Keeping it Real Office Planning

We have mentioned our desire to finish off our office for awhile now. And in a while I mean since last fall! Yep not everything gets done in a quick timeline, it took us 4 years to finish the basement. So as we were finishing the basement the office became our storage area, then we never cleaned it back out.

But we have started, we have planned out the color.

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Isn't it great! Steve actually picked it out the color.
To off set dark color, we are going to put in two walls of white bookshelves and seat bench. Similar to this

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The room only has one window to get the most out of that light we are going to switch out the closet doors to white ones to reflect the light of the windows.
My hope to finish out the room is to add some of the pictures from Mouse's library photo shoot.

And then I would love two of these chairs and a small table between the two.

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Or a really cool mid-century desk.


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Which should we do? But right now it just looks like this, told ya keeping it real.

 ~ Cassi

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Christmas Decorating

This year like so many other areas of my life. I went simple with the Christmas decorating. In fact I didn't even put ornaments on my tree. Instead I went for simple white lights and a few smaller trees of silver and white.

My favorite decoration this year is my updated coffee filter wreath. I added some letters from the craft store and the silver winter bird. I love the way it turned out.

For the kitchen table I also went simple and showcased my favorite nativity set. 

My other favorite nativity is the one my Grandmother cross-stitched for us years ago. I always make sure to make this a focal place each year.

Mouse, on the other hand, is never a less is more style decorator. She is always wanting to put all the ornaments on her tree. Thankfully I was able to scale her down a little bit too. This year we added two large bulbs instead of the angel to the top, due to height issues.  I think she did a pretty good jobs.

How did you decorate this year?

~ Cassi

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Start of a gallery wall

I do love the look of gallery walls, whether they be mixed media walls or all pictures both are great. When we finished off the basement there was a section of wall in my craft room that I knew I wanted filled with favorite pictures of us. But I also wanted something there that would be inspirational for a craft room.

 "Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air." ~ Emerson

Katie Daisy's had a print  that was exactly what I was looking for. Bright and colorful and tugging at your heartstrings. Reminding us to live life to it's fullest. That though while reading it I may be inside working on art I wasn't to forget to go out and live beyond those walls. 

I added other pictures around the center print, I am liking how it is starting. But I still need to get a few more to fill out the space.

Until then this is how it will look. But following the poem's direction I am sure it won't take long for us to capture more pictures. 

~ Cassi

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New Front Door

We have been in our house now going past seven years. It is the longest we have lived any where. So of course we I am going crazy with lack of a new house to decorate. So Steve did the next best thing for his new house loving wife.

He painted a new entry way!

Here is a quick before picture.

Ok, it really needed a new coat of paint, dang Minnesota weather.

Then since it's Minnesota and freezing he sealed off the entry way and warmed it up a bit so the paint would stick.

And then we had a whole new house. So excited with the way  it looks.

And it's holding up well through rain, winds and snow already.



~ Cassi

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Bench Remake

"Steven sit on this so no takes it" was my exact words to Steve when we saw this beauty at the local Goodwill. I could not believe how perfect it was. Ok. it may not have looked exactly like that when we saw it.

It was a little beat up and dirty but you could see the potential a mile away. I love the mustard seat and caned edges.

In truth it just need a fresh coat of paint and a good vacuuming. So that is what we did.

Steve started first with a primer coat.

I was really torn with what color to paint it. I wanted to be able to use it in our house and as a photo prop. At last we decided on a glossy black to bring in more black accents to our living room.

I am so thrilled with how it turned out.

~ Cassi

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Chair / Photo Prop

In our search for vintage dining room chairs I found this chair with great lines!

I knew I had to have it for my business.

Steve painted the chair a olive green color.

Then I got to work on redoing the seat. First note to those trying to recover a seat.

Since the pad I bought was obviously not going to work, I came up with a new idea. I had some fleece that would stretch all the way around so I staple that to the back leaving a spot open. I then filled the space between the seat and the fleece with batting. Once filled I stapled the fleece closed.

After that I took this pleated material and started stapling that. When recovering a seat you want to staple once at the front center and then back center pulling the material tight with each staple. Then repeat this step as you move to each side of the center staple. Then repeat set one as you move to the sides. I leave the corners for last. Finally fold the corners and staple.

Then you are done and can screw the seat back on to the chair. I am so excited with how this chair turned out I can't wait to use it.

~ Cassi

Please check out my links page to see where I have linked up to this week.

