Obsessed Much Mondays: Sweet Hershey

We are officially home from the fair, and boy WHAT A WEEK! When we arrived home late yesterday, my home looked like a tornado had hit. Between packing the camper and the kids finishing up their homemade projects...things were just strung across the entire house! 

I am a little late then normal to get out this week's "Obsessed" blog post...but with good reason. 

As we are cleaning up, re-organizing our life, getting things back to "normal", and the children being completely exhausted, we are also riding a very large emotional roller coaster. We have finally come to the realization that we are losing our beloved Hershey.

{She is always getting herself into some sort of trouble}

Hershey-girl was our first family pet, and has lived with us for almost 14 years! She is totally in love with Baileyhusband (she has good taste), and follows us around while doing chores EVERY day like it is her job! She also loved to chase the boys around and stay with them while they played in the sand until dark, like a little watchman.

She has survived being run over as a young pup and survived being taken to the dog-pound after she ran away once (I found her huddled in a corner of a cage at the Animal Rescue League, looking SCARED TO DEATH, needless to say, she never ran away again!! :). And now we are saying a very sad good-bye to her. She is having trouble getting around, wobbly old legs, and has cancer.  

Today, I am watching her (and sometimes following her) walk slowly and weakly around our farm. It's almost like she is saying good-bye to all her favorite places and all the animals. Usually she would be laying on the cool garage floor with the fan blowing on her. Especially today, because it is finally a HOT day. But nope, she is being a stubborn old thing... 

A vet is on stand-by, for when we have finally gotten brave enough, and to love her enough to say GOOD-BYE. So today, yes...I am ObSesSeD Much over our Hershey-Girl....we love her.....

A Budget -Friendly Camper Re-Do: Our Style

Last summer, on a whim, we purchased a camper...off of Craig's List...the night before we were going to use it! 

When we go to the 4H County Fair, we thought it would be fun and economical to just stay there the whole week instead of driving back and forth multiple times a day, tending to our cattle that we are showing, and in between fun fair activities. 

This little beauty was a great find, and a steal! It's a 1998 Dutchmen, and was taken care of by it's one owner and actually barely even used. So home it came with us!

We stayed in it that first week, but it didn't feel like ours. The cupboards were full of stuff that wasn't ours, and the colors and patterns were circa 1990's. We began to dream up big renovation plans! I even looked to Pinterest with my board titled "Camping in Style". 


But when it came time to actually start renovating it, we began to get a little nostalgic about this cute little camper. The wood wasn't really that bad to live with. The floors were easy to maintain. The brass (and there is a lot of it!) was growing on us. With a few cosmetic changes and our own accessories....it feels more like "us". 

I kind of let the camper tell me what style looked best with it. I brought in one of my favorite wedding gifts: A wedding Ring Quilt, and it just looked right at home in here. So that was the inspiration that I went with for the whole look. 

We will probably only use this a couple times each summer, and nothing screams "Summer" to me more than quilts. 

I love having the restraint of a tight budget, it is more creatively challenging. And I LOVE a challenge!

New window treatments in the bedroom were a MUST, I was going to make some,but found exactly what I wanted with these simple sheers from Target.

To balance all the girli-ness, we brought in some roughness via vintage coffee sacks. I had quite the growing collection of these, and after getting over the initial shock of cutting one up, I love the look it adds to the windows!!

Now, the window above the dining table was the biggest challenge! I know, I know...not a big deal in hind-site. But I had this "vision" of a deer rack hanging. 

After several nights of begging Baileyhusband to hang those suckers, he finally did. 

And they came crashing down as soon as we let go!

The wall paneling would not hold those heavy things! And if you could picture a grown woman hissing a fit, stomping her feet, and crying out to the decor Gods...well, that wasn't what happened. (well, maybe)

So, for posterity sake, I had Sierra hold them up for you all to see what it should have looked like. Cool, huh? 

After thinking about it for a couple days, and thinking "what in the world can I hang there that will cover that hole we made and be light as a feather??"

Well, duh, FEATHERS! We have plenty of them around here. And you know what? I like this better than the antlers....so THERE, decor Gods!! Now this is my favorite window in the camper. 

We also added burlap and rope to all the fabric panels. Amazing what a staple gun and a glue gun can accomplish! Burlap + Rope = A match made in heaven.

{One of the panels, before and after}

Some super cute, handy accessories, and we can use this as our second home! Because I always need to have fun things to look at as well as them being useful! 

Real herbs from our Farm Garden, these will be handy when grilling or making sandwiches at the campground!

Here are some before and after shots to see some of the changes:

There you have it....Our finished little camper remodel. 
It is not very fancy by any stretch of the imagination, and truth be told...it could be a little bigger, with bunk beds, a larger bathroom maybe. But, we actually adore this little gem. 

As I sit, typing this on my quilt in the bedroom, looking out to the trees surrounding our campground....(the family is down tending to our cattle in the barn)...I cannot be happier with our choice to save money and buy this, and make it home-y with our own unique style. 

 To quote one of my favorite bloggers, The Nester, 
It Doesn't Have To Be Perfect To Be Beautiful! So I hung this sign proudly.

I am a list maker, here is a breakdown of what was done/purchased:

* Burlap and rope added to cupboard panels with staple gun and hot glue

* Coffee sacks stapled over old window treatments

* Sheers purchased for bedroom windows, there are 3 windows. I only bought 3 panels and cut them in half length wise, and trimmed the bottom to fit the short ceiling height. (From Target)

* Baby crib sheets over kitchen benches, which also turns into a bed for the kids. So they work double-duty. (cheaper than a new slipcover. Purchased from Babies R Us)

* Quilt covering sofa-bed (over a fitted sheet), already owned

* Bedroom quilt and bedding, already owned

* Homemade feather garland over window in kitchen and homemade "Be Inspired" banner above bed.

