You might have noticed that once in a while we start a project here on the blog and then pretty much never mention it again… leaving you hanging. Sorta like the awesome guy on a date that never calls again. We don't want to be"that guy," so today I'm doing a little blast from the past update! Remember my family room last January? I was getting ready to stencil some wall panels…
So I painted them and then decided they just weren't working. Far too much going on…
Since I loved the stencil pattern (just not on that wall), I used it on my outdoor rug!
BUT… I left ya hanging with my family room! What happened to the walls?
Here's what we've got going on now… I had these two pieces of art in my completely mishmashed piano/craft room, and thought the colors would work in the family room. It took me a few weeks to decide if they worked or not, but I decided I think they do.
Let me be honest with you for a second… I HATE decorating around my TV! (Although, I am thankful for the TV) I'm constantly grumbling about it in my head. There's only so much you can do around it and to be really honest, I sort of just put together semi-lame mantles because of it. At least I have Jess' super awesome mantles to drool over!
Even with my semi-lame mantles, I usually manage to find one or two things that I like… This season my light-bulb-meets-lantern is enough to keep me happy!
So, as of right now, my family room is feeling 95% finished. I'm pretty sure that as a mom of four kids, I'm never going to get to 100% and I think I'm okay with that. We play soccer, make Wipeout obstacle courses, and of course make cool forts in there all the time. I never want my design plans to get in the way of that! So what do you think of the family room walls? Think the art works alright?
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!
Source: strictlysimplestyle.blogspot.com via The Real Housewives on Pinterest No, I really don't have anything to sell, but I have sold two houses really quickly and helped hundreds of other people sell theirs. Okay, now before you tune out and think,"I'm not moving anytime soon… no need to read this post." give me a second! There's two reasons to keep reading… # 1- You probably know someone that's struggling to sell a home in this market #2- People love their homes right before they sell because it's in the best shape ever. You could follow a few of these tips and love your house even more! Ready? Here are my first 5 tips! Get it Sold… The Mangin Way! (Part 1) (these aren't new ideas…but done right, they really work)
1.Declutter. Pack half of your stuff. Seriously, I actually mean half of everything. It's a pain, but you'll have to pack it anyway. This will make your house seem like it has sufficient storage and room to grow. It's tough to want to move into someone's home that seems jam packed! (FYI- don't do this if you're not selling… that would just be crazy!)
2. Depersonalize. Your kids are adorable… I get it, but now get rid of their pics. We don't want potential buyers looking at your vacation pics and thinking they really need to get back to the Outer Banks and totally not noticing your recessed lighting. Now, don't get too crazy… we didn't get rid of 100% of our pics, but honestly we replaced a lot with generic art from Homegoods and Marshalls. The second part of depersonalization is STYLE. If you're reading a DIY and design blog you either have great style or are style challenged! LOL… make sure the style of your house would appeal to the masses. Not too modern, too country, too plain, too bold. Purple.Tone it down a bit.
Source: yakal.net via Hannah on Pinterest 3. Declutter. Wait, she already said that!! Lame post! Nope, I don't have short term memory loss… now we're talking Pantries, Closets, Garages, Storage areas. You need to keep feeding your family, but you also need to show off the space you have. Donate, eat, or toss HALF of what you have stored. You don't need six cans of cream of chicken soup. Keep two. (House of Smiths weren't selling, but man they have a rockin' pantry before and after)
Same applies to closets… anything you won't wear in the next month should be packed up. If you're near a change of season, just box and store at your BFF's house. That's what friends are for! (We have about 20 boxes of friend's stuff in our basement right now because they're selling). Any place that you would usually hide your junk needs to be super neat and spacious. 4. Give it a Purpose. This is a simple stager's rule. Every room should have a purpose. You want a buyer to see a value in each space. If you have a toy/craft/tv/junk room but already have a playroom, and family room with tv… well what are they paying for the random room for? Choose a purpose. Make it a specific craft/sewing room etc. 5. Clean. I'm not talking lived in clean… I'm talking Martha Stewart clean. A clean house gives the impression of a well cared for, well maintained house. You don't want anything creeping out buyers. Maybe dirty baseboards are just a part of life, but they're not a part of a buyer's dream home. Seriously, who dreams of a kinda dirty, lived in dream house? Does Pottery Barn have gross toilet rings in the Bed & Bath issue? We've done it two ways… once we did an insane deep clean and for our second house we hired someone to do it. Either way is fine, just get it done and then maintain it. Make a little pre-showing, last minute cleaning list. It was a huge help to me!
Source: marthastewart.com via The Real Housewives on Pinterest Ok, so 5 simple, totally FREE steps so far… Nothing too revolutionary, but things that really make a difference. Last spring we sold our home in less than 3 weeks… the market was struggling, we didn't know what to expect, but we believed it was the right time for our family and so we busted our tails to get the house ready. Now, you're armed with part one… either share the post with a friend that might find it helpful, or take a look at your own home. Part two is a little more design friendly and exciting, but first you've gotta get through the dirty work of steps 1-5. I'll be back Wednesday with more!
