Yesterday I went fabric shopping…

And when I go fabric shopping, I get inspired to get other stuff done.  It’s weird.  It’s like a Jolt Cola to my to-do list.

This piece is perfect for me for a million reasons.  First reason I love it – the cost.  I only paid $32 for it.  Yup.  Goodwill has senior discounts and I fully exploit my mother on Tuesdays.  So the original price was $50…marked down to $40…with a 25% senior discount…for this old lady

The second reason?  it’s a little curvy, a little ornate, but not too much…the lines are strong and the trim is thick…it’s like a nice thick piece of bacon

I love the top and I love the detail on the doors that mimics the lines.  I also love that it’s not too deep but really tall.  Perfect.

I do not however love the back.  It’s not purty at all. I also wish it was solid wood.  It’s not.

So this is kinda some info on prepping a veneered piece of furniture.

When prepping any other solid piece for paint, you simply focus on one thing – making the surface with enough grit to get the primer and paint to stick.

When prepping veneered pressboard or anything that has just a thin piece of wood on top – it’s important to grit it up, smooth out divots BUT not sand too deep.  And be careful on corners and edges – because they might already be worn enough and further sanding can expose the non-solid wood below.

After you have the entire piece done, it’s very similar to painting a normal piece.  You want to wipe it down completely – eliminating any dust.  Make sure you pay special attention to corners…and don’t forget the flat vertical surfaces.

After it is dry, lay it out for priming.

This is my favorite spray primer.  Zinsser Oil-based Primer cover stain is da bomb dot com…it’s the bacon on my BLT…not that there is anything wrong with tomatoes or lettuce…and heavens knows mayonaisse is like milk from the breast of Jesus.

Then paint as normal.

So as my piece was drying from all those coats, I went to work in the dining room.

As you may recall, the dining room has some storage issues…or should I say, I have a hording problem.  same difference.

This little wall had two bookcases with the white dishes in it.  And as much as Will left them all alone, the dishes taunted his little friends with urges to touch, break and throw.  So I decided that making the house kid-friendly didn’t necessarily just mean for my kid.

And the console that we removed from Will’s room (we formally used it as his changing table) and put in the dining room, well, it was just too small for the big wall.  That wall is very wide and needed a piece with a little more substance.

Plus, if I put the tall piece on that big wall, I could balance out the dark brown by putting them on opposite sides.  Of course, that tall piece would provide more closed storage…so I could remove the bookshelves…so moving the console made the most sense.

See how unbalanced the entire thing looked?

And the mirrors would have to go too…since they would be wider than the console.

The overall view…

And this is the view from the front door…not cute.

So after I removed the bookcases and moved the console, instantly it looked better to me…and I still had balance.

Okay – now that you kinda got the dining room framework…

there was one thing I needed to do before putting the hutch in place.

The back was coming off.  Boo.  Hiss.  Spit.  (not really cause I don’t spit in the house)

Don’t worry.  It’s not anything my staple gun can’t handle.

Okay – so I moved in the painted piece to the tall wall and I love it.

The hardware is still drying so this is the best after shot I have right now.

Do you like it?

The outside is painted just plain white.  It’s the pastel white base…ultra white base with no tint.  The inside I did in Martha’s Kerry Blue…it actually looks more denim blue vs the teal color it looks like in the photo.

I also conned Jer into bringing up the crazy ornate mirror we inherited from his great aunt.  I think I might repaint it a fun color – because the gold is a little too much.

I think I’ll probably wait till I figure out the fabric for drapes and possible chair cushions before picking the color.

Oh and I still plan on sprucing up this side of the room too…adding a couple wine bottle racks, curtains and curtain rods.

kinda like this:

So that’s where it’s at.  Wish me luck with finishing up the hardware!

Oh and hopefully by the end of next week I’ll have this place looking spruced up for a juicy styling and finished hutch post.  oohhh!  enter a visual of me doing the bike pump move while simultaneously kicking my legs out for joy here

I wanted to be sure that I took some pics of Will this weirdo part of early winter.  It’s odd because we didn’t get snow this year.  HOW I wanted snow.  Snow would have forced me to dress up Will like the Coca Cola polar bear and taken him outside for a photoshoot.  You know I’m not kidding.  So instead of my snowflake and vintage coke crate filled shoot, I purposely pulled out my camera just to document the everyday.   This is our January.  all 40274o97095 photos of it

Will has discovered the joys of makeup…and already he has learned the importance of moisturizer.  He smeared a little too much on his cheeks and looked up and said “Pitty”….irony and humor (since he is trying to say ‘Pretty’).  I’m so proud of him.  Next week we are gonna learn proper undereye care and cuticle maintenance.

