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You might remember that last spring I gave my front porch a face lift. I love the door, the planters, the numbers… I love it all! BUT… no one ever comes through the front door. We're those laid back friends where you can just swing by unannounced and you'd never dream of coming through the front door- and that's how we like it.

However, what we didn't love was the hideous garage entryway that we were making our poor friends and loved ones endure…

In my defense, we have a Bernese Mountain Dog that gets MUDDY in the spring, but still, it was nasty! We also had a bit of a shoe issue… Basically our kids never put them away! Grr!
My hubs was going away for a few days and I decided that a garage makeover would be a perfect birthday present- he was coming home on his actual 30th birthday. In 48 hours that tested me as a DIYer and a single mom, I managed to get the reveal done in time!

Isn't that SO.MUCH. BETTER? I love that it actually reflects what you're going to see when you get inside our home (not just a mud pit) and the hubs loves that the shoe issue is taken care of! Here's what I did…

I'll be completely honest here for a second too… the shoe bins actually work! Only once or twice have I had to remind my oldest (of course it would be the oldest) to put her shoes away. It's so practical and awesome!

I'm calling this a REAL LIFE Garage Mudroom Makeover because I was not going to go all out and spend hundreds of dollars on a garage- it's a Garage! I love some of the pictures I see in magazines and on Pinterest where every little detail is exactly perfect and pristine, but news flash… I don't live in a magazine… My 4 kids are messy, my garage is usually housing a DIY project, and is being spray painted in all the time. I wanted a makeover that looked good, but was realistic and not fancy just for the sake of blogging it. Here's an example… I could have painted the garage floor and it would have looked much cleaner, but really- spend time painting a floor that will get dirty or have fun with my kids? I went with the kids and I'm happy about it. So, I hope this inspires you to be willing to try a project- it doesn't always have to look Pottery Barn perfect.
Okay, off my soap box… Here are some more fun elements…

The rest of this week, I'll be sharing the tutorials for all the projects in the room. Lockers, Custom Rugs, Foot Artwork, and more! In the meantime, I have one final detail to finish… I am going to add some vinyl words to the door. We have a no knocking policy in our house. Honestly, there's one of Kaden's sweet little friends that always knocks when his family comes over and I give him such a hard time! (Matt, if you're reading this- no more knocking!) So, what I want to put on the door is something about friends and family not knocking, but I can't come up with a good way to say it. Can you help a girl out?

Leave me a comment if you have any ideas! I always get so inspired by all of you!
What do you think of my Real Life Garage Makeover? Stay tuned tomorrow for tutorials! Linking to:

We thought we'd start the week off with the results of our 2013 Blog Reader Survey! You guys get to learn about us daily here on the blog and by watching Knock It Off, but we rarely get the inside scoop on you, so reader surveys really excite us!

Alrighty then… let's get started shall we?

We were thrilled to see that so many of you have stuck around for a while!! So, if you're new here, you totally should keep visiting, all the cool kids are doing it!

Okay, so maybe we added the flirty part, but… we think it's true! It's actually still kinda weird to me that we're in the 30-45 range too! 31 is like really grown up!

So, not the Al Bundy, Married with Children demographic, but the cute little family with kids kind.

We definitely still want to appeal to the masses, but it's good to know that kid-friendly decor ideas, kid crafts, and family stuff works with you guys! To be completely honest, I read a lot of blogs and there are a few I LOVE and sometimes I want to emulate some of their style, but then I remember I have 4 kids and my house needs to be livable. So, we think it's a good thing that you guys are cool with kid-friendly!

Okay, so this made us laugh! We know that we have about 98% girl power readers, but I know at least 10 guys that read and comment. So, we're just going to assume men aren't fans of surveys (on a somewhat girly blog) Trust us, we gave our husbands a hard time for not completing the survey! The Nerve!!

Now for the MOST important part… What you want more of from EC2. 1- We had lots of requests for videos- we're cool with that! We think they're fun to make, usually they involve a lot of laughing and ridiculous jokes that only we think are funny! Sidenote: Anytime you want to watch us, go and watch some episodes of our TV show Knock It Off by clicking HERE- lol! We know that's not completely the same, but if you need an MJ (Monica/Jess) fix, it'll do. We're going to try to do some home tour videos too! The only tricky part is getting our homes clean enough to show you!
2- DIY Home Projects- well, the good news is that we're a home DIY blog, so yup, we've got that one covered! We plan to deliver a solid amount of our home projects, and sometimes we'll just put KIO tutorials on our DIY page, so we don't have constant show tutorials. Some upcoming rooms we'll be sharing are Baby Bennett's Room, My"new" Living Room, My Playroom Makeover, and Jess' porch!
3- LOTS of Posting! Did you notice we posted like 6 times last week?? It was semi- accidental, but still awesome! Our goal will be no less than 4x a week- sometimes 5, but that will just be a surprise! We're glad you like regular posting, because we like having regular readers!
4- Letting you into our Brains! This was an interesting request that came through many times… You guys want to know what the process looks like as we plan and work through a room. We love that idea!! Although, this weekend my planning process involved me walking around my house, going to the pantry for a snack and staring because I didn't know what I wanted, walking more around the house, and then back to the pantry. Repeat 10x. But seriously, we're excited to share inspiration boards and ideas with you- thanks for the suggestion!!
We gathered lots more info, but this post might actually put you to sleep if I keep going. The bottom line is that, knowing more about YOU guys helps us to make this blog the best it can be! So thank you, thank you, thank you, for helping us out!!
Here's a peek at what we have coming up for ya this week… Bennett's Room Update A Perfect for Fall Chicken Chili Recipe and More!!

We were really excited when we heard about this screened in sunroom needed a makeover! We hadn't tackled an outdoor space yet for Knock It Off, and we were bursting with ideas. Here's where things started…

And here's where we ended up… We created a space that was fully comfortable, much more weather-proof, and filled with style- all on a small budget!

