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March 31, 2016

'Be Our Guest' Wooden Spring Wreath



















It's Thursday friends!!
One day closer to Friday & a beautiful weekend!!

I didn't get a chance to pop in over Spring Break but I'm excited to get back into things and share some fun Spring related projects with you!

One project I actually did a while ago, I'm pretty sure it was over our Christmas break, was update the front door a little. 

I did hang our Christmas wreath for a while but I knew that as soon as Christmas was over, I would need a Spring wreath that could stay on for a while. 

I didn't get the itch to make a brand new wreath and after digging through my stash of decor, I dug out my favorite fall wreath that I made several years ago.
It still is at the front of being my absolute favorite wreath I've made. 
Check out the easy tutorial for making one of your own here

I figured since I loved it so much, it should come out more often. 

I dug through things a little more and decided to take apart my Valentines wreath from last year. It just wasn't ever my favorite thing and I figured I may as well use the wooden shape since I liked that part :)

So here's what I had to work with...


When rummaging around through my stash, I realized that the wooden back of the valentine's wreath was the perfect size for framing the rosette wreath. 

So I pulled the fabric off the Valentine's wreath and I was left with the bare wood shape. 
I painted it white (Snowbound by SW) and then decided to add some vinyl to the bottom. 

I had 'welcome' written on our last door so I wanted something different this time around. 
Maybe I had too many Disney songs running around in my head but 'Be Our Guest' just popped into my mind and I thought it was cute. 


To create my vinyl in the font I wanted, I simply wrote out the phrase I wanted in my photo editing software, saved the file and then merged it into my Silhouette Studio.

Trace it with the Silhouette software and then size it to however big you want it. Then cut out your vinyl!

I was too impatient to try and hunt this font down, so if anyone wants to give me a shout with the name of something similar, I'd love it!!

Anywho.
Here's my cute little fall-turned-spring wreath with the wooden frame as it's background. 


Our new front door has stained glass rather than being a completely solid color all over it so it's been a bit of a change for decorating it. 

So I liked how the wooden frame helped create a solid background for the cute little wreath. 


I used aqua lettering for my 'be our guest' lettering- I love that the whole wreath setup is a nod to our inside decor. 
Aquas, whites & yellows paired with natural decor, burlap and typography. That's me :) 

Here's how our whole porch looks: 


Don't judge how bare it still looks.
I've actually worked on it a lot this past week and can't wait to get updated pictures. 
When we first looked at the house, I was in love with the gorgeous brick steps and how they fanned out in front of the front door. 

It is unique to only our house in the neighborhood and I love having a grand entrance. 
Just imagine what it'll be like when pumpkins and mums are around in the fall :) 


I do have plans to update the paint on the door. It needs it desperately- lots of places are peeling and cracking. 
The dark blue is pretty but I definitely prefer a softer, minty blue.
And I think I found the perfect shade a couple weeks ago. 

It looks gorgeous against the brick color and it'll help the door pop even more. 


The wooden frame did start get irritating for a bit on windy days because it would knock against the door. 
It wasn't loud but it still drove me crazy.

A small piece of rolled duct tape applied to the back solved that problem really quick! 


And I already have plans to do something on the back of the wooden frame so I can reverse it up when I want something different!

I love when things can function in multiple ways!!


I'm so happy that I was able to find a way to incorporate my favorite little wreath into the house for a longer period of time. 
The yellow definitely screams spring & I'm hoping it helped make our front entryway a little more welcoming!!

I'll be back soon to share how I decorated the porch area! 







To keep up to date & see sneak peeks of upcoming projects, 
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March 24, 2016

A Collected Spring/Easter Centerpiece


It's been a few days, lovies!!
We've been going, going, going. 
Between soccer, work & spring break craziness, there hasn't been a single minute to send down & do anything on the computer. 

Although I did work with my Silhouette at the beginning of the week to make some super cute graphic tees/tanks for the baby. I'm thrilled with how they turned out- maybe I"ll share them soon :) 

Anywho.
Husband took me on a shopping spree for my bday a couple weekends ago and we visited a vintage flea market fair. 
There were so many gorgeous things and I loved getting inspiration for all kinds of projects and new pieces of decor!!

I didn't come away with a ton of things but I did come back with a few little lovelies. 
I shared this picture on Instagram when we came back: 



As soon as I picked up the dough bowl, I knew I wanted to use it for some sort of pretty spring centerpiece, 
Then I found a couple of sweet little mossy nests and the deer antlers. 
So my vision took root :) 

We swung by Hobby Lobby and I found the cute little rounded blue birds. The paper mache eggs came in packages of 5 from there as well. 