I think when we decorated his old nursery with such an overriding man feel, some folks spoke up about their concern of forcing an infant to be in a room with such dominating masculinity.  I think sometimes these sweet people just want to help.  So to these sweethearts, I want to encourage you – I am not trying to make my boy…more boy.  BELIEVE ME.  I am trying to tone down that stereotypical alpha male agression as much as possible.  It might be impossible.  It might be in vain.  He might end up with the same disposition and characteristics as if nobody introduced Barbies or nail polish or the joys of mouisterizing.  But as much as I want him to be aware that he is a boy….I want him to understand that it’s important for him as a person to be gentle…and kind…and have a servants heart.  I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately.

Everything Will owns has to be pre-treated.  The shirts are all napkins to him.  He will even go under the bib to wipe his grubby little fingers on his shirt.  I have considered investing in kegs of Oxi-Clean.

I talked about the importance of a good rug to mom’s this week on Wayfair….it’s true….I spend at least 50% of my day on the ground.  And half of that involves blocks, cars, and forts.

I spent an entire evening cleaning out my fridge.  And no, I still have never put a deli tray in this bad boy regardless of that being the one thing that the salesmen told me a french door was good for.  I think I finally figured out a configuration of the shelves that works for us.  We have a ton of drinks at all times.  And condiments.  We are like one of those self-serve bars at McDonalds.  Obviously this was the ‘after’ photo.  And yeah, Jer doesn’t even ask anymore when he sees me take photos of things like this.

These were all the leftover containers that I pulled outta there.  I’m horrible at the leftovers.  Will refuses them.  So they just sit in there.  And this isn’t even the pile of bottles that was sent to the recycling.

I probably don’t say this enough….Jeremy is a fantastic husband.  I know that you all see the glimpses of his goodness here and there…but I really should be shouting it from the rooftops.  Sure he has his flaws….like he breaks my things accidentally a lot.  But on an everyday – every minute basis, he’s fantastic.  Do you know that he offers to watch Will AND make dinner on some nights just so that I can watch Flippin Boston on our DVR?  And that he makes sure to record my shows and has shown me 8 times how to turn on our surround sound just so that Rachel Berry sounds better?  And that whenever I ask…AT ANY TIME…he will give me a foot rub?  And that he tells me that I’m beautiful everyday?  That’s rare, I think.

For the girls in my family, this is a very common sight…boys watching football.  My dad & Jeremy are two peas in a pod when it comes to this.

Oh yeah – Will recently learned how to jump with both feet.  Before it was like this skip thing that made me smile…but now he is officially a bouncing baby boy.  minus the pants.  plus the ‘pass on plastic? fantastic!’ sticker

Will loves to pray.  He loves to say Amen.  He loves to pray numerous times during the meal.  We refuse to say no…so we make everyone at the table stop what they are doing and pray again.  We are those parents.

Jeremy loves Oreo pie.  Oh heck…I love it too.

The weather was crazy this month.  Mostly like an armpit….dark, moist and has a dank smell.

There was a few days that it got foggy before the sun went down.  If you know anything about me…it’s that I love me a good fog.  Seriously.  I’m obsessed.

I used to say that I wanted to married in a church and when the doors open, the fog machines would have a cloud that entered before me.  Then I learned about interior church mold….and I got ixed-nay-on-the-ogg-fay.

I’ve never been so aware of the weather as I have this past year.  I notice the trees, the sky, the plants, the temperature all more than ever before.  It’s amazing how beautiful it is.  how it’s like a perfect ballad of instruments working together to create every day.

And the color and composition of plants is just unreal.

it’s breathtaking.  and sucks the beat outta my chest.

How gorgeous just a little water is….

Our garden after it’s all said and done.  This coming year, I want to redo some things.  I have plans.  Jeremy stop groaning

Oh yeah…and our bulbs started off even before the holidays were over….it’s like they heard the starting bell and thought it was warm enough to come out.  I did that once.  It involved the month of March and a bathing suit and a desire to get a tan started.  Not smart.

