Secret Projects Revealed

A looong time ago I posted a Teaser post about some projects we were working on. Thanks to my wonderful hubby we finally finished...

I started on this piece and lost momentum when I couldn't get the paint to smooth out. But have no worries, Ben is here! He came to my rescue and finished it up beautifully!

BEFORE

AFTER

I tried spraying them as this had turned out very well for a friend of ours.
But I never managed to get them quite the way I wanted them. So Ben decided to roll them with "real" paint and it seemed to work a little better. We added new hardware and it gave the piece a fresh new look!

I have had these done and hung for awhile, just kept forgetting to post them. Go here for tips on how to make them yourself. They are a drop cloth from Lowe's hemmed up with some fuse tape! Simple. Cheap.

Little by Little

We are making baby steps towards getting our house decorated and turned into a home. Here are some pics of the progress we have made thus far.

Mirror over the buffet in the dining room. Okay, so the buffet is yet to be purchased, but the mirror is saving it's place till it gets here.

I have had this piece for years. I still love it and keep finding new places for it. I think this will be it's 7th home.

Above the "throne" in the half bath downstairs.

The guest bath.

Don't our towels match our curtain beautifully? That was a total accident. We bought the curtain and then received the towels from some friends at church as a wedding gift. They had no idea about the curtain but still managed to match it perfectly! (Thanks Milligans!)

Betty saw these baskets and new they were exactly what I was looking for to go upstairs in my guest bath and office. Does she know me well or what?

Clock in the hallway.

My mom got me these prints for my birthday (actually she sent me money so she knows nothing about these unless she is reading this right now...Mom, is that you? Thank you!) They are the perfect addition to the hallway.

The Guest Bedroom is nearing completion. Which I guess is a good thing since we have already used it twice. Check back tomorrow for a fun little diddy about the white armoire you see below.
The Breakfast nook is coming together....still need some window treatments. But I love my old table and new chairs.
We also added shades to the chandelier. We adorned the one in the dining room with the same shades. I forgot to take a picture but imagine it to look EXACTLY like this one, only in the dining room...it's not too difficult if you try really hard. (I sure hope my sarcasm comes through in my typing as about 85% of what I say is typed with a sacrastic tone.)
Feel free to come on over and get the real tour anytime. I know you are dying too! (This is another one of those sarcastic things I was talking about earlier. :)

27

I turned 27 on Saturday and entered my late twenties with grace and dignity. :)

Mr. & Mrs. Grizzle helped us celebrate by coming to town. We had a great time despite Ben's mom not feeling well. Poor thing had pneumonia and we didn't even know it. She was a trooper the whole weekend. We had a great time with them and I appreciate them making me feel extra special on my special day.

Ben made me a big breakfast Saturday morning. After we stuffed ourselves, Marley gave me the cutest card ever and I opened presents from Ben (a yard flag I have been eyeing for some time now) and his parents (a pearl bracelet and handy dandy notebook for my purse that I love - she knows me so well!) We spent the day shopping for a sewing machine (my birthday present), ate lunch at O'Carr's and loafed in my favorite stores. We had planned to go to Davenport's for dinner but at 4:30 I was pooped and was ready to go home. So, in true Jamie Fashion, we rented a movie, ordered a pizza and ate some cookie cake at home. It was a great day!

Oh....WAIT! I almost forgot! When we arrived home that afternoon there was a package waiting on our front porch from my sweet Sister. She was able to score an autographed mousepad from Kirk Herbstreit himself as a birthday present for me. He tans at the place she was working this summer and while he was acquiring his pre-football season glow, she ran to Buckeye Corner and bought a mousepad for him to sign. Isnt' she the best?!?! She knows how much I love him. Not only is he an ex-Ohio State quarter back, but he is on my "list". You know...like the one Ross laminated? haha.

Nice tan, Kirk!

Supper Club Birthday Dinner

As tradition would have it, we celebrated my birthday with Supper Club last night. I made out with some awesome gifts - thanks Betty & Amanda! And Ben got to hold Mason while he slept through most of dinner. I'm not sure which one of us was luckier?

Melt my heart - 2 of my most favoritest guys.

Sneak Peak

Things are starting to come together...

Shopping Spree at Ikea

My parents don't even know it yet, but Saturday they funded a trip for 2 to ATL and IKEA.

When they came to visit us a month ago, they not only brought goodies and some mad home improvement skills with them, they also left us with a nice little wad of cash.

We had been holding onto it to make sure we didn't just blow it. But since we felt like we had acquired the necessities of home ownership, i.e. a lawn mower, grill, tools, yard tools, etc. We decided to get to work on our office. This was a room I had originally placed at the bottom of my priority list when I dreamt of decorating our new abode. But after moving in we quickly realized how much we actually use this room. I am constantly needing more storage and work space for The Paper Nest and with Ben starting back to school again in a couple of weeks he is going to need a place to study.

So...Friday night we decided we would get up early Saturday morning, head to IKEA, pick up a few things and head back home. It took us 12 hours to accomplish everything, but we sure did cash in! Thanks, Mom & Dad! Because of y'all we were able to get all of this...and still had a little left over!

We got 4 of these:

One of these:

One of these:

A pair of these:

And a pair of these:

Shelves to hold them...
A pair of these:

(to go above the desk)

2 packs of 4 of these:

6 of these:

2 of these:

3 of these:

2 of these:

One of these:

(It is meant to hang above the desk and under the shelves with the pots below.)

These little pots will hang from the bar above and be used to house pens, scissors, etc.

Two of these:

One of these:The basket is a really good size. I will probably use it to hold quilts or magazines? But Saturday, it held all of our accessories for us and saved us from having to purchase another Ikea Blue Bag to carry all our little stuff home with us.Most importantly, we purchased a desk. I couldn't find a picture of the exact one we got since it is a series of options put together to meet our needs. It is similar to this, but in white:
I literally prayed as we were walking to the car that everything would fit. Thank God for answered prayers. I don't think we could have fit one more thing in there!

We have plans to add some bookcases, window treatments and a reading chair by the bookcases.IKEA's planning program sure was useful!
We have been working since we got back Saturday night to get everything put together. I will keep you posted as things start to take shape.

**Update**

Marley read the post from a couple of weeks ago and asked me to let you all know that he is happy being fluffy and to remind everyone that it is better to be...

"Inside and Fat, than outside and FLAT."