Updated House Tour Tab!!

Hey Y'all!

I'm just stopping by with a picture of my beautiful watercolor by Leigh Ellexson Art to say that the House Tour Tab has officially been updated!! I even showed the "afters" for some rooms I have not posted about at all so there should be some fun stuff to check out! Let me know what you think! 

Peace, 

Allison 

Watercolor of our house by Leigh Ellexson Art

Master Bedroom Before & After Reveal!

With the addition of our king size bed last month (soo much space!!), I can officially say that I have "finished" our bedroom to my our liking ;). What started as a practically McDonald's looking contrast of a yellow-y manilla color and a burnt orange accent wall (see below), is now our bright & airy space of relaxation. It took all of the two years that we've been in our house for the evolution of this room but with a mix of DIY projects and items bought over time I think we've now got a room we look forward to getting back to at the end of a long day. Without further ado, here are the BEFORE pictures of the room from June 2013 just after we had moved into our house. 

BEFORE: Circa June 2013

And now for the finished product!

AFTER: Circa Now!

Sleigh Bed: Scott's Furniture 
Ottoman: Target 
Sunburst Mirror: DIY
Duvet Cover: Pottery Barn  
Wall Color: Martha Stewart Heavenly Blue 

Remember that time I spent 22 hours stenciling that back wall?? No? Well here yah go. I still do love that the trellis pattern is intricate up close but is actually very subtle from farther away so it doesn't clash with any of the other patterns in the room.

X-Leg Side Tables: Target 

Kate Spade Inspired His & Hers glasses: DIY

Gold His & Hers Signs: DIY 

For the end tables, I DIYed the Kate Spade inspired His & Hers glasses, and DIYed the gold wood His & Hers nightstand signs. I also color blocked the baskets we already had from Wal-Mart by just taping and spray painting them. I wanted a simple tray for earrings and jewelry at night and love the look of the expensive acrylic ones but didn't want to pay the expensive prices for them so I improvised by picking up an acrylic frame from the craft store like this that I just took the cardboard out of. Works like a charm!

B & A Pillow: Cover Love on Etsy

Dresser: Ikea Hemnes Dresser
Grey Curtains: Target 
Love canvas: DIY
All You Need is Love canvas: DIY
Owl Hook: World Market 
Scarf Ladder: Carolina Pottery

One of my favorite things on the dresser is the frame with three of our photo booth strips in it. Two of the photo booth strips are of us from college, one from when we were first dating and the other later when we were doing long-distance, and the third is from this past year. I love how spontaneous photo booths are & yet how fun they can be as decor! 

Tripod Stool: Southeastern Salvage 

Faux Sheepskin: Ikea

I hung the Owl hook so I can easily hang necklaces before bed and my camera when I'm not using it and the tripod stool is good for throwing clothes on for the next day. I also love how versatile those faux sheepskins from Ikea can be! Here I'm using it as a small accent rug. 

The small square frames hold two Instagram pictures I had printed out from our wedding day that I just adore. Its simple things like this that make me extremely happy when I come back to our room because they're small reminders of some great memories. 

Tree Painting: DIY from High School
Silhouettes: DIY 
Grey Pull Curtain in Bathroom: DIY Ikea Hack Fabric Covered Tupplur Blinds

These DIY silhouettes of Brandon, Rhiley, and me are still one of my favorite DIYs ever! They were so simple & cheap and yet I love how they've captured us at this point in our lives and will serve as a reminder to our old, seasoned selves one day. 

Mirror: Hobby Lobby

While I'm Alive canvas: DIY 

Overall, I love how everything turned out! It's not only much more bright & airy but it's filled with things that are so very "us" which I think gives it great character and quirk. What do you think? Could you incorporate any of these projects into a room in your house?

Peace,

Allison 

Woven Bench for Guest Room

I had been in the market for some sort of bench for our guest room as a place for guests to place their luggage or take a seat to put on shoes. The requirements for said bench were that it needed to be thin & long to fit in the space across from the end of the bed and have some added storage on the bottom. I really like the woven bench look like this and this but the $100 price tag for such a small bench that I honestly thought I could make myself just wasn't cutting it for me. Thankfully, after some perusing I found this tutorial for a woven bench by The Merry Thought.

I kept that tutorial in the back of my head all through the holidays until I finally had some time and motivation for a DIY project after we got back from our late honeymoon cruise in January (a post soon to come). I followed the tutorial to a tee except that instead of buying pre-made table legs I actually just picked up a 4th 2x2x8 Furring strip which I cut into 4 16" legs. This change alone saved me about $18 making my total for the entire project come in at just under $30. So much better than the $100 I could have spent! 

