POWW Faves & Giveaway Reminders!

First, today is the last day to enter to win the adorable owl necklace! And tomorrow is the last day to enter to win the Mother's day necklace! So hurry up and enter if you haven't already!

Here are my favorites from this week's POWW!
I love this ticking stripe bookcase from Our Lovely Bungalow! It's so sweet!



And Kirsty from A Little Bit of Sanity and a Lot of Chaos nailed it with this gorgeous dresser!



And I love the gray and white zebra on this hutch from Emily at The Fine House!


And finally, Kristi of The Speckled Dog painted this awesome little desk in the happiest spring green! Love it!


If you have been featured, feel free to grab a button! Happy Saturday! We are off to tball in a bit... Go Padres!

Friday Guest: Adrianne from Dream Book Design

Hi guys!  I am so excited today to have Adrianne from Dream Book Design. Adrianne and her husband are very creative and talented and have worked wonders on their home. And did I mention they are utterly adorable? Well, they are. I am sure you will like what you see today! Take it away, Adrianne!

Hi Primitive and Proper readers! I am so excited to be doing a guest post for Cassie today, and am really happy to get to meet y'all now. She gave me the reins to talk about whatever I want, so naturally I am tempted to go in to detail about my dogs and how I am obsessed with them, but I think ill spare you and actually show you some of our projects.


Dream Book Design was started by me a little over a year ago, and I of course started how most others do as well. A post on Thanksgiving that I think only my mom and sister read, then one on Christmas that maybe four friends read, and so on. I got totally enthralled in the world of reading other DIY blogs, and decided maybe I should actually show off some of the projects that me and my hot hubbs J do.

Thats us:

Melissa Young Photo

 We own a 1950's ranch style home in Phoenix, and it is awesome. We came in knowing that it needed a ton of work, little did we know that we would end up doing almost all of the work ourselves. No joke, my hubby learned all his skills from watching YouTube videos, especially ones like  "How to install crown molding".


Now for the fun, the usually terrible if shot by me beautiful photos of our projects:


Our Card Catalog transformation: Turning old junk to beauty: Card Catalog style

Before:

After:

Melissa Young Photo

Our newest finished project, our Kitchen Makeover: Kitchen Makeover: Part 482, THE END

Before:

After:

Melissa Young Photo

Our Family Room makeover is one I love, because it's where we spend most of our time: Remodel revel part 3:The Family Room 

Before:

After:

Melissa Young Photo

We love being able to make something for our home, that would normally cost way too much, and instead spend maybe $30 on it. We did that with our DIY Driftwood Art: DIY Driftwood Art

We are all about about finding treasures at thrift stores or Craigslist, like our fun new post office box: Craigslist Find: Post Office Box

I hope that you find some sort of inspiration from our projects. We are always up for new projects, and definitely share our tales whether they are good or bad. It's a lot easier for us to try something out, make a mistake, and then tell y'all how to do it perfectly, right?! Anyway, hope you stop by Dream Book Design and say hello:) It was great meeting you today, and thank you Cassie for letting me takeover your blog for a day.

<3,

Adri

Thanks so much for sharing your awesome projects, Adrianne!  If you are interested in being a guest, please contact me!

Temporary Nightstand and New Bedding!

I have been working a little on my master bedroom and making some changes. I have been on the lookout for the perfect pair of glamorous matching nightstands... I want them to have an inset in the top so I can set a mirror there, and they need to have a shelf or drawer. So far I haven't found anything. I found the perfect pair at the auction a couple weeks ago but not for the perfect price. I found this little guy this past week at the auction for 10 bucks.

So close to the style I want, but not exactly it. And it's flying solo. Mine needs to have a perfect mate for life. But for now, I painted it Annie Sloane's Duck Egg Blue, distressed and waxed it with natural wax. And it will work for now until I find my pair!

