Have you ever completed a project around your house and then realized it just didn't work for you? Yup, it's happened to me many a time. But my most recent victim was the DIY knock off Pottery Barn calendar I created a couple of years ago. It was such a great idea... velcro + laminated cardstock + ribbon... the perfect way to keep my household organized. Check out my tutorial here.

But sometimes, cute isn't useful. I looked at the calendar the other day and realized we hadn't updated it since... October. Hm. Maybe it wasn't really an efficient tool for our house! Time for an update.

Without much of a game plan, I ripped off all of the ribbon and Velcro pieces. Unfortunately, that peeled off a layer of cork board in many places. Wah. I knew then I had to cover it. Since I had already promised myself I wouldn't spend any money on this project, I hit up my scrap fabric stash for something lovely to cover the cork board with. How about some beautiful linen?!

I've seen so many wonderful tutorials where bloggers cover entire cork boards with fabric, but since I took the time originally to stain the wooden frame of the board, I decided not to cover the frame, but just the cork board itself. First, I painstakingly measured and cut the fabric to fit over the white cork board. It might not be painstaking for you, but I am terrible at measuring and cutting fabric. Don't forget to iron your fabric before you cut it!

 Next, I simply sprayed the board with adhesive (after covering the frame with painters tape- the over-spray on spray adhesive is a bear!) and slowly laid the fabric down. My suggestion is to only spray about half the board at a time, so you aren't working with one big sticky mess. Oh and yes, this crazy pregnant lady wore a mask while spraying aerosol : )

Because (ahem) my measurements weren't perfect, the next step for me was to tuck the fabric into the wooden trim of the cork board. A tiny flat head screwdriver did the trick perfectly.

You may still have to cut or trim the frayed edges (especially if you use a fabric like linen), but overall, I think the cork-to-fabric process looks pretty clean!

So far, I loved the board. But it needed a little something something, don't you think?

I ran (okay, more like waddled at 6.5 months pregnant) back over to my scrap fabric stash and decided to whip up a few fabric pockets on my sewing machine. Yes, folks. This makes my second project on the sewing machine. (The first being my DIY baby burp cloths). Call me a sewing pro.

All I really did was cut some fabric and then folded it in two, sewing a simple stitch along the edges. Of course, leave a gap at the top so you can actually put things in the pocket! You could probably use hem tape to make this as well, if you're not into sewing. Simply turn the fabric backwards (patterned sides facing each other) and iron the hem tape around the edges. Then fold inside-out and boom... you've got a no-sew pocket!

I'm pretty happy with my new memo board. And it's already got a lot more use out of it than the old calendar did. 

Yes, those are little pea pod ultrasounds up on the board! We've been storing them away in a drawer the last few months, so it feels great to get them up on the memo board for show. He's such a cutie.

I think it's the perfect addition to my office gallery wall, don't you? It's been awhile since I played with that wall (last thing I added was the DIY nailhead trim art), so it was time! Oh, and you'll notice that our beloved paper mache deer head is no longer on this wall... ol' Sally met her demise last month when she fell off the wall in the middle of the night. A DIY tragedy, for sure.

Updated any projects around your house lately?

Sharing with Courtney at A Thoughtful Place

Hello, friends! I'm so glad to be back, alive and well. Thanks to a ton of rest and some antibiotics (and your sweet well wishes!), I'm pretty sure that most of the bronchitis is out of my system and I'm on the road to recovery.

It's been awhile since I've shared any of my e-designs here on the ol' blog. And since I was really excited about a design I recently worked on for an apartment living room, I figured it was time to share! Brandi contacted me for some help designing her new living room. The only piece of furniture she owned was the leather sofa with the chaise lounge attached that you see in the design. The rest, which needed to completed under a certain dollar amount, was up to me. Hellooo... a blank slate to work with on a budget? Totally up my alley!

By the way, you can click on the board for a larger shot.

I think this design is perfect for Brandi... fresh, young and fun! I added a few great DIY projects to keep the budget down, like this fabulous DIY chevron rug project from Little Green Notebook. I also added some great Ikea furniture, like the high gloss gray side table Brandi plans to use as a TV stand.

All in all, I think Brandi loves the design and will be happy implementing it in her new apartment!

If you're interested in an e-design for any room in your home, shoot me an email at tenjuneblog@gmail.com or check out my e-design page here!

Hello hello! Hope all of you had a fabulous weekend. After a crazy week last week, David and I made it our mission to relax this weekend... and with lots of time by the pool, good food and fun, we certainly did so!

We also had some time to finally set up our new nursery furniture! And I have to say... I'm in love.

As I mentioned in my other post on the furniture, we purchased our crib from here and the glider from here. And couldn't be happier with either one!

The solid wood crib is perfection. Exactly what I wanted for our little pea pod. 

