A Look Back at August

I can't believe August has come and gone and here I am, staring at September 4th! The days are still warm, but this morning was definitely a little cooler than normal.

Even though the official end of Summer is still a couple of weeks away, I find myself already gravitating toward my hoard of pumpkin spice k-cups, pumpkin-scented candles, and other Fall goodies. It's just something about September that gets me every year :)

While I am so stoked to start jumping ahead and celebrating all things Autumn, I wanted to take a look back at the last month to highlight my three most popular posts of the month. While I was checking out the stats one (or two) things seemed certain: it was all about the Powder Room (now affectionately renamed the W.C.) and that darned red front door.

#3 in the countdown is How to Paint a Front Door Red & Save Your Sanity, Part One, in which I lament over the "shoulda-couldas" that would have made painting my front door red from black SO much easier. I also included some sweeeeeet red door eye candy from around the blogosphere.

If you want to check out Part Two, feel free to click over here.

#2 and #1 are two of the more recent projects I've shared with you, Powder Room Progress and How to Fake a Reclaimed Wood Sign, respectively. These two posts are both involved with my Powder Room Makeover (check out the mood board here).

I've got a reveal and wrap-up coming up (as soon as we install some hardware!) that I can't wait to share with you!

I'd just like to thank everyone for stopping by my little neck of the internet woods. So glad you're here!

Coming up this month: some Fall decor, the W.C. reveal, some wreath tutorials, and making a yard a little more presentable. That plus a little more to share! I can't wait to gear up for the Fall and holiday seasons with you guys!

Fall Decor Inspiration

Ah, Friday night. There you are.

After what feels like the LONGEST WEEK EVARRRR, Friday is finally here. It was a particularly good Friday because I got to:

• Eat a sandwich for lunch that required the use of a fork. I don't know about you, but if you need to eat your sandwich with a fork, then chances are your sandwich is pretty good.
• Leave work a whole two hours early. Yeah early closings!
• Spend some time with the youth organization kiddos. Our first football game performance is coming up soon and the kids are so excited.

But this Friday is especially awesome because it marks the start of a three-day weekend (!!!).

Which means I'll be doing a lot of the following:

• Sitting on the beach
• Switching my beer selection between Bud Light Lime and Sam Adams Oktoberfest (best of both worlds!)
• Eating hot dogs until my face falls off
• Sitting in a pool and basking in whatever is left of this summer (whatever is left = none. Sadness.)

But then there's also the fact that I get to drag out my Fall decorations on Monday. I've been seeing a lot of Fall decor posts and inspiration floating around blogland for the last couple of weeks which started the itch to break everything out last weekend, but I held out. There is still one (non-technical) weekend of Summer left, and I'm not about to rush things.

But Monday? September 2nd? I'll be decking my halls with all kinds of Fall decor, fa la la la la, la la la la. I'm especially excited because this will be the first time I can play with Fall decor in the new house.

And so, I give to you some of my favorite decor inspirations for the upcoming season. 

(Friendly reminder: if you are going to pin any of these images, PLEASE pin from the original source. I've provided source information below each photo).

 source: Country Living

source: A Diamond in the Stuff

source: The Creek Line House

source: Blissfully Domestic

source: Sweet Something Designs

source: White Spray Paint

I hope everyone has a happy and safe Labor Day Weekend! Don't work too hard--even though I can't speak for myself because sweet husband planned a big organizing/storage project for the weekend (SO SWEET. /sarcasm).

So, who has already busted out their fall decorations (don't be shy)? Who is waiting until Monday? Who thinks I'm crazy for even decorating as early as September 2nd?

How to Fake a Reclaimed Wood Sign

In my Powder Room Progress post, I touched on the fact that my happy accident in breaking a 10" pine board practically down the center gave me an extra piece of scrap wood to work with. After some thought, this is what came of that scrap piece of pine that could:

I wanted a painted wooden sign badly, but did not have transfer paper handy or a fancy cutting machine to create a stencil of sorts and I didn't feel like leaving the house, so I worked with what I had. 

It was fairly easy:

Find a font you like. Print it large enough to your liking. I wanted an old-time rustic look, so I picked...a font. I can't remember which one now. But pick one you like! The sky (or your willingness to download new fonts) is the limit here.

I'll admit: I had already taken the taped-down words off at this point, realized I forgot to take a picture,
and then hastily stuck it back on for a photo. #getittogetherwoman

Once my words were printed, I cut each word out and taped it to my already-sanded-and-stained board, making sure that they lined  up nicely and were level.

