{renovate} it's all in the details

Friends, it occurred to me this weekend that I am terrible with updating you guys about small changes we make around the house. Somehow a new welcome mat just doesn't seem to warrant an entire post. BUT, we have made a couple small updates around the house that I thought you'd like to see. And I just have to apologize about the photos - for the last few days, even when it's daylight, it isn't actually light out. It's that pesky rain thing that comes with January in Oregon :).

Entry rugs.

In the midst of the kitchen remodel chaos we somehow lost both our back and front entry rugs. I have no idea. So the front door has a new lovely rug (that was on SUPER sale) at West Elm. I can't even remember what our last rug looked like (a true sign your remodel is taking too long), but I really love how BOLD this one is - especially when paired with our navy front door. 

The back door has a fun new graphic rug from Target. I do remember the last one here - it was very beige. I am really liking that this one is dark and moody. Sort of like the January we're having. Which makes me wonder if I'll still feel like that once the weather's nicer? :) 

Fruit bowl?

Possibly. I've talked before about Portland's Seek the Unique - we held our blogger event there last spring - and this lovely was the result of a quick stop this weekend.

Isn't it gorgeous? I don't know how long it will stay a fruit bowl (it's huge, if you can't tell by the amount of fruit in there), but I know that it will easily travel around the entire house and be amazing. That texture! Kills me!

Sheets.

I've wanted striped sheets since the minute we bought our duvet cover - 4 years ago! I finally bought these from West Elm, which I'd been eyeing for more than a year (!), when I stopped by there a couple weeks ago. I LOVE them. And this photo reminds me - where do you fall on the spectrum of bed making? I fall firmly on the "what's the point, you're just going to get back in it later" side. I only make my bed for you guys, really :)

I think what I love most about these updates is that each is big and bold in its own way. All are supporting characters in the grand scheme of things, but are still making a fun and unique statement. And I think because of that, they add so much to our home.

Friends, I love to know - what small changes have you made around your house lately?

{create} fabric silhouettes

Remember how I tend to ignore trends? This is another instance. I love silhouettes.  I've just never figured out where I could fit them into our house. Until recently. Since I *finished* our bedroom, I've been looking for something to put above each of our nightstands. I just had no idea what I was looking for really.

I mean, technically, the bedroom was great! But for some reason those two spaces were really bothering me. So I decided to put silhouettes above each of our nightstands ... you know, to designate a *his* and *hers* side of the bed :).

So I whipped up these babies in an afternoon.  Silhouettes are usually made with paper, but I wanted to add my own spin on the traditional silhouette and decided to make them out of fabric. I love fabric and stitching and think it adds a little more dimension than paper. Plus it's a great way to use up fabric scraps.

And here's the same space after they're hung! I love it. And I can finally let the bedroom be *done*. You know, for now :). I am still thinking about curtains for the windows ... but that's a story for another day.

Want to know how to make your own fabric silhouette? I know the answer is YES! :)

First, gather all your supplies. You'll need: silhouette pictures, paper, fabric for the silhouettes, background fabric, thread, Wonder Under (this is a link to A LOT of the stuff ... you can find it at your local craft store for less quantity and therefore less expensive) or your favorite fusible web, foam core and frames.

First, take a side photo of your head. I blacked them out because I wanted to play in photoshop one day, but since you're actually transferring them to fabric it isn't necessary. Print and carefully cut out.

Next, take your Wonder Under and attached the fabric to the sticky side.  If you haven't used Wonder Under in the past, they actually give very specific directions on the roll for how to best use.  Next, trace your paper pattern onto the backside of the Wonder Under and cut out the pattern.  Take the paper off the back side of the Wonder Under and iron your silhouette to the background fabric. The Wonder Under is great. It keeps your two fabrics in place when you're sewing, and it keeps the cut edges from fraying. Fraying can be great in some projects, but you don't want something as intricate as a face fraying. You could chance looking like you have booger hanging out your nose. Bad news.

Next using a straight stitch, trace around the outside line of the head. I used yellow thread for the contrast. The best part of this is you don't have to use your sewing machine. I default to my machine, but I had to go so slow that it actually probably would've been quicker to hand stitch. Use whichever you're more comfortable with.

When you're done, you're silhouette will look like this. Except with your or your loved ones head, not Chris'. :)

And now for framing. Of course, I have 45 empty frames in my basement, so I grabbed two of the same size. Then I cut two pieces of foam core to fit the frame.

Then wrap your fabric around the foam core, as you'd wrap a gift. I've found that tape actually secures the fabric incredibly well. But, of course, now that I've discovered my staple gun, I'd probably use that next time. You know, just for fun.

Once up, I had a hers ....

.. and a his.

And art that adds a great amount of loveliness to our bedroom.

