Cozy Guest Room

The guest room is finished! I'm pleased with how it turned out- really cozy ☺☺☺

This room was originally Hudson's nursery and I love the paint color (SW Comfort Gray) so I knew I didn't want to change that it needed a new bed and decor. I ordered the bed from Wayfair and was pleased how easy it was to assemble ( although we're a tad nervous due to the fact that I had several bolts left over.... goodness, I hope it doesn't fall apart while someone is sleeping in there! ha!). Above the bed are fabric hoops that I spray painted gray and placed fabric in them.

The focal point of the room is- the antique mantle! I searched and searched for an antique mantle for months before finding this one on Criagslist (really, they should change the name to Lydiaslist). It's originally from a 100-year-old farmhouse and perfect condition. The logs inside the fireplace are cut from my favorite place in the world, Hilton Head Island, where I stuffed a branch from a tree that was destroyed in a Hurricane in the back of my van. I couldn't smuggle enough logs from HHI in my vehicle before Corey found out, so the remainder came from woods at his Grandparents house. The story getting THOSE logs is horrific as Graham and I got covered in a nest of teeny tiny ticks and I literally about LOST MY MIND. It was horrible. I still have nightmares.

There's a weird little nook in this room that is, basically, wasted space so Corey made a floating desk and it fits the space perfectly and makes it feel like part of the room and not just a weird area.

Now on to the next project ;)

Big Kid Room

Hi friends!
What a fun summer! Huddy Buddy has been in his big kid room for a few months but we haven't taken time to slow down and actually document it because we've been having too much fun soaking up summer. But, now that we have to slow down a bit with school and sports it's time to share, what we refer to as the magical big kid room. Why magical? Because for the first two weeks Hudson slept from 7pm until 11am. No lie it was crazy.

The focal point of Hudson's room is- his bed. It's awesome. Corey actually made it and I doubted, very seriously, if it would even fit through the front door and up the stairs but after a little cursing and a lot of sweat we were able to wedge it up the stairs. Do you remember that episode of "Friends" where Ross and Rachel moved the sofa up the stairs? It was a lot like that.

The bed is built as a loft so the boys have a reading nook underneath that they both enjoy. Even though they each have their own rooms I like to include things that they both like in each (Legos in Graham's, Books and Paw Patrol toys in Hudson's).

Now for the pictures!

The Ol' Swicheroo

Hi friends!
So, my husband is anxious to move... don't even ask. I'm not. In an effort to remind him just how terrible moving is I came up with a plan {floating in the pool, drinking margaritas on vacation, where all good plans happen, obviously ;) } to move the three bedrooms around. Graham will move to the guest room, Hudson to Graham's old room and Hudson's old room would be the guest room. Sounds easy, right? Not exactly, due to the projects I came up with to make this all happen. Painting and installing board and batton in Graham's new room. Painting and building a bed for Hudson's new room. Assembling a new bed for the guest room and installing the antique mantle {still not done with that...}.
Side note- to make this plan happen, I've had to get rid of stuff we don't need anymore- baby bed, old guest room furniture. So I do what all people do and post the "good stuff" on Craigslist {and donate van loads of other stuff to Goodwill} and this is how it goes: I assume I'm going to sell "the good stuff" within minutes {very rarely happens}. Two, I never give out my number {stranger danger} until I feel like the people are actually going to come pick up said "good stuff" and then treat them like serial killers until they pull up. And once again, I'm proven wrong. Every time someone comes they're the nicest! Like amazing people! Anyway, back to the plan.
The worst part of this plan: moving closets. Horrible. Do you have any idea how much stuff is thrown into closets? A ton. Off to Goodwill ;)

I'll post Hudson's room in another post. Here's Graham's new room:

Board and Batten

Hi friends! 

Well, that was quite the hiatus! Sorry I've been MIA. But, now I'm back with a fun update! 

This is phase two of the basement staircase makeover. 

Phase one was removing the door to the basement. 

Phase two was adding board and batten to the staircase and adding a fresh coat of dark gray paint... and removing the flowers which have a new, more appropriate, home in my niece's sweet bedroom :) 

This project took Corey.... an extended period of time to complete. But, it's finished now, and I'm really loving it! 

Before:

after

There is a third and final phase of this project, but it's not complete... or, even started yet ;) I'll be sure to share it when we're finished! 

Enjoy! 

Layering the Foyer

Hi friends!

I recently made a few changes to the foyer and added layers of items to change things up.


Here's the before:

To start, I took everything out and came up with an idea board.



For the first layer, I made a small sign- "gather" to add above the door.

Next, I found navy blue burlap curtains online and hung them to frame the sidelights on the door.

Finally, I replaced the small rug with a large jute rug.

Ta-da! The finished product.

Skirting the Bed

Hello Friends!

Finally posting a picture on the sewing project I was working on....well, months ago. I'm sure you've all been anxiously waiting to see the final result ;)

Isn't it strange that you can live with something for years and then notice it doesn't look finished? That's what happened with this bed skirt project. I don't think we've had a bed skirt since we've been married. I just never even thought about it. Corey did, and he let me know he thought it was weird. So then I reupholstered our headboard and as I was looking at the final product I thought that it didn't look finished  {and Corey was right. Don't you dare tell him I said that}.