It really wasn't a hard "DIY" at all. 
The longest part was doing the eggs- and really, you could leave them with the paper mache look- it's very 'in' to leave things natural. Or pick up some pretty colored ones that all are over the place. Target even had some cute chalkboard ones. 
So make it as easy as you want :) 

Here's the rundown of items I used: 
*Handmade Dough Bowl (Flea market find) 
*2 mossy nests (flea market find) 
*2 blue birds (Hobby Lobby) 
*2 packages of paper mache eggs (Hobby Lobby) 
*Deer antlers (flea market find) 
*2 boughs of faux greenery (Hobby Lobby) 

Didn't it turn out so pretty once they were all thrown together?? 


I'm obsessed with having a little bit of greenery around at springtime- so this was a perfect excuse to bring a little extra in. 
I try hard to find the boughs that look the least plastic-y. 

The eggs were an easy- but messy- DIY. 
My nine year old helped me do them, so they could be a fun Easter-y project to do with the kids if you're not scared of them getting their hands messy for a bit. 


To cover the eggs, all you need is the paper you want to use and some Modge Podge. 
I had some beautiful older hymn music sheets from my grandmother that I used. The thinner the paper the better.


Tear your paper into small pieces, I create a good pile of them before doing each egg. 
Slap on your Modge Podge- be generous! And start applying your torn paper all around the egg. 

Seriously, be generous with that stuff. You want a good coating of the glue all over it to help the paper stay down. 
Let dry for a bit and then they are ready to use! 



The sweet little burlap banner was from a project a couple years ago. 
I borrowed it from my cross I made. 
It was the perfect addition to the whole thing to bring a little Easter into it. 
It was literally made with hot glue & sharpies so it's quick too :) 


I cut all the boughs off the greenery and arranged them in the bowl first. 
It didn't matter if you saw the ends in the middle of the bowl because I was planning on covering them with my other items. 


The antlers were next, then the nests with the birds. 
The eggs filled up any blank spaces leftover. 
Basically, go from largest to smallest, filling in the areas so they look pleasing to the eye- no  big blank areas. 


I thought about adding a runner to the table but really wanted to keep things simple- I think I just love seeing the tabletop clear!
It served as my craft table at the old house and was always covered with paper, sewing machines & fabric! 
I'm amazed that it gets to stay clear at the new house & I actually get to decorate it :) 






The banner is a simple addition to bring in some Easter meaning, but the main centerpiece will be perfect throughout spring & summer if I want it to stay that long! 


I love that it's made up of all kinds of fun vintage finds. 

I hope all of you are having a gorgeous week (ours has been more windy than gorgeous, but fingers crossed!). 
I'm hoping to pop over tomorrow to share a pretty little Easter banner but we shall see. 

Happy Thursday friends! 






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March 14, 2016

Ombre Coral Dresser Makeover


Happy Monday friends!
I can say it's happy because we are only five work days away from Spring Break!
Yippee!!

I wanted to share another fun makeover from my big girl room reveal last week. 
If you haven't had a chance to see the big makeover, I'd love for you to check it out here

One of the pieces that took the longest to redo & figure out what to do with was her dresser. 
For a while, we were just storing clothes in under the bed bins and a small closet in the hallway. 

But the girl needed some more storage. 

We went on the hunt for a dresser for a while- I wanted one with deep drawers and I wanted it upright. 
Upright dressers are hard to find, ya'll. 
At least around here. 

But anytime I'm looking for something specific, they suddenly become incredibly rare. 
Do you know the feeling? 

So after a couple months of hitting dead-ends, hubby turned my attention to a piece we had sitting in the garage...


I kept passing it over as an option because the drawers were so narrow. 
But he kept pushing me towards it...cuz it was, well, free. 

So we dragged it in, loaded it up with clothes and left it for another month or so. 

I slowly made progress with it, I knew that I wanted new hardware on the bottom three drawers so I removed the wooden pulls and puttied the holes to prepare for sanding & painting. 


All it took was one pretty spring-ish day to finally give me the push I needed to get it done. 
I wanted the drawers painted coral, but with an ombre effect, going from light on top to dark on bottom. 


I used the same color paint as the focal wall in Emi's room. 
It's called "Charisma" by Sherwin Williams and is a beautiful, rich coral pink. 

To create an ombre effect, I took five bowls and mixed varying amounts of my favorite white- 'snowbound' into four of them. I added amounts of white until I had five varying shades of coral. 


I painted the base of the dresser in 'snowbound' by Sherwin Williams. 
I love warmish days because I can start on one side of the piece, then the front, the other side & the top. By the time I have one coat on all of those, the first side is usually dry and I can go ahead with my second coat. 

