Photo tree and a holiday bedroom

Hello my friends! I’m starting to freak out a little bit…Christmas is next week right?? I’ve been ignoring this fact for awhile now. The funny thing is that I’m still decorating. It will only stay out for a couple of weeks but I’m really enjoying it so I continue to fluff. :)

I’ve tackled some little projects in our bedroom over the past few days and added some Christmas touches in the room. I’m especially excited about the tree! I got this one years back at Lowe’s after the holidays for $12. It’s super skinny and an easy one to store.

For the past few years I’ve only turned on the lights (it came with them) and left it at that. I’ve wanted to decorate it more but just never get to it. This year I took a few minutes and did something a little different. I wrapped some jute “ribbon” around the tree that I’ve had for awhile, then I picked out some of my favorite photos from over the year and printed them out.

I just stuck them inside the tree:

They are pictures of everyday stuff and from the wonderful trips we took this year (that one to the right is us on one of our four trips down Splash Mountain a few weeks ago. My husband’s face is AWESOME.)

I edited them so they were in a sepia tone:

I meant to print them out way smaller but it was a happy accident – I love how the bigger pics look. Our son and his nephew top the tree:

My heart is full! I am a lucky lucky girl.

It’s such a wonderful way to look back at our blessings this year. The Bub and my husband loved it:

I love having it our room but next year we may move it down to the family room. It would be perfect down there and may actually end up down there yet this year. :)

My tree skirt is just extra fabric left over from my DIY headboard in this room. I just fluffed it up around the tree, no hemming:

Our bedroom is one of my favorites in our house and it’s especially warm and cozy this time of year. I took some more pics to share with you today – including the obligatory bokeh pic:

I’m a blogger. It’s mandatory.

I took most of these at night because I especially love it then:

I kept most of the items on the mantel and just added some greenery and lights:

The art was painted by me – I was trying to create something for the family room weeks ago and this turned out too dark. It’s still a little dark for me but it fills this space for now. :) The frame is just cheap lattice wood.

This room is still very much in between – these walls are the original color I put up years ago, Tornado Watch (from Lowe’s). I have the new paint but this room is a doozy so I’ve been putting it off for a year months:

I want to do a treatment to that fireplace wall – I’ve been trying to figure out what I want to do and I finally have a plan!

The new wall color is lighter and will look lovely – I just want to make sure to keep a cozy feel in here: 

I have plans for that long bench too – it’s the perfect size and super comfy so I plan to redo it so it works in the room a little better.

I LOVE this space though, even half way “there”:

Have you decorated a tree in a unique way? I’ll be saving these photos and will just add to them next year. Love it!

Speaking of trees…my annual Christmas tree party will be held later this week! If you are a blogger, please join me this Thursday and show off your trees and home tours. If you’re not a blogger, grab a cup of cocoa and enjoy!

I’ll see you back here for the party! Whoot!

Fall nesting

Hello everybody! Hope you had a lovely fall weekend! In between some fun I was able to get a few little things done around the house and get a bit of fall decor out as well.

I’ve actually been tackling some little projects over the past week or so – including a LOT of cleaning and organizing. Our home has felt like a mess even weeks after the construction in the family room was completed. So I’ve been addressing the piles o’ crap everywhere and finishing up small projects along the way.

I’ve been planning to paint this mirror frame for weeks now:

I went back and forth on a color and actually started painting it a brick red color – which would look GREAT for fall. But I quickly realized come spring and summer that the color would feel really off in this room.

I don’t want to add too much more gray to this room but I felt like it needed some balancing out – so I went with gray. ;) It really feels right with that color on the fireplace across the room too.

I LOVE how it looks with the finish on that table, the white walls and the green lamps:

It’s cloudy and dark here today, hence the darker photos. You’ll see I also finished up that little bit of trim on the board and batten. The trim that’s still not painted. :) But at least it’s all done and ready for paint.

By the way, I framed out that mirror myself years ago. It used to live in the chocolate brown dining room and you can see how I made it here.

