Easy Fireplace Mantel Facelift

Ever since having little Jessica outside of my body, I've had a lot more energy to do things around the house that I just didn't feel up to doing in the last trimester. And I'm getting so much done! Most of my projects are things I was staring at while lying around the house and taking it easy through all the Braxton-Hicks. This DIY was one of those.

I've never loved our fireplace surround and mantel, but figured that the taupe-colored paint over the stone was better than whatever color the natural stone used to be in our 1970s home (I'm thinking browns and oranges). Michael and I also think that it's way too big for the room, but until we can tear it down and eventually build a smaller wooden surround and mantel, and also put in a nicer gas insert, I thought a new coat of paint would be a good facelift!

I chose a white paint as I really prefer mantels to be white; it goes with whatever color is on the walls. As we want to eventually paint the walls in this room, the taupe-ish color on the stone would greatly limit what color we could put on the walls. We had some leftover white gloss from painting our baseboards. So, along with that and a leftover brush, I went to work. 

It took me about 3 days of baby Jessica's naptimes, a neckache, and a completely obliterated paintbrush later, and what a wonderful end result! It totally changes the feel of the room, and brightens up the space. I pretty much love it. And the price was right...free. The best kind of DIY project in my opinion!

{Baby} Girly Fairy Tale Nursery

 Welcome to our baby girl's little nursery! It has a bit of a fairy tale/nursery rhyme theme to it, but not too much, because I like to keep things not so "cutesy" as this is a space I want our little one to grow into. Mostly, the inspiration came from the beautiful bedding which you will see down below later in this post. So, let's take a tour, shall we?

For starters, I LOVE this canvas print. It was the very first thing I purchased for the nursery, as I'd been looking at it for over a year at this website. The company had a booth at Swiss Days back in 2012, and I fell in love with every single print they had. I knew I wanted this cute little girl to be on the wall in my future daughter's nursery. So, when they were having a liquidation sale of their old inventory back in the fall, I went and bought all sorts of cute canvas prints I'd been eyeing for a long time. It's such a special and unique little part of the nursery and makes me happy everytime I look at it!

Here's the dresser that Michael's sister Tina gave us, that she used for her girls and I believe was once used for Michael's older brother. Needless to say, it's been in the family for quite some time and just needed a new coat of paint to spruce it right up for a changing table/place to store diapers, wipes, burp cloths, receiving blankets, etc. And now that I look at this picture I see that it is off center from the canvas print. I think I'll have to get Michael to move it over for me, because I'm anal like that!

 Oh, our beautiful crib bedding! I can't even begin to describe how much I am in love with it. My mother was kind enough to purchase this as her contribution for baby girl, and I was so happy to finally be able to put it on the crib which was also given to us by Michael's sister, Tina. The crib also got a new coat of paint and I think the bedding just pops against the bright and clean white.

 Here's a detail shot of the fabric pattern. Nursery Rhyme Toile. I've always loved toile and I grew up loving nursery rhymes and reading, so I fell in love with this bedding at first sight. I hope our little girl will learn to love great literature as she's surrounded by Mary Quite Contrary, Humpty Dumpty, The Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe, and other characters.

Now, as I was already in the "story" mode, I figured I wanted to add some fairy tales into the decor. I went on a search for prints of fairy tales that I could frame, but found nothing  on the internet within a range that I wanted to pay for. So, I searched the D.I. (Deseret Industries) and other thrift stores, and eventually found a book at Savers. Actually, my friend Natalie found the book as we were scouring the shelves one day. Thank you Natalie! The book itself had gorgeous illustrations and was only about $1.00!!! Perfect! So, I cut out my favorites and put them in some IKEA frames and now they hang beautifully above the crib. Pretty sure they are my favorite part of the nursery!

 Left to right: Rapunzel, Thumbelina, The Frog Prince, Red Riding Hood, and Rumpelstiltskin.

Now the cute closet where all our dear girl's clothes are held, along with a few other special items. I like keeping it open because it's so cute to just look at all the clothes and accessories! We purchased the 2X2 Expedit shelf and baskets from IKEA, and they house onesies, sleepers, socks and shoes, and some toys. The hanging clothes are just a few of the many we've been handed down or gifted. I've only put up to 3 months in the closet right now, and have all the other "older" clothes washed and in storage bins in our basement, just waiting for baby girl to grow into them!

 And I'm in love with all the girly accessories that I get to put on baby girl. Bows, headbands, beanies, SUNGLASSES! Aren't they just the cutest things you've ever seen? If you can't tell, I'm trying out the new DSLR Michael got me for Christmas. I love the quality of the photos when I can get the manual settings just where I want them. It's a learning curve, but so much fun. I foresee getting lots of practice on a cute and snuggly little girl very soon!