Caught!

I put all our Christmas stuff away.  It is thoroughly wrapped and organized and sorted.  It’s weird for me to be organized.

Will has a coin jar.  We put all the spare change in there.  And when I say We…I mean Will….because he will pitch a royal fit if he doesn’t get to do it.

Love the look of concentration.  I have that same look when I put on eyeliner.

Will also thinks he is funny.  Just like his mama.

He is obsessed with bubble baths.  See how well I am nurturing the masculinity right outta him?

And the entire time we talk about how to properly flutter our eyelashes

Okay.  Fun fact.   Will loves to balance things.  It’s odd…but he LOVES to find things to balance on top of one another.  He can balance more stuff than I can.  Note the Buzz Lightyear mobile with the chair and the lawnmower on top.

Here he is working on getting that little cart on top too.  He did it too.  Right before he yelled “CRASH” and ran straight into them!

(You didn’t know this was turning into the Will show, did ya?!  Suckah!)

He is also obsessed with Clara Petersiks videos.  He watches that baby girl sing and count and sort laundry at least 10 times a day.  Maybe she could come out with a teaching video for him?  hint hint Sher

And then he gets excited when she laughs or smiles.  They are in love…I just know it

And he calls her “Cara” cause he can’t say the L…and I’m working on getting him to say “Marry me please.”

Some folks ask how they can get their kid to look at the camera for a portrait.  I say here’s my trick:

Put them in a place where they must sit…like a chair…in front of a big window…

and give them a snack.

NOT A JUICY OR COLORED SNACK.  No red lollipops or something like that.   (Will is eating Apple puff sticks)

Move in front of the window but not directly in front of them…you don’t want to cast a weird shadow.

Now set up your camera settings so your set and ready to shoot.

Now do a funny face or take the snack and put it in your mouth and make a giant yummy or yucky face.

Some times it is your reaction that makes them squeel…

Ever since we built the toy storage, we’ve been playing WAY more in his room.   It doubles our ‘play’ space.

Will is gettting better at this little puzzle thing…I have no idea what they are called…puzzles?  loopies?  mazes?  jungle gyms?

This past month I did the ovulating kit thing again.  I also charted my temperature, watched cervical mucus (ewww), and took advantage of Jeremy a lot.  Now I’m in the waiting period.  Waiting sucks.

We set up a quick painting area in the basement.  I simply roll out the white paper on the floor (it’s taped down) and plug in the space heater (it’s chilly down there).

Will is very careful.  He doesn’t like to step on the paper.

At one point he painted on our tile faux wood weirdo floor.  I love his little guilty look.

Lots more painting…

Afterward I took him over to get a little profile shot and see what he would do…I got the profile shot…

and then he did the funniest thing ever….

he looked right at the camera…

and…

he…

said…

cheese.

I DIED.  I have no idea where he got that.  I have NEVER said that to him.  I treasure this photo.

Sweet little artsy hands.

More rain.  We set up our chairs like this on the doors so that our bad gutters won’t waterfall all over the doors and leak into the living room.  Yes – we are saving our dollar bills to fix it. So unglamourous.

Jeremy moved outta the office and into the basement.  Why?  Well, I took over – see all my stuff?  and Will figured out how to knock on the door during Jer’s office hours and trick him into thinking it was me.  Tricky McTrickerson.

After we finish the office bathroom, this is the next on my agenda…I am thinking something crazy outta the box…creative and fun and huge blown up photos and crazy colors.

Pastor Dad came down to help.

Let me vent to you for a second.  I am so disappointed that Christians have a terrible reputation.  That people stereotype Christians in a bad way….think they are judgemental, haters, offended group of legalistic rule-watching-bible-beaters who are stupid.  That reputation exists for a million reasons but one thing stays the same…..I HATE THAT.  It makes me angry and sad and disappointed.  I want people to know that God wants you to be the best version of you….be authentic…have fun and JOY…know where you are from and where you are going….and that He loves you more than I can possible describe.  There are gonna be struggles…our lives are crappy, sometimes we feel we can’t climb outta our muddy trenches…but it doesn’t change the fact that God made us outta the dirt to LOVE us.   He gave us his son to LOVE us.  to BE WITH us.  to GIVE US the best possible relationship we can imagine.  and God wants us to have a future.  more than this dirty shell.  and He loves it when we love each other.

