Projects, projects and more projects...

Hello! How was your weekend? It was a project filled weekend at the Hixson home and I hope you were able to get some things finished around you house.

Our weekend started off by hanging out with some friends to watch game 1 of the Carolina/Clemson college world series baseball finals. It turned out great when we won, but we had 1 more to win against them before we could head to the championship.



We woke up Saturday morning and headed out junkin'. We were extremely unsuccessful, so unfortunately I don't have much to report from that end other than some plates, a butter dish, a throw and some USC glasses. Other than that, it was a bust.

Saturday afternoon we started our projects and they took up the rest of our weekend. The projects were as follows.

Project #1: The $10.00 sideboard and bamboo tables.

Remember the sideboard and super cute bamboo nesting tables I found a few Saturdays ago and talked about in this post? Well, we have decided it's time they find a resting place in our home. Gregory took the sideboard project and ran with it. He removed all of the peeling veneer, sanded down all the rough areas, and replaced any weak wood to make it more sturdy. Now it's up to me to make it even more beautiful ;). Again, I'm thinking my trusty Cotton Knit paint is gonna look great on it. Where will it go once it's completed you ask? There are 2 options: 1. It can replace our idea of building a sofa table and be used as such in our den OR 2. It is going to make it's way into our newly made over guest room. Either way, it's going to be BEE-U-TI-FUL. (No pics yet)

As for the bamboo tables, they too are going to receive a paint job. I was going to keep them the original brass because I thought they resembled the Chivari chairs that I love so much, but unfortunately, once I cleaned them up, they just looked like ugly brass tables. And that is NOT the look I want to achieve. These are some befores to help you understand.

Once I wiped them down they were ready for primer and paint. My color of choice? White. Nothing looks better than crisp white and I think they are going to look great wherever they go.

Project #2: Alternative frame uses. I'm always working on decor for the house and in my travels, I like to pick up things that I feel need a little tweaking.

So! On our junk hunt Saturday morning I picked up a couple of things that needed some tlc... 1. a couple of old plates and a platter and 2. two sale items at Hobby Lobby.

First thing I put together was the frame and platter. I needed some wall decor for our dining room and this was a great idea, so I hang the frame and platter on the wall and it was insta-picture :)



I still need more in that room, but this is a great start.


Secondly, I found a cute little canvas sign and branch frame that also needed a little tlc. Both were in the clearance department at Hobby Lobby (gotta love the clearance section) and were screaming at my as I walked by.

When I got home, it was out with the glue gun and hammer and to work I went! All I did was remove the little picture hanger from the back of the canvas sign, hammered the frame back together (since it was coming apart in the corners) and hot glued the sign to the glass of the frame!


Wha-la! A cute little framed sign for my den bookshelf.


Project #3: The guest room.


Our guest room has needed some attention from day one, but to be honest, there were just other things that were more important. But, now that my niece is coming to stay with us a few days next week, we thought it would be a great excuse to work on it. (Hence why we can't decide where the newly painted sideboard is headed.)


Anywhoo, we aren't finished yet, but here are some befores and a sneak peek...






The walls were painted a creamy yellow and the whole room was just missing that warmth and welcome feeling. So I've painted the walls and I'm working on the decor. Our goal is to finish it all by the end of the week.

So the teaser? Can you guess what this is??? You'll have to stay tuned to find out :).




That's all for tonight. Remember we have lots of projects in the bucket so keep coming back! Hopefully, we'll get these things finished by the end of summer... To recap, here are some of our outstanding projects:

• Sideboard - to be painted and the location is TBD


• Bamboo Nesting Tables - to be painted and probably going in the guest room


• DIY Sofa Table - should the sideboard not work out as one


• Back Porch Columns - well it's just to hot to work on those


• The Guest Bedroom - the goal is to be finished by the end of this week


• The Guest/My Bathroom - on the hunt for vanity and other fabulous finds before we start on that adventure


• Gregory's Bathroom - also on the hunt for fabulous finds to decorate the wall

I think that's all on our list; you can see that there is lots to finish before the end of the summer. So, keep us on track! Sometimes we get distracted.

Oh and BTW, does anyone watch Design Star? Not a fan of Nina...she has got a serious attitude problem...but I digress. Happy Sunday everyone and have a great week!

Wine, cheese and sunsets.

Ever decided one morning your weekend was worthy of a fun trip? Well, we did just that this weekend. We woke up one morning and said "hey, let's go to the lake." We didn't have any unfinished projects and to be honest, we just needed a break. So, we packed up the pups and headed for fun in the sun!

