Quick Fix

I think this dresser is the very first piece of furniture we ever spray painted-about 7 yrs ago, in a church parking lot b/c we didn't have space at our apartment. It used to be banana yellow and white, from Grandma. It's cheap but for now it gets the job done. When we painted it white I painted the knobs black to go with some other dresser we had at the time. 7 years later, the knobs were driving me crazy in our room because they look so cheap. So a few months ago when I was roaming around in an antique shop- I happened upon these knobs. Nothing too fancy but metal instead of wood and at 50 cents a piece I knew it would be a good upgrade! 

 Of course, I didn't take a picture til half way through- so now u can see the difference

 After

 A little DIY styling on the top- the S is from Hobby Lobby at 50% off it was $5, the frame was something I had, and the stencil print I did myself with some butcher paper and a sharpee, books I gathered from around the house

Bedroom Details: Rustic Touch

 Next up, I wanted to add a little personal touch and I remembered I had a piece of barn wood I got at an antique shop several months before. It was $6 and I intended on using it for something else, but that didn't happen, so I thought--- I'll use it now!

All it took was some white acrylic paint, a few stamps sets, some memories, and a little creativity 

I just thought through things that are special to us-- kids, where we got married, first date, cute sayings, places we've lived, favorite vacations etc.

 

Now it is above our bed- not sure I love it there, but now it's too meaningful- I have to hang it somewhere! 

All the stuff above the bed I had, just pulled from around the house- but the white vase was $1 at a garage sale, the duvet set was $30 online (i can tell u where if ur interested)- I still want a white quilted coverlet to mix and match the bedding a bit more, & I made the pillow covers

 

Bedroom Details: The nightstands

Once the bed was moved in, our little ikea tables looked pretty radiculous as nighstands. They were way too low. The standard rule of thumb for nightstands is- they should to be about the height of the top of your mattress. Some like them to be a little higher, some a little lower- but this is like 2 feet lower, not gonna work! So since I had two of them, I tried to figure out how to use both to make one taller nightstand. 

 Thanks to Ikea Hackers, I saw this picture- perfect!

I took my two tables, stacked them on top of each other just as a starting point. Looks pretty silly as is but we're getting somewhere.

 From there, it was a lot of trial and error. I wanted mine a little different than the Ikea Hackers pic, so I would just chop some, come see it in the room, chop some- over and over and over until it looked right. I won't tell you how long it took me, I just couldn't decide exactly how I wanted it! 

 

Finally, I got it the way I wanted. Once the first one was done- making the second was super fast- I had to get 2 more tables at Ikea (not bad at 7 bucks a piece!)  then just use the final measurements from the table I already did. I tried a few methods of getting them to stay together- but once my AWESOME neighbor told me to try E6000- that was the jackpot, they are solid!

 

 Of course, I'd love to just open a catalog and order fancy beautiful nightstands or refinish a matching set- but for using what I already had, and not having to paint another piece of furniture- I'm pretty pleased!

Bedroom Details: THE BED!

Well our bedroom has finally come together one piece at a time. It's not the most amazing thing in the world, but without spending much money- it has come a long ways! Instead of doing one mammoth post, I thought I would break things down a bit. So first up and most exciting was THE BED! Here is what we had when we moved in- white walls, no molding (u can see where we started doing molding in the top left corner) a brass headboard we painted black years ago, old bedding etc. 

 After scouring KSL and trying to find a good deal on beds, I came across Ana White's site, and loved the farmhouse bed. It's been floating around blog land for awhile but it really is perfect. After showing the plans to Paul-one night he just packed up, went to the store, came home with all the supplies, and only a few hours later  he had totally completed the headboard! I was shocked! I knew he was a handyman, but holy moly- I am so lucky :) It was a good excuse to get him the drill set he's always wanted, and if that means he'll keep up the projects then that's fine with me!

I think it only took him one more night to do the foot board and rails. Then it took me 3 times that long to fill all the holes and paint. It was kind of a beast to paint actually, lots of primer and paint. I do love how it looks unfinished in these pics though.

