Taking a break for Sweet Lauryn

So renovating took a back seat for a few weeks while I put together a baby shower for a dear friend. In fact, she's mybest friend. I mentioned Lauryn in a previous post and if I made this blog about our shenanigans there would already be hundreds of entries. Lauryn's having her first baby and just in time if I had my say. I'm starting to get baby fever and sweet Lauryn came through for me! Lauryn and I mix well like coffee and cream. Both of us very different but without one the other wouldn't be as good. She's simple and elegant. Her style is shabby chic and classic rustic. I love her style but I could never see it on my own and think "that looks good." I always have to see it after she picks it or buys it or owns it, in all areas, clothes, furniture and decor. Her allowing me to throw her baby shower must of felt  like a heart attack coming on for her. She's a planner, I'm opposite of that, she's quiet with manners, Im opposite of that, she prefers things that don't cause attention, I'm VERY opposite of that. But I wanted to make this special for her. She means the world to me and I needed to remember this wasn't about me or for me and I wanted to do it right, I wanted to do it perfect for her. So I went to work typing shabby chic in ever search engine I could find on baby showers. I wanted to keep the decor pale turquoises and pinks, burlap and lace. I found her invitations early on and I worked off of it from there, keeping the theme of the invites. I ordered them and had them personalized. 

I found these on Esty but only as PDF files that allowed you to print them, I knew I wasn't crafty enough to do that, plus finding stock paper, envelopes etc. so I searched the picture with google pics and a few invitation companies popped up that allowed  me to order them and they'd print them along with my return address on the envelopes. It's been 6 years since I've had a baby and even longer that I've had a baby shower and things have changed. I saw people made these diaper cakes and wreaths that you could buy. But I wanted to attempt it myself. I wanted her to have something special made from me plus I wanted to put my own special touches on it. I know that one of her favorite flowers are peonies and ironically mine are too. In fact that's my only favorite flower. She once had a girls movie night at her house for me to see the movie Steel Magnolias because it was a staple for her growing up and I had never seen it, so I wanted to incorporate magnolias in her decor as well. And all the diaper cakes I saw had an empty paper towel roll in the center to keep it firm, but I know Lauryn and I know that a new mom needs a ton of diapers and a bottle of wine. So I used a bottle of my favorite wine in the center. I also noticed most made diapers are rolled and are held in place with rubber bands, and I know at 3am with a screaming newborn in a pitch black house half out of it from lack of sleep the last thing a new mom needs to be jacking around with is unwrapping diapers with rubber bands, so I wanted mine fanned out. This is what I came up with;

 

I gave her a small 2 1/2" frame at the top to frame a baby picture or whatever she wants. I used a cardboard cake platter that I got glued the bottom of the wine to in order to hold it in place and kee it from sliding. I double layered some ribbon and added the pearls like garland. 

I set two tables up with place settings, my large dining room table and my breakfast table. 

 

 

The place settings are made up from my everyday dinner and salad plates from Pottery Barn. The chargers actually go with my Christmas China and are also from Pottery Barn but worked perfectly with my everyday plates. The napkins I got from Pier One and the napkin rings my daughter and I made from extra twine and left over faux flowers we had from the decor. We used a wire cutter and cut individual flowers off leaving about 5-6" of wire stem, then wrapped the twine really tight, securing it at the end with green electrical tape I had in the junk drawer, then we bent the wire into a circle and twisted the ends together like a bread tie. 

The water goblets and flatware are also a part of my everyday place settings and I basically went thru them and picked out the ones that don't seem to get circulated as often. 

 

 

 

The centerpieces I have some thought to. I have a big 3 gallon drink dispenser with a spigot that looks like a mason jar so I wanted to play off of that. 

 

During one of my trolling binges on Pinterest I came across a picture of some painted Mason jars used as vases. I noticed a company sold them but again thought I could definitely do it. I used craft paint and twine to tie at the top then used my bush of faux peonies and cut three stems off placing them in the jar. Two per table looked awesome but I felt it was missing a little extra flare. I found these cute little lanterns on Esty and snatched 3 white and 3 turquoise with som battery operated flickering candles. 

 

 

As shower favors for the guests I came up with an idea to use Mason jars filled with all the dry ingredients for chocolate chip cookies which happen to be posted all over Pinterest and happen to be Lauryn's favorite sweet treat. With a sweet little note I printed on stock card paper on my home computer thanking them for coming and the baking directions for the cookies, all they need to add is vanilla extract, butter and 1 egg. I cut out 6" circles of coordinating fabric and tied the fabric to the tops of the jars with the twine that I also hole punched the cards and tied onto the twine. Guests loved it and seemed surprise that they also got a small gift.

