Basic Barstool Turned Fabulous Vanity Stool!

Hey guys! I know I have been absent from the blogging world for a few weeks now, but I was taking some much needed vacation time with my family! But, I am back and I have so many new projects and recipes to share with you!

Before we left on our vacation, we began working on decorating our master bathroom. It is almost complete and I wanted to give you a sneak peek by showing you this fun, easy stool makeover project!

I have a vanity area on my side of the bathroom and I really wanted a cute stool to sit on while I did my hair and makeup. I found this stool at Garden Ridge for only $39.99. I loved that the legs were already white, but definitely did not love the two-tone look of the wood seat. I also wanted the seat to have a cushion since yes, it does take me quite some time to put on my face lol.

Front view of the stool-before

Top view of the stool-before

First I cut a piece of foam batting to fit the top of my stool. Most all craft stores sell this stuff for only a few dollars. You can choose how lofty you want it to be.

I used this Gorilla Glue (from Lowes) to glue the foam down to the wood seat. My husband and I swear by this stuff and use it in almost every project we do around the house involving wood!

I then cut some old scrap fabric, left over from the master bedroom curtains, to fit the stool. I used a staple gun to wrap it tightly around the seat.

I folded my corners to make sure there was a tight, smooth crease.

And here is the finished product!

Here is a sneak peek of the bathroom...my new cute stool sitting under the vanity area! I love it so much and I love how it adds another element of texture to the space.

This project could be done in so many ways from a craigslist find to a bright color paint to a fun geometric fabric! Don't worry about screwing this one up...this is definitely a beginners project! And have FUN with it! Remember, just because the store sells an items one way, doesn't mean you can't change it to make it perfect for you!

Cucumber Vodka

If you're looking for a new, refreshing summer drink, this is it! It is a Cucumber Vodka  Spritzer! If you haven't tried cucumber vodka, it is a must! Especially if you are a fan of cucumber! In my case, I love cucumbers so much, I can sit and eat a whole cucumber as a snack.

I am not a huge fan of sugary, sweet drinks, so I am always on the lookout for new drink recipes that are clean and refreshing.

Pearl makes a huge range of flavored vodkas. Just click here for a list of recipes!

Serve it in a mason jar with a fun straw and you have the perfect summer drink!



 

Master Bedroom Retreat!

I am so happy to say the master bedroom is finally finished! I have so many photos and ideas to share with you! I will try to share as many prices and stores as I can remember too!

Those of you who are following the re-decorating of our home know that I had already decorated the master bedroom, but it was thrown together in a matter of weeks and not done in the style we now love. It looked nice, but it definitely was not what we wanted.

This is what the room was decorated like before. We were just so excited to be homeowners that we decorated really fast and didn't really have a plan. We wallpapered, used the bed and night stands we already had, and threw some bedding and pillows together! (You can read about removing wallpaper here.)

And...drum roll please!...........

This is what is looks like now! What a HUGE transformation right!? The room has this wonderful fresh, bright, and airy feel everytime you walk in! I love it sooooo much!

Here is a before and after from the day we moved in to now.

The color we painted the room with is Behr's Porpoise Grey.

We originally bought this platform bed 4 years ago from The Room Store. If you remember from the photo above, it was a very dark espresso color. I painted it white and distressed the edges for a more beachy/cottage look. I fell in love with it when we orignally bought it, but over the years had started to not love the dark color. This was such a great way to give it new life and fall in love with it all over again!

I did the same thing to the night stands. This saved us a TON of money! A gallon of paint costs $20 where as a new bed and night stands can cost thousands! You can read about the transformation of the night stands here.

I styled my husbands night stand with a sand timer (representing the subtle beach theme) and a W (for our last name Wisdom) mod podged with a copy of our wedding certificate. I was so excited to incorporate things that had meaning to us in our master bedroom. This W is just a $2 cardboard 3-D letter from Hobby Lobby and I then made a copy of our wedding certificate, layed the W on top and traced around it. You have to play with where you want the cert. centered on your letter to make sure to get the words in that you want. Then I layed the cert. on top of the W and painted mod podge all over and waited for it to dry!

I styled my night stand with a clear glass vase of faux flowers (I always do this in every room), and a weathered sign that says 'Barefoot at the Beach'. The sign was only $7 at Home Goods.

I like symmetry in a bedroom so I used the same nightstands, lamps, and picture frames on each side of the bed. The lamps are a dark wood base with a burlap shade. Only $29.99 each at Home Goods. The picture frames were $15 at Marhsalls and in them I put black and white photos of beachy vacations my husband and I have taken together. I also placed a small grey basket under each night stand to bring in color and texture. $12 at Marshalls.

