Friday, August 16, 2013

Fireplace Lovin

I know I JUST posted about the fireplace yesterday.
But I came home last night to see this beauty
 My husband found this antler a few years ago while hunting
and it came home with him.
At first I thought he was crazy, but then antlers started to become
a popular design trend and it started growing on me.
We were hoping to display it on the mantle, but it is just too big,
but I kind of love it just sitting there on the hearth.
So bravo to my hubby for accessorizing in such a stylish way.
He's a keeper, and so is the antler.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Fireplace Before and After

This is what our fireplace looked like before we moved in.
It was UGGGLY, but I saw the potential!

When we moved in we stuck a TV up there (or maybe 2)
because we had NO furniture and no entertainment center.

Well, with a little bit of love the fireplace got a drastic makeover!
I can't tell you how much a little (or a lot) of paint can help 
to transform something so quickly!
The rest of the living room still needs some work, 
but at least the fireplace is looking fab!

Friday, August 9, 2013

Office Design Board

We have a million projects going on at our new house and one of them is my office.
I decided to put together this design board to see how the 
ideas I have floating around in my head work together, and I love it!
Now it's time to get it done!

I found this burlap fabric with silver dots today at JoAnns and decided it would
be the perfect fabric for the cork board above my desk.
The desk and a few of the accessories have already been purchased and I 
can't wait to get the rest!

If you remember from the house tour, my office looked like this before we moved in
It's the dining area of the house, but I will be using it as my office area instead.
It's open to the living room and kitchen, so I'm keeping it light and bright 
and will add a few colorful accessories.

Monday, August 5, 2013

Starry Ceiling Tutorial

When I started designing Eli's nursery I stumbled upon this
wallpaper by Osborne and Little called Coronata Star.
I fell in love with it and new I wanted to achieve the same look on Eli's ceiling.

Here's what you need:
                           - Light blue/aqua paint- mine was a mis tint I picked up for $3
                           - Painting supplies
                           - Chalk line reel with dustable chalk
                           - A ruler to measure out your ceiling grid
                           - Silver vinyl- I used THIS one
                           - A Cricut (or Silhouette machine)
                           - The Cricut George cartridge 
                             (the standard cartridge that comes with the Cricut)
                           - A ladder or step stool 
                           - A rag to dust off your chalk line grid once complete
                           - And a patient assistant!

Eli's ceiling started off looking like this
FIRST
 measure your ceiling, have someone help to get an exact measurement.
I did it on my own and had to fudge my numbers later because of it.
Then decide how far apart you want your stars. 
My ceiling was about 144" by 144" 
I didn't want to deal with measuring partial inches so I decided 
I would do my grid every 9 inches to make it even.
That means I would have 16 lines vertical and 16 lines horizontal to
make up my ceiling grid. Multiply those (16x16) and divide by 2 and that means 
I needed 128 stars for my ceiling. 

 Once you have your math out of the way get painting!
While your ceiling is drying you can cut out your stars using your Cricut.
I used the sun shape but did the shadow, and set my scale at 2.5 inches.
I was able to fit 8 stars on each 6" by 12" piece of vinyl.
I did this one night while while watching TV and it took about 2 hours
Once my ceiling was dry I measured out every 9 inches around my ceiling.
Here's where your patient assistant comes in!
Using your chalk line reel, make a grid on your ceiling.
This part is time consuming, but it makes sure that your pattern stays straight.

Once your grid is up you can start putting up your stars
This is when it starts to come together!
Only put stars on every other line intersection so you get an alternating 
pattern like so:
 Once your stars are all in place take a rag and dust off your chalk line.
Then lay down on the floor and admire your hard work!

This project was time consuming but it was pretty easy and inexpensive.
And the results are so worth it!

Monday, July 29, 2013

Sneak Peak at E's Nursery

Here is the inspiration board I designed for 
Eli's nursery last year.  His room is finally coming together 
and here is a little sneak peak for you.


The starry ceiling and the Animal Print Shop prints
are my absolute favorite parts of the space.


I think he approves!


A full reveal and a tutorial on the ceiling will be up soon!

If you're interested in your own inspiration board to help you get 
started on a space, email me!  Rates start at $150 per room.


Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Our First Place- The Befores

Welcome to our new home
Here are the BEFORE pictures.
These pictures are from the listing, so this is 
not our furniture or our style at all! 
EVERY. SINGLE. ROOM will be painted
and designed by me, with a little bit of help from
DR. Rad of course!
It's a cute little one story ranch style home.
Our plans for the exterior: 
We plan on repainting it next spring,
whitewashing the brick and hoping to 
make it look less "blah"


This is Addyson's room

 Her room has already been painted, 
furniture, bedding, fabric for curtains and pillows 
have been purchased, and it will hopefully be ready
for a reveal next week!


The kids bathroom
 The kids bath, which is also our guest bath, is 
getting an overhaul as we speak.
We are painting the walls and the cabinets, switching
out the mirror and the lighting, and accessorizing!


This is Eli's room
 It already looks nothing like this.  The walls and ceiling 
have been painted, curtains have been hung, and I am 
awaiting for some artwork I ordered and will hopefully
be hung this weekend.  I am also doing something special
with the ceiling, more on that to come!!


This is the living room
 It unfortunately still looks too much like this.
That horrendous fireplace will hopefully be transformed 
in a week or so after we finish the kids rooms and bathroom.
It will be repainted, new Carrara marble tile, and the brass 
will be updated.  
We have already purchased a sofa, chair, and coffee table for 
this room but we are in search of an entertainment center.


This is the dining area
 We will not be using this space for dining, this will be
turned into the office wall, with a desk and bookshelves.
The kitchen table is less than 20 feet away, and I do not
trust my children to eat on carpet, so it seemed silly 
to use it as a dining space.  That red wall will hopefully be gone
soon because I can't handle looking at it for much longer!


This is the master bedroom
aka where the magic happens
 Currently in this room we have a king size bed.
and. that's it.
We took down the curtains so it's a big blank slate,
but it's farther down on our to do list, so we will get
to it in a month or so.  But for now I am just keeping
my eye out for some dressers and side tables.


This is the kitchen
 I LOVE this kitchen because it's huge.
But that's the only thing I love about it. 
We will be removing the wallpaper, painting the cabinets,
and adding a backsplash. The lighting also needs to be updated, 
chairs need to be purchased for our new table, and stainless steel 
appliance will be added down the road!

We also plan on tackling THIS issue
See those horrible cut outs in the wall?!
What were they thinking?
I would love to take down the top half of that wall and add 
a little bar.  It's over the carpet so it would be more for coloring
and eventually homework rather than eating, but I think a few
stools there would be cute.  Now I just have to convince 
DR. Rad to let me do some demo!


So that's the tour!  It's a work in progress for sure, but 
I am excited to share that progress on here for all to see!

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

My Baby is 4

My favorite girl turned 4 today. 
She made me a mommy 4 years ago, and I love her for that.
Being her mom sure has it's challenges, but it is also such a blessing.

Here she is at her first birthday
We went all out and celebrated surviving our first year!

Then she turned 2, she was the cutest 2 year old ever!
And once again we had quite the bash to celebrate!

Then she turned 3
 And we had a fiesta with lots of friends

And now she is 4, I can't believe my baby is 4!
We will be spending our day eating donuts, wearing Twinkle Toes,
going to Build a Bear, having dinner at Steak and Shake, and playing at 
the arcade and anything else this little 4 year old wants to do.

Happy Birthday to my sweet Addyson!