{Lately & my DIY Trough}

 I'm a little behind on this one, but with my sweet new job, a new and little furry son {which BTW is the perfect pup, no potty accidents in the house and only a few poos & he sleeps through the night {sometimes...}! We got lucky, to say the least!!}, and baby/bridal showers GALORE I have been one busy lady!

My goal was to finish this project before Christmas so I could put TONS of greenery & ornaments in it, but it would have been nice to get it done before {my favorite season} fall sets in, so I could stuff some leafy garland and things of that nature in it!

My hubby left town last Wednesday to head to California to see one of his old HS buddies.  A bunch of the guys went and he had a blast, but I was pretty excited about all the free time I would have to catch up on my shows, snuggle my pup, shop, and of course a few projects!

Back to the trough box, Thrifty Decor Chick did it 1st. She is one very bright lady when it comes to home projects! Some I love, some I don't love as much, but she does a pretty great job when it comes to DIY! Another blogger Laura at Suburban Living Crafts also did it.  I liked her version as well!

My version is a little taller because it is on our mantle and we have seriously 12 foot ceilings in our living room.  I needed some height.  It's pretty bulky and I like it!

 I have to insert this funny story here: So I'm in the lumber aisle trying to decide which width to get and of course going through every piece of wood there trying to find the perfect piece.  I had been at this for about 4-5 minutes without noticing the world around me was still moving.  This little old man is standing there waiting for me to {friggin'} make up my mind, with a big smile on his face like he was just waiting to see how long I would really take to make a decision this easy.  I finally looked over and apologized for making him wait.  Then I heard the song on the overhead, and no joke it was that country song "Waitin' on a Woman".  He made some comment about the song and I had to laugh as I walked away.....isn't that a cute little story?


Mike would say that song describes me to a tee!

So since hubby was gone, & I'm not one for patience, I had to do some manual labor.  Although we do have a compound miter saw, I don't trust myself around it.....I had Lowe's cut it for me to the pre-measured dimensions that I wanted.  To get these dimensions, I basically measured across my mantle and the depth of it.

I beat it up a little bit {same as Sarah} with a hammer and then stained it with a foam brush the exact stain that I used in the guest bathroom upstairs. I then attached the three long pieces together.  First with liquid nails, then after that dried, with actual nails.  I capped the small end pieces on last.  I wanted to make it look a little more rugged so the nails on the capped end pieces are exposed. TA-DA! If anyone else would like to do this project, I would love to give you some advice! It was one of my favorites and it's the gift {to myself} that keeps on giving! Here's the masterpiece! What a versatile piece for our mantle!

You probably noticed the new trellis pattern canvas in front of the mirror....hmmmmm I did a little re-do on it.  Previously it looked like this:

I grew a little sick of it, never truly finished it, and I like the stencil pattern but did not want a whole wall of it because it's so trendy.  This is the stencil I used 

and I think it turned out DARLING! 

Guess what? FALL is on it's way! & I am too excited...Only 3 more days until Pumpkin Spice Lattes are back at Starbucks!! Yummy! I can't wait for everything fall! 

To get the long weekend started my best friend and I went to Pirtle Winery in Weston, MO.  Such a cute little winery & town! The Apple Wine is delicious!

I'm going to wrap the post up with another yes another deal with it picture of my dog son. Peace!