December 17, 2011

Morgan's bench re-do

Can I just tell y'all that I am a sad panda because I cannot for the life of me find the before pictures of this bench! It was a dark cherry would with BAD bite barks on the corners from pups. So, I rounded all the edges off for a cleaner look and is safer for baby Morgan when she decides to make her arrival:) I added foam topping to the top and fabric on top of that for a cute bench seat!
 Let me know what y'all think!





December 16, 2011

Living room preview

EEK! I know, I suck at life and haven't updated anyone in awhile! But I promise, I promise, I promise TONS of things in the works! Here's a quick preview of our living room for the holidays! I need want new curtains but for now, these will do. And I need want new pillows. Need want, yeah. Haha :)

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!





November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been TOO long since I have posted! But I felt today would be appropriate...to show that I am trying to "enjoy the process" of making our home come together. And that I am "thankful" to have the things that we do have! Hope everyone has an awesome thanksgiving and a safe black Friday!

Here's a sneak peek of what I have been working on, the guest bedroom. My parents are coming in less than a month now so we have been preparing their room. The big elements are done...now we just need a few accessories for the walls, etc. And after this, I'll show you our updated living room. :)

Dresser: Yardsale
Window: Curbside sale
Bedspread: Dwell Studio for Target
White quilt: Shabby Chic for Target


Lamp: TjMaxx
Nightstand: Yardsale, although I don't really care for it in here...but it needs something for now:)


There are a few surprises in store for the living room...but y'all are only getting a sneak peek:)



October 9, 2011

Feeling brighter & whiter.


Hey everyone!

So...guess what? Today is Saturday...so I had the day and Ryan actually had to work:( We were supposed to head to Bismarck but merh, this always happens! Hopefully we can go tomorrow! So...long story short, I'm sitting on the couch just relaxing and wondering what I'm going to do for the day...so I started doing some chores, cleaned the kitchen...got all the clothes downstairs to be washed and I walk into our bedroom and just kinda stare at our bedroom set. Here's a picture of what I saw.


BORING. So boring and SO not me. Too much wood for my taste....so I started on something I've been secretly planning and hoping a little painting fairy would do for me since Ryan and I got married! Giving OUR bedroom set a new life...

:)

So, I started small with our nightstand...you can see the original up there ^ but here's the new and improved...and I am in LURVE.


Isn't she beautiful? I can't wait to get the rest done! It's going to brighten up the room so much and I have so many plans for our room now! It has been just placed on the back burner for some time now because it's just a place we "sleep" and we're the "only" ones that go in there. WRONG.

A master should be a place you and your husband can relax...forget about the day and soak in each other. Be comfortable and soothed as soon as you walk in...Haha, I'm aiming for something like it ;)


Let me know what y'all think!

Love Always,
Mrs. Schmidheiser

October 6, 2011

How to paint furniture like you know how!

Painting furniture is probably on my top three things that I love to re-purpose because it's so easy! Pick out a great color and get some brushes...sand down that baby...and woohoo, you've got a statement peice. Did I ever tell you guys that my whole dining room...no joke except for my corner hutch...I thrifted or got at a yardsale and just re-did? SCORE. Majorly. My favorite thing is my table...although, I have yet to finish painting the legs & do touch-ups. Grr..any takers?
I have painted so many pieces of furniture that in turn I have made a ton of mistakes. I've had tons of awesome gone bad....I've even gave up on a few and put them out in the trash. Yes, I sure have. And I watch people scope my peices out just like I do theirs. I know that this house is not our ideal house...but we have to work with what we have...until we buy a home. I hate the walls for one....I don't think paint will ever go evenly on these walls and I hate our layout...even though, everyone I talk to...LOVES it. I dunno either? Here's another look at my dining room...from awhile back. It's different now because I change things so often but all these peices are from Mrs. Schmidheiser Blog projects. What do y'all think?

