Little Changes to our Great Room

I added a few little additions to our Great Room recently, to lighten things up a bit and to bring in the change of seasons. You see, when we stumbed onto these pillows a few years ago...



it seemed as if they suddenly became the building block of the design of this room. We suddenly clung to all the rustic, fall colors which matched the color palette of our home. Both my husband and I love the rustic, warm colors... they are just so warm and inviting. However, going on almost 2 years now, we need change. Because these pillows are geometrical, we kept the theme going.... from the runner you see above, to this piece of artwork:


We also have the rustic, burnt orange window panels that tie everything together. But, since we moved into our new home 8 months ago, we've been undecided if we are going to keep this theme going. We all agree that we love the colors, but we're over the big picture, we're over the geometrical thing we have going on. Just last night, D & I were enjoying dinner out on the deck and he told me how he hates that big picture, and it's completley over the geometrical theme. Ah, if he only knew. I've been searching high and low for a new design concept for this room. To the right picture, to the right pillows, to the right rug. I wish it were that easy.... but, it's not from lack of trying. We'll get there, but right now... subtle changes to mix things up a bit.

When we moved into this house, there was still about 75% of work that needed to be done to complete the home. We've gotten about 90% of it done, but still have some projects remaining. One being the fireplace mantel in the great room. Since we are a family who rarely watches TV, the thought of plasturing a flat screen in this room would be the concept of a lot of families, but..not us. We love the quiteness of this room, and since this is the room the family comes together.... we prefer talking verses starring at a TV screen. So, we knew we needed artwork for this space.

Here it was before, in all it's bare glory...







We both loved this peice of artwork. From the finishing of the frame, the colors (sea green??? Yes, please!!!), the pattern....all of it.





My dear husband went to go hang the sucker up, had the picture in one hand.. the level in the other and....BAM-O! Yep, you guessed it.. the picture shattered. Glass was everywhere, the frame compleltey destroyed, the print itself all scuffed. We just rolled with the punches though, because what's done.. is done! Not a biggie. I looked for weeks for the same picture. I scored that one from TJ Maxx, my go-to-store for everything, and we all know that once something is gone in that place... it's gone. So, about 3wks went by and I finally found one that I thought might work. The husband isn't a big fan, but after sending up a ka-jillion different options, I think he was just over it, so.. he embraced it and then shared, "This one will be fine until we find something better".

So, now here's the after:





Then, I found some mustardy yellow pillows to brighten things up, pulling colors from the photo. I wasn't too sure about the mixing of the patterns, but... sometimes you just gotta smile & ask yourself, "Why, not?"






I added a couple of new little decor pieces to the built-ins, the little green and mustard yellow guys up on the top shelf-- pulls out the green and yellows from the picture. Hobby Lobby clearance, you gotta love it!


So, there ya go! Nothing too thrilling to say to the least, but change is change, and that's always a good thing!

So now... the hunt is on for a whole new design of this room, ah man... help me, now! The husband told me he's okay with this through fall, but then he's done. :) So.. wish me luck. I have 2 walls in this room that need some serious attention as well. I'm thinking floating shelving, which I already have, with B&W photos.. but then I think it would be over-kill with all the picture frames on the built-ins. So, this one will be a challenge. :) Moving into a new home is fun because you can then start over and mix things up a bit, but man.... it's finding the right design to make it all work.

Chelcey moves out in August, and then we'll be playing "musical rooms" with everyone changing rooms. Plus, the "purple" room, as we like to call it... aka: "the girls playroom or media room", is my next focus. It's a huge room and I absoutely love it, and I have big plans for this room, it's just making it all come together. So, we'll get there.... slowly, but we'll get there. :)

Hope you enjoyed the little "Great Room" tour and it wasn't too boring. :)

Ta-Ta!

My Craft Studio

As I mentioned a few days ago, I recently locked myself in my craft room and made sure that I wasn't leaving until I finally figured out where everything in that room was going to go. We moved into our new home back in October and this room has only been simi put together. I've moved things around a million times, but still never finding the best placement for everything. Then, I just kind of kept it the way that I left it, which worked, but it just wasn't visually pleasing. picky, picky, picky!

After I scored the yellow hutch off of Craiglist, the hutch basically just sat in the room, blocking my shelving unit. It stayed that way for about 3wks. Finally, motivation found me and sister was able to stay focused long enough to see it thru. Can I get an Amen? :) I moved things around that day in every way possible. I spent 4hrs. on that room until it finally clicked! I thought I had the right placement. It felt right, but it appeared so cluttered and the room so small, which it's not. Then finally it hit me. This crazy idea came in my head, I moved everything one last time and voila! I swear I heard angels singing. It only took months & months, but by golly.... it's done. Well, almost done. I still have to hang a few things and do a better job of organizing the things in my shelving unit, add things here & there, but by golly... we're much closer than we were before, and that's called progress, people... beautiful-beautiful progress. :)

I'm thinking curtains similar to these would look amazing in there....

