Before and After #2

Remember this table I wrote about? 

I wanted to paint it some bright colors to add color to the front of our house.  This was a super easy, fast project.  Here is the finished product!  Later I painted the watering can red too :)

See that crazy man in the reflection?  That's my husband.  When I was about to take the picture I told him I could see him in the reflection (meaning he should move) and he just started waving.  What a dork.  Anyway, I am pleased with the table!  Fun, cheerful colors.

Next up, this treasure:

It is going to be a big project since it is such weathered wood.  I'm second guessing my original color choices (red and yellow), so I need to think on it some more... But I'm excited to see what we come up with!  It might be awhile before you see a "Before and After #3" post.  Have a good week!

Before and After #1

Our kitchen is the room in our house that we have the most changes planned for.  It is just pretty dark.  Not much lighting, dark wood cabinets, black countertops, black appliances.  There is talk of painting cabinets, adding lighting, and lately I've been entertaining the idea of adding windows, which would require eliminating some cabinet space, however.

But when we first moved in, we had this awkward space in the kitchen.  We had our table in a dining area, which left a big, empty space in our kitchen.  So, we decided it would be perfect for a breakfast nook.  In April, Caleb, his dad, and grandpa came and built a bench into the corner.

 

We stained and painted it.  And then we added beadboard for the back.  

 

Finally, after painting the beadboard, we have completed our project!

I love it!  It is just how I pictured it.  We do plan to make a table that matches it perfectly.  That will be a whole 'nother project.  So, even though we have finished one long project for our kitchen, it is still a work in progress.  But I enjoy doing projects like this with my husband :)  It's a good way to spend our evenings together.  I love being married to a handyman!

Stay tuned for Before and After #2 :)

Potty Training and Painting

We Gutshalls are a happy clan right now.  I'm especially feeling good because I think Emerson is officially potty trained.  Before I was a parent of a toddler, I never would've thought potty training was something you would be proud of your child for.  But it's so funny, because anytime he had success or made progress, I felt so proud and excited inside.  I rewarded myself with M&M's every time I had to clean up poop AND every time we had success!  Let's be honest, it's the mom who does the dirty work.  He got a few treats too.  But now that he is in big boy undies and Lyla is in cloth diapers, I'm feeling PRETTY good about out dirty diaper output.

We have been staying put the month of August (a whole week in, lol), and I am loving having the time on the weekends to get things done around the house, plus have quality time as our own little family unit.  We have a few painting projects headed our way.  First we need to paint the beadboard to our bench (white).  We've already done tedious jobs of filling hole with wood putty and sanding.  So I think we are about to the painting!  There are so many annoying parts of preparing to paint, when the fun part is the actual painting itself.  I guess it's better to do it right the first time though, yes?

We also acquired this cute table and chairs from my parents for our front porch.  I am wanting to paint them bright colors to help add color to the front of our house.  I'm thinking red table and teal chairs.

For my birthday present (27 years old! Crazy!), Caleb and my parents got me this table and chairs for our back patio.   I found it on Craigslist.  The wood is fairly weathered, but when I envision it with a bright red table and dandelion yellow chairs, I love it.  I love the curves on the legs of the table and I love the curves on the arms of the chairs.  I think it will be beautiful when we are done!  Do any of you have advice on painting weathered wood?  Caleb is going to have to replace one slat due to rot.  The dark spot on the table is where it is just wet because I had laid Emerson's floatie on it. 

Anyway, I'm excited to get these paint jobs going, but I know it's hard to get things like this done when you have little ones.  It'll probably be months before we are done with them all!  If you have any advice on what type paint to use and how to do it, send it my way!

And I will leave you with a few pictures of life lately:

My baby doll in a pillowcase dress :)

My nephew Caeden's 4th Birthday (we share a birthday) at the fire station!  Emerson and Caeden are on the far right.  I  LOVE this picture and I LOVE how Caeden and Emerson are becoming such good buddies!

And finally, enjoy some baby giggles :)  It's good for your soul.

Measuring Stick

It's about time I post another craft on here, yes?  I have to admit I haven't felt like much of the crafty type since Emerson was born, because I choose to rest or keep house when the boy is down.  But this was a simple, practical project that I will use for years to come. 

My mother-in-law showed me this idea on Pinterest to make a giant ruler to measure your kids as they grow.  It's nice because you can take this measuring stick with you wherever you go.  You know, if you move houses.  You probably don't want to take this giant ruler with you wherever you go.  My plan is to measure my children on each birthday.  It's simple and self-explanatory on how to make it, so I won't go into the deets (cut board, measure board, paint board... I don't want you to get board..ha.).  Ok, sorry, I'll just show you the pics.