 

  Here it is when we first moved it into the room. I just kinda threw the bedding on and it's not looking great. But at this point we did have the crown molding up (ALSO thanks to Paul, ok I guess I filled all the holes and painted too) and the wall color was up. But still lots to work on--- notice the way too short nightstand and hideous puke orange chair (no offense to Grandma) --- these eye sores will be addressed in upcoming posts!

Virtual Family Room Design

Recently my close friend moved into a new rental and asked for a little help figuring out how to pull things all together and make a space she and her family will love! Since she lives out of state we had fun with lots of emails back and forth and were able to pull a few things to get the ball rolling. 

The family room was painted in ButterCream from Restoration Hardware.

 

The stairs and upstairs hall were going to be tan and she wanted a fun pop of color in the kitchen that went with everything else. I gave lots of suggestions and she picked my fave- Sherwinn Williams Sea Salt!

Next up was fabric for the curtains. Something that pulled the two spaces together and freshened things up. There was a lot to choose from between online stores, etsy, etc. I just started pulling some and putting them in a pinterest file...

Then she went to her local Joanns and found this one! Lucky for her it was on sale- perfect!

Next up... define style- I had her take a few fun design quizzes that help you "define" your style. You can check them out too- it's always fun to see what the books say you like even if you don't think they ring true.

BHG decorating style quiz

BHG decorating personality quiz

HGTV style quiz

Kaboose decorating style quiz

Ethan Allen find your signature style

Last steps- she sent me a few pictures and told me what they need as a family- more lighting, storage for kid stuff, fun patterns/personality. So here are the before's....

 BEFORE

  

 

I just focused on the left side/family room because I couldn't figure out how to do both in one photoshop doc. But I used furniture from both pics. (slight disclaimer-- I can't get that silly blue pillow from that tan couch smaller and I know it looks silly and off, but whatever- I'm still trying to figure out this whole photoshop thing)

 

Color palette: I pulled colors from the curtains you already have, the wall color, and light colored carpet etc

Style:
formal- The side table, lamps, and picture frame are a sleek shape/luster to give a little sparkle
french- I had no idea how to incorporate that part of your surveys given what you already have :)
vintage- A few rustic/fun pieces - the basket full of books, little toy box by the chair, coffee table- I have seen some fun rustic/vintage coffee tables online lately using old pallets or trunks or things that you could do way cheap. Oh and the cute little blue clock is a fun little vintage accessory

Functionality:
* Play/storage space for the kids: an ottoman/coffee table like that would hold a lot of stuff and serve as a toy box if u wanted, the little toy basket by the chair, basket of books etc. I was thinking of making the other half of the room the main place with large storage, a twin to the bookcase you already have and a storage thing between the two etc.
 *Lighting: I put a tall lamp in that area (u could just use the one you already have) and then one on the little side table, but if you do the sofa table you could also flank two on either end or in a grouping to add a lot of light right there

Keeping costs low: I used most of the large existing furniture pieces- the major thing is if you don't use the drawers in that sofa table that putting it behind your sofa gives you the perfect spot to put cute, fun accessories or artwork, or lamps for reading to give more light in the room. It also give a focal point to the room besides just the window. You could also just re-paint or use the side tables you already have in place of the ones I put on there.

**Once again... this was TOTALLY a fun project! I love these little virtual design projects- just as fun to design and it doesn't cost me a dime! You can see the other one I did for my friend here 


If you or anyone you know would like a virtual design- let me know! I work for free :)

Free Fall Decor

When I was walking to a neighbors house the other day I noticed several pallets that had just been dumped in an empty lot. My mind started reeling on what I could do with them, and there are ideas online everywhere. Table, headboards, dresser, art... I wasn't sure what I was going to do with one but I knew I would put it to use some how. So after watching for a couple days and realizing no one was going to claim the pallets, I broke my back dragging one back to my garage. It sat there for a week or so until I decided I wanted to spruce up the entry way a bit and add some touches of fall. 

