With some patience and $10.

So I did it the right way this time! We have an armoire that I have loathed forever...I almost dragged it out to the garage sale this year just because I am so over it. It has a very country feel to it that I just cannot stand anymore. But, turns out it's a really nice piece of furniture. And I REALLY didn't want to drop at least $600 on a new armoire.

So I decided to paint it...the right way. Started with primer, let it cure, and then three coats of black paint. This project only cost $10 for paint. The most important parts of this kind of project are using primer to start and letting each coat of paint dry fully. I painted the knobs (that I had replaced a while back in an effort to update the piece) with a bronze glaze and it makes them pop. I also filled in the grooves on the front of the doors so the beadboard wasn't quite so noticeable.

Here's the before:

Here's the after...

Black paint transforms just about anything!! It still has a bit of the country look it, but I think it looks so much better now.

Update on the kitchen!

So I realized I never updated the progress from my island debacle in the kitchen. (My first post.) Turns out, it's held up really well (crossing all fingers) -- even with a toddler in the house. :) It really looks great, and the result is just what I wanted.

I was over all the cherry in the room -- the floors, cabinets, chairs, table and island:

I added some molding to the island and painted it black. Here are some final pics of the room:

Along with the island change, I got new black chairs and now I'm thrilled with everything. (Six chairs were $290 at Garden Ridge -- HOLLA.)

(The flash makes it look a little gray here.) Now I think I want to add some corbels to the island too, to give it a real furniture look. All in all, not too bad -- I feel like I transformed the look of the whole kitchen for less than $330. (That's for six new chairs, paint, and a little molding.)

I can't cope.

That would be crown molding. I can't cope crown molding. I swear to you, I'd have that stuff around every room in our house, including closets, if I knew how to cope. (I'm kidding about the closets...kind of. Not really.) Coping is the cutting you have to do to crown molding to get the corners to fit together. Because crown doesn't fit flat against the wall, you (usually) can't cut it at an angle and expect it to match up in the corners like other wood you place directly against the wall.

This is how an inside corner looks, for example. You will most likely have to cope the molding to get it perfect like this. And I have no idea how to do it. I've looked it up a trillion times, and can't figure it out.

Soooo...what's a girl to do when she LOVES crown molding and has no patience, and isn't going to pay someone a ridiculous amount of money to do it for her? She finds these fun little tricks: inside and outside corner pieces. Yahoo!!

These little corner pieces are awesome. You paint them and nail them up in the corners, then just place your molding up against them. Turns out I love the way they look too. They add an extra elegance to the room. The smaller pieces for regular-sized molding are only a few dollars each. They get more expensive for the thicker molding but are still not that bad. Especially considering the alternative -- not doing it at all or paying someone to do it!!

Don't go all the way. (Snicker.)

Couldn't resist. ;)

Recently, three friends of mine have mentioned redoing their children's bathrooms. (FUN!) When it comes to decorating kid's spaces, many people express a hesitancy to purchase a whole set for kid's rooms -- and I wholeheartedly agree.

Great examples of this are the sets from Pottery Barn Kids -- this nursery, for example, includes everything you could need with the boat theme:



It's ADORABLE. But, I think the most interesting rooms (AND less expensive!) happen when you find a couple pieces you love and work off of them in the room. Although you can definitely save some cash doing it this way, it does take more time and patience. It's all about taking your time, shopping around and finding things here and there that will work in the room. For this boat-themed room, you could use the rug, and take the colors from that to pick out the bedding -- maybe a solid or something with a stripe from another store. Then change up the textures for the window treatments, pillows, etc., while staying in the same color scheme.


For bathrooms, the same is true. Target has a great selection of kid's bathroom sets. They have everything - trash cans, toothbrush holders, cups -- even shower curtain hooks that match! Try working off the theme and getting creative with it. Take this bathroom set:



Use purple and pink towels instead of those that come with the set. Get a striped shower curtain that works with the colors and find a fun butterfly stencil or vinyl lettering and put it in fun spots throughout the room. Find a pink cup instead of the one from the collection. The fun comes when you find something in another store that works PERFECTLY with the set. You will be so excited! :) And everything doesn't have to be an exact match -- for this room, every butterfly doesn't have to look like those on the set. But they should have a similar shape or color.

