do it yourself

DIY – Coordinates Sign

| The Bee Life

Remember our big attic renovation into our master suite?  Well the little details have still been a work in progress, as they usually are. But we are getting closer to getting the little details finished up. I am finally happy to share one of the last pieces to the gallery wall puzzle. It’s a coordinates sign that I made using old wood from our house and the renovation! IMG_4970IMG_4972I love the way it came out, the old wood is what brings this simple sign to life. The metallic silver lettering also pops on the wood grain with a nice mix of old and new. I wanted to keep it simple with the text and not do anything to fancy to really rely on the wood to pull this piece to life with the metallic accents. One of my goals for the gallery wall if you remember wayyy back to my Gallery Wall Inspiration was that I wanted to add color, textures, and different elements that represent B and I without it getting too girly.  I feel like the earthy wood grain in the coordinates sign helps balance the ‘girly’ along with pulling in the other wooden frames used on the wall.
IMG_4716IMG_4972For now the gallery wall is feeling pretty complete. There may be some additional pictures added below but for the longest time there was this awkward section where the coordinates sign ended up going, so order has been restored! And I am loving the piece of our home that we’ve been able to restore in more than one way.

Christmas in July Party

| The Bee Life

Confession! I love Christmas!! And what better than to have an excuse to pull out some decorations, drink some Christmas Ale and have a bunch of your friends over, than Christmas in July!  This upcoming Monday is officially 6-months until Christmas, so next week and weekend are an excuse to throw a party. If you haven’t made this a tradition yet, I highly recommend it, regardless of how all out you go!

Here is your go-to guide for everything you’ll need to throw an epic Christmas in July party this year!

Food/Snacks:  The best part about all of these ideas is that they’re easy, a little healthy and super cute! You can also do a cheese spread in the shape of a tree or a wreath. Also bust out those Christmas cookie receipts and make some good ol’ cut outs or peanut butter cup cookies, they’ll be a hit.

http://www.cleanandscentsible.com/2013/11/grinch-party.html
http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/christmas-tree-vegetable-platter/652abef8-2f37-4200-8dc6-c38a4350ba96?utm_medium=social&utm_source=pinterest&utm_campaign=09_2015_standard&crlt.pid=camp.oSrDgIEfBM88
http://fantabulosity.com/christmas-play-date/

Drinks: Our local breweries always release some of their Christmas Ale’s around this time, so it’s definitely a treat and fun to snag a glass or 6-pack. Add a cinnamon sugar rim to your glasses for an extra treat for you and your guests! Next up, red and green jello shots – yup! It’s a must, not to mention easy and refreshing, and perfect for your Christmas in July festivities. I like to serve with pop-rocks poured on top, so yummy.  Last but not least, find a punch that is both refreshing and light but still hits those Christmas sentiments you love – like this Cranberry Orange Punch, make in bulk and you’re ready for a fun night.

http://www.thegunnysack.com/cranberry-orange-holiday-punch/

Decor: Have some old Christmas wrapping paper that you’re sick of seeing every year? Wrap some empty boxes as accents around your space.  Pull out some colored lights and string them up in the back yard, garage, or shrubbery.  No need to go crazy here, any other lawn ornaments that’re sitting around put them on prime display!

Dress Code: Asking that your guests dress in red and green or even throwing on an ugly Christmas sweater helps make this party an event.  If it’s mostly couples you can request that each couple comes as a “Christmas Couple” an excuse to get creative!

Details: This is when Pandora really comes in handy, click on your favorite holiday tunes station (mine is, Mariah Carey Christmas) and the mood will truly be set! You can also play a favorite Christmas movie on repeat, either in the house or out in the garage – Elf and Home Alone never get old.  Finally, napkins, plates, and cups that are red and green help add to the theme without breaking the bank – check the Dollar Tree!

Remember all of these things will really bring your Christmas in July theme to life while being able to enjoy a cold Christmas Ale on a hot summer day and all your nearest and dearest by starting a new tradition!

Happy Christmas in July!!

DIY – Window Side Table

| The Bee Life

I am excited to share my latest project with all of you; a window table.  Once you have the materials, this project is pretty easy and low cost! It’s a win-win when it comes to creating a cool piece that’s custom to your needs, whether it be a coffee table, plant stand, or a side table the options are endless.

