes on MY HOUSE!  YES!!!   (Confession:  I knew if it didn't work out - I could just repaint them!)

Now we just need to do the shutters and the corbels!  Always a project waiting! :)


Here are a few of the "before" and "after" pics along with some video!!!  Enjoy!  Please leave comments and share!  Stop by again!

The Single Door with the base coat!  Hardware still on here!Love to hear what you think!  Please leave Please leave comments and share!  Thanks for visiting!  

The double door with hardware after the painter applied the base coat! 

The double door! I did the flat panels first. 

There's a little bit of a shadow here, but this is the door with the base coat1 

The faux wood grain - complete! 

Please leave comments and share! Thank you for stopping by! 

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Going Up with Charm!

I have a very small office off of the back of my kitchen.  The actual surface space of the desk/counter top was getting very crowded.  I knew that I needed to add some type of shelving or cabinets in order to add more surface space.  One thing that I've learned is to just keep a design idea or concept tucked in my mind so that when I run across the right thing I can just adapt it a little and it works!

I was in a thrift shop on a "just in case" trip.  You know, just in case there's something there that you can transform!  And then I saw it - a maple hutch.  It was probably from the top of a dresser or desk.  It is very sturdy!  That's what I love about finding older furniture and redesigning it.  It's usually inexpensive but it is made really well!!!   That was the case with this hutch.  It had the lines that I love and knew that it would step up the vintage vibe and add a little charm to my little office. The best thing was that it was $15 but on sale for $9.  I had to get it!

I took it home and just to be honest it sat in the garage for a little while like many of my found treasures do before they go through the redesign process. 

Finally, I brought it in and began the process of painting.

 The before!  Well I almost forgot to snap the before pic as you can see I had started to paint when I grabbed my phone to snap these pics!

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The best thing about Annie Sloan chalk paint is that there isn't a lot of prep work. So I cleaned it up and put the first coat on, Chinese Red!  I loved this look and will use it alone on another project, but the idea for this one was to have the beautiful Chinese Red be the base coat with the red peeking through. I also love the bead-board back.  It just adds to the vintage look!

The next coat was Annie Sloan Graphite - a very dark gray.  

I wanted the red to show through just a little bit.  So I distressed it a bit by sanding it with 200 grit sandpaper on the edges slightly. 
 

 Then to give it that bit of an aged look, I gave it a healthy slathering of Annie Sloan dark soft wax.  I wiped off the excess and let it set over night.

 

The next day I buffed it to give the wax a finished look.  

I love it - a place to get some items up off of my desk and add a little charm to my little office!

Sweet Compliments in the Master Suite!

We moved in to our home five years ago.  It was built in the late 90's but seemed to have finishes from the 80's.  We began changing out light fixtures, faucets, switch plates and door knobs throughout the house.  As for the master suite, we painted but really never did anything with it. I couldn't decide what to do!  When we moved in we did buy a new mattress set with a frame. We also bought the comforter set with matching curtains and that was it.  We had two little tables that we used as nightstands and got a couple of small lamps. A temporary fix.  It was a little unexciting!  How many times do we put the master bedroom on the back burner!  We began working on the rest of the house first. 

  

Then it was time!  I was finally inspired by this beautiful chest and it's sentimental value. We picked it up at a family member's estate sale. It's a little ornate, but very vintage and a little glam. I decided it would be the perfect nightstand for our Vintage Glam Master Suite.  Ok, the creative forces were turning!  I was inspired!  

 We sat the new, old chest next to the bed - PERFECT!!!  However, that was only half done.  The hunt began for a matching piece for the other side.  I began to search. It was on that list in my head.  I searched and searched to no avail.  I saw a few things but nothing that "matched" .  I had the perfect piece in my head and am usually relentless until I find it.  

 

However, this time I finally decided that when I found this little chest at a pop up vintage flea market that it was the one - mostly! I thought  - Ok, it's not so much of a match, but could it compliment my beautiful chest sitting next to the bed at home?  It was only $75 and was very sturdy, well built and from years gone by.  I took it home and sat it on the other side of the bed AND I DIDN'T LIKE IT.  The white was too white and the robin egg blue was, well. too robin egg blue.  My vintage glam was a more muted gray blue.  The upholstered headboard that I had in my head was a light cream linen (alright - polyester linen look) material.  It didn't fit in!  Someone had gone to the trouble of finding this little gem of a chest and painted it two tone with chalk paint.  All the right and trendy vintage market things that you should do - but I was going to have to put my own twist on it! I would need to transform it from clashing to complimentary!

A different view of the chest. 

My mission was to paint it out so that it complimented my estate sale vintage glam chest on the other side of the bed.  I didn't want it to be a matchy-matchy piece - that is so yesterday, but not in a good vintage kind of yesterday.  So the project was born!  I chose Annie Sloan chalk paint in French Gray.  The first paint strokes highlight the contrast between the white and the gray.  I knew that I had made the right choice. 

 

I first removed the drawers to paint the chest.  Then painted each drawer.  I painted two coats and decided to paint right over the hardware which is a common practice when redoing vintage with paint. 

Hardware & drawer fronts before and after.

Trying to decide exactly how to place the stencil.

Next, I was going to have to decide how to get the great detail in gold on the top of the chest.  I found a stencil and used gold metallic paint.  I stenciled it on top first. 

I then taped off the border on top - painting it gold all the way around. 

The final look!  

I then finished it off by giving it a little age with a coat of Annie Sloan dark wax.

It's done!  I love the gold border.  I went ahead and wrapped it down underneath the top. 

The wax is heavier on and around the hardware to give the affect of lots of years of use. 

Stencil work from the top.  The wax toned the gold paint down to give it a patina look.

How sweet it is!  Success!   The nightstands now compliment each other!  Now on to the next project in the master suite.

Coming soon!  More on the master suite in another blog!!!