DirectBuild

For someone who loves to decorate, being content is really hard.

Don't you feel that when your work on a project is complete and you stand back to marvel your work the items around your new project stands out like a sore thumb?

Like they are screaming, make me over too!

I really struggle with that.

After reupholstering the dining chairs/benchs/settees. What ever you call them.

I can't help but dream about what else I can do to the room.

Like get new flooring!!!

Seriously why did they put carpet in the dining room?! I need to ask the previous owners that.

Then Sandra from Sawdust and Paper scraps mentioned that she got all of her hardwood from BuildDirect.

That is a bad thing about blogging and reading blogs when you love to decorate. When you are not feeling content then you have all these beautiful homes and projects you see that other people do, and think...I want to do that!

So I have been dreaming and looking and longing through BuildDirect for about the past hour...it is naptime/quiet time in the house right now. :) The best time of the day.

Can I just say that if you are looking for flooring...you need to check out this site!

I found my hardwood flooring for an AWESOME price!

 $4.89/sq ft!

Since I am not a person that can't just browse around...well I had to look at other items on the site that I just had to share with you guys...since I do not want to be the only person is having trouble with contentment. I am going to drag you guys in too. :)

I have heard of cork flooring and I loved that thought of it. Being easy to clean up, yet softer. So when a certain 5 year old who insists on using a big boy glass cup like mom and dad, drops it...it has a much better chance of not turning into a thousand little pieces.

But the samples that I have seen haven't been the best looking.

But BuildDirect has cork flooring that has a wood grain design on it!

Ummm, yes please.


Then I also noticed that some of their composite decking is on sale for $1.75/ lineal foot!

Can I have the backyard that goes with this decking...and the warm weather too?

Anyways, I just thought I would share.

Don't forget...if your blog needs a makeover go and check out Kassie from Kassie by Designs.

A new Color!

I have exciting news! 

I have found a new color that I really like!

It is another blue, maybe more accurately called a teal. 

It is a Sherwin Williams color called Cloudburst.

If Halycon Green isn't blue enough for you then Cloudburst is a good substitute.

I painted two tables in this color.

Here is the first one.

This is the before.

And the after.

Isn't it a fun color?!

Then I did this table.

Now with Cloudburst.

Got another white knob from Hobby Lobby.

Let's see the difference to Halycon Green.

The finials are Halycon green.

I always thought that HG looked so blue until I compaired it with Cloudburst.

Still wouldn't necessarily call it green.

But that is just my opinion.

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Your blog need a makeover?

Go to Designs by Kassie

How to make chunky picture frames

If you are a lover of chunky frames, but don't want to sell your first born to have one of those in your house. Then this is the tutorial for you.

I will say that this is NOT the professional way to do this. I will share with you what I did and what I wish I changed.

Are you ready?

Ok first go to Hobby Lobby when they have the half price off of their picture frames.

I got 8x10 frames, now I kind off wish I went with the 11x14. 

Don't hang them on your wall unless you want some extra motivation to quickly change those dinky skinny frames into nice big chunky ones.

And don't leave your hammer one your steps...trust me it will keep you from having a near panic attack.

Then go and buy some boards. I went with 1x8 boards.

Now I only have a 10" miter saw...apparently 8" boards are too big for a 10" miter saw.

Now you see how clueless I am. Are you sure you wanna hear the rest of what I have to say?

So I got my circular saw out, and made a mess.

Then I recruited some little helpers to paint.

I painted it my fav Halycon Green. The can is almost out so I will move on to another color.

Ok stop cheering.

Now this is where I would say do what I say and NOT what I did.

Once all the paint is dry, turn the boards over and glue them with wood glue.

After you put the glue on and before it dries get out your staple gun and staple it together from the back.

It still won't be perfect. But no worries.

Once the glue dries carefully flip the frame back over and get your caulk gun out.

Then I used my little caulk wand...atleast that is what I call it. To remove the excess caulk.

