Bringing Home (fur)Baby

Today I got to bring home my sweet Layla Claire! I've been searching all over for a black Maltipoo for months, and when I spotted her two weeks ago, I knew she was it.

She's named Layla after the Eric Clapton song, which is one of my favorites. And Claire is in memory of my fiancé's dog. Plus, it's practically mandatory that my dog have a double name. 

She's been a great pup so far: very curious and following me around everywhere. She's currently napping on the sofa with me now, and so far--no accidents! 

The Project that Seemed to Never End

I will never again paint a bookcase. This literally was the most horrible project I undertook. It was so awkward to paint, especially with the bar in the middle, and not being able to take the shelves out. I attempted to do the homemade chalk paint again and continually ran into problems. The first batch instantly hardened thanks to me accidentally pouring too much Plaster of Paris in the jar. The second batch turned out perfectly, but I had no idea the entire piece would require so much paint! After picking up another sample, I realized the base was a different brand so the color was slightly different.

Needless to say, I wanted to pull my hair out. I did find out a trick with this piece though--use a paint brush and paint the furniture wax on after painting it! It's loads easier than the traditional "wax on, wax off" method, and I felt like it sealed the paint better too. Big thanks to Brittney Wallace on helping me finish everything the night before my move!

                                

I have my bookcase in the foyer. It's not too wide, and is the perfect place for a lamp that can always stay on. I hate coming home to a dark house, any time of day! 

                                

                                

                                

I'm so glad I found such a great place to display some of my favorite things: my engagement sign and the candle from my Phi Mu candlelight, the "Mommy and Me" glamour shot, the Phi Mu headquarters figurine, and my beloved blue mason jars from my bid day decorations last year!

   
   
   

Shabby Chic Dining Room

My dining room came together more perfectly than I could have imagined. I absolutely love this space!

                              

The table and chairs is one of the few pieces I actually bought for my apartment. It was redone by a sweet friend in Florence, SC, who has quite a knack for all things crafty! Thank you, Susan Weber! I recovered the seat cushions with a French toile type fabric from Hobby Lobby. The crystal candle holders in the center were a $12 Ross find months ago, and the crystals on the chandelier are from an old redo my mother did years ago. They are originally from Pottery Barn. 

                             

My wet bar turned out exactly how I hoped. The chest is actually a smaller and taller piece that matches the chest in my living room. I painted them both using homemade chalk paint in Driftwood Gray from Martha Stewart's line at Home Depot. The lamp was $8 from a thrift store and painted in homemade chalk paint in Talc, also from Martha Stewart, and the shade was given to me by Susan. My ice bucket was originally blue, but is now a sweet pink with a coat of spray paint. 

The neatest project was the ceiling medallion turned wall art. This is an old one that came from my parents bedroom. Our house had too many chandeliers and not enough ceiling fans, so this became one of the most original projects. One solid coat of Martha Stewart metallic paint in Anchor Gray made this piece shine, literally, as there is a lot of glitter in this paint! And who doesn't love glitter, right? 

   

Help!

For some reason, very few people are able to follow my blog. It's almost like the button isn't working or something. Has anyone else run into the issue? Or have an easy solution for someone relatively computer illiterate like myself? 

I appreciate any and all suggestions, Thanks!

Rug Before and After

This rug is one I found in my great-grandmother's house about four years ago. It's really to fragile to walk on, so I have used it as wall art in a couple different places. I definitely wanted to use it again in my new home but it didn't match my color scheme so I decided to paint it. That's it. Just regular, blue, Valspar paint. I used two coats because only one didn't cover up as much of the original brown color.

Materials:

                                   

Paint, Sponge Roller Brush, and a Screwdriver to open the bucket. Oh and an old bed skirt to use as my drop cloth. 

Before:

                                  

After:

                                  

                   

I didn't paint the backside so that if I ever decide to use it in a different color scheme, I can reuse the original color. 

 

 
          

My Lovely Living Room

So after two weeks of hard, never-ending work that made me never want to craft again; a move, and two more weeks of waiting on Internet (and cable! RHO? Marathons have already made my weekend), I am finally set up to blog again. I've been so excited about showing everyone my beautiful home, so here we go!

                                    

                                   

I am so pleased with how this area turned out. Both the chest and the rug hanging on the wall were my great-grandmother's. I simply painted the rug with some unused blue I found at home for a previous project. The chest was apart of my first big home decor project: DIY chalk paint. 

I've done DIY chalk paint on three pieces. I loved two of them and the third is still growing on me. But I'll go into that process later. My curtains are burlap chevron from Hobby Lobby, and the pink chest was a yard sale find many years ago that was doused in spray paint. Currently it holds extra mason jars and candlesticks, but soon it will be transformed into a puppy girl's paradise! 

The other side of the living room:

                                   

       

The pink chair was a $20 Craig's List find last year. I plan on redoing it when I recover from my craft overload. The "coffee table" is a Kirkland's trunk that's been great storage for blankets. I covered my mother's old yellow sofa with this beautiful slipcover. The lamp was found at a thrift store and given a face lift, and the sofa "table" was built by my daddy and myself using two boards, two legs, and some trim (tutorial to soon follow). 

Lots of work to be done, but I'm loving it all so far!