A wall in the old office has been without the top trim since July – I finally got that replaced (we saved a lot of the old trim so I just reused what I had for most of it). It still needs painting as well – do you sense a pattern here? But I got some art up on one wall that is done:

Which totally makes me feel like I’m getting to the home stretch in this room! Hanging stuff signifies (almost) completion to me. :)

I focused on the upstairs too and changed up the decor on the bedroom mantel to warm it up a bit:

Those walls STILL haven’t been painted to go with the new dark gray wall – but I do love that gray/green color for fall. It feels very cozy! I also cleaned the gas fireplace glass in preparation for the colder months. Today we’re supposed to have an unusually warm day but after that it’s going to get chilly for good.

And speaking of fireplaces – when I shared the new completed one in the family room a couple weeks ago some of you suggested painting the crown molding at the top. You were so right and I seriously stared at it every. single. day. wanting that white gone.

It finally bugged me so much I got up on the ladder late last night while I watched Revenge and got it painted to match the rest of the fireplace:

Ahhhh. SO much better. Now I can quit twitching. :)

Today my goal is to get the garage cleaned out so I can actually reach the rest of our fall decor. The boy is begging for some Halloween so I must comply.

It feels SO good to get little projects like these done! I’m really wanting to focus on some other areas of the house but my goal is to get the family room done this week – I’m going to make it happen!! I LOVE this time of year – fluffing, cleaning, getting ready to host family and friends and warming up the house. I’m one of those weirdos that actually enjoys the colder months. (Until about February or so.)

Have you done anything around the house to prep for fall and winter? I can’t believe it but I’m already starting to think about the holidays – every year I’m determined not to be rushing around and every year I’m rushing around. We’ll see if this year is any different. :)

Easy art knock off

Hey hey! Happy Friday! I have a quick and easy knock off for you today! I’ve been thinking more about what I’ll be hanging on the walls in our master bedroom…after I finish painting all of them. Who knows how long that will be. Could be years. But whatever.

It’s the one room in our house with a TON of wall space – and it’s hard to figure out what to put everywhere. I struggle with making all the walls work together.

Lately I’ve seen a lot of this art at HomeGoods and it always catches my eye:

Over the past few months I’ve seen a bunch of these at two different locations and I love them. I picked up some coral art for the room at Target months back and these would look great with it. But I didn’t want to $40 on one, especially when I knew it would be so easy to recreate. :)

So that I did! I picked up a square frame at HG for $8:

The look was exactly the same, it’s just about eight inches smaller on each side.

I wanted to pull in some color so I cut navy blue scrapbook paper and taped it to the back of the mat:

I’ve had some shells for years that I knew would work in the middle. I tried out a few and liked both of these:

 

But ended up with one a little simpler – a sweet little starfish. :)

I ended up spray painting the frame white, but then changed direction and threw some more color on there with a navy blue again. (I blogged about my blue spray paint taste test here.)

It was quick and easy and cost me $8. Not too shabby!:

Once I get the walls painted (a light gray) and get that small gallery wall going I think it will be a great little addition! My version doesn’t have the glass on top, but I have a plan in mind to make it look more like the inspiration art. (More of a shadow box look.)

I’ll let you know if it works when the wall is put together! First up…painting the room! Good times.

Have a great weekend my friends!

Updated 80’s light fixture

Hey hey! I’m back with a project that I let sit around for nearly two years. It’s been moved around the house – the garage for a while, then it’s future home (the dining room/library) for the past year or so. Just sitting there. For a year.

It was time. I found this light fixture at the Habitat Restore almost two years ago, even before I finished up the bookcases in the dining room:

It was $20 and I loved the shape so I snagged it up!

I think the main reason I let it sit so long was the work that I knew would go into transforming it. Meaning taping all that off to paint it. Bleh. Not fun.

I pulled out my rub n buff first, thinking I may be able to get away with no taping off and spray paint. But the dark color I had was dried as hard as a rock, I couldn’t get any out of the tube. Wah wahh. So I knew I’d have to spray paint it. I did consider just leaving it – the brass didn’t horrify me. :) But I wanted it to stand out more and I knew a darker color would make that happen. And the brass looked fine in some areas and horrible in others, so it needed to be covered.

It came apart into two pieces and I cleaned it well:

This one helped:

Then it was time to tape all that off. I came up with an idea that helped though! I just laid the painter’s tape down over the glass and then used my razor to “cut out” each one:

It worked GREAT. I timed myself and it took one hour and 15 minutes to tape off the whole thing:

That’s 64 sections in one hour and fifteen minutes, so not too shabby! And when you’re sitting in front of the TV watching Flipping Out the whole time it’s really not too bad. :)

About half way through I realized the inside would still be brass, but you pick your battles. No way was I going to try to do the inside. So it’s still brass, but you can’t even tell.

