So much has changed over the last 6 years. We closed on this house in December 2010 and went in full force with demo and renovations. Ran out of money, ran out of steam, and then life took over. Just a very brief recap for myself more than anyone else…not sure anyone even still gets updates on this to be honest!

Last time I posted, I had just had surgery on my foot (not surprising to me bunion surgery recovery is what draws most people back to my blog! ha!) and was in the process of finding a new job since the company I was working for was acquired. Fast forward a few months and I ended up changing careers, starting a whirlwind 5+ years in exec level corporate HR. Between 2015 and 2020, my father passed away, Ray nearly died on me and we had more than 6 months of recovery for him to get back to normal, my job was absolutely insane, we lost Dylan, Annie and Maggie, and gained Jack, Wesley, Neil and Leia. Good and bad in many ways, but we dealt with it all.

December 2019 started off with some “fun” and the company I had been working at essentially imploded over the course of a few months just as COVID was brewing. Before I could even get my head around what was happening, I was thrown into a new job with a company that acquired what remained and locked down at home thanks to this lovely pandemic.

As we all know, 2020 has been an utter shit show. I don’t censor my language in my HR job and I won’t here. I am grateful that given our careers, Ray and I have been able to keep working and have the ability to work from home for the most part. Ray started back in person at school last week, but until then we were both in our safe bubble at home.

With all the craziness happening in the world, and quite frankly, partly attributed to being stuck in this house since March of this year, I started getting the idea it was time to finish the renovation we started when we bought it. We are not going anywhere as much as we have talked about moving out of state. This is our forever home so let’s get it done.

Financially, we are lucky enough to feel stable enough to take it on and I’m home during the day to oversee anyone who is here working on certain things that are out of our realm of DIY ability (or things I don’t want Ray to break his hands on since he is a ceramic artist) so why keep putting it off?

We started demo on Tuesday in one of our bathrooms. The hall one that I’ve used exclusively since we moved in. All of its pink and blue tile and fake stained glass window leading into our family room grew on me. I will admit I actually cried a bit when I realized it was all going to be torn up. I don’t love the pink and blue, the broken tiles, the sink that never stops leaking, the random window into my own family room, but this bathroom has been part of the home we have lived in for almost 10 years and in this house since it was built in 1953!

Let the fun begin! Pictures coming once I remember how this blog works.

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My first love when I was in high school was pretty heart-breaking for a 16 year old. I lived

10. Favorite Bands?
Bob Dylan, Neil Young, The Beatles and Pink Floyd. Love that this said “bands” instead of band. I have many.

11. Something you miss?
Cuban pastries. Damn Celiac disease makes me eat gluten free and sadly Cuban pastries are not top of mind for all those making GF food out there. 

12. Favorite Song?
This is a loaded question for me. I have a favorite song for every mood and every occasion.

13. How old are you?
33.

14. Zodiac sign?
Aquarius! 

16. Favorite Quality in a Partner?
Whatever qualities Ray has. He’s kinda perfect for me.

16. Favorite Quote?
Another really loaded question. This is my favorite commercial ever. I have the quote in my office designed by one of my awesome graphic designers. It’s probably my favorite “quote” ever. 

17. Favorite Actor?
Jack Nicholson. I still have a huge crush on him. Yes, I know. Don’t judge me.

18. Favorite Color?
Turquoise.

19. Loud music or soft?
Loud. Especially if I’m in the car or home alone.

20. Where do you go when you are sad?
Straight to my sofa to cuddle with my many furry creatures.

21.  How long does it take you to shower?
15 minutes tops. Well, except right now with the surgical boot. It takes forever to do anything now.

22.  How long does it take you to get ready in the morning?
About an hour or so. I’m not a morning person and my brain runs in slow motion.

23. Ever been in a physical fight?
I’m too passive for that. 

24. Turn on? 
Smart, confident, creative types otherwise known as Ray. 

25. Turn-off?
Inconsiderate, entitled, dishonest people.

26. The reason I started blogging?
We bought a really ugly house that needed a ton of work. My close friends lived far away and my cousin convinced me to join in her in her blogging escapades.

27. Fears?
Everything. Anxiety is a fun thing.

28. Last thing that made you cry?
Pretty Handy Girl posted a video on a dog welcoming his owner home from a deployment. I cried during that, then proceeded to cry more watching another billion compilations of dogs welcoming home their owners.

