Two Words.

May 19, 2017 by Michelle 3 Comments

Are we almost halfway through May? What happened to April? Before I realize it’s June and I’ve been “MIA” allow me to explain, it only takes two words: Construction and Pregnancy!

Yes, we are expecting baby #3! We announced to our friends and family a few days before Easter.

Between growing a baby, a basement remodel, and everyday life with kids, it’s been a little crazy around here!

Let’s start with the baby details!

We are due to become a family of 5 in late September or early October. My original due date was end of September but after my second ultrasound the baby was measuring 6 days behind, changing their arrival to October 2^nd. May I just say… moving back a pregnant lady’s due date is just wrong. I know it’s only 6 days but it’s also 6 days!! Causing me to “re-do” week 13 in my mind (and pregnancy tracker App). Both my boys arrived several days early, so it’s all a bit of a guessing game.

How I’m feeling: Week 6-13 was pretty rough. The toughest by far of all my pregnancies. I was nauseous most of the time (although very thankful not to be throwing up!) Leftovers were my worst enemy. All the pregnancy woes I experienced later on with baby #2 seemed to be gracing me with their presence very early. Waking several times a night for bathroom breaks no matter when I stopped drinking water at night, varicose veins by week 12, it all hit full force! Now that I am at the 20 week halfway mark, my energy and appetite are returning and I am embracing the beauty of compression garments.

What I’m craving: Late night PB&J sandwiches with a glass of milk, chocolate pudding, root beer floats, pizza, and donuts.

J & G: J is excited about the new baby! When I ask him if he wants a brother or sister his latest response has been, “2 brothers and 5 sisters.” 😐 Hate to burst your bubble big guy, but thankfully there is just one baby in mommy’s tummy. He will ask, “how big is the baby now?” and I will tell him what piece of fruit best matches the current size, or we will look at pictures on the pregnancy App. Little G. is 16 months and hasn’t shown any awareness of his soon to be changing status as youngest. He is a mamma’s boy and wants my attention often, but he is also so very sweet and gentle when he see’s babies. He goes up and gives them a soft pat and kiss on their head. It just melts my heart.

Gender Reveal: and the gender is…… A surprise!!!! We did fun gender reveals for both J and G, but I’ve decided to not find out the gender for baby 3! Even more of a surprise is that my type A, organized, OCD planning self has been so calm, content, and happy about this decision. Who woulda thought?

Moving on to home construction.

We just wrapped up two major projects, a complete redo of our HVAC system and moving plumbing for our future bathroom. We had a 10-foot trench in the basement for several days and J thought it was great to have an indoor sandbox. We also removed all of the old insulation from the garage ceiling to replace with the appropriate fire resistant spay foam. The hubby took on the very gross and messy task of pulling 40-year-old mouse infested insulation from the garage.

It brings peace of mind knowing we are updating the mechanics of this old home, but I have a hard time getting excited about HVAC systems and plumbing. It’s just not as fun as pretty curtains, cabinets, or decorative touches.

Those are the highlights of April! Now onto a quick power nap while the boys are still asleep!

A meal for a new mom

March 26, 2017 by Michelle 3 Comments

A year after we moved to Minnesota, we were blessed to get plugged into a great community through our church. When we started attending I was a few months pregnant with J. We were surrounded by several other young couples also expecting little ones. It was through this group of friends that we were blessed with wonderful meals after J was born. It was such a sweet gift for this sleep deprived momma trying to figure out life with a new baby. Wonderful meals, little gifts for the baby, and a few minutes for a real conversation.

As new babies are welcomed into our community of friends we continue to bless these families with a meal. I look forward to these sweet opportunities to bless our friends. I enjoy entertaining at our home and having couples over for dinner. Making a yummy meal, setting a lovely table. I take the same approach to gifting meals for new moms. I want to be a good hostess in the comfort of their own home.

After preparing the meal, I package everything in disposable containers (see more on this in the “tips” section below) and labeled each item.

I brought this family tacos with Spanish rice, re-fried beans, chips & salsa, taco toppings, and my favorite chocolate chip cookies. After prepping all of the taco toppings, I bagged and labeled each item. Now everything is ready to be packaged for drop off!

I try to keep a few of these reusable shopping bags on hand for taking meals to families. They are sturdy, a good size, look cute, and are reusable. This specific family had a few older siblings, I found a fun art activity can filled with crayons, stickers, and little crafts. Hoping it entertains the little ones so mom can have a few quiet minutes.

