Staircase Renovation, Part 2

Well... the steps are done. Thank the good lord, because I was starting to geel guilty locking the cat in our bedroom for hours. The end result, I am totally in love with, mostly because it looks exactly like I hoped it would. And with no issues. Finally, a project without issues!

During Part 1 of this project, I shared with you Steps 1-5.

Part 2 includes a repeat of Steps 4 and 5 and completing Step 6 and 7 if you're installing carpet treads. Here's what to do, after the jump...

Staircase Renovation, Part 1

When we bought our current house the carpeting was the most disgusting things I've ever seen. There was incredibly filthy pink carpet on the staircase, baseboards and living room, which we ripped out as soon as we moved in. Gross. The staircase has been an ongoing project for about 5 years, which is 4 too long. Once we took the carpeting off, we went through many looks: original wood treads and risers,  original risers and white steps, original risers and black steps, then most recently, black treads and white risers. Which actually was great, until 3/4 of the white started chipping off, exposing the wood underneath. This looked totally trashy, so we needed to fix them, and do it totally right and not cut corners (lesson learned). So, this is the first part in the staircase renovation.

Ear Warmers & Layered Flower Tutorial

I've been drooling over this post at Prudent Baby, by Delia Creates for the whole entire month, and finally got it together this morning. I added a tutorial for my layered fabric flower toward the end too :) 

The tutorial Delia provided is ridiculously simple to follow, and results in seriously the cutest fall/winter accessory... an ear warmer. She used fleece, and says you can use a sweater or thermal too. I can't wait to raid Andrew's old clothes for shrunken sweaters and thermal tops. This is the story of how I made mine...

Lilly's 2nd Birthday Bash!

We now have a 2 year old child. What the what? A 2 year old! I'm confused as to how on Earth that happened, but it did, and here we are. I found it pretty depressing that she was turning 2, for the simple fact that our not-so-little baby isn't a baby any longer, but instead a human being that talks, gives dirty looks to strangers who invade her personal space, gives a bit of an attitude, gives hugs and kisses, loves her friends (read: sock monkeys and cousins), actually shares and takes care of her toys, poops on my hardwood floors and denies it (potty training), and asks to be tucked in like a burrito at night. How sweet!

The theme for her party and decorations was inspired by a local park/playground that has beautiful equipment for the kids to play on, beautiful setting and scenery, recycled tire wood chips, and a pavilion. That's all wood. RUSTIC WOOD. I drool every time I go there. Once we nailed down the location of the party, I knew instantly I wanted to do a rustic-country vibe party, complete with vintage fabrics I found at Happy Notions, and this invitation I found from Paper+Pip, both on Etsy.