29. Last time you said you loved someone?
I told Dylan (my oldest dog) I loved him but there were no more treats. He doesn’t believe me. He also doesn’t hear anymore so that might be the reason…

30. Meaning behind the name of your blog (Directions Not Included)?
We decided to renovate our house ourselves with no idea what we really were doing = Directions Not Included. 

31. Last book you read?
The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in Life. Yes, I’m the geeky type that reads business books for fun. I have issues. 

32. Book you are currently reading?
The Advantage – Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business. I’m sure you will all run out and buy this now.

33. Last show you watched?
I have Star Wars on tonight. Not a show but it is on the TV.

34. Last person you talked to?
Ray. I asked him to switch the Star Wars DVD for me. I’m binge watching Star Wars. 

35. The relationship between you and the person you just texted?
My cousin. She’s a recovering blogger who is planning her son’s big boy room. We were sharing ideas.

36. Favorite food?
Wine. That counts, right? If not, pizza. Gluten free pizza.

37. Place you want to visit?
Australia. I’ve been once, but I’m dying to go back. 

38. Last place you were?
I went to the office today! I left my house. Woot.

39.  Do you have a crush?
Any scruffy dog I see.

40. Last time you kissed someone?
I kissed Ray when I got home tonight. And Dylan laid a couple sloppy ones on my face when I got home too.

41. Last time you were insulted?
I’ve had some professional things recently that happened that were mildly insulting. 

 42. Favorite flavor of sweet?
Mmmm. Dark chocolate with sea salt and almonds. I need a bit of salty with my sweet.

43. What instruments do you play?
I am tone deaf. You don’t want me singing or near any instrument.

44. Favorite piece of jewelry?
My wedding band and engagement ring.

45. Last sport you played?
Does shooting Nerf guns count? If not, I have no clue. I haven’t even been able to run the past month or two before my bunion surgery.

46. Last song you sang?
Wilco & Billy Bragg’s “California Stars”. An all time favorite.

47. Favorite chat up line?
“Can I pet your dog?” No, not really. I’m an introvert. I don’t chat up folks. 

48. Have you ever used it?
See number 47. 

49.  Last time you hung out with anyone?
Do my pets count? I’ve been home for what feels like forever post-surgery. I did go to work twice this week, but that doesn’t count.

50. Who should answer these questions next? 

Not that I expect anyone to do this but I’ll nominate Julia from Cuckoo 4 Design. She’s such an interesting and open person, that it would be nice to learn more about here.

Now I’m off to schedule the posts that should have been posted already!

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Hi there from the comfort of my sofa. This is a different kind of renovation post –  a little reconstruction to get myself back in working order.I had bunion surgery on my left foot today, it was actually surgery on the big toe and my pinky since I had different kinds of bunions on both. Sounds like fun, right? It’s been over 12 hours since the surgery and I’m doing okay. It isn’t a cake walk by any means, but it isn’t as bad as I expected. Granted my foot is still partially numb, but I hope to start feeling like I don’t have a 500lb left foot soon. If you or anyone you are close to is considering bunion surgery, I’m keeping notes on my bunion surgery recovery to share with anyone interested, just not on the blog. People not considering bunion surgery do not want to be subjected to that. Hell, I don’t even want to be subjected to it considering what I’ve seen out there! I’m keeping notes to share because so far this is not as horrific as the stories and blogs I’ve read online. And that isn’t the pain meds talking

Well this wouldn’t be a DIY blog for real, if I didn’t show was I was up to  in the house. In classic Anna fashion, I decided to tackle the craft room last week in an attempt to get some more space in there. Especially since I will be working from home for a few weeks post surgery and my crafts have taken over the house. On Saturday night, two nights before surgery, this is what the room was looking like. Who decides to turn an already finished and good looking craft room upside down right before surgery? This crazy girl.

I re-painted the room (same color!), moved some stuff around and made some additions. I’m happy with the progress from Saturday and Sunday, but there are still some items to hang and add. Those have to be saved for when I can stand up again or Ray can get some help. Maybe with the help of my handy dandy knee scooter, I can get some photos in by next week or so.