Include heating instructions, ingredients, or the recipe in a card and…. Dinner is ready!

Here are a few tips for bringing meals to a family with a new baby:

Check for allergies, food likes (and dislikes) and number of people eating. Sometimes family is in town to help the new mom, make sure you bring enough to serve everyone. Leftovers for lunch are a sweet bonus!
Disposable containers!!! Don’t make your sleep deprived friend try to keep track of which pan, dish, bowl belongs to whom and then arrange a time to return them. I try to keep a stash of extra disposable pans and plastic containers or mason jars specifically for meals. The dollar store or Wal-Mart is a great place to stock up on these items.
Try to plan a meal that doesn’t need to be consumed that very night (unless you know its what the mom has planned for dinner.) Salads are great, but cut lettuce has a very short life before going bad. Possibly include the whole head of lettuce or a whole tomato. It does require a little prep, but the produce will last a big longer.
Include a small surprise for older siblings. A coloring book and crayons, stickers, puzzle, board game, play-doh, or bubbles. Hint hint… Think time consuming quiet activities to give mom a little break. Most attention is focused on the new addition, a little gift for big brother or sister can be a welcome surprise.

Need some dinner ideas?

Enchiladas, tacos, or fajitas with rice, beans, and toppings
Lasagna with Cesar salad and baguette
Soup, salad, and bread
Chicken pot pie and a salad
Build your own salad with grilled meat, salad toppings, dressing and baguette
Sloppy Joe’s, baked beans, corn, salad, or french fries
Chili, cornbread, and toppings
Add dessert!

Last tip… serve your family the same meal you will be gifting! Cook once for two families!

Do you have any meal ideas to add? I love expanding my recipes!

Bathroom Makeover: Dresser to Vanity!

January 23, 2017 by Michelle Leave a Comment

It’s been (embarrassingly) over two years since I started our hallway bathroom renovation. I began tearing down seashell wall paper on my maternity leave with “J”… who just turned 3. This project started in a postpartum hormone crazed moment when the thought of looking at that blue floral seashell wall paper was just too much (and my newly born little babe was napping). With a few scratches of my nail, I managed to find a seam and give it a good pull…. and that was the start of a project.

Here is a picture of what the bathroom looked like before we moved into our home. (The wall paper covered the ceiling as well).

After removing the wallpaper from the walls and ceiling I gave the bathroom a coat of paint I “created” using a few different blue samples I had…. and it turned out not so great…. too bright, too blue. After a few months of living with my custom paint color and not loving it, I re-painted the bathroom walls _______ and the color was perfect! The existing wainscoting also received a fresh coat of swiss coffee (my very favorite white).

After the walls were painted we took out the 1950’s medicine cabinet mirror and repaired the hole in the wall. We switched out the lighting and tossed out the old vanity created a custom vanity using a dresser I found at craft/furniture boutique. The dresser was the right length and width, but much too high for a vanity. The hubby was able to remove the top board, cut down the vanity to the right height and put the top board back on.

After cutting the vanity down and replacing the top board, we cut a hole in the top of the vanity for the sink to drop in. We also had to cut slots in each draw to allow for the plumbing to fit when the drawers were closed. I painted the vanity in a chalk paint, a custom color (not mixed by me… ha ha ha), and used a water based poly acrylic topcoat for durability. I painted FIVE coats of poly on the top of the dresser to withstand the occasional water splashes. I added simple brushed silver knobs to the dresser.

Instead of a traditional shower curtain, I used window curtains and hung them very high on the wall (about an inch from the top of the ceiling). The tall curtains help the space feel bigger. Lastly, I used a grout restore to re-paint the stained and dingy white grout on the original 1950’s flooring. The shower tile was in great shape and didn’t need anything but a little cleaning. I might eventually repaint the cast iron covered tub, but for now it’s just fine as is.

Project completed!!! For under $400 I gave this 1950’s bathroom a completely different look and feel. Keeping the great parts of the room and ditching the old and outdated.

Price Breakdown:
Dresser: $80 at furniture boutique
Sick: $80 at Menards
Faucet: Online purchase, totally forgot!
Mirror: $30 Homegoods
Basket Shelf: $30 from Hobby Lobby
Lighting: $40 at Home Depot
Paint: $30 (times two due to my color mishap)
Curtains: $30 at Homegoods
Dresser Knobs: $24 at Home Depot

Birthday Cheer and a New Year!

January 1, 2017 by Michelle Leave a Comment

Happy Birthday sweet baby boy!

