DIY Accent Wall to Brighten Our Den

Our house turns 90 next year.

She looks pretty good for her age, huh?

Matt bought this house before we met. He spent the first 4 months he owned the house doing a total rehab of the kitchen... including moving multiple bearing walls, installing cabinets & countertops and repainting EVERYTHING. He loves working on this house.

On my side, I lived in one condo (with my roommate, Ashlee!) where I was able to paint my walls, and I only got through my bedroom (and 3 coats of purple paint on ONE wall) before deciding that the bathroom and hallway were fine just the way they were ;)

Before we started the master bedroom project (one that took almost an entire year, I might add) we committed to making the den habitable so we had a nice place to relax. It was the first room we did together and I loved it.

Curtains: West Elm // Rug: Ikea // Couch & Ottomon: American Signature (similar) //
Shelf: Garage Sale // Pillows: Target // Media Cabinet: Pottery Barn (via Craigslist)

Lamp: Ikea // Side Table: Garage Sale

Ignore the seat from our car when I snapped these photos & messy media cabinet! But you get the idea.

Even though I love this little room, I could never figure out what to put around the TV that wasn't distracting. I liked the yellow accent wall but I realized it didn't serve its purpose of lightening this space up. I also felt like it was a little too matchy-matchy and wanted something different. I think being home for the last several weeks has made me look harder at our house.

I started looking online for inspiration and finally found something on A Beautiful Mess.

via

via

Like I said, I am usually trying to avoid doing work on the house, but I was definitely inspired. I showed Matt this blog on Thursday, and we were making a trip to Home Depot on Friday after work.

By Saturday night we were watching a movie in our newly painted room.

I am in LOVE with how it turned out! It looks super bright because I took these photos in the morning... but it brightens the entire space up! Since our wall didn't have windows like the room on A Beautiful Mess, I decided to space my dots further apart. I also wanted to use metallic paint... it just sounded like fun. We did this wall in less than 24 hours. Here's how.

1 gallon Glidden Marshmallow White  
1 quart of Ralph Lauren Metallic Antique Bullion 
1" flat craft brush (like in this set)

Painted 2 coats of Marshmallow White over my goldenrod yellow wall. I painted the 1st coat Friday night and the 2nd coat Saturday morning. By Saturday afternoon, I was ready to paint my gold spots. 

Now, this was definitely risky -- but I did the gold spots completely free form. 

I decided that life is too short to worry about little gold dots. I did a practice round on our decaying shed out back and just went for it. The key was using the bottom half of the brush and having a fresh dip of paint with every stroke. 

In hindsight, I probably only needed a "sample" size of metallic paint since the dots were single-coat and spaced apart. But I think we'll find a fun way to use it up.

There are a few dots I might erase at some point... but I think it turned out pretty well! Don't you think?

Now I'm searching for a new rug (the $20 Ikea rug is being retired to Matt's office!) and some new pillows. 

Even though I typically avoid working on the house, I really enjoyed this project! I think it might have to do with living here for almost two years now and being ready for a change. Now I'm feeling confident and trying to think of ways to add a fun wall to our guest bedroom/my office.... any ideas? Have you ever painted a free form pattern or accent wall?

xo

DIY Glitter Votives

I was on the search for some simple festive decor, and i couldn't seem to find anything that wasn't overpriced or SUPER gaudy.

Enter - making it myself.

Here's what you'll need:

A few tubes of glitter. I chose white, silver, and rose gold

Mod Podge

Sponge

Small glass votives

Tea Lights for after

1 - Apply Mod Podge with the sponge to desired areas (I did some all over and some more 'color blocked') - make sure it's not too thick, but covers everything.

2 - Pour glitter over and tap lightly to loosen excess glitter.

3 - Set upside down to dry overnight

4 - Add your tea lights and display proudly! 

A Little About Our Wedding

Yes... crazily enough... i am now a married woman. 7 months and 4 days of dating, 63 days of engagement. If you haven't spent time around me with Matt, you probably think we're crazy. But i think it's the right kind of crazy, because i simply adore him :)

If there's anything i've learned over the past 4 or 5 years through my own experience and through doing life with friends, it's simply this - everyone has their own story.

and i *love* ours.