This dresser was a dark wood so to ensure good coverage, I went ahead and painted three coats. 


Armed with my five shades of coral, I laid out the drawers and used one bowl per drawer to paint several coats of the coral. 

I made sure to lay out the drawers in the order they came from the dresser since some pieces can be picky about which drawers go where :) 


After letting everything sit for a day, we added the new hardware. 

I picked up the cute coral Paris ones for the two top drawers and then picked simple but classic gold bin pulls for the bottom three drawers. I love the look of mixed hardware and thought this piece would be perfect to mix it up a little bit!


I did a sealant coat of Polycrylic over the whole thing and then we moved it back in! 



It looks a little bit better this time around, huh? 



I kept the decor simple because I know she'll be adding her own treasures to it soon. 
The white chunky frame is from Kirklands- although it was more of an off-white. I brushed the snowbound white over it to help it blend more with the dresser. 
The gold frame is also from Kirklands. 

The Eiffel tower was a Marshalls find that I spraypainted gold. 



The blue frame was a flea market find that I painted in the same blue as her headboard

The pretty little felt wreath was one that Emi & I made several years ago. We just updated it a bit with the coral & gold colors rather than hot pink. 
For an easy tutorial on how to make your own, check it out here

Now for my favorite part, the side by side before & after: 




It's crazy how big of a difference a little color can make!!

I love the pop of color the coral gives to the whole piece & it definitely helped add to the gorgeous focal wall that's in her room. 

We did have to tweak some of the tracks in the drawers to get it in good working order but after a little work & a lot of color, it was the perfect piece for her room!!

I'm happy that hubby pushed me towards it. The drawers are more narrow than I wanted but they do help with added storage quite a bit and we haven't run out of room yet. 

I'd love to hear what you think about this coral makeover!!
And don't forget to keep up with me on Facebook and Instagram- I tend to share lots of sneak peeks while I'm in the middle of projects :) 


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Check out the entire makeover post of Emi's girly room here!



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March 09, 2016

Aqua Striped Headboard Makeover

If you missed it, I'd love for you to check it out here!

One of the biggest stars of the room (at least to me), was the redone aqua headboard. 
It's one of those pieces that turned out even more beautiful after it was done than what I had imagined it in my head. 
I love when that happens. 


The headboard was actually one of the pieces in the room that we've had done for quite a while. We redid them around the same time that the aqua geometric bench was done. 
Seems like quite a while to hold onto some furniture that wasn't being used, huh? 

We always knew it was going to go in our oldest daughter's room- her favorite color is blue and this piece was the perfect centerpiece for a girl's room.
We just didn't plan on it taking so long to find the right house :) 

Here it is before it got some paint thrown at it: 


The best part about the whole project is that the headboard was FREE. 
A sweet friend of mine offered it to me and I jumped at it. 
It's solid wood and was in great condition!


With it having the three panels that it did, I wanted to do something extra rather than just paint it a solid color. 
So I asked hubby to stripe it off for me- he's the OCD one in the relationship.
I'm more of an eyeball it type of person so when I need nice, straight stripes, I pull him in :) 


The base coat of the headboard is called "Refresh" by Sherwin Williams and is one of my most favorite light aqua blues. 
I used it first on our front door makeover at the old house.

This color never fails me!
The paint was mixed in Sherwin William's Proclassic Enamel which is my FAVORITE paint hands down. It's still latex based but dries in that gorgeous hard, glossy finish. 

The coverage is amazing- two coats later, it was ready for the stripes!


We did diagonal stripes on the side panels facing opposite of each other.
On the midle panel, we did more of a triangular "chevron" pattern. 


I finished the whole piece with several coats of Polycrylic to protect it. 
Then it went into storage for almost three years :/ 
I was so giddy when we pulled it out- it was like getting a brand new piece!

And even with being in storage for nearly three years- in Arkansas heat- and it was not a temperature controlled unit- it was still in perfect condition. Can't beat good paint :)


We paired it with Emi's coral wall and her pretty white & gold bedding and it was the perfect match! 

Check out the before & afters- it's hard to believe all those crazy stain colors are hiding underneath that pretty blue!!



In this rooms case, the headboard definitely served as one of the big inspiration pieces to set the tone for the room. 
After painting it the blue we wanted, we started thinking of other colors to pair it with and the coral, gold & aqua color scheme was formed. 

This striped headboard may be one of my most favorite pieces ever!
Are you loving it as much as I am? 

Keep checking in for more how-to and before & afters of the Aqua & Coral Room Makeover from earlier in the week. 
Be sure to check out the whole crazy pretty room to see if there are any tutorials you're dying to see! 



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