Remember that Laundry Room Makeover we tackled a couple of years ago? Well we just can't leave it alone! Since we upgraded to a front loading washer and dryer, something just seemed off. Maybe it was the fact that the center cabinet was no longer level, maybe I just wanted to play! Either way, I'm in love with my brand new laundry room….

Shoutout to Redfly Creations for the cutest "Ball Jar" printables ever! They were just what I needed for that space (AND THEY WERE FREE!). Mr Awesomepants was able to take another piece of shelf board to add to the existing shelf, to make an "apron", to hide the hideous cords, and water hook ups. Gotta love him.  I saw the cute vinyl decal on Pinterest, and decided I had to have it! So I designed my own, and cut it with my handy silhouette.  I may actually get caught up on laundry now!!! (HA!)

 

 

DIY Floating Shelves

I finally put Mr. Awesomepants back to work!! I'm now 35 weeks pregnant, measuring in at 38 weeks & totally over being this large. I refuse to post a picture, you'll just have to trust me on this one! So, what better way to take my mind off "the countdown" than a quick and easy DIY project?! I was ready for something a little more elegant & just plain prettier in my water closet, that was functional too.  Besides, I'm about to pop this baby out & I'll need a place to hide all of those extra toiletries that you don't want your husband to know you need, like that amazing can of numbing spray (yeah, I went there).  

So anyway, here's my "before" picture... Not too bad, just not very pretty. 

My answer of course, are some awesome floating shelves, and these are SO simple & cheap!!!!! And it only took us a couple of hours to complete!

Here's what you'll need if you plan to make your own:

-A half sheet of MDF - About $30 at Lowe's for a full sheet

-Paint - We used leftover paint we already had on hand. If I had to guess, I'd say you only need about a quart of paint, which costs around $13-$15

-Caulk

-Nails

-Table Saw

The first thing you need to do is MEASURE. Measure wall to wall & then figure out how deep you want the shelves to be.  Ours were 35" wide and 12" deep. Next, decide how many shelves you want. I wanted 3, because I like odd numbers! Ok, got all that? Now it's time to make your cuts!

After you cut your shelves out, you'll need to cut your supports & the front trim piece that will give it the "floating" illusion.  For EACH shelf, you will need 2 pieces for the sides, one for the back & the "trim" piece for the front. We cut all interior pieces an inch and a quarter wide.  As far as length, you will want the side pieces to match the depth of your shelf & the back piece will need to match the width of your shelf. So, our measurements for the side support pieces were 12" long & an inch and a quarter wide. The back piece was an inch a quarter wide & 35" long. Got that? Ok, make those cuts!

Now cut your trim piece that will go on the front. This can be as wide as you want.  We cut ours 2 inches long & 35 inches wide.  

You should have all of your cuts made! Grab your nail gun if you've got it!! If not, screws & a drill will do the trick. 

First, we nailed in our side support pieces. Be sure to make sure everything is level!!! 

 

Instead of adding the back support piece, Mr. Awesomepants decided to go ahead and nail in the actual shelf, instead of hassling with leveling out the back support piece. After nailing in the shelf, then he added the back support, then the front trim. And here's what it looked like!

In case you are wondering, we put 13 inches between each shelf. Pretty easy so far, am I right???  Well, here's where that changes. Not that any of what we are about to do is hard, it's just a pain in the freaking butt. 

PAINT & CAULK. Yuck. I hate both of those things. We painted first, because when it came time, we couldn't find our caulk gun & our 2 year old was napping. So instead of losing time, we just decided to go ahead & paint & head to Lowe's after Princess woke up. Normally, Mr. Awesomepants likes to caulk first. Whichever way you decide, get to it!! 

Alright, all painted and caulked??? Pain in the rear end, huh? Well, it's over & you now have these beautiful floating shelves!!!!! 

Add all your pretty decor & you're done!!! 

My favorite piece is the little Owl candle that I got from Target for only $2.50. He's not scented, and he's actually a little beat up, but I just love him & I don't know why! 

Before & After:

The Big Reveal!

Hello Blogger friends!! Mr. Awesomepants & I have an announcement: WE'RE PREGNANT! Yeah, it was a pretty big shock to us too. So what's the first thing you wanna know when you find out you're pregnant, after the initial shock wears off, of course? BOY or GIRL?  We decided to throw a Gender Reveal party & to wait and find out with our family and friends. Easier said than done.  But the day finally arrived, and we now know what our bundle of joy is! Scroll through the pictures and find out what's coming our way!!!

