2014 Home Goals

This year I decided to write down a few of my "home" goals or projects that I would like to focus on and/or complete throughout this year. I have so many to do's in the wings...but with limited free time nowadays I thought I would just focus on a couple.

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 My first big project I would like to complete is the remodel and finishing of our "Attic Room". 

I've shared this before, this project has been quite the chore. So far we have all the insulation and beam work complete, we have also had the electrician and heating/cooling specialists installing a separate unit for this space since its above the garage. Next up is Sheetrock, finishing work, carpet...and then we will have us a room to decorate! So excited to finally get this done.

 Another goal is to paint my front door. I think it needs a color. My husband disagrees with me and prefers it to stay white...we will see who wins out on this one. :)

 Another goal is to actually finish decorating one of our bathrooms. None of our bathrooms are decorated and this one pictured above is still in the process of having its ceiling painted! Its been that way since before I got pregnant this last year...oops! So I want to for sure *finish* at least one of our bathrooms. Maybe more who knows!

I bought this curio along with a matching hutch that I planned to refinish. This one is in progress, a chalk paint project I will share soon. I am hoping to get the hutch finished this year as well. Right now it is residing in my basement. :)

 

Lastly, I would like to re-do my dining area. After painting the molding and bottom wall in the room, I would like the ceiling painted white and a nice gray on the walls.

What are your home goals?

Want updates and spoilers on projects and ideas?  Come like me on facebook , twitter, and Google + to keep up on whats up next!

Boy Bedroom Reveal

Well, this is a long time coming! We have lived here for over a year and a half and I finally started working on my son's room. My son has a "Cowboy" bedroom, and he wanted to keep it cowboy themed so we just gave it a modern flair. Here is how my son's room was looking before we started this makeover:

 Yep, its a mess in these pictures...I knew I was going to be redoing everything so I let things go this week. Normally I tried to keep some order, but its difficult with no storage! We are fresh out of college so our furniture is quite sparse. While I love my beige walls...the way the sunlight hit his room for most of the day with the painted beige ceiling as well, created an almost peach cast. This didn't seem very "boy" so after I took everything out of his room I went paint shopping. Not gonna lie...it was a painful experience. I got my go to white ceiling paint...but choosing the perfect wall shade was tough! I bought so many samples before I finally found 'the one'.

So I got to work painting, white ceiling and grey walls. The wall color I chose was from Sherman Williams and it is called repose grey. I noticed an instant change in the feel of the room, in a good way. I was worried because grey sometimes seems so cold...but with all the warm accents in the room it balances well. Those of you who follow me on facebook already got a sneak of this a while back!

Here is the mostly finished product. It included a dresser that was gifted to me by my sister which I repainted and added new knobs, hand-sewn thick stripe curtains(my favorite!), painted shelves and signs, reclaimed headboard and toy chest from salvation army, and new bedding. Let me know what you think!

 I wanted the bedding to give a "pottery barn" feel, without the pottery barn price! I got this set on overstock for $100. I love the hand-stitched look.

I looked everywhere for thick striped white and navy curtains...and after looking and not being impressed, I decided to make my own. It took me a while, but I was able to add blackout fabric to the back lining which is so helpful to keep the light out of my son's room while he is sleeping since his room faces East. Loving the white ceiling too!

 Loving the bold lines and patterns!

Here is a close-up of some of the details. I am still working on the shelves...but overall I wanted to include his favorite things.

 Easy, cute storage.

And there ya have it...I'll post a few more in depth details about the room, but I hope you enjoyed this before and after. We just love how it turned out! Let me know what you think!

Want updates and spoilers on projects and ideas?  Come like me on facebook and twitter to keep up on whats up next!


