To Accessorize or To Not Accessorize?

That is The Question. Do you accessorize your coffee table? I see lots of beautifully decorated tables both online and on TV and I've been a little jealous. My own hesitation comes from scenes like this:

This is what the coffee table in our living room usually looks like- it's most often used as a race track.  Which is ok because I built that coffee table and I don't mind it taking a beating. Or I am afraid of things getting knocked over all the time. 

And lets face it- all those beautiful accessories = more dusting to me.

Spring Break

Last week I was in Blog Darkness- AKA I didn't post anything all week! Sorry for disappearing without notice. I took the kiddos down to Houston for Spring Break, and the weekend before that the Hubs and I were in OKC for a Marriage Retreat. Both trips were a lot of fun. And it was nice to be out of Altus where it is still 30 degrees outside!

While in Houston I had to get a picture of the kiddos in the Bluebonnets:

Color Meaning: Green

I was going to write about all the colors in one post but it was getting crazy long so now I'm breaking it up into weekly segments!

Color is a powerful thing. We associate each associate color with different feelings - passion, hunger, temper, calmness. It evokes emotions in people. Color may have a different meaning to each person based on their experience with it, but there are some overall similarities in how color makes us feel.


So when you choose a paint color for a room in your home you could ultimately be choosing a feeling for that room. So let's explore some color meaning! 

Some More Progress

It may not look like much but I've made some progress on my safe deposit boxes (soon to be TV console!)

If you remember from last week I painted them white:

After taking the tape off there is some touch up to do of course. :P

During the week; if you follow me on Instagram, you would have seen that I welded a steel "apron" if you will. 

I attached it with the welder and painted it to match. This runs along the bottom of the two safe deposit boxes and will cover the wood support beams.

I found the keys to unlock the boxes but not for all of them. That's why in the above picture some drawers are still stuck in the box.

I also cut and glued up the wood supports. These wood planks will not only support the weight of the two safe deposit boxes but will also serve as the attachment point for the legs.

The legs I ordered are supposed to come in this week! I'm ready to move this baby into our room and out of the garage so I can pull me car in again. :)

What did you DIY this week?

Sawyer's 7 Month Photo

I am almost 2 weeks late getting these photos up but better late than never right?

My good friend also took some pictures of Saw-Man for Mustache March. (You need to check out her photography page- she is amazing!)

Have a good weekend everyone!

30 Day Sketch Book Challenge

Something I've never been great at is sketching. Even in design school I never felt completely confident in my hand sketching and drawing skills. I would turn to other methods to get my design ideas across (thank goodness for computers!) That doesn't mean I don't wish I were better at it.

So at the beginning of this month when I noticed one of the pinners I follow (Earmark Social- if you don't follow her you should go and do it now!) started having pictures pop up with the hash tag #30daysketchbookchallenge I was intrigued.

Usually a 30 Sketchbook challenge is to fill an entire sketch book with drawings in 30 days in order to get better at hand sketching or to get in the habit of drawing on a whim, or just for fun. I thought it was a great idea and I am joining in for the month of March. Because I feel like a novice sketcher I am challenging myself to draw at least one thing a day.

I started this past Saturday just sketching whatever I could:

Monday I quickly drew the curtains in our bedroom before bedtime:

Tuesday I was having trouble getting the perspective right on the chair in our living room:

So I drew it twice...

I didn't show you Sunday's sketch because it was pretty bad.

I told you at the beginning of this post that I was out of the habit of hand drawing but that doesn't mean I had given it up completely. I usually draw out ideas for furniture that pop in my head. 

Like the console I am working on:

This was my original idea for it before I even bought them:

And this idea for a side table might actually happen now. I drew it up after I refinished my vintage card catalog drawers a while back:

Remember the marble table tops I found? Well right now they are just sitting on top of other pieces of furniture but one day I'd like to create new bases for them.

No draw dropping ideas yet.

Someone gave some glass tiles and I'm still trying to decide what to do with them:

And I had an idea for a park bench- I have no idea why but I thought it was fun.

One day I might make some of these furniture pieces but for now they are just ideas. Hand drawing is a quick way to get my ideas down and it's been fun to sketch for fun the last few days. My goal is to get better at drawing and continue it even after my 30 days are finished.

Safe Deposit Box Console Update

Over the weekend I worked on fixing up the safe deposit boxes I bought last week. It may not look like much but I had to sand everything down, the top was marred pretty badly so I hit it with my wire brush attachment for the drill. Then taping off the handles took FOR -EVER! The handles aren't screwed on like the last metal box I repainted so I had to leave them on while spray painting.

One drawer was already missing from one of the boxes. Since I need space for our cable receiver and DVD player I removed 3 more boxes to make an opening for them.

My overall plan looks like this:

Since I don't think I'll ever find such a good deal on hairpin legs again, I have some on order that I found on Ebay. 

The boxes are not the same height; as I originally thought. I think they used to stack on top of each other. So I am going to use some Birch Plywood leftover from another project to make a wood top for the shorter side in order to make the boxes the same height.

One drawer was already missing from one of the boxes. Since I need space for our cable receiver and DVD player I removed 3 more boxes to make an opening for them.

I am anxious to finish these up and get rid of the old rickety Ikea wooden stands we are currently using in our bedroom. I've had them since college and they have been used and abused over the years.

Latest Thrifty Find

I am super excited to share this latest furniture find with you today. I found these beauties buried under a bunch of other stuff at one of my favorite junk stores here in town.

The owner of the shop told are old safe deposit boxes from a bank that shut down a few years ago. He used to have the keys for the boxes but lost them :/

I don't know how well you can read the name on the top label but it says "Altus Ice Cream Company". I wish Altus still had an ice cream company!

My grand plans for these guys are to transform them into an entertainment center for our bedroom. The two boxes side by side are 65" long- perfect for a TV Console. I just need to paint it up, find some legs, and cut a wood top for it. (Sounds so easy but it will probably take me a while!)

Anyone else have some great furniture finds lately?