July Sale!

Happy

 

Independence

 

Day!

 

 

 

I dropped off new pillows and table runners at both Urban Merchant and Black Dog Salvage, and in honor of our Great Country, I have marked everything at Black Dog 25% off for the month of July.  Stop in and buy me out so I have room for all our new fall decor! (Coming in late August).

 

Rebekah

 

 



Tips for Photographing a Newborn

 

I finally have about 5 extra minutes and I wanted to share a few more photos from Sterling Grace's newborn photo session along with a few tips from my talented cousin and professional photographer Krista Joy about photographing a newborn.  Here is a link to Krista's website. Krista Joy Photography

 

 

 

Tip #1

 

Keep all props and set ups safe, soft and warm for the little one. 

 

 Don't have any set ups that make mom and dad uncomfortable (i.e. suspension shots/swaddled from a branch).  For example, in the photo above we wanted the rough texture of the barrel, but I did not want Sterling's sweet newborn skin  to get splintered or scratched so we stuffed the barrel with pillows and then topped the pillows with a cozy blanket.  Not only does it look great but we protected her skin from the harsh edges of the barrel.

Keeping baby Sterling Safe. 
 What you can't see in this photo is that both my husband and I are standing about 2 inches away from her just in case she decided to move.  Photographing a newborn is not a solo task, it requires multiple spotters.

 Lastly keep the space warm.
 We had a little heat to warm the space so Sterling would not get cold.  After all, we don't want to torture the poor dear.

 

 

 

Tip #2

 

Best Laid Plans

 

Bring along lots of props.  Before we started this photo session we poured over other newborn photos on the Internet to be inspired.   I loved the idea of a baby in a barrel.  Honestly as we got into shooting this series of photos we could tell they were not going to be the best photos of her.  She was awake and cross eyed for most of this series...and moving (see how she is not in focus above)...it was time to move on. 

 

 

 

Tip #3

 

Accessories

 

Plan these out ahead of time.  Head bands, bows, hats, clothes changes...these all take a good photo to a great photo.

 

 

 

 

tip #4

 

Candid shots are sometimes the best.

 

  After all the preparation some of my favorite pictures are those Krista caught of my family just being my family.  Christopher taking Sterling's hand, me holding her between set ups and her hitting her daddy in the face when he kisses her with his scruffy beard are few of my favorite captured moments.

 

 

 

 

Here are a few more

of my favorites.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 From my family to yours

 

Rebekah

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Sterling Grace

 

I want to introduce you to our newest family member, Sterling Grace.  She is absolutely perfect.  I am taking this summer off to be with my children, they really do grown up so quickly.  I would love to write a few articles this summer, but at this point I consider it to be a successful day if I put a load of laundry in and see it through folded and put away.  It is really the small things!

 

 

Love,

 

Rebekah



Memorial Day at Black Dog

 This will be my last post before I meet my baby girl.  My due date is tomorrow, so today I thought I would tie up a few loose ends at Black Dog, and bring in a few patriotic items for the holiday weekend.

 

 

 

Thankfully I have my mother and sister in town, so they did all the heavy lifting.    Here are a few pictures of our new products.

 

 

Patriotic Pennants $9

Assorted Vintage Apothecary Bottles $4-8

Coral Pillows $48

Picnic Basket $42

 

 

Red, white and blue assorted pillows with down inserts $48 each.

 

 

Indoor and Outdoor Fabrics $10/yard

 

 

 

Burlap Table Runner $32

 

 

 

 Pillow Covers $28

 

 

Chalkboard $38

Vintage Flags $20-35

 

Happy Memorial Day Weekend! Check out Salvage Dawgs, the new season airs June 1 @ 11 pm on the DIY network. 

 

Rebekah

 

ps Don't you love Kandi's new door!  Talk about fun!

 

Hot Pink Front Door: Valspar Berry Blush

We were so excited to get our new doors put in last year.  They completely updated the house and let in tons more light.  It was just in a "we do things half a$$ around here and then leave it" type way... Yes.  That is right.  We opted to order the doors unstained because it saved significant cash AND because we think we can do everything ourselves. 



FRONT DOOR BEFORE
 

FRONT DOOR AFTER

 FRONT DOOR AFTER AFTER

No biggie right.  Just stain these fiberglass doors.  How hard could it be?  Truthfully.  Not that hard.  Anyone could do it.  JUST GET THE RIGHT KIND OF STAIN!  You know how you just walk into a store, ask an associate a question, and then go with his answer without even considering he may be wrong.  Don't do that!  We just went with the can of stain the sales guy pointed us to without even so much as a second thought.  That is, until we started staining! 

What we needed was gel stain.... what we were using was regular stain.  Big difference here people... huge!  For whatever reason we still didn't really question this product selection (at least not enough to start over) until about a week later, when it was finally dry to the touch, but if you touched it it peeled right off. 

Not exactly the look we were going for.

At this point we had already paid our contractor to hang the doors and even though they looked terrible up close we decided to just ignore it.... for a little over a year!  In a "we do things half a$$ around here and then leave it" type way.

Finally this spring we decided to remedy the problem.   Will stripped the doors and I painted them.

This picture is completely inappropriate but I think sums up his feeling about this quite nicely.... if you can read through the pixelation.

