New Living Room Artwork

For Christmas, my brother-in-law drew these beautiful hydrangea pictures for me. We were falling out of love with the old artwork (here), and this is just the PERFECT replacement! The white on white is super refreshing and I love that it is so personal! 

Here is a close-up of my favorite one:

So talented! Thank you Steve!

From Black Frames to White Frames

It's a small change, but I painted the frames in our family room white. I don't know why, but the black was starting to feel heavy. I think the white ties in more with the trim and looks better with the new couch. Overall, I think it makes the whole room feel a little lighter and brighter!

 

The fact I liked the room better with NO prints rather than the black framed prints was a clear sign to me I was on the right track.

It took two cans of this Rustoleum spray paint to get the frames fully coated.



I still need to raise the prints a few more inches, since the back of the new couch is much higher than the back of the old one. However, with our plaster walls, anchoring those darn hooks is a pain in the you-know-what, so I'm procrastinating :)

As you can see, we also have been pushing the coffee table over against the window so Miles can have the whole carpet to play! His current favorite thing to do is roll from one end to the other, usually in pursuit of the dog (his best friend).

Weekend Craft: Valentine's Day Wreath

We are SNOWED IN!! It just keeps coming and coming. Being less than two weeks away from my due date, I've been slightly panicked I'll go into labor because even though the hospital is 5-miles from our house, it would probably take 2 hours to get there in this white-out!! I can just imagine myself delivering the baby in a snowbank. AHH!

Anyway, I wanted something hands on to do this weekend.. Usually for me that means cleaning, but the house is already spotless and 100% organized, so I decided to see what I had lying around the house to make a craft out of. Here is what I found:

• Leftover Christmas Ribbon
• Tacky Glue
• Burlap
• A piece of styrofoam obtained from a package we had shipped

Thus, the idea for a heart shaped wreath for Valentine' s day was born!

Since I can't draw anything freehand, I used a plate to trace the soft edges of the heart.

Then I used a piece of wood to draw the straight lines (Don't mind my outfit.. Like I said, 38-weeks pregnant! You wear whatever feels good!)

Voila!!

I then cut it out using a kitchen knife... As you can see, I also ended up cutting out a little handle at the top so I could hang it from my wreath hanger.

And just to warn you, little white bits of styrofoam go EVERYWHERE! Have your vacuum handy!

I then cut the ribbon into different sized triangles. To be more efficient, I put glue on multiple pieces at a time and then stuck them all to the foam at once. The tacky glue worked extremely well at holding the ribbon and the styrofoam together.

When it came to the sides, I just cut one long strip and wrapped it along the edge. It gave it a more clean look and let's be real, saved me a ton of time ;)

I then wrapped the top edge with burlap (at first I wrapped that section with red too, but it looked more like a shield and less like a heart, so I went back and re-wrapped with the burlap). I also tied a bow out of burlap as an accent piece.

 And ta da!!! The finished product!! Maybe not my best craft (it definitely looks better from a distance!), but I love that it brings a little V-day flare to our house, kept me happily occupied for 2-hours, and was free :)

Botanical Prints & Resto Frames

I'm slowly working on the den... My most recent addition includes these two weathered gray picture frames from Restoration Hardware Baby & Child.

I like that the gray color ties this room into the living room beyond.

I then framed botanical prints from this site. I saved the PDF images, resized them, and printed them from my home computer. I think they look pretty darn good! I love that the prints and frames tie together all of the colors throughout our home.