Trip out West {St.George Utah}

My youngest daughter(the blondie) and I had a whirl wind trip to Utah this past week.

Her best friend from birth and neighbor had recently moved out to southern Utah this 

past fall. For Christmas my daughter received this gift to travel out West to see her

best friend. Kudos for me because I got to go with her. 

It had been over five months since they'd seen each other in person. I'm not sure  

if Skype counts but it does help a little? Did I mention her Mom is my bestie too.

We hit Urban Renewal in St. George. I adore this store and thought to myself how could I get this stuff

back to Illinois. I could send it UPS, FedEx, or I could  have my friend's uncle who's driving back home 

bring it with him. What a tease!

The whole store was amazing. Like Arnold says "I'll be back" and next time I'll have a way to get some goodies home. Promise!

While our weekend was short we did manage to make it around to the Parade of Homes. It was the first 

weekend of the parade and it was busy, but worth it. The interior design in these homes blew me away. 

With lots of hugs and several tears running down our cheeks we headed home, but we will be back 

again. Next time it will be longer. What a beautiful place St. George! 

DIY Painted Dresser

It's done, D O N E! I finally finished my daughter's dresser.

About a year ago we bought her this matching dresser and side table. I painted the side table right 

way. I sanded and sanded, primed, painted, and poly'd it. The process was time consuming to say 

the least. It turned out nice, but since then I've discovered Annie Sloan chalk paint. In fact I've 

become quit the fan of her paint and have used it here and here. 

This project was going to be slightly different because I hadn't ever used AS Antique White;

especially on a darker piece of furniture. 

BEFORE

AFTER

It took three coats of paint to fully cover the wood. After the second coat I decided to dilute

 the paint with some water to thin it out. It made a big difference on the coverage since the 

first coat goes on so thick. After the paint dried I waxed it with AS Clear wax; let it dry and 

then buffed it with a clean, lint free t-shirt. As recommended I applied two more coats 

of wax to the top of the dresser for extra durability. The top of the dresser takes a 

beating especially with my 10 year old girl. 

After the wax dried I went to town on distressing. My original thought was to not distress it, but

I quickly changed my mind after I tried it on one of the corners. It's like a bad habit and you just 

can't stop after you've started. I'm glad I didn't stick to my original plan. I found the new 

 hardware at Target and the clock knobs came from Hobby Lobby (my daughter's choice).

     

I know I say it all of the time, but I'm amazed at what a difference a little paint can do to 

 an outdated piece of furniture. I love it and can only hope this piece lasts my daughter 

until she leaves the nest. Otherwise, I already have other ideas for it like use it in 

the dining room as a sideboard. 

Are you ready to work on piece of furniture? 

I'd love to hear from you.

Outside view of Our Home

Welcome to our home and to Our Blue Front Door! 

Now you know how my blog got it's name. Today I'm sharing

a look at our home from the exterior, not sure if the interior
will ever be photo ready, but I'm working on it

My perennial garden in the front of the house is full of colorful cone
flowers, day lilies, and boxwood's. Easy to maintain and heat tolerant.

Nothing says "Welcome" than a personalized doormat.

Our house was built in 1992, when oak trim was all the rage. If we ever win the lottery the first
 thing I would do is change out all of my oak trim to crisp, clean white. Until then...the oak is staying. 

We purchased it in 2001, and have lived here for over 10 years now. It's your traditional two story home with three bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths. The main floor has an eat-in kitchen and opens to our family room.  We have a dining room off of the kitchen and a formal living room in the front of the house. We don't use it as a formal living room, but instead we use it as a piano room and office space for me. 

Our basement is partially finished and is home to my hubby's Man Cave, his office, and storage.  

Our back yard, deck, and the view of our pool where we spend ALL of our time
in the warm months. We love to entertain almost every weekend.

Thanks for stopping by and catching a glimpse of the outside of our home.

