Rustic Liquor Display

When we first moved into our townhouse, Michael tried to convince me that we needed a bar in our already tiny "man cave".  He wanted to buy a certain family member's bar but I politely declined for him :)  However, after having the liquor handles and accessories lining the floor and the TV stand, I was pretty fed up and wished we had a bar.  Being the crafty husband that he is, Michael came up with an awesome Christmas gift idea for our brother-in-law, Jason.  He made him a liquor and beer stein display made completely from an old pallet.  In the craziness of Christmas, I did not get a very good photo of it, but fortunately Michael loved it so much that he made one for himself!  Now our liquor bottles aren't cluttering up the TV stand and Michael's rock glasses have a great place to be displayed for everyone to see - and finally use!

Here it is all put together...

I was playing around with the different liquors and glasses, you will notice later that I did not put them in the correct display "order" for Michael :)

A close up of the awesome personalized glasses that Michael's sister, Becca, got him for Christmas

And here it is finally in use and in its true color...

What do you think?  Pretty nice for a small space!

Erin

Hosting Thanksgiving

For this Thanksgiving, Michael and I hosted and I cooked our very first turkey!  We had my family and Michael's family (plus Omar) over for dinner and it was a great success!  I had lots of fun putting together a festive display on the table and mantle, using many items from our wedding decor and a few new creations.  I went for a more traditional but simple yellow, orange, gold, and green.  The flowers were a wonderful addition to the display and provided by my mother-in-law.

The chalkboard was added to hide the ugly gray TV behind it :) and it was the best I could come up with at the last minute.

Beautiful fall colors!  The vase and wood centerpiece were both used in the centerpieces for our wedding.

The banner and vases were a Pinterest creation, however I think I have some better ways to make the vases work better.

Each place setting had a place card made from tree branch slices, which can now be used as ornaments.

The corn kernel vases were a Pinterest idea and I used extra Eucalyptus left over as a sort of table runner.

This is a shot my sister took with Instagram, so sorry for the quality but I really enjoy it :)

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and had some fun entertaining for those who were hosting!

Erin

Rustic Stand on the Frontier of Craftiness

Who likes my title?  I thought it was pretty clever and thought about it during my most genius-idea producing time...the shower of course!  You may be wondering why it is so clever and lucky for you I am about to tell you.

A few weeks back I was contacted by Charley Cooke of Cooke's Frontier (ah, there is the key to my awesome title) to do a review and giveaway of our cupcake stand from our Etsy shop.  I was super excited because I had always seen bloggers doing giveaways and I always wondered how they teamed up with these people to give away the items, and lo and behold it was happening to me!

Charley did a great review of our cupcake stand and came up with so many cool ideas for alternative ways to use the stand - fairy themed parties anyone??  She also did a really awesome mockup for Halloween, go check it out HERE to see more pictures and some other super cool ideas.  And duh, if any of you out there want to win this stand for free don't miss the super easy opportunity over on her blog when you are visiting.

Thanks for stopping by!

Erin

IKEA Hack: Storage Bench

I am pretty excited about this hack that we did with a $2 scrap piece from IKEA.  Michael has been using this IKEA shelf/box thing as a nightstand for a few years now.  He found it in the damaged/scrap section.  We decided to turn it into a storage bench.  We really wanted one for the end of our bed, and while this is a bit too small for our king size bed - it will do for now!  And in the future we plan on turning it into a toy box :)

Here is what we started with, basically just a box with no top.

Then Michael created some legs using 2x4 and some legs we found at Home Depot.  He also created a top for the opening out of plywood.  At this point I was pretty impressed already.

Then I did one coat of primer and two coats of paint - Bahama Breeze I believe - but honestly I am too tired to go down and look :)  I also picked out a fabric and did my first ever upholstery project, however we have decided that the fabric isn't really what we want so we are now on the hunt for something with more yellow in it.  I didn't get any photos at these stages, but I did get some from last night when Michael added the crown molding.  This is an in action, right before bed shot.

And finally, we have the finished product!  

Here is the bench in the room - I think the color was a bold choice but I really enjoy it!

This picture is a bit darker for some reason but I thought it was cool with the light literally streaming in the window.

Here is a little closer up picture of the fabric. I really like the fabric but I don't like it next to the bedspread.

Let's do a quick before and after:

Pretty awesome if I do say so myself!  And now we have a storage bench for a room and a future toy box for any kids that come along.  When we get our new fabric I think we will add an extra layer of foam to make it a little thicker on top - I just was not sure how much to buy at first.  

And this turned out so great that when I was at IKEA this weekend, I found another but slightly larger piece of wood EXACTLY the same.  Coffee table here we come!

Feature Craft: Earring Hanger

A few months ago right around the wedding, I read a post over on I Heart Organizing about a fun and crafty earring hanger.  About a month ago I showed it to Michael and of course his response was, "I can make that".  And make it he did!

It was pretty simple to make with some decorative radiator grating, some wood, and some dark stain that we had from a previous spice rack project.  I think that I might change the color of the frame eventually but for now it works well for what we have in our room.  He also used a 5 x 7 frame to make me a smaller one from the leftover grating to put next to my bed.

How genius is that?? Now when I take off my earrings at night, I don't have to worry about them falling off my night stand.  After he made me one, we had a few friends and family members show interest so we decided to add it to our Etsy shop.  Head over and check it out!