{diy} entertainment center from pallets

I've had this idea in my head for a while now: Use pallets to build a real piece of furniture. 
Yeah, I know it's not all that original and a lot of people are pinning pallet projects all over Pinterest lately but they are all such great ideas.


So I didn't let that deter me and a few weeks ago I asked my father in law to pick up some pallets from work and drop them off at our house. We had to wait a week or so until he came across the right ones, ones that were in good enough condition to use for a piece of furniture. Then we spent an entire weekend prepping the pallets.

We cut 3 pallets in half and stacked them, bottoms facing to create the larger openings, on top of each other. Because the wall that holds the TV is wider we decided we needed to add to the unit for it to be large enough. So we cut another 3 pallets in half but this time in both directions and added the smaller cubbies on the side. Does that make ay sense? 

After figuring out how to configure the whole thing we sanded the heck out of all the pieces. This wasn't a lot of fun to do but totally necessary. Pallets are pretty rough and if you don't want to get a splinter every time you touch it you need to sand a LOT!!! Use power tools and don't try to sand by hand. 
The whole process probably took us 4 days since we also have a baby to take care of and the weather didn't always cooperate. If you stick with it more than we could you should be able to do this in 2 days.


After the sanding was done we mixed some white stain from Ikea (left over from our stairs and doors) with Polyurethane. Spend the extra money and get the one that cleans up with soap and water. The brand we used was Valspar.

We put on an even coat and let them dry. If you want to do this 'right' you should now sand again and do another two coats of stain with a sanding in between. I'm not patient enough and I also didn't want the wood to get too white. So we only did one coat ;)


We then brought everything inside and stacked the pallets the way we wanted. Hubby got some metal plates and caster wheels from Lowes and we went to town.
Be prepared to adjust the pallets a little bit, since they may not be square, by clamping them and attaching one piece at a time. It took both of us a few hours to get it all screwed together. 
Lastly we attached the caster wheels to the bottom, so now we can easily move it around if we want to.

I love it! I love the industrial look a la Restoration Hardware but with a waaaayyyy smaller price tag. 
I also like that it's not perfect. There is so much visual interest there and I just can't stop looking at all the details. 


Overall the project cost us:


$27 for all the brakets
$30 for the caster wheels
$30 for the Polyurethane 
The pallets were free :) 


So it wasn't a super cheap project but it was well worth the money we spent. 


Have you built anything from pallets lately? If you build something similar make sure to let me know, I would love to see it :) 

{style files} comfy fall

I'm wearing: Leggins (Target), T-Shirt ( Tresics), Sweater (JCrew), Jacket (Forever21)  Scarf (Target), Socks (Sockdreams.com) and Riding Boots (GoMax)

It was a pretty gray and rainy day yesterday. The hubs worked his first day since the season ended and the little guy and I spent the day at home, cuddled up in the window seat with the puppies, some coffee for mom and lots of passing cars to watch :)
He's been such a great little boy, taking two long naps during the day (on his own, in his room) and usually going to bed no problem around 8 pm. 
He loves his Little Einstein Jumper where he entertains himself while I make food or do other things around the house.


Don't get me wrong here though, we have had our issues too. We worked very hard to get him to this point but it was well worth it :) I'm sure once he starts teething this will all be a whole different story again...


He has also become so mobile during the last few weeks. He isn't even 5 months yet but already gets on all fours and rocks back and forth. Any day we expect him to start crawling, he wants to so badly. 
If we put him on the floor he seriously is all over the place checking things out. What a curious little bean. 

move.learn.eat

We came across these gorgeous videos on Vimeo a few months ago and I meant to share them but kept forgetting.


If you haven't seen them yet you need to take 3 minutes out of your day now and watch. Trust me, you won't regret it :) 



MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.





LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.





EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.




Soooo??? What do you think? Pretty awesome, right? And the guy isn't too hard on the eyes either... (j/k hubs, you're my one and only).


It's pretty rainy here today, hopefully you all are getting more sunshine than me :) 

family fashion haul

We live about 5 minutes from a Tanger Outlet Center. That is good and bad in sooooo many ways ;) I am sure you get the picture already...
I used to work up there before the baby, while I was still in college. 
Last Friday we went because it's nice to take a stroll around there with the bubs and because we had nothing better to do. Of course we didn't leave empty handed. Do we ever? 


