Hey guys! 

I hope you've had a good start to your week and that you're enjoying your day! 

For those of you who follow me on social media (click here for Facebook/click here for Instagram), you may be familiar with the recent emerald green end table Dane and I completed. I have to say, I became a liiiiiiiittle obsessed with the rich color!

When Dane and I were first preparing to move into our first home together, I went with my natural instincts and painted all of our furniture black. I love black (it's my favorite color)! It's classy and timeless and dramatic and....just pretty! But as life goes on, I realize that black just doesn't work in our tiny house. It's too dark. So I've slowly been adding color back into our home and to be honest, I'm LOVING it!! 

My most recent plan of action is to paint all of the walls the same neutral color and then add bright pops of color into each room. After this project, I've decided emerald will have to be my pop of color for our living room. It's just too good to pass up!

Truth be told, I can't even take complete credit for this beautiful piece. This vision belongs completely to my mom. She had bought this piece a while back and couldn't find the time to give it a makeover as she had hoped. So it was my house or the dumpster for this guy! Of course I jumped in and immediately saved this nice little table, and decided to carry out my mom's vision to the end. 

On the left is her inspiration photo, and on the right is our finished product: 

When making over old pieces, my favorite part is watching the first layer of paint go on. I love the instant gratification I get from watching the furniture turn from one dull piece into something amazing and beautiful! 

Now, for the color used...I'm not sure of the exact name because it wasn't on the little sample bottle she gave me to paint with, but I can tell you that when I paint my very own emerald end tables, I'll be using Valspar's Poker Green. It's dangerously close! 

After the paint had dried, we waxed it completely, using Valspar's Sealing Wax. Then after that had dried, I slowly added Valspar's Antiquing Wax. When doing this, it's important to seal before antiquing because the antiquing is something you paint on and wipe off. Without a seal already on the piece, the wax won't wipe off nicely. I'll write a how-to post soon so you can see what I mean. 

Now that I've found my pop for my living room, I'll need pops for my other rooms as well. Do you have any bright pops in your home? I'd love to see your photos for inspirations! Please share your ideas in the comments below!

Talk soon!
​
Heather 

Telling our friends and family about the news of our pregnancy was definitely something I'll never forget. Dane and I found out October 26th after I had told him I was eleven days late. I think we both knew that I was pregnant, but I was in denial. We went to Target with the intention of buying a pregnancy test, but we stood in the aisle across from the tests while I tried to motivate myself into walking over to grab one. 

When we got home, the tests must've sat on the table unopened for at least an hour and a half before Dane talked me into taking it. I then struggled to even look at the results. And it isn't that I didn't want it to happen. I actually spent years trying to convince him that we were ready to expand our family beyond dogs. I think I just knew that after reading that test, my life would never be the same, and I wanted to enjoy my life before kids just a little bit longer. You can read more about how we found out here.  

That following Saturday, we went to my parent's house to celebrate my Dad's 58th birthday. I had signed his card 'Love Dane, Heather, Harlow, Hudson, River, and Baby S (due Summer 2019). My mom was reading the card over his shoulder, but thankfully didn't make it to the end before he did. When he finally got to the signatures, he read them in slow motion as his brain began to make sense of what he was reading. My mom immediately freaked (in a good way). As my Dad stood up to give us hugs, my mom began hopping around the dining room yelling 'ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME?!' ARE YOU SERIOUS?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?! NO EFFING WAY! ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME?!'

Of course she and I were both crying and my Dad and Dane were just so surprised by all of the commotion, they just stood silent and watched it all go down. Haha! We then called my sister to tell her. Her response: 'About freakin time!'

Dane's parents were in Colorado visiting his sister and her family, so we called via Facetime to give them the good news. His sister had just moved into a new home, so after a virtual tour, Dane asked her if she had room in her new home for her new niece or nephew, and then the whole family began to shout with excitement. 

We decided not to tell the rest of our families until a few months later when we felt we were close enough to the 'safe zone'. So on Christmas Eve, we told my family. Although no one jumped around or screamed, they were all very excited and tears were shed. We told Dane's family on Christmas. The best surprise of it all was that his cousin also announced that he and his wife were expecting, and that their due date was just 2 days after ours! Christmas next year is going to be so awesome with so many littles around!