DIY: from drab to fab!

Just like Kari, I inherited a set of dressers from my mother-in-law when I got married. The dressers have been around since my husband was a youngster (25+ years) and I have been dying to bring them back to life...laminate and all. You will notice in the pictures they look a little "aged/outdated" but nothing a vision, a fresh coat of paint and some love can't fix. 

Check out the before...

Oh yes and did I mention I scored these on Craigslist for $60 for a set of three.  I'm telling you, I have a vision...keep scrolling down...

After what felt like 1600 coats of primer, paint and stain I was finally starting to see my progress!

Are you still with me? Here's the big reveal...

Before & After

So what do you think?

Love is in the air!

Looking for the perfect Valentine's gift for your special someone? Well look no further....tell them how much you LOVE them 365 days a year! 

Write something new everyday or keep the sentiment up for a while as a constant reminder of just how much your sweetie cares. It can be serious, sweet, silly, really anything at all! This 12" x 12" chalkboard sign is a fun, interactive love note that you will enjoy sharing with one another for many years to come. 

Interested in purchasing a sign? 

The cost is $25 plus $15 shipping and handling. 

Happy Valentine's Day all!

Psst! - Because we love our readers and it's Valentine's day, we are giving the first 5 people who order the "I love you because" sign 14% off their order! 

Giveaway: On the 12th Day of Christmas

My true love gave to me (or in this case your favorite vinyl ladies)…Christmas Cheer Vinyl!

As I am sure you are WELL aware, the holidays are upon us and Christmas will be here before we know it! We wanted to spread the cheerful holiday spirit with a fun Christmas vinyl print that will be great for decorating your house for the remainder of the season. Please see below…

The print can be applied to most surfaces (we suggest maybe a festive red or green picture frame). A $12.00 value + free shipping and handling. To enter the giveaway, leave us a message in the comments section, on Pinterest or Facebook with your name, how you found us and your favorite Christmas movie or quote. If you are having difficulties leaving a comment, please send us an email. Comments made up until midnight of the 11th will be eligible. Two winners will be randomly drawn and announced on our blog on Wednesday, December 12th. Please check back to see if you've won! 

**The Christmas Cheer vinyl is also available for purchase for $12 - Interested? 

Please email us at itssuddenlysomeday@gmail.com** 

Bedroom Makeover

This post doesn't exactly fit in with Thanksgiving/Christmas decorations or vinyl signs, but another thing we love is home decor in general. After six years of living with hand-me-downs, I finally told my husband that I wanted to make our bedroom our own. So this last year, I have been working really hard to do just that and it is finally done!

My bedroom makeover was sort of like "Design on a Dime," the HGTV show where they redo a room on a $1000 budget in 2 days. Only mine took about $500-$600 total and about a year to finish. When my husband and I were married 7 years ago, we inherited a few things for our home. We were young (and poor...like so many newlyweds) and didn't have the money to buy what we would have really liked. We got a great deal on a head board/foot board from my sister-in-law and that worked fine...until we had our first child. Sitting in bed with a newborn up against a metal backrest was not very comfortable. I swore that one day I would make us a head board that we liked and was comfortable to lean against. This is what we had before:

I was so ready to get rid of our old head board that the only picture I could find was
the one we took to put it on Craigslist.

Then I made the one we have now. I knew I wanted a tufted headboard, so I bought all my materials and with my husbands help, we built this headboard:

A close up of the tufting

After our headboard was on, I did splurge and get us a new comforter set. Our old one was a down comforter with an old white duvet cover made out of two flat sheets...very low budget and not very pretty. So now we have this:

Another thing we inherited when we were married was his parents dresser set. They were given to his parents when they were married...51 years ago! So they were old, but still in great working condition. Since I am a DIYer and have the thought process that if it works, there is no reason to replace it, we kept them. Problem is, I thought they were hideous! I wanted so badly to sand and refinish them, but never had the guts to do it. They were my in-laws after all and it had been their wedding gift, not mine. How could I change them? Well, last summer I finally got the guts to do it. I asked my mother-in-law if she would be offended if I refinished them. Her response, "Oh heavens no!" Why hadn't I asked her sooner?! I don't know.

In the background, you can see the dresser in its original form.
Not terrible, but a bit outdated and not really my style.

My patio became my workshop.

My drawers halfway through the sanding process.

It took a while to do the whole refinishing process. Having three little ones trying to help made the process a bit longer and more difficult. But it was ALL worth it! I am so pleased with how they turned out. Originally I was going to get all new handles, but my hubby kinda liked the original ones so I ended up spray painting them. I think it was a good choice. They look great and we ended up saving at least $60 by not buying new ones.

After all the big items were finished, it was then time to add a few decorative items:

Artwork on canvas (I am no artist, but these were really fun to create
and they fit perfectly in our room)

Our "First Dance" lyrics tree and a photo of our first dance

Silver & white vases

And in case you don't want to scroll back through all of the pictures, below is a side by side comparison of the before and after.

So there you have it! Our bedroom may not be perfect or look like it comes from
a model home, but it is perfect for us! 

We rake, we pile, we jump!

If you haven't noticed (from the chill in the air, all the cute fall boots, or the red Starbuck's cups) autumn is upon us and before you know it winter will be here too. Along with the changes in season and the holidays 

comes the fun part...DECORATING! 

As you can see, we've been adding a few fall touches to our own homes. How about you? Any fun fall decoration/projects around your house? 

Need a sign or wall vinyl for the holidays - drop us a line! 

One more thing, keep an eye out on our blog for some great Thanksgiving/Christmas ideas to come!

Wedding Invites!

In case you didn't know (or hadn't read our about us page), I am a graphic designer. I design greeting cards for a living and I LOVE and am passionate about anything design! But what I love more than anything is when I get the chance to design something personal for somebody. About a month ago, a close friend of mine approached me about designing her wedding invitations and I was absolutely elated! So here's how it went, she gave me a few ideas of styles she liked, her wedding theme and colors (wintery - woodsy), and the text for the invite and I mocked up a few different renditions. She and her fiance chose their favorite one and then we refined it until they were just perfect. Below are the 3 options...

- one -

- two -

- three -

So which one do you think she chose? Which would you have chosen? 

Maybe you guessed it...THREE! After we had decided on the invitation I designed an RSVP to match. See below...

So, are you in need of any designing? Wedding, baby shower, bachelorette, birthday party...

I'd love to hear from you!

October...the month that passed us by

Well, October came and went and we failed to get a post up. It was a busy month for sure! We had a one year anniversary (Kim & Ryan), a 25th birthday, Kari's mother-in-laws birthday, a trip back to Oregon, a 6th birthday and Halloween. Amongst all of that busyness, we also had a few projects. Check out a few of the things we did!

Wedding gift customized with wedding date

For a preschool classroom

Another sign for the preschool...but this one is more for the awesome teacher in that classroom

 Cutest 6 year old around with his football themed cake

Halloween pumpkin fun

DIY Halloween door accessories

 

Babies, babies, babies...

And just plain enjoying the fall beauty that surrounds us!