Soon we'll post tutorials for the sectional, plant wall, how to paint siding, and the painted rug, but for now, here's some eye candy from the makeover!
This drink station is actually a fold down table. When it's not in use, you can attach it to the wall and it looks like artwork. It was incredibly simple to make and such a great thing to have for entertaining.

We wanted to set this space off as a room of it's own, so we went bold by painting stripes on the exterior siding. It added a huge pop of color and just made the space super cheery (and I know that sounds cheesy, but it's true!). The plant wall was much cheaper than large artwork and also helped with our goal of bringing the outside in!

We were excited that we not only gave the homeowners an entire sitting area with the sectional, but we were also able to give them a little dinette where they could enjoy a meal (or soft pretzel!) outside!

These solar lanterns are from Ikea and you should see how fun they look at night! We added so much mood lighting that we almost wished we could have revealed the room at night! Our producers told us night reveals are a no no: )

And the sectional… ahh we loved how this turned out!! We know many bloggers have built outdoor furniture, but this was our first attempt at it (we didn't mention that to the homeowners of course!!) We basically decided how large we wanted the sectional, did a lot of math to determine how big each piece should be, and then crossed our fingers. Amazingly, it was really simple to build once we had a plan! We'll write a full post on our build within the next week!

If you missed this episode, head over to The Live Well Network for our Knock It Off Page. You can watch the full episodes online HERE.

Stay tuned for all the tutorials coming to EC2 in the next week or so!!
Do tell, what was your favorite part of this Sunroom Makeover?

This is one thing that we made that I LOVE LOVE LOVE. Really, it couldn't be much easier to make, and it's a really unique attention-grabbing piece of art. I've mentioned before that I am so fortunate because my father-in-law has a barn FULL of great old planks of barnwood, doors and old windows that he generously allows me to use. Wait, let me back up and start at the beginning. Stay with me here. My hairdresser, Kate, (who, by the way, is awesome at doing hair and is equally awesome at decorating. Oh, the colors in her house! I'm thinking of house crashing her just to show you her fabulous decorating style! Note to self: stop rambling.) has a small bathroom window that she put a faux stained glass decal on. I immediately loved it, and when I saw this old window from my dad-in-law, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

Old, beat up and…PERFECT!

Step 1. Sand down any rough edges or peeling paint. The trick here is to sand enough to make it safe, but not enough to lose the character. I love the aged look, but also didn't want paint peeling off that my 1 year old son would, without a doubt, pick up and eat.

Step 2: Pick out your Light Effects stained glass film. I found mine at Home Depot and they had a pretty large selection. I chose the clematis pattern because I loved the colors and the not in-your-face-flowery look. One 24x36 in window film was around twenty bucks.

Here it is, close up. Gorgeous! This stuff is amazing. It's actually texturized so it totally looks like REAL stained glass. No lying.

The window I chose was actually a pretty close fit, size-wise. (Is size-wise even a word? Well, now it is.)

Step 3: Measure, measure, measure! As with anything, measuring here was really important. The film was a little bit bigger than the window, so we had some wiggle room, but not much. We wanted to make sure we were making the right cuts, the first time. We measured the length and width and, as per the instructions, left about an 1/16th of an inch between the window frame and the film.

First of all, stop thinking those are my arms and legs. Eew, I'm not that hairy. (Love you hubs!) Ok, Step 4: All you have to do here is follow the very simple instructions, but basically, the film has an adhesive on the back that is activated by water, so we sprayed the glass generously with water.

Step 5: Squeegee the excess water out from the center to the edges to prevent bubbles. The kit comes with a squeegee, so don't worry about that! My hubs owns a window-cleaning business on the side, so I let the man work his magic with the squeegee, and didn't interupt.: )

And that's it! It really is beautiful and I'm so excited to show you how Monica incorporated it into our new basement space. Trust me, it's worth the wait for the big Nate reveal. Ahhh! So exciting.
Ok, people, show me some love. What would you do with an old window?

Linking up to: Tutorials & Tips Tuesdays, Tip Me Tuesday

Oooh, I so wish you could see my hallway bathroom right now. It is coming along exactly how I had envisioned. Mostly because I finally found the perfect piece of furniture for my new custom vanity. This vanity earned us a spot in Round 3 of Crafting with the Stars over at Sew Dang Cute, and although she's pretty darn cute in pictures, she's absolutely gorgeous in real life. So, here's the breakdown of the transformation this little table underwent:
Antiquated to Awesome Table Transformation While browsing one of our local antique stores, I stumbled across this table in an out-of-the-way-spot covered in loads of other stuff.

Now, she doesn't look like anything special, but I could see through her battered, yellowing self to see the potential in her simple lines and aged charm. My initial thought was to sand the yellowish tones off to hopefully reveal a distressed white/wood look. After what seemed like an eternity of sanding with two palm sanders, I realized that this piece probably really was an antique and that the paint had mostly likely been there forever. I hesitate to reveal this information for fear of the antique-lovers out there giving me a hard time about sanding such an old piece, but hey, a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.

So anyway, the chippy paint look I was going for totally didn't happen because sanding it made the paint appear the color of a peach and that just was not at all the look I was going for.

So, on to plan B. Monica came over to help out and she brought the custom gray stain they used on their farmhouse table and also a mahogany stain she had. We had some walnut stain left over from when we originally stained our kitchen cabinets, so we tested all three on the top of the piece. We knew we could always sand out the stains we didn't like, but we made sure to place the sample stains in the middle where the vessel sink would go, anyway.

In the end, we decided on doing a custom mix of walnut and gray stains.

I brushed on the walnut stain first in long even strokes.

After about a minute, Monica wiped the stain off with a staining pad.

