DIY Chevron Board

I seriously love the new chevron in our family room so I thought I would pass along the DIY tips I learned from making my own.

I bought a 4x4 piece of wood from home depot (make sure there are not any weird bumps or curves in the wood).  the board cost: $7.50.  I cut it down to fit the mantle…. I believe 3x3.5ft.

then on goes the lighter of the two colors of paint.  I took our ceiling paint and mixed in a few scoops of the wall color to give it a tint.  it also made a different sheen, which looks awesome in the final product, since the ceiling is flat and the wall is eggshell. 

the old cabinets from the kitchen remodel were perfect platforms to paint on. :)

after making a stencil, draw your lines on the board.

then goes the next paint color, I went with my family room color to finish off the airy feeling I was going for.  I love Benjamin Moore Grant Beige. it’s the perfect blend of calm and happy.  

ta-da!

sweet little baby

with a new kitchen to prep and bake in i was dying to throw a party..

a baby shower for a dear friend was the perfect excuse. it also gave us the motivation to get all the finishing touches on the kitchen complete.  leave it to us to wait until just hours before the party to finish hanging cabinet doors and to replace the existing kitchen light. 

awesome.

this baby will be loved by the most talented parents. we are so excited for them to welcome their baby girl. her nursery is the perfect pallet of gray, yellow and white with accents of coral.

what a stylin’ babe and she is not even here yet! oh, and just wait until you see all this baby’s swag.

the gray/yellow framed alphabet was a gift for her nursery.

my thought was to use the ribbon to hang it on the wall.

a brunch was the prefect venue for our large group of friends.

thankfully i had two of the best lady friends i could ask for to help pull the party off without a hitch.

my dad would have been so proud of the flower arrangements.

we all took a shot at making “brain squeezers” for the baby.

the cute bucket above was eventually filled with pretties for the princess.

happy baby hillary!

i’m sure we were laughing at my hair.

it’s never a good idea to pull your hair back without a mirror.

red rover red rover send a new kitchen right over

when taking photos of events in my house I always tried to avoid the kitchen.  to me it was the black hole of our home. everything else was painted and updated, except for the kitchen.

this is what we moved into almost 4 years ago.

oh, the double oven scares you? i was skeptical of it at first too, especially the burners which were always moving from side to side as i cooked. and yes, double oven not a microwave/oven combo.  they stopped making those long before i entered junior high.. i worked that baby so hard with the hope that it would die on us. a perfect excuse for spending money on a new one.  never happened.

the original kitchen was good to us, but updating it has always been on our mind, just not in our budget.  in January we teased ourselves by actually planning and pricing it out.  one thing led to another and now here we are sitting pretty in a bright and shiny kitchen.

thank you jose, and to my husband who also speaks some pretty good Española…and to my father-in-law who so kindly painted the kitchen with me on his vacation.

the burch cabinets are amazing. (still working on adding the handles. details. details).  the space is incredible. there is enough room for empty shelves and a work space for my laptop and papers. wowza!

a favorite: a 9 inch deep stainless steel sink (minus the dishes).  it's big enough to bath my babies in until they are entering school.  okay, maybe not, but I can wash a highchair tray without having a stream of water rushing out over the sides.

the air freely moves between the two rooms.  it’s just delicious to the eyes!

so come on over and enjoy it with us!

 

chevron wall decor

it’s finally done! 

i have had it on my to do list for weeks now.

along with this DIY project are a few others like the paper and foam core boards below.  love them because they were so easy to put together, i can make more when the season or my mood changes.

the room is coming together!

check out the room when we first looked at buying our house almost 4 years ago….

here is another DIY wall décor project. 

fabric, batting and a wood frame.

it’s a burst of energy when walking in and out of our home.

up next…the kitchen remodel.

the finishing touch

What a rush! 

Another project off the to-do list. 

Back in October I took on a little craft project for my bedroom…

Remember this?

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The room was still not complete without matching curtains.

They are done (have been for 60 days) now they are FINALLY hung.

Striking. Classy. Exactly what I was looking for.

Love them!

fall leaves springs inspiration

we have a large blue wall across from our bed that needed something like this.

i made them and love it.

it was pretty simple, and best of all it fit my budget.

it took a little inspiration from a friend,  Mel to get started.

i made a trip to home depot to get a large piece of 4x4 underlayment (mine was $1 in the scrap bin!) and 1 x 2 long pieces of wood.   once the wood was cut, my assistants were ready to help put it all together.

then it was off to the fabric store.

i wanted each fabric to have its own texture and pattern. 

the white fabric needed something more. so it got it.

the finished product!

now for the bedroom curtains….

crafty

the sewing machine comes out twice a year.  this week happened to be one of those times.  i found myself at the fabric store looking for inspiration for our baby girl’s quilt colors. 

i was inspired, but not by baby blanket patterns and colors.  i relished in halloween fabrics and some other fabulous fabrics for a few home décor projects up my sleeve.

(project mostly complete! pictures to come).

after piecing together a brilliant orange tablecloth a stitch on the machine caught my eye.  it reminded me of spiders which would be the perfect stitch for the hem.  i hope i am using correct sewing language. look at the photos, you’ll get the point.

we’ve all enjoyed our new festive and sparkly tablecloth.

halloween may become my favorite holiday for crafting.

a little touch of this and that

When we found the house we eventually bought

a bazillion and one ideas came to mind to make it feel more like our own.

It now feels like ours.

The changes were not expensive, for the most part, but they made a huge difference.

Paint.

You got to love the stuff.

It can bring the sunlight in and make a lifeless room feel cozy on a cloudy day.

Here are a few before and after photos below to enjoy!

We painted over the red brick.

It was outdated and gave a terrible cold feeling that completely went away with paint.

My project man hard at work. I paint and he stones. Go team.

We are still looking for the right (not over priced) chandelier.

Dallin’s room.

His room was a blank canvas. No paint on the walls and, no bedding to work off of. His first inclination was to create a Star Wars themed room.

So we went with it.

If you have designed your own you already know there is a lot of the Dark Side in posters, fabric and memorabilia. We didn’t want the dark side, the weapons and betrayal to be reflected in his room.

The way we counter balanced that was to paint the room in a bright star wars blue and instead of framing a star wars poster my brother, Nate, gave us the idea of making a silhouette from this website of something.

Of what? Jon decided Yoda, the iconic symbol of the good force.

We designed it and included the words “do or do not there is no try.”

Then I purchased a frame, painted the cardboard backing the same color of his room and stuck the vinyl silhouette on top of the glass.

Above his door are the words, “May the force be with you”. Aww.

Jon’s mom made a star wars duvet with pottery barn sheets purchased at a discounted price from ebay. Yeah!

Art work, bedding, rug, desk, paint total cost: Under $200.

The wall to the right (not seen) is covered with his favorite painting and creations, it is blasting with color.

Kids bathroom.

I have decided to frame some of the kids artwork to hang on the wall and then eventually coordinate matching towels.

I also am painting molding to go around the mirror to make it feel grand and less 80’s.

Master bathroom.

In the past I dreaded using our bathroom. Without color and a linoleum floor it felt terribly boring and dirty.

Btw, the picture and do-dads were theirs in the first photo.

We never planned to renovate the bathroom,

but with my luck a leak in the shower led to a new bathroom design and a project.

Thanks sweetheart, it is lovely!

There you go. A brief tour of our house projects.

Come visit when you find yourself in the area!