My Creative Blog [Search results for Comments] 

I feel very honored to have been awarded the 'Super Comments Award' by Mona from Providence ltd Design. Mona has been with me since my first day of blogging leaving wonderful comments for me along the way ever since, for that I truly thank her.

The way this works is you answer a series of questions about yourself and then pass it along to seven others who have left wonderful comments so without farther ado'.
1) Why do you blog??
I keep wondering that myself since I work ten plus hours a day and time has always been an issue for me but I can't help myself. I only just discovered blogs last year. I mean I saw them listed but didn't know what they were so always skipped over them. Last summer I opened one and I was enchanted. I mean here were all these people opening their worlds to us, sharing their homes. That first day I spent the entire day reading and after a month I wanted to be a part of that circle, so I took the plunge and dived in for better or worse.

2) Name your three best memories:
First is my Dad who's gone now'.riding around on my Dad's foot when I was little. I remember plopping on that poor guys foot the moment he walked in the house and he never minded and always gave me a ride'remember doing that? He also taught me how to tie my shoes and ride a bike, it's the little things that make me smile now that he's gone.
Second was the day I moved from Phoenix, AZ to New York City, NY to be with my future husband. I loaded up a large truck and drove across country all by myself. If you've ever driven a 22-foot long truck you'll know how much work it is coupled with the fact I was changing my entire life and leaving everything I knew. It was the scariest thing I've ever done but also the best. It showed me that I was capable of doing anything and from that moment on if I wanted to try something I did!
Third was the day we brought Dylan dog home four years ago. I hadn't had a dog in thirty years, dating myself here, I've had Persian cats. My husband really wanted a golden so I said lets get one and I've never regretted it. Dylan's great company, almost to smart for his own good, great to cuddle up next to and loyal beyond belief. But I think the best part about him is his eyes, you look into those golden brown eyes and you see love shining back!

?3) Name four of the best fiction books you've ever read: I don't have four favorites, I read all the time and there are to many to name. Some favorites I like revisiting are: Beauty by Susan Wilson The ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough I love mysteries by Mary Higgins Clark and Nora Roberts I read a lot of textile, art and decorating books too but what I like reading is all over the place.

4) What are the five best movies ever made?
Again I don't have favorites because I watch everything under the sun but when I'm alone I like light hearted movies, nothing serious and never anything scary....hate scary movies.
5) Name five things you cannot live without:
My family and friends. My best friend Deb is the sister I never had so I feel very blessed.
My antique textiles, I feel like I've finally figured out what I'm supposed to be doing in my life. It gives me a great sense of peace!
My computer, I have my web site/business on here and it's easier to talk to my friends overseas.
My monthly facials, it's relaxing, keeps my face in place and one of the few things I actually do just for me.
Auctions! I love auctions, the thrill of the hunt, the adrenaline rush just before you bid and sometimes winning, it's very exciting!
6) If you could change your name what would it be?
Chase! I saw a movie once with Rene Russo in it and her characters name was Chase, it was a really cool name. I like my name, Debra, but I introduce myself as Debra and people always say "hi Debbie", I HATE BEING CALLED DEBBIE! Not that there's anything wrong with being called Debbie....:)

7) Tell us a unique and interesting fact about yourself.
I can build! I decide one day to build a garden room in our side field and the first thing I needed were raised field stone garden beds. So I went out and bought a book, read it and went to work. See up in the far left corner my pile of rubble'these poker flowers are in a perfectly round garden bed that's twelve feet wide, I built that. You'll see better pictures in the spring, promise, now I'll bore you with my ability to build!

8) What do you love best about yourself?
My ability to do whatever I set my mind too. I believe everyone can do anything just stop talking about it and go do it. I've accomplished everything I've set out to do in my life so far, yes, it really is that simple. Just do it!
9) If you had a freaky Friday experience, who would you change places with?
Honestly, nobody because I like who I've become as a person. I've worked dang hard to become who I am why would I want to give that up? I'd like to have past and present people to dinner to pick their minds but trade places with them'nah!
10) What is the best thing about being a woman?
The ability to multi-task if I didn't I wouldn't get half the things done that needed to be done.

Now it's time to pass this gracious award on to some of the people who have brightened my days:
Stacey at: Style Addicted Mom Joan at: for the love of a house Sharon at: My French Country Home Jermaine at: French Kissed Deborah at: Boxwood Terrace Vanna at: lvroftiques better known as Delusions of Grandeur Debra at: 5th and State
THANK YOU!

I can't believe I actually won something but I did and it's fabulous! I want to thank Debra over at 5th and State and her nephew who chose my name, for the wonderful dessert cookbook by Chef Alain Roby. I can't wait to try out one of the recipes this weekend!

O ne of my favorite things to look forward to over the weekend is pancakes! Or french toast — basically anything bread-like combined with real maple syrup! Hubby made these spelt walnut pancakes and I think they may be my favorite recipe. He added fresh pear on top.

My mom flew up from California last week and while she was here, we took a drive into Portland. My shopping goals were some good nursing tops and some pants. She dropped me off at Marshalls while she drove laps around the parking lot to soothe the babies to sleep. It had been over six months since I'd been shopping.
I came out half an hour later with these plates — eight dinner and eight salad. I didn't even try on clothes.

They're the same pattern as my brown transfer ware ( here ). I thought the blue would be nice for spring and summer....and all the yummy culinary goodness that comes with these seasons — hello morel mushroom pizza, fruit salad, mescalin greens and oh, insalata caprese. Spelt Walnut Pancake Recipe:
2/3 cup stone ground corn flour 1 cup spelt flour 2 tsp baking powder 2 tsp raw sugar 1 tsp salt 2 eggs — separated 1 1/2 cup milk 2 TB melted butter
Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Whisk wet ingredients in a small bowl. Whisk egg whites separately in another small bowl until frothy. Combine together with dry ingredients in large bowl — throw in handful of walnuts. I want to thank everyone for your comments and e-mails. It really means a lot to me to hear from you. Unfortunately, it's become quite challenging to keep up with correspondence as I'd like. I pretty much always have a baby in my arms (I'm holding sleeping Margaret as I type with one hand right now!). I also wanted to say that I'm still reading blogs which I can do with one hand and a mouse! I'm just not able to leave comments so much (but I do write very long chatty comments in my head!). xo

I need everyone's help please! For days now I've been trying to log into blogger to leave comments and blogger won't let me. Here's the problem:
I sign in, it says I'm signed in on my dashboard but not on my main blog page. If I try to leave a comment it says I'm anonymous. Does anyone out there know how to fix this problem????
Until it's fixed I can't leave comments even as anonymous, this has been a real bummer!

