DIY Metal Side Table

Hi y'all!  We have had a crazy couple weeks.  I tagged along with Sean to San Diego for a business trip and then took Mack to Texas for a week!  We had so much fun...

I think he might be the cutest toddler ever. :) #notbiasedatall A few weeks ago I did this DIY table and I love how it turned out!  I am always a sucker for a fast project that turns out better than expected!!

DIY Metal Side Table

Materials:

Metal Laundry Basket*

Oil Rubbed Bronze Spray Paint {Rustoleum}

Polyurethane Spray Paint

15 inch Round Piece of Pine

Stain {I did a 50/50 combo of Minawax Jacobean and Weather Oak}

Old Rags

Staple Gun

*  I found my laundry basket at Home Goods for $15.  To make sure your table is stable try to keep the diameter of your table about 2ish inches smaller than the you wood top you pick out.

Directions:

1.  Spray paint your laundry basket or even a trashcan!   I had some before pictures of the laundry basket on my computer...  The computer that will currently not turn on, but thankfully, Tall Tan Man took a picture of it.  

Please don't call the police.  

Oh Mack loved that basket...  He was not too happy I made it into a table.  I did two coats of Oil Rubbed Bronze and when that was fully dry I added the polyurethane.  I allowed this to dry a full 24 hours before I put it within the reach of Mack.  

2.  Now stain the round board with your desired stain color.  {These} are found in the lumber section of Home Depot!  Once your stain has dried, spray it with the polyurethane.  

3.  Attach the top to the laundry basket with your staple gun.  This took no time and is super solid!

Viola!

Oh how I love Starbucks iced coffee with two pumps of sf cinnamon dolce and light cream...  I also love that daffodils are so cheap and beautiful!

I'm hoping Mack {and I} get back on a normal schedule soon.  We are majorly on the struggle bus {like 3 iced coffees a day}...  Mack's crazy early morning wake up calls are killing me.  I don't think I will ever understand why babies can't just sleep when they are tired!!!

{Leslie}

Linking Up With:

Tuesday: Turn it up Tuesday, Tutorial & Tips Link Party, Twinkly Tuesday, Tuesday with a Twist, Inspire Me Tuesday, Talk of the Town, Creative Muster Party, Wow us Wednesday, Winter Blues Wednesday 
Wednesday: Penny Pinching Party, Show Me Yours, Link It Up Wednesday, Inspire Me Wednesday, To Grandmas House We Go, Katherine's Corner , Home and Garden Thursday, Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson

Thursday: Creative Inspiration, Foodie Friday and Everything Else, BFF Open House, Fantastic Friday, Friendship Friday

Friday:  Fan Day Friday, Paula's No Rules Weekend Blog Party, Pretty Pintastic Party,  What to do Weekends, Friday Five Features,  Flaunt It Friday, The Creative Collection,  

Saturday: Saturday Sparks Link Party, Dare to Share, Our Mini Link Party, Sunday Features

Sunday: Your the Star Linky Party

Monday: Inspiration Monday, Meandering Mondays, Thank Goodness It's Monday, Inspire Me Monday, Create Link Inspire, Merry Monday Link Party, Totally Terrific Tuesday Link Party

My Favorite Places To Buy Faux Plants

Hello!  I know the trendy thing right now is to have a green thumb, but that is just not happening in my life...  I killed almost every plant in my house by the time Mack was 6 months old.  As much as I tried to have a system to water my plants, I just couldn't get it done.  I was reading a post from one of my {favorite bloggers} and she wrote about needing to grow plants now that she doesn't have any babies.  So I am going to take that as long as I have babies; I won't grow plants... haha.  Now I still love pops of green from plants so these are some of the best places I get my faux plants.

Numero Uno: Ikea

Tall Tan Man makes fun of me all the time because of the number of {these plants} I have.  They are always my go to item when I'm decorating, faux real!  

Numero Dos:  Hobby Lobby

I know this is going to sound silly but our bedroom dresser decor urked for well over a year {you can see some before pictures here}!  So last weekend I decided to go to both Marshall's and Hobby Lobby to get some things to spruce it up.  I love the draping greenery I found at Hobby Lobby.  It kind of reminds me of my hair every other day ;).

Numero Tres: Target

Any other end of the aisle lovers out there??  I pretty much stalk the clearance sections of Target, and never buy anything full price.  They currently have this awesome {fiddle leaf fig} that I am crushing on.  

I know someday I'll have my brain back {I hope} and will have some living plants again... haha. Mack and I are headed to Texas tomorrow.  Bring on all the fajitas, chips, and margs!

{Leslie}

St. Paddy's Day Oreos

I can pretty much use any excuse to bake annnnd order take out.  I'm not a big celebrator of St. Paddy's day.  I'm am more of "my underwear are green" kind of person{sorry...tmi}.  :) Yesterday I had the baking itch and not much time so this "recipe" was perfect!

St. Paddy's Day Oreos

Ingredients:

Golden Oreos

Green Candy Melt

White Chocolate 

Sprinkles

Directions:

1.  Melt the green candy melts according to the directions and lay out a piece of parchment paper.

2.  Dip the Oreos in the candy melt and lay them on the parchment paper.  

3.  Melt the white chocolate and place in a baggie.  Cut a small corner of the baggie and decorate your cookies.

4.  Add sprinkles if you feel like it!  I refrigerated my cookies for an hour so the white chocolate would stiffen up faster.  Enjoy!

Mack is definitely not old enough to help but someday I think this would be a great kid friendly recipe!

  

Pretty cute I think!