Even with just the walnut stain, it was absolutely beautiful, but I knew that the addition of the gray stain would make it match the colors in the bathroom even better, so again, I brushed the gray stain overtop of the walnut in long even strokes.

After wiping it off, we had this:

Note to self: Do not stain a piece of furniture in your kitchen. If you're not careful, stain will get everywhere leaving you in a slight panic and making lots of extra work for yourself.

Ahh! Let me stop here to point out how crazy our work environment was that evening:

How we got anything done is a mystery to me. Monica and I work very quickly and as a result, leave a trail of disaster in our wakes. We were simultaneously working on the table, painting a custom destination sign with coordinates for a customer, planning our posts for the next few weeks and drinking our favorite Pumpkin Spice Cappuccino from Wawa. Craziness, I tell you. But I digress… on with the project:

After the hours of sanding the top, I really REALLY didn't want to sand the legs, so we came up with the idea of doing a whitewash treatment. Basically, whitewashing is a combination of paint mixed with water that creates a translucent glaze of color.

You can see that adding the whitewash took away the yellow tones, but kept all that yummy aged character of the piece.

Finally, we broke out the power tools and got ready to make our holes for the new sink and faucet. This is a lot easier than you probably think it is. After measuring the center of the table where the sink would go, we used a drill with a 1 1/2" circle bit to make a hole for the pipes to run through.

This creates a lot of sawdust which for us was a problem. DESIGN BLOGGER FOUL! We should have drilled the holes FIRST before we stained!

Brushing off the saw dust on stain that hadn't dried yet gave us a minor heart attack, but we recovered after restained the parts that needed it. Phew! No big deal. (But if you attempt this project, drill first, stain second!)

We added the sink that we bought at Lowes so we could determine the placement of the hole for the faucet. We didn't use any scientific method here; we simply placed the faucet next to the sink and eyeballed where it should go. Remember folks, I don't claim to be a perfectionist.: )

In pictures, the faucet looks kind of goldish, but in reality it has a brushed nickel finish that adds just a touch of modern that is perfect.

We wanted to add some detailing to the piece to make it more unique, so I picked up some oil-rubbed bronze knobs from Lowe's. Monica pre-drilled a few holes, and then we screwed them right in. They look so cool and give the affect of a drawer on the front.

So, at the end of night one, this is how the table looked. Pretty sweet, huh? But the fun part was putting it all together the next day after I (and my mom who wanted to save me some time while I was coaching my tennis team) added 6-7 layers of a water-based polyurethane to the top to prevent water damage that may occur from my very messy wonderful family. We went with a water-based poly because it doesn't change the color of the wood tones. I'm not 100% sure this will be enough protection, and I'm paranoid about anything marring the surface of this beauty, so I'm going to be doing a bit more research on protecting the wood before we use it. Any suggestions?
So now that all is said and done, this is how my beautiful vanity looks:

I am so in love with this table, and am thrilled to death that it turned out just like I was hoping. It looks amazing in the bathroom, and pictures just don't do it justice. Next week, I'll be showing you the final reveal of our hallway bathroom after I add some finishing touches and I can't wait!
What do you think of my table-turned-vanity? Have you ever turned a thrift or antique store find into something fabulous?

Now, on to Round 3!

Linking up to: TT & J, Show & Tell Saturday, Tips & Tutorials Tip Me Tuesday, Sundae Scoop, Sunday Showcase

Maybe you noticed something missing from our Fall Lovers Series… Pumpkins! We’re not haters and we didn’t forget… we were saving them for this special pumpkin post! We had the pleasure of sharing some fabulous, non-traditional pumpkin ideas for the 69 News in Allentown, PA and now you’ll get to see the inside scoop on how to make your own.

We got together this week to have a pumpkin party of sorts… it included lots of pumpkins, a large bowl of uncooked cookie dough (yum!) and a big old mess!

I Can’t think of a better way to spend time with a BFF can you? Tac Pumpkins

This is a Horchow knockoff and we’re thrilled with how cool it looks. Jess said it looks like a “biker chick pumpkin!” Simply spray paint your pumpkin (we used Oil Rubbed Bronze) and when it’s dry, simply push the tacks in a cool pattern. This literally took about 5 minutes.

Sticker Pumpkins If you have kids, they’ll love to help with this one. We used simple “teacher stars,” but you can use any sticker shape. Make sure your pumpkin is clean and totally dry, add the stickers, and then spray paint. When the paint is pretty much dry, remove the stickers and reveal the awesomeness!

Ribbon Jack Be Littles These guys would look great in a big, black wooden bowl. It doesn’t get any easier than this folks… Simply wrap the ribbon and hold in place with a thumbtack.

Mr. Pumpkin Head If you've seen Toy Story 3, the you know that Mr. Potato head works even on a pancake, so why not try pumpkin? If you have little ones that are a tad young for real pumpkin decorating or carving, this is the idea for you!

No pumpkins were harmed in the making of this tutorial! You do need to poke the holes with a pen so that the pieces stay put. I promise I used Novocain before starting the procedure.

Don’t be afraid to think outside the box (cliche, but oh so true) and use fun items you already own!

Sexy Lady Pumpkin Vera Wang might want to hunt us down after this post, but we love the look. We took some sexy tights and believe it or not, squeezed a pumpkin in! It was really quite hysterical and I almost wish we had it on video.

It’s definitely a two person job!

We cut the bottom end and then wrapped the stem with the other.

I think Vera might be proud!

Decoupage Pumpkin The key to this funky-punky is cutting thin strips of paper. Simply take scrapbook paper or fabric and cut it into ½ -1 inch strips. This was a small pumpkin, so we used ½ inch. Apply modpodge heavily to the back of each strip and start wrapping the pumpkin. When it’s completely covered give the outside a coat of modpodge as well. This one is to go with Monica’s Poe Inspired mantle.