The trip there was not as much fun as we had anticipated, mostly because the furbabies were restless and the torrential rain drenched our tools (yes, we [by "we" I mean Gregory] did a little work there. We can't help it, it's an addiction at this point.), but needless to say we arrived at our destination just in time for a beautiful sunset. We sat at the end of the dock and enjoyed adult beverages, cheese, fruit and crackers. It was just what we needed.

We thought we would try and catch dinner for the next night, but that too didn't turn out like we had hoped. It was fun trying though :)

The sunset was absolutely beautiful and the lake was super calm. It couldn't have been a more wonderful evening.

Since we were unsuccessful in our fishing attempts, it was chicken on the grill for us the next night. We fixed up the fruit/cheese/shrimp cocktail plate once again with alcoholic beverages in hand and enjoyed the evening.

The boys most definitely enjoyed their time and any chance they got to go inside and rest they

took. It was super hot and if you weren't in the water, you felt it...

Before we all headed to the water on our last day, we attempted a semi family photo. Alas, it was another failed attempt. I thought it would be nice to get a pic of the three of us for Gregory, but it wasn't in the plans. The boys were too excited to get in the water and to be honest, it was too hot to be wrestling with them. Nonetheless, we got some fun action shots, which are usually all we can hope for with rowdy teenagers :).

My weekend was complete after I finished my latest book, Summer at Tiffany's by Marjorie Hart. It was a great throw back to the 1940's and it was so fun to read about the way things used to be. I highly recommend it those who enjoy those kinds of things. And I'm now 100% sure that I was born in the wrong era...I would have loved the 40's and 50's. Things were so much simplier back then...

On the way home they boys conched out as usual. Except this time they made makeshift pillows (well, duke didn't makeshift anything, he stole my pillow...)



That was our weekend in a nutshell and it was a great one. I hope you all had as much fun with your weekend activities. We had an exciting "project brainstorming" session on the car ride home, so hopefully we'll have some fun posts in the future.

Oh and "Happy Father's Day" to all the dads out there. Most importantly to the men in our lives! We love you so much and thank you for all that you've done for us throughout the years! Night all!

If you build it...well they won't come, but I'll sure be there :)!

Happy Hump Day! Is anyone else really happy that we are halfway to the weekend? I know I'm super excited!

Anywhoo, today's post is about a "first time" project. By that I mean this will be our first attempt to do a project like this; well kinda. Gregory built his chair, so we decided "what the hay, why couldn't we (and by we I mean Gregory) build something else?" So, what's on the ambitious agenda you ask? A sofa table.

My inspiration comes from the pictures below. (I apologize to those whom I am not giving credit, i can't remember where I found them.)

This isn't really a sofa table, but it could be used as one.

I think this table was from Ikea. And as much as I love Ikea, their quality isn't so hot. So, with pencil and pad in hand (and Gregory informing me that plans were a must), I proceeded to draw out my own Ikea-like table.

After the plans were drawn, it was time to go to our second home, Lowes! In the truck we go, plans in tow and super pumped about our new adventure and then...

I got distracted by some cute baskets (who knew Lowe's carried such cute stuff??)

Anyways, back to the wood for building the table. While at Lowes we realized they didn't have what we needed, so we headed down the street to our 3rd home, Home Depot. We debated for a very long time.... and looked at wood:

And laid it on the floor...

And tried to figure out what size we wanted the top to be....

And tried to imagine the boards cut into small sections because we want to piece them together, beat them up and stain them to look like old wood.

We finally got the top figured out, but what about the rest of it? Well, we haven't gotten that far yet, but it looks like we are going to go with inspiration photo number one. We thought we had this all figured out, but turns out...not so much.

So, stay tuned for our ongoing saga of trying to make a table. It may or may not actually happen...

Oh and I almost forgot. If you are looking for a fun weekend warrior project like this one:

Check out this website. They have some awesome ideas!

Night everyone!!

The Dog Days of (almost) Summer

Happy Sunday everyone! Let me preface this post with an apology. Because we haven't been in "project mode" lately, our posts are coming few and far between. Hopefully, the next few months will bring inspiration and will excite us to do something fantastic. In the meantime, I have a recap of our weekend to tide you over...

First, let me just say how RIDICULOUSLY hot is was this weekend! I mean really? Did we move closer to the sun? Ugh! I'm pretty sure everytime I walked outside, I immediately turned into a melting snowman. Official or not, summer is here and I am not looking forward to August.

