Banished

Besides staining my bathroom cabinets, I also stained my banister that goes from the first to the second floor and then around the loft area upstairs. And since I was staining all of these things, I figured that I would throw in a couple small tables too!

The project actually started with the banister - it was the first thing that I stained. here are some BEFORE's and DURING's........

By this point, I had taped off, sanded and stained the first run of the banister. It was a success, so it was on to the rest......

Taping everything off was the most time consuming and the biggest pain of the entire job!

Progress......and that sandpaper dust was NOT good for the sinuses!

Gettin' there.......

All stained - just need to polyurethane everything now.........

And, I'm done!

I really love how everything turned out - I think it looks fantastic and it matches all of my wood furniture now....

The clear satin polyurethane was perfect - a finishing gloss, but nothing too crazy. I think the previous oak had high gloss.....not for me.

And here are the 2 little tables that I stained at the same time. Now they match the furniture!

These tables were in the house that I grew up in....I have had them all throughout college and everywhere I have moved. I even have pictures of them when I was a toddler and they were turned upside down so that I wouldn't tip them over on myself! So I suppose they are an heirloom of sorts....

Thankful Thursday

1. An unexpected thunderstorm right before you were going to begrudgingly drag out the sprinklers.

I went to a movie on Sunday and I was going to water my yard when I got home. Just when I got close to my house, a massive thunderstorm broke out and POURED BUCKETS all over the grass! I love when that happens!

2. Finishing a project and LOVING the results!

I just finished putting up curtains all over the house and staining a bunch of cabinets - it feels WONDERFUL to be DONE and love the results of all that hard work!

3. Free shipping!

I just hate it when you go online to order something that is a really good deal, and then you go to check out and purchase it and they tack on an obnoxious shipping fee to it. I got an email from my Avon lady and I wanted to get some mascara, but didn't want to order much else. Typically, you get free shipping through Avon if you order $30 or more. I was going to hold off on my purchase until I needed $30 worth of stuff....but as a summer deal, it was free shipping on EVERYTHING no matter how much you bought. I LOVE THAT!

4. Dog parks

I just can't say enough good things about the dog park by my house - Tails N Trails in Arlington! Maggie loves it, she gets to be off-leash and play with all of the other small dogs and run around like a crazy dog. And I get to pet and play with a ton of cute dogs as well. Everyone wins!

5. Being content with what you have and nothing more.

Sometimes I get caught up in wanting things I don't have or wishing my life were different or more like someone else's.....but that only leads to a pity party and being disappointed. I am trying to perfect the art of being content and happy with my life RIGHT where I am and with what I have.

That's not to say that there aren't things that I want to accomplish or that I wouldn't love to embrace new people/things into my life, but to be OK with what you have and where you are is a gift you give to yourself and I'm trying to get better at this.

German Excursion

About a week or so ago, April and I joined a bunch of co-workers on an excursion to an authentic German restaurant in Fort Worth on a Friday evening. I have been to Munich, Germany and had a lot of fun in the Haufbrau Haus - the polka band, the big long wooden tables that force you to meet new friends, the cameraderie - love that atmosphere!

Here are April and I at our table....

Apparently it's 'one of Fort Worth's finest'!

This was the cozy little nook near our table! I love dark restaurants and this one was dark and had LOTS of character and charm! But strangely, there were lots of Christmas decorations hanging from the ceiling.....the regulars say that they stay up all year....WEIRD!

Here is the main music/stage/dance floor area from the back of where the musicians play...

And of course, the beer steins - a staple in German restaurants, for sure!

Here's our table - probably about 12 of us.

Tiffany and Joe, taking advantage of the big beers!

Here's me cozying up to the accordion player in full lederhosen!

....and the obligatory photo op with said accordion player in lederhosen! I did it in Munich, I sure as hell am going to do it in Fort Worth!

This is the dance floor - but it was kind of a quiet night since the owner wasn't there - I guess it's a pretty hoppin' and crazy place when he's there and leading the band!

Had to get a picture by the Munchen (Munich) sign!

April and I just couldn't resist....I'm not too happy that I had to be the 'boy' with the tuba or whatever that is! HAHA!

Here's April......and the plethora of Christmas decorations?!?!

It was a fun night - and I just loved the front door - had to get that photo op!

Curtain Call

A few weeks ago, my sister and I ventured to Dallas to go to a fabric outlet so that I could buy some material for curtains. When I bought the house, every window had new blinds on them, but obviously no curtains. Soooo.......2.5 years later I'm finally getting around to putting some up!

Some friends from work told me about an outlet place in Dallas - Golden D'or - so we went there and they have an entire clearance room (huge!) and they were having their semi-annual sale in which everything that was up to $7/yard was $0.99/yard!!! And then if it was $7-$10/yard, it was on sale for $1.99 and so on. SPECTACULAR deals!

I bought a TON of fabric for DIRT cheap (and even went back for a second trip before the sale was done) - now I have curtains on every single window in my house except for the 2 windows in my super tall stairwell. I don't have access to those windows unless I somehow got a very tall ladder and with my klutziness, I wouldn't trust myself to get the job done without falling!

Anyway, here goes:

This is the office -

I loved this pattern - the swirlies match the yellow walls perfectly....

And no sewing required for any of my curtains - we just put nails/pins in the walls and draped the fabric. YES!

Here's my master bedroom. This is my favorite fabric - it's shiny green with little silver metal balls on it. SUPER PRETTY.

Here's a close-up of the fabric....it is gorgeous, but very heavy, so it was a challenge to get these hung with only 2 hands!

This is the upstairs loft/living room. I got a bunch of cream-colored gauzy material and it looks nice in the tan room - very peaceful.

I think I need to go back and make the 'swoop' lower on these.....

Here's the guest bedroom - going along with the blue/yellow theme. This was a really lightweight fabric, so it was pretty easy.

Someday when I learn to sew, I will get more creative with different types of curtains, but for now, it's the swoopy drape thing!

And here's the kitchen - went with black since the countertops are black. I like them, but I'm not completely sold on them......but until I stain the cabinets and see how that looks, I'm going to leave them.....

And last but not least, the living room. I think these curtains are cute, but they are too 'pinky' red and not 'orangey' red enough....we'll see. I like the texture of the fabric, but I'm not sold on the color yet.

Overall, I love that I now have curtains and accomplished another project! And I got all of those curtains/material for under $100! I still have a ton of fabric left over as well, so I could make pillows or something else out of it. It was such a smokin' deal!!!