diy rug, any way you want it, on the cheap!

i have been needing a new rug for our second bathroom for a little while now. i recently repainted the walls, mirror, and shower, finally hung art on the wall, and bought new, brighter towels. it was a dull blue from the previous owners and it feels so refreshing to have some fun colors in there and slightly kitchy decor. the missing, final piece was the rug. i knew i wanted a coral or salmon colored rug with a pattern to tie everything together, but i also knew that when i have something specific in my head, it is usually the hardest thing to find (and i am also on a time crunch because that is the bathroom that leads to our backyard and the one that our guests will be using for the birthday party on sunday)...plus i don't have a ton of money to drop on a rug at the moment...sound familiar?

after checking a few websites and realizing that i wasn't going to find what i wanted it dawned on me to just make my own. so off to home depot we went! using a 5x5 painter's drop cloth, a sample jar of the perfect coral color, my sewing machine (to hem the edges of the rug after i cut it to the size i wanted),  tape, a roll of grippy shelf liner (that i got at the dollar store), and some tacky glue (which i always have on hand) i made exactly what i wanted...and the best part of all is that it only cost me $12 and took me about 30 minutes to complete!!

i decided to do stripes, taking advantage of the natural color
of the drop cloth so i started by measuring and taping the stripes (after
i had cut and hemmed it to the right size).

here they are completed!

when it was dry, i turned the rug over and glued the roll of liner
down the middle with my tacky glue. if you want to spend more you can get another roll to
cover the whole backside of the rug,
but i feel like one is sufficient enough to do the trick!

done and done! *

*now that i am finished i will probably spray some scotchguard over the surface for good measure just to protect the fabric from stains.

exposed cabinets...a little change goes a long way!

a few days ago my sister was over and we were discussing our homes and different projects we were doing. we started talking about my kitchen and the idea of taking the cabinet doors off of the top cabinets to expose them. our house was built in 1925 so the kitchen is quite narrow and small and we thought it would help to open it up a little and create more space.

well, once i get an idea in my head there is no going back. i was off to home depot the next day to get some paint and a roller. i am sooo happy with how it turned out. it feels like a new kitchen in there!! it is amazing what simply removing something and adding a color can do!

here is what it looked like before:

                                                             Here is my kitchen now!

**just in case you would like to know, the color i chose is by behr and it's called garden room. i only needed a sample jar of the paint so this project, with paint, rollers, and hooks (to hang those amazing teacups from anthropologie that my sister bought me as inspiration for this project...you're amazing sis!), the 3 plants, and that amber vase from goodwill only cost me about $12. pretty awesome!

a dressed-up dresser

a couple months back i found this tutorial on how to stencil and paint this amazing pattern onto a dresser (the tutorial includes the printable pattern and very thorough instuctions). it had all these woodland creatures and flowers all over it and i thought how lovely this would be in clémence's room. she could use the storage space and i would love a dresser that could also be used for a changing table since the cheap one we have from ikea isn't cute at all! not to mention in my quest for a more colorful playroom, this would be the perfect opportunity to add something bright. i will say that i did not know what i would be getting myself into as this took me a lot longer to complete than i had anticipated, but i am oh so glad i did it! i found a cheap dresser on craigslist and thus began the transformation.

before:

after!!

should you feel up to the task here is the link to making your own!

window treatment

so i am in the middle of like 20 different projects right now. there is so much i want to do it's almost frustrating. but a good, motivating frustration. one of the things on my list is to sort of makeover clem's playroom. it originally only had red, white, and grey as the theme colors, but i really wanted to add more to brighten it up in there and make it more playful. so i started with the curtains. 

these white ikea ones below are what we had:

and here are the ones i made for her*:

it's starting to feel better in there already...but there is definitely more to come!

*check out my earlier DIY blog here on how to whip up some curtains of your own

another birthday present.

an adorable platter i had been lusting over which was bought in secret from my family to match our dinnerware collection. they are all handmade by an artist out of san francisco named rae dunn. she makes beautiful things. i can't wait to use this!!

grandma's pastime.

on the continuous quest for decorating our bedroom, i decided to embroider something sweet to hang on the wall. i bought all my supplies at michaels and it probably cost me maybe $12. after writing what i wanted to say on a scrap piece of paper a few times to practice, i then wrote it on the linen and was able to sit next to my sleeping baby and finish it before she woke up. and i'll be honest, i really enjoyed it. it was super relaxing, and while i love finding things like this at thrift stores, like i mentioned in a previous post, it is just so much better when you have made it yourself.

on a roll...

oh i am so excited about the project i just finished! i found a tutorial on how to paint your fridge with chalkboard paint. our fridge, that came with the house when we bought it, works great but is kinda old and maybe used to be white but was more of a yellowy off-white as of late. so i decided to take it on and although like i said, it is older, it was still a little bit scary before i put brush to it. but i am so happy i did! it looks a thousand times better and so much more fun! and i must thank my darling husband for trusting me to do crazy stuff like this!

i was so eager to get started that i forgot to take a 'before' picture :-( but you at least get the idea from the one below where i am half-way done...

also the tutorial had you use magnetic primer so we can still use magnets if we choose!gettin er done!my makeover's complete! i cannot wait until clémence is old enough to draw whatever she fancies!

simple, yet fun.

our bedroom has taken a back seat so to speak as far as decorating goes and is in need of some color and fun. thought using this wall space for pictures was a good way to put up memories of our little life without seeming too invasive (like if it were in the living room instead) and gives us a space where that amount of pictures makes sense. the twine and clothespins are simple but cute. this isn't my original idea, but i like it and love waking up to a view of our blessed life.

