A DIY worth sharing

Some of our friends Nicole & Hunter just finished a DIY project that turned out so good I just had to share. They started with a blank wall and hunter, being a handyman, made the built-in bookshelves all by himself...no DADs involved!!! 

And I must say Nicole did a wonderful job styling the shelves. This gives the room a whole new look. To check out more of this project head over to Nicole on Books.

Easter Break

Our Easter break started on Thursday with a trip to the Masters. We snapped a quick picture before we went inside. The weather was perfect, sunny with a slight breeze. The rain held off until we left. 

We got to follow Tiger, Bubba, and Duffner (wesley's boy since he went to Auburn). 

After the long day we took a short drive to Metter to visit his parents for the weekend.

After watching more Masters the boys couldn't handle it anymore 

and we had to go to the driving range on Friday to practice.

We quickly found out why none of us are getting paid to play...sorry guys.

 This weekend was Another Bloomin Festival in the small town. Whitney, myself, and Mrs. Marcy went to watch their 3 yr old neighbor dance. How cute are the outfits; they had tailfeathers!

 We couldn't resist the homemade ice cream

Easter Sunday we spent with the Hill family. 

Wesley's little cousin got a Nerf gun in his basket, but we ended up having 

way more fun with it shooting each other. 

 I say little cousin, but this is Luke...he is 4!

He is such a sweet guy! I think he was pretending to be tough in this pic.

 The Easter Bunny left us some treats too! We joked that the energizer bunny stopped by our house since all of us got workout gear.

  Meanwhile, the rest of my family was at the lake hunting eggs with my cute nephews.

 and my brother was watching Bubba Watson win the Masters on Hole 10!

Can you spot him?

He is in the yellow shirt and his buddy Rick is in the blue. 

They were beyond excited! Hope your Easter weekend was exciting too!

Bachelorette Brunch

Lauren's Bachelorette weekend was spent all over Atlanta. 

Friday we went to a Wine Tasting and spent Saturday being pampered at a nail salon and DryBar getting our hair done. We enjoyed dinner at Aja followed by a limo taking us to The W Hotel, The St. Regis, and ending the night at The Ivy. Sunday I hosted the Brunch at our house.

I was so happy the weather was perfect for us to enjoy the morning out on the deck. I was able to set my picnic table for everyone to sit. 

This was the first time I used my fine china...I know shame on me.

I used the tulips Lauren brought for the centerpiece. 

They were beautiful and went perfectly with my table.

At the top of each plate were the favors for everyone to take home. They were Maggie's grandmothers Tea Cakes in a white box with a pink ribbon.

A pink napkin was folded underneath the aqua bowl. I used a gray and white chevron runner down the center of the table. And I pulled out some gray and white striped paper straws I had leftover from a baby shower and had them in the stemless clear glasses.

 I made the pink and aqua place cards using this free background. 

 I also added some Starburst Jelly Beans (the fave-reds) in a little white bowl on each end of the table...I learned that from the Eddie Ross event.

Here is the table set with all of the food.

 This is my Instagram creation of the Brunch

 The Brunch Menu on my chalkboard wall

Fresh Fruit Skewers 

French Toast Strata

Rosemary Lemon Scones

All the girls enjoying the end to a wonderful weekend.

To see more of what we did all weekend check with Jill and Maggie.

House Updates: Kitchen Floor

I know just last week I gave you a Kitchen update, but we decided to go 

ahead and change the floor out.

Here is the last update:

The floor was 12" x 12" slate tiles. They were really uneven and hard to clean so we knew it had to go.

This is what my kitchen looked like when they were ripping out the tile.

These are the hardwoods we found underneath it all. 

They were in no shape to be refinished and used again.

Putting new hardwoods in would have been our first choice, but we didn't want to get into refinishing the whole house. What a mess, dust everywhere and none of the people we talked to had great things to say about trying to match hardwood stain from one room to another.

So we chose an 18"x18" gray toned porcelain tile.

This is pre-grout

Here we go again with the before:

After with the new floors

 *the floor is actually photographing a little lighter than it really is.

 I picked up this rug at the new Crate & Barrel last Friday.

I am so excited to have a floor that I can clean!

Once the floor was finished I was ready to have Lauren's party!

Cant wait to show you how the brunch turned out.

House Updates: Dining Table Reveal

I know you are just dying to see which table top I chose...hahah.

Here is our Breakfast Room BEFORE:

 I ordered this linen banquette from World Market back in January

 Even though the arm chairs didnt work for us they found a great place at my sister-in-laws.

I knew I wanted to have an eclectic mix above the banquette, so I started playing around with the placement on our temporary table...a fold out!

Then I used the advice from so many bloggers to trace the frames with paper and hang that on the wall to nail. It worked perfect and really was worth the extra time!

Now I was ready to add my items

The wall is ready, but the ceiling fan was still in the way... (oh and this is when the guys were installing our kitchen floor, so the appliances are in the middle of the room)

Gairy came to the rescue again to install our super heavy fixture. It took all three of us to put it in.

 Out with the fan and up with my lights. 

I scored this fixture at Ballard Backroom for a great deal...too big to pass up!

And it was the perfect way to add the Edison bulbs I have been swooning over to my casa.

 Next up the table! I picked up the base from the shop and was thrilled that it fit in my car.
I waited a month on this guy to be ready.

I had this piece custom made from a dealer at....guess where...Scotts!

I know I'm kinda obsessed with the place.

 Oh and if you're wondering, yes that is Jasmine laying on my base.

While I was at Scotts I found the marble that was whispering to me "Pick Me, Pick Me"

I knew then that Marble was going to be my table top!

I had the piece picked up, cut and delivered by Julio at Granite Creations.

 I got to completely design my table from the measurements, to the cut, and the edge.

I chose this shape for the corners and a 1/2" bevel edge to give it some pizzazz! 

I am totally 100% in love with the way it turned out.

I have to get chairs still, but for now these wooden fold outs are being forced to work.

 

And here it is ready for the bachelorette par-tay!

 Do you spy anything else new?

My Painting! I asked my friend Renee to make me a custom piece for our house.

She brought it Friday and I stuck it in the frame and hung it on the wall immediately I was so excited!

I LOVE IT!

She did such a great job with the colors and I am so glad to have something so special from my friend hanging in our house. 

Thanks Renee!