Refreshed Decor

New Post at the new blog...

2012-07-19T15:21:00.002-07:00

New post up on my new blog!

New Blog: Sincerely, Kacey

2012-07-17T15:37:00.000-07:00

Just popping in to let you know I'm going to be posting over at Sincerely, Kacey from now on, now that we're no longer doing furniture. If you'd like to follow along, please do!

Kacey

Summer So Far

2012-07-03T08:35:00.000-07:00

Well, hello there! It’s been awhile, hasn’t it? I’ve taken a bit of a break from blogging. But I think I’m back.

First, the big news: we’ve decided to stop doing furniture. Well, we’ll still be working on furniture – just not professionally! We realized the impact it was having on our family and decided that it was time to stop. To those who supported us over the past couple of years: THANK YOU!

Here’s a quick peek at what we’ve been doing this summer...

* Introducing the boys to “Star Wars”. They love it.

* I am amazed that I have been sticking to my C25K (Couch to 5 K) program. I just started week 7 today.
20 minutes of running ALL AT ONCE. To you runners, this is nothing, I know. But to this girl (am I still considered a girl at 34? Let’s go with 'yes’.), running was always something I seriously disliked. I still remember my junior high P.E. teacher telling me I should try cross-country or track because of my long legs. And I would always laugh, because I’ve never been athletic. Mrs. Downey would be so proud!

* Sydney, always prepared in case food gets dropped.

* Doesn’t she look scary with those teeth?

* The cuteness!

* A rare still moment, watching “The Empire Strikes Back”. This kid does not sit and calmly watch a movie. It’s much more fun to dance around the living room, distracting everyone else who is watching the movie.

* Some arcade shooting with Daddy, at a friend’s birthday party.

* Don’t laugh. I’m trying to get better about taking a photo a day, and the first day of July was “self-portrait”. This was after I melted out in the heat and sort of bawled at the end of “Brave”. Possibly not the best timing for a photo of any kind.

* Entertaining the boys during a boring mall visit: up in the elevator and then down on the escalator. It’s the little things, you know.

Looking at these photos, I realize I’ve been really bad about taking photos with my actual cameral. The iPhone is just too easy and fun!

- Kacey

Refreshed on a Tuesday

2012-03-13T08:46:00.001-07:00

Hi guys! We’ve been super busy lately, working on several projects simultaneously, so it feels good to be able to share one that’s been completed.

We were so excited to find this buffet at a rummage sale a few months ago. It reminded us of this piece, which we really loved. We thought it would be perfect for our friend + client Jessie, who just happened to be looking for a piece like this. She requested a creamy white with oil-rubbed bronze hardware – the perfect combination for modernizing this buffet!

I’m off to deliver Wyatt to preschool, then to Adrian’s school to help out in his kindergarten classroom. Hoping to fit in some painting this afternoon after some grocery shopping. Oh, the glamour of a stay at home/work at home mom!

Enjoy your Tuesday!

For lots of inspiration, check out:

Weekend update

2012-02-27T15:59:00.000-07:00

It started out great...a walk through the neighborhood and movie night on Friday night.

During the movie, Adrian started running a fever, which meant he was coming down with the cold Wyatt and I have been fighting for weeks.

Weeks, I tell you. I’m just slightly tired of it.

Poor Danny. That meant his Saturday night birthday dinner had to be rescheduled.

Silly me thought my energy was returning on Saturday, so I spent the day cleaning the house and doing laundry. Danny and I even got to work on furniture in the garage together while the boys played outside. I thought it was fun. He thought I was messing with his routine. So much for quality time with the husband.

Anyway, I might have overdone it. Just slightly.

But at least I got this coffee table started!

Sunday involved a lot of lounging about {see Saturday activities, above}. Even Danny got in on the action {see below}.

Turns out not even wine and Emergen-c can make this cold go away, so I’m off to the doctor today to see if he can fix me.

Finally Friday

2012-02-24T15:57:00.001-07:00

No less than thrilled that Friday has finally arrived! My littlest guy and I have been stuck with back-to-back colds, so a weekend promising lots of sun (81 degrees, people!) and outside time, PLUS a little 35th birthday party for my sweet husband seems to be just what the doctor ordered.

See ya next week!

Turquoise Antique Buffet

2012-02-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

I’m excited to share the latest transformation with you...

Although seemingly in good shape upon first glance, this buffet needed a little TLC and a fresh coat of paint to make it sparkle.

Some turquoise paint and a little dark glaze made the charming features of this piece really stand out.

This is another piece that I wouldn’t mind keeping. I might be a little sad to see it go!

Have a lovely weekend ~

For lots more inspiration, check out:

insta Friday

2012-02-10T07:30:00.000-07:00

Hi guys!