Pregnancy Announcement

The Invitation

IT'S A BOY!

YAY!

Ladybug Birthday Party

I'm feeling nostalgic today. I was going through old pictures on my Facebook and came across Olivia's first birthday party album. We had so much fun & I wanted to share some pictures with you all, or anybody looking for some Ladybug inspired ideas!!

Glitter Felt Party Hat!! If you know my kid, you know she loves hats!

Marshmallows dipped in Chocolate. These were by far the most popular snack!
(You can get the colored chocolate melts from Hobby Lobby)

A picture of Olivia from each month! **Tear**

Her birthday is in April, so we incorporated the neighborhood's  annual Easter Egg Hunt into the party!

I've been bitten...

...by the SEWING BUG! I spent almost my entire Memorial Day weekend sewing, and it was fantastic!! Of course, I took a break to hang out with family & to be thankful to live in such a wonderful and FREE Country, thanks to all the brave men and women.

So how did I find out I liked to sew? I found a tutorial, on Pinterest, for girls' "T-Shirt Dresses", and that was all it took!! I am HOOKED. Here are some pictures of what I've made over the past few months:

This was the first dress I made!

Who Doesn't love a MAXI!?

Adorable!! And so easy! The tutorial says it's for old t shirts that have stains on the bottom, or have gotten too short. Yeah, well, I just went out and bought new shirts. I got a few at Target that were on sale for $3.00 (regular $5.00), and I got a few from Hobby Lobby using my 40% off coupon. All fabric used was from Hobby Lobby as well. 

At first, I followed the tutorial exactly as outlined. Then I figured out what worked best for me. I replaced the fabric bow with actual ribbon & the two maxi dresses are actually double hemmed. (I guess that's how you would describe it. I'm no seamstress, people, bear with me!) Anyway, on the bottom, I did a 1" hem, then folded it up again about 3" and sewed another hem. This way, when it gets too short, I can let the hem out & it'll still fit! I found this out the unfortunate way. Those cute dressed that I posted first were actually sewn about 2 months ago & don't fit anymore! Sad face! Because they were SO adorable on her.

I realize this isn't a tutorial on how to sew these dresses & that was completely intentional. I wanted you all to know about how easy this project is, even for a beginner like me, and the blog that I followed was extremely easy to understand and to follow. If you attempt these dresses, I highly recommend following her tutorial. All you need is a yard of fabric, a t-shirt & maybe some ribbon! Oh, and about an hour of your time!

Now, I've been sewing those dresses for a few months now & I felt like I had mastered it. (Mastered may be too strong, but I'm going with it.) I wanted to try my hand at something else. Something for Olivia, of course. I'd been wanted to make her a new nap mat for a while, but wasn't too confident in my ability. I had read several tutorials, but none seemed to be the style that I wanted.... or easy.  So I took bits of information from each tutorial that I thought might help & went from there. That's right, I didn't follow a tutorial. Whaaat up??? ;) 

Here's what I did, and I hope it helps you too!

First, I found my mat insert at Walmart for around $7.00. Here's a picture, nothing fancy (yet). 

You can also just use a foam insert, available at any fabric store such as Hobby Lobby or Joann's. Then I decided on my fabric choices. For the mat cover, you will need 1 2/3 yards. I used a lightweight duck cloth, because regular cotton seemed to thin. You may think otherwise, that was just my opinion. For the blanket, I chose chenille (I was feeling cocky), and I got two yards.  I also got a package of velcro for the end, since I wanted to be able to open it and take the mat out for washing. 

Now I had everything I needed and headed home to get started. Oh crap. What the heck am I gonna do about a  pillow?! Hmm. What about a pillow cut in half? Yep. That'll work. 

So that's what I did, and sewed it up! My mistake actually saved me a little money. However, you can buy a $10 pillow insert from your local fabric store if you wanna save some time. 

Ok, hiccup solved. Next, measure your fabric, leaving enough room for your hem. I laid mine out, because I'm a visual person. I'm sure you're wondering why I had so much "mat fabric" at the bottom. Well, when I went to get my 1 and 2/3 fabric cut, there was just a little bit left, so I got it for free, that way she didn't have to try to sell such a tiny bit of fabric. 

So, after I got all my "measuring" done, I cut my mat fabric in half & then sewed one side together, leaving the side where the blanket will go open. I wanted my blanket on left side, so I left that side open. 

