Halloween Decor & Living Room updates

Happy Monday!

Did you notice the blog got a new look?  I thought since our home is getting freshly painted white walls, the blog should get a little makeover too. What do you think?

 How are we half way through October already?

 With Halloween right around the corner I thought I'd give you a peek into our home. If you've been reading my blog for a while you may recall why I love to take my kids trick or treating? ( Hint: it's not for the chocolate…okay, maybe a little) If you don't remember or you want to read about my nosiness you can here.

Normally, I don't decorate so much for Halloween, but this year we are hosting a family Halloween party with 11 (13 including ours) nephews and nieces, so I stepped up our Halloween decor a bit.   If you missed our last cousin Halloween party you can check it out here. 

I change our chalkboard art seasonally and for birthdays. I'm often asked what I use to write on our chalkboard and although these chalk pens  have to usually be erased with a Magic Eraser, they are still my favorite.

I made this chalkboard a few years ago using this tutorial. The globe string lights are actually just Christmas lights with ping pong balls around them. I made them last Christmas and loved them, so we never took them down.

The mantle pretty much remained the same except I added the small pumpkins and Halloween banner. The banner was purchased from Michaels.  The copper tea light holders are from Target. I couldn't find them online, but I like this one too!

As you can see from the photo above we're starting to put the living room back together and have even added a couple of new pieces. Since the walls have been painted I haven't hung anything back up besides Halloween decorations. You can see what our living room looked like before in this post.

Remember in my last post I showed you inspiration pictures of the look I'm going for in our living room?  Well, I did some serious investigation via a couple clicks on Pinterest and found out that the entryway I pinned belonged to designer  Sarah Sherman Samuel. I had been seriously drooling over her entryway! 

 I was way too excited shocked when I found out the console table was from CB2, still available and affordable! Whaaat!?! #iwillfindyou  Naturally, I tracked it down at the nearest CB2 (which is in Berkeley for all you locals) and made my husband take me to Berkeley for our date night. Which my husband was totally cool with because he's used to me  because there is a tasting room called The Rare Barrel in Berkeley that he had wanted to check out. Win-Win! And that's how we spent our date night because we're super romantic like that. 

I was a little disappointed when I saw the Mills Console table in the store. The table looked black in pictures, but was a more gunmetal grey in person. I almost shied away from purchasing it, but couldn't find anything else that I liked with the same dimensions and price range. Have I mentioned that I'm very indecisive when it comes to buying things!?! Want to go shopping with me? Didn't think so.

As you can see in the picture below I finally made a decision and bought it and you guys…I'm so happy with it! It's narrow, sleek and just down right perfect for our entryway.  Thank you Sarah Sherman Samuel for designing the perfect entryway! Your entryway is like 100 heart eyed Emojis! 

The rattan stool and basket were thrifted. The copper candelabra is from Target and the spider web and spider are from Michaels. You can see what our entryway used to look like here.

I'm still learning how to "style" a room for a photo. In Emily Henderson's new book Styled she talks about how you should photograph a space as if someone was just in the room. It gives the feeling of real life.  I took Emily's advice and tried my best in this shot?! Actually that is exactly where I sit every morning and have my quiet time and devotions before I start my day. 

I posted a picture last week on  Instagram  of the leaf wall hanging I made.  This was a super easy and inexpensive project. I spray painted magnolia leaves with copper spray paint and once they dried I painted a portion of the leaf white. Using a hot glue gun, glue the leaves and feathers to twine. I tied a long piece of leather lace to each end of the stick to use as the hanger.

The black and white striped pillow cover is from Ikea and I made the spider web pillow.  I already had the black pillow cover and drew the spider web on it with a white fabric marker from Michaels.

 The pharmacy floor lamp (similar) and black footstool were thrifted. The marble and copper side table and lamp are from Target. Have I mentioned that I LOVE Target!

I've been a total slacker in putting the gallery wall back up. So, the stairwell has now become the bat wall for the month of October.

Copper and marble Lamp from Target.

Have a great week!

xoxo,

                                                          

Our Christmas Decor {Industrial Chic}

Christmastime is here! This year I had planned on being finished with Christmas decorating and shopping by Thanksgiving, but it just didn't happen! My plan was to bust it all out the week of Thanksgiving break, so we can sit back and enjoy it all. Well, Thanksgiving break came and went super fast.  So, this last week I've been working like one of Santa's elves trying to get everything done.

In years past we've put our Christmas tree in our living room, but this year we decided to put it in our family room. Since this is where we spend most of our time anyway.

This year I wanted our Christmas decor to have more of an industrial feel and look of mixed metals to go along with the lockers that are in our family room. 

The "JOY" sign is from Target. I wasn't in love with the original finish of it, (it looked more rustic than the vintage description of it) so I painted it Rustoleum's Safety Red. The same red as our entry table.

 I normally wouldn't buy something new and then paint it, but in this case it was only $20 and I knew I couldn't DIY a light box for less. I'm happy with the way it turned out! I feel like the bright red is more JOYful than the original color! Sorry Target. 

I removed the plastic bulbs, taped off the light bulbs and cord, then spray painted it.

So much more bright and cheery, right?!?

Our stocking holders are old, but did get a paint job this year. I was wanting new stocking holders, but wasn't too sure of what kind I wanted anyway, so I decided to try painting them first. I used Craft Smart metallic paint in Silver to give them a faux zinc finish. I'm happy with the way they turned out! They fit right in with the industrial feel that I'm going for.

Before and After

The tea light candle covers were an easy DIY that I made last year using this tutorial.

The garland on the tree was made by using gold, white and silver scrapbook paper , twine and a circle punch. It's similar to the one I made here

Instead of using a tree skirt this year, I opted for a galvanized bucket to go along with our industrial theme. To add a little modern twist to it, I striped it using painters tape and gold rub n buff.

 Stripes and polka dots make this girl happy!

The glittered reindeer canvas was made last year. I don't remember what tutorial I used, but you can find a similar tutorial here.

I made the faux metal ornaments using the products below.

This is a simple DIY but if you're like me and you like details... here you go:

Remove the cap from ornament. Pour a small amount of paint into the ornament. Move the ornament around so paint covers the inside completely. Let the paint drip dry out of the ornament into a paper cup.  I used the small Dixie cups and let them dry over night.

Use the gold leaf pen to paint cap.
I would have used rub n buff for the caps, but I ran out after striping the galvanized bucket. And apparently I'm not the only one who considers Rub n Buff a DIYer's BFF , both local craft stores were sold out of it!

I'll be adding a few more touches to our holiday decor over the weekend and I'll be sharing them next week!

Have a great weekend!

xo,