Happy Weekend

We will be spending the weekend at the beach house with the fam and I am thrilled! Happy Weekend!

Chair Recover!

Over Labor Day Weekend, my Mom and I hit up a thrift store in Raleigh that I had never gone to before. Since it was Labor Day Weekend, they had a sale with everything in the store being half off. Of course this gave me the mission to find something to buy! Didn't find too much and we were almost ready to leave, and then I found this diamond in the rough.

Oh, it was gross. Priced at $26, and half off she came home with me for only $13. Stephen loved that this chair got to ride with us all the way back to the beach! I'm not even sure what decade that fabric was acceptable in. Anyway, I had been itching to make a sad, homeless chair pretty and try my hand at nailhead trim. 

I found this fabric online and I immediatley knew it was the right direction for my little chair. 

First things first though, I stripped the chair of it's old fabric and found this to be what was underneath all of that foam and fabric. I think the chair breathed a sigh of relief to get rid of all of that junk as well. It already looks better!

I have covered many a seat cushions before but I had not done any "seat backs" so far. For the seat cushion, I wrapped a fresh piece of batting over the existing cushion to freshen it up, and attached fabric with a staple gun. Using a combination of tutorials from Centsational Girl, I came up my process of recovering the front and back of the chair and applying nailhead trim (love that stuff!). I ended up hot gluing the fabric to a cardboard template and then attaching that piece to the front and back side of the chair. After it was in place, I attached nailhead trim with a rubber mallet. Centsational Girl has a TON of amazing tutorials for furniture re-do projects, amongst many other things and I love her blog.

Here is my new chair in all her glory! (still looking for the perfect spot in the house)

I lightly sanded, primed with a Valspar primer spraypaint,  and then gave it a few even coats of Rustoleum's "Heirloom White". After it was dry, I also lightly sanded along the edges to give a slightly antiqued look, as you can see below. To finish, I used a wipe on poly finish that was super easy.

Here is the back of the chair...

One more time, before and after! 

I highly reccomend Centsational Girl's library of info on all of her furniture re-do's! I am so excited and happy with my chair that ended up being a great bargain and fun new piece for the house! Now, I'm off to find some other item to add some nailhead trim to!

I also linked this up to

Sunday Showcase Party
Lots of great finds here!! Enjoy!

Rain, Baking and House Updates

Over the course of the weekend, we have gotten at least 7 inches of rain, according to our rain gauge. I usually do not do well cooped up in the house but we all managed to survive here! It really has been raining since last Tuesday and we are all in need of a bright sunny day. Please, soon! That is probably more rain that we got all summer. We ventured out Saturday and bought a few new things for the house, retail therapy always helps!

A reddish-brown ottoman for the man cave. The man cave is really shaping up. This week alone he has a new bookshelf that spans an entire wall, new ottoman and Missoni-ish pillows that worked great with his colors.

New throw pillow for the couch! These colors kind of "pull" everything together that I have going on the in the living room. I think it is great for fall if nothing else.

Well, at least one of us enjoyed snuggling all day inside! She is our little snuggle puggle! (Iphone photo) 

And here she is again, face down in the blanket.

Sunday afternoon, I got bored enough and decided I needed to make a cake and frost it in a fallish way. 

I bought one of these...

and some food coloring and used this glaze recipe, and divided it into three bowls, like so.

And here she is, all finished. I also grabbed some candy corn at the grocery store and sprinkled it around the edges.

I also have been working on some fall decor in the house, but due to the rain I didn't get to go out and find the pumpkins I was looking for. Here's to hoping this week is full of sunshine!

welcome fall

baby boo squash

butterfinger blondies, yes please!

enjoying fall.

chic in London

simple pumpkin.

collection of pumpkins, gourds in a window box

images

Weekend Recap

Friday evening and Saturday revolved around tailgate preparations I mentioned last Friday. Every year, NC State hosts a military appreciation day, and this year asked Wolfpack Club fans to volunteer to host a few from our military. What a great opportunity to give something back in a small way to those who serve our country. The weather was a little less than pleasant, and sadly I didn't end up taking as many pictures as I planned!

My sister and her roommate painted one of those "chef pigs" that my mom had to go with our Wolfpack theme. He turned out so cute! He proudly holds the American flag and a basting brush, of course.

Our setup, everyone braving the drizzle and cold temperatures!

Tailgate essential: a table centerpiece! We wanted to incorporate the flags for the military guys.

left to right: my sister's friend Madelyn, myself, my sister Stephanie

Then, we found out the National Guard was giving away freebies....of course we had to go grab these orange hats!

left to right: my brother- in-law Manu, hubby Stephen, and my brother Bobby

The chef with his amazinggg barbecue, almost ready to eat!

Chopping time.

Wolfpack on the field

Stephen got Dad and Bobby's birthdays on the scoreboard! He's a keeper:)

Stephen and I in the game (Dail club seats were an unexpected treat!)

