i often obsess over my home, believing what i have just simply won’t do. with a shoestring budget & limited options, i search high & low at thrift shops, flea markets & antique malls for that perfect thing that will settle my nesting soul. that is, until spray paint came into my life. one can & four bucks later, i have pretty orange kitchen table chairs. spray paint, you have blown my diy mind.
a good friend found these two lonely chairs on the side of the road & sold them to me for dirt cheap at her yard sale just a few months ago. they sat at my kitchen table for far too long until last weekend when it was absolutely freezing cold & i decided it was the perfect time to complete an outside diy project.
i purchased a can of spray paint in “cinnamon” orange & started spraying. i sprayed until i couldn’t feel my fingers from the frigid wind. two coats later, these babies were stylin’.
now let me just tell you, i have a lot of friends who spray paint furniture, but i just wasn’t a believer. it left drippy marks on the sides & looked uneven when i tried to spray paint anything. i finally googled this & figured out that i was spraying too close to the piece & in too thick of a layer. this time i sanded my piece just a bit & took it slow, spraying two thin layers instead of a thick, uneven layer like before. perfection. i’m a spray paint addict.
but of course, i wonder what life would look like if i didn’t have a constant list of diy home projects. i hung that chalkboard because that blank wall was driving me nuts. my eyes started to get twitchy as i imagined all of the possibilities. then it hit me.
paper bag flowers. a brilliant idea by martha & executed so perfectly by ashley. for just $1.50, i’d say this is the perfect decor for the baby shower i am hosting next month & maybe forever. i’m craving spring & these paper flowers make me smile.
now onto the next project… thanks for reading, friends!
love,
natalie
he’s home. (!!!! sflasklfjaslkf!!!!)
when i started this blog, we were dating. we lived across town from one another, just a short bike ride away. we married in college & lived in a tiny attic apartment. we held hands while bicycling to our classes. we moved a couple of years later to begin our careers & stretch ourselves much more than we ever thought we could. he drove 45 minutes to work & i hated most every day of my job. we grew tired of the difficulty & lack of community so we moved upstate. he stayed on the farm during the week & i found my dream job. he drove two hours home on the weekends, listening to podcasts & npr. we had community, but we didn’t share a home.
he’s finally home & i cannot tell you how good it all feels. this morning he opened up the garage, dusted off his bicycle & rode to work. with his helmet on.
before he left, i asked if he would pose in his new knitted hat i made him for valentine’s day & he agreed. that’s what us blogging wives do, right? then he quickly put on his helmet & left just in time for his first day.
here’s a bit about the hat. the purl bee is such a dream & i found the pattern here. i was looking for a fairly simple hat with detail. i used one wooly blend skein of lamb’s pride yarn in the most beautiful yellowish green. i plan to cast on one for myself in a robin’s egg blue color. the hat knitting obsession continues.
wishing you a wonderful week of knitting, bicycles & love
love,
natalie
when you’re husband’s out of town (for the last night of his old job ever !!!) & it’s valentine’s day, the only real solution is to invite your girlfriends over for a little par-tay.
we ate food, talked about food, drank wine, savored homemade truffles & painted little pots for succulents. much better than store-bought flowers, in my opinion.
& yes, i ate chocolate. i don’t want to talk about it.
wishing you a wonderful weekend full of love & all the good stuff!
love,
natalie