* 2 seagrass rugs (Target)

* Magazine/mail holder baskets on wall (purchased new from Target)

* Feed sack pillows and other pillows from my hoarding stash

* Framed feed sack in barnwood, made by me

* Sheepskin throw/ rug (purchased from Ikea)

* All other accessories were just found around our home

I hope you enjoyed seeing into our little home-on-wheels! We are so excited for the chance to use it this summer/ fall season. 

Until next time.....

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Summer at our Home: The Living Room

Welcome back to our Home!

Our living room is part of a "Great Room" style, meaning the kitchen, dining, and living room are all one big open area. And this is where we LIVE! 

It is a blessing as well as a curse ....having it all open like this. Because when the kitchen is messy, or the table, then everyone can see it and we look like slobs. 

But that is part of having a family....and that is the blessing! But, right now, I will just be showing the living room portion of our "Great Room".

Last summer I took part of a ONE Room, THREE Ways Challenge. It was so much fun to see this room, with all the main pieces the same, decorated 3 different ways. 

{Creams and whites}

{Turquoise and Brown}

{Denim and burlap}

I have moved and re-arranged this room a few times since last summer, but again, for the summer months, this is usually the arrangement. (For the winter, the sofa by the window comes over to the other side of the room) 

And here is what this room looks like now 

We have loved having 2 matching, dark brown sofas. The comfort factor is the most important, but the color is great at hiding EVERYTHING that we can throw at it! (literally)

This room's shape and size can handle 2 large sofas, instead of the usual grouping of one sofa and one loveseat. When we purchased them, the loveseat was actually so close in price as the bigger sofa, and we figured the added seating was worth the little extra cost. I sometimes wish we had bought a different ottoman than the matchy matchy one, so I added a rag-rug (purchased from Target) on top for the summer. 

The seagrass rug is left un-layered this season, for a more open, summery look. 

We have had these cream fringe large pillows for MANY years, and they are usually on a sofa in the basement, the texture and size is a great fit with my robin's egg blue ones with burlap trim....plus I'm kinda into fringe at the moment! 

We use the tray that I painted and wrote about HERE. It is usually full of TV remotes, the daily mail, a drink...

My favorite thing to do is to "Shop the House" and re-think ways to use something, or move things from room to room. For this summer, I did actually purchase one new thing...I have been stalking reading and following Vol.25. Jessica is an amazingly talented artist who is living a dream life in the mountains. I LOVE ALL HER WORK. But I was particularly drawn to this piece called Wild and Free that she sells in her Etsy shop. It is great quality printed on canvas. 

She sells all kinds of posters, my favorites are the Vintage inspired Science Posters, but this print did not come that way. So we made our own. By cutting (2) 1 1/2" x 1" barn boards, just stapling the canvas right to the boards, and using some twine to hang it...I love how this new piece looks in our room!

And every room needs to have a conversation piece :) Or a "Statement Piece". 

Meet Scout (yes, we name things around here...for instance, our vehicle is named Big Mama). Gunnar asked me what we should call it and we agreed that it looked like a Scout, don't you? 

I love tree stumps and have had this idea in my head (and Pinterest) for a while now of painting this one for our living room. And while the kids were working on their fun projects, I wanted/needed/ itched to do something crafty too! I will show you the process of making Scout on another day. 

So, there you have it! Our living room Summer Style tour.....

This week, the kids will be showing their 4H projects and cattle at the County Fair....

so GOOD LUCK TO SIERRA AND WYATT!!! And I cannot wait to show you all the fun stuff they have made!! 

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Obsessed Much Monday: County Fair Projects

With the approaching County Fair this week, and because we are HUGE procastinators (I like to think we are just so busy, but the truth is we always wait until the last minute!!), we have been in PROJECT MODE here at the Bailey household. 

I will not show quite yet (mainly because we aren't completely finished) the projects that Sierra and Wyatt are taking to the fair this year. But, believe me, they are SO COOL! 

I will, however, give you a peek at the inspiration behind some of those projects, or at least images we have found that are similar to what they wanted to create!

 

Aren't those Dream Catchers BEAUTIFUL!?!? All of the images above were taken from Pinterest, if you click on them, it will take you there! 

Believe me....the one that Sierra created is amazing! And HUGE! And I have several places that I could hang it in our home! 

She has also made some tie-die pillow cases...fun, fun, fun! I already have other tie-die projects that I have her signed up to make for me (she just doesn't know it yet!). The image below is the tie-die method that she used, it's not your typical multi-colored one....and I love it! 

{From White Buffalo Styling Co. ~ found on Pinterest}

Now moving on to Wyatt's project inspirations....he has his hands full, but he is ALMOST done. Here is a little peak at what is inspiring him:

Wait until you see the cutest project he made with regards to Olaf (from Frozen, the movie) I just may have to print this image for my winter-self! :)

This next image of Garden Markers are as close as I could get to show some hint of what Wyatt created, his are much cooler (says his mom!)

Wyatt is showing some photography of a baby calf (Alaska), as well as a wood-burned sign of our Family name.... but the most time-consuming and detailed project that he will be showing is not even close to being done yet (cue this Mama getting anxiety hives)...we still have to purchase just the right plants for it and get everything potted...and yes, judging is in 2 days!!

This is a little peak at some inspiration:

{Wyatt actually owns this book and has been using it as a guide}

                                  

Anyway, so here is what has me so OBSESSED on this Monday....my mind is in 5 different time zones and I'm trying to stay calm and organized....HA! I have a camper to pack, a house to clean, chores that need done, mouths to feed....you get the picture. But don't mind me, I will be the zombie walking around the garden center in about an hour with a twelve year old....Good Times! :)

Now, all my friends....you all have a great Monday!!