#____girlproblems... indecisiveness

If you've been following along, you know our house has been "under construction" for a little over a year now. It's been a rough year as we are doing more to the house than we had originally planned, doing everything but taking it down to the studs, which in some spots... we have... and in other spots we should have... there's not a single square corner in any of our rooms and we've had to cheat our way through big time! Things we thought we wouldn't get to for a few years have all been started (and some completed) since and we've been living in what I call the construction-storage unit. 

In this same year: we've planned a wedding and got married, my honey ran a campaign and got elected, he also went out on his own and started a law firm... all the while our poor house has been torn apart and slowly put back together.

I am so happy now, as I watch the projects that we've been working on forever finally coming together! You would think, that with all this time on my hands, I'd already have decisions made on how to decorate...

Truth is: I don't.

First, I have to defend myself because I had no trouble deciding on oil rubbed bronze, the hardware, faucets, etc. I knew I wanted this light before I picked anything else for the bathroom. I knew I wanted a taller vanity that was wider than our old one (which only came to about 6 inches above my knees) with lots of storage. I knew I wanted white subway tile. I dreamed of a bright white bead board ceiling with pretty moulding.

I waffled a bit on the floor tile. Originally, we wanted slate (way too expensive for our not-forever house). Then I really loved the wood plank tiles, but I couldn't decide on a finish (dark, light, gray, weathered? too many choices). Then we couldn't agree on a pattern, I wanted herringbone and Jay did not. Then we couldn't decided if the "wood tile" was too trendy and if we should do something more traditional. Back to slate "look"... finally, we settled on th Aspen Sunset glazed porcelain, and I love it! It pulls so many colors that we we could have painted our bathroom green, tan, blue, rust, gray... practically any color swatch we laid next to it looked nice. You would think that would make it hard for us to choose, but Jay knew exactly what he wanted as soon as he looked at the swatches I brought home. (I waffled again... going back and forth between gray-blue or gray-brown... I really liked this MS thunderhead, but love the color we went with, perhaps that color would work in the kitchen though).

Now, the bathroom is *almost* done and I cannot decide on a shower curtain or artwork or accent towels/baskets etc.

I love this rugby striped shower curtain and the fun pops of yellow in the rug and towels for the summer.

 But then.... I think this is so "us" and it's hard to resist this clean and classic blue-gray-white combo.

Ugh... I suck at this game.

The curtain rings are from Bed Bath and Beyond.
Our towels are from Pottery Barn and they are seriously the BEST! They are super soft and wash well, I also love white because they can be bleached, which makes me feel like they are super-clean.
Last, I got a similar trash can at Marshall's for $9.99... it's the same shape as this one but has a broken zig zag design around the top.
Shower curtains and rugs pictured are all from West Elm.

Decisions, Decisions... final touches to the Hall Bath

I'm having a hell of a time picking the decor for our hall bath... hence the delay in the big reveal. I just can't seem to decide on a shower curtain. Which means I can't decide on the rest of the bath accessories.

We painted the walls with a custom mix... a cross between Behr Amphibian (slightly lighter) and Nature Retreat (a bit darker).

I absolutely love the color. It's super dark but looks awesome with the slate tile. With the bright white subway tile, counter top, and bead board ceiling, it all just pops and looks so crisp.

We want to add a shower curtain and accessories that amplify this look and really tie it all together. As usual, we're having trouble agreeing on style/colors and my indecisive nature isn't helping AT ALL...

West Elm

West Elm

Pottery Barn

Pottery Barn

Pottery Barn

P.B. Teen

Anthropologie

Anthropologie

Anthropologie

Bed Bath & Beyond

Bed Bath & Beyond

These are the ones I've "narrowed" it down to... we all know how terrible I am with decisions. I will pick everything else to go in the bathroom once I have a firm grasp on the shower curtain. We already have these amazing towels in white, so I don't need other hand towels, but I sure would like some as an accent.

I'm totally digging these bath mats from West Elm... so whatever I end up getting will probably match them... maybe?

Fez

Zig Zag

Horizon Stripe

DIY Spring Green Wreath

I've been on the hunt for a wreath for our front door for Spring/Summer.