And on another bedroom related note, I was NOT anticipating new bedding. I love my bedding and I will still keep it. But today, thanks, to Elsa Greer I ordered this bedding from Urban Outfitters. I just got the duvet cover... and a sale pillow, but I'll share that later! I ordered the blue, seen here:

Isn't it awesome???  I know the nightstand I just painted is a shade of aqua but my new nightstands (when I find them) will be painted in Benjamin Moore's Golden Delicious in a glossy undistressed finish.  When I find them.  Are you out there little nightstands?  Please come home.  Have you seen my nightstands?  If you find them send them to me.
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A Mother's Day Necklace Giveaway From Sea Goddess Treasures!

Hurry- there is still time to enter my 1500 Followers Giveaway for an awesome owl necklace from Ooh La La Company!

And now, another awesome giveaway! Back in December, I did a giveaway from Sea Goddess Treasures. It was such a success, that shopowner, Fran, wanted to do it again. Here are some of my current favorite items in her shop.

This one is so Springy!

This Bermuda Necklace reminds me of a trip I took with my family when I was 13. It was one of my favorite family vacations.

And who can resist this cute birdie!


Today, Fran is giving one of you lovely readers a gorgeous necklace just in time for Mother's Day!  I will keep the giveaway open through Sunday night, winner announced Sunday night at 8 pm EST, so Fran can ship it out Monday!  Isn't it gorgeous?

Here 's how to win!  AND FOR THE LOVE OF PETE, IF YOU REALLY WANT MORE CHANCES LEAVE A S-E-P-E-R-A-T-E COMMENT FOR EACH YOU DO.  When you leave me one comment saying you did all 3 steps, it gets counted as only one entry.

1. Follow my blog!
2. Make Sea Goddess Treasures an etsy fave!
3. Tell me what your favorite item from Fran's shop is!

My Owl Family, Created by Friends

Right around Christmas, my good friend Emily gave me some super cute vintage owl trivets- a set of 4 petite ones. Then a few weeks ago, I received a larger set of two from a new friend, Nick sent me a pair of vintage owls that were so cute!  By the way, both of these friends are super talented when it comes to furniture, so you need to check them out!  Anyhow, I finally had decent enough non-rainy non-windy spraypainting weather this past week!  So I hauled out a bunch of projects onto the deck, with a drop cloth of course.

 I painted them all white, not sure what I planned to do with them yet, but knowing I love me some white owls.  I took the larger pair to me bedroom and tried there, but they just didn't show up well against the cloudy white walls we have.  So I walked around the house with my pair and found a place above our stairs.  I had a window there but I was tired of it.  It was just hard to reach, so it had stayed out of pure laziness.  I found a frame I had on hand that was the perfect size and was able to keep the screws from the window on the wall and just set the frame on those.  Then I mounted the owls inside the frame.  Below that, I hung the 4 little ones, and now my owl family of 6 resides above our staircase.  Some of you know we have a split foyer, so basically, you walk in the door, and if you walk in and look right up, you will see them.  I am thinking of painting the frame afun color... what do you think?

 And to give you a little perspective of where they are....

Hope you have all had a wonderful day!  Come back tomorrow for another giveaway!  And don't forget to enter the current giveaway for an AWESOME OWL NECKLACE going on now!!!

Piece of Work Wednesday Furniture Link Party Number 33!

Welcome to my favorite time of the week- time for POWW!  I love seeing all the lovely furniture makeovers and builds you all come up with!  It's so inspiring.  This week I have a dresser to share.  I found this last week at the Salvation Army when I had a bum day at the auction.  This dresser made it up to me and cost just $45.  It is solid wood, and simple, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do to it.  Here it is after a good sanding.

 See my purple shoes over there... I flooded the laundry sink last week and didn't realize it until I stepped into a big puddle with those shoes.  Oops.  I refinished the top, and just lightly sanded out most of the scratches in it. Then I put some stain conditioner on it.  I thought I was going to stain it, but it turned out I loved the color it already was once I could see it with the conditioner.  So I just gave it a paste wax finish to keep it more rustic and natural.  I primed the body with my Kilz clean start.  I planned on using chalk paint, but I have found that it adheres better with a little primer.  I just trust it so much more that way.  I never want someone to get something home and be able to scratch the paint off!  Don't get me wrong, I love chalk paint!  It adheres very well, but there are a couple spots here and there where it hasn't worked as well as I would have wanted.  Anyhow, I used duck egg blue on the body and old white on the drawers.  I know they say to wax and then distress, but I distressed and then waxed with natural paste wax.  Here it is now! 

