Category Archives: our home

Updated Bedroom Photos

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So after looking at the photos I’d posted of our bedroom last week, I was cringing… not that our bedroom looks awesome by any means, but it doesn’t look THAT bad…
Granted the pics from last week’s post are great “before” shots, so any “after” will be much improved, but still… I wanted to document how the room actually looks before making headway!

White, white and more white… not too exciting, but clean looking at least!

Yep… the bed is officially off-centered from the mirrors that we’d originally hung above our queen size mattress.  And yep… I didn’t even realize it until I started taking these pictures… awesome.

Side note here: that faux fur throw is THE WARMEST little thing – I LOVE it!  We sleep with all the windows open, because I like it to be really really cold in the room, and cozy in bed.  Am I crazy or is does anyone else do that too??

 And the curtains… I clearly need to figure out how to take better photos when there is direct light from a window, but at least you can see more clearly how they look – pretty sweet, right?

And another photo facing my closet (and the bathroom door – it’s just on the other side of my dresser)

Finally, the TV on it’s miniature stand, and the gold shelf that is about to go on Craigslist… like TONIGHT.  I cannot wait to get rid of that thing.

Once that open shelf is gone, there will be ample room for a longer, taller TV stand / storage unit.  I had been thinking a crisp white would look nice with some gold hardware, but now I’m reconsidering… maybe a pale aqua, bright yellow, or even something more fun like orange.  Am I getting carried away???

and… THIS is why we need a bedskirt!

See Kris’ huge board bag that he packs his surf boards in when we travel??  See the extra toilet paper?  Yeah… NO ONE needs to know what all is under the bed.

I think that buying a bedskirt just shot to the top of my list of bedroom priorities…

Bedding Decisions

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As you know, the bedroom has been on my list for a little revamping for a looonnnggggg time.  And I’ve been saying for months that it’s “next on the list”, but I swear to you, this time, improvements are on the way.
And I mean, SOON.
We’ve got the new bed, some new curtains, and the new rug, so I’m going to get motivated to start finishing the room out.  Here’s a shoddy picture little reminder of how the curtains are looking now with their crisp navy and white wide chevron stripes:
If you recall, we got a new rug which arrived several months ago, but I’ve never photographed or posted.  Of the three options I was going between in this post, I went with option #3:
It was the “safe” choice since the pattern wasn’t too crazy and the colors were the most neutral, but it’s been a decision that I’ve been very happy about – here are a few pictures from the day we rolled it out… just before our bed was delivered!

I am SO thrilled with the quality.  It’s really plush and soft – you can really see the quality in this up-close and personal shot below:

So now with the neutral rug, the new curtains, the new bed, and white bedding, I feel that we need to add some more color and pattern into the mix.  I definitely want to incorporate the navy from the curtains into the bedding, and here are a few options I’ve come up with:
Bring in some BRIGHT Colors:

I really love the Santa Maria Fabric from Lewis and Sheron fabrics – it’s bright and fun, without being juvenile.  The pattern has a good dose of navy, and I love that using this fabric on the Euro Shams would bring some life to the otherwise neutral space, while tying in with the striped pattern for the shams and curtains.

Santa Maria

Kris isn’t 100% sold on the bright colors – I think it’s because of the pink – but a punch of color would really wake things up – don’t you think?

Stick with Navy and White all the way:

Staying with a navy and white palate will allow me to bring a more wild (literally) print into the mix. There is something about a little kick of navy zebra that I am absolutely LOVING.  It’s just enough animal print without being “safari” and I think it could be really fun.

Mix in A LITTLE color and fun patterns:

I love Ikat, but I’m afraid that the Kalah Blue pattern I’m so in love with is too creamy colored to work with the pure white bedding (swatch below).

The “polka dot” ikat fabric with the pale grey background makes the fabric choice more deliberate, and while the Kalah Blue fabric won’t work on the bed, I have other plans to make it work in our house elsewhere.

So those are the three options I came up with first… but then I started second guessing (shocking, right?) and started thinking that maybe a combination of these three might be what I need…

I could take the preppy striped fabric from the first mock, and the “polka dot ikat” from the third mock and pair those together…

Could this be the winning combo??

Or do you feel like I haven’t hit the jackpot yet with ANY these combinations? Should I look for other options???

What about Lime Green?

Or what if I used some of the Chaing Mai Dragon fabric from Shumacher??