I love the preserved boxwood wreath but our front door has southern exposure and gets direct sunlight all day which is brutal on my wreathes... it's been known to melt hot glue and kill live wreathes in a day... so I can't justify spending that much money right now.

Target

 

Home Decorators Collection

West Elm

  To be honest, though... I kind of have a thing for making my own so that I can create exactly what I want. I also really like the feeling I get when I walk up my front stairs and get to admire my handy work as I unlock the door... and no, my elbow isn't getting sore from patting myself on the back... at least not yet...

So off to the craft store I went. I hit Joann on my lunch break and picked up this wreath form and these 6ft boxwood garland.

I started by pulling each piece off the strip of garland then wrapping wire through the little hole. I probably could have just wired the whole garland to the wreath but I'm anal so I didn't....

ooh look at my chippy polish. yikes!

 

Once all the pieces were ready, I started wiring them to the wreath form. I started with the middle but if I could do it over, I'd have started on the inside and worked my way out.

I ran out of greens so I need to make my way back to Joann and get one more string of garland but this is what it looks like for now. A little on the wild side compared to the other boxwood wreathes but I kind of love that.

 I haven't decided if I want to add a bow or anything to it yet, and I'm thinking about swapping out my current wreath hanger for this black one so that it matches our oil rubbed bronze hardware better.

Finally,  I REALLY love having apps on my phone to keep track of all my favorite stores... and I never have to worry whether I remembered to grab the coupon off the printer/counter/desk (or where it got buried in my purse) because it's right on my phone. I saved 40% just by opening up the app while I was browsing.

Pure Green Lust (Over a Stump Table?!)

Oh West Elm... why must you tease me so?

I have been lusting after this gorgeous stump table since I first laid eyes on it a few months ago.

Dreaming of the day our house is finally done being renovated and ready to be decorated. Thinking of ways to incorporate this little piece of lovely into every single room... it's totally that kind of lust.

So interesting, so pretty, so fun, so green... 

these stump tables are made from naturally fallen cypress trees so I thought this would be the perfect post for Earth Day! 

The only problem and why I called them out on being a tease is because they are a whopping $200!! I just can't figure out a way to justify that... not right now... we've got a lot of other projects going on around our house still so I'm trying to be as frugal as possible and not splurge on things we don't really "need". Although, I can say that we DO, in fact, NEED end tables for our living room. However, we should be able to get 2 end tables and a coffee table for this price. Bummer.

After some serious thought, I decided I could probably make something like this (and by "I", I definitely mean with the help of my husband, dad, uncle, brother...) We had a pretty the harsh winter and some crazy wind this spring, so there are fallen trees all over the place and on my way to dinner at my parents' house a couple weeks back, I almost stopped to ask a man with a chainsaw if he wouldn't mind rolling a piece of the tree he was cutting right into the back of my car. 

Enter the WORLD'S GREATEST UNCLE!

While chatting with my cousin and sister at dinner that night about my would-be chainsaw massacre, my uncle offered to help me find the perfect stump-table-pieces and said that his friend (who owns a tree removal company) had a whole pile of wood at my grandparents' farm I could choose from... how completely awesome is that!?

Today, I got a phone call and this picture showing me a piece of pretty red cedar that arrived this week at the farm... I cannot wait to go pick out a table,or 2, or 10!! I'm seriously OVER THE MOON right now!

Look how gorgeous it is... makes me want to make everything out of red cedar!!

Designing a room for the grandkids Part 3...

The madness continues.

After looking at the last design, 50 million times... I've decided to change my mind... because that's what I do...

We're sticking with the same essentials - White bed, white desk and white book shelves... so other than the purple hardware, I've got a pretty blank canvas...

So I was thinking... this might be a room for the kid(s) when they sleep over, but my mom and dad still have to look at it the rest of the time and maybe... just maybe... that purple-lime combo was a bit too much... I still haven't decided but I'm going to try to give them more options (since it is their house and all... knowing all the while that my dad couldn't care less and is probably wondering why he's going to paint this room... yet again).

So onto a more sophisticated grand-kid room... we'll keep the Behr New Violet color because it's super pretty and my mom's pretty set on purple walls.

