New Master Bedroom

In August 2011, I decorated the master bedroom, then later blogged about it here. As you can see in that post, I never really liked how it turned out. It was a hodge podge of lots of elements that I liked, but I didn't really like the overall effect...just too modern feeling for me. Soon after I finished it, I sold the duvet cover, curtains, and pillows, so it's been very plain since then.

I had lots of other projects going on, like redecorating the living room, redecorating the guest room, and most recently moving the guest room downstairs and prepping to decorate the nursery, so the master bedroom was put on the back burner.

A couple of weekends ago, I started to clean out the old guest room/new nursery closet and found all of the Americana themed decor that used to be in the living room. If you'll remember, I've painted the living room a total of 3 times since we moved in 3 years ago (my name is Maggie and I am addicted to decorating and REdecorating!) Well, the very first theme I had in there was Americana, which you can see here. I kept all of the decor with the intention of one day moving it into the master bedroom. On a whim, I decided to paint the master bedroom before the nursery, so I could use all of that decor.

It took a total of 3 weekend (and 4 coats of white to cover the brown trim) but it's finally done! This was a budget redo. My only expense was paint! I already had all of the Americana decor, reused the curtains from the old guest bedroom, and the quilt was a wedding gift from my mama. So far I'm loving it...but...as you can see, I left space for a headboard...which is very much needed. I gave Jake a strong hint today that a headboard would make a very nice anniversary gift this July!

Here is my new master bedroom:

I'm not loving the color of the curtains...so I may splurge and buy new ones, possibly maroon...or should I go navy?

Definitely need a headboard!

New Living Room Decor

On new year's day, Jake and I repainted our living room. We went with a mellow sage green, with the vision of a hunting lodge in my head. I love how the green turned out and it looks great with our dark brown leather and wooden furniture.

Today we hung up Jake's deer antlers, one set on each side of the TV, and plan to refinish Jake's dad's shotgun to hang between those, directly above the TV.

I also rehung the quilt rack on the largest wall with the intention of hanging a "lodge" looking quilt. I don't want to get a quilt that is overly theme-y with actual animals and pinecones on it. I just want to find a quilt that has lots of plaid and deep greens and reds.

The only one that I have found that I kind of like is this one from pinterest. What do you think? Will it go well with the theme?

2012 Christmas Decor

I'm a little late with this post, but I still want to share my Christmas decor. 

 

I went a different route with my tree this year. I usually have a hodge podge of all of the ornaments that I've collected since birth. This year, I only used red, brown, and white ornaments from my collection and added red bead garland as well as red gingham ribbon. I loved it except for the topper. I bought that snowflake topper in 2011 after Christmas because it is rustic metal and it was cheap, but I'm not in love with it. As always, we got a REAL tree, but this one we bought from the Optimist Club instead of cutting down our own. Cutting one down is fun, but it's hard to find one so perfect and full.

 



Here's the living room all decked out.

 

 

We took down all the decorations this weekend and repainted on New Year's day. I can't wait to share photos of the new living room soon!

Bathroom Reno

I realized that I have never blogged about the bathroom renovation. It was the first big project that we completed after we bought the house and it was done over 2 years ago! The good thing is...I still love it! I tend to decorate a room and then a few months later find a different style that I like...but the bathroom is still exactly the same and I don't feel the urge to change it.

Here are some "before" photos:

There was plenty of wood trim...but not the nice "original to the house" wood trim that you typically find in older homes, no it was cheap junk from a big box store.

Some of the walls were covered in what we assumed was wallpaper. I thought it would be no problem to strip the wallpaper off. I quickly found out that what was attached to the walls was actually plywood with wallpaper wrapped around it, then glued to the wall. Seriously? Who does that?

And here is a shot of the grimy laminate floor.

A few "during" shots:

This is what the wall looked like under the wallpaper covered plywood. The glue really tore up the walls.

Here is already looks so much better, and it's only primed!

And finally after lots of work, the beautiful upstairs bathroom:

We kept the toilet, just got a new seat and brushed nickel handle. The cabinet above the toilet is the same, I just painted it and put on new brushed nickel handles.

We got a new vanity and medicine cabinet. We went with granite countertop because it really isn't very expensive for one that small. I absolutly love this vanity! Drawers are so much more practical than doors. 

It was a couple of years ago that I picked out the wall paint, but I think it was called Bleached Wheat. The towels, rugs, and shower curtain are all from the Martha Stewart Collection at Macy's and the color I think was called Sea Spray.

You can only barely see the ceramic tile in this picture, but I am proud to say that we did it ourselves! Jake cut the tiles and I prepped the floor and laid them. Two years later, it still looks great, so I guess we did alright :)

Cupboard Door Sign

I found an old, thick, solid wood cupboard door at The Barn and right away I knew it would make a cool sign. I started to sand it to prep it to be spray painted, then decided I liked the way it look all roughed up, so I left it with the old chippy paint. I got a vinyl "Home Sweet Home" saying for free with a Stampin' Up order, and luckily it fits perfectly!



It's pretty heavy, so I'm waiting for Jake to get home to help me hang it.

More Living Room Inspiration

I have already blogged about my future plans to change my living room decor. My original plan was to keep the room very neutral. Tan walls, dark brown furniture, and white accents. But I recently found this color inspiration photo and I'm in love!