I think every nursery and child's room should have a picture of Christ in it. He is the focus and reason we are here on this Earth. Also, I love keeping that spiritual aspect of things in our home, especially in a space where our baby (who just came from His and Heavenly Father's presence) is going to spend so much time.

 Lastly, I introduce you to where all the magic is going to happen in the nursery, the reading bookcase area and rocking chair. Baby girl and I will spend lots of time there...snuggling, nursing, singing, and reading wonderful books together. The banner is from one of my baby showers and will hold that spot until we decide what our sweet girl's name is and I have time to create a plaque or something to display her name in its place. Or at least that's the plan I have right now!

 Thank you Natalie Jolley for being my best friend and lover of classic literature (specifically Jane Eyre) and for this special book to start little girl off right in her adventures in reading!

I saved one of my favorite and most special parts of the nursery for last. This teddy bear's name is Shortcake and she has been my teddy bear since I was 2 months old. You can tell she's been very loved over the years. She used to be a nice light pink color, but that has faded as I used to carry her around everywhere with me as a child. Also, if you look closely, you can see that her right ear is larger than her left, and that's because that was the ear I would carry her around by. It just kind of stretched over time. This bear was my best buddy for years and the first thing I ever smiled at. She was named Shortcake, because that was a nickname I was called all throughout my childhood years; so it only made sense for me to call her that also! I love having this little part of my childhood in my daughter's nursery.

So, there you have it. Baby Girl Black's nursery. I love all the unique and special touches that are in it. Those are the little things that make this a space that I hope our darling daughter can enjoy and feel safe and at home in. Everything has been put together with love, and we are just excited to meet her now. Hopefully soon she will make her entrance and then we can have her in our arms!

Fall Wreath with Felt Rosettes

Well, last week I instagrammed a similar picture of this awesome fall wreath I made for our front door. I got my inspiration from this post and was actually a little nervous, because I've never made felt rosettes before and was a bit worried they'd turn out more complicated than anticipated. But, nope. They are super easy and so pretty with very little effort. For a tutorial, just click on the link from a couple sentences back; she does a great job at showing/explaining the particulars!

Anyway, did I mention how cheap it was for me to make this? I spent about $12 total on the materials for the wreath. Course, some of this was due to Labor Day sales at Joann Fabrics and also to some coupons I had for the store. So, if I didn't catch those good deals, I'd say it may have cost me $20, with the most expensive parts being the berries. But I think I may have gone overboard on those for some people's needs (but I wanted a lot of berry/bead presence in my wreath). Either way, this was much cheaper than if I went out and purchased a similar type wreath pre-made from the store. I've priced them out and they're always around $40!!!

I think it turned out so beautifully and I can be proud that I made it with my own two hands! It looks wonderful on our front door and really helps to bring the fall season to our home. I'm planning on sprucing up our Christmas wreath similarly and making another for maybe Valentine's Day. We'll see, now that I've got the wreath-making bug!

DIY: Curtains from a Bedsheet

 The little half bath that we have off our master bedroom, which turns out to be "my" bathroom to get ready in each morning, was in desperate need of some curtains as the window faces full east and I get blinded every morning with all the sunshine coming in while I'm getting ready at the mirror. I've been looking for some curtains to put up that were light and would still let the sunshine in, but in a muted sense. Curtains are always SO expensive, so when I was at IKEA the other day, I found a flat bedsheet reduced at a seriously cheap price in their "AS-IS" section and knew I could make some curtains out of it.

 We'll eventually get some frames built around the windows in the house, but for now, the foam is exposed from the new windows being put in and us having to remove some ugly tile on the bottom lip of each window.

 It's hard to get a good angle in the bathroom because it so SO small with only a toilet and sink in there, so I had to improvise a bit and use the mirror for a picture. Also, the lighting is not the best with me taking a picture of the only natural light source in the bathroom. But, you get the idea. :)

 I really like the stripes that are a bit of a light yellow/tan color. They are delicately pretty and let the light in quite nicely, sans blinding. 

All I have left to do is make some little tiebacks with the leftover fabric, so I can pull the drapes to the side when wanted. Really easy (and cheap) project though, and I had fun pulling my sewing machine out after a bit of a hiatus.

A Little Bit of Spring

So, when it looks like this outside...what should you do? Decorate your fireplace mantel with something light and colorful, to try and bring some Spring into the house, because it most definitely does not exist out doors. That's exactly what I did a couple weeks ago during a crazy snowstorm.

Now, I know it's not much, but this is the beginnings of my Spring/Summer mantel. And I LOVE it. 

 I scored this cute little ceramic thing at Hobby Lobby for 88 cents. Yeah, it was on 90% clearance because it has a slight chip on top which you can't even see unless you're looking for it. Awesome.

 And these little birds are my new friends. I love the colors. Lately, I've been really drawn to cute bird decorations and I just can't help myself!

