What Would Jamie Wear: Christmas Brunch

Every year my husband's family has Christmas brunch at the country club where he used to work and his parents have been members for years.  It is such a fun time to visit and the food is so, SO good!  I usually cannot get past the eggs benedict and mimosas but each year I am so very happy when I leave...and full! 

Brunch is a dressy occassion so every year I find myself trying to figure out what to wear about a month prior to the event.  It's not formal dress dressy but definitely something you want to feel pretty for and and an outfit you are hapy taking pictures in. 

On our last visit to the outlet, Shanna and I actually did more shopping than the usual stop at Pottery Barn (don't get me wrong, we did that too but added a few places).  We actually finished almost all of our Christmas shopping.  Ladies, you know how this goes, one for you...and maybe something for me :)  It is super hard to shop all day for others and not come across something you love too, so in the spirit of giving why not give a little something to yourself along the way?  Anyway, enough of me justifying my purchases and back to showing you the outfit I picked out for brunch this year.  I know it's a lot of black but I softened it a bit with a blush toned cardigan and the sparkly tank is so festive!  I already owned the skinny cords and I have a pair of black boots so my outfit this year didn't break the bank.

Christmas Brunch by joneal featuring a chain bracelet

J Crew sequin tank
$60 - jcrew.com

Superfine long sleeve shirt
$84 - theoutnet.com

High waisted pants
£40 - topshop.com

Miss Selfridge high heels
£50 - missselfridge.com

Morra Designs gold earrings
$95 - calypsostbarth.com

Aamaya by priyanka chain bracelet
$173 - my-wardrobe.com

What do you think?  Would this be something you would wear?  Anyone going to brunch or have a Christmas party coming up that needs help with what to wear?  Let me know, I would love to help!

See you swoon,

Souped Up Desk Chair On the Cheap Vol. II

Up today is part 2 of 3 in a series on how I transformed a bunch of chairs that I scored at great deals for the kids' desks and my kitchen desk! I've already revealed the transformation of the first chair that I got at the Pottery Barn Outlet, which went in my kitchen.  Today is the chair I got for Little's desk.  Here it is before I did a little magic on it:

This chair was free!  It was part of a buy-one-get-one-free sale at the outlet.  Even without that promotion, it was a great deal at only $38 because it had a nick in the back of the frame of the chair, which was really visible (more on that in a second).

It is the Hayden Chair and retails for $249!  I will repeat: I got it for F-R-E-E.  Swooooooon.  Of course it would not do as-is.  First thing I did was address the nick in the back.  I just used a little wood putty over it, let it dry, sanded it down and it was good as new.  

Once the repair was taken care of, I decided to paint it pink!  I have 5 cans of "ballet slipper" spray paint that I scored from Sherwin Williams a few months ago. They were liquidating their supply of several colors and I guess there wasn't a real demand for a soft pink.  I got the cans on clearance for $1.50 each I think.  I knew I'd find a use for them, so I grabbed them.  Even though I had really bad luck with spraying chairs before, I decided to try it again.  I reasoned that this time I had more than enough paint.  So I used some oil based primer and then braved the spray paint.   I am happy to report it worked fine - I just used 3 cans of the paint for full, even coverage.  See?

I wanted to upholster the seat and used a pink toile that I've had laying around in my stash for years.  {I'll do a tutorial on how I made the hard seat super cushy soft and pretty when I post the reveal of Big's desk chair soon.} 

Here's the whole she-bang all together again!

It's come a long way, baby!  Here's a quick before and after for you:

before

after

before

after

What do you think?  I am thrilled with my two chairs so far.  Up next will be Big's desk chair complete with tutorial on how to upholster the seat.  Stay tuned! 

See you swoon,

This is it. As promised, the final front door post

I bet you thought this day would never arrive!  Alas, it has and it was worth every darn second I had to wait to complete this project.
My neighbor, husband, and I worked so hard on this door, I would have never guessed when we started working on it in May that I would be showing you the final pictures in December.  I wish it was as easy as just popping the door into the open frame but it was a lot more involved than that.  We ripped out massive wood pieces, nails, and stone to make this baby fit back into the opening and then making sure the door would close was a challenge in itself. 

I am happy to present to you the final product :)  Now I have to get the energy to replace the back door when the weather warms up next spring, I hope that is enough time to recover. 

Door before (I know I have shown these to you once or twice before):

And after demo:

After six and a half months, DONE.  Painted, spackled, caulked, sanded and then sanded five billion more times:

Here is a shot of the pretty threshold that my neighbor made.  I stained it with the lightest stain I could find, it is doesn't match exactly but it still works well with the wood floor.  I am so happy with how this turned out.

