Thursday, June 23, 2016

{SUYL Home Tour: Master Bedrooms}

Today's link up on Kelly's Korner Show Us Your Life Home Tour is master bedrooms! My master bedroom is sort of a work in progress right now.  I have wanted a shiplap wall in there for the longest time & I FINALLY made that happen a few weeks ago.  You can read all about the process here.

But of course, once the new shiplap wall was up - I decided that I needed new lamps & new decor & new...  

When we went to Magnolia Market a few weeks ago {you can read about it here} - I fell in love with the black, white & wood that Joanna used throughout.  Like I wanted to go home & redo my entire house kinda love.  The black & white is so classic & the wood "warms" it up.  I also love adding pops of green to brighten it up.  

So needless to say, it's not finished yet...but here it is!
I love, love, love the shiplap wall!  It's really hard to get good pictures of it {and the room in general} because I have only one window so the room gets very little natural light.
Side table is from Target, lamp & shade from Wal-Mart, plant from Ikea & print from Dear Lillie.
I am still on the hunt for something above the bed.  Perhaps a sign?  Or simple boxwood wreath to bring in a little more green?
Opposite the bed is my dresser & tv.  Again, I feel like this area is missing something...just not sure what yet. I think I need something on both sides of the mirror/tv.  I am open to suggestions!!
I don't have any cute kiddos or a hubby to frame pictures of...so until then - Nola it is! =)
Speaking of Nola, of course she has her own little spot in my room {she's crate trained...but definitely prefers sleeping in my bed!}. 
Despite a few empty walls & the need for a little "warmth" - I am loving how it's turning out so far.  Thanks for stopping by!  If you missed it, you can see my living room here & my dining room here.  You can also follow me on instagram here!

(I'm also linking up with Stacey at Poofing the Pillows for Thoughts of Home on Thursday.)

Monday, June 20, 2016

{You Had Me at Shiplap}

I admit, I did not jump on board the Fixer Upper train right at first.  When the show first premiered in 2014, I was in the process of building my current house & living back at home with my parents.  In fact, I don't even think I watched season 1 the first time around.  

Fast forward 6 months & it was time for season 2.  This time I was finally settled in my new house & my tv pretty much stayed on HGTV 24/7.   I needed decorating ideas, duh! =)  After watching a few episodes of Fixer Upper, I fell in love with the farmhouse look.  Joanna Gaines had me a shiplap.  

And I knew right then & there that I needed some shiplap in my life.   

Fast forward a year & still no shiplap.  Insert sad face here.  My Instagram news feed was full of all the shiplap goodness & yet I still had none.  One of the big factors was cost & after the whole Blue Bell debacle of 2015, there was very little money left in the budget for "unnecessary" projects such as this.  

And then I started to hear about "faux shiplap".  After checking out Pinterest & reading a few blogs, I knew this was something even my DIY challenged-self could do {with the help of a few friends of course}.  My first thought was that I would start small & do an accent wall in my guestroom...but quickly decided to "go big or go home".  I wanted to be able to see it & enjoy it every day so I decided on the large wall in my master bedroom.

I headed to Home Depot & purchased 5 - 4'x8' sheets of underlayment for $11.97 each.  The underlayment works great because it's very thin & light weight...making it easy to work with & it matched up perfectly depth-wise with my current baseboards.  Home Depot agreed to cut them down into 6" strips for me for an extra $10 charge.  A lot of the blogs I read said their Home Depot or Lowes cut them down free of charge...my store in particular was not very willing to do it at all, let alone free of charge.  The pieces were far from exact, but it certainly helped me out & saved me a ton of time.  The day I went to pick them up was the day of the great flood of 2016 {you can read about it here} so I had to go with plan b.  For the record, 5 sheets of 8' underlayment will fit in the back of a Yukon. =)
Over the course of the next 2 days, I sanded {by hand} & primed all 40 - 6" x 8' strips.  The edges were fairly rough, but after board 20 or 21, I decided those rough edges gave the boards "character".  Even though it was time consuming for me, I was so glad I had all the prep work done before installation day because it saved us a ton of time then.
I was off work on Memorial Day so that's the day a friend & I decided to tackle the project.  She came over & we drew out where we wanted the seams to be, what cuts we needed to make, etc.  My wall was just shy of 16' so technically - 2 planks would have fit almost perfectly. But, all of the seams are part of the character of shiplap so we had to make a few cuts & adjustments.
Next we marked all of the studs & drew a vertical line down the wall so we would know where to nail them. {and I am REALLY sorry for the terrible pictures, but my bedroom has 1 window so it gets very little natural light...making picture taking a nightmare!}
My friend's brother stopped by to dropped off a saw & nail gun, and well....we kinda, sorta recruited him to help.  Carol made the cuts and Jon & I nailed the boards.  The first row took the longest because we had to make sure our cuts were correct & our boards were level.  
After that, things went REALLY fast.  We used nickels for spacers as suggested & they worked perfect.  There were times when seams didn't line up perfectly or a cut was 1/4" off, but surprisingly - I didn't freak out too much!  =) I am normally a perfectionist when it comes to things like that, but again - all of that adds to the character of real shiplap.  
 
 
Thankfully the only precise cuts we had to make were around 2 outlets & a phone jack {which I didn't even realize I had...who has a house phone these days?!} and we used a Dremel for that.
Can we just take a moment & admire it?  Isn't she beautiful?!  
 
 
Ok, so the after isn't so great, but this was right after we finished & all I wanted to do was sit on the floor & admire our hard work.   