I’m linking up with Life Rearranged to share our {rather unexciting} week in photos...

{racing}

{Trader Joe’s}

{cuddling with Sophie}

{pretending to sleep at Costco}

{day 9}

{Do you love instagram as much as I do? You can find me @kaceyelias}

I was still fighting a cold this week, so we didn’t really do anything exciting. This weekend we’re hoping to finish up some cool furniture pieces and finally paint our bedroom, which has had stripes of different tester colors on the walls for months. Possibly a year.

I hope your weekend plans are more exciting than ours!

Another versatile cabinet

2012-02-08T09:10:00.001-07:00

Well, hello there!

I have another cute white piece to share with you. These last few pieces had been hanging out in our garage while we worked on larger pieces and custom orders and we finally decided they deserved some attention, too.

Oddly enough, this is another record cabinet.

Before:

It has a nifty little drop-down door with partitioned storage – on the door! I forgot to take a shot of the inside, so you’ll just have to use your imagination.

I love these little versatile pieces. It could function as a hall table or a nightstand. With that hidden storage, it has lots of possibilities.

I love the little Anthropologie antique clock face knobs.

{If you’re local and interested, I’ll be adding it to the shop in a few days.}

See you Friday with random photos from the week!

For lots more inspiration, check out:

Weekend highlights

2012-02-06T08:06:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday morning!

We didn’t make it to the chocolate festival this weekend, but we did have some nice family time, which is always fantastic.

Friday night @ In-N-Out drive-thru. Apparently 4 yr-olds don’t want to be photographed. Oh, and did you see? A real smile from Danny, ON CAMERA! A rarity for sure.

1. Saturday morning cuddling
2. a stranger {day 4 prompt} at a restaurant
3. 10am Sunday {day 5 prompt}
4. 3. too cool for pictures with mom

in progress

Wyatt under Grandma and Grandpa’s orange tree {taken by Adrian}

That was our weekend! How was yours?

Catching up with January: Photo A Day

2012-02-03T07:03:00.001-07:00

Happy Friday, everyone! It’s my favorite day of the week. I know that I have the whole weekend ahead of me and I can dream of all the things I want to accomplish. Or not accomplish. Whatever.

Today I thought I’d continue with the photo-a-day theme and share January’s photos.

These little thumbnails are from my iPhone’s my365 app, which I’m using to keep track of my daily photos.

{Thanks to Shelley for sharing about this app!}

{I missed 4 photos. shhhhh.}

A few of my favorites:

1. a glimpse of my room (please ignore the paint situation behind the headboard. It’s only been 2 years, ok?)
2. the boys waiting at the front door for Danny to get home from work. Wyatt is wearing his superhero cape – it’s just so typical of him and makes me smile.
3. Adrian and his Angry Bird {paid for with his own allowance – he was so proud!} with pirate eye patches from his 6th birthday pirate party.
4. my cat Sophie hanging out on the chaise in our new “reading space”.
5. Wyatt with his raccoon hat. the kid likes to dress up.

If you’d like to see more photo-a-day projects, head over to House of Smith’s and Nest of Posies...

Have a wonderful weekend, friends! There is a chocolate festival near us that we might be checking out. I hear they have chocolate covered bacon. I’m pretty sure I won’t be sampling that!

P.S. Just so you know, so far I’m 2/2 for February. Just sayin’. ;)

Photo A Day

2012-02-01T09:45:00.001-07:00

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I’m participating in a photo-a-day challenge which will become a part of my Project Life album. I managed to get through the first part of the month staying mostly on track, but then I started forgetting to take them each day about halfway through January. Despite my slacker behavior, it’s been really fun to be a part of it and see what others are sharing on Instagram and Facebook!

Today is the start of the February challenge. I’m hoping to make it through the whole month this time!

{Fat Mum Slim}

Is anybody else doing a photo-a-day challenge? I’d love to hear how it’s working out for you! Am I the only one forgetting to take photos?

White open cabinet

2012-02-01T07:35:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! I had big plans for this week and furniture I wanted to work on (feeling so inspired right now – don’t you love it when that happens?), but Wyatt came down with a cold on Monday and I woke up with it Tuesday. So, no progress.

I do have this cute little former record cabinet to show you.

Recycled and repurposed – perfect!

I think it offers some fun possibilities! It could serve its original purpose (we’ve still got records that we play occasionally – anyone else?!) or provide open storage for magazines, files or even books.

Here’s the before:

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to load up on vitamins and apple cider vinegar to hopefully help me kick this cold...

P.S. Where did February come from???

Sharing at:

French desk

2012-01-30T08:15:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday, everyone!

