The Give and Take

There is a lot of give and take in the process of decorating.  I like to keep things on a budget (as well as my husband, haha)  and try to do a lot of DIY to help in that endeavor.

With all of the DIY projects and money saving techniques in play, that frees up a little bit of money for a few well thought out splurges.

One splurge came with our Rug.  We knew we didn’t want to spend a fortune for a rug but we weren’t going to be crippled by giving ourselves an unrealistic budget.  I will say however, that we could have found a nice cheap rug and doctored it up ourselves.  In fact, that is something I intend to do for a project in somebody else’s room (hopefully soon).  I began my internet scour and came up with quite a few options.  You can see what kind of rugs I thought about on my Pinterest board here.

In the end, we with went with something a little funky but warm and cozy at the same time.  The Hand Woven Nimbus Ivory Wool Rug from Overstock.com.

As much as I love this rug, it sheds worse than my two cats and two dogs put together.  Over time the shedding will diminish, I hope, and I can vacuum it without having to empty the canister partway through.  It’s super soft and great fun to sit and play on, so I’ll overlook the shedding.

One of our other splurges was the speakers.  Now, I don’t particularly consider speakers a major decor piece, but they are a design element none the less.  I knew I didn’t want some big ol’ black speakers hanging from the ceiling so the next option was to find some nice light colored speakers.

Apparently, if you want light/white colored speakers you will have to pay extra.  Stupid right?  Paying more for the color even though the product is exactly the same.

There is also the matter of the husband, who will not settle for just any speakers.  So, between the color and the husband this became a splurge item.  To make the cost a little less painful we decided to break up the purchases.  Just a few speakers at one time.

We have only had the speakers a few short days but I like how they look and hopefully they’ll be mind blowing, make you feel like you’re in the movie, kind of speakers.

We went with Polk Audio speakers and ordered from Amazon.  We are Amazon fanatics and order from then whenever we can.  Their Prime membership is wonderful if you order enough things thru out the year.

Those have been the main splurges and hopefully the last.  I like to keep things as budget friendly as possible you know!  When all is said and done I will do my best to put together a rundown of what is what, where it came from, and how much it all cost.

It’s Here, It’s Here!!

After a long day of packing and traveling we have arrived at our destination!  It was definitely worth the crying, the tantrums, the traffic jams, and sitting between two car seats for over an hour watching Tangled for the ten thousandth time (which I really don’t mind since I love it).  It was only made worth it by the waiting family and…the Silhouette Cameo!!

Yes, that’s right, the Cameo took a journey of epic proportions to arrive in my hands…not home yet, but at least in my possession.  And in a few short days it’ll travel once more, back home with me, and begin to earn it’s keep.

I am sooo lucky that I have a husband who loves me enough to bare with me through this crazy redecorating expedition and could see enough of the value of this fantastic tool to let me buy it.

So far it is already planned for three projects in the family room alone.

The bundle I bought came with some vinyl, which is perfect since all three projects involve stenciling.

I can’t even begin to explain my excitement about this!  I’m sure we will see a lot of “cameos” from this Cameo.

This is going to be a great weekend.  I feel like it’s Christmas already.  So many presents coming our way starting with the Cameo and including two new beds for our girls.  We are moving them in together!  Dun, dun, dun!  Their room is totally going to be one of the next decorated rooms.  Super excited about that too!

Oh boy…I’m getting looney, better get some rest for the upcoming shopping trip!

My Family Room; The Zoo

Thank goodness my family room is not literally a zoo, at least not all of the time.  I do have a few monkeys running around cluttering it up on occasion but at least they don’t throw their own…well, you know!

Inadvertently, I have developed quite the menagerie in my living room decor.  I even had one person ask me if I was going for a safari theme.  The answer is, no, but sometimes I wonder if it’s too much.  I figure if I like it in the end, which I think I will despite the smattering of animals, that it doesn’t matter one way or another how many furry friends litter the room.  I say if you like it…then you shouldn’t care what anyone else says.  Do what makes you happy!!

Here’s a little show and tell of a few of the animals on exhibit so far:

I’ve got two giraffe friends:

A little owl buddy (he was too cute to resist):

Robbie Jr. the Rhino, thanks to Cardboard Safari:

A pretty brass horse that was one of my most admired objects in my grandmother’s house when I was a child, so it’s a joy to be able to use it in my own home:

These may not be furry but they are still animals – the coral (yet to be repurposed):

And let’s not forget the monkeys (the decor kind not the children kind) seen here and the picture of a bee in the gallery wall here.

I even have a few, somewhat hidden, bookends that are horses and another set that are giraffes.  I did want to grow up to be a zoologist after all.  I suppose it’s not really a surprise that I gravitate towards the things that I love.

