Simple Fall Centerpiece.

I love decorating the house for fall. It's something about the coziness that comes along with it.

Stained dark wood
Pumpkins
Candles
leaves...

Something so simple... that only takes a few minutes to throw together... makes such a statement :)

This box was so easily created with a bunch of scrap 1x4's.
Mine is 6 foot long. I mix Dark walnut and grey stain together to come up with the finish.
I also bang up the wood a bit before staining these, by hitting it with a hammer.. or running nails along it... something to give it that worn in look.
Pumpkins were purchased at the dollar store.
Battery candles came from TJ Max.
And the garland of leaves... came from my basement. I thin originally I might have grabbed it at Michael's.

Not bad for the grand total being under 25 dollars (and the candles were 15 of that)
Luckily... something like this is so easy to swap out for Christmas.

What is your favorite holiday to decorate for?

Yep. Another Gallery Wall

 I might have a problem.

 I love photos. I love capturing moments that make me smile.
And I love filling my walls with my favorite memories.

Don't worry, we are finishing the basement now... I am pretty sure there will be another gallery wall or two in the future also.

So, this all started with the pink wood truck I picked up from Urban Farmgirl a few months back. And then I just started collecting random things from there.
This week I stopped by Michaels and they had these wood and metal frames marked down on Clearance... it was meant to be. So I grabbed as many as I thought I would need... and came home and got to work.

Gallery walls take no rhyme or reason.
I think the trick is... BIG frames.
Gallery walls look better with larger photos. If you don't believe me take a look on Pinterest and the ones that you like and try to figure out what you like about them. For me... its the larger frames mixed in.
So that is my one tip.

So I started by laying out a few designs on the floor.
and once I was happy with how it was shaping up. I moved to the wall. I usually work my way from the center out. But you can work away however makes sense for you.
The trick is spacing. try and keep the spacing similar between all pieces on your wall. Put things up as if you are working on a grid and try to keep everything in line on some level.

So after about an hour and a half of putting this all together I ended here.

Oh and another thing. I always work with empty frames, so that I am able to move the frames around and flip them without worrying about the photos inside. So now, the next step will be to fill these frames with some of my favorite moments. Then add some velcro to get a few of those crooked ones all straightened out. I am on the lookout for a few more pieces and/or frames to extend it to the left wall and maybe ceiling to floor. depending on what I find.

I just ordered a wood print on Groupon... so the sideways family photo is just a spot holder waiting on that to arrive in the mail.

Can't wait to share with you the finished project! But for now, it's off to a start.

Do you love gallery walls? Are they easier when you plan them all out? or do you just grab a hammer and nails and go about it?

Outdoor Updates

Every year we try and do something to the outside of this house. I can decorate the inside... but the outside... I don't know where to start. And believe me this house needs a lot of help on the outside.

Lots of EXPENSIVE updates.

Like a new fence.
And some serious weed control
And the backyard goes at a straight slope downhill that needs leveling
The driveway needs to be re-sealed.

Did I mention a new fence? I cringe thinking about the price on that thing. Ugh.

So I'm ignoring the big stuff right now...

Right now... I am going to show you a very tiny update.
But updates that are easy on my checking account make me happy.

So here is an old before photo of our entry

See that light? That lovely silver builder grade type of light?
The light itself is fine. Lots of people love these lights...
I just... wanted something a little bit more our style. And this past week... I found some at Lowe's that were 50% off! Which was perfect!!!! Then had my awesome father in law stop by and install them! (Thanks Rod!)

And here are the new lights :)

I like that they stand out from the house... rather than blending in like the old ones.
And I love that they were 50% off. :)

Have you scored any great deals this summer?
Wanting to update your lights??? Check out the clearance section this time of year! :)

Deck... after week 1

So last year we changed our deck around a bit. We put in stairs that kind of wrap around the deck so that they would land on our patio as opposed to just a random spot in our yard...

But then you have to let the wood sit for a year...

But finally this summer we are able to stain it.
We are fighting rain and spring thunderstorms so we got quite a bit of it done the first week and this week we are planning on finishing up the one side and fixing a few spots here and there... and also doing the underside of the deck.
So hopefully within this next week I can do a full reveal. But looks like we will have another week of rain ahead of us... so hopefully soon!