Modpodge goes on white, but don’t worry… it dries clear.

By about this time in our pumpkin party, here’s what the kitchen looked like. We never claimed to be neat crafters did we?

Crackle Paint Pumpkins
This project was inspired by Beth who was inspired by Jane… don’t you love the sharing of ideas in the blog world? We sure do! For these you’ll need some cheapo dollar store pumpkins… and man, they’re ugly at first.

First, spray a base coat. We used flat, black that we already owned.

We had a little spray paint station outside. The hubs loves our multi-colored grass! Then, apply the crackle medium. We bought Martha’s brand from Michaels. We patiently waited grabbed the blow drier to pick up the pace and once it was totally almost dry we brushed on the top color. The key here is long, even strokes. Crackle paint can be a tad fussy.

Let the top coat dry and watch as the cracks magically appear. It’s pretty cool!

House # Pumpkin Another simple idea, but one that would look adorable on your front porch.
We picked up these numbers at Lowes and then used a mallet (a hammer would work too, but there’s just something fun about a mallet) to bang in the screws. Presto- Chango… house # pumpkin!

Cookie Cutter Pumpkin Since we're committed to being the REAL housewives of Bucks County, we're sharing once again another FAIL with you! We were inspired to try banging cookie cutters into pumpkins. Sounds simple enough right? Well, it would have been simple if the pumpkin wasn't thicker than the cookie cutter. I do think it would have worked on a smaller pumpkin… Instead, it broke the cutter and we had to do quite a bit of work to get it out.

You can barely even tell it's a bat. Drats!

If you've tried this and it worked, let us know and give us some tips!
So there you have it… some non-traditional pumpkin ideas to try in 2011. If you want to see us in action, we'll be posting the clip to the 69 morning show soon. Be sure you"like" us on Facebook, because we'll link it there.

Happy Wednesday, thanks for pumpkin partying with us!

Linking to: iheartnaptime Under the Table and Dreaming, Tutorials & Tips, Tip Me Tuesday

We all love Pinterest… there are so many ideas and cool people to be inspired by. I wish I took the time to do more of the projects I see, but honestly this lil' old blog takes a lot of time, so I don't do as many as I'd like to (sounds weird that a DIY blog would take time away from DIYing, but it's true!)

Today I'm excited to introduce you to two people I adore. Meet my adorable sister-in-law Kelly and my awesome brother-in-law Bryan. This cute couple lives in Ohio, so we miss them 24-7, but we have a blast when we're together.

I also have to introduce you to their little stud Jax. He's our one and only nephew and we think he's the best!

Okay, so why are we having this Mangin Family blog reunion?? Well, Kelly is not just a Pinterest addict, she actually does what she pins! {Gasp!}
On our recent visit to Ohio, I felt like I was walking through a Pinterest Museum. It was too awesome not to share. Kelly has some creative friends and family, and between them all they have done so many fun projects for her home. So without further ado… Welcome to Kelly's Pinteresting Home! State Artwork Kel is from OH and Bry is from PA.

Aqua Painted Pedestal Table Kel got her table and chairs at goodwill for $75 total. Add aqua and white paint and you have an awesome statement piece!

Funky Pendant Light This was one of the first changes Kelly made to her kitchen when she moved in!

Crossword Names Takes 2 seconds, but is so cute as an accessory. It's just a frame turned chalkboard.

Kitchen Office Space She removed the wall cabinets, added open shelving, and did some adorable accessorizing. Kelly claims she can't decorate, but I'm pretty sure you'd all beg to differ!

Spray Painted Faux Antlers Kel is super lucky to have a Hobby Lobby right around the corner. These beauties came from there and got a coral spraypaint treatment.

Simple Printables She doesn't just PIN free printables, she actually uses them… imagine that! A simple piece of twine, some clothespins, and voila!

Modern Painted Chandelier Bye Bye Brass, hello funky green. The circle bulbs are just right and add a cute modern flare.

Window Frame Kel found this awesome salvage shop in Springfield, OH. They have windows galore!

Family Rules and More Printables Kelly and Jess both have the Be Happy print. You can get it at Sprik Space.

Magazine Paper Frame & Vase These two were purchases, but I liked them too much not to include them. If you're patient enough you can make your own!

House Numbers and Hooks There are so many things you can do with frames, and digital paper. Our favorite site is Moo & Puppy!

Yarn Wreath You know I'm the"anti-wreath," but this one is really cute! I love the homemade pompoms

Paper Flowers Kelly's friend Amy made these for her and they match her aqua table so well. Jones Design Company has tons of paper flower tutorials!

Clip Hooks Are you seeing a clothes pin trend? They're affordable, easy to use, and cute!

Fabric Lined Shelves Kel took plain bookshelves from drab to fab with this blue fabric. Her shelves always look so cute! Her sister gave her the frame with the subway art and has it loaded up with a print for every season/holiday.

Unique Gallery Wall These cool rounded frames are from Ikea and the doorknob is from Hobby Lobby.

Growth Chart I love this growth chart that Kelly's sister made for her. It's exactly like this one from Miss Natalie. No time to make one? You can buy one on Etsy for $56.00.

Last but not least, check out this fabulous fabric choice for a DIY headboard!

What do you think? Are you inspired to go look at your pin boards and actually do a project? I know I have a list a mile long that I want to do now! I also have to tell you that Kel had no idea I was snooping around her house taking pictures, so none of this was staged or cleaned… this is real-deal, everyday life and I think it's great!
Have you turned a pin into a project? Share the link, we'd love to see!

Only following on the blog? You're missing out. Use the buttons below to join in on all the fun!

Board and batten has been all the rage for a while now, but I'm still surprised at how many people haven't heard of it or ask, "What was it that you did below your fabric wall?" So, we figured it was high time we did our very own post on the infamous b & b.

