My House Tour: Part 1

Earlier this summer, my friend Gwen mentioned having a goal to post a house tour.  I thought this sounded like a good idea and would give me some motivation to clear out the clutter so I could take some pictures.

Of course, my house is not a finished product.  I'm always changing things and nothing is ever really done.  In fact, there are rooms I haven't even touched yet.  So, I'll add to the House Tour as things get done or changed.

Today, I want to show you pictures of my living room.  This room has had some big changes in the past few months, most notably the addition of my new favorite color, navy blue.

I'm thinking about changing things up on the gallery wall above the piano and I still have a little more painting to do in those niches up high.  Stay tuned.

Ooops...looks like I missed some clutter back there.  Just keeping it real!

I still would like a new couch, but with three young kids and the dogs, it's not a huge priority right now.

Here's my baby fiddle-leaf fig tree.  I can't wait until it gets huge and tall.  Hopefully, I won't kill it before then!

This is just Part One of the house tour.  I'll be back with some pictures and links to my other rooms.

Shared here:

Bloggy Olympics: Paint Project

Have you been following the Bloggy Olympics?  I decided to take part in an event this week: the paint event.

I've had this wooden mirror in my garage for a while.  I got it as part of the dresser set that I painted for Chloe's room, but didn't need the mirror for her room.  I didn't really have a purpose for the mirror, but was afraid it would break if it sat in the garage much longer.  Not like I've ever broken anything in the garage in the past!

Emma and Tyler were very interested in those two dogs in the mirror.  This is the yucky little corner of the backyard where I like to do all of my spray painting.  It's really a dog run/kennel area that we never use, so I don't mind getting paint all over it.


Painting mirrors is so easy.  There is no need to tape off the mirror...get as much paint on it as you want.  All you have to do to get the paint off is to use a razor blade to scrape it off.  It usually comes off easily.

This is after one coat of Benjamin Moore Stunning.  See the primer sprayed right on the mirror and the blue paint?  No problem!

 I was inspired by these gold corners on picture frames by A Thoughtful Place.

Source: athoughtfulplaceblog.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

I used some Martha Stewart metallic paint to add gold corners onto my mirror.

I like the way it turned out and how it looks with the other gold and navy stuff on my mantle.

Here's a little before and after of the mantle:

I still love the Gino Hollander painting that was up there.  It's just found a new home in my living room.  I'll show you more of my living room on Monday, if you want to check back.
Linked to the Bloggy Olympic hosts: Gwen (A Bold Abode), Cassie (Primitive and Proper) and Katie (Craptastic).

Also linked here: Liz Marie, House of Hepworths, My Simple Home Life, Happy Hour Projects

A New Rug

Many of the rooms I like feature jute or other natural-fiber rugs.

Source: architecturaldigest.com via Laurie on Pinterest

They have such a casual, almost beachy feel, but can fit in with almost any decor.

Source: houseandhome.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

Almost every living room inspiration photo I have features a jute rug.  Don't believe me?  Check out my living room board on Pinterest.

Source: barriebenson.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

So, way back in March I ordered the jute boucle rug from West Elm.  It was backordered, but came at the beginning of April.

I didn't take any pictures of the new rug in my living room, but you can catch a tiny glimpse of it here.

Once the rug was unrolled and put into place, however, we noticed a bunch of snags.  Here's an example of one:

West Elm was great about letting me return the rug and exchange it for a new one.  But, it's NOT easy to repackage and ship a 9x12 rug!  I've been waiting for a replacement, but the rug is backordered until the end of June.

One day when I was wasting time, procrastinating browsing on Overstock, I noticed this rug.

Source: overstock.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

I'm a big fan of anything Greek key.  But, best of all, it was available immediately.  So, I cancelled my West Elm jute rug and this beauty arrived in the mail two days later.  I couldn't be happier with it.  It's so soft and looks good with the rest of the room.

Remember the trim on my curtains?  I love it with the rug.

If I ever have time to clean and accessorize this room properly, I promise I'll show you pictures of the whole thing.  Until then, this is the best I can do!

Do you like natural fiber rugs?  Have you seen any good rugs lately?

PS - In case you ever need to ship a giant rug....

