DIY Attempt #1

I have recently been inspired by a few DIY blogs (that's "do it yourself" in case you were wondering). Well, this month I got a little adventurous.

When we were moving out of David's college bachelor-pad apartment at the end of July, we were trying to decide what to do with some furniture pieces. You see, we got really lucky. David's brother Jesse moved into his our apartment August 1st. This meant we could leave whatever we wanted leaving Jesse to move out what he didn't want. Well, David had this old microwave cart that belonged to his grandparents back in the day. He found it in the attic at his house and brought it to college a few years ago. Upon first consideration, I wanted it to stay at the apartment, leaving it for Jesse and whatever damage they could do to it. But then I began to wonder. Was it possible to salvage this unloved piece of furniture? Could it serve a great place in our home (whenever that may come)?

After getting permission from David's mother to paint the laminate microwave cart, it was after all a family antique, I began researching what I needed. I have to credit Lindsay from "Living With Lindsay." Specific instructions can be found here. I did alter to what I could find at our Lowes, but for the most part, she taught me how to do it.

I forgot to take a really GOOD before picture. We were in the process of sanding it when I realized that I'd committed a crime in blogger world. So this will have to do for the before picture. You can tell a little about it. The doors have been taken off (along with the out-of-date gold pulls that were on them). Also, it once had wheels on all four corners. You know, kind of like the ones you'd see on the bottom of an office chair or something. I decided it would be much cuter without those. I asked David if he could take them off, and we discovered all one had to do was pull them out!

Before:


After lots of thought, I decided I wanted to paint it red. Everything we registered for in our kitchen is red and brown. I thought red would be an excellent accent color. After a primer coat and a couple of red coats followed by a polyurethane coat......

Taaaa daaaa....


My friend Bethany and I went to find new door pulls at Lowe's. I was trying to decide if we should just spray paint the old ones or buy new ones, knowing that buying new ones could get expensive. They usually run around $5-$10, and I didn't really want to pay anywhere in that price range. Well, we walked in and found these. They were on clearance for $1.50 each. So for $3, we got these really cute pulls. They appear black sometimes and bronzy/brown others. I think it just depends on what is near it.

Didn't it turn out great? I must admit, I was a little doubtful after the primer coat. Then I put one coat of red on and it turned out hot pink! (EEK!) But with another coat of red (and a new roller brush from Lowes thanks to my great hubby who went and got it) and the poly coat, it turned out so great! We spent a little on supplies, and it was way less then we would have spent to buy this piece. In the grand scheme of things, it was dang cheap!

Sigh...now it sits in storage. With the rest of our things. Which bothered me two weeks ago, but now I've realized we'll always look back on our time as newlyweds and think how much fun it truly was! We're cherishing it! And again, it is definitely a reality check on what all you need and don't need to survive. Don't get me wrong, we have a fully stocked house complete with beds, couch, table, and kitchen necessities. They just aren't OURS. But who needs all that stuff! As my mom has been reminding me lately, God never lets you go through something that He doesn't intend to use to prepare you for something else. I sure hope it doesn't mean living without our nice wedding presents forever, but whatever He has planned, I want to be ready. I don't want to miss out!

And because there's been no picture of us lately, here's a picture from Miss Mississippi this past July. My sweet hubby was so wonderful to go with me! It was his first time to go (and my fiftieth...well maybe not quite, but I've been a bunch in my lifetime). And if I do say so myself, I think he rather enjoyed himself. Oh how this picture makes me miss my long hair!

It's way shorter now.

Maybe one day I'll be brave and post a picture of it.

It's really not quite as short as I make it sound.

It comes down past my shoulders still.

But when have you EVER known me to not be over dramatic?

But really, it's SO short!

Okay not really. But it's really long in this picture.

And I miss it...

*Note: This was the night the 3rd Mississippi State University Chi Omega young lady won the Miss Mississippi crown in 5, yes that's right FIVE, years! Woo hoo! Or should I say Hootie Hoo! :) Go XO! Go MSU! And Hail State to the fact that of the top 10, none were Ole Miss girls! And as happy as that makes me, I wish that some of my Ole Miss friends had gotten in the top ten. But they simply chose the wrong college to go to!

Hope you all have a fabulous week!