A beautiful story.

Exciting news, my blog will be undergoing a makeover, hopefully to be unveiled at the new year designed by none other than my sister-in-law Erin of Designer Blogs.

Erin has done a lot of work for me in the past and I've also shared their desires to adopt.

A few weeks ago they were blessed to adopt a beautiful baby girl named Lily.

You can watch their story below (grab a box of kleenex first).

The Gift from Jared Fadel on Vimeo.

You can read more about their story on Erin's blog.

 

 

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A modern doll house.

If I were a little girl again this would for sure be at the top of my Christmas wish list!
 I love that someone finally came along and built a modern take on the traditional doll house.

.

Modern doll houses are by Brinca Dada and they're on sale at Zulily now for a limited time!

Go here.

*I am not sponsored by Zulily but anyone can receive store credit by referring a friend.*

 

 

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Scout Bag Review.

Out of all the wearable-accessories, handbags are my fav .

I love me a good bag, purse, clutch, you name it.  

So when Scout asked me to do a review on one of their bags it was a no-brainer.

I chose the Daytripper.  

I thought it would be a good library bag / errand bag but I've actually been using it as my purse and thrown everything under the sun in it.  It's not too big so things don't get lost in it but not too small that I can't throw a book and snacks for in there if needs be.  The other thing that is great is it is water resistant.  My little man tested that number out on the first day with a sippy-cup of apple juice.  My wallet was ruined but the bag wiped down perfectly..

They've got every style, pattern and size imaginable so you'll definitely find one that would fit out perfectly for you.

How cool is that Camo print?!

I'm thinking about it for the Mr. to use as a macho diaper bag.

You can check out more Scout bags here.

*I received the Daytripper bag at no cost to review.  All thoughts and opinions are mine.* 

 

 

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Vintage school chairs.

There's something about vintage school furniture that makes me giddy.

Source.

Source.

Source.

Source.

 This version by Anthropologie with the vintage maps is really cool too.

I've been trying to get my hands on three chairs for my little men for the past two years.

People will pay a pretty penny for them too.

Somehow I attracted not 3 but 30!

It's a bit of a silly story that requires some explaining.

I found a school auction that was selling some vintage pull down maps.
I was in a heated bidding war with some big spender.  I reached my limit and was out.
On a fluke I also put in a bid on two lots of 15 chairs each.
These go for big money so I never dreamed I'd get even close to winning.
Be careful what you ask for.

I realize 30 chairs is complete insanity!

The Mr. keeps shaking his head every time he walks by the patio.

He gave me three options...start a preschool in the basement, open up a store, sell them on Craigslist.
Wah.

If you live in SLC, UT and would like a chair I'm selling them (all but three).

1 for $20.

2 or more for $15. each

Local pick up only. First come first serve. No holding unless you pay with Paypal.

Available:
Measurements are from ground to seat and are approximates.
(1) Green - 18in. (SOLD)
(1) Plum/Rasberry - 17in. (SOLD)
(1) Peach - 16.5in.(SOLD)
(1) Blue - 16.5in. (SOLD)
(1) Blue - 17in. (SOLD)
(1) Light Tan - 16.5in. (SOLD)
(2) Brown - 16.5in. (1 SOLD)
(8) Tan - 15.5 in.
(2) Pink - 16.5 in. (1 SOLD)
(1) Pink - 18 in. (SOLD)
(1) Red - 15.5in. (SOLD)
(6) Yellow - 16.5in.(6 SOLD)
(2) Gray - 15.5 in. (2 SOLD)

Email me: smhinckley(at)yahoo(dot)com.

 

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Dipped legs.

*(IKEA does not recommend painting this stool because it could become a slipping hazard)*.

Spray primer and matte paint...Voila!

Oh well, I'm raising kids, not cabinets.

And no more red marks on the cabinets!

***Dip painting tips.***

-To ensure the paint adhere's properly, lightly sand the surface first.  

-Also, first use a primer if your paint isn't a paint and primer-in-one.

-Lastly, it may be a good idea to thin your paint with water when using the dipping technique so it doesn't dry too fast and glob.

-You can also achieve the same look by taping of what you don't want painted then spray painting what you do want painted.

 

 

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Wading in the paint.

Dipped legs...

Via.

Trendy yes.

Via.

But I likee.  

Via.

Great way to add color.

Via.

A modern touch to a traditional piece.

Via.

You likeee?

 

 

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Kid's storage idea.

I can't tell you how many boxes of army men, blocks, marbles, Tinker Toys, Bakugan's are now stacked neatly in their closet.  Great for me, but I notice they tend to not play with toys when they are organized "mom style".  For a kid it's too big of a hassle to get things down out of the closet.

Well, my Land of Nod catalogue came the mail the other day.
I flipped the page to find the most brilliant idea.

They took a pile of these...

And did this...

Via Land of Nod.

A magnetic car mural.

Genius.

 

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Weekend plans and week in review.

This weekend my s-i-l and I will be trying our hand at shooting another video.

I'll also be headed to a shower.

Can I just say...does it seem that no one seems wraps presents anymore?

It's all gift bags with an explosion of tissue paper out the top.

Lastly, I met a new friend this week.

 We had lots to talk about.

 

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House exterior.

Since moving in to our home we've spent most of our time fixing up the inside.

However, fall is quickly approaching and so are colder temperatures. We need to get some decisions made and work done on the outside before we've lost all ideal-paint-drying-temps.

This is what the house looked like when we walked through it for the first time.  

Renters still occupied the home and were fortune tellers (get it, crystal ball front and center?).  

Kidding.  But makes you wonder what up?

We've made a few cosmetic touches since moving in...

New door (Home Depot), door hardware (Mountain Land Design), new light fixture (Pottery Barn)...

New column, new bay window, new window trim.

My first thoughts were to pick out one of the colors from the multi-colored brick to paint the bay window.

But after studying every brick I realized I didn't like any of the colors that much.

I decided to take a chance on Restoration Hardware's Paint color, Slate.

It ended up looking quite nice.  Agree? 

Now it's time to focus our attention on the garage.

Being as how we blew the budget on the inside, ain't no money for a new garage door.

So paint it is.

As you can see, our carpenter added a piece of wood down the center to break up the long windows.

I wanted to repeat the 6-grid pattern of the front door windows but I was out voted.

He also replaced above the garage with shingles instead of the trim.

So now the question is what color to paint?

I've been studying homes and noticed that the norm is to paint the garage white if the house has any sort of color.  But I don't normally like to play by the rules.  I'm wanting to incorporate more of the Slate shade either on the shingles or garage.  So help me out peeps...

Slate garage, white shingles?

White garage, slate shingles?

White on both?

Slate on both?

Pink garage, purple shingles?

 

What about a fresh new coat of paint for the shutters?
Black or white?  

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