And then this is where I fail at providing you with more pictures. Sorry, friends.

Take a ball-point pen or a pencil and trace over the outline of each of your letters. You can press firmly, but not too firmly. If you're working with pine, it's pretty soft so it won't take much pressure. You'll want to apply enough pressure while tracing to make an imprint of each letter's outline on your wood piece.

Once that's done, take a fine paint brush and fill in your letters with the paint color of your choosing. I used two coats of Martha Stewart Acrylic Craft Paint in Wedding Cake. And then I took a black acrylic paint and painted a faint shadow along the left side of each letter's outline.

Just a note, that tiny paint brush will do wonders. I didn't have one and was determined to not leave the house. I tried a pen dipped in paint to fill it in, my pinky finger, and a q-tip. All of those methods sucked, so I finally had to bite the bullet and drive the two miles to A.C. Moore.

I know, guys, it was so hard.

Let your masterpiece dry, then gently sand over the letters to distress your sign. Below you can see how it turned out after taking a sanding block to it.

Looks pretty legit, no?

Originally, I was going to paint the words "Powder Room" on the sign, but I feel like "Powder Room" is so twee and precious and not meant for rooms with awesomely rustic wooden shelves. "Powder Room" probably would have worked if the walls stayed purple, but not today. Not in this bathroom, no sir.

I now dub this room the W.C.

Linking up with: Sunshine and a Summer Breeze, Glued to My Crafts, Kreative Creationz, Julie is Coco and Cocoa, Embracing Change, French Country Cottage, Jennifer Rizzo, Finding Fabulous, Young and Crafty, My Romantic Home, Craft Dictator, 504 Main, Place of My Taste, House of Rose, The Shabby Nest, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, DIY Vintage Chic, Tatertots & Jello, Funky Junk Interiors, The Winthrop Chronicles, Ella Claire, City Farmhouse, Yellow Bliss Road, Clean & Scentsible, Coastal Charm, Cozy Little House, Savvy Southern Style, DIY by Design, The Happy Housie, The Turquoise Home, The Blissful Bee, Place of My Taste

Powder Room Progress

On Thursday night, Denny looked at me and said, "Dear sweet wife, I know how much you love a project, and I truly do too, but please let's not make this project last weeks upon weeks."

Just kidding. 

It was more like, "Woman, I am tired of not having any lights in that tiny room and only having one coat of paint on the walls (GAHHH PURPLE), so please do something about that pronto. Kthnx."

Really, it was nothing like that either, but definitely more of the latter than the former.

Because making over the powder room RIGHTTHISMINUTE was my idea, I was the one to take charge on it. So I started painting and then did nothing for a week and half because, duh, the beach.

It's the story of my life this summer.

Anyway, I spent the better part of Saturday installing a new light fixture and painting the second coat of Olympic's Morning Fog in the powder room. And because I liked the color so much, I painted the mudroom too.

The best part is that in the mudroom, the green tones in the paint come out way more. It's like I painted two different colors, except it came from the same gallon. And I win.

Anyway, back to the powder room.

You can check out my powder room inspiration board here if you want to see the powder room in all it's purple glory.

I was really jonesing for some wood-look tiles on the floor, but the budget and time dictates that it was not meant to be just yet. I was desperate to get a dark wood tone in the powder room to balance out the cool paint color and super shiny chrome fixtures that will be installed, so I jumped on the "shelves over the toilet" train that I've been seeing throughout the blogosphere. I wanted a dark and reclaimed look.

Hi Sugarplum!'s tutorial seemed to be the best for my skill level and situation, so off I went to Home Depot and grabbed my supplies after measuring the wall:

• 2 - 1x10 pine boards, cut to 29 1/4"
• Square dowel (I grabbed the whole piece because I was rushing, and due to a happy accident I had juuuuust enough. We cut them down to match the width of the boards once I got home.)
• Minwax Oil-Based Dark Walnut Wood Finish Interior Stain (I bought the smallest bottle, which I think was 8 oz., and only used half for two shelves...a little will go a long way.)
• Screws (had these at home)
• Foam brush (had this at home)

I threw out my receipt, but I'm guessing this project costed me $15.00 max.

I started by beating the ever-loving crap out of my boards. We used a hammer, some screws, a mallet, and I'm pretty sure my garden shears came into play at some point. Things took an interesting turn when we brought some rocks into the situation. Denny (bless his little husband heart) said, while I was distressing the first board, "Why don't you put the rocks under the board and them hammer the board?" So I (bless my little heart), took the second board and said, "Okay!"

