My Creative Blog [Search results for Instagram] 

I can't even tell you how much I love Instagram. If you follow me (Jess_EC2blog), you'll quickly find that out. Out of all our social media avenues, IG is definitely my favorite. I comment and"like" things more there than on Facebook. For real! There's something so charming and fun and real-lifey about Instagram photos and I wanted to figure out a way to show them off in my house. But even if my version (which is not original, by the way, I've seen it done many a time!) isn't your cup of tea, I've rounded up a few other fun ideas of what to do with those cute, square pics.

I found a site called FoxGram that makes ordering your pics super easy. Just sign in using your Instagram account on their site and all your pics load right up. Choose your favorites and for 25 cents a picture, they'll print them and send them out the same day!

It didn't take long for me to get my prints in the mail, and when I did, I was thrilled with the quality. The pictures are nice and clear and the size is just plain adorable. Love, love, love them. I kind of went buck wild and ordered way more prints then I needed for this project so I sorted them out and decided which would go in my frame.

Since I already has this large frame for our Advent Calendar, it was already set up for me to use. You can check out here how I threaded the twine and adhered it to the frame if you want to make your own. I used the mini clothespins I got from Consumer Crafts (check out our ridiculous haul video here!) a while back and started clipping the photos in the frame.

I love this method because I can change the pictures out whenever I feel like it. Plus, it really adds some personality to our kitchen and makes me happy when I walk in that room.

I love the subtle pop of color in the pictures as you enter the kitchen from the hallway, and I think the dark frame is a nice change from the all-white gallery wall going on in the hall.

I couldn't stop there, though. I had to find some other awesome ideas to get your Instagram juices flowing. Take a peek!
Instagram Friendly Softcover Books from Artifact Uprising

DIY Giant Instagram Frame from The Handmade Home

iPhone Cover from Casetagram

DIY Instagram Coasters from A Nerd Like Me

DIY Instagram Necklace from dot coms for Moms. Isn't this soooo cute?! Like a modern day locket.

Don't forget to follow Monica, too, @Eastcoastcreative! What do you do with your Instagram photos? Leave us a comment with your IG name so we can follow you and add to my Instagram insanity.: )Linking up to: I Heart Naptime

Just in case you missed it on Friday… we announced the 12 contestants for Creating with the Stars. Check out this post to see their insanely awesome projects!

We'll be tweeting lots of updates, so click below just to make sure you're following us on Twitter. Follow @EC2blog ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm sure you know by now, but Jess and I are pretty obsessed with Instagram (you can follow us at @eastcoastcreative and @Jess_ec2blog) and lately we've started printing our pictures and using them within our projects. We printed some Instagram pics on cool, wood tiles from InstaThis in this post.

Jess printed some Instagram pics from FoxGram and shared about them in this post.

And since I'm a self-proclaimed wreath hater, I love to create what I've coined"The Anti-Wreath"… Today, I bring you an Outdoor Instagram Anti-Wreath! _

Here's what you'll need for this super simple DIY…

Many places will now print Instagram pictures, but I used Foxgram.com they offer three FREE pictures so definitely try them out! After getting my"grams" in the mail, I went to Staples and had them laminated. Since they're going to be outside, I wanted them to be weatherproofed. It cost me $2.28 total!

I chose some of my kids' favorite Instagram pictures and then a few of my favs too! It would be super easy to swap this"wreath" out seasonally… these are a few of my favorite winter pictures if I wanted a winter look.

I took an old 11x14 frame from my basement, but it was kind of beat up, so I decided to glaze it for a distressed look.

My absolute favorite glaze is Martha's Metallic glaze in the coffee grounds finish.

There's no secret to glazing, I just brushed it all over and then used a paper towel to wipe it off.

The glaze helped hide the imperfections and toned down the white.

White it was drying, I trimmed around each picture. I used my paper cutter (one of my favorite Christmas gifts this year), but scissors would work just fine too!

I played around with the layout a bit before securing the pictures.

I added some leftover furniture pads to the back of the frame so that it wouldn't scratch my painted door, and then I measured and marked where I wanted to attach wire.

I used leftover picture wire and my staple gun

Wire can be a pain to get 100% straight, but I knew I would be covering it up with pictures. I originally planned to use mini clips, but I liked the clean look better, so I just hot glued them onto the wire.

Gah! I love it!

Seriously, who wouldn't love a mustache cat on their door? Did you notice that picture? It's the craziest cat I've ever seen (it lives at the farm where my daughter rides) and our whole family is obsessed with it!

I'm pretty sure this"wreath" says,"Come on in, we're fun, we love life and weird cats!"

It's tricky to take pictures when the sun is setting. So, if you can't beat the sun, make finger shadows!

So what do you think of my Instagram"Anti-Wreath?" Are you as obsessed with Instagram as we are? I hope this inspires you to get those fun pictures off your phone and into your home!

I finally made the switch and got myself a sweet iPhone a few weeks ago. I'm loving it… I will never go back to the world of Blackberry. So of course I'm search of all the greatest apps (leave me a comment with your must-haves), but the app I was most excited to get was Instagram! I love it! I'll warn you, my Instagram feed isn't just blog stuff. You'll see plenty of goofy pics of me and the fam as well. Follow at your own risk! If you want to follow along on my Instagram fun my username is RHBC.
Today, I thought I'd give you a peek via Instagram into my house and some things you might not see all the time on the blog. Crystal light… I drink it 24-7.

Spoiler alert… Hello beautiful

Can you even believe I'm a DIY blogger? Yup, that's my master bedroom. Remember how I stole Eric's dresser for our Anthro Knockoff? He's still living out of bins 7 months later. I will get to this room someday…

Jess framed this for me on our first Nate Show. It's our version of family rules… we're not really the hugging type.

Chalkboard back splash. Love this rocket! (I also LOVE my knives!)

Chase and Polly, we're really dumb, so we agreed to get my daughter 2 ducks.

Spray paint makes everything better. This project coming to you soon!

And last, but not least. I love my memo board… even if it has December's calendar still. Go me.

Also, one of our good friends (and actually our guest poster Staci's husband) is kind of a big deal on Instagram (like 35K followers). He takes amazing pictures and I'm always amazed that his incredible pics are taken with a phone!! His username is Curious2119

So, now that I'm on Instagram, come follow along (RHBC) I think I currently have 9 followers. Ha! Maybe you can be the big number 10! Have an awesome day- it's going to be almost 90 here in Bucks County!

** Wait! One more thing! Want to turn an Instagram pic into a canvas? I just got this deal in my inbox. 57% off from Canvaspop. Use this google link to get the deal.

Are you looking for the link party for your Creating with the Stars submission? Yay! We're thrilled to have you! Click here or use the button below to link up. Submissions are now open until February 21st. If you want to read more about the contest and all that it entails, click here.

