DIY Chandelier

Our Saturdays have quickly become "Project Saturdays", and we love it! Am I glad I married a handy husband, or what??

A couple weeks ago I saw a DIY project that was inspired by the below Pottery Barn chandelier. Amazing and right up by style alley! I love anything rustic so this made me drool.

So Daniel and I made our own! Here are pictures of a few stages:

Daniel did all the electrical work himself. We just bought 18/2 black cable, he cut it to size, ran it through the mason jar lid, & attached a lamp socket to the end.

He also built the box it hung from out of an old palette from his work's warehouse. It was perfect. (Sorry didn't get a good picture of that before he hung it)

Before:

After:

It looks so much better in person! These were taken with my phone...sorry for the poor quality. We find ourselves just sitting at the dining room table just to enjoy the chandelier (lame, I know)...

The Word made Art

As I mentioned in the last post, Passion Conferences just happened at the beginning of this month. Well, last year for Do Something Now, I made a wall collage out of Bible pages in all different languages. It was pretty amazing to have the Bible represented by so many countries all in my hands that would soon end up in the hands of someone who had never heard its contents.

I still had a stack of pages from last year, so I finally made something out of it! With just a little Modge Podge and a canvas that I already had, I made this:

We put it over our bed, and it works perfectly! Such a low-cost, yet meaningful, piece of art!

Desk Magnificence!

The office in our house has been one of the last things we've gotten to since moving, but we are taking great strides in the process!

Last week, Daniel made an amazing, but simple, desk for the office that we both love. It's big, but perfect.

The table top is a door that was made for Do Something Now, which is the heartbeat of Passion Conferences that just happened at the beginning of this month. If you've never heard of Do Something Now, you need to visit the new site (launching Feb 15th). It will change your heart. Daniel built a few huts for DSN, and this door was leftover after we tore everything down post-conference.

Then he just made some sawhorse legs, painted it white and that was that!

To top it off, I got some clear jars and filled them with office supplies for effect :) And practicality, I guess...The other two things, I got at Hobby Lobby for 70% off! I LOVE that place!

Mirror Makeover

So when we moved in, the downstairs 1/2 bath already had a mirror in it. It's not one that I'm too fond of, but it's nice to have one. The question is, what tactic should I use to cover up the hideousness of its border?

We've talked about spray paint, but that makes me a little nervous...I don't want it to look cheap.

Any suggestions??

S'mores in a Cup

Over the Christmas holidays, my cousins came and spent the night at our new home, and we had a blast! I had found this delectable hot chocolate recipe on Our Best Bites and I knew I had to make it. Here is the recipe:

serves 4

4 cups whole milk

2, 4oz Hershey’s chocolate bars

2 Tbs butter, melted

2 graham crackers, crushed

8 large marshmallows

Chocolate syrup

4 mugs or 8 espresso sized mugs 

Place melted butter in a small, shallow dish that’s as large around as your mug. Place crushed graham crackers in another dish of the same size. Flip your mugs upside-down and dip the rim first in melted butter and then in the crushed graham crackers.

Break the chocolate into pieces and place one half bar in each mug. Heat milk to a simmer and then pour one cup into each mug over the chocolate. Set aside.

Place marshmallows on a parchment lined baking sheet. Place under the broiler in the oven on low heat. Watch constantly and remove from oven when toasted and browned.

Stir hot milk mixture to distribute melted chocolate. Top each mug with 2-3 toasted marshmallows and drizzle with chocolate syrup.

Amazing!!

 

Peace, Love and Shutterfly!

This season, Shutterfly is having a great Christmas Card promo deal for bloggers! Get in on this, they have GREAT selection! Christmas cards have been really fun since we send them as a family now :) This year, we'll be including the dog in the mix...he can't wait.

I'll be getting them through Shutterfly because they literally have hundreds of choices, and I know they'll be great quality. It's hard to choose because of all the options though! I may even make calendars for family this year!

Here are the three cards I'm down to...I just can't decide!

Peace & Love 

Peace 2010

Peace & Joy (I guess I'm all about the peace, huh?)

Bloggers, if you want to get 50 free Christmas cards, enter here!

Our New Kitchen!

Major update!!

We just moved into our new home in Suwanee 2 weeks ago, and we have been hard at work! There isn't a whole lot to change about this house, it's in great shape. Our biggest urge, though, was to do something about the outdated kitchen. So we did!

Here is a before shot of one side:

And with the cabinets painted:

Also, my husband/my project hero installed new counter tops from IKEA (VERY cost efficient!)
AND I got a farmstyle sink from IKEA for HALF OFF in the As-Is room! Swoon.

Here is the final project! I LOVE it!

I'll post some more from the rest of our house this week...