Source The wonderful people at the Nate Berkus Show have given us TWO EXTRA TICKETS to the show we'll be taping on September 1st in New York City!
Source That could be YOU sitting in the audience within an arm's reach of Mr. Cutiepie himself! (And note to self: do not wear super low-cut top, ie: woman in white shirt below Nate. Who knows what might hang out that you don't want seen on tv?) Shout it From the Rooftops Contest This is a spread-the-word contest. We want to see what creative ways you can tell the world about The Nate Show and our Debut! This is a totally subjective contest… no Random.org involved! We're picking the winner based on pure awesomeness!! Interested? Here's what you need to do to score these tickets: Creatively Spread the word about The Real Housewives of BC being on The Nate Show. (Ex: Rent a highway bilboard, Make us your Facebook status for 15 days straight, Get a tattoo announcing the big news and head to the beach, you get the idea…)
You have 15 days to be as creative as you can and to reach as many people as possible. We're looking for quality and quantity and we're sure we'll get a few laughs in there too! We have a tentative date for the tv airing of the episode, but it's not concrete, so you need to direct people to the blog and facebook to find out when. We'll let you work out the details on your own. We told The Nate Show producers that our readers would do an insane job promoting this upcoming episode of their show, so make us proud, and we'll thank you in person in NYC!! To Enter: you need to email us and let us know what you've done to spread the word (therealhousewivesofbc@gmail.com ) We'd also LOVE to see a picture of what you've done. The Nate Show wants to see it too! Who knows, maybe you'll be their next guests??!!?? All entries must be recieved by August 15th. We'll be looking over all the entries and annoucing the winner on Wednesday, August 17th! The Prize: The Winner will get TWO tickets to the September 1st live taping of The Nate Show! We'll both be there and will be so excited to meet you!! (If for some reason you can't make the 9/1 show, let us know a date that works and we'll get you tickets for that show instead). Sorry we can't fly you there or anything fancy-schmancy, but we would if we could! So, Who's going to win? Who's coming to NYC with us?? Leave us some comment love and let us know if you're ready to WIN!
Oh, how I wish we had taken more pictures of the process and the final room reveal! But instead, you're forced to see it from a tv screen shot. Boo! We promise that we'll do better about that next time. Ha!: )
One thing that really stinks about doing short segments on a TV show is that we pour ourselves into loads of projects, spend a lot of hours working on them, and then they never even get mentioned. Don't get me wrong, it's not Nate's fault, it's just the nature of the beast. And all that hard work on the details is absolutely necessary in order to pull the room together and have it look polished, so it is what it is. Ok, enough of my pity party, on to the beverage cart! You probably thought we had lost our minds when we decided to purchase this thing:
Quite honestly, we kind of thought we did too. We both envisioned the same thing when we saw it (best friend brain's work like that, I guess), but getting there was a different story. We sort of put this cart off until, literally, the last minute, and tried a million different things until we were happy with the finished product. (I slammed my finger in the car door on one of our many trips to Lowe's for random supplies for it!)
The first thing we did was remove the wood shelves from the arms. and then used a hack saw to cut off the one side (yes, a hack saw will cut through metal!). Then we spray-painted the whole thing gold, and added a wooden dowel as a handlebar. On one of our trips to Lowe's we found inexpensive wooden slats in differing widths, so we bought them, painted them in complementary colors and used them to create the shelf. We HATED it. It just didn't feel right at all and we almost gave up on it. Not to mention, that I cut the wrong side off (see above) and so the wheels were at the opposite end that they should have been! Seriously, Monica's 9 year old daughter pointed that out before I even noticed! Oops! After doing some googling, I did discover that some bar carts have wheels on the handle side, so I redeemed myself a bit, but man, I felt dumb!: ) This is what it looked like after our first try:
Blech! Anyway, we we ended up cutting more of the arms off and used a towel bar rod as the handle. We also added four gold castors because we couldn't stand those tractor tires! And guess what the shelf is? It's a pre-made shelf for a closet, (I think!) It ended up fitting perfectly, for which we are eternally grateful, because we were about to quit DIYing for good because of this thing! We mounted a wine glass rack to the underside of the shelf and called it a day. Phew! It was a close call, but I actually think it turned out pretty darn cute for all the grief it caused.
Here's a peak at the little details you didn't see on the show:
(The scale, horse head and door knob all came from Architectural Antiques) We did find some pretty cool stuff at the thrift store. The tray on the bottom left is actually a picture frame that we sprayed with our favorite rust-colored paint and added fun, antique gold handles to. It's a great, inexpensive way to make a tray, and it ended up on top of our beverage cart on the show. We both were in love with the rust pillow with zipper detailing and were so bummed you couldn't see it on the show, and who doesn't love a houndstooth pillow with navy buttons?; ) Lastly, here is the final picture of us on The Nate Show. It has been such a fun ride, and we were totally flattered and blessed to have been a part of the show. Thanks, Nate!
Next week we have some fabulous stuff to share with you guys: updates to BOTH of our kitchens, two huge photo art pieces and more. Have a great weekend!
If you aren't connected with us on Facebook, we'd love you to! We use it to post all kinds of cool ideas and to connect with all of you!
Happy December, everyone! If you've been following us then you know that our 3rd appearance on The Nate Berkus Show airs today! If you're new here as a result of the Nate Show, welcome! We're so glad you're here. We honestly still get a little giddy when we think about Nate calling us his best DIYer's, and are hoping all of this is not some crazy dream. No matter how often we get called back to the show (fingers crossed they ask us again!), it is still so surreal. But, we can't.get.enough. We're going to give a little glimpse of the two day room transformations, and our time in NYC for the live taping. Plus, we have a fun announcement, so read on! Behind the Scenes The first part of the process is getting miked, which was stinkin' hilarious to me this time. Monica's outfit created all sorts of problems for our sound guy, Matt.