Use drawstring trashbags and cut a hole in the bottom.  Don't but holes in the bags that go on the two ends.  Thread the rug through the holes, overlapping trash bags.  Tie tightly, slap on some tape, and send!

Color My World Link Party!!!

Thanks to everyone who has been following the Color My World Challenge!  We've reached the final week.  This is where we invite all of YOU to link up a post sharing how you challenged yourself to try a new color in your home.

The best thing about this party is that your link will show up on all 15+ Color My World challengers blogs.  Next Tuesday, we'll all feature a few of our favorite links.  So start linking at the bottom of this post!!!

In case you missed the last few weeks, I added navy to my living room. 

This challenge forced me to finish some projects that I've had lingering for a while.  Thanks Jessamie for dreaming this whole thing up!

It also gave me a good excuse to purchase some new chairs that I've had my eye on.

After I picked navy, I realized that I cheated a little bit.  I already had some navy in my living room, but the challenge encouraged me to add more!

I already had these navy banded curtains.

And these navy chevron chairs.  Wow, that's an old picture...I almost forgot I used to have that ugly carpet!  I must have blocked it out.

I promise I will show you pictures of the entire room soon.  I had ordered a jute rug from West Elm that came with some damage.  I had to ship it back and am waiting for the replacement.  West Elm has been great to work with through this process, by the way.  As soon as the new rug arrives, I'll show you some pictures.

I also have my eye on these pillows from World Market.  I love the colors.

I would like a throw for the couch to hide the drab olive green.  This one frome Serena & Lily is cute, but at over $200, I think I'll look for something a bit less expensive.

And the room won't be complete without the elusive fiddle leaf fig tree.  This tree doesn't seem to exist anywhere near me!

I don't think I have any "finished" rooms in my house.  They are all works in progress that are continually changing.  At least the living room is now on the right path!

Show us what you've got and link up!!! 

I know you want to see what the other challengers have been up to as well.

Ange - The Blooming Hydrangea
Anna - A Newfound Treasure
Carmel - Our 5th House
Cassie - Primitive and Proper
Jadyn - Dutch.British.Love
Jessamie - Bird and Branch Redesign
Julia - Black Tag Diaries
Julia - Pawley's Island Posh
Kristy - Hyphen Interiors
Lisa - Shine Your Light
Lisa - Trapped in North Jersey
Maury - Life on Mars
Shaunna - Perfectly Imperfect
Shelley - Crazy Wonderful
Suzy - Saved by Suzy
Tiffany - Living Savvy
Tiffany - Worthwhile Domicile
Vashti & Jamie - Like me Some...

Color My World Week 4: Fabric

We are in the home stretch of the Color My World Challenge.  In case you need a little recap, here's what we've been up to in this challenge:

Week 1: Introduction and Color Choice
Week 2: Decor
Week 3:  Paint

This week we were challenged to bring our new color in via fabric.  Remember, next week (May 1st) we are having a blog hop/linky party extravaganza where you can link up a post showing how you brought a new color into your home. 

Back to the fabric.  Not wanting to sew anything, I kind of took the easy way out and ordered new chairs.

They have fabric on them...that's not cheating, right?  I actually ordered these chairs a few weeks ago from Target when they were having a buy one, get one 50% off sale.  I got both of these chairs, including shipping and tax, for about $180 total.  They remind me of the chairs pictured in this room that I like:

I was feeling guilty that I didn't DIY anything with fabric, so I whipped up this fabric-covered box too.

I used an old shoebox and some fabric scraps.  I would show you pictures of the process, but the pics are on my laptop, which is in the shop being repaired.

I basically followed this tutorial from Lori May Interiors.  I used Mod Podge and hot glue to adhere the fabric to the box...pretty simple.  I used a heavy weight, outdoor fabric, so the corners are not as crisp as I would like.  If you try this, I would recommend using a thinner, light weight fabric to reduce the bulk.

Stop by the other Color My World challengers to see how they used fabric this week and be sure to get YOUR posts ready to link up next week!