DAH!  I swear I will make some decisions!

Apart from my indecisiveness, you may have noticed a few other changes to the bedroom set up in these mocked up photos.  I want to get some large mirrors – either oval or rectangular, to mount behind each nightstand, and take the place of windows.  I also want to add a headboard, to anchor the bed, and create a visual point of focus for the room.

As of the day our new bed arrived, this is how the bed pretty much still stands today:

Excuse the washed out photo – this was taken at night with all the lights on.  Since this photo was taken, the poly fill Euro shams have been replaced with down Euro Shams – a HUGE improvement (and you know how I love to chop my pillows).  We’ve also gotten a white duvet for the down comforter, and it looks just like a hotel bed – no more freshly-taken-out-of-the-bag-super-wrinkly-down-comforter.

Here’s the official list of to-do’s for the bedroom:
  – New King Shams
  – New Euro Shams
  – New Bedskirt (this is SO necessary to hide all the crap under the bed)
  – Mirrors behind nightstands
  – Headboard
  – New TV Stand
  – Get rid of gold shelving unit
  – Art behind the TV
  – Find a new home for the quatrefoil mirrors
  – Additional Lighting

That list looks longer than it sounds in my head…

I’ll keep you posted on progress (and decisions!)

Painted Curtains DIY

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This weekend was full of birthday celebrations, but between the party hopping, I managed to get in a little DIY project.
I’ve long admired the curtains that Kristin Jackson of The Hunted Interior made for her living room.  They are playful, and graphic, and best of all, they are DIRT CHEAP to make.
Kristen’s Curtains
If you’ve ever tried to buy curtains that are long enough to go from ceiling to floor, you know that the 84″ panels they sell everywhere are not nearly long enough, but luckily for me, Ikea sells A PAIR of 98″ panels for $24.99.  No I am not kidding.  For $25, you get not one, but TWO curtains.  For that, I felt that I literally had nothing to lose.  If you’re interested, you can buy them here.
Of course, because they are SO LONG, you’ll almost definitely have to hem them, but it’s easy enough, and the folks at Ikea are smart – they include some stitch witchery in with the curtains to iron them hem for us non-sewers.  Dear Ikea, you are amazing.
Ok so into the project – this is what you’ll need:
White curtains
REALLY good painters tape
At least one measuring tape (I found it was helpful to have two)
Fabric Chalk (or pencil worked fine too)
Paint (I just used some good old latex paint from the hardware store – nothing fancy)
Foam brush or roller

This project is easy… the hardest part was measuring these dang stripes.  I wanted two “peaks” for each of my navy chevron stripes, so I took the width of the curtain, divided by four, and measured that much in from each side of the curtain to determine where the top peaks would go.  Then I measured down – each stripe was 16″, and marked out where the bottom point of my chevron stripe would be, and connected the dots with painters tape.  
Sounds simple enough, but I’m no math whiz, so it took me about 2 hours to get this first stripe measured and taped.  So sad.  After that things moved more quickly though…

Once I had finished measuring and taping the first curtain, I laid the second curtain panel over the first, and was literally able to see the tape through the curtain, so no measuring required for the second one – just started taping over the lines of the first.  The first panel took me probably 3 hours total – the second took me 15 minutes or so.

Once everything was taped off (REALLLLLLY good – press down hard on the tape to ensure a good seal) you simply need to paint in between the lines.  I used a foam brush – a roller would work, but I didn’t trust myself near the edges with the roller since I used a thinner tape.  Take the tape off while it’s still wet (I read online that this helps to ensure the paint doesn’t seep under the edges). I’m not actually sure how true that is since some of my paint ended up seeping, but it’s worth a shot.
Once it’s dry (or dry enough not to smear as you carry it and hang it), get those babies up!

Yes, I realize the picture quality sucks, but I was so excited I couldn’t resist!

I actually need to take the curtains back down and touch up a few spots where the paint did end up seeping under the tape, and the lines aren’t perfectly crisp, but overall I am loving my new wide chevron curtains!  The navy brings a bit of color to the room since everything else is white, or creme colored in there.  And with the new bedding… oh, I can hardly wait!

I keep reading that chevron is sooo last year, but I still happen to like chevron, and I LOVE my new curtains.  In my opinion, the wide chevron makes the pattern more unique – you don’t see it often.  Not sure if you remember the curtains we’d had in here… since I NEVER post pictures of our disheveled bedroom, but they were creme colored silk panels, that have since made their way into the living room… updated pictures of that are coming too.