Then, the guys decided it was only right that they all shotgunned a beer during halftime.

the pictures says it all.

Group photo of all the guys. (Military guests are mainly in center)

We started off hosting 2 men before the game started, and they brought about 4 other friends back to our tailgate at halftime. We like to think they told their friends how much fun our tailgate was, so their friends naturally wanted to come check it out. (I mean, who else was shotgunning beers at halftime?)

We really enjoyed being able to give these guys a fun night out. All have served overseas and all were so appreciative for a simple, nice meal at a football game. What we did for them pales in comparison to what they do for us.

Spaghetti Casserole & Baked Garlic Herb Bread

Last week I made this dish on a whim when we could not think of anything we wanted to make for dinner. (this happens a lot!) We are both pasta lovers and welcome new dishes with open arms. Needless to say, this one was a hit...out of the park. I think Stephen had it for leftovers for three meals! 

MAMA'S SPAGHETTI CASSEROLE WITH BAKED GARLIC HERB BREAD

Instructions:

CASSEROLE:
Salt
1 pound uncooked spaghetti
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 pound ground beef
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
1 26-ounce jar spaghetti sauce
3 ounces Parmesan cheese, freshly grated (about 3/4 cup)
8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded or thinly sliced (about 2 cups)

GARLIC HERB BREAD:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 cloves garlic, minced
Pinch salt
1 16-inch loaf Italian bread, halved lengthwise

Preheat oven to 350°F. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook according to package directions; drain.

In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the beef; cook about 5 minutes or until brown, breaking meat up with a fork as it cooks. Add the salt, oregano, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Stir in the spaghetti sauce, Parmesan, and the cooked spaghetti. Transfer to baking dish. Top evenly with mozzarella. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbling.

For the garlic bread, while the casserole bakes, whisk together the butter, parsley, garlic, and salt. Brush the butter mixture over the cut sides of both bread halves. Wrap each half in aluminum foil; bake, alongside the casserole, for 15 to 20 minutes or until heated through.

For crispier bread, unwrap for the last 5 minutes of baking. Serve bread with the casserole.

Serves 8

The best part about this recipe: so easy! The garlic bread was amazing as well, which could pair with so many other dishes. This will definitely be put into our regular rotation of dinners.

In other news...the tailgate was so fun on Saturday, despite cold weather and drizzle (yuck). Our food was awesome, setup was great, and company was even better. Will post pics soon!

Happy Tuesday! 

Tailgate Sipping

We are off to Raleigh this afternoon to get ready for the NC State game tomorrow. Tomorrow's game is military appreciation day and we volunteered to host a few military officers at our tailgate. We decided to do it up big and Stephen will be cooking a pig for our entire crowd. We have almost finalized our menu now, and I am so excited for fun, amazing food, and to honor our military. I just came across a few drinks that can spice up your tailgate! We just might have to try these next time!

BEERGARITAS

I won't lie, I have had these before...lots of them! We love making beergaritas at the beach. They are so refreshing, perfect after a hot afternoon!

 

RASPBERRY BEER COCKTAIL

These look delicious! It's always nice to change it up, and they are RED...perfect for sporting our team colors!

At a tailgate, both of these drinks would be suited well in a mason jar, or 

one of my favorite reusable Go Vino Glasses.

GO PACK!

Since the whole world (or so it seems) is abuzz with Missoni for Target, I figured I would feature my new prized possessions. I had not envisioned taking these particular pretties home with me, but I will take it! I was hoping for several new pillows and a gorgeous throw, that would be perfect to mix in for fall decor.

Meet my new shoes!

And a new sweater for fall. I can't wait to wear with some tall, brown boots. And skinny jeans? 

And this pretty little infinity scarf! I love the combination of colors here.

I also nabbed a few coffee mugs and melamine trays, just for fun. 

Perfect pick me up for the week! 

Happy Weekend

We are off to a wedding tonight for two dear friends. With that in mind, I found myself daydreaming about our honeymoon in Jamaica. This is one of my favorite memories...I had always wanted to go horse back riding on the beach. Hope you have a great Saturday. Cheers!

Pinterest Picks

The favorites of the week are inspiring my current chair reupholstery project! More on that soon.

Among many things, I love the variety of fabrics in this room. Our home office is this exact color and this is 100% the inspiration for the room! Love it. 

 This chair looks heavenly, and I like the unexpected pillow. It's fun.

This room is so happy! First of all, I love the massive amounts of throw pillows. 

The colors are amazing.

 I also like the antiqued finish on the tufted bench. 

find images via pinterest here

Pinning is an obsession, is it not!?

olivia palermo

Kind of hard to admit it, but I do like this girl's style.

images via

Now, you can see her fashion picks here.

.....And why do I like these boots so much!?

Happy Thursday!