It’s been feeling a bit springy here in Arizona lately, and it has me rearranging furniture and thinking about a few changes. After moving this desk from one room to another, I decided it was a prime candidate for a makeover.

A couple years ago, I painted it Behr Cottage White. After living with it for a few years, I was definitely bored with the cream and thought the desk could use more personality.

I couldn’t find a photo of it after the first makeover, so here it is as it was when we picked it up a few years ago:

Enter Benjamin Moore Cerulean Blue.

Much more fun, don’t you think?

I just love the cute original hardware and chose to leave it as is.

It was a spur of the moment color decision. Danny later told me he wasn’t feeling it initially, but it’s starting to grow on him.

We’ll be painting our front rooms white soon, and I’m excited to see it against the fresh white background!

Sharing at:

This post brought to you by Instagram

2012-01-13T15:41:00.001-07:00

I’m doing Project Life this year (and last year, too – simultaneously, sort of). Danny gave me the Clementine kit for my birthday last month, so now I have no more excuses.

{Thanks to my friend Heidi for encouraging me! She managed to get through about 6 months of photos and journaling this week, spending just a few hours over 2 days!}

Has anyone else used Project Life or something similar?

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To go along with Project Life, I’m playing along with the Photo A Day Challenge. So fun!

{so far I’ve just used Instagram for my daily photos. I’ve been lazy!}

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Soon-to-be project - turning our formal living/dining area into a comfy sitting/breakfast room. We haven’t really done much with this space since moving in. Thinking it’s time we changed that. {inspiration via Sarah}

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Tomorrow my parents are taking the boys so Danny and I can have a whole day of furniture painting fun.

The forecast? Perfect!

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My cute little messy eater. Also: I love how he has a lone piece of bread off to the side, on the placemat. He does that every time he eats a sandwich.

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I found these lamp bases on clearance at Target this morning. $14.99 each (normally $50, although I’ve seen them for much more other places). There were just two hanging out on an end cap, clearly waiting for me as I took a shortcut through the home section. I’ve been looking for a pair of lamps like this for months now, so I was super excited to find them at 70% off. I couldn’t see paying upwards of $50 to get them the perfect shades, so I grabbed a couple of clearance shades ($5.96 each) to recover.

That’s it for my Friday randomness. What about yours?

Happy long weekend!

* This post brought to you courtesy of my iPhone. Seriously, what would I do without it?

Black

2012-01-11T08:30:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! Happy New Year...a little late. After a few weeks home for Christmas break, the kiddos went back to school this week, so we’re working to get back into a routine. It was so nice to be home for an extended period of time, without all the craziness of preschool and kindergarten. I could do with another week of vacation to tackle a few more things on my to-do list, but real life beckons!

To kick off the year, I thought I’d share a special makeover that Danny finished last month.

The dresser used to belong to his great-grandmother and had been passed down to his aunt. Danny’s aunt Julie commissioned him to refinish it for her granddaughter (the daughter of Danny’s cousin, Michelle – confused yet?!) to be used in her big-girl room.

The before:

As you can see, the dresser was really showing its age and needed some repairs. Michelle wanted a soft black, so Danny used ASCP in Graphite and clear wax over that.

With some clear glass knobs, the dresser is looking much more elegant these days.

As you know, most of our pieces end up white or cream, so black is a fun departure for us.

Julie and Michelle, thank you for trusting us to work on this for you!

Wednesday

2011-12-07T15:53:00.001-07:00

It was definitely one of those “I want to stay in my pajamas all day” kind of days.

I’m fighting an evil cold that won’t go away. So thankful that I didn’t have anything scheduled today.

After we dropped off Adrian at school, I dozed on the couch while Wyatt watched some “Sesame Street” and “Curious George”. It was just what I needed to gather up enough energy to do some laundry and clean up the kitchen before heading back to school to pick up Adrian from morning kindergarten.

This is what I did while the boys had quiet time in their rooms.

Drinking tea and catching up in Google Reader.

Sophie was an enabler.

I also managed to do a little menu planning and some online Christmas shopping, too. (see? I can be productive in my laziness.)

Now I’m looking forward to an early bedtime...

A very Christmasy weekend

2011-12-05T15:27:00.001-07:00

{that’s Wyatt, above, pretending to be a Christmas present}

Saturday was spent cuddling with the kiddos and getting the house Christmas ready. This year, rather than putting out all the gazillion decorations, we went for the simple version. Turns out, simple is much less time intensive and so much less stress-inducing. Who knew?

The day ended with lots of hail that very much resembled snow. I miss snow so much this time of year, so seeing the sea of white was just what I needed to complete an already magical Saturday. The boys were as excited as I was to see and touch the ‘snow’!

