My Creative Blog:
nate berkus

Hey! If you're new around here- welcome! We're super glad you found us and we hope you'll stick around a while. Use the icons on the right to take the plunge and follow us. We love all things DIY and we'd love to share our projects with you! -Monica & Jess ******************************************************************************** Phew! The days that our segments on The Nate Show air are just so surreal. It's sort of like watching someone else there on the TV, you know? Even after four times on the show, it's still so strange. Plus, it's a shame we didn't lose any of our dorkiness over the past few months. We were so busy working our rear ends off to make the stuff look good, that we sort of forgot to play it cool. Anyway, if you missed yesterday's show, you can see the super-fun reveal segment below:

Isn't Nate the cutest? And he seriously could not have been nicer to us. Love him. This room gave us a run for our money, but it came together so beautifully. We love that it took us out of our design comfort zones, and also made us try a few things we'd never done before.

One of the things I'm most proud of is this ugly-$15-beat-up-leather-turned-handsome-houndstooth scene-stealer. Yes,, you got that right. One of our greatest strengths, especially as a team, is that we're not afraid to tackle any project, and this is proof! First of all, reupholstering usually means sewing a bit, and we don't sew. Secondly, we've never even attempted upholstering anything.at.all. So, why not give it a whirl for all of tvland and Nate Berkus to see? Ha! We're crazy.

I'm not even going to try to explain to you what we did in tutorial-fashion, because quite honestly, it was a whole lot of trial and error with some yanking and grunting thrown in. But I can tell you a few simple things that really helped the process go smoothly.

We were able to take the arms off of the chair, which made sanding and staining, not to mention reupholstering one hundred times easier to do. I sanded and sanded and sanded and then stained the arms and legs in a deep walnut. I followed that up with a coat of water-based poly to seal it all up. We used about 1 1/2 yards of fabric and two small boxes of nailheads, both of which we found at Joann's. We sort of viewed reupholstering the chair as wrapping a present, and got started on the least noticeable areas. Once we got going, the process got easier and easier.

It took us about 2 hours off and on to get it right, but we were so happy with the results. It's not perfect, but it's pretty close!

My favorite part, for sure, is the nail head detail along the back. Not only does it look awesome, but it covers the seam so well!

Isn't it lovely? Now, we have to decide who gets to keep it. You can be sure we'll be flipping a coin for it.: )

So, my recommendation to you is go ahead and give that project you're a little afraid of a shot! Sometimes it's worth the risk. Or, if you'd rather not, that's ok too. Let the pros do it for you- we highly recommend Jet Upholstery to get the job done for you. That way you can be sure it'll come out perfect, without having to stand in compromising positions next to your best friend (not that that happened to us!: )
What project are you hesitating to tackle for fear it might not turn out right?

>Linking up to: TT&J, Sundae Scoop, Sunday Showcase, Saturday Night Special, Show & Tell Saturday,

The hubs and I had a little chat a few weeks ago… we were both pretty sick of having a semi-finished family room. We’ve had bare walls for pretty much ever. I just couldn’t decide what to do… stalking other blogs and design sites had me leaning a different direction every day. Finally, I decided to just do something!
Remember my fingerprint artwork? I still really love it, but decided it needed to be relocated to the other side of the room.

What, you might ask, did I have planned for the striped wall?
Welcome to my Ginormous $4.99 Family Art work

Pin It Right off the bat… YES, I know the picture comes beyond the frame, and I did do it on purpose. My kids have asked me about that about 214754 times in the past two weeks.
Here's how I made a 4x3 Ginormous piece of family art for only $4.99! I headed to the Bucks County Re-Store on Saturday afternoon without anything specific in mind. I just knew I hadn't done a project in forever and I needed some inspiration. I only bought one item, but it was $15 and just what I needed to spark a project idea!

Check out my new $15 mirror and my super-cool dance move! (Yes, I was doing that while taking the picture. Too cool for school, I know…)

This was how it came from ReStore and where my demo needed to begin.

I unscrewed the wooden boards from the back and then took a screwdriver to pry off the wooden backside. I just tapped it in with a hammer and then angled the screwdriver. I did this all around the edges until it came free.

I was left with a big mirror (still plotting what to do with it), the frame I needed, and a piece of wood that headed to the trash.

I primed the mirror first… do you know how rare it is that I take the time to prime? I was proud. After the primer I gave it two coats of Valspar's Navy spray paint.

Remember the awesome family pictures that the fabulous Stacy Salvatori took back in the fall? Well, I knew I was ready to have one blown up really, really big, but I didn't want to pay big bucks for a massive print. Thankfully, Staples will print huge black and white pictures. Just ask for an engineering print. They can go over 3 feet wide and really long. I just brought the jpeg on a flash drive and they uploaded and printed in about 5 minutes. The best part… It cost me $4.99!!

Do you recognize that black paper behind the photo? It's the infamous Nate Show Tar Paper! I was wicked excited to use it for another project!