I am far from being perfect and the same goes for my home and even painting furniture but I can give you some advice and tips...that I have learned along the way...if you'd like to stay and hear them:)
  SANDING, say what?
Always, always, always sand your piece before you start painting. You may not think that it's necessary but it will completely change the way the paint looks and dries at your end result. A light sanding on anything will do a ton of good...and if you plan on doing lots of peices, I'd invest in an electric hand sander...you'll thank me later. 
PRIMER, ya dig.
PRIMER. I don't use it everytime, I will admit but I do use it most of the time. I should probably find two like items, use a primer on one and not on the other. You'll see that if you do use the primer, your color will be more true.  You can use an oil based primer with latex & oil based paints. Oil based primers smell but are pretty great for cleaning and stains. Latex is ok with stains but doesn't smell that bad...so you get the idea right?

CLEARANCE, booya!
Always check your clearance sections at your paint stores. I have scored so pretty awesome colors from Wally world in their mis-tented paint section. Also, be creative. I've bought two gallons of clearance paint only to mix them to find my ideal color. Think outside of the box!
BRUSHES, ROLLERS...galoreeeee.
I'm cheap. I hate buying brushes over and over...and quite honestly, I sometimes don't care for the texture that brushes give to certain peices of furniture so I buy the cheap-o, one time use brushes they sell for like $1.50 for 10. Yep, cheap-o. But they do the job and do it well ;) HOWEVER. This is only when I'm doing a flat paint on something or I know that I'm going to go Shabby Chic with the peice and distress it, etc. You do get what you pay for...and for statement or important peices, I would def...invest in good brushes or which ever ones you like. I also use the roller for bigger projects, it's a totally life saver. I used to sit and paint dressers with alittle paint brushes. What an idiot right? Yeah, invest in a roller people.
POLY want a cracker.
  Polyurethane...if you want your peice to be easy to dust, clean or in my opinion, hold up to life. Oil based polyurethanes should be used for darker peices while water based should be used for lighter peices. Don't make the same mistake I did and used oil based on white furniture. Can you say ugly yellow? Yup.
Good things come to those who wait, thanks mama.
  This one always frustrates me because I'm so excited to just get the peice finished that I don't have TIME to wait for it to try! I would recommend at least 6-8 hours of drying time between coats. If you can be more patient, say 24 hours more patient do so. But for people like me, I have found that 6-8 hours does the trick. You want to make sure all the work that you're putting into the peice is worth it and you certainly don't want to back track.

Shabby Chic.
Can you say layers? Do you have old paint in the garage that you think is horrid and never want to use...slap that on there and the first coat. Do you ever notice if you see a shabby chic peice somewhere..that it doesn't just have one color...it has layers...and LIFE into it. It looks like it's been in 10 different homes with 10 different stories. This is a quick and easy way to give your peice some detail, some shabby-ness..yes, I made that up...and just to give it some old into it's new life.
This is what husbands are for. Or burly neighbors. Or creepy old guys. 
Have you ever wanted to paint say a dresser? Maybe a nightstand? Or a bookshelf? Hutch? TAKE THEM APART. It is much easier to work with smaller peices than to make yourself feel overwhelmed with one big peice. Plus, you get all the better details if you pay attention to each peice rather than one big one. Right? I know, I always am;) At least that is what I tell my husband.
Use what you have.
This is something I tell people all the time. When we first got our house, I hit Ashley furniture and Hobby Lobby all the time buying things for our house in an attempt to make it feel "homey." But you know what...I could have saved us a ton of money. You see, whenever you do a peice for your home....it's something that you should be proud of because you did it for YOUR home. And you'll be so glad you spent that $10 on the chair instead of $1,000 at Ashley ;)
That's all I got for now guys...I'm beat and have to get up to go to my big girl job tomorrow again! Woohoo for a 3 day weekend! Hubby and I are heading to Bismarck to spend some quality time together!  And so I can hit TjMaxx, duh.


Love Always,
Mrs. Schmidheiser


October 2, 2011

DIY Quirky new shelves

Hi lovies, haven't posted in awhile so I thought I would:)


Today, my hubby and I had a lazy day and played with the doggies all day. We also ended up cleaning out our garage too and happened to take a spontaneous trip to town. We went to Target duh  and I've been eyeing their cute & CHEAP little shelves they have. I know you guys have to remember me telling you about the room in the front of our home that I HATE don't like. Well, I decide to give those cheap shelves a new look on the cheap. I used fabric I already had...and will probably change them out later to something else but for now they will do.

