I Love Scarves!

Good morning ladies! I am so thrilled that the week is halfway over! It's hard to be motivated at work when you have a million other more interesting things on your mind. As promised today is all about scarves and a big DIY project we just completed at our house. So let's just get to the good stuff! Beware this is a long post!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE scarves! I like them in all shapes, sizes, materials and colors. Over time I have collected quite the collection. They are the perfect accessory to any outfit and it also helps stretch your closet. I am a girl whom loves to wear black. It's slimming, it's my go to color and let's face it, a girl on a budget needs her basics. But pairing a fun, colorful scarf changes the outfit entirely. And the great thing is that you don't have to spend a fortune on these items. My favorite places to scope out scarves are the Gap, Old Navy, Target, Forever 21 and Francesca's. Here are a few scarves that I am dying to have the fall/winter season!

I just love how different the orange scarf. The navy blue one at the bottom is also a must have from Old Navy that save Peace & Love all around the rim of it. LOVE it!

I love the texture and shape of the purple scarf above and leopard print is really in season again this year! Now I just need a better way to organize all my scarves in my closet, lol! Any suggestions?

A few months ago my parents decided to sell their house and move to a newer one story now that they are empty nester's. With doing this they wanted to start fresh and buy new furniture. Their existing furniture was purchased before they were even married and were pre-owned even before that. With being a new homeowner ourselves and of course being on a major budget they asked us if we wanted any of their pieces. I literally jumped at the chance and picked a few items (ok not just a few but a ton) that I knew would be perfect in our house and would also fill of some of the empty rooms we have. I honestly feel that they don't make furniture like they used to. The quality of furniture these days is no where near what it used to be so these pieces really are amazing. All they needed was a little tlc to make them look new again and to fit our style.

Two of the pieces I received were my parents dresser and nightstand from their bedroom. I loved the details and especially the hardware. I also loved how length of the dresser and how much storage it provided. I instantly new that I wanted these pieces for my front room that was completely empty minus a large square mirror hanging on the wall. Part of my inspiration came from a post here that my sweet and super creative friend Meredith did awhile back. She transformed her late grandmother's hutch into an amazing colorful console table. I knew I wanted to have it serve that purpose as well for us. I loved how bold she went and choose that beautiful color blue. I was a little scared to choose a color as I had no idea what color of fabric I wanted to use to recover the couch and chair that will go in there in the future so I opted to use an off-white that would pop and also match the chair railing in the room. I also knew that it would help that beautiful hardware stand out which is what I really wanted to accomplish.

The first step was to remove the hardware and all the drawers and start to sand the pieces down. Ok I am going to be honest here. I didn't do much sanding. The pieces are really old so over time it had worn down on the shine and top coat protecting the stain. So I just focused on a few spots and began painting. First I used a roller brush to coat the piece but then went directly over it with a paint brush because I liked the way that it looked better. All in all this project was fairly easy. It took a total of 2 days for drying and reapplying paint and 3 coats. I started this project on a Saturday and by Monday night it was in the house in its new place. I made sure to take lots of pictures of the progress along the way. I want to make sure that I am documenting all of the projects we have done in the house. It's always fun to look back at them years from now and see all the before and afters.

Here is the dresser after removing the hardware and drawers.

See how gorgeous the hardware is! I wanted to make sure that this stood out more.

After all 3 coats of paint had dried.
The nightstand. Look at the detail metal pieces at the bottom. Love it!

All the drawers painted and ready to put back in their place

And here it is in the house! It is still a work in progress. I just went shopping in my own house for the decor to go on top. I am also still searching for the perfect lamp to add to the mix. But all in due time. Overall I am very pleased with how it all turned out! It is great for storing all of our games and some of my favorite magazines that I just can't seem to part with. It's the first step to pulling this room together.

I accomplished my goal of making the hardware really be a key piece to the furniture

So what do you think? There are still lots of projects ahead to show you and we are almost done with one that has seemed like we have been doing FOREVER! But it always feels good when they are completed and totally worth the wait!

Tune back in tomorrow for some more fall favorites and a super easy meal that both the hubby and I recently enjoyed! Happy Hump Day!