 

I used a chalk pen and chalkboard stickers to write the "Thank you" on the jars. 

 

The wreath was my next venture. My daughter and I did it together from directions we found on Pinterest. One of the guests came up with a great idea to put a small chalk board hanging in the middle and hang it on the door of the hospital room with baby's name, birthday, and birth weight and height. LOVED THAT IDEA. 

 

I saw an idea for a baby shower to hang twine from the fireplace with misc onies and hats hanging from it by old fashioned clothes pins and I thought that idea for my theme perfect so I ran with it and had fun picking out all the coordinating hats, pants and onies. 

 

 The cake and cookies were bought at a local bakery and were a perfect fit for the whole thing. Thanks to a mutual friend of Lauryn and I. Thanks Lindsay!!

 

 

I had catered sandwiches and salad from Panera that I would suggest doing to anyone. Being Italian and a pretty good cook I usually make all the food for my gatherings. I love it but I'm usually running around, half dressed, never got my hair and makeup finished and spend the whole time in the kitchen never talking with the guests. This was well worth it and I will definitely be doing it again. I was put together nicely, calm, and got to entertain my guests. 

Lauryn was blown away at the time and detail I put into this shower and that made it all worth it to me. I did everything with her and only her in my mind as to what she would pick or like. I did however put one small "Mo-Flare" on the situation that I knew she'd laugh at. Since my house sits on what use to be an open field less than a year ago it doesn't show up on most navigation systems so I knew she'd worried about people finding the place. I thought of all kinds of options and remembering Lauryn's style vs my usual way of causing attention and I chuckled to myself as I thought, "I went elegant and classy all up and down inside, let's go ahead and do obnoxiously loud outside. 

I hired a local company called "Sign Gypsies" and if you live in this area let me tell you, they are an amazing company and worth the small amount they charge to put signs up in your yard and take them down. This is what guest saw as they pulled up!!!

 

She laughed and laughed when she saw it. Well worth every dime.

 

Thank you Lauryn for being such an amazing person! Many blessing, much respect and plenty of love from me to you! 

Let's just take it slow

So after the severe mind numbing epic fail of the doorknobs I decided it was probably smart to find a project that was much more dummy proof. One that allowed little to no choices. I think that's where I went wrong with the first project. I over-thought NOT over-thinking. All I had to do was go with my gut, what stood out. The problems start for me when I try to think proactively, when I analyze why I like it and then question why I like it and if I'll like it with different doors, trim, a spec of crayon that will most definitely end up on my daughters bedroom door, which is ridiculous. When in the end I'm regretting not getting the first classic Craftsman doorknob that I liked. Which sadly I eventually will have to buy when I redo the doors, LESSON LEARNED, I can hope. So after installing the poor choice on 13 or so doors for my first project I can tell you they were easy. With the lever door hardware, at least the ones that have curved handles like mine you have to make sure the levers are curved the correct way. I mentioned at the end of my last post that these specific levers suck for me because the plate shifts with use. So everyday which ever way the handle is turned to open the door which is usually down the plate is rotated that way slightly, that drives me crazy. My next project I decided to do some chandeliers. We had the ugly plain builders chandeliers and I knew I needed to dress them up. I started with my dining room. I wanted something that would fit the space and my table but kept with the theme. I also plan on doing wainscoting in there one I build my skill level up. I've spent my free time reading woodworking magazines that a guy at work gives me and watching DIY shows. I have also decided it's probably smart to start with a small room and one preferably people don't generally go into and by people I mean guests. So my first official rehab room or as I like to call it "operation Craftsman" will be my laundry room. It's a place that guests never see plus it's small enough that it won't be too expensive if I have to call a professional in to fix what I've done. From there I've decided to wait me room by room. Since replacing all the doorknobs at once was a fail this might be a better approach. Working with one area at a time. But I'll have more on that later. Before I figured that out I tackled another common "easy" and common homeowner install, light fixtures. Now I have to puff out my chest and pat my self on the back for these picks and installs. The dining room was first and I saw what I liked and bought it at my local Lowes. I have it no thought, no measurements, (other than making sure it didn't overtake the size of my small dining room or table) and I came home with it. I showed my husband, he barely looked up from his Cowboys game and said "I like it." I read the directions and watched a YouTube video on wiring and grabbed my little black and decker tool set. I shut the power off at the breaker, which unbenounced to me also was the same switch that gave juice to the ever important Cowboys game. Okay so I had to put that on hold and reread the directions and watch a few more YouTube videos. By this time the sun was going down so I needed someone to hold a flashlight up so I could see. Then I needed someone to hold the chandelier up as I wired it and strung the wiring thru the chain. And VOILA, I have a new chandelier. 

