Blog

June 16, 2015

TWT: Ryobi Cordless Mower Review

Over the past few weeks, my Tuesdays with Topher posts have focused on how to get started blogging. We’ve discussed picking your site name, buying the domain, picking a platform, choosing and theme, and last week we discussed how to pimp your site using plugins.

This week (just in time for Father’s Day), we’re going in a completely different direction.

Late last year, Ryobi sent Shanna a battery-powered lawn mower to try out. It arrived in December, and it killed me waiting until Spring to see how it would do tackling the yard….

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June 10, 2015

How to Reupholster a Bench

This my friends is probably one of the easiest tutorials I have ever shown you.

I know that a lot of people will bypass upholstered pieces of furniture at yard sales/thrift stores, etc. because they are intimidated by the whole recovering process.

I too used to be one of those people. To this day are there pieces that I still bypass because they are way too much work? Absolutely.

Projects that only need the seat recovered are way easier than you might think though.

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June 9, 2015

Tuesdays With Topher: How to Manage Your PlugIns

Welcome back to another Tuesdays with Topher!!!

Now we’re in the swing of this whole blogging thing: We have a domain where we can park our site, we have a Content Management System that helps us manage our posts, we have an attractive theme we like (but continuing to tweak), and now we’re ready to add a few more pops of WOW.

Like Themes, brilliant coders all around the world are working hard to design PlugIns that you’re going to want.

Why would you want them? Because PlugIns (also called Widgets) are going to allow you to enhance your website with features you need to help get the results you want.

Think of PlugIns as tattoos and body piercings. If the human body is our CMS, your theme will be the general appearance — your hair, your curves, your height, your clothes. PlugIns will be the modifications that add a little more … interest … to your page. Like that nose ring. Or that infinity symbol tattooed on your wrist. Or your kid’s name on your shoulder blade.

You are able to use PlugIns to refine your overall appearance, enhance your theme, promote your brand, or improve your site’s performance.

But like that tattoo of your ex’s name or the tribal symbol on your lower back … PlugIns come with some risk, and knowing how to maintain what you’ve added to your back-end is crucial….

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June 8, 2015

Blue Milkpainted Antique Dresser

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend!

Us … not so much. Nothing bad happened, per se, but we just did a ton of work. We hauled tons of stuff to my new storage unit, cleaned all of the windows in the whole house, finished up reorganizing my studio, got everything pulled out of my office / craft room, got it cleaned up, finished some new bookshelves, and got everything put back and looking fancy.

Somewhere in between all that, we went out to dinner for our anniversary. By the time Sunday night rolled around Topher was looking forward to going back to work, so he could relax.

Today is going to be a day filled with painting, as I am trying to upcycle some of this hoarded furniture.

Speaking of hoarded furniture, I found this old dresser / cabinet at a yard sale last summer for $20.

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June 4, 2015

French Scripted Ivory Painted End Table

With yard sale season in full swing, and I have been coming up with lots of new furniture pieces to work on.

I picked this one up for $8 the other day. It had a cute shape and other than a few scratches it was in good shape.

I painted on a few coats of Plaster Paint in Sweet Cream, and then I stenciled on some French script across the top.

I distressed the entire piece and coated it in Plaster Paint’s Paste Wax.

If you haven’t stopped by the Balsam Hill Welcome Home Tour yet make sure you do!

There will be new tours added daily! Just click the links down below!

Monday
Lilacs & Longhorns
One More Time Events
Prodigal Pieces
White Lace Cottage

Tuesday
What Meegan Makes
Artsy Chicks Rules
Sondra Lynn @ Home
Confessions of a Serial Diyer

Restoration Redoux

Wednesday
All Things Heart & Home
Setting for Four
House of Hawthornes
Girl In The Garage
Cedarhill Farmhouse

Thursday
Concord Cottage
Our Southern Home
Fresh Idea Studio
Cupcakes & Crinoline
Virginia Sweet Pea

Friday
Top This Top That
Serendipity Refined
Mrs. Hines Class
Knick Of Time

June 2, 2015

Balsam Hill Welcome Home Summer Tour

Don’t you just love summer? The kiddos out of school, sleeping in, grilling out, days lounging by the pool.

Today I’m also enjoying getting together with my friends for the Welcome Home Summer Tour!

We are all opening up our homes to show you some of our new summer decor.

I’ve always been a little stumped by summer decor.

When you are decorating for holidays it’s easy, trees and reindeer for Christmas, bunnies and eggs for Easter, etc. For summer, what do you really do besides adding some flowers or bold pops of color that don’t really go with my decor?

This summer, I decided to add some soft pops of color and just keep things classic and authentic to the style of my home.

For my mantel, I always have the giant gold frame as a base (since Topher nearly killed himself hanging the million pound albatross he said it stays put until either he dies or we move … whichever comes first). The thing I don’t like about my mantel is that everything is one color. The mirror, the wood, and the beige walls all kind of blend in together….

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