I took a panoramic photo of this wall on my iPhone, to give you an idea of what this wall looks like. Remember how I said the TV stand was too low??  Well, now you can see what I mean.  It is impossible to watch anything when laying down.  That TV stand is going on Craigslist very soon, along with the gold shelf.

Can’t wait for more updates!

What do you think?  Would you ever paint a pair of curtains, or am I crazy??  When I told my mom, she definitely thought “crazy” instead of “brilliant” but I kind of don’t care.  I love them.

Campaign Style Wine Rack – DIY

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As you know, I have a laundry list of things I want to change in our home, but when it comes to crossing things off the list, I feel like I move at a snails’ pace!  Remember last month when I drew up the grand plans for rearranging the living room?? (original post here)  Well, for once, I got right on it, and have a few updates to share!!

To refresh your memory, this was the old layout:

Awkward short table next to the TV, wicker chair in the corner, desk blocking entry from entry-hall into the living room.  Not ideal.

This was the updated plan for the changes I wanted to make:

On the list…
 – Move the chair into the seating area (ultimately replacing the wicker with something else)
 – Get rid of that awkward short table next to the TV
 – Replace the awkward table with a bar cart or wine bar
 – Move the desk next to the window
 – Get a standing lamp
 – Put two small x-benches where the desk used to be

First change (and the easiest one so far) was moving the desk next to the window – it really opens things up when you first walk in the room, and it’s so nice to work in this sunny nook!  The standing lamp was also an easy decision to make, and I love how it looks next to the desk!

Moving on to the second change… here is a good snapshot of that awkward little table next to the TV.

It was WAY too short, and this is pretty much how it stood for the last year since we moved in.  It’s not AWFUL, but it always drove me crazy.  To say I wasn’t sad to see it go is a gross understatement!

Sayonara sucka!

While I’d been lusting after a bar cart like these bad boys, they really are not in the budget at $700 a pop (for the cheap ones!) and so I had to get creative.

We had a wine rack in the dining room, sort of tucked into the corner – you couldn’t see it, and it ultimately made the room feel a bit cramped.

One day I had an ah-ha moment, and decided that the wine rack would be the PERFECT solution for this area of the living room.  Moving it out of the dining room would open up that space, and re-purposing it for the living room would mean one less thing to buy!

It’s not some unique, heirloom piece (it was from Target to be completely honest) but it was the right height and width, so I was determined to make it work…

I snapped these photos really quickly after I moved it over from the dining room – I was super happy that it was just the right height for the mirror but the cheap look of the faux wood was not doing it for me.  
I’m also VERY over the black/brown wood look, which I went a little crazy with a few years ago when we were buying furniture for our first apartment.  Now, I feel like EVERYTHING is black / brown wood, and it HAS to change.
Here is a close-up of the finish, and that glorious hardware…

Blah.  Boring. Cheap.

I’ve long admired the look of campaign furniture – the brackets, and hardware really dress things up, and so with this image in my mind, I set out for a mini makeover…

Source

I needed paint, and hardware, but the weather had been really cold here, so I was in no mood to walk down to the hardware store and pick up a new quart of paint.

Feeling lazy, I decided to try mixing some paint I had laying around.  I had a dark blue-grey quart of oil based paint that I had used to paint the back of our bookshelves with, and another quart of taupe chalkboard paint that I had used on the console table in our hallway.  My little experiment could have ended disastrously but I figured that if it looked awful, or I ended up with peel-y paint, I could just sand it off, and start over.

I grabbed a Tupperware, started mixing, and much to my surprise, the color was PERFECT – a true grey, with blue undertones – JUST what I wanted.

I wasn’t quite sure how the paint would go on since it was half oil, and half chalkboard, but I have to say, the combination brought the best of both worlds.

The oil based paint made the application go on super smooth, and since the chalkboard paint was also in there, it dried really fast, and feels REALLY durable.  Time will be the true test to it’s durability, but after waiting 24 hours for the paint to “cure” it was ready to get some hardware!

While I really admire the look of the traditional campaign pulls, most of them require you to bevel out an indent in the drawer so that it lays flush with the piece.