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We've had some just for adults Valentine's Day ideas on the blog (here and here), but today we're keeping it PG! (I always give Jess a heart attack when I venture into PG-13 land! lol) With 4 kids this year I had 79 valentines to prepare. Thanks to Pinterest, I spent some 1:1 time with each kiddo, browsing for ideas, and then making each of their cards. I gave them each the option to buy, but they were feeling crafty I guess.
Kira went with Arrows and Pencils with kind of a Brave theme. We got the free printables here.

Callen wanted Superheros…and again we found a Free Printable! (noticing a trend here?!?)

Little Bit Funky blog has an awesome tutorial using felt with these printables.
Did you notice that I didn't perfectly coordinate paper or add extra fancy ribbon? I've made it a goal that kid projects (even if being blogged) don't get bogged down by mommy details. It's all about the fun and that boy sure looks like he's having fun! hahah! He actually said,"Mom, look how happy I am… {INSERT CHEESY SMILE}. See, that happy!" My kids kill me.

Kaden is 8 and it's one of those ages where you have to decide if Valentines are cool or lame. Thanks to Minecraft, he decided they were cool!

We just made them together using Google Images and two Minecraft Fonts (find them here and here). Sweet"Cool", Simple, & fun for me and my guy to make together!

Last, but not least was Kenzie… at almost 11, valentines are almost a thing of the past, but since school still does them, they had to be Epic (at least in her mind). Eric and I don't let the kids have Facebook accounts or anything, but we did let Kenz get an Instagram account (set to private). You might see her commenting on my pictures 24-7: ) Anyhow, Instagram is very cool in her class this year, so we made Instagram Valentine's… but wait, there's more… we also added a scratch off element! Booyah! (Haha, sorry, I got a tad excited)

I'll warn you… all these pics were taken with my phone, that's another part of kid crafting,"No annoying Mom pictures"…
Here's how we made them… We started off with a picture Kenzie took on Instagram (Fried Egg A-la-Kenzie). Using my I phone, I took a screen shot.

We saved the picture and pulled it into Picmonkey where we covered the eggs with a little Valentine's note. We put a few different comments in the area below the picture…

We printed our design out on plain computer paper. Kenz liked the scratch off idea we saw on Pinterest, so… we added that too! First, take a clear (or white if you don't have clear- we didn't) crayon and color over the area to scratch off.

Then we mixed together silver paint and dish washing soap. We used about 2 parts paint to one part soap. Then you just paint it over the colored area. (Let it dry a full 24 hours before moving them around. They need to really cure, so they don't wipe off too easily)

Blogger mommy might have suggested we make the scratch off area in a fun shape or something, but plain old mommy bit her tongue: )
We attached the Instagram print onto cardstock- and of course, we did it in happy face fashion…

And then it occurred to me that most 5th graders don't carry coins, so we used a little washi to attach a penny on the back of each card. Kenz and I both liked this little touch!

It took us about an hour to make all 27 pretty awesome Instagram-Scratch-Off Valentines. It might be the last year we get to make them together (who knows what middle school will bring), so it was an hour very well spent!

So, 79 Valentines later, I had one really fun afternoon of crafting with my kids and 4 sets of pretty cool Valentines. What kind of cards are your kids giving this year?

Are you looking for the link party for your Creating with the Stars submission? Yay! We're thrilled to have you! Click here or use the button below to link up. Submissions are now open until February 21st. If you want to read more about the contest and all that it entails, click here.

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*THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED*
Wow, two awesome giveaways in one week! We love it when that happens! A while ago I posted about my Instagram frame and a few other options to display your favorite IG photos. Nate emailed me shortly after asking me if I had ever heard of InstaThis, a brand new company that takes your Instagram photos and prints them directly onto wood or acrylic for a really unique piece of art. We checked it out immediately and thought it was so cool. What better way to introduce you to a new awesome company than to do a giveaway?!!

Of course, we never like to do giveaways unless we personally have tried the product so that we know we're promoting good stuff to you guys. It's important to us that the products we introduce to you are quality, and let me tell you I was thrilled with this one.

I ordered one of my fav pics of the hubs and me and decided on the wood option and it turned out beautifully. The photo is printed directly onto the birch wood so that you can still see the grain of the wood. It creates a really awesome effect that looks much more like a piece of art, instead of just a plain old picture.

It also comes with all the mounting hardware you need and a custom slot in the back that allows for easy adjusting and hanging. I love that feature.

I'm super happy with my print and love that it gives me just one more way to use my instagram photos in my home. I haven't decided where I'm going to hang it but for now, it's sitting pretty in my dining room.

One lucky reader will win (one) 12x12 print from InstaThis!
The giveaway will be open until midnight on Monday, February 11th. The winner will be revealed on Tuesday, February 12th. To enter:
1."Like" us on facebook! 2."Like" InstaThis on Facebook 3.Leave a comment telling us what photo you would print and why!
All three of these are mandatory. Thanks!

*THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED* Use the code ECC15 for 15% off your order! Offer is valid until March 1, 2013 And oh yeah, we'd LOVE for you to follow along on our Instagram journeys, Eastcoastcreative and Jess_EC2blog. We promise, it's pretty darn fun.; )

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One last thing! Thanks to everyone who entered the In or Out Media giveaway earlier this week! We have a winner.: )

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This post was sponsored by InstaThis , who provided us with our wooden prints and whose concept and mission we love. All thoughts and opinions were our own and we'd like to thanks InstaThis for providing a special discount code for our EC2 readers!

Do you ever get the feeling that DIY and Design bloggers have the perfect life? We keep it pretty real here at EC2, but I'd guess it's still easy to assume that every room in our homes look perfect, are always clean and beautifully staged and that our kids are perfect cherubs that don't make messes. Well, I'm here to promise you that's NOT the case! And since they say a picture is worth 1000 words, today I'm going to expose the ugly, un-styled, downright messy over on Instagram! Throughout the day I will be giving you boosts to your self-confidence and your style as I expose the unfinished rooms in my house, the half-way finished projects, and just a healthy dose of reality. (If this doesn't make you want more, I don't know what will! Ha! #canyouspareasquare)

If you're not following me on Instagram, you can at: @eastcoastcreative (Jess is on Instagram too! Follow her at @Jess_ec2blog)
And if you're not into reality, and would prefer to see a pretty project, today is our first day contributing over at Tatertots and Jello!! WooHoo! We still are sort of shocked that we're getting such an awesome opportunity. So, head over to TT&J to see this fun project and tutorial!

And, last but not least… If you missed the announcement about Creating with the Stars, you have to head HERE to get all the details!! It's going to be so much fun and submissions start on Tuesday 2/5!

