Update:  I've officially lost my mind.  But my kitchen has a pretty new paint color, Sherwin Williams Mindful Grey.

Our house is suffering from a bad case of snowball effect.  I had ZERO intention of painting our kitchen.  Until we painted the rest of the first floor Mindful Grey.  The Svelte Sage of the kitchen was disrupting the flow of the first floor.  Also the cream curtains started to really look yellow next to our newly painted white wall of molding.  This is the only photo I could find to explain the situation (blogger fail).  The walls colors actually look pretty similar here but the flow issue was there.  Trust me.  (You can check out more photos of our old kitchen color here.)

On Monday we shared our new herb garden for our deck.  Today we're going to show you how to make your own tiered herb garden.

This herb garden is great for small spaces and decks.  We decided to grow our herbs on our deck because the neighborhood deer have decided to mow down on anything and everything in our yard this year.  I think the culprits are these two cute faces.  Ike and I think they are adorable but stay away from my plants, fools.  I've put Ike on deer watch now in addition to herb garden duty.  I should also put him on hydrangea duty.  My hydrangeas had about 20 beautiful blooms. I went out to snip off a few and GONE. ALL GONE.  I lost my marbles and bought some deer deterrent product (all natural, won't harm anyone).  We have a huge wooden area right behind our house.  Eat that already!

Time to start another work week!  I hope you all had a lovely weekend.  Nate and I were extra productive.  The laundry is clean.  The floors are mopped.  The toilets are scrubbed.  And the wall of molding is finally done!  *pause for dance party*

While we were working away, Ike was taking it easy.  This whole living room remodel has been hard on him.  We're making sure he fits in time for some R&R.

Well hello, Friday.  I've been waiting all week for you.  I'm actually waiting on Saturday but you'll do.  LONGEST WEEK EVER.

Nate and I have both been a little under the weather this week.  Instead of spending our evenings finishing up our wall molding project, we've been catching up on Big Brother and Fixer Upper.  That's productive in it's own way.  (I'm super obsessed with Fixer Upper and I sort of hope Joanna magically wants to come take over our living room project.) 

While couch lounging and snot blowing, we did do a little looking at sconces.

You may remember that our living room and sconces looked like this.  I sort of too lazy to find a better picture.

While I was gallivanting around Atlanta, Nate was representing Decor and the Dog at The Home Depot in West Des Moines.  Ike was playing frisbee golf with his dog cousin.  Ike's all play, no work. 

Nate helped co-lead a DIY workshop on lighting.  I asked him to write about his experience so I could share it on the blog.  This was his response.

Uhh, I went to The Home Depot.  I talked about the blog.  We talked about lighting.  It was fun.  Some people were there.  We taught them stuff.  And then we went home.

Man. I don't know about you all but I'm sleepy.  I spent the past few days attending the Haven DIY blog conference in Atlanta.  It was equal parts awesome and soul sucking.  I chickened out previous years.  This year I conned Kim into being my roommate and we went for it.

I'm a total introvert and being surrounded by 200 other bloggers sounded like some form of torture.  Turns out I have a great group of blog buddies and meeting them face-to-face ended up being the best part of the trip.  I've followed quite a few bloggers for multiple years and you truly don't get to know someone until you have a conversation in person.

A few months back I asked Nate if he knew how to make a lamp.  I had an idea.  It was tax season so he told me "no".  I stupidly believed him.  (I should learn after almost 8 years of marriage.)  

Funny story.  When The Home Depot asks us if we'd be interested in partnering with them to build a lamp, Nate suddenly knows how to build a lamp.  Weird.

Turns out even I can build a lamp.  That's how easy this business is.  

Nate and I built this darling lamp that has two very different looks.  It's like the Jekyll and Hyde of lampdom.  (That's a thing.)  One is all industrial/Edison bulb chic.  The other is a little more industrial/main stream chic.  (Those are both things.)

Remember that office of ours that I've been working on since like 2008?  Or was it this year?  I can't remember it's been so long.  

Back in February I painted the walls Thunder Gray (Sherwin Williams).  I then removed the burlap that was on the back of the built-in shelves and painted that area Fawn Brindle (Sherwin Williams).

I finally got around to adding some books/tchotchkes and getting the place in order. (Side note: Nate and I can't say tchotchkes without following with Office Space quotes.  It's a problem.)

Happy Thursday!  Who's ready for a long holiday weekend?  (If you're not in the United States, I apologize.  I will sleep and eat extra for you.  Like a good American.  Super thoughtful, I am.) 

Nate, Ike and I have relaxation and fun on the menu.  We will do nothing productive.  It will be amazing.  

I thought I'd share a couple of quick last minute Independence day ideas.

Don't let the title confuse you.  Our wall isn't molding.  We're adding molding to it.  The English language is confusing.

As you may recall, this was our wall o' windows in our living room.