Stick a Branch In It.... You're Done.

 

After having my wooden box on our wooden table for several months, I've been itching to get something different going on in our dining room. After I decorated it for Christmas (sorry no pics on the blog to prove that ever happened- I swear it did though), I had little desire to do anything else with it.  I wanted something lighter that would give me some sort of hope that Spring is somewhere around the corner.  It's been a rough winter and although my pregnant self has actually enjoyed the colder temps and has been savoring the fresh air before the heat sets in, there's nothing like springtime and the elimination of cabin fever!

 

 

I like to keep my eye open for go-to items anywhere I am- from a flea market in Somerset to even the dollar store. One go-to item is glass of any kind. It just keeps things light and interesting, and if you have a lot of wood tones in your home it may just end up being your favorite accessory.  I've been looking for some glass demijohns and jars for quite a while but have come up empty handed. You can never find the things when you're looking for them! About to give up on my search, I finally ended up finding two nice size jars at a craft store and brought them home.

 

 

Now comes the difficult part…. or not. 

 

No need to spend a wopping $5 for the Kroger greenery special... I went to my backyard and snipped a few branches from some of our bushes and then just threw them in the jars. I then added a little water to the bottom and I finally had my wooden box replacement.

 

 

 

I really needed a third element, so I pulled out a large mason jar and grouped it with the others. It's simple. It's clean. It's light- and I like the look. What more can you ask for?

 

 

 

 

 

Looking forward to switching out the greenery for some flowers in the near future.

 

 

 

 

I like the look of the rope on this particular jar.

 

 

 

One day we will get new dining room chairs.... but today is not the day! In the fall, we actually made a purchase on some chairs via an irresistible deal from Overstock.com... but sadly came to find out (after waiting for the chairs for weeks) that the deal was faulty and our order was cancelled. Probably for the best because they weren't really necessary, but I was disappointed to say the least.

 

If you look in in the lower right hand corner, you may notice a 'somewhat' new chair sticking out. I picked up two $30 Parsons chairs from Habitat Restore and am currently looking for a slipcover to cover up the red leaf motif... or making some if I can find the time! The chairs are great quality but need some freshening up. 



 

 

 

 

I know! Picture overload- but I've been really enjoying photographing the more I do it... and I like blogs with a lot of pictures. So here ya go.

 

 

And FYI- We have some major projects coming up which means more blogging. I was reminded this weekend (by my brother no less) that I have about 4 months til the baby comes and it kind of put me in panic mode. Projects include: Bathroom (we bought the toilet Wednesday night… It's actually happening, folks. It is actually happening), Master Bedroom, and of course the NURSERY which I am getting REALLY excited about.

 

This 'nesting' mode better hit me soon because I have lots to do!

 

-Tricia

What's In a Frame....

 

One project that we've had completed for well over a year is our gallery wall in the hallway. The reason it's taken me so long to post anything about it is because it's the hardest space to photograph due to the narrow angles. And unless I can get some light from the guest room window during a bright, shiny day with snow on the ground- there is usually hardly any natural light to take a picture.

 

I lucked out the other day though so I made sure to snap some pictures and finally post something about it!

 

 

 

This hallway is right off the main living area, which leads to the bathroom, staircase, and guest room. It's long and narrow, but full of potential so I was itching to get something up here soon after we got married. After being inspired by the blog of all blogs, I chose all white frames and mats not only because I like the freshness of it, but I didn't want to overwhelm the wall with different colors and tones. There's already a ton of frames, and I didn't want it to bee chaotic.... Not to say that I don't love different color frames on walls if it's in an open space (I really do love it), but it would have been to much for this small area.

 

I collected the frames for quite a while- HomeGoods, Hobby Lobby, and even the Dollar Store (although I had to spray paint most of those). Once I felt like I had a good collection- and made myself a deadline- we started to hammer in some nails.

 

 

This is where my husband and I differ on execution... along with the hammer and nails, he pulled out his tape measure. I was quick to mention that it would make things more complicated than they had to be. Being an engineer, he couldn't understand the fact that I just wanted to 'eye' things and slap them on the wall. (I also don't have the patience for things like feet and inches). With this project, I started with the large frame somewhat in the middle and then worked my way out... and started nailing. Eventually the tape measure was thrown to the side and Nathan finally conceded. It worked out better for all of us.

