Monday, December 5, 2011

A story of a chair...

I was given this chair this summer when a friend moved to another state... It is not my style in color but OH MY is it comfortable!!! So it sat used everyday in the living room...but that color...I just knew I needed to do something....... 1st Attempt: I thought first to recover it but then thought that would take forever!! So, I planned on doing the Paint the fabric treatment... found some Fabric paint that says it will stay Soft (it was called Soft Fabric Paint) and tried that (it took 3 containers and the pink was still showing through) on one side of the seat cushion. It also took overnight to dry and was NOT soft!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2nd Attempt: So, tried a spray fabric paint which was $4 a can (with a 40% off coupon) and after using the whole can on one side of the seat cushion, it was Soft but you couldn't even tell I painted!!!! 3rd Attempt: Decided maybe recovering it with fabric wouldn't be too hard and in 2 hours I had it recovered and done!!! (with fabric I had on hand!! so FREE) Should of just done that to begin with!! I am going to get some buttons and put that through the seat back..but I think it looks a ton better and I did rip off the skirt on the bottom of the chair.. I am thinking this summer of painting it white...What do you think? Leave it or paint?? ~Fawn BEFORE:
AFTER:

Monday, June 13, 2011

Crab o beautiful crab!!



We spent the weekend in Ninilchik outside of Homer, Alaska and had a wonderful weekend! We ate yummy food saw bald eagles, lighthouses, walked the beach, spent time with the family and even took the kids to Chuck E Cheese. BUT we had the best King Crab Po'boy at the Ak Crab Shack on the Homer Spit, it was super simple but so delicious!! Hope you had a great weekend too!!

Monday, May 30, 2011

Changes....

It has been awhile since I have posted and mainly that is because my best friend and I have started a new business together(sourdoughgirlscreate.blogspot.com) We have taken over a friends food co-op and have started teaching classes and will soon have a mini-store in one of the basement bedrooms. So it has been busy at my home and my hubby has started a new career/business too as a realtor... so needless to say changes are in the air for our family!!
House projects are coming but really slowed down, mainly just garden hot wire fence (pesky moose)so hopefully will post some changes soon real soon....
~Fawn

Saturday, April 9, 2011

I love Vinyl...

I love Uppercase Living Vinyl...yes I am a demonstrator... but I love how easy it is to decorate...wanted to post a couple additions to the house...not all vinyl but am loving it!!
Our living room with Dandelion Dance:



Our kids train table with a train embellishment:


EXTERIOR of our home with the new Colonial Flags:

Thursday, April 7, 2011

a sneak peak...

Here is a sneak peak of what I am doing to our stairs...

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Kitchen Aid and Dishwasher...

Had a couple samples of Uppercase Living lying around so thought I would decorate a couple appliances...
Here is the Before of my Kitchen Aid:

Here is the After:



(I have since added a dz. of so more dots to the kitchen aid, but you get the idea)

Here is my After of the dishwasher (forgot to take a before)



I think they both look great and add alittle whimsy to my ugly kitchen :)

~Fawn

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Spring Cleaning

Well, as I said I would do some spring cleaning and it has started... my hubby and I tackled the "school" room downstairs and have about4 black garbage bags and 4 boxes of trash!! I say about because right now it is just a huge pile in the middle of the room. I am happy that my hubby helped, mainly because our now 6 week old son is not always the most complient and everyday that I want to get something done is the day, he HAS to be held all day!
A few more little projects I am working on... polka dotted my Kitchen Aid, decorated my dishwasher and painting the trim for finally finishing the upstairs bathroom. I do have some pics on my camera, but having problems downloading them onto the computer...so hopefully will figure that out today and post some pics.. :)
I have a friend coming over on Monday to help me declutter the kitchen. She is a great friend who LOVES to organize and keeps a very clean home...I on the other hand have great intentions and want a clean home, but don't like all the steps to get to it... :)
Until later...
~Fawn

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Spring Break....

I have been reading some blogs lately and everyone is spring cleaning and getting ready to purge during spring break...well, that sounds like a great idea and maybe I will try and do that next week....even though this is spring break week...we have a few additions to our family....friends are going to Hawaii for their 10 year anniversary and we volunteered to watch their boys (1,3 and 6) so needless to say I am not doing any projects this week.....My hubby was able to take the time off (for the most part) and help so it is going well and I do know I am very thankful I do not normally have 7 kids under 7!!! :)
Everyone enjoy Spring Break and I'll see you in a week!!!
~Fawn

Saturday, March 12, 2011

A progression

Ok, just wanted to share with you in one post of my Master Bedroom changes....My sister came over and walked into my bedroom and told me it looked like a designer bedroom....I started laughing and said oh yeah with the huge pile of trash and the boxes of hand-me-down baby boy clothes I need to go through and the baskets of laundry I need to haul down to the laundry room... but she said, I didn't really pay attention to that just how everything coordinated and decorated....Well, Thank God for sisters, since I looked around and was surprised it did look nice (besides all the above I mentioned) so I thought I would post a few pics of the transformation....
Before (09 when we moved in)



Start of the transformation: (Feb. 2010)


After: (March 2011)


Tuesday, February 22, 2011

A week old...

Hard to believe our baby is already a week old.....I was playing around with the camera today thank you Teresa from Meadowbrook Farm blog and her post about using your camera....So, I am posting a couple pics I took of Kenan...




Savannah.....


and our oldest, JJ.....



I took one of our other daughter but I will try again and get a better picture....I hope to one day take really good pictures, but in the meantime I will have fun taking some ok ones :)
Pray your having a wonderful day and week!!
~Fawn

Monday, February 21, 2011

SNOW!!!

