Our Potted Garden

Our first summer in our home, I told Ryan I wanted to have a nice big garden full of tomatoes and green peppers.  He really took what I said to heart, and one day I came home from shopping with my mom to a back yard garden...literally.  We have a quaint yard to begin with, but after he built the garden we had much less than a small yard, I couldn't believe it.  I didn't even know what to say, I didn't want to tell him it was too big because I had told him I wanted a big garden, so I said "oh my goodness, I love it!"  and for that summer we had enough tomatoes to feed the neighborhood.
 Well each summer since then our garden had gotten smaller and smaller.  This year I decided to try something a little different...a potted garden.  We really only eat tomatoes and green peppers and like to cook with basil and cilantro, so I really didn't see the need for a big garden taking up space in our yard. 

We had some extra fence boards from our fence project last summer so we used those to make the garden boxes.

I thought about staining them, but I know by next year if I leave them natural they will get a rustic look.

Here are the little green peppers when I first planted them.  I was nervous that each plant wouldn't have enough room, but they seem to be growing great.

This is what the garden started out looking like, but I move some things around....

Here is what it looks like now.  Don't mind the two toned deck, we just added on last week and we still need to paint it all:)

Ryan made a bigger box for the tomatos because I think they will need more room to grow.

xoxo,

Can't find bar stools you like under $150? Make your own!

Our bar in our kitchen is a little higher then we would have liked, but because we have the stove in front of it, that's the way it had to be. So finding 34inch bar stools that were in our price range was IMPOSSIBLE!  We searched everywhere, online, target, Ikea, and everywhere in between.  We decided to try to make our own just for kicks and giggles:)  

Sorry for the side view, here is the stool while we were checking the height.  We used deck spindles as the legs you can buy at any hardware store, and used some ply wood we had left over from a different project.  We bought some bracket for each leg rest just for some extra support.

I had some left over fabric from the curtains I made for our kitchen and for the chair re-do we did in February.

and here is the finished project, they totally fit the purpose and the grand total for 2 bar stools that are 34 inches tall......under $50!! 

xoxo, 

Old gray dresser turned cute little buffet table

I had been looking for a little dresser to transform into a buffet table for awhile, but everything I found was either too big or too expensive (if I have to re-do something I better get it for a good deal!)  So I was having no luck:(  My husband went over to help his good friend down the street with something and came back saying he found me a buffet table and here it is  :)

It was his friends old dresser from when he was a kid, and he was throwing it out!!!  I cant believe how perfect it is....going to be!

Here it is all sanded and with a fresh coat of espresso paint for the top.

and here it is in its new home....ahhh love!

xo,

I heart Built Ins!!!

We looked into buying an entertainment center and then after a few "are you kidding, they want that much for that?"  my determined husband decided to build it, and I am so glad he did!

 He didn't have a plan, just a Pottery Barn picture I cut out a few months back.

 He used MDF and then trimmed it out the same way we did the bar you can see HERE

I just went through and primed it and gave it about 3-4 coats of trim paint 

Then my favorite part, I gathered things I had around the house that weren't being used and DECORATED!!  My goal was to only buy from re-sale shops for decoration, so far I'm doing well (except for that HOME sign, but I did get it 50% off at Hobby Lobby)

Here is a different angle to see how the basement is set up.  Honestly we haven't turned the TV on upstairs since we got our couch last week:)  I hope we continue to use it like we are now.  Oh yeah, the best part....not including the labor, just materials for the entertainment center cost under $200 for MDF, trim, trim paint and hardware.  We had the primer paint already.  Not too bad, considering we were looking at them online for $1500-$2500

Happy Tuesday:)

Building a Basement Bar

Ryan used MDF to build this built-in that goes right into some wasted space we had under the stairs.

Here is picture BBBI (before bar built ins)

My parents had that little fridge in their garage forever, we decided to give it a new home:)

The sink was kind of a last minute decision, but now that we have it I am so glad we put it in.  It is so nice to empty out drinks and rinse out ice-cream bowls.

We took the left over tile from the bathroom and used it as a backslash here.  Anywhere we could save money we tried to without going cheap in quality of course.

With a little stain and some trim paint, it is starting to look like an actual bar.

Ryan added trim to the MDF to give it a richer look.

Here is what you see walking down the stairs.

and the finished product!!!!  I finally have somewhere to put all those neat glasses we got for our wedding!

Those sconces on the right were one of my favorite GoodWill finds $4 for both of them!!! I didn't even have to paint them:)

Spring has sprung....

in the Schrader house anyway:)