Case in point. Hehe. Tell me that doesn't make you giggle. Then the filming started with an interview with Jesse, the big shot producer (which did not make it onto the show, but we thought we were really funny. Obviously, they did not.: )
Love this picture! And this cutie is Jesse:
Adorable, right? (Sidenote: he is our age and so successful! Kinda made us feel like underachievers.)
Dean, cameraman #1, was on our very first shoot with the show, and is phenomenal. Just sayin'. Eventually, we got to do our ridiculously silly and goofy smooth and athletic run out to take a peek at Nate's Crate.
The rest is history, as they say. Anyway, we're so excited to show you the rooms we decorated for Christmas for the show. Of course, Nate pulled another switcheroo on us (see our first house swap here), and I had to decorate Monica's family room, and she had to Christmas-ify my basement den. Switching houses totally puts us out of our element because we have to find all their DIY supplies to use without their guidance. Plus, it's a lot more pressure to decorate someone else's house! We couldn't use any of our existing Christmas decorations and could pretty much use only what was in the crate, although we could shop the house. But the end results turned out pretty good, if we do say so ourselves.: ) Ready for some before and afters? Monica's Family Room
Jessica's Basement Den
Wheeeeeee! Don't they look amazing? There are soooooo many projects we want to share from these two makeovers- way too many for one post- so we'd like to invite you to:
Beginning tomorrow we'll be breaking down each of the projects from our room makeovers. We'll be sharing loads of ideas for Christmas decor that are easy and cheap- anyone can do them! You don't want to miss it, so come back with pens and paper in hand.: ) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ok, so back to Nate…we headed into NYC in mid-November for another live taping. This is super fun for us, especially watching all fun, crazy stuff that goes on behind the scenes. When we arrived, we headed up to our green room to get settled in and make ourselves look presentable.
Yes, this is another pose-in-the-mirror shot. We're sorry. We won't do it again.
Thank goodness for the wonderful makeup ladies. Each time they do our makeup differently, but every time it's great!
We kind of coordinated without planning it. Great minds…
Our green room didn't stand a chance against us make-a-mess-of-everything girls.
I was so hungry that I needed two plates full of food. (Sadly, this is not abnormal.)
Oh, wait, here's another mirror shot.
And another. Oops! She's cute, though, so that kind of makes up for it, doesn't it?
Once the show was over, we met up with Ed: the sweetest, most personable, down-to-earth, extremely successful producer on earth. I can't say enough nice things about him, so I won't even try. But, we love him. Then it was off to see the sights!
I can't believe we toted some of our projects around Times Square. We are such dorks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So, that's it in a nutshell! We're seriously hoping to be asked on the show again, and if we are, we will be pulling out all the stops to get a picture with Mr. Nate himself. (We're coming for you, Nate!; ) Please don't forget to stop by tomorrow for Monica's easy handwritten lamp shade transformation. Thanks so much for all of your support! Have a great day!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome, Moo & Puppy, our newest sponsor! Moo & Puppy is a modern digital paper shop, and their stuff is seriously amazing. We created our 12 Days of Nate Show DIYs header with paper from her shop (Brewster Red & Teal). You should totally go check it out, and use the code HOUSEWIVES20 for a 20% discount on your order.
In T minus 24 hours (there I go again!) our episode of The Nate Show will be airing across the country. We can't believe it's almost here. Since we're only 1 day from Go Time, we thought a behind the scenes play-by-play was a must. We love our blog readers and we're excited to share this crazy experience with you! Get ready, it's a lot of pictures. We couldn't take all of you with us, but we want you to feel like you were right there too! Backstage Pass
Me, Jess, Eric & Kevin (our hubs) were picked up in a fancy-pants car at 6am to head to The Big Apple!
It was an amazingly beautiful day in NYC
We arrived a few minutes late (darn NY traffic) and were escorted all VIP-like up to our green room. We were laughing just saying things like"green room." Usually our days are filled with words like"pull-ups" and"snack time" so it was pretty crazy!
We snapped a few pics as soon as we arrived.
After getting dressed we were wisked away to hair and make-up. The hair woman was insisting that my hair looked"just great" as it was, but you and I both know that she was completely thinking,"That mess needs more than a touch up!" My hair is always a little crazy. I love this picture of Jess and Kev. Just a normal day getting makeup done in NYC.
Yes, the men needed make up too! Jess' make up lady (and yes, I'm probably offending half of the world by calling her that) was amazing. Jess' make up came out awesome.
Then we were back waiting in the green room. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.
So… since I'm not one for sitting around thinking about being on National TV, I grabbed the little ole' camera and started having some fun!
Kev managed to ignore all my shenanigans and just chill watching some TV. Guys have it so easy!
We really are dorks and loved every second of it. I mean, if you're in a Green Room once in your life, you might as well enjoy it!
Then, it was time to get down to business. Producers were coming in and out and explaining the segments and what questions Nate would ask us. We ran through some responses and botched them royally. We're pretty good on the fly, but man, we stink at acting. It ended up being fine, because Nate went rogue on the planned questions and pretty much did his own thing. I guess you can do that when you're Nate Berkus.
Before we knew it, it was time. Guess what? We weren't nervous at all! Can you believe it? We totally couldn't. We thought we would be, but the nerves never came. Perhaps it was the fancy makeup or something?? Off we went to the set.