Adding fabric backing to an IKEA Expedit Bookcase

Have you ever jumped into a DIY project without having all the supplies 

you needed or know exactly what you are doing? BINGO! I saw a blog post

somewhere and it literally caused a light bulb to go off in my head. I've had 

this IKEA Expedit bookcase for awhile now and have been wanting to add

some kind of backing to it. Here's where I jumped in without planning and can

I just tell you this is not like me. 

IKEA Expedit Shelving 

The planner in me did know that a piece of 20" x 30" foam core board fit the

back of the unit perfectly. Now how many pieces do I need to cover it, no clue!

Please ignore the ugly garage floor in the pictures

After measuring the back opening of the unit which was 30"W x 58"L I figured

 I needed three pieces of foam core board. Thank goodness the Dollar Tree is five

 minutes away. Little did I know I might have needed some tape to attach the pieces

 together. I thought I had some in the house, but no dice. My girls probably used

it all on a project. No need to worry though I raided my daughter's Duct Tape stash.

It's not pretty but it's doing what I need it to do.  

Again before I knew the exact measurements I bought this fabric to line the

back. I bought 1 1/2 yards thinking it would be enough. Wrong again!

I was about 1 1/2" short on fabric to cover the foam core. Luckily the Expedit has a 2" thick
shelf width on the top and bottom of the shelf. This really was my saving grace. At least if
the foam core board showed through it would be at the bottom of the shelf and not noticeable.
To attach the fabric I used spray adhesive to glue down the fabric. It helped some, but I had
to hot glue the edges. Do you notice anything showing through the fabric at all? No, not
the colored Duct Tape that I had to use because I had nothing else to use. 

Not knowing how this was going to turn out I finished putting it
together. I hammered a nail into each corner to secure the foam
core down. I know it's not looking pretty from the back. Hang in
there with me please  

Front side! Looking better if I say so myself. I can vaguely see

the Duct tape, but I'm not worried about it. Once I style the 

bookcase you won't even notice it.

Oh yeah remember how I didn't buy enough fabric? Here's a 

close up of the shortage. It's all good...

What do you think?

 Do you agree that my poor planning mishaps are hardly

noticeable? I am happy with the way it turned out.

Have you had a DIY project go astray and had to get

"creative" to fix it? 

Rustic Winter Mantel

Hi my friends! 

It feels a little strange to be posting about another Winter mantel again, 

but I'm just not feeling Spring yet. I know the stores have all there colorful  

Spring decorations out and it's been mighty tempting, but ole man Winter is

still here. My Winter mantel from last year was simple, check it out here. I 

wanted to do the same thing this year and not spend any money what so ever.

Without spending any money I knew I needed to be more creative than usual. I  had a plan and I wanted

to use this piece of wood that I stole gathered from Kolob Mountain in Utah. My dear friend moved

to Utah and when I visited her this past fall we went hiking up on Kolob mountain. Long story short, 

since I couldn't carry on a stolen piece of wood from Utah on my flight; her dad had to drive back 

to Illinois anyway. He kindly brought it home to me and I'm forever thankful. Some things are just 

sentimental!

For the rest of the mantel, I went down to the basement with a clothes basket and gathered everything I

needed to fill in the space. I guess I might be considered a small hoarder, but I am ok with it. I mean everyone has pine cones, old books, Dollar Tree hurricane vases, excess burlap, candle pillars of all 

sizes turned upside down, and candles.

I got the snowflakes from the Dollar Tree two years ago. They are perfect to decorate with.

How often do you try to decorate with what you have in your home? I know it's not always easy, but
you should try it. 

Winter Mantel Recap

Happy New Year or as my friends say "Happy Nude Rear"

With all of the craziness of the holidays I never got the chance

to tell you some exciting news. My Winter mantel from last year

was featured on HGTV; Decorate your mantel for Winter. I'm 

number 7 out of 21. Be sure to check out all of the other mantels

 featured, a couple of my friends were featured too. 

What amazing talent! 

Now normally I wouldn't do a blog post about this, but I 

 thought it was worth mentioning. Thank you HGTV for this

wonderful feature. I'm flattered.

I'm looking forward to a great 2013 and trying to branch out a little on

my wee-lil blog. Here's to new beginnings...