family room coffee table update

    If you remember a few weeks ago I posted about choices for coffee tables I loved! Well, this weekend we finally got our new table. The winner was the wood table from World Market!  We already had the matching end table and I scored this table used for a fraction of the price! Who doesn't love a good deal!

Here is the room now with our new table.

Happy Monday!

Living room gallery wall

Yesterday I posted some gallery walls that inspired me, and today I am sharing the gallery wall I put together in my living room! The living room is the first room you see when you enter our front door so I wanted the focal wall to make a statement! I looked and looked at ideas for stenciled walls, but I totally loved the painted wall treatment I found at Jonesdesigncompany .  It took me about a week to complete the wall, but it was so worth it.

  Then it was time for the fun part arranging and rearranging the gallery wall. I reused frames I already had, and black and white pics of my precious children!

I didn't have enough photos to fill all the frames so I used pages from an old dictionary I had laying around. To add a little more detail I used some burlap hearts that are actually from my scrapbooking stash.

The rest of the room is still a work in progress. The couch is old and is need of a white slipcover and maybe some new colorful pillows! At least for now I am happy looking at my completed wall!

Gallery wall

Today I have gallery walls on the brain! I have an empty wall in my family room between the window and kitchen slider that is in need of something. It's not a huge space, but it's definitely lacking pizazz! I've been thinking of arranging some mismatch picture frames there, but I just haven't got around to it yet. Here are a few that caught my eye!



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I just might get inspired to try one sometime soon!

More kids room ideas

Since I shared my daughter's rooms this week I thought it would be fun to post some other inspirational kids rooms I found online.

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I love the yellow, black and red color scheme in this room. The canopy over the bed is such a fun idea. Having a soccer player myself I thought the soccer ball pillow was the perfect touch to the room!



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This photo speaks for itself! The colors are so much fun and it could suit a little girl or teen!



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I heart the aqua and pink color combo here! Plus the wall treatment makes this room one of a kind.

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This one makes me almost want to paint my daughters room navy.

So glad it's finally Friday! Have a great weekend!

My oldest daughter's art room

Today I am posting pics of my oldest daughter's bedroom. When we moved in her only requirements were navy blue and nothing girly! She also enjoys drawing so I wanted to incorporate some of her own artwork into the room.







We saved a bundle by reusing all of her existing furniture from our old house. I painted the walls with a mistint paint in a light blue/gray color. The bedding was inexpensive from Target and the decorative pillows were all on clearance. I painted random picture frames that I just had sitting around in black and matted some of her drawings. On the wall by her closet we decided to paint a large chalkboard with chalkboard paint. When we went to Home Depot to get the paint we discovered they actually make tintable chalkboard paint. Of course she wanted a blue chalkboard wall! I have to say that I've used regular black chalkboard paint several times and had no problems, but this blue paint was very streaky. I actually had to use about ten coats of paint to get the color right! Lastly I had my husband build a frame around the chalkboard to finish it off.

My daughter's hot pink haven

When we first moved to our new home my daughter's room was a blank slate. She's eight years old and had a clear vision on how she wanted her room decorated! Her list included hot pink walls, zebra bedding, and Paris themed artwork. Below are the before pictures I took when we first toured our house.

Here are the after pics

I was actually really excited to get to decorate a girly bedroom! I was a little worried about the paint, but once the whole room was painted it looks great! I reused an unwanted dresser and simply painted it black (sorry no knobs in the pics, we recently found some cute black and white dresser knobs at Michael's craft store for $1.00 each).  We added a few zebra accessories, but I didn't want the room to feel to themey (if that's a word). The white baskets under her bed and on the shelves are perfect for holding her large collection of Webkinz and small toys like Polly Pockets, etc. We also painted plain wood letters from the craft store and hung with Velcro over her bookcases. She wanted Paris artwork in her room but I couldn't find anything I really liked in our budget so I ordered a Paris wall calendar off of ebay and then let my daughter pick out three of her favorite pics from it. We simply framed the calendar pages with inexpensive frames and it looks perfect over her bed. Lastly we needed a little bling in her room. We debated taking down the ceiling fan and replacing it with a much prettier chandelier, but decided we really need the fan in the summer. I had a string of glass crystals from some Christmas decorations that we simply hooked to globe on the ceiling light. In the end we love her room and it didn't cost a fortune to decorate!

 

Area rugs

I've been keeping my eyes open for an area rug for our family room. Here are a few that I really love...



Ikea

pottery barn teen

ballard designs

ballard designs

target

Have a great weekend!

DIY glue gun window valance

I am back today to show you what I did with my beautiful fabric! I had several ideas, but decided to address that empty sad looking window over our kitchen sink.

