Watch out. Stand back. Hide your kids. Hide your wife. Basically, hide anything that can possibly be painted, because now that I know how easy it is to make this incredibly realistic faux marble paint treatment, I’m must paint everything in sight. Everything! All marble-painted everything all the time! Who’s with me!?
Check out the how-to from Ronda at Batchelors Way, then meet up at my house with your paintbrushes, sponges, and feathers (that’s right) and at dawn, WE RIDE! er, PAINT!!!
Did you have a happy Mother’s Day? I did, thanks to my husband who spoiled me. My kids didn’t really give a crap. My 8-year-old son promised to make me breakfast, then forgot, then promised me lunch, then forgot. My 12-year-old said at the end of the day “Oh yeah, I was going to make you one of those coupon book things. Sometime. Maybe.” Gee whiz kids, not like I gave you life or anything.
But whatever! We’ll see how they like the same treatment when their birthdays roll around, mwahahaha! (Oh, don’t worry, I’m not really that mean).
Anyway, let’s move on to this makeover from Leslie at City Girl Arts. She had recently renovated her bathroom, but hadn’t given too much thought to the mirror yet, which was kinda boring. She had this large French-style mirror that would be perfect. It had come with a thrift store dresser, and was solid wood with a great shape. However, it also came with a fancy (and broken) appliqué and was too tall to use with her light fixture. Hmmmmmmm.
Question: Is there any solution to this too tall mirror w/ broken appliqué problem?
Answer: Heck yes! Pop off that appliqué and mount the light fixture directly onto the mirror, then hang the mirror with a cleat on the back!
Brilliant!
PS: Thank you all so much for your kind words about our family photos and offering your prayers and encouragement to Chandra! It means so much to me. Thank you.
Happy Friday! I have a few non-makeover-related things that I want to share with you today, so I hope you’ll humor me!
As you may know, I had a baby a few months ago. His name is Tyce and he is the sweetest little angel nugget. And with a new baby comes the need for some new family pictures!
We had planned for months for my 8-year-old son Koy’s baptism and Tyce’s baby blessing to happen on the same weekend in April, which meant the whole extended family was in town. Perfect opportunity for a group family picture, which we hadn’t had done since, I don’t know, 1998? The one where I look like a cast member from “My So Called Life?” Yeah.
So I called up one of the best photographers I know, Chandra Goodman, who also happens to be my sister-in-law’s sister. (Is there another term for this relationship? I feel like there should be).
Not only is she an amazing photographer, she’s an incredible person with a story I wanted to tell you about.
Two years ago, at the age of 26, Chandra was diagnosed with breast cancer.
She went through chemo, lost all her hair, endured a double mastectomy, and had to put her plans of having more children on hold for a few years until it was safe to conceive again. But she beat it! She came out the other side heathy and whole.
And through it all, she kept the most upbeat and positive attitude. You can tell that just by looking at her. She’s one of those people that just radiates light. Sometimes, her family members would say, they almost forgot she even had cancer, that’s how happy and positive she is.
Then, in February of this year, she found another lump.
Cancer had struck again.
She was told that she would have even more intense chemo this time around and that her chances of having more children were next to nothing. A difficult pill to swallow for someone who already had fertility problems to begin with and ached for more children.
It was at this point that I began to rethink our plan of having Chandra take our pictures. That is probably the LAST thing she wanted to be doing. We told her it was TOTALLY NOT A BIG DEAL if she wasn’t up for it anymore. We understood 100%.
But Chandra got a small miracle. Chemo wasn’t going to be necessary! She could fight it with radiation alone. So she insisted that she felt perfectly well enough to come out and take our pictures. (I gave her ample opportunities to back out, don’t you worry).
She did such a great job capturing us.
She’s a total pro, I couldn’t believe how quickly she whipped all 18 of us into shape.
(I’m the oldest of four kids. That’s my sister Tori on the left with her family, my brother Nathan second from the left with his wife and their two boys, then my youngest brother Spencer is on the right with his wife Candice, who is Chandra’s sister).
We were in a cow pasture, with snakes, and cow poo, and a nosy bull that was very interested in the proceedings, and she didn’t flinch once.
I’m so thankful we were able to capture this little moment in time. The light was so beautiful too, she knew exactly when the sun would be at it’s most golden hour.
(One of these families just found out they are pregnant, can you guess who?)
Sorry for the picture overload, but I love them all so much! I had a really hard time narrowing down the few to share here today!
I hoped you enjoyed a little glimpse into my family, and meeting Chandra and her family.
If you want to read more about her journey, check out her blog Life As We Know It.
If you live in the Mesa/Phoenix area, and are looking for an awesome photographer for any event, look her up on her site Chandra Delite Photography! (You have to check out the birth story sessions she does, so beautiful!)
If you have the means to donate, that would be incredibly appreciated. After her radiation, she has to follow up with medicine that she cannot get pregnant on for 10 years. She is freezing embryos now in the hopes that she can take a break halfway through those 10 years, and try to have a baby then. Anything that could help lift this financial burden in any small way would be such a help to them. You can donate to Chandra here.
If you are the praying type, prayers are ALWAYS welcome.
And if not, just send some positive mental thoughts her way. It makes a difference. I know it.
If you have a severely dated kitchen such as this one, with light-sucking low-hanging cabinets that descend from the ceiling and obstruct the view of everything in their periphery, what are you waiting for? Take a sledgehammer to those boogers like, yesterday.
“But what about all that storrrrage?!” you might ask.
To which I say, “Storage schmorage! What could you possibly be keeping in those cupboards that is better than glorious light and space?”
“Uh, my collection of commemorative Christmas dishes from KFC.”
(That is a real thing that really exists).
And then we both nod knowingly at each other, and I silently hand you the sledgehammer.
From Kayla at Love Lucy Girl, who does not actually have any commemorative Christmas dishes (that I know of), but she sure does have a gorgeous kitchen!
Every now and then, a reupholstered item will come my way that is so fabulous, it causes me to think, “Oh yeah. I am FOR SURE taking an upholstery class. I am going to find that class, then I’m going to take that class, then I’m going to PASS THAT CLASS, and finally, finally I’ll be able to reupholster cool stuff and all of my dreams will come truuuue!”
Anyway. This is one of those times. From Lisa at Sweet Parsley Home.
Is there anything in your home that you deeply dislike, but you’ve lived with it for so long that you’ve become blind to it? Don’t let that happen to you. It’s bad for the soul. (I can’t prove that, but I bet it’s true). Look around. What have you been tolerating? In my old house, I had these fake little panels on the ends of my kitchen cabinets that did not even come close to matching. DROVE ME NUTS EVERYDAY. Everyday! I lived there for five years! Why didn’t I just do something about it?
Don’t be like me. Just start somewhere. Make small changes if that’s all you can do, but do something.
Better After reader Sudhakar had lived with this dated bathroom for ten years, and finally got to change it up recently. It took eight months to finish, but now it’s done and beautiful, and a shiny little gem of a room, whereas before it was anything but.
Say goodbye to exposed plumbing, and hello to this showcase of a shower!
How do you feel about the tiled walls? I feel like I like it! Seems very cool and clean, which is how bathrooms should feel. No one wants to walk into a bathroom and think, “Oooh, so warm and homey! I’d love to cozy up in here with a mug of cocoa!” Also, did you know that radiators can be sexy? If you don’t know, now you know.
The sink is a stunner, although Sudhakar has lived to regret this choice. Apparently, it is impossible to keep clean! But if the choice is between cleaning a gorgeous sink often, or hating an ugly sink everyday … not a tough decision.