I got out my trusty yet my nemesis spray adhesive and got to work sticking the pic to the tar paper.

The engineer prints aren't on heavy paper, they're on average copy weight paper, so I wanted to give it a bit more stability with the tar paper.

I adhered it, trimmed the edges with a utility knife and then got out my favorite new tool… my grommeter! I only had gold grommets, so I spray painted them a hammered metal first. I put one grommet on each side.

I had two copies of this framed print laying around back from my old homestaging days. I decided to ditch the boat and use the frames.

I also had about five of these frames laying around in my basement and decided to have them join the navy spray paint club as well.

Here's the arrangement as it looks now. I added gold chain to the grommets and I'm in search for the perfect doorknob to hang it from in the middle. I might need to head over to Architectural Antiques this weekend. I'm also going to add sketched artwork to the 4 empty frames.

All-in-all, I'm thrilled with how this completely inexpensive family artwork turned out. I love having my family's faces right in our main living space, and I love that it's a little quirky and unique.

Don't worry, I'll share the true finished product once I get a knob and artwork added. I was just too impatient not to share the family pic right away!
So, how many of you are running to Staples to BLOW-UP some Ginormous pics?

Happy 12th Day!! Can you believe we made it? Who would have thought 48 hours could have provided us with over two weeks of projects to post about!?! We've really loved sharing everything with you, although if you want us to be completely honest… since we've been seeing these rooms since OCTOBER, we're sort of glad to be done with all of it! Bad bloggers!
To finish off the final day I'm going to be sharing the itty bitty little details that don't quite deserve a post of their own, but do need a shout out at least!

One of the projects that was so simple it made me laugh, was the bracelet Christmas tree. Like most of my projects it came about by accident (and hey, so did Penicillin, so don't knock it!)

I was moving the bracelets onto my workspace and stacked them… Hmm, looks sorta like a tree. Could this be the World's Easiest DIY? And that's how it went down. It's a bit hard to see in the"After" pics, but in the room, the gold looks nice and shiny and kind of adds a funky element that I love.

Jess had this metal letter J floating around, but rather than thinking Jackson I was thinking Joy! I grabbed a black frame, printed out some holiday text and put it all together. I'm sooo bummed I can't figure out where I found the holiday text, but I know I googled something like"Holiday words typed" or something really obscure like that… did I mention I was short on time? Here's the picture I used. If you know the source let me know and I'll gladly add it!

For me, little details like these make such a huge difference. Even if they're never even seen on TV, I just couldn't do a room without them.
Ok, now for a whirlwind of final details…

This no sew gal was thrilled with how the sweater accent pillow turned out! My Epsom salt faux snow made me feel ready to hit the slopes. I'm a wrapping addict, so chunky stenciled presents were right up my alley. Seriously, who can have a horse without an ascot?? That would be just plain wrong! (hehe) And finally, I was inspired by this blog post to try a lighted felt garland.
Well there you have it! Thanks so much for hanging with us for these 12 days! We'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow! And can I just mention that I'm fairly certain I'm more excited than my kids about Christmas?? Only 5 more days!!!

P.S. Tonight Jess is hosting a"Favorite Things" party and we're both pretty excited about it. I can't wait to see what our gal pals' favorite things are! Have you ever been to one before?? We'll give you all the details later this week!

Before I could do any Christmas decorating, I had one major problem to take care of… the huge broken TV and the massive custom shelving built around it. It's funny because this was a HUGE part of my 48 hours, but because it wasn't just decorating, they hardly even mentioned it in the episode!

I knew that the TV was broken and the little one was being used temporarily, but I didn't know what to do with shelving that was made specifically for a ginormous box TV. I considered building shelving within the shelving and then remembered that I didn't have a clue how to do that and only had about 8 hours… onto plan B. One thing I did know how to do was build a pallet wall. Remember this project we recently finished?

I thought Jess and Kev wouldn't mind if I covered up the gaping hole in the wall with some cool pallets, and so I went to the garage to see how many they had sitting around and then sent the hubs on a little search for more pallets!
The first step was removing the molding all around the edges. (Oh, and removing the beast of a TV…good thing I'm super strong! hehe)

Next, we used 2x4s to create studs that we could nail the pallets into. This wasn't quite as easy as doing it on a normal wall because we had a lot of open space.

The process we used was exactly the same as our last pallet wall, so if you want all the directions head over to this post. My favorite part of this wall is the awesome pattern that some of the pieces of wood had. I feel like the circles are a great contrast with the natural tones of the wood.

I think the finished product is just a wee-bit better than before, don't you?

Once that little challenge was taken care of, I could breathe a sigh of relief and move on to some decorating!

I hope that seeing another fun wall 'o pallets is sparking your creativity! I think the two walls I've done have turned out to be some of my favorite DIYs in a while!
And just because it was too fun not to share… Tonight the hubs and I hosted a dinner and cookie decorating night. 35 of us had a blast eating, decorating, and spending time together. Jess and I are so thankful for the awesomely fun people in our lives!

