My headboard project

Now that Rob and I actually have a fairly large master bedroom with vaulted ceilings, I decided that our bed looked a little unfinished, so I went on the hunt for a headboard. I was amazed at how expensive a piece of wood can be! All the decent headboards I found were upwards of $400 or more and the cheapest one I found was at Ikea and was nothing more than a rectangular piece of painted wood. Problem was it was still $100 and only came in a Queen.

After furnishing our kitchen, living room and front room I wasn't about to spend that kind of money on a hunk of wood, so I realized I needed to get creative. I was at RC Willey and happened upon the perfect find in their clearance section; shutters! At only $7 a piece, I could not pass them up! They came in a pretty haagard off white color so on my way home I purchased some Espresso spray paint and got to work. Approximately $50 and a few hours later, here is the finished product!


Sanding off the ugly paint

Painting


The finished product



I'm quite proud of myself with how they turned out and think I even like it more than any of the headboards I saw in the store!

I couldn't resist

After stumbling upon a really nice little park in Draper yesterday, I made an even cooler discovery, I found some old railroad tracks that have been completely overgrown with trees and shrubs. It's like a hidden railroad path leading through a tunnel of trees. It's gorgeous and as a photographer I can't help getting really excited when I stumbled across gems like this, especially one that is so close to my house!
Naturally, I couldn't help myself and had to take advantage of this awesome find. So today I dressed my husband in another one of his few nice sweaters, grabbed our dogs and went back to my new found haven to snap some more family photos. I'm gonna pitch the location to a client of mine that's looking for a dramatic and unique place to take her bridals. I think she'll love it!

Family Photos

After taking photos up the canyon last week with my mom, and then being abruptly hit by our first winter storm, I decided that Rob and I needed to take advantage of the fall colors before winter took over completely. Every year I like to get our dogs together and go somewhere pretty to take some family photos. Rob and I were blessed with a very rare gift this weekend, neither one of us worked! So we decided it would be the perfect time to take our annual family photos. I thought Sunday would be a good opportunity since we had a lot of yard work to do on Saturday as well as the priesthood conference session and then a wedding reception to attend. So the plan was to get ready and go in between conference sessions. I really wanted to go back up to Tanner's Flat in Little Cottonwood Canyon where my mom and I went, but this morning, after having a pretty nice Friday and Saturday, we awoke to hail, wind and rain. Hoping it would clear up, and being as determined as I am, Rob and I grabbed the dogs and my tripod and hopped in the car. The further east we got, the harder it started to rain, by the time we got to the mouth of the canyon, it was pouring. I really wanted the fall colors so needless to say, we turned around and headed home. Back at home the weather was much calmer and there was no rain, so we looked around and decided that not all was lost, and we headed up the Bonneville shoreline trail, which happens to be conveniently located in our neighbors backyard, to take photos in the scrub oak behind our house. For those of you that don't know, we just bought a home on the lower east bench of Draper city, we live on Steep Mountain drive, named after the rather steep mountain that is our backyard. It is speckled and spotted with oak trees and shrubberies that, in the fall, turn beautiful shades of orange and red. After all that trouble, the perfect spot ended up being right under our noses.

Here are some of the photos we took today.