 

I will say that while measuring is sometimes necessary, a lot of times it can really mess up the look of a wall. Just because a frame is placed exactly in the center of the wall and is exactly 36" away from the window frame on both sides, doesn't mean that it needs to be placed there. It could actually look much better and more interesting if it was a little off-center (it all depends on the space). My tip- just go with what looks right to you and don't worry so much about things matching and measuring....  AND please ignore things like light switches and thermostats. They blend in if you don't pay attention to them! If you try to measure off of things like that, you'll just accentuate that they are there.  I don't have a photo, but our security system panel is actually blended in with the frames on the wall... and it's hard to notice it's there. Easier said than done I guess.

 

 

Anyway- other than an abundant amount of wedding and family photos that we collected, I wanted to add some more interest to the wall. I'm definitely not a pack rat and actually really enjoy purging items, but I AM sentimental and will hold on to some random items that have some meaning to me.

 

One of the items I held onto was my key to my old apartment. If anyone knows me, they know how much I loved my old place affectionately called "The Robin". Moving out of there and starting in a new home was surprisingly emotional for me (but exciting of course), so I kept my key and made sure it was included somewhere in my new home... other than a junk drawer. I'm sure at some point it will be replaced by something even more sentimental, but for now I love that it's simply framed next to a picture of its front porch.

 

 

Another one of my favorite things I have framed are the place cards from our wedding. At some point during wedding planning, I made the ridiculous- but ambitious- decision to make things "personal" and draw caricatures of each of our wedding guests... yes all 300+ of them. I don't know what I was thinking at the time, but I was determined and somehow got them done. I don't know who it was (probably my mom), but someone was awesome enough to grab our place cards so they weren't thrown away after the reception. They are one of my favorite mementos we have from that day and were one of the first things framed in the house.

 

 

 

 

One very simple thing that I did, was type out some lyrics to our first dance song. I probably need to reprint it on cardstock now that I look at these pictures, but I still like the touch and made sure to place it under the picture of us during our first dance.

 

 

 

 

Finally- I ended up hanging our wedding shadow box and framed our plane tickets to Hawaii from our honeymoon (lower left). I think small touches like this can really break up all of the photos, and add some interest. Definitely brings back some awesome memories as well.  

 

 

 

Wow- this wall is really a mushy, sentimental wedding shrine isn't it? But that's the beauty of your own home- do what you like! And no fear- it will soon be a mushy, sentimental, baby shrine. You will certainly be updated with that!

 

 

-Tricia

I Swear I Have an Excuse... and the Built-Ins are almost done!

 

Oh hi there! It's been a while,  but I swear I have a good excuse. So, one of my biggest pet peeves in the 'blog world' is when a blogger just randomly stops posting out of nowhere- especially when people are at least used to a consistent schedule. You mean to tell me that these blogging people actually have a life outside of their computer that would constitute them associating with the real world? While I doubt any of my 2 blog followers went through withdrawal (Nathan and Mom, you can be honest), it's still way annoying and I hate that I took two months off….  IT IS BLOG BLASPHEMY!

 

Anyway- when I started this thing I swore I would never be one to drop off the face of the earth, but then I was introduced to the "First Trimester" and became good friends with my couch. Not to be dramatic- well maybe a little- but I literally didn't do any productive project from the end of October to about a few weeks ago. I even had so many plans for Christmas posts, but eventually the thought of putting up decorations made me want to vom. Thankfully, my mom and dad came down and helped get my house into the holiday spirit, but no blog posts were produced. Maybe I'll do a Christmas in July special since I did manage to get a few pictures of some décor.  Scratch that- I'll have a newborn baby in July. Sooooo Side Note:  Looks like I will also be taking a blog hiatus this summer too.  I hope you survive it.  

 

Back to blog stuff and an end to my rambling…. One thing that we were productive on was the built-ins. (And by we, I mean Nathan and Josh). I know it's not the most exciting project in the world and has taken a while- but we are almost complete! You can see the previous posts here, here, and here.

 

 

 

 

The only thing left to do is install new doors on the existing cabinets, add some hardware, and finish off the legs of the NEW cabinet!

 

 

 

Yes- the new cabinet has arrived in all of its glory. It was constructed in Josh's workshop and those handy guys measured it to fit perfectly up against the existing bookshelves. They're so smart. We did have to mount it to the wall to leave some clearance above the floor vent, but I think it works pretty well. I don’t really like the "floating" look of it, so we're investigating some leg options which shouldn't be too difficult to produce. I'm glad we also go rid of the old, dark, existing cabinet- The new white cabinet just pulls it all together and actually gives us more storage than before… and it's white- so yeah. 