I am trying to focus on that.  BE like that.  to break that mold that everyone keeps on trying to jam me into.

I say all that because I believe my in-laws are changing it in their own way.  They are warriors.  And they love Jesus.  and they love people.  I am blessed to have them in our life.

And Will is blessed to have them in his life – hopefully for another 50 years

This is what happens to our yard when it rains.  We get trenches of mud.  see how gross this is?  yeah.

Will in the trenches.

What I do when the boy is getting muddy…

Notice anything new and highly fashionable in our living room?  something tucked in the corner that all the fancy designers will be dying over?

It’s a very swanky Monster Jam pop up tent.  I fully expect this bad boy pinned 10,204,235 times on MUST HAVE boards.

Living room’s across America be prepared for this new accessory

Will likes it right next to the window sill because it makes a little platform for his cars.

We tucked a bunch of pillows inside there and put the entire thing on a pad since it doesn’t have a bottom.  His tush needed some cush.

He loves it.  And he better for the sacrifice to my own personal sense of living room style

Muscle man EEeeeooow!

My life revolves around these little guys.  He is learning the colors because of them so I can’t complain

One day I’m gonna miss this…I can feel it in my bones…

Finally, the end of the month brought some bluer skies.  It was still chilly but the rain was gone!!!

I went out and layed in the grass.

Sounds crazy but I am. kinda.

Will took this as a sign that I obviously wanted to be rolled around the yard.

The only thing obvious to me was that he loved it.

As in – screaming laughter with chocked up breathing loved it.

After we picked the grass outta our hair, we visited our creek…

His little red nose….leftover squiddles from a cold….

I can’t wait for it to warm up a little more.  I am resolute about visiting this creek more this summer…like every. single. day.  I need to go ahead and plan for a really long extension cord for a mini fridge

Surprise blueberry bush growing out over our little stream…

Will loves it.  Loves it more than staying dry.  If that gives you any idea of what happened next

I took the rosemary plants out of the garden and replanted them in the pots.  My gardening gloves smell amazing now.

Some folks ask who Will looks like.

Well…both of us.  and a little bit of none of us

Here’s my chart of explanation….

Will likes to check out the flowers in the deck box.  I like to check out his cutey bootie.

Of course, sometimes my darling son is not happy.  He is going through the ‘screaming at nothing crying at everything’ stage.  I love it with all my heart.  It’s my favorite stage.  I hope it never ends.  I hope you know my voice is dripping with sarcasm right now.

You have survived!

Everyone give me some muscles and a GROOOEEEOOOO

This week, we are celebrating our first anniversary here in this new(ish) house and it’s surreal.  It’s weird to think that just 12 months ago we barely knew this little country town and the ins and outs of our big beat up house.  It seems to fly by.  even when you are looking.  and snapping photos of time whizzing by.  it still flies.  I thought it would be fun to look back a little.  Here’s a little of what’s whirling around in that crazy brain of mine….

Just a year ago we sat down with The Commish and signed all that paperwork that made our dream house our house.

The journey began the moment we signed our lives and third child away the dotted line because our bruised whale of a foreclosure was still in need of a lotta lovin.  We had to pick replacement carpet, install a new furnace, water heater, and appliances, and garage doors.  And 10 thousand Laura Lynn milk boxes and no moving vans later, we were moved into the new house….thankfully we unpacked our favorite accessory before we chunked them all to the recycling center.  (here’s the post explaining more!)

We ended up choosing Martha Stewart for the carpet…and the mistress of Good Things delivered. One year later, I feel confident that it was the best decision to replace all the carpet in the bedrooms BEFORE getting all our furniture into the house.  (you can see more about our carpet replacement here)

Then we had everything out of our old house and we tearfully handed the keys over to the new inhabitants.  (see the entire empty house tour here) (read about how we executed a lease purchase here)

Right before we left, we dug up Will’s birth tree and replanted it at our new house.  (see fat Katie photos here)

But that was about all we did.  The rest of our stuff was lookin’ messier than Polamalu with bedhead. (see the completely chaotic house tour here)

Even though we had a slow start with really moving in, we did pull the ripcord on a couple important purchases – a new fridge (see how we talked the delivery guy into posing with it!) and a new dishwasher (read read all about it!)