This photo is from Design Seeds, an awesome website that has color palettes all over Pinterest. I'm completely reinspired! I want to keep the foundation the same, tan walls, dark brown furniture, put add pops of that sage green and deep red. I'm really looking forward to starting on my plans, but it probably won't be anytime soon! I'll just get to spend lots of time gathering ideas.

No Sew Burlap Table Runner

I realized this morning that I haven't posted on the blog in 2 weeks. In my free time, I've been working on a baby shower gift...and I'm excited to post about it, but I want to wait until after the baby shower. I finally finished that project today, so I moved on to another project that I've been thinking about. This stenciled burlap table runner.

I cut the burlap a couple feet longer than my table, pulled out a few strings to fray the edges, and painted the design using a Stampin' Up decor stencil.

I made it long enough to hang over the edge, but I think I actually like it without the overhang, so the stencil design is on top of the table instead of hanging off the side.



What do you think? Since this project is no sew, it would be very easy to trim the burlap and re-paint the stencil.

More Burlap Pillows

A few weeks ago, I posted about my burlap and sharpie pillow. I made 2 more burlap pillows to place behind the "welcome" pillow.

This one started out as solid tan with brown buttons, but the color blended too much with the "welcome" pillow, so I added this big bow out of dark brown burlap.

This one is now my favorite! Chevron is so trendy right now. Although my lines are far from straight and it proves I'm not a great seamstress, I like that it makes it obviously handmade.

Chicken Wire Window

I found this large screen window at the Habitat for Humanity Restore a few weeks ago. I was using it as an inspiration board in my craft room and held photos up with magnets.

I ripped off the screen and stapled chicken wire around the edges on the back and bought some mini clothespins to pin on my inspiration photos.

I think it looks more fresh with the chicken wire. Definitely more cute!



Dreams

Jake and I were talking about what home improvement projects we want to use our tax return for, and it got me thinking about my dream home. We're only 27, so it's a little early to plan our dream home...but I can still start gathering ideas...right? I really like the house we have now. It's small, but it is a perfect starter home. It has also made me realize certain things that I would require in my dream home.

Most importantly...location. Jake and I both agree we want to be in the country. Close enough to drive to the city, but still private.

Something like this would be AMAZING! Yes...I realize a location like this would be hard to find and very expensive...but it's a dream!

As for the style of house....I love craftsman.

One thing that made me fall in love with our current house is the color, white siding with blue trim. I love the look of this photo, with the red door! I cannot convince Jake to let me paint our current front door red...bummer...maybe on our dream home!

I've collected a couple of house plans, but this one is my favorite.

I was told by my sister-in-law that the reason I love this house plan is very similar to my childhood home. After looking again, I admit she is completely right...and still love it!

Jake is more a fan of the open floor plans, so this one is a nice compromise. The entryway would be awesome!

I have lots of interior photos saved, and I won't bore you with all of them, but I want to share my favorite, white glass front cabinets in the kitchen. Again, something very similar to what we had in the house I grew up in.



***I do not own any of these images. Each photo links to the site that I "borrowed" the inspiration from***

Kitchen Freshin' Up

When we moved in, we were excited about a this great glass front display cabinet in the dining part of the kitchen. I love my Fiestaware and want to add to my collection, so I thought it would be great to have them out where they can add color to the kitchen. This is what the cabinet looked like this morning:

Like I said before, I was excited about displaying dishes, and it's a great idea, but it is horrible to clean! The two glass doors slide and overlap, so getting an arm inside to wipe the glass is very hard and there are certain parts that can't be reached at all. So, it always looks dirty and there is always a glare on the glass. I've wanted to take the glass off for a while, and just leave the shelves open, and today I finally took out the screw driver and started pulling it apart. It was a booger to get out! I finally had to have Jake bend the metal tracks to slide them out. As he said "Whoever built this house did NOT want this taken out!" We finally got it out and popped the glass out. It was great to be able to really deep clean those shelves. Here you can see the mirror backing. I'm still trying to decide if I want to keep it with a mirror or maybe do some cute paper as a backing. For now, it will stay a mirror.

Now my Fiestaware is visible and looks fresh out in the open without that yucky glass. Some of the pieces are in the dishwasher right now, but I still have plenty of room to add to the collection!

Burlap and Sharpie Pillow

Last week I redid my guest bedroom, and made a last minute burlap pillow. Here is my Guest Room Reveal.

This is the pillow! Made from a pillow form from Joann's, a scrap of burlap from the thrift store, and a brown sharpie. Here's how I made it.

 

First, cut two pieces of burlap large enough to extend about 2 inches on each side of the pillow form.

Print the phrase or picture in black ink on regular printer paper. Fold it to find the center.

Also find the center of the piece of burlap. Then match the centers and pin in place.

Flip over the fabric. You should be able to lightly see the image through the burlap.

Then start tracing the image with the sharpie. I printed a second copy so I could see the word clearly.

Place the finished traced burlap piece over the other burlap piece, lining up the edges.

Pin the edges all the way around.

Sew the edges all the way around with about a 1/4 inch allowance. I did the sewing right side out, knowing the the thread would show, but I wanted the raw edge to show.

Now center the pillow and pin as close as you can to the pillow form, all the way around. Then sew on the pin line.

This creates a nice thick border while keeping the pillow centered.

I like the look of the burlap pillow on the all white bed linens. I think I'll do a couple more burlap pillows...maybe one with polka dots and another with a bird silhouette. I'll post photos when I get them done.