Rehabbed Monogrammed Stools

Guys, this month has just flown by.

At least for me it has.

I'm kinda floored by how quickly Christmas is coming and that November is just mere days away. 

Craziness.

I thought I'd take a break from halloween/fall/thanksgiving projects and give you a good 'ole furniture redo. 

Because hopefully you love them just as much as I do :)

I'm slowly but surely making a huge dent in my pile in the garage and am so happy about it.

We actually have room to walk in there. 

And store the kids bikes.

Yup, it's been a good month :) 

I found these way cute metal & wood stools at Goodwill a few months back and hubby went back and got them for me. 

Because he's awesome like that. 

Originally I had plans to paint them up and sell them but then we decided to redo the kids rooms and they became a part of that :) 

I can't wait to show you what plans I have for them but I love having good excuses to keep some of the fun finds that I get!!

First things first, they needed to come apart so they could start their transformation.

Hubby took them apart easily with a drill. 

I sanded the tops completely down to bare wood (yay!) and gave them a coat of dark walnut- my fave. 

The bases got a thorough cleaning (they were gross!!) and then a nice coat of white spraypaint to spruce up their old paint job. 

Then came the fun part.

I decided I wanted to add the kid's monograms on the tops so I printed out the design I wanted on my silhouette onto cardstock.

I used the negatives of the cardstock stencils to stencil on my monograms with white paint. 

It's totally fine if they're not perfect...not going for all that :) 

Because, of course, I had plans to distress them. 

I love that it gives it a worn, non-perfect feel to them which is exactly what I wanted.

I also love that the stain settled darker in some areas around the edges than others.

Perfection. 

I love yummy, quick makeovers that don't have a lot of heartache and tears involved. 

And these stools were definitely quick & easy. 

And they turned out so ridiculously cute.

Sometimes I'm just so glad that some people don't see the potential in things so that I can snatch them up :) 

I can't wait to show you the plans I have for them and how they'll be used in their rooms!!

But there's still a ton to do...like everything.

So don't hold your breath quite yet. 

Here's the before/after of these cute little stools...

sometimes it doesn't take much to amp up the awesome factor! 

What do you think?
Don't you love quick & awesome furniture makeovers too?

Found anything awesome at Goodwill lately??

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Naturally Gorgeous Fall Wreath

If you guys hang around even just a little bit, then you know I have a slight obsession with wreaths. 

Ok, more like a full-blown obsession.

You can check out my ever-growing collection of them here. 

I told myself that I was good on fall wreaths this year and did not need to make anymore.

I failed miserably at that when I made my felt & rosette wreath and even more because I may have made another fall-ish wreath that I still haven't shared yet. 

Yup, I'm an addict. 

Which brings us to today's post. 

Because I made yet another one.

I couldn't help it.

I had an old wreath form basically begging to be made over.

And I found the cutest ribbon when I was out at Walmart that just needed to be used :) 

I also used a bunch of things that were just hanging around in my stash so it was partly a cleaning house project too. 

See how I turned that around? 

Check out my fun 'natural' fall wreath...

See? Wasn't it worth it to make yet another wreath? 

I had this old wicker wreath that I had used in a project before but it had been lying in the closet for a few months now... and needed a new look :) 

So I stripped it back down to it's wicker-ness and decided to play around with it. 

Here's what I grabbed: 

Wicker wreath form

Scrap pieces of burlap

Several rolls of ribbon (1$ each from Walmart) 

Scrap piece of weathered wood

Fall Printable (found here) 

Sticks (found in my yard) 

Gold Spraypaint

Hot Glue Gun

After wrapping my wreath form with strips of burlap, I cut my ribbon into small strips. 

I made a whole pile of each color I wanted to use. 

Then fold each loop over onto each other and secure with hot glue to make small ribbon 'loops'. 

I glued them in rows onto the wreath form, overlapping each of them just a little. 

I only did this for about a third of the wreath. 

To make the wood sign, I grabbed a piece of weathered wood from my stash and used tacks to secure a cute fall printable to it. 

Then I looped some black pom pom ribbon around it a couple times for extra texture :) 

After securing my sign to the wreath I felt like the top part was a little bare so I went on a hunt to find something to put there. 

I ended up using some sticks I literally found in the yard and spraypainted them gold. 

Easy peasy. 

I glued a couple more ribbon loops to them and then secured them directly onto the wreath with a little hot glue. 

I love all the natural colors working together and the pop of yellow against all of it!! 

I'm usually in the mood for a little more color on my front door but for some reason, this does the trick for me right now :) 

I think it sweetly says fall rather than screaming it :) 

Have you been on a fall wreath-making kick too? 

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Chevron & Pumpkin Outdoor Fall Sign

Even though I feel that the stores & ads are all wanting to push us towards Christmas already, my mind is still fully in Fall. 

I'm just not ready to exchange my pumpkins and fall colors in for christmas trees & jingle bells quite yet. 

So I hope you're okay with me sharing a little bit more of fall with you this week :)

We've been working on a lot of cleaning/organizing projects around the house lately as we try to get the house ready for some changes we are wanting to make around here.

The kids room is high on the priority list as it's never been what I've wanted (and known) it could be.

So that's what takes up all my weekend & spare time. 

My new job wears the heck out of me during the week and although I love it to pieces, I'm exhausted at the end of the day and have to really plan in order to get my blog out during the week. 

So my facebook/instagram/pinterest posts are taking a hit lately. 

Don't hate me for it, kay? 

Anywho. 

Back before I got all my indoor fall decor out, I decided to 'fallify' my front yard area we have. 

Remember when I shared how I updated our little outdoor space for the summer?

Well it only took a couple tiny touches to cozy it up for fall weather. 

See I told you? 

