One Thing Calls For Another. . .

See this nice, big, heavy, DARK buffet I found on craigslist for a mere $30 bucks?!?!?! Well it screamed out for me to bring it home to live in my craft room...after a nice little makeover of course ;)

So...once I convinced to hubs to help me pick it up I began sprucing it up a bit...I sanded it...and {spray} painted it white...then gave it a nice little antiquing glaze and searched high and low for new hardware...She is an amazing addition to my "newly" decorated crafting space/office lovingly referred to as the "croffice".


here is a quick little peek....

Thought I'd show you my desk space as well...

And my little sewing desk area...

It has been a really fun process painting, creating, and continually re designing my little room...I love how pretty it is and how comfortable it is for me and my little family...the kids like crafting in here or working on school projects and even the hubs "enjoys" paying the bills and doing work "stuff" here...


LaKeta


Linking Up Here:
http://www.iheartnaptime.net/

Organizing Fool...

So summer is zipping by a LOT faster than I want it to... I cannot believe we will be back in school in 5 weeks...eeeekkkk!~ I am NOT finished with my to do list yet!!!!  I have been working on getting this house O-R-G-A-N-I-Z-E-D!!!!!! one small space at a time!!!!  First up the ...SCARY PANTRY....I am very embarrassed to show you just how B-A-D this space was but there must be a before in order to feel like you've accomplished anything right?!?!?!

I think we have little elves that sneak in at night and eat our chips and leave crumbs on the floor...anyone else have this issue???

So, I took everything out of my pantry...yes sister you heard me...I took it ALL out and scrubbed it with hot soapy water.  Then, I lined the shelves with contact paper from the dollar store.  Then I began throwing away expired food...I didn't take a picture of that, but I think I would be more embarrassed to show you just how much we wasted than how nasty this area was before:(  Then I began shopping the house for storage options...you'd be surprised what all you can find in your home that can help you corral the madness!

And....drumroll please....the AFTER'S:

I recycled some plastic containers I'd been saving to store my brown and powdered sugar...

Couldn't resist using this basket to keep our bread in..."BREAD BASKET"...yes, I am a nerd like that!

I used an old cassette  box thing I bought of ebay several years ago and took out all the dividers to hold chips, potatoes and onions {which I am out of here} and a small basket for foil and cling wrap...

I had these mini drawers on hand since redoing my chipboard storage in my craft room...my labeler and I got reacquainted during this 14 hour organizing partay!  

I love Mason jars so I had to use this one to store an open bag of pinto beans...I want one for rice too...that is when I have a bag of UNexpired rice on hand;)

So one small area of my house has been reclaimed and I pitty the fool that messes it up ;p lol!!!

LaKeta :)

The Boy's Room

I  have been working on my little man's room since spring break and I will get it all finished someday I think?!?!?  I wanted him to have a little extra storage space and a place to put his tv he got for Christmas...he also plays the family wii more than anyone else, so I decided he could keep it in his room...

My mom and I were talking about his need for more storage when I told her I was scouring Craigslist for an old dresser for his room. Mom remembered that she and Dad still had MY old {childhood} dresser in there detached garage...this thing had been in there for 14 years!!! It had been moved out there when my parents began building there house right after my senior year. I found all kinds of high school memorabilia inside it's drawers...eeek including my sophomore year yearbook!

Here is a shot of the after before...after before because this pic was after I washed it down with Murphy's wood soap...it was mega dirty!

So after washing it down and killing a bajillion spiders....shiver!!! Mom and I loaded it up and off I went with it with visions of what I might do to make it more boyish....

I sanded it a little...it didn't need much and then I primed it with gray primer...

I ripped the back board off and replace it with a new piece the nice man at Lowe's cut for me...one of the little drawers was gone...so I decided to create a shelf on the top part and thought it would be the perfect place for his wii and dvd player and some kind of cool baskets... I wanted locker baskets but am way too  impatient to find the perfect price and size, so I bought these el' cheapo's from the dollar general...

And grabbed my can of metallic silver spray paint and went to town!!!!

This will work until I stumble across the real deal...

And here is the dresser in the boy's room... I love how it turned out and even better the boy loves it too...he said and I quote...."Mom this room is sweet with my new dresser!"  Worth killing all those bajillion spiders....

You can't see it in this pic but I used chalkboard paint on the top and added a piece of molding along the bottom to beef it  up some:)


:) LaKeta

Partying it up here:

Shanty Lil Key

Two weeks ago I stumbled across an estate buyout sale...My mom and I were doing a little garage selling before wedding dress shopping with my younger sister. 

This man was set up outside an antique/junktique shop...he had 3 long rows of tables and in front of the tables there was a sign that read "$1 per bag...fill it up...no limit" DO WHAT??? I quickly grabbed a bag and began STUFFING it full ;) Yeah I ended up stuffing 2 bags full and stuffing my mom's bag too;)  I found this {GOLD} Syrocco key and immediately knew that I would make it beautiful and use it as a piece to dress up my entry area...

Here she is in all her brassiness...{sorry 'bout the blur...}

I sprayed her with a few coats of Heirloom White and then used some Valspar Antiquing glaze to bring out the carvings.....  I liked how she looked hanging out by the front door, but she needed something else...

I grabbed an old frame that one of the teacher's at school was going to throw away and gave her a quick coat or three of Heirloom White also.... I lurve it!!!!!  They are best friends and look so nice in the little wall space by the front door...

Still thinking it needs a little more...maybe some vinyl quote or a pop of color behind the frame, but for now I really like the way it turned out!!!

Partying Here:

Ballard Inspiration

I L.O.V.E. getting my Ballard catalog in the mail...It is filled with so many beautiful things and causes such a strong urge to create within me!!! Last night I was looking through the April catalog and this little guy caught my eye...It is so darling! I love the neutral tones and I immediately remembered the little night light I scavengedfound in Mom's garage sale pile...

So this is what I started with..............

And this is my simple ballard inspired after::::

I really like how it turned out...

Linking Up Here:

School is Just Around the Corner...

And I am looking forward to a new group of students!!! This is such a fun time of year...a fresh, new start. Last year I scored an old metal desk on Craigslist for $25 and redid it in a fun zebra stripe/polka dot combo. I love it and my students all thought "it rocked"! lol!

This summer at one of the garage sales I went to, I saw two of these beauties...

I looked at them for a minute...walked around the sale and kept thinking I would probably be buying those two old student desks. When I walked back over to where they were sitting the lady having the sale said, "I will sale you both of those desk for 5 dollars."....what???$5 bucks for the pair...SOLD!!!!!

I brought them home and they sat in my {hubby's} garage until yesterday...since I report for inservice a week from Monday, I decided I better get these lil guys ready for their first day of fourth grade! I scrubbed them down with hot soapy water...lightly sanded them...and then completely had a ball painting them. I used Krylon's Blue Ocean Breeze to replicate that old, vintage school desk feeling. Then I decided that the seats and back slats needed to pop a little more, so I used my FREE Glidden paint sample in Candy Apple Red on one of the desks, and decided to spray paint the other in Krylon's Ivy Leaf green....I used this color on my desk last summer too! Then I chalkboarded the tops...they will be writing stations so how much fun will it be to write ON the desks and not get in trouble?!?!?! Then I decided the needed something else...so I added my two favorite words...grow and learn...still needed something else....

Then it hit me....NUMBERS!!!! 4 on the learn and 2 on the grow desk.... "2 grow you must learn 4 ever"....yea!!!! I am super excited with how they turned out!!!!!!!!

I heart naptime w/chocolate sundaes