Okay, now go head over to Instagram and get ready to for a behind the scenes look at my world! Have an awesome day!

Are you looking for the link party for your Creating with the Stars submission? Yay! We're thrilled to have you! Click here or use the button below to link up. Submissions are now open until February 21st. If you want to read more about the contest and all that it entails, click here.

======================================================================== So, I'm just going to go out on a limb and say that some of you are procrastinators like me. My hubs and I are celebrating Valentine's Day this weekend, but I still have no clue what we are going to do (and my hubs is not much of a planner, so I'm thinking it's kind of up to me!) So I went, looking for some fun and exciting date night ideas to celebrate all that love you've got going on with your special someone.
1. Progressive Dinner. Let me tell you that this is SO up my alley. I love to eat and I love to eat out, so this is a perfect combination. This one would be so much fun because you have a lot of time to chat, the night is a bit longer and you get such great variety! I already know where my hubs and I would choose to go:

2. Compete Against Each Other! This may not be everyone's cup of tea, but man, I love a good competition and so does my hubs. One of my favorite things to do is to go to Dave & Buster's and play all the games (I especially love the basketball games!). Whoever gets the most tickets, wins something of his/her choice. Or, if you don't have a huge arcade near you, try go-karting, bowling, tennis etc…something to get your heart pumping!
3. Play the Tourist I've lived in Bucks County almost all of of my life (minus the college years), and absolutely love it here, but I'm always amazed at what things I've never tried, shops I've never gone to and activities I've never done right in our area. Take some time to research different travel sites to see what you might be missing. Try a restaurant you've never tried before too!
4. Instagram It! I kind of love the idea of an instagram scavenger hunt, since, you know, I can't get enough of the whole IG thing. Make a list of fun activities/places and go to every single one and Instagram a selfie pic in front of whatever it is. You could totally customize the list to fit the two of you as a couple, but here are a few fun ones we thought of: -Favorite Restaurant -Best spot to see the skyline -Funniest sign in town -Best place to grab a drink -Favorite place to listen to music/read books -and my husband insists this one is awesome: take a pic with a farm animal in the background. So strange, people, so strange.; )

Once you've checked off everything on your list, reward your hubby with good ol' number 5…
5. Game of Love (Original OR Travel) I'm not going to go into tons of detail about this one (you can check out all the juicy details on how to play here), but trust me, this is one date night that will not be soon forgotten.

Want to give the travel version a try, even if you're not travelling? It's still super fun and easy to play!

Ok, now it's your time to spill. What's your favorite date night activity? We want to know!! Happy Valentine's Day! We sure do love that you take time to stop and read our nonsense everyday!

Well, this isn't really a project we had planned on doing right now. Especially since we're still trying to finish the baby's nursery, put the finishing touches on Charlie's room and mentally prepare ourselves for another baby. But, sometimes (ok, lots of times, in my case) we get distracted and something else begs for our attention. Back in May, I posted this picture on instagram saying I didn't know what to do with our deck…

It was a hot mess. Then the arbor thingy you see above broke in a storm, which led us to begin our deck transformation. I'm not kidding when I say I really wanted to tear this deck down because I didn't think it could be redeemed. I mean, we had done some cute projects to spruce it up, like these DIY shutters and window box, but even that couldn't hide the fact that this deck was ugly.

We decided to go ahead and try power-washing it before burning it down (haha-kidding…sort of) to see if that would help at all. It was really beat up, graying, splintery and just plain ugly. Oh wait, I mentioned that already, didn't I? Just take a look:

In the picture below, you can see that the top of the arbor had been removed, but the posts were still there. Plus, there was that one giant bush that was all up in the deck's business too. The first thing we did was cut the posts down and cut back the bush. You wouldn't believe how much that opened things up on the deck.

We borrowed a power-washer from Kevin's grandpop (who owns a painting business) and went to town. Immediately we began to see a major difference!

Ewwww…that gray grime is just disgusting. But the wood underneath was in beautiful shape- I seriously was beyond shocked. Who knew that was under there?

Again I went to instagram to post the progress. Why did we wait six stinkin' years to do this?? And if you don't follow us on Instagram, you totally should. I mean, two posts about a deck should have you banging down our IG doors, we're just that exciting. Follow us at Jess_ec2blog and eastcoastcreative for lots of fun, juicy stuff like deck cleaning.

Anyhow, look at our gorgeous deck now! It's like she was just built yesterday!

Without that big bush and the trellis/arbor thingy (what WAS that thing?) the other side of the deck is wide open…just one big open slate!

(Pssst…did you notice how well my flowers fared in my window box? Ha. They didn't stand a chance.)

Ahhh…I'm in love. With a deck. It's just not right. But it's the truth. The next step is decided what to do with the deck now that it's so fresh and so clean, clean. I'm leaning towards staining the deck a nice gray to go with our gray shutters and painting the railings white. Sort of like this:

Source

Source
Pretty, right? Kevin's grandpa swears by Sherwin Williams Deckscapes, so we'll probably go that route just because we know it's good stuff. I really like the idea of a semi-transparent stain so that some of the wood grain shows through.

What color would you choose? Have you ever used Deckscapes? Has a power-washer ever changed your life?
I'm hoping to finish this bad boy up this week…that is, unless I get distracted by something else.; )

Today's post has nothing to do with DIY (nope, not a lick), but I thought maybe some of you might be able to relate to our worst date night ever. At least I hope we're not alone!

Eric and I love the band Fun. We saw them last summer at a tiny concert before they were crazy popular- it was awesome! This summer they were coming back to Philly, so months ago- the day they went on sale, we bought really good tickets. Saturday night was the big night! So here's how it all went down… 4:30pm leaving our house to head to Philly. Now, I never like to take Eric's car- it's 9 years old and kind of a beater. But, since it was a date night and I know he really likes to take his car because it's economical, I decided to be a good wife and suggested we take it. Wife of the year, I know right!
5:00pm arrive at Chipotle for dinner We enjoyed an awesome dinner- do you know that I went to Chipotle for this first time ever a month ago?!? I'm a pretty picky eater, so I never was too interested in it. BUT… I stinkin' love it! Anyhow, we ate really fast and were headed back to the car in about 20 minutes.

5:20pm Beater car has a dead battery and won't start! Are you kidding me? The one time I agreed to take the beater. Ugh. We called a tow service and had the car jumped within 30 mins. Okay, not too bad, we still have tons of time before the concert started at 7:30pm.

6:30pm Arrive in Philly and are super excited for the concert We were so thankful for a smooth drive into the city and we were getting excited about hearing the opening band Tegan and Sara. We had to get off this exit and then go 1 mile to the Mann Center.