So, funny thing… being the English teacher that I am I thought I'd look for the official definition of board and batten, but it wasn't easy! So, here's the RHBC definition… Really awesome molding that is sort of chunky, with clean lines, and is arranged in fun rectangular shapes. Sweet! Send that one to Mr. Webster for sure!
So, rather than walk you through a step by step tutorial about B & B, we'll just tell you to check out Censational Girl or The Nester's tutorials on how to install it.
Instead, we're going to share with you another board and batten project that we helped out with. Our gal pal Connie needed some design inspiration for her crazy outdated dining room. Don't blame her, this was how it was when she moved in. YIKES!

Connie was picking my brain for ideas and I suggested b & b. We jumped onto Pinterest and started getting inspired! Here are a few of the pins that got us all jazzed up!

Source: None via Amy on Pinterest
We love the extra rectangles in this style!

Source: lh6.ggpht.com via Lydie on Pinterest
For Connie's room, she decided on a tall board and batten with a ledge for pictures.

The construction was in process, but we needed to pick a wall color. Connie was thinking some kind of chocolate color, so Jess and I went over to help her make the final decision. Here's what we ended up with…

Ha! Doesn't look like chocolate does it? We convinced Connie to trust us and she forged ahead with Olympic's Antique Moss green! The first coat was a little scary, but we knew it would be fabulous at the end!

Here's the finished room… pretty darn cool eh?

Just in case you're wondering… the C and empty frame are from Hobby Lobby. We made a little accessorizing trip for the room.
It's a pretty drastic before and after…

The ledge is just wide enough to rest picture frames on- nice planning! We chose lots of wood frames in complimentary tones and did a combo of resting and hanging.

So, between the bold, green dining room and my yellow office, are you feeling the board and batten love?

Maybe, just maybe you'll be seeing a little B and B love in our episode of The Nate Berkus Show tomorrow?? (Spoiler Alert!!) Make sure to set your DVR and message us if you see it before 2pm! We have to wait all day to watch, so be sure to give us the play by play!

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Wait! Don't Go! Did you vote for the Final Round of Crafting with the Stars? Check out the final 3 projects, vote, and cross your fingers that it's for our project! Thanks so much!

We interrupt the Fall Lovers Series to bring you a super cool project that my BFF completed for my dining room. If you don't have a crafty best friend, I highly recommend one! (I'm not positive we're allowed to share this post yet because of The Nate Show taping we did two weeks ago, but I don't think they'll recognize us do you?)

Now, first and foremost, I adore this project and it looks awesome in my dining room. Secondly, did I mention that Nate Berkus told us that he LOVED it and wanted it for his home (to which I said"Umm…you can have it!" Sorry Jess!)

Jess is sort of obsessed with barnwood. She can get fabulous barnwood from her father-in-law's old barn. We have big plans for all the wood, so stay tuned for more info about that. (dedicated bloggers take pictures in their garages at midnight. Excuse the quality! It's dedication!)

The awesome thing about using barnwood, is that it doesn't have to be perfect. I love the edges of this project. You can use any type of wood for the back of your artwork, just choose boards with lots of character to show on the front.

Jess' inspiration for the pattern came from the material on the dining room chairs I had redone. Remember this post?

Using some heavy plastic, she planned to trace the pattern from the fabric, but you couldn't see through it. Bummer!

Don't worry, that didn't stop her! She FREE-HANDED it! Yup, impressive right? I totally wouldn't have tried it, but she did and it turned out great! If you're not as gutsy, you can just put whatever you're tracing on a lampshade and it will make it more transparent. (I can't be held responsible for minor house fires)

After you paint your design on the wood, let it dry and the seal the entire piece with a water-based wood sealant. This makes the colors darken up a bit, emphasizing all the charater of the wood and gives it that rich, warm feeling.

I hope you're inspired to create your own art. Amazing art doesn't have to cost millions. In fact, this piece is sorta priceless to me because it was made by my BFF.
So, sorry Nate…you can't have it,
but now you know how to make your very own!

P.S. We're submitting this project to Crafting with the Stars… how cool would that be?? We're crossing our fingers and will keep you posted!!

Linkin' Up to: TT&J, Tutorials & Tips Tuesday

Ahhhhhh…I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Well, kinda. Our kitchen renovation that I've chronicled here, here, here and here, is done…for now! You may remember that it all started like this:

Ugh. That's a sad picture, people. It's not sad anymore, though, just look at it now in all it's *almost* finished glory!

Seriously, that is one big difference! I am absolutely crazy about our open shelves, new kitchen layout and big opening to the dining room. (Although I REALLY wish I made some sort of effort to clean up our dining room before snapping pics! Bad blogger!) I've been decorating and undecorating the shelves for weeks now, and I'm pretty happy with them, so I figured it was about time I shared. This is how they look right now, but I can absolutely guarantee you that they won't stay this way forever, since I crave change after about 4 days of anything staying the same.

The blue and green add just the right pop to my otherwise serene color scheme. I really do love the contrast of the fancy stencil with the trendy aqua blue accents. So fun! Those two round pie plates were wedding gifts, but they're only hanging out there until I can find a tray or something that I love- the blues just aren't perfectly spot on.

Up close and personal:

You've already seen the printable I made, but the plate right next to it is from the Pottery Barn Outlet. Can't get enough of that thing. That and the bird (from Joann's) are the only new things I bought for the shelves. Everything else was gathered from around the house- you got to work with what you have sometimes, right? Ok, I lied. I forgot that I bought this blue vase at a flea market this weekend for $4, and the mugs came from Ikea.

I have been scouring the stores to find dish towels that I liked and that matched the kitchen, and couldn't find anything that wasn't chevron (no offense to all you chevron-lovers out there, but I'm just not on that bandwagon!), but I found this one at Kmart! Yes, I was shocked too.: ) Cute, cute, cute!

