Bedroom Blah

Our bedroom so far has been pretty neglected. As you can see we have no headboard, no bed frame, our nightstands are end tables from my mom. (FYI: Not proud of these pics, but I'm keepin' it real, people.)


The lamps are hand-me-downs as well.


The curtains are ones I bought from a thrift store when we moved in just to keep the light out so we can sleep. They aren't quite long enough to cover the window!


I'm also toying with the pillow configuration and have yet to begin adding my little touches of orange. I originally started with a blue and gray color scheme, but it quickly became boring to me. :o/


Up to this point, I've had my heart set on a metal bed frame. You know, an antique-looking one with scrolly metal work? Even on Craigslist the cheapest I have found is still a couple hundred dollars. Hmph. I can see I will not be getting this anywhere in the near future.

Both Pottery Barn

I know there are many DIY headboards that are beautiful, but I wonder how functional they actually are. The last thing I want is to have something fall on my head in my sleep.

Like this for example. This is adorable, and you could display any art collection. But can you lean against it with your pillows while you read? If you stretch in the night, will your hand go through a piece of glass?

Vintage hankie headboard and drum nightstands? How sweet! (BHG)

BHG

And this one would lend us some much needed display/storage space. But I can just picture pillows knocking our books and picture frames behind our bed or waking up with seashell imprints on my face from them falling on the bed in the night.

BHG

I can see a variation of this being a little more sensible (even though the comments on Apartment Therapy were surprisingly harsh-- ouch!). Instead of hanging the fabric on a curtain rod where it can be pulled down, it can be hooked up very well where the ceiling and wall meet and the frame can be hung just high enough that when sitting up, it doesn't touch your head.

Apartment Therapy

And probably the most sensible of all is the fabric upholstered headboard. This seems easy enough, but I don't have a vehicle that is big enough to carry a king-sized piece of MDF or plywood back to the house, or the tools to cut the board to size.

Um, ca-ute!!! (CandiMandi)

BHG

So what is a headboard-less girl to do? Are there any solutions I'm not seeing? Any ideas on how to add some beauty this blank slate of a bedroom?

Just Plain Batty!

Well, I have been working my tush off to get this Halloween project done so that I can at least enjoy it for a little over a week before Halloween bids us farewell. I am afraid though since it is raining today that I may not be able to put it up for display just yet. I'm so excited about it anyway that I just can't wait to show it to you!


I saw this picture on Country Living's website and loved it! Then I saw Karla do it for her home and was comforted that someone could actually pull this off-- it's not just magazine photo magic. So I decided to try my hand at it.


All you need is heavy, stiffened felt, and duct tape (if you are doing it outdoors like me). This project would have cost me about $8 if I had had duct tape beforehand. Most people have duct tape in their toolbox already; I however did not.


Country Living has a bat template available to print on their site so that you can use a photocopier to size it up or down. I'm lazy artistic so I just looked at it and drew three different sized bats freehand. They recommended using chalk to trace the template onto the felt. I don't have chalk so I planned on using my silver Sharpie. Well, it wouldn't be a day if I couldn't find something I needed, so naturally my Sharpie was MIA. I just used pencil and looked closely for the faint pencil lines.

After that, I just started cutting and didn't stop till I was out of felt! It was so easy, I'm pretty sure a child could do it.

So there is a swarm of bats folded in half with their wings popping up, just waiting to take flight! Hopefully the weather will calm down and my garage door will be dry long enough for me to introduce them to the neighborhood!

A Bathing Beauty Bathroom?

Okay, I've never been a huge fan of beach-themed bathrooms. When I think of beach-themed rooms, I think of pastel peach and blue, seashell wallpaper and cheapy seashell graphics in frames, embroidered on towels, etc.



Yikes. But I saw the below picture on Pottery Barn's website and now I'm thinking that maybe beach-themes don't have to be this way. I love that old glass buoy and the pieces of driftwood below the sink!

We got most of the basics of our guest bathroom when we registered for gifts, but there still isn't much as far as decorations and personality goes. So here is what I'm thinking...

Bouys

I love the colored glass and the old frayed rope. They could hang from towel hooks, sit in bowls like orbs, or hang from the ceiling. I saw a TON at an antique mall once and I am kicking myself for not grabbing a few!

Bathing Beauties

Between eBay and Etsy, there are a ton of precious 1920/30s bathing beauty postcards. I picture a few hung in some weathered frames. How beautiful are they?!




Ah, back when beauty was pure and natural. What happened?

Other Randomness

Sprinklings of seashells and sand, seaglass, corals, seasponge...




I have hope that beachy decor can be pulled off without the room just screaming "Put on your wetsuit and explore the faux coral reef!!!" upon someone entering it. But I do wonder, can you pull off beachy elements in one room while having a house that is not beachy anywhere else? Can you have seashells in one room, peacock curtains in another and these awesome froggy drawer pulls in another? (I don't actually own them yet but I think they would be sweet as my kitchen cabinet knobs! Totally off topic, but I wanted to share them.) Is that what the art of eclectic style is? What do you think?

So Maybe I can Embrace White Somewhere...

I don't know what spurred it, but as I was watching Millie play outside through the window I thought, how cute would our back fences look painted white? I know, I know, I said I wasn't a fan of white, but how "American Dream" and picturesque is bright white fence? White fences also remind me of how much I used to watch this cartoon video of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

I picture vines crawling up the fence, hanging baskets of flowers every few feet and party lights strung across it.

Green grass would look so lush next to it. We should go Brady Bunch on neighborhood and get Astroturf. Don't think I wouldn't do it!

I don't know when this project will begin, but the weather is perfect for it. Maybe I will buy myself fence paint as a reward for finishing a paper for school that I've needed to complete for - um- months now. I think I might be able to score some cheap outdoor paint from the Goodwill ReStore. Here is a look at our backyard in its current state:

Is this a white trash seating area? Or a Millie-Mudpit blockade? Hmmm...

The extent of our lawn decor. Hello David!

I have some big ideas for this space. Of course I would like a deck or patio with a dining area and a living area. I'd like to have four posts up around one of those areas to hang a fabric canopy from to make it more intimate and enclosed.

I LOVE how window boxes and shutters look. These are a must!

And I'd like to find some random flea-market type decor for flowerbeds, like using an antique headboard or wire dress form as a trellis. I love how this furniture-turned-planter looks like an art installation:

I love this one. It looks almost enchanted, like it came out of a fairy tale:

And who would have thought of taking an out of commission piano and creating a waterfall?!

I know these ideas are not suitable for everyone's likings and I do tend to gravitate towards all things tacky (I prefer "unconventional") but brace yourself my friend. You haven't seen tacky till you have seen these:

So, on that note... Any thoughts? How often do you spend time in your backyard?


P.S. I added this blog to Hooked on Fridays! See what everyone else is hooked on!

Plates as Wall Art!

I've seen pretty plates at thrift stores and plates on crazy clearance from being missing from a set and have always wondered what could be done with them. Look no further!

Here they are layered in one grouping:




And I think this is my favorite way of displaying them. The plates in these pictures climb up the walls like bubbles floating:
















This one cracks me up. A school of fish plates!


Cute, huh?