If you have shelves like these or have been thinking about it, you should really try this! Quick and easy and they look totally fabulous now! Here's my step-by-step!


1. Buy your shelves.
2. Put them together as the instructions say. These were wayyy idiot proof so perfect for blonde me:) Before I nailed the backing on, I simply stapled the fabric to the backing and then nailed on. That simple. The shelves were $20 each and I already had the fabric so this project only cost me $20. Bam. I know. Awesome.

Here's my fabric...I purchased this from HL a couple a months ago. They were actually my curtains for this room but I want new ones :P


Here's my view when I was stapling the fabric to the backing...cute, fun and so easy.



And here is the finished product! :)



Let me know what you think!

Love Always,
Mrs. Schmidheiser



September 27, 2011

And again...the darn end tables...

I'm posting a follow up to yesterday's post about my darn end tables. I knew I really didn't have the courage to get rid of such great finds...so I did something different.

I stained over the what I did. I lightly wiped stain all over the bottom of each end table...let it sit for about a minute and then wiped clean to show a very like, rustic brown...that surprisingly I don't know yet if I hate... I'm ok with. Here's a peek! Let me know what you think! Of course, I'm going to let them sit a few days and will end up distressing them more on the bottoms to give them an even older feel...

Thanks for listening ladies & gents:) I start my new job tomorrow, wish me luck...because I'm super nervous! Butterflies are doing flips in my stomach...eeekkk.



Love Always,
XOXO Mrs. Schmidheiser

September 26, 2011

Wood grain & contrast

Some of you may know that I have been having the HARDEST  some difficulty with getting my living room the way I wanted. I scored these end tables at a yardsale for a great price and first, painted them white. I hated that the white clashed with all the different wood tones I had in my living room....



I really think that they are super cute like this...however...have you ever seen my tv stand? I love LURVE it...like times infinity and I find it SO SO SO SO DIFFICULT to match... :( Sad panda.


So I thought, why don't I stain the top of the end tables to match the top of the tv stand? Or try to get end tables that match the stain all together? Tried both. Fail. Epic fail.
So what to do batman? I'd love to hear your input...because right now, I'm just fed up:( Sad panda, again. The color of the tv stands bottom is a greenish blue and distressed....loveee..but hate this dilemma I am in. I am a white person. I like white furniture, ask my husband. He says "I like white too much." Haha. I hope you all are having a fabulous night! And two posts in one night, shewwww get it girl! Goodnight everyone and have a great day tomorrow! :)

Did you think I forgot to include the new end tables? No... of course not:) Here ya go!


Not the best picture but you get the idea! I don't have my big ole' mac of a camera right now so only my point & shoot will have to do for the next months! :)
& PS.
Happy Fall Y'all <3
Love Always,
Mrs. Schmidheiser



Learning to breathe...

Do you ever get sick of your stuff and wish money grew on trees in your front yard so you could go buy all new stuff? Yeah, me too. My living room is yet to be where I would like for it to be but I have found a temporary solution to help me feel better about my space.

*DE-CLUTTER*

I take every accessorie out first and stack it all on my bar. Then, I move all the furniture out. And I just breathe for a second and kinda take in my space....

Here are some pictures...


And here is little Winston... always keeping me company.


Also! I'm planning on having my re-purpose sale this Friday..here's a sneak peek of a chair that I just got finished with! She'll be at the sale.



I'm trying to love our home and most importantly...love the process... I know it's hard but remember we all go through it. "Rome was not built in a day," as my mother would say. XOXO.

Love always,
Mrs. Schmidheiser



September 24, 2011

Project for me, myself and I.