One year ago, your dad and I stayed up all night and ended up in the hospital in the early early hours of New Year’s Day. There was no dancing, no champagne, and no pretty party dresses covered in sparkles but that New Year ’s Eve will forever be my favorite. It holds a special place in my heart for two reasons:

We met you for the first time.
We saw the Lord pour out blessings and protection over us.

You entered this would surrounded by so much excitement, anticipation, and a good deal of anxiety up to 12:01 AM 1/1/2016. We were racing against the clock, praying you would arrive after the New Year to avoid paying double insurance deductibles. You were born calm. You softly whimpered and then snuggled right into my chest.

One year later you are still (mostly) my calm child, but I see you learning to assert yourself. You love to splash in water and will take any chance you get to sneak your hands into the dog water bowl. You love when I pretend to chase you when you’re crawling. You are great at shutting doors and will often “trap” yourself in the laundry room. You are a mama’s boy and squeal when you see me after I’ve been gone. It melts my heart. You have soft blond hair that I love to nuzzle.

You watch your big brother and are determined to play with him. He is still working on sharing toys with you but each night follows me into your room to give you a hug and kiss goodnight.

Happy 1st Birthday little one!

You are loved!

Our Christmas Traditions

December 20, 2016 by Michelle 2 Comments

All month long we have been preparing our home and hearts to celebrate the birth of our savior Jesus Christ! I look forward to the Christmas season each year and love finding little ways to celebrate with the boys throughout the month of December. I love decorating for Christmas, it makes our home feel so warm and cozy, especially with blanket of snow over our yard. I enjoy pulling out the decorations and ornaments and reflecting on the treasured memories they each hold.

Growing up my grandmother had tons of Annalee Christmas dolls. Anytime I see one in a store it always reminds me of her and celebrating Christmas day with family and friends at her home. She passed away earlier this year but one of her Annalee dolls comes out every year at my home to remind me of the special memories of spending Christmas with my grandparents and our extended family.

I remember my dad playing Christmas carols on his violin or guitar, we would bake Christmas cookies with my mom, put up our nativity scene and decorate the tree together as a family. One of my favorite decorations was this little Christmas mouse candle holder. Seeing it brings back that cozy Christmas feeling I felt growing up. My parents downsized their Christmas decorations a few years back and asked if I wanted this little treasure. Can you believe they were going to throw it out? Its old and cracked, but it has a little spot on my mantle to bring back my own childhood memories.

This year J is three years old and it’s been so fun continuing some old family favorite traditions as well as creating a few new ones of our own. I hope he will look back on these traditions with fond memories and maybe even want that silly old mouse on his fireplace one day. Here are the family traditions and activities we do:

Christmas book advent: Two years ago I started gathering books for a Christmas book advent. I searched thrift stores, used book stores, and bought a few new until I found 25 different Christmas books. Each day we open one and read it. Here are a few of my favorites:

Humphrey’s First Christmas by Carol Heyer. The Christmas story from the perspective of one of the wise men’s camel.

Who Is Coming To Our House by Joseph Slate and Ashley Wolff. A board book great for toddlers that shares the Christmas story from the stable animals perspective.

A Very Veggie Christmas Countdown by Laura Neutzling. A book with lot’s of flaps and items to find and count.

The Jolly Christmas Postmas by Janet and Allen Ahlberg. A book with pocket pages full of mini stories, a puzzle, and other fun activities.

A few of the books I found are activity books. They include puzzles on the pages or flaps to open. These are great and provide extra entertainment! I also try to re-wrap them before they get put away for the next year.

Family Christmas card: Every year we send out a Christmas card, I keep an extra one for us and run it through my laminator. Each year we bring out all the cards from the previous years. It’s so fun to see how our family has changed and how the boys have grown over the years.

Baking Christmas cookies: A fun and yummy activity. J loves to help measure ingredients, eat the dough, roll the dough, eat the dough, cut the cookies, eat the dough… and hopefully a few cookies make it into the over to get baked.

Nativity Scene: Every Christmas season we bring out three nativity scenes. We have one that sits on our mantle, one that lights up and is displayed in our yard, and one that J and G can play with as we read them the story of Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. The Fisher Price Nativity makes a wonderful gift for little ones at Christmas.

Christmas ornaments: Growing up our parents gave us a special ornament each Christmas. We have continued this tradition with our boys. Every year we pick out a special ornament that reflects something about them over the last year. This year Guykey (Grandma) found a Tonka dump truck for J! Construction equipment and trucks are near and dear to his little heart.