P.S. I bought paint tonight for a super-fun family room project. I can't wait to share it with you! P.P.S. Did you know that we're only 3 people away from 100 followers? We know way more of you read the blog… let's make it official! Let's take our relationship to the next step? And if you're really into us, you could like us on Facebook too! Imagine that! It's like going steady!
{If you didn't hear, The Real Housewives of Bucks County are now East Coast Creative (Get the story here). You'll still be getting all the DIY, Design, and Monica & Jess that you love, but change your favorites to www.eastcoastcreativeblog.com Thanks!}
You might remember that one of my 2012 goals was to make our family room reflect my style more this year. I still am convinced I don't really have a style… I more or less, just take lots of things I like and smush them all together, hoping it works out okay. Recently, I took one more step in the right direction for the room.
I was browsing on Etsy a few weeks back and came across a shop I loved! Project Type has so many graphic art prints that I immediately fell in love with. This one in particular caught my eye.
I had been toying around with the idea of vintage cameras in our family room and this picture was too cool to pass up. I contacted the artist to see if I could have a few custom tweaks made (it was vertical and I needed horizontal) and she said YES! I was so stinkin' excited when she agreed! I ordered two prints and honestly even the packaging they came in was super cool! Now, you might remember what was on the wall already. My ginormous family picture with the smaller frame…
Well this time, I was going for the reverse. Tricky aren't I? Bigger frame smaller picture. Once again I used my prized possession, AKA grommeter from Nate. I'll admit I was a tad nervous putting holes in fabulous artwork, but I wanted it to have the same feel as the large print. Want to know how to use a Grommeter??
I keep my grommet tools in the little bin Nate gave me. Who knew one could love Tupperware?
Take one of the female grommets and determine your placement. I traced it with a pencil (a very fancy pencil I might add!)
Next place the cutting tool (might have an official name, but I don't know it) on your traced circle, and put the mini block of wood under it. The wood comes with your kit.
Give it a solid pounding with a hammer and you have a nice little circle cut-out
Pop the male piece through the opening. Make sure the pointy end is on the back of your artwork.
Now start stacking. Add the female part to the back…
Here' the order…The large metal ring goes on the bottom (part of the tool kit), then the male grommet, then paper, then female grommet, then the big mama tool (that's the really official term). Now Hammer, Hammer, Hammer. (Don't do it on your granite counter. I took mine outside in the garage)
Ta-da! Perfectly adorable grommet!
I took my art to the wall and hung it with plain nails. I'll use decorative ones to cover 'em up.
I added my chain, which again only cost me about $1.45 at Lowes
And vioila! I'm also going to add a fun door nob to the peak of the chain. I didn't quite get to Architectural Antiques this weekend as I planned to. Now, here's the question of the day… What should I put in the open gold frames??
Here's the room to give you the full picture…
Side note: Does anyone else have a weird husband that flips the cushions backwards? He does it when we don't have company over because the kids make a mess of the cushions. Sometimes I forget and then it's an awkward, mad rush as people are walking in the door. Weird. I know. So let me know what you think of my retro camera art, and what I should do to finish off this wall!
Welcome to my Christmas House Tour! Last year our homes were decked out for all of America to see on Nate Berkus, but this year it's just for my family to enjoy. Sometimes in the blogging world it can feel like there's a lot of pressure to have an HGTV worthy home, but guess what? This mom of four, that works a full-time job, is not going to cave under the pressure. I proudly present to you, our Very Merry & Realistic Christmas Decorating for 2012!
(it's going to be a picture heavy post, so get ready and Pin it if you like it!)
I'm still loving my Grinch Front Door. Last week I gave the full tutorial.
Before and After- LOVE it!
Welcome to my foyer and my favorite Christmas tree of all time…
I follow Urban on Instagram, and saw that they had put staff pics on a tree at one of their NYC store locations. I was smitten! I got a Fuji Mini (which all the kids call the"Magic Camera") and snapped a ton of fun pictures of our family and some special friends. I added spray painted bicycle ornaments (from Target), some orange ribbon, brown ornament balls, gold lights, and leftover fabric to create the coolest tree ever!
Even the tree has the shabby look I was going for, do you want to know how I achieved that look? I cut the tree on October 5th and it's been sitting in my house ever since! Ha! It's dead as a door nail and I love it! (I needed it for some P&G videos- coming soon!) Fuji Mini Pics
Brown ornaments
Bicycle ornaments- I spray painted gold
Added hooks to each picture using a finishing nail
Ready for the tree
Best.Husband.Ever
This tree make me really, really happy!
Directly off the foyer is our formal living room/kids' craft room. It's the most unfinished room in our house (it's a hot mess), but I still did one little vignette in front of the window.
I love the chalkboard printable, and you can get it (and many others) free here. I also love my little yellow bird, and while she's not super Christmasy I think she looks mighty fine!
Here's the whole thing together
Even though we're no longer"The Real Housewives of Bucks County," I'm still gonna keep it real for you… here's what the rest of the room looked like. I'm showing this to you, so you remember that we're totally normal girls with messy houses, crazy kids, and so not perfect. Hopefully, you can relate! (The Christmas boxes and decor are still there, but they're on my TO DO list tomorrow to put them all away!)