a special place.

continuing my DIY craze i decided to make a tent for clémence's room. i found a great tutorial from a creative blog and some fun fabric when we were in san diego. also, i had an amazing friend to do it with which made the process so much easier and fun. i am so happy with the outcome and love that she has, well, her own special place to read or dream or sleep or whatever she wants. and as cheesy as it sounds, i can't wait for the memories to be made with the three of us.

by day:

by night:

the beauty of imagination. of seeing things for the first time. the simplicity of bright colors, patterns, and twinkle lights to us, becomes an exciting new world to our babes.

checkin it off the list.

i've been super inspired lately. i blame it on my creative friends and let's face it my new obsession with pinterest. things are just so much better when you can make them or do them yourself. so much more meaning and although more time-consuming, most of the time cheaper too. its a win-win. yesterday i took on a project and thanks to babes being so good, i was able to finish it.

3 years ago jeremiah and i backpacked europe for 5 weeks. it was an incredible experience to say the least. one of the places we stayed was bled, slovenia. it's this quaint little town surrounding this beautiful lake. there is a tiny island in the middle with a church on it and a family of swans swimming around it. picturesque to say the least. the lake isn't very big and there is a trail so you can walk around the entire thing in about 2 hours. this is precisely what we did. i remember it so clearly. it was just a lovely afternoon.

i picked a few flowers when we were on that walk and pressed them in a book i was reading. i haven't really done anything with them til now. here's what i did.

1. found some linen napkins at a thriftstore.

2. got my flowers from the photo album.

3. taped them onto the linen.

4. wrote 'bled, slovenia may 2008' on the middle one and framed them.

our bathroom wall was in need of some sprucing up so i bought some mustard paint from home depot because you can't go wrong with mustard. this is the result...

before:

after:

cost of project: around $40. so worth it!

wildflowers.

there's nothing quite like planting seeds...

and then watching them grow.

comfy cozy

our collage wall.

i spy...

my glasses from first grade,

a photogragh of my mother when she was young and in a band,

a cross jeremiah's parents brought back from israel made out of olive wood,

a hip little restaurant we went to in berlin before seeing two of our favorite 'bands' panda bear and pantha du prince,

graffiti of tom waits we saw on a wall lining a narrow cobblestone street in budapest,

a porcelin fortune cookie made by a friend and given to us for good luck before we moved to europe,

a cheesy-but-great 'sufjan stevens esque' portrait taken by our dear friend jeff newton who also happens to be an amazing commercial photographer,

a dorky-but-cool vintage desert postcard given to me for my birthday,

pictures of art from great artists we were able to see at the hamburger bahnhof, the macba, and the centre pompidou,

a polaroid of our daughter,

the desert on a trip we took to bisbee when i was still pregnant,

string art i found at an antique shop,

and

my love at a park in flagstaff.

what stories are told on your walls?

pic-n-save

i have a romantic relationship with mid-century furniture. And since our bank account does not, these pieces have to come one-at-a-time. although i have minimal patience (especially when it comes to decorating our home) it has actually been nice to occasionally stumble across a piece we really like and be able to purchase it. sort of like little surprises you don't know you are going to find and every once in a while we get these at a steal.


we recently found 2 vintage brown jordan chairs for our patio out front from craigslist at a really decent price. if you have never heard of the brand here is a little description from their website,


" Since 1945, Brown Jordan has designed luxury leisure furnishings and accessories that transcend time and liberate the senses. Established by Robert Brown and Hubert Jordan in Pasadena, California, Brown Jordan was the first company to create furniture for full-time outdoor use. The first of these innovative designs, constructed of tubular aluminum and vinyl lace, was fittingly called “Leisure” and marked the birthplace of outdoor furniture."


well the 'decent price' we found was recently one-upped when my mother-in-law was shopping at a furniture store and saw a complete patio set that she thought 'looked just like our chairs.' She sent me a picture of it on her phone and i asked her if they said brown jordan anywhere...sure enough they did and the set only cost $39. to find out just what a steal this is, try looking up these on ebay or etsy...and i think you'll share in my excitement. we had breakfast outside this morning and it was delightful!

the impossible is possible

well killed my second cactus today. that's right the second. this has already happened once before. how you ask? i haven't the faintest idea. i definitely didn't over-water them. can they die from neglect? i can only laugh at myself! talk about not having a green thumb...if this is possible, what is to become of the flowers i planted? so sad because it matched my kitchen perfectly.

the stem used to be a vibrant green. not so much the case anymore :-(

comfy cozy

home. what do you surround yourself with? things that have meaning. things you adore. the pleasant, the comfortable, the charming. the objects that tell a story, that say a little of who you are or maybe a lot. here are some of those for me...

my knit wall clock from anthropologie. its just fun and a little unexpected. i have a love of something knit or crocheted especially something out of the ordinary, and when i saw it, it immediately reminded me of a page out of my favorite book that sits on my coffee table about fashion photographer Tim Walker. when he shoots for a magazine, he doesn't just take a photograph of a model wearing the latest designer. he goes to great lengths to produce something extraordinarily beautiful and imaginative while at the same time, so playful. he has an eye almost as a child's. and none of his photos have been electronically manipulated. below (after the clock of course) are some of his photographs from his book Pictures. there are probably too many but it was so hard for me to choose which ones to show!