Sound room backstage. Let me tell you this… some men would say sound guys have a pretty good job… We learned during our 2 day taping that all modesty and embarrassment goes out the window pretty quickly when someone is running wires down your shirt. Thankfully, we knew this and were cool as cucumbers as we got all wired up. Thankfully we weren't awkward because Peter Greenburg (travel guru) was there with us getting mic'd up and we acted like we do this all the time too! Fake it till you make it right?
Approximately 5 seconds after getting mic'd and doing a"testing, testing, 5,4,3,2,1" we were through the doors and taking our spots on stage. HERE GOES… I couldn't bring the camera on the set… weird right? lol but in 1 day you'll be able to see it all!! About an hour later, we were back in the green room. We were totally in one of those,"is it really over? Wow! That was awesome!"
We hung out with our favorite Nate Show producer Ed C. for a bit (talkin' about the Biz… haha! Kidding, we don't know a thing about The Biz, but we did have a great time catching up with Ed) Then, we were off to take the rest of NYC by storm (and by that I mean walk 20 extra blocks because we never knew exactly where we needed to be heading)
Times Square
We were so excited to have lots of our friends join us for the show and we had an awesome afternoon and evening in the city. We're both so blessed to have these amazing women in our lives.
Well duh, what would a day in NYC be without some Naked Cowboy? My 9 year old accidental saw this picture and just couldn't wrap her mind around it. Don't worry Kenz, I can't either!
So, there you have it… our fabulous whirlwind of a day. Tonight Jess said other than having 2 beautiful kids and marrying Kev, The Nate Show was her favorite thing ever. and here's where it all started… 2 girls squished into a wooden crate, ready to do some design!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also, a BIG welcome to our newests sponsors, Stuff Closeout & Consignment and JET Upholstery! Check out our Sweet Sponsors Page for more info on their awesomeness. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So, Go double check your DVR, make sure everything's set for Thursday and then, let us know what you think once you see it! Thanks for your support!
P.S. We took all 28 of our friends and family to Carmine's Restaurant in the Theatre District. It was so good! If you're in town, check it out.
Today's a Seriously Important Day: Happy 30th Birthday Jess!
(Kev and Jess at the"decades" prom we went to last year- they looked awesome!) Let me just tell you that I officially have the best friend ever. Jess is hands down, my favorite person in the world. She's confident, strong, dedicated to her family, friends, and most importantly her faith and having her in my life for the last 13 years has made it all that much better. So here's to 30 Jess, I can't wait to see what this decade has in store for you. Love ya- have an awesome day! ***********************************************************************
So every once in a while I have a pretty cool, unique idea… trust me, it doesn’t happen all that often, but when it does I pretty much love it. The stenciled wall panels in our Nate Show room were one of those rare times. If you haven’t seen the room yet, here she is in all of her fuzzy, screen shot taken from a video glory.
We were walking through the thrift store and saw a roll of this black paper stuff. I didn’t know what it was at first, but then I thought way back when and remembered putting a new roof on my parents’ house with a high school boyfriend (ah, the crazy things teenage girls will do to impress boys. Eric couldn’t pay me enough to get on a roof now!)… Anyhow, I remembered it was like the paper that you put under shingles. Tar Paper it’s called.
This is where the random awesome idea part comes in… I immediately stopping seeing this as roofing material, and I saw it as a canvas-like material for some fabulous high-end-meets-industrial-art. Jess sort of wasn’t quite sure about my plan, but being the wonderful BFF that she is, she trusted me and encouraged me to go for it. Here’s how I turned this roll into art. We had just gotten the stencil in the mail from Royal Design Studio for Jess’ kitchen renovation. Remember, she used it here:
The first step was to simply figure out the size of my panels, I knew I wanted two stenciled images on each panel. Once I had them cut to size I rolled on two coats of semi-gloss navy paint. I was worried it wouldn’t take the paint well, but it worked like a charm. No primer needed- score one for the lazy DIYer! Once they were really dry, it was time to stencil. Stenciling 4 images was a cake-walk compared to Jess’ kitchen. It took me about 15 minutes to complete both panels. I used DecoArt metalic gold paint and it needed about two coats to really get the pop we wanted.
Did you notice all the gold on the stencil when Jess posted about her kitchen? It was a mini spoiler alert!
One additional thing I’m crushing on and could have added to my crush post are grommets. I have been using them as much as I can lately. I pretty much can make an argument that everything is better with grommets! We added them to this piece to give it a finished look and also play off of the industrial nature of the tar paper.
These are grommeting tools. The funny thing is that no matter how many times I use it, I have to think pretty hard to get it all lined up correctly. Once you do, it’s a piece of cake.
There she is… I’m pretty sure it’s the prettiest a piece of tar paper has ever looked. She’s like the Miss America of roofing materials. (It got a tad wrinkled when it was shipped back to us after the show, but it really does stay nice and flat on the wall)
I was really thrilled with how they looked in the room and wow, look what Nate was saying during this part of the show…
Oh, you didn’t hear him say that?… weird. Must have been a glitch with your TV. (hehe) The bottom line here is that ANYTHING, literally anything can be turned into art and it doesn’t need to cost a million bucks to be fabulous. This was $10 tar paper (for a whole roll, I could make about 50 more with what I have left) and it was beautiful enough for Nate Berkus. So who’s going to their local roofing supply store today? Ha! Actually, next week I’ll share another awesome project I used tar paper for. It’s a pretty cool one and saved me a ton of moolah!
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.
We were really lucky to have had two major statement art pieces in our most recent Nate Show thrift store room makeover. Monica posted yesterday about the roofing material art using our Royal Design Studio stencil that I was absolutely 100% sure would be a fail confident would turn out amazing. Really, they were just so cool. But our other major piece of art was super easy and looked amazing above our dresser turned buffet.