Okay, enough reality, back to the pretty stuff… This is on the console table in my family room. I love that crazy picture of all of us!
Here's the wood grain Christmas Countdown I made this year. I LOVE plywood projects where the wood grain is highlighted. You can check out the tutorial here
We have 3 trees- #1 Family Tree (below) #2 Mommy's Tree (foyer) #3 Kid's Tree (not shown) Here's the"Family Tree." We decorate this one together as a family and it looks pretty much identical every year. Some traditions are too important to change for the sake of decor: )
Did you notice the stinkin' awesome lighted silhouette artwork? We'll be posting the full tutorial on Infarrantly Creative on Dec 13th. Jess and I love it and it was so simple to make!
Of course Charles loves hanging out in our tree sometimes
It seems that I have a thing for pictures on trees. We got these ornaments at Crate and Barrel about 6 or 7 years ago. The picture on the left is our ultimate favorite Christmas picture ever. It was taken of Kaden when he was 3 (he's now 8).
This year I'm proud to say that we have 4 kids on the NICE list… Last year the eldest might have made the NAUGHTY list. Oh Snap!
My mantle is Lame with a capital L… The dang TV always limits me, but it is what it is…
This year I was into the traditional nutcrackers with primary red and blue
This little guy rocks. I picture him talking with a Russian accent- don't ask me why!
I've had these stocking holders for 9 years, but this year I hit them with a tiny bit of white paint, so they popped a bit more. They were originally dark brown and got lost on the mantle.
Target had this cute stockings this year and they totally worked with my red and blue nutcrackers.
Michael's had some really fun graphic words in their dollar bin and I picked up a few.
Well, I hope you've enjoyed this little peek into my home. It's definitely not perfect, but we're pretty darn happy here. I mean, just look at us, don't we look happy??: )
I'd love to know what's your favorite part of my Christmas Decor? Leave me a comment and let me know!
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.
Today we're excited to be a part of Layla's summer mantle link party!
Our new home has two wood burning fireplaces. One in the main family room, and one in what was intended to be a library, but we use a playroom. (It took me a while to finally convince the builder that we were not in the"library" stage of life and that it would be a playroom for 4 messy kiddos!) My children adore the beach. They ask me all the time,"When are we going to the beach,"… even in the dead of winter! So, we thought it would only be fitting to have a beachy playroom. Since it is a playroom, I resisted my urge for lots of white, and cool faded blues, and instead took color inspiration from these bright pictures of my kiddos.
Remember the black-turned-yellow mirror project? Well, it makes a big impact on the brown wall and I love it so much more than the boring, old black. So here's the mantle, photo collage, and fun curtains…
First, I thought I'd stand on a stool and take some pics straight on… Oops! There I am! The one fun thing about this picture is that you can see my family room mantle in the mirror on the left! See, my lack of photography ability actually got a 2 for 1 mantle picture! Score!
Here's my boat conundrum… love the boats, but wasn't feelin' the boats on this mantle…
What do you think? In the end, I went with no boats… partially because everything in this room has a very high potential of being destroyed by a small child!
The cool blue bottle, and jar were scored at the same flea market we've been posting about, and I got them for under $5.00!
I had bought the white starfish, and was on the hunt for coral, but man it's way overpriced! Thanks to the awesomeness of blogland, I got the suggestion to just buy some cheap fishtank coral and spray paint it! That's totally up my alley! Who knew Pets Plus could be a crafting resource?
It definitely needed some paint… the pink was blech!
Much better!
I also ordered two more of my favorite beach pics from Canvas People but as much as I love them, I can't seem to find a home for them in the room. They definitely don't work on the mantle… hmmm
This will give you a peek of the room… (I did not clean, as proved by the train table, because it's the kids' job and I was sticking to my guns… blog or no blog!)
I just bought a fairly bright green sofa for the room, but need to go and pick it up. It will go on this side with my favorite little people recliners!
So, there you have it… my summer playroom mantle! I think it works and the kids don't even notice like it a lot! One final picture… I realized the blue jars looked awful on the right side of the life preserver, so I moved them back to the left. Much better now!
Thanks for letting me share my mantle and let me know what you think and also if you know where to buy a really inexpensive oar! I think that's all that I'm missing!
**One sidenote… I don't know what's up with the color in these pictures… some are really faded out and for some reason only look that way on the blog. Sorry, if the drab colors are depressing you!: ) **
When a close friend asks you to help re-do their bubble-gum pink, non-descript guest room, you can't say no. You almost feel like you need to stage a design intervention immediately. Everyone has a room like this one: a forgotten catch-all guest room/play room/ exercise room/ office. We decided that it was our duty to save the world (and Connie and Mark's parents!) from this room so we spruced the place up a bit. I mean, anything would have been better than that color pink, and we were game for the challenge. So.without further ado, here's our first official SuperFab Room Redesign! Update: Welcome YHL Readers! For the Stencilled Wall Tutorial and Paint colors click HERE To see the room with and without accessories click HERE For the Shutter Headboard Tutorial click HERE
Yay! Doesn't it look incredible? Over the next few days we'll be posting the tutorials on everything you see in the rooms, but for now, let's take a look at some beauty shots, huh? Obviously, the scene-stealer is the multi-colored houndstooth stenciled wall. This was a definite labor of love (we even called in some backup assistance), but it makes a huge impact in the room, don't you think? We love the mix of the classic houndstooth pattern with the modern color scheme. It definitely set the tone for the rest of the room: mixing old with new. We'll be posting a tutorial next week, but if you want to get a jump start on your own, you can visit Royal Design Studio to get this amazing stencil for yourself!
