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

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

Color My World Challenge Week 3: Paint

Welcome back to the Color My World Challenge.  This week we were challenged to add our new color using paint. 

My big paint project was painting a nook navy blue, but I haven't tried to "style" this area yet.  So, no good photos of this area until Thursday.  Here's a little sneak peak.

I wanted to add more navy, so I used some Rustoleum Painter's Touch spray paint in glossy navy on some accessories.

First up, was this pair of candlesticks.

I changed things up on the mantle, to incorporate the navy.

The ginger jar on the left was black, but it got a coat of navy spray paint and then I added some gold stripes.

I also had a bunch of white vases.  You can always find these at the thrift store.

I tried dipping one in the leftover paint from the niche.  I think I might experiment with this a bit more.  Stay tuned.

Stop by the other Color My World Challengers to see what they've been painting this week!

Remember to join our link party in TWO weeks to show off how you've added a new color to your home too.

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...

Challenge: Spring Into Action!

I might be crazy, but I'm participating in another challenge.  I love these challenges because they give me motivation to finish projects that I have lingering around the house.

As you might remember, I have a project from March that didn't go quite as planned.

I tried to stencil this area and build a shelf.  This is as far as I got.

For my Spring Into Action project, I intend to repaint this niche, finish building the shelves, and maybe even do a few DIY projects to style the shelves.

Back in March, I contacted a friend who is a handyman to see how much he would charge to build the shelving.  He quoted us $400, but as soon as he said "You can totally do this yourself," I politely ushered him out the door and pulled out my measuring tape. 

I found this tutorial from Vintage Revivals that doesn't look too tricky and that I actually started on in the photo above.

courtesy of Vintage Revivals

Best of all, the shelving pictured only cost $30 to build!

I like the look of bookshelves with a colored back, similar to these:

Source: emilyaclark.blogspot.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

Hmmm, that navy might fit in nicely with the Color My World Challenge (the other challenge I'm participating in right now)!

Source: simpledwellings.blogspot.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

This series will run for the next two Thursdays.  Next week we will be sharing progress on our projects.  The week after that will be the big reveal of the (hopefully) completed project.

This little challenge was dreamed up by the creative Linda of My Crafty Home Life.  There are lots of other great bloggers participating in the challenge.  I'm looking forward to checking out their blogs to see what projects they are tackling over the next few weeks. 

Here are the participants:

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