So, what comes to mind when you hear the word Wallpaper ? Is it something along the lines of this?
Well, guess what? Your grandma's wallpaper is gone and its been replaced with chic, stylish designs that can add major drama to a space. Still hesitant because of horror stories of hanging it, removing it, etc?? Maybe this post will change your mind… Welcome to my foyer…
I knew I wanted something with BIG impact, but I was pretty set on stenciling the area… Well, after about five failed attempts at getting a crisp result, I started my hunt for the perfect paper. This search opened my eyes to the wonderful world of modern, trendy wallpaper. Let me introduce you to Graham & Brown … the leader in AMAZING wallpaper. Thanks to this cutting edge company, my foyer now looks like this…
Although I'm not 100% finished with the space, I'm already completely in love with it! The wallpaper makes a statement that I never could have achieved with paint. It took about 2 hours to hang the paper and it was a two person job, but it was really simple and not nearly as hard as I had expected. Before
After
Check out some of these online wallpaper companies: Crown Wallpaper Design Your Wall Ferm Living Amy Butler, is known for fabrics, but came out with some amazing lines of wallpaper as well. These colors and styles are fresh, yet could still be subtle…
This wall doesn't even need art because of the dramatic paper
Used as an accent wall in a nursery
This paper has an Imperial Trellis feel and finishes the bedroom beautifully
contemporary bedroom design by new york photographer Alexander Johnson Photography Still not sure you're ready for an entire wall? It can be used as an accent when hung and finished off with simple moulding.
The possibilities are endless. I pretty much want to paper my entire house, but I'm showing restraint and I'm only going to do a few rooms. This CRAZY paper is coming soon to an office near me…
I might add a punch of color (you can paint it, color it, etc.) and some black and white photos of my favorite little people.
So, I'm clearly a fan of wallpaper. How about you? What spaces could you envision some amazing paper going up in your home?
If you missed all the amazing projects of our first annual Creating with the Stars, be sure to check them out below!
Round 1 Projects &Winners Round 2 Projects & Winners Ro und 3 Projects & Winners Round 4 Projects & Winners -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sarah's unbelieveable bedroom transformation blew us away. The color combinations, details and style of the room were simply perfect and we fell in love immediately. She had a few awesome tutorials for her projects, so we decided to break them into two posts. Today, you'll see how she made that removeable accent wall that is a great solution for you renters out there, or those of you who have Design ADD like us!: ) When I heard that this week's theme was home decor I instantly knew that I wanted to do a bedroom feature wall and a dramatic headboard! With my amazing diy partner and husband, David, we got straight to work!
Living in a rental makes it nearly impossible to install classic wallpaper and nailhead, so we decided to build a separate feature wall! We wanted to incorporate two of my favorite materials, nailhead and grasscloth wallpaper. I love the texture of the wallpaper and the dimension of the nailhead! Want to know how we built the wall? Here we go!
We purchased three sheets of plywood from Home Depot and had them cut to 7' high. Since the feature wall is 12' long, it would need to be built inside of the room. We designed it so that it could easily be dismantled into three pieces to be removed. We tied the seams together with 1x3s and built a frame on the back with 1x3s so it was extra sturdy and straight. We then flipped it over and primed it so that they wall paper adhesive wouldn't soak in.
Once dry, we cut the wallpaper to the correct height, placed it to the side and rolled wallpaper adhesive over the primer. We then used a wallpaper smoothing tool to remove any bubbles. The steps were repeated with 4 rows across, lining up the seams. It was helpful to have two people so that it could be adjusted as needed!
For the design, I was inspired by this fantastic headboard by Annie Selke. We created the design in Illustrator, and calculated the distance between the nailhead and printed it on two sheets of 11x17 which were taped together. We then punched little holes through the dots and used a felt tip pen to lay it out on the wallpaper. Nailhead isn't the most fun thing to apply, but once you hit a rhythm you move pretty fast! Here are a few tips that I found helpful as I went. 1. To help protect my fingers from the hammer and to grab the nailhead more easily, I used rubber finger tips on my thumb and index finger (you know the ones that they sell in the office supply stores for sorting paper and such?) When I did hit my fingers, it hurt a lot less, and they weren't even sore when I was done! 2. If your wood is soft enough, push a few in with your finger first and then hammer. This saves time since you are putting the hammer up and down less frequently. Since our plywood was soft and hard in different spots, this wasn't always possible, but it helped when we could! 3. Lastly, this feature wall took about 2,250 nails. Wow, that's a lot of nails! So it was helpful to have two people or if you have the time, break it up over a few days. Total install time for the nailhead with two people was about 8 hrs.
It was helpful to install the trim (we painted first) before the nailhead reached the edge, so we knew exactly where to stop it. We used finish nails to secure the trim and then filled the holes with wood filler, sanded and painted once dry. Next, we decided that we wanted the wall to sit just above the trim, so we cut legs to height out of a 1x12 and secured it to the back frame. We then installed a few cabinet anchors through the trim into the wall to make sure that it was firmly attached. This wall was pretty massive! Almost the length of the room, but I LOVE the impact that it has on the space! Just because we are renting doesn't mean that without a little creative thinking we can't have a statement wall!
