A new direction

Hi guys! Those of you that were following me on 'My Grass is Always Greener' are probably wondering why I've started at this new address!

I have decided to go in the direction of a 'design/decor/DIY' blog. I loved the old name, but without the back story (the turf) I just didn't feel that the name was fitting. So welcome to the shabby tulip!! I will be primarily focusing on design with a splash of life thrown in.


I would love it if you would follow me here as I won't be posting on MGAG anymore. Thank you so much for your loyalty and thanks for continued readership!!

The Many Planking Attempts of Jerianna Lynne Pikul

This is my sweet little sister Jerianna Lynne (Jeri for short) Pikul. Yes, in case this is new information, my maiden name is Pikul (pronounced pickle). Let's just say I wasn't too disappointed about the name change. Anywho, this is Jeri:

I love hanging out with the girl. She is stinkin hilarious. She and her friends (shout out to Meredith Wink) are some of the funniest people that I have ever had the pleasure of being around. I know, Jeri, that you now have the warm-fuzzies:) Her 20th birthday is actually in a couple days, so I just would like her to know that she's special to me. 

So you're probably wondering about the title of my post. Have you heard of planking? Apparently it is the new thing to do. I think, as Jeri described it to me, the object is to "lay down on something and get really stiff". Um, can you say lol? 

I think some people were just extremely bored one day and one friend said to the other, "Whadoya wanna do today Bob?", "Uh, I don't know Larry...why don't I just lay face down in the dirt and you can take a picture? It'll be great!". Seriously. Google planking. You'll see. (ps. the usage of the names of VeggieTales characters was completely coincidental.)

So after hearing her describe this to me, I decided we needed to try it. Here are a couple of her best:

This is Jeri trying to figure out how to get up on the roof...it didn't happen.

And for the finale:

Yes. That is my sister PLANKING my fence! I don't care you ya are...that's pretty amazing. She's a well-oiled machine. I guess it helps that she plays college basketball.

It did take her a few tries...

And I think she may have bruises in a few undesirable places...

I strongly suggest trying this if you'd like a few laughs. Love ya Jer!!

House Remodel

Well, Hello!! No, I am not dead, did not stop blogging, did not run away and join a convent, and, No, I did not fall in...

I have just needed a break, I think.

Updates! We "finished" our upstairs remodel!! You may be thinking, "Why is 'finished' in quotations?". If any of you have attempted a project of this magnitude, you realize that "finished" will forever be in quotations. It's never "finished".  :) That said, I have a few pictures for you! Keep in mind, the decorating has only just begun!

Our living room. Yes, that is a headboard behind the couch:)

I feel like this is 'Where's Waldo'. Only the much more obvious version. Bella sneaks into a lot of my shots...

My credenza being put to good use. The chair in the corner will be getting a makeover...just haven't decided what fabric to use yet. Ideas?  Oh, and if any of you have a good color to replace the gawd-awful tan devouring the potential of my living room, please do share!

My Craft Corner. What? That's right. My own little corner.

Don't you love the desk? I am in lust with it. I like to stare.

My Sweet dining set. Thank you to my dear friends Kirk and Brenda for the gift. We will think of you every time we eat/spill on it. 

See the AWESOME vintage camel-back trunk my mother-in-law gave us? Thanks Lisa!!

And this is the Love Nest. Ha. Nowhere near decorated, but it's a nice start...

My new beautimous bedding from Target! I LOVE having white bedding. No those curtains aren't the shams...ppshh. Who would do that? (um, someone who likes to take the easy route--ie. NO SEW:)

A close up of one of my gorg milkglass thrift store lamps. And I found the sweet shades at the Family Dollar. Who knew?

And the view from our bedroom window...not too shabby if you subtract the pole.

So, the moral of the story is--we still have a long way to go! But man does it feel ultra-fantastic to have come this far!!! If you would like to see some before photos, refer to THIS POST.

Don't forget to hit the 'follow' button if you love me. Because I love you. :)

Yes, We're in the Mafia

Last night I threw Robin a birthday party. My good friend Traci's birthday was yesterday, so we made it a joint party! It was also kind of a house warming/summer kickoff type event. And you know what that means!? Our house remodel is done!!!  You have no idea how much of a relief it is:) I will be posting pictures soon of the transformation! Now to the good stuff.

The party was Mafia themed. That's right. Here are some great moments captured on camera.

The Ladies.

With the addition of a few late comers and...Steve? Steve. You're attire isn't feminine enough to qualify you for appearance in this photo.

Robin, Luke, and Kyle. Luke is making me a tad uncomfortable...

Nate (wearing his best dress shoes:), Charlie, Robin, and Steve. Again with the leg lift...they were taking too many pointers from the ladies.

The whole crew. Yep, we're cool like that.

My attempt at hurriedly decorating a birthday cake. Luckily Traci and Robin were both turning 27:) And those are roses. Not blood. Don't judge me.

Me, Leslie, and Traci. Don't you love our guns? This is probably the only time you'll ever see Leslie holding one...that's because it's of the water variety:)

One more smile for the camera to end a great night!

About 11 or so, we decided it would be fun to go down to The Rope (local bar pretty much in my back yard) and shoot some pool. You should have seen the looks we got when we walked in.  Everyone loved it so much that they started playing swing music for us to dance to :) It was quite fun. I definitely recommend a costume party. Consider our house warmed.

Painted End Table

My little sister was saying the other day that she really needed another end table for beside her bed. So, me being me, I said I had one that I could paint for her. Yes people, I do this to MYSELF. Her bedroom is is Yellow & Gray, so I decided to paint it to match.