I can't believe I waited so long to do it.  It completely changed the look of the room for not a lot of money or time.  My bill at Home Depot was right at $75.  Thankfully I had the primer & white paint at home so that didn't cost me anything.  I did buy my helpers lunch {and margaritas that night} so in the end - maybe around $100 - $125 overall?  I spent a few hours doing prep work & start to finish on install day took about 4 hours. 

At first, I kinda liked the look of just the primed boards & thought maybe I didn't need to paint them {it could have just been that I was delusional from all the sanding & priming}.  I liked it, but didn't love it.  I lived with it like that for about 2 weeks & ultimately decided to paint them white.  At 9 o'clock on a work night.  Cause that's how I roll. I did leave the seams & nails exposed because I loved the rustic look {and it saved me a ton of time}.  In the end, the boards got 2 coats of primer & 2 coats of paint.  

And now?  Now it's perfect & I am absolutely in love.  Because we had very little waste, I have almost an entire sheet of cut & primed shiplap sitting in my garage just begging to be hung on a wall.  I am thinking maybe the island in my kitchen next?!

Unfortunately you don't get to see the "final" after just yet. After getting the shiplap up & painted {& making my trip to Magnolia Market}, I decided I needed new lamps & new wall decor & new...  Joanna wouldn't have approved quite yet.  =) But check back Friday & I will be doing a final reveal for the Kelly's Korner Show Us Your Life Home Tour.

Thursday, June 16, 2016

{SUYL Home Tour: Dining Rooms}

Today's link up on Kelly's Korner Show Us Your Life Home Tour is dining rooms!  Unfortunately I do not have a "formal" dining room, only a breakfast room that serves a dual purpose.  But quite honestly, I am not even sure if I would ever use a formal dining room if I had one...because I rarely use the breakfast room!  I have a large island with bar stools & 9 out of 10 times, that's where I eat or people gather. 

But here it is!  It's not a large space, but it's perfect for what I need.
As soon as I moved in, I switched out the builder basic light for something with a little more sparkle & weight.  I found this chandelier on Overstock for around $150 {I see the price has gone up since}.  It is nearly identical to one Pottery Barn sells for more than double the price.  It was brown so I did spray paint it black & love how it turned out!

My table was a hand me down that used to be my parents that then went to college with my younger brother...needless to say, it was a little beat up.  A LOT of sanding & a fresh coat of stain & paint and it's as good as new!
The black metal chairs are from World Market {don't tell anyone, but they were actually meant to be outdoor patio chairs!}
I would really, really like a buffet of some sort in there, but unfortunately I do not have the room.  I found this shelf from Ikea for $15 bucks & it works perfect in the corner.  It's both decorative & functional!
I would never "set" my table on a daily basis, but after having it like that during Christmas - I decided it needed to stay like that all the time!  I love the finished look.  It's pretty simple right now, but I love to change it up for the different seasons/holidays.
 
My black & white buffalo plaid plates?  From the Dollar Spot at Target back at Christmas! Best purchase ever...I LOVE them!!

You can see here how my living room, dining room & kitchen are one open space.  {and here's a sneak peak at my kitchen...that tour is coming up in a few weeks!}
Of course, my dining room would not be complete with a peak at Nola's "dining space" as well. {complete with food on the floor...just keeping it real folks!}
Thanks for stopping by!  If you can see my living room tour here & follow me on instagram here.  Be sure to come back next week for a tour of my master bedroom...and my new shiplap wall!

Thursday, June 9, 2016

{SUYL Home Tour: Living Rooms}

I am so excited that I finally have a house AND a blog so I can link of with Kelly's Korner for her Show Us Your Life Home Tour.  This week is living rooms!  

I have been in my house for almost a year & a half and my style is constantly changing.  I will admit that I have jumped on board the farmhouse/shiplap/Fixer Upper train lately and have been adding touches here & there.  When we went to Magnolia Market in May, I fell in love with all of Joanna's black, white & wood.  I will definitely be incorporating more of that in my house.  

My living room is one room in my house I'm not "loving" right now.  It needs something...I'm just not sure what yet.  It's just sorta "blah". =)  I'll be wrapping up my office/guestroom and master bedroom mini-makeovers soon so next I will turning my attention to my living room.

But, here it is now!
One thing I love about my new house is that it is open concept.  The living room, kitchen & breakfast room are all open to each other.  It's perfect for entertaining.
 
My fireplace was a "splurge" but I loved how it turned out.  The white rock is my fav!  And the mantel is perfect for decorating for all the holidays {it's red, white & blue from Memorial Day to 4th of July}. 
I have a little bar cart for entertaining and the dresser was a thrift store find that I redid.  I love having all the extra storage for DVD's, table linens, etc.  
And my curtains?  They are $10 twin sized sheets from Target!  Perfect, no sew white curtains on a budget!!
Oh & my Diet Coke + Jesus coasters...aren't they the cutest?! =) They are from the Freckled Goose.
I would love to say my living room was pretty & clean like this all the time, but this little 4-legged cutie kinda rules the roost around here.  I am not sure why I ever thought dark floors & a navy couch were a good idea with a light-haired dog that sheds like CRAZY!! {it's a REALLY good thing you can't zoom in too close on the pictures.  Just sayin'.}  Normally there is a blanket covering the couch & a rug full of dog toys & bones...but I wouldn't have it any other way!  Because seriously - how could I ever get mad at that face?! =)
 
Thanks for stopping by...come back next week for a tour of my dining room!  Be sure & follow my new Instagram account - faithfootballandfairytales.

(I'm also linking up with Stacey at Poofing the Pillows for Thoughts of Home on Thursday.)