Once that dries paint over the caulk, then I went on and glazed the frame too.

Then next part is attaching the Hobby Lobby frame to the frame you have just made.

At first I wanted to nail it to together, but Mr. Genius thought that since the Hobby Lobby frame was thin that it would crack. So I went the super glue route.

I got my Gorilla Super glue and put a thin line around the edge of the inside of the frame.

Then place your Hobby Lobby frame on top and do NOT be impatient and pick it up too soon.

Trust me.

I had to super glue three times on one frame.

Once they are dry and ready to be hung up then go for it!

Now enjoy your frames!

Posting to:



You need a blog redesign? Go and check out Kassie!

I made big chunky frames!

I loves pictures frames, but I love then big and chunky.

Ok, isn't that in the movie, Madagascar 2 with the big hippo guy?

Yeah, I watch too many kids movies.

Anywho, so it started with me wanting something up our staircase, but because we have this two story wall to deal with it can't be dinky.

So I bought these 8x10 frames at Hobby Lobby when they were half off.

How pitiful and dinky do they look?

They are totally lost in the wall of yellow. You look more at the wall then the pictures.

I added some 1x8 and some paint and glaze to the frames, to get this.

Makes much more of a statement, doesn't it?

But lets take a trip down memory lane, shall we?

We started with a plain ol' bland staircase.

We then added the trim, which you couldn't really see due to the bland wall color.

Then we painted the walls and added more trim.

And now we have humongous frames.

Next week I will show you how to make these bad boys.

Designs by Kassie

I would like to introduce you all to a great blog designer that I have been very impressed with.

Her name is Kassie Garlock.

She does great web designs.

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She also did my blog design and button design!

She's good isn't she?

So I can say from experience that Kassie is VERY easy to work with. She also listened to me and my many changing of plans and just knew exactly what I wanted each time. She worked with me until I was 100% satisfied.

No matter what your style is she has probably already done it.

Plus her pricing is VERY reasonable. They are the most reasonable prices I have found. For a basic blog makeover it is just $30!

If you just want a new header- $20!

Now in the light of the season of Spring cleaning why don't you all get a new fresh look to your blog. You will feel so much better afterwards.

Now to tell you a little bit of personal stuff about Kassie. I completely got her permission to share this with you.

The blog world is a funny thing. Most of the people in the blog world you won't actually ever meet in person, yet you feel connected with them. It is a crazy, strange, yet fun thing.

Kassie is a sweet girl and you can just tell through the conversations that we have had via email.

In the light of our economy today alot of people are losing their jobs. Hard working people that are experts in their field are having a hard time finding jobs in their field. Kassie's husband is one of those people.

I know that a lot of you out there have lost your job or your spouse has lost their job. It is a very stressful time isn't it? No amount of savings make you feel secure in that time when you have kids and a spouse counting on you to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.

So I am asking you all if have thought about getting a blog redesign...do it know! Help a family out! They will truly appreciate it!

Oh...Hi there!

Is it already the end of March?

Good golly!

We have had a eventful month this past month.

It started with Wild Man going to Kindergarten orientation.

He is the one of the right and yes he is wearing an Apple jacket. Mr. Genius starts them young over here. 

Wild Man is VERY ready for Kindergarten...and momma is too. :)

We also found out that Wild Man has trouble hearing in his right ear. Nothing serious it is really just one octive out of the right ear that isn't audible. I do believe that is the same octive as my voice.

But as a precaution they wanted to do a CT scan just to make sure there wasn't a reason that the nerve was being blocked. 

Being that I am not familiar with the medical field at all I wasn't sure if the CT scan was the one where you go into the tunnel or not. So to be on the safe side I told Wild Man that he is going to get to go into a tunnel all by himself! How cool is that! It worked, he was stoked! Then he was greatly disappointed that it ended up being just a doughnut (his words) he was going into, not a tunnel. 

The results came out clear. No tumors or anything blocking the nerve!