I decided that trying to bevel out an indentation on a drawer that is probably made of particle board (god knows what it’s made of) would be a terrible idea… even if it were real wood, I think that’s probably way above my skill level.
With images in my head of myself royally messing up the face of the drawer I decided to go with an alternative – cup pulls have a similar look and feel, but I could just drill them right in – no muss, no fuss.
I laid everything out, and started drilling – since there was just one drawer, I just eyeballed it for the center, and the pull strategically covered up the centered hole from the original knob – no need to fill it, sand it and paint it.
Holla!
Here she is – the finished product!

Isn’t she pretty??   
I love how the grey paint looks with the brass hardware, and most of all, I love how we now have a little variation to our living room that is FULL of black/brown furniture.  I left the back of the wine rack black – mainly because it was too hard to fit my hand back there to paint it, but I like the contrast.

I’d had grand visions of putting casters on the bottom, but I think with all the brass hardware I added that casters would have been a bit much.
The best part of this project was that it cost me next to nothing!
The whole project cost me about $9 – mainly the cost of the hardware – the paint was free, and I used a $1.00 foam brush that I tossed afterwards.
My list is slowly dwindling in the living room, and I LOVE crossing things off…  after these updates, here’s how the list stands:

 – Move the chair into the seating area (ultimately replacing the wicker with something else)
 – Get rid of that awkward short table next to the TV
 – Replace the awkward table with a bar cart or wine bar
 – Move the desk next to the window
 – Get a standing lamp
 – Put two small x-benches where the desk used to be

Of course, I’ve since added to the list…
 – Hang two additional curtain panels on the center windows
 – Replace wicker chair (with a white slipper chair perhaps)
 – Replace black and white Ikea prints
 – Replace or revamp coffee table

I’m sure as I continue to make progress, the list will continue to grow, but at least I’ve made some headway!!

Re-upholstered Seat Cushions

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Amen to Friday!

I’ve actually been down in LA for the week – my first week on the new job – so I’ve felt really disconnected from everything “normal”.  The weather was so fabulous, and LA is one of those places you always feel like you are on vacation, but it was a busy week for sure.  After a wonderful start to the new job, I am so happy to be back home, with Kris.

I’m ALSO excited to share a mini DIY project I worked on last weekend!

Our dining room chairs were looking very sad.  I bought them from Craigslist with an antique (aka old) table for $50 total, and since buying them over three years ago, I have done nothing to fix them up.  I like to refer to the chipped paint as “shabby chic” but the cushions were just plain sad.  The old linen fabric was yellowed from probably decades of wear, and they were badly stained (from god knows what).

Actually confessing that on paper is so embarressing since we lived with them like that for YEARS, but last weekend, I finally did something about it.

While at World Market (picking up our FABULOUS new tripod lamp… yes, I pulled the trigger on that), I saw some curtian panels on sale for 50% off.  For just $15, I scored some amazing fabric with enough yardage to cover four seat cushions (and then some).  Sunday afternoon, I busted out the staple gun and went to work…

Here are a few “before” shots so you can appreciate the afters:

This is looking into the dining room from the living room – not awful, but the chairs were definitely on the plain side from afar…

 Closer up, you can really see how badly the paint is chipping…

And another angle – this room is pretty small… maybe 11’x10′, so it’s hard to photograph from a distance, but the mirrored wall helps a little… also, ignore the mess in the corner – those frames are still waiting to be hung!

Ok this photo is the last “before” that I’ll post, but this one does a really good job illustrating how disgusting the fabric was – stained, yellowed… this is so embarrassing!  I can’t believe we lived with these for YEARS.

Ok time for the “after” shots!! Here they are in all their glory!

One of the chairs still acts as our desk chair, but I love it as much in the living room as in the dining room, and dare I say it… it looks amazing with the tripod lamp 🙂

Here is a zoomed in shot – you can really see the raw texture of the fabric here – I love the “grain” in it (is that a term, or did I just make that up?)

      
And just for fun, here is a photo with the new lamp in place… that inspiration board I put together is really coming together!  I am absolutely LOVING the desk next to the window, and the light from that enormous lamp shade is just so pretty at night.
More pictures of that lamp later – I need to figure out how to camouflage the cord!!

I am loving the colors, the pattern, and the fact that in just over an hour, the chairs looked a million times better!

The paint is still chipped, but I’m going to choose to ignore that for now – we’ll get to repainting everything another weekend.  One, step at a time, am I right??

Let’s talk about the process for recovering the cushions for a minute – trust me when I say that it is SOOO easy.

