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DIY: wall shelf

we bought our home shortly after it was built, which was great-and i'm totally not complaining-because i was excited to be the first people to live in it! however, part of me wishes we had found this place during it's building days, so that i could be the one to pick out everything before it was finished...and maybe have them throw in a few things (okay, so i know "throwing things in" really adds up...hah!). but one of those "things" would have been a shelf in my kitchen nook/dining area.

as luck would have it, i happen to have a bro-in-law who's a construction manager, and who gave me easy instructions to build my own. he actually built one for his own home, which is where i got this idea! 


so you'll notice my shelf in the image above, is very plain. i wanted that look, because it flows with our modern/clean house design. i wanted it to match the baseboards. my bro-in-law on the other hand, did his with crown molding, so it looks super fancy and it goes awesome with their house. to each his own, right? just wanted to throw that out there in case someone was wondering.

here's what you'll need:

• a 12'x6"x1" (LxWxH) board*. i bought mine at Home Depot. and it says 6", but the width was really more like 5.5"...just so you don't get confused by my drawings below!

• a table saw. my dad happens to live down the road and has one so...that's super handy! if you don't own one yourself, ask a friend or neighbor, then bake them cookies :)

• a sander

• wood filler/putty

• wood screws. we used wood to wood/wood to masonry screws, interior use. 1 1/4".


• paint. i used the same paint from our house, that was used on the baseboards.

*note: when you buy your board, ask if they'll cut it for you right there in the store, most places do. some charge extra and some don't. but it never hurts to ask! 
as far as actually building the shelf...i can take no credit. my dad and hubby did it all, and i just sat back eating bonbons. just kidding...about the bonbons (mostly i was taming children). they both love a good project every now and then, and this one was small and perfect. i oversaw everything and was right there helping, when my dad cut the "inside shelf ledge" with his table saw. that is the only piece that needed to be a shorter WIDTH than the original 5.5". i promise, it makes more sense if you look at the pictures below! 

after everything was cut to the right dimension, Kevin sanded them all and screwed them together for me. i then covered the screws with putty, waited for that to dry, and then painted away.


to hang it up, kevin placed two small pieces of wood (4.25"x2.5") on the wall, screwed those in, then screwed the shelf onto those. hopefully this picture will help:


if you end up building your own from these instructions, leave me a link in the comments so i can go take a look at how it turned out!

*see some ways i decorated this shelf here

headbands galore: jersey knit and bow style

over the Christmas holiday i was itching for a project to do (crazy, right? i had about a thousand other "projects" i really needed to be working on...but anyways..), and happened to be at Hobby Lobby one day, when i saw an ah-MAZ-ing sale on their ribbon. so naturally, i selected a few cute designs, and made my way over to the fabric section. the urge to make little miss Tinley some new headbands had kicked in and i was on the hunt for some fun patterns!







these were so simple. i cut the elastic to the length i wanted, sewed the ends together, then cut the fabric up, sewed it to make the bow (or hot-glued it to make the rose/flower...i have a reeeaaally old post about fabric flowers here if you want to take a look!), and hot-glued it to the elastic ribbon, right above where i had originally sewn the headband part together.





i'm sure you've all seen those stinking cute jersey knit baby headbands floating around on Pinterest and Etsy. i've been wanting to get some for Tinley, and when i was looking at fabric for bows, i grabbed some stretchy kind (it wasn't jersey knit-but close...sorry i can't remember what it was exactly! i just felt around for what had some pull/give to it) so i could make some of that type for her as well. i followed these easy instructions here. the teal/aqua fabric seen above was actually an old shirt of Kevin's that i cut up (haha, win!). these were so fun and fast to make, i was able to crank out a few more to gift to some friends and cousin who were having baby girls!


^^and here's little miss Tinley, rocking one of her new headbands :)

*more cute jersey headbands here, here, and you'll die over how cute these headbands are here!!

2:15

after much begging, pleading, asking, maybe some whining, some not-so-subtle hints, and a few gentle reminders about long-time promises, my hubby finally delivered and surprised me with a treadmill! and yeah it was a total surprise because i had thrown out any hope for one a while ago. we didn't need it. but i could barely contain my excitement when he showed me, and when i stepped on it for the first time. too nerdy? 


everyday at 2:15 this is where you can find me. running in my garage on my treadmill during naptime. i've always been an avid lover of running outside. hitting the pavement and feeling the wind on my face is definitely the best, but after having 2 kids, and with snow on the ground/cold temperatures, i don't always have that option. plus, it feels like it takes me a million years to get them both bundled up, strapped in, and with more snacks...it sometimes doesn't feel worth the trouble! haha. please tell me i'm not the only one that feels this way! it's a glorious afternoon when i put them down for naps now, and walk out to my garage, plug in my earphones and turn on some beats or watch some Netflix.


he lucked out and found one in great shape(like new) for a good deal on Craigslist. it's a Cadence C62, which if you look it up, isn't some all-powerful-amazing-hard-core-running-machine...but that's okay with me, because i'll be running more like 2-5 miles on it a day, 3-4 times a week. heck let's not get ahead of myself, maybe less...haha! 

nail art: plus signs, chevron, and glitter

my nails shared today were inspired by this pin. i've been loving the plus symbol i've seen floating around in random decor lately, so i decided to capture it in some nail art. and i was loving the chevron pattern from these previous nails, so i kept them on but changed it up slightly.




the colors:
• salon perfect: silver sparkler (#603)
• pure ice: beware
• new york color: french tip white (#134)
• new york color: extra shiny top coat (#271)


2015: Becoming Content

a few weeks before Christmas, there was a lesson i listened to at church, and its been in the back of my mind for a while. this was the image on the chalkboard when i walked into the room (okay similar, this is my rendition..hah):


the lesson topic? on perspective and being content.

is it just me or does it sometimes feel like the grass is always greener on the other side? too clichè or too true? with what seems like a billion social media outlets and ways to share what's going on in a person's life, i have found myself comparing a lot lately, when scrolling through my feeds. and i hate it. it doesn't make me feel good, or happy, or want to grow. and that's not okay!


my word of the year? content.



i actually loved following Kilee's growth with it last year, and sort of made it my own at the time. however, this year i am declaring it. that makes it official right? i'm going to strive every day to be content with where i am at in life. savor the messy moments, and learn to be happy in my now!



*click here to read a great post on contentment (i read it a few nights ago and it made me so happy)!