Just take it all in, people.: ) Another fav is the headboard we made out of old shutters (or are they doors? Not sure!) we found at our favorite salvage place, Architectural Antiques. We needed something that would stand out from the wall, command attention, and add some character and and this baby does that. Gorgeous!
Another fun part of the design for us was coming up with a unique way to showcase Connie's collection of old family photos. This gallery wall is super simple and allows the photos to be the main focus. We can't wait to tell you how we did it, so you can try it too. And now you know what the gears were for!: )
Connie & Mark had this dresser that we knew we could make fabulous with some paint and new hardware, so that saved us some big bucks! That blue may be one of our all-time favorite colors and changed this dresser from one that was ready to be kicked to the curb, to something that they'll never want to part with!
This little vignette makes us super happy, because not only is it adorable, but it's totally functional, as well. Since this is their guest room, we made sure to add some towels and an extra blanket to the cart to make their guests feel at home. An $8 industrial cart never looked so good! The metal cubby shelf was a great find from HomeGoods that completes this corner of the room.
And a room makeover is nothing without accessories. Pulling together all of these items was our idea of a good time, and they make a world of difference. We'll show you the proof this week, trust us.
We're already planning a sleepover at Connie and Mark's.; ) We hope you enjoyed our makeover! Be sure to stop back over to see all the juicy DIY details in the next few days. Oh yeah, one more thing: You can see a whole lot more of our DIY escapades on our projects page!
And don't forget that Monica is in the running to be the New Face of Proctor & Gamble Home! Please head over and vote for her. You can vote once a day, now through October 3rd. We know voting things can be a pain, but this one is simple and man, winning would Rock our World! So thanks so much! Want more EC2? Use the icons below to follow us!
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…
Hey there! We thought it would be fun to show you the major difference that accessories can make in a room design. So many people can pull together the"big" items in a room, like a buffet and dining table, or a couch and accent chair, but then seem to have trouble getting the room to look"finished". We all look at design magazines and read home blogs and see rooms that look absolutely perfect; stylish, yet still cozy, warm and inviting. What is it about those rooms? Take a closer look, and you'll see that the room feels finished because of all the finishing touches (ie: accessories)! Well, duh.
Let's look at our guest room makeover before we added in the fun accessories:
Ok. that wall is cool, but besides that, this could be anybody's room. It lacks personality and excitement don't you think? Now look at the after picture:
Ahhh… now that's a finished room. Adding accessories to a room design is a great way to personlize your space. Find stuff that makes you smile, or that has sentimental value and bring them into your room. You'll notice that we added two vintage suitcases at the foot of the bed, put a darling little pillow on the chair, added some funky throw pillows on the bed, and put a plant by the bed (all easy things to do!) and the room immediately looks more put-together.
This cart was a great find at a store named Impact and cost us only $8. On it's own, it's fine, but it's not going to cause anyone to pass out with excitement. But once we added a globe, some books and a whole bunch of linens (remember this is a guest room?), it makes a big impression. Don't you love it when form and function meet in beautiful, accessorized harmony?: )
I have to admit that"dressing up" a room is one of my absolute favorite things to do, and while Monica is amazing at dreaming up the big projects in a room, she (admittedly) doesn't like accessorizing at all. (That's why we make a good team!) Here's what I do when I'm trying to decorate my mantel, buffet or anything else: I gather absolutely every accessory I can get my hands on that isn't nailed down and lay them all out. Then, I fiddle for about an hour trying to find the perfect layout. Bringing items you already have into the room allows you to evaluate what items you can work with, and what items you may need to purchase. Just to help you out,, here are a couple of things to keep in mind when you are trying to accessorize: 1. The Rule of Three: Not sure why this is, but it's proven that groupings of odd numbers are more appealing to the eye than even-numbered pairings. It forces your eye to move from piece to piece and adds visual interest. You can group like things (for example: three identical glass bottles) or things that have the same materials (ie: three stacked books).
2. Mountains and Valleys: When you stand back and look at whatever your accessorizing, you should see varying heights and shapes. (ex: square frame beside a round bowl). Think about putting opposites next to each other. They always say opposites attract!
3. Symmetry or Asymmetry? A good rule of thumb is that symmetrical groupings creates a more formal look, whereas asymmetrical design looks casual and informal. 4. Texture and Color: You'll want to add lots of texture to make things interesting (ie: adding a woven basket next to a glass vase), and repeat your color scheme throughout the design. Doing this creates a more unified look. 5. Layer! Nothing is more boring than a row of frames on a shelf. Try leaning a framed family picture against a piece of art on your mantel, or stack a few books on a tray and add a plant on top. You want the room to appear alive and full of movement, not static!