They say great minds think alike, right? Well, we were definitely on the same page when it came to our vases. The Nate Crate had plain, glass vases in it and we both used the same DIY process, but achieved totally unique looks. We love how one idea can be done so many different ways!
Monica's Birch Vases

My vases were just intended to be a little accessory on Jess' shelves and I think they did just the trick. I love how using the tall, cylindrical vases gave the look of a real birch tree. They ended up being one of my hub's favorite projects in the room! I'd seen this DIY technique used tons of times before, but it was my first time trying it out and I was shocked at how simple it was!
The birch vase idea was actually a Plan B for me. Originally I planned to create sweater vases… they were all the rage in blog-land for a while. I just really didn't love them for this room. I might have liked them plain, but the red accents made me pretty much detest them. Thank heavens for Plan B's right?

Jess' Birch Vases

I thought it was hilarious that at the time I was making these vases, I was also saying to the camera that I wondered how many projects Monica and I were doing in the same way. And those camera guys totally knew too. Oh well, we do often have the same brain, so I guess it's not too surprising. These are admittedly less birch tree-like, and more frosty, winter-like because of their shape. These are the actual vases that came in the crate, and wouldn't you know it, I came prepared with loads of rubber bands in my supply kit (we're allowed to bring a few DIY tools of our own), just in case. The beauty of this is that a random placement of the rubber bands is key. There is no right way to do it! Yippee!!! I used plain, old white spray paint, but I've seen a bunch of people doing this with Krylon's Frosted Glass Finish. Pick your poison and get to work! Some of you might not have seen this project before, so here are the oh-so-simple steps…

Mark Montano, (TV host) has a tutorial on his blog for doing this same project, but using yarn. Check it out if that's what you have on hand.
So, talk about easy peasy huh? We love how different our vases are, and how both of them fit their rooms so nicely. We also love that they aren't holiday specific… I (Monica) will be keeping mine out all winter! So, grab some cheap vases and birch em up! ( Of course share pics with us if you do!)

Welcome to Day 5 and have we got a show for you!! We thought we'd mix it up a bit and perhaps scare you away from our blog…forever… Friday we'll be sharing the how-to's but today, you're just getting a little sneak peek of the ornaments we made with some random Monica & Jess thrown in.
Moments of Awkwardness Not to Miss

• Can you see Monica or just a Heavenly glow?? (note to self, fix lighting next time)
• How many times can two girls say"balls" before it's really awkward (especially with their moms reading!)
• Did you know Monica's a magician?? Can you see her invisible ornaments?? (Darn lighting)
• Can you count how many times we slap our legs? How about Jess randomly clapping? And yes, Monica fidgeted 13947622 times.
• Martha Stewart came and decorated Monica's banister. Can't you tell?? It's REALLY fancy!
• Do your friends typically salute you?
• Monica really is tan, but it's overshadowed by the Heavenly glow.

Hey there! We hope you all got to see our Nate Show episode yesterday. If not, no sweat, we've posted them here on the blog! Okay, now get ready for Day 1 of our 12 days!! We're super excited to share today's project with you because it didn't get much face time on the show, but is an awesome project that you'll want to try! Holiday Handwritten Lamp Shade

We love this DIY project because it's adorable, BUT it's also removable! No need to ruin a perfect lampshade just for the holidays. Come January 1st, you can say adios! Here's how I (Monica) did it… While shopping through Jess' house, I found these great lamps that Jess had thrifted and added IKEA shades to. I immediately thought they would look awesome in her Christmas basement!

The best thing about these IKEA shades is that the completely unroll! Score! (If your lamp doesn't unroll, don't fret, just wrap the fabric around it and then cut. A tiny bit more tricky, but good news! You have more than 48 hours to do it! I was in a bit of a rush!) For this project I actually used a khaki sheet from our first Nate Crate Challenge, but you can use any fabric or kraft paper for that matter. You want to trim your fabric so that there is about 1/4 inch excess on all sides.

Once the fabric is cut, use a glue gun or adhesive to attach the fabric to the inside of the shade. If using a glue gun, I promise you a few blisters. I think I still have two! Yikers! Do this step as neatly as you can because it will be slightly visible when the light shines through the shade.

The next step is to grab a Sharpie or fabric marker and write on the shade. I prefer a Sharpie, because the point is a bit sharper (duh, it's called a Sharpie! Sorry.cheesy, I know) For Jess' shade I wrote the first verse to Joy to the World, but you could write anything. A poem, quote, story etc… The only tip here is to stagger your words. I started the first line with"Joy to the World"… and the second line with wherever the first left off, unless it was too similar. And, If you're like me, you might hate seeing your own handwriting, but other people probably think it looks fine.