I mean, c'mon. That is genius, and we don't mind saying we wish we had done it first! Ha! Check out Sarah's fabulous blog, and then come back tomorrow to learn how to make that coral headboard! Oh yeah! One more thing! Have you linked up your favorite home decor project yet? You can do thathere for a chance to be featured on EC2 and win some great prizes.Fun for everyone!: )
There are some DIY jobs that totally stink! I mean, we love DIYing and there are lots of fun projects, but some of them make me want to jab my eyes out! Stripping wallpaper used to be one of those jobs, but it's not anymore thanks to having the perfect removal secret!
When we arrived at Teri's house to start her makeover we knew that this wallpaper was one of the first jobs we had to tackle. It was giving me flashbacks of when I moved into our very first home. Every single room on the first floor was wallpapered- it took us forever to remove because we didn't know how to do it right!! Ready for our secret recipe???
Fabric softener and Water! That's all! So we used roughly one part fabric softener to two parts water mix it right in the sprayer and you're good to go! Here's how we tackle the job… #1- Peel off as much of the outer layer as possible. Sometimes wallpaper, especially the old stuff, has a plastic-like outer layer. You'll want to try and peel that off by hand first. That way, the liquid solution can soak into the paper better. Sometimes using a spackle knife helps too.
See here how the"beautiful" shiny palm tree part still remains… it almost looks like wall next to it, but don't be tricked- it's the paper and glue part of the wallpaper. You've gotta get that off too!
#2 Spray the wall with your fabric softener solution and scrape it off. Once the exterior layer is off, spray the wall with your solution, working in 3x3 sections. It's drippy and messy, so a drop cloth is probably a good idea. Basically you spray the wall really well- it should saturate the paper. Give it a minute or two to soak in, and then start scraping with your spackle knife. It should peel right off. If you have a stubborn spot, re-spray and give it a few minutes. The best part of this process is that is smells amazing and we ended up with really soft hands! lol.
After we used our super simple process for removing the wallpaper, we were able to stencil on this beauty! Doesn't it look SO much better than the palm trees??
To check out the rest of this room, click HERE. To watch this full episode of Knock It Off, click HERE So do tell, have you ever had to remove wallpaper? Got any good nightmarish stories?
We'll be getting back to our regular Fab Find Fridays next week, but today we want to share the project that won Round 3 of CWTS! We love it so much and I'm kind of jealous that Monica gets to enjoy it every day. (The next big project better be at MY house.; ) Enjoy! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What are girls to do when they CAN'T SEW and are part of a fabric challenge? Hmm… well, we're kind of lovin' wallpaper lately, so we thought we'd use fabric in a non-traditional (and non-sewing) way! Fabric Wallpaper I had ordered some fabric a few months back, but never used it. Amazingly there was just the right amount to cover the width of my office wall. While we're talking about my office… this is a judgement free zone, so go easy on me about the state of my office. Yikes!
There wasn't enough fabric to cover the whole wall, so we came up with the idea to put board and batten below the fabric. The big decision was what color to paint the moulding… Grey, White, or Yellow. We kind of hold to a"Go Big or Go Home" mentality, so we went with yellow! Darn that the color paint we bought wasn't made correctly and looked like Sunshine Yellow, not a cool muted color.
Once the paint was dry (ok, well almost dry) it was time to start working on the fabric. We measured the height and cut accordingly. We left about 6" extra that we trimmed later.
This is NOT a glamorous process… it's a lot of holding & pinning and really would be great with two people, but with only one ladder, Jess got to give advice from below and take awesome pics of me!
There are lots of methods for hanging fabric, but we thought the pin & staple was our best option. We used pins to get it lined up correctly.
Somehow we forgot to take a picture of the stapling process, but it's simple… just staple along the edges. After stapling, we used a razor to trim the edges.
Once again we were wrapping up a project at midnight… Jess is awesome at styling, so before she headed home, she got to work on the desk accessories. The Love sign is something we made for our etsy shop, but I kinda love it, so I haven't listed it!
The next morning we finished all the painting and got to work on the rope. Unfortunately, rope doesn't come in many colors…just rope color. So, we decided to stain it grey. I had no idea my table stain would get so much use! It gave the rope just the look we were going for!
We used a hot glue gun to adhere the rope around the outside edge. We liked the idea of adding a cool detail, and we also had to hide the staples!
We couldn't be happier with the finished product! The total cost was under $50.00 (and most of that was for the gallon of paint we didn't even use!)
It totally looks like wallpaper and at a fraction of the cost. I'm so glad this challenge inspired us to finish my office!
So, how's that for a fabric project from two girls that can't sew? Monica & Jess Linking up to: TT & J, Show & Tell Saturday, Tips & Tutorials Tip Me Tuesday, Sundae Scoop, Sunday Showcase
So… how's it going getting everything done in time for Thanksgiving you ask? Well, I'll just tell you that it's 12:14AM as I start writing this post and there is a pile of laundry approximately 8 loads high waiting for some folding action (not.gonna.happen.) Anyhow, all things considered I think we're in good shape with all the madness. The one awesome and tricky thing is that my family is all arriving a day early from Boston. I'm SO thrilled!! I just need to finish my dining room (oh and clean the whole house) by about 7pm Tuesday… yikes, technically that's today already! All that aside, I'm excited to give you a peek into our progress!! This weekend was a wallpaper party!! (Actually, it was nothing like a party. My father-in-law and I just wallpapered. He sort of hates doing it, but he's good at it, and was nice enough not to say no when I asked. Calling it a party just makes it sound more fun and exciting!) You probably remember that I had ordered Graham and Brown's Frames wallpaper.