Now my confidence is soaring. I went ahead and bought 3 more chandeliers for two of the 4 can lights above my kitchen island and one above my breakfast table. I wanted something a tad less dark and Craftsman yet something that would fit in that category. Replacing can lights with chandeliers has a little more detail and work to it that replacing a chandelier for another chandelier. It has something to do with the weight of a can light and how it's installed into the dry wall as opposed to what they install to hang weight such as a chandelier. Now this took some digging. Out of fear of overwhelming myself I went ahead and replace one of the three matching chandeliers above the breakfast table since that wasn't a can light and didn't require any extra steps. It was no different than when I replaced the one in the dining room. 

I have myself a week or two off before tackling the other two above the island. As mentioned earlier these ones needed what I found out from you tube something called a "converter set." I saw my local Home Depot and Lowes sold them but the plate used to cover the hole was white. Let me explain. The can lights hole or opening has a plate around it making the overall hole larger in diameter. 

 

So I had to find a converter set that came with a cover that matched the chandelier I bought. I found it on Amazon and bought two. Each were about $34 and came with everything I needed. In fact they were pretty easy. I again used YouTube to search the brand and watched a "how to" video and went to it. It wasn't too bad and within an hour I had one up. The second one was even easier since I had just did one. I let go of it slowly making sure it was secured tightly and it wouldn't come crashing down, jumped off my island, ran to the breaker box and flipped the switch. Ta-Da!!!!! 

 

Pretty good if I do say so myself, I'm getting to be a pro.
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Rome wasn't built in a day, (even by artists)

I wasn't sure how I wanted to start my "operation re-do." Which projects would I start, which ones would be a good "test the waters" of my potential?  Is there even a method behind choosing?  I looked around my brand new home and thought, "how can I make it look old, shabby chic?" Which by the way is a new word for me thanks to my best friends baby shower I am planning. Lauryn has a classic style, simple and elegant that screams class. In fact, I'm convinced she alone invented "shabby chic." I've always idolized her ability to pick her choices of anything based simply on what she likes and VOILÀ, it's perfect, as if in some cosmic way everything she liked all went together like they were made to match. Okay, I can do that, I see things everyday that I love, it's when I find more than one thing and I try to "match and style" them together that falls short. That's the part that makes my head hurt. Maybe they don't go together, maybe they do, but I always feel like I need a professional to tell me they match before I'm convinced I picked two or more coordinating items. I'm stressed now just by writing this. But I kept "Lauryn's Method" in mind as I looked around my house. Most of my trim and details is pretty standard builders grade. Sure we upgraded baseboards, wood floors, granite etc. but the bones of the house, the small details are the plain Jane in every standard home built these days. I looked around and made mental notes of all the things I could change to "Craftsman Style" it up, while keeping what I liked incorporated, because overall I have to LOVE my house. I'm not gonna shoot my foot off to save face sort of speaking. I wasn't gonna completely turn my house into a place I didn't feel comfortable in just to keep with a theme. I needed to find a happy medium, a way to use the charming Craftsman style features with my crisp clean white and grays. So I took inventory of things I KNEW I could change (there I go again with the delusional assumptions,) well, the things I thought I could possibly change, door trim, interior doors, chandeliers/light fixtures, facets and fixtures, fireplace trim, crown molding, stairway banister, wall wainscoting, door knobs, the list went on and on. I felt overwhelmed already. Still using the "Lauryn Method" I headed out to Lowes. I thought to myself, "doorknobs would be the best first step in this endeavor." So I browsized the aisles telling myself pick what you like, give no thought to style or whether they match the doors, (I'm changing them out eventually anyway) as long as I pick what I like I can't go wrong." There's so many I like and so many choices that fit my theme. There's door levers and door knobs, they come in polished or brushed nickel, chrome, pewter and antique bronze. I have cheap builder grade silver door knobs now so anything is an upgrade. Craftsman style has a lot more choice than I thought. 