I am absolutely in love with these pulls from Anthropologie but they are pricey and given that I would need aproximately 7 billion for all the drawers on this furniture, I'll keep dreaming

Also OBSESSED with the Giraffe bust (also from Antrho). It keeps the room from getting too grown up


The bedding, curtains (print, solid), small baskets (which will work perfectly in corralling stray crayons and markers on the desk) and chair are all from Ikea. I'm thinking that the chair could definitely use a coat of gold spray paint to make it blend better with the drawer knobs that I'll never buy. But a few brass frames (sunshine,  whole heart) from Sugarboo & Co.  will not only look so so sweet with pictures of the grandkid(s) on the bookshelves... they will look so much better if the chair is gold (not silver) and white.

I'm totally digging the global feel of this design and I love love love the map canvas and a few of these woven baskets (from Target) tie it all together. The baskets would look great lined up on the bottom of the bookshelves and will be perfect for hiding toys from plain sight (which I'm sure will make Gingin a very happy grandmother).

Another thing that will really make Gingin happy - a rules sign - especially a rules sign that starts with "no whining"! This may very well be my favorite thing in the long line amazingness that is Sugarboo & Co. and I'm pretty sure it was created just for my parents' house (the only way it could be more perfect is if it stopped at frowning, teehee).

We'll just call this one "Budget Blown" but it's so pretty so I don't care...

Bedding: $24.99 (x2)
Curtains: $24.99 (x2), $9.99 (x2)
Baskets: $5.99 (x3), 27.98 (x3)
Wall Decor:$59.99, $36.50, $48

Frames: $36 (x2... for now)
Chair: $19.99
Total: $458.33
oops... that doesn't even include sheets, decorative pillows or paint, so a conservative addition there will be another $150 or so...  But still not bad to have the whole room done for under $600 (just twice as much as the earlier design... nbd)

Designing a Room for Grandkids - Part 2

Because I just can't help myself... I've been doing a little more digging into the decor for Gingin and Pop's grandkids' guest room.

I just couldn't leave well enough alone... I thought, this room is for kids... it's going to need books and baskets and personalization... but I'm still on a super-tight budget.

So I thought I'd include a few of these super-cheap frames which can hold a picture of each grandkid as they come along... so for now, so what if they are all filled with Elisabeth... all Elisabeth.... all the time... meh... no one's complaining (yet).

They're really inexpensive and match the style of the existing furniture really well... plus, there are tons of "hack" ideas all over pinterest if we ever decide we need a rainy day art project at Gingin's.

I love the idea of adding baskets to the bookshelves in this room to organize and separate (and hide) some of the toys that will likely end up stowed at my parents' house. Adding this one also makes the space more interesting by breaking up some of the white-mod furniture and also brings in some more color and a natural element where everything else is a little plastic.

There will obviously need to be some kind of adorable arts and craft storage - like this cute crayon caddy... or maybe these super-fun containers.

Of course, I'm obsessed with the idea of book ledges and want them in my own house but 1 or 2 in this room might do it some good :) I love love love the thought of swapping out the books for the seasons and being able to display the very best and most-favorites for the kiddies.

 Some of our favorites growing up were:

Stone Soup 

Miss Nelson is Missing 

The Giving Tree

The Velveteen Rabbit

The Pokey Little Puppy

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

 Madeline

Bears in the Night

The Spooky Old Tree

Please Try to Remember the First of Octember

I'll Teach My Dog 100 Words

Danny and the Dinosaur

 Caps for Sale

 Tikki Tikki Tembo

 Babar the King

 The Mitten

 Corduroy

 The Little Engine That Could

 Amelia's Notebook

 Thank You Amelia Bedelia

and of course, all of the Disney Classic Series (Aladdin, Lion King, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast...)

And then, there were the books we read to Cara (years and years later) and most of them were the same, but she absolutely loved any stories about dogs, horses, and really, animals in general.

Guess How Much I Love You

The Runaway Bunny

All things Biscuit

Five True Dog Stories

and her very favorite Balto: The Bravest Dog Ever

 
I don't think we actually NEED these but I just think they're so freaking cute! I love the idea of the kids being able to hang all their dress-up and make believe clothes from them and putting on performances.

