Gallery Wall Update

Gallery walls have been huge in home decor this year! I took my first stab at a Gallery Wall awhile ago, and our wall has been like that since but now it's time for a change. I mean look at the amazing gallery wall in Shelley's House of Smith's home. With those as inspiration, mine needed to be revamped big time.

For my birthday my lovely sister-in-law bought me the amazing pictures I wanted for the guest bedroom revamp, and instead of using them for the guest bedroom I decided they were just TOO good looking to keep in that room! I mean come on....look at them again!

So with that, I decided to make a different gallery wall type thing for our living room. I wouldn't really call it a gallery wall per se, I think it has too much symmetry and is only 5 frames but I still like it.

On the hunt for inexpensive frames I was on my way to TJMaxx but stopped by Garden Ridge just to check it out. I don't go to Garden Ridge typically....actually, I never go there. But for some reason I had a hunch to stop by & Jiminey Crickets I'm stoked I did! I found four silver frames that were perfect for the 5x7 pictures for $5 each; but I took the photos that were suppose to be in the guest bedroom. So now I am going to use the left over frames/photos from the gallery wall in that room {another post}.



This is in our entry way!

In addition to sending the four 5x7 photographs, the seller also sent two 4x6 photographs. I used those in a frame for our entry way, so I can seem them each time I walk in the house. :) So what do you think? I'm pretty happy with it but it takes some getting use to since the previous one had TONS of photos to look at. But I think the new and improved wall has prettier photos!

Entertainment Stand Revamp

While I totally love my decision to re-do the dresser turned entertainment stand for our living room, I have since questioned my decision to paint it the way I did. And while I was evaluating our living room for the pallet wall fail, I kept looking at the entertainment stand over and over again questioning it more. So what would a DIYer do when she's questioning something in her home? Revamp it! ;)

So that's what I did and boy am I glad I did!! I have some left over paint from my guest bedroom revamp {updates on that soon} so I used the same paint on our entertainment stand. Here's the before...

And here's the after!

Wasn't super tough, but it has been a decision I was struggling with because everyone else liked the green. For me though, with our green couches, curtains and green/blue focus wall {previously the fireplace wall} it seemed like too much green. And with my wonderul iKEA coffee table, the white goes very well.

Pallet Wall FAIL

The other day I saw a picture onFacebook from Brittany at Pretty Handy Girl. She posted a blog, and photo, of her AMAZING pallet wall. Here's the pix:

As you can see, totally cute and something that would absolutely appeal to me-right? We have a wooden wall in our house, remember our home was built in the 70s, so this seemed like an easy thing I could put inside my home. I already had green paint from our kitchen, the blue color from our fireplace wall, and white paint for the guest bedroom, so I thought I'd take a stab at recreating this for our home {Ryan was even okay with it, which meant I needed to HOP on it QUICK!}

So I went to labeling some of the wood pieces for the colors I wanted. I thought it would be easier to start painting once I had a game plan of where the colors would go.

Once I did that, I started with the green paint from the kitchen. I got about half way done with the green paint when I stepped back and looked at the whole space.

And that's when I decided the pallet wall was a major FAIL! See, while I LOVE the idea of a pallet wall and the colors, asthetics work perfectly with the home and my style, it just didn't work well with the other patterns inside the space. Given that we have open concept with our living room and dining room next to one another, that means the dining room needs to play nice with the living room.

These are our curtains, slight pattern.

The entertainment stand I painted a while ago.

Rug on top of our carpet.

You might think I'm crazy {and if you do, and strongly believe I made the wrong decision please let me know! I could be airing on the side of caution when I made the choice, but can easily be talked out of it!} but I just didn't think the pallet wall would complement the other pattens in the space. The curtains aren't too crazy, but they do have stripes at the bottom. The entertainment stand has a pattern as well with the green and white on select locations and finally, the rug; which I actually think would complement the pallet wall if it didn't have the other elements.

I don't know....I struggle with mixing patterns and fabrics together in home decor. In apperal I'm all over it but in home decor I doubt myself and decide to opt out. Maybe I'll attempt it again when I'm feeling more confident. Today I'm going to consider it a FAIL! LOL.