Even though our projects are on hold, it didn't keep us from being active. It's just too hard for us to sit still! Friday morning began with our normal routine; Rhett whines to go out at about 5:30am and Gregory let's them out. At about 6:30am Rhett is whining again because he's hungry. I sluggishly roll out of bed onto Duke (the not whining dog), who is passed out on his bed below me and I stumble on fighting dogs while trying to walk through a dark room to the hallway.

I slowly walk to the rec room, being careful not to trip on the sea of spastic, hungry creatures that are WIDE AWAKE below my feet, and I feed them (all). After everyone is settled, I then begin my turtle-like rise from the dead (mornings are not my friend). Once everyone eats, they want to go out. So, out they go and all of a sudden I hear barks of suspicion. I go to the side window and see Rhett barking and skittishly walking towards a big orange balloon that had made it's way into our yard. Rhett is by far the biggest baby in the world! He's scared of a fly! Anyway, I went to get my camera and on my way to the back door, I was greeting by Duke with what? Yes, the orange balloon.


For those who aren't familiar with Duke's personality, he is the complete opposite of Rhett and not scared of anything. So leave it to him to grab the helium(less) filled balloon. Needless to say, it popped about 2 seconds later.

Later that night, I was in for surprise number 2 (what is it with boys and their "hey mom, look what I found" stuff). I was sitting in the dining room surfing the web for inspiration and in comes Gregory with "I don't want to scare you, but you gotta look at this!" (See below)


EXACTLY!!! I'm pretty sure you just reacted the same way I did. I jumped about 30 ft into the air. I was lucky I didn't wet my pants! I can deal with spiders, but spiders that look like that with a million babies on their back? NO-THANK-YOU! I'm good. Anyway, we keep Charlotte until the following morning (I'm not really sure why, but I assure you she slept outside). He let her go in the morning because he felt bad and said she would "kill misquitos." "Whatever," I said, "as long as it's away from me." For those who are curious, we are pretty sure she was a Wolf Spider. Either way, not a fan...

Saturday morning I was up and on the hunt. Remember, we have a guest/ebonn bathroom to remodel, so I'm on a mission to find a vanity (among other things).

I found some good stuff (I'll get to that a little later on), but after I got back....


we (by we i mean me. i must have been on a junkin' high) thought it would be a great idea to wash the cars, HA! Note to self: DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT wash/clean your car in 1000 degree heat. Not fun at all. However, the furbabies had a great time hanging out with us, battling over a toy.


After I lost about 20lbs, I decided to take the little energy I had left to paint Gregory's bathroom. Don't worry, I not totally crazy. It only took a quart of paint to finish, so it wasn't big. I still need to hang some artwork, so I don't have any after pictures yet. In the meantime, please enjoy the horribly boring, pepto pink, closet of a bathroom below...


After a good night's sleep, I was up once again at the crack of dawn because of our very demanding children and I got a wild hair to drive to Sumter for their flea market. It's about 45mins away. Let's just say...well I don't really have words for what we encountered. First, we went to one that was SUPPOSED to be open, but nope. 100% empty. No one. 45 mins of driving and nothing, how lovely. But thank goodness there was a second one, or so I thought. The other had people, but not many and boy, oh boy was it an experience. I took my camera thinking I could find some great stuff, but once we arrived, I just couldn't make myself take pictures. I sure regret it though, the people were amazing. One guy said "hey she's got a camera" like he'd never seen one before. It's was too funny.

To give you an idea, when we got there Gregory was like "This is great. People are just happier here..." By the end of our journey, his comment was "I will not be letting you come back here alone." It was an experience for sure. The only picture I took was the one below and I'm pretty sure this was a person's house; behind the flea market.

Even though the merchants at the Sumter flea market we toothless and most likely showerless, I managed to get a couple of things. After we returned, I analyzed my weekend goodies.

Junkin' finds recap:

• Sideboard: Yes, I know it looks like it should have stayed at the yard sale, but I couldn't pass it up for $10.00. Again, I saw Behr's Cotton Knit all over it. Stay tuned for that transformation.
• Chandelier: Yes sir-e. I got myself a fancy little light for our bathroom reno. Not a steal by any means, but I knew I'd be sick if I didn't buy it and if I went to look for one in the future I wouldn't be able to find one. Sometimes you gotta do that; buy it when you see it.
• Frame: It was a buck, can't beat a great price!
• Nesting tables: I got these gems at the Sumter flea market (remember the toothless/showerless folks). They were $15.00 bucks and again I'm thinking Cotton knit, but we'll see.
• I also got a globe (of the world) and some pottery barn linens - not pictured.

To celebrate, I made my new specialty, Shrimp salad. It's great for the summer and super simple to make. Mmm, delish (especially with avacado).

