Guest Post for Gail

I am so excited and honored to be guest posting for Gail while she is attending  her daughter’s wedding! Gail has been such an inspiration to me! I have  adopted her as my “blog mentor”! As busy as she is with her own awesome blog and projects, she always has time and patience for my questions! I love Gail’s style of repurposing! I have several of her projects on my “to-do” list to try myself!

Today, I would like to share one of my own repurpose  projects.  It was fast and easy and turned out looking as good as I had pictured it in my mind! That doesn’t always happen for me.:(  I’ve had this small roll top desk for years.

I found it at a thrift store and it kept begging to come home with me. I finally gave in even though the drawers on the side were missing. I figured I could put some luan in the space to form a shelf and pop in a basket for a “drawer”. Over the years, I have had it in the kitchen, dining room and finally the living room. It hasn’t had any real function except to collect junk and dust. I even considered retiring it, but there was just something that wouldn’t let me. Then the other day, I looked at it with a new vision and knew that it had finally found it’s purpose! Have you read any of the many posts around blogland for creating a “command center”  for your home? I have needed and wanted one for while, but I don’t have (or didn’t think I have) the typical space in my home for one. I really just needed to look at things with a fresh perspective. After staring at the desk for a few minutes, I realized that I could transform it into the base for my very own kitchen command center! Before I moved it to the living room, it was  in my kitchen, doing nothing. Now I’m moving it back to the same spot and it will have a job to do! There is a small wall between two doorways and it is perfect for a kitchen command center! There is even a magnetic chalkboard, also in need of a makeover, on the wall already!

To start the transformation, I sanded the whole thing with a palm sander. I found that the cubbies inside the desk were actually removable YAY! The cubbie section

is one of the things that has kept me from using this for much. They are too small to really hold anything and they took up valuable space inside, so out it came! It made the sanding and painting much easier too!

   Next, I gave the whole thing, except for the roll top, a coat of gray primer (forgot to take a picture!) and I used spray paint primer! It covered well and  didn’t run.

I kept the roll top covered in newspaper and painters tape and sprayed the desk with Krylon’s satin black spray paint…easy! Two coats and I was done. It dried fast!

  

   For the roll top, I  wiped on two coats Minwax stain in cherry. I’m trying to decide if I want to put clear satin poly over it.  The black paint and  rich wood tone together was exactly what I was hoping for!

Next, I wiped the baskets down with the same cherry stain. They were pale and needed a little warming up before I put them back in the slots.

 

While I was waiting for them to dry, I  cut and nailed a “shelf”  from another piece of luan, where the chair would normally slide under the desk. The larger basket will fit here and be a great place for my cooking magazines!

 

Everything came together fast and easy, just the way I like it! I now have the start of my kitchen command center and the motivation to keep going with it!

Thank you Gail for having me today! I want you to know that I did all my own sawing and nailing on this project! With hubby out of town, I had no choice. ;-) It wasn’t to bad actually, I’m looking forward doing some more!

If any of you would like to come visit me at Keen Inspirations, I’d love to have you stop by. I’ve got some thrifty, repurpose projects like my kitchen chandelier turned solar street lamp:

 

I’m very proud to say that it  won first place at the DIY Club March Contest! I made some dollar store solar basket lights too. Another fast and easy project!

How about some printable word art?

As they say in the here in the North Georgia Mountains, “Ya’ll come see me!” Hopefully I’ll have some more done on my Kitchen Command Center!Thanks again Gail, for allowing me to be your guest!

ummm….Hello???…

Is anyone still around? Not that I expect there to be…I’ve been gone a while with no explanation. How rude of me…I didn’t intend to be, I just thought that “tomorrow, I will surely be able to write…” In a nutshell, I have been gone more than home. With hubby on the road and two boys playing baseball on separate teams,many dental appointments and then throw in life in general and it doesn’t leave alot of time for much, sometimes not even enough for the cookin’ and cleanin’. Whatever made me think that I would have more time to blog with my hubby working out of town???

All that to say, that I have actually completed some projects and am working on some more. One of my them is over on Gail’s blog My Re-purposed Life. I had agreed to guest post for her while she is away at her daughter’s wedding. I did get that done and written up! So I haven’t been a total slacker, just mostly a slacker! :-) Go check out what I’ve been working on, it’s the beginning of a much larger project!

Keeping this short and sweet so I actually post it! I will be back tomorrow…or maybe later tonight, I know that I have some catching up to do…I think there is even a giveaway that I need to wrap up….yeah, I’m bad…

Until later…

My Big News!!!

Wow! Three posts in three days…I’m on a roll! As excited as I was to share my news, it’s been a busy day! Hubby has been working out of town all week and I’ve been doing all of the boys baseball practices as well as getting my other kids where they need to be! Everyone is finally settled in and I’m able to share my exciting news!