I even have an idea to incorporate our four legged companions.  An homage to (wo)man’s best friend, if you will.  We love our doggies and it’ll be fun to see where they turn up in this room.  Another project in the works!

Conflicting with Color

Aye yae yae…1:10 in the morning and I think ‘ve  finally got it figured out.

After a terrible failure on the my third color choice (totally turned out flesh colored, blech!) my final decision on the chairs (haha I say “final” like my mind couldn’t still change) is that I am going to stick to the original color of Lemongrass.  I think my problem was trying to MAKE my color match my fabric when it should be the other way around.  So color on the chair is fixed, but now I need to find the right fabric.

That means another trip to the store and a lot of spray paint to return.

My brain hurts so bad right now it’s ridiculous.  I hope and pray that I can find a fabric I love in the right color.  Luckily I know what color it is that I want.

I’ll have to throw some news things in the mix to incorporate the color I want but nothing a little spray paint and some good accessories can’t fix.  Nothing like a little last minute change up to brighten your already crazy life right?

So tomorrow, actually today,  I’ll work some more on the upholstery (which decided to give me a bit of trouble today),  try my darndest to get the last curtain panel done…I seem to keep putting it off, and possibly get started on painting the dresser.

We are making a nice trip to Seattle this weekend and we will be taking a long awaited excursion to Ikea and Home Goods.  Two stores I would sell my first born for if only I could have them in my area.

I’ll be sure to picture document all of the fun stuff we get.  I’m buying for several different rooms including, my family room, nursery, girls room, and a friends girl’s room that I’m helping remodel.  I just love shopping trips!!

What I don’t love…crazy late nights where my brain won’t quit working, leading me to a cranky tired next day.  Bedtime!

Frustration Station

I just hate it when things don’t go my way, lol.  So the other day I painted my chairs.  I wan’t entirely sure about the color but hoped it would work.  Unfortunately, it just didn’t work, so I painted them a different color.  UGH!  Even worse the second time!  So I painted one back to the original color, giving it another chance, and left if for a few days hoping it would grow on me.

Well, it’s been a few days now and I still don’t like it.  It just does not work in the room.  I love the color but not in this specific application.  So today I’ll be heading to the store to find the right color, and by golly it better be the right one because I’m tired of painting these chairs!

On an up note, I have made progress on the upholstery of the chairs.  I originally was going to take the easy route and just wrap and staple the cushions.  So I did.  Sadly, it turned out to be another component that didn’t work for me.  The fabric is plain white and so it made the whole thing look too plain.  Not what I wanted.

In the end I decided that it would need piping on the top and the bottom like the original upholstery.  See, piping!

It’ll be a bit more work and since I have only a little experience with piping we will see how it goes.

I’ve got a surprise planned for these chairs that I think will make them extra special.  Once I get the right color, the right upholstery, the right pillows, and the surprise, I’m pretty sure I’ll be absolutely enamored with them.  Haha…that’s not asking much is it?

I decided that awesome Ikat fabric I found, seen here, is going to to be the pillows for these chairs, so she’s  coming with me when I pick a new chair color.  Third time’s the charm right?  I certainly hope so!

In other project news.  We got our curtain rod up (finally!) and the finished panel up, and…I LOVE it!  I really wasn’t sure if the fabric was going to work but it is exactly how I imagined it would be.  Woot!  As soon as I get the second panel done (which should have been done yesterday but the whole day was not in my favor, don’t ask) then I’ll get a picture of them up.

So hopefully the train has left the frustration station and today will be more in my favor.

Ready, Set, Paint!

We made headway on the chairs today…woohoo!

The chairs were dismantled and got a pretty new coat of paint.

Here is what they looked like just before their new digs.

And here is a sneaky peek of what they look like now.  So much better.  It’s not exactly the color I want but it’s close enough and I think they’ll look great in the room.

There were a few other projects that got some attention today, too.  I worked on the monkey’s a little bit and hope that project will be coming to it’s end soon.  I’m waiting on my new Silhouette Cameo to put the final touch on it.  I’m way excited about this one and already know it’s going to turn out amazing!

And guess what?  I was ambitious the other day and got one panel of my curtains done.  Now all I need to do is attach the ruffles to the other one and Bob’s your uncle, they’re done!  Maybe I can convince my husband to help me put up the rod tonight and get at least the finished panel up?

So, tomorrow my list consists of finishing the last curtain and working on the upholstery for the chairs.

I am so excited for these chairs you don’t even know.  After that, it’s on to pillows!

Hopefully I’ll make some good progress tomorrow!

 

 

Ugh, I’m too Full…of Reality!

So, at my last post I said I was hoping to be done with the curtains yesterday.

Seeing as I didn’t even do a post yesterday, you are all probably aware that the curtains…are not done! Waah!