Here's a reminder on what the entryway looked like before board and batten

This is how it looks now...all the decor stuff was free, minus the 2 dollar pumpkins I bought a week before & stuff I already had

Scrapbooking paper and paper bags for the banner- all stuff I had

Some wheat looking twigs I grabbed on our morning walk & some mulch with a candle on top

 

 Then my DIY pallet sign. It took me a long time to rip the pallet apart, & I woke up the whole neighborhood trying to do it. Then I cut them down a bit, hooked them all together with wood on the back- then created my own saying/stencil. I saw this quote years ago on an old window in an antique shop, I've always wanted to use it somewhere- and now it's perfect for fall/thanksgiving. All I did was print out letters from Word, then cut them out by hand- using the negative space from the paper as a stencil. I just used some white craft paint & my stencil brush. I love how it turned out, and love that I didn't spend a dime!

 

Done and done.

A day at the zoo

A few months ago my brother-in-law asked if he could come pick up the kids and take them to the zoo for the day, of course I said yes and then I panicked- an entire day to myself?? Where to start!? Of course I wanted to run to a million stores and just look at stuff, but since we were really trying not to spend any money- shopping seemed like a waste of time. SO... instead, I decided to do something free and stenciled the hall! I know this pattern is EVERYWHERE, but when I first saw it on Jones Design Company I knew I had to do it somewhere.

  

 The two things I learned in case I attempt stenciling in the future-- it takes a LONG time, and DON'T use a dark pencil- then it takes 2 coats of paint to cover it, ugh

Sprucing up the Laundry Room

I haven't posted projects in forever so my goal is to get up-to-date over the next few days, that's the warning- project overload coming up! For now... the laundry room. Simple updates that make a world of difference. It's still not complete but I smile when I go in and out of there a million times a day. 

Here it was when we moved in- then add in our 1970's non-matching washer and dryer set that always smelled like smoke and combine it with the wire rack exposing every laundry product we owned- NOT a good combination.

 

  We bought unfinished stock cabinets- painted them white- finally made like the biggest splurge of our marriage and got front loaders, painted the doors, simple accessories I pulled from around the house- done!

 

Crown Molding Turned Mirrors

We got a killer price on crown molding so we did our Family Room, Kitchen and Master. We had a few scraps left over so I decided to attempt making my own mirrors to go above our thrift store dresser! I could just buy one big mirror, but I wanted two identical mirrors to give us each our own little vanity type landing spot. So I picked up a cheap unfinished frame, a square craft mirror, and some L brackets. Paul cut the wood to fit around the unfinished frame.

 

I attached the L brackets on the back to hold everything in place. Filled all the gaps with wood puddy and tiny dowels. Final touch was spray paint left over from doing THESE chairs. 

Hang em' up!

Perfect! I love how its on the wall opposite our windows too because it helps the light bounce and brighten up the space! (have i mentioned how bad i want a nice camera!? ugh... i could decorate 3 rooms with the cost of one of those babies, one day, one day)

Sunburst Mirror for the Master

Sunburst mirrors have been all the craze for the last year and then some... so I never wanted to do one, I usually wanna stray from things that are too trendy and these mirrors are EVERYWHERE. For example...

Addicted to decorating...

 The Lettered Cottage

 Centsational Girl

But when I started doing our bedroom, there was really just the perfect empty spot over one of our dressers so I thought- heck with it, I'll do it anyway. But... everywhere I looked were mirrors that were missing something or not necessarily the way I would want to do it. The ones above were some of my favorites/inspiration. I like the shims idea, I like the paint sticks but I always feel like the mirrors look unfinished or off proportion. So I just ventured to a few craft stores to see what I could come up with to get it just the right way for me!

Shims... about $1.50 @ Home Depot

 I found a bamboo roller shade at a thrift store for $4.00

 Round clock face, unfinished craft mirror, 10" embroidery hoop

 Laying it all out

 Hanging it up!

 

Still need to accessorize the dresser- but for now, I love it!