What You’ll Need;

  • Window (of your choice) – I used an original window from our basement, since they were pulled out when we had glass block put in. Total cost; $0
    • Don’t have any old windows laying around? Check garbage day, it’s amazing what people will put on the curb!
  • 4-Legs; length and style of your choosing. I used: Waddell Ash End Table Leg from Lowes. Total cost; $16
    • NOTE: I bought legs with pre-installed hanger bolts that allowed for a clean smooth finish without needing extra hardware to attach the legs
  • Wood Glue
  • Paint – color of your choice & paint brush
  • Drill and drill bit to predrill holes for legs
  • Blade to scrape off excess paint on windows
  • Timing; finished within a weekend

From there you can prep your window by cleaning it up and sanding if you’d like. I opted to keep the hinges and some of the other rustic elements since I was working with a 100-year old window.

Next, flip over and mark out where you’d like to place your legs – as you can see with the window I was working with the spacing and exterior width was inconsistent and not much to work with so I eyed about an inch from the edges. Once I had those marked, we pre-drilled a hole, although we didn’t go deep enough a few times so we had to go back over the holes.

Before screwing the legs in we added wood glue in the hole and around the bolt on the leg. Make sure your legs get all the way in and are secure, some of ours were wobbly, so we had to re-drill new holes and start over. But once they were in and secure you definitely knew it. The wood glue required about 12-hours to dry, so day one was finished.

After the wood glue was dried, I flipped the table over and began to paint! I opted to use a primer over the preexisting brown, and also did the legs in the same color.  I had to do 3-coats before this beauty was looking clean.

I let B do the fun stuff and scrape the paint I’d gotten on the window.  This really cleaned up the piece to give it that finished look. From there it was just giving it a good clean with some Windex and setting it up in place – we added this gem as an accent in our sun room. The light and airy of the white and windows ties into the space perfectly.IMG_4428IMG_4430IMG_4432Using most of what we already had, the main expense was buying the legs for $16 – you can’t even get a coffee table for that!  I love the way it turned out, it still has a vintage and rustic flare to it. Not to mention it has multiple purposes and I am sure it will change overtime for us!

Happy DIYing!

Weekend Recap – June 24

| The Bee Life

Remember how all your weekends are booked? And before you know it the weekend is over, and the work week is looming. Ugh!! Not to mention, this past week didn’t even seem real, or that anything productive happened, I have a feeling this week will be the same. But any who…

This past weekend was a fun one, and one of many consecutively booked weekends. My parents came in town on Friday, I had Friday off, so it was nice to run errands in the morning, take Moz for a walk, vacuum the house, and then spend some time with my parents before our plans. We surprised my parents (but especially my dad) with a tour and tasting at a local distillery, Cleveland Whiskey.  One of the game changers for Cleveland Whiskey is that they speed up the maturing of the whiskey, and can produce an aged tasting whiskey/bourbon within 2-days! They’re not a favorite in the whiskey world, but they’re definitely shaking things up, and their drinks are tasty and innovative. My dad is definitely a fan! I enjoy the whiskeys in my manhattans, *smiles.*

 

Saturday was a busy day, I had a few surprises up my sleeve for Mom, more details to come at a later date *winks* needless to say, she was surprised and I think she liked what we ended up doing! The guys worked away at the house, and we (my dad and B) finally installed our new storm door on the front, it’s all open so you can see our pretty blue door!  It looks awesome!  My aunt and uncle came up for dinner, so we all went out along with G&P. We went to a new spot, at least for us called Forage. I was pleasantly surprised, the food was really great, especially the appetizers we ordered: pretzel sticks, calamari, and devils on horseback, OMG, yum.  I really need to get in a better habit of snapping some pictures before we dive into the food… telling you it was good without showing you half defeats the purpose!  B and I will definitely be going back for a date night.

Sunday, B was itching to do something around the house – so why not on a 84+ degree day do decide to do some sweaty gross yard work. We made small progress, but progress still, which is huge when we want to finish the project since we figured out all the kinks (hopefully) with our test round today!  Getting more items crossed off our to-do list, woo!

Today, marks a new chapter and journey in my professional career, it’s not how I imagine it would be, but I think that’s part of life’s journey of growing and evolving and continually finding and pursuing things we love.

Please send me your positive thoughts and energy this week!

XO

 

Latest Obsession: For The Home

| The Bee Life

HERE’S WHAT, I have been absolutely obsessing over especially as the summer months are approaching and the store’s are switching out their inventory to be summery!!!

