New Dining Room!

SO, when we started painting the great room, I realized that baby blue and dark red look AWFUL together! This is what caused our next project, painting the dining room. Not only did we paint it, but we changed the table settings and recovered the valance too! Here is the before:And here is the after! It looks so much bigger and brighter doesn't it? I found some CHEAPO baby blue bowls at Ikea to go with the great room color, and some inexpensive linens at TJ Max. Recovering the valance with some blue and white damask fabric really finished it off (along with my $9 Home Depot Ferns on top of the china cabinet!). Here is another angle....

An ugly mirror becomes pretty!!

I was looking around for a couple weeks to find something to hang in the entryway with our new blue walls and beachy theme. I knew I didnt want to buy something expensive, so when I found this $19 gold mirror, I knew it was perfect. Check it out before:

So I covered the mirror with cardboard and blue painters tape to prep it for the white spray paint I bought for $3 (that's specially made for ceramic and plastic surfaces)

Then after a coat of white spray paint- look at the beachy, elegant finished product!

New Window Treatment

Our window treatment around the sliding glass door was a valence made out of siding, covered in batting and then in fabric. Mom and I made these a few years ago, but the look of them was getting pretty old. We needed to lighten up the door, and make it look a little larger than it actually is. Here is the before...So we removed the valance, Jeff sanded the wall and filled it in with spackle, then it was painted. We got some bamboo shades from Depot to match the floors, then some big white Ikea curtains to line them. Add a $10 tree from Ikea too, and here is the result!

Lighten up!

Our family room looked great in a dark shade of brown, until we got our hardwood floors that are ALSO the same color. We had to paint the walls to make the floor really pop....and so we weren't consumed by brown. Here are the "during" shots....we also had to remove the huge valance and sand and spackly the wall behind it.

Here is the after! It looks so much happier and breezy. We also changed out our shelves with some beachy accessories to match the decor. YAY!

Easter is here!

Maya's Easter Basket this year was a really fun project! I used the same wood letters that I bought for Cameron's door sign and painted them pink and hot glued them to this cute blue basket. Then I put a ton of cheerios and goldfish into little plastic eggs (instead of candy). And filled a easter bunny container with a cute spring dress....along with a few eggs turned ducks that I made....here is the finished product!

Laundry Room Renovation!

Our laundry room has been the worst room in the house for a long time. It has been driving me nuts! This is how the room used to look with the horrible old brown stained wood and huge doors.

And after the doors were removed and the trim and cabinet were primed and painted....here is the after....

And here is the before of the shelves and the rod.

I took the rod down and spray-painted it black to go with the new floating Ikea shelf (which we already had stored in our guest room closet). All I did was remove the 1970s shelves on the left and spackle the holes, then painted over the whole nook. Then I hung the floating shelf and added red storage bins and some fun antique signs....

Guest Room Update!

I have been wanting to make my guest room a more inviting place FOREVER. It has been a bare, cold room and I am slightly embarrassed to have my guests stay in. SO....I just used some things I had around the house and made it into a cute little room finally! I bought a duvet cover because the old comforter was very faded, and it really changed the look of the room. Here is the old room (with the extra tv stand on the side of the bed just waiting for me to make it into a bench!)Here is the new bedspread with the bed moved to the opposite wall.

And with my newly remodeled "bench" And now for the little finishing touches....A floating shelf from Ikea that Jeff already had, and black and white pics that were hanging around the house in frames already!

And when you enter the room, a clearance piece of wall art from Target ($4!)
So much better!