This classic doorknob with the black plate (above) always caught my eye. It's in all the blogs and Houzz.com pictures for "Craftsman Style" and I loved them, but it was just a doorknob, shouldn't I class it up a bit? Maybe get something out of the norm? My front door and back door have levers on the interior side, wouldn't that be weird? And just like that the "Lauryn Method" disappeared from my mindset like the puff of smoke I was now exhaling under the extreme pressure. LOL 

Then I came across these gems. (Below Pic) wow! They scream my name with a statement! How charming are they? 

But again, "just door knobs." So maybe I should steer towards levers. I'm already over analyzing whether levers and knobs belong under the same roof completely throwing my plan out the window along with remembering I have no business trying to analyze style in the first place. 

Okay, now we're talking. This is cool, right? Maybe? I kind of like it. It looks old and rustic but is that Craftsman? I think it could be classified as Craftsman, right? Maybe more medieval? Or modern? Are they the same? FOR PETES SAKE THEY'RE DOORKNOBS! Maybe I should skip this one. Next.

Now this one I can work with. Similar to the one above without the medieval flare. It has that classic Craftsman doorknob plate but with a lever. The box says "contemporary door lever," contemporary? no that won't do. I don't think it looks contemporary but surely the people on the box know more than me. So I decide that it might make my decision easier if I look at the type of doors these door handles will go on in the future. I say "future" because during this over analyzing mind draining trip to get simple door hardware I'm noticing these things are expensive and with 28+ to buy that eats up my budget. 

So I head over to the door department and scroll through my phone. I fell in love with my options

I've narrowed it down to either a 3 panel or 5 panel. 

I noticed that the new door choices would even look good with my plain Jane silver doorknobs. The picture above shows the 5 panel with a doorknob similar to what the builder put in my home. Maybe I should just focus on the doors first? But then my mind starts wandering, "if I do the doors now it would make sense to do the door trim at the same time, but that envolves cutting wood, painting, and power tools. I don't have any of that yet. My tool collection consists of a hammer, a phillips screwdriver, power drill with 4 drill bits and a tape measure that is broken to stick at 17 1/8"  plus that seems like a heavy job to start with so let's just focus on the doorknobs/levers, back to the door hardware aisle I go. 

Just like the knee jerk pick of my house I walked up and instantly pulled 12 of these door levers, appropriately picked for the doors on the main level of my home, i.e. Privacy, passage and dummy.

I don't know why, it's not Craftsman, it's not one that originally caught my eye and I'm pretty sure it actually clashes with the straight lines panels on the doors that 10 minutes ago I was in love with. SMH!! UGHHH I shouldn't be allowed to make choices like this. I loaded them up and here they are, (pictured below) all throughout the entire first floor of my home! 

Well, this isn't turning out so good! Eh?

(SIDE NOTE-  Installing "new" NEW door hardware will be featured in an upcoming blog) 

Here are mine, aside from the fact that I have severe buyers remorse from picking these the way I did they actually suck for many reasons, mainly, no matter how tight I got them on the base plate shifts. 

So after the door knobs I opted for my next project to be less strenuous. Hence, Operation front porch! 

 

 Which includes two bought white rocking chairs, matching table and a yard sign, sometimes you gotta know when to fold em‘!! 

 
 
 

 

 

 
 
 

So it begins,

I'd like to make this blog a tad bit more meaningful by giving you a history of how it became to be. In 2012 my husband and I packed up the family and headed west to Dallas. My husband was originally from here and the economy has always stayed good for most industries. Like a child I was kicking and screaming the entire way. We settled on a rental house until our home sold in Tennessee. We looked for years for a home here in the Dallas suburbs, resale's, new builds, lots and builders, I found a reason it wasn't perfect. My husband was okay with anything as long as I was happy with our new found city where he loved and has always wanted to raise a family. We looked at many homes that were above and beyond our home in Tennessee, but to be difficult I was determined to nitpick every detail apart until the perfect house was a "dump." I am not artistic, crafty or handy. My style is generally traditional. I like whites and grays, crisp lines, white trim, clutter makes me uneasy. If I wanted to dress my style up you could throw in a little  of French Colonial, basically the use of classic styling and symmetry to create a calm, orderly decor. My color palette is usually in the mid-tones and fabrics are muted, usually simple solids, stripes or plaids. (Added footnote: I copied that straight from a "find your style" quiz because that's how little I know about home decor) I just know what I like and what makes my head hurt. I generally open the newest edition of Pottery Barn, literally point at a page and piece by piece from the catalog picture, BEHOLD, my bedroom, bathroom, dining room etc. (Not kidding) That's how uncreative and original I am. 

