It's 4am and I am sitting on my couch staring out the large picture window in my living room and I can literally hear a hoot owl outside.  Yes, really.  At first I thought it was a pitiful dog.  But it's not.   It's almost picture perfect besides the fact that am I up at the crack of dawn and this early morning thing is totally not my idea of fun.  But after laying in bed for an hour with non-stop kicking in my belly and contractions, I could no longer lay still.

Don't worry.  I may or may not be in labor.  It's only my 4th child so surely I am not expected to know when my body is in labor, right?  I mean I have only had contractions since 32 weeks and I may have only texted my friend Ashley who is on stand by 3-4 times swearing that it was "go time."

I find it pretty funny myself.  I guess the excitement and the readiness overtake me and all of a sudden a few consistent contractions MUST mean that its time to pack the car, clean the house and hype up 3 very small children for no reason at all.  Oh, the memories.  Yesterday, Emma Jane said that if Porter was still in my belly at her birthday, could I still go down the water slides?  Her birthday is in APRIL people... poor child is as ready as I am for this little babe to come out.

And now, I am out of words to write.  I thought under the light of the moon and the singing from the owl that it would be a writer's paradise and that words would start flowing.  But all I can think about is breakfast and how it should be served no matter what time you wake up.  Which is why I think God gave me a family... otherwise I may be a Marriot traveler just so that I can wake up to the complimentary breakfast and coffee.

If you don't know me by now here is one thing you can learn... I hate to cook.  Period.

SO ON TO THE NURSERY.

I wanted to wait and show you once the final touches were in place and when every picture was hung nicely on the wall... but as I have realized with this whole house transformation, that "our thing" is always a process.  And money doesn't grow on trees.  So if I waited until my idea of "perfection" you would probably see the nursery reveal when baby #4 is two years old.

So here you go...

BEFORE.
When just one crazy baby slept in this room.

Wade Nagy and I had a productive week.  Nothing like hosting a wedding shower at your home to give you that kick that you need to get back on the renovation train.  It's easy with 3 kids and one on the way to lose sight of what "needs to be done."  After all, all of the speckled walls had become home and the unsightly decor that I had hanging outside had just become an easy solution to fill a wall.

But that's not always the best.  I have learned that sometimes less is more and a blank wall is sometimes better than outdated decor.

So we will start there...

I was hosting about 30 some peeps in my home.  So I knew that the outdoors needed to be utilized in the best way possible.  We worked on some furniture (which I will show you later) and had the back deck looking much better.  Until I came to the doorway.  And there it was.  The chicken that I have had since we first got married.  Granted, Wade Nagy and I used to have chickens.  Their names were Yosef, Claudia, Tyson and Purdue.  All of which left this world in an unimaginable way, in which we quickly learned that we are not the best chicken owners.  So the only chicken that survived was this lovely thing.  And to be honest, it should have probably died with the rest.  Or at least stayed back with the old farm house we used to own.

I needed a quick fix.  I had this letter in a closet left over from a project that I never completed.  (this happens a lot).  So with some spray paint and some burlap (that I used for the wedding shower), my new decor was simple and clean.  And highly resembled the one I just showed you on this post.  But oh well.  I still believe it to be an improvement from the rusty old chicken.
Start with a can of Indoor/ Outdoor Spray Paint.  Allow to dry.  I then tied burlap string and topped it off (mainly to cover the nail in the brick) with a thicker burlap fabric.  Both can be found at Walmart.
Then, there was the painting of the walls...  Wade Nagy pulled this off in just the nick of time.  We both agreed that we should have said goodbye to the speckled spots a long time ago.  Our living room and hallway now feel like a fresh, clean space.


And then there was this... The Fireplace.
 Now this was one of those things that I knew needed to be done, but had dreaded the task.  That was until I knew 30 people were coming to my house and boom... motivation had reignited.  