 After looking for one online and not finding what I wanted I decided to make one.  I found some great charcoal linen fabric at Joann Fabric and used a naptime {and Starbucks, which is a very important key to creating beautiful things ;) }. Here's the deal, though- I suck at sewing. I don't sew regularly so I forget how things work and don't even get me started on re-threading a bobbin. Torture. So this project that should have taken me about 30 minutes took me two HOURS. Two very, very long hours. I was about ready to chuck that Starbucks and whip out the margarita maker. Things were tense ha! BUT! It's finished! And I love the final product and Corey doesn't think our bed looks lame anymore ;)

This is before- WAY before. Right after Corey built the panel wall behind the bed.

And, now for the after

Adios Doors

Since removing the door to the laundry room and LOVING it, I've been on the hunt for other doors to get rid of.

The latest door to be kicked to the curb is the one from the main floor to the basement. We rarely use the playroom downstairs and I have a suspicious feeling that it's because downstairs doesn't feel connected to the rest of the house, due in part to the door closing off the space. So then I started thinking that there's no door to the upstairs and there's not a problem as far as noise or anything so I ran to the garage, got my drill and removed the door. I immediately felt like I gained a ton of extra square feet. I haven't made any permanent changes- such as replacing the wood around the door frame to get rid of the hinge marks until I live with it for awhile but I think it's safe to say that door isn't coming back.

Updated Laundry Room

Hi, Friends!
We've (you should know, most of the time "we" = Corey when it comes to the actual work. I just come up with the idea, plans, decor, and occasionally painting) updated the laundry room! Hallelujah!

Here's the before: Cramped, unorganized, and a door that was never used.

The goal was to create a bright, welcoming space that made me love doing laundry ( just kidding, I mean, It's not a magic laundry room).
It is pretty, though :)
The wall color is "Calming Moments" one of my favorites. When we first moved into our house three years ago this was the very first room that was painted and I still love the color. First, we decided to remove the door because it took up too much space, and we have never closed it. Next, Corey removed the old vinyl flooring and tiled with large rectangle gray ceramic. After that, we replaced the wire shelves with cheap cabinets from Lowes that I painted French Linen and Corey made wooden shelves (painted the same color). Then Corey added board and batten to the wall that I painted no fewer than three times since I accidentally painted it first with white ceiling paint. Pain in my butt.
Here is the finished product! If you need me, I'll be doing laundry ;)

Night Life

Hello, friends!

We've started working on curb appeal for our house- a couple new bushes and plants so for Mothers Day this year I knew exactly what I wanted- outdoor lighting for our front yard. It didn't take long to instal and I LOVE the results! Instant curb appeal. 

Sorry that I'm so terrible at photos! 😁

Hilton The Fig Tree

Hello there!

I'm back to share what I picked up in our recent vacation- a fig tree! There's an adorable little garden and antique store on Hilton Head Island (my favorite place on earth) and when I saw this little tree I knew I had to have him. 

Everyone, meet Hiton the fig tree 😉

I'm not very good at keeping things alive so hopefully he'll make it at my house. I don't know anything about fig trees but I really like the symmetry 😁

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Finally!

Well, it's finally finished! We've been dragging our feet finishing staining our screened in porch for about two years, but it's done! 

Corey isn't a fan of heights so he did all he could without having to climb up on a ladder too high, so we've been staring at this eyesore forever.

Did I mention we live on a hill, so our poor neighbors have had to look at this horrendous half done job. So sorry.

We decided not to use a typical stain on the deck and used a product called Deck Over; it's really sludge like so it took awhile to get it painted, but it's done!! Now we won't have to worry about it for about 100 years 😉

I chose black because I love how it looks with the green grass and black blends in when you're in the porch looking out. I'm not staining the columns and posts under the deck because I love the way they look.

Succulent Obsessed

I love succulents and every summer I buy an arrangement for my kitchen or outdoor table. I usually get them at lowes but this year I decided to make my own. It was so cheap and easy!

I got the pot at TJ Maxx (favorite store!) for $7.99 and then went to our local farmers market to load up on different varieties of succulents.

Graham made me this little pot for Mother's Day one year and the succulent that currently resided there was deader than dead. So it got replaced as well.

Weekend Projects

Hello friends!

We had a great weekend, and I was even able to finish a couple of annoying projects that have been around for awhile 😉

The first was so easy and should have been done two years ago when we got new counters. The reason it took so long to paint this tiny spot in my kitchen (where everyone can see it) is I'm not really sure what color the walls are, and I have a tiny sample, and it's not the right sheen so even painted the right color it wouldn't be perfect- but I was wrong, two seconds later and it looks great!

This is right after I painted it so it does look a little different.

But not from here!

This isn't a project that was done this weekend but not long ago- the plates over the other cabinets needed something larger in the center so I picked up this platter to give it balance.

Much better!

So here's the kitchen

Photos on one wall, plates and a chalk board- maximizing space 😁

And the command center!

We also finished a huge protect outside, ill share next time!

Have a great day!