After that, I set it aside & grabbed the blanket fabric. Such tricky stuff to work with. Not only is it slippery, but it's heavy! I laid it out again, like above, and marked where I needed to cut the length on the blanket fabric, leaving just a little for the hem. After that cut, I just folded it in half, wrong sides out, and sewed the top and bottom together, leaving the side open so that you can turn it right side out. 

Now you're ready to sew the blanket into the mat cover. Lay the mat fabric out evenly, wrong sides out (like above) and place the entire blanket inside the mat, with about an inch of the open side of the blanket fabric sticking out. Then close the mat fabric & pin it to keep it from slipping. Time to sew it together!!! 

Oh, by the way, you'll need a heavy duty needle. Learned that the hard way. Oops!! However, I just noticed that you can see how I joined the mat & blanket together. Kinda. It's a little blurry, but you can see how I have the mat fabric wrong side out, blanket completely inside the mat fabric, with just about an inch sticking out. Cool, huh? 

Anyway, be sure to grab some heavy duty sewing needles, because when you're sewing the 4 layers, you'll need it! I believe I used the 16 gauge.

Woo hoo! Still with me? Hard part: OVER. So, you've got both sides enclosed, with your blanket neatly attached. What's next? My opinion? Make sure the nap mat fits inside, just in case we need our handy seam ripper! Mine was pretty snug, but it fit! If it all fits, mat & pillow together. Go ahead and sew up the top. I just turned mine inside out again, and sewed it up. 

Time for the bottom! Since I wanted it open on the bottom for easy mat removal, velcro seemed like my best option. I wasn't cocky enough to go for the zipper option. I folded the fabric back about 1.5 inches and sewed it. Remember how much extra I had at the bottom? I'm SO dumb for cutting it all off before I thought it through. Lucky for you, you can learn from my mistake. It would have looked SO much better if I had been able to fold it back 5 - 6 inches, that way when you opened it up to get the mat, you wouldn't really see the wrong side of the fabric. Get it? If you've got the extra fabric, do it! 

Now get that velcro out! Measure out how much you need, and attach it on all four sides. Top, bottom and each side. Yes, it's a lot, yes it is worth it. Just do it! 

Pretty awesome!! But now you need a way to fold it up, and keep it folded up. This will really be a personal preference, but I'll tell you what I did anyway. I rolled mine up, like I wanted, and then marked on each side with a washable fabric pen, where I wanted a fabric strap to go. Oh yeah, remember that fabric I cut off that I was so sad about? BAM! New fabric strap. Under her pillow, I hand sewed the strap to the mat, then used fabric glue to attach a small square of velcro. On the other mark, I attached the opposite piece of velcro, with fabric glue. AND I WAS DONE! It folds up nicely, and looks awesome!! Yay me! 

Hopefully this was easy to follow, if not, I'm sorry :( but here are some of the tutorials I read that gave me some ideas on how to make it:

Jenny Garland - If I was choosing, I'd choose this one.

Sew Like My Mom

That Village House

Good Luck! I hope you enjoyed it!

NEW PROJECT:

I conquered another sewing project! A floor cushion, or "poof" as my family has been calling them, including bias tape (piping). I was soooo nervous to use the bias tape. It was new, unfamiliar, and I had NO clue what I was doing! I followed this tutorial, Living With Punks, line by line (except the handle, I didn't like it), and she explained everything extremely well! Instead of creating my own tutorial, I suggest following hers. There's NO WAY I could do a better job at explaining! Oh, and the best part about this project, is that it only calls for ONE YARD of fabric!!! Good luck!

P.S. How freaking adorable is that fabric?!?!?!?! I got it at Hobby Lobby, using my 40% off coupon, for only $5.50 a yard! 

Laundry Room Makeover

I'm baaaack. But not for long. We have started on our next DIY project, and can't wait to share with all of you, but it will be a while before that happens. Awww, sad face. Until then, here's a past project that we have done! Our itty bitty laundry room!
Here is our before picture:

No storage space, ridiculous & totally pointless wire rack (FREAKING HATE THAT THING), and clutter. I despise clutter, but I sure seem to have a lot of it. 

Here's the after:

Oooooo, ahhhhhh. 

Now, here's what we did! As far as the cabinets, Mr. Awesomepants bought two pre-made, unfinished cabinets from Lowes & painted them white. During that same trip to Lowe's, we spotted TWO humungous sheets of wainscoting that were covered in scuff marks, no scratches, just scuffs, listed at $2.00 a piece. SCORE! They just needed a little paint & they'd be perfect! He cut the wainscoting to size and glued them to the inside of the cabinet door & caulked to finish! Instant wow factor. 