The paper was a dream to work with because the repeat didn't matter (I wanted a random look) and the pattern didn't go off the roll. Seriously, this saved us hours!
If you haven't wallpapered before, you should totally try it. It's not as hard as people make it seem. Seriously, some people make it sound worse than a root canal without Novocaine! Here were some of my supplies.
I'm not going to give a wallpaper tutorial because there are about a million online, but I'll tell you my one must-have item… a folding table. I use this to do all the pasting (this paper wasn't pre-pasted, but even if it was I usually add extra paste).
You just slap the paste on with a brush, then I went over it with a mini roller. Just to be sure it was nice and pasty (reminds me of a certain vampire I love!)
So wanna see what it looks like?? Here you go… Drum roll please…
I REALLY, REALLY love it. Not just a little, a whole lot.
Once the paper was up it was time for moulding! Remember I mentioned some cool idea using PVC pipe? Well, here are a few ideas we toyed with…
Single row of PVC between some shoe moulding…
Double row of PVC sort of Olympic-style…
In the end it was time for a hubby to DIYer heart to heart. Eric was willing to do the PVC if I was in love with it. He admitted he thought it was a cool concept etc, but he talked me out of fantasy DIY land and back into mom of four kids with less than 72 hours before company arrives land. We calculated that it would take approximately 7 Billion PVC circles and would probably end up being a detriment to our marriage, so…
Very simple, plain Jane, clean lined moulding it was. In the end I think we made a very wise choice and I will just plan to use my PVC moulding elsewhere (soon!) Oh, and BTW… if you didn't know already, I'm a dork sometimes. I totally didn't think ahead and look where I divided the wallpaper and paint… Hellooo light switch!
Sweet huh? Oh well, it is what it is. A tad quirky, just like us: ) Ok, so this novel of a post is almost over, but I have one more thing to share… We needed to paint over the navy stripe in the crown moulding. It matched perfectly for The Nate Show, but now looked pretty out of place. So what color?? Hmm?? Let's try 'em all!
Thought the yellow might be fun… Nope, made the wall seem all choppy. White to look like monsterous moulding… Nope, made the paper seem too off white. Grey, because can you ever go wrong with grey… Perfect!
We're almost done! Tomorrow we need to touch up the trim where it was nailed, add the enormous mirror I repainted and repurposed for over the buffet, and then accessorize! I can't wait to see the finished product!! Here's where it's at right now…
You'd never guess I have tons of family arriving in less than (Oh.my.word.) 20 hours! It's okay, we're good under pressure. I'll be revealing the finished product on Turkey day, so be sure to check back between football and food!
Designer Angele Parlange's Manhattan apartment Lonny, December 2010 Photo by Patrick Cline I didn't recognize the 'vintage' wallpaper on these panels until I saw this close-up.
Even then, I thought, 'Is it....? Could it be....?'
a view of our master bath — now completely gutted for a re-do It is. The same wallpaper that was in our master bathroom. Folks, this is probably the closest I will ever come to being in Lonny.
Have you ever looked at your house and thought, well… this is just what it has to be. I can't do much to change it. That's exactly what we heard from Terry, the homeowner of this episode of Knock It Off. I should mention that even though she wasn't liking much about her house, she had the most meticulously clean and cared for home- I want to be like her when I grow up! Now, back to the design- Terry had dark wood everywhere (which some peeps love, but it was dragging her down), wallpaper from almost every decade, and just not a whole lot going for them… Or so she thought!
See what I mean? It's just not the kind of room that inspires you to"Be Awesome" on a daily basis. So, Jess and I decided to take this room from dreary to cheery (yes slightly cheese ball-ish) with a really fun, bright color palette.
How's that for bright and cheery and just overall awesome?!?
We love the impact an accent wall can have and after we removed the circa 1970s wallpaper, we knew that a Royal Design Studios stencil was the way to go! We'll be posting on how to remove wallpaper (we know you want our tips and tricks!) and all about stenciling an accent wall. For now, just enjoy the eye candy!
Terry's family room connected directly to this tiny sunroom she uses as an office and study area. We didn't have money for new chairs, but we were able to build a bench seat (all we needed was wood and 1 piece of drywall! Tutorial coming soon!). We tossed on a few World Market pillows that were on major clearance and we had ourselves a super inviting sunroom! I literally had to pull Jess away from this comfy seat to keep working!
We worked with furniture Terry owned, like this gem and just gave it a new sassy swaga with some paint and two pieces of hardware. If you have a piece of furniture that seems beyond dated, just try giving it a bold color paint and see what happens- it's kind of like magic!
Some of Terry's furniture we used (like the adorable table we upcycled), but other things like the huge ottoman they had, had to go. Instead, we built our own table using 2x4s and 2x6s. This piece looks so expensive because of the X frame, but it's easy-peasy to build (tutorial coming soon!). I think my favorite thing from this episode was seeing how empowered Terry and Jesse felt. I sound all Dr. Phil, but I'm serious! They thought they just had to settle for how their house was, but now they know the awesome potential it has! Since we filmed that episode Terry has sent us pictures of other furniture they've upcycled, and she's painted her dining room walls and all the trim! Jess and I feel like proud Mamas! So, no, we can't come to every single reader's home (we wish we could!!), but hopefully by seeing what we're doing with homeowners on Knock It Off, you're feeling like you don't need to settle either! Here'a a little more before and after action for ya!
