IT'S A...

GIRL!!!

Mike and I got a peak at our little one last week before we left for the beach and we are thrilled to be having another sweet baby girl.  People kept asking me if I had a preference and though I told most everyone I didn't, there was a tiny little piece of me that was hoping for more hair bows, tutus, and pink!  

I love her already and can't wait to meet her!  My due date is November 4th but I'm really hoping we'll meet in October...

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint { Duck Egg Blue Chest}

This week I finished my first Annie Sloan Chalk Paint project and I am hooked! I read a little about chalk paint on Pinterest and decided I would give it a shot.  I think when I read no sanding or prep work needed, I was already in love!  The paint was a lot of fun to work with and if you like an older distressed finish, then you may want to check it out for your next furniture facelift!  

Here is a look at the old chest of drawers that I wanted to brighten up for our new nursery.  This is a piece that Mike had in college and has been sitting in our spare bedroom.  

C'est Moi is an adorable little shop in Nashville that carries Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and supplies.  They were very helpful with getting me started and since I have several old pieces that I have been wanting to paint, I decided to go ahead and invest in the wax brush and clear wax which is used for distressing.

We will find out if Baby Harder is a boy or a girl at the end of the week, but either way I fell in love with this Duck Egg Blue color and decided to use it for this dresser! The best part about the paint is that I didn't have to sand it down first, it only took one coat, and it dried in 30 minutes.  My next step was to go over the paint with the soft wax.  The wax deepens the paint color and the bristles actually distress a little on their own.  You can see the top drawers are a little darker here. 

Most of the tutorials I watched mentioned that most of the time people use too much of the wax and that you need to do a good job of rubbing it in with a lent free cloth.  So I put my handsome husband and his muscles to work!

The last step was to distress the dresser and then apply a final coat of wax over those areas.  I used 120 grit sandpaper to rough up the edges and a few spots over the wood.  It was a lot of fun and the best part is that it isn't suppose to look perfect.  I feel like we added a little character to an otherwise old boring dresser!  Here's how it turned out. 

Before and After

Much better now!

Downtown Franklin!

Three years ago, Mike and I bought our first home in Franklin, TN.  Franklin is a special town because it feels really close to being in the " country" yet you have the convenience of great schools, interstate access, and of course...Target! But my favorite thing about living in Franklin, is the quaint downtown area and it's remarkable Southern Charm.  

Folks in Franklin like to gather!  We like to stroll downtown and listen to live music, mingle in coffee shops, and eat from our favorite food trucks.  Since we live five minutes from downtown, we try to take advantage of this as much as possible!

We took Miss Abigail to the Main Street Festival a few weeks back and gave her a small taste of downtown Franklin.  At first, she just hung on to her daddy where it was nice and safe! 

It didn't take long though for her to hear the music and notice all the little people like her sipping lemonade with a smile on their face! 

Yesterday was another beautiful day to get outside and enjoy food, friends, and  great music!  We started our day with a fun little birthday party at The Henpeck Market right down from our house.  Check out this look she is giving me!  She was ready to get down and play...silly me for wanting to take pictures! 

After naps, we decided to head downtown for a little live music on the square!  The band 64 is a Beatles tribute band and they play outside the Mellow Mushroom on the second Saturday of every month.  Here's our little rockstar waiting for the show to start!

I am normally pretty strict about getting Abigail down for her early bedtime, but we made an exception and enjoyed family time a bit longer! Abigail enjoyed the band and would clap after each song... love her!