Then he found some scrap MDF in the garage, cut it to size and made the top piece as well as the center shelf, and again, painted them white. He added crown all the way along the top, and moulding around the bottom of the cabinets and along the shelf to give it a finished, crisp look. 

The cabinet in the middle, well, we just got lucky. We took a chance when we bought it, hoping it would fit & it did (Thank you, Jesus)! That cabinet didn't come with a top, as most don't so initially we thought we'd just put some of the white shelf board on top. Ummmm, newsflash, those are like $20. Okay, okay, maybe we are cheapskates. But hey, I don't skimp on what matters. So... back to the garage! We found some spare wood & covered it with white vinyl. (I think that's what it's called. It's the stuff you generally line your shelves, and cabinets with, to protect it.) It worked perfectly, only cost $2 & is super easy to wipe down. Win Win! 

It's a great laundry room & extremely functional. But guess what? I'm not done. Mr. Awesomepants & I bought a brand new front loading washer & dryer that opened up a world of ideas & options including a countertop, backsplash & old metal pipes. Poor Mr. Awesomepants. Stay tuned for the next update. Until then, have a relaxing and SAFE Memorial Day!

Rustic Headboard

It's been raining like crazy where I am, so unfortunately, I haven't been able to do a thing with my darling bookshelf tree. Boo. So instead, I'm going to share a really, REALLY old project with you guys!!! When we moved into our house back in 2009, we only had a queen size bed. It worked.

Then, I got pregnant. Really BIG, uncomfortable pregnant. I needed more room to stretch out, and to toss and turn. My grandma had recently moved as well & didn't want to take her large, king size, 4 poster bed, that my late Grandpa had built so many years ago. JACKPOT! I wanted it. This is the picture I took the day we put it up. I didn't even put a comforter on it, just my pregnancy pillow. I was too fat & hot. Leave me alone. 

Anyway! Can you see that small board on the back? Yeah, that was the only "headboard" we had. No bueno. I needed something to lean against!! 

So I got on Google (this was before Pinterest took off) and started looking for ideas, when I found this blog: Today's Letters, with this image:

GORGEOUS!!!! A wooden headboard WITH lights!!! I immediately got Mr. Awesomepants to work! We used 4 - 2X10 wooden boards from Lowe's for the planks, and then 2 - 2X4's to attach them to on each side. We stained the wood first before assembling everything because we knew it was going to be a huge, heavy piece & I did not want to have to move it. I was huge, remember? So they best option was to assemble it in the bedroom where it would live it's beautiful life. Matching the stain was our biggest hurdle with this project. Obviously, I wanted it to match the existing bed & my grandma SWORE that she & my Papaw chose "Dark Walnut." Well, I've got news for her! Maybe she told him to use dark walnut, but what he actually used, was "Red Oak." (He did what he wanted) Once we figured that out, it was smooth sailing.

As far as assembling it, I didn't want the headboard to actually attach to the bed, because I didn't want to alter the way my Papaw built the bed. I wanted to leave it just like he built it when he was alive. So it really just sits behind the bed.  I wasn't blogging at the time, so here's a super awesome "Paint" drawing. Yes, I know.... Skills.

Now you can see kinda how he did it. And no, it doesn't move. It's way too heavy, plus, it sits REALLY snug between the two posts.
After assembling the headboard, he measured where the lights would be & installed them with the hardware included. We didn't want them to high, because we are lazy and didn't want to have to reach too high to switch them off. Remember to notch out a small hole for the cord to fit through. Since we didn't have an outlet right smack in the middle of the wall, I plugged in a long surge protector and was able to plug in both lights, plus both lamps. Handy! The headboard lights are from Ikea, only $10 each & like I said, the hardware was included.

Finally, here's the AFTER :) with a comforter this time! This project only took two days. One day for sanding and staining, the second for assembling. Easy peasy!

What a difference it made! It totally updated the bed and changed the entire look of it. I am so pleased with how it turned out. Thanks again to my Mr. Awesomepants for making my dreams a reality!

More information on bedroom furnishings:

Comforter: Urban Outfitters

Lamp Shades: I made them!

Lamp Stands: Target

Curtains: Target (Only $20, such a great buy!)

That awesome piece of furniture at the foot of our bed??? A pop up TV cabinet. Big thank you to my Momma for giving that to us, YOU'RE STUPENDOUS!