What have you been working on? 

RULES:

1.  Be a follower to participate in the party.

2. No Etsy shops!

3. No projects that have already been shared here.

4. FURNITURE ONLY!!!

5. Please visit some of the other links and spread the love!

6. Party on!

Sharing here...

1500 Followers Giveaway!

If you have been following me for a while, then you know that the last couple giveaways I did for milestones I created something for the winner.  Well, this time around it is too close to the Lucketts Spring Antique Market and I am limited on time.  But have no fear!  You are going to get an AWESOME gift!  And lest you think I am passing it on to my sponsors to do a giveaway for me, I will tell you I contacted Ali of Ooh La La Company and asked her if I could give away an item of hers and she could send me the invoice and she agreed. :)  So, what will you win?  Why, just one of my all time favorite necklaces!  You know I love me some owls, so I thought it was only fitting to give away...

THIS AWESOME OWL NECKLACE!!!


I got one a few months ago and wear it all the time, and now one of you can have one, too!  Here are your ways to enter, and you must leave a separate comment for each.

1. MANDATORY; must be a follower of my blog.  After all, this is follower appreciation!
2. Make Ooh La La Company an etsy fave!
3. Follow Ali's blog, My Third True Love.
4. Tell me what kind of bird you would be if you were a bird.  Though I like owls, I don't think I would be an owl because I don't like to eat mice.  I prefer seafood, so I am thinking I would be a penguin.  They stay together in groups, they are adorable, and even cuter when they are fat, and they are playful.

This giveaway is open through Saturday April 30th, Winner announced on Sunday, May 1.  I will announce the winner on the blog and it is up to the winner to email me.  Thanks and good luck!

Greek Blue Dresser and Some Thank Yous!

Hope you all had a fantastic Easter!  Ours was filled with family, friends, and Easter egg hunts!  Today was the last day of Spring break here.  I have been looking forward to it being over because I have so much to do to get ready for the Lucketts Fair, but I find myself feeling a little sad tonight as well.  I love my kids, and love spending time with them.  We didn't do anything major- spent time with friends, family, colored, played games, played outside, and saw "Rio", but I know I will miss this time I had.  They just grow up too darn fast.

Anyhow, I am in full force getting projects done right now!  I found this dresser on craigslist a couple weeks ago, and loved its simple shape.  I also loved that it was located in my town, and then to top it off, in my neighborhood!  If I could have strapped it on my back and carried it up a big hill, I'd have just walked there to get it.

 I gave it a light sanding even though I planned on using chalk paint.  I have found that the chalk paint adheres better with a light sanding.  I used Greek Blue, gave it a light distressing, and then used SC Johnson Paste Wax to finish it off.  I wasn't sure what knobs I was going to use, so I looked through my stash and found a set of 6 vintage brass pulls that gave it a little more glam and grown up appeal.  Here it is now!

I like it- I think it's pretty enough to be used for a girl, and masculine enough to be used by a boy.  And it will add a nice pop of blue to any room!

Now onto some thank-yous!  A couple weeks ago, Michelle from Shell's Shabby Shack made a donation to Juliet, my friend's daughter who has leukemia.  As if that wasn't already so very nice and generous of her, she also threw in a few goodies for me... some lavender, lavender soap, and a sweet little metal heart.  I put the heart on a bottle in my bathroom, and am using the soap, so I can honestly say I think of Michelle and smile every day now.  Thank you so much, Michelle!

Then today, a packaged arrived from my good pal, Ali from My Third True Love. Ali is one of those people that I have really gotten to know well, and  I really wish I could hop from here to California, because I know that I would be hanging out with her ALL the time!  We are just that connected.  Right, Ali?  Say right, because otherwise I will feel silly. :)  Anyhow, she sent me these little owls she found and painted white for me.  Are they not the cutest pair?  Love their size and shape!!  Thank you so much, Ali!

If you have never been to either of these sweet ladies blogs, you need to get over there!  They both have big hearts and big talent!
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