 

I Am A contestant on Season 4 of Win Lose or Blog!!

I am so excited about this!! It’s “The Biggest Loser” …blog style! There are eight contestants and they have set each of us up with our own WLB Blog to share and track our progress. You can meet all the contestants here. You can read my introductory post…complete with picture here ….but you won’t find my weight listed anywhere! ;-) I will be laying out my goals and plans and then tracking my progress there several times each week. I’d love to have you visit and help to keep my motivated and encouraged with your comments. There will be prizes for comments left on contestant’s WLB blogs as well as the main WLB blog and giveaways at the main WLB blog!

I know that this challenge is just what I need to help get me on a healthy track for eating and exercising and I’m ready to get started! Come with me and check it out!

Let’s inspire each other to a healthier lifestyle!

I WON!…and the “Fun Friends” Giveaway

See, I told you that I would be back today! :) A little late maybe, but I’m here.  Well, after finding out only yesterday that I had made the Top Ten over at the DIY Club, today I found out that I WON for March!!! Woo-Hoo!!! It was for my Solar Street Lamp:

I get a DIY Charm:

And an amazing prize package from the DIY Club Sponors! I  can’t wait til it gets here so I can show  it to you all!! If you can’t wait (I couldn’t! lol) click on the link above and check out all the goodies! Thank you for the honor DIY Club!!

Get your projects ready to enter for April!

I celebrated my one year “blogiversary” with a coffee theme. If you are wondering  “why coffee?” and even if you aren’t , I’m going to tell you. I LOVE coffee!!! I love to drink it alone but I especially enjoy a good cup of coffee with friends! I thought it would be a great way to celebrate with my blog friends but since we couldn’t get together for a cup of coffee, I did the next best thing and gave away the Starbucks card! I also made some coffee printables.  To celebrate reaching over 400 friends, I figured I would carry on the coffee theme and add a friend printable.   My super creative friend Bretta created this cute coffee cozy from cashmere that she felted herself! Keep your coffee hot and your hands comfortable in this adorable cup cozy! Works with tea too! :-)

I’ve been seeing these cute knitted headbands all over the internet! Now you can have one of your own, complete with a coordinating ceramic flower button.

You’ll look fashionable when you go out for coffee!

Bretta made this too…told you she’s creative!

My other friend Nichole, wants to share some of her K-cups in 3 delicious flavors!

Green Mountain Coffee’s Hazlenut, Kahlua’s original Kahlua flavor and Tully’s French Roast. These are intended for a Keurig one cup brewer, but could possibly be used in other machines…or open the cups, pour into your coffee pot and enjoy! How about a box of 24?

Bretta and Nichole, thank you  for helping us celebrate with these  wonderful gifts and thank you for being such sweet, generous and encouraging friends!

I have little something to share too. It’s my way of saying thank you to all of my blog friends for your support and encouragement.  I did the definition of friend:

It is about 5.5”x5.5” so that it can fit on one of those 6” tiles I seem to be putting everything on these days! The definition is downloadable by clicking and then right clicking to save on the larger image. If you want a different size, email me and let me know. I should be able to adjust it.  If you download, please let me know by leaving a comment. That’s all you have to do to enter the giveaway as well. Just leave a comment! Easy enough??

Tomorrow I have another BIG announcement!!! I can’t wait to share it!!

Stay Inspired!

Winners, Giveway, Apologies and Exciting News!!!

Just because I’ve been silent here doesn’t mean that I haven’t had anything going on! ;-) There has been so much going on that two days of not blogging has turned into two weeks?!?!? Just how does that happen??? I have so much to say and to share that I hardly know where to start! I am going to try to do something that is extremely difficult for me…I’m going to get right to the point on a few things and not share every little detail….So here goes:
1. Why I’ve Been “Blog Silent”- First, we had some sickness in the family, followed by work for me (yay!) and then an exciting work opportunity for hubby! Throw in the start of baseball season for two boys, orthodontist appointments and other appointments and that doesn’t leave much time or energy to write! It has been doubly hard because I have had things going on behind the scenes that I really want to write about! Look for lots of posts in the upcoming weeks! Hubby’s new opportunity is taking him out of town and so I hope to fill my “spare time” sharing here! :-)
2. Apologies to Make- I owe a few apologies for dropping the ball. The first one is to Michelle, the winner of my Starbucks GC!

Michelle, thank you  for your patience with me. Your card is going out in tomorrow’s mail. I am so sorry for the delay. It is not intentional but I’m sorry I let it get pushed down my list of “to-do’s”.  I also have two items to mail out to two other bloggers (you know who you are) and they are going out tomorrow as well. I didn’t want your addresses for stalking purposes! Really!! :-)
Secondly I want to apologize to all who entered my Pampered Chef Giveaway. I have had a winner drawn and saved with a snap shot of random.org’s pick. I just haven’t posted for the same reasons I haven’t done anything else here! You have all been very patient, thank you! Sooooo, without any further delay, the winner is comment # 47 left by Taleah!

