In-COG-nito

Do you ever see something & want one bad?

Well I saw this giant red metal cog on HGTV and had a fit over it.  Thankfully, Maggie heard me and she listened.  This weekend Mom, Abbie, Maggie, & our friend Darby went to 3rd Sunday Market - I stayed home.  Mom wanted to buy me a gift since I stayed home.

Maggie looked all day for a cog for me.  Then she spotted it, a table where the top was a highly varnished wooden cog.  It was seriously ugly in its current state.

The guy said he wanted $20 for it - SOLD!

I was stoked!

I sanded the varnish off where I could, primed it, painted it layers of colors, and sanded it a ton.

Oh yes - I am in LOVE with my giant cog!

I realized I haven't blogged my house in months - probably close to a year even!  Life has changed, but for those of you that were here to crush on my home - it's still evolving - I just like to take pictures of the babes instead & they are funnier. 

Example - tonight Everett asked Maggie to show him her belly.  She did and then he asked if her pee pee was inside or outside.  After MUCH confusion - we realized he meant the word belly button - not pee pee - makes a lot more sense with the proper word!



Please remember to keep Mason in your prayers - OHS tomorrow.

A Twist on Picture Ledges

Well the carpet guy is finishing up the basement bedroom carpet as I speak!  The kids had an early morning Slap Fest 2011, Aubrie lost with a bloody nose!  The carpet guy witnessed it all - so embarrassing!  It's been an interesting morning thus far, considering I was up from 3-4 with a great need to watch Grey's Anatomy!

Today after lunch, Maggie & Kylie move in.  I am very excited and I really think it will be a great arrangement for us all!  To prepare for their arrival, I had a small project for Jade. 

We had a big picture wall right by our entry way.  It was filled with pictures of my kids as they have grown up.  Since we have such an open floor plan, it was very visible throughout the house.  It was nice, but I hung all the pictures touching so they wouldn't go crooked all the time & it's nearly impossible to change out a picture.  Besides that, how can we have a massive picture wall without any photos of Caroline JoAnn?  She's going to be living here too!  So I brainstormed with Mom - what could we do???  We thought about tree branches with pictures hanging off of them, old boards to mimic Pottery Barns frame shelves, and metal piping.  A normal frame ledge just doesn't seem like me, and they were $30+.  So Jade & I went shopping.

Jade is a genius.  At Menards we scoured the pipes trying to figure out something to work.  I kept thinking of small piping to hang the pictures from.  That's when he came up with the idea to use 2" pipes as a picture ledge instead.  I LOVED the idea, because anything metal and I'm sold.

(yes I know the one picture of Everett is sideways, but I'm going to switch it out with one of Caroline when the box arrives this afternoon)

We found brackets to screw the pipes to the wall.  Then pipe caps that screwed down & made it even more interesting, but also protected everyone from sharp edges.  These were originally 10' long 2" pipes that Jade cut down into 3', 4', and 6' lengths.

The end  result is PERFECT and very much me!  The pictures sit on the ledge & with some velcro backing they are guaranteed not to fall off the ledge just in case.  I can also easily switch out pictures as the kids grow!

Now, all I need are some pictures of Caroline & Ollie to add to the wall and it's complete!

Overall the project probably cost us maybe $60 & I have 13' of picture ledges now!

Small Changes

My Mom is truly the best.  While I was at work - she did a bit of much needed redecorating.  Here is my foyer before:

Here it is now!  I am loving the dresser.  We bought it for Ethel Edith, but decided to keep it after we saw how nicely it aged up.  It also stores all of the kids' outdoor chalk & bubbles - right by the front door - BONUS!

An olive and red base shines through!

I really love how it looks now!  Thanks Mom!

So now you are wondering - where did she put the bookcase?  Well remember my landing on my staircase.  I had an orange console table I liked, but it was time for something new.  This will be available for sale at our June show in Bloomington, IL.  PS - LeAnn this would FIT in your car nicely!!

Mom moved the bookcase with the limey green inside to the landing.  I like it so much better!

Here is the view coming up the stairs.  It's rocking our sweet new family photo and shows off my collection of burnt boxes much better!

Thanks again Mom!  I've been too busy to do anything in my house lately!  So glad you babysit and help a girl out!

I'm just mad about Saffron!

I was blog inspired!

I visited Micah over at The Yellow Front Door, then Stephanie at The Vintage Glitter House, and finally Britt at

A Penny Saved.  They made me fall in love with yellow all over again!

I'm going to show you my foyer - well I guess it's a foyer - it's pretty open to the house but I'm still calling it one.  When we built, we decided to not do a coat closet here because it would eat up too much floor space.  So my Mom found this big mirrored cabinet for I believe $80 at an antique store in town. 

It was perfect.  It has a big closet rod in it and all our coats fit perfectly.  However, I'm just not a wood grained girl.  I've had this piece for 2 years and I've constantly thought about painting it.  People always say no no no - don't paint wood.  Well it's really not nice wood.  Finally after seeing all the yellow blogs, I decided the heck with it - I'm painting this baby yellow!  I'm cheering up my entry way!

So here she is now.  I am in LOVE this cabinet.

As soon as you walk in the front door it's the first thing you see.  With my turquoise walls it just pops, but I think in a good way.  It's totally my style.

(Despite the sign - pick pockets & loose women do not live here!)

I had a big debate with myself - age it or leave it freshly painted?!?  What to do, what to do...  I decided to live with it a few days and I think I'm going to leave it fresh.  I'm afraid aging will play with the color too much, and I'm really happy with it right now.  Plus, with my son in the house, every piece of furniture gets aged by him!

While I was at it - I thought I'd share the rest of the foyer.

When you walk in the front door these are to the left.  The top picture we got for Christmas and we were THRILLED with it.  It was sold at an auction & some how made its way back to Jade's family.  They don't collect antiques, so it was passed to us.  It is a military base, and just so happens to have his Grandpa Aubrey in it - so priceless.  Then we have a huge stain glass window that is also very cool from my Mom.

I have a bowl of black & white letters - these look great throughout the house in bowls or trays.

I also have a glass head I adore.  My sisters & I all have them, and they are fun to fill with ornaments, candy corn, you name it - we do it all.

I'm linking up to:

and