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Pinterest inspiration

We were a little busy this weekend. But don't worry we have some projects coming up. We are knee deep in primer and paint. As I stated in my craft room post we are adding different chairs in different colors to the room. Well we liked that idea so much that we are changing out the dining room chairs too.
To get you ready for the big reveal here is some Pinterest looks we love.



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  Wish us luck on the outcome. I hope they look as good as these pictures. Above is the closest in colors to what we are doing.

~ Cassi



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Goodbye to the glass house

Since the basement has been finished we have been living without curtains.That means we have been living with all of the neighborhood watching TV with us.  Which isn't horrible but sometime you would rather the neighbors didn't know you that you may or may not watch marathon sessions of old school Law & Order.
But no more! We now have curtains. Last week I showed you the fabric, we picked up for $1.50 a yard. I wasn't really excited to make curtains but I am glad they are done.

Here is me sewing them up and Steve getting ready to hang the curtain rods.

And here they are:

~ Cassi


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Pallet Planter

Thank you Pinterest for the idea of a new planter. I have been looking for a way to get a lot of herbs planted on our deck. Then I saw this planter made out of a pallet on Pinterest and I knew it was what I was looking for.
My Dad picked up a pallet for me and Steve got to work.
First he fixed one of the slats and then sanded the whole thing. Next he added yard plastic to the back and inside.

Then he added more slats to the back to enforce it.

He ended with added a base to the pallet so the dirt won't fall out.

This weekend I filled it with dirt and herbs. So far so good  it last the mass rain we had here this weekend. I hope it continues to work, I am looking forward to some fresh herbs this year.

Check out our link page to see where we linked up our pallet garden.

~ Cassi




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Where I create

My craft room is finally complete! OK, still have to get some cute chairs in there but Steve is working on that. But the rest of the room is better than I imagined it.
We've posted bits and pieces of the room but not the full room. So here is the final look:

My two work horses in this room is the 10 foot table on the back wall that Steve built for me. I love this table, it is long enough to have two different work areas, one for paper crafts and one for sewing. Above that wall I added brightly colored shelves. Each of the shelves was painted in a different color. The curtains I made from a few yards of patchwork fabric.

The peg board holds all of my sewing needs. The shelves hold random items and a painting made by Mouse.

On the paper side the shelves hold paint and other various items. There is also a cork board to hold inspirational items.
The second work horse is my fabric hutch. It makes me smile. But the part that makes me really smile is the Hankie Banner. This hankie collection started from ones I received from Great Grandma when she passed away at almost 105 years old.  It shows my past and my future is shown in the map along the other wall, pinned as we travel together as a family.

The center table is from my first apartment and now works as a great for extra work space. The basket on the edge holds all those odd size items perfectly. And to keep it real I forgot to take the paper garbage bag out of the picture.
Wait till you see the chairs Steve is redoing for me. You will love them. Hint, one is TEAL!
Thanks for stopping by.
Hope you like the space as much as I do.

~ Cassi

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Bathroom Redo

Right after we moved in over 6 years ago we painted our main bathroom yellow. And we've hated it ever since. It just wasn't the right shade. So 6 years later we finally decided to repaint. Here is a look at the before.

And here is Steve starting to edge in the new color. What color did we go with you ask? And even if you didn't it's our blog so we'll tell you anyways. Jack Rabbit is the color.  

 Or a gray purple color for those that don't speak funky paint color names. Not sure how they came upon Jack Rabbit. And the next few pictures really don't show case the color correctly.

I love the color! It is amazing what the right color will do to a room and a person's blood pressure. I didn't realize how much anxiety I had with the other color. It's been a few weeks now and every time I go past the room I stop to stare. I am so much happy with it. We decided to update the towels and shower curtain at the same time.

We also decide to use the sunset pictures I have been taking over the years as the decor.  

This one will be the main focal point when you walk in. Then on the side wall will be a collection of smaller sunset pictures I have taken. I am so happy we are incorporating pictures from our travels. I will post more when the pictures are up.

~ Cassi

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Office Chair Remake

As with the other decor in the craft room the chairs are going to be colorful as possible. This will be great for two reasons. One I am loving the colors all coming together in that room. It makes me smile just walking by it. Second reason is the colorful chairs will be great props for my photography business.  

The first chair we worked on was one we've had for years. It's an old office chair that started out black with black fabric. Now if you remember we have a white cat so the black chair has stayed solid white and unused for along time.

So I took the chair apart  and refinished the fabric in a white with blue swiss dot flannel.

Then Steve pray painted the rest of the chair a bright cherry red.

And here is the finished look. I love it!

Check out our links page to see where we are linking up the chair.

~ Cassi

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