DIY Light Fixture

Remember when I visited Meg in February? I bought this before I even had a house to use it in.

My mom did the same thing before she bought their lake house and now she has a really cool chandelier hanging above the dining room table. It must be good luck to purchase something for your new house before it's even yours.

Well - I told you I had grand plans for it and I did.

Remember this guy?

Not Matt - what's hanging above him. We have a super tall entry ceiling that is highly visible from the main part of the house and that baby had to go. I had dreams of my antique chicken coop becoming a new light fixture. I wasn't sure how it was going to work but a girl can dream right?

I was inspired by things like this found via Pinterest...

First up, I had to line the basket somehow.

My mom had some burlap that we decided to use as the lining. First we tried making a pattern. It didn't work AT ALL.

My mom finally figured out we should cut the fabric on the bias (whatever that means - I'm not an expert at sewing or crafts) and use a glue gun to attach it.

We started and it looked good!

Woo hoo! Now for the light part. HM. I searched around online for light kits, old chandeliers, etc for weeks and came up with nothing. Then I remembered our old friend.

We tore him apart.

I saved his inner workings...

I had ideas for the glass part but Matt made me throw it away :(

Next I had to figure out how to actually attach it to the basket. The hole at the top was too large for it to stay inside as it was. I went to the hardware store and bought some plywood and my grandpa (it was a family project for sure) helped me cut a circle to attach to the light so it would stay inside. Please excuse my outfit - this is what I look like at the lake.

It required an assortment of tools.

Hooray!

I used screws to attach it to the original fixture and then spray painted the whole shebang.

I then used rope to wind around the chain.

Isn't she purty?

Then I had to wait a month until they were done with construction for the big reveal. What do you think?

I love it!

xo

Double Rainbow Love

I took these a few months ago on my way home from work and forgot to post them. I always love a double rainbow.

Taken with my iphone...

I'm working away on getting the house together. I'll post more pics when I'm a bit farther along.

xo

Updated Post-Construction Pics!

Hello friends! You've been very patient with my lack of house update pics. We are almost done with construction!

We had two things that held us up....

Floors - They finished yesterday. When they did the final coat last week, it turned out bubbled and gritty. Not a clue what happened but they fixed it.

Wood Countertops - After months of searching for IKEA butcherblock I finally decided that the ones I wanted weren't going to be in stock anytime soon (Beech Numerar). My mom and I searched around and came across some maple ones at Lumber Liquidators for almost as cheap that received great reviews. When they came in my builder told me the quality was so poor he wouldn't put them in. To make a long story short - we took them back and he's in the process of making some for us.

OK here we are as of yesterday :) I'm not going to do before and afters yet because we obviously have no furniture or decorations in at this point. I'll do it after we're more moved into the new rooms. I'll do some more detailed pics then too with better explanation.

Let's start outside - our window box!

Power washing is coming up this weekend....

Walking in the front door you see this view.

Our new den! We painted the fireplace the wall color and painted the inside black. If you're going to paint the inside then make sure you use heat safe paint (our painter sprayed on BBQ grill paint). More on what else is in there later :)

We haven't put in the shelves yet...

Kitchen! The only appliance we had to buy was a range. We bought a Frigidaire so it would match the other appliances that came with the house.

This is a very dark pic of our backsplash. It's really quite a bit lighter than this. It is a tumbled marble - almond beige I think.

A few other views...

Our temporary countertops :)

I will take pics of the bathroom and foyer to show you later. I need to work on a DIY post for each of those first before revealing the final product!

xoxo

Book Review + John!

So when I was sharing some misc. pics from the past few weeks I forgot to include some of my favorites! They aren't actually mine - Meg took them. Meg and my parents went to Florida to visit John while I was at the baby shower and I loved seeing these pics because I haven't seen his face in a few weeks!







On another note - my book club just read Tina Fey's new book - Bossypants.



It is hilarious. I laughed out loud while reading. I tried to read some passages to Matt but he didn't really get it. She covers not only her work life on SNL and 30 Rock, but also all sorts of topics that speak to women...from breastfeeding to body image. My favorite new term is "crotch biscuits." You'll have to read it to find out what that means :) Let me know when you do - and if you laughed as hard as me.

I'll be back with a house update soon - I tried to load all the pics tonight but Picasa Web Albums wasn't cooperating.

xo!

Weekend Updates

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you had a nice weekend. Mine was relaxing...time at the lake with fam, an all you can eat pizza night, and a book club pool party (more on our book selection later). Matt's weekend was fun but not so relaxing - a one night bach party in New York - woo hoo.

I realized I haven't shared some of our recent weekend activities so figured I'd post all the rest of the iphone pics I haven't gotten around to yet :)

A few weekends ago we celebrated my friend Katie's bachelorette! Hooray! I can hardly wait for their wedding the end of this month!

I did some antiquing and came across something familiar.....

Our house is slowly coming along. They are working on the floors again today so my house update post is delayed once more. I did plant some hosta along the back of the house.

Matt and I hiked up Camel's Hump a few weekends ago - our first hiking opportunity this year!

Poor Will has to be on her leash at the top to protect the "fragile alpine vegetation."

Flattering photo, isn't it?

Finally - if you want to see the entire panorama click here. Just a warning - it will probably make you dizzy.

OK guess you're all up to date :)

xo