Quick & simple...meaning a cute fall sign to replace the spring one & a few pumpkins thrown in :) 

I shared my easy gold pumpkins with you a couple weeks ago here & I re-used most of my gold ones from our little girls princess pumpkin party to decorate around the house with. 

I've changed the table decor around a few times & my gold pumpkins have actually recently been relocated for some pretty door decor... but they were fun here for a little bit :) 

The fall sign itself was simple to make. I wanted something to replace the spring/summer sign I had up but didn't want to have to dismantle that one. 

I also needed to make one without spending a cent. 

That's always a fun challenge, huh? 

I always have scraps of wood lying around so I grabbed one of the sheets I had and decided to use my spring sign as the template for my new 'frame'. 

I simply laid the sign onto my wood and trace around it.

Then I used my drill to drill a hole in the middle of the frame so I could cut out the opening with my jigsaw.

I also used the jigsaw to cut the outside of the frame too.

Have I told you how much I love my jigsaw?

It's hands-down my favorite tool to use (besides my dremel). 

Arg. Powertools make me feel awesome :) 

After cutting out my frame I spraypainted it in my new color love- gold. 

I love that it's neutral/glam/rustic all at the same time. 

My pumpkin is just a cheapy one I had from last fall...I used my jigsaw to cut it in half.

Poor pumpkin.

But it lives a much happier life now than it would have just being stuck in my fall box because it was ugly...

I tacked strips of white felt around it and then hot-glued it to the orange chevron fabric that I stapled to the back of my frame. 

Then I whipped up a mini 'fall' bunting banner to string across the top out of burlap and chipboard letters. 

The sign definitely brought the cozy fall 'feel' that I wanted to bring to my little space.

I'm lucky because our roof-line extends a little past the walls so my sign sits under that overhang and is protected from most of the elements.

Just be careful with what you use on an outdoor sign if it's not somewhat protected from wind & rain. 

Have you done anything to bring a little fall to your front porch? 

Hope you guys have a Happy Monday!!! 

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DIY Pallet Wood Crate

Remember when I shared my quick Halloween mantel & I told you that I'd be sharing more about that handmade crate that was up there?

Well, today is that day friends! 

My same friend that wanted some handmade Halloween signs also asked if I could make a rustic magazine rack.

So of course I turned to the best kind of wood ever...

Pallet wood!!

Why am I so obsessed with this stuff?

Probably because it's just plain awesome.

I don't have a tutorial for you...sadddd.

But I do have pretty pictures of what I made with it...

Isn't it amazing what a pile of wood can become? 

I basically just made my measurements based on the magazines I had around. 

I put one piece in front to keep them from sliding out. 

I love how the wood looks once it's sanded down.

It goes from prickly & orange to soft & the perfect grey-brown color. 

I used my air-compressor to piece it all together.

It took all of five minutes once the wood was cut. 

I love it as a magazine rack but for my mantel I wanted to use it more as a small crate.

It could be cute for so many different things!!

If you didn't add the piece in the front, it would be the cutest looking apple crate ever. 

Fill it with pumpkins & acorns... ah the cuteness!!

But for now it houses some of my favorite magazines :) 

Love a project that ends up with tons of uses. 

And yes, I made one for her and one for myself.

I couldn't resist the cuteness, could you have?? 

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Colorful DIY Halloween Mantel

So first off, 

I'm going to admit that I'm not much of a Halloween person. 

We never did it growing up because my mom didn't like it.

And nope, not scarred from it :) 

We went to a lot of harvest festivals when I was little.

But me & hubby do take the kids trick-or-treating and I have gotten into letting them dress up.

As long as it's nothing evil.

That's our rule. 

And I've really never gotten into Halloween decor.

Cuz it's just not me. 

I'm not a big scary and dark colors person.
I'd much rather keep my pumpkins &  layers of gold out :)

Butttt, when a friend asked me to make her a bunch of Halloween signs, 

I kinda loved it. 

It's fun to make something new & something you're not used to. 

So I did a little switch-around with my mantel and created a Halloween mantel out of the signs I made for her... just to show them off.

Check out our little photoshoot...

It still has the bright colors and an element of fun to it, I just couldn't go all dark & scary. 

I pulled things from my own fall decor & things from around the house to accent all the fun signs I made. 

I've gotta admit, I love how my 'haunted house' sign turned out!!

It's so perfectly spooky & hubby is trying to talk me into making another one for us. 

It's made from an old cabinet door & then layers of paint with help from my Silhouette for the fabulous wording. 

I gave it a good distressing with my sander and called the haunted sign done. 

I set a handmade crate up on the side of the mantel and accented it with some glittery pumpkins & a mason jar filled with wheat.

You'll be seeing more of that crate soon...

And of course my favorite scale had to make it's way in there somewhere. 

I brought out my painted cabinet doors for the backdrop. 

I love having them hang around so I can pull them out whenever I need a pop of something awesome & distressed :) 

And remember my yarn & feather wreath? 

It made an appearance too :) 

Along with her signs, my friend asked me for a halloween banner.

So I whipped one up with burlap & some glittery letters. 

We left the mantel like this for a day or two...

and hubby and the kids really liked it. 

I told them we should enjoy Halloween while it lasted in the house :) 

I will say that if I did do a Halloween mantel in the future,

it would look a lot like this :)

I love all the bright orange mixed in with different patterns & textures.

And of course, a little glittery goodness mixed in. 

The 'boo' sign was super easy to make with a painted board and some scrapbook paper! 

I love seeing signs come together because they can be anything you want them to be :) 

I took a pile of old boards & unfinished pieces and brought them all together to create some fun & colorful pieces!

Check out what they looked like before: 

There was a lot of painting, a little cutting, striping, gluing & arranging and I had some awesome signs for a fun Halloween set-up!!

What do you think of my first-ever go at Halloween decor? 

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