Time for Our Big Announcement!
Here's the deal, plain and simple. We've been contacted by NBC Universal, which owns Bravo and all of The Real Housewives Shows… Guess what?? The want to do a show about us! KIDDING! Nope, they actually contacted us because they want us to cease and desist… that means stop using Real Housewives in our name. Major Bummer. Although in 2012 Jess and I did make a goal of talking behind each others' backs, wearing tighter, low cut clothing, and making millions of dollars, we're sort of lost as to the"possible confusion" that NBC was worried about with this little old DIY blog.
Well, we've talked about it, prayed about it, sought legal advice, and in the end we decided it's not worth the huge costs we'd incur to keep our beloved"Real Housewives of Bucks County" name. (We technically could try and fight this one under fair use law, but we're not looking for a battle)
Of course we're"Look on the Brightside Girls" so we're going to make the most of this re-branding! We're looking for a new name that totally reflects our personality and style. Who knows us better than YOU, our readers? So we need your help!

Pin It So, start thinking! We want our Facebook, comments, and email flooded with amazing ideas from you. Honestly, Jess and I just keep saying RHBC in our heads because it's been our baby for the past 12 months. We totally need your creative help in this process.
Here's How we Need Your Help: #1- Tell us you'll still love us even as"the bloggers formally known as The Real Housewives!" #2- Share ANY and all name ideas with us through comments, Facebook, or email (don't worry about us not liking it, we want to hear any ideas!) #3- Consider sharing our dilemma on your blog, or Facebook… the more help the merrier!
**Update: We love the ideas we're getting so far. Some of them are cracking us up! We just wanted to let you know that we plan to move away from"housewives" at all… just to be on the safe side. So keep the fab. ideas coming!**
Just keeping it real, of course we're nervous about this change over. We've worked really hard this past year, and a little piece of us is worried about losing readers, people not being able to find us etc… BUT, we're trusting that this will work out for good and who knows, maybe even catapult us towards awesome new opportunities!
Thanks so much and sorry we didn't have some awesome announcement like our own show! Ha! We're still workin' on that one!

Only following on the blog? You're missing out. Use the buttons below to join in on all the fun!

Are you looking for the link party for your Creating with the Stars submission? Yay! We're thrilled to have you! Click here or use the button below to link up. Submissions are now open until February 21st. If you want to read more about the contest and all that it entails, click here.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We've had some just for adults Valentine's Day ideas on the blog (here and here), but today we're keeping it PG! (I always give Jess a heart attack when I venture into PG-13 land! lol) With 4 kids this year I had 79 valentines to prepare. Thanks to Pinterest, I spent some 1:1 time with each kiddo, browsing for ideas, and then making each of their cards. I gave them each the option to buy, but they were feeling crafty I guess.
Kira went with Arrows and Pencils with kind of a Brave theme. We got the free printables here.

Callen wanted Superheros…and again we found a Free Printable! (noticing a trend here?!?)

Little Bit Funky blog has an awesome tutorial using felt with these printables.
Did you notice that I didn't perfectly coordinate paper or add extra fancy ribbon? I've made it a goal that kid projects (even if being blogged) don't get bogged down by mommy details. It's all about the fun and that boy sure looks like he's having fun! hahah! He actually said,"Mom, look how happy I am… {INSERT CHEESY SMILE}. See, that happy!" My kids kill me.

Kaden is 8 and it's one of those ages where you have to decide if Valentines are cool or lame. Thanks to Minecraft, he decided they were cool!

We just made them together using Google Images and two Minecraft Fonts (find them here and here). Sweet"Cool", Simple, & fun for me and my guy to make together!

Last, but not least was Kenzie… at almost 11, valentines are almost a thing of the past, but since school still does them, they had to be Epic (at least in her mind). Eric and I don't let the kids have Facebook accounts or anything, but we did let Kenz get an Instagram account (set to private). You might see her commenting on my pictures 24-7: ) Anyhow, Instagram is very cool in her class this year, so we made Instagram Valentine's… but wait, there's more… we also added a scratch off element! Booyah! (Haha, sorry, I got a tad excited)

I'll warn you… all these pics were taken with my phone, that's another part of kid crafting,"No annoying Mom pictures"…
Here's how we made them… We started off with a picture Kenzie took on Instagram (Fried Egg A-la-Kenzie). Using my I phone, I took a screen shot.

We saved the picture and pulled it into Picmonkey where we covered the eggs with a little Valentine's note. We put a few different comments in the area below the picture…

We printed our design out on plain computer paper. Kenz liked the scratch off idea we saw on Pinterest, so… we added that too! First, take a clear (or white if you don't have clear- we didn't) crayon and color over the area to scratch off.

Then we mixed together silver paint and dish washing soap. We used about 2 parts paint to one part soap. Then you just paint it over the colored area. (Let it dry a full 24 hours before moving them around. They need to really cure, so they don't wipe off too easily)

Blogger mommy might have suggested we make the scratch off area in a fun shape or something, but plain old mommy bit her tongue: )
We attached the Instagram print onto cardstock- and of course, we did it in happy face fashion…

And then it occurred to me that most 5th graders don't carry coins, so we used a little washi to attach a penny on the back of each card. Kenz and I both liked this little touch!

It took us about an hour to make all 27 pretty awesome Instagram-Scratch-Off Valentines. It might be the last year we get to make them together (who knows what middle school will bring), so it was an hour very well spent!

So, 79 Valentines later, I had one really fun afternoon of crafting with my kids and 4 sets of pretty cool Valentines. What kind of cards are your kids giving this year?

