Every Girl Link-Up || Home DIY

I so look forward to Astleigh's and my Every Girl Link-Up Thursdays! They challenge me to create something pretty, something worth sharing with all of you! Last week, I saw that our link-up "Home DIY" was coming up, so Steve and I quickly brainstormed a project to accomplish. We are ALL about DIY in this house. It's all that works with our budget. Plus, we love putting the work in and feeling that sense of pride when it's done!

Steve found this little sewing table a few weeks ago on the street. It was pretty scratched on the top, it was missing a knob, and part of the mechanisms needed to hold a sewing machine are missing. We decided that it would make the perfect little table for the entryway of our house! We haven't done a thing to decorate our hallway and staircase there, and I thought it was time to add a piece of furniture and some decor to the space.

Here is the pretty little table before we touched it.

Steve sanded it down enough to take the sheen off and rough up the surface a little bit. Someday he may fit a board into the space left by the missing sewing machine so that we could have it open.

 

We had leftover white paint from our fireplace, and the table took two coats.

 

And here it is in its new spot!

We found aged bronze knobs and a cabinet pull at Lowe's to replace the previous hardware. (Square knobs are here. Pull is here.)

I added a pumpkin from our garden, an apple-scented candle, and a little glass pumpkin for a seasonal touch. My goal is to not let it become cluttered :)

The little white table is so perfect for our entryway! Steve has another dumpster furniture find that I'll have to share in the coming weeks :)

If you've got a Home-DIY post to share today, grab our graphic below and link up!

And remember that October 8th, Astleigh and I will be sharing our Halloween Touches around our homes. Join us!

An InLinkz Link-up

A Fresh Front Porch

A couple of weeks ago, Steve and I set out to paint our front porch. One of the previous owners had chosen a deep red color for the floor, and it has never been our favorite look. Worse than the color, the porch was so dirty that we barely used it. We tried sweeping it and power-spraying it, but it couldn't get clean. We eventually decided to paint it a neutral gray color to give it a facelift. We bought the paint quite a while back, and it was the encouragement we needed to actually get the project done before the weather got cold. We love how it turned out! Take a look:

 

While Ephraim was taking a nap one day, we let Nolan help us with a paintbrush.

 

We gave Nolan outlines of numbers to fill in. He was a good little helper besides a few missed paint strokes on the brick. ;)

And the finished look!

We're enjoying a fresher, cleaner porch! We currently don't have the budget for more porch furniture, but wouldn't it be gorgeous with a little extra seating?! 

Home-design-loving friends, do you have any other ideas for how we could better enjoy this space?

diy pink & mint package

I am having too much fun putting together color-coordinated packages :)  Sending and receiving mail is one of my love languages. There is something so exciting and special about opening up a piece of mail that has traveled across the miles from a friend. When I found the little pink and mint 2015 planner, I knew I was going to use the colors for the theme. Again, everything was purchased at my local Walmart.
 

Pink & white paper straws
Scotch washi tape
Swiss Miss “Simply Cocoa” milk chocolate packets
Wilton cupcake wrappers
Post-It notes
Extra “Dessert Delights” Gum (mint chocolate chip)
EOS lip balm in Strawberry Sorbet
Tulip cookie cutter
“MintGreen” 2015 planner

It’s the little things, right? ;)

DIY “trick or treat” package

Hello! We were on vacation for the past six days, and I didn’t have much of an internet connection. But we’re home now, and we’re getting settled in tonight. :)  I want to share with you a little package that I put together for two awesome friends—one in Missouri, and one in Texas. I am not hugely into the symbols of Halloween, but I still love the black and orange colors of the October season!

All of the above was found at Walmart this month:

1. Orange and black striped straws (2 different kinds)
2. Wilton pumpkin cookie cutter
3. Land O Lakes “Chocolate Supreme” hot chocolate packets
4. Jello in orange flavor
5. Darice black baker’s twine
6. Scotch candy corn washi tape
7. Black and orange cupcake wrappers
8. Orange sugar sprinkles
9. Black and orange chevron napkins
10. Black and orange tea light candles
11. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear nail polish

All of it was sent in a shoe box with orange crinkle paper (found at Walmart last Easter). I chose items that were light so that the boxes wouldn’t be over a pound each.

Do you have anyone that needs a little “Treat”? :)

DIY “out of the blue” care package

Stephen is the high school youth leader at our tiny church. At the moment, he only has a few girls in the group, and some of those girls left on Sunday for a week of church camp. I thought that it would be nice to surprise them with a care package! We didn’t mail it (it would be $$), so we just sent it in the van with them when they left. Stephen and I were counselors at this camp (where our love story began) and I remember that it was always fun to binge on caloric snacks with all the girls in the cabin :)

Included: (All bought at Walmart)

1. Pringles “Salt & Vinegar” chips
2. Chex Mix, Original
3. Pringles Stix in “Sugar Cookie”
4. Hostess Ding Dongs
5. NutriGrain Blueberry bars
6. Dove Milk Chocolate
7. Gatorade Cool Blue 12-pack
8. 3 packages of 3 blue kitchen spoons for . . .
9. . . . playing “Spoons” with the deck of Bicycle playing cards
10. Kleenex box
11. Sally Hansen “Hard as Nails” in Blue Flame (or Blue Me Away)
12. Journals—for the girls to write down memories, thoughts, prayers
13. Orbit Wintermint gum
14. Glow-in-the-dark bracelets
15. Jolly Rancher hard candies
16. Oreos

This idea was sparked, in part, from the Box of Sunshine I posted a couple of weeks ago!

DIY box of sunshine

 
Several weeks ago, I compiled little “Boxes of Sunshine” for two very special people. I want to share what I included in case you have someone in your life who could use a little happy mail :)

1. Yellow Post-Its (Full adhesive sticky notes)
2. Ring Pops (package of 4)
3. Box of Crayola crayons
4. Two Mr. Goodbars
5. Sally Hansen Hard as Nails polish in “Hard Lemonade”
6. EOS lip balm in “Lemon Drop”
7. Mott’s original fruit snacks
8. Juicy Juice gum
9. Lemonheads
10. Lipton White Tea in “Peach Mango”

I lined the box with yellow shredded crinkle paper, and threw in a few yellow balloons as well. All of it was bought at Walmart. :)

I want to try this again—using other colors!