And since this was a planned surgery, I have some content saved up to hold me over until I’m more mobile. I also expect there may be a series  of crotchet projects to hit the blog in the coming weeks since I think this might be the perfect time to perfect my craft learn what I’m doing, while I’m laid out with my furry caretakers by my side

Off to get my ice pack and play on Pinterest. If that was a glass of wine, I could almost pretend this was a lazy, regular, Monday night

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Building this form up with paper mache was my initial thought, even though I hadn’t worked with it since I was probably 8 and made a ladybug stool during camp. The thing with paper mache is that it uses flour. I have Celiac disease which means no wheat flour for me at all – I can’t ingest it and I don’t want to touch it either. I found a gluten free paper mache recipe and decided to try that. I am the messiest crafter ever. This was such a disaster mess-wise. Ray had to take pictures of what I was doing and I wasn’t allowed to touch anything in the house. During this, I knew he wanted to throw me outside and hose me off. Being that it was a million degrees outside, I had to make it inside. The mosquitoes and heat are just insane this time of year.

Messy as it was, it worked. I kept adding layers of newspaper to create the form of the Halloween tree. The more I added, the better it looked.

Now here is the thing. I didn’t add glue or another additive to the GF paper mache mixture so it was a little softer than I thought. I decided to use some Mod Podge to help seal and harden the tree. I used the Hard Finish kind and just glopped it on. Yes, “glopped” is a word now.

Normally, I follow all instructions and use a paint brush or sponge to very lightly add layers of Mod Podge to any piece I work on. That said, for this Halloween tree, adding heavy layers added more character and fullness to the tree.

After a handful of Mod Podge layers, I spray painted the whole thing black.

Wrap some mini-Halloween bat-shaped lights, and you have your very own DIY Halloween Tree. It actually looks good in the sunlight too. I’m just too lazy to take another photo.

Thank you, Gretchen for the inspiration. I’m excited to add this to my Halloween decor this year. Now if I can only decide where to display it.

Follow Anna [DirectionsNotIncluded]’s board this is halloween on Pinterest.

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I created a streamer backdrop for the wall where she had the cake displayed. I used a piece of quarter round, tape and a bunch of crepe paper steamers. Guess what? There is no way to transport this already made so you have to do it on site. And South Florida humidity I learned, turns crepe paper into a wet, wrinkled mess. I started this project outdoors the night before the party, and quickly moved indoors to finish. This isn’t a rocket science project. Just get a quarter round or dowel long enough for your wall. Attach it to the wall using command hooks or something else. Then start obsessively attaching crepe paper streamers to it. I bought a ton of crepe paper and though these pictures only show a portion of the wall, this was an over 10 foot space that I covered with streamers. It looked amazing in person as it did in photos.

This “chandelier” was another project for the party. Not something I would normally make, but it is what mom wanted. This is going to be a permanent fixture in the little girl’s room and she LOVED it. She kept telling me “This is for me, Anna? It is sooooo pretty”. I used two embroidery hoops, fabric, tulle, ribbon, and beads to get this to look like her inspiration.

The cake topper is without a doubt the most last minute project I’ve worked on to date. My mom does most of the cakes for my friends and family. She’s quite talented, but since my dad was back in the hospital this week, Z and I were on our own. She had the cake made at a local bakery, found a glitter 5 candle, and I made the streamer garland at 12:30pm the day of the party. I used two skewers, a piece of baker’s twine and the streamers to make the garland. I’ll make a tutorial for this soon because it was a quick, easy, and adorable solution for a simple cake.

Do you prefer simple parties or those that go all out? I have to admit, I love when people go all out and hire me to do the decor

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Once we finished fighting with the table we attached the hairpin legs. I bought these from Hairpin Legs. This is the second time I use them and am very happy with the quality. Not sponsored in any way, I just found them online and liked the selection of sizes and finishes.

While assembling the box for the table was not easy, it worked very well. I was super excited to see it all ready to go with the legs.

We picked the sapele wood because of the color and grain it had. We contemplated staining it, but the color was too perfect to do so. It is actually almost the same tone as our Broyhill Brasilia dresser that lives in the room as a media center, it just a bit lighter. Because of that I just used a couple of coats of tung oil to seal in the wood and give it a deeper look. We’ve used tung oil to seal it every furniture piece we’ve ever made and have always been really happy with how long it lasts.

You can see in this picture that those sexy 45 degree angles I wanted didn’t come out completely perfect. This is actually not that visible unless you get down to eye-level. I’m sure most people will never notice

Here is the catch of having an old crazy house. These floors are not the final floors in the space. We are still working on this room but for now we have these very old concrete Cuban tiles that are not even. We’ve had to push the console table up against the wall and add shim under the feet to prevent it from rocking. Old house problems.

When we finalize the floors this will likely be moved a bit over to be more centered on the sofa.