Here is our new dresser! Ok I feel really sad because I bought this dresser on craigslist for only $60 and it was in bad shape and I DIDN'T TAKE BEFORE PHOTOS! I was too excited to get started on re-finishing it that I totally forgot! I really wish I could share it with you because it is such a HUGE transformation! It was a light wood color with old rusted gold hardware, dinged, scratched, you name it! I removed the old hardware, sanded it down and painted it this beautiful MINT color! After the paint was dry I rubbed it with black stain to give it a warn look and sanded the edges. I added new hardware from Target (they sell hardware in packs for only $19.99)! It is so beautiful now and I love knowing that I recycled something! Plus I am obsessed with this MINT color!

I styled the dresser with a vase of faux flowers (yes, another one), a photo of my little family ($5 Marshalls), some old books I had laying around, 2 candle holders ($7 Ross) and a wooden ball ($7 Kirkland Home). You can see how I played with layering and height. I like to make sure everything varies in height and groups together well. I started with about 20 random items around the house and played with them until I got this! **The wooden ball was marked $15 at Kirkland home, but it had  a few wood peices that were broken off, I asked the cashier if they would do a discount and they said yes!! Plus is was on sale so I got it for $7!! Don't be afraid to ask for a discount people! It works everytime!! Plus no one will ever see the broken spots because of the way I placed it!

I also added this cute metal starfish to add to my beachy theme. It was on the clearance isle at Hobby Lobby for $3!!!

Above the dresser I wanted to use mirrors. I already had these 2 and while I didn't know if the style was right for the room, I didn't really want to spend the money on new ones! So I tried them and they worked! I love the juxtapostion of the beachy/cottage feel and the clean glamour look of the mirrors. And besides, it's my bedroom so I can do with it what I want! No design rules here!

Above the bathroom door we have had this sign up for 3 years and I still love it so we left it there! "Always Kiss Me Goodnight" Such a great saying and we stay true to it every night!

This is the new ceiling fan my hubby installed for me! It is from Lowe's and part of the Hunter collection. It was only $139! The blades are crackled on one side and dark wood on the other. I liked the dark wood side. It helps to tie in with the dark wood lamp bases. This fan also blows around some crazy air flow! And here in Texas we need it!

This is a rug we found at Garden Ridge, 8x10 for only $99! YES PEOPLE I SAID $99!! They are starting to carry some really great modern patterns for less!

On the wall opposite the bed, we put up paneling. This one is called Mt. Vernon Weathered Pine. It has a white/grey wash look to it and adds to our beach theme! We topped it off with some white trim. The boards are 8X4 and $15 each. It is such an easy, inexpensive way to add character to a plain wall.

Above the paneling I wanted to hang some art. I found 3 20x20 'kids' canvases on clearance at Garden Ridge for $4.99. I went to the library to pull an Atlas and find maps of the cities where my husband and I met, got engaged, and got married. I took photos of the maps and printed them at Staples. You can get large 3'X4' engineer prints for only $3! I cut them to size and glued them down to the canvases. From there I used white rope to draw a heart around each city and hot glued it on top. Now we have a map of Pullman, WA where we met, Cozumel, Mexico where we got engaged, and Oregon City, OR where we got married. I love them! Such a great way to add art with meaning.

Here is the overall look. I may add an accent chair in the future if I stumble across one, but for now it looks great!

On the bed I wanted those MR. and MRS. pillows that Ballard Designs sells, but they are $60 each! So, I bought these burlap pillows for $19 each, printed the words MR. and MRS. on cardstock, cut the letters out and used the stencil to paint the letters on the pillows! They turned out great and for a fraction of the cost! The king duvet cover is from Home Goods for $30.00! And I am not a big fan of king size pillows so I just sewed a straight stitch along each pillow case to make them standard size! The stripe shams were $30 at Home Goods.

Above the bed I took 2 old ugly framed peices of leaf art, .25 each on clearance at Garden Ridge! CRAZY right!?!? I painted the frames black and had the lyrics to our wedding song printed at a local print shop (like Office Max) for $2 each onto brown 12x12 scrapbook paper. I glued them inside each frame and voila! If you're wondering what the song is, it's "Memories of Us" by Keith Urban!

This curtain rod is a distressed white rod from Lowes. $40. And the curtains are premade white panels from IKEA $19.99/pair. I cut the tops off and sewed in a stripe seersucker, then sewed the tops back on. I did this to add length, color, and texture. They look custom made now and match the room prefectly. The white curtains really help to complete the airy, fresh feeling in the room!

