Jute Jute de Loop

It's been the summer of light fixtures here at Casa de Osborn. A few weeks ago, Tanner's parents came into town for the weekend and somehow between taking them on a tour of all the awesomeness that is Waco we completed two, that's right TWO, new light fixtures for the house.

I. am so excited. to be sharing one of those today! So excited.

But first, meet our breakfast area.

Not awful, right? It's really come a long way. New paint on the walls and table have really helped brighten things up in there. That light fixture though...kind of a theme happening throughout the house. And not really my favorite.

So we're updating! Fixture by fixture. Slowly but surely. With a little DIY lovin' along the way.

Our updated color palette is on the cool side. Lots of muted blues and greens. A little bit cottage. A little bit coastal. Keeping this in mind, I started looking for the perfect light fixture to complete our space. I found myself swooning over beauties like this, this, and this. Those price tags though...that made me sad.

So I decided to make my own. After reading through a couple other blog tutorials (here and here), I felt pretty confident that I could pull this off and set out to find the perfect chandelier. I knew I wanted upward facing candelabra bulbs and so the current light fixture wasn't going to work. As luck would have it, our local Goodwill carries a large selection of chandeliers that are new and still in the box! AND they just so happened to be 50% off the week I found myself looking for one. Score. Fifteen bucks later, I hurried out of the store with my treasure.

I also headed over to Walmart and picked up a couple 20 pound hemp balls. I chose to use hemp instead of jute, because hemp tends to be more durable. So says the web, anyway. Once I had all of my supplies together, I grabbed my hot glue gun, a good pair of scissors, and settled in for a long day of wrapping.

Please note the wine and Vampire Diaries on Netflix for the win!

I chose to attack the chandelier in sections and used a long, single cord of hemp for each section. I started from the bottom, moved to each of the arms, and then attacked the curvy middle section one bar at a time. I tried to begin each section in the most concealed place possible, usually a crevice or corner. Once I had the end of my cord glued in place, I began wrapping. I added glue to the side of the chandelier as I went. The glue would spread pretty evenly beneath the hemp, so there wasn't any need to cover the whole base in glue.

This project took for.freaking.ever. I worked on it from breakfast to bedtime on a Saturday. While it would have been easy to break the project up over a couple days, it's rather monotonous and I just wanted it finished. So I powered through.

I had originally wrapped the "candle sticks" in hemp as well, but decided the next day to remove this part. Some friends of ours noted that this could be a possible fire hazard...hot bulbs and all...so I got a little spooked and decided to play it safe.

One thing I would do differently next time...I would use super glue instead of hot glue. I loved how quickly the hot glue dried, but I acquired quite the collection of burns. Super glue would have accomplished the same without the injuries. The hot glue also tended to pool above the hemp in places, which required me to peel the glue globs away once dry. Not a huge deal. Just an extra, avoidable step.

I am so happy with how it turned out! And while I had originally planned for this to serve as a $30 quick fix until we could save up for what we really wanted, I may just keep it around for the long haul! It fits our space and our personality perfectly and I am so excited to finally have one little corner of the house nearly finished! Even if it is just a corner. ;)

Linked up to these parties:
Home Stories A to Z / City Farmhouse / The Farmhouse Porch / The Wood Grain Cottage / So Much Better With Age

some new favorites

So we didn't make the fireworks. I know, I know, we're lame. We decided to hide out from the crowds in the comfort of our living room eating sweets and playing games with friends instead. A decision I don't regret AT ALL. I hear there were lots of technical complications anyway, and who wants to sit through that?
Not I.

TODAY IS PAINTING DAY!!!!
And I am planning to desecrate our blah brown walls with paint samples! Yip yip! While I am so stoked to finally get rid of the brown, Tanner is in full-on cringe mode over everything. Yesterday he asked if we could just paint the samples onto poster board and hold them up to the walls...yeaaa I don't think we're gonna do that. Sorry bud. It's time to bite the bullet.

Before jumping into my painting clothes, I decided to try a new workout this morning. Swimming! After my first cup of coffee and a banana, I headed over to our neighborhood pool to swim a few laps. The pool was gloriously deserted that early in the morning, and while I'm certain my technique was all kinds of wrong, it was such a nice change of pace from running and workout videos and it was FUN. I'm pretty sure I'll be going back for more tomorrow.

After swimming I was starving, and decided to try my hand at a breakfast drink instead of my usual eggs or yogurt. I'm usually not a huge fan of drinking my calories, but this my shake was so tasty and incredibly filling (at least so far). Here is the recipe I followed:

• One small banana
• 1 tbsp PB2 powder
• 1 tbsp PB2 chocolate powder
• 1 cup vanilla almond milk
• 1 cup crushed ice
• 2 tbsp nonfat, plain greek yogurt
• 1 tbsp ground chia seeds
• 1 tbsp ground flax seeds

Food prep was super easy (just throwing it all in the blender) and clean up was quick! I will definitely be making this bad boy again as well as some other recipes from around the web. Peanut Butter Fingers has a ton of smoothie/shake recipes and they all sound ridiculously yummy. I'll be trying out that Key Lime Pie Protein Smoothie soon.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!