Sorry the picture is so dark, the sun was so bright in the window I just couldn't get a good pic. I might try to take another one when it gets darker.

This window treatment was so easy and fast to make (remember I don't sew). First I simply measured how wide and what depth I wanted it to be. I doubled the depth because I simply folded the fabric over a tension rod so the light wouldn't shine through the fabric. I then just folded the edges over and ironed them for a crisp line.

For the last step you could use no sew hem tape that you iron on, but I didn't have any so I decided to use one of my favorite tools the HOT GLUE GUN! I just put a thin line of glue all along my folded edges. So easy and it only took me about 45 minutes to complete!

I then just hung the fabric over a tension rod I placed between my kitchen cabinets. Please don't mind those ugly oak cabinets they are on my future to do list!

I'm hoping to go back to Hobby Lobby tomorrow and purchase some more of this fabric. I have a couple chairs that could stand to be recovered in it!

Family room sofa

  Here is the pic of our new family room sofa's. I love the brown leather! It just seemed to be the right fit for our family. We had leather in the past and know how durable it is! With three kids and one pug we wanted something that could take some abuse and still look good five-ten years down the road! Now I just need to find the perfect coffee table. Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated!

On a totally unrelated topic I was looking around my favorite craft/home decor store yesterday (Hobby Lobby) and came across this fabric. I was totally in LOVE! I didn't know what I would use it for so I just bought one yard of it (with my 40% off coupon of course). Now I could just kick myself for not buying more. I foresee another trip to Hobby Lobby in my near future. I have a couple ideas of what I would like to do with it. Stop by tomorrow to see what I come up with!

On the HUNT!

  Last week we had our new family room sofa's delivered! I am extremely happy with how they look! I promise to post pictures this week. I am now on the hunt for the perfect coffee table. Here are a few I spotted that I love...


http://www.ikea.com/



http://www.worldmarket.com/

http://www.ballarddesigns.com/

http://www.theshowandtellblog.com/

Please let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions for me! Now I am going to try to enjoy the rest of my rainy afternoon!

   I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I know I enjoyed spending time with my family and loved ones. With Thanksgiving behind us I can now refocus my energy on my family room! We had our new furniture delivered last week and I hope to share photos with you soon!

Family room progress

     Today I am sharing the progress I've made in our family room! I have some of the items crossed off my to do list and will keep working on completing the rest!

Family Photo Wall

Before

Our family room right now (After)

                                                  Family Room Redo

1. hang flat screen TV over fireplace
2. paint fireplace mantel
3. paint room
4. hang curtains
5. new furniture
6. get rug
7. hang family photos
8. new flooring (eventually)
9. paint brown trim white
10. what to do with those awkward shaped windows

Painted stripe curtains

  My next project for the room was to find the perfect curtains. I did a lot of shopping via foot and Internet and couldn't find anything I loved that was in my teeny tiny budget! While roaming online I found a tutorial to make black and white striped curtains at http://www.theyellowcapecod.com/ . THANK YOU THANK YOU this was just what I had been looking for! Unfortunately for me I can't sew, at all (no kidding)! So I decided to do what I'm good at, PAINT! I bought cheapy white cottton curtains at Target (my favorite store) for less than $20.00 for the pair. I then had to decide how many stripes I wanted and what size. I decided I wanted wide stripes 12 inches each. Please note this project was relatively easy but a little time consuming. I laid the panels on the floor and used a measuring tape to measure my 12 inches and marked along with a pencil. Once I had all the stripes marked I used frog tape along my marks to make a straight line. I made sure to press the tape firmly along the edges to avoid bleeding. I did this project on my kitchen floor because of the paint. I would suggest using a painters dropcloth or plastic under the curtains when painting ( I may have had some black stripes on my kitchen floor when I finished)! I used a simple inexpensive mini paint roller and just painted away. I made sure to remove the tape after completing each stripe so the paint wouldn't dry and peel off. I let them dry for an entire day before hanging them up. Once hung I did have to go back with a small paintbrush and go over some spots that I missed or didn't absorb enough paint. I'm so glad I didn't chicken out and went ahead with this project! I am loving how our family room is coming together!

family room redo part 2

After installing the television above the fireplace I started on the fireplace itself. It was desperately calling to be painted white. To me white is just a more classic airy feel. It took two coats of primer and about five coats of paint, but it was well worth all the work. I love our new fireplace!

What I was most excited about was to begin painting over that red wall. I used Valspar Signature paint with primer in a matte finish. The color I used is called barnwood. I cannot say enough about this paint it is awesome! It only took ONE coat to cover that red wall!!! So happy with the new color!