I've been wanting to work on our master since we  moved in but really our upstairs has been put on the back burner "to do" list because not many people see it! If I had our house my way in my head...it would be a shabby chic meets cozy beach cottage with lots of neutrals! I am a clean and crisp decorator! I like color but color in accessories not on walls or big peices;)

So, I took a couple pictures of our master bedroom right now. Talk about boring right? We've had our furniture set for a couple of years and it's been through 3 moves...so it has some dings and scratches to say the least. It needs a face lift. The quilt on our bed is actually reversed and has a print on the other side but being how I am, I like the plain jane side better. A master should definitely feel like a retreat and ours is far from it! Can you see the windows mistreatments treatments? Those are definitely sheets. I don't want to buy curtains because I'm too lazy to go to the linen closet and put up actual curtains before I know what we're doing with our room... I'm thinking of having my redo sale for a 2nd time next weekend since I had such a great turnout last time! I am looking forward to it but not pushing to finish all this furniture in just one week! I hope you guys are excited :P



So, I'm going to keep this as a surprise for you guys and myself! But I am going to maybe start on our master. What do y'all think I'm going to end up doing?



Here's my puppies saying we hate our mom for making us do this hi to the camera!

Love Always,
Mrs. Schmidheiser

September 23, 2011

Bringing new life to this old chair.

One of my favorite things to bring new life to is chairs! I am a firm believer if you have a corner, you better have a chair to put there ;) For one, it allows more seating but two, you can always switch the paint color to go with anything, bring new life through fabric, etc!
I always forget to take "before" pictures because I am too excited to start working on new projects so here she is in all her glory. She was almost falling apart when I bought her but I liked that about the chair, it brought charm through all the cracks, etc.
If you are a fan on my facebook page or on my personal facebook page you know that we were presented with a blessing yesterday! I have been trying to find a good job here in North Dakota for sometime now to occupy my boredom since hubby works super long hours. I got the call two days ago asking if I would be interested and now I am proud to say that I am the
"Facilities Assistant Manager"
at Minot AFB hospital. Woo! Big girl job ;)
Anyways, hope you are all doing swell and have I mentioned that I can't wait for Christmas! Like I said before, here's a picture of the chair! Let me know what you think and as always, thanks for stopping by!

I am for sale:) Please inquire or visit my Facebook page. (Here)




Love always,
Mrs. Schmidheiser

September 20, 2011

How to: Accessorize

Do you ever wonder what you should put in that pretty crystal vase? Or you need a center peice for your table? Or maybe something on your bar or your coffee table! Think outside of the box! I love LURVE color! So here's a few of my "pops" of color in my kitchen! I use fake fruit to do this! These fake lemons sit on top of my potato cabinet! And I have green apples in a jar on the countertop! Both colors are in my curtains that hang over the sink so they tie in well!






Remember to think outside the box! In these mason jars & vase, I have rice..fake diamond accents & I did have cotton balls in the back but I just took them out :P


I absolutely LOVE height on a table! And I can't wait till Christmas so I can really deck out my house! But right now, I love the electic simplicity of this centerpeice! The bottle is from Germany and from a friend and the branches I got from Target on sale! Perfect!



So, here's what I've been working on all night and am currently working on. These old windows and prying some glass out of a few of them. Just for future reference! Don't try this at home unless you're wearing protect gloves and eye wear. Me, I'm too cool for that! Or I'm too lazy to drive to the store.



Isn't this cute!? I'm thinking of putting two above the couch or I might just leave this one...I don't know yet! But I can't wait until Christmas so I can put a beautiful wreath over this! Have I mentioned how ready I am for Christmas because I am totally ready. Like for real.








September 12, 2011

Pin it up!

Hey guys! I'm back again! Ryan has been working night shift so I'm been up all night cleaning and moving things around the house! I slept so late today but wanted to go to town to go to a couple thrit stores. I've been wanting to do this for sometime now but with 3 boards! I found one so far so I may go pick up 2 more from HL this week! I LOVE it! I have called it my "inspiration board!"

Here, I will show you how to make your own cute, covered inspiration board or reminder board:)

First things first. Supplies you'll need! You will need some sorta pin it board whether it be from a thrift store or from HL or Target. Most stores carry them and they come in all shapes and sizes! You will also need a staple gun, scissors and possibly a hammer...I'll tell you why in a little bit.

Here's my thrift store board on my fabric. Getting my measurements right to cut it to size.

Here's my cute fabric from JoAnne's! I got it for 30% off today with their weekly promotional sale so it only cost me about $12.00 for 2 full yards!