If you see a big frame, BUY IT! There are so many things you can do with them, and large frames are hard to come by, for sure. We couldn't believe our good luck when we came across this huge frame at Liberty Thrift Store. At 25 bucks, it was definitely a splurge, but a frame this size would cost you 3 times that much (or more) at Michael's, and we knew it would help fill the empty wall space in our on-set white room. This is what it looked like at the store:
Eeeek!That thing was begging us to take it home and cover it up with fabric. I honestly can not EVER imagine hanging this scene up in my home (no offense to any of you who have something similar hanging on your walls!).
We purchased the fabric at Joann's because, well, we loved it, but also because it played nicely off of that mustard yellow couch (which, quite honestly, we hated! But you work with what you have and it was the best option at the thrift store that day.) This project took a little more than a yard of fabric, spray adhesive, spray paint, stain, hot glue and craft paper. We also came across three of the same kind of frame, which we immediately snatched up so no one else could get their hands on them. I mean that literally. Another tip: if you find three frames that are exactly the same, BUY THEM! You won't be sorry. And make sure you look past their color, and the picture in the frame- that can all be easily changed!
We started out by removing the picture and staining the frame a dark walnut. While that dried, we cut the fabric so there was about an inch or a little more extra all the way around. Then we sprayed the entire front of the existing picture with spray adhesive and gently laid the fabric down, making sure to smooth out the bubbles/wrinkles. If you're trying this with a frame, be sure to have an extra set of hands- it makes it so much easier! The extra fabric was stapled on the back side of the picture. In the meantime, we spraypainted the small frames in the same high gloss navy that we used on the dresser.
We were able to salvage the mats from the old pictures in the small frames, which saved us loads of time. Woohoo for the small things! We then lined the back of the mats with craft paper so that we'd have a nice solid background to highlight our antique skeleton keys.
I messed around with the layout of the keys for a loooooong time a few minutes before I settled on the perfect layout. Speaking of the keys…
…aren't they awesome? We actually had these keys from a previous shopping excursion at Architectural Antiques and were thrilled to use them in this project. They added so much character to this somewhat modern piece of art! Architectural Antiques is just one of the best places to find cool, old stuff in Bucks County. (If you're local, you HAVE to go there.)
From salvaged windows and doors, to old hardware and keys, to antique mantels and loads more, they have some incredible stuff! Anyway, we mounted the keys using our trusty hot glue done and voila! She was finished.
Pretty sweet, right? We sure think so! (And so did Nate!; )
*** Did you know that we share lots of other cool ideas over on our Facebook page? It's like little snippets of RHBC to get you through your day! So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and like us, we're going to post lots more Nate Show pics there later today!
Welcome Nate Show Lovers! Well, Monica and I are just over the moon today for several reasons (which I'll share in a moment), but we first want to say how flattered, humbled and thankful we are for all of your support, good wishes and super-nice comments over the past several months. We never dreamed our little blog would take off like it has, and we have YOU to thank for that. So, thanks!: ) So, here goes: 1. Remember that contest we entered called Crafting with the Stars? Well, we won. This contest was one of those things we were dying to do, but we didn't fully realize how much time and effort it would take from us. It was seriously like Design/DIY bootcamp! We are so excited to have won, since we were competing against some pretty fierce competition. In case you were wondering, here's the project that sealed the deal for us:
Check back tomorrow for all the details on how we made that amazing pallet wall, and how the room came together.
You can see how we did that fabulous fabric wallpaper here, how we transformed an old dresser into an amazing Anthropologie Dresser knockoff here, and how we took an antique table and turned into a gorgeous bathroom vanity here. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. We were on the front page of The Intelligencer (our local Philly paper) today! We were happy to read such a nice article about us, and also share a little bit about our Design it Forward initiative!
You can read the whole article here, and see the video we shot with them here. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And 3) Of course, our 2nd appearance on The Nate Show aired today! We know you want to hear all about the behind-the-scenes stuff, so let's get right to it! It all started with a crazy hectic arrival into NYC on Tuesday night around 10 PM. Monica and I got to stay at the very nice Lucerne Hotel a few blocks away from the studio. Well, not really stay there… we stopped in for about 2 hours after we redesigned the room.
We had a million ideas so we jumped right in and worked from 11-3 AM on our room design and then headed back to the hotel for a measly 2 hours of sleep. I must love you guys a lot to let you have a sneak peek at me getting ready that early in the morning!
Can you say tired eyes? Thankfully, after the magic of hair and makeup we looked somewhat presentable…
I honestly had no idea that Monica and I matched so exactly. We were literally just running on adrenaline at this point, and I guess we're just lucky we remembered to put ANYTHING on under those aprons. Speaking of the aprons…could anything be less attractive? But we were thrilled to have our blog initials thrown in there for all to see. (We're so not afraid of the shameless plug!: )
So, this is the room in process. This was our first time doing a redesign on the actual set of the show. It was pure madness! There were a million people adjusting the lighting, checking our mikes (mics??!) and moving things around.
Tada! This is the room after we finished the show. We LOVED the way it turned out. I had the idea to use the foam core they gave us to do a board & batten treatment on the back wall, and Monica made that idea come to life! It added such a nice architectural detail for the focal wall. We also used the newspaper to create wallpaper- this is SO easy to do. Just spray the wall with spray adhesive and then give it a coat of matte mod podge to seal it all in. But forget all the good stuff, let's chat about the elephant in the room; the mason jar disaster in the corner of the room:
Our goal was to create somthing like this:
Source: etsy.com via The Real Housewives on Pinterest Unfortunately, with the limited materials we had on hand, our project didn't even come close to looking like that. Even Nate asked us what it was and if it was a place to store macaroni. Ugh. So embarassing. Moving on… (please)
Using our perfect stripe painting method, we added navy blue stripes to our chair and whipped up two little pillows to throw on there. The stencil was a last-minute addition, which we LOVED.