The entire year felt like we were just getting our bearings in this new house.  We did small projects and added small (aka cheap) purchases- nothing too intense just simply because we knew this house would take more money and more planning due to the size (bigger rooms = bigger scale furniture, more paint, more time).  Plus, in true Bower Power form, we were attempting to be frugal in our big purchases.

Of course, that didn’t mean we stopped doing home improvement.  Inside the kitchen, we switched out the table and then refinished it…

added some new-to-us-old-to-my-mom chairs and a made-over chandelier and a renovated bench and later stenciled the picture window to add a little sumpin-sumpin.

and got to work on our first floor bathroom.  (here’s the painting process, the new lights, the vanity makeover and the mirror & art post)

We also flexed our bathroom-makeover muscles with the kids bathroom (by painting the trim, installing a new light, painting the walls, making some art, and creating a shower curtain outta a flat sheet)

put the living room through a workout with a new layout and then a new $200 rug and then a coffee table makeover (oh and mounted a shiny new 3D tv after our old one kicked the bucket).  And did I mention that we removed the stained glass sticker off a side window? and replaced the sconces? and redecorated with orange?

The Master bedroom got some minor improvements….we added some blinds in the bedrooms to block out the blinding morning sun, hung curtains, made a herringbone mirror, hung some art work and Pinterest Challenged the bathroom window.

the stairway got gallerified…

and we installed some old lights in new rooms.  (here’s the post about the dining room light) (read all about the bedroom light here)

The dining room also got a new coat of paint and some new sconces…

And that guest bedroom got a some things hung on the wall…

Will’s room received a little de-sushi-fication,

and eventually a whole new makeover with new paint.

In the basement, we had to pretty renovate everything in preparation for the biggest event of our year – my little sister’s wedding which we hosted in the backyard. (here’s my photos from the party and the professional photographers too)

In order to get ready for all the blissful chaos that comes with backyard weddings, we renovated our basement entertainment room (here’s part 1 and part 2),

built some outdoor seating & fixed the outdoor stone columns,

Oh and renovated the basement bathroom…so that all the wedding guests could opt for something a little classier than a shovel (here’s the before, during & after)

Outside we started working to make it look a little more presentable too.  (here’s the tour!) (we added a swing, did some serious landscaping, replanted some shrubs from the woods,

installed a new fence,

planted a garden,

added some accent rocks in the front,

and prettied up around the deck (which we had to pressure wash years of gunk off), added an outlet for the DJ,

switched out door hardware and gave the front door a fun new color. (oh and the back doors too!)

But it wasn’t all work and no play…we got to use the house for lots of fun too.  We definitely partied it up at Will’s 1st Barnyard Birthday Party…

and had a grand time at my sisters bridal shower…

Holidays were a blast too.

Halloween decorating was definitely fun….bigger and better in this house.  We did the inside too

And for Thanksgiving we worked the tablesettings (here and here) before hosting the big family dinner,

and we wrapped up the year with a big Christmas sha-bang.  We spread the cheer on the outside and the inside.  (here’s the link to our kid-friendly tree)

I think it comes down to this…I’m excited that we did more than just move in.  We didn’t mean to do much.  It was our goal to take it slow in the renovations of this house.  It was also our goal to grow to love this place.

Most of you guys know I had a little bit of a hard time letting go of the last house.  That it was something weirdly special to me.  That it felt right.  And that this house was just that….a house.  Well, I am happy to say that yes, it’s been a full year.  and yes, it’s official….this is now more than just our house….it’s our home

Have you ever heard of Wayfair?

Yeah.

I hadn’t either.

But maybe you have heard of CSN?  Well Wayfair is formally known as CSN Stores - lightbulb!  And if CSN doesn’t sound familiar, Wayfair has some other popular partners – like Joss & Main and Allmodern.com.  Now do you know what kind of awesome I’m talking about?

Well, color me surprised when I got the email from one of the fine folks at Wayfair telling me that they were gonna start a new blog called My Way Home (cute play on words, huh!?) to run side-by-side with their booming online store and wanted me to be a part of it.  You see Wayfair is a store that sells everything from rugs to pillows to toys to home workout equipment.  It is HUGE.  Like a mecca of shopping.  And you know I love to shop.  and talk about shopping.  and talk about my life.