Of course though, I will be attempting to make them verses buying them. Have you seen the price tag on these suckers? So, this would be a great summer project because man oh man, I'm sure I'll need (a lot) of time & practice to attempt these bad boys. I'm excited though, I mean, they can't be that hard, um.. can they? Shhh...

Okay, moving on.

I'm also eyeing this beauty of a rug that would look oh so perfect. It fits my theme and it just makes my heart go pitter patter. It's on my "dreamy-things-to-buy" list. It's more pricey than I could ever justify buying, because you know sister don't play like that, but this just may be the one purchase that I have to splurge on. If anyone see's a knock-off of this, hit this chick UP!

Now, onto the room. It's still messy, and not everything is in its place, but... work with me, people! :) Here we go....

This is the left side of the room once you walk through the door from the basement family room.

This is the little table that I gave new life to. :)

Here's a view of the same side of the room standing from the back.

Closeup of hutch... ah, beautiful little mini dressform canvas, oh, how I love you so.

This is the view from the door going outside, next to the chairs in picture #1.

This one came out dark, but this is the view looking in from the hallway door.

I'm obsessed with dressforms, but when I found this one.... ah, stole my heart right away.

Portion of my messy art table. I really like the feel of a boutique store with all my supplies, that's why I have 2 hutches in this room. I store all my supplies in baskets or easily moveable containers so that when I'm working on a project, I can just grab the basket of things that I need, and it's easy pick-up, too. Here's a shot of the table during a project :)

This is my inspiration board which will be mounted to the wall, centered over my table. Just gotta get hubby to hang that puppy. :)

... more to come. I'll share all the little details, and all the little things that I didn't take pictures of, next time. So... stay tuned. This room is a work in progress, but it's my happy place & I'm excited I finally got to share it with you.

Sister Rocked it Out!

... the whole cleaning thing that I mentioned doing yesterday? yeah, well.... that didn't exactly happen as I expected. I mean, if we're being real & all... I maybe put a few dishes away, started the washing machine (because honestly, how long does putting a load of laundry in actually take?) and well, yep! By golly, I think that pretty much sums up my cleaning ritual for the day. Oh c'mon, like you've never been a slacker!

But... when girlfriend had plans to lock herself in her craft room & "get jiggy with it" ... get jiggy with it, she did! I knocked out a few little projects that have been on my "to do" list for a few weeks now...and it felt so good! I also managed to move my furniture around a few times, in hopes to find "just the right placement" for everything so I could then start to hang all the pictures, put up the shelves, and everything else that has been ready to find its place in this room. I really think I'm over-thinking it. I know which placement looks better, visually. However, I'm more about accessibility, I'm finding. Yes, I want a pretty room.. I've waited my whole life for a room like this. But, it's a large room... thankful, yes... but if I'm sitting at my table and have to walk all the way across the room every time I may need something, well... c'mon, what good is that? We're adding cabinets in there soon, so I think that is in the back of mind as well... not sure what to do in the interium. So.. I'm waiting. Waiting for just the right design to hit me, I suppose. But.. we did make a little progress. The D-ster has been hanging out with me in here all night, so he hung up my "ART" letters that have been waiting to adorn my wall.


I scored those at Hobby Lobby a few months ago for 50% off..ya gotta love a good bargain! Though I wasn't too excited about the color, my end goal was to paint them, distress them, and give them a new look. However, after seeing them up there... I think they'll work just fine. code for: "much easier this way" Hey, sister ain't no fool... just get it up & decide later. Smart move.

Most of you know that my theme for my room is shabby chic... I love the vintage feel and just can't get enough of it! So, a few of the projects I knocked out were things to go along with my theme.

First off, I've been wanting to make a moss frame ever since I saw a wedding sign on pinterest.com... mind you, it was huge- and a chalkboard- another project that I may put together up the road, but it inspired the little idea of this little cutie:



So-so easy, and so-so quick to make! I think the whole thing took less than 10min. Honestly, the thing that took me the longest was deciding what quote to put inside the thing. Still not sure if this is the one that will remain, but hey... progress, is progress. I scored the moss at the dollar tree, yep... one dollar!. The frame was a close-out at Marshalls, $3.99. So, cheap project and I only used a quarter of the moss. We'll save the rest for a rainy day.