You know how sometimes your eyes are bigger than your stomach? Well my gumption was bigger than reality. If that makes sense, lol!

I am making progress on the curtains, but slow progress. My play rehearsals have now increased to three times a week and I am determined to keep up with volleyball (my only real source of exercise) so, some things are falling by the wayside. Surprise, surprise, it’s the family room (yes, let the sadness ensue).

However, I am so determined to make the deadline of the end of this month that there is no way I’m throwing in the towel now!

I have decided to do one row of pleats a day on the curtains to keep my sanity. I finished one today and only have three left to do (haha, only).

This weekend I will put them on hold and start on our chairs, seen here. It’ll be a project to remember I think. Mainly because I’m sure I’ll lose half my head of hair, from pulling it out, by the time I’m done. Then, if I’m not done with the curtains yet, I’ll start them back up again on Monday.

Who knows, maybe I’ll be ambitious and get two rows of pleats done in a day. Here’s hoping!

Bad Days and Good

Today was a mingled mess.  It started out as not a good day.  Zero point zero motivation and two whinny kids.  I got the dishes done, so that was a plus, but I wasn’t able to get to the grocery shopping today…boo!

Then it turned a little better. I don’t know how I pulled it off but I got a good start on my curtains.  I had one nap time where both kids were sleeping (which never happens so I took full advantage).  Then I discovered that I didn’t have enough fabric.  Almost three yards too short.  Yikes…how the heck did that happen?

From there it got a little worse.  I saw a chicken escaped from the coop so I went and retrieved it and was taking her back home when she decided she wanted to poop all over the front of me.  Uuugh, so unpleasant.  If you are daring enough there is a photo on my twitter.   Yep, it was so bad it was Instagram worthy.

THEN it got a little worse when one of my kids got sick and threw up.  Fortunately not on me, phew.

Finally got kids to bed and time to relax…then…great news.  Nephew BORN!!  Yep a pretty good way to end the day.

I’m crossing my fingers that tomorrow will be a smidge better, but I don’t think the end of today could be topped.

Sorry there is so little about the family room.  I’m really hoping the curtains will be done tomorrow and you’ll get to see the finished product.

Wish me luck!!

Oh and p.s. I ordered a Silhouette Cameo today!!  Oh yes!  I convinced my husband I had to have it for the family room redecorating project.

Inspiration

Here are some of my inspiration photos that led to my overall design for my family room.

A few posts ago I talked about the curtains that I am totally in love with, so here is a picture of them.  These curtain are on my Pinterest and are originally from the Besserina blog.  They are Anthro inspired and as soon as I saw them I knew they would be part of my room.

I got my gallery wall idea from a few different places but the original inspiration came from YoungHouseLove, one of my favorite blogs.  I loved the idea, but I wanted my wall to be a square instead of random.  I tend to like things straight and clean.  I do love the random look too though, just not in my situation.

I found this coat rack on West Elm online but sadly they do not sell it anymore, so I decided to make my own knockoff.

This is one of my new favorite design ideas.  I think it looks crazy awesome and am going to try it in my space.  I’m not 100% sure if it will totally fit, but I really want to do it and this is the place to try.  I can’t remember where I saw it first but this one from HomeStoriesAtoZ is a fantastic example.  I especially like it because of the catalog pulls.  They are such a perfect idea for a kids room to keep things organized.

I really like milk glass right now and wanted it in my kitchen for my pendants, but it wasn’t met with enthusiasm by my husband.  So, as a compromise, I get to put some  milk glass in the family room.  I found this Pottery Barn lamp and adore it.  However, I do not want to spend that much for a lamp, so I’ve decided to make my own knock off (tutorial to come later).

Those are a few of my inspirations.  I love to research and surf the web and have come across a ton of inspiration photos.  You can see some of them on my Pinterest.  If you are looking for ideas to redecorate, a great place to look is Houzz.com.  A definite go to site for me.

Any Given Sunday

I don’t like to blog on Sunday’s but I will make a quick exception for the 31 Day Challenge.

I wanted to give everyone an glimpse into what my family room currently looks like on any given day.  (EEEEK!!)  No judging!!

One picture is all I’m going to share, just one.  And it’s really just a portion of the room.

What you’ll see is the current dumping ground for all of my projects, family room and otherwise.  Are you ready?  Okay here goes…

So there it is, in all it’s insane glory, lol.  As you can see we are living amongst a coral reef, the African safari, a dog pound, and vase/jar/bottle city.

This was part of the reason for the 31 Day Challenge.  I am tired of looking at all my projects when I just want to come, sit down, and relax, without any chaos (so obviously after the kids have gone to bed :)).   I suppose that means I’ll have to find someplace else for all my other projects.  Maybe motivation to clean the craft room? Haha.

So, in 25 days I will hopefully be able to do just that…relax, fingers crossed!