Old Navy is having a Fall Haul Sale and additional 30% off their clearance. Many items around the store were 75% off. They sure need to have a sale with the amount of product they had on the floor, and that doesn't even include the Christmas merchandise yet.
Anyways, I was glad to take some stuff off their hands ;)

Old Navy/J Crew Haul by babesandsages featuring knit tops

The purple shirt is from J Crew. I got another top there but couldn't find an image.


I know a lot of people liked the look of the suede wedges from Old Navy but reviews were a little mixed. Some people found them to run small and look kind of cheap. 
Well here is my honest opinion:
They do run small. I wear an 8 and had to go up to a 9. They are now a little loose around the ankle but that shouldn't be a problem with some thicker socks. 
As for whether they look cheap or not, well, they are cheap ;) I only paid $18 for them so I didn't expect great quality to begin with. I think the gray is the best color and looks the most 'sophisticated'. You can see where the suede upper was glued to the rubber wedge but who really looks that closely at your shoes? 
All in all I think they will be just fine for a season or two and they are right on trend. If you're looking for something higher quality you probably shouldn't buy these from ON. 


I also really loved the breezy blouses. I wish they had come out with them a little earlier since the weather here in PA is now almost too cold to wear them without a cardigan and maybe even a jacket. Since they were such a steal though I don't mind wearing them once it warms up again. 


The white t-shirt only cost me $2.69 :) You can never have too many white t-shirts. 


Here is what the hubby got at J Crew and what we got the little guy at Oshkosh B'Gosh. 

I had an eye on this shirt all summer and it finally went on clearance for $12.49 :)  Image via here

These Summer Weight Chinos are the hubby's fave. This is the second pair. He's had them for months and they still look like new. They also barely wrinkle in the dryer and iron like a charm :) Image via Shopstyle.com

70% off. This is something my Dad would wear, so now the little guy and his Opa can look handsome together. 

I haven't bought these yet. I am gonna wait until a better sale comes up. They are fleece lined and will keep him nice and cozy all winter. 

Flannel Shirt 70% off

Haven't bought these yet either. He is just growing out of his current pair so these will be in the near future. All Oshkosh images via their website. 

Have you done any extensive shopping lately? Any good deals? 
Also, guess what I just realized? The little guy has been napping in his room for almost an hour and a half now :) 


Ha, I'm such a mom ;) 


Enjoy your day!
XOXO
Soph

apple crisp recipe

Image via here

My mother-in-law makes the most delicious Apple Crisp. I got her recipe and made it last week. Unfortunately it didn't last long enough for me to take any pictures ;) But I will share her recipe with you so that you can make some. It is so easy, yummy and perfect for the season.

Here is what you need:


4-6 apples (depending on how much you want to make) 
Peel and core them, then cut them into thin slices and layer them in the bottom of a baking dish.


For the topping you need:


1 cup of bisquick baking mix
1 cup of packed brown sugar
1/4 cup of oats
1 tsp of cinnamon 
half a stick of soft butter


Mix all ingredients together and spread them over the apples.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
Tastes great with some vanilla ice cream as well. 


Enjoy :) 

this and that

Yeah I know I've been a little absent again. Don't blame me, I was busy with the fam ;)
The weather has been somewhat bearable and so we cut logs into boards at J's parents' place and I got to bring home some awesome scraps for projects that are floating around in my brain. If I ever actually find the time to do them... 


Today we got the little guy his passport so that we can take him on his first visit to Oma and Opa's house this winter. We had to have passport pictures taken, which was pretty interesting considering he is only 4.5 months old. While we were at it we had them take a couple of him in his Halloween costume. 
I am usually not very big on posed studio photography but we got a free session fee and 8x10 so that's all we ordered. Yup, I felt perfectly fine doing that this time. I usually don't like going somewhere just to get a freebie.
Anyway, after we got that done I sent some orders off in the mail and we went and got lunch. Then we decided we really did need to get new Iphones and didn't want to wait any longer. So we ended up driving to the Apple Store and getting new pretties. 
Siri is wondeful and so polite, haha


The little man just let us drag him around town, napped on almost all the car rides and went to sleep at 8.15 pm tonight. 10 minutes of whining and then he was out. Ahhhh :) 


I listed Etsy lgoodies all night and now I am ready to get some sleep myself. 


I will leave you with my fave picture from our first shot at getting some Halloween pics in the back yard. Enjoy ;) 


XOXO
Soph

precious moments