In other news, a very big thank you to
Shaunna of Perfectly Imperfect,
Cassie of Primitive & Proper
&
Kate (and Amanda!) of Centsational Girl
for featuring Danny’s pallet coffee table recently!
WOW!

Happy Monday, everyone!

Planning holiday experiences (our Advent calendar)

2011-12-04T08:54:00.000-07:00

We finally broke down and bought an advent calendar this year. (Target, naturally)

The kids LOVE it.

The first day, they opened all the little doors and inspected all the details.

Each morning they rush downstairs to see what the day holds.

(today it was decorate the Christmas tree)

To come up with activities for each day, Danny and I did a little internet research and tailored the ideas to our family. We wrote down each activity on a little piece of paper and tucked one behind each door.

The next morning I saw this on IheartOrganizing. Definitely printing those out for next year – much cuter and easier than our way.

Natalie of Natty By Design put together a similar list of activities and used cute little sale tags. She’s so together, that girl!

I just love this time of year!

hi, Monday!

2011-11-28T08:56:00.001-07:00

After a wild and fun week of celebrating 3 Thanksgivings and Wyatt’s 4th birthday party, we’re ready for you.

On the top of my agenda? Cuddling on the couch with my sweet little guy and some “Max and Ruby”.

Four. I can’t believe my little guy is 4.

Where does the time go?

It goes by super fast, I tell you. So I just can’t get enough of these lazy mornings when my usually wiggly guy cuddles up on the couch with me, gives me kisses and tells me he loves me.

Definitely filing these moments away for later.

Two cute turkeys

2011-11-22T16:59:00.001-07:00

We’re getting ready…

Recycled Pallet Coffee Table

2011-11-17T07:21:00.000-07:00

My handy husband did it again.

He designed and built another coffee table – this one out of a recycled pallet.

I liked the first coffee table he built, but this one is definitely my favorite.

Those shelves! I love that they’re enclosed and just the perfect spot for magazines and remotes. I’ve since put in my request for a larger version for our home.

Considering Adrian and Wyatt have colored, banged on and otherwise heavily distressed our {white} coffee table, I think it’s about time for a new one!

It’s a good thing I have connections.

Sharing at:

Cream Antique Cabinet

2011-11-15T15:39:00.001-07:00

I’m sorry for the few and far between posts, guys.

With both boys in school (just in the morning, though – and not on the same schedule. Oh, my. I’ve become a taxi driver!), one in soccer and two businesses and a house (!) to run, I’ve had to let some things slide a bit. As much as I would love to blog regularly, I realized I was stressing myself out over it. And shouldn’t a blog be fun?

So I’m going to make an effort to post when I can. To share the fun things with you guys. Like this cabinet transformation….

It needed work, but the guy who sold it didn’t have time for the repairs. He listed it on Craigslist, and home with us it came.

Did I mention it needed work?

Danny replaced the top and the shelving, repaired some of the carved detailing and filled a few holes on the legs. The whole piece had seen better days. Many, many years ago.

After the whole transformation, I’m ready to keep this stunning piece. Sadly, it has already found a home!

Although I love a good dark wood piece here and there, so often the details are just lost in those old wood pieces.

This was definitely one of them.

Sigh.

Side by side (my favorite!):

Sharing at:

Repurposing

2011-10-31T14:03:00.001-07:00

Empty wine bottle carton for storing out-of-season shoes, from the clever people at Real Simple.

Guess I need to stock up on wine!

{via Real Simple}

Genius. I’m totally going to check with Trader Joe’s the next time I go – surely they have extras!

Happy Halloween!

Entryway and giveaway winners

2011-10-28T13:43:00.001-07:00

This is our entryway.

It’s a constantly changing space. It seems I like to try every piece of furniture in this spot that fits and is somewhat appropriate for the space. And then I decide it doesn’t work and move something else in.

Here’s our ($20!) antique radio cabinet in the same spot last summer:

{That’s Simon. The animals always seem to find their way into my photos.}

The green chest was there for awhile.

Here’s the entryway from above:

{See? This time it’s Sydney who wanted to be in the photo. In her defense, she was already checking out the neighborhood happenings when I decided to take this photo.}

Things on the to-do list for this space:

paint the inside of the front door
replace the builder-grade chandelier
paint horizontal stripes just inside the entryway area

Hmmm. Once there are stripes on the walls, we’ll have to remove the striped table. Which will mean switching it up yet again.

See? I’m never happy. Just ask my husband.

Who else has an area of their home that they struggle with? Tell me I’m not alone.

P.S. The winners of the ScotchBlue Painter’s Tape from last week’s giveaway are:

Tara @ Blondie 'n SC
Allison (who is talented and should have her own blog)
Julia @ 551 East Design