Follow Your Passion sign- Hobby Lobby
Triangle Wall Hanging- DIY from an old pool table triangle

This DIY came together pretty easily up until the weaving part where I had to go back through and re-tighten my jute multiple times due to the wood bowing slightly in the center from the pressure. Don't let it get you down though cause the finished product was well worth the monotony and the cotton cord helps make the center much sturdier than just the jute alone (FYI I have sat on it and it can hold a good amount of weight!). I attempted a smaller aztec pattern than The Merry Thought for the center of my bench only because I was running low on upholstery tacks. 

Overall, I am smitten with the final product! It totally goes with my modern vintage theme for the rest of the guest room! Now I just need to paint the room and I am calling it done-zo. For the tutorial on how I updated my grandparent's vintage bedroom set to white & brass check out here. 

Do you love it as much as I do?! 

Peace, 

Allison 

life lately: december edition

still excited about my new haircut. 

making Christmas jars & deer pillows to round out our Holiday decor. 

thinking constantly about my sweet sister-in-law and her husband going through a terribly hard time after losing their sweet angel boy. Prayers requested. 

eating homemade lasagna, my first attempt that turned out delicious! 

drinking hot coffee and Caramel Brulee Lattes (my favorite!) at Starbucks.

reading Still Alice & just about to start Me Before You.

watching Gilmore Girls on Netflix & any and all Christmas movies on tv. 

wanting a Polar heart rate monitor watch. 

looking through pictures from our Thanksgiving in Pittsburgh & looking forward to our first annual Ugly Sweater Christmas party. 

planning our outfits for the Ugly Sweater Christmas party (hoping they'll be epic!)

playing Cards Against Humanity & Loaded Questions (especially loaded when played with the Housholders!) with family at Thanksgiving. 

enjoying my new Schwinn road bike (Follow my rides on Instagram at #allisonrides) & our Christmas decorations & Tree that are up! 

feeling anxious for Christmas shopping because I haven't even started...

loving our Christmas tree all decorated & the Buffalo Plaid Hello sweatshirt that I got with their Black Friday deals. 

Check back in at the middle of the week for our Christmas Card this year! 

Peace, 

Allison 

Simple Washi Tape Clothespin Christmas Card Display

Hey y'all! I know it's been a while since I posted! I cannot believe it's already time for the Holidays already, can you?? It feels like we just put the Christmas decorations away and yet here we are bring them out little by little. Don't worry, we aren't getting our tree until after Thanksgiving but with the colder weather it is kind of tempting to start decorating amiright? 

Today, I've got a really easy way to display Christmas Cards this season. Literally, it cost me nothing except the washi tape that I got for 40% off at Michael's. 

I picked some awesome buffalo plaid washi tape that I think looks festive without screaming "we love Christmas!" The white ribbon I used was some I already had so basically this project was free which is always a bonus. I taped and trimmed the washi tape onto some clothespins and just like that, we had a way to display the Christmas cards we get from friends & family onto our Chalkboard wall. 

In other news, Shutterfly pinned our Christmas Card from last year here! I am really excited about this! I would appreciate it if you would LIKE & Pin it. Thanks ahead of time! 

If your curious, here are our Christmas cards and Christmas Home Tour from last year. I'll be sharing this year's Christmas card after Thanksgiving. 

 Peace, 
Allison 

Simple Gold Herringbone Bar Update!

We got this mahogany bar as a wedding gift from my sister and very soon-to-be {as in less than one month!} brother-in-law. It was from Bed, Bath, and Beyond and was on our registry. I love all of the storage it offers and the extra space I get to decorate (otherwise known as me cluttering it up with cute things!). The only thing was that the bottom shelves were so dark and cavernous that you couldn't really see all of our glasses hanging (see below). 

I decided on a whim one night to brighten the shelves up using all things I already had on hand! I used some scrap mat board pieces I had left from my "The World is Your Oyster" knock-off artwork and cut them to size to fit in the back of the shelves. Then, I taped them off with masking tape in opposite diagonal patterns to create a Herringbone pattern when put together. Finally, I spray painted the mat boards using some gold spray paint I had on hand. Surprisingly, they dried within minutes and I was able to remove the tape and put them in their places. Only about 20 minutes total time for this quick update!  

How about those Trader Joe's tulips! 

I love how much brighter the shelves look now and how the pattern brings some added interest as well! Plus now you can see all of our glasses much more clearly. This simple update could be used for any dark furniture piece for that matter or just any shelves you have that need a little added interest. 

Finally, here are a few pics of how I styled our bar top. The gold bunting banner is actually glitter paper I picked up at Michael's that I sewed together. I may be doing a small tutorial on how you can make your own one of these days. The Happy Flags in the mug are from this Etsy shop, Natalie Creates. And of course you can see more about my knock off, "The World is Your Oyster" artwork here. 

What in your home could use some brightening up? 

Have a great weekend!

Peace, 

Allison