Sheepskin stools

I spend a lot "down time" on Pinterest and blogs. What I mean by down time is, anytime I can get to myself! Most of the time thats a whopping 5 minutes but I will take it! And every now and again, I will see a photo that just speaks to me...this one spoke to me!
(sorry about the bluuurrr)

Those sheepskin stools....OMG! 

I mean, I was loving them! This is funny to me because some time ago I read a post on a blog about covering a chair in this sheepskin and well, I wasn't really in to it...actually, I didn't like it at all. How things change. So here I am with this picture and these stools looking so cool and I think......Yup, Im going to need those. 

First, it starts with me searching on line for what would be the closet version....yes, here it is

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That part isn't hard. 

Heres the hard part. $348...for one! Not even two! 

Choke! Why am I surprised?!? I mean, unless I'm on Craigslist the price is never less then I expected. I need to tell myself to stop being surprised, confused, annoyed. 

I digress.

The next step in this process is where my creative mind takes over. How do I make this?

The good thing about a creative mind is it doesn't stay on one task very long, so when the next glossy picture comes along, I'm on to the next thing. But.....it remembers:)

Fast forward a few months and I'm in the aisles of Target looking for absolutely nothing I need and what do you know.... I spot this!

And there are two (I mean I can't make this stuff up) and they are clearanced!!

 Shut the front door!

Okay, so this is the part that is ridiculous...I wasn't sure if I should buy them! Sometimes I kill myself!! But I did buy them, and brought them home, and they sat like this for weeks. 

Until, I finally got my butt in gear and ordered the faux sheepskin.

It arrived and I was surprised because it was actually way better then I had expected. It's super soft and plush. 

Some cutting and stapling and voila!

(yes, sometimes I do these projects right in the middle of the house) 

They are the perfect little accents to the room and make great extra seating for parties. The real truth is my kids won't stay off them which drives me a little batty but at $40 each for all the materials, I can  live with the kids crawling all over them! 

Planked White Walls

I love everything white. True statement. Everything and anything white. 

This is nothing new to those of you that know me or have been in my house. 

I firmly believe that when in doubt just paint it white. Its always a win. 

The only thing is though, sometimes white walls can seem unfinished if they have no visual appeal. Thats where trim work comes in. It adds the depth that a all white room needs. I mean what interior loving gal hasn't walked in to an old house with all the moldings and crown work and stood in awe of it all. Its all in the details my friends.

I love my house and I love that we built it but seriously it was still unfinished when it was finished, if you know what I mean. It needed that extra work to make it more us. More appealing to my eye. 

I struggled with our main living area. Boy did I struggle. I must have changed the one wall in there a gazillion times in the last year and a half. Sorry no pics..this was before I started blogging about the house. I even purchased a giant piece of art for the wall (it weighed a ton) and had Brian hang it up, take it down, hang it up and take it back down again, before it eventually went back to the store! That man loves me is all I can say about that.

Then one day Brian and I were walking thru Crate and Barrel and I saw this awesome planked wall and thought....we're doing that!

Some Pinterest later and I had my sources

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The funny thing is, when I came across those two first photos I realized that this is something I had wanted to do for years because I had seen this photo 7 years ago in a Cottage Living Magazine..look I still have it!

..oh how I miss that magazine, darn recession and all the lovely magazines that went down during it, so sad!
 Anyway, so I had seen it years ago and I love it now just as much as I did then! Which brings me to another point....you want to know what everyone is going to have in their homes 10 years from now? Go pick up a home interiors magazine. Because I will bet you, that what you see will be mainstream in 10 years! Funny how that works. 

Okay back to the walls. After I got Brian on board with the project (again, he's such a good sport) we started doing our research. Thank you blog world and all your lovely tutorials on EVERYTHING! 

This is the one we followed for our walls. 

Side note: we used 2 nickels for the spacing and we used 8 inch planks. I was a little concerned about this but Brian assured me it would be fine and it is. 

A before pic so you can see where the panels started going up. The bookshelves were still charcoal and that wall!! We painted the wall around the mantel grey on a whim...I hated it! 

Let me give you a little tip...see that line where the seams meet.....DONT DO THAT! I would highly recommend you stagger your seams!

Because after all the wood filler and paint in the world it still looks like this

but I will get over it because it doesn't have to be perfect and I'm probably the only one who really see's it anyway.

Then you paint

 ...and paint

...and paint

...and paint it all WHITE

...and then cover up those darn seams with a giant canvas! 

