Home Tour {Stairwell}

Hello and Happy New Year! It's been awhile! Hope everyone is enjoying the new year so far. I know I've been enjoying this warm sunny weather here in California!

 I have some exciting projects planned for this year, but today I thought I'd continue with the home tour.  

Here is our stairwell/gallery wall with some of our favorite pictures of our family.

Most of the frames have just been collected over the years. The lettered "family" frames were a gift.

The large canvas pictures were purchased from Costco.

The "H" was purchased at Michaels and I painted a chevron print on it.

I made the canvas below by painting the canvas yellow and using stencils and a paint pen.

Next week I'll share my tips on hanging a gallery wall!

Enjoy your weekend!

xoxo,

Living Room Continued

Today I'm going to show you a couple of before and afters of the furniture in our living room that were Craigslist or thrift store finds.

 I bought the white chairs the day after Christmas from Craigslist a couple of years ago. I don't know what it is, but I find the best things on Craigslist right after Christmas. Seriously, first were the chairs, the next year was my desk and last year was a chandelier. I think people get rid of the good stuff right after Christmas, either to make room for the new stuff or maybe to pay for Christmas?? I don't know, but I'm not complaining!

Before

After

I know that you're probably thinking why in the world does she have white chairs when she has two boys or you might be thinking those must be "for look" chairs. Nope, we sit in them. I don't believe in having a space that can't be used or is just "for looks." But, I also believe in being prepared for accidents (boys will be boys, right!?) and that's why these chairs are HEAVILY covered in scotch guard.  They have been wiped clean several times from candy and dirty hand prints.

 I paid $30 a piece for the chairs.  When I first purchased these chairs my plan was to have them professionally reupholstered. That plan came crashing down when the cheapest quote I could find was for $700. plus the cost of fabric which was $100.  So these chairs sat in the garage for a few months until my MIL had the bright idea of us attempting to  reupholster the chairs ourselves. And by us, I mean my mother in law, father in law and I. It was a family affair. I give them full credit for these chairs. I was there to help, but they did most of the work and came up with "the plan." We took the old fabric off in pieces, saving the pieces and then using them as a template to cut the new fabric and put it back together. I'm happy with the way they turned out!

Now, if  I had forked out the $700 I was quoted to have the chairs reupholstered my two sons probably wouldn't be allowed to look at the chairs  allowed to play on the chairs.  When decorating your house, with kids in mind, you have to be realistic and know that accidents happen, which is why I couldn't bring myself to pay so much money to have the chairs reupholstered professionally. Sure, I could have picked another kid friendly fabric, but I was pretty set on white suede.  There is something so clean and timeless about crisp white chairs.



The T.V tray was a thrift store $5 find. As you can see in the picture there was water damage. I lightly sanded it using my orbital sander with 220 grit paper.

 I then spray painted the tray with white Rustoleum spray paint. The stand was painted in this Gold Medal spray paint.

Here is a list of where items in this room were purchased.

Green velvet pillows: World Market

Pink Ikat pillow: World Market (no longer avail. online)

Knitted Pillow: Ikea

Yellow lamp: Home Goods

Striped throw blanket: Ikea

Gold Lamps: thrifted

Rug: Rugs USA

Curtain fabric: Calico

Tree Stump side table: gift from in laws

(if you are local and interested in purchasing a stump side table please email me)

xo,

Home Tour {Living Room}

Happy Friday!

Hope you had a great time yesterday peeking in your neighbors house trick or treating with your family! I know I did!

This has been a long and busy week, but I told you last week that I would show you my living room, so I was determined to post it this week.

Decorating your house often reminds me of the book "When You Take A Mouse To The Movies," but my version of the book would be called "When You Give A Girl A Couch"
Our living room (which is technically our Dining Room) has changed so much over the last couple of years. It all started with the vintage couch that my Grandma gave me. I have LOVED this couch ever since I was a little girl and have many childhood memories of playing Monopoly with my cousin's at the coffee table that sat in front of this couch at my Grandparents house. When my Grandma said that I could have the couch I screamed like a little girl was beyond thrilled and grateful. The couch was actually my parents first couch when they were newlyweds before it became my Grandmothers', who then had it reupholstered many years ago.

Back to why decorating reminds me of a children's book...

Since putting the couch in our living room, I realized how naked our windows looked and wanted to add curtains. After adding the curtains, I then wanted to add an entry table. After adding the entry table, I then realized I no longer liked our end tables.  After solving that problem, I realized I needed an area rug to anchor the space. After adding the rug, I decided that our coffee table was too big and took away from the design of the rug, which now leaves me coffee tableless. (Yes, I just made up my own word)
 Do you see how decorating your house relates to the children's book "When You Take A Mouse To The Movies?"
 My point is one thing/change leads to another and so on. But in the end, if you end up with a room that you love it's all worth it.

We have carpet in our living room, which someday I would love to rip out replace with hardwood floors.  The curtains were made by my mother in law and I using this fabric. I was a little nervous picking such a bold print, but after eyeing it for months and still loving it, I took the plunge and ordered the fabric. I'm still in love with it.

The white chairs are a Craigslist find for $30 each. I'll be sharing more on them next week.

The stump side table was a gift from my in laws. They made it. I know, right!?!  They are both very talented.