These rules are not set in stone, they simply offer a guideline. If something in your home makes you happy, and it doesn't include anything from this list…then who cares? It's your home.: ) But hopefully you won't forget to add the finishing touches to your room design! It makes a WORLD of difference!: )
PS. Want more info about this? We got some great tips from these places: Honey & FitzThe Red PinEverything in 3'sFireplace Mall
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
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??
The evolution of a house and style is an interesting thing. I take great pleasure in changing, rearranging and tweaking the rooms in my house. My style has changed pretty drastically (since I basically started out my married life with no style preference at all), but I'm still developing my tastes and preferences. Things rarely stay the same for long, which is exactly how I like it. My desire is to create a home that is comfortable for my family and welcoming to guests, that is pleasing to the eye, but that is also practical for raising two kids. I'm fairly certain that this will be a life-long quest. However, money and time (or the lack there of) make it a little more difficult to decorate and change things like I'd like. Kevin and I have had a few rough years financially, and so, I am finding that if I want to redecorate, I have to be resourceful and creative, and most importantly, learn how to repurpose items we already have. I've been learning the very difficult lesson of contentment (Melissa, at The Inspired Room, said this about contentment that really resonated with me), and am realizing that I don't have to have the perfect house, just one that my family considers beautiful and can enjoy living in.
With all that said, Monica and I will be showcasing our houses to you; not because they are perfect, far from it actually, but because they are a huge part of who we are. So, welcome to the evolving house.
This is C1's bedroom. Just recently, we changed her over from a toddler bed to a full-sized bed. In one afternoon, it seemed like she grew older right before our eyes just because of the furniture! I love her room- it's girly and sweet, but can also really grow with her. We painted the walls a really pretty shade of green (I'm sorry I don't know the paint color anymore!), and we used all-white furniture. Every piece of furniture (except the headboard) is hand-me-down or was hand-made by my hubs. Her cute butterfly and flower bedding came from HomeGoods and was a gift from my mom. She has a great dormer window, in which Kevin built a toy box/window seat. When we were creating her baby nursery, I envisioned that little space as a great reading spot for her down the road. For now, she uses it to play and look out the window.
This shelf came from my mom's attic (she has a great supply of decor and furniture she's not using and is really generous with it!). I made the monogram, using adorable patterned and hot pink card stock, and put them in frames we already had. I hot-glued ribbon to the tops to make them a little more feminine.This monogram project cost me no money at all, since I used items I already had! The little porcelain shoe to the left of the frames was a gift from her great-grandmother and has all her birth stats painted on it.
This is my favorite feature in her room. Inspired by something I saw in Pottery Barn, Monica and I created a tree stencil for the walls. I then hand-painted the trees (there are two of them- one on either side of the dormer window area), and added leaves and pictures of our families to make it a family tree. One side is the hub's family, and the other side is my family. I wanted C1 to have an understanding of the importance of family, and how blessed she was to have such a Godly inheritance, from an early age.
Isn't this chair the most precious thing you've ever seen? Ahh, I can't get enough of it, and you'd never guess that I got it at Big Lots for $40!
But really, these pictures show what I love most about this room: My two kids living in it.
One of my 2012 resolutions was to add more of ME into the style (or lack thereof) of my family room. I might have taken that resolution a tad literally come to think of it, but I'm still happy with the progress so far! Let me give you a little back story…
See that artwork? It was hanging in my family room for the past year. It's fine… if you know me well, when I say fine, I mean ehh… take it or leave it. In this particular case, I was ready to leave it, so I started by taking it apart.
I wanted to do something a tad more meaningful. Trust me, I'm all about art just because it looks cool, but for some reason I was determined to create something a little"deeper" for this room. At first I thought I'd use some cool lyrics I love."American Pie" has always been a favorite song, but then I vetoed that because it just didn't feel right and I'm sure there's some weird deep meaning I am oblivious to. I decided on Matt Redman's"Blessed be the Name of the Lord", typed it up on an 8x8 and enlarged it at Staples. (Total cost for two was like $5.00)
Here's the deal on the song. I'm not all like,"woohoo it has to be a praise song" or something like that. Truthfully, I hated this song for about 3 years and would actually leave church every time it was played. I wasn't being a jerk, I just couldn't stomach it. You may have heard me mention my twin boys in my birthday post, and this song has a line,"You give and take away, You give and take away. My heart will choose to say, Lord blessed be your name." Let me tell you for a mom that wanted nothing more than to keep holding her babies that line was beyond challenging for me. So why put it on your wall crazy blogger? Well, over time I've been able to get to the point where I do trust and understand that He will give and take and it's not going to be easy, but I'm not in it alone. He doesn't say I'll give and take and see ya later. It's only by grace that I got through each of our losses without becoming bitter and changed. Okay, enough personal stuff, if you want to read about our journey with the twins, you can check it out here. (Who knows, maybe it will be a help to someone.) So I had my lyrics and needed something to go over them. It took some brainstorming and then it hit me. FINGERPRINTS… our fingerprints! Here's How I did it! The mat needed a coat of paint. Don't be afraid to change the color of your mat, it's a great, quick fix.
