I have a confession to make: though I continually apologize for my recent (ahem…the last six…err eight…weeks) lack of posting, I just have to be realistic and say I don’t see that changing until after the wedding (which is in like…THREE WEEKS). While I’d like to be talking to you guys regularly, I just don’t have time! After working all day, we usually have plans starting at 5:01 or are running out the door to run errands (all wedding stuff). We also finally coordinated schedules with the pastor who is marrying us and JUST start premarital counseling last Friday (I didn’t live here, then we were up to our necks in moving every weekend for five solid weeks, then the pastor was in Israel for a few weeks…now it’s the holidays!) Oh man. So here we are…down to the last few weeks and more items on the to-do list than there are days left.
But I’m excited. I’m ready to be married already to this crazy, godly, over-thinking, busy, smart, handsome, compassionate and encouraging man that’s about to be my husband. I’m ready. I know this wedding won’t go entirely as planned, things won’t happen like we are envisioning and the mid-December weather is nothing but unpredictable. But we don’t care…as long as we’re married at the end of the day, then everything will have gone perfectly.
All that said, we’re working on projects out the wazoo! I’ve never crammed so many DIY projects into such a short period! Don’t worry, I may be making you wait, but I will eventually be sharing all of this! I partly wait because of time and I partly wait because I don’t want to take the fun out of it for the friends and family who will be there. 🙂
BUT…I do have a fun little reveal for you today. Remember when I kept talking about a “client” room a few weeks ago? It was for a co-worker whose husband was deployed. She wanted him to come home to a space that was all his. So, with a small budget, my job was to provide the furniture and some fun elements. I was responsible for the couch (Target), chair (vintage…from Craigslist…I wanted to keep it!), coffee table (thrifted), 6-foot leaning chalkboard (I built it; I’ll give you a tutorial…after the wedding, lol!), metal/wood rolling cart and tall media stand (Crate and Barrel, but I owned them), and a lamp, pillows, etc…all for less than $300.
I’ve been running around like a crazy person for the last two weeks. May I just remind each and every one of you how much fun moving is…not? Cowboy took a load of furniture down two weekends ago, I took all of the decor/pillows/books/dining chairs/random crap down last weekend and this weekend I took everything in the kitchen, bathroom, hall closet, my closet and some other random boxes. The sad news is that I’m literally living in an empty white box. I had to pack a bag to come back to Kansas City for the week, which was a really strange feeling! The good/awesome news is that, with the help of Cowboy and our cousin Britt, every single bit of the new house is cleaned and things are put away. What an awesome feeling! Next weekend is the final move, so I’ll be getting the apartment cleaned and ready to move out of this week and then all we have left to move is two dressers, my bed and nightstand, the couch and the washer/dryer! It’s been a lot of hard work, but I’m so grateful for the help everyone has offered and proud/excited about how much progress we’ve made! Next weekend should be pretty simple. In the meantime, I have five days left in the office before I transition to working from home in our new city and plans every night this week with my beloved KC girlfriends!
I did finally also get around to posting the apartment tour page with links to projects–sorry about the delay there! I’m hoping to get some more posts out this week about the backlog of projects I’ve done in the last six weeks, but I make no promises. 🙂 I’m also hoping to return to a normal schedule again once the move is over (and we won’t be traveling every weekend anymore!) because I REALLY want to decorate for fall–I feel like I’m missing it! However, I also know that once the move is over, it will be time to start focusing on the wedding again, since I’ve put planning and projects on hold until after the move. Only two months and one week left now! We’ve had two of the four showers people are so graciously planning for us, but the whole “getting married” thing didn’t hit me and feel “real” until we were moving stuff into the house last weekend. I remember standing in the living room looking around and seeing items that belonged to both of us…in the same room…in the same house. I looked at Cowboy and said, “WHOA…we’re going to be living together! There’s like…boy stuff and girl stuff in here!” It sounds funny, and we were definitely laughing, but I got so giddy and excited! He won’t move into the house until after we get married, but since that’s so close and since we’ve been living in separate cities for all but three weeks of our engagement, it was the first time it really felt real. SO exciting!