It is amazing what a difference stain makes. Truly.
This deck looks 1000 times better. and I am shocked at the difference.

You can see the stain color in this photo. We also grabbed an outdoor rug that brings a ton of color to this space!

This is a window box I made last year. I am hoping to attach it to the top of the deck... somewhere not sure where yet.

This is a pretty accurate color of the stain we used. Hawthorne - Sherwin Williams. Don't mind that sad dirt area.. we are laying seed as I type. and don't mind the random wet spots... Nala got in the mud... so i had to wipe down the stairs before taking a photo.

We still have a long ways to go.
Finishing the stain
Adding in deck lighting
Adding in some cushion storage up on the deck
Buying more throw pillows
Switching out the sad little light next to the french doors
and maybe picking up some seating for the other corner of the deck

But this is definitely a step in the right direction and we are excited to move forward on this project so we can get as much use out of this area as possible in the upcoming months!

Playroom Final Reveal

We finished the playroom just in time for the home tour....

We might make a few tweaks here and there but for the most part... this room is D.O.N.E.

Dining Room Reveal

We started working on the dining room this past winter... and then life happened. Things got busy... and I never did a final reveal on the room.

If you remember way back when I showed you a very messy... messy... messy before photo... Don't worry... it didn't always look like this. this was in the middle of the chaos of the library building and the stair redoing.... so this just collected... junk.

And we put up some DIY wainscoting on the walls... painted it all white.... bought the most amazing chandelier ever (that I may just pet and talk to every time I walk by) .. .built our own table... and benches... my amazing mom and step dad built me the knock off pottery barn workbench... bought some cheap Ikea Shears.... DIY'ed some Art... added in a fancy schmancy dimmer switch... and framed some recent family photos...

And we consider this room done.

I did consider a rug under the table. I really did. Then I watched my son drop half of his plate on the floor while eating... and my dog... eating it off... well any surface it fell upon and just decided... its better this way. Maybe some day when we learn how to get the food from our fork to our mouths efficiently... maybe then. But for now... this is better. Safer. Cleaner.


So enough rambling...
Here are the photos of the completed room.

So there we have it... this room after months and months of working... is finally D.O.N.E.

You are the best thing that ever happened to me...

I needed some artwork on a blank wall in my dining room... and I came across this pin on Pinterest found Here.

So this week... we got to making our own DIY version of it...
and came up with this.

Final Reveal of the library finally coming up on the blog this week!
Long overdue! This was the final project for that room... :)

Playroom Gallery Wall

The last time I showed you the playroom... I just showed you the colorful crates I made for the entertainment center....

An update on the playroom is the gallery wall we created around the tv filled with a lot of Maddux's favorite photos. 

Gallery walls... some people do a really good job at planning them out ahead of time. I tend to just get the middle filled out and spread randomly throughout the rest of the wall. Which I will admit sometimes leaves me with gaps that I have to either buy or make something to fill those in... 

But usually they turn out pretty good.... as long as the center is planned... building out is pretty easy. 

So we started with the large frames in the middle and just kind of went from there adding to it little by little, mainly trying to reuse things we already had. 

So I filled in a few frames with our recent trip to Disney... and the playroom gallery wall is now complete. 

I bought those square frames at Michael's for a dollar each. They are the perfect size for instagram photos.  The top print of Maddux and Nala is actually printed on metal (got it from Groupon) and the canvases I made a few years ago

The top photo is from our Disney trip .. him hugging Merida. His Initial. And We bought this frame at Ikea and filled it with a few of my favorite instagram prints.

The photo above the dinosaur is one of my favorites. It's him when he was about a year and half poking his head thru a hole in the fence :) so curious. And then we moved our dinosaur print into the playroom.

Here is a close up of a few embroidery hoops filled with colorful fabric scraps. Maddux in his baseball gear is actually printed onto a piece of wood (again... Groupon)  A lucky horse shoe. Family hand prints. Maddux on the tower of terror. and his first artwork he ever brought home.

I love the amount of color the gallery wall brought into the playroom. 

And you all know I love filling the walls with photos. 

We have a few more tiny tweaks to make to this room and then it will be complete!