And that is exactly what they wanted me to do…talk about our life….and handpick some things from their store that I wish I had.  Totally my speed.

Pretty cool gig, huh?!

Yeah…I’m still shocked I get to be involved.  Especially since the rest of the “homemakers” are way cooler than me.  The other peeps are designers and former magazine editors and tv personalities.  Don’t know who slipped the powers-in-charge the notion that I’d fit in but THANK YOU, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. (imagine me saying that with an Elvis voice).

I think they probably picked me cause they know I have the world’s most fantastic and best looking and clever and stylish readers.  It’s true.  I do.  Go ahead and take a bow.  Don’t forget the hand swirlies.  So I hope you join me over there every other week (click here to see what I’ve posted over there already!)…it’s gonna be content that I don’t share here and new photos too so it should be a fun time – and I really hope we can recreate that same feeling of community over there that we have here…because that makes me happier than a marsupial in a pocket factory.  yeah…I’m a nerd.

Ours was what I officially think of as our first family valentines day.  Jer made me breakfast in bed and then Will (and Daddy?) surprised me with a homemade valentine.  And since he had to scaddoodle to work, Will and I crafted him this pretty card.  Will traced the big pink and red hearts from the cardboard back I made.  He loves to trace   And then he colored the words and created the ‘flowers’ and with some help, glued them onto the card.

Then Will and I baked cupcakes.  The kid is obsessed with cooking.  If he even thinks you are gonna cook something, he comes running while yelling COOK HELP COOK HELP!  There have been many disappointed moments when he realizes I am just unloading the dishwasher.  Poor little Emeril.

I decorated them while he napped.  It was easier that way.

After Jer got done with work and Will woke, we readied ourselves for a night out on the town…err…in the shopping center near Kroger.  We had sushi and watched our food get hibachied.  It was like dinner and a show.  Will is definitely a fan of fried rice.

And then after the little guy went to bed, we watched What’s Your Number.  Which, might I add is not as funny as House Bunny.  I swear that I use that line “Eyes are the nipples of your face” pretty much weekly.  This movie just had too many f-bombs for my taste.  I mean, I can totally see the humor in an appropriately timed cuss word…but seriously Hollywood writers…wittyness goes a long way.  more of that please.

I also made some thread and heart garland for our window…it is so cheerful it might just stay up the whole month of February.

Oh and Jer did get me a giant bag of peanut m&m’s and wrote me a note that had me cry one sentence in.  stupid love of my life ruined my mascara

So what did you do?  Any love notes?  homemade valentines?  sushi and f-bombs?  I’d love to hear all about it (pun intended).

• How do I start a photography business?

There are some great resources out there on how to officially start your business.  They cover everything from insurance to taxes to how to deal with deal with new clients.  But I think that most of the questions out there about starting a new photography biz are from folks who think that it would be a great way to get additional income doing something they love without sacrificing the 9 to 5 of everyday.  Let me tell you something I learned this past year.  You are right.  It’s not a 9 to 5.  It’s a 8am to 11pm type job.  At least it was for me starting out.  I put more time into photography than my past ‘normal’ office jobs and it takes more from my darling family too.  I don’t want this to discourage anyone out there from pursuing photography – because I truly do drink the taking-photos-can-change-your-life koolaid…but I hope this brings some awareness to those out there thinking photographers have this glittery unicorns in a meadow type life.  There is a great deal of sacrifice starting any business.  Same applies here.  And there are times that you won’t love it.  All that to say….if you are interested in starting a photography business, I would encourage you first to learn your camera.  I am still learning mine.  And then second, build a portfolio.  Would you want to pay someone your hard earned dough if you didn’t know they could give you some great shots?  And 15 good photos of your own kids don’t count….because dealing with someone else is a way different dynamic than dealing with your own offspring.  So that’s my two cents…learn and build.

• How do I get clients?  (versions: how do I advertise?  how can I grow my new photography business? what do you do to get people to do photo sessions?  get your name out there?)