Ange - The Blooming Hydrangea
Anna - A Newfound Treasure
Carmel - Our 5th House
Cassie - Primitive and Proper
Jadyn - Dutch.British.Love
Jessamie - Bird and Branch Redesign
Julia - Black Tag Diaries
Julia - Pawley's Island Posh
Kristy - Hyphen Interiors
Lisa - Shine Your Light
Lisa - Trapped in North Jersey
Maury - Life on Mars
Shaunna - Perfectly Imperfect
Shelley - Crazy Wonderful
Suzy - Saved by Suzy
Tiffany - Living Savvy
Tiffany - Worthwhile Domicile
Vashti & Jamie - Like me Some...

Spring Into Action: Week 3

This is the final week of the Spring Into Action challenge, where a group of bloggers committed to finishing a project that we've been dragging our feet on.

I chose to build shelves in my TV nook in my living room.  Here's how this area has evolved over the past year:

Bland and Boring

My first and last attempt at abstract art.

Leftover Christmas decor.

This is what it looked like three weeks ago when the challenge began.

Stencil Madness.



I scavenged my house to find things to fill the shelves.  Here's what it looks like now:

Next, I decided to try adding a gallery wall behind the TV using some art that I found at an estate sale.

This was starting to look a little too busy for me:

Styling is definitely NOT my strong point.  Where's Emily Henderson when I need her???  By the way, did you see that she just redid her office in navy.  It looks amazing.

I took some things out:

Added them back in and moved some things around:

Just as a reminder, here's how it started:


What do you think?  Do you prefer the really full look or the more spare look?  I'm definitely not a stylist, so I truly appreciate all of your comments, suggestions and feedback. 

Thanks to Linda of My Crafty Home Life for putting this challenge together and giving us a kick to finish our projects!

Check out the other challengers completed projects here:
Tiffany – Living Savvy

Kerry – Design du Monde

Laurie – Traditional & Modern

Cathy – Room Rx

Carrie – Hazardous Design

Lisa – A Room with A View

Sam – The Junk House

Becca – from Gardners 2 Bergers

Jean – Flower Hill Design

Nancy – Powell & Brower Home

Linda – My Crafty Home Life

Spring Into Action: Week 2

I made it to the second week of the Spring Into Action Challenge!  Last week we all revealed our projects.  I chose to finally finish building shelves in this niche and to do something with the stencil.  Click here to see Week 1 if you missed it.

This week I painted over the stencil.  I used Benjamin Moore's Stunning, which is a deep navy blue.  I love it!

Once the paint was up, I worked on building the shelves.  First I measured the space and how big the pieces of wood needed to be.  I ran over to Home Depot, where my favorite employee, Dennis, cut a sheet of plywood into all of the little pieces I needed.  He also cut pieces of trim for the edges of the shelves too.   I LOVE how they will cut the wood for you.  After my little incident with the hedge trimmers and stitches, I don't want to touch a saw ever again!

I brought my pieces of wood home and painted everything glossy white.  Then I fit the pieces together in the niche.  Everything fit together so snugly, no supports were needed to hold up the shelf.

The hardest part was trying to get everything square.  It took mutiple trips up the ladder, banging the pieces into place with a mallet, climbing down to eyeball it, and then climbing back up to hammer some more.

Yes, I am a total dork.
Once I got the pieces in place, I used wood glue to glue on the trim.

I used caulk around all of the edges, painted the trim, and touched up the navy.

I still have to paint the upper wall.  I'm going to need to join another challenge to get that done!
Now, I have the most difficult part left...styling those bad boys!  Come back next week for the big reveal.

I won't be getting any work done for the next few days because we're celebrating Big K's birthday in Vegas.  Today is his actual birthday.   Happy Birthday to the best husband and father EVER! 

This was last weekend when he took us on a hike to see wild ponies.  We ended up seeing 8 wild mustangs.  It was so cool!!!

See you next week!

Check out what my fellow Spring Into Action challengers have been up to this week.
Tiffany – Living Savvy

Kerry – Design du Monde

Laurie – Traditional & Modern

Cathy – Room Rx

Carrie – Hazardous Design

Lisa – A Room with A View

Sam – The Junk House

Becca – from Gardners 2 Bergers

Jean – Flower Hill Design

Nancy – Powell & Brower Home

Linda – My Crafty Home Life