(Sorry about the frumpy shirt I borrowed from Jess' husband's dresser. It was about midnight at this point!) Once the writing is done, just reassemble your shade and admire your handiwork! It makes a cool impact, with a modern touch. If you like a more traditional feel, you could write in a more script fashion.

So what do you think? I pretty much love it! (and I think Jess does too!)

So, there you have it a simple Holiday Handwritten Lampshade! Now, how many of you are going to search through your house for just the right lamp??
Thanks again Nate for letting us share all the inside scoop of our Nate's Crate DIYs! Check back Monday for the fabulous accent branch Jess created for me!

The title of this post couldn't be more appropriate because I'm in Disney World with the fam this week. It has been an amazing three days so far and we did meet the"fairest of them all" while having breakfast the Royal Castle (totally worth the arm and a leg that they charge for it btw.) But don't worry, I'm not talking about Snow White today, I'm going to give you the low down on my"New" dining room mirror!

I need to give you a little back story first. Remember how I"stole" Eric's tool box to make the Anthro Dresser? Well, no worries, at the Liberty Thrift Store grand opening we bough him a new dresser for our bedroom and his old one is the new"tool box." I stinkin' don't have a pic down here in Florida, but it's awesome and I think will be very cool after some serious DIYing of course!
Well, the new dresser had this super scrolly, ornate mirror that I didn't plan to use in our bedroom. I was in the garage, near the new dresser and mirror and had a mini"Ah-ha!" moment. The fancy frame was the perfect contrast with my super-simple frame wallpaper. Score!! I consider this mirror FREE because it just came with the piece I bought.
So here she was… a real beauty eh? I told you she was totally all"Mirror Mirror on the Wall"…

Did I mention that this bad boy is huge and weighs like a million lbs? Ok, not a cool mil, but seriously over 75 pounds! To demonstrate its size, I did the professional thing measured it got my 4yr old to lay down next to it. (My poor kids have such a weird mom…Okay kids, go lay on the ground next to the thrift store mirror so mommy can take a picture)

So my first step after the official measurement, was to tape/paper off the entire glass surface. I thought it was going to be a nightmare with all the curves, but amazingly, the paper slid perfectly under the edge. Eric couldn't understand why I was freaking out with excitement about how easy it would be!

I did some ripping and angling, but it was still done in about 5 minutes. I used 8x11 scrap paper on all the edges and then a piece of craft paper down the middle. Easy Peasy.

I took it to the garage and used black satin spraypaint. This is the perfect opportunity to bring up some major beef I have… What in the world is up with Valspar's NEW spraypaint cans? They're awful! They spray all over the place, and are just plain terrible. Have you tried them? Are Jess and I alone in our hatred? I adore Valspar paint, so I'm bummed and hoping they change this new can A-sap! Anyhow… crazy rant complete…

After two coats, she was all ready for my dining room wall! I did wait a while for the paint to dry because I didn't want paint getting on my wallpaper.

I love the contrast in the fancy lines of the mirror and the simple, almost childlike lines of the wallpaper. It makes me chuckle a little bit.

I still have some serious accessorizing to do when I get home, but for now these recycled items will do just fine. Slowly, but surely this room is going to come together! What do you think of my"Free" thrift store mirror?

PS- Don't forget to check out our upcoming Nate Show Episode This Thursday, December 1st!

Linking Up: Stories from A to Z

Source: tumblr.com via The Real Housewives on Pinterest
Is it just the English teacher in me, or is this funny? I seriously laugh every single time I see it. Perhaps this picture is what inspired me to shoot for a non-traditional fall mantle this year. I'm usually a warm colors, traditional fall mantle girl. Not this year. I wanted something with cooler tones and some personality. Enter the Poe Inspired Mantle.

The black & white pumpkin and the raven are both from Hobby Lobby. (My daughter claims it's a crow, but it's a raven to me, heck it even squaked"Nevermore" the other day!) I was thinking of getting sticks for the vase, but I saw these peacock feathers and they just screamed"AWESOME" so I went with them and some spoooky branches. The owl is adorable and will become a permanent part of my decor somewhere.

I still really struggle with having the TV above the fireplace because it cramps my decorating style, but it's definitely the most practical. Sorry, for the BTR promo… when you have 4 kids, sometimes you gotta let them watch tv so mommy can take blog pics. Who knows, maybe BTR will want to be featured on our blog? Ha! (If you don't know BTR, then you clearly don't have an 9yr old)
In addition to finishing my fall mantle, the babies and I (perhaps at 2 and 4 they're not babies, but we call 'em that) did a little fall craftin' with some scrap particle board.
DIY Scrap Fall Sign Nothing fancy about this wood; I think the builder left it. It's really poor quality particle board, but I saw its inner beauty! Well…actually… I was just glad it was free.

My famous paint can shot (can something be famous just because I declared it so?) I just used some leftover paint that Nate left here. Oh, who's Nate you ask?? Umm, just my pal Nate Berkus. We're tight. (hahah!) This paint did come in the Nate Crate though.