Overall, I had so much fun decorating this room and it turned out beautifully! I love being in this room! I bargain shopped for everything and we did all of the labor ourselves saving hundreds of dollars! I hope you like it too and are inspired by one of my projects in the room!

Now it's onto the master bath!

Girly Garden Nursery

I recently worked on this nursery for a baby girl! The client had already painted the walls green and had bought some crib bedding that was green and pink paisley. She wanted my help in pulling the room together so I went with a girly garden theme. Here are some pictures and tips on how to customize a nursery on a budget!

I really wanted to use white curtains to break up the green walls. These were store bought panels from Lowe's ($24.99/pair).

I then added this cute pink and white ruffle trim detail! I have this style curtain available in my Etsy store!

Tip: When adding detail to the bottom of curtains, measure where your window sill height begins and start your trim there! Then your eye is drawn along that line!

I also added the ruffle trim detail to the arm pockets on the rocker!

To make this simple, store bought rocker feel more custom I added cute pink flower buttons to the back of the cushion and the ruffle detail to the arms (above). Then draped it with a bright pink blanket!

I added these new green polka dot knobs to the dresser for a fun custom look! Only $1.99 each at Hobby Lobby! Tip: I always change out the knobs on every peice of furniture I purchase, old or new! It is such a fun, inexpensive way to add personality and character!

My client had already placed this decal on the wall, but it needed something more...so I added these white 3-D metal butterflies around the verse! These butterflies are from Target and only $19.99 for a large set!

To add to our garden theme, I placed cherry blossom silk flowers in a white watering can and a cute pink bird house on the dresser. I found this great 'window pane' mirror at Hobby Lobby for only $20! Tip: Adding a mirror to any space will help to bounce light around the room and make it feel a lot larger!

It is not completely finished yet, but with just a few of these simple, inexpensive touches the room looks much more cozy and pulled together! Remember, just because something is store bought and a finished product, it doesn't mean that it can't be changed or added to! Think outside the box and make it your own!



 

Let's Talk Hair!

  Today I want to give a shout out to my wonderful hair stylist Sara! I have been seeing Sara for all of my hair needs for the past 2 years. And let me tell you, before I met Sara I had seen over 10 different stylists in 3 years! I am sure all of you gals can relate when I say it is SO HARD to find a good stylist!! And there are so many scenarios you can go through too;

1. I would get my hair colored and cut, it would look fabulous, and I would return in 8 weeks to do it all over again and it would look horrible the second time around! I was starting to think that as a first time client, they would take extra care and then after that you got crap!

2. They just sucked the first time and I never went back :(

3. They would use so much product and do such a terrible job styling my hair that I ended up washing my hair the second I got home. What happened to following styling trends and not letting your customer walk out of the salon looking like they walked out of the 80's? Some stylists need an updated lesson on blow outs!

4. The stylist quits and recommends you to her friend who is now doing hair...UM NO!

So, I have been through my fair share of stylist drama! But then I met Sara  (que 'the heaven gates are opening' music). She rents a space in a very small, quaint salon in Plano, TX. It is called Eco Salon.
She is the best colorist I have ever worked with and those of you who know me personally know that I not only color my hair every 8-10 weeks, but I change the color too! I am someone who loves change. I do not like things to stay the same for too long and my hair is definitely one of those things. I get so bored with my hair that even waiting 8 weeks to change it can be too long! My stylist Sara knows me so well now that each time I walk in the salon she says "ok, what are we doing this time?" I trust Sara so much that I literally could sleep in the salon chair while she does my hair, wake up, and love it! 

Here are some photos of my hair over the past few years in all different shades...


This was the very first time Sara did my hair. (I am the second one in from the left). She made me a true blonde and added extensions. Which by the way she is fantastic with extensions! These were clip-ins. She will color them to match your hair, clip them in, and then cut them to lay perfect with your own hair! So fun!


Looking back now I really love these darker pieces and low lights we added into the blonde!


Here is another all blonde...


Around Christmas I wanted to go dark but was too chicken to do it all at once so we did this in-between brown color. Not loving this one...


So I dove all in! I really love the way this looked. And my hair was so healthy too! It really makes a difference when you are adding pigment into the hair instead of stripping it out! I got compliments on my skin as well! It really pulled out the warmth in my face!

But since it is now summer I am definitely missing the blonde! So I am headed to see Sara for some bright highlights! YAY!

If you are in the Dallas area you must give Sara a try! I have recommended her to all of my friends and family and over 10 of them now see her on a regular basis!
And, if you are not in the area I am so sorry and I hope you can find a stylist that you love! I hope this post has at least inspired you to try a new color, cut, or style!