Monday, May 30, 2016

a walk around the garden

Here are some snippets of our yard.


The chairs above are a couple years old from home goods. One was black and one was orange, and now they are a matching set, thanks to some spray paint.

I can't wait for the climbing flowers to take off.






Saturday, May 21, 2016

$500 Master Bedroom Makeover

It's unbelievable that this bedroom was completely transformed for $500. Click here to see the before.

There are two key points to keep in mind when decorating your home.

#1: Know where to spend the money
#2:  Don't underestimate yard sales/flea markets/estate sales/craigslist


We actually didn't have a strict budget in mind when we started. Our goal was to spend as little as possible. When we tallied up the costs, it came out to just under $500!

Here's what we bought:
Grand Total: $497


Here is the sea urchin wall art that Angi found at Target. It worked perfectly to fill the wall to the right of the window. It also brought in a more modern feel to the room. We wanted to make sure that the room wasn't too Grandma, so this added some edge.



The painting over the fireplace I picked up at a yard sale on the way to her house, for $5. You always have to be on the look out! Craigslist is a great source for finding yard sales in your area.


We initially were going to buy new gold pulls for the dresser, which were silver. But a $3 can of spray paint was much more affordable!


And the end result I think is stunning. 



My sister had some great pieces to start with.

  • A bed with a dramatic headboard
  • An Ethan Allen Dresser
  • An Ethan Allen side table that we moved from another room
  • A chair that we moved from another room
  • And this super cute dog, Louie




Another tip is to not forget about items you may have in other rooms in your home. We moved the side table and zebra print chair from her formal living room. 

Monday, May 16, 2016

A Master Bedroom Makeover

For the past year I have been testing the waters of interior design by using my friends as guinea pigs. I've helped choose paint colors, given advice on space planning and what to buy, as well as taken lots of flea market trips with friends.

I worked with my sister Angela to design and re-decorate her master bedroom and I finally have a fully furnished room to show you! We have been exchanging pins on pinterest, using etsy favorites, texting photos and using all available resources that we could find. And all of the ideas we had and decisions we made turned into one seriously amazing bedroom.


She already had the headboard, dresser, lamps, chandelier, and side table. The chair we stole from her formal living room.

We used Sherwin Williams Black Fox on the main focal point wall behind the bed. It's a perfect dark grey color, with some warm undertones to keep it from being too cold. The other three walls are Sherwin Williams Anonymous. This is a great neutral color which works with so many different colors. You can also see a peak into the master bath that we are working on, where we used Sherwin Williams sensuous grey.


During the planning process we thought about wall papering the main wall where the bed is placed.  But to stay in budget we decided against it and just painted the wall instead. The zebra patterned chair we moved was actually inspired by the wallpaper we were going to use.

It's actually crazy seeing this picture now, because it was the first time I started planning this room and it actually turned out to be so similar! I took this picture in Sherwin Williams in Flourtown. I ended up there, because I had a flat tire. And I had a flat tire, because I dropped my phone (which was acting as my gps). I was making a turn and nailed a curb. Lucky for me the store was right across from the tire place, so I spent the time looking at Wallpaper books and paint. York Wallcoverings is my favorite, because it's from my hometown, York, PA.


Above is an art piece that I picked up that morning at a Ft. Washington yard sale for $5. And below is my sister's dog Louie. I think she approves.

 


Just to give you an idea of what we spent, that mirror was $8 at an estate sale. Yes, you read that correctly... eight dollars!



It helped that she already had some key pieces,  but the total cost (including a fire place!) was only $500! It doesn't look like this bedroom had a budget, but it did. There are some additional updates that will be made when the time and budget permits. For example, we found the perfect light fixture for the room, but it cost as much as the whole damn room, so that will have to wait. 

And here's the before. 



What a difference! Stay tuned for a break down of all the costs. 


Monday, May 9, 2016

seedlings

I started some morning glory and moon flower seeds a few weeks ago. It  helps if you first soak them overnight to jump start the growing. 


I then planted them in some potting mix.

 This was about a week later, the morning glory seeds took off quickly.


And here they are a couple of weeks later. I also bought some brussel sprout plants, which I am planning to plant in a new raised planter that Dave made me. I just have to get some dirt to fill it. I also plan to attempt to grow tomatoes, swiss chard and lots of herbs.

The next step is to harden them off by taking them outside to get acclimated. You take them outside for a few hours a day, and then build up over about a week to them being outside completely.

What are you planting this spring?