Did you know that Jess and I like to paint topless? KIDDING!! I let my kiddos do the painting… you thought I was a hoochie for a second there didn't you?

We did a very rough base coat. I didn't want it 100% covered. Then it was time to stencil the letters and I needed to get it straight, so rather than take 2 minutes to find a ruler, I just used a scrap piece of paper and a piece of chalk to make some guide lines.

The stencil I used was the Helvetica font and I got it for $7.99 at HobLob.

I love these little bracket symbols. Jess and I probably over use them, but we can't help it. They're cool.

Some of the letters require a little work. First, stencil in the shape as is…

Then, you need to fill in where the plastic was for support. I just used two little pieces of painter's tape. It fills in nicely as you'll see in the finished product.

DARN my lack of planning. LEAF PILE was too long… I had 2 options… pretend"AF PILE" is a cool, family inside joke, or come up with a plan B…

I went with plan B. I painted over the AF…

and decided that a visual would work. Kaden ran outside and picked out two leaves that he liked the most. I pressed them on the wood and did a light stencil around the edges to create the shape of the leaf

I'll be the first to admit: 1. This is not a fancy-schmancy masterpiece 2. It's really hard to read. (Fall sorta looks like"fail"… The hubs was confused why I wrote the word"pile" until I explained it… and yes, there is a P missing from"pumpkins" for the sake of space)

However, even with all its quirkiness, after a final light sanding, I was really happy with the finished product.

I think it's a fun, personal addition to our front porch.

Sure, it's no crazy-cool subway art, but for $7.99 it's cute and kept me and my kids busy making it for at least an hour. That scores one in my book!

So, do you have any junky wood sitting around that you can make a cool family sign with? Give it a try and let us know how it turns out.

P.S. I have to confess, there are many things I wanted on this sign that didn't fit… Starbucks and Pumpkin Spice Latte just to name a few!

Linked up to: Stories of A to Z

See this photo of Nate? Looks like he was looking right at me, doesn't it? Well, he was. Because I totally asked him for hisPerfect Gray. And I did it all for you guys. His answer:
Light Grays: Benjamin Moore's Moon Shadow (#1516) and Silver Lake (#1598) Dark Grays: from the Benjamin Moore Historical Collection (he didn't give a specific name)

And here is Nate doing a fist pump and saying, "Woohoo! Thanks for coming, Donna! I love your blog!"
Well, not really. But I did kinda get an inflated ego — being invited to The Nate Show and the HGTV luncheon. It was awesome meeting so many wonderful bloggers. I tried to meet as many as I could, so I introduced myself to a couple of ladies while we were in the 'green room,' asking, 'Are you design bloggers, too?' One replied, 'No, and I really don't know what a blog is. What is it....?"
Then I remembered I'm just a gal with a computer. Pushing up pretty pictures.
I'll be back with more of those on Monday.
Have a great weekend.

Hello world! Welcome to our blog! We're pretty darn excited you're here. So, hang out a while and get to know us; we hope you'll like what you see and come back and visit us often!

Did you get a good night's sleep? Because, we were pretty wound up for some reason… hmm, what could it have been?? Oh, right… today we finally get to reveal our Nate Show projects and you get to see our TV debut!
Weekend Warrior Room Reveals As you know, Nate pulled a fast one on us and did the old switcheroo. Jess turned my empty dining room into an amazing space (that I love) and I took Jess' basement from"basementy" to a comfy, coastal hangout (that she says is perfect for her style!)

As you know, Nate gave us some pretty random items to work with, but we were up for the challenge. Here are a few of the projects that you might have seen on the show!
Monica’s Farmhouse Table Remix This table wasn't made during the 48 hours of taping, but we worked like crazy to get it done before the show. This is really Eric's masterpiece, and I couldn't appreciate his hard work any more than I do (ok, enough mush! Geesh, this is a public blog!) Click HERE for the complete table post.

Jessica's Barnwood Coffee Table I made this using Adirondack tables and reclaimed barnwood. We have a slight obsession with barnwood, so you can check out some of our other barnwood projects HERE and HERE.

Monica's Barnwood Art Jessica made this piece of art during the show and man-alive is it awesome. It's the kind of piece where people walk in and go,"Oh wow! That's incredible!" Then I proudly tell them that my bestie made it and I mention that Nate Berkus said he wanted it! Click HERE to read our post on how this beauty was made

Jessica's Beach-Cottage Shelves I made these using… you guessed it… Barnwood! The combination of the wood and the accessories just screams Nantucket. I was thrilled that Jess liked them.

Monica's IKEA Hack Sideboard Jess blew me away with this one! This table was originally a bar-height, square table from IKEA. With the help of her trusty husband and a saw, it was transformed into an adorable two-tiered addition to my room.