Lanterns. OBSESSED. I want them everywhere, but especially for outdoor spaces like our front porch. I love them as decor for your entry way and even lightening for your seating area. I also love lanterns for decoration inside, around a fireplace or hearth area, especially the really big lanterns. Not to mention you can find them in almost any finish from silver, to gold, wooden, ceramic, or bronze to fit into your current decor or switch to something new. You can get hanging lanterns or keep them on the ground or table. Plus you can use them season round by mixing up colors and styles with different fillers for the insides… I could go on for dayzzz!  On a lantern kick like me? Check out craft stores, as a lot of them have sever price cuts on summer and outdoor decor (like 60-70%!) you can’t beat it.

http://www.stylemepretty.com/2011/11/15/rehearsal-dinner-inspiration-by-elyse-jennings-weddings/
http://www.beneathmyheart.net/2010/08/back-patio-reveal-and-5-giveaway-winners/
http://www.digsdigs.com/30-adorable-fireplace-candle-displays-for-any-interior/

Greenery. I am loving me some greens, the fake kind. I first saw some moss like letters at Michael’s and really wanted to impulsively buy them, but one didn’t know what to spell or letters to get, and two thought they would look way out of place in my house, but I can’t help but pine over them. I also really love boxwood wreaths, but refuse to spend the money online and will most likely DIY one, one of these days. And as much as I truly don’t like fake plants, because I’d rather just have a few real ones – I really like the fake greenery balls… yes I just described them as such, okay they’re technically “boxwood vase fillers” (according to Target). Anyways, I like the idea of having some greens around the house to add to the real greens, it brings some added life to your living space.

http://www.abowlfulloflemons.net/2011/05/one-project-at-time-link-party.html
http://www.save-on-crafts.com/boxwoodwreaths.html
http://www.target.com/p/boxwood-vase-filler-smith-hawken/-/A-16205611#prodSlot=_1_7

So those are my two latest obsessions right now, I’ve had my eyes on the lookout for these whenever I hit the stores.  I recently grabbed two silver lanterns for some added decoration up in our master suite, and I love how they compliment the space, we have a mixture of metals, but somehow it’s all working.

What’re your summer favorites?

Backyard Patio – DIY Project

| The Bee Life

After much deliberation and back and forth, B and I have finally figured out what we’re going to do to create a backyard-patio living space. There was a few different options discussed, but I think we’ve come up with a solution that will work for the space, long term, and won’t break the bank (hopefully).

Inspiration:

We did the measurements last night and the biggest part of adding in a completely flat patio (without a deck or floating deck) that I was having an issue is, was the weird space it would be next to the house, being low without a direct door leading out to it. But I think having larger greenery in pots surrounding the area in the corners closer to the house, will help solve that problem I was having.  I also think adding in some lights above the one patio area leading up to our sun room on the second floor will add an intimate feel. We will also have a separate dining area from the lounge area, which I think it’s crucial, since I want both spaces to feel spacious.

Our plan is to get 20×20″ square concrete pavers and river pebbles to place in between the pavers. I’m still determining all the spacing between each of the pavers, I was originally thinking 1-inch, but most of the projects I’ve seen are about 3-inch gaps are larger, so we will see where we net out with ours.

Needless to say, B and I are both itching to get this project complete, although it’s not going to be as inexpensive as I had hoped from the initial figures, but I will be sure to follow-up with the finished product and details in the next month or so!

 

 

DIY – Childhood Nightstand

| The Bee Life

I recently received my old childhood night stand from my parents house, but it was in desperate need of a little make-over, since I had last repainted it in high school to match my pink and orange room. *sigh* I still wish I had a pink and orange room…

Anyways, I digress. This was a really easy and low cost DIY because all it really needed was a new coat of paint, especially since in my dark teenage years I had written touching notes on my night stand like; “love sucks” and other cryptic messages. *smiles* So it needed a little sanding and fresh coat of white paint on the base.

Before

Next, I painted the fronts of the drawers, Naval by Sherwin Williams, it’s such a pretty color, I am trying to figure out what else I can paint with it. I was planning on replacing the knobs, but they were painted on from previous paint jobs, and I really didn’t want to deal with the hassle of trying to wrangle them off and potentially damaging the drawers, so plan B. Plan B was to spray paint the handles metallic silver, which I just so happened to have from a few other previous projects. I had to make-shift something to cover up the drawers, so some magazines and painters tape did the trick. It actually worked out pretty well and I only had to make a few touch-ups with the navy.
DSCN2140
To give this even more of an upgrade, I went ahead and added some adhesive/ contact paper ($5.99 at Target) into the drawers to make it pop!  Not to mention, over the years this little nightstand has seen some love, so it was looking a little rough. I decided to put the contact paper on the outside of the drawers as well, so that when you opened them there was an added pop. I did some simple measuring and cutting, this was even easier because the contact paper has measuring lines on the backside – this probably took me about 20-minutes to finish up.

