My love affair with furniture.

I love furniture.  And even more, I love transforming furniture to my taste and style.

I found this lovely chest of drawers on Craigslist Saturday and the second he emailed me back with "Come on over",  I dragged my sweet husband out the door and we skedaddled to pick this beauty up.

Here is the before photo:

I wanted to paint it, but wasn't sure what color. I debating on doing a trendy color such as a soft yellow (the walls in our bedroom are gray and everyone knows the hot color combo is grey and yellow!)  but ultimately decided to go traditional so that I could always use this piece whever we live in the future.

I found a  whole gallon of mis-tint at Home Depot for $5 buckaroos and it was the perfect Antique White (in fact, that was the name of the color!) 

Sanded her down, applied a coat of primer, and did two coats of Antique White.

Here's the result:

(Of course, the day I wanted to take some great photos, it's rainy and cloudy...my apologies for the grainy photos)

I am in love.

The soft white and creamy grey make me smile.

Wanna know the best part?

Don't mind the pile of dirty laundry in the corner. hehe! ;)

Now, off to find another Craigslist makeover!

Love,

Kait

Linking up here and here and here.

Strawberries and Craigslist.

Good Morning, y'all!  I hope you had a great weekend!

Mine was full of fun adventures and lots of baking/cleaning.

Hubby is currently right smack in the middle of law school exams so he's not around much...that means I have the weekend to do what I want  ;)  ...here's a glimpse of what I did to entertain myself.

1.  Started off the weekend a tad early with Craft Night at Katie's house.  We made DIY mason jar vases that we painted blue and made a lid for them.  I LOVE how it turned out:

Gorgeous, if you ask me!  I plan on making some more without the lids as a centerpiece for my dining room table.

She also let me borrow some great magazines!  I spent hours on Saturday flipping through them.

My garden is also coming right along,  (well, the second garden, that is. )  Wanna know what happened to my first one?  Click here.

 Any excuse for me to dig in the dirt is good for me! I planted a beautiful peony that my mother-in-law gave me for Easter and I can't wait to see it bloom.  It's my very favorite flower. And hydrangeas. 

I also learned a very random fact about strawberries.  I was making MORE strawberry bread today and read somewhere online that the smaller the strawberries are, the more tasty they are.

I had no idea! Everytime I go to the store, I would always look for the big ones thinking they were the juiciest.  SO NOT TRUE!  See below:

 Now the berry on the right is one from Kroger. The berry on the left is from a local berry farm..aka right off the plant.  Even though they are the same size, the one on the left is WAY tastier/jucier/better because it doesn't have that white part in the center...see it?  The white part is practically tasteless and no good.  The smaller the berry, the less white center.  So from now on, buy small!

It also wants to make me ALWAYS buy berries local and fresh.  The ones from the bigger grocery stores don't taste NEAR as great as the ones from the farm.  Maybe I'll go buy a years supply and freeze them.  ;)  Just kidding.  Kind of.


And now..for the most exciting part of my weekend:

Our craigslist adventure!

I have been searching for a certain type of dresser/chest of drawers for our bedroom for like 8-9 months. No joke!! I had JUST gotten out of the shower on Saturday and decided to look on CL.  Well someone posted this dresser ten minutes prior and I immediately emailed him saying "PLEASE let me come buy this from you!" hehe...he said he was on his way out the door but would wait for us if we left right then.  So with wet hair and all, I hopped out the door with hubby and we started on our adventure:

 I was excited, if you can't tell.

And because I am not going to give you the reveal until TOMORROW, here's a sneak peek:

 That's all your getting folks!

Come back tomorrow for the big reveal! I can't wait!!!!!


HAPPY MONDAY!

Xoxo,


Kait

Did you win?!

Did YOU win the giveaway???

Go here to find out!
 

Reminder!

Just a quick little reminder that the banner giveaway ends TODAY at 6pm! Please go enter if you haven't already!

Click here!

Happy FRIDAY, y'all!!!

-Kait

How to keep "unwanted visitors" out of your garden.

Good Morning, friends!  I am off to work in just a couple minutes but wanted to share a story right quick.

So...if you follow me on facebook, you know that I have had a small problem with my pup getting into my garden.  I planted a ton of veggies from seed several weeks ago and only some of them were growing.  The others...not so much.  Well, I was outside one day and my neighbor yells through the fence "you know your dog has been laying in your garden all day, right?"  

WHAT!

I didn't know that.  

And so that explains why my garden was looking flat. ha!

Well last week, I finally caught her.  

