Before & After Guest Blogger: Nelya from Head Over Heels

Please welcome awesome (and insanely talented eagle-eyed) Nelya of Head Over Heels!!

Step one: Have a sweet and crafty blogger ask you if you would be so kind as to contribute a guest blog post while she tends to her delicious newborn bundle of joy. (Thank you Lauren, I am so very flattered!) Eagerly agree and then slap yourself on the forehead and wonder what in the world was I thinking???

Step two: Find a neighbor who has kindly paid for someone else to cut down a tree. Smile pretty and ask (beg) for a stump. Watch husband begrudgingly drag stump down the street and plop it unceremoniously on the driveway. Think, think, think. Decide to paint the stump and use it as a little side table on the screened porch. (Keep fingers crossed that it is not termite-ridden)

Step three: Attempt to convince dear husband that the best use of his time on the first sunny Saturday spring
morning is to scrape bark off the bug-riddled stump. (While you photograph the bark removal and the neighbors across the street shake their heads in pity at the crazy lady taking pictures of a tree stump on her driveway)

Step four: Sand the stump until smooth.

Step five: Brush on an oil-based outdoor varnish- clear, satin finish. (To add a protective finish and seal the wood, but really to make sure that any little remaining critters will not escape)

Step six: Choose a cheery paint color. (And use this visit to the hardware store as an excuse to swipe all the
gorgeous paint swatches from the new Martha Stewart line at The Home Depot)

FYI-I used a paint/primer all-in-one combo and applied three coats.

Step seven: Ask (beg) dear husband (who is now cursing the day he ever agreed to such nonsense) to lug finished stump to the porch. Decorate!

Step eight: Put your feet up, grab an adult beverage, and savor the fruits of your (and the mister's) labor!

For full details on a similar step by step project, check out Martha's DIY here. The above
image is via Martha Stewart. For all my exaggeration, this really was a simple, only slightly time intensive

project. The cost was minor as the stump was free and I only had to purchase varnish and paint. I am very happy with the results and am already on the search for another discarded tree stump to pretty up. Thank you so much Lauren for inviting me to participate in a before and after. I'm so honored. I always find so much inspiration here at Pure Style Home and am always bowled over by your energy, enthusiasm, and beautiful vision. Thank you for inviting me!

{The particulars: (1)Behr Spar Varnish,
Classic Oil, Clear Satin, (2)Martha Stewart Living Paint, Duck's Egg,
MSL133, Semi-Gloss, (3)Dash and
Albert Rug, (4)Chair and Ottoman from the now defunct Smith &
Hawken)

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Ok, so I want one!!  LOVE this.  Nelya - you're amazing and this looks like a magazine spread!!
xoxo,
lauren