While they dried, I pulled out my kids stamping kit and took some prints. I'm a dork and started with my pointer, but realized a thumb is a better option. Just press, don't roll and don't use too much ink.
Then, I took pictures of our prints. I zoomed in as close as I could get, and then cropped in picasa. Editing the picture to black and white and increasing shadows helped me see the lines.
I happened to have a mini projector on hand (borrowed from a friend about 9 months ago- oops!) and a jar of cherries! I needed the projector a bit higher and they worked perfectly. If you don't have a mini projector an old school, classroom one would work fine too.
Keeping it real… yes, I still have a Christmas countdown on my walls.
I taped the paper on the wall and traced in pencil. I almost went blind. It was not simple to see, but it still only took about 5 minutes of tracing.
I removed it from the wall and traced over my lines with a sharpie.
After reassembling the mat and frame I was ready for after pictures… Darn that my room is bright with a glare 24-7.
Here's my new meaningful, fingerprint art.
I have a second one coming with the hub's print, but I'll show you that when the rest of the wall is finished! I have some fun plans brewing!
So what do you think of my new artwork? It's okay, you can be honest, I know it's a little unique.
My house has never been without some kind of stripes… EVER. I guess I just love 'em… Back at our old house I actually used all the old paint samples and leftover colors to do a crazy, random stripe wall in my basement office. This picture was before the ceiling went in, but in the end, it was pretty crazy and cool.
We've also done stripes in the same color, with different finishes. This was flat enamel with eggshell.
So, since we're in a new house… we needed some stripes… I was feeling lost without them! Family Room Stripes
. Since we've done stripes many, many times we've learned a few things along the way. Nothing is more frustrating than crooked stripes or bleeding lines. I've told you over and over that I can fall into the perfectionist category… bleeding stripes are NOT COOL in the Mangin house. How to Paint 99 percent Perfect Stripes (It's 99% because I thought Perfect sounded a little cocky!) 1. This step is optional, but I highly recommend it… find a handsome helper. It definitely is a 2 person job. 2. Determine the width of your stripes. For the family room I wanted BIG wide ones, so I did 18 inches 3. On both the left and right side of the wall, use a pencil to mark where your stripes will end. Just a little line will do. 4. Get a chalkline. It's the best thing ever for stripes. Just shake, pull tight, snap, and voila! Perfect guide to tape by.
Eric just loves when I'm supposed to be holding a chalkline nice and tightly and I have a camera in my hand at the same time!
5. I'm the taper in the family. I will ONLY use Scotch blue tape. Eric like the blue tape with the orange inside because it's extra delicate, but I like blue with the blue inside.
The key to taping is just making sure the edge of the tape is in a smooth line and not jagged where your pieces start and stop. I also take a credit card or wooden spoon over the tape when I'm done to seal it.
6. This is the magic step people… Take the current wall color paint (the color that your new stripe will touch, not the color of the new stripe) and paint along the edges of your new taped space. This will ensure that if your paint bleeds (which it will at least a bit no matter what you do) that you won't see it because it's the same color at the wall! It works like a charm!
You can see a difference in the color, but that's because it was still drying. I'll also add that we just let it dry for like 15 minutes, because it's a nice, thin coat.
I've also heard of this technique using ModPodge if you don't have leftover paint, but I can't say I've ever tried it. Let me know if you have and how it turned out! 7. Roll your main color… this one needs no explanation
8. Remove the tape. We always remove the tape before the paint dries. We wait just long enough to be sure we're done and don't need another coat of paint, then we take it down. My technique is slow and steady and at a slight angle.
If you've done step #6 you're guaranteed crisp lines, so this is no longer a stressful"I wonder how it's going to look" moment!
Once the wall is totally dry you might need to take a damp cloth to get some leftover blue chalk off, but otherwise, you're done! Overall, I'm really in love with my new stripes!
But … I'm not so in love with the artwork anymore! I can feel my husband rolling his eyes when he reads this post. I like the shape, but they just don't work anymore… and honestly, I'm not sure I ever LOVED them (and yes, I only bought them 6 months ago!)
The next part of this room re-do is to stripe curtain panels for the opposite wall. I'm excited to try this after my vacation next week!
So, are you a lover of stripes like I am? Have you conquered the perfect stripe?
H ere's a little sneak peek before I show a few before photos.
BEFORE #1 This was our original dining room (also referred to as the toll booth). It was long and narrow with a single homemade bay window. Unfortunately, this is the only before picture I have of the original room. It measured about 6 feet by 10 feet.
BEFORE #2 This is before picture #2. The new structure was reconfigured to 12 ' x 16' and french doors were added at the transition between the kitchen and new dining room. Shortly after completing this round of renovations (which was two years ago now), we knew that we should have put windows on the east wall instead of the dining cabinet (there wasn't room for both). Luckily, we had the foresight to have the contractors put a header in that wall so that we could opt for windows down the road....good thing. And here are the afters....