Step I:
Rip off old disgusting fabric – you would not believe how dusty it was.  SO gross!

Step II:
Staple fresh layer of batting over cushions if needed – the actual cushions were in good shape, so I skipped this step.

Step III:
Staple new fabric onto cushions.  I found it was easiest to get the fabric smoothest and tightest by working on opposite sides.  Pull the fabric taut along one side and then staple (leave the corners for last!!)  Pull fabric taut on the opposite side from the one you just secured, and then staple.  Pull remaining sides taut and staple. The fabric on the corners should still be loose – this is where you finish the cushions.  I just pleated the fabric along the corner as neatly as possible, and stapled as I went.

There are basically two different ways to pleat the corners.  One was like a fan, the second like a box pleat (kind of).  Take a look at these pictures – you’ll see what I mean.

“Box Pleat” fold:

“Fan Pleat” fold:

Step IV:
Finish everything off by cutting excess fabric from around the staples – any bulky fabric will prevent the cushino from sitting flush with the seat – if you are able to, screw the cushions back on the seats.  Ours have a lip that goes over the front of the chair, holding them pretty secure, so I also skipped that step.

All in all, this project took me about an hour.  One of the most labor intensive parts was cutting the fabric up, and removing the old fabric from the cushions.  The actual reupholstering took almost no time at all!

Next on the list is to repaint the chairs (and table – god the table needs some love), but for now, I’m happy with the improvements to the cushions!

DIY Roman Shade

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You guys… this post has been a LONG TIME in the making!!  The last time I brought this project up was back in October (original post here).  
After months and months, I finally get to share with you this DIY for making your own Roman Shade!  This project took me somewhere in the ballpark of 8-10 hours in total, however, it’s important to remember that I’ve never sewn anything in my life before, so the learning curve for me was pretty steep!! While this project took mere hours, it’s taken me over 4 months to complete, photograph, and post!  Without further delay, let’s get to it.  
Here she is… my DIY roman shade… and she’s hanging like a champ in our hallway!
I really tried my best to document every single stage of the project, but it got way more difficult in the last few steps since Kris and I were both standing on chairs, trying to hang this sucker… 
Step one: find fabric.  I ended up ordering a bit over two yards of Secret Gate from Lewis and Sheron Fabrics (online)… remember this post  from way back in September??  That’s how long this has been in motion…
Ok anyway, the FABULOUS fabric arrived, and after dawdling a bit, I decided to tackle this project.  That was step two. Easy peasy.
Step three: iron the fabric – trying to tackle measurements on wrinkled fabric is a big no-no (or so my mama told me)… and so I ironed away!

And then I ironed some more….

And some more… until it was perfectly smooth (side note, that’s not my beautiful kitchen in the below photograph… ours is perhaps the ugliest room you’ve ever seen.  These beautiful cabinets are at my parents house – jealous?)

Once the fabric is ironed, it’s time to do some math.  This was by far my least favorite part of this project, and the part I was definitely the worst at.  Thank god for my mom!  She corrected it several times, but let me see if I can recap how you need to measure.

Write down the length and width of the window.  Once you have that, decide if you want your shade to be the exact length and width, or how much wider than the window you want your shade to be.  If you want the shade to be wider than the window, add on the amount you want it to be wider to each side (for example, if the window is 40″ wide, and you want an additional inch on each side, add two inches, for a total shade width of 42 inches).

If you are lining this, it gets a bit more complicated.  You’ll want your printed fabric to wrap around to the back side of the shade, and the lining to be less wide, so add on additional width for the fabric to wrap around to width you’ve already estimated (if you want the printed fabric to wrap around 2″ on each side, add an additional 4″.  Make sense??

Finally, keep about 5 extra inches of “front side” fabric for wrapping around the piece of wood for mounting – no lining fabric needed here.  You can cut off extra fabric later if you don’t end up needing it, but you can’t really add more on if you are short!

Ok, once the measurements are made, and your fabric is cut, start pinning the lining to the fabric.  As you are pinning, you want the print side of the fabric to be face up, and the lining to be on top.  This way once you sew the seams, and you turn it “inside out” so the seams face in, and the print faces out.

When you have finished pinning, the fabric will look odd – each side sort or folded over – that’s because the lining is more narrow than the front facing fabric for the extra length to wrap around (so you don’t see the seams or lining from the side once the shade is finished).