And that, my friends, is how you wind up with a split board.

Which Peyton kindly took care of for me. By the way, everything in our house is now 14 inches according to the mini Bob Vila.

But by a happy accident, when I took apart the split board, I thought to myself, "Self, this will work. You wanted a reclaimed wood look, so this is your chance. And now you have TWO pieces to work with."

So I sanded down both parts of board #2 to get rid of any splinters, and got to staining:

Brush it (blurrily) onto your boards, wipe it off, let it dry.

We only used one coat of stain on the boards and the dowel pieces.

After dinner, it was time to hang these bad boys.

We measured where we'd want each shelf situated on the wall and mounted our braces for the first shelf with two screws in each piece.

I promise you all three walls are the same color.

And then placed the first board.

The first board was the one that got away unscathed from the "rock incident", but the second one is definitely a little more rustic looking:

Helloooooooooo.

You can see the top shelf's front lip is definitely a bit wavy, thanks to breaking apart the wood right along the split the rocks created. A happy accident indeed.

The second half of the happy accident that was board #2 turned into this:

Tutorial coming up in the next post, because this is longggg enough. (Heyo! Tutorial can be found here.)

Hope everyone had a happy weekend!

PS: On a toddler-related note, Peyton has escaped her crib twice in the last week. I'm thinking it's time to transition the crib into a toddler bed, but does anyone have any advice on keeping a toddler IN a bed? Both scenarios--Peyton being able to hop out of bed and run around on her own vs. her getting hurt trying to Houdini her way out of the crib--are giving me anxiety.

Linking up with:
So Much Better With Age, Rain on a Tin Roof, Dimples and Pigtales, Commona-My House, Maison de Pax, DIY Show Off, Coastal Charm, Cozy Little House, A Stroll Thru Life, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Home Stories A to Z, The Style Sisters, The Farmhouse Porch, Savvy Southern Style, Ella Claire, SNAP!, Ashley's Dandelion Wishes, DIY by Design, The Everyday Home, The Shady Porch, The Winthrop Chronicles, The Well Crafted Home, Sugar and Dots, The Blissful Bee, The Happy Housie, The Brambleberry Cottage, 52 Mantels, The Shabby Creek Cottage, House of Hepworths, Embracing Change, French Country Cottage, Jennifer Rizzo, Beneath My Heart

A Late Summer Vignette

The wall behind my made-over buffet is still super nekkid, but I dolled up my "fake mantel" itself again :)

It was probably around August 4th that I gasped in horror and realized that my 4th of July stuff was still out. I know, I know, Labor Day is right around the corner, but I couldn't bring myself to keep all that stuff out for another month.

Home Sweet Home printable courtesy of Going Home to Roost

Love is Spoken Here printable courtesy of J&A and Company

Life is Good Printable courtesy of gDesigned

The boxwood topiaries are from Christmas Tree Shoppe, and I found the last two on clearance for $4.99 a piece. They came pre-lit, so all I had to do was add batteries. I know they're not real preserved boxwoods, but the cheapest I could find them anywhere near me was $30 a pop (for the same size!) and that was at Marshall's. Marshall's, people! The land of cheap things!

Maybe I'm cheap, but I am not spending $30 on a foot-tall fake plant, trendy or not.

My stack o'books from the thrift store stayed put, as did my little white bird from Michael's, big antique jug, and Smucker's jar. I added my mason jar with it's rusty little lid from my stepdad's basement and the milk glass bud vase from the local Goodwill. The rest of the birdies and the blue glass bottle are from Michael's. 

The Calendula flowers are from my garden. I am loving waking up to new pops of yellow and orange in my front garden beds. Along with my Astros, they are such cheerful little flowers, and I'm looking forward to drying the calendula petals for some at-home remedies and harvesting the seeds for next year.

To me, printables are a nice way to add some quick, easy, and beautiful art. I picked three for their use of color and I liked that all three kind of tied together in theme. They all celebrate the simplicity of home but tie in some fun summer color.

This vignette might seem more Spring-appropriate to some, but everything outside is still so green and vibrant right now. I feel like it's summer giving us it's last hurrah.  Pretty soon all the colors will fade away, the air will get colder, and we'll all be wishing for the green and warmth again. It's nice to relish in it a little bit longer, don't you think?

And with that, I'm looking forward to pulling out the fall decor in a few weeks' time and creating some fun DIY decor projects.

What are you working on? Is it back to school time in your neck of the woods? The kids here still have about two weeks left before they go back!