Mini Living Room Reveal

It's been a busy few weeks, without much time to share what I've been up to, so I'll have lots of pictures  and tutorials in the next few days! First up, our living room! I'm holding off on a full reveal since I finished just in time for The Home Depot Style Challenge and it's currently decorated for Christmas (and needs some finishing touches).. so a few more weeks :) But for now, here a are few shots that didn't make it into the post.

The room still needs a few finishing touches.. We still need to paint (currently just primer, but it will be white), swap out the light, we LOVE the light we made .. but ultimately decided that it wasn't right for the space, so we ordered this one and we'll put our DIY light somewhere else .. we're also upholstering a sofa, we currently have one from my grandparents, which is going in the basement eventually (reupholstered) .. and our other gray chair needs cushions (my amazing mom sewed two, two to go!) finally, we'll be swapping our the bench for something a little more colorful :) Sounds like a lot, but I'm happy to have a mostly finished space, so we have a place to sit!!

This room has come a long way!

Before:

(living room is the space with lots of windows - bottom right of the photo)

After:

I'll do a full reveal when the space is non-Christmasy and finished :) But, just wanted to share our progress!

Sources:

Pillows:
Turquoise, gray, metallic leopard print, green diamond, Home Goods
Silver metallic pillow, TJ Maxx
Blue ikat, Schumacher Kasari
Blue/green ikat, G Street fabric, Rockville MD
It's the most wonderful time of the year

Greek key marble nesting table
Gray side chairs (vintage) (refurbished, post coming soon!)
Side Table (vintage)

Draperies, based on Schumacher Zimba, drawn by us and printed through Spoonflower 

Starburst mirror, Home Depot (on clearance for $8.83!!)

Fiddle Leaf  Tree, Home Depot

Bench, Home Goods

Succulent, Ikea

Coming soon, custom DIY drapery rod for around $20!! You'll never buy one again!

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Friday Five | 10.17.14

I wanted to share follow up on the Stocksund Sofa at Ikea that I shared last week. In person, the quality was pretty good and it was comfy! My only complaint is that the bottom looked a little loose (maybe it could be stapled? I didn't look closely). But, for the price, I thought it was great!

Ikea also added a sheepskin cushion cover! 

Think about adding molding to the wall for architectural detail! Also, think about layering frames on top for an unexpected look. Love this space by Handmade Charlotte!

Please pin from the original source, provided below the photo, Thanks! 

via handmade charlotte

This week, I pick up another pair of my go-to casual flats! They are SUPER comfy, they don't rub or pinch (I hate that with flats), they aren't tight, but they don't slip off your feet, and they're super light!! Rocket Dog, at TJ Maxx, just $16.99! 

I love this living / dining space created by The Design Files - it's bright with neutrals and pops of color. I also love the mix of mid century modern with contemporary and a little traditional (love those chandeliers!) This the feel that I'm going for in our home! 

Please pin from the original source, provided below the photo, Thanks! 

via the designs files

*Contains affiliate link 

Love this brass floor lamp from Land of Nod!! 

Hope you all have an amazing weekend! :) 

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Year Round Tissue Peonies | Tutorial

When Puffs challenged me to create a DIY project using their new SoftPack, I jumped at the chance!

Every May, I look forward to Peony season. Why does it come around just once a year?! Using Puffs tissues to create faux peonies was perfect! Now I can have the look of Peonies year round, for just a few dollars!

Today, I'm going to show you how to make your own faux Peonies - it's super easy! Here's how to do it!

You will need:

Puffs tissues (about 8 per Peony)
Yellow tissue paper (or dye tissue yellow)
Metal floral stems
Floral tape
Scissors
Xacto knife and metal ruler
Cutting mat
Watercolor paint

First, prepare the Peony stamen. Cut a 1" to 1.5" section of yellow tissue paper. Cut a small fringe, about halfway through the tissue with an Xacto knife or scissors.

Wrap it around the floral wire and secure the end with floral tape.

Next, start working on the petals. Cut the tissues approximately 1.5" to 2" wide and vary the length between 2" to 3".

With the scissors, cut a petal shape by tapering the bottom and varying the top of the petal.