Hello adorable sunglasses pillow! Thanks Homegoods for always having amazing things to use in our makeovers!
See how the little sunroom flows right off the family room?
If you missed this episode, what are you waiting for? Click HERE to watch it online! We promise we'll get all these tutorials to you really soon! I mean with our amazing intern Diana, is there anything we can't do??: ) She's the best! What do you think of this makeover? Do you have one of those rooms in your house where you just feel stuck? Do Tell!
Before we get into today's dining room post, there's some CWTS Biz to take care of… Umm 361 Entries is Amazing!! My goal (which Jess thought was a little nuts was 300!) Thanks so much to everyone that entered. So what happens now?? Submissions have closed and the Blog Stars are working on choosing their top projects. But lest you think it's all in the hands of those ladies, don't forget about the 12th Spot!
Starting TODAY (to give everyone a fair chance) the entry with the most views will be awarded the 12th spot! (Remember, don't be a lameo and click on it 34572 times yourself-lol) This means that now's the time to get YOUR blog readers over looking at your submission. Tell them your number and tell them to check it out! You have until Wednesday, February 27th @ Noon for your clicks to count. Be creative and show the world that YOU want to be a CWTS Contestant! Speaking of Dates, here are some important ones to remember…
We can't wait to get this party started!
Now back to your regularly scheduled programming… ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I don't often refer to myself as the"Original Funkmaster", but it was the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw HGTV's recent pic on Instagram.
What the What! That looks like my house! Now, I don't actually think that I'm the first person in the world to do this, but in my own little world at least, I'm the Frames Wallpaper Original Funkmaster! Check out my dining room wall.
While no idea is ever truly original, I can proudly stake claim on this room for the past year and a half.
I realized when I saw HGTV's pic that I'd never actually shared a full dining room reveal of sorts. Today is that day peeps! You know how for many people, their dining room is the most underused room in their entire home? That is SO NOT the case in the Mangin family. We use it all the time and so we wanted to be sure it was a space we loved! Remember this crazy crew that we have over for dinner every single Tuesday night for what we've creatively named,"Tuesday Night Dinner." This was during cookie decorating night… (no, it's not usually this nutso… we typically put the kids in the other room to eat)
So back to the wallpaper… It's Graham & Brown Frames wallpaper and I first posted about it in my very first post on this here blog. I had seen it used for many kids spaces, but I hadn't seen it in any"grown up" spaces… I decided my dining room was the perfect place to try!
We lived with it plain for a while before I added the pictures, and the second I added them (literally the second) I was head over heels in love! The pop of color and the personality was SO ME! (I actually used a purple Elmer's Glue Stick to attach the pics. It's permanent, but even Command strips would have torn the paper bc it's completely matte)
I thought for about 2.1 seconds about using like artsy pictures or something"cool," but then I remembered that I'm not actually cool and that pics of our friends, family, and even pets would be so much higher on the awesomeness scale! Forgive the heavy load of pictures, but I've gotta show you some of my favs… First day of Pre-school… refused to smile until we did this!
From London… could have taken pics of Big Ben, but instead played Mary Poppins with the pigeons! FYI They're creepy!
Top left pic is of my parents… Seriously, when your parents are this cool wearing 3D glasses, you've just gotta put them on your walls!
Friends & Family rank high on our list, so of course we needed silly pics of the families we love! These are the people surrounded by these walls each week!
This pic is what got us into the finals for the Parents of the Year Award. Yup, sprinkler to the face gets me laughing every time!
And I'd be remiss, if I didn't include some of the Mangin Menagerie on the walls. This is Kenzie's duck Chase. (He attacks me and I loathe him!)
So you're getting the idea… this space is my favorite and makes me smile so much. Toss in some peacock feathers, some really bright furniture, and a Massive DIY Farmtable and you've got just the room for me!
Is it going to end up on HGTV… probably not (umm…HGTV, if you're reading, I would totally be into that though!) but that's okay because it's perfect for us!
If you want to check out any of the other projects in the room, here are a few fan favorites! The DIY farmhouse table is still one of my personal favs.
click here click here
click here So, no pressure to call me the Funkmaster anytime soon, but at least now I've shared my room and you see that the looks that you see on HGTV etc. can work in real life too! Linking Up to: Home Stories A to Z
The title of this post couldn't be more appropriate because I'm in Disney World with the fam this week. It has been an amazing three days so far and we did meet the"fairest of them all" while having breakfast the Royal Castle (totally worth the arm and a leg that they charge for it btw.) But don't worry, I'm not talking about Snow White today, I'm going to give you the low down on my"New" dining room mirror!