If it was my decision, you'd be reading a blog about how matt and i eloped and ran away to greece!!!!!

But alas, he wanted a real wedding. And i know if it was the other way around, he would have made sure i had the perfect wedding - so i practice that compromise thing everyone is always talking about in marriage ;)

I'm writing this blog because i've had a lot of people ask me about the planning aspect of our wedding, especially with a short engagement and not spending a fortune! I've never liked spending a lot of money, unless it's on a plane ticket. Here are some of the details that went into our big day.

Our Short Little To-Do List.... :)

1 - The style

Although it's what's popular right now, i've always loved vintage stuff. All of my furniture is my grandparents, from a yard sale, or quite frankly found on the side of the road. So, all of my natural tendencies are to go for something slightly worn over something new and shiny. So i trusted my gut (and i'm SO GLAD i did!)

All of the furniture we used for the wedding was ours already or Matt built it. He built about 20 pallet benches, that we actually sold after the wedding. Otherwise, we used my dresser (gifted to me from my grandpa's house), my vintage trunk (found on the side of the road). Plus candles, candles, candles. I bought all of the pillar candles i could find, because i LOVE candles. They make everything cozy.

2 - Invitations

After going back and forth on designs, colors and everything else.... we both decided we wanted something beautiful and simple. I didn't want a flashy colorful invitation, but i wanted something that reflected our style - vintage, shabby chic. So after a great idea from Matt, we checked out stamps on Etsy. We ordered two custom stamps (one of our logo - M+R in a heart, and one of our actual invitation details), bought stock paper from the craft store, and we made the invitations.

M+R Stamp - http://www.etsy.com/listing/89481555/personalized-solid-heart-hand-carved?ref=pr_shop

Wedding Invite Stamp - http://www.etsy.com/shop/lovetocreatestamps?section_id=5677892

Total Cost: $95 + 2 hrs of creating/addressing

I absolutely loved them. Not to mention, i used the rest of the card stock and M+R Stamp to write thank you notes, and in other aspects of our wedding

Our Mad Libs - an alternative to the guest book!

Customized Vino - created by yours truly

Labels for food - it's important to know where the peanut butter cups are on the dessert tray!

3 - Flowers

This was a fall wedding, so it was hard to find the things i wanted that were in season. I wanted "dusty" colors, all very light, as that was the developing theme. 

I chose garden roses, because they are HUGE - similar to peonies (which are not a November flower). I used the purple lionium instead of lavender, which was also out of season. And the greens were sage and eucalyptus - they were both chosen because they were almost a faded green, and not super bright. My bouquet had gardenias in it - my favorite - and were the most expensive part of the entire process.

I was also lucky to have a friend volunteer her flowers arranging services. Megan did the most amazing job arranging our bouquets, boutonnieres, and misc. arrangements throughout the wedding! We ordered the flowers from Import Flowers, and they were designed by our dear friend Megan! - www.impfl.com

Our Flowers: $215 total. And we had tons left over!

5 - Cake

I wasn't set on a traditional cake. I also didn't want to do cupcakes. My friend Pam suggested a friend of hers that does cake pops! I LOVED this idea. We ended up ordering oreo (my favorite) cake pops and cheesecake (matt's favorite) as well. We also got a small, red velvet rose cake for us to cut (per matt's request!). 

They were delicious, as well as adorable.

Cake pops: 75cents each, + cake + delivery - $200 (note: we probably had 100 pops left over!)

To order from Sam (she does small and large orders!) - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sweet-Sam/338201469622230?ref=ts&fref=ts

7 - Bridal Party Wardrobe

Personally, i've never had to spend more than $50 on a dress to be in a wedding. And i think that's awesome. I feel very lucky to also have always felt comfortable in the dress i was asked to wear - bonus! So, with that in mind, we let our bridal party pick their own outfits in a color scheme.

The Inspiration

Dusty, light pinks and purples for the girls

Grey cardigans or vest for the guys... with dark jeans

The Outcome

I was pretty happy with the way it looked :)

We got the ties for the boys, and we got them from http://www.solidcolorneckties.com/ - which sounds insane. But seriously, the ties were about $6 each and had free shipping. WIN!