The first couple hours were fun.  I loved seeing the new, fresh color roll over the dingy white.  But after the 2nd day, I could have tore down the whole entire fireplace and called it a day.
The mortar... Oh. My. Goodness.
So if you think you have the sanity for this project...  Then at least allow yourself more than 2 days to complete the task.  Start with a small roller (made for brick), then use a 2-3 inch Purdy Brush to get deep inside of the mortar.  The color of this paint is Sherwin Williams, Functional Gray.
In a few days, I will show you the outdoor furniture that made our deck sing in gratitude and I also will have some really cute dancers who rocked it last week in their dance recital.  Plus... I know you want to see some pics of the wedding shower...  It was such a great time and the bride, well, she's a beauty.

Here are some sneak peaks for the next few posts...

At the beginning of Spring I had this beautiful burlap wreath with our letter N nicely displaced for all of our visitors.  I was particularly proud of this wreath because I had made it last summer using scrap burlap, a wooden letter that was given to me and an old wire wreath form that I had stolen off of an ugly old wreath.  So virtually it was FREE.   And that made it even more beautiful.

But the only guests that my wreath really impressed was not of the human kind.

Apparently, beside from the fact that it was free and pretty, it was also cozy.  Or at least according to the neighborhood birds that decided to make this cozy burlap their new home.  What started out as one bird, eventually turned into 3 as their trust grew around us and knowing that as we walked up to the doorway we had no intentions on harming them.  Sounds cute doesn't it?

Well, it was absolutely adorable.  Right up until they got so comfy that they decided not to leave their cozy coupe while dropping their business right down the side of my door.  Every. Single. Time.  And it added up.  I soon had a spread of that grossness lining my doorway and after about a week, their cozy little home came crashing down.

I managed to save the letter from the wreath and I also managed to fight back the tad bit of guilt when I would see those little birds fly up and look for their home.  The reminder of their "left behinds" kept me focused on creating something new, cheap and not-so-bird-friendly.

So here was my project.

Thankfully I had some left over burlap, so all I needed to purchase was a backless frame from Michaels, using their awesome 40% off coupon.

Materials Needed:
Cardboard (I used an old box)
Frame
Burlap
Scissors
Glue Gun
Wooden Letter (Painted)

Several, I mean several months ago I showed you the awesome, simple and cheap pallet sofa table on the blog (here).  I also showed you the pallet sign that Wade Nagy made for me and told you how that pretty soon, I was going to do a pallet project to showcase above my mantel.

Well, over 5 months later, I am now ready to show you.  Don't worry, it only took me 5 months to start, but only one day to finish.

I am expecting baby number 4 and these days my energy is come and go and so is my patience to try new things.  But yesterday, when I awoke I felt the energy to get something D O N E.  I decided to focus my time on the long awaited pallet project that quietly awaited me on my fireplace mantel.  Plus, I have a wedding shower at my home in a few weeks and I cannot have dead grass AND and a blank pallet board displayed.
So it was time to get busy.

The boards were already put together, thanks to my man.  So the first step was to sand the boards.  So while the kids ran around in the driveway, mama got to sanding with the electric sander.  If you don't have one, this exact Dewalt sander is $40 at Lowes.  And super easy to use.

Now, the outline.  I have wanted a chic, vintage deer since they first came in style.  Part of me was afraid that by this time, they were out of style.  However, I still wanted it.  So a deer it was.  I simply printed off a design that I liked and I re-drew the deer by hand.  Now if you are not able to do this free handed, just blow up the outline as large as you can (you may have to tape the 8x11 papers together), cut out and trace around the design.

Next, the stain.  Of course I had not planned to do this project until today, so a trip to Home Depot was needed.  A fun, spontaneous field trip for these homeschoolers, of course.  I chose to use a stain because I wanted the wood to look rustic and I also knew that it was cheaper and would be much faster to apply.  I chose a gray, even though it did not turn out like I had envisioned, as far as color, I was still pleased with the rustic look.  However, that example hanging on the wall at Home Depot showing this beautiful gray color... not what happened.

Just keep adding stain until you reach the desired color.  The stain will absorb slowly into the wood.

 And finally, the fun part.  Once the stain in somewhat dry (mine was still sticky, but not wet) you can begin to paint the deer.  I used an acrylic craft paint that I had purchased a long time ago from Michaels Craft Store.  I used one coat so that it would still have a vintage feel.  Start with the outer lines and work your way in.  Don't worry about staying in every line perfectly.  Part of doing your own DIY is creating the character through your own natural flaws.