This picture below is how it should look.

Ok onto sewing.  Set up the sewing machine (I could not help explain this step, but if you sew, just follow the instructions with the bobbin, etc), and sew along the seams, taking the pins out as you go.

Halfway through, I realized my outfit matched the fabric – it was a good omen!!

After both seams are sewn, flip it inside out… or “right side out” I guess, and iron it again, so the fabric edge is even on both sides.

It should look like the below picture from the back side, with the lining not going all the way to the edge.

Next step is to get out the measuring tape again, and start marking off where the rings will go.  Ignore the wrinkles in this photo, it started out ironed, but got wrinkled after sitting folded on the table for three months.

I wanted fewer, larger folds, so I pinned every 17″ or so for a 70″ window, I got 4 pleats.

A note I left out above was that at the bottom of the shade, I inserted a wooden dowel cut down to the width of the window, and sewed it in.  This rod inside the bottom of the shade acts as a weight so that when the shade is pulled up, it hangs properly.  You can kind of see the rod in the above picture.  Some people put these dowels up the entire length where each fold will be, but I didn’t find it was necessary.  My shade pulls up just fine – perhaps my fabric is heavy enough (and I ironed the folds in, so it has the memory).

Anyways, getting back to the point… sew three vertical rows of these rings onto the shade.  One on each side, and one in the middle.

Be sure these rings are really secured on there – they are what is supporting the shade when it’s pulled up and down – I used a drop of super glue to make sure the rings and thread were super secure.  I’m not sure this is necessary, but I feel better about it.

So this is the part where photo documentation became shoddy, so I apologize.
The final steps here are super simple.
Prepare your mount – I used a piece of wood 1″x2″ and started by stapling the shade onto the wood, wrapping it around, to cover all sides.  Once the fabric was stapled, I screwed in single hook screws into the wood (through the fabric).  These look like a more sturdy eye hook.  With that prepped, it’s time to thread the shade.
This below picture, pretty much illustrates everything more clearly than I can put into words.
Tie the cord to the bottom rings, and make sure the knot is really tight (I also used superglue here so the knots won’t come undone).  The cord furthest from where you will pull the shade up should be longest, the one in the middle the second longest, and the cord on the side with the pulley should be shortest.  Thread each cord up through the loops on the shade, and then through the eye hooks screwed into the mount on the top.
Final stage mounting – I used L shaped brackets, and some super long screws to get this up.  Once it was secured above the window we were ready to test out the shade, and praise the lord, it WORKS!  
That moment, seeing the shade go up and down was really cool, to see that after all that measuring, sewing, and installing, that it actually worked.  I was half waiting for it to collapse, pull up crooked, or whatever, but it was super simple, and dare I say it, foolproof!

And here it is from the side.. pretty awesome…

And the pleats from the front – this was completely accidental, but the pattern is perfectly lined up – cause I’m a ballerrrrrrr!!

Here is a close up of the pulley system in action, along with the mounts… 

And a final glory shot of the curtain, hanging in the hallway – it’s so pretty, although in these pictures, I am completely realizing that I forgot to wrap the side of the wood mount.  I painted it white, but I’m not loving that unfinished edge.  I’ll have to go back in with a little hot glue gun, and swatch of fabric to finish off the ends!

If you are thinking of attempting a roman shade of your own and have some questions, just shoot me an email!  I could NOT have done this without my mama’s help!

xoxo

Gallery Wall of White Ornate Frames

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It’s done!!  Remember a week or so ago I  had posted about creating a gallery wall made up entirely of frames??  Well… for the first time, I jumped right on this project, and it’s finished!!

Remember this inspiration photo?

Well here is our hallway as of this morning!!

And just to refresh your memory… here are a few photos of what it looked like before:

And again after…

Even with all these frames and the ornate details, it doesn’t look busy, or overwhelming for the space.  Quite the opposite – all the white makes it really clean and simple.  I am thinking of selling this console table because I’m still not convinced it’s right for this space.  Moving it out would open things up even more, don’t you think?

Anyway – back to the project.  This could not have been more simple!!  I went to Aaron Brothers and hit up the one-cent sale (buy one, get one for a penny).  Of course, it was impossible to find white ornate frames, so I just picked up whatever ornate frames they had (many ended up being gold), and swung by the hardware store to grab a few cans of Rustoleum high gloss white spray paint.  I sprayed all the frames with a few coats, and it could not have been more simple!!