I need to give you a little back story first. Remember how I"stole" Eric's tool box to make the Anthro Dresser? Well, no worries, at the Liberty Thrift Store grand opening we bough him a new dresser for our bedroom and his old one is the new"tool box." I stinkin' don't have a pic down here in Florida, but it's awesome and I think will be very cool after some serious DIYing of course! Well, the new dresser had this super scrolly, ornate mirror that I didn't plan to use in our bedroom. I was in the garage, near the new dresser and mirror and had a mini"Ah-ha!" moment. The fancy frame was the perfect contrast with my super-simple frame wallpaper. Score!! I consider this mirror FREE because it just came with the piece I bought. So here she was… a real beauty eh? I told you she was totally all"Mirror Mirror on the Wall"…
Did I mention that this bad boy is huge and weighs like a million lbs? Ok, not a cool mil, but seriously over 75 pounds! To demonstrate its size, I did the professional thing measured it got my 4yr old to lay down next to it. (My poor kids have such a weird mom…Okay kids, go lay on the ground next to the thrift store mirror so mommy can take a picture)
So my first step after the official measurement, was to tape/paper off the entire glass surface. I thought it was going to be a nightmare with all the curves, but amazingly, the paper slid perfectly under the edge. Eric couldn't understand why I was freaking out with excitement about how easy it would be!
I did some ripping and angling, but it was still done in about 5 minutes. I used 8x11 scrap paper on all the edges and then a piece of craft paper down the middle. Easy Peasy.
I took it to the garage and used black satin spraypaint. This is the perfect opportunity to bring up some major beef I have… What in the world is up with Valspar's NEW spraypaint cans? They're awful! They spray all over the place, and are just plain terrible. Have you tried them? Are Jess and I alone in our hatred? I adore Valspar paint, so I'm bummed and hoping they change this new can A-sap! Anyhow… crazy rant complete…
After two coats, she was all ready for my dining room wall! I did wait a while for the paint to dry because I didn't want paint getting on my wallpaper.
I love the contrast in the fancy lines of the mirror and the simple, almost childlike lines of the wallpaper. It makes me chuckle a little bit.
I still have some serious accessorizing to do when I get home, but for now these recycled items will do just fine. Slowly, but surely this room is going to come together! What do you think of my"Free" thrift store mirror?
PS- Don't forget to check out our upcoming Nate Show Episode This Thursday, December 1st!
Guess what??? I'm hosting Thanksgiving this year… for the 1st time ever! If you follow us on Pinterest, you might have noticed I went a little nutso on the Tgiving pins! This weekend life finally settled down a bit and we didn't have a ton going on (I even got to go on a double date Friday night! Sweet!). Saturday morning I was walking through my dining room, thinking about Thanksgiving and realized that I wanted to completely finish it BEFORE thanksgiving! (For those of you not quick with math, that was only 12 days away) You might be thinking, Umm didn't you re-do your dining room on your first episode of The Nate Show? and you would be right! Jess did an awesome job on my room and it looked fabulous for the show! Remember this is what it looked like…
Well, here's the inside scoop… We still have builder-grade white paint on the walls (that alone makes me break out in hives! lol). When"shopping the house" some of the fabulous accessories Jess used weren't mine! Ha! I had borrowed some things from a friend, so they had to go back.
And brace yourself for this… we sold the Barnwood Artwork! GASP!! I know right? Well, you know how we have an etsy shop? One person contacted us and really didn't want us to make a custom piece, she wanted the one from the show. After some thinking and discussing, Jess and I decided to sell it, but I made her promise we'd make another one soon!
So now I was left with a once fabulous room, that now looks semi-empty and in need of some TLC. Now you have the back story, let's get onto my plans… I was struggling to decide what to do in the room and called my hubs in to look at some paint chips. He could tell I wasn't"feelin' it" and recommended that I take everything out of the room except for the table, buffet, and chairs. Once I had a"blank slate" the creative juices started flowing. Thanks hun! Here's a little peek into my plans. Don't worry I'll post step by step (and it'll be fast. I only have 9 days before my family arrives!)…
1- I've wanted to use this wallpaper for over a year now. I'm finally taking the plunge. 2- This will be the primary wall color and it coordinates so well with the table stain 3- I love how Mandi created this look and I'll be doing something similar with open frames, but in a different color. (Really jazzed up about this idea!) 4- Yes, that's PVC pipe, and yes, I have a crazy idea to use it as a chair rail separating the paint and wallpaper. It could be an epic fail, or could work out just as I'm seeing it in my head. Can't wait! 5- I want to add little accents of turquoise throughout. I have buyers' regret about the chair fabric, but I'm determined to make it work!
Ok, that's all the peeking you get! I need to get to work painting my dining room! What do you think of my plans and are any of you tackling a big project before Thanksgiving? Do tell!
PS- Sorry to all the haters, but we're T-minus 4 days until Breaking Dawn!! I can't tell you how excited we are and yes, we'll be at the 12:01 showing on Thursday night with all our Gal Pals!
It's been a while since we've talked about my dining room… that could be because I've been scouring the earth to find ornate frames. I like to call them Granny Frames (Ha! I almost typed Granny Panties!) I'm obsessed with funky, ornate frames and guess what?? They're impossible to find lately. Who's buying up all my granny frames?
Here's the plain wall, just waiting for something fab-u-lous! I just know I'm going to adore the stark contrast between the simple frame outlines on the wallpaper and the fancy-schmancy frames I'm hanging.
First things first, I needed an arrangement. I used my dining room table to try out some layouts… Option 1 (sorta looks like I just tossed them there)
Option 2
Option 3- My Fav!
Before I commit to a layout, I'm going to use kraft paper to make templates and tape them on the wall. I can't risk putting tons of holes in my precious wallpaper!
The final decision I still need to make is what color to paint the frames… I was leaning towards turquoise, but I'm totally open to suggestions. Remember, the room is yellow, grey, white, and some black. Help a girl out with some advice!
