I'm baaaaaack! Ok, well you may not have missed me but I missed this!  The major source of my hiatus is finally over- SCHOOL! I graduated in May with my Master's Degree.  Can I get a woop woop! Needless to say I'm pretty excited to spend less time doing research and more time doing, well, anything else.

As if graduation wasn't enough, we are also in the process of moving to Minot, ND for fiance's school.  Minot is my hometown so I'm excited to spend the next few years here.  Due to the oil boom housing here is insanely expensive, but we managed to find a cute little house to buy so you know what that means- PROJECTS! Here are some before pics.  The closing date isn't until August so I have some time to brain storm all of the little things I want to do.  The best part about the house is that nothing HAS to be done for us to move in.  However, we all know how that goes.  Take a look and let me know what you think.  I'm up for any and all project suggestions.

Our house!

Basement living area.

Basement living area #2.

Bathroom #1

Bathroom #2

Bedroom #1

Bedroom #2/Office
 

Bedroom #3/Master

Dining Room

Living Room

Kitchen

Laundry #1

 Cheers!

Alex

Tying the Knot- Bridesmaid Ask

It's been quite a while since my last post and there is definitely lots to talk about!

1. My FINAL semester of grad school is underway. Woop woop! I can't wait to have a break from research and paper writing.  However, I've had the weird feeling that maybe I should get my Doctorate. Alexandra Burbach, PhD.?!? Who knows!

2. I got engaged on January 4th! (See sparkly ring pic below)

Since then a majority of my conversations have consisted of: Have you set a date? Where will it be? Do you have a dress? So obviously I've been on a search to get the answers my friends and family are seeking! With the reception hall booked (Holiday Inn in Minot) and date set (November 30, 2013- yes that is Thanksgiving weekend, no we are not having a Thanksgiving theme), I'm on to the next step- Asking my girls to help me "Tie the Knot!"

I found the idea here on the "dear LC" blog:

DIY "Will you Help Me Tie the Knot" Jewelry Boxes

LC's DIY includes a link to a printable template however I made my own.  Instructions are below.

Materials:

-Colored Cardstock (I used silver and gold metallic because those are my wedding colors)
-Paper Trimmer
-Hole Punch
-Spray Adhesive
-3.5" square jewlery box (I ordered mine from Amazon.com, here's the link: Jewelry Box
-Wire Ribbon
-Bracelet or Necklace of Choice
-Tape

Top of the Box:

1.  You can use LC's template or create your own. I created mine in a simple Word document.  Silver text is the font Modern No. 20 and the gold is Cursif. Trim around text.  The smaller piece is 3.0' x 1.75". Attach  to larger 3.5" square with spray adhesive.
2.  Hole punch two holes about 1/2" apart.

4.  Cut 12" piece of ribbon.  Tie a bow.
5.  Secure square to the top of the box with spray adhesive.

Inside of the Box:

1.  Trim around text.  My square is 3.25"x3.25".

2.  Hole punch two holes to fit your braclet/necklace.
3.  Secure bracelet/necklace to card stock with tape. Tah dah!

This was a very easy (and might I say cute!) way to ask my girls to be a part of my day. As you can see I customized one for my maid of honor and did the same for my personal attendants.

More wedding posts to come!

Cheers~

Alex

Dining Table Re-Do

I have been wanting to get a new kitchen table for a while.  However, I refuse to spend the money I would need to get the one I want because of the size restrictions of my current dining space. SOLUTION: Re-do my current table.  You're crazy you say? Well, I think so too.  But, with the help of Handy Boyfriend, this project was fun.  Fun? I know, but trust me, it really was! After covering the house in sand dust (due to my ingenious idea of starting this project during a snow storm) our project is complete.

I got the idea of how I wanted to refinish the table from a Creating Domestic Bliss post on Pinterest.

Here's a step-by-step of our table re-do. 

Supplies:

-Sander
-Sand paper (Medium Grit)
-Minwax Wood Finish Stain (Jacobean 2750)
-6" Fine Finish Roller
-1" angled paint brush
-Sponge Brush
-Zinsser Cover-Stain Primer
-Paint (I used Dutch Boy in Satin- China Doll)
-Minwax Polyurethane

I'm going to preface this by saying- I NEED TO WORK ON MY PHOTO SKILLS! Who doesn't take a picture of the before? I guess this girl doesn't but cut me some slack, this is my first post! So, we started by laying down a plastic drop cloth to protect the carpet (a normal person would do this outside but, well... clearly we didn't).. Handy BF used a hand held sander and got all of the varnish off of the table top while I worked on roughing up the pedestal and legs.

 

Table Top

 

 

Pedestal

 

I hand sanded the pedestal and legs as we decided to prime and paint this part of the table.  The top of the table needed to be completely sanded because we decided to stain it.  Once the varnish was completely off of the table top, I wiped it down with a wet rag twice to make sure all of the dust was off before we started staining.

 



While Handy BF worked on staining, my project was the pedastal.  To finish this I started with two coats of primer.  This Zinsser Cover-Stain worked great and two coats did the job.  I used a roller brush with 6" fine finish sponges.  To get into the grooves I found that a 1" angled paint brush worked best. I allowed one hour of drying time between coats. **NOTE: Make sure to apply the primer in thin coats to alleviate drip marks.

Handy BF applied three coats of stain to the table top.  Each coat needed around 4 hours of drying time to be on the safe side.

One Coat.

 

 

Second Coat.

 

After I finished with my two coats of primer, I was ready to paint.  Before I started painting I used a sheet of sand paper to knock down any drips that I missed.   As I stated above I used the Dutch Boy Satin Finish in China Doll color. Again, two coats of paint did the job. I used the roller brush and 1" angled paint brush to do the painting.

 

To seal both the top of the table and the pedestal we used Minwax Polyurethane in Clear Satin and a sponge brush . If you plan on using the same can, make separate the can into two containers so you don't get stain on the painted part and vice-versa.  We used three coats of the polyurethane on the table top and two coats on the pedestal.  There really is no right number of coats to use, but the more you do, the more durable the table will be.

 

Now onto the finished product...

 

Of course because I  have a "new table" I need some new chairs. I bought two of these from Overstock.com and am happy with them.  They were easy (for Handy BF!) to assemble. 

 

 

 

My mom also had to of these wicker chairs just sitting in our garage at home. I really like their look, but I may have a mini project in store for myself in the future with them!

 



 

Ta Da- All done!

 

 

 

This project was so much fun that we're already talking about what we should do next.  Good thing I have a wooden buffet that's just begging to match my new table!

 

Cheers~ Alex