Floating, Modern House Numbers

I'm back with a quick post about our new house numbers that you caught a sneak peek of in my last post.  When we bought the house, the house numbers were mounted on the front door.

And they were ugly and brass.  But most importantly - THEY WEREN'T CENTERED ON THE DOOR!  It.    Drove.    Me.    Crazy.

They were also next to impossible to see from the street.

So after painting our front door, we didn't bother putting them back up.  We lived without house numbers for a few months before I got around to ordering some from Amazon.  We decided to go with a black finish since we planned to mount them onto the white porch header (? - not sure if that's what it is called but I have no idea what else to call it).

They were simple to hang once we measured a bit in our attempt to center them over the front door.

There was an option to mount them flush or float them away from the house about 1/4 inch.  We opted to float them because we're crazy like that.

I like the extra dimension that it adds.

They are so much more modern and sleek than the previous ones.  And easier to spot from the road. (They really are centered.  I just can't seem to align myself with them properly before taking the pictures.)

Our raised beds are full of dirt and veggies and I can't wait to share them with you!  Have a great rest of the weekend.

Modern Outdoor Pillows for Spring

You may remember my outdoor pillow roundup from March.  I was loving the modern aesthetic of the Trina Turk fabrics but not loving the price.  A couple of my readers suggested that I purchase outdoor fabric and make some pillows myself (since I have newfound sewing skills and all).

I decided against this for a few reasons.  Most importantly - I couldn't find an outdoor fabric that I liked.  I searched every single option on fabric.com, onlinefabricstore.net, hancockfabrics.com, and so on. What can I say?  I know what I like and I'm not settling.  Also, I wanted to have pillow covers with pillow inserts so that I could remove and wash the covers as needed.  Thirdly, I knew I wasn't going to have a lot of time over the month of April to complete the pillows (we had out of town guests one weekend, I was working another two weekends, and we went out of town Easter weekend).

So...after LOTS of playing around on Polyvore with pillow layouts, I settled on our new Spring pillow scheme.

As always, please mentally block out the hideous green wrought iron columns.  

They're still on the project list.  :)

This gorgeous ikat pillow is from World Market.  It is already stuffed, so no insert is needed.

The turquoise pillows on the bench are from fabricjunkie1640's shop on Etsy (I upgraded to 18x18 inch covers).  The black and white pillow was a splurge.  It's from Mazizmuse's shop (also on Etsy).  I purchased inexpensive inserts for these three pillows from Amazon.

I love how beautifully the colors in the ikat pillow complement the fabric bunting Spring wreath that I made in March.  

The turquoise geometric pillows aren't the exact shade of blue that I was hoping for but the price was right.  (If our money tree was producing this year, I would have splurged on these which appear to be closer to the color of our front door.  Maybe one day.)

Stay tuned for more outdoor posts including our DIY raised garden beds, a quick post about our new modern house numbers (which I just revealed in a couple photos above), and some beautiful pics of our backyard in bloom.

Wood and Aluminum Flashing Striped Headboard Tutorial

I'm back today with the tutorial for our new headboard.

Supplies:

• 1/4" thick plywood
• wood stain (I used Minwax's dark walnut)
• 1"x1" wood
• roll of aluminum flashing
• liquid nails construction adhesive
• screws
• finishing nails
• wood filler

Tools:

• miter saw
• tin snips
• drill
• hammer
• nail punch

We used a five foot by four foot piece of 1/4" plywood for the back of the headboard.  We then cut the aluminum flashing into four 5 inch by 5 foot strips.  

We also cut more 1/4" plywood into five 5 inch by 5 foot strips.  (We bought cheap plywood for the back and some nicer pine plywood for the wood strips.)  I stained them with my favorite stain - Minwax's Dark Walnut.  (The unstained pieces in the lower left corner of this pic are for the headboard frame which I'll discuss later.)

We then laid the flashing and wood strips out on the piece of plywood and made sure everything was going to fit properly.  Then, we used liquid nails construction adhesive to first attach the pieces of aluminum flashing and then to attach the wood strips.

*Learn from our mistakes: As you will be able to see in the finished photos, the wavy line of the construction adhesive is visible through the aluminum flashing.  We had no idea this would be an issue.  I assume that if you spread the adhesive out evenly with a putty knife before adhering the pieces of flashing this will not happen.  Sadly, it was too late for us.

We then attached some scrap 1"x1"s that we had lying around to the back of the headboard to reinforce it and to create a place to attach the outer trim.  We used some screws that we already had in our toolbox (anything 1/2" to 1" long would work fine).  

We then framed it out with a combination of 1/4" plywood and some strips of pine lattice molding stained to match the wood strips.  We attached the frame pieces with more liquid nails and also with some finishing nails.  

Our original plan was to hang the new headboard using this (what I would call a French cleat but those at Lowe's call a "picture hanging system").  However, we should have thought the hanging process through BEFORE completely finishing the headboard.  There was no good way that we could  securely attach the cleat without having obvious imperfections on the front of the headboard (from visible hardware or wood filler).  

So we came up with our own hanging system.  We used a piece of scrap wood (cut to the correct depth for our headboard) and a dowel.  We attached this to the wall with screws and heavy duty anchors.  

We then used screws to attach another dowel to the 1x1 at the top of our headboard.  

Then we hung it up on the wall and stepped back to admire our work.

The visible wavy lines are making me a little crazy but I'm trying to get over it.  Is it possible that one day I won't notice them?  (Unlikely.)

I've got lots of posts planned, I just need to get the pictures taken and edited.  (Working third shift makes picture taking more difficult due to the lack of natural light when I'm awake.)  Hope everyone has a great week!