Pin Wheel Craftiness

I see so many funny ecards about Pinterest that just crack me up-because they're SO TRUE! Take this one for example...

I mean how true is that statement? ;) So the other day I was feeling rather crafty after exploring Pinterest for a couple hours (can I get an AMEN). I saw these instructions for how-to make pin wheels and thought 'I could do that!' It's really very easy and since I have a new craft space in my office I took a stab immediately.

1. Basically, to get started you need to cut a 4-inch x 4-inch square out of a piece of paper (I used a 6-inch x 6-inch square since that's the card stock I had).
2. You should draw diagonal lines across the square to join up the corners. Then, mark the center of the square with a dot, and draw an additional dot at each of the corners. (You can see from the picture above for an example)
3. Using scissors cut along the diagonal lines. Then, use a hole punch or pin to punch a hole through each of your dots.
4. Line the dots on the outer edge of your pinwheel up with the dot in the center. Push a tack (like the patterned one I used above) through the dots to hold everything together.  

You can attach the pinwheel to a pencil eraser or straw; then it's ready to use! So what do you think? I plan on incorporating these for future parties given how super easy is it to make.

It's Time For a Change

Yup....it's that time again. Time for a change in good ole Luce household. This time my eyes have set their sight on the guest bedroom!

I'm not sure I've ever talked about the guest bedroom before. When we first moved into our home 4 years ago, my sister-in-law was living with us and it was her bedroom. So she picked out the paint and decor to make her style. It's been several years since she's moved out and we've just had the rules hold our futon and other junk items when my in-laws come to stay (which is actually quite frequent).

So with that in mind and my need to change something up, I've made a board on Pinterest to get some inspiring ideas!!

As you can see, I'm trying for a light color scheme for paint but adding some personality with accent colors. This is the room where my first DIY chair is located which is an apple green color which is why green is showcased in this board. But I also LOVE blues-I mean have you seen my house-so I know that'll be incorporated. But there's something about the stripes that draw me in. So I think I'd like to try my hand at that on a feature wall.

These gorgeous photos of the beach have stolen my  heart!! I really want to get them (although they are a little pricey on the Etsy shop) because they are so beautiful and encompass everything I want this room to feel. Calm, relaxing and just plain beautiful!

But I'm curious whether I can have a piece of furniture that is coral to go with these photos, when I already have blue and green going on? If not a piece of furtniture, I am certainly going to do like knobs on a dresser or something. How cool would that be?!

I've never done this before, but I love how my girl Shelley from House of Smiths does stenciling in closets/pantries. So I think I might take one weekend and accomplish this. I mean how cool is this!?!

And the other thing I totally want to do is another gallery wall, but include some family portraits with a vibrant background & maybe have Bailey's picture span into two frames like the cat below.

I'm super excited about redoing this space. Not necessarily for my in-laws, but because I want a space I can be proud of and currently it's not that space. Plus, eventually it'll be a nursery and I think having some neutral colors on the wall with a few pops of color will work perfect when it comes to decorating a space for little baby Luce. :) Stay tuned for more updates on this space!

DIY Mirror Revamp

I totally forgot to update yah'll about an upcycle project I did awhile back.{It also happens to check off something from my 30 bedfore 30 List} Do you remember the DIY tv stand I redid? It was a boring cream French Provincial dresser that I decided would make an excellent TV stand. Still is our TV stand and we made improvements by taking out the top two drawers to make room for the cable and playstation see....

Anywho, so back to my diy mirror revamp. If you remember from the before photos of the dresser (see below) it had a mirror that came with the purchase. I only used the dresser for the tv stand but wanted to use the mirror for something else. I have this space in my entry way and I thought it would be a perfect fit, but the mirror needed some work that's for sure.

I had left over paint from when the fireplace wall was redone, and wanted to paint it for some pop of color. But once I did that I wasn't in love, so I distressed it a little with some sand paper. Here's the final result, what do you think?

I have it up in our entry way so I think that counts as a piece of art work that I made that's displayed in our home, so I'm checking off number 10 from my list! YAY...slowly but surely I'll accomplish it all. ;)

Laundry Nook Revamp COMPLETE!

OMG, I am so excited to share these photos.