I'm showing you this picture of all our mail for two reasons: 1) I just got this mail sorter from Kmart and it's a lifesaver. Really. All that stuff used to just lay on my counter making my already frazzled brain even more frazzled (if that's possible), and 2) See that uncovered outlet? I didn't even realize it didn't have a cover on it until I looked at this picture. It's so ridiculous what you get used to living with, and then start to ignore. *Fingers crossed that that baby EVER gets a cover.*

Here's a view of the other side of the kitchen:

We finally cut and hung two more open shelves to house our microwave. I gotta tell you, I so enjoy the extra space on the counters now that thing is off of it. So roomy! And if you're wondering about that crack in the counter, it's there because we moved a cabinet and it's counter from it's original spot on the other side of the fridge. It'll stay like that until we upgrade our countertops, and then it'll be seamless. Technically, I could hide the seam using a painting method a friend told me about, but, honestly, there are so many other things I'd rather be doing with my time.; )

I'm thrilled that, after 8 years of marriage, I can finally easily access my china. What a nice surprise to see that it actually works really well with my damask stencil and the colors in the kitchen. Woohoo for happy accidents!

Oh yes! I almost forgot that we installed this new light fixture above the window, and it's stinkin' awesome. Forget about all the additional light it gives off, it's adorable!

***Update: Several people have asked where I got this light. It's Allen + Roth from Lowes.

And finally, a view from the hall. I'm contemplating adding simple, wooden blinds to the window because it seems a bit bare. Anyone have thoughts about that? Should I or shouldn't I?

So now I've promised my husband that I'll tackle only really easy projects that don't involve him for a while.: ) I think this room has come a long way, and it just feels so much more like me. After a few annoying touchups on paint, fixing some broken tile and installing one more light switch, this pretty baby will be complete. Phew! Next week I'll show you what I finally decided about the curtain situation on the other side of the room.

Next on my agenda? A dining room redesign! I can't wait to show you what I have up my sleeve.

So, what's your favorite part about my new kitchen? Color scheme, open shelving, white cabinets, something else entirely?

Linking up to: Tutorials & Tips

Garage Makeover Tutorial # 1- Custom Painted Rugs!

Hopefully you got to see my Garage Mudroom Makeover. If you missed the reveal, you can check out the full post here.

Today I'm giving you the inside scoop on the fun rugs I made. I'll be sharing the other tutorials over the next few days.

I used the same Home Depot rugs that I used for my stenciled outdoor rug. Check out that post for all the details on where to buy them. They were under $20 each!

Instead of one big rug, I wanted two runners, so I folded it in half and cut it.

For the first runner, I decided I wanted some graphic arrows going in and out. I measured from the side, and used chalk marks to keep my lines straight.

Scotch Blue tape worked like a charm for really well sealed lines.

Once it was all taped off, I had to cover the rest of the rug. I had a pile of old circulars around, and they did the trick!

It was a tad windy, so the hubs helped by holding up a piece of foam core (we had used it as a target at Kira's Brave Party) so the spray paint wouldn't get all over the rug.

Because of the wind, some of the paper lifted and I had some bleeding. Thankfully, soap and water removed it all and I was left with crisp lines.

For the second rug, I was excited to use our new Silhouette Cameo. I wanted to write the word shoes nice and large so that my crazy kids just might happen to remember to put them away! So far it's working!

For this rug, I wanted to have the letters be negative space, so I taped off the area to be painted and then used spray adhesive to attach the letters to the rug.

I used the same method of covering up the rest of the rug so that I could spray paint it.

I was so excited to see how crisp the letters turned out!

I'm such a fan of graphic word art and these rugs make me excited every time I walk in the door.

What do you think? Will you be trying out some DIY Rugs anytime soon?

Want more EC2? Use the icons below to follow us!

If you missed all the amazing projects in the first two weeks of CWTS, be sure to check them out below!

Round 1 Projects & Winners Round 2 Projects & Winners
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This is so exciting, isn't it? We're almost into the final round of our first ever Creating with the Stars contest which is crazy! We know that the contestants are putting in hours and hours of work on their projects each week so that they are the best they possibly can be, and we just have to say that the caliber of their projects is blog star-level!

This week was Sponsored by The Home Depot, and isn't it amazing what a huge impact a little paint can have? Ah-mazing! Here's a little reminder of the epic prizes our Round 3 winner will receive…
$500 Gift Card to Home Depot (Contestant & Blog Star!!) $100 worth of Martha Stewart supplies from Plaid Crafts $125 Gift Card to Lucent Lampworks Project featured by HomeTalk

The votes were neck and neck again this week, with only a few votes separating the top two spots. Only three contestants move on to the finals, so the pressure is really on! Ok, enough of our chatting, let's get those results!

1. Amanda { Love and Renovations } and Beckie { Infarrantly Creative }
Painted Wall Mural and Dresser

This is Amanda's second week in a row in the top spot…for good reason! You just can't ignore that yellow dresser (Monica has a similar painted dresser in her dining room!) and set against that black wall, it's just stunning! Congrats again, Amanda!

2. Melissa { 5 foot 12 Creations } & Sherry { Young House Love }

Painted Chalkboard with Map and Games

3. Sarah { Sarah M. Dorsey Designs } & Brooke { All Things Thrifty }

Painted Desk and Accent Wall using Custom Stencils

Ack, this is just so hard to do (does it ever get easier?!!), but we have to say goodbye to these three amazingly talented women.
4. Sarah { While They Snooze } & Sarah { Thrifty Decor Chick }

Painted Map Coffee Table

5. Nancy { Owen's Olivia } & Kari { Ucreate }
Painted Couch featuring a Custom Horse Stencil

6. Janel { Nellie Bellie } & Brittany { Pretty Handy Girl }

Aztec Wonder Painted Rug

Seriously, we could cry about having to let Nancy, Sarah and Janel go! You guys are welcome back here anytime. And, now we know who to call when we need something awesome painted!
Here's the voting break down… the first and second place projects were separated by under 50 votes!! Insane!

