Lucky for me (well, mostly lucky for Peter because he would have been the one who ended up doing all this...) my parents came to town a week before the baby was due. Seeing as they didn't have a ton going on in the days ensuing Ella's birth, they took to some of my DIY projects!!!
The biggies ~
First, Peter and I had scouted around for a dresser we could convert into a changing table for Ella's room for quite some time. I am extremely picky when it comes to things for my home and so I seriously took my time on searching this piece out. Plus I figured, if we did it just right, this dresser would be something she could continue to use for a while.
One fateful Saturday, I scoped out the garage sale market and found there were a few estate sales going on in our downtown area which I thought would HAVE to be somewhat decent! So we ventured over to a few garage sales in our area and when we came up empty handed we continued to the estate sale. We scoured through the entire house (which was very old but really cool looking!) and in the last bedroom - there it was - a probably 1940's vanity WITHOUT a sold sign! I figured a piece like this must be going for quite a large sum but when I drew nearer my heart stopped to see a $20 price tag!!!!! This was a deal I could not refuse! I called Peter into the room and told him to go upstairs and pay for this immediately while I stood guard!
Peter and I (ok... again, mostly Peter - hey, I was pregnant and couldn't be sniffing paint fumes!) began getting the dresser ready for painting. We had also found some cool faux crystal knobs that we were going to put on the middle drawer but those ended up breaking and so we just stuck with the originals, painted black - which I really like!
The dresser was pretty short (most definitely not suited for a changing table!) so my genius dad went to the hardware store and bought these cute little legs - they are actually toppers or curtain holdbacks but we transformed them into legs and they work wonders!
So - all in all I think the dresser came out to costing us:
Dresser - $20
Paint - $3 (a whole gallon at Habitat for Humanity)
Legs - aprox $5 per leg (I think we found these in the drapery isle)
Next - (BIG PROPS TO PETER!!!) I found this book shelf (photo to the left) on Ohdeedoh and have been dying for one ever since because there is the perfect spot for it in Ella's room. I have searched and searched the internet (Pottery Barn used to sell them but I couldn't find them on their site) with no results! Then one day when I wasn't looking for the shelf I stumbled upon the directions to make your own on Martha Stewart's website!
I wasn't too sure how this would go over with the Hubby considering that he always loves to flaunt the fact that he got a D in shop class. But I figured that Valentines Day was coming up and I REALLY wanted this book shelf so I could probably convince him it was a good idea. I e-mailed him the directions and asked very nicely, "Could you please make this for me and your sweet little girl?" To which he quickly responded, Yes! I was blown away and MLK day was coming up so he would have an entire day to get it done! He asked his dad if he would help him (since his dad is fully equipped with every tool imaginable!) And they were so cute! The made a few adjustments to Martha's measurements - one was making the actual shelf where the book rested a bit wider than she suggested and also instead of just using a straight peice for the dowel that holds the book on the shelf the got round ones. Once they had the shelf almost completely done they decided it would look better with a little trim on the edges too!
I couldn't believe that my husband had succeeded in his woodworking skills and made this shelf for me. Once we got it all painted it looked perfect and it is now sporting Ella's growing book collection! I can't wait until she is bigger so we can tell her this story!
One other project - while my dad was slaving away painting the dresser and the bookshelf he asked if there was anything else I wanted painted white. (I always have something that I need painted so of course I jumped on the opportunity to have some of my projects get finished. I have had these two giant spools in my living room for over a year in all their unfinished glory. I became so sick of looking at them that it was all I could do to keep myself from jumping up and down and shouting excitedly YES - Paint my Spools!!!
Alas, those have been completed as well! Yeah! My living room is just that much closer to feeling pulled together - now pretty much all that is left is the daunting sofa recovering project... dun dun dun.....
We have also worked on a few little projects around the house - like the Craft/Office Room Revamp and Ella's Mobile and Pillow for her crib. Those (aren't totally finished yet...) will have to come in a later post.
For now, ta-ta and post a link to your blog if you have recently finished a DIY (BIG or small) that you want to show off to the world!
I am linking this post to Domestically Speaking's
Paint Party, and Miss Mustard Seed's
Furniture Feature Friday. 
How fast the time truly does fly. Ella is one month old today! I can't even believe it! She has also started smiling too! She has been right on the verge of cracking that grin for a while now and then finally yesterday she gave an all out, for real smile! She has the cutest smile in the world! This morning Peter and I laid in bed with her figuring out all the ways we could make her smile - it was a blast! 
I really should start another blog completely dedicated to our new little miss (who is currently screaming herself to sleep. She has this pathetic little whine that sounds like an ewok from Star Wars! We feel bad when she does it but unfortunately we can't help but laugh. - All a part of teaching her to fall asleep on her own, it is a very LOUD process...) because I am posting so many pictures of her lately it seems my blog has become over run. 