Even though this is for a guest bedroom, I think it’s important and nice to have nightstands and all the essentials for when your guests stay over – that’s why I’ll be getting a lamp as well to finish off this look!

After

Before and After - the bee lifeI love the way it turned out, and I am sure this little night stand will have a few more makeovers in it’s lifetime.  The added detail of the contact paper on the sides of the drawers and inside, just upgrade the whole piece.  I may still try and get new knobs at some point, but for now this little $5.99 makeover will do the trick and accomplishes the task of being functional and matching within the space!  What I love the most about some DIY’s is that it doesn’t take a lot, to make a big difference – time wise or cost.

Hope you all have a great week!

 

 

Fitness Friday no. 13

| The Bee Life

Heyyyyy Friday!!!!! How’s everyone’s fitness plans going? I have to say, I’ve truly gotten back in my groove lately and I love it.  The results haven’t been as apparent as I would have hoped, but it’s a journey, it’s not over night success, and I just have to keep reminding myself that (you should too!).

Regardless of how apparent (or non-apparent) my results have been, I feel great! And I recently got some new gear to wear for my workouts and runs and I was amazed at how much better I felt with some fun pants, new sports bras and comfortable sports tees.

Active ware has boomed recently from Kate Hudson to Beyonce launching their own lines, old oversized tee’s and shorts are no more.  Brands and active ware clothing are working for women, with fun prints, flattering fits and soft fabrics. With that, I don’t feel like you need to break the bank to feel great while working out, because let’s face it, you’re getting pretty clothes to get sweaty. So my go-to lately has been Marshall’s or T.J. Maxx because you can get hi-end brands at a severely discounted price. FRIDAY!(1)
01  | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06

Ultimately it’s about what you feel comfortable in, feeling good about yourself, while keeping you motivated to keep working out, time after time. So if you haven’t updated your workout wardrobe lately, take some time and slowly start grabbing some new pieces, you’ll be feeling great while getting into shape!

Gift Guide – Mother’s Day

| The Bee Life

Mother’s Day is May 8th!

If you’re like me, I have a few different “moms” in my life, of course no one takes the cake over my actual mom, Sal, but they are near and dear to my heart. So every Mother’s Day I like to try and give them something different and unique each year, but without going completely overboard – because, let’s face it, I usually do that for my mom. Oh and as much as I love these moms, it’s always usually last minute, (oops!), so hopefully we change that this year, I just looked at the calendar and said, oh crap! It’s almost a week away!
A Gift Guide to Mother's Day! - the bee life
Flowers – Don’t get me wrong I am a huge advocate of flowers, however not your traditional bouquet, I prefer to give an actual plant or tulip bulbs that can be planted after the fact and will return year after year.

Framed Photo – This can be an easy and inexpensive, but still meaningful gift. Framing a picture of you with your mom (recent or old) or even an old photo of your grandma, can be very sentimental.  You can find a number of inexpensive frames at various stores, and make a copy or have an image printed in minutes at a number of stores, like Target, for pennies and cents.

Cards – Always. No matter what gift you give, ALWAYS give a card, hand making one can make it that much more personal, but ALWAYS have a card. And go stock-up now, because if you’re last minute like me, they will be picked over when you actually need one.

Treat Yo Mom – I don’t know about your mom(s), but mine rarely treats herself, and if she does it’s not the best or often.  So providing her with a spa day or certificate to use for a mani/pedi, massage, or facial will most likely be a treat for her! Last year we were able to make a trip out of it, which was that much more fun! If you do try and make a trip out of it, be sure you make that clear when scheduling appointments so they can arrange services in line with each other.

Something She Wouldn’t Buy – Similar to the Spa/Nails, I like to try and get my mom something she wouldn’t normally buy herself. A more expensive top, a decorative piece for the house, kitchen appliances, a fancy purse… you get the drift.

Handcrafted – I’ve been big into DIY’s, especially reusing old wood from our house projects (I’m sure I sound like a broken record).  So making some handcrafted, custom signs that can be put up around the house is on my list this year. Of course if you have a particular craft or DIY you’ve been dying to try, do it for this Mother’s Day! I just pinned this adorable hand painted flower pot that would be perfect to pair with some flowers.

I’ve gotten to a point in my life, that I can give gifts and show my love and thanks to these special women in my life like I would like too… in college or even younger when money was a bit tight, I had to be clever and creative to give back, I still like being creative and unique with my gifts, but now I can just think a little more outside of the box!

What’re your favorite go-to gifts for Mother’s Day?