Pillow's

I must confess....I have a slight pillow obsession!

 I love to change them up all the time because new pillow's can bring life in to a room and make it feel completely different. 

The only thing that I don't like is that they can be kind of expensive..ugh! I mean, I find one that I love and it's $108! And that's usually just for the cover! I just love that, don't you? (insert sarcasm) You know what I mean....you see a cute pillow in a store and check the tag and it's $40 and you think, not bad, but then you realize, Oh wait, that's just for the cover! The insert is another $30! That's just crazy to me!!

I know there are plenty of people paying those prices and they seem to be fine with it. Not me! Even if I had that kind of money in the budget, I just can't imagine paying that much! 

Sooooo, I make my own. 

You may be saying....but I don't sew. 

But seriously, if you have even the slightest idea of how to work a sewing machine, you can make your own pillow cover's!

This little tutorial will help and despite what you may have heard....the zipper part is easy!! Really!!

And once you've figured out how to make them...your decorating life will never be the same. 

Which lead's me to buying the fabric.

You don't need to go to the fabric store! In fact you can use just about anything. 

Remember those $5 napkin's I found....

I also happened to be strolling thru the aisles of Target the other night and found this curtain panel on clearance. $7.56....that's what I like to see.

I will admit, I almost kept it a curtain panel...

that lasted for a hot minute and then snip, snip

I was able to get 3 26x26 pillow cover's out of one panel!

I'm loving the blue in here especially since my table is done...

...and they also go nicely with my "napkin" pillow's!

$5 Napkin's

Sometime's I get lucky enough to stumble upon a really good find. A quick trip out last night found me these adorable napkins. I wasn't looking for cloth napkins at all, but at $5 for 6. I couldn't pass them up!

Although, I love the thought of using these for a lovely dinner party or ladies brunch one day. The truth is, they will probably go in to the drawer with my other cloth napkin's....see you at Christmas or not. I mean they don't really scream the holidays and there are only six, so it would have to be a pretty small brunch. Hmmm, what to do?

This is not my best attempt at a beautiful place setting but I'm a visual person and I need to see what thing's are going to look like! I alway's take a slew of pic's of a room while I'm arranging it. It gives me a way to see the room from another perspective and then I can study it and make changes. Sometime's I will see an old picture of a room and think...Wow, I really liked it that way! Which makes me want to change it back again....I have problems, I know.

After looking at this....I am not impressed. I mean I'm sure with the right table setting and all they could be darling but this is well, BLAH!

So....

I thought maybe this is the way to go? 

I haven't exactly made them in to pillow's yet, this is a napkin just laying on top of a pillow to get the effect. What do you think?

I kind of like it and I'm never opposed to more pillow's around here!

I think my mind is made up....I would love to hear what you have to say!

Leave me a comment and let me know which way to go! 

Thanks:)

Anniversary Bouquet

Today is our eleven year wedding anniversary and my sweet husband sent me this gorgeous bouquet of roses!

I'm a lucky girl, I know.

The thing is... I love them so much and I can only enjoy them in one room like this. 

Solution: make another small arrangement out of this one!

First thing I needed to do was prepare the vase with some tape to section it off. 

This keeps the flowers upright and you also don't need to use as many stems because the tape keeps everything in place. It looks like the vase is fuller then it is!

Then I filled in the holes with a few stems...perfect for my bedside table!

Now I get to wake up to the amazing aroma of fresh flowers in my room and also show them off in our dining room for everyone else to see. 

It still looks gorgeous and you can't even tell the difference!

XOXO..love you Brian!

Navy Blue Dining Table

This story is a perfect example of how my brain works.....

Two day's ago I was browsing Craigslist looking for a table for our kitchen, because a few months ago I did some rearranging...yes again! You might remember when the front room turned in to a dining room again, okay so anyway, I was browsing Craigslist and I came across a pedestal table for $40. 

I wasn't wow'd by it but thought, hmm this could work...then the thought immediately left brain and I was on to the next thing. 

Story continues....the next day I was doing my usual Instagram and coffee morning when I came across this photo 

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It was love at first sight!! 

Oh my goodness, I must have that table!! 

So.....I search table.....table cost's a fortune......remember the Craigslist table....think to myself, I can make this work.....email seller....pray they still have it.....wait 4 excruciating hours for response.....Yippy! They have it!!

The next morning the first thing I did (after Instagram and coffee of course) was go pick up the table.