Once the paint was dry, I brought the frames inside, and then started laying out which frame would go where on the dining room table.  Even having them layed out on the table, it was still hard for me to envision how it wold look on the wall.  I am definitely a visual person, so I traced each frame onto a piece of paper, and started taping it all up on the wall.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take any photos of this process, but you can imagine how easy it was.  I found it was better to just play with the arrangement right on the wall until I was happy with the placement of each frame.  In that process I discovered that I still needed a few extra frames, and so I grabbed a few smaller frames we had around here – they aren’t anything special, but a few simple frames in the mix actually makes the ornate ones pop even more!  Once I was happy with the arrangement with the pieces of paper, I started hanging everything up, and ta-da!

Ultimately, I’d like to have mirrors cut to fit to each frame, but for now they are all just empty – it doesn’t bother me, but that’s the eventual plan…

And this guy is my favorite – it’s a hand carved wooden frame that has so much character!

What do you think??  I absolutely love it – it turned out just how I had hoped!!

Christmas House

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I cleaned our house today, finally putting away all the Christmas gifts, recycling all the boxes we don’t have storage for, and dusting off all the crumbs that have accumulated over the last few days.  We’ve got cookies, candies, and sweets up the wazoo, and it seems we’ve made it a personal mission to finish every last treat… thus the crumbs!
Anyway, the light was so pretty, I decided to get out the good camera, and snap some shots of our Christmas house this year…

This photo was taken from the archway between the living room and the dining room.  As much as these two love seats have bugged me since we moved in, they don’t grate on my nerves nearly so much with a few pretty throw pillows.  For winter, we’ve got some white faux fur in the mix, along with the navy and gold floral pattern, and some neutral linen.
Taking these pictures, I realized that I haven’t documented our house much since we got this rug.  One of my new years resolutions will to be better about that, and this is the start.

Notice how the faux fur throw I got from Cost Plus has made a home for itself on the wicker chair?  This chair bugs me to no end, so I guess I figured covering it up with cozy blankets would solve that?  No idea, but we now refer to this chair as the abominable snowman, since it looms in that corner fairly ominously…

For all it’s modern lines, Kris’ black love seat somehow blends in more to me with that snazzy striped throw blanket – $30 from Ikea – heck yeah!!

And here is our pretty tree.  Kris keeps saying it’s the prettiest tree in the world.  He’s a keeper.

It really does look nice with a mix of new and old.  I have my favorite old ornamants I’ve collected over the years, with some bright colorful  balls from Target (I am loving those hot pink and lime green ones), along with our new tree topper (which is crooked in this picture… dang it!)

So, it’s clear to me that I need to figure how to work our camera in manual, since this shot above is way overexposed.  I could not figure out how to capture the tree, and the room, at the same time since the sunlight was streaming through the windows.

Ohh well – possibly another resolution for 2013… figure out how to take better pictures.

Now don’t make fun of me, those presents are not actually presents…  I wrapped the boxes our ornaments get stored in.  Yup – we have ZERO storage for these, so since they were in plain sight, I wrapped them to camouflage their function.  I don’t know about you, but I thought I was pretty clever!

And I couldn’t resist a close shot of my pretty white roses.  We had some deep red roses here a few weeks back, but I am loving the white just as much.  Also, I am loving how I was able to get a little bokeh effect going on with the lights on the tree.  Holla!

Target is seriously my favorite place on earth.  The faux amaryllis bulb AND that feather tray were both huge scores from Target – the feather tray was on sale for $9.99 last week, and a quick note on the fake flowers… they look so real in person, I’ve had several people ask how I was able to grow them.  Kind of amazing…

Finally, our desk got a few small additions – these birch wrapped bark candles are pretty and wintery, and I plan on keeping them around through February.

Pottery barn sells them for an arm and a leg, but Cost Plus has them for cheap!  Run and get them before they are gone!

Oooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhh…

Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh….

Also, this candle got a little greenery from a tree that blew down during a storm earlier this month.  Luckily, the branches and leaves dried out perfectly, and retained their green color.

This tray had lived on the coffee table for a long time, but moved over to the side table next to the TV – it got a little snowflake wrapping paper on the bottom to Christmasify it (new word?), and the vase on it was stuffed with faux berry branches.