Advertising is something that I have not had to do yet.  I don’t advertise outside of posting on Bower Power so it’s really tough for me to encourage folks on how to successfully grow their business.  However, my dad has his own business (it’s computer software for the medical field so not quite the same) and something he taught me was that your product should speak for itself.  He always said that fancy bells and whistles will only get you so far and then it comes down to 1.  is your product great.  2.  do you deliver what you promise  3. word of mouth is the best advertising there is.  I truly believe that those three things can help any business.   And if I struggled with booking clients, I probably would consider making sure my photos were the best that I can make them (by comparing them to photos that I love, asking for reviews from photographers that I admire, joining photographers chatrooms to get input), joining forces with local businesses (like holding a cutest kid contest at a local gym, or contacting bounce houses to see if their parties ever needed photographers and also considering doing some pro bono work to get my name out there.)

• What can I invest in to become a better photographer?

Know your strengths and weaknesses.  Invest in your weakness.  If you can take great photos but your editing needs work, take a class on Photoshop or Lightroom.  Struggle with perfect exposure?  Read some books about how to get it and practice, practice, practice.  Is the personal dynamic or connection where you fall flat?  Come up with some cheat sheets for jokes with kids, shadow a veteran photographer to see how them make folks feel comfortable, or just simply come up with some talking points for all shoots.  Great shots don’t come from great cameras…they come from great photographers…so work on your weakness to improve overall (heavens knows I am working on my ten weaknesses all the time!).

• What is your workflow like?  (versions: how do you manage the time to edit?  what is it you do to backup your photos?)

I probably have the worst workflow…so you don’t want to be like me here.  After shoots, I come home and download.  All my images are backed up on Carbonite (an online service I pay for that backs up all my files just in case my house burns down) and also on an external hard drive.  That gives me three copies of each original file.  Then I sort through each image and copy the ones that I want to edit into a separate folder.  I try to give a really well rounded package – so of the 20-30 final images, they are usually different orientations, different backdrops, poses, etc.  Then I edit.  After editing, converting and watermarking, I upload to their online gallery (I use Zenfolio).  Then I back up again all the finalized images.  After that, I burn the cds (1 copy for the client and 1 for me to keep) and remove the original unedited ones from my computer.  That leaves me with 3 copies of the originals (Carbonite, external hard drive, cd) and 5 copies of the edited (Carbonite, external hard drive, computer, cd, online gallery).  It’s probably not the smartest way to do it but until I run outta space, it works for me.

As for time to edit – it happens at night.  After I put Will down, I settle in for some reality tv with Jeremy and I sit and blog.  After I get my post done, I edit.  Usually that means that I am up till 2am.  It’s terrible to be so sleep deprived but I know that I have a really deep passion for photography so its worth it to me as I build my portfolio and grow my business.

• How did you learn photoshop? (versions: what books did you read?  what classes did you take?)

I am one of those freaky girls that loves self-teaching….must be the homeschooler in me.  I taught myself photoshop.  I look at photos of other photographers and try to figure out how to make my photos look like that.  It’s like a puzzle.  You have to try to figure it out.  And I follow a lot of other photographers blogs.  I never really got into the forums out there but I know that some folks find them enormously helpful…I just don’t have time right now.  The internet is an amazing vast resource and if you know how to google you can find folks that are willing to help you improve and learn when it comes to photoshop.

p.s.  For more answered questions a la homeschooling – check out this post.

It captures me so much because it blends two things I have passion for: photography & home design.

Obviously I love taking photos.  I love getting the light.  the contrast.  the colors.

And I love seeing what hues the Color Tool can pull out of those photos.  And then the color pairings of that hue with complimentary colors.  It’s like instant decorating for color-stumped decorators.

I told you before about it.  It’s simple.

Choose photo.

It outputs.  (um…that output would be colors based on the photo.)

You pick one of those colors.

It gives you MORE colors so that you can decorate your room

You smile.  rejoice.  celebrate.  eat chocolate.

Last time I took it one step further and inputed (inpuuted, inputted, huh?) one of my own favorite photos…

And wanna see how addicted I am?  Imagine I’m a Glee girl and this is my solo.  Watch me now…

Bam.  You thought this is just a picture of a bridge.  Oh no.  It’s a sure fire no fail color scheme for bedrooms across the world.

And this isn’t a bridge with some pretty landscaping.

No.  It’s a color palette for some kitchens and living rooms.

