Oh hello y’all, how are things?  I’m feeling pretty good today having finally finished the laundry room over at our adopted Alma House.   For those who don’t know, earlier this year, the hubs and I decided to adopt a house in partnership with our local COTS (Committee on the Shelterless). 

The Alma Project began as the transformation of a fixer upper house into a comfortable functional home for women who desperately need it. Living inside the Alma House are single mothers, previously homeless, who reside for free on the condition that they are learning skills, stabilizing their lives, attending counseling, and that they remain drug and alcohol free. Busy remodeling their lives, these mothers have no time or money to fix up this house.

Over the past few months, we’ve given our time to this project with money donated by so many of you. Some of you blogged about the Alma house and others held small fundraisers to benefit the project.  We cannot thank you enough. 

In April, we spent a day transforming the entry hallway to create better utility:

In May, we built them this media center. 

Over the summer, we set out to build the families a laundry room center in the garage and at last it is complete! 

Here’s a glimpse of the space a few months ago:

Here it is today!

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The mister and I sat down to look at the fall schedule and with all the soccer games, entertaining, and holiday related events filling up our days, we concluded there are not many weekends available for any more big home improvement projects.   In January, I wrote about all of the home goals we had for our casa.  Today seemed a great day to take inventory on how I did and I’m proud to say I finished a lot of them.  Some will just have to wait until next year, but here’s a quick recap. 

Goal #1 – Replace the kitchen backsplash.  Done!  I was sooooo happy to swap out the yellow fruit plate last winter for a cleaner updated look.  Back in February I removed the old decorative tile and installed plain white tile in its place tile for a more cohesive feel. 

Goal #2: Create a homework and art center for the kiddos.  Yep, finished!  The blank wall in the kid’s play space got an upgrade with the addition of a homework and art station, including a desk, floating shelves, and frames for their artwork.

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I’ve mentioned before, we have a little guest studio above our garage that we’ve rented out in the past, but mostly use for guests, especially this time of year.  A few months ago I refinished the kitchen cabinets, and last weekend I thought it time to refinish the old Pottery Barn pedestal table that sits in that space.  It used to be our breakfast table, and over the course of ten years it has had its share of damage done to it.   

I’ve got to give PB credit, they make a a high quality solid wood table, but over the years it had suffered the typical wear and tear that comes with daily living.  Scratches, dents, paint residue, kid crud, you name it, that table had it.  After all the damage, I decided the time had come to refinish the surface. 

So often, when there’s damage to wood, the first inclination is simply to paint it and I confess I do that all the time.  For this table, I thought it would be better to take the time to restore the beauty of the cherry wood and I’m so glad I did.  With all the light and bright in this studio, I loved the idea of a classic wood pedestal table grounding the space.  Besides, let’s face it.  Dark wood pedestal table?  Totally timeless. 

Here’s a glimpse of some of the damage before . . .

. . . and today !

Here’s the skinny on how I restored the surface of this pedestal table in a weekend:

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Hey all, happy Friday!  Y’all know I have a weakness for French style dressers and can’t resist a good one when I spy it, especially at a thrift store!  I thought I’d share a quick little dresser makeover I finished up this week.

I spied this vintage dresser just as it was coming in the door at a local thrift shop. The wood was damaged in places, but it’s a well made piece and solid wood.  Wood putty filled the cosmetic flaws, and two coats of AS Chalk Paint in a custom mix prettied it up in a shade of barely gray almost blue.   

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Hey y’all!  Happy Monday!  Summer has finally come to an end since the kids are back to school this week.  Knowing that, I made an effort to take some down time last week.  If you follow me on Twitter, you know the highlight for me was a Saturday date night where I was at the Michael Bublé concert in San Jose, having cocktails with my sweetie while my inlaws watched the kids.  Hello, it doesn’t get much better than that! 

My hub scored us some amaaaaaazing seats up front, and I was so excited to be just a few feet away from one of my favorite singers.  I do things I wouldn’t ordinarily do when in the presence of Michael Bublé, he makes me all teenybopper crazy.  He was wiping his perspiration all night on a MB Tour towel, then guess who he threw it to?  Don’t believe me?  All the evidence on this video. 

Can you believe it?  His sweaty towel is mine baby miiiiiiiine !!!! 

How much do ya think I could get for it on eBay?

Kidding!  I could never part with it.  Unless you make me an offer I can’t refuse.

Back to biz.  So I’ve had this little console table for like ever that I painted white over the weekend.  

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