P.S. Thanks sooo much for all of the wall stencil input! I've made my decision, but you're going to have to wait and see! Actually the reason for the delay is that I'm just swamped with Nate Show projects, and won't have time to finish it for a few weeks. The half finished wall is seriously staring me down on a daily basis!
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!
It's been over a week since we've blogged! It seriously felt like forever (okay, being slightly dramatic, but it did seem really long). Since we're totally still rookie bloggers (still in the first year) we're kind of noticing that the trend is to do a little old recap post, so here it goes… RHBC Style…
Monica's 2011 Blogging Favs (click on the title to link to that post) #1 Farmhouse Table Remix Don't you love how that title makes me sound all"gangsta?" That's right… I'm a gangsta that makes DIY farm tables. Baha!
So, not only is this project the one that gets the most use in our household, it also took the cake for our most popular post of the year. Over 14,000 people have peeked at the hub's handiwork… Of course this now has given him bragging rights, so I needed an amazing project in 2012 to put him in his place! If you haven't checked out this post, I highly recommend it… it sorta makes you think you just might be able to accomplish any DIY project out there!
#2- The Year of the Pallet Obviously, pallets made a huge impact on 2011 DIY projects. Everyone was coming up with amazing ways to use them. My very favorite way we used them was building pallet walls.
#3- Painting the Perfect Stripe This post is a perfectionist's dream come true. The crisp straight lines make my heart skip a beat. (again, slightly dramatic…sorry!)
I do love the direction they started taking my family room in. It's sort of lacking any personality… just has a lot of toys and broken accessories and lamps (because we play ball in there all the time). I do hope to work on this room early in 2012.
#4- More Stripes I was pretty thrilled to finally try out painting on fabric. Since we can't sew, I was thrilled to find something else I could do with fabric.
#5- Foyer Wallpaper The very first thing I tackled when we moved into our house last November was the foyer. The funny thing is that no one actually comes in our front door… Honestly, if you ever come visit, just come on in through the garage door. We're tight right? It took me forever to find just the right wallpaper, but I am soooo happy with what I chose. It makes a bold statement and it's totally me.
#6- Paint Chip Artwork This is one of the most popular projects from 2011 and I was pretty happy with how it turned out, but… I'm about to take it out of my bathroom and re-do the room. I'm so darn fickle. I'll put it up somewhere, but for now it's taking a break. This project has become my 9 yr old's favorite craft to do lately. If she can do it, I definitely think you should try!
#7- Make a Hideous Dresser Awesome and then Give it to a 2 Year Old. Jess and I LOVED our Anthro knockoff SO much. Seriously, it was a labor of love and it still makes me laugh that my 2 year old has it in his room.
#8- I HEART yellow I really do love yellow. Whenever I'm thinking of an accent color I'm always like,"Oooh yellow!" and then I remember it's not cool to use the same color in every single room of your house. I am glad that I went with it for my buffet that it became quite famous as the"challenge in the room" on our first Nate Show episode. Ha!
To be completely honest, the buffet still smells like dead people (I got it at a barn sale) but I love it and I just don't ever open the doors! #9 Under Pressure Dining Room Nothing like a little pressure to get a renovation moving along. My dining room still isn't accessorized, but it was ready just in the nick of time for my fabulous family (all 36 of them) for Thanksgiving.
#10- Discovering I enjoy being in Small Crates and taking Self-Photos 2 ways I expanded my horizons this year… Apparently I enjoy spending time with my knees up near my ears while being crammed into a small crate, and I take oodles of cheesy self-pics for our blog. I never could have imagined how much 2011 would grow me as a person. HA!
Honestly though, being on The Nate Show has been one of the coolest experiences ever. We thought one visit was amazing, a second a dream come true, and a third just rocked our world and made us so amazingly thankful for the opportunities we've had. So, thanks Nate, we REALLY appreciate it.
#11- Did you really think I'd actually post 11 things? Don't you know I procrastinate and wanted to be in bed like an hour ago??? In true Monica style, I'm ending this at 10 things, because well I don't feel like coming up with a # 11 and because all the other bloggers did 11, so 10 makes this way more original right?
Looking back over our blog for the last 10 months has been pretty cool. We've done some super-fun projects and I'm just beyond thankful that Jess and I can do this together and that you come and read what we have to share each and every day. Thank you. Really, I don't get touchy feely, but we appreciate our readers so much. Ok, that's all. Mushy moment over. Tomorrow Jess is recapping her 2011 year and then Wednesday I'm letting you know what's to come in 2012… and I'm crossing my fingers that Eric and Kev don't read that post because they might freak out if they know how many things we have planned! So, welcome to 2012…
One of the most fun makeovers we've done to date (and one of the biggest transformations!) was our dreary to cheery family room makeover. Let me just tell you, it was also a TON of work. After we removed the dated wallpaper (using this fab method, which made it so much easier than we anticipated), we stenciled a wall that made a huge statement. Without this stencil, the room would totally be lacking the personlity it now has. We are in love.
The most important thing to do when stenciling is to purchase a high-quality stencil. This will make the process so much smoother. Our go-to stencil source is Royal Design Studio- we seriously don't mess around with anything else! They're just the best re-usable heavy plastic stencils around. Funny story: we loved the look of this Herringbone Shuffle stencil so much that we decided to use it in this family room. However, when we opened it up (right before we started stenciling- oops!), we realized we accidentally ordered the Get Ziggy with It stencil, which is still awesome, but not quite as organic and random as we wanted.