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Ok, it's the finals now, people- the last chance these bloggers have to show what they're made of!

The prizes are stinkin' awesome this round (and the Blog star gets them too!)
The Grand Prize Winners (Contestant and Blog Star) will each receive:
$500 from Homes.Com
$500 Gift Card to HomeGoods
Project featured by HomeTalk

Next week the challenge is Home Decor- so anything (even a room makeover) is fair game! Tomorrow we'll be sharing the tutorial for that amazing mural and yellow dresser! We'll be so sad when this contest is over and we don't have these incredible tutorials on our blog anymore!

YOU GUYS, the countdown is officially on. Yup, that's right. You have only a few days to enter your best project for the chance of a lifetime to work with your favorite blogger and earn awesome prizes. Just to prove it to you, (and because we love some crunch-time project drama) here's the official countdown:

Did you know that we waited until literally the last hour to submit our project? We had done this piece of barnwood art for one of our Nate Show episodes, and weren't technically allowed to post about it yet, but we were dying to be a part of the contest so we slipped it in just under the wire.

So, we totally get it if you're major procrastinators like us. Or, if you need some additional encouragement because you're a little nervous or afraid your stuff isn't good enough, here it is: JUST DO IT! This contest could be a major boost to your blogging career! Just trust us about this. After we won this contest, we got a whole lot more traffic and made a name for ourselves. And you know the awesome Mandi, from Vintage Revivals? She won this contest too, and we all know how incredible her blog is now. Don't waste anymore time. Enter your project here right now!

Also, I bet you might not have known that, YOU (our awesome readers), have the power to select the 12th contestant in this contest! How, you ask? Take a peek at all the fabulous entries and click through for the tutorials.

I know! Isn't that so fun? So, go ahead and tell all your friends to come vote for your project. I mean, really, who wouldn't want to be Miss Popular?? We are so excited about this contest, and already have a few favorites as we click through to see them all!!
We'll be keeping you updated on all the last minute CWTS excitement on Facebook, so make sure you've liked our page or do it right here… we double dog dare you!

Tell us: which project is YOUR fav so far, and which STAR would you most like to work with if you get the chance?

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!
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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

This bedroom makeover was so fun to work on because we were challenged to combine both rustic and industrial styles together to make the space work! This room was huge, so we were able to do lots of fun DIY projects. Take a peek…

Now, to fully appreciate this room, you've got to see what it looked like before we started…

Talk about a transformation right?? You can watch the full episode online by clicking HERE.
We had a blast working with Tiffany and Jon and were so glad they BOTH liked the finished room!

Later this week we'll post all the juicy details about all the projects in the room, but for now, here's just a little room tour for ya…

This world map project wasn't featured in the show much (there's just never enough time), but we loved how it turned out and it might be one of my favorite projects of the makeover!

After a fun trip to one of the BEST salvage shops around, we built these reclaimed wood floating shelves using conduit pipe! The awesome shop we went to is Architectural Antiques in Bedminster, PA. Click here to visit their Facebook page for more info!

Using a mantle we found at the salvage shop, we used wood slices to create a faux fireplace look. It really helped define the sitting area we created!

One of our wildcard projects (AKA we'd never tried it before and just crossed our fingers it would be awesome) was our metal headboard. Toilet bowl cleaner and inexpensive metal sheets never looked so good!!

And stealing the show… herringbone barn doors with a custom made track for UNDER $200! I love how these doors are barn, but with such a modern twist. The yellow color and the arrow pattern made these doors super unique!
So, go check out the episode HERE, and then check back this week for all the complete tutorials!!

We've gotta know… What project is your fav? Any you'd like to try?

It's kind of a bummer that kitchens are usually the hub of a home and at the same time, they're the most expensive room in a house to remodel!! The good news is that we found ways to DIY almost every item in this galley kitchen and did the entire makeover on a tiny budget. Today we're going to share with you how we took the kitchen cabinets from dated, pickled wood to classic, crisp white!

To watch this full episode online Click HERE!

This was the cabinet situation when we arrived. I really wonder why on earth pickled wood was ever a trend?!? I'm sure in a few years, we'll look back on lots of our design choices and wonder the same thing.: )

Other than this one cabinet, all the rest were in good working condition. We also got lucky that the style of these cabinets was pretty simple and classic. No crazy scroll lines, just clean and straight- perfect for a paint-pick-me-up! The hardware however… that had to go!

The finished look was insanely different!!

Now, we're going to share some basic tips for painting your cabinets, but Jess also did her entire kitchen white last year, so at the bottom, be sure to click through to her post for a really detailed tutorial!
1. Remove the cabinet doors from the frames. Take off all of the hardware at this time and put them in a safe place, if you’re going to be reusing them. We did reuse the hinges for the cabinets, but that was it. 2. Set up a work station where you can lay out all of your cabinets at once- this is the fastest way to get all those cabinets painted as fast as possible. We like using plastic folding saw horses with 2x4s laid across. They're light and easy to move around. We got ours at Lowe's for $49 for a set of 2.

3. If you’re cabinets aren’t super glossy, you can use regular old steel wool to rough up the fronts of the door. You just want to make it so that the paint adheres. If you’re cabinets are glossy, go ahead and sand them. You won't regret doing this step right- it will determine if you have paint chipping in 6 months or not.