Operation Christmas Child: A wonderful way to let little ones participate in GIVING this Christmas. Operation Christmas Child blesses a child is need and shares the love of Jesus Christ! Learn more about this great organization here. It’s not too late to pack a virtual shoe box online and send to a child in need!

A Christmas Eve Present: When I was growing up my parents let my brother and I open one specific gift on Christmas Eve. This was usually a game, puzzle, or something to help keep us busy and entertained as we were anxiously counting down the minutes until we could go to bed (and wake up at a ridiculously early hour) to see the gifts in our stockings.

A Post Christmas Tradition: Over the years I’ve tried to add one new festive home decor item each year. I started this after I graduated from college, working retail, and living in my first place. I would shop the after Christmas sales to find nice decorative pieces at a bargain price. Embarrassingly, I am STILL am using the Christmas wrapping paper I bought on clearance 90% off over 9 years ago. It was such a good deal! ~~I stocked up~~ went a little crazy. It’s a little post Christmas tradition.

Lastly, the most important tradition of all… opening our bibles to Luke 2 and reading the birth of Jesus. He is the reason for the season, all traditions aside, we take time to celebrate His birth and the everlasting gift he offers.

What traditions do you celebrate with your family?

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

A very full November

December 10, 2016 by Michelle 2 Comments

Life has been full! Busting at the seams the last few weeks and when that happens my blog takes a back seat. I’ve struggled feeling like I am not giving it enough of my time, one day in the future I might… just might be able to sit and write uninterrupted for an hour, but that is so far from my reality at the moment.

November was packed! Full of travels, memories, friends and family, travel stress, holidays, and home improvement projects.

The first week of November we flew our boys and dogs (yes, the whole entire family) to Arizona. We were a sight to see at security. I wore baby G in an Ergo, J held my hand while the Hubby held both dogs thru the metal detectors. J wasn’t thrilled about his stuffed animal frog going through the x-ray machine but we all (including Mr. Froggy) survived.

Getting ready to take off! (You can’t see them, but our two little dogs were snuggled in under the seat by our feet.) They traveled so well!

After spending two days with family in Arizona we drove 6 hours to Southern California, rested for the night at a longtime friends home and drove another 4 hours to Central Coast California to visit more family and celebrate Great-Grandma’s 90^th birthday. After 3 days enjoying the beauty of the Central Coast, we drove 5 hours to San Diego to splash in the ocean and attend a wedding. The day after the wedding we drove 7 hours back to Phoenix, stayed the night at my brother and sister-in-law’s home, and flew back to MN the following day. Did you catch all that craziness!

One of my favorite moments during our time in Central Coast, California. In 2010 we were married at a family members home. We took our engagement pictures a few months prior to our wedding. It was so fun to be back at the place we were married over 6 years later and capture a picture with our boys.

J traveled like a champ! He was a breeze thanks to an unlimited supply of snacks, applesauce pouches, juice boxes, and a fully charged iPad. G was a bit more challenging, he is so active right now and loves crawling and exploring. Too old to nap all day in the car but not old enough to feed himself or be interested in watching movies. He also refused to adjust to the three hour (two hour West Coast plus 1 hour daylight savings) time change. Every morning was bright and early at 4:15 AM.

I took advantage of those early morning wake-up calls. Baby G and I watched the sunrise in San Diego.

We arrived home excited to spend Thanksgiving with our friends, enjoyed making the first snowman of the season, putting up Christmas decorations and continue making progress on finishing our basement updating our basement to code (more on that later). We enjoyed the warm sunshine of Arizona and California but are so excited to welcome winter and snow back home in Minnesota!

Grow Baby Grow 8 & 9 Months

October 27, 2016 by Michelle 1 Comment

Happy Fall Everyone!

The leaves are beautiful shades of red, yellow, and orange and the days and nights are getting cooler! “G” is just a few weeks away from turning 10 months and has been growing like crazy! The last two months have been filled with cutting new teeth, learning to crawl, and conquering the stomach bug!

All about “G”:
– He went from zero teeth to 4! Poor little guy cut his top two teeth and bottom two teeth at the same time!
– He is crawling.
– He loves to eat anything he can feed himself and has transitioned to mostly table foods.
– Kix cereal is his favorite snack.
– He loves water! Bath time, washing hands in the facet, and the dog water bowl. :/
– He is pulling himself up in his crib to stand!