I'm join these fabulous link parties each week: Flamingo Toes,  I heart naptime, Under the table and dreaming, Not your ordinary Recipes, Not just a housewife, The Project Queen, Creating my way to success, Craft Couture, Funky Polkadot Giraffe,The Kurtz Corner,  Krafty Kat, Polly want a Crafter, Blue Cricket Design, Southern Lovely, Ginger Snap Crafts,  Women who do it all, Eisy Morgan, Laugh, Love, Craft,  Clean & Scentsible,  House of Hepworths, Somewhat Simple, The Shabby Creek Cottage, The Shabby Nest, The Speckled Dog, Tatortots & Jello, Simply Designing, Chic on a Shoestring, Just a Girl ,Someday Crafts, Reasons to skip the housework,  The Idea Room ,Between U and Me,   Home Saavy
Pocket full of pink,  For the love of cupcakes, Positively Splendid,  Raising 4 Princesses , One Stop Shoppe,Oopsey Daisy
 Its Overflowing, The D.I.Y. Dreamer ,Serendipity & Spice, Rae Gun Ramblings, ,Crafty blog stalker , CSI Project,
36th Avenue, Real housewives of Riverton ,The rustic pig    , Clever Chicks Blog Hop

Pallet Sign Tutorial Part 2 {stencil}

 Hey Ya'll, I am back with a little update on my pallet wood sign tutorial. I have had a lot of questions sent to me and so I thought I would address them all at once. :)
As I mentioned, I made a stencil with cardstock on my 12x12 mat with my silhouette. (I am going to attempt to share a link to my silhouette stencil file I made...but no guarantees it will work!) It was a little tedious figuring out the sizes, not to mention I am NOT a wiz at this silhouette thing. I have really only used it here and there. Anyways, I want to share with you how I went about making my stencil. I know there are probably much better ways to do this...but this is how I went about it. :)
Click on over for the rest of this post.

Pallet Wood Sign

I have been dying to make a pallet wood sign for a while but I wanted the perfect saying. Something that would be positive and mean something to our family as we walked past it each day. I was perusing the wood connection blog  (I used their cute frames for my gallery wall) and they did a wood sign project with this saying and it struck me like a ton of bricks. It was
PERFECT!  Exactly what I was looking for. So I got busy and went to work.

 Click on over to see how I put it together:

Painted Metal Chairs

Every year my parents host a 4th of July party, it is always a blast and we look forward to it every year. This year my Mom decided to have a little fun with some of their rusty metal chairs we use. Here is the before:

Now for a little of this:

And the finished product (well, almost...we still have some more chairs to do in aqua blue but they didn't have that color of spray paint that day)

  

So cute right? I am loving how colorful and fun they are! Such a quick and easy fix to make for some outdoor entertaining. I hope you're all having a great summer! We have been super busy and so far there seems to be no sign of it stopping. I can't believe it is almost July.

I'm join these fabulous link parties each week: Flamingo Toes,  I heart naptime, Under the table and dreaming, Not your ordinary Recipes, Not just a housewife, The Project Queen, Creating my way to success, Craft Couture, Funky Polkadot Giraffe,The Kurtz Corner,  Krafty Kat, Polly want a Crafter, Blue Cricket Design, Southern Lovely, Ginger Snap Crafts,  Women who do it all, Eisy Morgan, Laugh, Love, Craft,  Clean & Scentsible,  House of Hepworths, Somewhat Simple, The Shabby Creek Cottage, The Shabby Nest, The Speckled Dog, Tatortots & Jello, Simply Designing, Chic on a Shoestring, Just a Girl ,Someday Crafts, Reasons to skip the housework,  The Idea Room ,Between U and Me,   Home Saavy
Pocket full of pink,  For the love of cupcakes, Positively Splendid,  Raising 4 Princesses , One Stop Shoppe,Oopsey Daisy
 Its Overflowing, The D.I.Y. Dreamer ,Serendipity & Spice, Rae Gun Ramblings, ,Crafty blog stalker , CSI Project

Gold Mirror Re-do

After living here almost a year...I am finally getting a sense of what I want to hang where. I really haven't done much decorating, and in a way I think it has been good to 'live' in this space and figure out what I really want, and what will really work for our home. Our entry is small and I just had this little table with flowers on it, but it needed something.

I headed up to my 'junk' room where everything I haven't unpacked is including all our decorations and my thrift store finds. I came across the perfect gold mirror.

The gold is not my style, but with a little primer and paint...it turned out perfect. I love it, the perfect addition to my small entry. (plus it feels good to finally start making our home our own!)

Vase Redo with Jute

 Wanna take a boring plain glass vase and give it something special? How about using jute?