Then swung by Lowe's for the paint. This Valspar color was the closet thing I could find in the spray paint selection there. It didn't say navy but it looked close enough so I was going for it! 

If you haven't figured it out yet, I have absolutely no patience and I make rash decisions, but so far it's working for me.

I bought 6 cans and left.

I only ended up using 3 cans and the table looked really good, except where the can left those ugly spray blotches on the table top! UGH! 

Back to Lowe's.

I had the nice man at the paint counter color match a quart of Valspar signature paint so I could brush a thin coat across the table top.

So much better!!

And after all that, here she is, my $40 table + $30 paint = 

close enough to my dream table! 

( I have a ton of paint left too)

I pulled my Tolix chairs from the work room, the slip covered parsons out of the basement (yes, I have a lot of crap in my basement) and set some of my Ironstone on top. 

I really do love everything about it and she fits the space perfectly! 

All in a day's work! 

Built In Locker's

Our built in lockers....sigh...how did I ever live without you?

Aren't they pretty!

This was one of those must have's on my list of things for this house and even though it was a little extra,  I have to say I don't regret it at all! 

They are perfectly located right next to the garage door to catch all the crap that used to be thrown in a pile on the floor every time the hub's and kiddos came in to the house! 

I don't miss that one bit!

Now bags, coats, hat's, etc. are all hung up nicely. Shoes are thrown in the basket's down below and anything else is hidden away in the striped baskets above. 

This is heaven to a mom dying for a little organization in a crazy house like our's! 

We all have our own locker. The girl's picked out their own immediately when they saw them for the first time.

I guess when our tiny bug get's a little older and needs her own, Brian and I will be left to share one...that should be interesting. 

Good thing this house has multiple closet space too!

The Loft

When I started this blog a short time ago, I promised myself that I wouldn't allow perfect to ruin the good.

 I am very happy with the progress we have made in the house thus far but that doesn't mean I don't get caught up with what isn't done yet or what I want to do with the house! 

That kind of thinking is what makes me not want to post pictures of the house because I think to myself....oh, but that room isn't finished and so I don't want anyone to see it until it's perfect. 

That is exactly the moment when the perfect starts to ruin the good!

I know my house is ever changing and if we really get to live in this house for as long as we think we will, well then, there will be a lot of changes in that time period, so I guess it's not really ever going to be "done." 

This is our loft and in my mind it is unfinished...why? 

First, because I think I want panels on the window's....but one window on the far end of the room is really, really close to the wall so then I wonder what I will do there because a rod would barely fit in the space...ugh...so I leave them "undone" for now. 

I also think I might want to change our existing white blinds to natural woven ones because trimming those windows out is also on the list and that would look so finished and lovely....so for now they will stay as is.

Because one of the thing's that I have learned from moving from house to house is this...

 Do Not Buy Things You Plan On Replacing Eventually!!! 

It is a huge waste of money and it also delays progress in the house because that temporary fix usually becomes permanent and then you just end up walking past whatever it is everyday giving it dirty looks! 

So wait and do it right the first time!

When we first moved in we swore we would plunk down the cash and put interior shutters in all the windows on the front side of the house......a year and a half later.....it hasn't happened yet. All I can say is geesh those babies are pricey!! 

But so pretty and something we really want, and we know that, so we are waiting and figuring it out as we go. 

Here is my little collage wall over the sofa...it could use some more added to it but again that will come with time. Right now it consists of pictures of the girls, my grandmothers plate, our state silhouette ( a pinterest project I actually did), my resin animal head ( i love them, my family hates them) and a gift from a friend, lyrics to one of my favorite Mumford and Sons songs....sigh!

Just a few of the other details in the room..

My thrift store bench and a giant chalkboard that has been hung a hundred different places in our multiple homes

 book paper wreath

An old globe I won for $1 at an auction.

The sea shell from our honeymoon that we found on the beach while horse back riding in Aruba.

The slipcovered sofa is Ikea and the leather chair was one of those "we are grown up's and need proper furniture"  purchase's before we moved in. Brian always wanted his own chair and I had to stop him at lazy....so we agreed on this. 

The other chair is my goodwill find for $14, covered with a tablecloth turned slipcover and the pillow that took three trips to Ikea to get! Apparently, it is very popular in the blog world

or also seen here.....

Love the Nester and all that she preaches about how it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful! 

I'm starting to embrace this theory one project at a time!