A Yellow Entry

I'll start you out with just a peek before we get into all the details. 

Isn't this mirror swoon worthy? 

I am in LOVE. 

*wipes drool from face*

OK, I'm back now. 

 First of all lets recap where I started. 

It wasn't pretty. Or functional really. You just kind of shoved what you could in there and took what you got. We didn't need the storage right here because right across the hall is a walk in closet. 

So I took it all out and started fresh. You can read about that process here. I tried to use as much as I could with what I had. It was fun and spunky. 

Later I got schmancy and gave a $6 light from the habitat store a face lift. You can read about that here. It reminded me of a Restoration Hardware piece and I love the light it casts on the wall. 

I really loved the light but the greens and pinks in the room were a little too spunky, even for me. I do love to be unpredictable but it felt teenage-ish to me and I would like to have a more adult version of myself reflected in my home. 

We all know I have a secret desire to paint all the wood in my house white (more on that here) and how I got a bunch of free beadboard from my parents (I stained some here too) so in keeping with "Plan A" I used both wood tones AND white! Combine that with my recent crush on Yellow and you get....

BAM! I got super cheap crates at Target (less than $3 ea) and used my Cricut to monogram one for each of my family members. 

 The bench my hubby built in for me. For support he used scrap pieces of wood and I painted it to make it all blend in. I think the bench board was $16 from Lowes. It took the stain so well and coordinates the entry with the surrounding trim so perfectly that I can't bring myself to cover it up with a cushion. 

The mirror I am so in love with I got for $40 (WAY more that I have EVER spent on something so frivolous) at Burlington. Who knew the "Coat Factory" was a great place to find amazing mirrors? 

The pillows are from Target too- you can find them for a little less than $12 for 2 pillows in the napkin isle ;) 

One more before:

And after: 

Things I love about it:

It has nice clean lines and simple, changeable patterns. 

The white bead board- need I say more?

The labeled baskets make putting away shoes super easy for my 2 and 4 year old. 

The dark wood against the white bead board just warms it all up and pulls it together. 

I craigslisted the previous bench, re purposed the white organizer and crib railing and used the frames in another part of the house so nothing from before was tossed out in vain. 

It is still a little spunky but more adult. Mission accomplished!

While this is definitely NOT my most thrifty project I did save up for it and work on it over a few months as the $ came in. I think the changes add a nice value and character to my home that was well worth the price. 

In My Pretty Garden...

...the green stuff is growing!!

There's not much prettier than bleeding hearts against an old wood fence.

They are just getting warmed up! 

We have actually harvested some rhubarb already to make some of my delicious rhubarb coffee cake!  

The tire garden is full of edible things. It's just getting going too but I have already been sneaking a lettuce or mint leaf here and there. 

There is one really bad eye sore. We found out the hard way that chickens REALLY LOVE raspberry leaves. Chicken wire will be going up this week but in the mean time some left over baby gates have to hold off the little peckers. 

I am trying a new weed defense this year. This is my strawberry garden. I am using the leaves from the rhubarb I picked for weed control. Think it will work? 

More rhubarb! 

It's almost bigger than the gooseberry bushes next to it! 

And the thing I am most excited about? This is our first year with these lilacs I got from a friend last year. I wasn't sure how they would do with transplant shock and the winter that came right after but they are BLOOMING!!! 

I can't wait to smell the fragrance as a walk around our property! 

Staging a Coop

Well, it's FINALLY done! You know a post has taken entirely too long to get up when you can watch the seasons change with the photos but a chicken coop is DONE and that's all that matters, right?

I started out with two of these guys:

They are sides from a boat crate. I leaned them together to see about how big this whole thing would be. Big enough, Check!

Then we got to work on the chicken wire. 

It was pretty simple, just stretch and staple. We only did it over the first two sections since the third is going to be covered by some left over bead board. 

All done. 

The next day I set it up and used hinges to attache the two boards together. 

Nothing super strong but it get's the job done. 

Next I cut two pieces of bead board for the back to give the chickens some shelter. 

To sturdy things up a bit I cut 2  boards to go along the bottom. I Just held the boards up to the wood to mark my cut. 

I used 2 little brackets on each end to make sure they were good and on there. 

My littel helper had a blast handing me things and helping me measure. It helped her for get about the scab on her little nose form falling in the driveway :/ 

Next we added a board on each side of the coop. 

Nothing fancy, just a left over piece of wood and a couple of screws.

They made a support for another spare board so the chickens have a nice little landing. 

Then Anberlynn and I git busy with some more bead board. Again I just held it up to find my cuts. 

We cut it into 3 sections and laid out our hard ware. 

The top and bottom sections are attached to the coop. The middle has hinges and a lock so we can get in and out when they finally start laying eggs. 

I added a spare piece of board and stapled some "rungs" on made from spare slices of wood. 

This is how we were looking for the time being. We let the chicks out in it during the day and they had a blast! 

We used a handy dandy sign the says something about "Big Bob's Flooring Outlet" as a door fro a while. 

They didn't seem to mind. Eventually I got around to spray painting and I let he hubby handle the hard stuff. 

He measured the sides of the coop and pulled out the miter box. 

He made 3 supports making the door just about the sturdiest thing on our little coop. 

While we were working the chickens were on the loose, free to roam the back yard, stretch their little wings as far as they could go...

With a few naps in between. 

Don't they look like they are posing for a cheesy boy band cd cover?

Here's their mafia look. 

But on the inside their really just little cuttle bugs. 

So say my daughters. 

My husband must know their sweet spot because they look like this just about every time he holds them. 

 And here it is! Finished! 

I chose teal and yellow because that's what I had on hand- then it ended up not being enough, then they didn't have the same exact colors...you know how it goes. 

And here's the back door open. We have since added bedding and threw in an old broom stick too but they still prefer the grass. 

Well, there it is. They like it. We like it. But we'll have to see how it goes when it comes to winter.