Taleah said:
Congratulations Taleah!!  I will be sending your information to Kim!
And last, but not least, I dropped the ball big time with this one! Amy from A Latte with Ott A. invited my to participate in her Iron Chef blogging challenges. So far, she has had a challenge for cooking with duck, lamb and  March’s theme was tomatoes and the sponsor was Red Gold Tomatoes. I missed the linky party deadline to get my recipe in! :( Amy, I am so sorry! I completely let the time get away from me. I was actually very excited about this challenge too! I had a recipe picked out right from the beginning of the whole challenge. It is a family favorite, thrifty and easy to prepare! I will be cooking it tonight and sharing the recipe here. My apologies also to Red Gold. They are amazing sponsors! I received this huge box in the mail stuffed with goodies!!! I couldn’t wait to blog about the goodie box and then one day turned into another…and here I am. :( Thank you Red Gold for sponsoring the challenge! You can check out  Red Gold on facebook and twitter for lots of other great tips and recipes. Click on the badge below to check out all of the delicious recipes that entered the challenge!

I don’t think the winner has been announced yet! April’s challenge will be baking powder, sponsored by Clabber Girl! Don’t miss it!  ;-)
3. Exciting News!- First, my DIY Solar Street Light

made the Top Ten at The DIY Club!

And I almost missed it!!! I wasn’t writing on my blog and I also wasn’t really reading much either! They announce the finalist tomorrow! You bet I’ll be reading then!!!!

I’ve reached (and passed) and awesome milestone…while I AWOL!!!! It’s amazing! I knew that I was getting close to 400 Friends/Followers before I went AWOL. I was very excited and planning a special fun giveaway from some of my real life friends to my online friends. I noticed that I had reached the BIG 400 and took a snapshot of it:

I was sooo excited!! I was all set to try and squeeze in time to post about this and when I logged back in later I had  399 followers?!?!? Made no sense at the time, but since I no longer had 400 followers, I couldn’t celebrate 400 could I??? So I went AWOL and when I came back, look what I found:

WOW!  How’s that for a reason to celebrate?!?!? So, in honor of my milestone, tomorrow (yes, I will back tomorrow) I will be having a simple and fun, easy to enter giveaway!

Last but certainly NOT least….I am very excited to announce that I have been accepted as a contestant in a very exciting blog and lifestyle challenge!!! I’m not sure that I can announce the specifics yet, as it hasn’t been announced on the host blog, but it is probably one of the most exciting things that I have been able to participate in since I started blogging! I can’t wait to share all the details as soon as I get the go ahead!!!

That’s all for now, but look forward to much more to come!

Spring Is Here!!

This post brought to you by Pier 1. All opinions are 100% mine.
I have been so ready for spring  this year. It officially arrived on March 20th!! Spring has also arrived at Pier 1!  I love Pier 1 for affordable indoor and outdoor decor! Right now they are helping us take advantage of the longer sunny days with some gorgeous outdoor furniture! After working in the garden you can relax and get cozy with someone special in the Coco Cove Outdoor Wicker Settee!

I usually like to start cooking  and eating  outside as soon as possible. I'd love to have this bright Hammered Metal Beverage Server  keep my drinks ice cold and ready to drink!

Since our house, and indoor rooms  aren't  finished yet, I can't start on the outdoor room that I plan to have some day but I can create a temporary room with an umbrella and table

 
Over a gorgeous indoor/oudoor rug!

Living in our basement, I could use one of these inside too! I could have durability without sacrificing style!
Mention Pier 1 and  almost immediately the image of a Papasan Chair comes to mind. They have been selling these awesome chairs  since they opened their business in 1962. The Papasan has come alooong way over the last 49 years! The Papasan of today is "not your mama's Papasan!"  You can now get an indoor/outdoor Papasan for  your porch, deck or pool area crafted out of iron: 
 and them customize them to your fit your decor with some of the many cushion choices available. How about "fuzzy chocolate"?

Sounds good to me!! Or maybe something a little brighter?

 
Or something a little more grown up and stylish?

 There are choices for many decorating styles! Check the out the choices here.
I love a more natural, earthy look in my decorating both inside and out, so I've always struggled a little with Easter Decor being a little to bright and plastic looking. This problem was solved when I found  Pier 's Easter Decor! Its colorful and yet true to nature! I fell in love with this wreath immediately!
 
The matching basket would look great on table as a center piece.

There is a lot more to see, so check out Pier 's online catalog here:

If you are in the Atlanta or NYC area, then you have a special opportunity with   Pier 1 Tweetups!  Check out the link for details and dates.

You can also sign up for the  Pier 1 Outdoor newsletter here.

Have fun and Happy Spring!!