I know I look like I'm almost 6 feet in the pic above, but don't be fooled.  We started the measurements at 6 inches in case we choose to hang it on a wall so it won't interfere with the floorboard.  

 

We measured the dog.  He is about 2 feet tall.  It depends on if you count ears or not.  He probably won't be growing much in the years to come though.  He's basically an adult, around 25 in dog years.

The finished product!  I'm excited about this because it will be in our family for years.  How fun to watch our babies grow each year.  Now that, folks, is how you measure a year. 

Party Animals

I have been a part of a playgroup for the last several months, which you've probably heard me talk about.  Let me tell you, this playgroup is a blessing for us all.  It is just a great little community to talk about highlights and struggles of motherhood to the most understanding group.  It is so fun because when we first started, our babies all just laid there and didn't move.  But now they are all over the place and stealing each others' toys and stuff.  Such big kids now :) 

So we decided to have a Christmas party and we wanted to actually invite our husbands, because many of us didn't even know each others husbands, and our husbands didn't know each other!  We would always talk to our spouses about our playgroup and to our playgroup about our spouses, so it was fun for our little two worlds to meet!  So, the party was at our house and we had some yummy food, good toys, and a Christmas craft.  We attempted to get a group baby shot..

fail

baby down!

good enough

We were missing a few babies and mommies, but we still had a good time!  From left to right: Emerson, Natalie, Isaac, Evalie, Graham, Ruby.  Here is the craft we made.

Now we can pull this frame out every year along with all our other Christmas decorations and remember how tiny Emerson's feet used to be!  I am very blessed by our playgroup and I hope it continues for years :)  How fun it will be to watch our babies grow up together! 

Happy Days

I know I have said this before, but I just love the weekends.  This past weekend started out pretty fun by going to Mama Carmen's coffee shop and Hobby Lobby with my friend Din.  We got supplies to make wreaths and this is how mine turned out.  I'm pretty pleased with it!

The night continued with a stay-in-Thai-takeout-movie-night.  I love nights like those.  Saturday morning we "slept in" until 7 and ventured off to the Farmer's Market!  It was a little frigid outside, so we parents had our coffees in hand and Emerson was decked out in his panda hat and mittens. 

We left the market with a baking pumpkin, apples, lettuce, and cherry tomatoes.  I'm not going to bore you with how amazing the lettuce was.  But, seriously, so good. and tender. and probably the best lettuce I've ever had.  Definitely going back to that lady.  I'm still trying to figure out what to make with my pumpkin.  It will be my first time making a pumpkin treat with a real pumpkin (not from a can). Then we went home for some play time.

Daddy picking Emerson up by his overalls!

That night we had some good friends over for reubens and fire pit s'more roastin'.  Sunday morning was a great day at church and a restful afternoon with naps all around.  It was the perfect kind of Sunday afternoon.  It even included pumpkin bread.  It was just a good weekend worth remembering.  I love the brisk fall days and the quality time with my family.  Feeling blessed.

ps- my little boy is 7 months old today! 

Creative Juices

I've gotten my creative juices flowing lately and I am finally going to blog about it.  I think it is so fun to make decorative pieces for my home for such a low price!  My first project is a doorknob coat hanger.  I purchased the wooden plank from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore.  I got the paint and knobs from Hobby Lobby and Viola!  I can't wait to hang our coats on it!

crackle paint

our new entryway (i think it looks better in person)

My second project I stole from a friend.  I made chalkboards out of old cabinet doors.  I purchased the cabinet doors from the ReStore and the paint from Hobby Lobby!  I want to use the big one for Bible verses.  And I'm not sure what I want to use the smaller one for... menu, little notes from Mom, something cutesy like "kiss the cook".. Any suggestions?

Finally, I just have to share about this Habitat for Humanity ReStore.  Love. it.  You will too.  It's actually only about a 1.5 minute drive from my house.  But people and companies donate household objects to this place and the proceeds go to the Habitat for Humanity.  You can find everything from furniture, to light fixtures, to cabinet sets, to doors, to bricks, to tools, to kitchen appliances!  And you can get GREAT deals.  A place like this makes these types of projects inexpensive and offers so much to choose from.  If you live in Fayetteville, you need to check it out!  Well, those are my recent craftings.  Hopefully there will be more craft postings soon!