Today we have a Jessica (not our Jess, a different one) from Arcadian Lighting guest posting about blending modern and country designs. We love this trend, so we were excited to see what she had to share. I (Monica) happen to love Arcadian Lighting. We made one big lighting purchase when we built our home. Our foyer needed a huge light and it needed some major wow factor. We must have looked at 192364 stores, and Arcadian was where we found a winner!

It's one of my favorite things ever (and they have great sales, so of course I didn't pay full price!) So, thanks for being here today Jessica!
**********************************************************************************

Hi there! I'm Jessica, a writer for Arcadian Lighting, which is a wonderful online resource for beautiful, affordable lighting fixtures. I'm delighted to be guest posting for Monica and Jess today because I'm going to be sharing a collection of inspiring modern country interiors. Rustic and casual with a sophisticated modern edge, these country interiors are just right for the fresh, airy days of Spring. I hope you enjoy!

A simple checked table cloth and set of traditional English china give this lovely dining table a classic farmhouse feel. The contrasting modern wine glasses and Donghia stacking chairs are cool accent pieces.

A chic neutral color palette and a checked upholstered arm chair in the corner bring together new and modern with old and classic beautifully. The branch candlesticks are fun and unexpected.

A gorgeous mix of crisp, modern furniture and rustic exposed wood beams creates a perfectly elegant, yet relaxing atmosphere in this living room. These types of ornate wooden mirror frames and chandeliers add a bit of drama.

The slate fireplace, twinkling candles and brilliant chandelier give this sophisticated dining room just enough simple country beauty. A lovely bouquet of fresh greenery makes the perfect accent, as well.

The vaulted ceiling and shelving gives this living room a distinctly farmhouse appeal. Weathered antiques and cushy modern furniture make the room cozy and inviting.

The handsome dark wooden floorboards and rustic, industrial stools add a rugged edge to this chic kitchen. The pendant lights overhead are simply beautiful, and the under cabinet lighting is a great touch.

A dusty blue wall color and sheer white curtains make this bedroom absolutely dreamy and romantic. The wood beam ceiling add so much natural texture and color that it makes a perfect accent against the very simple furnishings.

The paneled walls in this bedroom lend a cozy country atmosphere to the room, especially with a serene beige paint color. The rustic nightstand and modern headboard are particularly handsome together. Images 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 Which of these modern country rooms is your favorite? Let us know in the comments! And be sure to stop by Arcadian Lighting for a modern light fixture or two to brighten your home! -Jessica

Do you check out the dollar bins at Target like I do? Seriously, even if I've been there 24 hours before, I just HAVE to walk through those aisles and make sure there isn't something new!

I was there with my daughter this week and we loved up the new Christmas items. So, I thought it would be fun to share with you what we found and hear what you would use them for or how you could DIY them. Next week I'll share my ideas with you!
So here's what we found for $1… Little Pursey thing

Manger…

Holiday boxes…

Monogramed Notes…

Adorable boxes…

Letter Stickers…

Fall container

Love this! Gingerbread headband! lol… And felt bags…

Sparkly Boxes…

Okay, so what are your ideas? Leave us some comments and/or pictures and we'll share your ideas and ours next week!

P.S. We're headed back to NYC tomorrow to visit our bestie Nate! Hehe.

I wish my house looked like this:

Source: 1kindesign.com via Smith on Pinterest
I snack on this all day:

I'm contemplating doing this to my kitchen:

Source (White upper cabinets and colored lower cabinets.)
I'm working on a project for our master using this:

I have something big planned for this:

I made this veggie side for dinner tonight:

Broccoli with Poppy Seed Butter & Parmesan Cheese
My hubs and daughter, who usually abhor veggies, LOVE this!
I would NEVER wear these:

I have a crush on him:

In case you don't know who this is, it's Bobby Flay. If only I could taste his cooking…
This makes my day:

It's a game called"Charlie Chase" and all 3 of them have a blast. (Don't ask me why my hubs only has one sock on. I'll never understand him. Ever.)
Have a fantastic (with a little random thrown in there) day!
P.S. I welcome comments on any of the craziness listed above.: )

I cannot put into words how much your beautiful comments and e-mails have meant to us. We read each and every one of them together, and we're both deeply touched by the outpouring of love and warmth from everyone.
Thank you dear, dear friends for extending your blessings, thoughts, well wishes and notes of happiness. Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
This photo was taken just yesterday....baby bump is a little over 14 weeks. xoxo

Thank you so much for your kind words. It's always fun to read your comments. Sometimes you don't have as much time as you want, and that's the way my life is right now. So today I will just post a beautiful picture, and hope you will find it equally beautiful. Enjoy!

Image: Greige

Thanks for all your great comments about my new front door color. Valspar's Spritz of Lime paint might be a new obsession for me! I gave you a little sneak peek of the door numbers yesterday, but today I'll give you the full low down. Adding numbers to a metal door can be tricky, but don't worry, I made all the mistakes for you and can save you some time!

My front door is heavy, and metal or something like it… bottom line, it's not wood. I didn't want to make any holes in it. I found these clean lined, modern house numbers at Lowes. I had big plans to DIY numbers out of MDF, but for $4.99 each, I decided these would work just fine. I'm all about the DIY, but not when it makes more sense to just buy em!

So… metal numbers on a metal door… hmm… I'm smart (or so I think…) so I decided heavy-duty, double sided magnet was a perfect non-permanent solution. This way, depending on what wreath (or not) I have on my door, I can move the numbers around! Pure Genius!

The magnet has adhesive on one side, so just cut little strips and stick it to the back.

Like this!

Umm… Guess what?? I guess my door isn't really metal and doesn't work with a magnet. DARN! Would have been nice to check that out first. Oops!

They work great on my fridge! So if you even need house numbers on a fridge, now you know how!

Okay, plan B… off I went to Lowe's with plans to get double sided adhesive. I asked the nice man where the industrial strength tape would be found. Of course he asked about my project and had a better idea. He suggested industrial velcro.

It's nice and heavy duty, so I was swayed from my plan and gave it a try.

