Our Master Bedroom - The Billionth Reveal.

Ohhhhh, our master bedroom.  It's the room in our home that has never felt quite right to me.  I've painted (and re-painted...and re-painted again), stenciled, swapped out furniture (twice), rearranged the placement multiple times and made poor hubby mount and un-mount our TV too many times.  Every time I thought I'd be "done", I just felt unsettled.  And that is NOT a feeling you want for the space you are supposed to unwind in every night.  Finally, after "refreshing" it for probably almost two years, I'm finally feeling content.  And before the feeling fades, I figured I should get some pictures posted to show the "reveal".

There are a few things that help "make" the room for me...

1) My gloss-on-matte stenciled wall now competes with our hallway for my favorite stencil project, ever.  I love the statement made by the subtle pattern.  You can purchase the stencil from Sarah's Etsy shop here.

2) My fabulous pillows!!  If you are searching for a great pillow source, you have to check out Priscilla's Etsy shop, MotifPillows.  She has the best stuff!  Her radiant orchid and animal print covers worked so well with the older aqua pillows I found at Target.

3) The stunning Lamps Plus sconces that now flank our bed.  I'm no stranger to Lamps Plus.  I purchased a few items for our home from their website when we completed the major reno of our first level.  In fact, one of the most common email questions I receive is where to find our master bedroom ceiling fan/light combo.  (And in case you are now wondering, it's the 52" Casa Optima White Flower Ceiling Fan.)

Lamps Plus has the most amazing selection to look through.  I can (and have) spent hours browsing their options.  And the minute I laid eyes on our brass beauties, I knew they would be perfect for our room.  They have me smitten!

4) Our Rugs USA Windsor Overdyed Grove Rug in violet.  I already knew I had a soft spot for this rug.  Quite some time ago, I purchased the turquoise version to for our living room.  It created the perfect pop of color in that space, and when I realized I wanted to make a similar statement in our bedroom, I knew where to look.  I headed back to the RugsUSA site to find a pinky-purple version of the overdyed rug.  It's like it was made for our space!

Now, fingers crossed this will be the last "reveal" for quite some time. ;)

Making A Statement With Hardware.

Sometimes things just don't play out like you thought they would.  I was mid-makeover on my dresser-turned-console, and was convinced that I had to paint the drawer detail gold, because it'd pop and be fabulous, and I'd love it until the day I died.

Then I painstakingly taped off the drawers so I could spray paint the detail gold.  

And guess what?  I still loved it!

As the drawers dried in garage, I thought I was a genius!!  I couldn't wait to get the drawers upstairs and in place.

And then I actually put the drawers in place...eeek.  Once the first one went in, I knew I made a terrible mistake painting the detail.  I hated how it looked.

I begged and pleaded with myself, with my Insta-friends and even my hubby to make myself like it.  I tried to sit with the piece for a few days, I even rubbed and buffed the old hardware to see if adding that would make a difference.

Sadly, it did not.  I couldn't stand it.  {Insert tiny violin playing pity music here.}  At that point, I really wanted to throw myself on the ground and act out a toddler-tantrum.  Instead, I went into the basement, found my latex primer, and started covering up the gold.

After primer...

After going back to blue...

The drawer fronts looked SO much better after I lost the gold, but they still weren't making the statement I hoped for. They needed something to set them off and finish the look.  Luckily, I came across some amazing hardware that saved the day makeover.

Have you guys ever checked out Nest Studio's hardware?!?!  If not, you MUST.  Every single product is beyond fabulous.  Each piece of hardware is like a work of art in itself.  I had trouble narrowing down my choices, but after much debate, I settled on the solid brass faceted knob.

The size, color and shape of the knob was perfect for the dresser.  It was just what I was looking for!  They totally make the piece, don't you think?

Jess is the founder of Nest Studio.  Head on over to her blog to see more of her amazing style! :)

Canvas Art...Again. For the Last Time. Promise.

A couple weeks ago, I was on a major art kick.  I painted a couple canvases for our bedroom, a wooden sign...also for our bedroom and then some ombre art for the hallway.  Clearly, I was on a mission to fill all of our blank walls.  One art project that I completed and never shared with you guys {I didn't want my beloved readers to OD on my silly art projects} was a set of canvases that call our living room home.  They help to temporarily fill in a blank hole left by the removal of our Christmas tree.  I have more permanent plans to fill the space in the future, but I haven't been able to pick up what I need yet.

So I took the easy route and grabbed some canvases, brushes and paint from the basement and got to work.

I used my favorite colors {blue-greens and greys, obviously}, and mixed in some water as I went along.  It helped me to blend the colors and achieve the look I was going for.

Like my ombre art, I used vinyl letters to put a simple phrase on the piece that is a wonderful reminder to read every day...have faith.