Our New Living Room Vignette

FINALLY.  I figured out what to do with the blank wall and sliver of floorspace on the far side of our living room.

After seeing this bench in Dara's plans for her entryway and in the master bedroom John and Sherry designed, I made a trip to Target to check it out in person.  When it was on sale, I couldn't resist taking it home with me.  I was worried about the scale, but it turned out to be a perfect size.

I redid our pet silhouettes and hung them in their original frames after spray painting them white.

This is what the silhouettes looked like in their former life.  

They were pieces of black poster board that I had traced the pictures onto, cut around, and mounted on white poster board.  For the redo I detached the black poster board, flipped the white poster board over (because the tape left imperfections), centered the silhouette, traced around it, and then used a small paintbrush to paint over the pencil line with acrylic paint.

I'm happy with how they turned out.  I didn't want to detract from the art behind the sofa or the mantel decor so my goal was something with less contrast and I think these are working.

I also found this large snake plant (or mother-in-law tongue or whatever it is you like to call it) at Lowe's to complete the vignette.  I love how little light (and water) these plants need - ideal for our living room that has only one window.  

Has anyone else recently found the perfect solution for a spot in your home that's been sitting empty for months?

Master Bedroom Progress

The new pillow for the master bedroom is here and the headboard is on the wall!  I thought I'd share some pictures with you today and hit you with the tutorial early next week.  (Sorry for the delay - it's a busy week at work.)

I am still on the hunt for a lightweight blanket for the bed (no luck at JCPenny).

As you can see, we did end up switching out the rug and I think it's a better fit for the space. The zebra print combined with the other patterns in the room was a bit much.  

The new art that I ordered for above our nightstands has arrived and I hope we can find time to hang it next week.  The newly white wall needs some pepping up.

Nailing Down the New Direction for the Master Bedroom

As I mentioned in this post, I'm going to be tweaking things room by room around here to better suit my our design style and our daily living needs.  I started with the master bedroom.  You may remember me revealing a few changes in this post.

Well, the square tuck duvet cover that I stole from the guest bedroom and the new Crate & Barrel curtains have made the cut.  The zebra rug and chevron pillow are out.

This is the direction that I'm heading in now:

ikat pillow // green velvet pillows // square tuck duvet // blanket // sconces // nightstands

rug // curtains // ampersand art // autumn obscured print // November print // squirrel print

We already own the nightstands (purchased 3 years ago when we bought our first house), the duvet (from West Elm but no longer available), the rug (stolen from our living room), the sconces (purchased a year and a half ago when we moved into this house), and, most recently, the curtains (no longer available from Crate & Barrel Outlet).

I just ordered the ikat pillow and it should arrive in the next few days!  I can't wait.  I am also anxiously awaiting the arrival of the "squirrel-e-lope" (as Seth has dubbed him) and the Minted print.  The ampersand art and November print were purchased a couple months ago when I was first curating art for the bedroom (yeah I just called searching for inexpensive prints "curating" cause that's as close as we're gonna get til we win the lotto).

I'm going to get myself over to JCPenny today to look for the indigo cotton blanket.  Our comforter/duvet combo is very toasty so I'm planning to fold it up and lay it at the foot of the bed for Spring/Summer.  I literally wake up in the middle of the night burning hot - like I've-had-Dengue-Fever-for-weeks-without-any-treatment-and-if-a-drop-of-water-hits-my-skin-it-will-sizzle hot, not I'm-a-Victoria-Secret-model-and-I've-been-soaking-up-some-sun-on-a-deserted-island hot.  I'm pretty sure something is wrong with my body's thermoregulation.

In other project news, we finished the new headboard and it is ON THE WALL!  I'm working on the post for you.  Additionally, I made some tough decisions about outdoor pillows and they are all in place on our front porch except one that was shipping from Canada and is still on its journey.  As soon as it gets here I will take photos and start on a post for you.

It's Wednesday - we are halfway to the weekend!  Woohoo!  We have some amazing friends visiting from Illinois this weekend and I cannot wait.  Also, I'm off to play the lotto.  ;)

Colorful, Layered Art Spring Mantel

I finished decorating our mantel for Spring and I love the way it turned out.  I've long been a lover of layered artwork (like this, this, and this) so I decided to incorporate that into my Spring mantel.

I left my DIY antiqued mirror as the base layer and added a new print by Britt Bass over the top of it. To keep with the decorating rule of threes, I added a postcard sized print that Clare Elsaesser included with my most recent order (thanks, Clare!).  I used a piece of washi tape to secure it onto a wooden picture frame that I recently picked up at the thrift store.  I then attached the frame to the antiqued mirror with 3M picture hanging strips.

  

The turquoise vases are from Target.  The yellow flowers are my first attempt at coffee filter peonies. (I  roughly followed this tutorial and I think they turned out pretty well.)

The garland is another DIY project.  I used this finger knitting technique to make it one night while watching television.

To augment the bright, colorful look, I switched out the sparkly silver candles from Christmas for some fun orange ones that I found at Marshall's.

The cheer that the newly styled mantel brings to the living room is just perfect for Spring.

Here's a peek at a seldom viewed corner of our living room.

We still need to clean up the electric cords and I'd like to freshen up the storage inside our entertainment center but the living room is quickly becoming one of my favorite rooms in the house (and one of the closest to being "finished").

I hope everyone is experiencing some milder weather as we head into Spring.  I am ecstatic to feel 60 degree temperatures again.  (I really really dislike cold weather.)

I am also happy to report that almost all of the perennials we planted along our driveway last year appear to be making a comeback!  I'll share some pics in a couple months when they start blooming again.