Scenes from our weekend

Welcome to Monday folks! Wasn't it hard to get out of bed this morning? It is dark here till after 7am, making it very hard to get my behind out of bed! Next weekend is Fall back on our clocks, which will hopefully get all of us out of bed earlier!

Well it was a beautiful fall weekend here in NC and we so enjoyed it with lot of great activities with family and friends. Some of you who follow me on Instagram saw all the festivities going on at the NC Fair on Friday.

It was quite chilly out. I had about 4 layers on including leggings under my jeans! BUT..I was warm!

I was seriously so excited about the fried dough! I was good all week so I could enjoy this "healthy" treat!

The Hubs and Dad enjoyed some games! But sadly no stuffed animal for me or mom!

More Junk...candy apple.

And..yet more...Cotton Candy!

Don't you just love the fair lights and atmosphere at night! I sure do and what a fun tradition we have started!


Saturday morning was go time! Back to the gym early to work off all of the calories from the night before. (I didn't even show you everything we ate!) I also tried a new class called Inner Strength. It is kind of like Pilates and Yoga with a bar that is suppose to help keep you balanced. I may have fallen over at least 5 times!

Saturday night was also fun. We had some good friends over for Chili and Apple Crisp. And...we also started a new tradition of pumpkin carving. We use to carve pumpkins each year with our close friends that lived down the road from us, but after they moved away we were too sad to keep the tradition going for a couple of years. Well...we were back at it this year!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Mine is the one in the middle. Kind of loving the black cat..maybe it will scare all the trick or treaters away this week so I can keep the candy! (Just Kidding!)


Sunday was a day at home in my PJs! I enjoyed some coffee and worked on a Readers Redesign most of the day! I can't wait to show you all how it came out. I am so happy with how it came out and I sure hope my reader is too!

A Little quick peek!

I didn't bore you with all the cleaning activities around here! Aren't you glad? 

Please keep me and the Hubs in your thoughts and prayers tomorrow morning! Our social worker will be here for our Home Study! One more step closer to bringing our sweet baby home. If you missed the post on our Adoption Announcement, you can catch up HERE.

Have a wonderful week sweets!!

Fabulous Feature Friday {Jones Design Company}

Well Hello and welcome to Friday! Thank you for your sweet comments yesterday on our new and improved entryway/hallway. I am in love!
Any plans this weekend? We are off to the NC State Fair this afternoon. I am excited to experience all the sites and smells that come with the fair. I have lived here for 10 years and have never gone to the NC State Fair. I guess it is part of the culture, so if you want to know what I am experiencing you can follow me on Instagram @eatsleepdecor !

Okay on to today's Feature. I am excited to share the beautiful home of the talented Emily from Jones Design Company. I appreciate all the little detailed touches she brings to her spaces. Enjoy!

How amazing is that old window that they hung on a track? It is the first thing you see when entering her home. So unique and unexpected and can be pushed over to the side for dinner parties. Love!

The bead-board and open shelving really create a classy but relaxed feel to her kitchen. Such an easy upgrade if you want to take out your top cabinets. They used Ikea shelves and brackets!

Love the layers of fabrics and textures in this space! They just remodeled that fireplace and added shakes to the top and cultured stone to the bottom! You have to see the before. Amazing transformation!

Don't you wish your laundry room looked like this?

Love the moody feel of this space with the dark walls against the light bedding. Mixing vintage pieces with modern touches is just perfecto!

 Since she has her own design business, she has created a beautiful office within her home. Emily stenciled three walls and left the fourth for a chalkboard makeover. 

Don't you want to curl up in this space? Just a darling nursery for her daughter. 

You must check out the full reveal of her boy's room Here. She added a woodsy design to this space. It is quite organized for packing these boys into such small space. So creative and fun!

What do you think about Emily's fabulous home? Could you see all of the DIY projects Emily and her husband tackled? I bet not. It looks amazingly designed and so put together.

Thanks Emily for sharing your beautiful home with us!


Happy Weekend All! XOXO

Bold Stripes In Our Entryway

I am so excited to show you this amazing DIY today! It was a lot of work and my calves were sure barking the day after, but SO worth it.

If you remember our Hallway use to look like THIS. It wasn't bad, but needed a little statement. I was so pleased with how the stripes came out that I needed to show you just a few tips on what worked for me. I was very intimidated on tackling stripes until I saw this tutorial and these tips! So helpful!

First, I started with a clean slate. Took all of the artwork and nails out of the walls. I repainted the walls with the base coat in Valspar's Bonsai. It is hard to tell in these pictures, but Bonsai is a wonderful neutral with gray and green undertones. Love the moodiness of it!

Next, I measured from the ceiling to the top of the wainscoting. I then divided that measurement by 7. Why 7? I decided I wanted an odd number of stripes somewhere around 10-12 inches wide. Not too wide, not too narrow. 

I then started measuring from the ceiling down every 10 1/4". I made little tick marks all the way across the wall and then used a level to draw my straight line while matching those tick marks.

(This was the tedious part ya'll! Up and Down my ladder a ba-zillion times!)

Then was the semi-fun part....Adding the Frog Tape! A tip on this also...it would be great to have two people adding the tape to the wall. One person holding the tape, the other actually lining it up and placing it right under the penciled line. I did this by myself and it just took forever dispensing the tape and adding it on the wall. Also, be sure that you don't tear the tape until the end of that stripe! Use a really long piece from start to finish!

