Projects.

Since we moved in October, we've been working on a lot of projects, some big and some small. The list continues, but here are a few we've been working on so far. When decorating on a budget, it's fun to recycle, so to speak. My brother and I get a thrill off finding things off the side of the road and making them usable, or making an old boring piece something special again. We have several things in our house that came from someone else's trash pile.

The bed has been the biggest project, and although not cheap, it was cheaper than buying it from Pottery Barn, which is where we got the idea here. Check out that gorgeous mahogany! I give all the credit for this to my awesome handy-man husband who built this with his hands. He is so talented! And, by the way, today is that man's birthday. Happy Birthday Chad!

The next dresser you see belonged to my great grandmother. When she died, and had an estate sale, I decided I wanted this piece. Honestly, I think a lot of people were like, "Ok, but that's a piece of junk. What are you going to do with it?" And, now you know. At first I painted it black and used it in my den at our old house, but when we moved, Chad painted the stripes, we bought new knobs, and now it's in Oliver's room. CUTE! Also an idea from Pottery Barn here.

The next table is special too. Like Chad, my dad is also into woodworking and is VERY good. A lot of you have seen pieces he's made that are in our house. Well, this table was his very first woodworking project way back when. He started with something simple. Now, with a cute new knob and a coat of paint, it serves as a bedside table for our guests. Speaking of my dad, the last two pictures are of a bench he made for us out of old pine wood. It's at our table to accomodate more bodies when we have guests. Love it, and guess where I found it? Here.

Finally, the chair is something my mom discovered. We share the exact same joy that comes from turning trash into treasure, and her eye is keen. She found this leaning against the old shed behind their beach house. Who knows how long it'd been there, and when she found it, it was a horrid blue. After some TLC (to which she gets all the credit for cleaning it/painting it for me), here's how it turned out! My dad recovered the seat. The only thing I did was pick out the fabric. Aren't my parents and husband amazing?!? It's not from Pottery Barn, but they'd be lucky to have it!