New Home for the Unmentionables

After weeks of half-hearted efforts to finished the dresser...it finally lives in the master bedroom full of our socks and other unmentionables.

Over the course of this project I learned a few valuable lessons about refinishing second-hand furniture.

• Measure the distance between the holes for the hardware. I wanted to switch out the hardware for something a little more sleek. However, my dresser happens to have custom hardware in a size that apparently doesn't exist anywhere on the Internet. Luckily, the pulls have grown on me.
  
• Open and close every drawer before making an offer to the seller. I opened four of the five onsite only to realize when we got home that one of the drawers wasn't lined up with the others. Luckily, I know my way around a power sander.
  
• Check to see if the drawers can be removed. Trying to paint drawers while they are still inside a dresser=complicated contortionist positions to get the entire surface area covered. Luckily, in a young, skinner life, I was a very limber dancer.
  
• Don't be afraid to try colors or finishes that are new to you. My heart yearned for a glossy, loud yellow. After some of the challenges above, I opted to add a dark gloss to some of the edges to cover mistakes. Luckily, I don't totally hate shabby chic.
  
• Buy the fancy, thick wrapping paper upfront. For the lining of the drawers, I learned the messy way that the cute Target gift wrap, ain't gonna cut it. A week of waiting and one roll of SMOCK paper later, I was able to achieve the desired effect.
  
• Always negotiate a lower price. After nixing 5-10 dressers that would have cost well over $700, we were overly excited about the prospect of a custom-looking dresser for $100 plus the cost of paint and supplies. As you can see from the bullets above, also factor in surprise expenses and the laziness bug that may hit you mid-project. Luckily, we still saved a TON of Moolah!

Verdict: We love it!

AT-MC-ISO-K

"All-That Married Couple In Search of (a precious) Kid"

Did you notice the snazzy new button on the side bar of our blog? Of course, silly me! Everyone uses a blog reader, right?

Well then, for all of you who don't actually visit the site, you should check out the newly-added adoption button for some of our dearest friends ever!

Last week was the six-month anniversary of their LDS Adoption profile "being live," so I figured it was about time I "friend-up" and do my part to spread the word to whatever portion of my friends and family don't cross with theirs.

By way of introduction... we met Jarad and Ashely Reddekopp in 2006 as newly weds while living in a upstanding and very reasonably-priced Midvale apartment complex (code for totally ghetto and full of gang violence). Since the boys worked together in the Elder's Quorum, we got to know them quickly and instantly hoped they would think we were cool and fun enough to be friends.

Fast forward through a year of ward activities and game nights. Before we knew it, they were moving to Millcreek and we were off to Sugarhood. They wouldn't be able to shake us. It was during this time they announced to us they were ready to start their family. I remember because it was the night we took the Fun Bus to Wendover and back. Remember how crazy those little old ladies thought we were crazy for being excited about winning 20 bucks?

Any who.

Little did they know that the journey to grow their family would have winding turns, valleys, bumps and a lot of heartache. Three years of it in fact.

During this time, they stayed busy graduating from school, working new jobs, traveling together, developing talents, and having fun with great friends (and new neighbors), us!

Better job opportunities took them to Colorado a year ago but we still see them as much as we can. If you follow this blog you may remember some of our joint adventures here, here, here and here.

And every night we pray for the birth mother who will be the blessing which will allow my best friend's to have the blessing for which they hope for the most.

Cutting to the chase.

Please take a minute to click on the side bar and get to know a little more about this amazing couple. You can also read a letter to their birthmother, a fun survey and see pictures on their LDS Adoption profile.

If you are as touched by their story as I am, please add their adoption button to your blog too. You never know who in your life maybe in a situation to answer their prayers.

We love you guys!

This is where the magic happens...

or something equally awkward like that...

After five years of hand-me-down furniture (that I hated), mismatched bedding, and no decor of which to speak, Cole and I decided to make redoing our master bedroom a priory. My hope is to finish it before the weather gets nice so then we can focus our attention outside.

This weekend we were able to get the walls, ceiling and baseboards painted. In the first picture, the walls look purple, but are really Granite Gray. We also assembled the beautiful new bed that has been sitting in our garage for two weeks. The boys were good sports for my picture taking craziness.



I also started sanding my oh-so-lovely new-to-me ksl dresser. While still a hand-me-down of sorts, I am loving this and pretty sure it is going to end up an amazingly cheerful yellow!


With a lightfixture, bedding, art, and accessories to go...I'm so excited!

Adventures in the life...

My sister, Nicole, was on Spring Break for work so we got to tag along on a few adventures with her and Nixsen this week. On Monday, we took the kids to the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum. Need I say more? Crew loved it. He spent two perfectly content hours splashing in water, gardening, coming down the slide and building with giant blocks.

His eyes were as big as doughnut holes as he watched all the older kids run around. For a kid who is most speedy as a crawler, he was much more interested in me helping him walk from display to display. I think he definitely felt some peer pressure to be walking.

Cousin Nixsen felt like a pro at the museum and did such a good job of showing Crew just how everything worked!

And....totally unrelated to the information above, I got tired of our usual lunch fare this week and decided to feed Crew some pasta and marinara sauce. About two bites in, I realized what a messy lunch this would be. Yes, I had to mop and wipe everything within four square feet of his plate....but look at that smile! He was sick of my sandwiches, too.

Glamorous Yard Work

In addition to enjoying General Conference, we were able to steal a few hours in between sessions to try and keep momentum in the yard.

Earlier in the week, we had a visit from the aeration men.

I seriously hate all the turd looking clumps but Cole has me convinced it was a necessary step towards the luscious yard I so desire. I thought I could avoid it by saying it was too expensive, but it turns out that it's really cheap. Dirt cheap, even. :)

All the dirt clumps did result in some entertaining footage of the lil guy. Not sure how much dirt he ate before we noticed but the evidence is all over his face. The joys of parenting a little boy.

Untitled from Maura Lansford on Vimeo.

In our quest for the perfect-for-us yard, we are currently doing a lot of removing. It's free and getting rid of ugly is the first step towards making it beautiful! We're trying to brainstorm uses for 60 perfectly good (but ugly) cement cylinders.... Ideas?