6:30pm-9:05pm We Sat and Sat and Sat In 95 minutes we moved 400 feet. Literally, my GPS told us we moved only 400 feet. We couldn't get out and walk because we were on Rt 76, there was no alternate route, and get this… it was 99 degrees outside and we couldn't use the air because of the dead battery. Can it get any better?? Oh wait it can, we thought we'd have our own mini car concert and popped in our FUN. cd… ERROR. Yup, randomly the CD player stopped working. It was Amazeballs!

9:05pm Turn around and head home. #DateNightFail After seeing via Instagram that Fun. was already playing and we had only moved 400 feet and had 1.2 miles to go we made the crappy decision to cut our losses and head home. We knew we wouldn't get there until around 10:30pm- three hours late and just in time to get back into traffic.
So, 100% certifiably, it was the worst date night ever. We got home around10:30pm and the only thing we'd accomplished was a fast food dinner and about 6 hours spent in a car without air conditioning. The thing is, five years ago in our marriage that kind of epic fail would have had both Eric and me completely annoyed and upset and most likely testy at each other. Thankfully, neither one of us was in a bad mood. We both kind of laughed it off, and felt like why get upset when we can't change it. I don't know if it's a sign of getting older and wiser, or being further along in our relationship (I promise you year 2 or 3 of our marriage I would have ripped him a new one about his crappy car- lol), but we were just happy to hang out together. (This blurry instagram pic was after 75 minutes of traffic and 99 degree heat, but we're still smiling)

I'd love to know if you've ever had an epic date night fail… Can you top our date night?? I should also mention the total cost for the night (not including the new battery we had to buy the next day) was like $350! Fun times I tell ya.
So, thanks for letting me share, we'll be back later this week with projects from our tiny kitchen makeover. Don't miss it- there are some awesome ones!!

PS- If you happen to be in the band FUN. or you have awesome connections, I'd be totally fine with you hooking us up with some kind of private concert or something. Just tossing it out there- never know who reads DIY blogs right?!?

Welcome to my Christmas House Tour! Last year our homes were decked out for all of America to see on Nate Berkus, but this year it's just for my family to enjoy. Sometimes in the blogging world it can feel like there's a lot of pressure to have an HGTV worthy home, but guess what? This mom of four, that works a full-time job, is not going to cave under the pressure. I proudly present to you, our Very Merry & Realistic Christmas Decorating for 2012!

(it's going to be a picture heavy post, so get ready and Pin it if you like it!)

I'm still loving my Grinch Front Door. Last week I gave the full tutorial.

Before and After- LOVE it!

Welcome to my foyer and my favorite Christmas tree of all time…

I follow Urban on Instagram, and saw that they had put staff pics on a tree at one of their NYC store locations. I was smitten! I got a Fuji Mini (which all the kids call the"Magic Camera") and snapped a ton of fun pictures of our family and some special friends. I added spray painted bicycle ornaments (from Target), some orange ribbon, brown ornament balls, gold lights, and leftover fabric to create the coolest tree ever!

Even the tree has the shabby look I was going for, do you want to know how I achieved that look? I cut the tree on October 5th and it's been sitting in my house ever since! Ha! It's dead as a door nail and I love it! (I needed it for some P&G videos- coming soon!) Fuji Mini Pics

Brown ornaments

Bicycle ornaments- I spray painted gold

Added hooks to each picture using a finishing nail

Ready for the tree

Best.Husband.Ever

This tree make me really, really happy!

Directly off the foyer is our formal living room/kids' craft room. It's the most unfinished room in our house (it's a hot mess), but I still did one little vignette in front of the window.

I love the chalkboard printable, and you can get it (and many others) free here.
I also love my little yellow bird, and while she's not super Christmasy I think she looks mighty fine!

Here's the whole thing together

Even though we're no longer"The Real Housewives of Bucks County," I'm still gonna keep it real for you… here's what the rest of the room looked like. I'm showing this to you, so you remember that we're totally normal girls with messy houses, crazy kids, and so not perfect. Hopefully, you can relate! (The Christmas boxes and decor are still there, but they're on my TO DO list tomorrow to put them all away!)

Okay, enough reality, back to the pretty stuff… This is on the console table in my family room. I love that crazy picture of all of us!

Here's the wood grain Christmas Countdown I made this year. I LOVE plywood projects where the wood grain is highlighted. You can check out the tutorial here

We have 3 trees- #1 Family Tree (below) #2 Mommy's Tree (foyer) #3 Kid's Tree (not shown) Here's the"Family Tree." We decorate this one together as a family and it looks pretty much identical every year. Some traditions are too important to change for the sake of decor: )

Did you notice the stinkin' awesome lighted silhouette artwork? We'll be posting the full tutorial on Infarrantly Creative on Dec 13th. Jess and I love it and it was so simple to make!

Of course Charles loves hanging out in our tree sometimes

It seems that I have a thing for pictures on trees. We got these ornaments at Crate and Barrel about 6 or 7 years ago. The picture on the left is our ultimate favorite Christmas picture ever. It was taken of Kaden when he was 3 (he's now 8).

This year I'm proud to say that we have 4 kids on the NICE list… Last year the eldest might have made the NAUGHTY list. Oh Snap!

My mantle is Lame with a capital L… The dang TV always limits me, but it is what it is…

This year I was into the traditional nutcrackers with primary red and blue

This little guy rocks. I picture him talking with a Russian accent- don't ask me why!

I've had these stocking holders for 9 years, but this year I hit them with a tiny bit of white paint, so they popped a bit more. They were originally dark brown and got lost on the mantle.

Target had this cute stockings this year and they totally worked with my red and blue nutcrackers.

Michael's had some really fun graphic words in their dollar bin and I picked up a few.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed this little peek into my home. It's definitely not perfect, but we're pretty darn happy here. I mean, just look at us, don't we look happy??: )

I'd love to know what's your favorite part of my Christmas Decor?
Leave me a comment and let me know!

This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group ™ and Sharpie, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #NeonSharpie http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO.

So, occasionally I have those,"You Know You're a Blogger When…" moments. They're the moments when you step back and realize that yes, you are taking pictures of Chili outside and decorating it with wooden pallets and leaves… or like this week when I was checking out at the grocery store and this is what it looked like…

(Want more of our crazy lives? Follow us on Instagram! @Eastcoastcreativeblog @Jess_EC2blog)

The boy at the checkout counter was giving me some seriously weird looks!
Anyhow… I scored the crazy realistic skull for $3.99!

We have a bit of a"Not Too Scary" Halloween rule at the Mangin house. We're all for having fun and dressing up, but we're not into the darker, creepo side of the holiday. So, while I loved how authentic the skull looked, I knew I needed to pretty him up and my new Sharpie Neon markers that I bought at Target were just the thing I needed!
I couldn't resist playing around a bit before he got his makeover!

