Friday, August 29, 2014

{Neon Tie-Dye}

Happy Friday Friends! 

I haven't done a fashion post since I was frolicking in the sunflowers, so I thought I'd share an outfit I wore for a fun dinner to celebrate my nieces 17th birthday...yes...I have a niece who is 17! 

Interesting Lelia fact: my sister was 17 years old when I was born...I think you'd consider me an "oops"...










I bought this dress for Mexico and it is seriously the most special and comfortable dress of all time! 

I kind of feel like a fairy in it...and could twirl all day long...strange?

And I don't think pictures do it justice...just sayin'...

It's a halter top and has a super low back which means I'm not totally comfortable wearing that out and about normally {Mexico...beach...totally fine!}

But when in doubt...chambray it up! Am I right? 

Also, I think this outfit would be precious with a baby bump...just sayin'! 

I may or may not have poked that belly out to show Wendel...I'm embarrassed by how amazingly realistic I can make a pregnant belly...sans an actual pregnant belly. Too many soft serve cones anyone?

And because...GIF's are the flippin' best! 


Side note: I'd love your feedback about fashion posts! 

When I do outfit posts, do you prefer if I just link the items up like I did today, or put in more detail like this?

I feel like it can all get a little messy looking...but whatever ya'll like is what I'll do! 

Get excited because Monday I have a video house tour ready to go! 

I hope everyone has a fabulous, and safe, long weekend! 

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

{Make An Entrance}

Ya'll I'm so excited to share with you one of the quickest, easiest, cheapest makeovers ever!

It took us four days and we spent under $20 for this project...yup...you read that right!

Isn't it so very pretty and inviting? 


Now before we get to the juicy details, let's check out what we started with. 

It's a small area, and super tight space, so pictures were hard to snap! 


Plain and boring! We wanted to make this area "pop" in some way...and I knew exactly what I wanted to do! 

Super subtle stripes and a gallery wall! 

Why? Well I had a TON of random frames that I could use, and had the paint on hand...so we were ready to go! 

The walls were pretty scuffed up because we use this entrance multiple times a day, so I wanted to be sure to take care of that!


Nothing a little magic eraser can't fix...also...please ignore my chipped nails! 


Then it was time to measure my stripes! 

I used this small level to measure the width {I just used it up/down instead of across}

Then I used a ruler and the level to make sure the stripes were perfectly straight! 

It took some time and patience, but I made it work! 


I made a few mistakes...but again...magic eraser to the rescue!

{Side note: this is not a sponsored post...they have no clue who I am...I just love them dearly}


Then I simply followed the lines with some Frog tape {I prefer this to the normal blue tape} and I was ready for paint! 


Now this was such an inexpensive project, because I used paint I had on hand.  

The revere pewter {best neutral ever} is what most of our house is painted. 

Shale is the color of our bedroom {sorry for the terrible picture} 

They're so close that in the bucket we were sure they were both revere pewter. 

But sure enough...shale is just a little darker. 


I'm a bad blogger and got too excited to peel off the tape, so I didn't get to snap a photo before, but here's what we had after we pulled off all the tape! 


You can see that I did the same thing to the wall leading down into the basement as well! 


Now it was time to work on the frames! 

I spray painted them all a white gloss, and then started laying them out! 

Our poor neighbors probably thought I was crazy...and our driveway may have spray paint all over it...oops! But what can I say...if anything sits long enough...it.gets.sprayed!

I tried to roughly lay them out how I wanted them to look on the wall, but it wasn't until I cut pieces of paper the same size of all the frames, and taped them up that I knew how it was going to look! 


Ya'll...tracing and cutting took SO long, but I was accompanied by Friday Nights Light...and she's great company! 

Then I just taped them up, and we started hanging! 

It took a few nights to hang them because Wendel had class, but we got it done! 



Here we are with most of them up! 


And this is what we have after! 

I love a good pop of color...and it's typically yellow...cause that's how I do :) 



Here are some of my favorite little sections...it's kind of a freaky shrine to Alex and Lelia...we need some little bits to fill these walls! 

