DIY: Coasters

This DIY I'm sharing today is super fun and super easy!

 I have been on a serious indigo kick these days. I love the way it contrasts so dramatically with white for a fun pop of color. 

So grab a cold one and enjoy!

XO

Picture Wall

Hey there! 

Tonight's post is a peak into my new guest room design.... as you can probably tell by now, I LOVE to decorate and re-decorate my house.... like, its a problem! :)

I decided to re-do the guest room in a super neutral color palette with a whole wall of pictures. The colors? Black, gold and white white white! I reused some frames that we did for our wedding that were painted gold and then found other cheap frames at Ikea... I used all different sizes and then painted all of them in the 3 colors. Then I gathered a bunch of pictures, some from the Internet that struck me, some I handmade, and a few detail shots from my wedding. After placing all the art in the frames, it was just a puzzle, figuring out where each pic should go. I used a large round art piece that my grandma gave me (how AH-MAZE is this piece!? I die...) as the centerpiece and filled in the others around it.

And that's it.... TA-DA, brand new room!

What do you guys think!?

XO,

K

DIY: Bar Stool Makeover

Ok, so I'm super excited about this project I just completed for our house. I've really been trying to lighten up our whole house, starting with the living room. ... And I've never really liked these boring old bar stools we had, they are just so BLAH. So I thought, "There has to be some kind of DIY project I can do with these to spruce them up and make them more attractive". Here's what I came up with.

I started with the basic bar stools, unscrewing the cushions from the metal base.

Next, I did 2 coats for white primer.

Once the primer layers were dry, I coated it in a gold "hammered" look spray paint. Again, I did several layers to make sure it was evenly coated and covered.

For the cushions, I bought a Faux Sheepskin Rug from Ikea ($9.99.... can't beat that price!!) that I cut in half and wrapped around each cushion. To secure it, I used a staple gun to staple the fabric to the underside, cutting away any extra fabric. Then I simply screwed them back on to the base and.......

TA-DA!!! A brand new look for a boring old stool. 

Not so boring anymore, huh!?

I'm so stoked on how they turned out and even better, how easy and cheap it was to do!

XO,

K

Fabulous Finds!

Spring is here and I am ready to change up my living room decor to reflect the brighter days! 

Since I'm really a neutral kick right now, I decided I want to go with very mellow neutral colors with very small accents of color.

Ultimately, I want to paint the living room walls (a project for down the road) a light grey keeping the ceiling, beams, and window frames/shades white. All our big furniture is dark wood and the couch and coffee table are a tan, staying with the neutral.

I am keeping the color story to tans, whites, greys, and for some color, a soft coral. Again, I'm keeping the coral to a minimum by just using it in a pillow or 2 and possibly 1-2 other decorative accents.

Here are a few inspiration pics I found on Pinterest:

I made a trip over to HomeGoods to see what I could find. As usual, I found several great items!! I love that store!

This fun vase was the perfect accent for the mantel, next to the TV, only $12.99.

(Flowers are from Michaels)

These tan and white curtains brighten up the whole room. 

I think they were around $24.99.

Coral accent pillows provide the perfect punch of color mixed in with all the neutrals.

$19.99 each.

Finally, I found this vintage looking stationary box to sit on the coffee table where we can hide remotes, pens, etc. 

I still have a few more things I need to pick up to complete the room but this was a great start!

Stay tuned for an update on the completed spring look!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

XO,

K

DIY Tufted Headboard

I decided to finally finish my guest room! 

The final thing I needed to do was the bed. I really wanted to make it into more of a day bed style. So, my very talented future hubby built an awesome bed frame that we painted gold. Next we needed to create a headboard for the end of the bed and one for the side of the bed that goes along the wall.
And boy, was this a crazy project, but so so worth it with it was finished!

What you'll need:

• Peg board (cut to whatever size you need for your bed)
• 2" foam
• Batting
• Fabric (for the headboard and buttons)
• Button making kit
• Adhesive spray
• Upholstery thread
• Upholstery needle
• Picture hooks (to hook finished boards to the wall)

First you will need to figure out what pattern/design you want your headboard to have. I made mine in a big diamond shape. You could do a smaller pattern but you will need more buttons.

Take your peg board and start laying out your pattern, doing a little math to measure out each hole. Play around with it until you get what you want. Mark each hole with a sharpie.

Measure and cut your foam to match the size of your peg board. Lay the marked peg board on top of your foam. Take a sharpie and push it through your marked holes on the peg board till it marks a spot on the foam. Repeat on all marked holes.

Take a knife and cut around the marked holes on the foam. (It doesn't need to go all the way through) Pinch the foam, twist and pull. This will pull a piece of the foam out, see picture. These holes will help create deeper tufts when you pull the buttons through later.

Take your foam and peg board to a well ventilated area to adhere together.  I ended up making the marks on both sides of my peg board cause I found that the smooth side was easier to use to spray the adhesive onto. 

Spray the adhesive evenly onto the peg board and carefully secure the foam on top.

Place a layer of batting down over the foam. Then place the fabric over the batting.

Carefully pull fabric and batting over the edge of the board and staple down.

Using your button making kit to make your buttons with whatever fabric you choose. I used white fabric for my headboards and gold for my buttons to give some contrast. 

After all your buttons are made, find a marked hole on the back of your board and push needle through foam, batting and fabric, leaving enough thread out the back to hold onto. Once through, use a long upholstery needle and doubled up upholstery grade thread (you will be pulling the thread really tight so you need the really strong stuff, not regular thread) to lace through your button. 

Loop thread around button hook several times to secure.

With button secured on thread, push needle back through to back side of the board.

Once needle is back through, grab both ends of thread and pull super tight. You might need to push the button from the front to get a deep tuft. 

Pull thread tight and staple down to back of the board. As you can see in the picture, I pulled the tread in different directions and stapled to ensure the tread would stay secured to the board.

Turn board over and check out your tufted headboard!

Finish the headboard with the picture hooks and secure to the wall.

TA-DA!!

*Note: For the corner where the two boards come together, I cut the foam at an angle so they would fit together when on the wall. I did this step before I secured the batting and fabric to the foam.

To finish the bed and room, I went to Home Goods and bought several wicker baskets to put under the bed as little cubbies to hold things like scarves, hats, belts and purses. 

This project was fun but it was definitely a more advanced DIY project. Please feel free to comment or contact me with any questions you may have on this project.

XO,

K

Closet Remodel

We have small closets in our house which made it a serious challenge to fit all my clothes and shoes. Since we have a 2 bedroom AND because the closets in each room are so small, we decided to each take a closet, mine being the guest room closet (because that room has a vanity as well) and Evan's being in our room. I was able to fit all my clothes fine, most hanging with pants on one of the shelves. The problem? My shoes! I didn't have a place to keep my shoes besides in a big pile at the bottom of the closet. Huge mess!

Before

So I decided that just wasn't going to work and had to come up with a solution to better organize everything and make it look clean (especially since my closet is in the guest room!). 

After

I switched some hanging bars around, added some shelves (from Home Depot) and VOILA!  Much more organized so now I can actually see all my shoes and start wearing more of them that have been hiding in the mess.

Hmm, I wonder what new pair of shoes would go well in my new organized closet!? Time to do some shopping..... Just kidding!..... Kinda ;)

Stay tuned for a post coming soon on another guest room DIY project I just finished! YAY!!!

XO,

K