After playing around, I got down to work. I used the Sharpies to add a pop of color to all the fissures on the skull and then I got to work on his grill!

He be all up in my grill… and I love it!

Isn't he looking a lot more cheerful and less scary?!?

Then came the moment I was most excited about! Seeing this bad boy GLOW!!

Ahhh! I was jumping for joy over this for some reason! I can't believe how vibrant the colors are when you put them under a black light.

Look at the difference with the black light!

After seeing how simple it was to kick the skull up a notch, I decided that I'd use my Neon Sharpies to do a little more decorating. I used newspaper wrapping paper I had on hand (although real newspaper would work too) and made a Halloween themed table runner!

I had just watched the movie A Beautiful Mind and I thought making the plain paper look like it had hidden messages would be fun! It was amazing how easy it was to find Halloween-like words! And once again the Sharpie Neon under the black light added just the right pop to make it seem totally legit!

So, if you're looking for some simple ways to decorate this Halloween, instead of dishing out big bucks, just grab a pack of Neon Sharpie markers at Target using this $1.00 off coupon (while supplies last in select stores) and add a POP to some items you already have around the house. You could add some style to plain, dollar store mugs, make a glowing pennant banner, and so much more! One added bonus… my kids thought I was the coolest ever when I showed them how the black light worked! For more ideas using Sharpies for Halloween check them out on Pinterest and Facebook.
If you love our Neon Sharpie Halloween decor ideas, then check out the other bloggers who linked up with Sharpie as well!

We're still in Europe for a few more days (you can follow along through my pics on Instagram @EastCoastCreative), but I'll be honest that I'm itching to transform my house for Christmas!

Usually, we're a Saturday-after-Thanksgiving kind of family, but this year we'll decorate as soon as we're back from our trip. Last month I started perusing Pinterest for holiday inspiration and tons of bright ideas kept jumping out at me. I thought I'd share a collection of awesomely merry & bright Christmas inspiration for you… so all the way from Paris- Enjoy!

Merry & Bright #1- I've done the present thing before. Just wrap some picture frames in bright colored paper, add some ribbon and voila! I also love the super cheery and bright ornaments on this mantle.

Merry & Bright # 2- These felt trees would be really fun to make with the kiddos. They're simply felt, wrapped around a cone shape, and blinged out with some sequins.

Merry & Bright #3- Jess and I LOVE pine cone placeholders, but add a little paint dip in hot pink and man, it doesn't get much cooler than this!

Merry & Bright # 4- Umm, Hello Whoville…this sock vase and painted branches is insanely awesome! How fun would this be to make and then put in my kids' playroom? I think it's officially on the TO DO list (when we're back from vacation of course!)

Merry & Bright # 5- You all know I'm an anti-wreath kind of gal, and this is a super fun, non-traditional wreath. It's a ceiling medallion (which are really inexpensive at Lowe's or HD) and some holiday ribbon.

Merry & Bright #6- Moo & Puppy has come out with an awesome Christmas line of digital papers. I love using these papers because I can print out as many as I need. I'm loving up these patterns and am planning to use these as part of my Christmas Countdown Calendar (tutorial coming soon!) Check out all of Moo's awesome holiday papers!

Merry & Bright # 7- We've all seen some felt garlands, but this one takes the cake! Check out her post and you'll see that she used a combo of store bought felt poms and she also MADE some of them too! I'm not sure I'm going that far, but it definitely turned out amazingly!

Merry & Bright # 8- I could almost turn from my wreath-hating ways because of this wreath. I love the combo of shiny, matte, and glitter balls.

You've got to see the whole room…

Yup, that's pure Merry & Bright Awesomeness people!
Who knows, this year I just might decorate my kids's playroom for Christmas! Usually, they just get a little faux greenery, but after all this Merry & Bright Inspiration, I might go the extra mile and use some of these ideas! How about you? Are what do you think of Bright, non-traditional colors at Christmas?

Yesterday I showed you my summer porch makeover that included this cute rope wreath. I love wreaths of all kinds (even anti-wreaths). It's the first thing your guests will see when then enter your home, so it's the perfect opportunity to make an impression! You don't have to pay big bucks for a gorgeous wreath, either. I made this one for right around $10!

Isn't that super cute? Perfect for summer!

Here's what you'll need to make your own: -Wreath form, rubber hose or pool noodle -Multi-color braided rope -Natural-colored rope -Hot glue gun -Masking or painters tape -ribbon for hanging

Step 1: Cut your hose or pool noodle to size, if using. We are big fans of using what we have. Not only does this keep the cost down, but it's environmentally friendly, too! I found this hose laying in my basement and decided it would be perfect as a wreath. Don't be afraid to scout out your house to see if there is something you could use before going to buy a traditional wreath form.

Step 2: Attach the ends together to make a circle shape using tape.

Step 3: Place hot glue on the back of your wreath and begin wrapping with the first color rope. This project uses a lot of hot glue, so take extra caution not to burn yourself. You'd be surprised at how hot that glue can get!

Step 4. Wrap, wrap, glue, wrap, wrap. Repeat. In order to keep my rope secure with no gaps, I used hot glue every time the rope wrapped around two or three times. I actually counted how many wraps I did with each rope to keep a uniformed look. I wanted to make sure that both color ropes were used evenly.

That's it! I love the simplicity of this wreath and the way it gives a nod to nautical style without being over the top. It gives a pretty good glimpse at what my house is going to be like inside- simple, a little bit nautical and laid-back.

We love non-traditional wreaths and have made several others that match our style and were easy on our budgets!

Wood Slice Wreath

Outdoor Instagram Wreath
Dressing up your front door is so much fun, so go on and get crazy with your creative, wreath-loving self!

We promised that during our maternity leave from filming (I love getting a maternity leave without having to have a baby btw) that we'd do a whole bunch of things, and one of them was letting you have more little peeks into our real life happenings. With that in mind, we proudly introduce… Right Now a series that we'll do monthly… well actually, basically whenever we feel like it.

So, here's what's going on in my world right now…
Loving: This amazing fall weather we're having here on the East Coast. Mid 70s during the day and cool, crisp nights!! It's the best sleeping weather ever! September is probably my favorite month of the year and I'm so thrilled to have some time off to enjoy it! Reading: Last night I finished reading Gone Girl. Thanks so so many of you for giving me book recommendations on Facebook! I liked it, but didn't over the top love it. I'm not sure what about it is keeping me from giving it an A+. If you read it, tell me what you liked/didn't like. I'd love to hear!