I took it and the smaller pieces outside (YAY for spray paint weather!!) and primed them with black primer, then sprayed them in oil rubbed bronze spray paint (I’ve tried them all and all look great). Then I hung the light part in the garage and sprayed it the same way:

Those white sleeves were brittle and falling apart so I just kept them on to protect the electrical stuff while I painted.

By the way, I don’t always prime my metal light fixtures – it’s not something that’s going to get wear and tear. But I was almost out of my ORB spray paint so I wanted to make sure it had a dark base.

When the parts were dry to the touch (about an hour later), I installed it inside:

The chandelier we’ve had in here has looked odd to me since we started the transition to a library instead of a dining room. (Read more about that here.) Our old kitchen table still sits in here, only because we haven’t made the new furniture a priority. (Four matching chairs isn’t going to be cheap!)

Anyway, the old light was too detailed for this space and I wanted something a bit simpler. I think the darker paint makes this light look a million times better!:

Eventually I may get something else (I’ve had my eye on another light for a long time now) but for now the $20 one that’s been laying around for years works GREAT. :) I won’t do anything until we get the furniture for this space anyway.

Part of the reason I finally got this done is because I’ve been wanting to move the chandelier that was in dining room to the bedroom:

I’ve had another Habitat light up there for years but I wasn’t loving it anymore – and it was just a place holder till I could get a chandelier in there. :) This worked out perfectly!

The chandelier was from Home Depot and I got it because it was so similar to the Pottery Barn version, for about $200 less:

(PB: source, HD: source)

I LOVE this light! It is gorgeous in the master bedroom:

I’ve been planning to use this one in there since I finished up the bookcases in the library, so it’s nice to finally get it installed!

So there you go – a $20 light, spray paint season is BACK and a little light switcharoo! I feel like I got two lights for less than $25 – I had to get new white sleeves for the dining room light so that added a few bucks. And when you buy the light two years ago, does that even count? :)

Have you spray painted a light fixture lately? It’s amazing what paint will do to help update them!

Dark gray accent wall

Hello everybody! It is beautiful outside and I’m SO excited about the project I finished up this weekend! I’ve been planning it for some time now and I finally bit the bullet and got it done over Saturday and Sunday.

This one was all about the long wall behind our bed in the master. It’s looked like this for some time now, about nine months:

I painted it before we got our new bed and I installed the DIY headboard last summer. I was in such a rush to get it done I didn’t even cut in at the ceiling or the baseboards. And it sat.

I was telling a friend the other day that know when I’m not sure about a project when I let it sit for months. I’m talking six months to a year, or even years, like the powder room. If I’m loving the direction it’s going I’m pretty good at making it happen fairly quickly. (Granted, quickly in my time is still pretty slow.)

So I knew within a few months that I wasn’t feeling the light color on that wall, or I would have finished it up. I told you here how I was waffling between a dark or light bedroom – I love both! And I finally figured out how to make both happen. :)

I had been thinking of how to make that wall a little more dramatic and had a plan in mind. Then it was solidified when I saw Sarah’s wall in her office. Her dark wall was so striking, I loved it!

So that’s what I did. I was at the fancy mall a few months ago and the wall behind the cashier at Pottery Barn was a beautiful dark gray – I asked what it was and that’s when I knew Peppercorn was the color I would use:

I got the swatch a couple months ago and checked it in the room – it matched the dark gray in the rug perfectly and the new mirror over the fireplace too. It was meant to be!

I started by painting the wall Saturday – no cutting in needed, my favorite!:

I had this mixed in an eggshell finish – I love a dark color in a matte finish but I wouldn’t recommend it. You’ll see every little scuff and want to be able to wipe it easily.

After the wall was painted I moved on to the trim work. I used simple mdf boards from Lowe’s – they come primed white. I got 13 boards so the total cost was around $80. I go back and forth on painting before installation and this time I did:

But I’ve decided I still think it’s easier to just paint it all after the fact. You have to spackle all the holes and gaps and even though I tint it with the paint color, you still have to sand/wipe it down and then do at least one more coat after that:

And eventually I’ll probably caulk this whole wall (I haven’t yet) and I’ll have to paint over that too. So, I think I’ll always be a paint-after-install girl. :)

I did a “frame” around the whole wall – mitering the corners like you see above. Then I did a board and batten look on the rest of the wall:

And I LOVE IT.