We recently added those two new windows on the east wall, which lends a whole new feeling to the room. As you can see, the dining cabinet no longer fit, so instead we hung a nice long mirror.
The antique table is a family piece from my Grandmother's house that I grew up with. It isn't what I would have typically chosen for this room but it has sentimental value and it really is a beautiful piece. We added two leaves to create a farmhouse style feel rather than the square we originally set up.
To create a less cluttered and more open feel, I decided to place chairs on two sides rather than all four. And to lighten the weight of the table, and because I really love the look of Parson chairs, I found slipcovers to fit over the armless dining chairs we had up in the guest house. This was the cheapest way I could attain the Parson chair look without the $500 plus price tag.
We also added a sea grass rug (relocated from the living room as it was too small for that space). I also decided to add curtain sheers to frame the french doors going out to the dining patio.
Because most of the wall space in this room is either windows or french doors, there isn't much space to hang art work. So I decided to lean a piece up against the mirror as I love art in rooms that isn't expected. To learn more about the portrait, go here. I kept the walls white because I really wanted the room to feel light and fresh. I also wanted the outside to come in so I didn't want colors to distract from that. I'll accent with different things to transition through the seasons (fall decorating is so close!). Total expense of decorating, not including the two new Marvin windows: $334.98 JC Penny sheers were on sale for $69.99 a pair (I bought two pairs) Allen and Roth curtain rod and hardware from Lowe's ($95) Shabby Chic slipcovers from Target ($24.99 each) Everything else we repurposed from other rooms. I've included our expenses because an important part of my design philosophy has always been to decorate within a reasonable budget. In this case, we had already spent a lot of money on the new windows, so my goal was to be as creative as possible for the least cost. I hope that you like our 'new' dining room!
You all are familiar with marquee signs, right? They're those lighted signs that you see outside of old movie theaters, hotels or casinos in Las Vegas.
Source These signs are definitely a retro throwback, but have come back as a home design trend in a big way! Adding one brought whimsy and fun to this kitchen and dining room that otherwise lacked both. These beauties aren't only meant for kitchens, though! They would look fabulous in a kids bedroom or playroom, a fun family room or even a game room. The best part about this project is that you can use absolutely any word that has meaning to you!
We've actually seen a bunch of tutorials for marquee signs using 3-D cardboard letters, and honestly, we toyed around with the idea of using them too. But we knew we wanted this to be a permanent fixture in her dining room so we didn't want it to be flimsy or break after awhile. Using chipboard letters (wooden would work too!) from Michael's on top of a plywood frame made this piece one that will last. To create the box that your letters attach to, we used a piece of plywood and 1x2 pine boards. Cut the plywood to your desired size and the cut two horizontal 1x3’s and two vertical 1x3’s. Attach those pieces to the back of the plywood with a nail gun, creating the frame. We painted our plywood with the same color as the kitchen cabinets (Summer gray by Valspar) to tie in with the rest of the room, but feel free to go as bright as you want. It's your project, after all!
Decide how many lights you’d like on each letter and mark their placement. Our bulbs were evenly spaced.
Drill pilot holes where on each mark on the letters. Doing this allows the larger bit to go through the letter without splintering it, so don't skip this step!
Using a large bit the slightly larger than the socket of the light bulbs, drill larger holes through your pilot holes.
Go ahead and clean off those letters and spray paint them in the color of your choice. We LOVE Rustoleum's spray paint in Blue Lagoon (it's the color we used on our giant shaped frame)
Once your letters are dry, lay them back down on the plywood and figure out the spacing you want. Draw a small “x” in each of the holes and then drill a hole in each of the “x’s”.Place a few dots of liquid nails on the back of the letters and align the letters over the holes in the plywood. Let dry completely. Thread the sockets through the holes and then screw the bulbs in. We used these string lights from Target- there are about 25 bulbs per strand, so plan accordingly.
We chose to add an outlet behind the marquee sign to hide the cord, but you could easily drill a small hole in the bottom of the frame to pull the cord through. If you paint the cord the same color of your walls, you'll never even notice that the cord is there!
We think this sign is pretty darn awesome and Linda has since told us that it inspires her to be more creative with her cookies and cakes business!
Haven't seen this episode yet? Watch the whole thing online HERE!
Also, we're always adding new Knock It Off projects to our DIY gallery, so be sure to check those out, as well.: )
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!
The hubs and I had a little chat a few weeks ago… we were both pretty sick of having a semi-finished family room. We’ve had bare walls for pretty much ever. I just couldn’t decide what to do… stalking other blogs and design sites had me leaning a different direction every day. Finally, I decided to just do something! Remember my fingerprint artwork? I still really love it, but decided it needed to be relocated to the other side of the room.
What, you might ask, did I have planned for the striped wall? Welcome to my Ginormous $4.99 Family Art work
Pin It Right off the bat… YES, I know the picture comes beyond the frame, and I did do it on purpose. My kids have asked me about that about 214754 times in the past two weeks. Here's how I made a 4x3 Ginormous piece of family art for only $4.99! I headed to the Bucks County Re-Store on Saturday afternoon without anything specific in mind. I just knew I hadn't done a project in forever and I needed some inspiration. I only bought one item, but it was $15 and just what I needed to spark a project idea!