Jessica's Bench This is another project that was created pre-taping and we need to give a huge shout out to Kevin and his dad for doing the handywork on this one. There were many late nights spent in both of our homes getting projects ready for the show's taping. Click HERE to see how this piece came to life.

Jessica's Faux Built-Ins I didn't have the time, materials, or know-how to make custom built-ins for the weird nook in Jess' basement. So… I got a little creative with the storage units Nate gave us and voila… faux built-ins! To achieve this look in your home, you just need to be sure to get some super-strong mounting brackets (I also recommend a handsome assistant, but I guess that's optional. Sorry, my hubs is taken!)

Phew, that was a lot of projects in 48 hours… and now I'll mention that 48 hours in TV land is very different than the real world. Between interviews, mic checks, and all that jazz, I think we had about 12 hours to work and that was between 7PM and 7AM! Let's just say, we were beyond exhausted when everything was said and done, but we'd do it again in an instant!

And now the elephant in the room… the awkward kiss. If you'd like to try this at home here's how you do it… When a famous celebrity leans in to give you a side-cheek kiss trick him by going the wrong direction, then hesitate, pause, act like you're going for the lips, and then finish it off with an incredibly awkward little air kiss. This method works every time and will give you a story to tell for ages.

So, thanks so much for supporting us in this crazy, amazing, stupendous,"are you kidding me, is this really happening" event! Be sure to leave us a comment and let us know what you thought of the show (and don't worry, we have thick skin!) Check back tomorrow for a special annoucement and… we might even include a few pictures from the VIP anyone we could get to come over Episode Viewing Party we're having tonight!

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We thought today would be the PERFECT day for us to announce the launch of our Etsy shop,"The Barn". We've had several requests for custom signs and art pieces, so here you go! Take a peek at the stuff we've created and shop until your heart's content!

The Barn

Click here to see our"Shop the Barn" page and here to go straight to our Etsy shop. Enjoy, and please, let us know what you think!
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I've already shared my undying love for reclaimed barnwood with you (see my barnwood artwork here and my huge barnwood frame here and our striped shore frame here), but it's about to get even more sappy. Are you ready? I adore reclaimed barn wood. I can't seem to get enough of it. It adds such character and warmth to a room or a project and, luckily for me, I have access to loads of it because my father-in-law has a barn just filled with the gorgeous stuff! That leads me to this project (and I promise I am going somewhere with all this rambling…)

This was my basement space before Monica went all Nate Berkus on it and transformed it into an awesome. comfortable, totally liveable room. As soon as I heard about the Nate Berkus Show, the wheels started turning. We thought that we were going to redesign a room in our own homes, so after I woke up from my shock-induced coma, I started thinking about how I wanted the space to look, and what projects I should attempt before we did the taping. That's where the bench comes in. I decided I wanted to build that my hubs should build a big corner bench across from the bar that would make for a great hangout spot. As you might have noticed, I roughly taped out what I thought would look good (the blue tape lines are in the bottom left hand corner of the pic), and then we made more detailed measurements.

First, we painted the entire space and got rid of the rust/orange color. Then, my hubs had his dad come out to help and together the three of us decided that the one side would be 10 feet long, 22 inches deep, and 20 inches high, and the other side would be 8 feet long with the same depth and height. (It's a BIG bench!)

So, they went about framing out the bench, making sure it had a ton of support. If we had had more time, (let's say more than 5 days! Nate likes to keep you hopping, you know?) I would have liked to incorporate some kind of storage into the bench, but alas, it was not to be. And wait, what's that on the bench? I was so impatient that I threw a couple of pillows my mom had made for me on it before anything was nailed down! I just couldn't wait!

Now we're getting to the fun stuff…I picked a few planks of barn wood out for the top of the bench- the stuff you would see when sitting on it. They started nailing it down, which included a lot of brute force and grunting (from the guys, not my poor mother-in-law who somehow got sucked into helping with this project while I happily took pictures).

Just look at all that gorgeousness! It certainly makes my heart skip a beat.

This piece especially is super cool. It's an old plank of wood that says Air Force and"handle with care", so I imagine it has some great history attached to it. I love that the pieces have some interest to them.

Finally, my hubs added drywall, painted the bench the same color as the walls, added moulding to the bottom of the bench, and sealed it with a water-based polyurethane. And now, it looks like this:

Ha! Gotcha! Did you really think I would should an AFTER picture before The Nate Show airs? Not on your life! But I can tell you this, the bench itself is absolutely beautiful and Monica worked some design magic with the stuff in Nate's Crate to make it even better.
Only 2 days until the BIG REVEAL!

Oh yeah, one more thing: to find out when The Nate Show airs in your area, click here.

I am one lucky gal. I'll be in New York City this week for a taping of The Nate Berkus Show featuring an audience full of design bloggers. I am so excited and hoping to meet a lot of fellow bloggers...

Thank you all for hanging out with me here. It's so awesome to know a group of folks that are excited about the same things that I am.