Thanks for stopping by today! I'd love to hear .... what are you up to this weekend? We'll be working on our girls and boys projects. Of course! :)

{create} shelf style

On Monday I confessed that I'm really not great at styling. So I gave it a whirl ... why not, right? And, I'm going to walk you through the process. I realize this could go a number of directions, but it's good. Really. Stick with me here. :)

My goal was to take a sorely neglected shelf and create a balanced, well edited collection that incorporates a color scheme and texture.

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Here's the before: a very poorly styled shelf in our bedroom. It's SO. Boring! I love all the elements, but clearly I threw them up there in haste and called it done. Lazy? Sometimes.

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I started by adding a few elements that I had around the house. I quickly framed a sweet card from the hubs and pulled some rocks, buttons and pine cones into cute jars to add texture and interest. The color scheme evolved from the *art* on the shelf: pinks, corals and neutrals. It didn't feel balanced though.

So moved things around and started creating the *triangle* I noticed in a lot of the photos I shared Monday. To help create the shape, I added the little plant and removed the *M*. Which was actually great because I like the M better in the living room! A little scrap of burlap adds additional texture and interest. It was close, but not quite.

Aaah, yes. That's what I was looking for. Raising the picture added some height to the arrangement that I like. At this point I thought I was done. In fact, I was SURE I was done. But, just to show you how far my OCD extends ...

... this is what the shelf looks like now. Yes, it took moving that one little jar over to the middle to make me completely happy.

The view from my side of the bed. My favorite part? The main artwork holds incredible sentimental value. It makes walking past it every morning such a treat.

For the collage, I purchased a simple inexpensive shadow box frame and added all the design elements of our wedding with one of my favorite photos. I love having these elements on display -- I hated the thought of them sitting in a drawer somewhere!

When I decided I needed something else on the shelf to round out the group, I grabbed this sweet card Chris had given me, taped it onto kraft paper and framed it in a frame I already owned. Super simple! Not only did Chris notice, but he actually beamed. That alone was completely worth it. :)

The lesson I took from this exercise? Styling not only takes practice, but it also takes time. It took longer than I thought it would to get to my final point, but it was worth it because not only do I now notice the shelf and it's contents, but they make me happy.

So, all my creative friends, what sort of art have you made with things around your house? And, does the shelf look happier?

{renovate} the closet

Last month I showed you the big reveal of our bedroom. What I purposefully left off was the closet. My closet. It is home to a window that someone, somewhere along the way, covered with wood. From the outside you can't even tell it's a window. It's pretty annoying. Who covers a window from the outside, but not the inside?! These are the types of really annoying house things we're dealing with here, friends.

 

{please excuse the terrible lighting. the closet doesn't actually have a light source.}

As you can see, it's just sort of a small blah space. But this is the space that holds all my lovely clothes. I really wanted it to be as amazing as the rest of the bedroom. My clothes deserve a nice home, right?

 

So I dressed up the window. It was so super easy. I just found paper I adore, cut it down to fit in both panes and added spray adhesive. Ta-da. It adds a nice dash of color to an other wise pretty dark, small space. I couldn't stop there though.

 

I was looking for a place to hang my necklaces so I added small hooks to the wood pane-divider. Now, it's a functional and adds a little bling to the closet that I just love.

 

I hope think most houses have these crazy, seemingly wasted spaces (and it's not just ours!). How are you making yours work for you?

{renovate} our bedroom

I'm so excited to finally have our bedroom in a place that I can share with all you!



Before I moved into the house, Chris had a roommate that painted our *master* bedroom (otherwise known as the biggest bedroom) red. And I don't mean trendy-accent-wall red. All four walls were fire engine red. It gave me a headache just walking into the room. So, before I even moved in, we painted this room a lovely pale sage green. We had no idea what was going in the room, what our duvet would look like, nothing. But I knew after the red this room needed some reprieve.

But then, I fell in love with an orange duvet cover. Sadly, the orange duvet and the green walls were not friends. I couldn't walk into the room without thinking of pumpkins and that isn't really the mental image I want to have walking into my bedroom!

So a couple weeks ago, we painted. And friends, it is amazing the difference a coat of paint makes. We went with a really deep grey that is so cozy and enveloping -- just the way a bedroom should be.


See in the background? The paper cut I was loving months ago from Tina Tarnoff. And, I love our *love* pillow. From Nuka's amazing line of pillows.


The shadow box holds a collection of our wedding memories -- day of stuff that we love: invite, menu, etc.


A small collection of our wedding photos. I love them and love seeing them on display!


Last, we transformed a small little nook into a little reading area to help the room multi-task a bit.

Completely loving this room right now. :)

inspired

Oh how I love this bedroom.



I have this bedding. And once I saw the bedding I knew there would be no other bedding for me. Beyond that, our bedroom is b.o.r.i.n.g. I've been trying to decide what color to paint, and how to mix up the bedding so it doesn't look so much like a set. The above bed is just beautiful. Oh, and the wallpaper is completely amazing as well.

*photo via Apartment Therapy*