And yes, the most exciting part of the whole ordeal was that WE WON and are already planning our trip to Mexico to celebrate our 30th birthdays in February. Woohoo!
Ignore the fact that we sort of look plastic (tv make up is simultaneously pretty and wierd, isn't it?) and that we look extremely sleep-deprived, and take a look at the gold hard hats and yellow roses we were awarded for our hard work. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So, if you're new to our blog, thanks so much for stopping by! We hope you'll come and visit us again (and again, and again, and again…:) Have a great day!
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!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We Interrupt this Post to Bring You Something HUGE! We've had to keep this secret quiet for a while, but now we can dish. We were contacted by Proctor & Gamble about being the face of their home division. SCORE! The one catch… we're one of 4 bloggers in the running. Oh SNAP! So, today begins the voting on P&G's Facebook Page. We need you (and basically everyone you've ever met) to vote for Monica once a day now until October 4th. I know that the daily voting thing is a pain, but man, this opportunity would rock our world! So, pretty please, with a cherry on top- go vote for Monica (you'll even get to see our very cheesy entry video!)
You can VOTE once a day for the next 15 Days!!
Okay, now onto today's post. Thanks so much for voting! **************************************************************************
Probably the part of my Garage Mudroom Makeover that I got the most questions and comments about was the huge artwork of my crew (or at least their bottom half!) Staples Engineer prints aren't anything new to our blog (we use them all the time!), but every time I fall a little more in love!
If you missed the reveal of my makeover, you can check it out HERE. You can check out the Custom Painted Rug tutorial HERE
On our final Nate Show episode, we used a really large wooden frame with some cool fabric and skeleton keys. All the furniture from the show was shipped back to us, so I knew months ago what I had in mind for it.
I knew I wanted to frame a picture of my kiddos' feet and put it in the garage, I just had to wait until my garage was no longer a disaster! Once the mudroom makeover was underway, I immediate saw the perfect place for my artwork!
I gave the Nate Show frame (originally purchased at a thrift store) a quick coat of spray paint using Valspar's New Avocado. I recently used the same color on some chairs and I'm a pretty big fan of it.
Since we've done this kind of project a few times before I'm not going to go into the full tutorial, you can check out one tutorial HERE or the other HERE. I know a few of you have had questions about what kind of print to ask for at Staples etc… I went in and talked to our store and got the low down on some details for ya.
I did make a few small tweaks this time around. Since the frame was empty, I needed to use foam core to mount my image and then staple it to the back of the frame.
I sort of underestimated the size of the frame- it's huge! So I just mounted the left and right sides and left the middle… shhh, no one would ever know.
The process was really simple, and would have been even easier if I hadn't run out of foam core. I actually caught my finger in my heavy duty staple gun and a month later, my nail is still purple. Ugh. Although, it doesn't compare to slamming your finger in a car door and cutting off the top of it while taping a TV show for Nate… not that I know anyone who did that: )
For $6.99 I'm over the moon excited about the impact that this art makes in my garage. I come in and out of this door a million times a day and it's pretty awesome to have something I love to look at.
So, what do you think of my Shoe Artwork? Are you ready to try a Staples Engineering Print in your home?
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! 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,
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******************************************************************************** What a bittersweet day… we’re so excited that our fourth episode airs today, but we’re also bummed that our crazy Nate Show journey is coming to an end. It has been such an amazing ride! If you’ve missed any of our episodes, you can check out some clips here. Since we spent a good amount of time in the studio this year, we really had a lot of work to do behind the scenes.
Haha! Kidding! We totally snuck these pictures in the control room when we were waiting for our mics. Yup, we’re dorks. Want to know the funniest thing ever? When we were taking these, there was another woman waiting to go on for her segment. We didn’t know until she was on that it was Christiane Lemieux, the founder of Dwell Studios! We LOVE Dwell! Can you imagine us taking these pictures while she was watching. OMW we’re Dorks! Thrift a $250 room that looks like a Million bucks! This time Nate gave us a seriously tough challenge. $250 to design an entire room including furniture is insane! We never could have done it without an awesome thrift store. Liberty Thrift is a personal favorite and they have 5 locations in PA. We love the mission behind Liberty and it makes shopping there even better! They’re our newest blog sponsor, so if you’re in the area, go and check out one of their stores! Since you’ll get to see the finished product on the show, we’re going to highlight just a few of our favorite projects this week. We don’t have a ton of process pictures, because it was about 19 degrees in our work area and we were so tight on time, but we’ll try and give you the main gist. Here’s all the furniture pre-DIY… oh man it was in rough shape!
Our very favorite piece in the room was the Navy buffet. Something we love to do is to look at a piece of furniture and think of what we could turn it into. The minute I saw this dresser, I envisioned it as a fabulous buffet! When you’re working with thrifted pieces, don’t be afraid to try something a wee bit daring, the worst thing you can do is ruin it and have to head back to the thrift store to try again! Here’s the pretty darn dramatic before and after…
We don’t have process pics, but we do have some process video outtakes! WARNING: These are totally unedited and really goofy, but we’re all about keeping it Real and this lets you see just how the navy beauty came to be! Step 1- The Game Plan! Step 2- TV makes it seem easy! Step 3- To Mold or not to Mold? Step 4- Oops Still looks like a Dresser! So you're getting the idea right? Good, because we don't have any more process shots! This picture shows all the changes we made. Isn't she pretty? We both were sooo thrilled with her makeover!