Apply it the same as the magnet…

Because this stuff is sticky, I wanted to be sure I had it straight. Look how muddy my level is… not really sure why…

Peel the plastic off the adhesive and firmly press on…

Wait 30 seconds and…
watch them fall to the ground. ARRRGGG! This is the point where I started to get a wee bit annoyed. Then I started to laugh… why would I think velcro was a better idea than just double sided adhesive? I must have had temporary brain loss.

Here's the winner and what I should have used from the start. So, if you want to add house numbers, just begin here and skip the other methods I tried!

Finally! There they are. Nice and permanent (well sorta, if I want to remove them I can pull them off, and I'd just need to touch up paint)

I love the way they look against the green/yellow!

And just as a reminder, here's what else I have planned for my porch!

There ya have it… 2 ways NOT to add numbers, and 1 way that works like a charm! Aren't you glad you have me to do all the trial and error for you? Do you have numbers on your door? Do Tell!

Our most popular blog post has been the Farmhouse Table Remix. If you haven't read the post, check it out here for all the nitty gritty details and the steps to make your own.

Since our table made its debut for the taping of The Nate Show, we thought we'd give you an add-on post that might answer some of the popular questions we get about it. Farmhouse Table Q & A Q. How long is your table and how many people can it seat? A. The table is just under 11ft long and can comfortably seat 16 people.

Q. How long did it take to make the table? A. Building it took about 4 hours, but the sanding took double that. However, if we had the proper tools it would have been a breeze. Eric just used an orbital sander on all the edges to round them. A router would have made this step a breeze. Total time was about 20 hours.

Q. How did you hide the original tables so well? A. Creating the edge casing was essential to hiding the old school tables underneath. If we hadn't added that detailing, you would have seen the old tables and the extender planks we added.

It would have looked something like this…

Q. Is it weird to have an 8-legged table? What does it look like underneath? A. Nah… we think it's kind of cool! Plus, if we have someone over for dinner and have any awkward silence, we can just be like,"Hey, did you know this table has eight legs?" I wouldn't recommend it as a pick-up-line, but for a conversation saver it works like a charm.

Q. What color stain did you use? (this is the most popular question we get) A. I can't answer this one. SORRY! Here's the deal… I tried a million stains and methods and finally had to go to Sherwin Williams. They were able to create a custom stain for me. They matched the stain to a paint swatch from the chair paint. I literally jumped for joy (can you picture that?) when we did a sample board. It was exactly what I was looking for. So, head over to the fellas at Sherwin, they make a mean color match! The reason I can't give you the formula is that we were messy with the stain and it got all over the label. We can't read it no matter how hard we try. Blogger foul. Sorry!

I hope that helps and we love getting emails and comments from our readers, so feel free to contact us if you have any other questions! The biggest thing I want to encourage you with is that YOU CAN DO THIS! We're not woodworkers, we're not all that savvy with tools, but we're pretty determined. If your you (or your husband) are doubtful, just shoot us and email and I'll have Eric convinceyou it's totally doable!
Got Chairs? A 16-seater table means 16 chairs! Yikes… with most chairs costing well over $100 each, that would be a whopping $1600! Thankfully, my mom found us FREE chairs that a restaurant were getting rid of. Remember this post? Well, here's how I took these chairs from weak-sauce, to super-cool! (and yes, occasionally I talk like I'm 16 years old… I'm a high school teacher, it's not my fault!)

The first step was to sand every single chair. QUIZ: Do you think I actually did that? ANSWER: Not a chance! I'm far too impulsive and after sanding one chair I decided that sanding was for the birds! I like quick and efficient. I made a little chair assembly line in the basement.

To remove a chair cushion, just flip it over and unscrew all four corners. It might take a little kick to get it to pop out, but it'll budge eventually. Ugh, look at that hideous material.

The chairs needed two coats of grey paint and Eric and I just lined up the chairs in the kitchen and watched a movie while we painted. I must give the hubs HUGE props because I took the kids on a planned trip to Boston, and he finished painting all the chairs so that they'd be ready for the Nate Show taping. <3

This next step is really crucial… find some gal pals that are willing to come help you reupholster 16 seat cushions. If you could read the clock on the DVR, it says 10:15pm and we were just getting started. Have I mentioned I love my girls? We just pulled off the old material and wrapped and staple-gunned the new fabric. It's just like wrapping a present, but using staples instead of tape!

I had picked out some fabric at Calico Corners, but it wasn't going to arrive in time, so I went to JoAnn's and found these two fabrics that I was pretty happy with. I wanted something with grey, yellow, and some kind of aqua or blue. These fit the bill nicely.
The Finished Freebie Chairs

I can't wait for everyone to see how great the table and chairs look in my dining room since Jess designed it on The Nate Show. Really, we're both like little kids waiting for Christmas! It can't get here soon enough. Countdown is T minus 3 days! (I really don't know what that means, but it sounds cool when they say it in movies right?)

Oh yes, we almost forgot! The winner of the Starbucks giftcard is…

Liz

Just shoot us an email with your address, and start checking your mailbox! Happy Starbucks-drinking!

I don't know about where you live, but here in PA, September was the most beautiful month ever! We had more perfect days than we could count! We just LOVE fall weather! We thought we'd look back over the month, because a whole lot of awesomeness was going on!
September's Instagram… As you can see, I'm really enjoying my time off from filming! Our days have been spent going on field trips, picnics at the lake, girl's night out, and of course puppies!! Follow along my day to day on IG @EastCoastCreative

Jess' September revolved around the new little man on the scene- Bennett. Her days off have been filled with lots of family time, a date night with her hubs, and celebrating that her rings fit again! lol. Follow her on IG @Jess_EC2blog

Okay, now let's see what went down on the blog…

Reader Survey We had so much fun reading through all your comments and input for EC2. Definitely check out the stats and see who reads this little old blog. (PS you'll also learn that men are afraid to admit they love reading blogs! )

We shared the inside scoop on many of our Knock It Off Projects: Stencil Wall, How to Remove Wallpaper, Dreary to Cheery, Outdoor Sectional,
If you've missed any episodes of our show… watch them here! Knock it Off: LiveWell Network

We were pretty excited that Silhouette offered to partner with us to give you guys a sweet deal on their cutting machines! Check out this post to get your Silhouette Discount

Perhaps the biggest accomplishment of this month… The Arrival of Baby Bennett! The little man made an early appearance and Jess and Kev are loving up every minute with him! He's totes adorbs people! Check out the adorable pics of Baby Bennett, And you MUST check out his awesome Nursery Reveal

We started a fun series called Right Now…What's Going on in Our World where I shared a behind the scenes peek at what's going on. And yes, it involves insane animal cuteness!! Check it out!