Last year Tall Tan Man and I got to see a lot of Ireland.  If you ever get a chance to go, you should!  Such a beautiful county! 

Happy {almost} St. Paddy's Day!!!

{Leslie}

Master Bedroom Closet Update

Get excited for the most dramatic closet make over ever!!!!!!

{source}

Hey y'all!  Any bachelor fans out there?  I can't help it, every season I get hooked and Tall Tan Man haaaaas to work late on Monday nights.  I am probably the only wife out there that's husband can't even be in the room if the bachelor is on... After a million requests I have decided to show you our updated closets {are you picking up on my sarcasm??}!  A few weeks ago I shared our {whole house makeover} minus the basement, exterior and all the closets.  One of THE WORST problems with buying a 1960s house is the closet space.  Now I know I have a shoe problem... but our closet set up was terrible.

I was the worst DIY home bloggers because I forgot to take a legit before picture.  The picture above is when I had emptied the closet out {and realized I forgot to take a before picture}.  To give you a general idea of what we were working with was just a single bar and one shelf across the entire closet.  Tall Tan Man had zero items in the closet...  #wifeoftheyear He had been using our guest bedroom closet, but that was Mack's closet.  And if you have kids then you know that babies have so much stuff!!!

I learned some awesome lessons from this makeover: A) you don't have to spend a lot on a closet makeover B) I don't always need Tall Tan Man's help to do projects, just my bff Jill!!! C) an organized closet makes me a much happier person! This makeover only cost us $125, which is about $375 cheaper than I expected.  Ikea has some awesome closet organizers and we used this {PAX} frame.

This frame is very solid and looks more expensive than $50!  Another awesome thing about this frame is that the {shelves} are only $5.  I bought the three rods at Lowes and the additional shelves in the closet were scrap wood we already had.

I can now take ONE step into our closet!  Woooo hoooo!  My dorm closet might of been bigger than this closet, but it needed to be with all those tube tops and pointy heals... ;) Not to shabby for $125!  I'm thinking any closet in a future house will be an upgrade and Tall Tan Man will be in trouble.  Y'all all know what a bigger closet means :)

Y'all have a great week and go team RAVEN!!!

{Leslie}

Salad Jars + My Mommy Fitness Musts

Heyyyo!  Are you one of those people that restart a diet every Monday?  Or is that just me?  I was recently at a friends house and she was talking about making salad jars.  I was pretty skeptical about the lettuce staying crisp for 4 days, but I did need a healthier lunch option.  Being a stay at home Momma and eating healthy has become a challenge for me.  I can eat all...the...time...  So I decided that a set lunch would stop me from eating the entire pantry.  The good news is the lettuce stays crisp and the salad is SO yummy!  I've actually made these for 3 weeks in a row. #obsessed

Salad Jar

Ingredients:

2-3 TBSP Salad Dressing {i did a balsamic}
1/2 Cup Chopped Carrots
1/4 Cup Red Bell Pepper
1/2 Cup Cucumber
8ish Cherry Tomatoes
1/2 Cup Chopped Cooked Chicken
Lettuce
Feta

Directions:

Take a wide mouth quart mason jar and add all the ingredients {minus the feta} in the exact order they are written.  I added my feta once I was ready to eat my salad, because I might of forgot to add it to the jar... Yep, real scientific.  If you want to add the cheese with the chicken you totally can!

I've made 4 of these a week and they are all so yummy!  I also love how fast and easy it is to put them together, and my kitchen stays clean-ish during the day.  Can I get an Amen, Mommas?  Now I haven't figured out how to not finish Mack's bowl of mac' n cheese, or a half eaten PB&J so working out is a must.  Postpartum fitness has not been a walk in the park for me.  I had to stop going to my favorite bootcamp because they didn't have childcare.  I struggled for months to find a good rhythm and now that Mack is 13 months old I finally feel almost like my old self.

These are my 3 fitness must haves:

1.  YouTube Workout Videos

I was completely oblivious that there are a bajillion workout videos on YouTube.  I am not very good at working out alone because the floor is just so tempting to lay on.  I need someone to yell at me constantly... I am weird and very motivated by someone screaming at me... :)

 I have found 2 boot camp-ish videos that I really enjoy.   30 Minute Body Weight Workout - {Sorry about the excessive use of the word of lubrication during the warm up}  25 Minute Interval Cardio Workout - I love that the guy is British and uses words like bum and hams!

I have also been doing a lot of Pilates workout videos from Blogilates. They are short videos so I try to squeeze a couple in during the morning nap or when Mack is playing nicely.  These are the ones I do: Abs, Bootay, Squat Challenge, and Total Body.

2.  A Good Jogging Stroller

We have a {Bob} and I absolutely LOVE it.  Thankfully we got ours on a awesome Black Friday sale!  I'm in big trouble because I don't think I will ever use another brand.  

3.  Gym with Childcare

Whether you use this to run on the treadmill, take a class or just shower this is a must for me!


I would love to hear any workout tips you have!  I've definitely learned that I have to roll with things when it comes to working out.  I love a good schedule but that just doesn't work with a baby.

I hope y'all have a great week!

{Leslie} 

Tuesday: Turn it up Tuesday, Tutorial & Tips Link Party, Twinkly Tuesday, Tuesday with a Twist, Inspire Me Tuesday, Talk of the Town, Creative Muster Party, Wow us Wednesday, Winter Blues Wednesday 
Wednesday: Penny Pinching Party, Show Me Yours, Link It Up Wednesday, Inspire Me Wednesday, To Grandmas House We Go, Katherine's Corner , Home and Garden Thursday, Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson