Announcements and new beginnings!

Happy New Year to all! I hope the new year is bringing everyone joy and happiness so far. We are only 15 days into 2015 and it has already brought SO many changes! Where do I even begin?!

I’ll start with… MOVING! We are moving from our tiny Arizona town back to our home state of California. We will be living near our friends and family again and cannot wait! We sold our house last week and already have the majority of our things packed and in storage! Living with a mattress on the ground, no furniture, two plates and cups, an almost empty fridge and pantry and most utilities starting to shut off has definitely been challenging, but we only have a little while longer and then we are home free and headed to Cali!

Not only are we moving 700 miles but we will both be starting new(ish) jobs and will take on our new positions at the end of this month. We are so happy with the transfer opportunity that was presented to JD, it will hopefully allow us more time together and bring less worry our way. I am really excited to be working for Alluring Events and Design, a wedding and event planning company based out of Sacramento. I will have a lot of new experiences and responsibilities, including blogging for the Alluring blog! I will be posting DIY projects for weddings, parties, interior and home décor, gifts and a lot more!

With that being said, I am going to step back from this blog. It has been so much fun and I have loved sharing, it definitely gave me experience, motivation and helped me pass the time while the hubby was away at work. I am going to keep the blog and might update it every now and then, but my main focus will now be on Alluring Events and Design’s blog and my new roll with the company. I would L-O-V-E everyone to follow me and continue reading my posts on Alluring’s blog. I will most likely post something new and fun once a month and will gladly accept all of your input. Are there things you want me to try? Ideas you have? Send anything and everything my way and I will do my best to DIY it and show a how-to.

So, job transfers, new jobs, moving out of state, selling our home, searching for a new home and living in limbo is enough for all of 2015 let alone the last 15 days! But I am still so excited to see what the rest of the year brings; I know it’s going to be an awesome one! I will be off the grid for a while, but I'll be back in February! Look for me and follow us on Pinterest{here}, Facebook{here}, Instagram{here} and our blog{here}! Thank you to everyone who has helped and supported us, it means the world and we could not be doing all of this without our family and friends.

          xoxo,

                   Rachele

April Showers

We’re back! Back in our own home… doesn’t it feel amazing to be back in your own bed after a long trip??! I had the best time in our hometown and was able to fit so much in; a bridal shower for my best friend {Kayleigh}, and her beautiful wedding, Mother’s Day with our Moms and Grandmas, my Dad’s birthday, family photos and time with our friends and family. I’m sure I have hundreds of pictures from the trip, but I am going to limit myself to sharing some from the bridal shower!

We threw a wine and cheese shower and the theme was ‘Stock the Cellar’. We asked the guests to bring the bride a bottle of wine to help get her collection started. We handmade a lot of the décor: personalized bottle labels, cork monogram letters, printable chalkboard quotes, and a rustic wine crate and rack. We had purple wild flowers, in wine bottles, on each table, and a collage of pictures of the bride and groom. It turned out so beautiful, the weather was great, the yard was gorgeous and Kayleigh made out like a bandit with all of the wine she was given!

The food, drinks and desserts were sooo yummy and all homemade by our girlfriends, Aubrey and Amy. Aubrey is also the owner of Alluring Events and Design, you definitely want this girl on your side when planning anything from birthday parties to huge weddings! Here is a link to her site, lucky me to plan a shower with such a talented chick! Amy, who I’ve raved about before, makes the most delicious desserts, you can contact me for her info… she made white wine frozen yogurt and homemade truffles for the shower, I literally stuffed my face! I also want to send a shout out to Kaitlyn, Laura and Channing who did so much to make this shower beautiful for Kayleigh, you girls rock and I loved getting to spend so much time together this week!!!

Okay, that’s enough from me, time for the good stuff, the pictures…

Over the next month or so I am going to put a few posts up that show how we made some of the décor and chalkboard printables, be on the look out! Kayleigh is on her honeymoon now… Hope you’re having an awesome time!! Love you!

          xoxo,

                   Rachele

A Box of Sunshine

          

          How awesome is this!? Send someone a box of sunshine, such a sweet and simple way to brighten their day. I saw something similar (on Pinterest- of course) and knew I was going to make and send my own special surprise.

          For my box I hit up Target and a local candy shop to find all kinds of fun things, what I ended up with is: A candle, a card game, lotion, straws, lemon drops, candy coated almonds, balloons, silly glasses, a fruity drink, lemon candy cane sticks, a monogrammed mug and a giant lollipop.

          I arranged everything into a box and added a little note saying “Sending you a box of sunshine to brighten your day, as you have always brightened mine!” Lastly I took scraps and cut sunbursts out of card stock to cheer it up even more.

I love love love this idea, and I love the fact that you can add anything yellow to your box and really personalize it to the person or people you’re sending it to. I took a few minutes to compile a ‘list of yellow’ and give you ideas of fun things to send. I broke my list up into three sections, so you can check out ideas for the babes in your life, the hunks, and the littles.

Imagine how much joy you can bring to someone you love, it is the perfect way to let them know you’re thinking about them. So, send someone a box of sunshine and brighten their day!

          xoxo,

                   Rachele

Out with the old, in with the new!

        Out with the old and in with the new! Thanks to my hubby and his AMAZING family, who worked their tails off, we now have beautiful wooden flooring downstairs. Removing the carpet had been number one on our to-do list since we moved into our house a year ago, but of course things came up (like they always do) and it got put on the back burner. The carpet was original to the house and was pretty mated, it also had spots and marks seeping up through it- gross!! I for one am not okay with mystery spots, not only is it ugly and dirty looking, but who knows what was spilled by the previous owners. Thank goodness for my father-in-law and JD’s extremely hard working Nana and Papa. They came to our rescue and drove 12 hours to help us install the new wood flooring.

We had already gone to Lowes a few weeks in advance to look at samples and order the material. We decided on a laminate hardwood by Allen + Roth called Driftwood Oak, I really love the color variation in it. Tip: When ordering flooring you want to leave yourself plenty of time before starting your project. The wood needs to sit in your home for at least a few days before it is installed, you want the material to acclimate to your home’s temperatures and climate. We were told it would take a week for the flooring and transition strips to be delivered to our Lowes location, so we ordered two weeks ahead of time to be safe, one week for delivery and one week to let it settle in our house. The other thing to keep in mind is the underlayment; you’ll want and need something between your floor and foundation. We have a concrete slab foundation, and put a sound and moisture barrier underlayment down first (Which Lowes has in stock, no need to pre order it). It didn’t take long to realize that our concrete foundation wasn’t poured completely level, so the underlayment actually pulled double duty and helped to even out the surface before installing the wood planks.

We chose the laminate flooring for multiple reasons, one being installation; no glue required! The planks have a basic tongue and groove to them, so they slide, snap and lock together piece by piece! Getting the first few pieces started is the toughest part, once you have a few down the rest start snapping into place like giant puzzle pieces. Remember to stagger your planks so the ends don’t line up side by side. Make random cuts in length to starter pieces so the floor’s pattern is "uneven". Speaking of the beginning pieces, the planks bordering the wall shouldn’t bud right up against it, you want a small gap between the floor and wall to account for shifting and expanding… don’t worry, the gap will be completely covered by the baseboards. Baseboards, those are the only things I can honestly say I “helped” with! The men did all of the work, they ripped up the old carpet, cleaned, laid the underlayment and installed all of the flooring, and put the baseboards back up. All I helped with was repainting the baseboards to give them a fresh clean look in a brighter crisper shade of white.

Of course nice newly painted baseboards downstairs led me to wanting the same freshly painted baseboards upstairs, which led to newly painted door frames to match, which led to painting and updating the interior doors, which is a whole story and blog post in itself! I am really excited to share a post about the interior doors, but that will have to wait a bit until I can get them completed! Anyways, the family worked so hard to help us; we really appreciate it and are so grateful! We saved a bunch of money by avoiding installation costs, we learned a lot and loved being taught, and we got to spend time with some of our favorite people. All in all it was a wonderful experience, I wish we had the time and resources to complete our upstairs rooms as well, but their time will come!

I really recommend the laminate wood flooring for anyone who wants or needs a change, it is extremely durable, scratch proof and easy to clean, plus it looks great and is pretty easy to install yourself. Our poor little puppy took a few days to get used to it, he kept slipping and sliding around, it was sad and hysterical at the same time. He has adjusted to them now and has no problems, and I am comforted knowing his paws and nails wont scratch the floors, no matter how crazy he pounces and runs- which is an hourly occurrence. Thank you again to my husbands Dad, Nana and Papa, we love you guys! Here are pictures of your hard work, the before, during and afters!

         xoxo,

                   Rachele

A new beginning for the blog!

As promised, I am sharing the exciting changes happening with the blog! Popular with the Poplins is now very popular with the Ramseiers as well! My cousin, Katie, and I are teaming up, combining strengths, joining forces and hoping two heads are better than one. We have both gone from Meier girls to married girls, I am now a Poplin and she is a Ramseier, and even though we no longer share the same last name we still have a lot in common!

I asked Katie to write a little something introducing herself, so here she is…

 

A new door has opened for my project obsessed, paint covered fingers! Thanks to my cousin Rachele, who has invited me to join her, I will be blogging! I am beyond thrilled to be a part of this journey with her and all of our friends and family. I am Katie Ramseier, wife of 8 years to my amazing and hard-working husband, and mother of two incredibly sweet (and rowdy) little boys. My boys are 4 and 5 years old and at the moment we are knee deep in kindergarten and T-ball!

I am a lover of projects and all things paint and building oriented! My reason for blogging is simple; I LOVE home décor, and making things myself brings a whole new feeling of satisfaction! Having small children pulls me in so many directions, and these projects bring a sense of completion around the house (since laundry and chores are never done)! I am so thankful for this opportunity and am excited to embrace this new chapter of time with Rachele!

 

          xoxo,

                   Katie

 

Thank you to everyone for supporting us. We have plans to up the ante on the blog and have some great projects lined up to share. We are big believers in DIY and have a passion for projects big and small. We are learning as we go and hope that our experiences will help others along the way. We love being creative, we love crafting, planning, building, experimenting with new tools and ideas, we love making things uniquely our own and we love showcasing fellow DIYer’s creations. This blog has been my outlet over the last nine months and has helped me keep my sanity through our move out of state and away from family and friends. My projects are like my therapy- there’s nothing like turning on your favorite music and diving into something you’ve been looking forward to working on.

I am excited to move forward with the blog and bring my cousin along with me. This blog will now be all things popular with us, projects, products, people and power tools.

 

          xoxo,

                   Rachele

 

PS- You may notice we have a few new sponsors and advertisers on the page! Feel free to check them out and click on any that interest you!

 

Shabby to Chic

Well, I have bragged about my cousin, Katie, many times, and this post is yet another way to show off her work. Katie turned an old shabby buffet into a modern and chic piece of furniture. I am l-o-v-i-n-g the transformation. Below is a post written by her, to give all of you DIYers the ‘how to’ and hopefully inspire your own projects!

              xoxo, 
                             Rachele

This buffet piece has truly been a joy to re-create! The feeling of up-cycling something to fit your current style is amazing. If you asked me two years ago to make-over this horrible looking piece of furniture, I would have refused! Now, through the inspiration of other DIYers (shout out to my cousin Rachele), I have found my calling. I LOVE to DIY and focus on my home and décor.

I inherited the buffet from my grandparents because no one else wanted it and I am embarrassed to say that it sat in my house for YEARS in its horrid original state. I had no idea what to do with it or where to start. My first step was to cruise the internet for inspiration. I wound up finding a site, Orphans with Make up, and more specifically, her 'Farmhouse Look Store Counter', check it out HERE, it is awesome. I LOVED the look, so I decided to DIY it on my own buffet!

I started by sanding the top and the feet all the way down to their original wood. I had to sand passed the old stain- ick! It took awhile. I spent an entire afternoon sanding, wiping it down, and then applying Rustoleum's Dark Walnut Stain MULTIPLE times. I kept applying stain, over and over, (and wiping it off after 5-10 min in-between coats) until I was satisfied with how dark it was.

My next step was priming and painting the drawers and middle section of the buffet. I taped off my stained edges so I had nice clean paint lines. Detail is important to me- I think it can make or break the piece. Then I started applying the water based primer. This is where my first problem arose…the stain was seeping through and turning the primer pink! At that point I was not a skilled enough painter and had no idea why it was happening. Panic set in, so I called the nearest paint store. I was told I needed an oil based primer to block the old reddish stain from seeping through the water based primer. And what do you know? It worked like a charm! From then on it was smooth sailing. Two coats of a white water based latex paint in a satin finish and I was good to go! I wanted to seal the stain and paint really well (to tolerate the wear and tear of my boy’s sticky little fingers), so I did a good coat of semi-gloss polyurethane over the paint and three good coats on the stained top. Now the stain looks beautiful and the pretty white paint has extra protection!

Lastly, I added the amazing new hardware, which I think REALLY makes the project POP! I could not be happier with the way it turned out! I hope my story helped all of you DIYers, have a wonderful week!!

Katie

Love is in the air

It’s LOVE month!! What better way to celebrate love than with a brand new baby girl!? Our teeny little niece, Audrey Joy, is here and she is as sweet as can be! I’ve been waiting to show off a few pictures of her and I figured a Valentines post was the perfect time!

Speaking of love and Valentine's Day I have two DIY crafts to show off from two of my favorite girls, Heather and Channing.

My Cousin, Heather, is super woman, I am always amazed at what she can accomplish in a day. On top of her busy schedule she took the time to make us the cutest Valentine's wreath for our front door. It is an argyle wreath made from yarn and felt hearts. Thank you, Heather, I love it! Heather also has a blog where she posts everything from recipes and crafts to parties and school projects. The name of her blog is Teaspoons & Twine and you can check it out and follow her by clicking HERE.

A while ago I made a trip to California and stayed a few nights with one of my girlfriends, Channing, who wanted to make a project that she had seen on Pinterest. So, we headed to Hobby Lobby for the supplies and went to work making decorative vases. We used left over wine bottles, jute twine, yarn, chevron burlap, buttons and a lot of hot glue. In the end we had four wrapped wine bottle vases that spelled out the word ‘love’. I think they came out really great and I love the color scheme she chose to make them in.

That is all for my Valentine's post. A lot has been going on here and I can’t wait to share the projects that are under way. Our house is slowly getting the face lift I have been daydreaming about. We still have work to do, but within the next month I’ll be able to post pics and give a sneak peak at what we are working on this week. Happy Valentine's Day to all, don't forget to show some extra love this month!

     xoxo,

              Rachele

Sign me up!

It has been over a month since I have posted anything, I don’t know how time got away from me! I started to write about a few projects in December and never got around to putting them on the blog. So, even though time has passed and the holidays are over I am going to put them up!

Today’s post: Signs. I made two signs in December, one for my niece, Audrey, and the other for my Mom as a birthday gift. (Side note… my adorable and teeny tiny niece Audrey was born one week ago!! I will definitely be posting pictures of her!) The other signs I am putting up are decorative holiday signs that my cousin made for her family this Christmas.

The sign for baby Audrey’s nursery was String Art, I have done a few of them before and posted a blog last summer showing a little ‘how to’. It is super simple: Board, stain or paint, nails, hammer and yarn or string. Choose the shape or word you would like, print and cut an outline to trace onto your wooden board, hammer the nails around the shape and then go crazy filling in the shape by stringing and wrapping the yarn from nail to nail until you are happy with how it looks.

My Mom’s birthday gift was a ‘Family Birthdays’ sign that she had seen online and liked. It’s an easy way to show all family birthdays and a reminder of whose is next. Below each month hangs the birthdays, in order, with the family members name and day! We still need to finish filling in the rest of the birthdays on hers. I made the sign with the help of my cousin and her new Silhouette Cameo. (Popular Product Alert!!)

I wrote about my very talented cousin a few months ago after I stayed with her and she helped make curtains and pillows for our home. While I was at her house she received an extremely awesome package in the mail, the Silhouette Cameo. If you don’t know what the Silhouette Cameo is I suggest you look it up, that goes for any and all crafters, moms, teachers and DIYers…men too, because your wives will want one! It is the coolest machine and does SO many things, I can’t even begin to explain everything you can make with it.

Her Silhouette was delivered right in time to make gifts for her family, so she cut, stained and painted all of the boards, decided what designs and sayings she wanted and went to work making all of the signs! I love how different they all are and how cute they turned out!

In my next post I will update with things going on around here in the Poplin house! A little shout out to Amanda and Nathan on their gorgeous baby girl, welcome to the world Audrey!!! I hope everyone is enjoying the new year so far!!

     xoxo,

              Rachele

A very Remi Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends!! We love and miss all of you and wish we were together today. We are very grateful for the time we had in Ca a few weeks ago to celebrate Christmas a little early. We saw our families, ate delicious dinners, watched the kids tear through their presents, walked down Candy Cane Lane and were able to celebrate with my best friend on the night of her engagement!

JD is off work Christmas Eve and Christmas morning and we could not be happier about it. Last Christmas he was still in the academy and we spent Christmas across the country from each other. This year we are keeping it low key and making red velvet pancakes for breakfast, then relaxing in our pajamas all day.

We have a new member in our household this Christmas, a very handsome 8 week old chocolate lab puppy named Remi (Remington). Remi was an early Christmas present from JD, he surprised me with him about a week ago! He is so much fun, has lots of energy, loves to snuggle and is a crack up to watch. So far he has kept me on my toes, the only time I trust him is when he’s sound asleep. Remi has already proven to be the most popular in the Poplin house, and I'm sure he will be for a very long time!

This will definitely be a Christmas to remember, our first Christmas in AZ, in our own home, with a new puppy! Thank you so much to my in-laws and the Antonio's who helped JD surprise me with Remi, I know a lot of work went into making it happen and I feel so special! Congratulations to Kayleigh and Mark on their engagement, we are so happy for the two of you! From our home to yours we wish everyone a very merry love filled Christmas and we hope all of you have a happy new year!!

     xoxo,

              Rachele