Get Ziggy With It Stencil So, we recreated the look of the herringbone shuffle on our own by randomly painting some of the openings. Ha! So, if you love this look, save yourself some trouble and order the right stencil!
Stenciling offers big bang for your buck! For the cost of just paint and the stencil, you can have an amazing focal wall that will wow everyone who comes into your home, but getting started can be daunting if you've never done it before. If you're new to stenciling, but want to give it a try, make sure you check out our post all about how to stencil, which includes everything you need to make the job go smoothly.
Picking the right colors is key, too. We wanted a fun, bright, cheery color palette and I think we totally nailed it, (if I do say so myself.)
One other thing to note: this wall took us approximately 10-12 hours to finish. Stenciling is no joke, people, but again, it's sooooo worth the end result! So, grab your best friend, a fabulous stencil from Royal Design Studio, and go to town!
To check out the rest of this room, click HERE. To watch this full episode of Knock It Off, click HERE Have you ever tackled stenciling a wall? Did we convince you that you TOTALLY SHOULD??
We usually share bits and pieces of our homes here on the blog, but we're going to try and do more full room tours as we get rooms"finished up" (are rooms ever finished?) First up for me… My foyer. Now, I should explain that no one ever comes in our front door. It's kind of sad since the front door is so cute now. (Take a peek at the door here.)
I think you've seen this part of the foyer before. Chair. Accent Table. Gallery Wall. Wallpaper.
I love this little vignette. The chair was thrifted, the table is IKEA, the bird is from Michael's and spray painted yellow, the red frame has the chair material in it, and the lamp's from Homegoods and is actually broken as of 3pm today. (Ugh) The chair needs a mini black pillow with a & symbol on it… Hopefully coming soon!
Darn that I didn't dust before taking these pictures. The poor bird is in a sea of dust!
Ready to see my NEW FAVORITE THING?? Introducing… My Big Foot Rug!
If you follow us on Facebook (which I definitely think you should) you got a little sneak peek of this rug. It's from Overstock.com and you can see it here. Now, I know the size is a wee bit weird, but honestly the space is weird. Square and Circle rugs are muy muy expensive! (Didn't know I was bilingual did ya?) I saw this big foot and laughed right out loud. I knew it was meant to be. Oh, and did you notice… the door is charcoal? The Ombre Door Disaster is fixed. Did you miss that catastrophe? You've gotta check it out here.
I need to buy a non-slip pad because it's sliding all over the place! Here's the view from the living room into the foyer
Here's the opposite view, from the stairs. The Moroccan-ish mirror is from Target.
I'm a dork, and was attempting to do a funny, Miss America wave, but you can't get the full effect in a picture, so I went to a peace sign, but I'm not that kinda girl, BUT I am the mom of a 7yr old, so I know that Bunny Ears are one of the funniest things to do in a picture, or so Kade insists. Are you laughing yet? See, Bunny Ears… they work like a charm.
One of the cool things in our house is the foyer ceiling and light. It's a double trey ceiling, which the builder loved, but to us just meant lots of wasted money on molding, although, truth be told, now I do love how it looks. (note to self: replace one bulb)
Now here's my true motive for showing you the foyer from all angles… I need help. Shocker Right? I want to do something above the door. I see it from the kitchen, I see it every time I go upstairs, I see it all the time. So tell me, what you would do?
Don't be swayed, but here's what I'm kind of fixated on. I can't even explain why, but when I look at the door it's actually what I always envision. I'm thinking of using my mini-projector and painting the word HELLO in really large, graphic letters. I have been trying to talk myself out of it, but I think I'm sold. If you have other ideas, please share em!
So that's my foyer. A tad quirky, really dusty, and 99% finished. Let me know what you think and then help a girl out with your ideas!
The past few years going green has become the"in thing"… well guess what?? The Irish have been way ahead of this Earth-friendly trend. I come from a family of Boston Irish Catholics and I grew up loving St. Patrick's Day!
If you're not sure if you're Irish, well here's my own little questionnaire you can use… 1. You consider St. Patty's Day as one of the Major holidays. (Yup) 2. You eat corned beef and cabbage at least annually (and look forward to it) (Yup- can't wait!) 3. You know all the lyrics to at least 2 Irish songs (Yup, and 1/2 the lyrics to plenty more) 4. You grew up eating dinner on 3/17 at pubs where they would be playing Irish songs and serving green beer. (Yup- definitely a favorite childhood memory) 5. You have a professionally taken, childhood picture of yourself in a green velvet dress and your brother in a green velvet suit, complete with knickers and a green velvet scally cap. (Ok, that one might not be for everyone, but it certainly confirmed the fact that I grew up Irish) So you might not have grown up Irish, but we can still have a little fun celebrating today! Let's start the celebration with a little song to get you in the spirit… I love this song!
How about decorating with the color of Ireland? Recently, I've been really interested in making a BOLD, Kelly green work into my decorating scheme. I have big plans to introduce some green furniture in my dining room, so stay tuned. For now, let's see what others have done with it… This isn't exactly my style, but I'm sure a little leprechaun would be happy in this bathroom.
This avocado green is much more my style
There are so many shades of green and this BHG room makes use of many of them, but does it in a way that totally works.