The blue t.v stand is a garage sale find for $10.00

The sunburst mirror is from Homegoods and the lamps were thrifted for $15 each. 

Let's talk about the rug! I've been wanting this rug ever since I saw it in the room below.

It was love at first sight. No joke.

via

But after seeing the hefty price tag, I quickly tried to unlove the rug...but I couldn't stop thinking about it. I fell hard. So I  then stalked it waited for it to go on sale. When it finally went on sale for 65%, plus no sales tax and free shipping, I took it as a sign from above and quickly bought it. Let me tell you, I LOVE THIS RUG! 

Yes, it's pretty light in color, but we don't wear shoes in our house and we don't eat in our living room.

(sorry, I know this is a horrible picture, but it was the only one from this angle and I'm too tired to take another)

So, there you have it, my coffee table-less living room.  

Next week I'll share more details on the pieces that were DIY'd in this room.

Enjoy your weekend!

xoxo,

Home Tour {Entryway}

While trick or treating I still walk my little guys up to the door. Not because I'm an overbearing mom (well maybe a little), but because as you're commenting on how cute their costume is and handing them sugar they don't need, I'm looking over your shoulder to get a glimpse inside your house. Weird? Maybe, but it's the truth.
I love taking my little guys to trick or treat not for the love of candy, but for my love of seeing how others live.  I love to see inside other peoples homes, even if it may just be a glimpse. I love to see how others decorate their homes. It's a reflection of the family that lives there. Your home tells a story. A story of who lives there and what they're like.

 Since I probably just creeped you out a little with my nosiness, I thought it'd only be fair to give you a glimpse of what you'd see if you came knockin on our door.

The coat rack was a garage sale find. 

The Fiddleleaf Fig tree (Ficus Lyrata) is from Home Depot for $10.00!! I've been wanting one of these trees for quite some time, but because of their usually hefty price tag and my non green thumb I was hesitant to buy one. When I found this one a few weeks ago for $10.00 I quickly snatched it up.

Since we technically don't have much for an entry way, I extended our "entryway"  into our living room..which technically is supposed to be our dining room according to our builder, but who dines on carpet?? Not us!

I found this entry table on craigslist along with the white mirror for $75.00 

Here is a before picture

I had a hard time picking a paint color. I didn't want to pick my usual safe paint choices of black or white. I wanted a statement piece that added a pop of color. I think this adds the "pop" I wanted.

The color is Safety Red by Rustoleum.

The Van Gogh print was also thrifted. You should of seen my sons face when I brought it home. He thought it was an original piece and we were rich. Broke my heart to tell him it wasn't real.

All of the frames and mirrors were thrifted or garage sale finds. The H is from Kohls (old) and the black and white horse photo is from World Market. I painted a black strip on the gold mirror to make the mirror pop a little more against our beige walls. The yellow ottoman is from Home Goods.

Hope you enjoyed "Trick or Treating" at our house today!

Here's a peek into our living room that I'll be sharing next week.

Enjoy your weekend!

xoxo,

                                                  

Home Tour {Office}

Have you noticed on my Home page that I have a tab that reads "Home Tour"? Have you noticed that the page is still empty? Yeah, me too. I'm working on it.
 In my crazy head I was wanting everything to be picture perfect before I post pictures of our home...but then I quickly felt overwhelmed  realized that is not realistic. The "Home Tour" tab would remain blank for a really long time if I'm waiting on perfection!  There is a lot more tweaking I'd like to do to our home over time, but I'm going to show you what it currently looks like, one room at a time because I can only keep one room clean at a time  and keep you posted about changes along the way.


Welcome to our office!

Enjoy!


Living in a house full of men, any chance I get to have a "girly space" I take complete advantage of it. We do all use/share the office, but I've claimed it as mine! Thankfully none of my men have complained so far about the decor.  I mean, the desk is blue..that counts as boyish, right?

                             

Here's a before picture of the desk

The desk is a $10 craigslist find that my husband painted in Benjamin Moore's Admiral Blue. The acrylic ghost chair is from here.  The gold frame was a garage sale find from a couple years ago. Inside the frame is a foam poster board covered in vintage sheet music that my SIL and I made for a marriage conference at our church last year.  I liked the saying that we painted on it, so I kept it in the frame. 

I stenciled the wall with this Trellis Wall Stencil. The lamp was a thrift store find and repainted in Rustoleum's Pistachio spray paint. 

Inside the desk, I lined the drawers with scrapbook paper and mod podge.

The Expedit shelving unit is from Ikea.

The zebra printed rug...Oh, the zebra rug.

 It is the one DIY project that almost made me throw a fit in the towel. It was many long hours of me sitting on our hard tile floor, hunched over painting. What a girl does for a zebra printed rug!

The gold zebra print rug was made using this tutorial. 

Remember this post about the jars I made for my son? I made me some too!

You know the old saying "Don't judge a book by its cover"...well that doesn't apply when styling a bookcase!  I totally judge thrift store books by their cover! I'm always looking for books that match a color scheme, add a "pop" of color...or in this case one that has a title that I find humorous! (Diary of a Mad Housewife)

The bowl and basket are from Marshall's. The gold and blue picture frame is from HomeGoods. The other small frames and yellow phone were thrifted.

The black magazine holders, gold paper tray, and the white boxes are all from Ikea. I'll share more on them later in the week.

Hope you enjoyed seeing our office!

xo,