 Ahhhh, so refreshing. I'm really starting to focus on this front sitting room in our home. I have a chair in there that I'm planning on reupholstering/painting in the next week or so. And I also have plans to paint the hutch that is sitting in there also. I'm so happy for Spring and warmer weather that I can enjoy, whether it be by doing house projects, working in the yard, or exercising. Hope you're all enjoying it too!

Laundry Room Remodel

 I figured it was high time to show you our updated laundry room! We hadn't planned to do some work on it for a few years, but it seemed like a perfect time when we were getting our "ancient" hot water heater replaced. Michael planned everything perfectly so that the hot water heater would be removed on Friday, and we could spend the weekend re-doing the floor and painting before the new hot water heater would be installed on Monday. It was an incredibly busy weekend, but well worth it because it's so nice to now do laundry in there!

 Say goodbye to yucky old hot water heater that was made in 1992. I was so glad to get rid of that icky brown/beige color combo.

We also bid farewell to linoleum which was original to the 1976 home. It was a beast to rip out, then we spent hours scraping the old glue off the cement. I'm so glad that is over with!

 You can't really tell from these pictures, but there used to be huge shelves that partly covered the window and that we ripped out, knowing full well we would never put them back in. They just made the room feel incredibly small and cramped. There were also really cheaply made shelves on the other wall above the washer and dryer, which we also ripped out. 

You can see our new windows that were installed around the same time. We decided we like the laundry room without blinds, considering it's in the basement and we need the extra light more than privacy.

We have plans to build wooden pedestals to put the washer/dryer on, and which will be a place to house laundry baskets. Also, we want to build a nice shelf above the washer and dryer for random detergent/cleaning storage. Add some baseboards plus a new light fixture, and we're golden. I know that the laundry room isn't completely finished, but I figured the huge transformation warranted a post, or else who knows when I would have posted about it?!?

 

 New hot water heater that works incredibly well and isn't filled with pounds and pounds of compacted sediment. I can now resume my ritual of taking a nice hot bath on Saturday nights. Yay!

 I LOVE black and white checkered tile floors and have been dreaming of a laundry room with them for years. Now my dream has come true!

Christmas 2012

 Photo unload about to happen. We had a very nice Christmas filled with 25 Days of Awesome-ness for Michael and myself to enjoy. Time was also spent with dear friends and family in the celebration. There was lots of hot chocolate, eggnog in sugar-encrusted glasses, cookie decorating, seeing reindeer and ice sculptures at Thanksgiving Point, admiring the pretty lights and decorations around us, and, of course, window shopping at City Creek, with a stroll through Temple Square. 

Loved seeing Michael and Natalie Rougeau when they came for a visit. Although, wish we could've spent more time with them. I foresee some strictly sibling fun in the years to come, because once a year is just not enough! They are cute and perfect for each other. It makes me happy to see them happy when I am also so happily matched myself (paraphrase from Jane Austen's Emma)!

 Model walk.

 I think it was safe to say that Nat, that Southern girl, was a bit cold here in Utah. :)

 Our beautiful Christmas tree. Not real this year, but hopefully next year will turn out. We do not need a repeat of the ugly tree excursion of 2012. Gives me the willies just thinking about it. ;)

 Keeping France always close to our hearts.

Made a bunch of these ornaments for my family members and myself. Different colors and seashells to reflect each family. They are a bit of Florida, back in Utah. Still need to put a picture in ours!

Christmas-ification

 I've been enjoying making our new home festive for the Christmas holidays. It really is so fun having a fireplace mantel and a bunch of little places in the home that I can decorate. That said, we're keeping it pretty simple this year. Not a lot of Christmas decorations or purchases have been made, seeing as we just moved and have lots of "settling in" to do.

But, I did catch some really great Black Friday sales. And luckily, the things that we were interested in weren't "hot ticket" items, so going out when it was still dark outside didn't have to happen this year. And for that, I was grateful! And I was also a much happier customer!

I got a really great deal at Joann's on berry garland. Weave three strands together, secure with a little thread, and you get the pretty wreath in the pictures above. I love how it turned out!

I also brought back these paper ornaments this year. I really love them so much because they are incredibly easy to make and look so pretty. Each one comes out uniquely different. And they twirl all around throughout the day! Inspiration from Design Sponge.

These paper bags are part of something special I'm doing for Michael. I call it Michael's "25 Days of Christmas". A different bag filled with candy, activities, coupons, etc. for each day of December until Christmas Day. My friend Dani came up with idea for her husband and I decided I wanted to do it for mine. It's been fun planning everything, making the cards, and surprising Michael each day with something different! Michael seems to really be enjoying himself with all this special attention. And he deserves it, with all the hard work he does and how he takes care of our family. He's pretty great, if you ask me.

I'll have to post pictures of our tree and tell the funny story revolving around that. Life is good and fun right now. We're just basking in the snow that fell today, and enjoying the fire Michael made in our fireplace. Perfect day!