Waiting For: This weekend, but not excitedly… you probably know we breed Bernese Mountain Dogs with our dog Pennlyn. Well, this weekend the puppies leave and go to their new homes. I LOVE the families that we chose to adopt, but it will be super sad to see them go and I will have 4 miserable kiddos for a few days!

Excited About: A few things… Sunday we're going pumpkin picking and on a hayride with a bunch of our friends!! Our ABC/Live Well Network Season 1 Wrap party for our show- this Thursday night we'll all be celebrating the end of a successful first season. I'm still trying to figure out what to wear… Ugh!!

Trying To: Eat healthier and work out regularly. This is not my favorite thing, nor something I'm good at! But I have a goal of Oct 23rd, and hopefully will come away from this"maternity leave" happier and healthier. Working On: Communicating better with my oldest daughter…my mini-me. We kinda butt heads a lot. She's strong willed and I'm the queen of strong wills and well, let's just say I'm working on it. I want to figure out the best, most effective way to parent her.

Enjoying: The 3 hours each day that I have the house to myself, but then I'm also really enjoying the after pre-school, few hours before naptime that it's just Callen and me. It's really fun and nice to have 1:1 time! Using: Tons and tons of Chapstick!! I'm on a medication that makes me have crazy dry lips, so It's me and chapstick 24-7. Wearing: I'm totally in mom mode and usually wear sweats and my favorite Northface sweatshirt almost every day. What's the point in looking cute, if I'm gonna work out at night?!? Planning: I'm working on and planning my kids' playroom makeover. I totally struggle with designing my own rooms lately! I'm cool doing rooms for other people, but if I'm spending my own money I want to love it. GAH! It's killing me!

Needing: To find a good recipe today that uses a million veggies, bc I have a ton that will go bad soon if I don't use them!! Learning: How to think more before I talk (but don't hold your breath Eric, it's a slow learning process!) Struggling With: Church. We're kind of in this place where we're wondering where's a good fit for us. We've been at the same church for 16 years (and it's a wonderful church! Check it out HERE), but we just want to make sure it's right for us and we're not just there bc it's what we've always done. But, at the same time we're not sure what will be exactly right- it's tricky!

Listening To: The"Sister of the Year" CD mix made for my by my little brother (well, he's 26, not all that little, but little to me). He has the best taste in music and makes me mixes that have tons of songs that are cool well before they become cool. It's a good thing I have him, bc otherwise I'd never have even a sliver of cool within me when it comes to new music. Product I'm in Love With: My Kreg Jig- hubs used it yesterday to build new benches for our outdoor farmhouse table! Doing: Working down my to-do list for the day. I've committed to today being uber productive! (Up next, responding to emails, then making soup, then putting away all Cal's fall clothes) Dreaming Of: Taking another trip to Europe or somewhere amazing with my hubs. Last year at this time, we were counting down the days for our London and Paris trip.

This concludes this first edition of Right Now. I hope you enjoyed my ramblings or at least tolerated them! Want more of our day to day ongoings? Follow us on Instagram! Monica- @Eastcoastcreative Jess- @Jess_EC2blog What are you doing, loving, reading, or dreaming of right now?

The day of love is quickly approaching, and I thought I'd let you know one of the things I'm doing. You know that Jess and I love Canvas People and we're super thrilled that they now offer square canvas options! I don't know why, but even before Instagram, I was a huge fan of square pics (call me a trendsetter! lol!) Anyhow, Canvas People has a deal for $55 off any canvas (11x11 or larger)… We did the math and guess what- it works out to…

11x11 for 11… Well, that has a nice ring to it! I've yet to do anything fun with all the pictures we took on our trip to London and Paris, and I think this deal just got me motivated! I ordered a map for Eric back in August, but it arrived all wrinkled, so I've been planing to do a little DIY project with it. I'm thinking square canvases from our trip, paired with map pieces mod podged onto plain canvas just might be pretty awesome!
Here are a few other pics I'm thinking of using.

Here's the link to get the $55 off deal! Click HERE for discount And yes, you can get $55 off any size as long as it's over 11x11, but we're just loving up that size right now!
So, do tell, what are you going to turn into canvas?

** And I just came across this adorable picture of Kaden (who's now 8-sniff, sniff) but it made me think I just might order some of the kids for the grandparents! Woohoo!

I don't know about where you live, but here in PA, September was the most beautiful month ever! We had more perfect days than we could count! We just LOVE fall weather! We thought we'd look back over the month, because a whole lot of awesomeness was going on!
September's Instagram… As you can see, I'm really enjoying my time off from filming! Our days have been spent going on field trips, picnics at the lake, girl's night out, and of course puppies!! Follow along my day to day on IG @EastCoastCreative

Jess' September revolved around the new little man on the scene- Bennett. Her days off have been filled with lots of family time, a date night with her hubs, and celebrating that her rings fit again! lol. Follow her on IG @Jess_EC2blog

Okay, now let's see what went down on the blog…

Reader Survey We had so much fun reading through all your comments and input for EC2. Definitely check out the stats and see who reads this little old blog. (PS you'll also learn that men are afraid to admit they love reading blogs! )

We shared the inside scoop on many of our Knock It Off Projects: Stencil Wall, How to Remove Wallpaper, Dreary to Cheery, Outdoor Sectional,
If you've missed any episodes of our show… watch them here! Knock it Off: LiveWell Network

We were pretty excited that Silhouette offered to partner with us to give you guys a sweet deal on their cutting machines! Check out this post to get your Silhouette Discount

Perhaps the biggest accomplishment of this month… The Arrival of Baby Bennett! The little man made an early appearance and Jess and Kev are loving up every minute with him! He's totes adorbs people! Check out the adorable pics of Baby Bennett, And you MUST check out his awesome Nursery Reveal

We started a fun series called Right Now…What's Going on in Our World where I shared a behind the scenes peek at what's going on. And yes, it involves insane animal cuteness!! Check it out!

One of my favorite things this month was adding a New East Coast Creative Team Member! Diana is our new intern and she rocks socks!! Seriously, she is doing an amazing job, and it's been super good timing with Jess having the baby.

One majorly exciting milestone for us was having a nice, big feature of my piano in HGTV Mag. Check out the details: Painted Piano HGTV Magazine Feature, And if you want to see how I did it, check out our Painted Piano Project, and the Wood Shim Wall Art above it!

And if you didn't already know we are a tad crazy (well at least the Mangin family is), we went way, way outside the box with my How to Cut a Perfect Mohawk using Frog Tape post. He's still rockin' the 'hawk two months later!
So, all-in-all, I think September was pretty stinkin' swell! Oh, but lest you think otherwise, October just might have it beat!! Here's a peek at what you can expect… -Blog redesign & we're moving!! (to Wordpress that is!) -10,000 Facebook Fan Celebration Giveaway! -We're visiting Martha (umm, yeah THE MARTHA!) in NYC -A Playroom Makeover on a budget -Fall Decorating ideas for indoors and out!
As always, thanks for supporting EC2- we couldn't do it without you!

