Make-shift mantle.

A long long time ago, I bought this shelf from Ikea…

I’ve wanted to make a really neat, hefty mantle for our fireplace since the day we looked at the house. However, I know that, realistically, this project won’t be completed for quite some time. Christmas is quickly approaching, and I really want a shelf to hold our stockings.

Enter makeshift Ikea shelf-mantle.

The hardest part was finding the stud. Once I found one stud, I just measured 16 inches to locate the other stud. The shelf instructions say that you have to have it screwed into two studs, which makes sense. I used painters tape to provide myself a visual for where the shelf should go…

P.S. The Ikea shelf doesn’t come with anchors or screws to mount it to the wall.

And here’s the final {temporary} product…

Not the best solution, and not at all what I want permanently. I plan to paint the wood around the fireplace white, but for now, I’m just happy with a shelf to display my pumpkins and, in a couple months, my stockings! :)

My best friend’s family.

My best friend, Libby, asked me to come over after our Ikea shopping trip last weekend for an impromptu 15 minute photo session with her adorable little family. Here’s some of the pics from the quick session.

Mamma’s love. :)

How much he’s grown since when I first took his picture!

And my FAVORITE picture…

I mean, just look at that tongue!

Love this family so much. :)

Sing the praises.

^“I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart;

I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.

I will be glad and rejoice in you;

I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.”

Psalm 9:1-2

I’m still singing the praises today. Yesterday was a really good day.

Placemat customized.

I had some extra fabric {a fat quarter} that matches the DIY art I made here. After I refinished my $1 coffee table, I decided to take a simple cloth placemat I had stored and cover it with the fat quarter…

I folded the edges and simply used some double-side tape to keep it temporary, but hold it in place…

And here’s how it turned out…

Nice & simple {and cheap!}

Life lately.

I haven’t blogged much about life happenings lately. So here’s a post just to things going on that are unrelated to the house.

We had a lot of Eugene’s college friends over for a great bonfire the week of his college’s Homecoming…

Two of his friends stayed the night, and it was nice having a place for guests to sleep. {One perk of homeownership!} It was fun to hear Eugene catch up with his friends. We’re both blessed with great college experiences and wonderful people to stay in touch with.

Eugene’s youngest sister went to her Sophomore year homecoming dance. She asked me to do her hair & makeup, and she looked absolutely gorgeous {although I’m probably biased.}

We used this hairstyle for her half-up do: http://www.thesmallthingsblog.com/2011/09/elegant-half-up.html

She has crazy-long hair – looked beautiful…

The pup was stuck outside b/c he was super muddy & wet. Doesn’t he look just pitiful!

This past weekend we went to a family birthday party, the Saurkraut Festival {it was 80 degrees out in October in Ohio! Amazing!}, and went to Ikea.

Lots of fun. I love Fall fires, family, and friends.

Colors of Fall.

One morning when I got to work around 7:30 last week, I had to bring out my camera because the leaves were finally turning. Bright red side by side with fresh green in the morning sun. Beautiful.

Fall is here. I don’t like the cold that follows, but I absolutely love the colors of Fall…

DIY bedroom light, round two.

Remember this lamp shade…

That I covered and made to look like this…

But when you lay on the bed, this is what you saw…

Not hot.

Obviously, I didn’t like how it was open on the bottom. So I bought a sheet of velum {plastic-like, see-through paper} at Hobby Lobby on clearance to see what I could do to remedy the problem.

Basically, I traced a circle the size of the bottom of my shade onto the velum, cut it out, and squeezed it into the bottom of the shade. I thought about hot gluing it to the bottom, but I realized if I cut it carefully enough, it would fit just inside the lip of the shade and stay put without any glue.

Much better.

And since it’s clear paper, it still lets a good amount of light through when it’s on. It’s come quite a ways since the original poop-brown room with the 1950s builder’s grade light…

Mmm, best thing in the transformation are the clean new windows. Definitely still thrilled with those babies! {Although my charger-turned-mirrors also make me smile.} :)