New & Improved Bathroom {Sneak Peek!}

Since our guest bedroom is COMPLETE, I decided to tackle our hall bathroom this past weekend!
Previously, the bathroom had a cream color paint that matched the cream colored tile.  I just put a few things I already had up on the walls temporarily to cover up the bareness & hope that it worked until I had time to put some thought into this space!
Here is our little bathroom the day we moved in….. when the toilet overflowed and created a river of water down the hall!

Haha.. and my sweet family helping clean up the mess! Oh, the joys of home ownership!

So, last weekend I decided to PAINT this little “fleshy” colored bathroom.  Since we’ve painted lots of rooms in our house, I figured I’d save us a little moo-la $$ and create my own color for the bathroom by mixing the paints we already had.  This ended up being a success, but during the paint mixing process, I got a little nervous. My plan was to mix a light cobalt blue color paint… instead, I ended up with GRAY
It all worked out in the end, thankfully!

I’ve also been working on a few DIY projects to make this bathroom look a little better than it did before!
After a little garage sale-ing & shed/closet digging I found a few items that I think I like…

The first project is this sweet little Vanity Bench.  This was originally my grandmother’s and it matched a vanity dresser that she had.  Unfortunately, the dresser suffered from water damage, so I couldn’t keep it to refinish.  I saved the bench and gave it some LOVE to make it new again!



I had my sweet husband cut a new board for the seat.  I used 3 inch foam and batting to cover the board.  I couldn’t find any fabric that I loved, but I found some sheets at Marshall’s that I liked the pattern.  So, I used this as my fabric instead.  I secured the batting and fabric with a staple gun, then nailed the seat into the legs.  And, there she is… Good as new!
{Total cost: $10.00 approximately for the sheets (fabric) and batting. The foam was given to me by a friend who had extra & the bench was my grandmother’s.  I already had the spray paint.}

My next little DIY project is this lovely garage sale picture frame.  Sorry, I forgot to take a before picture, but you can see the final result!
Here she is..


I spray painted the frame white and used a customized printable from For Chic Sake, which was free! The frame had some weird suede on it and it looked strange after I spray painted it. So, I covered it with burlap strips & added a fabric flower.
{Total Cost: $2.00 for the frame at the garage sale.  I already had the paint & fabric.  Sweeeeet.}

And finally, I am SO excited about my new Burlap Valance for the window!


I’m giddy with excitement! I love the way it turned out and it was free… even better. I took pictures along the way of making it, so I’ll share them later! I got the idea from this blog via Pinterest!
{Total Cost: F.R.E.E. since I had all the materials already!}

We’re heading to Puerto Rico for my cousin’s wedding this weekend, but I’ll share the full bathroom AFTER pictures when I get back!

Guest Bedroom {Updates!}

I’ve made a few little changes lately to our Guest Bedroom as we’ve gotten settled in our little house. A few of the items that were in this room originally were needed in the extra bedroom/office.  (I need to show pictures of the office, too! Ah!) You can see the original guest bedroom post, here. 

With a few small changes, I would like to welcome you to our new & improved Guest Bedroom…

 

I must say, I’m diggin’ the bold navy and green color scheme… It just kind of happened, I didn’t actually plan it that way, but I Love it!

I found this incredibly cute rug at Marshall’s (my go-to discount store that is literally in my neighborhood!) 

So, I guess you could say it’s the rug’s fault that everything in here changed! HA!

I used a Pottery Barn birthday gift card to buy the new navy button pillows.  The green striped pillow is a recent project I conquered that involved no sewing! (And, the fabric was on sale too..I already had the pillow, so the project was a total of like $6!) To see the post, scroll down the page or click here. 

The green dresser came straight from my grandmother’s storage closet (I didn’t change a thing except re-finish the original hardware!)

I love the picture of my family from this Easter in the bluebonnets!

And, I made the navy polka-dot wreath & burlap bow from fabric I already had, my husband’s old  dress shirt, and a straw wreath I picked up for 25 cents at a garage sale!

 

My sweet friend, Amy, gave me the green Pottery Barn lampshade! I picked up the lamp base at a thrift store for $4 and spray painted it brown.  See that project, here.

I refinished the white bedside table, here, and bought it 50% off at a thrift shop! I painted the verse canvas in high school, and decided to include it in the room.

 

Wheww… lots of projects to make this room come together. I’m tired just typing all of that!

Here’s a look at the other side of the room..

I used this desk in college and added it to this room when we brought back Kyle’s desk from Chicago for our office. 

That is also a picture of my wonderful in-laws at Lake Geneva over the Fourth of July this summer!

The chest in the picture above is probably the most-talked about item in our entire home! This is the “traveling must-haves” kit or the “I can’t believe I forgot _______(fill in the blank)” kit for our guests to use when they’re visiting us! My sweet Mom gave me the adorable chest for my birthday and I filled it with items that I always forget when I’m on a trip.  So, I figured if anyone else in this world is like me, then this kit will come in handy while they are visiting us!