So a couple days ago I posted that I am on organization overdrive, well I am pleased to state that my main organization project is complete and boy does it look amazing! Here are some before photos....

Love this curtain

View of nook from Kitchen

Now you see, it's become a dumping ground for everything! EEK!

Well, keep that last picture in your mind because now that space is one I am SUPER proud of!! Ready? Here is what the space looks like now....

First step, wall decal from House of Smiths

Adding a decal on one of the baskets

Basket complete....lovely ain't it! ;)

Another view, I'm super proud. lol

Wall decal on the wall. I painted a gray stripe w/bubbles for extra cuteness!

DRUM ROLL PLEASE ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
 TA DA!!!!

Final results! Can you believe the difference??

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

Love looking at it now. Looks so weird w/out the curtain.

Pretty, pretty wall decal!

Decided to use black duck tape to make it stand out less.

As you can see, we added a third shelf which is used for the small appliances. Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but we don't actually have a pantry in the kitchen. We had to build a makeshift one our of kitchen cabinets, but any small appliances or extra grocery items (from big box stores) had no home; therefore, went into the laundry space since it's right off the kitchen. And as you can see from the before photo, a lot of things had the same problem. But now, I have a couple baskets empty just waiting to be filled!

So with a little work and some extra $$ I wanted to transform it into a space I loved. After all, I have to walk by it multiple times every single day!

Total budget:
-Paint FREE (left over from another project)
-Shelf & brackets: Lowe's $15
-Baskets: Walmart $70 (6 baskets for $35-extras placed elsewhere in the house)
-Wall Decals: House of Smiths $20 (shipping)
TOTAL: $105

Not too bad for a completely renovated space! :) So whatta think??

I'm on Organization Over Drive!

January always brings on New Year goals of organization. Add that with the tips I'm seeing on all over the blogosphere and you'll see why I'm feeling the pressure to hop on the ball!

Last year I posted my desire DIY project-the laundry nook. Well, I've avoided it like the plague because it was something I knew needed to get done but wasn't a priority in the grand scheme of things (ceiling repairs, fireplace removal, etc.). However, it's one space that always gets cluttered up since it's hidden behind a curtain (see previous blog post).

I'm not going to settle for that anymore. This time, I'm making steps to make that space suitable for all to see. But most importantly, for me to see! I need a little glam when I do the laundry. :)

So here's before photos of that laundry nook...

And here's my first purchase to help make that space prettier.

I shopped all over the place for baskets, to help make it look like these organized areas but they are just SOO expensive. Plus, with the limited space I have in my laundry area, most baskets wouldn't fit. With the space in between the shelves, I needed something that was 9 inches high and around 11 inches deep that didn't cost an arm and a leg! So I looked at  The Container Store, Target and Walmart. In the end, Walmart had a package of 6 baskets for $35. That's a STEAL! So I ordered two and will have 12 baskets for the space. Plenty for growth!

Additionally, I'm going to put another shelf at the top for those appliances that we don't use very frequently (step ladder will be nearby). All of the articles I've read said to go UP if you don't have space-that's the perfect tip for my laundry nook! Stay tuned for the next update...thinking paint will help spruce that area up! ;)

My Yarn Wreath

So after posting the idea to create the yarn wreath, I went home and started on my creation. I was tweaked the instructions slightly to make do with what Michaels had. I'm sad to say they did not have a straw wreath and given my intense desire to start working on the project I opted for a foam circle instead. It was a little more straight with the edges, but I took sandpaper and sanded it to be round like a wreath.

Given that this was my first wreath I didn't want to assign it for a specific idea. So I selected colors that I liked just to see the combination. Here is my progress (remember, this is using the instructions from Take Heart which were really easy)....

Cut the felt according to the instructions to start the roses

The final product! The yarn part was easy, sat in front of the tv & did.

The pretty roses! After gluing I felt they needed something so I
bought pins w/pearls on the end. Sweet & perfect!

I am super happy with the final result and already have another order. My mom, of course she loves my "work", said she'd like for me to make her one. Plus, now I know how to do it I'm thinking a holiday one will be perfect for my front door!!

So what do you think....don't quit your day job, or not too shabby? :)