Have you been working on any projects that have taken much longer than expected?  I would love to see some pictures of what you are working on and then the finished project!  Send them our way so we can feature all of your hard work.

See you swoon,

Souped Up Desk Chair On the Cheap Vol. I

This week is all about chairs:  three chairs, in fact!  We needed a bunch and I found a bunch and with a little time, TLC, paint and fabric, I was able to transform them into great additions to the spaces in our home.  Up today:  the chair for our desk in the kitchen.

A few weeks ago, I got an email from the Pottery Barn Outlet that made me run -- not walk, run -- to the store.  It was a buy one get one free sale on their dining room chairs.  And the chairs were all an additional 15% off of their sale prices.  I needed chairs for Big's desk, Little's desk and my kitchen desk, so I grabbed the kids and high-tailed it to Lancaster.  And we were not disappointed.  I ended up getting two chairs at the outlet for just $75 total.  Not bad for really well made chairs, no?  This is the chair I picked for the kitchen desk:

It is the Isabella chair, which retails for $140.  It was priced at the outlet for $88 minus the 15% discount (and then I got the second chair free - more on that chair in a future post) -- so about $75.  I got it in green, but they had black, red and one white at the outlet.  Unfortunately, the white chair had a big crack in the frame, which I did not feel like dealing with.  I knew I'd have to paint the chair and green seemed like the easiest color to paint over.   So green it was.  

I will note that I saw a seagrass chair there that I literally stopped in my tracks and drooled over.  It was a little pricier (I think it was around $100) but still less than the retail version at $160.   I loved it, but I'm practical and my cat would Destroy with a capital D it.  So that beauty stayed at the outlet.  

Back to my chair!  The original plan was to give this chair to Big for his desk.  Once we got home, he declared that he did not like the "straw" on the seat.  So, Plan B was to put it in the kitchen.  I think it fits a little better in the kitchen anyway.  Now I had to choose what color to paint the frame.  I knew I'd keep the rush seat for texture.  I thought about Comfort Grey, which is the color I used on the pedestal table in the kitchen or Waterscape, which is what I used on the entryway table (both Sherwin Williams colors, by the way). Ultimately, I decided that Dover White (like the rest of my chairs) was the way to go.  It took three coats to cover. Here it is painted:

And here it is with the rush seat back on!

I'm super thrilled with this transformation. What do you think?  Stay tuned for two more posts this week about chairs on the cheap!  

See you swoon,

Getting Benched

I got a workbench! A custom-made-for-my-5'1"-self workbench!  Wanna see it? Here it is!

As I've gotten handier and taken on more and more projects, I realized that I really need a dedicated workbench for doing projects and for storing my tools and hardware.  I looked around but the workbenches I saw at Sears or Lowe's or Home Depot weren't doing it for me - they were pricey and didn't seem to fit the bill.  Plus, they were all out of the box, which meant they were just too tall for me.  My dad is handy and has a workbench so I talked to him about it.  He offered to build me a simple one to my specific measurements.  It would be nothing fancy: just 2x4s, some posts and planks, plywood, and peg board.  But oh my ... I was so excited and it sounded perfect!

First, I had to determine the spot for my bench: garage or basement.  That was an easy one - basement all the way.  Our basement is unfinished and used only for storage.  It's also huge. And now, it's my workroom.  I decided to put the bench on this wall:

Next, I figured the size of the bench and sent the measurements to my dad.  He cut all the lumber at his place and then came up to my house on a Friday, when we assembled the bench together.  I wish I could do a tutorial, but my dad is the mastermind behind this build.  It took us 5 hours to build the bench (he had already precut almost all of the wood that we used). Here is another picture of it finished!

I'm going to have to paint the bench or at least use Poly on it ... but you know me and you know I want to paint it. I'm not sure what color just yet.   I love the functionality of this bench. I have a perfectly sized work surface, a really great Craftsman vice that my dad bought for me, a shelf for storing things, pegboard to hang tools and an open spot for my Shop Vac.  Now for organizing!  I took a few minutes on a Saturday afternoon when my parents had the kids and took this ...

and whipped it into shape by turning it into this:

and this

I bought the white shelves (made of heavy duty resin) at Lowe's for about $30.  I definitely need at least one more for that wall, which will be my paint area.  The pile o' tools and hardware on and around the work bench is getting organized pronto with the help of another inexpensive shelving unit from Lowe's, pegboard and maybe some shelves.  I think I'm going to go with a fun, bold, punchy color palette down in my work shop, like this picture from House Beautiful:

Aren't those stripes to die for? They're fun and feminine but not too silly or girly-frou-frou.  Let's talk about your home work area! Do you have a work bench or a dedicated work space for projects? Where do you get 'er all done?

See you swoon,