So cute right? I got my jute from website that does wholesale and the prices are great. Go to http://burlapfabric.com/    There prices are great and they shipped fast too. Really great to work with and they have so many fun options including burlap coffee bags, burlap webbing (so plan on getting some of this), cheesecloth, jute and sisal twine. You should totally check them out! I use jute for so many things, wrapping gifts, decorating, hanging things. Here is a basic tutorial on how I created did this vase-redo.

My New Shutters

I have been totally inspired by all the shutter projects out there and fell in love with the look of barnwood shutters. Specifically the ones found here. I have looked everywhere and could not find any...so I decided to make my own version. Now, this project would have been a breeze if I would have had some real tools...but I made it work. (Keep in mind I am NOT a builder...so I am sure there is a better way to go about this...lol) I went to Home Depot and got some standard (1x3) pine boards. I had them cut them 36" long. I then got some (1x2) boards that were just at the end of the isle and I took the home and cut them myself. I can't remember how many of those I bought. I think they were 8 feet long so I bought 2, but not sure. Anyways, I bought miter box and saw to help with my cuts. Now...this is the first time I have used a miter box, and maybe I am just a wimp...but it was so hard. I knew better than to ask my husband....he would have just mocked the idea and said we don't need barn shutters in our house! :) So I tackled this all on my own. Anyways, this project was kind of just me using trial and error. I cut the boards and then cut cardboard to use as spacers.(I have my measurements diagrammed at the bottom of this post)

I set out my angled piece and put that in place so I knew where I would want my top cross pieces. I clamped these and used liquid nails to set them in place.

After I got them all set in place I used a few finishing nails by hand to secure the pieces. Then I sanded it down a little but wanted to leave these kind of raw. I wanted these to look natural and like old barn shutters uneven and all. I used white paint that I watered down a little so that after I painted them the wood grain would still be visible. Kind of white washed.

For easy hanging, I attached picture hanging wire to the back of each shutter.

And here are my shutters. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out especially since I am such an amateur!

And my current holiday decor.

Here are my rough measurements:

I'm join these fabulous link parties each week: Flamingo Toes,  I heart naptime, Under the table and dreaming, Not your ordinary Recipes, Not just a housewife, The Project Queen, Creating my way to success, Craft Couture, Funky Polkadot Giraffe,The Kurtz Corner,  Krafty Kat, Polly want a Crafter, Blue Cricket Design, Southern Lovely, Ginger Snap Crafts,  Women who do it all, Eisy Morgan, Laugh, Love, Craft,  Clean & Scentsible,  House of Hepworths, Somewhat Simple, The Shabby Creek Cottage, The Shabby Nest, The Speckled Dog, Tatortots & Jello, Simply Designing, Chic on a Shoestring, Just a Girl ,Someday Crafts, Reasons to skip the housework,  The Idea Room ,Between U and Me,   Home Saavy
Pocket full of pink, For the love of cupcakes, Positively Splendid, One Stop Shoppe Party

Easy Jewelry Organizer

Since our move, I have needed a place to put some of my jewelry. I prefer it out of the way of my main room, but still easily accessible. I keep my earrings and most rings in a jewelry box because I don't wear them that often. I always wear my hair down so earrings never really show! Anyways, I had this blank wall in our master closet and thought it would work perfect for what I had in mind. A wrought iron decorative set of hooks I got at hobby lobby years ago!

I just anchored and screwed it in. Perfect solution!

I hang necklaces, watchbands, bracelets, headbands, and my commonly worn rings on the hooks. It's easy access and kind of cute! Plus being in my closet makes it even easier to quickly accessorize my outfits.

I'm join these fabulous link parties each week: Flamingo Toes,  I heart naptime, Under the table and dreaming, Not your ordinary Recipes, Not just a housewife, The Project Queen, Creating my way to success, Craft Couture, Funky Polkadot Giraffe,The Kurtz Corner,  Krafty Kat, Polly want a Crafter, Blue Cricket Design, Southern Lovely, Ginger Snap Crafts,  Women who do it all, Eisy Morgan, Laugh, Love, Craft,  Clean & Scentsible,  House of Hepworths, Somewhat Simple, The Shabby Creek Cottage, The Shabby Nest, The Speckled Dog, Tatortots & Jello, Simply Designing, Chic on a Shoestring, Just a Girl