One of my favorite things this month was adding a New East Coast Creative Team Member! Diana is our new intern and she rocks socks!! Seriously, she is doing an amazing job, and it's been super good timing with Jess having the baby.

One majorly exciting milestone for us was having a nice, big feature of my piano in HGTV Mag. Check out the details: Painted Piano HGTV Magazine Feature, And if you want to see how I did it, check out our Painted Piano Project, and the Wood Shim Wall Art above it!

And if you didn't already know we are a tad crazy (well at least the Mangin family is), we went way, way outside the box with my How to Cut a Perfect Mohawk using Frog Tape post. He's still rockin' the 'hawk two months later!
So, all-in-all, I think September was pretty stinkin' swell! Oh, but lest you think otherwise, October just might have it beat!! Here's a peek at what you can expect… -Blog redesign & we're moving!! (to Wordpress that is!) -10,000 Facebook Fan Celebration Giveaway! -We're visiting Martha (umm, yeah THE MARTHA!) in NYC -A Playroom Makeover on a budget -Fall Decorating ideas for indoors and out!
As always, thanks for supporting EC2- we couldn't do it without you!

via {this pretty space}
I cannot imagine a more beautiful space.
Thank you all for your thoughtful comments on yesterday's post. It's interesting to see so many common threads interwoven among us. A strong passion binds us all; no wonder we are such a tight group...
A wonderful and peaceful weekend to you all...

Wondering how do you make a Farmhouse Table on the Cheap? We took told old tables and DIYed them into a huge, modern-meets-rustic farmhouse table. Even if you've never done any Furniture building, this will be easy enough for you!

********************************************************************

I am sooo excited to finally reveal our dining room table with all of you! Not only am I going to show you the finished product, but just in case you want to try this (which you totally should) Eric and I are going to give you a little play-by-play (aka longwinded tutorial). Blue is Eric and Purple is me! If you haven't been following along with the journey to making our own table, check out this post first, so you know why we started this crazy project. I'll warn you that this post is a little long but, I think it's worth it in the end!

Now, the play-by-play… How to Make a Farmhouse Table (our way) 1. Aquire a table or two to be the foundation (aka find an old junky table) 2. Plan the length and width of your new farmhouse table 3. Build a Sub-frame from cheapy wood 4. Choose planks for the table top 5. Cut, Cut, Cut 6. Determine the layout of the table top boards (kind of like a puzzle) 7. Sand, sand, and sand some more (or buy a good router) 8. Screw, Screw, Screw 9. Create trimming edge 10. Stain the wood (I love the grey we created!) 11. Paint the legs and base 12. Seal the table Ok,

Monica wants me, (her wonderful husband), to do a little explanation on what we did to make our new, gigantic table. I'll do my best to describe. Let me explain, though, that I am NOT a skilled wood-worker or craftsman. The only thing is that I'm not afraid to try something I've never done. If you take anything away from this long-winded explanation of what I did, you should take this – anyone can do this stuff. You just need to be patient, determined, and not afraid to try and try again. Ok, that's all the pep talk you're gonna get. Here goes… (I must interject here that I think my hubs just gave all of blogland a motivational pep talk, and I love it and love him!)
1. The foundation…

Monica had ideas as to what type of table she wanted. She wanted it about 10 feet long and 4 feet wide. She had several sample ideas, but all of them required me to build the whole foundation of the table and the only tools I own are a miter saw, drill and hammer. Crafting the legs, frame and everything else seemed like more than I wanted to take on at the time, so we decided to look for an old, beat-up table that we could just make a table top to place on top of. We got the perfect answer when Grandpop Bunney (yes, that's really his name) called and said that at their retirement community, someone was selling two, identical, 5-foot long tables for $20 EACH!!! In case you're one who struggles with math (i.e.

Monica), two 5-foot long tables put next to each other make a 10-foot table! We had our foundation!

2. Planning… So the length of the table was good, but it was only 3 feet wide. This is just too thin for our big family. So, I spent a lot of time planning and researching to see what to do. My final plan ended up coming down to what could I do, as easily as possible, and without totally screwing it up.

3. Create a Sub-frame… The plan was to build a"sub-frame" on top of the existing table-top and then just lay the new table-top on top of the"sub-frame" (that's a lot of tops). I don't even know if"sub-frame" is a word, or if it is the right word for what I made… but, basically, this sub-frame is just some thin, skinny boards laid across the old table-top that would extend out past the edge of the old table-top and thus, create support for expanding the width of the new table top to 4 feet wide. The wooden supports are staggered because I changed my mind about the width after my wonderful husband had already cut all the pieces. Typical Monica move…Oops!

4. Choose your wood… I looked at all kinds of wood, but the nicer it gets, the pricier it gets.

Monica wanted wood that was had some character to it, so she wanted some knots in it and some distressed marks on it. Also, she knew that we have 4 kids who still think that the primary purpose of a spoon and fork are to play drums on the table instead of eating, so this table was not going to last long without some dings and scratches no matter how nice the wood was. I also didn't want to be a psycho host that was always worried about my friends and family marking it up. I went to Lowes and they have 1 inch thick, by 8 inch wide by 10 feet long pine boards for just $13. This is not your nice, cleanly cut wood. This is the uglier, knottier, more distressed looking wood. Believe it or not, I wanted to get the nicer wood, but

Monica wanted to cheaper wood (b/c of the character). At just $13 per board, I didn't mind giving in and using the cheap wood. Really, who needs a truck when you have a mini van?? Table wood and bootcamp supplies all fit!