Favorite Moment:

A brief moment of sharing and brothers playing together. They just melt my heart, but don’t be fooled… this precious moment lasted all of 2.5 seconds.

Mommy learning’s and realizations:

I’m sitting trying to focus and I am finding it so very difficult! A thousands things running through my mind, G is crawling around the floor, I stop every few minutes to make sure the dog water bowl still remains in tact and remind him “no, no touch.” The washer just dinged that its done, the dishes still on the counter from lunch, the dog scratches on the door to go out. These days sometimes feel like a sprint and a marathon combined. They are long and trying.

I’ve been reading the book of John through Bible Study Fellowship. (If you have never heard of Bible Study Fellowship, id invite you to mosey on over to their website and check it out, it is such an amazing way to study the word of God. ) My mind keeps going back to the story of the Samaritan woman. Jesus came to her, where she was at. In the midst of her daily routines, with full knowledge of her failures, wounds, and desires. She had searched for satisfaction in temporary relationships and things of this world which left her unfulfilled. Jesus came to this woman, exposed her deepest need, her feelings of emptiness, inadequacies and offered true fulfillment.

Aren’t we all searching for satisfaction? If I only had more time, more resources, a new pair shoes… and on… and on. I don’t believe any of those things are in themselves bad (it would be lovely to magically have an extra few hours in the day), but these things don’t offer the lasting satisfaction that only a friendship with Jesus can provide. I write this post as a reminder to myself. The laundry can wait just a bit, spend time with the One who offers true and lasting satisfaction.

J’s 3rd Birthday Construction Party Bash

October 1, 2016 by Michelle 3 Comments

Caution! Construction zone ahead!

We celebrated J’s 3rd birthday last weekend with family, friends, sand, paint, and dump trucks! One of J favorite books is a huge book of different trucks and vehicles. I am amazed at how he can identify bulldozers and backhoe loaders, skid steers and excavators. He was so excited for his construction theme birthday party!

We have a wonderful community of friends who all have little ones. I wanted to plan an event that would have different activity stations to entertain kids from 6 months – 5 years of age. We had 7 different stations set up around the yard. Below is J doing a dump truck race which was station #1.

Take a picture in a dump truck was station #2! Using a projector I traced a clip art dump truck onto a piece of 1/4 inch plywood. It was 3 1/2 feet tall and 4 feet wide. Thankfully Grandpa was in town to help cut it out and the hubby and I gave it a splash of bright yellow paint! It looked so fun and cheery on the grass…

The wrecking ball was station #3 and it was a huge hit! I started collecting boxes of all different sizes, wrapped them in brick paper. We used an orange stats hopper jumping ball tied to a tree branch for the wrecking ball.

Station #4 was all about painting! I found a cardboard house at Michael’s Craft along with WASHABLE paint and a few paint brushes. It was just perfect for our pint-sized painting crew. You can find a similar version here.

Station #5 was for out little builders. A big blanket and a few toys helped keep little ones entertained while their older siblings were painting and digging!

Station #6 was the hammer zone! I found floral foam blocks at the dollar store and bought a pack of golf tee’s for the “nails”. Grandma sponge painted the floral foam with red and brown paint to give them the look of bricks. This was a great entertaining activity and I was amazed at how quickly the nails were hammered into the blocks. This would be a wonderful rainy day activity for little ones to keep them occupied!

What’s a construction site without sand and digging? Station #7 used our sandbox pit as a construction site with different trucks and sand toys.

The entire event was spread out across our backyard and in our sun room! Praise the Lord for great weather…. it poured the day before and I was getting a little nervous about moving the party inside. A wheelbarrow was used for gifts as little builders and their managers (aka parents) entered our backyard.

A Home Depot bucket and lid made a great stand for the chocolate construction cake! I baked two 8 inch rounds and two 6 inch rounds for the chocolate cake and used a homemade chocolate buttercream recipe that was SO yummy! I shaved off a corner of the cake, added a few mini chocolate chips and some construction vehicles. I topped it off with a few construction cone candles before we sang Happy Birthday and it was ready for the birthday boy!

For lunch we enjoyed building our own tacos, PB&J un-crustables, apple sauce pouches, juice boxes for little ones and cranberry margaritas for the adults. Individual sized bean dip cups and Mexican tortilla pinwheels were easy and tasty appetizers….. and what construction party would be complete without caution tape?

I had a blast planning J’s party! Happy 3rd birthday my sweet and feisty boy!

