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Sunshine Blogger Award
I’ve had the honor of being nominated for the Sunshine Blogger Award—not once but twice in the last couple months. My first nomination for this peer-recognition award came from Gia at giaknows.com. Gia is a passionate Christian and raw vegan minimalist who invites others to walk with her towards better health through the powerhouse of info she provides on her blog. Check it out and follow her social media profiles: Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and YouTube. My second nomination came from a fellow faith blogger, Stephen De La Vega. Stephen faithfully and fearlessly blogs about his pursuit of God. He shines a love of Biblical understanding and invites us to…
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For the Joy
A couple years ago, I realized that I can tell how much my brain needs a break by the size of the DIY project I’m working on. No project = I’m doing great. Medium project = I need to unwind. This week, I decided to build myself a writing cabin. By myself. I’m not sure why making something calms my mind and slows me down but, needless to say, I don’t have a lot to share in the form of devotional or teaching this week. Which is why I’ve decided to share a testimony instead. This past week as I dragged lumber through the forest, one thing became very clear—wood…
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Simple DIY Sun Shade
When I decided I needed a sun shade for my deck, I wasn’t about to spend a lot of money on it. And I’m not very patient:) I wanted it now. So I headed out to Harbor Freight and Home Depot for some supplies to DIY a solution. Opting to make my shade out of drop cloth, I bought a 9×12 canvas cloth from Harbor Freight on sale for $14 and added a package of clips to attach it from the corners. This was just a trial run. I had no idea how it would turn out so I set off on the non-committal path of furring strips and zip…
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My Writing Oasis
When you work from home you MUST have a great working atmosphere. And while I made sure that our blueprints included a small ‘office’ area for me, I’m a traveling worker and I have no less than 3 favorite working areas around my house. Like my 8-year old cousin recently reminded me, I have the best job in the world because I can work from my bed in my pajamas. Truth, little cousin! Truth. So my pillow fortress must be comfortable. When it came to a new headboard, I knew exactly what I wanted. But I couldn’t find any store that sold it. (I wasn’t too sad that I…
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Magic Fireplace
Hello friends. I hope you had a Merry Christmas. Did Santa make his way down your chimney this year? What if you don’t have a chimney? That’s the question my kids (and thousands of others) ask every year. Controversial subject of Santa vs. no Santa aside, how do you make your kiddos feel better when you don’t have an actual chimney for Old Saint Nick to shimmy down? A few years ago, my kids helped me make a ‘magical’ fireplace out of cardboard (which we taped to our wall on Christmas Eve). We’ve since upgraded to…you guessed it…another faux fireplace. We all have a bit of fun pretending it transforms…
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Goodbye, Old Home
There was no way around it. Saying goodbye to the home you lived in for 13 years, and brought 3 of your 4 children home from the hospital to, was difficult! But as a family of 6 (add in the 2 crazy dogs), we had definitely outgrown our 900 sq. ft. home. I can’t tell you how hard my husband worked on that house. Knocking out walls, re-building walls, building new walls… He refinished the hardwood floors, bathroom, and kitchen. He built a fence and installed carpet. He turned the breezeway into a functioning room so we could have more than 2 bedrooms for our family of 6. And the…
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Gorgeous Faux Wood Beam
Beams add so much character. And for a small-dollar project, they are a huge payoff. When I first walked into a model home to view the floorplan we were building, I cringed to see a dry-walled support beam splitting the dining room and living room. It was only a momentary case of the shudders though. Our home backs up to a beautiful 4.5 acres of wooded hills. And what is a home in the woods without a bit of natural architecture inside? So I started planning a faux beam. Because beams are expensive! Even the faux beams (made of styrofoam) would run over $400 to do that length of ceiling.…
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Faux Fireplace that Fools Everyone – Part 2
Eight months is a long time for 2 families, a dog, and an ornery cat to share a house. So while I waited (impatiently…but that’s a different post) for our home to be built, I loved having a good reason to sneak out back to the garage for some peace and quiet. You can imagine there was a bit of work to do on this mantle (considering it was ripped from its home where it faithfully presided over fires since Lincoln’s time). If you didn’t read the last post on my mantle’s history, read it here. I’ll admit, I lost quite a bit of time, staring at its beat-up frame,…
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Faux Fireplace that Fools Everyone – Part 1
Hello friends. ♡ This post has been a long time in the making and I’m so excited about it! Everyone who sees my fireplace asks whether it’s gas or wood. Everyone thinks it’s real! Gas or Wood Fireplace When we met with our builder in December of 2015 (2 years ago!) to pick out our options, we knew a real fireplace was out of the budget. That was heartbreaking. But I had 8 months, living with my parents, while our home was being built to mull this over. How could I build a faux fireplace that gave me the feel of the real thing? Faux Fireplace Let’s face it. If you don’t…
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Refinished Antique Tables
Attics have always held a special allure for me. Now that I’m a writer, I understand it’s because I’ve always wanted to discover the story not told. Uncover a mystery or get a glimpse into someone’s romance. Attics hold those little links to past stories the present has forgotten. And I’ve found some amazing treasures in my parent’s attic. Among those treasures were two banged up end tables. They didn’t match and they were horribly scarred from use and time but I jumped on the chance to bring them home and breathe new life into them. (All the while wondering who was the last person to use them. What was…