7 - Venue

This one was the biggest thing for us. I was dying to get married outside. Even though it was a total gamble in November (btw - we couldn't have been luckier, with a sunny, 70 degree day), but i was hell bent. I also was furious that most venues, ie a patch of grass with an electrical outlet were trying to charge upwards of $7000 for 8 hours. And it didn't include anything. This might be typical for a wedding, but i KNEW there had to be a better way.

We stayed about as local as we could - and got married on the front porch of a bed and breakfast that shares a backyard alley with matt's (now, our) home. It couldn't have been more perfect.

Afterwards, we moved the party to our backyard - which was my favorite decision we made.

We spent money re-doing the backyard and making imporvements to it, rather than renting a space. We now have a beautiful backyard for hosting friends and family! It was win-win. 

before the party started

8 - DIY Photo Booth

I have a dear friend who deserves credit for allowing me to borrow his camera set up (in exchange for me promising to take very very good care of it!). I bought a handful of dress-up items (pirate hat, feather boa) and printed out some funny phrases, as well as some celeb faces (let's be honest, i just wanted justin timberlake at my wedding) and matt and i's as well - because i thought it was funny :)

Cost: Probably like $20 on props and printing.

I should also probably mention, the most important thing on my radar was our PHOTOGRAPHER! And we made an amazing decision with Eden! The photos above are by her, and i love them :) 

www.edenfrangipane.com

Those are probably the questions we've been asked about the most. Everyone has their own style, and i felt like our wedding was ours! It was a great day, and i'm glad it turned out the way it did :)

DIY Decor

Since a new apartment is around the corner
(hopefully signing the lease at the end of this week!!! yay!!!),
i am just dying to redecorate.

Our living room is going to be black and white with accents of dark purple, maybe some grey.
Our kitchen doesn't have a lot of wall space - but will have a vino theme to it. Greens, redish-purples.
My bedroom will now be primarily yellow and grey - i've decided the dark purple wall (RIP) would be such a pain in the butt to paint back... i'm just not sure i can commit to it.

 So after many hours on Pinterest, and seeing Cait with Pretty&Fun post her upcoming decor inspiration, i decided i'd follow suit. Here are some of the craft projects i'm cooking up!

Redecorated Tray

this isn't the pattern i'm using. BUT, i found a plain unstained wood tray,

which i have spray painted white, and will be adding a black&white patterned paper to.
We'll be adding purple accents, and this will go on the coffee table in the living room.

Jewelry Organizer

A few old frames. Some paint. A staple gun, and chicken wire. And perhaps a few hooks at the bottom.
I'm making one for myself, and one for each of my roommates!

Old Frame + Chalkboard + Corkboard

Mine won't look like this.... but it was my inspiration! I took an old frame, and used chalkboard paint, scrapbook paper, and a cork board. You'll see :) This will either go in the kitchen or hall by the laundry room.

Those are just a few of the DIY projects i've got going so far.... i'll post pictures once they're done!

Also - i've got options for bedroom furniture.
This is what my comforter looks like. And the color scheme of my life, basically.

I also have a lot of yellow accents - cabinet, mirror, end table etc.
I have dark grey sheets.
And deciding on which grey to use for the walls.
(i'm thinking the 3rd grey for all walls, w/ an accent wall of somewhere between the 1st & 2nd. thoughts?)

Now my question in - white furniture (antiqued) or black furniture?
I feel like it could go either way... but that the white might pop more next to the grey walls.

Any other recommendations?

So Far So Good - 2011

I just thought back to the beginning of the year, when i wrote a blog on my New Years Resolutions. I thought it'd be good to see how i'm doing so far...

This year (2011) i'm trying to ignore the fact that it's a new year, and just get on with the things i resolve to do. They include but are not limited to:
- travel somewhere every month (this can be in state, in the country, or in the world)
- blog more (my goal within my goal is once a week... It's January 19th, so i'm kind of already behind on this must.not.psych.self.out)
- successfully complete my Project 365 (i've got a lot of accountability on this one)
- stop biting my stupid fingernails
- build up my portfolio at work.... and land new clients
- keep up with the crafting (check out my store at avecamourpaper.etsy.com :)
- learn to fly! (hey, you gotta aim high sometimes)

 #1 - Travel:

This isn't a hard one for me. Comes almost as naturally as breathing or eating. So i shouldn't have worried too much about that.

