'Round Here

'Tis the season for lots of goings on!

In the shake of a lamb's tail, we're smack dab between Thanksgiving and Christmas and I'm reeling!

Over the past few days, we've spent an hour here and an hour there decorating. 

It's going to be a two-tree year here--and probably that way for the foreseeable future!  I switched to an artificial tree a couple of years ago when single after only ever having live trees.  Learning how easily they go up, I had no intention of going back to a real tree.  

But Matt really wanted a live tree.  And considering he wants for so little...

So there's a live tree tucked away in the corner of the dining room.  The glow is simply stunning!

And we'll be putting up the artificial tree in the living room this week.  

Photos to follow of course!

In the meantime, isn't this the sweetest little tree ornament?  My friend Stacey of Cottage Industry made it from a vintage quilt and it hangs prettily on the front door knob!

Matt and I are also steadily making headway in setting up the house.  For now we're focused on the studio.  It's the front bedroom of the house, right off the living room. It was the space in which we dumped all the boxes upon moving in.  And while it would probably still be considered a cluttered wreck by most, it really is on its way!

For instance, my desk.

I spray painted two filing cabinets from Habitat Restore in a gloss apple red and had an 8-foot piece of particle board cut to depth at Lowe's to serve as the desktop.  Since particle board isn't the prettiest, I then wrapped it in the cheeriest yellow gingham oil cloth!  Add in an aqua IKEA metal office chair and this room is looking better by the minute. ;)  

We'll also be hanging some shelves above the desk for vertical storage.  I had to laugh when I realized the shade of paint I chose--Sherwin Williams Aqueous from Lowe's--was almost identical to the shade of aqua on my running shoes. #ihaveaproblem

Oh, and I can't forget some major progress made in the kitchen in the last few weeks!

Right before Thanksgiving, I shared a sneak peek of a kitchen project on Instagram (follow me @harmonyfarmcandles!)

At the Country Living Fair back in October, we picked up a neat industrial rolling cart with wooden bins.  The base fit perfectly between our stove and fridge in a space that didn't have any cabinetry.  However the top (which fortunately wasn't attached) was too large.  

So, particle board to the rescue again! Lowe's cut a piece to the specs needed for the top and a local HVAC company wrapped it in zinc. 

The base of the cart got a coat of glossy apple red spray paint--just like the filing cabinets in the studio--and I painted the wooden bins white. 

Now this cart provides some much-needed counter space in our petite, vintage-style kitchen! 

This little red shelf above the stove also went up the other night.  Matt was at his weekly bowling league and I was tired of looking at the blank space between the top of the stove and the bottom of the over-the-range microwave hood.   

The shelf had hung over the previous stove and I figured we could use it again.  After more glossy apple red paint, I thought, 'oh, I'll get this up and surprise Matt when he gets home.'  

Ahhhh, the road to hell is paved with such good intentions...

So, after putting Jacob to bed, I started up, all bright-eyed and optimistic.

A job that I thought would simply require nails ended up with me drilling additional holes into the back of the shelf over the kitchen sink (to catch the sawdust of course!), drilling holes in the wall, and pulling the 400-pound stove away from the wall to find dropped screws and to vacuum up sheetrock and wood dust.  

Not to mention all the finagling with the drill. Oy vey! In order to hide the additional screws. I had to drill the holes in inconspicuous spots. But inconspicuous spots can also be hard to reach with power tools or even regular old screw drivers...

Needless to say, my 'surprise' concluded with Matt coming home to a deranged-looking woman with tools and vacuum cleaner strewn about the kitchen at midnight!

In the end, though, the shelf is up!

But I wouldn't recommend putting anything heavy on it! :P

This week is my last week of candle-making as I finish wholesale and Etsy orders for the calendar year.  This Saturday, I'm also doing a pop-up shop at the Southpoint West Elm in Durham which I'm incredibly excited for!  It'll be interesting to see how many last-minute shoppers there are on the final Saturday before Christmas!  If anyone reading is local, I'll be there from 12-4.

We'll also be going to see the new Star Wars movie, finishing Angel Tree shopping, and Jacob's class has a holiday party Friday that I'm helping with.  Clearly, it's going to be a full week! ;) 

What's keeping you busy these days?