Land of Nod customer service has been incredible. They even sent a little "welcome to motherhood" gift to me late last week (an adorable bumblebee swaddle blanket) as a thank you for purchasing a crib with them! Can't beat that. We're 100% happy with the crib so far. I can't wait to see it dressed up with some adorable little crib linens! : ) 

(Psst! See that picture frame sitting on the bin next to the crib? You know, right next to my wedding dress in a box and all of the other junk we've yet to move out of this room? That'd be an adorable handmade gift for my baby boy from the one and only Cassie! How sweet is she?! I love it.)

I'm also totally in love with the glider. It needs an ottoman companion, but it's still so comfortable.

And yes, you can see that David and I have decided to use our old living room rug in the nursery! I think the whimsical yellow pattern will be perfect for little man. 

Of course, we still need to paint the room. The trim and bead board ceiling will definitely go a glossy white and we're thinking of a light gray for the wall colors. But, as you know, we're going to wait on that step until we're sure we won't sell the house before the baby arrives in early September.

I absolutely love the little view when you peek in the room.

Seeing all of this furniture really makes David and I feel beyond excited to meet our little guy. It feels like September won't get here soon enough!

You know you got the email... but did you click through to check out the deals?

Holy smokes, Pottery Barn is having a sale and momma wants to go shopping.

How about $500 (about 1/3 of the price!) off this guy?

I really need to make that happen. This one's been on my list for awhile. Do you think baby boy would be mad if I exchanged his new crib for a rustic wooden console table?

I think this little pendant and his $60 off price tag need to jump in my online cart.

Pretty pretty.

 

$100 off this incredible rattan chair. Would look fabulous behind my home office desk....

Or how about $100 bucks off of some of their classic rugs? You know I'm a big fan of PB rugs, I've got two of them in my own house!

Oh, look. They already monogrammed one of their adorable fringed napkins for me.

Don't even get me started on all of their dining room tables and sofas that are on sale. Yum.

I've used this fabric in an e-design before... this roman shade is so cute and funky. And $50 off. Hey oh.

60% off of this mirror, people. Need I say more?

I'm not affiliated with Pottery Barn (unless they want to send me any of these items for free, which, of course, I'll gladly take with a big fat smile on my face), I just thought I'd let you know there are some great finds in their current sale!

Go forth and shop, friends! And have a great weekend : )

To the man I love more than anything in the world...

to the man who still brings me a glass of orange juice in bed every morning...

to the man who tells me I look amazing even when I'm six months pregnant...

to the man who was my safety patrol officer...

(if you don't know what that means, watch here)

to the man who pretends to love to talk about blogging just because it makes me happy...

to the man who I am quite sure will be the world's best father to our baby boy...

to the man who secretly read Hunger Games along with me (and loved every word)...

to the man whose smile lights up my life...

to the best life partner a girl could possibly have...

to the man who said to me "why don't you ever call me your baby daddy?"...

to the man who was my first crush and who will forever remain my last crush...

H A P P Y    A N N I V E R S A R Y ,   B A B Y.

Cheers to an amazing four years behind us and a lifetime of love ahead of us. I love you! Times a million.

Like what you see? 

Well then hop on over here to help me pick from these and other adorable rugs for my "Dream Nursery Design" series over on BabyCenter!

Last week, you helped me pick a crib for the room. This week, find out the readers' crib choice from last week and submit your vote for an area rug. Thanks for joining the party, friends!

I hope all of you had a fabulous weekend! Mine was busy, but eventful.

I've been churning out my DIY burp cloths for the baby. It's really the perfect first project to help me get acquainted with my new sewing machine before I move on to bigger projects. Oh yes, bigger projects are in the works. Muhahahaha.

We were blessed to have another showing at the house this weekend! David and I spent Saturday morning utilizing a lot of these tips for showing your house, including bringing in some freshly cut hydrangeas from our yard. Pretty pretty!

Saturday night, I had the chance to be a baller (shot caller) and ride around on this bad boy for a fun girls night with some office friends. Seriously! Hi, I'm Michelle and I ride around on million dollar boats just because. Thank goodness I know people who know people ; )

I celebrated my first Mother's Day on Sunday! I woke up to a letter from my sweet little pea pod (aka David) that left me in tears. Actually, every time I've reread it, I've cried. I have the two sweetest men in my life, that's for sure! One blessed little momma. 

I wrapped up a few more hydrangeas for all of the beautiful moms (and grandmoms!) in our life, then David and I headed off to spend Mother's Day with our families. It was a wonderful day.

Three generations of mommas... me, my mom and my grandmother!

I hope all of you had a great weekend as well!

Today, I'm sharing (along with some other awesome bloggers!) about what my mom has taught me over on Emily Clark's blog. Head on over here to check it out!

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You may be noticing some changes here on the ol' blog. I'm working with the amazing Anna to make a few tweaks, so bear with us as we sort it all out! : )

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And, finally, a day late (but definitely not $75 short!), the winner of the Empire Patio Covers giveaway is....

 

Congrats, Holly! Shoot me your contact information via email so I can pass it on and you can claim your $75 gift card prize. Have a great Monday, everyone!