Ok, Now I do live in Alaska and Yes I do get a white Christmas EVERY year!! and we do get lots of snow, but we were Dumped with snow yesterday and guess what...it is snowing again!!! We got about 6 inches on Sunday during the day and then we went to bed and in the morning we had another 12 inches of snow and the wind picked up and was making it look like we live in the midwest!!! Nothing against the midwest, but here in the middle of Alaska we Rarely see a wind and the most is usually 5-10 mph not gust up to 30 mph!! So, I thought I would take a couple pics of the snow and post them and maybe a before and after too :)
Oh and baby Kenan is growing and doing great!! I am healing and just enjoying being home from the hospital!! :)
BEFORE (summer 2010):



After (Feb. 2011)



Before (taken spring 2010)



After (Feb. 2011)

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Introducing....


Kenan Lee Dixon
8 lbs. 15 oz.
21 1/2 in.
Feb. 15, 2011

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

some inspiration and a due date

I am 5 days and counting till baby boy arrives so I thought I would add some inspiration pictures...oh and the downstairs bathroom is coming along and my hubby keeps saying the shower will be working before I come home...He is soooooo close to having it done!!
So in the meantime... I will just add some inspiration......


Love the beadboard built in dining room!! (BH&G)



I really want this headboard in a green apple green color!!! (Jane Cosick)



Just love that the entry is so charming and practical (Pottery Barn)



Love the look of the black cabinets and the white contrast! (Coastal Home)


A Ross Chapin House that I would love to convert our home to resemble!

Friday, February 4, 2011

A couple changes....

I decided to add a couple small additions to our dining room and master bedroom!!
When we bought the house this is what the dining room had for curtains (ivy!!! seriously sorry just alittle too 90s for my taste :) ):


Almost After: (added a layer of red polka dots to the stock cherry/gingham curtains)(the valance is actually a red gingham sheet I cut up)



After:


I added some red/white polka dot ribbon to the dining room curtains. (this picture was taken by my 6 yr.old son as I am 11 days from delivery date and didn't feel like getting up one more time)

Before:
The dresser



Almost After:

I sanded it down, primed it with some Kilz green tinted primer, painted it with a bright white paint (shermin williams westinghouse white) then distressed a little and added some .79cent new knobs.

After:


I added some Uppercase Living floral squares that match the canvas squares above the bed.

When we first put the bed into our Master Bedroom:


Almost After:
Our Board and Batten Wall in our Bedroom I changed last Valentines Day 2010


After:


Wake me with a Kiss Addition and two small floral squares that are also the same size that are on the dresser (it was a large package that had 5 large floral patterns and 10 small squares)AND the 5 large squares put on canvas....
Did you notice that I made the Kiss in a different color I think it looks nice but what do you think?

~Fawn

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Curtains



I love polka dot in red!!! So, I found some fabric on sale at JoAnn's the other day and was trying to figure out what to use it with. I know I wanted to use it for a ruffle on the rest of the dining chair slipcovers, but I don't have the drop cloth fabric for that yet. So, I saw our curtains and thought it would be perfect to add a little layer of polka dots!! I cut the fabric about 8 inches then hemmed the ends and the bottom hem then just attached it to the gingham ribbon above the cherry layer. I think it turned out adorable and adds a little customization to stock curtain panels in our dining room/kitchen.

Friday, January 28, 2011

A Quilt and Cupcakes...

Well, I have been up to a couple things....I made our new baby boy (soon to arrive in 18 days) a John Deere Quilt/Blanket. I had purchased the quilt front a couple months ago and the back fabric, but didn't buy any batting so needless to say it was quite some time ie. 2-3 months til I got back to the store to pick up some batting, which was perfect timing as it was on sale for 50% off :) So at nap time yesterday I quickly sewed the quilt together and it is now resting on the crib waiting to meet its owner... I also had just enough fabric to also sew a case for the changing table pad to match, which is actually going to be our boy's bed in our bed....a good friend of ours told us about using their changing table pad as a bed on their bed for the first couple months then move it into the crib and it was a MUCH easier transition....We love that idea as it has always been a battle with our kids when we move them from our bed to the crib...



Also, I found a recipe for Boston Cream Cupcakes from the Beat until Fluffy blog and since my hubby LOVES boston cream cake, thought this would be a nice treat! :)


MY VERSION is basically the same EXCEPT I did not make the filling, I just used a package of vanilla pudding and put in 2 cups of milk vs. 3 to make it thicker and used 1 1/2 teas. of vanilla extract. I also did not use superfine sugar in the batter and in the chocolate glaze I did use whole milk instead of heavy cream and agave syrup instead of corn syrup.

If you want her recipe just click on the Beat until Fluffy blog/recipe link above and it will direct you to her website recipe!!


~Fawn

Friday, January 21, 2011

Yummies...

Well, I found a new food blog yesterday...its called Beat Until Fluffy and OH MY GOODNESS are the recipes yummy looking...
Well, on the home page were two pumpkin recipes I had to try, one is called Harvest cake (a pumpkin coffee cake)



and Pumpkin Cookies.



I tried those and they turned out delicious!!!
So, I am now onto the homemade Pretzels (these are just coming out of the oven so no pics yet.) I just had to tell you to check out her blog, you will definently be inspired to bake and she has very easy to follow directions!:)
~Fawn

PS. I also made my own Vanilla Extract in October and it is now ready to use!! (I honestly have been using a few teaspoons out the past month) It was only Vodka and 6 vanilla beans (split open) and stuffed into the vodka, set on the counter in a dark spot for 3 months and now look at the color....and it is YUMMY!!!