Now, when you go thrifting you can look at the rows and rows of dressers in a whole new light! And now, here's the cheesy End of the Night recap from day 2! Tomorrow Jess is going to show you how two DIYers that have never upholstered a thing in their lives, decided to tackle a chair for Nate! We're crazy! We hope you had fun watching our final episode, let us know what you thought of the room!
*** If you're wondering about the amazing stencil we used for our wall art, you can get it here. We love Royal Design Studios and their stencils are by far the best! *** >Linking up to: TT&J, Sundae Scoop, Sunday Showcase, Saturday Night Special, Show & Tell Saturday,
First of all, our guest poster today, Hannah, is stinkin' adorable. She is the only blogger we've met IRL, (in real life) and totally exceeded our expectations! Funny story: When we met Hannah, we were in NYC getting ready for our Nate Show taping and she had just finished hers. Needless to say, she looked amazing, and we looked like we had just rolled out of bed (what can we say? We hadn't been to hair and makeup yet!:) Take a look at what I mean:
Note: Faces appear blurry to protect the innocent. Secondly, Hannah is soooo talented. She has been featured twice on The Nate Show and has impeccable taste. She chronicles her designs and awesome street finds in NYC on her blog,Hannah Kate Flora. (And ohmygoodness, you HAVE to see thekitchen table she just made! Unbelievable!) So, without further ado, here she is!
Hi there! I'm so thrilled to guest blog for my sweet new friends, the Real Housewives of Bucks County. I met these darling girls backstage while we were filming seperate segments for the Nate Show. I told them, cheesy as it is, I'm so encouraged by them! Such strong, faithful, clever women! I racked my brain on what to post and was politely reminded by Brooklyn Boy, my soon to be husband, that I should write about Street Merch — left behind furniture found on the streets of New York (or anywhere for that matter) that just need a new life! You see, I'm a Texas girl who's lived in New York for the past 4 years. It's always been important to make my home (i.e. tiny apartment) feel warm, personal and lived in, but I haven't always had the budget to go crazy. But I noticed something living here, when you live in New York and move apartments or get rid of things, you don't have a car to throw your stuff in for a Goodwill trip. No sir. The street is your own personal Goodwill. Whatever you can't fit in your apartment goes to the curb. To put it plainly — this means you can find amazing pieces on the street, with nothing wrong except that there wasn't room for it in its previous home. There's one piece I want to tell you about in particular — the bar cart.
I had just wrapped an interior design job on the Upper West Side, when I saw this on the street curb.. and this cell phone conversation with my mom ensued: Hannah: Well I just had my final meeting with Erin and it went really great! Mom: Oh good! I can't wait to see more pictures. I'm glad everything worked out! What are you doing now? Hannah: Me too! Oh, I'm just walking home and wait… what is… hold on mom… Mom: What is it? Hannah: Well I think… hold on, let me move the bags of trash… Mom: What??? Hannah: Street Merch. Mom: Oh! What is it?? Can you take a picture? Hannah: Yea. Hold on, let me just get this bag of trash moved over. Sick. Ok. It's a retro looking bar cart. Or a really crazy overhead projector cart thing. Hm. Shoot. Should I get it? Mom: Well?? Maybe. Do you see a cab? Hannah: No. I have to get it, don't I? Ughhhhhhhh. (At this point, my mom is dying laughing at me. These Street Merch phone exchanges happen all the time between us.) Mom: Hahaaaa. Just get a cab! (I rustle around and end up manhandling the cart.) Hannah: Well now I've picked it up and am walking down the street. Damn Street Merch. I feel RIDICULOUS!!! Mom: Hahahahahahahahahahaha Hannah: Why do I always do this?! I look like a freak carrying this cart under my arm, down the street, in the freezing cold, while I'm on the phone. Mom: Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaa Hannah: Goodness gracious. TAXI!!!!! gottagoloveyoubye!!!
And here's my cramped view of the bar cart on my lap in the cab. No big deal. Anyways — I believe that everything has a purpose and I knew this piece had potential. My plan was to revive it with new paint & fabric! First step was to prime it. Don't worry about the sketchy area I'm spray painting in — you have to make do with cramped cement courtyards when you live in Manhattan.
I chose Navy Blue Spray Paint in high gloss. I gave it two even and thorough coats of paint.
And here it is all dry and sitting in our foyer! Apologies for the iphone pictures, these images are pre new Canon camera.
For the two shelves of the cart, I decided to use some preppy and bright Robert Allen fabric from fabric.com.
After measuring the fabric to fit neatly inside each shelf, I painted a coat of Matte Medium (which you can find at any craft store) directly onto the shelf. Then I laid the fabric onto the shelf and painted a 2nd coat of Matte Medium directly on top, wipping excess clean. I made sure there were no bubbles and the medium was equally distributed.
Once totally dry, I loaded the cart up with goods!
This bar cart has taken on many different forms — sometimes we use it as a side table and sometimes we use it for drinks and treats during parties! It's very functional, and has casters that make it easy to move.
Thats it!! Bonus: This piece was featured on my first Nate segment which you can watch here! Thanks Real Housewives of Buck's County! Loved visiting. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That looks awesome, Hannah! Thanks so much for sharing your project with us. And best of luck with your wedding and new married life: )
It's amazing to think that it's already been a year since our whirlwind season on the Nate Berkus Show. Jess and I wanted to share the full segments from our Christmas Episodes with you today, but unfortunately the widgets aren't working. Boo! Instead, we're going to share one of my favorite projects from our holiday episode. I was at Jess' house tonight for our Favorite Things Party (re-cap post coming later this week!) and she had her deer hung proudly again this year! Also, tomorrow we're going to begin our 2012 Christmas House Tours. We're both excited to welcome you guys into our homes and show you how we fancied them up for Christmas this year! Okay, without further ado, here's a great DIY from 2011! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm so excited to share this project today! It was by far my favorite project in the room! Lots of fabulous Nate Show viewers have contacted us over the last week asking when this tutorial was coming… well, the wait is over, here is is!