You guys rock! See you in a few days!
all photos: Nate Berkus Designs

Our most popular blog post has been the Farmhouse Table Remix. If you haven't read the post, check it out here for all the nitty gritty details and the steps to make your own.

Since our table made its debut for the taping of The Nate Show, we thought we'd give you an add-on post that might answer some of the popular questions we get about it. Farmhouse Table Q & A Q. How long is your table and how many people can it seat? A. The table is just under 11ft long and can comfortably seat 16 people.

Q. How long did it take to make the table? A. Building it took about 4 hours, but the sanding took double that. However, if we had the proper tools it would have been a breeze. Eric just used an orbital sander on all the edges to round them. A router would have made this step a breeze. Total time was about 20 hours.

Q. How did you hide the original tables so well? A. Creating the edge casing was essential to hiding the old school tables underneath. If we hadn't added that detailing, you would have seen the old tables and the extender planks we added.

It would have looked something like this…

Q. Is it weird to have an 8-legged table? What does it look like underneath? A. Nah… we think it's kind of cool! Plus, if we have someone over for dinner and have any awkward silence, we can just be like,"Hey, did you know this table has eight legs?" I wouldn't recommend it as a pick-up-line, but for a conversation saver it works like a charm.

Q. What color stain did you use? (this is the most popular question we get) A. I can't answer this one. SORRY! Here's the deal… I tried a million stains and methods and finally had to go to Sherwin Williams. They were able to create a custom stain for me. They matched the stain to a paint swatch from the chair paint. I literally jumped for joy (can you picture that?) when we did a sample board. It was exactly what I was looking for. So, head over to the fellas at Sherwin, they make a mean color match! The reason I can't give you the formula is that we were messy with the stain and it got all over the label. We can't read it no matter how hard we try. Blogger foul. Sorry!

I hope that helps and we love getting emails and comments from our readers, so feel free to contact us if you have any other questions! The biggest thing I want to encourage you with is that YOU CAN DO THIS! We're not woodworkers, we're not all that savvy with tools, but we're pretty determined. If your you (or your husband) are doubtful, just shoot us and email and I'll have Eric convinceyou it's totally doable!
Got Chairs? A 16-seater table means 16 chairs! Yikes… with most chairs costing well over $100 each, that would be a whopping $1600! Thankfully, my mom found us FREE chairs that a restaurant were getting rid of. Remember this post? Well, here's how I took these chairs from weak-sauce, to super-cool! (and yes, occasionally I talk like I'm 16 years old… I'm a high school teacher, it's not my fault!)

The first step was to sand every single chair. QUIZ: Do you think I actually did that? ANSWER: Not a chance! I'm far too impulsive and after sanding one chair I decided that sanding was for the birds! I like quick and efficient. I made a little chair assembly line in the basement.

To remove a chair cushion, just flip it over and unscrew all four corners. It might take a little kick to get it to pop out, but it'll budge eventually. Ugh, look at that hideous material.

The chairs needed two coats of grey paint and Eric and I just lined up the chairs in the kitchen and watched a movie while we painted. I must give the hubs HUGE props because I took the kids on a planned trip to Boston, and he finished painting all the chairs so that they'd be ready for the Nate Show taping. <3

This next step is really crucial… find some gal pals that are willing to come help you reupholster 16 seat cushions. If you could read the clock on the DVR, it says 10:15pm and we were just getting started. Have I mentioned I love my girls? We just pulled off the old material and wrapped and staple-gunned the new fabric. It's just like wrapping a present, but using staples instead of tape!

I had picked out some fabric at Calico Corners, but it wasn't going to arrive in time, so I went to JoAnn's and found these two fabrics that I was pretty happy with. I wanted something with grey, yellow, and some kind of aqua or blue. These fit the bill nicely.
The Finished Freebie Chairs

I can't wait for everyone to see how great the table and chairs look in my dining room since Jess designed it on The Nate Show. Really, we're both like little kids waiting for Christmas! It can't get here soon enough. Countdown is T minus 3 days! (I really don't know what that means, but it sounds cool when they say it in movies right?)

Oh yes, we almost forgot! The winner of the Starbucks giftcard is…

Liz

Just shoot us an email with your address, and start checking your mailbox! Happy Starbucks-drinking!

Hey, It's Monica…Wow! What an amazing, incredible, awesome, expereince it was… did I mention it was amazing? We'll definitely do a full post with oodles of fun pics and behind the scenes info (yes, Nate really is adorable in real life and incredibly easy to be around too!) but for today, we're keeping it short and sweet. We're completely exhausted from an 18 hour day and we both have crazy, busy days today (Jess is back in NYC for the US Open and I'm driving 7 hours to pick our new puppy out of a litter!) Anyhow… here's a little peek of the awesomeness…
Sneak Peek of our time on The Nate Show (AKA… 2 girls playing with a camera before going on the set)
This is how I prepare for my national TV d ebut … I take cheesy self-pics in the green room.

