Happy December.

I cannot believe it’s finally December!

Cheers to gallons cups of egg nog, the smell of pine, and many wrapped presents. Ahh, I love this month and to celebrate properly, I did a little project last night. We bought a wreath a week ago when we picked up our Christmas tree and it looked sooo boring. Kind of depressing actually… So I decided to jazz it up with some gold accents and a new bow ornament that I picked up at Pier One.

Nothing like a little wreath to liven up the house and our spirits, right? What do you guys think? Any little projects you are creating to bring some Christmas cheer?

DIY: Storage Bin Bench

After getting home from work yesterday, the weather definitely cleared up and all that was left from the rainy day was a wavy Lake Michigan. So I took a picture of my beautiful front yard before getting serious and knocking items off my to-do list.

Background/Recap Story:
So I bought a wooden storage bin for $1 at a thrift store and a few days ago, I stripped it down and painted it white. {Wish I would have taken a before picture while it was brown... but ohh well.} While it was drying, I got thinking about a lid for it… So boom, I knew I had to make a bench seat. I added braces into each corner of the bin to support the weight and got a board cut down to size to fit the opening. In the meantime, I asked my beloved followers which fabric to use and was ready to head to the fabric store to pick up the winning material… That was until my mom walked into my room yesterday and said “I got you some fabric for your bench. I thought the design and color was so you!” So needless to say, my mom altered the design a bit. But honestly I couldn’t be happier since whenever I look at it, I will forever think of her picking it out to surprise me. It’s really sweet!

1. Cut down foam to the dimensions of the opening of the bin.

2. Use spray adhesive to glue foam to wood 

3. Tightly wrap the fabric around the foam {kind of like wrapping a birthday present}

4. Use a staple gun to attach the fabric to the wood base

5. Put the bench seat into the opening onto the braces

I want to make a throw pillow for the bench to give it some extra height, but honestly I couldn't be happier. Right now it matches our kitchen perfectly... especially with the yellow fabric and bead board, so that is its home at the moment. I am hoping to incorporate it into our back porch once that space is completed.

I checked a lot of items off my to-do list last night! So expect more DIY projects the next few days. I am kickin' butt and taking names. Honestly, there is nothing better than standing back from a project and thinking "ahhh, I did that all by myself!"

Now I am brainstorming ideas to make storage compartments or dividers into the bin. Yeah, I am that anal and need things to be organized. But for now, I say its good enough to move onto the bigger things on my list.

Antique Copper with Nile Sand Accents.

I honestly don't think I will ever get tired of saying it, but don't you just love good friends? Lately, I have been in a depression and it was about time that I was no longer the one getting taken care of and instead I wanted to help others. So when I received a phone call from my friend, Jordan {J}, I didn't even think twice to help.

J: "Sarah? I am at Home Depot right now and I need your artistic opinion. Can I come pick you up so you can help me pick an exterior house paint?''
S: "Yeah no problem. But I thought Scotty was with you."
J: "Ohh he is, but he JUST decided to tell me that he's color-blind. He honestly can't tell the difference between any of these colors."

So a few minutes later, we were driving back to compare and contrast different colors of brown. Poor Scotty was made fun of the entire evening, but he'd get himself into it. For example, Jordan and I decided to put 3 paint chips together in order to see what the color would look like on a larger scale. As we are standing back from it discussing, Scotty walks up from a side aisle, stops and says "Ohh, I really like the one in the middle." Jordan and I automatically start laughing and telling him that they are all the same color as he walked away defeated. Jordan finally decided on {1.}Antique Copper as his exterior paint with {2}Nile Sand as his accent color for the shutters.

Since we are not heartless people, we decided to take Scotty to dinner as an apology. Then finished the night off with Kilwin's ice cream in its new location near my house. Ahh, cappuccino chocolate chip ice cream... there isn't anything better than that.

I love telling everyone else at work that we are currently painting Jordan's house Antique Copper with Nile Sand Accents, and he always rolls his eyes saying "you are making it sound so much fancier than it really is." I even used Behr's website to see a demo of what the color would look like on an example house. It turned out just how Jordan and I envisioned it. His house is a ski chalet located near one of northern Michigan's famous ski hills, Boyne Highlands, so the color needs to be neutral and earthy to complement its gorgeous surroundings. Ohh, did I mention that the color of the house now is.... light blue with red {now hot pink because its so faded} shutters. Its horrible, so anything would make it look a thousand times better. Ahh, I am SO ready to get out of work and start this project, but be expecting many more posts about this endeavor because it has taken over my life!