Typing Table Transformation

I transformed this typing table

into this bright and fun side table.

All it took was some chalk paint in Paris Grey and Barcelona (after cleaning off the contact paper goo on top),

a little stenciling in Pure White and Florence and Paris Grey,

and some clear wax to change a dilapidated piece into something fresh and new.

I left the base as I found it--I love the wheels!

 

What have you transformed lately?

Find more ideas at Funky Junk Interiors.

Adoption Update!

While the steps are small we have made a few over the past 6 months and are ready to share them with y'all! There were 3 countries we felt drawn to and with much prayer and research we believe our little girl is in India. There are a million reasons why but what it truly comes down to is that it has been carved in our hearts. Unshakably. Selah is there and we are starting the journey to bring her home. 

We have been in contact with with America World Adoption over these months and they have been a great source of information and encouragment. Last week we had a phone conference with them and it was decided that to move as quickly and smoothly as possible it would be ideal for us to have the first of three installments ready to be paid in full. Gulp! We can't begin seeking grants or donations until we are in the "system" so this first installment will take us time to aquire. But our God is faithful and He wouldn't call us to something impossible. We are forging ahead and believing that we will have the first installment sooner than later. 

The boys have been included in many conversations about their little sister and while Jack doesn't fully understand, Will does. He asks daily about her and loves to sing our theme song for this adoption at the top of his lungs. I love his tender heart, he will be such a protector of her. 

That's what we have for now. I will keep doing these posts as we move forward and while we don't know the timeframe for how long this journey will be I am praying you'll see these posts pop up more often than not. Please pray that with us! 

We can't thank everyone enough for the support, prayers and love that is surrounding us as we search for our daughter! Y'all are wonderful!

Frugal Friday~

Welcome to this week's edition of Frugal Friday! 

So glad you all can join me!  This week we will be wishing a fond farewell to the Fan Favorite category.  Not as many people participate in it as I hoped, and so I've decided that this will be it's swan song.

And so the final Frugal Friday Fan Favorite is this set of beautiful twin beds posted by Fab Rehab Creations.  The makeover is simply

Front Yard Raised Flower Bed by Amy & Chris

Chris and I have been in our home for a little over two years. It seems like every year we are redoing the flower bed and we don't know what to do with it. This year was it!  We decided to redo it once and for all. We fixed it up the correct way so we wouldn't have to deal with it year after year.

This was the before while we were ripping up the flower bed....

We decided to purchase stone bricks to create a raised flower bed.

We added bushes in the back and will plant flowers next year.

We planted two pencil bushes, I love these!

Our next project is cleaning out the garage and to create more room we decided to put the trash can outside. We put up a small fence barrier to hide the trash can from the road and add more curb appeal.

The total project cost around $300, but totally worth it! Next year all we have to do is sit back and enjoy the front yard!

Thanks for stopping by, we couldn't be happier with the final result. :)

Amy & Chris

We enjoy linking up to:

Monday

Alderberry Hill
Etcetorize
The Gunny Sack
The Dedicated House
Adventures of a DIY Mom 
Home Stories A to Z

Tuesday
A Diamond in the Stuff
Elizabeth & Co
Romance on a Dime
The NY Melrose Family
Simply Done Wright
The DIY Dreamer
Claiming Our Space
The Winthrop Chronicles
The Kurtz Corner

Wednesday
Polkadots on Parade
Southern Lovely
We Like To Learn As We Go
The Shabby Creek Cottage
Someday Crafts

Thursday
The Taylor House
At The Picket Fence
Live Laugh Rowe
A Glimpse Inside
Seven Alive
52 Mantles
Fireflies and Jellybeans
Bloom Designs
House of Hepworths
Momnivores Dilemma

Friday
504 Main
Redoux Interiors
Raising Oranges
Craftionary
The Grant Life
Just Us Four
Thrifty Handmade Days
Tatertots & Jello