Here it is with a few items we’ve acquired for the space. I went with a bold new lamp to add some color to the room since it pretty much all gray and white. The table is the perfect place for my glass of wine in the evening or my coffee in the morning since I love the corner spot on the sectional.

The center part of the table is not very large, but it is perfect for a few books and a little sculpture we have. 

And there you have it, our DIY Midcentury Console table!

What do you think? Have you ever built a piece of furniture without plans?

Linking to my favorite parties here: My Repurposed Life, Creativity Unleashed, Handmade Hangout, Weekend Retreat

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With some leftover MDF I had on hand, I sketched out a simple shape based on the one I saw on the Pottery Barn website. You can buy a piece of MDF at your local hardware store for not much. I used the jigsaw and belt sander at Ray’s studio at school to clean this up, but you can easily do it with a handheld jigsaw and sander. You can even use sandpaper. You don’t need to get fancy with these things.

As a crafter/blogger, I clearly hoard chalkboard paint. I used what I had, to give the tombstone a few coats of paint. You all know what chalkboard paint looks like so I’m skipping that. I primed the chalkboard with some chalk. As you all already know, this means making a mess of your space by rubbing chalk all over your piece, then cleaning it up. Or as I like to call it, making a huge mess with chalk.

And there you go. Your very own knock off Pottery Barn chalkboard tombstone.

Since MDF is so lightweight, that it is perfect for indoor crafts and decor. I’m using it for now for our bar  menu for the Halloween party I’m planning. Lemur is clearly intrigued as to what toxic treats I will be serving.

We all need a spooky drink come Halloween, right?

Pssst – If you don’t already follow me on Pinterest, this is the time to do it! Lots of holiday inspiration coming.

Follow Anna [DirectionsNotIncluded]’s board this is halloween on Pinterest.

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Now here is the catch. Even though the site says you can register via Facebook and sign in that way, it doesn’t seem to be registering the votes that way.  If you see the screen below when you hit Vote, it is not actually registering your vote. Insert sad face. I think a lot people tried voting this way and it didn’t work. I’ve already emailed the website to let them know of this glitch. In the meantime, you must register via email to get your votes to count.

You’ll know you properly registered and are voting when a little red notification appears below and tells you many more votes you have. You can use all 6 for RM Pottery or spread the love to other finalists.

I really appreciate all the shares and votes we can get. This would be HUGE for his business and you would be supporting a handmade artist! If you want to share with your friends, family and followers, feel free to use this link: http://bit.ly/rmpottery

Thank you!!!!!!

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So this is my colorful fabric wreath tutorial. I used the same basics from my fabric wreath tutorial just with a lot of color. I bought a few yards of different fabric in the color scheme she wanted for the party. I used my rotary cutter and cut out tons of squares of fabric. It is repetitive work, but it doesn’t have to be precise at all so it is really isn’t that bad. I’m not great at cutting fabric straight when I’m trying so this is the perfect, imperfect craft. Get a big ‘ol box of pins too because you will need a ton.

I used a basic foam wreath form since it is easy to stick the pins in. I’m not going to lie, these wreaths take time. I want to say this took me about an hour and a half or so to fill in the wreath. I only know that because I was watching HGTV while making it and I went through about three, almost four 30-minute episodes of “Flip or Flop”. You’ll notice in the picture, there are 3 random yellow fabric pieces evenly spaced. It helps me feel like I’m making progress when I can see that I’m getting closer to my markers. I’m very goal driven as you can see

After what feels like a million pieces of fabric, the wreath really starts to take shape. In my first fabric wreath tutorial, I used all white so I used one piece of fabric or sometimes two at a time. This time, I used two pieces of the same color fabric for each pin. It made a difference is making the colors meld together and the wreath look fuller, faster.

I fell in love with the color scheme while making these. It is so bright and cheery!

And here is the final form. Since this is going on a glass front door, I actually filled out both sides of the wreath. If you do this, be careful with exposed pins from the other side. You will get stabbed a few times if you are not careful.

So there you have it, a colorful fabric wreath tutorial. For the birthday party, I’m hanging it with a gold ribbon and there will be a big glitter number 5 hanging in the center.

What do you think? I’m excited to see the party come together. Lots more to do in the next two weeks!

Linking up to my favorite parties here: Creativity Unleashed, Monday Funday , Friday Finds Link Party

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This post is all about how these scruffy little ones came into my life, and how I still manage to live pretty with them. Because you can have pets and have a nice home!

Happy Saturday! Hope you are all having a great weekend!

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