an artist i am not...

I'm not an artist. I'm creative, for sure, but definitely not an artist. So, when I decided to free hand a design on a small table, I was a little skeptical of the end result.

This pitiful little table came from The Fox's house. I adored its lines, but it needed some love. After attempting to sell it at our yard sale AND craigslist, I caved and decided to bring its sexy back.

Before I got a hold of it (well, technically, after I sanded it and before I got spray happy...), the table was drab and boring. Again, the lines were good, but it was otherwise depressed.

I sanded down the top, wiped it down and started thinking of a design. My inspiration came from Target wrapping paper. I loved how eclectic the design is and it seemed simple enough for my first artistic attempt. To coats of gold spray paint later, I grabbed a brush, some leftover paint and went to free handing!

I probably should have tapped off straight lines, but I didn't think about that until I was 3 rows deep. Nonetheless, I finished in about 45 minutes and the final product didn't turn out too bad!

Again, straight lines were not to be had, but I'm chalking it up as a win in my book. It's not styled in the pictures because I haven't decided where to put it. I wanted to take it to work, but it's been in the back of my car for weeks now, sooooo.

Have you free painted something? Maybe a wall? Go for it! It's not so bad...if you can deal with it not being perfect. And it was fun, too! Maybe I'll attempt our powder room wall :).

Happy almost Thanksgiving, y'all!

yard of the month coming in 2015

At least that's what The Fox is telling me these days. We recently sodded our yard and we've been watering. And watering. And watering. I've never in my life had to water so much. And leaving me in charge of keeping plants alive? Not the best idea. But apparently, The Fox trusts me enough for when he has to go to football games... I digress.

The yard wasn't horrible when we bought the place in April, but it wasn't "Fox-approved." And part of his "I sold my house" celebration was taking the foursquare yard up a notch. And we have.

We started by tilling up the lawn on Sunday. By the following Sunday, we'd sodded, watered and planted some fall-hearty flowers; not the most pleasant of projects, but rewarding if nothing else. If ever you weren't sure you had back muscles, do some yard work, you'll find 'em...

Nonetheless, I'll give The Fox credit. It does look better.

When we bought the foursquare, the front yard looked like this.

Again, not terrible, but it was in need of a little love. So, that's what we did!

First step: till. Thankfully The Fox had a friend who let us borrow a tiller. Such a lifesaver! And thankfully x 2, we had good, soft soil, which made for much easier tilling. After the tilling and sifting to find clumps of old grass, it looked like this.

Second step: Lay down sod & plant flower... I didn't get a picture of us doing these tasks. And frankly it wasn't pretty. But this is the what it looked like after!

Pansies up the walkway.

Side yard.

We also fluffed up the front bed and added a corner one (but, shh, don't tell anyone - we ran out of sod and this was the natural solution. Thinking cap, on! :)).

And finally, our porch planters - still going strong from the Summer. The two with the geraniums will soon be switched out with some pencil holly and snapdragons for Winter, but I didn't have the heart to trash them just yet since they are still producing beautiful blooms. 

There you have it! Nice and purdied up before Winter. Stay tuned...maybe next Summer you'll see one of those fancy "Yard of the Month" signs in our yard! 

And in typical, Ebonn fashion, I forgot to take a picture of the entire yard. So, I've mashed one together for you :).

Happy Fall!!