Saturday
Too Much Time On My Hands
Tutus and Tea Parties
Classy Clutter
Its Overflowing

Sunday
Nifty Thrifty Things
Flamingo Toes
Twigg Studios
C.R.A.F.T.
My 1929 Charmer
Brassy Apple

Under $100 Linky Party

The kids started school today, woo-hoo!  God bless all of you moms who get sad at the beginning of the school year.  I think I felt that way when my precious babies were younger.  And come June, I will be excited for them to be out.  But, today I was ready for the new school year, ready to reclaim my kitchen and family room, ready to not hear, "What can I eat?", ready for a schedule.  How about you?  Sad?  Happy?  I look forward to having more time to do some fantastic projects like these:

Book papered wall from Number 53

Tomato jam, yes jam from Architecture of a Mom

3 Mango Seeds' kitchen prep table

A Few Pennies Industrial Pantry

Design Stash's sweet vintage books

Great fall color from Embracing Change

Lampshade makeover by Blissfully Ever After

Thanks for linking up and for sharing you with us :) !!

Under $100 Linky Guidelines:

1. Please link to the specific post, not your blog!

2. Please only post ideas that cost $100 or less--it would be great if you share the cost of your project, but not necessary.

3. Please include a brief description in link up.

4. Grab my Under $100 button on the sidebar and include it in your post or a link to Beyond the Picket Fence so people can find you and more great ideas.

5. Please check and make sure your link works. If it doesn't you can delete it and try again.

6. Please no direct links to sales sites, i.e. ETSY or just a plain ol' commercial site, we are looking for inexpensive ideas we can recreate.

Pantry Door Makeover

 I finally got my Silhouette that I won from Skip to my Lou  giveaway! 

I still can't believe I won! Yeah!

Since I  am so new at  the awesome Silhouette world, I decided to start doing something easy.

I always wanted to have a menu/grocery list board but since I don't have much wall space in my kitchen, I decided to turn my pantry door into one! ;)

 I made the {PANTRY}, {menu} and {grocery list} signs using the Silhouette machine, the utensils rub-ons are from Michaels. I painted the two middle rectangles using PLAID black chalkboard paint.

I also made a fabric bunting and some rosettes to add some color!

The children are very excited about this new idea and I am happy that I won't hear the daily question "What's for dinner?"  :)

Now to come up with an idea for their school/GS/sports/parties/playdates schedule!

I will be back! :)

XO,

Cris

I’m sharing my idea on The Celebration Shoppe’s What I Made Wednesday link party!

Be Kind Wednesday: Comparison

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Hello hello sweet readers! Happy Be Kind Wednesday to you! If this is your first time here, I take Wednesdays as a time to refocus myself and my family, smothering the day in love, acts of kindness and lots of extra grace. Since I've started this I've seen huge changes in how the rest of our week plays out. A mid-week refocus keeps this momma happy and content. Hope you join me!

Comparison. Ugh! It's a dangerous thing and I know we all struggle with it. Last month as I was preparing for Will's Lego party I scoured Pintrest for ideas, bounced from blog to blog for inspiration, it was fun and I was excited. However, somewhere in the middle of party-prep I could feel the joy seeping out of me. Which if you know me, party-prep is an ultimate high for me ;) I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. I couldn't figure out what the problem was but after talking it out with Mr. Doozie I realized that instead of searching for inspiration I ended up comparing. And POP there went my joy!

Especially as woman we are quick to compare and I see it so much in the roles of mothering and being a wife. A blog post that is suppose to debut a new recipe or and idea for a gift should be seen as inspirational but am I the only one who sometimes leaves thinking "wow, that chic has it all together, I'm really slacking as a wife/mom."? Comparison takes so much energy and we all could benefit by putting that energy elsewhere!