Super-modern, bedroom for some lucky little leprechauns!
Green Imperial Trellis wallpaper… I haven't mentioned my Imperial Trellis (IT) obsession yet, but I adore anything in this pattern!
So what do you think about GREEN? Benjamin Moore is my favorite source for paint colors and this is just a little sampling of their greens. Are you going to give Ireland a little shout out in your decor?
You might not be ready to take the green plunge, but your kids might love these cupcakes in honor of St. Patty tonight! Family Fun has the recipe and it's a great one for having little helpers in the kitchen.
Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day and let us know if you have anything fun planned for your family!
Welcome, U Create Readers! We're super glad you're here! If you want to see some of our favorite DIY projects, click on the picture below to go to our our DIY page.
If you want to know more about us, click the picture below to know the inside scoop on what being a REAL Housewife is all about around here.
Well, look around, make yourself at home and come visit us again! Thanks! ***Oh and while you're here… We just found out that our Fabric Wallpaper project is in the Top 6 over at Not Just a Housewife. If you think we're pretty okay, do you mind heading over and voting for us? Thanks a million! Vote Here!
If you missed all the amazing projects of our first annual Creating with the Stars, be sure to check them out below!
Round 1 Projects &Winners Round 2 Projects & Winners Ro und 3 Projects & Winners Round 4 Projects & Winners -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sarah is back today with another awesome tutorial from the home decor project that won her the grand prize in Creating with the Stars. I love the way she built this headboard and broke it down for us- it makes any custom headboard within the realm of possibility!Plus, it looks unbelievable with that grasscloth and nailhead accent wall!
To complement the accent wall, we wanted to create a headboard that wouldn't compete yet wouldn't get lost against the nailhead and grasscloth. We made a plan and gathered our supplies. 1/2" plywood (1 sheet cut to width of bed frame, ours was 62.5") 2x8" (x2) 1x8 (x2) 1x3 (x4) coral curtain panels from Target heat n' bond batting I drew a few diagrams for the basic construction and dimensions of the headboard. See below for some the specifics on the upholstery. Measurements are for a queen bed frame. Note: make sure to measure your bed frame first, in case yours is different! You want to make sure that the frame will fit inside of the arms.
For the arms, we screwed a 1x8 and a 2x8 together, measured and drew the circle with a lid. We then followed the line with a jigsaw to cut it out (we did remove any screws that were in the way first!).
For the foam, we cut a 3" camping pad in half and attached to the plywood with spray adhesive. Next we upholstered the back piece by wrapping in batting and then fabric. To make sure that the top was pulled evenly, we attached a thin strip of scrap wood and pulled tight. This made it much easier to get an even look!
Next, we cut the fabric to wrap around the entire arm, starting at the inner part of the arm, we put a few staples in (on the inside so it stays in place while you attach the arm), we cut little holes in the fabric at the pilot holes (where arms attach to the frame). We then installed the arms with heavy duty screws (we used cabinet anchors) and attached it to the 1x3 frame. Then we finished upholstering! We pulled the fabric tight around the arm and stapled, leaving it loose at the top. We cut the angles, almost to the edge, but not close enough so that it frays to the side of the arm, pull tight and staple. It doesn't have to be pretty on the top because that will be covered next. We cut a band of fabric the total height of the arm (accounting for the bends) plus a few inches and the width (2.5") of the arm plus enough fabric to fold under (at least.5" on each side, so at least 3.5" total). We folded the raw edges under and pressed with a hot iron so that the edges were crisp and attached the band to the arm with no-sew adhesive (my preference is Heat n' Bond) and a hot iron, staple to secure the ends. That's it!
I finished the bed off with a few DIY pillows. The euro pillow shams are made from a white table cloth and a scarf from World Market. Since the scarf was translucent, I doubled it up with the white table cloth. The throw pillows are white shams from Ikea, I then painted a border using painters tape and latex paint with fabric medium. The bolster pillow is a kitchen towel from World Market and the left over headboard fabric.
I love how the grasscloth slightly shimmers depending on the lighting.
The nightstand is from World Market, the sphere from TJ Maxx and I picked up little letters (to spell his and hers) from a local antique store. Books were wrapped in paper from the Paper Source.
Hydrangeas and Ranunculus are two of my favorite flowers!
This week was sponsored by Home Goods, and if you've read my blog, you probably know that I'm pretty obsessed with the Home Goods/TJ Maxx/Marshalls brand! I love the thrill of the hunt, designer names and the affordable prices! I picked up a cute accent chair, fluffy white rug (my puppy love it too!) and the white sphere!
Finally, here's where we got everything! Headboard: Fabric Coral drapery panel from Target (x2), Batting,
3" camping foam from Home Depot only $20! Feature Wall: Grasscloth wallpaper,
Nailhead (we used about 2.25 boxes),
Trim- I found 2.5"wide synthetic trim from Home Depot on clearance for $4/8ft board Accessories: Night stand (World Market — not on website), decorative sphere (TJ Maxx), His and Her letters (local antique shop), Throw pillow on chair, chair (TJ Maxx), lamp and lamp shade, duvet cover I'm crazy about our new transformation and I hope you love it too!
We totally love it too! Well done, Sarah! We 're ready for you to make a trip to good ol' Bucks County to fix up our master bedrooms. Any time.: )