Ya'll...the INCREDIBLE Tabitha with Burning Chair Studios completely blows me away! I adored them on the computer, but then I had these printed out and fell in love all over again! 


This was a caricature done at our prom in 2006...crazy! 


Some of my favorite wedding photos via Sunny Studios


We put some pictures with the little ones down low so they could see them when they walked up the stairs! 

These two {ignore the one of Wendel and I in Ireland} are by another awesome local photographer Andrea Seibert Jefferes! 


This octopus, and that cheesy face makes this one of my favorite spots on the entire wall! 


We had a caricature artist at our wedding...he wasn't the most realistic artist...but it's still pretty...I guess

#whowashelookingat


I made this for Wendel for our first Christmas. It's pictures of our first dance with the words to the song written around it. FYI...our first dance song was Everything by Michael Buble. 


That picture of us in the woods with my grandmas quilt is EVERYTHING! I typically don't like kissing pictures...but I don't even care! 


The other side of the room got a makeover too...again...BAD blogger...didn't get many pictures! 

But all three of those pieces used to be black...again...you sit too long and you get sprayed!



Here's a little 2010-2014 comparison! 


Now the only things I had to purchase for this makeover was the rug {TJ Maxx: $14 and some pictures I printed off at Target: $5} 

If you didn't have a bunch of frames laying around, Ikea sells them for super inexpensive and you'd only need a quart of paint, so realistically, this makeover would still be well  under $100!   


And there you have it! I actually filmed a house tour video yesterday so look for that on Friday!

Happy Hump Day!

Monday, August 25, 2014

{Sun-Room Ceiling}

One of the biggest focal points of our sunroom is the ceiling. I just don't think pictures do it justice! 

The blue beadboard mixed with the white molding just makes the entire ceiling pop! 

But we'll be honest...this ceiling was a pain in the tooshie!



The ceiling before was popcorned...why people of the 60's...why?

The ceiling was peeling in a lot of places, and we really need to do some caulking, so a makeover was pretty necessary. 


See...these weren't even the biggest pieces!


So I got a lot of the bigger pieces, then Wendel came in with the big guns and got to work! 


And here we have our ceiling...in a pile...on the floor! 


After some cleaning, we were ready to go! 

Now to be honest, we did the floors first...but that post is taking for freaking ever! 



So the ceiling is concrete, so we couldn't screw the beadboard right into concrete.

Well we could...just that's a lot of holes in our porch which sits on top of the sunroom. 

So Wendel decided to put up some 1x4's all along the ceiling so we could screw the beadboard into the 1x4's.


We had to use a hammer drill that will go into concrete from Wendel's work...which we broke {but was able to fix} and it got the job done! 


The pillars were the biggest headache, but this is what we ended up doing. 


Then it was time for beadboard! 

We started with the middle pieces that would fit around the ceiling fan. 


And one at a time, and LOTS of measuring later...



We had a covered ceiling...not finished...but covered! 


And after some painting of the ceiling {and the walls in Sherwin Williams Rainwashed} we were ready to do the molding details. 


Now you can see that there are gaps between the boards.

Also notice the boards along the outside...I'm a terrible blogger and forgot to snap photos of us putting these up! 


And one at a time, we put these up {and by we...I mean Wendel} making sure to fit them around the ceiling fan using a template from the ceiling fan box actually. 



Woo hoo...so so so pretty!  


Now here, you can see cracks where the white boards meet...well a little caulk helped to conceal that! 


Ya'll we used SO much caulk for this project...and SO much painting! 

I could have shot myself...and I STILL am finding white paint in my hair! 


Now for full disclosure, this is not a cheap project. Beadboard is pretty expensive {around $20 a sheet}so I would estimate this project to being about $250. Not a cheap or quick fix in the slightest...but it's SO pretty! 

Also, we did the project over a few months...full disclosure people :) 

With all the crazy traveling {and not being home on weekends} and House of Cards/Scandal...we just couldn't seem to get motivated. 

But after a tearful night of me saying I may have a mental breakdown from this freaking sunroom...Wendel and I {and my mom...more on her HUGE help soon} got this sucker done...and we're SO very in love! 

I hope this is able to inspire some of ya'll! 

Happy Monday!!