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I'm not a huge Dr. Seuss fan but I do love this quote. God made us all so different and I love that. Be proud of who you are, what gifts you have, work hard with your hands, love those around you and when comparison comes near to steel your joy, shout NO! Imagine if we stopped comparing ourselves to others and instead cheered each-other on, supported one-another and focused on our own gifts! How very awesome that would be. So today, be YOU, keep comparison at bay and above all find your joy!
Love to you all!


***In Other News***
I'm on Facebook now! (gulp) It is overly confusing, so bare with me as I relearn it all. I'm shocked at how much it has changed in the past few years. The goal of the FB page is to help update people with what's new in the Etsy shop, help with giveaways and give updates on the adoption (which, yes we have some updates! Look for a blog post on Friday about that!).

Loft Bedroom for a Tween~

My three boys share a bedroom.  It has worked so far, but now that my oldest has started Jr. High school, it is becoming increasingly more difficult for him to share with his two little brothers.  The poor kid really needs a space of his own.  So what's a mom to do?  In this case, I am considering giving up my loft office space and turning it into a bedroom for Boy #1.  I'm campaigning for

Dress Up Drawer

Using ANOTHER waterbed drawer I made a dress-up center.

I am sure you have seen these on Pinterest.  I am not sure what they did on the sides of theirs--I didn't look, just had the idea stuck in my craw.  I used some wood frame things I have had for a long time--not sure where I got them from.  I screwed them into the outer sides of the drawer,
I painted it all white, except for the green Dress Up.

I added hooks,

  

a rod across the middle for hangers, and wheels,

 

for a great place to organize all those dress-up clothes.

Easy Photo Art Tutorial

This is one of those ideas that comes out of late night perusing on Pintrest. Below are two ideas that I found and loved and as I drifted off to sleep my Pintrest-filled dreams combined these two pins and I woke up knowing this had to be done! The wall art below on the left actually uses wooden frames, and the blog post on it is fun to read, check it out! The wood blocks on the right use Mod Podge and well...I love me some Mod Podge, plus the blocks are super cute for little hands :) Hello brilliant Christmas idea! I have a set of pictures of the boys that really needed to be displayed on a wall and I loved the look of the wood frames, but not the price tag. So when I found the wood plaques at Michael's, I knew I could use the technique from the wood block tutorial and ta-da and gorgeous way to display my pictures at a fraction of the cost!

Source/Source

What You Will Need:

Wooden Plaques (I found them at Michael's for about $1-$2 each)

Paint (I had Chalk Paint on hand but really any kind will work)

Paint Brush (The wider the better)

Sand Paper (220 grit)

Mod Podge (I used the original kind, but next go around I would use Matte so there won't be a glare)

Wide Sponge Brush (The wider the better)

Pictures (Bring the prints with you when you go to buy your plaques; it helps you to choose your size)

Step 1: Lay your plaques on a covered surface

 Step 2: Paint each plaque with a single coat of paint, not too thick.

Step 3: While the paint dries, rip the edges of your photos. Start with small rips and continue till you have the size and look you want.

 Step 4: Sand the plaques to give them a distressed look, focusing on edges and corners.

Step 5: Wipe the distressed plaques off with a damp cloth to remove any paint dust.

 Step 6: Lay the pictures on the plaques and don't be afraid to arrange and rearrange till you find the perfect look.

 Step 7: Pour your Mod Podge on a paper plate and coat the plaque (with no picture) once over.

Step 8: Immediately set your picture on the plaque and give the entire thing a second coat, taking care to cover the entire picture (especially the edges). Apply the Mod Podge in one direction that way it will dry nice and clear.

Step 9: Sit back and let them dry! Look how clear they are! Gorgeous!

We've had so much rain and lack of sunlight in the house as of late so please excuse the dark picture! But here they are hung, I used 3M Command strips to hang them. My goal is to cover this entire wall with these frames. I just love the look!

Here is a set I did for our guest bathroom. It also shows you what they will look like if you choose to not distress them. I like the look either way :)
Happy Crafting!