Seriously, so excited and thankful about where we are in life right now. We are blessed and I’ll be relishing in that this week as one chapter closes and another begins!
The first time most people walk into my apartment, they almost always say, “wow! This is not how I imagined it being laid out!” and “ohh…I remember the blog post where you made this…and this too!”…which is true! You have always seen the details of my apartment, but never the big picture. Well, before I started packing everything up this week, I decided to take some final pictures. This being my first apartment, I moved into this white box with a just few pieces of furniture, some pots and pans, some bedding…you know, the basics. So I can literally say I’ve been “building” this apartment to what it is now slowly over the past two years. It’s a bittersweet thing to pack it all up and this place will always be important for the memories and growth it represents. So here it is–imperfect, but comfortable and a place I feel happy and content in. Also…please take note if you, too, live in an apartment! You can do a lot with these blank white boxes!
Yes, I do have a yellow umbrella hanging on my balcony.
Entry way
Walking through the entry way, you see this part of the living room to your right and straight ahead.
Left side of the living room/in front of the balcony door.
Living room/front door/balcony door view from inside.
This angle of my bedroom is probably fairly familiar…
This angle, not so much! On the right, you’re looking at the bathroom and the hall closet that you also see from the left-side living room shots.
Bathroom…you haven’t seen it since before I updated!
You have, however, seen my painted striped shower curtain! For art, I just framed a piece of scrap fabric in an IKEA frame! So fun and textural.
This is the kitchen from both ends. The door with the wreath leads to a pantry/water heater closet.
At the other end of the kitchen (next to the fridge), you’ll find another door that leads to my laundry room/tool & project supply room.
And that’s it! Not huge, not perfect, still an apartment, but like I said, it’s a special place for me.
Today Cowboy took the first big load of furniture. So, now my living room looks like this. Bittersweet…can I say that enough?
I’ll be back later this week to add this as a separate page. Additionally, I’ll be adding a directory of projects I’ve done in every room so that you have a good idea of where everything has gone! Thanks again for your patience in my lack of posting; I did finish the client room I was working on and now since moving has officially begun, I’m going to be packing and enjoying every second I have left in Kansas City. I’ll be loading up my car with small items (décor, clothing, kitchen items, etc.) for the next two weekends and then we’ll finally move all of the remaining furniture. Since I will just be here Monday-Thursday nights, I have something like 12ish days left here…which means I’ll be living in the same city as Cowboy in just as much time! Have I said bittersweet, yet?!
Back at the end of May (a month ago today!), Cowboy and I decided to spend a Saturday touring downtown KC….on our bikes. Best idea EVER! Weather was perfect, schedule was wide open and we got to spend the day seeing the city from a completely different perspective. I always drive past places downtown and don’t bother to stop and go in…just because I hate dealing with parking. So just being able to pull over and lean your bike against something was great…I felt like a hippie.
After finding a place to leave the truck (fourth floor of a parking garage…it was REALLY fun going down!), we pulled the bikes out and started our little adventure.
We so excited! (Sorry…I had to.)
First stop: brunch at The Cashew.
Ornery Cowboy + menu =
To be fair…this is what I looked like. Yeesh. I should’ve been the one hiding behind the menu!
As we made our way to the Power & Light district, we parked our bikes and explored the art fair.
Later on in the day (seriously…we stopped at a TON of places), we made our way through the Plaza and took a break at Jacob Loose Park. We passed not one….not two…but THREE weddings going on at the same time. It was a perfect day to get married outside…luckies!
14 miles in, a little sweaty, but having fun!
And that, my friends, is what we’ve been doing and, again, why MYU has been so vacant. That and we’ve been wedding planning like it’s going out of style. Seriously…within three weeks of being engaged, we had the photographer and venue booked, theme dreamed up, wedding party set up (and even a couple of bridesmaid dresses on their way), date and time decided, wedding dress in the closet, registered at two different places…whew! I’m so tired! Having fun though. 🙂
Yesterday I alluded to some places of awesomeness that I visited this weekend. Behold, Good Juju.