I was never fully happy with this little area, but it does the trick.  I still want a taller table to go here – perhaps that’s why I think it looks odd…

I took this photo standing in front of the tree looking back at the gallery wall that never happened (remember this ambitious post??).  I was gung ho about the gallery wall for about a week, and then I chickened out! We still have all the art and frames I’d assembled sitting in a little stack, but I just can’t pull the trigger.

I’ve been toying with the idea of hanging two larger frames here, so it’s less manic and crowded.  First I’ll need to find some frames, and then some art that I love…

For now, these three black and white (and crooked) frames will have to stay.  It’s not THAT bad… right?

This little guy is one of my favorite holiday additions to our space – he is jaunty, and so cute, just chilling below some mistletoe that hangs from the inside of a lamp.

God that crackle finish kills me on the lamp… the faux finish is just gross, but it stays for now.  Perhaps some rubbed bronze spray paint is in that lamp base’s future?  Or should we get crazy and throw some navy in the mix there??

And finally the Christmas card display… I really debated not adding this picture since it’s not the best execution of an idea.  I was trying to make a tree shape out of the cards we received… a glorious idea I saw on Pinterest.  Whelp… I’d pretty much call this a Pinterest fail.

I’ll still give myself an A for effort, but we’ll have to find a different way to display the cards next year…

So that’s it – a quick recap of all the simple Christmas Decorations we had this year in the living room – and don’t forget the pretty boxwood wreath we have hanging in the dining room, or the Christmas ornament garland I made for our hallway.
Cheers to the last few days of Christmas decorations!!
xo

My Peackock got Framed!

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Yep – Mr. Peacock got matted and framed over the weekend, and he’s now hanging proudly in our entry way.  This frame started out with a cream colored crackle finish – it was all very shabby chic, and it did absolutely NOTHING for my pretty peacock.
Rustoleum spray paint to the rescue!  I picked up a can of Rustoleum in deep navy gloss, and it looks absolutely LUSCIOUS in person.  The frame now picks up the colors in the print, and brings some much needed color to this space.

As a side note, has anyone else tried to take a picture of something that is navy???

It is IMPOSSIBLE!

I tried it pretty much every which way possible – with all the shades open, all the lights on, lights off, flash on, flash off… it pretty much doesn’t matter – it will not photograph.  So sad, because our little hallway now has a little flair with my new peacock print!

You can KIND OF see the navy here… trust me – in person it’s awesome!
I’m also loving the linen inner frame with the touch of gold… a little rustic with the glam.
You’ll also notice that the doors and trim are now bright white – they are no longer the same color as the walls!  Holla!
I spent a few evenings over the last several weeks painting out the trim and doors.  Remember our entryway back in November?  Stripes galore??  Well, as you can see, the stripes are gone now, since it was all way too much, but one day I will have my striped hallway!

The peacock has some other complimentary prints being framed right now – we are going for a variation of blues that will coordinate with the living room… stay tuned for updates!

Ornament Garland DIY

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Hello hello and happy Monday!

I’m all tuckered out from the MANY holiday parties we went to over the weekend, but despite the back-to-back party schedule, I still managed to fit in a little DIY project that I’ve been dying to try!

Kate of Centsational Girl created a beautiful, blingy garland for her holiday mantle that I just had to have!  Using her tutorial, and these photos for inspiration, I set out to make one of my own.

Trust me when I say that this project could not be easier!

I bought one large multipack of silver ornaments from target, along with three smaller sized packs to vary the size and shape of the ornament clusters.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find floral wire, fishing wire, or even a thin rope at the store, but they did have wired garlands with stars all over it, so I figured that was close enough to get the job done.

I laid everything out first into a little assembly line, and got to work threading varying ornaments onto the wire garland.

And the final result??

A really pretty (really easy to make) holiday garland for our hallway!  I’d originally been thinking of doing this garland in golds and bronze colors, but I think the cool colors of the silver and gunmetal look really pretty with the blue table.

I’m still working on styling the table, since the two potted red amaryllis plants that were there earlier this week didn’t look right with the wintery looking garland. In my dream world, I’d have two mini evergreen trees here, but alas, it’s all a bit too much for our teeny hallway.

In the end, this garland ended up being around 4 feet long, which is perfect for it to serpentine around the top of the table, and the best part is, that if I ever want to add to it, I can tie more wire onto the existing garland, and thread on more ornaments.

Ornament garland… SUCCESS!