Check out my new $15 mirror and my super-cool dance move! (Yes, I was doing that while taking the picture. Too cool for school, I know…)
This was how it came from ReStore and where my demo needed to begin.
I unscrewed the wooden boards from the back and then took a screwdriver to pry off the wooden backside. I just tapped it in with a hammer and then angled the screwdriver. I did this all around the edges until it came free.
I was left with a big mirror (still plotting what to do with it), the frame I needed, and a piece of wood that headed to the trash.
I primed the mirror first… do you know how rare it is that I take the time to prime? I was proud. After the primer I gave it two coats of Valspar's Navy spray paint.
Remember the awesome family pictures that the fabulous Stacy Salvatori took back in the fall? Well, I knew I was ready to have one blown up really, really big, but I didn't want to pay big bucks for a massive print. Thankfully, Staples will print huge black and white pictures. Just ask for an engineering print. They can go over 3 feet wide and really long. I just brought the jpeg on a flash drive and they uploaded and printed in about 5 minutes. The best part… It cost me $4.99!!
Do you recognize that black paper behind the photo? It's the infamous Nate Show Tar Paper! I was wicked excited to use it for another project!
I got out my trusty yet my nemesis spray adhesive and got to work sticking the pic to the tar paper.
The engineer prints aren't on heavy paper, they're on average copy weight paper, so I wanted to give it a bit more stability with the tar paper.
I adhered it, trimmed the edges with a utility knife and then got out my favorite new tool… my grommeter! I only had gold grommets, so I spray painted them a hammered metal first. I put one grommet on each side.
I had two copies of this framed print laying around back from my old homestaging days. I decided to ditch the boat and use the frames.
I also had about five of these frames laying around in my basement and decided to have them join the navy spray paint club as well.
Here's the arrangement as it looks now. I added gold chain to the grommets and I'm in search for the perfect doorknob to hang it from in the middle. I might need to head over to Architectural Antiques this weekend. I'm also going to add sketched artwork to the 4 empty frames.
All-in-all, I'm thrilled with how this completely inexpensive family artwork turned out. I love having my family's faces right in our main living space, and I love that it's a little quirky and unique.
Don't worry, I'll share the true finished product once I get a knob and artwork added. I was just too impatient not to share the family pic right away! So, how many of you are running to Staples to BLOW-UP some Ginormous pics?
I don't know about you, but for me, decorating is such a process. I am not one of those people who can pull a room together in one day. The design for a room sort of evolves over time in my house, because- let's be honest- I change my mind A LOT. We also watch our wallet pretty closely, so sometimes, I'll do something in a room using stuff we have on hand, or something I purchased inexpensively, just because it's costs less. Such is the case with our dining room. I've been trying to figure out what to do over my buffet, and think (fingers crossed!) I've come up with a pretty good solution.
A few weeks ago, I shared with you how I created the perfect picture grid above the buffet, but then admitted at the end of the post that this option wasn't staying. Hehe. I already had these frames and thought they might work in the dining room, but alas, it just didn't capture the feel I was going for. I definitely don't want a formal, stuffy room, but I want it to feel more adult-like. Don't get me wrong- I love having pictures of my cute family plastered on my walls, but this just isn't the spot for it.
So, I went back to the drawing board.
Shaunna recommended this lovely piece of art in her inspiration board for my dining room, however, at that time it was on sale at Joss & Main, but now I can no longer find it! I loved the movement of the piece and thought maybe I could try to recreate it. Then I remembered this post about DIY Marbled Paper Boxes by Centsational Girl, and was inspired to give the inexpensive paper option a try!
I ordered two sheets of Pirouette Marbled Paper from Paper Mojo. I was so stinkin' excited like a giddy school girl mildly enthused as a proper lady when I got the package in the mail. Each sheet is 2 feet by 3 feet, and is extremely thin and lightweight. They're marbled by hand and the detail and texture is just amazing. Right away, though, I thought they might be a little too pink, but when I framed it with an oversized frame and mat from Ikea, the pink wasn't screaming at me anymore.(Thank goodness.)
I am loving the pop of color it brings to my dining room. It's different than anything else I have, surprising and so much fun.
Just for the heck of it, I threw a lamp and some accessories up on the buffet to see if I liked it. These guys aren't staying, but they gave me a good idea of what it will look like all finished. Yes, it's official, I like it. (And before you ask: I do know I need hardware on the buffet. I'm hoping to find the perfect pulls soon!)
But wait, I'm not finished there. Monica and I are working with the incredibly talented Brad, of Lucent Lampworks, and he's creating two custom cage light sconces for either side of the art piece. To help you (and me!) envision it, here's a rough mock-up of what they'll look like. (These lights are not the exact ones I'm getting, but are close enough to help get the idea.)
Speaking of lighting, Brad is also using this shade to create an awesome large pendant light for above the dining room table. Can.Not.Wait.
So, what do you think of marbled paper?Have you ever thought of using paper (of any kind) as art?
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