 

Below is the a picture mid-progress and you can see the old TV cabinet. Not working.

 

 

 

I wanted everything to be closed off and finished, so we added this 'flip down' detail when we want to use the Blue Ray player. I did not want the equipment to be showing if it didn’t' have to be, so when it's not in use, it's closed back up just the way I like it.

 

 Open...  ( and yes this is all of our equipment)

 

Closed.

 

Below you can see the difference in the doors. Sooner rather than later, we'll be replacing the old cabinet doors so they match... and get rid of those exposed and painted hinges.  

 

 

 

Looking at the Before picture, it's crazy how much of a differencce this little makeover has made- and the TV is still "eye level" so all are happy in the Weldy home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wouldn't allow myself to put anything on the bookshelves until the cabinet was installed. (It was intended to give us motivation, but ended up really just driving me mad)- so as my first "Second Trimester" project, I dusted everything off and filled up those shelves. Now that this whole conglomeration is more to my liking, I'm going to pay a lot more attention to what I'm actually putting on my shelves. A TON of it is just what I have had lying around the house, but I'm definitely wanting to do some editing and maybe invest in some nicer pieces.

 

I will say that it definitely makes a difference by putting up stuff that you really like- and using meaningful pieces. I try to stay away from random objects just to fill up space, but sometimes its unavoidable. Hopefully soon I'll do a more 'in depth' post about some of the meaningful pieces we've put up on our shelves.

 

 

In the meantime, I have a plan to make a pretty cool mirror to hang above the mantel… I stole the current one from the guest room just to get an idea of size... but I'm liking it's temporary home for now.

 

And FINALLY- if you haven't seen this on facebook- here is our New Years Baby Announcement! Nathan LOVES photo shoots... and we also really need a tan!

 

Due June 2014! 

 

 

-Tricia 

 

Give Thanks

 

With Thanksgiving just a week away, I thought I would share a fun update we made to our kitchen. I'm still a sucker for chalkboards anywhere in a house, so after I made the chalkboard below for our friends' dessert table at their engagement party (Treat Yo Self!), I figured this was the perfect size and canvas for our new kitchen addition.

 

Oh and I also want to make note that I've made true on my promise to hold out on Christmas décor until after Thanksgiving! Although... I am listening to holiday music pretty consistently. 

 

 

Above: We had some leftover wood from our cabinets so I sprayed the board with chalkboard paint and then painted a gold border inset about an inch.  

 

Although the gold worked perfectly for the party, I wanted more of a blank slate for our house- so I painted over it with some chalkboard paint I bought at Michael's. FYI: Chalkboard Paint provides a much better (and smoother) outcome than Chalkboard Spray Paint.



 

 

 

It provides a nice little reminder every morning before work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope you have a great Thanksgiving. Looking forward to posting about some Christmas décor soon. Enjoy your turkey!

 

-Tricia

Laying on Some Coral: The Guest Room Desk

When it comes to redoing the guest room, I've been wanting to keep it fun and not too stuffy. If you remember here, we painted the old baby blue walls a deep navy which was definitely out of the ordinary for this house, but I've come to love it more every day (as much as you can love painted walls).

 

One of my favorite color combinations is navy and coral. In fact, coral is probably one of my favorite colors in general. Off the top of my head , I can think of about 5 dresses of this same hue hanging in my closet at this very moment. So, it wasn't a surprise when I finally chose this color combo. 

 

Not only is the guest room for our friends and families who visit, but when I do work from home (and not working on my laptop.... on the couch... while watching Ellen) it's nice to have a desk to get some things done.

 

We started off with this beautiful thing...

 

 

 

And then layered it with primer:

 

 

And then started slapping on some of this beautiful coral paint!

 

 

It's not the perfect furniture paint job, but it's a far cry from what it was before. I'm still trying to figure out some hardware, but here it is against the navy walls...



 

 

Here's a quick Before and After...

Once I get the hardware on it, I'll upload another for the FINAL Before and After. (You would think that would be the easy part... but it's not!)

 

 

 

Speaking of hardware, I picked these up and they may be an option.

 

 

 

But I'm also liking the look of these pocket pulls- Martha Stewart Line from Home Depot. They would also cover the 2 screw holes that we had to patch on each drawer.

 

 

We shall see!

 

Stick around to find out.

 

-Tricia