I don't know about you, but I'm itching to Fall-ify my home. You know that"let's get cozy, wear sweatshirts and bring out the pumpkins" feeling? Yeah, I have it. One of the major focal points for seasonal decor in our house is our fireplace and mantel, which I decided to give a little makeover before bringing out my Fall stuff. All it takes is chalk paint, a stencil and a lot of patience. I originally posted this project a few weeks ago over at Infarrantly Creative, but have been dying to share it with you! I can't believe how much I love my fireplace now, and I think you will too.

I'm not going to lie, this was not an easy project. In fact, it took me at least 6 hours of painting and stenciling, but it was so totally worth! Here'e what you need to do: 1. Prep your fireplace. Remember my peach marble tile fireplace surround that I hated? Yuk. I first painted it with Annie Sloan chalk paint that I got from Shaunna who writes Perfectly Imperfect and sells AS paint, but before I did that, I wiped it down with a damp cloth to remove and dirt, dust and soot.

2. Choose your paint. I used Annie Sloan's chalk paint in Pure White and French Linen. Man, I am in love with this stuff! It adheres to any surface- even marble!- with no trouble. Just a quick word about fire safety: we don't use our fireplace, so I wasn't worried about whether or not it was flammable, but be sure to check your paint if you have an active fireplace.

3. Brush your base coat onto the surround. I used Pure White and it took 2 coats to get even coverage. I recruited my hubs to do this part, since, let's be honest, painting trim is not my strong suit and I'll take help when I can get it!

4. Place your stencil in the upper corner of the surround. Adjust the stencil sheet and check to make sure it's level, then tape it in place with painters tape. If you want to use a spray adhesive (which I didn't), spray it on the back of the stencil and place it down evenly. I highly recommend using the adhesive for this job, because it took me a loooong time to get clean lines without it. (We have an awesome tutorial on stenciling must-haves if you need help with this!)

5. Begin stenciling. The trick to stenciling without any bleeding is to off-load your brush properly. After dipping into the paint, dab it onto absorbant paper towels, or cardboard until it there is very little paint on the brush. Both my stencil (Beehive Furniture Stencil) and brush are from Royal Design Studio, and they are excellent quality, which makes the job go much smoother.

I had to do two to three coats for every stencil to get the coverage I was looking for. Words can not express the excitement of pulling back that very first stencil. Go ahead- try it and tell me that's not true.

Once the paint is dry, realign the stencil, level it and keep on moving! You might want to turn on some music, because you'll be doing this for a while.: )

At the end of the first night, here's what I had accomplished. Ugh. I saved the hard parts for last. Yippee!

6, Cut your stencil to fit the corners and edges. Oh, this part is so hard, because as I was cutting my stencil, I was envisioning all the projects I could do with it go right down the drain. But, it's absolutely crucial to cut the stencil if you want clean, crisp lines all the way around.

7. Touch up any paint bleeds with a small fine-tipped paint brush…or toothpick, in my case. No matter how good you are at stenciling, there will always be some bleeding. It's easy to touch it up with the base paint color and a steady hand. No one will be the wiser!

8. Finally, wax it and you're done! You'll want to add some kind of protective finish, and I used Annie Sloan soft wax, which was formulated to work with chalk paint. After all that hard work, you'll want a force field surrounding this thing, but wax will have to do.

Step back, grab a drink and enjoy your pretty new fireplace surround!

I love love love it, and am already planning a room makeover based on this fireplace!

If you want a cheap project that will instantly give your room a facelift, this one is for you. Showstopping material, folks!
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In other news, if you follow us on facebook (if you don't, you totally should) you know that I finally entered the year 2012 and have a new HTC OneX smartphone. This thing is amazing and I can't wait to share with you how it has made my life soooo much easier, but for now I'm totally loving Instagram, and would be thrilled if you decided to follow me!

Monica has been on Instagram for quite a while now, but if you don't already follow her, add her to your list too!

We'll give you lots of sneak peeks at our current projects, as well as fun insights into our daily lives and what makes us tick. We promise.: )

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So, is your fireplace screaming for a makeover?
Would you ever paint it??
Linking up to: Tutorials & Tips

Well, it's time for another fabulous sponsor round up. We are so blessed to be able to work with these awesome companies- they really make this blog possible! If you haven't taken some time to take a look at these shops, do it now! You will be amazed at the craftsmanship and ohmygoodness, the talent in these people will blow you away!

1. This Merriam Pink paper pack from Moo & Puppy is super sweet. Use EC215 for 15% off your order! 2. I love this Vintage Metal Cup Pendant from Lucent Lampworks. It would add so much personality to a kitchen, don't you think? Use code ECTenOff for 10% of your order! 3. I can't get enough of this gorgeous Raspberry Suzani Pillow Cover from Chic Decor Pillows. Whatever your style is, you'll be able to find a pillow to fit right in, in their shop.

4. I'm in love with this Flying bird necklace from Belmonili. They're one of our NEWEST sponsors and we love the vintage feel of their products. Know anyone that's depressed that Downton is over this season… Belmonili has Grantham approved gifts for sure! Use the code BelmoniliECC for 10% off your order! 5 and 6. You can totally customize your look with this Henle headband and flower accessory. Plus, these headbands promise not to give you a headache! And, speaking from experience, it's true!

7. Remember Monica's"Shut the Front Door" letters? Well, now 163 Design Company offers Canvas-covered letters which are so fabulous. 8. If you're in need of some help organizing, look no further! Clean Mama's Printable Starter Kit includes the busy mama kit, the budget and bill pay kit, the cleaning kit, menu planning kit and the dockets and calendar kit. You'll be super mom in no time! 9. Isnt' this Get Ziggy with It Wall Stencil super fun? LOVE. Use the code ECC10 for 10% off your order.

10. Wood Wick candles from CJS Ecochic are made from soy and are extremely long-lasting. Plus, they smell amazing!
11. We've gone nuts over these inexpensive FoxGram prints. Print any instagram photo for just 25 cents!
12. We've recently found the DIYers solution to dirty, nasty nails. Gel manicures at Oasis Salon. Monica has been telling the entire world that her polish is lasting a full 4 weeks! I have to admit, they do look awesome even with all our DIYing. If you're local you HAVE to try out their amazing pedicures and gel manicures. We can't get enough.
Visit Oasis, tell them EC2 sent you and get 10% OFF one visit! 13. This adorable"Love You" typewriter key bracelet from Junxtaposition is perfect for this month, but would look great all year long!