Thank you Lord!

No matter how routine a test is, there is always a big sigh of relief when you get good results.

Once that was behind me I felt that I could work on the other settee!

Phew..all done. It will be awhile til I recover something that big. 

But I got the dining room done just in time to have a Dinner and a Diaper Dump at my house. 

Alright I realize that the name of the get together may need some explaining.

You all know what a dinner is, so I will move on to the diaper dump. A Diaper Dump is usually where someone gathers diapers from a bunch of people like a Sunday school class, then that person takes the diapers over to the person who just had or about to have a baby and then drops them off (or dumps them).  

I have a sweet friend here who is having her 3rd child, she already has two boys and decided not to find out what she is having for this child. 

Not knowing what they are having makes it a little challenging to plan a little party. I figured that no matter if it is a boy or girl they will need diapers, and since a group of us never get to talk without a gazillion interuptions from our kids I thought we would have a nice relaxing dinner and everyone bring diapers.

Hence, the Dinner and a Diaper Dump. 

I didn't do much for the party as far as decorating...cuz I was working on that settee.

But I did make a diaper cake!

*Post is their last name*

I got to bring out my glitter letters! 

I didn't get anymore pictures of that night cuz it was just so fun to celebrate my sweet friend and to talk without having to worry about my boys climbing up the walls. 

A couple of weeks ago, the boys also had thier first sleepover in Wild Man's room.

Then miracle of all miracles, it got warm enough for the first time this year to not have to wear a coat or even a jacket! So the boys thought it fitting to be Spiderman.

 Now today is a different story. It started snowing and one child started crying and the other just got mad. When you children have to be consoled because it is snowing, you know it has been a long winter.

I started a little spring cleaning. Starting with the back of my oven...Yuck!

Ok so I lied I didn't clean under the oven for Spring cleaning. A toy got lost under there and when I looked underneath, the shear dirtiness grossed me out.

So by just cleaning behind my oven does that count as my Spring Cleaning? I hope so. I am in the mood to redo furniture not deep clean. It isn't nearly as fun. 

Last week was my birthday and Mr. Genius took me to downtown Chicago for a night away. It was so nice to have a break from the boys and it just be the two of us. 

Thanks mom!

At the bottom of the train station is a french market. It is the cutest place. So may little shops with the most beautiful food.

I found this place called R.A.W., Raising Awareness Worldwide. Oh My Word. It is now my favorite place!

I would NEVER consider eating raw food but especially vegan food. Although now, if I could eat this companies food everyday I would turn vegan. Seriously it was that good. And I am a girl that has meat and/or cheese at EVERY meal.

This is what I ate.

That is Spaghetti (made from shreaded zucchini), ravioli (made from thinly sliced turnips, and nuts crushed into what looked like ricatta cheese), a little garden burger and a meatball (not sure exactly what they are made up of).

This was their sampler and I was STUFFED until the late the next day from this food. 

I seriously could go on and on about this food, but lets move on...shall we? 

I saw my first anti war protest in person.

I don't know how these people understood what the guy in front was saying cuz all I could here was "wawawawa, Put down your guns!" *people cheering* "wawawawa, Put down your guns!" *more cheering*

I do know what ever he was saying he felt VERY strongly about it.

Oh and one more thing I realized I left you guys hanging on my great rug hunt.

I found a rug!

After returning the first rug and getting another rug. I kept dreaming about the first rug. 

I am a sad person when I dream and long for rugs. 

So I took back the second rug and got the first rug again..all this happened in 3 days. 

The Home Goods rug guy knew my boys names on the last day we walked in. 

If that isn't a sign you are in there too much I don't know what is. 

But I am so happy I went back and got the rug, it may be 4 inches too short on the length. But I am happy with it.

Don't mind the Superman cape in the background

So there you have it folks, my life the past 3 weeks. 

I do have a project I can't wait to show you guys tomorrow. It is about making big chunky frames on the cheap!