A few weeks back, a co-worker IMed me at work and said, “Have you been to Good Juju?”
uhh…excuuuuw me whaa?!
“Good what??,” I responded.
“Good Juju!” She proclaimed it as the coolest antique shop in the KC area (located in the West Bottoms) and fell to shock when I had no idea what she was talking about…considering who I am and what I like.
Let me tell you…I, too, was shocked when my friend Krissy and I walked in, saw the glory and realized I’d ever heard of it.
They are only open the First Friday weekend of every month–and for good reason. I saw antiques I’d never heard of…like gossip benches. However, what the dealers of Good Juju spend their month doing is hunting these things down and then completely refurbishing them. We’re talking sun-yellow dressers, turquoise tables, hot pink mirrors, silver hutches. Seriously awesome stuff, already given some love and turned into pieces with so much personality they could be your friend. If I learned one lesson, it’s that I’m not bold enough in my furniture choices. I LOVE this stuff, but every piece of furniture I own is a neutral color…which is FINE…but it’s not as fun as it could be! I SO wish I would have snapped some pictures inside, but I was having way too much fun to even consider that.
It got even better when we stepped outside and saw this:
…where Krissy bought us iced lattes–what a nice treat!
One of her friends had told her to keep walking down the street from Good Juju, so we did. SO glad we did…we stumbled across Bella Patina…a more accessory-focused version of Good Juju.
I’ve been reading tutorials on how to make these twine lanterns and have decided I will make some for a special event coming at the end of the year…*hint, hint, wink, wink!*
This was the first one I’d seen in person, so I snapped a lantern-swaying-in-the-air-conditioner-breeze picture. (Well, I tried…)
Most importantly, this is where I found the vintage scale I showed you yesterday…for $7, I might remind.
Good Juju and Bella Patina will be open again July–mark your calendars!
Over the past few months, I’ve looked for a vintage scale in every antique and thrift shop I’ve made an appearance in. I’ve found some cute ones and some not-so-cute ones. Some were meh. Most of them were $30-plus. Sorry, but I’m not paying $30 (or more) for a vintage scale. Call me cheap, but I just won’t do it.
My frugal (penny-pinching) ways paid off, fellow yellows! This past weekend, one of my very best friends and I made our way to an up-and-coming antique district in Kansas City (more info on these places in the next post–get excited!). Not only was I just completely blown away by the awesomeness that awaited us within the doors (and the fact that I had no idea those places even existed?!), but when we walked out of the first shop, a mobile cupcake and coffee truck sat parked before us on the street. I told you…get excited.
Anyway, back to my penny pinching. I will have you know that good things come to those who wait. Little miss me found this little Polly Prim vintage scale for a little $7. Yes. Please, take notes.
I washed all of the grime off, then covered the face with painter’s tape and aluminum foil (tip: aluminum foil will mold to the surface you’re covering) and gave her a once-over with a wire brush (remember when I got that wire brush for $1.31?) Most (a lot) of the paint came loose easily (someone had re-painted it cream over its original color…and had done a poor job of it, I might add. I’m fairly certain they used wall paint). I cleaned everything off again and I was ready to paint. I started with one coat of gray primer to get an even painting surface and then used a silver metallic spray paint. I’ve never used the metallic before, so I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to work with. It dries in 15 minutes or less, but you don’t have to wait between coats. It somehow goes on with perfectly even coverage. I did actually wait for at least 15 minutes between coats…because experience tells me it’s prudent. I also wanted to sand between coats for a really smooth finish. So, every 15 minutes I traipsed out to the yard and gave her another coat and considered the job well done after three coats. (Does anyone else think this kind of looks like some sort of robot??) (By the way, that’s an empty cereal box with a hole cut into it at the end so that I could stand the top part up while spraying.) My, oh my. What a little cleaning and spray paint can do! (Summertime is yummy!) While I love the silver, I also think I would love red to match the needle.
Scale: $7
Metallic spray paint: ($3.24)
Gray primer and 180-grit sandpaper for between-coat sanding: (already owned from previous projects)
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