It consists of the following items currently:

Water bottle

Vitamin Water

2 wash clothes

2 toothbrushes

lint roller

toothpaste

body wash

body lotion

Kleenex

Burts Bee’s Chapstick

band aids

wet ones

sunscreen

contact solution

razor

Orbit gum

We actually picked up some of these items along the way at hotels for free (shhh don’t tell our guests!)… but, many of them I already had & added to the kit, or I picked up in the travel section at Target.  I’m sure there are many other items you could include,  as well! So, if you decide to create a kit of  your own, comment below and tell me what you put in your guest kit! I’d love to find out!!!

 

Hope you love our new guest room! Thanks so much for stopping by to check it out.

Hopefully, you can see that pretty much everything in this room was given to us,  bought at a thrift store & refinished, or is just hand made! Decorating doesn’t have to break the bank… it can be inexpensive & fun all at the same time. Plus, your home will be unique to you because of all the personal touches!  It may require a bit of extra elbow-grease, but in the end it makes you appreciate what you have & has a story behind it!

Have a wonderful day!

DIY {No Sew!} Pillow

I  don’t sew.  And, it doesn’t help that I don’t own a sewing machine.

Although, I wish I could sew & I wish I had a sewing machine…. but, for today, that’s not the case.

Maybe a sewing machine will be on my Christmas list?!

We will see.

 

So, to problem solve, we had to get a little creative last week when I found this a.d.o.r.a.b.l.e. fabric on sale at Hancock’s & decided to make a pillow for the guest bedroom.  Thanks to my sweet Momma, (who was here taking care of me after my day surgery!) and thanks to a great no-sew pillow tutorial from pinterest, we were able to put our heads together and figure it out!

This project was really easy and fast, too!

To make mine, I followed the tutorial from Centsational Girl, except I completely sealed my fabric around the pillow instead of just making a pillow cover.  And, I used actual fabric instead of fabric napkins.   I used fusible web that I found from JoAnn’s to seal the edges of the pillow.  To strengthen the seam, be sure to get fusible web that is wide to allow for stronger hold.  I also used fabric that is very durable.  I would recommend the same if you use the fusible web for the seams. 

You’ll also need a moist washcloth, scissors and an iron to seal the edges.  Follow the directions on the fusible web package for the seams.

Here is the fusible web seam finished…

After I finished the seam on 3 of the edges, I turned my pillow cover back out and stuffed my pillow in.  I was going to hand-stitch the last edge, but instead I decided to try something else… hot glue! Ha!

Yep, I used hot glue for the last seam on the pillow! And, to my surprise, it worked wonders!

Below is the hot glue seam…

not too bad, eh?!

 

After Mom and I did a little happy dance , we set it on the guest bed and admired our new little perfect pillow. I love the stripes!

And if you’ve been over to our house lately or you read my previous Guest Bedroom post, you’ll know that I’ve made a few changes in this room! I’ll share them later this week!

A Multi-purpose Entry Way

I love my vintage shutter I bought in college while in Waco, Texas. It’s had lots of a different functions including being a picture display, prayer wall/display and now….

                                                                     a coat, purse, & key hanger!

 

I’ve been trying to figure out a solution for our entry way.  There isn’t much room to put an entry way table or bench that I’ve seen some great ideas for on Pinterest, but there is a blank wall that has been staring at me since we moved in.  Last week, I randomly had the idea to screw in a few hooks from Home Depot into my shutter, add some silk flowers above that I purchased for 50% off at Hobby Lobby, tie it with jute rope & call it done!

Here is the entry way complete!

Now when friends come to visit, they will have somewhere to hang their purse or jacket instead of just laying it on the floor!

The 4th @ the Lake!

We spent a nice LONG weekend with family in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin!

We did a little boating, skiing, tubing, sailing, kayaking, floating, swimming & all other activities that involve the lake.  We also had our fair share of delicious meals & deserts, and played a few rounds of Jokers & Marbles and Super Nintendo MarioKart… it was a wonderful week(end) full of fun with family.

 

And, I also have to mention that I have been trying all summer to slalom ski (I can ski on 2 skis just fine), but for some reason I kept having some balancing issues trying to get up on one ski…. and, on the 4th of July, yours truly FINALLY got up (not just once, but twice!) on a slalom ski! Unfortunately, there are no pictures to prove this act, so you’ll just have to believe me! 

 

Here are a few pictures from our weekend!

 

We celebrated Kyle’s uncle’s birthday while we were there. The birthday party’s theme matched his uncle’s favorite hobby of sailing.  It was also fun seeing cousins!!!

And… my favorite picture from the weekend.  I have no idea who took this pic, but it is awesome!

A good friend from Baylor, Chase, is studying & researching medicine in Milwaukee this summer… so he visited us for the day!

 

We saw an “A Boat” Race… my very first sail boat race that I got to see up close. This was intense!

I was obsessed with all of the hydrangeas everywhere… why can’t these grow like this in Dallas?!

We visited the “Elegant Farmer.” In the Fall, you can pick apples from the trees and pick out your own pumpkin from the patch! They also make homemade breads, jams, pies, and many other wonderful things, I’m sure… Once again, I wish we had places like this in Texas!

(Trying to fix the sign… didn’t work!)

 

It was such a FUN week… we enjoyed every minute!