Then, onto another little frame-project. Nothing too jazzy, but.. simple & cute nonetheless. Another cheapy frame, $3.99.. just added burlap and a crochet flower for a vintage feel. I'm thinking I might add a burlap flower to the lower corner...still deciding. It was quick & easy, and something cute to add to my shelf..um, once I find out where to actually hang the shelf, mind you.(cough-cough)



Next up, finally I decided to do a little something to the porcelain lamp that I scored at Goodwill a few months back. My plan for a lamp in this room was a burlap lampshade...I had it all envisioned in my mind. I mosied on into Goodwill in hopes for a blank lampshade so I could give it a whole new look. I left there with a porcelain, rosette lamp with an off-white linen lampshade. I knew it would work!. I spent a little more than I anticipated.. $12.99, I believe, but it was pretty.. and vintage-y. Tonight, I added simple lace to the bottom of the linen shade, and a few burlap rosettes and viola! Simple little fixes. Although, tonight I learned that my heart, who happens to be madly in love with burlap, was never informed just how difficult it is to work with this lovely, but crazy, textured stuff. Saying that this stuff is difficult is putting it lightly. Making little rosette's with this stuff was tough. I think I gave myself 3rd degree burns with the heat gun, but hey... it's all in good fun, right?




Then, I busted out an earring holder because quite frankly, if I even gave you a glimps into my "bowl-like-thing" that has been holding the majority of all my jewlrey...all tangled up & most of it all ruined now because of it, mind you... it would scare you. Really, it would!. But, I will spare you. I will, however, show you the little something that I made to actually hold my earrings. I saw something on pinterest.com that had some wire & such, but.... girlfriend just used jute, a picture frame, some hot glue, and added some lace & burlap rosettes. Nothin' too fancy-smancy... but, it'll work nonetheless. Boyfriend (aka: Husband, also known as the "D-ster"), wasn't all too impressed, but hey... what does he know about this kind of stuff, anyways? perciesly my point. It's a girl thing.. and Courtney was impressed. And Chelcey, too. This little bad boy gadget will soon be hanging in my recently new addition of a closet. And, just for the record, I found about 6 pair of earrings in that "bowl-of-a-thing" that only have one earring each, so.. the hunt is on. There were lots of them that I forgot I even had..(thanks to the black hole of that messy jewlry bowl..ever since we moved) It was like shopping in that "bowl" of mine, reaching in and pulling out things that I've never seen before. Yeah, it's that messy, people.... Thankful that I now have a place for my necklaces..thank you, Marshalls..., and now, a place for my earrings. I just need to whip out the project I have in mind for my braclets and then we're in business. :)




... that hutch of mine? yeah, it's still sitting in the wrong corner, my table isn't sitting where it should be, and my pictures are propped up against the wall. But hey... we'll get there!.







I have several other projects on my rader. It felt SO good to get in there & just CREATE! Darryl hung out with me the majority of the time and we had so much fun. We ordered pizza for the girls, so another spring break evening of no cooking for me :) (and), the D-ster cleaned up the rest of my kitchen while he was waiting on the pizza guy! So, to say that it hasn't felt too "Spring Breakish"... well, I take that back! It's been a great, laid-back "break".

The girls vegged out most of the day & they were more than perfectly fine with that idea. :) Little sleep & non-stop soccer game wore their little butts out!Their Aunt called, to take them shopping at JoAnn's for some crafty things (a belated Christmas gift), but... Savannah asked her if they could reschedule their shopping trip for today, Sunday. Now, when you hear Savannah not jumping on a chance to go shopping, well... you know the girl must be tired!. They had a great time, and best of all...no fighting. Just lots of giggling, and Sammy even cuddled with them on the couch quite a bit, too. :)


We missed church this morning, something that rarely ever happens.. esp. on a Sunday morning. But, it's the last day of Spring Break and poor Darryl has been go-go-go lately with work, non-stop! He hasn't been able to sleep in in months, so... a little rest was quite needed for him. This is "moving week" at his office... they are all moving into the new office building, so I have a feeling this will be a very stressful week for him--- he has so much going on right now. Add a move in the mix of everything, and hang on for dear life! He woke up this morning & made us all breakfast (his yummy southwestern Burritto's), and now he & Addi are finishing up my closet.[love]. He insisted....what a sweetheart!. So, you know what that means? I'll be organizing, hanging, sorting through all my clothes like a mad-woman today. I've waited for this day since we moved into this house.. ah....finally, a place to hang all my clothes! :)

Beautiful day today. D wants to take the girls to do something on their last day of freedom, so... we'll see what we can get ourselves into. :) SO ready for summer, though... the laid back schedule & just go with the flow daily routine. It's soon though, only a little over 30 more days left of school then we're home free!. :) whahoo!!!!

Enjoy your day.