Finally, (and them I'm done. I promise) I wanted to post about a great chair I found a few weeks back. I saw it as soon as I pulled up to the yard sale. I hopped out, asked how much and the lady said "I can't take any less than $10.00." I almost choked! I thought she was going to say like $30.00 or something, but $10 bucks? Who couldn't pass it up? It's got great lines and the fabric was pretty awesome too. However, once I got it in the car and my "are-you-kidding-me?" excitement had calmed down, I started smelling a smoky smell. I then realized I had just purchased a indoor smoker's chair. Yep that's right. My adrenaline had gotten the best of me and I spent $10 on a chair that smelled like it had been in a tabacco factory for 50 years!

Needless to say, I had to roll down the windows for the rest of my trip and once home, it lived on the carport for several weeks. The smell is gone now, but it took FOREVER! Anyways, here it is. I think it's great, but one day I'll probably recover it. Until then, it's hanging out in the den to add a punch of color.

That's all for tonight. I hope that tides you over for a few days. Stay tuned for the sideboard makeover, the reveal of the pepto bath and a project I have Gregory working on ;). Nighty night and have a Happy Monday!

Rubba dub, dub!

Yes, you read right, the reference above has something to do with a bathroom renovation. Well, actually one renovation and one makeover. I know! We are officially insane, but I will preface this post with saying, our ideas or merely that. We have no immediate plans to start tearing down tile and ripping out our tub to find squirrel nests! (I don't think I posted that picture when we remodeled our old bathroom, so feast your eyes on our discovery...)

Yep, folks. That's exactly what you think it is...a squirrel tail and nest. Underneath our tub in our old house bathroom. I always heard Templeton (that's what I named him) under my bottom while taking a bath, but I never dreamed he was THAT close! It was an incredible nest! And certainly a scary find. It looked like the squirrel had eaten his own kind!

I know what y'all are saying..."They must be insane for thinking of another bath remodel." And to that I will answer, "yes." I will agree we have lost our minds, but I sure do love the thought of new, fresh bathroom!

So, to further confirm our insanity...let's talk bathrooms!

We have 2 1/2 baths in our house. Gregory uses the pepto pink bathroom in our master and I occupy the pea green guest bathroom in the hall. Both of which are far from being sexy but mine is in some serious need of a renovation.

I mean look at that floor! You could play checkers on it! Anyway, to continue our convo... The pea green, not so awesome bathroom has the following issues:

• The obvious, pea green tile over 75% of the room (that was inaccurately matched by the previous owner, so the blue-green tiles that they bought do not at all match the pea-green tile that is currently there)


• A peeling bathtub (that was reglazed by the previous homeowner to save money - not recommended)


• Rusty old bath fixtures


• An updated light fixture with some 1960's wallpaper stuck around it


• And finally some kind of terrifying caulking, tub/tile separating thing going on...

These my friends are not the kinds of things you want when you are a bath connoisseur like me (well I'm not really a connoisseur, but I sure love my baths).

So, here is the idea for the not-so-soon reno.

• A whirlpool tub (for soaking, drinking red wine and indulging in a good book.)


• Subway tile tub surround


• New flooring (I'd love Hardwood, but not sure I can convince the hubby of that.)


• A old piece of furniture for the vanity


• Some antique sconces to replace the solitary fixture over the mirror and possibly an antique chandelier


• And last but not least (and certainly the icing on the cake) a small flat panel TV for me to catch up on my latest episodes of Grey's Anatomy (or Private Practice or Mercy or Castle or, well you get the point. I watch A LOT of shows).

But, like I said before, this is a "back burner project." We have decided that we can't do the "hey honey, what have you been doing while I was out shopping?" "Oh, just ripped out the ______." conversations anymore. We need to have a serious plan. And the bathroom plan is going to begin with the old piece of furniture we find to use as a vanity and a good deal on a whirpool tub. Once those bad boys are purchased, it's game on.

So, be on the lookout for a great deal on a vanity/dresser. I know I'll be on the hunt :).

I will say I LOVE this bathroom that Sarah Richardson re-did in her country cottage...

In other news. Since you all know we can't keep our little bums still and we have the bathroom redo itch, our next plan of attack on the house is going to be in the 1/2 bath. This little jewel is the perfect size for a weekend warrior project and we plan to do just that in the next few months. Our inspiration photo comes from County Living and I knew as soon as I saw it, that was exactly what I wanted to do in our bath.

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Our powder room (as they are usually called) is set up the EXACT same way and I can't wait to get to work.

Well, that's all for now. I hope I've inspired you to start a new project. I'd love to see pictures if you have 'em! Good night everyone and I'll post again soon!