First off, I want to give a shout out to a few bloggers that inspired this project. During a Nate Show Challenge we can't be browsing Pinterest or anything, but we do rely on remembering some cool ideas we've seen in the past and are ready to try. Check out Amber's project that she hand painted or this cool canvas on sale on Etsy for more inspiration. Ok, now get ready, because this project is so simple that you might miss it if you blink! I didn't take any process pictures, and I really wanted to steal the artwork from Jess, so I made a new one for myself last night! Start with a plain canvas. For Jess' I used an 11x17 and for mine I accidently bought 18x24. During the show, I quickly looked on Google images for a reindeer that I liked and found this picture.
I printed out the picture as an 8x11 and took it to Staples to blow it up for me. It cost all of $1.04! Score!
Have I mentioned that I seriously can't cut well with scissors? I actually had a"Needs Improvement" on my elementary report card for cutting…I still Need Improvement! So… instead, I cut it out using my handy, dandy, Xacto knife.
I used spray adhesive and spray paint.
First, flip your reindeer over and spray a thin layer of spray adhesive.
Position it onto your canvas and then pose for a cheesy picture. Okay, the posing is optional, but will make your hubs really happy, especially if you ask him to do it at 10:30pm!
Did I mention it was getting late? Perhaps all the fumes went to my head! Ugh! After making sure that the template is pretty well sealed down, all you need to do is make a creepy face and spray!
Try to spray from directly above the artwork. Less paint will sneak through under the template. A little bleeding is okay and gives it a pretty cool look though.
I wanted to get the template off right away, so simply peel off to reveal your masterpiece!
Ta-Da! I'm totally in love!
Because I'm a blog slacker, my new artwork is still drying and not ready to be hung on the wall. So there you have it. Insanely simple artwork that makes a BIG impact!
We Love Simple Silhouette Art!Have you tried this simple DIY yet?
Only 11 days until Christmas, everyone! Start panicking! Just kidding- I absolutely love this holiday season (September through December is my FAVORITE time of year!) and have been tweaking, arranging and rearranging my Christmas decor for the last few weeks. And guess what? I probably won't stop until I take the stuff down on January 1st. I'm so excited to show you around on my first official home tour. Come on in and make yourself comfortable! (Warming: LOTS of pictures to follow, and hopefully, I'll be able to keep my mouth shut and let you enjoy it!: )
I'm still in love with my blue front door, and decided to forgo the traditonal holiday colors in favor of a rustic, woodsy color scheme. Browns, creams, copper and a few wood tree trunks!
Welcome to my foyer! This is what greets you as you come in the front door.
Isn't that houndstooth wrapping paper fabulous? Monica has great taste in (and an obsession with!) wrapping paper, so I have her to thank for it.: )
I tried my hand at making a wrapping paper leaf garland this year. It's pretty cute, but took a long time!
Living Room
I had fun decking out my mantel- again going with the rustic,woodsy theme.
I had to include my wood slice wreath, threw in some cut greens leftover from our tree, wrapped a few little presents with cute wrapping and added those charming. brightly colored reindeer from Target.
I love the Pottery Barn stockings that were a gift to us from my mom, and think they look great against the stenciled fireplace.
On the other side of the room, the moss monogram made it's appearance again this year.
I can't wait to show you how I made this faux-console table for behind the couch. So easy and makes a world of a difference!
Dining Room
I'm so close to a full reveal of my dining room (coming January 2013!), but couldn't resist sharing a few little glimpses. It's beautiful and I often think,"This can't be my house."
Family Room/Basement
I recycled the Nate Show ornaments that Monica made for me last year (why buy new when the old stuff is so cute?!), and bought two adorable plaid pillows on clearance from Target to stick on top of my old thift store trunk. And of course, what makes the space is the reindeer sillouette art.
I totally dig this space!
And see that little red pillow with the zipper? Monica and I made that last year for our fourth Nate Show episode. So cool, right? Kitchen
I kept it clean and simple in this room, folks.
I made that felt garland and let me tell you, it was a bear to make. Worth it, but oh-so-time-consuming.
We broke out the framed Advent calendar again since it was such a big hit last year.
Hall Bathroom
I had to show you this fab plaid rug I got from Target (yes, Target again, and no they don't pay me). It's so cozy, but doesn't scream Christmas. Love it.
Thank you, Jones Design Company, for the pretty (and meaningful!) printable! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- But nothing in my home beats watching these two enjoy the holiday season. Celebrating Christmas with kids is so.much.fun.
And not to be outdone by the fun, crazy Mangin picture, here's a greeting from my cuties!: )
I hope you enjoyed my Christmas home tour! Let's play the favorite thing game. Ready, set, go! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And oh yeah, if you missed Monica's tour earlier this week, check it out HERE. There's some good stuff in there, folks!
When Denise emailed and asked us if we'd like to come visit her at the Philadelphia Home Show, we immediately said,"Um, yeah. That would be awesome." And it totally was. Denise from The Painted Home guest-posted for us (and we did for her, too!) a while ago, and we've been emailing back and forth for awhile, but haven't ever connected face-to-face. Until now. She was asked to design a bedroom/office for Greg Murphy, and did an amazing job. Head on over to her blog for all the behind-the-scenes stuff, but here's a glimpse of her great work:
I know, right? You could look and look and look and still not see all the clever things she did!