Like, stand in the room and stare at it, LOVE. My husband can't stop talking about it too, that’s when I know it’s a home run for us. :)

It is just perfect as an accent in this room. The headboard pops off of it even more than with the lighter color and even the navy blue lamps still look good:

I never ever take pictures at night but I couldn’t resist – it looks so good during the day but I think I love it even more at night:

You can see above that the other three walls are still their original color – that’s the next step. They will be that light gray that was on the bed wall soon – as soon as I get the ladder and extender paint pole out. :) I’m SO excited about how this room is coming together now, I’m thrilled with it.

This is how it looks during the day:

I still have to touch up smudges on the ceiling too, so ignore those. :) I couldn’t decide if I wanted to paint the base the same color as the wall, but I like it as is.

I planned the two segments on the wall so I could clear the headboard. I’m considering adding another line of the boards to make a third (bottom) segment – but I’m not sure. If I do it will mess with the headboard so I think I’m just leaving it:

It truly makes that wall a focal point now, which is what I think the room needed. Love it so much.

This room is really coming together now but there’s still a lot I want to do! The priority is to finally get the rest of those walls done – two coats on each wall which is going to be SUPER FUN. :)

Do you prefer a light or dark bedroom? I think when I’m done this will be a good mix of both. I especially love the board and batten look in this dark color – have you ever done something similar in a dark paint?

We’re off for spring break this week so I’ll be taking a few days to be with my family – I’ll be back Friday with a quick little DIY project for the closet! That’s another space I’m excited about! Have a lovely, warm(?), safe week!

My love, chunky trim

I’m on a mission in our house. A mission to remove all wimpy, skinny trim. I’m talking baseboards and door trim and I haven’t even started with the window trim. We’ve lived hear almost ten years and I’ve barely just begun.

It’s going to be a long, hard fight. So far the wimpy trim is still winning. :)

I’ve completed two rooms – TWO. The mud room and the powder room are done. Small victories. Wait! Three rooms are done, the whole point of this post – the master!

I shared a bit of the new door trim with you a couple weeks ago when I shared the new beefy baseboards I installed over the old ones. But I finally got to finishing it up by filling holes, painting two more coats of white paint and caulking (almost) everything.

Here’s the completed door to our bathroom:

I’ve blogged about this process before but I thought I’d share a little more detail this time. The doors are all trimmed out in pine wood and I use five pieces to make up the final look.

The two sides are regular 1x4’s, which aren’t 1x4 at all but whatever. One of life’s mysteries. The top is the three more trim pieces. Here’s a side view of the three pieces that make this one up:

There’s a 1x2 on top, then another 1x4 and a small trim piece called “stop” on the bottom. The stop part is what I’ve changed up since the first time I did this. In our powder room I used lattice wood and it felt too thin for me.

You can see here that the stop has a curved edge:

In this room I actually used taller wood for the header – in the pic above it's a 1x4 but because our room is large and the ceiling is high, I went with a 1x6:

LOVE it.

I avoided doing this for years because I thought it would be so complicated. It’s not at all. I assemble the header on the floor (with a nail gun) and then put it up after the two side trim pieces are installed:

SO dreamy.

Here’s a look at the double doors:

Ignore the sides of the trim – I decided not to caulk until I paint the rest of the room.

I like that the “stop” trim has a little bit of a curve to one side – I think it gives it a little more of a custom look:

This one isn’t as easy to appreciate though, since the doors are usually open: 

But the chunky header looks pretty darn good.

Just imagine how great they’ll look with sexy black doors – my other mission. :)

Obviously this is a splurge – it’s not a necessity but I love the look and I think it makes our home feel more “classic” and less “2004 build.” I’ve been doing this slowly over years now and I won’t do every doorway – I doubt I’ll touch the basement for instance. But overall it’s changing the feel of our home and I love it!

Have you tried a similar look in your home? Do you love the classic white craftsman trim as much as I do? It’s not nearly as hard as I thought it would be!