Grow Baby Grow: 4-7 Months

September 20, 2016 by Michelle 2 Comments

Life has been busy! My kids are napping and I have a million projects going on (which has been the normal state of our life the last few months). We had Guykey and PopPop visit in June and took on a huge home improvement project (more on that later), which led to another big home project (go figure), we moved J into his new “big boy room” we moved G out of our walk-in closet and into the nursery… Yes, G had been sleeping in his pack n’ play in our walk-in closet. He was still waking a few times a night so I wanted him in our room, but we needed a little distance so that he wouldn’t wake every time he heard me. #SecondChildProblems.

I started a new job, you can read more about that here, survived the “4 Month Sleep Regressing”, and am currently neck deep into planning J’s 3rd Birthday Party. Phew! I’m exhausted just writing about all that stuff.

The blog was on the back burner… so, here is to catching up!

A few highlights over the last few months:

4 Months: Two words: SLEEP REGRESSION! It was bad and my body still flinches when I think about those sleep deprived 6 weeks. G went from waking twice a night to 5-7 times a night… EVERY night! I purchases every “miracle” sleep device on the market… night time gripe waters, sleep sacks with fairy dust. Long story short, he did grow out of the phase, but it was a painful time for mamma.

5 Months: I introduced solid foods and G LOVED them. He enjoys eating in general. We enjoyed bath time on the patio during our warm summer evenings and that boys absolutely loved it! We also discovered G’s blonde hair has some curl and it looks so cute with a little gel.

6 Months: My Grandfather returned home to be with our Lord and we made the 7 1/2 hour trip to Nebraska to spend time with family. Both boys did so well in the car and it was wonderful to get to see family. Our last trip back to Nebraska I was pregnant with G and we did our gender reveal! It was fun having family get to meet him outside the womb.

All about “G” :

-At 7 months he still has NO teeth!
-He is sitting up on his own
-In crawling positing he rocks back and forth
-Loves bath time and pool time. He loves to splash!
-He enjoy’s feeding himself “baby puffs” snacks
-He is a momma’s boy! Love to nurse an snuggle!

Mommy learning’s and realizations:

My boys are so different from each other, J is high energy, stubborn, always on the go…. he wants to help every chance he gets and loves having little jobs to do with mommy and especially daddy. I see a lot of my personality in J (but he got a double dose of stubbornness from both the hubby and me). G is a normally calm baby, he is pretty chill. He loves to snuggle and nurse with me, he could be hanging out with daddy but as soon as I walk into sight he locks eyes on me with a laser focus. He has been an easy baby compared to his very busy big brother and seems to have his daddy’s relaxed personality.

As I learn more about these little people that God has blessed me with and see their personalities develop, I realize more and more He gives us the children we need. He gives us the children who will smooth out the rough edges of our personalities. Although this sounds lovely, being refined, becoming smooth. It’s hard! As I sit writing, feeling especially exhausted from my daily task list, its easy for me to focus on the day to day and lose site of the bigger picture. To get stuck in the tantrums, the discipline, the molding, the teaching….

This morning as I reflected on the recent challenges of raising a (almost) 3 yer old. I was reminded that this journey is bigger than today, its a refinement for my child and me. My body may still be tired, but my soul is at peace.

Isaiah 40:4: “The crooked shall be made straight and the rough places plain.”

Favorite Moment:

Trash to Treasure

August 5, 2016 by Michelle 1 Comment

A few months ago I found a cute little cedar chest on the side of the road left for the trash man. It just barely fit in the back of my Ford Edge (two kids in car seats have greatly taken up my available trunk space for junk findings). It was in decent condition but definitely needed some love. I brought it home where it sat in my garage until last week when I finally had some time to give it the attention it needed. Check out the before picture! It doesn’t even look like the same piece:

I decided to try Annie Sloan chalky finish paint for the first time. It’s a little pricey, a 4oz sample was $13.00, but it covered like a dream and was really easy to use. I used Old White for the body of the cedar chest. When finished, I still had about half of my sample size left! I used Annie Sloan’s dark wax on the top to enhance and darken the wood and clear wax over the white. I LOVE the dark wax! It looks like a wood stain I have used in the past but is so much easier to use and has no dry time. (Just arm muscles for buffing). Before painting I sanded down some of the rough areas and smoothed out a few scratches. I also applied a coat of clear Shellac to help avoid anything from the wood seeping through my pretty white paint.

It fits perfectly on the end of our bed and gives extra storage for winter blankets. (Hurray for more storage!!) I love how the dark top plays well with our roman shades and wicker baskets under the side tables.