And you only thought this was a lovely photo of my baby…

Well…you are right.   except it’s not just lovely.  it’s lovely AND adorable

But it’s also a great way to get some smokin hot bathrooms in the mix.

So now it’s your turn…go upload your photos…design away.

And when you run outta photos…tell all the other fine bloggers over there how much I appreciate their free design advice.

Disclaimer: I have been sponsored by Glidden brand paint to write this post but the thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

Yes, it is awkward when I am the only one cheering…alone…in my house…with my arms in the air…thanks.

But seriously – I could not wait another second to get the vanity outta the bathroom and get to work.  I knew that the trim…the chocolate brown trim…would take a little time to paint.  Three to four coats in white = lots naps.  And because I usually need a little instant-gratification when starting a project, I thought that the trim could wait while I slapped some paint on the vanity.

Remember the vanity?  Yeah.  Builder grade basic boring stuff.  Jer removed it for me by unscrewing the pipes (obviously we turned off the water first – duh – like we would ever forget that – no never – at least not after we did it the first time) and the countertop simply came off…because it was just laying on top.  unscrewed.  and unglued.  (enter dirty joke here about laying on top unscrewed and unglued – there are too many to count)

ANYHOO…the plan was to spice up the vanity with a little color.  I am not skeered of painting me a vanity a bold color (I did it once already in this house – remember?) so this time around I picked a hue that would be a little more feminine and a lot more fun.

Some folks asked if the plan was to wash it with the color instead of making it more matte – the answer to that is no.

Why?

Well, the vanity had some issues.  First, there was the issue of the toilet paper holder…that we were planning to remove and then patch the holes.  When you add a little filler to holes and sand them down, a wash would still allow peeps sitting on the loo to see the fix.  And then there was the issue of “the door circle”.  As you can see in the picture below, the left hand door has a weird circle.  It’s like the wood was patched at some point in manufacturing.  I just hope that Napolean got this baby at a discount.

So with our errors – a wash was out and a more solid color was in.  Of course, I knew that with only a few coats some of the grain would still show…fine by me of course…so it wouldn’t look like a solid piece from like Ikea or something like that but definitely more like painted wood.

After removing the tp holder, I filled the holes and waited for them to dry before sanding.  I also wiped down the entire piece with a damp cloth.  Here’s where I get all info-tastic on ya….

Since I planned on using spray primer (oil based spray primer that claims it will stick to anything) I did not sand the entire piece.  If you are scared of painting a piece and believe your existing finish is too slick – it doesn’t hurt to sand.  If you use a waterbased primer & paint in one – I would sand.  I ALWAYS sand the tops of pieces…just simply because that is what gets the most ‘touches’…but since this piece had a countertop that was removed, it was an extra step I felt unnecessary

I taped off the hinges and the inside lip – just in case…

And used spray primer.

Here’s Will managing the assessment of the piece after it had dried.  And why yes, that is his official outfit for managing and assessing

I love spray primer.  Let me just tell you how much I love it.  It’s borderline an obsession.  I have been known to skip dinner just to drive out to get more.  A dinner with bacon! And it cuts down on the commitment.  Sure it costs more but it is totally worth it.  Because frankly, sometimes I don’t want to even start painting something just simply because the primer stage takes way too long.  And the clean up on an oil based primer or shellac based primer takes a long time too.  My time is precious to me as I am sure yours is too.  Yet another reason why I love spray primer.  I wish I could spray prime the bathroom and the office…hey…that’s an idea

I ended up choosing Park Place by Allen & Roth for the paint color.  I purchased one of the little $3 pots from Lowe’s (gift card in hand since they are the ones making this reno possible!) and used about half.

This is my favorite brush for furniture painting.  It’s a 2 inch angled short handled brush from Purdy.  You must own one of these if you are painting anything…ever.  It’s worth every cent.

Two coats later, we have a very muted turquoise vanity.  Fist bump me!

I carried it inside to see how it would look with the vanity top…very classy indeed.  I’ll talk Jer into removing that faucet asap    But so far – we are moving right along.

Sooo….what have you guys been up to lately?  Any more projects?  Any weekend house progress?  Any turquoise lovahs?  Anybody making their vanities a little fairer?  Spill.  Not the paint…the news

Click here to see what’s going on over there ….

Click here to see what’s going on over there ….