5. Cut, Cut, Cut… So the boards are 10 feet long and 8 inches wide, right? So planned to just lay 6 boards across and we have a table that's exactly 4 feet wide (6 x 8 inches = 48 inches, for those of you mathematically challenged). I cut and laid the whole sub-frame for a 48-inch wide table.

One small problem… when Lowes says that the board is 8 inches wide, they don't mean that it's actually 8 inches wide. Each board was 7.25 inches wide! WHAT THE HECK!!! I built the whole"sub-frame" to the wrong width! This is definitely where my inexperience comes in. Just b/c Lowes says it's 8 inches wide, doesn't mean it's 8 inches wide. Why doesn’t Lowes just make the boards 8 inches?!? DUMB!!! I guess I should have known that though… everyone knows a 2x4 isn't actually 2 inches by 4 inches. Idiot! Well, now our table was going to be 7 boards wide, and each board is 7.25 inches. So our final width was 51 inches. I cut 7 boards 110.25 inches long to make the length of the table and then two 51-inch horizontal end pieces to cap it off.

6. Sanding… The whole table is cut and ready, now it's time to sand. Grandpop B lent me his hand-held electric sander, and boy am I glad. Typically, you would use a router to round the edges of the wood and give them that finished look. But, did I mention that I don't own too many tools? I spent my evenings sanding the edges of the boards until they had a rounded, finished look. Sanding was definitely the most time-consuming part of the whole project.

7. Screwing… In my mind, this step was going to be simple. Just lay out the cut, sanded boards on top of my"sub-frame" and screw them in from the bottom. The problem was that since we used those cheap, $13 boards, NONE of them were straight. They all had curves in them so when I would lay them side-by-side, there was always a large gap between the boards. I could live a small gap (1/8 inch or less), but I'm talking about about a ½ inch to 1 inch gap at some spots.

Monica and I spent about a ½ hour laying out different boards to see which ones would have the smallest gap in between when laying next to each other – it was almost like putting together a puzzle. Once we had an order, I screwed the first board starting at the outside. For all the table-top boards, I screwed from the bottom, through the table top, through the sub-frame and into the new table-top boards. After the first board was in, I just went down the line, screwing in the other 6 boards. The Pine boards were pliable enough that I could push any gap in between the boards almost completely closed tight before I screwed it in place. After all 7 long boards were in place, I screwed in the final 2 end cap boards in place.
8. Staining… At this point, the table looked pretty cool, but I was worried.

Monica and I paint a lot, and we're pretty decent at it but, I HATE staining! It just never seems turn out well. Since we both are afraid of stain … I used lots of extra wood to create sample boards… I first wanted to figure out how to go about distressing the table. This was my arsenal of tools…

Unfortunately, it looked like… well, it looked like I had attacked my wood with a bunch of random tools. Ugh.

I decided to wait on the distressing and focus on the color. I wanted a farm-table-meets-Restoration-Hardware grey color stain for the table. I tried about 14 techniques. Honestly, I did.

Fortunately, Anthony Lelli, a friend of ours is a painter and he talked with

Monica and got a custom grey stain for us that was EXACTLY what she was wanted. Yippee!! After some practice stains and several calls to Anthony for staining advice, I did it. Apply the product… wait a minute… wipe it off. Piece of Cake!
10. The finished product…

We could not be happier with the color and look of the table. The cheap pine (at least for now) looks awesome. It may get beat-up way faster than a nice oak or maple table, but for only about $200 total, we have a huge dining room table that can easily fit 14-16 people.

Seriously, I LOVE this project. When we first started thinking about building our own table, when neither of us are woodworkers, well we were very unsure. We couldn't have imagined how cool our 8 legged farmhouse table remix would turn out.
So, are you ready to make one of your own?

**We've gotten so many great comments and questions about this project that there's a Q & A follow up post that you can check out here. If you still have questions, just shoot us an email.
We love to hear from you!**

Phew! Can you believe that 2012 is over already? We are gearing up for an unbelievably awesome 2013 filled with lots of fun and exciting things for this little blog (we'll share those with you tomorrow!), but we thought we'd take some time to round up our favorite projects from each month in 2012. Take a look, let us know what you think, and pin it if you like it!

January Monica's Fav: I loved going green in 2012! Not really in the earthy-crunchy way, but by adding a pop of color to my collection of ornate frames. These Green Granny Frames had a fun impact on my dining room!

Jess's Fav: I breathed some new life into our New and Improved Entryway by adding a striped accent wall and a big gallery wall.

February:
Jess' Fav: This project injected what can only be called Stencil Happiness into my kitchen renovation. Thanks to an awesome stencil from Royal Design Studio, my kitchen now has style for miles!

Monica's Fav: I took a bit of a risk and got personal with all of you by sharing my Game of Love Perfect Valentine's Gift. You ladies sure loved it, because it became our #1 post of 2012! Stay tuned for this year's version- it'll be on the blog on Monday!

Since 2012 was a leap year, I get to add another for February! This post went live on 2/29 and it's such a time saver in our house! Once a Month Sandwiches

March
Jess' Fav: This Giant Shaped Frame is by far my favorite project from 2012! I'm pretty sure there is no better way to dress up your wall for this crazy low price. This is a big impact project, people. *I also have to nominate this one too! Jess and I had no idea how successful this project was going to be when we created it- we sure love Staples Prints! -Mon*

Monica's Fav: I love the BIG impact my Chevron Wall made in my kitchen. It's packed with personality and was pretty easy to paint!

April
Jess' Fav: My hubs and I surprised my daughter with this Playhouse Loft Bed for her fourth birthday. It was totally worth it, because she and my son play in it all the time. I'm all for a DIY project that keeps the kids happy and occupied! *wink*

Monica's Fav: My Front Door got a major face lift with a super cool color and house numbers that are so my style!

May
Jess' Fav: We started our kitchen renovation in December and were finally ready to do the big Kitchen Reveal in May. Of course, I'm still tweaking it, but this room makes me super happy. It's filled with tons of DIYs like painting the cabinets, stenciling the wall, making a fabric shade pendant light, painting color-blocked curtains and adding a fab rug.

Monica's Fav: Warm weather meant it was time for some outdoor projects! I loved how simple and inexpensive these DIY Planters were. Even now, they have winter pansies and look great on my front porch!