Designing a room for Grandkids

Ever since my younger brother moved to Colorado after Christmas, my mom has been having some SERIOUS empty nest syndrome... she just changed her FB picture to this one of her and Danny Boy at his going-away party (lookin a lil teary there momma)...

Since then, my younger sister has expanded her reign throughout the entire upstairs of my parents' house (except the master bed/bath)... This BLOWS MY MIND! As one of six kids, we always always always shared rooms. Now, she's the last one and she gets three for herself!

This isn't exactly flying at the Brett Nut House and my mom wants to consolidate little sis into one room and make the other 2 guest rooms (1 for kids and 1 for adults... even though they'll both have bunk beds?) Since my mom's just too busy to fix this, I've taken it upon myself to design Cara's old room.

The trouble is that I can't just go crazy and spend a ton of money (because really, who has extra of that floating around?) and I also have to incorporate as many of the existing pieces as humanly possible... I love a challenge!

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First up, I have to work with a Joker pallet... purple and green... not terribly difficult but I really need to make sure this room DOES NOT look like a DC comic, especially not one of the creepiest villains ever.

So I'm working with the existing furniture, which is great for storage and awesome for kids, but not the prettiest - and it has huge purple pulls... which also, great for kids but not the most attractive... but there are like 27 drawers on this stuff so replacing them just isn't gonna work.

Then we have a lovely lime green shaggy carpet and a lime green desk chair... This is what happens when Mom has 1 idea for the decor (pink, orange and yellow flip flop-girly-beachy theme and her then-7 year old kid wants a "Jimmy Buffet/ship wreck" room with lime green and Caribbean blue.) Can't be too rough on my mom here because anyone would have given into this kid! She was a master negotiator by the time she was 3.

So after scouring the interweb for what seemed like hours... I was able to compile a few cute things that make this room less joker-y and more girly-fun... and WITHOUT blowing the budget!

Where I found the bedding:

Stipped Bedding: Ikea, $19.99

Polka Dot Sheets: Kohl's, (listed online for $39.99, but in-store they were only $19.99 and I had a 30% off coupon and Kohl's cash... so they were practically free)

Lime Green Pillow: Ikea, $3.99

Purple Ruffle Pillow: Kohl's, $64.99 (you know I also didn't pay that - seriously... in store, it was at least 1/2 that price)

LOVE Pillow: Kohl's, $34.99 (these were buy 1, get 1 for 50% off... plus the coupon, plus Kohl's cash) 

Total for bedding: (using coupons and Kohl's cash) $158.38

And the Artwork:

Bird print: Ikea, $9.99

Colorful butterflies: Ikea, $12.99

Purple Butterflies: Ikea, $12.99

And just when you thought I was a 2-stop-shopper... 

The curtain panels are from Target 2 sets for just $19.99 each!

Total for accessories and decor: $75.95

Of course, I'll be painting the walls a toned down version of Radiant Orchid (Behr Ultra New Violet) because it's just so pretty, vibrant and fun! (just like Gingin's granddaughter, Miss Elisabeth)

The grand total of this room will end up being under $300!

Love is in the House!

We had a nice long weekend followed by 2 partial snow days so I took some time to recoop from this terrible cough that's been lurking since Christmas. I also put away all of our Christmas decorations and started to decorate our house (surprise, surprise!)

I made a few garlands to drape around our kitchen and in our powder room... I probably could have been more productive, but sometimes you just need a good craft project in your life. I also ordered a few of these goodies to deck our halls (and couch, and windows, and walls, and doors).

Amazon - Red Striped Straws (I may or may not have a lifetime supply of these from our wedding

Sur La Table - Valentine's Day Mug

Kohl's - Conversation Heart wreath (not available online) and towels

Target - heart shaped tray, round heart tray

JandPaper on Etsy - Olive You and Love chalk board prints (and don't forget to check out the matching shirts over at Sasea Decor on Etsy)

PB Teen - Love pillow cover

Yellow Bird, Yellow Beard - paper hearts garland

Bakers Stock - hot pink baker's twine (mine was found in the clearance section at TJ Maxx)

Ikea - heart pillow

ScrapCuts on Etsy - red dot washi tape 

Confetti System Garland from West Elm, discontinued (similar here, here, or here)