Here is the BEFORE:

Not anything fancy...Robin's mom just gave it to me:) It's unfinished wood. Bella likes to pose in my pictures...

And here's the AFTER:

So pretty, right? So here's how I did it:

1. WIPE it down! Really well. If you miss some dirt, the spray paint will not dry well and it will look speckle-y. 

2. Use a spray primer. I used Rust-O-Lium, but I actually prefer KILZ. If you want to be super lazy, Krylon makes a "No-Prime" spray paint, but I think it's still safer to use a primer.

3. Krylon white spray paint! I love it! It gives GREAT coverage. Make sure to do THIN coats. It's better to have to do more coats than have drips.

4. I taped off some random lines on the top and alternated painting them black and gray.

Like so.

5. Painted the front section yellow.

6. Added yellow dots to the far right gray section.

7. Polyurethane. Because I used acrylic paint (it was what I had), I decided it needed a topcoat. This will prevent chipping, scratching, etc. They make spray versions of it, but I had a quart of brush-on so that's what I used.  

TA-DA! Done. It only took about 2 hours, but that's only due to spray paint drying time.

P.S. If you love reading my blog, go ahead and hit the FOLLOW button! I'd pretty much love you for it! Not even pretty much. I just would. 

A crap-ton of projects

Oh man peeps. I have had about a million things going on in my life this month. I have so many, SO MANY I TELL YOU projects in the works...hence the absence from blogging.

We are remodeling the upstairs of our house this month and trying to do it very quickly! I have set us a deadline of May 29 Robin's Mafia Themed Birthday Party and I am sincerely hoping it's done. Today is actually Robin's birthday. I got him a tie. I know it's boring, but the man is impossible to shop for. So he gets a nice green striped tie.

Here are a few random things that I have been up to lately:

This is a painting I did yesterday. It's for a dear friend that is moving to the Dominican Republic to teach! So she will always remember our beautiful mountains:)

I lettered this chalkboard for some good friends that opened a new restaurant (Punky's Smokehouse BBQ). I used chalk markers...they're the bomb.com. No smears!

I painted this mural for my sweet friend Lacee. She is having a baby girl in a little over a week!

This is also her changing table. I just painted it pink and then mod-podged some fabric and trim on the top and front. SO cute in the nursery!

A dear friend and I were forced into volunteered to help renovate and revamp the 3-5 yr. old sunday school room at our church.  It is a "Colorado Cabin" theme...so cute.  This is the only picture that I snapped, but it came out stinkin awesome! These are the tree stump tables that I painted in various stages of completion. I'll try to post some of the finished room soon. 

I finally sat down and got a sewing lesson from my mom! A friend had given me her old sewing machine, and I had never even opened it until this past week. I have so many projects requiring spray paint at the moment, and when it snowed last week (in May, I might add) I decided it was time! This pillow was the byproduct. For a tutorial on how to make it (It's a removable pillowcase type thing...washable!) visit THIS SITE. 

My mom was the mastermind behind the ruched embellishment, and I think I would be horrible at explaining it, so...I won't;) Sorry, but if I tried, you wouldn't get it anyway. I'm that bad.

These are my new dining chairs (sitting on my turf. I know you're jealous)! That's right people. I am going to have a dining room! I give you permission to do a celebratory dance move. Go ahead, you know you want to.

This is what they looked like BEFORE:

I only have 2 done, and I have 6 more to go...some aren't pictured. If you look closely you can see the finery that is the palm tree fabric. Why did I ever think they needed a makeover? For a tutorial on reupholstering chairs, visit VINTAGE REVIVALS. Which is coincidentally my favorite blog ever. The chair in her post is a lot more difficult (not just a seat) but I think she gives some good pointers.

So this is just a sneak peek at the scheme of my soon to be dining room:) Stay tuned for the final product! 

I made this wreath for my mom for mother's day. I think it turned out cute and was super cheap. Plus it's homemade...mom's love that crap. I'm pretty sure she still has stuff that I made her from the 2nd grade. 

I just took a wreath form that I bought at a thrift store ($.25) and wrapped it in cream colored yarn ($3). Then I added hot-glued fabric rosettes on it (which I made out of scrunchies from Family Dollar), and then stamped 'happiness' on some cardstock and glued that on the bad boy too. Super easy!

Also, I started a pantry redo. This is the before shot. Please excuse me while I go cry in the corner.

I haven't finished it yet, so this is all you get for now...but let me just tell you...IT'S AMAZING!!

WHEW! I told you I have been busy! 

P.S. If you love reading my blog, don't forget to hit the follow button! I'd pretty much love you for it. Not even pretty much. I just would. 

BV Roastery Art Show

Ok, so this post is LONG overdue. For those of you that don't know, I paint. I love it.  I hung a show in the Buena Vista Roastery in February.

 It's April. It was a fruit themed show, which will become fairly obvious once you gaze upon the beauty of these photos. I must give credit where credit is due.

 My good friend Sharon Clark at Smitten Photography took these beautiful pictures (however, I did have to scan them into my computer, an act for which I'm sure Sharon would slap me. So I don't think the color is up to par. Sorry Sharon:)  She is insanely talented, so if you have a wedding coming up or an abnormally cute baby (or even if your baby is ugly, she will make it look cute) please hit her up.  She won't disappoint.

Now that I am done singing her praises, without further ado, I give you my [insert creative name of your choice because I didn't give it that much thought] show.

Hope this was a great source of enjoyment for all of you. It was for me. Minus the completely stressful 2 weeks that I threw this together in. It was still good to pick up a paintbrush.