Master bedroom makeover FINALLY!

I can say with confidence that I love MOST of the rooms in my house. Sure, there are minor tweaks I would make here and there but what fun would it be to have everything perfect? I can also say with confidence that I have not LOVE LOVED my own bedroom since leaving my floor to ceiling Laura Ashley Castleberry room in my parents house. That was 1992. That is ALMOST 20 years ago people! Eric and I married 4 years ago and had a mis-mash of furniture. Light, dark, antiques, contemporary...there was so much confusion. Before we could fix the problem baby one was on the way and we needed to invest in him not us. Then baby two was on the way and we needed to invest in her not us. Well this year we invested in US and it was so worth it. We went from a room that neither of us would have chosen to hang out in to a room that you have to force us to leave. Eric will be the first to say that he had no idea how great a room can feel when it becomes something you LOVE! 

After turning our former bedspread into our headboard, inheriting an antique from my parents, a trip to TJ Maxx and downtown Glendale's antique district we have a room. Without further adieu our new room: 

BEFORE

AFTER

FORMER BED SPREAD

BECOMES A HEADBOARD

ANTIQUE RADIO FROM MOM AND DAD

MR BAILEY'S SIDE

MY SIDE...notice my dream BIG angel. 

THE NEW BED SPREAD WITH OUR MARRIED MONOGRAM.

ON SALE FROM POTTERY BARN. 

Gotta go. My room calls. 

Linking with: diy showoff, craftomaniac, Tip Junkie, A Beach Cottage

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Tis the Season

for decorating even more!

Since my house looks like a craft store EXPLODED in it I thought I would dedicate Tuesdays to the world of Christmas transformations. 
So Treasure Trove Tuesdays is going on a break but if I come across amazing links I promise to still share. 
The decorating process has begun at my house. First up was the entry way. 
BEFORE:

NOW:

I was going for a white and silver scheme with a vintage feel. Nothing was bought. I simply gathered things from around the house or things that were used in various places during the Christmas season. 

DETAILS:

The window got snowflakes. They never had a proper home during Christmas and now they have found one. 

Picture frames of the family and candle sticks gathered from various parts of the house.

The "B" was supposed to be used at our December wedding and didn't make the cut. Now it gets to be seen. 

$2.00 Goodwill table cloth that I have plans for later. It works here for now.

A special ornament from my mama. 

Don't even remember buying this but it works!

Sweet Avery in the background. A bird door stopper that was hanging out in my laundry room. 

This is the only part of my house that will look like this. The rest of it has exploded in plaid. Hey, I was a 80's kid I can't help it! Hope your holiday decorating is going well! Enjoy! 

The Lettered Cottage

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welcome

kid style. 

October was the month of visitors at our house. It was also the month I got my Cricut machine (woot!woot!). Which of course I needed to practice with. 

I decided to make a fun little welcome sign to greet our guests. And in an effort to re.create I decided to recycle some of Renn's precious artwork for the project. 

Renn's art. Excuse my poor lighting. 

I love to do art with Renn but there comes a point that you can only hang so many kid paintings on the fridge. So I decided to use his sweet paintings on lunch bags as the splash of color on the welcome sign. 

The cricut goes to work.   

 

I got to use my twine from the twinery 

which I was super excited about. 

I wasn't a fan of the hole punches showing so I decided to add some flowers with buttons embellishments. 

Pretty fun, huh? I can't wait to continue to use his art work in creative ways. 

www.thediyshowoff.blogspot.com

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Tip Me Monday

giveaway ends friday. enter here. 

decorating
I am by no means an expert decorator or have any formal training in the art but here are a few tips that help me. 


Fall in love and then count to 10.

I saw this piece in an antique shop in Pinetop,Arizona and it was love (Think Lady and The Tramp kind of love). 
I NEEDED this piece of furniture but the price tag was going to sting. After the arrow in the heart feeling wore off I began to continue to wander the store till I made my way back to the one I could not live without. 

I then began to chat with the store owner. It didn't take long for me to start falling deeper and deeper as I heard the history of finding this piece in a barn somewhere in the mid-west (how romantic).
I mentioned to her how much I enjoyed her store and selections and then I did the unthinkable...I walked away! You read that right I walked away. 
It was critical. I needed to know if this was forever love or a crush. Was I willing to have this piece be my birthday, Christmas, anniversary and happy 1/2 birthday present? Did I dream of it that night? Would I cut my toe off if I left town without it?
After 24 hours the answers ALL came back "YES!"

I proceeded back to the store and after a few back and forth conversations on the price this sweet baby became mine. 
And I continue to love love love it!

Other peoples trash is your treasure.

This was found in my in-laws cabin shed. I heart it very much! The distressed look, the green that pops out and the fact that it once lived in Hawaii all make me happy. 
I knew I wanted to make it a focal point so I began to gather other things I already had around the house. The lantern formally lived in my backyard, the hook was in my garage, the buffet was in another spot in the house.The vase was actually the only item I purchased. 

Put is all together and what do you get? A shabby chic entryway for a total of $40.00. 

Suggestions for turning trash to treasure approach is to schedule a weekly visit to your local Goodwill and make sure you put your imagination cap on (my mama is the bestest at this), raid your family and friends garage and finally think about rearranging things you already have. 

Pick a style and stick to it.
Contemporary, traditional, or shabby chic? Before you decorate anything make sure you have a vision for the space. Collecting pictures and images that are inspiring the area you need to decorate always help me. 
For my baby Avery's room I knew I was going shabby chic all the way! 

photo by carrie fay photography

This bench, found in a thrift shop, was the piece that the room ended up being designed around.And yes, I practiced the count to 10 rule with this piece as well. Because the bench has so many colors going on and her room was already painted in a bold color (Revival Rose by Dunn Edwards) I knew I needed to go neutral with the rest of the room. Two trips to an antique shop, a couple of purchases on Etsy and a handful of online purchases and this is what I got. 

the below photos are from carrie fay photography

It is exactly what I wanted and envisioned. 
Here are my favorite websites for decorating tips and inspiration.
Shabby Nest
A Pretty Cool Life
My Sweet Savannah
Creature Comforts
Design Dazzle
Freckled Laundry
naturallyi
Happy decorating and possibly redecorating!
Got a decorating tip? I would love to hear it. 

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