The houses here in the mighty Dallas suburbs (and around Texas in general) are what the locals call "traditional Texas brick and stone," beautiful grandeur stately homes, not just Jerry Jones or Tony Romo homes, the average middle class money goes a long way in real estate here. Rows and rows of middle class neighborhoods filled with pocket parks and walking paths, gated communities and blue ribbon schools all nestled with large brick homes where in most areas would be a million dollars. Nothing for a girl like me to snub her nose at, just not my view of a home compared to what I grew up in or preferred. There's no shortage of options here but as year 3 approached we saw our opinions slowly deminishing considering our kids were getting to know and love the neighborhood and schools of our temporary rental house, oh, and my husband reaching his limit on patience with my indecisiveness we literally walked into a model home on a Saturday and walked out under contract on a spec home, "seven houses down on the left." It had the foundation and dry wall up, so beyond the layout we got to pick every color, wood, trim, cabinets, hardware, everything!!!!

 

And boy oh boy my choices screamed exactly what I was saying, whites, grays, crisp clean lines.

As the weeks went on my home started to come together. The simple tones of grays and whites meshed no better or worse than they did in my head.

 

 

 
 

 The best part of this being the house we finally pulled the trigger on, the comical portion of this being our "final answer," after years of snubbing my nose up at every house we went into  is, next to contemporary style, craftsman style is my second least favorite type of home and ladies and gentlemen, (drum roll please) That's as craftsman as you can get for a new build in North Texas. Like I mentioned, we could pick the colors and trim but not change the elevation or layout due to building permits, so there ya have it. 

My Craftsman Style Home!

Even down to the front door,

 

 

As I mentioned previously I don't know Style, I am not handy nor crafty so maybe that's why "Craftsman" never stood out to me. Dark oak and stained glass is all I really know to classify Craftsman and neither fit my defaulted traditional tastes. Since I know nothing about interior design, handy work or power tools I chalked this up to having a mismatched home filled with stuff that made me happy and comfortable, things that fit my idea of living and matched my family's needs. Basically the whole Pottery Barn method would once again resurface. My home would look like a catalog on the inside with traditional style mismatched with a completely different theme on the outside. 

Who cares right? Exactly my thoughts, until I stumbled upon a weekend marathon on HGTV with Pinterest during commercial breaks and oh my, did I open up a can of hot mess for myself. Suddenly I became convinced I was the next DIY blogger. That I too could research, buy and use power tools and craft things by hammer and nail. Then like someone handed me an interior design degree I became the guru of "new aged craftsman" (yes that's a homemade term)  I thought, "why not Style my home to fit the exterior? I'll probably never ever own a Craftsman Style home again so why not play this up? Why couldn't I buy power tools and research online and read DIY projects? So what if the art teachers of my past always told me I sucked but I'd find my niché, afterall I do know what I like and what I don't and I grew up watching Tim the tool man Taylor, (no that last part is a joke but it shows the severity of my naivety) which brought me to my epiphany, "what if others like me doubt themselves? What if others like me want to try these things but the women on these shows look like pros and use words they don't even know how to pronounce? I can be the one to show them, the pioneer of the artistically challenged. Chances are you'll see how true that is after reading a post or two as I use words  that seem so second nature but foreign in my entries, as I go through steps that should be obvious but to me, it's the first time I've heard them, because it is the first time! Ha! I hope you enjoy my blog and venture off to try some projects yourself. And please don't ever see any project on my blog and think, "oh I can't do that," remember I've been told my whole life politely "art just isn't your strong suit," I don't have any background in construction, design, or  wood working, heck, I've never even taken a highschool shop class.  I've never been called "crafty," I've never owned or used a power tool outside of a drill, (last year.) I'm not a crafty stay at home mommy who can whip up after school snacks that look like Peppa Pig in an hour and I don't have great ideas to help my children's teachers or classroom mothers. In fact the only background I do have is I work medical field, which only gives me the advantage of knowing when to apply pressure to a deep wound and when I should go ahead and head over to the ER for my next tetanus shot after jamming a nail through an appendage. So hold on tight, enjoy my posts, and for us "non-outside-box-thinkers," let's go ahead and make our OWN box to think in.

Nothing to it but to do it!