We're complete dorks! Nate, did you know what you were getting yourself into?

I LOVE this picture. We heart Nate! (by the way, Jess' make up looked amazing didn't it?)

Here we are as soon as we finished up the taping! We made it, it went so smoothly, and we want to do it again! LOL… I know we're not showing much in the way of real-deal, behind the scenes pics, but we will, once we're allowed to! I'll give you one little inside tidbit. I had an insanely awkward moment with Nate Berkus… We all know he's a side-cheek kisser right? Well, I've been preparing myself for that, because I'm not much of a kisser or a hugger. I knew it was coming at some point… so we're finishing the third segment, we're taping in front of tons of people, and he comes at me with his hands low, for like a low hand squeeze?? Palms up?? I went with it and then he goes in for the side kiss… He goes left and I go LEFT. Ugh… quickly he goes right, I go… who knows which direction (I'm being told it looks like I went for lips) and eventually we ended with what is now being referred to as the Nate Berkus Nuzzle. Epic FAIL! We asked one of the producers at the end if they'd cut that part out, and she laughed and said,"Sometimes they like to keep the awkward stuff"… Oh, Lucky me. Well, at least I can say that I got a Nate Berkus Nuzzle. Can you? haha!

And here we are heading out to see the sights of NYC after a hard day's work.

Have a Wonderful Labor Day Weekend!

....well, not literally. but I have always said that this image is 'me' translated into a room. Nate, are you out there? What is that 'perfect' gray you use on your walls....? love you, man. mean it.
katie lee joel's living room by nate
thanks, Moggit gals for setting up our Nate Day...
Update! This gray is BM Pale Smoke (1584) Thanks to Vanessa at Decor Happy for the tip off!

Remember that time that we were invited by that cutie Nate Berkus to be a part of one episode on his show?

Remember how we loved working with Nate and were so flattered when he invited us back for 3 more episodes?

Well those amazing experiences helped us realize a few things… 1- We love a good DIY challenge 2- We really enjoyed being part of a TV show 3- People said we're not half bad at it
We are crazy, over the moon, still can't believe it ourselves, excited to announce that starting July 2013 we'll be the hosts of our very own DIY Show!!!

We're so glad that we can finally tell all of you! This has been such a hard secret to keep!
So here's the deal… Our show is called,"Knock It Off" and we get to do exactly what we love… Get high end looks and amazing style without spending a fortune!! We're going to help viewers"knock off" those pricey styles the DIY way! Being on a show is great, but having a network believe in you enough to create an entire show around you is beyond amazing! We've noticed a bit of a trend in home shows… it's all huge makeovers with enormous budgets- fun to watch, but not something most people (including us) can do in their own homes. Knock It Off is the home show for REAL people- people with a budget- people who want to have an amazing home, but not break the bank- people that love simple, creative ideas- people like YOU!!

We'll have tons more details to share as our premiere gets closer, but for now, here are a few details What: Knock It Off Where: Live Well Network (ABC/Disney) When: Starting July 7, 2013 Make sure to check your local listings for The Live Well Network- it's a national network. If you're not familiar with LWN, don't worry, you will be soon!! The team behind LWN is amazing and they're putting together so many cool, new shows! They just premiered a new vacation rental show called"Sweet Retreats" and we're loving it!

As we get further into the show, we'll be sure to fill you in on some fun behind the scenes peeks. We love our crew and it has been a blast to work with them!

Our official Knock It Off Facebook page is live we're ready for followers!! Of course our regular EC2 page will still be active, but if you want sneak peeks, exclusive show content projects and more, be sure to LIKE our Knock It Off page!
Also, we'd be so thrilled if you'd help us spread the word! We want the world to know that Knock It Off is coming soon!! Thanks!We're sure you guys have some questions about the show, how it all went down, and more and we'd be super happy to answer them!! Leave a comment below. Thanks so much for taking this amazing journey with us! We are beyond excited and hope we make you all proud!!

PS- We'll still be posting regularly here on EC2, but don't panic if you see a tiny slow down. Monica is still working full-time teaching, so we do all of our Knock It Off work on the weekends. Our pace is a little intense until summer, but we're so excited about it all, that we hardly notice!! We have plenty of fun posts planned for the next two months!! PSS- The design team is working on the show graphics and we can't wait to be able to share those with all of you too!! Make sure you've liked the FB page so you'll know as soon as it's ready!!

katie lee joel's beautiful bathroom from this apartment — a cool mix of modern industrial and glam and perhaps the perfect shade of gray on the walls.
and speaking of all things perfect...
be sure to check in next week for a little surprise....
I'm excited!
until then, happy weekend...
donna

katie lee's manhattan townhouse designed by nate berkus is now for sale. For the listing and more fantastic images, click here. discovered on the beautiful blog {this is glamorous}