Two things about the above pictures: 1) Those small pieces of tape are to warn me not to paint there! 2) You will notice that the stripes look uneven here. One larger than the other. It looks this way because I placed the tape inside the stripe that wasn't going to be painted. The tape is now inside the line I drew. Does this make sense? If you don't do it this way, then you will end up with uneven lines in the end. 

Next trick I learned...before you start with your darker paint, use your original wall color to edge the painters tape to seal in the color. Even though Frog Tape is suppose to be amazing with stripes, the darker paint can still bleed under the tape and then you will not have a clean straight line when you pull off the tape. It might take a bit longer for this step...but So worth it when you pull that tape off and squeal with delight!!

I then edged the darker stripes with a brush and then rolled the insides. I chose Slate by Restoration Hardware for the dark stripe and had it matched at Sherwin Williams. 

I am pretty excited to show you the end product! Sorry (not sorry) for the overload of pictures!!!

Next on the list..getting rid of the boob lights!

And of course I couldn't possibly say good-bye for the day until I gave you a little before, before and after!

Tell me...have you ever painted stripes? Any tips or tricks you learned?

Have a fabulous day!

Linked up: LizMarieBlog & Thrifty Decor Chick & Serenity Now

Tuesday Treats #5- Inspiration & Ideas from around the web!

Wow! Tuesday already? Yep! I better get a move on if I am going to get everything accomplished by Friday...are you with me?

I am back with another fantastic round up of tips and tricks from around the web! I am crushing on all of these ideas this week. Enjoy!

Number One: Half Bath Makeover
Loving this makeover by The Lively Green Door. They made over this whole bathroom within 24 hours to surprise their father. I am so glad they kept the brass mirror. It just adds that extra WOW to the space.

Number Two: Decorating when you have small Kids
Do you have kids living at home? Well Emily A. Clark puts into perspective how to decorate your home and make it beautiful even if you have children running through your home! Trust me..she knows with 5 kids!

Number Three: Organized Scarves

Yes...it is scarf season here! I was in need of some major help when it comes to organizing my crazy scarf collection. How about you? Megan once again is the queen of organizing! Check out an easy and simple way to organize your scarves just before winter comes!

Number Four: 20 Ways to Use Leftover Pumpkin
I always hate when I have something leftover and it just goes to waste..don't you? I usually have leftover pumpkin puree if I am making cookies, pies, etc. Take a look at all the ways you can save your leftover pumpkin and put it to good use! Love.It!

Number Five: From Dresser to Entertainment Unit

I love this idea of taking the top drawer off a dresser or console and replacing it with a bottom hinge to create an entertainment center. The antique look really brings some warmth to the space and when guests arrive you just close the top drawer to hide your TV accessories! Thanks Jill for such an amazing idea!

So many fabulous ideas! Don't you just want to have time to tackle all of them!?
How do you feel about this series? What would you like to see during my Tuesday Treats?


If you missed the past few Tuesday Treats, you can catch up below:
One, Two, Three, Four

     

 

Sweet Velvet Pumpkins

A few weeks ago I saw an amazing giveaway for these sweet little pumpkins below. I usually at least "Try" to win. When I found out I was NOT the winner, I went to look them up to see how much they were to buy.

via

They are beautiful....BUT can you believe they are $98 for three! I mean they are probably made very well and out of diamonds real velvet, but I just couldn't pull the trigger. That is when my light bulb kicked on..." I could totally make these! How hard could it be!?"

My mother-in law was in town and she was totally on board to help me with a little DIY. Here are my quick instructions. You can also find some great tutorials around on pinterest.

Supplies:

Also: 2-3" Needle, hot glue gun & heavy thread

**Instead of velvet I used velveteen and velour to cut down on the cost!**

**Pumpkin stems were given to us at the farm after we bought a couple of our own.**

How to:

1. Since we were on vacation while doing this project we used plates and bowls that we found in the condo to be our templates. We traced them onto the fabric with a pen and used fabric scissors to cut the circle. 

Here are our measurements and what size plate/bowl made what size pumpkin:

- 15" plate/bowl = 6" pumpkin
-12.5" plate/bowl = 5" pumpkin
-10.5" plate/bowl = 4" pumpkin


2. Next we used a heavy weight thread and long needle to make a stitch around the top of the cut fabric. Using a long needle helped weave the fabric almost perfectly!
**We also doubled the thread to make sure it wouldn't break**

3. Once you have made your stitch around the top make sure you leave the thread long at both ends. This will be needed to tie the velvet tight. 

4. Fill and Stuff your pumpkin! We used some leftover doll beads and put at least a half of a cup in the bottom to give it some weight. You can use any type of beans like above. Then we stuffed the rest of the pumpkin with polyfill stuffing to give it the shape we wanted. (we added more for a plump pumpkin and less for a squatty pumpkin.)

5. Here is where those long strings come in handy! Pull the thread tight and give it a few knots to hold the top in place.

6. Cut the extra thread and work your hands around the pumpkin to make it look the way you want.

7. Using your hot glue gun, glue the stem to the top of your pumpkin holding the stem for 1-2 minutes for adhesion. 

8. Enjoy the fruits of your labor!! AKA...ooh and ahh and show everyone what you made!

These were so quick and easy to make! We made so many within just an hour once we got rolling! They are lined down my dining room table for now. Every time I walk by them they just make me smile.

What DIYs have you been tackling for fall?


Linked up: LizMarieBlog