Getting the whole set is easy, and is always cute and looks great. But if you want to put your own spin on the decor and maybe save a little money, try getting a little creative with the room. Have fun -- you should have a good time decorating kid's spaces!

DIY no sew roman shades

When I say this stuff is easy, I mean it. And this time I REALLY mean it! One of my favorite projects is our faux roman shade window treatments. All you need is fabric you love, hemming tape (that I've mentioned before), a couple cup hooks and a small amount of ribbon.

I'm sharing the steps, including pictures, so you can see how easy it is for yourself!

Step 1: Cut your fabric to the length/width you need -- for a standard window, a yard is plenty. Hem the sides, making the top a rod pocket using your hemming tape. (I just use tension rods to hang these -- less than $2 each!)


Step 2: Put cup hooks at whatever spot on the wall you want the folds to hang from. You will only need one set of hooks. (One on each side.) I hang mine higher so the treatment doesn't hang too low into the window.



Step 3: Here's where the ribbon comes in. Cut it to the length you want, and hand sew it on at the exact same spot on both sides of the fabric. The length of the ribbon will depend on how far down you want your pleats to hang. For this project, the ribbon was about two inches for the top pleat, about three or four inches for the bottom pleat. I use a button on the front to give it something to really grab on to and it's decorative. (Even though you really can't see the button when done.)

Here it is from behind:


Step 4: Add ribbons at the lengths you want -- in my bay window I wanted three folds, so three sets of buttons/ribbon. In the kitchen window I only wanted two, so there are two sets. Take the ribbon up behind the fabric and hang it on the cup hook, a fold at a time.

This is the finished product!!


Here's another example: (this one had three pleats, but I made one shorter and some longer by placing the first two short ribbons up high, the remaining one's were longer and placed lower.)
I added trim along the bottom, but even without, they turn out beautiful! I love that you can do this with a fabric you really want to use. They are even operational -- you can just take the ribbon loops off the hooks to lower them. I made the shades in our bay window long enough to cover the whole window, which is nice for privacy if you need it. Also, depending on your window, you may want to add lining to the back of your fabric.
If you have any questions, let me know! It really is sew simple. (I KILL me!) Each one will take an hour or two -- depending on the size. The cost really just comes from the fabric -- I did these with a few yards of fabric and a lot of patience! Good luck!

This stuff is just plain FUN.

I am looooooving the wall words that are out right now -- I found out about them when a friend started selling one version of these, from Uppercase Living. When you see this stuff, you'll think, "Oh, how cute!" And you'll buy one of them, put it up, and after you stop cursing (they are kind of a pain), you'll realize, holy crap, these are TOO COOL! Then you will look all over your house for spots to put more of them!

They are basically just vinyl cut outs that you rub and transfer to the wall. I like Uppercase Living because you can do custom orders -- they have a bunch of fonts you can use and you can go pretty large with the size. But I'm pretty sure other companies that sell these offer the custom orders as well.

Here are a few I've done in our home...

I've been using them in my client's homes too. They are just fun and cute! Just a warning -- you'll really love them (I promise) and will seriously roam around your house trying to figure out where to put the next one. Just try to take it easy with them -- you can go overboard. The nice thing about them is you can put them on other decorative items (like a tile on an easel) so they are not just all over your walls.

There is another option, that will save you a little money and a lot of time. (If you are like me -- when you want it, you want it NOW.) Any vinyl signage store can make these for you too. You probably have about five of these places near you and don't even realize it. They offer a MUCH better selection of fonts and colors. And they can get them to you in a day or two, instead of a few weeks. I've found the price to be about the same, but if you mention that you will order them through a company like Uppercase Living if you can't get a better price there, they will most likely give you a bit of a discount. Getting them in a few days compared to weeks at the same cost is worth it to me.

If you are interested, go to the Uppercase Living site and you should be able to log on to look at their catalog. You'll be calling a consultant to have a party tomorrow!! I've warned you! :)