14. These One Word prints from Red Letter Words are so sweet and I think they would look adorable in a nursery or little girl's room.

15. Liberty Thrift Store is having a President's Day Sale all week long- get 25% of all furniture through February 23rd. What would you do to this piece? Can anyone say color blocking?!?

16. For every $31 you spend at Thirty-One Gifts, you can get a Keep-It Caddy for just $5. The perfect bag for while you're on the go, gift bag, cosmetic case, and so much more! But you KNOW we'd use it to store all those little craft odds and ends.: )

Also, our pal, Mandy, has found the job of a lifetime with Thirty-One Gifts and you can too! If you join now through April 1st and sell $1000 in your first 30 days, you'll get your $99 back! There is nothing to lose and so much to gain!! Last year one of our EC2 readers joined Mandy's team and was so glad she did! Check out Mandy's guest post HERE to hear more about her story and how she was able to leave her full-time job when she joined 31! Go ahead and contact Mandy at hajelfamily@yahoo.com or check out her website for more info.
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Now, the fun part…GO SHOP!; )

Because we're always slightly afraid you'll get bored of our crazy antics, we have a treat for you today in the form of a guest blogger! If you don't already know her, Sarah from The Ugly Duckling House is stinkin' hilarious and super talented. We love the design of her blog (which she did herself), the adorable pics of her splattered with paint, and her magical touch with liquid gilding. Enjoy! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi there! I'm Sarah from The Ugly Duckling House, and I'm thrilled to be guest posting today on East Coast Creative! I met Monica and Jess at the Haven conference earlier this year, and I think they come up with some of the most amazing projects!

A little more about me: I'm awkward. I can't cook. I hate cleaning. But I love tearing my house apart and putting it back together again. I've been working on my"Ugg-Duck" for nearly three years now, and I'm determined — hissy fits and all — to turn my 1980s eyesore into a home I can be proud of. DIY-ing on my own isn't easy (especially with a full-time job and grad school on my plate), and I have had my fair share of weird stories with my house — like finding fingernails in my fridge. Or 4 A.M. catfights. Or freaking out that I had a water leak in my brand new powder room… and realizing it was (possibly) a guest missing my toilet. Yes, that happened.
Right now, I'm working on remodeling my bathroom. But at any given moment, I have at least five other unfinished projects around the house. Sometimes when I'm in the middle of finishing up a full renovation, I use that momentum to give myself an extra push and do something smaller that I might otherwise put off — like my master bedroom jewelry organizer.

I've been spotting a lot of creative jewelry organization ideas on Pinterest, and even though I've been storing my jewelry neatly in a drawer in my closet, I realized I forget to throw on accessories when rushing off to work. These Rationell inserts from Ikea are meant to add storage space to pantries and other cabinets, but I saw the decorative pattern on top and thought it could really look snazzy (& functional, too!) as a jewelry holder.

It was so easy, I could even (sort of) hold my camera steady while putting the project together with one hand. Ha. I just measured…

Marked (simply pushing the tip of the screw into the wall will save you extra pencil marks)…

… and sunk the first screw into place.

And this is where I realized I'd forgotten my level in the bathroom! Ugh. Thankfully, I had a nifty iPhone app with a level that I could use to make sure I kept things straight and even.

By placing the organizer in between my remodeled master bedroom closet and the master bath, I have a great new spot for my jewelry — and less of an excuse to bypass the accessories in the morning!

There you have it — a simple and inexpensive way to get your jewelry in a prime notice me and wear me spot.
Thank you so much to Jess and Monica for letting me stop by, and I hope you visit me (and whatever current mess I'm making) over at The Ugly Duckling House soon! Sarah Psst: Want more? I love to post sneak peeks on Facebook and Instagram. You can also find me on Hometalk and Twitter at uglyducklingDIY.
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Thanks so much for visiting, Sarah! You're welcome back in our houses anytime.: )

We've been doing some rearranging in our home the last few weeks. Charlie's room is in the process of getting a big boy room makeover (pics of that coming soon!) and we decided to build a bedroom in the basement for our new little guy coming this Fall. I even put a sneak peek of the space all cleaned out up on Instagram (@jess_ec2blog) a few weeks ago.

Some people might think it strange that we're going to put the baby in the basement, but we thought it through and decided this was the best and easiest decision for us in the long run. We have a three bedroom, cape cod-style house, so our master bedroom is on the main floor and the kid's bedrooms are upstairs. Rather than move the kids out of their bedrooms and into one (which would have been fine, just tricky with naptimes), we decided that building a room in the basement made sense, since either way, we'd be a whole floor away from the baby anyway. The last time anything was done to this part of the basement was for our first appearance on The Nate Show, when Monica gave it a nautical makeover using stuff from Nate's Crate.

Then, two years and a whole lotta toys later, it looked like this:

Just keepin' it real, folks,: ;)
Since the basement is already finished, all we need to do is construct a wall in the middle of the room and build a small closet. The other half of this side of the basement is pretty much staying as is, except that we're going to tear down the bar that is impossible to get behind and that takes up a lot of space (we'll get to that when we get to that, you know?)

My hubs and his dad got to work this past Saturday building the wall. I was filming all day, so I apologize for the pictures! And oh yeah, this is not a how-to-build-a-wall tutorial- there are tons of them online. I just wanted to show you our progress!

We decided to use metal framing because we had read and heard that it might be easier to install into the concrete and to attach to the drop ceiling frame. Turns out it's a bit more expensive than using regular 2x4's., but did the job pretty well, as expected.

Woohoo- it's coming together!

This is the view from the inside of the new room looking out towards the new wall. It's a pretty decent-sized space! Since this picture was taken, all of the drywall has been hung and is waiting to be spackled and sanded.

My favorite part of this space is the faux-built-in's. I can't wait to decorate these and make them useful for baby boy!

I'll keep you posted on the progress in this room as it happens. I'm hoping to have my hubs finish up the construction part and start painting in the next week or so. UPDATE: Several people have asked about the window situation down in the basement. Unfortunately, both tiny windows are on the other side of the wall. Our house was built before it was required to have an egress window in a finished basement,but we have plans to add an egress for safety reasons, anyway. We're just taking it one step at a time for now, especially since that's such a big project! Until then, anyone have any favorite places to buy cute, inexpensive baby bedding? I, of course, fell in love with this bedding on Etsy that is just more than I want to spend! Boooo.

I'm so excited about this space! Have you ever made drastic changes to your house when expecting a baby?Am I the only one?

PS- Did you see the invite to our premiere party? We want YOU to join us! Click here for all the info!

PSS- Don't forget to enter to win $400 in Ryobi Tools, just in time for Father's Day! Click HERE to enter!