Monica and I both loved the dresser with those pieces of old luggage. Denise has a knack for including vintage and salvaged items in her designs!
You know that we love pallets, so Denise's pallet wall treatment was a huge hit with us!
Still liking the old grain sack trend…
This is Denise.Isn't she cute? And we know how crazy it can be working in within time constraints, (thanks to our old buddy Nate Berkus), but she did such a good job! And you better believe that Monica was eying up that gold, framed mirror in the back there. I was pretty sure she was going to ask me to distract Denise while she stuffed it under her sweatshirt.
Denise worked with Philadelphia Salvage who allowed her to use some amazing old doors for her giant headboard. They were gorgeous, and sadly, already purchased by the time we got there. All of these reclaimed materials made me weak in the knees. Seriously. I swoon over them.
We were so not prepared to have our pictures taken, and we might have accidentally made it onto the Home Show facebook page. Ha! Check out Monica's ski cap. Love it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Home Show is really a unique experience. It's filled with so many creative ideas that you can use to improve your homes. We were definitely intrigued by The Smart Masker, which claims it significantly cuts prep time for taping before painting. Has anyone ever tried it? With the amount of painting we do between our two households, it might be worth getting one!
And, oh my goodness, the best part of the entire show was called Clover Market. It was in a section of it's own and was full of handmade jewelry, skincare, clothing and my favorite, reclaimed materials from NYC. We found out that it's an upscale vintage outdoor market located in Ardmore, which isn't too far from us, and has tons more vendors during the spring. We can't wait to go there when it reopens on April 15th!
Yes, those are skeleton key necklaces in what might be the cutest display ever by Charms City Company. {Love} We had a great time with two of our girlfriends (heck- any time out with your girlfriends is a good time! Especially when it includes lunch at the famous Reading Terminal Market) Thanks so much for inviting us, Denise! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We'll be doing some fun stuff today for The Nate Show. Stay tuned for more details on all we have planned!
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.
Isn't this so much fun? We LOVED doing these projects for our most recent Nate's Crate Challenge, and are so excited to be reliving our favorite projects here on RHBC! One of my favorite (and also one of the easiest!) projects from Monica's family room was the moss mongram I made for above her mantel. This is honestly a project anyone can do, so you have no excuse NOT to try this! Plus, this is one of those things that is perfect for Christmas decorating, but could very easily transition into other seasons- all you'd have to do is swap out the ribbon. Pottery Barn sells something similar to this…for 79 bucks! You can recreate this at home for less than $10, and I'm going to show you how. DIY Moss Monogram
Step 1: Choose the letter you would like to use and place it backwards on the back of the sheet moss. Because I'm a bad blogger, I didn't take any pictures of the process for this during the Nate Show taping. Lucky for you, I wanted to make one for myself! I purchased the MDF letter for $3.00 at Michael's. The sheet moss can also be purchased there, and it literally comes on …wait for it…a sheet! For those of you who might be wondering, it is faux moss, which for me means no watering! Ha! The moss sheds a bit, so you'll want to lay down a drop cloth, or do the messy work outside.
Step 2: Trace the outline of the letter onto the sheet moss using a Sharpie (or any kind of) marker.
Step 3: Cut along the outline using scissors or an X-acto knife. For Monica's monogram, I used scissors because that's what I had on hand. For my own monogram, I used an x-acto knife. Both work equally well.
Step 4: Turn the letter over and run hot glue along the outside edges.Immediately place the cut moss on top of the hot glue and press down. I don't have pictures of this, but you get the idea, right? Be careful! Some of the hot glue may seep through the moss. Ok, so this is what the sides of my monogram letter look like:
I only put moss on the top of my letter because I'm lazy. However, if you want your entire letter to be covered in moss, just cut 1/4 inch (or whatever the thickness of your letter) extra of the moss all the way around. Then you'll wrap the letter with the moss and hot glue in place. Step 5: Cut two equal lengths of coordinating ribbon and hot glue the ends 1-2 inches apart on the back of the letter. Depending on your letter, you may only want one length of ribbon (like I did with mine), so in that case, simply cut the length and hot glue straight down the back of the letter. For my letter, I also cut a piece of ribbon that I folded into a bow and then hot glued to the top of the ribbon. This gives it the effect of it being tied to the mirror.
Sorry! Cell phone pic…(Boo. Bad blogger strikes again!) Hang that mossy bad boy up, and you're all set!
Beautiful, earthy and simple.
Sigh…Cue the Christmas music!
Please do not judge the mantel decor by this picture- this was taken close to midnight in the midst of the 48 hour challenge, so it was faaaaaarrr from finished. So that's it folks! Think you can handle it?; )
Psssst! Don't forget to check back tomorrow for all the deets on how to make your own modern reindeer artwork!
Good morning! We're so excited to watch our second appearance on The Nate Berkus Show later today and hope you are too! However, we're pretty sure the aprons we had to wear could be the least flattering article of clothing one could wear on TV, so that makes us a little less anxious to see the show.; )
We created some pretty awesome projects for this episode that we're super proud of, and had one epic fail that we wish we could erase from history (and Nate's memory!). Check back later today for all the juicy behind-the-scenes details we know you really came to read about. Plus, you can find out if we decided to use any of these things in our design:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you're new to the blog, WELCOME! We're happy to have you here in our little slice of blogland. You can get a backstage pass to our big TV debut on The Nate Show here, and see all the fun projects we created for that show here. Be sure to"like" us on facebook for even more info about the show and other projects we're working on! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Don't forget to check back this afternoon for an unprecedented second post of the day!