June Jess's Fav: I love the ability to customize things and this Fabric Floorcloth let me create the perfect mat for my entryway!

Monica's Fav: Jess and I completed our Super-Fab Guest Room Makover. We loved everything from the shutter headboard, fun accessories, and of course the houndstooth stenciled wall! We also had a blogger's dream come true when Young House Love featured our makeover!

July
Jess: My son turned 2 this month so I showed you how I made his custom invitations using digital scrapbook paper and picmonkey. How to Make Custom Printables became one of our top posts- you guys obviously love free things!: )

Monica's Fav: While we were busy finishing up our patio project, I also worked on an Outdoor Furniture Upcycle

August
Jess' Fav: We took our house exterior from boring to awesome by painting the front door and shutters. Hello Curb Appeal!

Monica's Fav: August was when I pulled off a birthday surprise for my hubs with a Garage Mudroom Makover I'm still loving the organization and how it's actually functional for this family of 6!

September
Jess: It's a tie! I just can't decide between Stenciled Faux-Tile Fireplace & Planked Wall with Exposed"Stud' Shelves. Both of these guys transformed the room and I'm in love with them!

Monica's Fav: I went a little outside the box with my Shut the Front Door — Foyer Update. It's still one of my favorite things in my house.

October Jess: Our dining room has been slowly undergoing a transformation and my refinished dining table fits perfectly in the new space! Refinished Dining Room Table

Monica's Fav: In October, we had our DIY Patio Reveal! It was a HUGE DIY project, but we saved tons of money doing it ourselves and the end result was pretty awesome!

November
Jess's Fav: I love Mr. Berkus and didn't think he would mind me knocking off one of the items from his new line- the Rope-Wrapped Hurricane Vase. Want to know a secret? I like mine better.: )

Monica's Fav: During a road trip to visit one of my best gal pals, I whipped up a Fireplace Makeover in her new house. It's a super-simple way to get rid of that brass fast!

December
Jess: This project was honestly a surprise to me. It came out so much better than I ever thought it would! The Wood Slice Wreath is the perfect winter decoration.

Monica's Fav: Just in time for Christmas Jess and I made this Illuminated Silhouette Art. It looked great next to my Christmas tree, and now I'll be swapping out the silhouette for a lovey-dovey Valentine's quote!

One thing that stands out to us the most this year is how thankful we are for YOU! We so appreciate your comments, emails and faithful visits to our blog. Here's to another crazy, fun year!

It feels like I haven't blogged in forever! It's nice to be back… well, honestly if you told me I could jump on a plane now, I'd grab my suit and be gone in an instant. Mexico was insanely awesome. I'm going to do a whole post on it next Monday!
So we're supposed to be giving interesting statistics this week… I've got a good one for ya!

The Disappearing Giveaway.. If you've followed us since the very beginning you might remember a post about our Design Challeng{ed} contest… Or maybe you don't remember because not one single person entered. Ha! We'd only been blogging about two months and it was a major flop! It sure makes us laugh though!

Famous Angelina… Jess wrote a cute post about Cam's 3rd birthday party last year. It was a cute Angelina Ballerina theme. The post is fine, but nothing over the top. We didn't have great lighting and all the pictures are so-so… however, thanks to the post's title it was in our top 15 posts for landing pages! So many people have Googled Angelina Ballerina and found us! Ha!

So maybe we laugh a lot and blush a little over these silly posts, but it reminds us of the amazing road this blog has taken. We can't wait to look back next year and see what 2012 had for us!
Now, get ready for some stinkin' awesome giveaways! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We have three awesome giveaways for you today! The giveaways are separate entities (in other words, if you win, you don't win them all, but you can enter all three!) Please let us know which giveaways you're gunning for in your comments.
My Best Friend's Hair Giveaway My Best Friend's Hair is our most recent sponsor and it's the coolest concept! Their site can help you find the best stylists all over the country and get ratings and reviews. Want to find the best stylist in your area that can deal with insanely thick, unruly hair (that would be my wish)? They can help you with that! They also have tons of info about the hottest cuts and styles- so fun! Today they're giving away a Neuma Beauty Hair Products gift set. I don't know about you, but I love using high quality hair products, and getting them for free is even better!

To enter: (This giveaway is now closed)
1-Like My Best Friend's Hair Facebook Page and leave us a comment letting us know.
2-For an additional chance to win, head over to the My Best Friend's Hair website and either search for a stylist in your area or leave a review of your stylist and then leave a comment letting us know you did.

Scentsy Giveaway I must have been living under a rock for a while, because I had never tried Scentsy until Breanne joined our blog last fall. Honestly, I wake up, walk down stairs, and turn my warmer on immediately, my kids take turns picking out the scents we should use. It's awesome! Breanne is giving away one warmer and scentsy bar of your choice!

To enter: (This giveaway is now closed)
1- Go to Breanne's Scentsy website and then tell us in a comment what scent you'd love to try.
2-For an additional chance to win Follow RHBC on Twitter and leave us a comment letting us know.

Kotton Pickin' Kute Hat My poor kids were all born well before the world thought to make amazingly cute hats- boo! I honestly don't think there's anything cuter than a baby with a sock monkey hat! Krista hand knits all of her hats and lucky for us, she's giving one away! Don't have an itty bitty baby? No worries, she can make them in child and even adult sizes. I just might buy the hubs a sock monkey hat… actually, I won't because I could possibly die of laughter.

To enter: (This giveaway is now closed)
1- Go to Kotton Pickin Kute's Etsy Store and then tell us in a comment what hat you love!
2-For an additional chance to win like Kotton Pickin' Kute on Facebookand leave us a comment letting us know.

Giving things away is so darn fun! I can't wait to announce the winners tomorrow! Hope you're enjoying our week of giveaways just as much as we are!

AND NOW FOR THE WINNERS FROM YESTERDAY!

The winner of the Thirty-one Gifts giveaway is: Dwell Wool Knits! Congratulations!

The winner of the Dream Dinners meals is: Whitney! (and I promise I didn't cheat just because she's having her first baby! Congrats Whitney!)

