Lowe Profile: A Whole Lotta Nothin'

I will apologize now. If it is excitement you are looking for, stop reading now and back away from your computer. I just have some pictures to share along with the back stories and update everyone on the status of my projects (like you guys care). I feel like time is flying by right now, and we have a whole bunch going on here in the next few months. Jason is going to Chicago at the end of the month for his oral boards. If all goes according to plan, then he will be officially board certified in Emergency Medicine - woohoo!!!! Then, when he gets back, we close on the house. We aren't moving until late May, but it will be ours close to the beginning of the month unless something goes awry. I have been working on several projects, and I thought I would share some before and afters.

I have said before that I love a bargain. I searched a while back for a dresser for the guest room that I could put Connor's clothes in for the time being. Well, I found a guy who had 2 matching dressers. They were in good shape, so we got both for about $120 or so. One has 7 drawers and will go in Jake's room, and then there was this one that was a little smaller.

There is nothing wrong with it - it just isn't what I would have picked. I painted it a cream color to match some other pieces that are going in the guest room and put new knobs. I still have to polyurethane it, but here is the (almost) finished product. So much better!

I have said before that I scout out Goodwill frequently as well. I'm not picking up any mattresses or sofas there, but little things like tables and such I am all for finding. I found this little table and these 2 chairs for 12.99 a piece on a past trip and knew they would fit into my plans for the guest room.

I haven't gotten around to the table just yet because it is going to require some sanding, but the chairs took a coat of spray primer and then about 2 coats of spray paint. I have been looking for some fabric, but I couldn't find anything. Today, I was working on another project and was using burlap. I realized I had enough for the chairs and so I tried it out. Perfect! I am pleased with the little chairs ;) Excuse the bad lighting in all these pics.

Speaking of the burlap, I saw a project on Pinterest a while back that I sort of copied today. The original was a frame with burlap and a letter applied directly to the burlap. Well, Walmart had these cheapo $5 frames today. I picked one up and instead of putting the letter on the burlap, I glued the letter to the glass so that if I got tired of the burlap I could easily change the fabric. I think this is going above the cabinets in the kitchen in the new place. We'll see how it looks.

Okay, so in the new house, Jake is getting a pirate themed room. There will be some small pirate touches, but I didn't want it to feel like a cartoonish room. I found this little table at Goodwill (I told you I'm there a lot) for $6.99. I figured if it worked, fine and if not, I blew $7. I spend more on lunch. Here is the before:

A real beauty, ain't he? This is actually the back of the table because the front has a little lip under the top. Well, I think this side originally had it, too, but for $7 who am I to complain. We'll just turn it toward the wall. After a coat of primer, several coats of spray paint, some Mod Podge treasure mapping, and applying some letters (which ended up not being the exact same size - once again, $7 table, people, no biggie), here is the finished product - well, almost finished since I have to build up the finish on the top.

I wanted to give Jake a little octopus for the bathroom, and I didn't want anything really detailed. Here is what I have come up with so far. I drew the little guy and painted him, but I am thinking of adding a rope detail around the outside of the canvas.

So now we will shift gears from projects to fill you all in on the fam. Friday night, as I cooked dinner, Jason and Jake were playing outside. And SOMEBODY got their first skinned knee. It is the first but surely not the last.

Sunday night, we played outside for a while, and Jake chased bubbles and found a puddle to splash in while Connor chilled in the stroller behind the mosquito net.

LOVE this one

Not a baby face anymore

A horrible pic of me, but he loves to give hugs now ;)

One of my favorite things is watching this little man run. Seriously, he can move, but he does it with such joy and happiness that you can't help but smile.

I wish that you all could have seen Jake the other day. We got a Restoration Hardware catalog in the mail. If anyone has met my child, you would know that he has an above normal appreciation for ceiling fans. The catalog has ONE page of fans in about 800. Well, let me tell you, he talked about fans for about 20 solid minutes. Granted, we had no idea what he said, but he babbled on and on. Here he is 3 days later still looking at the fan page :) Check out that concentration.

Jake has never been a climber - until today. He learned he could climb onto the couch and the ottoman. Great.... Okay, please look over the mess that is my living room. Just keepin' it real people.