Is she not the cutest thing you've ever seen! I would love to go ahead and go get two more to put on both sides of this one to fill up a larger wall! I am always cutting out pictures from magazines and love looking at pictures of my family and friends:)


This is a laundry basket organizer I bought at a yardsale and I'm actually using it to put all my fabric in. Have I mentioned before how much I hate am not feeling this front room. I think it's because I never really take the time to do it. I call it our "left over" room because it gets all the left over furniture and there's no details or anything of the sorts in this room.

*MAYBE* hubby won't hate me and let me do the whole room! What do y'all think?!

September 11, 2011

Mrs. Schmidheiser's first giveaway!

Hi everyone!

Ready for the details? How about now? Now? Nah..now?
Ok, ok! Geez, no need to get an attitude or cry or be a baby...lol.


This lovely little earring holder has been made by yours truly. This is a replica picture and the one that will be given away looks amazingly similar just slightly more distressed and worn:)



Ready to hear how you can win this super cute earring holder?


RULES & WAYS TO WIN

1. You can *LIKE* Mrs. Schmidheiser blog (HERE).
2. Refer *20* people to *LIKE* Mrs. Schmidheiser Blog on Facebook.
 They must leave a comment on my FB page saying who sent them! Once you have had 20 people refer you, you will be entered to win!
3. Another way to gain an entry would be to *LINK* Mrs. Schmidheiser Blog on your fb page and do a shout out to this giveaway! Leave a comment on Mrs. Schmidheser Blog saying you did so!
4. We must hit 300 likes by Saturday!

Simply enough, right? Let's hope so.

Guess what!? It starts tonight and will end on Saturday, September 17th at 9pm central time.
You better call your friend now and tell her all about this;)

Brighten up!

I found this headboard at a local thrift store whenever we first moved into our house here. I thought the bones of the headboard were cute and I could surely do something with it.
Here's the BEFORE:

Secretly, I've been piling up any pillows I had just to hide this hideous project that I hadn't finished!

But look at her AFTER:
I am so thrilled but the funny thing is, she is actually going to be for sale at my next re-do sale! :) I found a new headboard that I can't wait to show you! Let me know what you all think!

Love,
Mrs. Schmidheiser XOXO

September 8, 2011

Evolution of a coffee table

I scored this coffee table for a great price at a sale! It definitely needed some love on the top and the legs were wobbly. Nothing an allen wrench and some elbow grease and stain won't fix.

7 peices of sand paper later. (That's a lot, FYI.) Here she is:)

 And here is her before.....





 Look at that pretty grain!!!



Hope you all enjoyed this post:)

September 2, 2011

DIY: Do it yourself chicken wire picture frame

Things you will need:

-Chicken wire (Found at your local hardware store)
-Picture frame (You can probably find one at a thrift store like I did!)
-Staple gun
-Scissors or knife (To cut your chicken wire)
-Hammer
-Tape measure


Here's the end result!

Steps:

Step 1: Cut your chicken wire to size of your frame...this will make things TONS easier for you once you go to staple in it on the frame!
Step 2: Staple onto the frame (LOL) To ensure staples are secured all the way into the frame, use your handy dandy hammer to give them alittle more push.
I It's that easier and so cute! I found the clothes pins at Hobby Lobby! And I also painted my frame a robins egg blue! That easy and SO CUTE!

Thanks guys! Let me know what you think!



August 16, 2011

A kitchen table re-do

I bought these table & chairs seperate. The table I bought with 3 OTHER chairs and of course you can't have a kitchen table with 3 chairs and 1 that doesn't match :) Or at least that's what I think! I found these four chairs on a curb (yardsale)! ;) I could see the cuteness in them just like anything else so I piled them in my car with weiner dog in tow! I knew I'd love white for this set!


The chairs have cute little cut outs on the back support so I decided to paint them a neutral Robin's Egg Blue meets Turquoise. PERFECTION. I wish you could see this set! It is SUPER cute and real wood at that! What a steal! I obviously don't need a kitchen table so this set is for sale:)

I'll be uploading a finished picture of all so stay tuned! And tell your friends about Mrs. Schmidheiser Blog!

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