4. Wipe down the cabinet doors to remove all dust. Make sure you use paint plus primer to get the best coverage. Using foam rollers designed for cabinetry, roll on the paint in even coats, making sure to not drip!
For Linda's kitchen we used Valspar's Summer Grey in Semi-Gloss. It reads like a white, but looks just a little moodier: )

5. Once the paint has cured for the recommended time, flip them over and repeat the process on the insides of the doors. 6. When your doors are drying, head back into the kitchen and rough up the frames of the cabinets with steel wool and paint them, as well. Once they’re dry, rehang your cabinet doors.Reattach the hardware, or install new hardware. This is when you can step back and admire the way your kitchen feels completely transformed!

Check out Jess' kitchen makeover with a full breakdown on how to properly paint your cabinets.

It's amazing the difference a coat of white paint can make! For about $30 you could completely transform any dated kitchen!!
To watch this segment or the full episode- click HERE! Stay tuned for these other DIY tutorials coming to the KIO DIY Page soon!

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!

Well, many of you have asked, so I thought now was the time to share how my hubs and I made our headboard out of an old door. It truly is a VERY easy project, and like I mentioned before, is super inexpensive! Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of the process, because we did this several years ago before I was into taking pictures of everything just in case it would make a good blog post.: )

First, I just want to remind you that this project was very low-budget, using items we already had. In addition, neither my husband or I cared what it looked like behind/below the bed. It's not perfect, so if you're looking for something perfect (ahem! Monica and Eric), you won't find it here. Anyway, we started with a plain, interior door that we had removed from another area in the house (read: FREE!) I painted it the color of three of the walls in our bedroom. We measured the ends and cut off the top part of the door using a saw. We held the door up to the wall with the bed in place so we knew how high we wanted it. Then, we took a 2x4 from the random collection of wood in our attic, levelled it, and mounted it to the wall using screws and a drill.

Finally, we rested the door on top of the 2x4 (making sure that the hole for the door handle was on the bottom), checked to see if it was level, and then put two screws on either end of the top of the door into the wall. I painted the screws the same color of the door so that they blend in and you almost don't notice them.

That's it! Pretty darn easy, and it cost us nothing. Score!
Need some other DIY Headboard inspiration?
I've rounded up my favorite DIY headboard projects and can't wait to share them with you! Just click on the link to be taken to the instructions on how to make them. (And as always, if you attempt to make one of these headboard projects, please send us a picture!)

Southern Living
I love this headboard made out of a mantel. So creative, and an awesome spot to showcase some of your favorite treasures.

Too Much Time on my Hands
Monica showcased a headboard made from a pallet in this post, but here is another example of how you can turn a boring, old pallet into something fabulous!

Apartment Therapy Wouldn't it be fun to write love notes to your hubby that he could see when he wakes up (or goes to bed; ) Or, use it as a place to tell your kids how special they are to you. How about writing something you love about them every day for a year? So many possibilities!

 HGTV
I know I've seen shutters at yardsales or flea markets in the past, but who knew they had so much potential grouped together as a headboard??!!

HGTV
This headboard can be made using 1x6 whitewood boards for LESS THAN $100! An added bonus is that you can change the color depending on the color scheme of your bedding.

Isabella & Max
This padded fabric headboard makes a major statement and is the focal point of this whole room. Definitely not a beginner's project, but is worth giving it a try.

Our Vintage Home Love
And finally, my favorite of all. I love this look so much that I may be attempting it soon. Stay tuned!

Which headboard can you envision yourself falling asleep under?

Have a great day!

Linking up to: Made by You Mondays, Craftomaniac Mondays, Market Yourself Monday, Tip Me Tuesday, Tutorials and Tips

I'll be quite honest, unless it's something I can wear on my finger or as a dress, I'm not all that into things that glitter. However, Tulip sent us some products from their Tulip Shimmer line to try out. I DO love all sorts of metallics at Christmas, so I knew that I could come up with something and maybe fall in love with glitter in the process. Well, mission accomplished!

Luckily for me, I scored two white placemats at the thrift store for a dollar a piece. Woohoo! That makes me excited. You can probably find something similar at Target or Walmart for a few bucks, as well. So with my two placemats, plus a box full of Tulip Shimmer products, I was ready to get going!

I love getting packages like these in the mail! For this project, I decided to use the Fashion Glitter, Fashion Glitter bond, and a few cling stencils. (Haha, all that glitter it makes laugh)

Here's how to make your own: 1. Decide on your design. For the first placemat, I used the sewn blue border as a guide, and then placed stencils that said"merry" and"bright" near the bottom.

For the second placemat, I placed painters tape at random increments to create a few irregular stripes (a la Williams-Sonoma). Be sure to press the edges of the tape down so that the glitter doesn't bleed underneath.

2. Brush the bonding glue on with a small paint brush where you're planning on placing the glitter. The glue is permanent and washable, which makes it perfect for any project that includes fabric.

3. Sprinkle the glitter liberally on the glue and let it dry for 2 hours. At this point, I was really thinking this was going to turn out horribly. I mean, just look at it!

4. Remove the stencils and tape. There's nothing more satisfying- and frightening!- than peeling back painters tape or stencils. I dare you to disagree.

5. Shake the glitter off of the placemats and breathe a deep sigh of relief that your placemats are so chic!

Please excuse me now while I hit you with a whole bunch of"after" shots of these beauties.

Don't you think a set of these would make a great Christmas gift? 

I was super happy with how crisp the lines came out!

Don't worry, we'll share those cute wooden tag ornaments with you next week. You can see loads of other project ideas and helpful tips when you follow Tulip here: Web: http://www.ilovetocreate.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lovetocreate
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ilovetocreate
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/ilovetocreate/
I'm officially a glitter-loving fool! What about you?!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Also, don't forget that our sponsors are running a whole bunch of awesome sales today through this weekend! Happy shopping!-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linking up to: Tutorials & Tips

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
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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 that here for a chance to be featured on EC2 and win some great prizes. Fun for everyone!: )