Take about 2 to 3 petals and pinch them at the bottom.

Wrap them around the stamen and secure with floral tape at the base. Continue the floral tape about 1" to 2" down the wire to stabilize the petals. Adjust the petals as you go and repeat till desired fullness is reached.

Add a little color by adding a thin coat of water color to the base of the petal.

That's it! I love how the tissues gives a soft, natural look!

I mentioned to David that I made a few faux Peonies. When he saw them, he said, "Wow! You made those? Those look incredible, it would have taken me weeks to realize that they weren't real!" Granted, men typically aren't as observant as women, but isn't that the best compliment?!

I've never used faux flowers around my house, but I'm loving the soft, non plastic look of these! Now I can enjoy the look of Peonies year round!

Here's a little more info about Puffs SoftPack.

- It's a full size box of tissues with a soft, flexible, waterproof case - perfect for using in the car (we currently have a regular cardboard box of tissues that is crushed in the truck, so I'll swap this pack in!)

- Dermatologist tested to be gentle.

Feel free to check out Puffs on Facebook for more information and to share how Puffs Softpack would fit into your life.

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Puffs through their partnership with POPSUGAR Select. While I was compensated to write a post about Puffs, all opinions are my own.

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Faux Mantel and Stacked Wood | Living Room Updates

Hey! Did you have a good weekend? I hope so! After a few unproductive weekends, ours was productive, so that makes me happy :)

We finished our faux mantel! It really completes the room and looks like it's always been there, I'm SO happy!!

BEFORE: 

Our home is a passive solar house with geothermal heating/cooling, so this chimney holds the duct work for the geothermal system and the wood stove (in the basement) .. it was BEGGING for a faux mantel! 

David and I were browsing a local antique shop - which had a lot of reclaimed building materials, including about 50 mantels. We found a shaker style that we liked, but it was a little large and $300 .. it's hard to justify spending $300 .. when we have the wood (see below) and we can build it to the exact size that we want! So we used that for our inspiration!

This isn't a full tutorial, sorry! David designed and made it up as we went .. and since we were working on several projects at one time .. I didn't get all of the photos needed. If you want to make your own, hopefully the photos below will help .. if not, let us know if a 3-D drawing tutorial would be helpful and we'll try to do that :)

I struggled with what to paint it .. for now, we're leaving the existing brick .. I didn't really like white or black with the brick (and definitely not a color ..) but ultimately went with black, I LOVE the drama that the glossy black adds to the mostly white and bright space.

For the cut wood insert, we cut a piece of plywood to the size of the opening and spray painted it matte black (so any spaces blend in). Last thanksgiving or Christmas, David cut 4" sections from a dead tree at his parent's house - so they've been sitting in the garage for about a year to dry out (just make sure that they can breath, we had them in an open garbage bag and they grew some stuff .. (I wiped it off with bleach)

We used a heavy duty construction adhesive to attach all of the pieces (~3-4 tubes)

Once complete (it took a while .. cut more than you think you'll need :) we attached it to the back of the mantel with Simpson Strong Ties (available in lumber section) 

Here you can get a better idea of the mantel construction .. most of it was attached by hidden pocket holes, using our Kreg Jig. 

To secure it to the brick, David drilled a hole in the mortar. 

and attached an anchor designed for mortar .. the mantel was attached to that. 

Also, I forgot to take pictures of the top mantel piece in process, but we removed the original mantel from the brick (see photo below), and reconfigured it to work perfectly with our new mantel. It simply sits on top with blocks of wood attached underneath to prevent it sliding horizontally. 

BEFORE

AFTER

Now you know why we're holding off on changing the brick .. it's about 30' tall! We've decided to paint all of the wood in the house (more info here and here). My preference would be to paint the brick, but David is very anti .. if anything, he wants to drywall it!? I don't get that .. In the meantime, I was thinking about building a white paneled wall, just behind the mantel (and a few feet up) .. so maybe we'll do that..

Also, don't mind the un-upholstered sofa .. hopefully we will get to it soon! Sunday, we moved a sofa inherited from my Grandparent's to hold it's place until we finish this one.

I'll be back with more living room details soon!

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