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

Our First Butterfly

 

In July, we visited a butterfly garden at the Minnesota Zoo, and we were able to see many gorgeous butterflies and chrysalises. It was an amazing sight, but nothing was quite like watching a caterpillar turn into a butterfly in my own kitchen. Having a front-row seat to the little miracle was nothing short of amazing, and I am so happy that Nolan got to see it all too!

It all started with my friend Sue. She is a first-grade teacher, and she collects caterpillars every year in late August for her classroom. These monarch caterpillars were found grazing on milkweed on the mountain where Sue lives. She brought her collection of chrysalises to church with her a couple of weeks ago, and there was one little caterpillar who had not changed yet. She offered him to me, and I eagerly accepted the little guy. I carried him home on a leaf, and set him up in a Mason jar with breathable cheesecloth rubberbanded around the top.

 

He was a VERY hungry caterpillar. He ate and ate and ate. I went for a drive and found him some more milkweed. I laid a milkweed stick over the top of the jar. The next day, he had stopped eating, and we could tell he was searching for a spot to start his big transformation.

The next morning, he was hanging down in the shape of a J (I didn't get a photo of this since the stage didn't last long.) We looked at him again about a half hour later, and he was a beautiful green chrysalis!

Above, you can spot the caterpillar skin that he shed in order to become the chrysalis.

After ten days of sitting on the kitchen counter, we could tell the chrysalis was starting to change. A few black lines were visible underneath.

When we woke up the following morning, we were surprised to find the chrysalis was completely black. We could see the orange spots and stripes on his wings. A quick Google search told me that it was going to be the day! I came back into the kitchen every five minutes all morning to see if the chrysalis had changed. At 1:30 pm, I found a butterfly! I was a little bummed I had missed actually seeing him emerge, but it was okay because he was brand new still :)

 

His wings were small and damp. After a few minutes, the wings had stretched to nearly their full size. He hung from the empty chrysalis until about 3:30 while his wings dried.

 

When we saw that he had finally moved from his chrysalis, we brought him outside so that we didn't have a butterfly loose in our house :)

He was STUNNING!

I was a little nervous to hold him, since I didn't know if he was quite ready to be touched. Steve picked him up first, and then he transferred the butterfly to me. 

Such a cool experience to hold him!

After a few minutes, he had the courage to fly, and he flitted around our yard. He landed on our neighbor's shed for about a half hour, and then he was gone the next time I checked.

Caterpillars only have something like a 20% survival rate since they have so many predators. Monarchs are very close to being endangered (read this Washington Post article to hear more about that.) Bringing them in the house at least guarantees their survival as chrysalises.

I am already looking forward to doing this again next summer! What about you? :)


UPDATE:  I just found out that after all the male pronouns I used in this post, my butterfly was actually a GIRL!  The males have two distinctive black dots on the lower parts of their wings, and their black veins are very thin. :)  SHE was a very beautiful butterfly!

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?

Weekend Update

I'm hoping this Monday morning finds you well!  Our weekend was very low-key. On Saturday, I wanted to find something fun around town for the kids to do, but when we woke up, I saw that our chrysalis was about to turn into a butterfly. Not wanting to miss the big event that we'd been waiting for, we stuck around home. Steve worked on his dissertation, and the boys and I played. The butterfly did come out, and it was an amazing sight (I'll do a post all about him on Wednesday.) :) :)

We haven't pulled out the big camera in a while, and I thought last night would be the perfect opportunity. It was a sunny, beautiful day, with a noticeable chill in the air. We put on sweatshirts and pants, and let Nolan and Ephraim run outside to burn off some energy. 

They were elated to have some open outdoor space to chase each other, be loud, get tickled, and roll around in the grass. All in all, a lovely evening!

 

 

 

The boys went to bed without a fuss, and we are hoping there isn't another 5:30 am wake up call this morning ;)

 

Remember that on Thursday, Astleigh and I are linking up to share our HOME DIY Projects! Join us!

See you tomorrow for another fun house transformation that Steve and I have been working on :)