See below:

Bad Penny!  I gave her a little spanking in hopes that she won't do it again.  

That didn't work.

The next day I found her back in my garden.

I had to replant a lot of my veggies and this time I roped off the space with surveyor's tape...I REALLY hope she won't get in it!  

Any advice/tips on how to keep your pup from getting in your garden??  I know she just likes lying in the cool soil...she doesn't really intend to dig up the veggies..I don't think.

So tell me, how you do keep "unwanted visitors" out of you garden!?

On a side note, look how GORGEOUS these flowers are! They came fresh picked from the Farmer's Market.  LOVE THEM!

Happy Monday!

It's that time of year!!! 

STRAWBERRY SEASON!!!

I love strawberrys.  Especially when they are fresh from the field.  I picked some up from the Farmer's Market this past weekend and knew I had to make something yummy with them.  What did I decide on?

A delicious strawberry bread.  It is SO good.  Like, I will never use another recipe for Strawberry Bread.  This one rocked. 

I hope you enjoy!

Fresh Strawberry Bread

Taken from www.mybakingaddiction.com

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 cup buttermilk  **I used regular milk and it tasted delicious too***
1 1/2 cups strawberries, rinse, dried and chopped  **I added a little more just because**

Directions
1. Grease and flour a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
2. With electric mixer cream butter, sugar and cream cheese until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Mix in vanilla.
3. In separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Blend flour mixture with butter mixture just until blended. Add buttermilk and only stir until just combined; do not over mix.
4. Carefully fold in strawberries. Dough mixture will be thick.
5. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50 to 60 minutes.

**Depending on your oven, it might take a little longer to bake.  I cooked mine for 60 minutes uncovered, and then covered it with foil for another 15 minutes.**

-Kaitlin

{{Giveaway and Guest Post from The Wierlos}}

Good Evening, Ya'll!

I am so excited to introduce you to my newest friend, Tausha!  She is so sweet and fun! When she contacted me for this giveaway, I just had to say yes- her and her hubby are traveling to Uganda this fall to help with a humanitarian project and they need your help!

She sent me this awesome banner with our anniversary on it- I  LOVE IT!

Isn't that so cute!?  I love it.  When I take down my pennants from my spring decor on my mantle, I am going to put it there so it can been seen better!

The best news is that you can win one for yourself!





Without further ado, here is Tausha!

________________________________




Why hello, Mrs DIY & The Tennis Guy followers.  I am seriously SO EXCITED to be here, staulking all of Kait's amazing followers. This blog, was one of the first I ran across this last year when I started become more serious in my attempt to blog. I love her Mr. & Mrs. Pottery Barn knockoff pillows. I actually tried making a set of my own. They didn't turn out so good - but oh well. It's all about the effort, right?

Anyways. The 4-1-1 on me?
California girl
 I blog over HERE
I am addicted to pinterest, baking, my hubby & yorkie.
I love anything that glitters, sparkles, or that is a miniture version of it's full size
 I married the guy I dated for 7 years. We've been married just over one. (Our story)
Thats about it. I'm sure if you become my blog B.F.F you will get to know me quick.
Anyways.
I recently contacted Kait and she agreed to let me do a give-a-way on her blog.
You guys are spoiled rotten.
I am here to give you a FREE CUSTOM BANNER from my new Etsy Shop.
Pretty sweet right?

My husband and I are teaming up with a good friend of ours to go do a humanitarian project in Uganda this October. We will be paying for all of our own expenses, but the project requires 10k. In an effort to raise money, I have opened the Etsy shop, and am donating 100% of it's profits to the non-profit organization to help change the lives of individuals in Africa. You don't have to purchase anything to enter in the Give-a-way (you can donate, IF YOU WANT), but your support of the shop, will help others learn about it - and can help us raise enough money to be able to do the project. (If you want to purchase something, go right ahead, I'll even give you a 20% coupon code!)

Rules:-You must live in the US, have a valid shipping address, and be over the age of 18.

Entries: ( 6 possible) leave a seperate comment for each one!
-Follow Mrs. Diy and the Tennis guy
-Follow The Wierlo's Blog
-Favorite my Etsy Shop 
-Pin an item from my Etsy Shop to Pinterest (and leave the link in your comment)
-Pin the banner picture from this post to Pinterest with "Giveaway" as the caption (and leave the link in your comment)
-Donate ANY AMOUNT to our donation website


EASY, right? If you do want to purchase something from the shop use the code "MRSDIY" to recieve %20 off your order! Thanks for taking the time to read this, for helping the helpless in Uganda, and for supporting small Etsy shops and bloggers! Good luck!!  Winner will be chosen by Random.Org on Friday April 27th, at 6PM.   ALRIGHT GUYS!!! GO GO GO! YOU KNOW YOU WANT ONE!

