Ten June: November 2012

My New Pillows Make Me Holla

So apparently you guys think I'm anti-throw pillow. I'm surprised that no one said anything when I posted this picture from my lamp makeover post earlier this week.

"Um, Michelle. Your couch is naked."

Well, I was just saving up a little something something for ya, friends. Picture me like a contestant on the Price is Right, running furiously down the aisle to Bob Barker (I still can't accept Drew Carey as the host of that show)... youuuu're the proud new owner of some new throw pillows!!! Woot.

The striped pillows are cheapie finds from Ikea and the ikat pillows are from one of my favorite pillow sources, The Lacey Placey. I love the mix of grays and prints. Chic but casual, I do believe.

I really love how the slate room is coming together. And since I'm hanging out in here with little man 90% of the day, I guess that's a good thing!

For more projects from this space, check out these posts:

before & after reveal

brass lamp makeover

DIY photo art prints

painting the room

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills House Tour

HDawg and I decided to have an incredibly lazy day yesterday (hey, it was raining and yucky outside... and he had some cute new long john pajamas he wanted to rock all day, so we stayed in!) which meant that in addition to staying in my pajamas all day and not brushing my teeth until 2 PM, I had some time to catch up on the goodness of junk reality TV on my DVR.

First thing I watched? My trash television favorite, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Love. That. Show. You do too, don't lie. The train wreck that is Taylor... and Kim, for that matter. The saucy Brandi who drops the F bomb all the time. I love them all.

Guess what else I love about this show? Nah, not the expensive clothes or the flashy jewelry or the sky-high stilettos. The houses. Wow. These rich girls really know how to spend some money on their homes!

For example, check out the home of the new girl on the show, Yolanda. Fab-u-lous.

Let's just say I wouldn't be mad over this view.

As if the divine outdoor space weren't enough, her kitchen is perfection.

She's got a cute gallery of what looks to be children's art canvases on the wall in her kitchen. I think that's such a fun dose of personality in that space.

Oh, so this is her refrigerator. Yes, refrigerator.

No words for that one.

Her informal living room is just beautiful. I love the built-in shelving.

You may get this confused with some fancy boutique off of Rodeo Drive, but don't worry. It's just Yolanda's ridiculous closet. Sigh.

So there you have it. Inspiring, right? Well, maybe it just inspired me to rob a bank, but it's still inspiring. See, some good does come out of watching reality TV!

All photos via Bravo or Entertainment Tonight.

And Then There Was Light {A Lamp Makeover}

Well, hello friends! I hope all of you had a fabulous Thanksgiving holiday. I'm pretty sure I'm reporting to you from a full pant size larger... let's just say momma had no problem getting ~~thirds~~ seconds at my Thanksgiving feast! It was a good one, that's for sure.

When David and I made over our new living room/slate room before baby H came in August, I decided to take decorating this room nice and slow. Of course, we were a tad bit busy loving on our newborn, but we also relisted our house for sale (read more about that here). That means it's not really worth our time or money to do a lot of big house projects right now. But tiny little room pick-me-ups? Oh, that's right up my alley these days!

Like these guys. Or gals, if you prefer.

I found them at my local Habitat ReStore for $10 each. These big brass clunkers (which, by the way, are really heavy!) are the perfect size for the end tables in the slate room. Currently, I've got a tall floor lamp on one side and my Nana's milk glass lamp on the other. As much as I'm a girl who loves mixing things up, I wanted two matching lamps on the end tables. It kind of dresses things up in there, if you know what I mean.

In order to make over these bad boys, I purchased a couple of cans of Rust-Oleum's oil rubbed bronze spray paint. It's got primer in it, so the lamps didn't need any kind of prep work besides being wiped down well. Just make sure you do several very light coats. You don't want any drips or excess paint on a shiny surface like this.

I love the dark, oil rubbed bronze color. It's so handsome. And actually kind of sparkly in the light... reminds me of a certain vampire I know. The Edward Cullen lamp, if you will. Ps. How many of you have seen the new Twilight movie? Don't lie. I saw it... mucho good!

The shades are actually just little $20 finds I picked up from Target. I'm sort of head over heels for the pattern and the gold color. The gold, although not what I was looking for at all- I had been searching for neutral colored shades, picks up some fun golden shades in the rug. So it works!

I'm not quite as big of a fan of the shades at night. They get a bit of an orangey glow that I don't love, but I'm willing to take it just because I love the shades so much during the day!

I think the punch of pattern and slight punch of color brings some fun to the room.

Oh and for those of you wondering... I decided to space the lamps on the corner of the table just so it gives us more surface area to use while we're sitting on the couch... a stack of H's books, our laptops, drinks, that kind of thing. Plus, I eventually plan to fill the drawers of the side tables with fun trinkets so you can see them through the glass tops, so I wouldn't want to cover up the glass with the lamps. Anyways, it might look a little wonky in the photos, but it makes sense when you're in the room.

Also, the answer is no... that is not my baby in the photo frames on the wall ledge. I still have yet to fill those frames with anything personal. Oops.

David and I are pretty happy with the lamps. You really can't beat two gigantic sparkly vampire lamps for about $35 a pop ($10 base, $20 shade, $5 spray paint).

My Little Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving from my little turkey!

Yesterday, H Dawg and I completed his very first craft project... a little turkey hand. I have one from every year of my childhood, so I thought he needed one for his very first Thanksgiving! Even if his little three month old hands don't unclench all that well : ) It. Doesn't. Get. Cuter.

Have a great day celebrating with your loved ones! Gobble gobble!

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip + Pecan Pumpkin Muffin Recipe

Happy day before Thanksgiving, friends!