Just to complicate things further.  It is sad when your two year old stops taking naps for many reasons, but this is a huge one!

I think we only brought home 5 samples to choose from.  We are making strides in over coming our color choosing issues.  We had a couple blues, green, another stain, coral, and hot pink.  Would you believe the hot pink won?!? Valspar Berry Blush to be exact.

I LOVE it!  It makes the house so very happy to me.  This place has come a long way from when we bought it.  It was one of those places that everyone insisted was haunted (more on that another day!).  But now, I think it is apparent that people live here.  Happy people.  Hot pink front door type people!  It couldn't suit us any better!

In the same group of pictures on my camera was this beauty.

Blessed beyond measure!

Kandi

Find me at: DIY Dreamer  My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Savvy Southern Style, DIY by Design, Tatertots and Jello, A Stroll Through Life, French Country Cottage, No Minimalist Here, The36th Avenue, It's Overflowing, Shine on Fridays, DIY Show Off, House of Hepworth, 52 Mantels, I Heart Nap Time, The Frugal Girls,Six Sisters Stuff, One Project Closer, Jennifer Rizzo, Le Chateau des Fleurs, Common Ground, Liz Marie Blog, Not Just a Housewife, Miss Mustard Seed, Sugar Bee Crafts, Elizabeth and Co, Rain on a Tin Roof, Coastal Charm Chic On A Shoes String

Family Photos

I have always had the dream of being one of those skinny pregnant women.  You know the type, the ones that have a little basketball in their belly and that is it....the rest of their body's show no signs of bloating or pudge...yep well I guess I am going to have to let that dream go.....with all three of my pregnancies I blew up!  In fact I am so pregnant all over this time that when my sweet and very talented cousin who owns Krista Joy Photography asked to take family photos this spring I said no!  Absolutely not!  I am way too big to be photographed.  So we compromised, and I have to say I am so happy she won.   Here are a few of my favorite pregnancy photos.

And my baby boys....

I am so happy we went ahead and had Krista take family photos this spring.  If you are local here in Lynchburg, she will be scheduling a day to take newborn pictures in a couple weeks. (Yay!) So message me at Woven Home on Facebook and I will keep you posted on the date. She charges $150 for an hour session, and a disk of edited photos.

Rebekah 

Harper Kate's Big Girl Bed

What.... you act like I haven't blogged in like 5 months or something....

I have no excuse except that blogging was taking up a little bit too much of my time... so I took a break.  I love this blog but it's not worth ignoring my kids and house for!  Balance, it's elusive here!  Please share with me if you have got it all figured out!

In the meantime, I've been cranking out projects like crazy.  It's amazing how much more you can get done by cutting out blogging about it!

Onto the real topic at hand.  Harper Kate's big girl room is underway!  She will be three in June (WHAT!?!?!?!)  so it is out with the crib and in with a pink bed.  Yes, pink.  Saying that pink is her favorite color would be an understatement.   I would say it's more of an obsession.  She actually thinks her eyes are pink.... enough said, right!

We were so very lucky to get to trade her crib for this amazing solid wood Jenny Lind style bed.  It came from our good friends in town who run Camp Ton-A-Wandah and for me inspired a vintagey glam style for my little pink obsessed baby girl {side note... if you are looking for an amazing and truly magical girls summer camp that has been around since 1933 you must check them out!}.

Here is a before.  It was gorgeous as is but she was serious about wanting a pink bed!

This is how I felt about painting the bed pink....

 My face is much happier now!  It was just a little shocking at first!

Same spot... Before/After

 

Did you notice this blog post only has her bed.  Yeah... that's because the rest of the room isn't finished yet!  Not even close.  We make no big promises here on timeline but I'll post it all as it gets completed!

Source list:
Wall color: Benjamin Moore Light French Gray (lightened 50%)
Bed color: Valspar Watermelon Slice
Curtains: Woven Home
Duvet: Pottery Barn Ruffle Rings Duvet Cover
Quilt and Shams: Pottery Barn (no longer available)
Sheets: Target Jersey Tile Sheet Set - Teal
Dust Ruffle: Goodwill ($4 and handmade!)
Throw Pillows: Woven Home
Side Table: TJ Maxx
Monogram: Woven Home

Ahhhh.... It feels good to be back!  At least for today :-)

Kandi

P.S. Send up prayers for Baby Girl Moody to make her debut TONIGHT!!!!  (Before Rebekah completely loses it :-)  She has an amazingly beautiful nursery awaiting her arrival!

Find me at: DIY Dreamer My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Savvy Southern Style, DIY by Design, Tatertots and Jello, A Stroll Through Life, French Country Cottage, No Minimalist Here, The36th Avenue, It's Overflowing, Shine on Fridays, DIY Show Off, House of Hepworth, 52 Mantels, I Heart Nap Time, The Frugal Girls,Six Sisters Stuff, One Project Closer, Jennifer Rizzo, Le Chateau des Fleurs, Common Ground, Liz Marie Blog, Not Just a Housewife, Miss Mustard Seed, Sugar Bee Crafts, Elizabeth and Co, Rain on a Tin Roof, Coastal Charm Chic On A Shoes String