Scenes from the weekend.

1. Went to the Farmer's Market.

2. Made strawberry bread with the berries from said Farmer's Market.

3. Enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL weather with a picnic on the lake, some clothes drying, gardening, and relaxing.

4. Card night with some friends. 

And lastly, we ended our weekend with a hot date. 

I. love. weekends.

How was yours?!

A crazy week and the Gospel.

Y'all.

This past week was one of the most crazy weeks I've ever had.  And the most scary.

I haven't blogged all week because I just didn't know how to put into words what happened...I needed a few days to let me gather my thoughts and so now I am ready to talk about it.

The bank I work at got robbed on Wednesday.


It was one of the most scary moments I've ever experienced.  My life was literally in someone else's hands (even though it was for a short time).  I had so much anger, sadness, guilt, and fear inside of me.

I was furious because he did that to us. He threatened us just for a few hundred dollars.
I was sad because my co-worker was the one who got robbed.  I just stood there and couldn't do anything.
I was guilty because I thought there was something else I could have done to make him not rob us.
I was fearful because he said he had a gun. He could have shot us.. (Praise the Lord that no one was hurt!)

Here's the story in a nutshell so you can understand it a little more.

It could have been a lot worse.  He could have come inside and fired shots or held us hostage.  Instead, he just passed a note to the teller beside me that said something along the lines of "I have a gun and will shoot if you do not give me your money."  I  was helping a customer when this happened, but saw the note when he passed it to her and so I knew about it when it was happening. 

Those were the longest seconds of my entire life. I wanted to pass out, to crawl under my desk, to disappear.  But all I could do was stand there and pray while the customer in front of me was clueless as to what was going on. She had no idea.

When he left the building, I have never been more thankful.  I was so glad we were safe, but that still didn't heal the fear I had inside me.

The next five hours were a blur.  The police showed up, I got interviewed multiple times, had to fill out a robber report about what he looked like, and the crime scene investigators fingerprinted the whole building.

I guess he wasn't happy with the amount of money he got from our bank, so the very next day he robbed another bank down the road.  Within a few hours, he was caught.

I do sleep a little better at night knowing he is caught, but his face still haunts me a little.

Yep..so this past week was a little crazy....

I  was telling hubby when I got home that night that the robber needed Jesus.  I prayed that he would find other ways to get money, that somehow he would find the Savior that I have.

But you know what?  I realized that I am just as much a sinner as he is.  My heart is just as ugly as his, but in a different way.

We all sin.  I was getting so angry at him and telling Seth "He needs Jesus" or "I hope he stays in jail until he dies"...but really I should be praying he finds the Truth. The truth that can set him free from what he is doing.  The freedom that comes with finding your identity in Christ.

I need the Gospel just as much as he does.  And because Jesus rose from the dead, I am now cleansed from my ugly heart.

I need Jesus every day. It's so easy for my ugly heart to get in the way and think "Oh gosh, look at her. She needs Jesus." or "I can't believe he would do something like that."

I am just as much a sinner as they are!  But because of the blood of Jesus, my sins are washed away.  I can boast in Christ because he saved my soul.

I need a daily reminder of that.  
 

Spring Pillows.

I finally got out my sewing machine this past weekend and got to work on some pillows that I have been wanting to make for quite some time.

Sadly, I don't have a tutorial, but if you get on youtube and search "how to make an envelope pillow cover" you will find some great tutorials. 

I love making pillows because they are easy, inexpensive, and can be changed out as often as you like.

Here's our couch with the old pillows. This was taken last summer.  I liked it, but just wanted a more cheerful and Springy feel:

 I love this fabric, but cannot remember what line it's from! :( I got it from here.

 I got this yellow fabric from Joann's about two years ago..it was under one dollar in the scrap pile!

 I love this pillow of our sweet Golden retriever.  I found a silhouette online of a golden, printed it out on regular paper, and used regular craft paint!  The fabric for the pillows is actually a canvas drop cloth from Lowes...around $3 bucks!

 The good Lord only knows how much I love ruffles....

How about you?  Do you decorate for Spring/ Summer with pillows or changable decor?  I would love to find a bright throw to add to the couch! Maybe yellow or blue.  Perhaps a trip to HomeGoods is in the works....

Have a Happy Tuesday!


-Kait