I've visited only 1 country (England) and 5 states (Illinois, Colorado, Minnesota, Tennessee, Kansas) driven thousands of miles on my 2 road trips, and been all over the state. Mission accomplished. Upcoming trips: Chicago, New York. Hopefully Savannah and St Augustine somewhere in there...


It's kind of like writing things on your to do list that you know you will definitely do, like "make dinner", just so you KNOW you'll have something to cross off (nobody else does that? just me?)


#2 - Blog More:

Well, we all know the truth here. I have blogged more, but haven't quite stuck to 1 per week. I'll keep working on it.

#3 - Complete Project 365:

This i am happy to report is in full swing! I love this project. I really think i'll miss it next year (i guess i could go for round 2...) - if we're friends on Facebook, feel free to check out Part I here and Part II here.

#4 - Stupid fingernails:

Essie Fall Collection - Love.

As my nail polish collection grows, my nails get longer and stronger! I've found that keep polish on them stops me from biting. It's a pretty great method, and i highly recommend having to-go nail polish remover and spare polish around if you're trying this method!

#5 - Build up work portfolio/land new clients:

Done and done. Work has become amazingly enjoyable, and i love every single one of my clients. Seeing them in the paper multiple times in a week has been a great experience, and it's even better to hear someone ask who they are working with... because they love what's being done! It's been a pretty awesome year.

#6 - Keeping up with crafting:

My focus has changed a little... but i've jumped into design a little and i'm enjoying it. I guess as long as i'm creating something, i'm a happy girl.

#7 - Learning to Fly:

Other than the Lady A cover of the song, i've got nothin. But i think i'll keep working on that one...

until next time. xo.

bloggy blogs

As i've recently found out, at least 5 people read my blog. yay! So since i've got 4 or more people to entertain... i guess i'll keep writing.

I thought i'd give a shout out to the other blogs I enjoy. These are usually what you can find me reading in the evenings or on my lunch break.


The Album Project
 http://thealbumproject.net/2011/02/show-review-jimmy-eat-world/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed:+thealbumproject/feed+(The+Album+Project)&utm_content=Twitter

The Album Project does daily recommendations for music, talks about new releases every tuesday, and reviews concerts. The link a placed above is reviewing the Jimmy Eat World show i went to a few weeks ago, and i agree whole heartedly with his review! I follow him on twitter (@thealbumproject) which makes it easy to keep up with new posts. If you're looking for good (in my opinion!) music and reviews, this is the place to get them,


Hyperbole and a Half
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-is-why-ill-never-be-adult.html

Allie is the author, and she writes true stories that have actually happened to her (although she admits, slightly dramatized for humor) and accompanies each story with pictures she's drawn on Paintbrush. The link above is to my favorite post about why she'll never be a real adult. I almost cried i was laughing so hard. My best friend Kim introduced me to this blog, and i am very thankful for this... so i figured i'd pass the love along :)


P.S. - I Made This
http://psimadethis.com/

My new current obsession - do-it-yourself crafts! These are especially good, because Erica takes ideas and inspiration from current fashion and designers and makes simple ways to make the trends yourself. I have her book and follower her on Twitter (@psimadethis) and i've made a couple of pieces inspired by her. She's amazing and can probably make anything out of sharpies, felt, and hot glue.


Nuestie's News
http://nuestiesnews.blogspot.com/

My lovely roommate. She mixes it up between thought provoking Biblical topics, favorite things, and even awful first dates. Chances are, you'll relate to her. The best part about her blog is it's how i'll keep up with her in a few months when she leaves for Haiti for 2 years.


Ravenous Libby
http://ravenouslibby.com/

My dear friend and foodie, Libby Andrews, covers all the food topics from Healthy Eating to the new delicious foods she tries when on vacation. Either way, the photos will make you hungry and want to go out immediately and buy some type of food you can't even announce.


So those are probably the ones i visit the most - check out a new blog this week, and see what these lovelies are up to! You might find something new to read.