Archive for July, 2009
The Nursery Makeover Begins… On Video!
We recently revealed that we’ll be working on a Young House Love nursery… just not for us. We’re super excited to create a fun and functional baby’s room for John’s sister Emily who’s expecting a little boy this October. And of course we have plenty of affordable DIY ideas up our sleeves that we’ll be sharing as we go. The first order of business in Emily’s blank canvas of a guest room was to get some paint up on those bare walls.
But we didn’t just settle for a fresh coat of soft blue-gray, we decided that a cheerful, modern and awesomely random vertical stripe effect was just the thing to get this makeover started with a bang.
The easy one-night process of taping, painting, and peeling was as simple as picking a color palette…
… getting that painter’s tape up on the wall…
… filling in each randomly sized and spaced stripe with one of our four accent colors and peeling off the tape to reveal…
… fresh slices of color around the room (we promise they’re straight, the camera lens just makes them bow out a little).
And we even whipped up this video of the entire painting process with more step by step details and paint color information:
Yes John’s awesomely long arms came in handy for the filming of this video. And that is an Oregon Trail icon on his painting shirt. Good times. Oh and you can watch it here on YouTube if you’re having trouble with Vimeo above.
And since we’ll be keeping a tally of how much our little nursery transformation costs, we’ll share the tally for this phase of the project. For a gallon of wall paint and three sample cans of our stripe colors (we already had the white paint on hand) the room got a totally new look to the tune of just $39. And we’ll also be using the leftover paint for a few more DIY projects around the room so we’ll get even more bang for our buck. Stay tuned…
And because we love a good teaser, we thought we’d share a glimpse of some of the bedding and upholstery choices along with our paint chip color palette so you guys can get a taste of the big picture:
Don’t you love those cute little elephants? Babies are so much fun, even before they’re born. So what about you guys. Any babies on the way? Any nursery makeover details that you’d like to share? Spill the bun-in-the-oven beans.
Julie’s Design Dilemma
Julie’s living room is ready for a little makeover magic. Here’s her letter:
This is going to be fun, and I’m so excited to get a spot on your makeover project list. As a newlywed, I’ve moved into my husband’s home and need help with our living room. I like to have clean, simple lines and neutrals/dark woods in furniture but am not afraid to use vibrant colors and texture in the accents. My husband would probably add a bit of traditional to the mix. If I had to pick a brand that represents my style, I would say Pottery Barn with a cottage twist (I love vintage florals and reds and pinks). We’d like a new sofa, the end tables can stay, the coffee table can be replaced, one set of chairs must stay but can be reupholstered, the fireplace needs something, and the paint color should stay the same. When it comes to color, we like red (as an accent), pink, yellow, mixes of fresh and vibrant colors. We don’t like orange/purple or too much deep color (burgundy, etc). We’re excited to see what you come up with! -Julie
This room will be unrecognizable after we’re done with it. Here’s the plan:
And now for the mood board breakdown.
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Stick It Freebie Winners!
So glad you guys are digging the graphic masterpieces in our latest giveway courtesy of Kodu Design. We’re excited to see which laptop and refrigerator decals our six winners will choose. Oh and if more of you end up snagging a sticker, please share the pics! We’d love to see those oversized refrigerator stickers in action on your fridge or anywhere else you might think to stick them (on an oversized canvas, a door, a staircase, etc). Heck, Sherry and I still can’t get over how cool this one looks as a backsplash:
So let’s just get to the winners already. After plugging in some numbers to random.org and sorting through nearly 900 requests from people telling us where to stick it, we have our five random winners of the laptop decals. They are (in no particular order):
- Tiffany (the Tiffany with the dog pic on her desktop)
- Sarah (sans last name, but identified by her bland HP laptop)
- Sara Lang (hooray for a last name to distinguish you from the others reading!)
- Elise (the only entrant of this name- so if you’re Elise feel free to get excited)
- MS (mysterious, but certainly distinct)
And the winner of the big ‘ol fridge decal is… lenelein. Congrats everyone! Can’t wait to hear what designs you choose and of course see how they look once they’ve been stuck. And Sarah W – here’s my personal apology that your first name keeps popping up in these winner announcement posts to get your heart racing. I guess we have a lot of readers named Sarah. Either that or random.org is playing a cruel trick on you!
But remember that we’re just a couple of days away from Monday’s giveaway which means there’s something else in the pipeline to comfort all of you non-winners (so feel free to knock on wood). Oh and next week’s prize could actually come in handy for just that purpose…
Get more info on our freebies at our Giveaway FAQs page. Images courtesy of Kodu Design.
Because We’re All A Little Nosy…
We always enjoy a good house crashing session, and we’re excited to announce that we’ve made a handy little page that features all of the homes we’ve trekked through thus far. You can find it anytime by clicking the “Let’s Go House Crashing” button on our sidebar, which looks a little something like this:
Once you’re there you’ll see that each home is represented by a thumbnail for a sneak peek of the space, and if you click the link below it you can check out the rest of each amazing abode. That page looks a little something like this:
So if you want to check out spaces that look like this…
… and this…
… and this…
Just head to the sidebar and click this:
Abby’s Design Dilemma
Abby’s office is already full of inspiration and eye candy, and we’re beyond thrilled that she came to us to add more storage and style to boot. We’re huuuuge fans of her amazing wedding site Style Me Pretty and we can’t wait to see how her office will transform with a few simple upgrades. Here’s her letter:
I’m SO excited that you’re going to be helping us whip the Style Me Pretty office into shape. Since my husband and I work from home, it can quickly become a place of total chaos. The good news is that it has great bones: a biggish space, gorgeous desks from Crate & Barrel, awesome chairs (knock-offs of course) and a few cute-ish accessories. On paper (and on entry) it’s gorgeous. The problem is we have zero storage space, zero organization and close to zero style. There are papers/files falling out everywhere, ridiculous amounts of cords, bins and boxes on the floor, pathetic attempts at wall decor. It’s not good. At all. And as someone who thrives on beautiful things, this has become such a sad space for me. Even the dog is depressed about it. So, if you could help us design a space that allows us to thrive creatively, we would be forever grateful! We like clean & modern with touches of whimsy and a few antiques here and there for texture and a bit of history. As for what stays, the desks and chairs do, but everything else can go! The whole house is white so a big wall color might look out of place, but I’m open to suggestions. I like lots of accent colors (yellows, chartreuse, hot pink, whatever) and I also LOVE white. Think Domino mag: hip & chic. Thanks so much for the help! Can’t wait to see what you do. – Abby
This office runneth over with posh potential. Here’s the plan:
And now for the mood board breakdown.
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