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And so you can see where some of my latest projects have landed {striped curtains, gold mirror, DIY shelves, wintery mantle}, here is how our living/dining room has looked since we de-Christmas-ified after the holidays.  I love how cozy it's been, but I certainly can't wait to bring back our other curtains and some pops of yellow for the spring!

 Do any of you switch out your curtains for the different seasons?  Am I the only weirdo?  My mom promises me that it used to be a "thing" back in the day. ;)

Winter Mantel.

Hubby and I want to start a new trend.  We are determined to make it totally acceptable to keep Christmas lights up throughout the winter.  And no, I’m not talking about our icicle lights hanging from the gutters. ;)  I am referring to the lovely glow that indoor Christmas lights create in a space.  We had so many lights up during the holidays that after we took everything down, it never felt quite right without that cozy factor during the dark winter nights.  We missed it like crazy.

My solution for our dilemma?  Decorate our mantel in a wintery theme, and buy a strand of white lights to give us our cozy back!  {I couldn’t use the strands of white lights I already had from Christmas...the cords on those were green, and they would have stuck out like a sore thumb.  I needed white to work with my winter theme.}

To begin the process, I wanted to transform the mirror we already had on our mantel.  The size and pattern of the frame was great, but the plastic-ish, black color just didn't do it for me.  I tried to remove the frame, keeping the mirror in tact.  I was going to use some 1 x 5's I had cut down at Home Depot to create a new frame, but for the life of me, I could NOT get the frame off of the mirror.  They used some major league, permanent adhesive on that sucker.  So it was on to plan B...spray paint.

You saw me priming the mirror here {when I transformed the quatrefoil mirror from Tar-jay}.  I'm not sure if it was the weather, or if I didn't clean the frame up enough, but the spray paint didn't seem to stick that well to the beaded part of the frame.  After one coat of spray primer, I decided to switch to my tried and true Behr Paint and Primer...in white semi-gloss.  It gives great coverage, and I already had an entire can of it leftover in the basement from when we painted our trim.  {Free = awesome.}

I painted several coats and after a few days of curing, I put the mirror back up on the mantel.  Hubby and I both agreed...we loved it 10 times more in white.  It was much more “us”.

With the mirror back in place, it was time to add some accessories from around the house, some snowy branches I found at the grocery store {Stop & Shop's floral department has some great things at even better prices} and the pièce de résistance...the white lights.

I am super happy with the mantel and we adore the light it casts at night.  Until we can get a gas fireplace installed, string lights will give us the ambiance we want at night, and for a WHOLE LOT LESS money. ;)

Anyone else want to jump on the “use Christmas lights allllllll throughout the winter months” bandwagon?!?  Come on.  You know you want to! ;)  Or do you think we are being totally tacky?  You can be honest. 

Winter Wreath. {Say That 5 Times Fast.}

Check me out...I totally just legitimized myself as a blogger.  Okay, not even close...BUT I definitely completed some sort of blogger “rite of passage”.  I made my own wreath!  Woot woot!

I was really trying to get this done as a holiday project...heck, I even bought two wreath forms because I was certain I’d have time to make one for me and one to bring up to my sister’s as a house warming gift.  HA!  It just didn’t happen.  I should have known that if I wanted one done for the holidays, I should have started well in advance.  Oh well, there is always next year, right?

So I was left with two blank forms, and lots of felt.  What was I to do?  Welp, make a wreath for a wintery mantel, of course!   Adding a little something to the mantel could help to combat the inevitable post-holiday-décor-blues!

I wanted a wreath that was grey and white, and well, wintery.  I wasn’t exactly sure what to do until I saw Mallory's wreath. 

It was a total inspiration for me.  So I headed over to Michael's, picked up some varying sized pearls and got to business.

I cut charcoal grey felt {that I already owned} into strips.  I wrapped them around the form in an overlapping pattern, hot gluing things in place as I moved along.



Once the felt was done, I started gluing various sized pearls in a random pattern on the wreath.  I didn’t have a method, I just went with it and tried not to think.  When I formed a big enough cluster, I used a couple of the smaller sized pearls and glued them around the outskirts of the main cluster.

Then it was time to add a ribbon to the top so I could hang it from my mantel mirror.  I tried white ribbon first, but it was just too bleh.  I knew the tiffany blue ribbon I used to DIY a bunch of stuff for our wedding would be perfect, so I dug through some old supplies and found just what I was looking for.  The ribbon may be a little wrinkled, but it’s nothing a little ironing can’t fix.  {Clearly, I have been too lazy to bust out the iron to fix the ribbon...maybe I'll get to it one day.  For now, just ignore it in the picture. ;)}

I really like how my very first wreath turned out, although I'm not sure it stands up to the beauty that Mallory created! :)  Head on over to her and Savannah's blog to see more of the awesome things they do!

PS - In the last picture you can catch a glimpse of the other mirror that I was priming on the back porch.  Hopefully I can share that makeover, along with my winter-ish mantel, very soon!