I know... you're thinking that the last thing you need right now is another recipe. I'm sure you've all got your plates full (pun intended, ha) with food to cook for tomorrow. But what about tomorrow's breakfast? And no, I'm so not going to let you get away with the whole "I skip breakfast so I can eat a big meal later" story. You know you want something delish to eat while you're slaving away in the kitchen tomorrow morning, right? Can I get an amen?

These little guys may not look like much (especially with my horrible food photography- where's Tiffany when you need her?!), but they are scrumptious. I made them last weekend for a family brunch that David I hosted here at our casa. My brother-in-law, soon-to-be sister-in-law and her sister and husband (got all that?) brought their sweet new little girl over to meet H Dawg. She's about six weeks old, so it was a cute baby fest, that's for sure. My soon-to-be sister-in-law has a gluten free diet, so I made these muffins especially for her. I think they were a hit!

And the best part? They are so easy.

I N G R E D I E N T S :

-29 oz. can of pumpkin

-box of gluten free chocolate cake mix

-3/4 cup chocolate chips (or more if you're me and can't get enough chocolate)

-1 cup pecans

D I R E C T I O N S :

1. Dump all of the ingredients together.

2. Bake according to cake box directions for muffins. I erred on the overdone side, just because pumpkin is so moist it's difficult to cook. I didn't want the muffins to seem undercooked in the middle so I over-baked them a tad.

I told you... pretty easy! And if you leave out the chocolate chips, these are dairy free treats as well.

Happy munching!

Bamboo Chair Makeover Tutorial {How I Decorate With Duct Tape}

Hi friends! Hope y'all had a great weekend. David and I had our first baby-free date night, which was so fun. Momma had her first martini (extra dirty, of course) and felt like death the next day. Remind me how it is I used to drink so much in college and now I have one drink and feel it the next day? #gettingold

I also churned out a couple of fun projects over the weekend, like my new bamboo office chair. I picked up this little gal at my local thrift store for only $15. She needed some help, but has good bones, so I knew she would be a perfect fit in my home office.

What chair is with the desk in there now, you ask? Um, there isn't one. In the two-and-a-half years we've lived in this house, we haven't had a chair at the desk. Lame, I know. We always pull in one of the dining room or kitchen table chairs.

But starting at the first of the year, I'm headed back to work part-time. I am lucky enough to have the chance to work a lot from home once I start back, so I definitely need to carve out a nice work space here at the house. And I thought it would be smart to start with a chair to sit in. Always a priority.

First step? I lightly sanded the bamboo chair down and then coated it with a few (very light) coats of primer spray paint. It felt good to get my spray painting trigger finger going again, it's been awhile!

Next, I coated the chair with a few light coats of Rustoleum's satin finish color Slate Blue. I think the bluish gray looks perfect with the bamboo details of the chair.

Next, I needed to add a seat cushion. The chair didn't come with a cushion or even a wooden board to nail a cushion to, so I had to improvise. I bought a thick, three inch wide foam pad at JoAnn Fabric and Craft Store (with a coupon it cost about $10). Then, let's be honest, I went sort of ghetto with the project. I am sure the best method would have been to measure and trace the outline of the seat onto the foam and then use an electric knife to cut the thick foam to its proper measurements.

Or you can be crazy like me and hack away at the foam with a pair of scissors. Just sayin. Both work.

Once I got the foam in its altered (ie. hacked up) form, I simply wrapped it with fabric (also from JoAnn Fabric and Craft Store, with a coupon it was about $6 for 1.5 yards) the same way you would wrap a present. The top rounded corners of the seat were a tad difficult, but nothing that some major tucking didn't take care of.

Normally, I would staple the fabric to a cushion like this with a staple gun. But because I didn't have a wooden board behind the cushion (and because the uneven bamboo bars on the seat of the chair wouldn't have permitted me adding a wooden board), I went with my next best option. Duct tape.

Yeah, I did that. Don't judge. It's what we do here in the south. And I don't think the seat cushion looks like it's duct taped from the front. If you do, just lie to me and tell me it looks good. Mkay?

Ta-da! Here's the finished product.

Because I was too lazy to clean up and stage my entire office, the chair is sitting in the corner for pictures. But it does give a good view of my DIY linen memo board with fabric pockets and some of my other DIY art like the nailhead trim piece and my paper mache deer head.

Overall, I'm pretty excited about this piece. It cost about $40, which you can't beat. And it makes me excited to take on a few other projects in this room so that I've got a sweet space to get some work done. I think I'm off to a good start!

10 Do-It-Yourself Christmas Projects

I know... leave it to me to break the news that I'm ready to start some fun new projects, announce a really big, exciting holiday link party series and then... not show up to the party for two days! My bad.

This has been one of those weeks, let me tell you. We've been busy almost showing the house (ie. getting the house perfect and ready to show, only to have the buyers cancel thirty minutes before showing time... fun stuff), handling insurance and car repair issues on David's car (a girl hit him on the highway a few weeks ago- he's fine, his car not so much), running around as David has had a busy week at work, making Baby H's first visit to Ikea (momentous stuff, people! I documented our visit over on Instagram- come find me! @tenjuneblog) and working on those projects I mentioned earlier this week. Things take a lot more time with a bambino in tow, but it's been fun diving back into the world of DIY! My spray painting trigger finger has been happy, that's for sure.

This weekend, I plan to get started on some of my Christmas crafting. Woot woot! I plan to crank up cheesy Christmas music (Justin Bieber, anyone?) and enjoy this holiday season early. Hey, it's my first Christmas with a baby, I plan to celebrate the heck out of it!

Just in case you also plan to get started on some early Christmas crafting this weekend, I thought I'd look back on some of my favorite do-it-yourself Christmas posts right here from Ten June. Hopefully they give you some good ideas and leave you inspired and ready for the holiday season!

2012 Christmas mantel + DIY poinsettia wreath