(email us your address so we can get you your prizes!)

Jess and I are super excited to share today's post! Back in the fall, we had a fun double photo shoot with both of our families. Choosing a photographer is a big decision. It's an investment and you want to be sure that whoever is taking the pictures will really capture your family as they truly are.
This is where Stacy comes in. I might have broken some laws, but I used my snipping tool to steal her picture from her website! Stacy is crazy talented, I'm a snooper and so I kept looking at her pictures SOOC (straight out of the camera) and they looked amazing. I'm jealous of her skills, but thankfully have her around to take pictures of my family!

Stacy is super laid back, which is a must for someone with kids. Her fun approach to a session made it really enjoyable and not like my JCPenney torture experiences of the past. My kids played in the leaves, ran around the park, climbed fences, and lived life just as we would on any old day (although dressed in semi-coordinating outfits-ha!) Now for a peek at her incredible work with one of the cutest families I know.
The Jackson Family… Since I'm writing this post, I get to add comments, in where I want, so I have to tell you a funny story. See the picture on the left? Jess used one really similar to it for her Christmas card… well, about half the world, saw the"waiting room" and thought she was prego! HA! I was loving it. They were really at a train station, but apparently"waiting room" is code for"we're announcing we're pregnant!"

Miss Campbell has the most amazing eyes ever.

Charlie or Charlie-man as we always call him is beyond adorable.

cute couple alert!

The Mangin Clan… Apparently a family of 6 is a clan in my mind… Eric and I had never had family pictures taken. Can you believe that? 10 years and this was our first full family session.

Boys vs. Girls

I totally snagged this idea from my blogger pal Beth. It could be one of my favorite pics ever! E and I aren't touchy feely people, so this pic is just perfect!

I'm a sucker for a good shoe pic. I'm thinking this is going to be blown up very, very large and put in my bedroom. I have to tell you that Kira (far left) calls those shoes her"Pumped up Kicks" My kids make me laugh.

Thank you Stacy for this picture. It's worth so much more than I can explain!

Of course we had to have some blogger pics… Did we mention we're total dorks? And how did I end up on the bottom!

Jess and I never had pictures of us together before this blog came along. I'm so glad we do now.

I'm now a huge believer in family pictures and I will be calling Stacy this summer for another session! If you want someone that's talented, great with your family, and reasonably priced Stacy is your girl!
Go check out her website and then contact her to get some pics done! Make sure you let her know we sent you, then she'll know to take extra good care of you!
Have an awesome weekend!

skona hem
I can't thank you all enough for your thoughtful advice on changing up my more formal dining room. We use it every day, so I am yearning for a little more casual feel. You left so many good comments....some of your great advice included upholstered/slip covered or painted chairs, and mixing in modern art and fresh accessories. Monika from Splendid Willow even sent me this image which I love. While this dining room contains many traditional elements, it has a very fresh feel. And look! It has just the things you all recommended: slip covered chairs and a fresh grouping of artwork and accessories. See....you all are downright decor geniuses and should be charging a lot of coin for your advice...

Last year Jess and I shared with you our 2012 goals for our homes, the blog, and our community. We did a pretty good job chipping away at our lists (more on that later). This year, we're going start with our goals for this little ole blog. We have some fun changes and some big aspirations for EC2 in 2013. This is kind of like"What to Expect When You're Expecting", but a blog version! Here goes…

For the first two years we've pretty much kept it all DIY projects and home decor on the blog. Occasionally we've shared some of our lives and what's important to us. From all your emails and comments, you like the inside scoop, so we're gonna give it to you! We plan to work in the occasional post about our friendship, how we survive as moms (did you know Jess' son is a super picky eater? Well, soon you will), and just life in general. Don't worry, we'll still be focused on DIY, but just injecting a bit of"Us" along the way.

Holy moly we are beyond excited about this one. Here's a BIG hint- we're going to be hosting a contest that we won last year! We purchased it back in October 2012 and will be giving you all the details soon. Think HUGE prize packages, some crazy famous bloggers, and you!

In 2013 we're going to invite you into our casas (I'm fancy because I took four years of Spanish… casa = house. Ha!) We'll be adding home tours to the blog. You'll get to see the layouts, finished rooms, rooms in progress, and the downright ugly, unfinished. Trust me, this will boost your self esteem! We hope to have these up in the next month.

Blogging can feel like a one-way conversation sometimes. We love interacting with so many of you on Facebook (don't already LIKE us? Go do that now, then come back and finish reading)

and other social media outlets, but we also want to have an intentional forum for Q & As. About once a month we'll be answering your questions (anything goes) and giving you ideas on your own design dilemmas.

We'll admit that we loved seeing our names and faces in HGTV Magazine and Ladies Home Journal in 2012 (ok, I-Monica-didn't love seeing my face. Can you say Bad Pic?) We've made it a goal to have a full article or feature in another publication. I was doing a little magazine research and do you know that these are actual magazines: Bacon Busters, Miniature Donkey Talk, & Girls with Corpses… Umm, I don't think you'll find us in those, but who knows, maybe Bacon Buster readers need some DIY help?

We never want to compromise our commitment to keeping it real here on EC2, but we do want to provide you guys with better pictures. We'd like to be more intentional about learning about photography and using what we learn to take it up a notch with our blog pics. Don't worry, we'll still take plenty of cheesy midnight pics that look so grainy you think they were taken in 1963.

Yes, we know the"Big Screen" refers to movies, but saying"be on TV" doesn't sound as fancy. Jess and I are both Big Idea people and when you combine the two of us, the combo can be pretty intense. We loved working with Nate Berkus on his show last year and we were surprised how much we enjoyed the process of working on a TV show. So, I'm happy to announce that we'll be taking over for Whoopi and Barbara Walters on The View! Ok, nope that's a total lie… we are however, in the early stages of pursuing our own TV show. We've gotten feedback from so many of you that you'd watch us again, so we figured we'd give it a shot! If you think it's something you'd want to watch, be sure to leave a comment or email us and let us know! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, tell us: What do you think of our goals? What would you like to see us do this year? What are your big plans for 2013?? As always, thanks for joining us on our blog journey!