Archive for September, 2010
Our Mini Sunroom Makeover: The Big Reveal
After giving our floor stencils a full seven days to dry (it’s humid here!) we finally moved all of our furniture back into the sunroom and snapped a few photos of the whole room after our three phase mini makeover (see phase one here, phase two here, and phase three here). First let’s take a look back at what that room looked like when we purchased the house four and a half years ago. Yeah, it had a thin matted rug that smelled like dog. Enticing, we know.
So we pulled up the rug (the very first day we moved in) and stained and then later painted the concrete floor. It was definitely a slow evolution in there, but the great views made it one of our favorite places to hang out pretty much from day one (after that stinky carpet was gone of course). Here’s the room as it looked about a month ago before our mini makeover began. There’s no denying that it was serene in there, but with tan walls, a tan rug, tan floor pillows, a tan daybed cover, tan pillows, a tan ceiling, some brown furniture, a brown floor, some white curtains, and some white furniture it was feeling a little flat. So we wanted to keep most of those neutrals but add a little color and fun (without spending over $150).
Now here’s the room as it looks today, after we added a dresser from another room, painted the daybed, hung sleek looking curtain rods, painted the ceiling, and stenciled the floor (read about those projects here, here, and here). Note: This room definitely looks different in person than it does in these photos. It’s hard to explain, but the floor is just one plane, and the view out of the glass doors is three planes, so the view is definitely is a lot more emphasized in person than the floor stencils (but in the pics the view is sort of diffused thanks to the reflective glass and the stencils are extremely high contrast for some reason). We’ve had friends and family members over (even extremely “reserved” ones) and they all love the floor- going as far as to describe it as a subtle change and the entire room as a soothing space. Sometimes things are just hard to capture in photos!
We love how the splash of aqua on the floor complements the sky blue ceiling (which really makes the room feel much more open and airy).
We also love that we gained tons of storage (for everything from board games to baby toys) thanks to this dresser that used to live in our guest bedroom before we turned that into an office/guest bedroom/playroom (see that transformation here).
In the small tweaks category, we tossed a few colorful beach towels on our towel hooks (read more about why we need those here) and moved our fun faux orange tree over into that corner near our shoe basket. I DIYed that tree over five years ago in NYC when I needed greenery in my apartment but everything kept dying, so thanks to a few fake stems from Pier1 I was in business (I actually “planted” them in real dirt inside of a cheap Ikea planter). I know it’s odd to be attached to a strange little faux orange tree but it definitely has a special place in my heart. Although in my defense many people think it’s real and don’t believe me when I say it’s fake- maybe it’s the real dirt, haha.
And we can’t forget our corner with the cheap-o marble table that we snagged a while back (read about that here) and my beloved ceramic pooch, which I still consider to be a major steal (learn more about him here).
We really like how the floor stencils peek out under the doormats, the area rug, and even the daybeds (thanks to the fact that they’re both on legs, so you can see the stencils running under them). And thanks to the fact that the majority of the furniture and accessories are still tan and white, the touches of blue and green that we added really feel playful and add dimension without being too much (especially in person, again, photographing a room with three glass walls was tough for us). We also love that we can change them all out if we ever tire of them. The floor and ceiling are just paint, which is cheap and easy to redo- while the accessories are even easier to swap out on a dime and in a moment’s notice.
Oh and speaking of small accents, we picked up two $6 floor pillow covers (snagged on clearance at Bed Bath & Beyond, down from $19 each- they’re actually just square Euro shams that happened to fit right over our old floor pillows from Target).
We figured that $12 upgrade added a bit more subtle contrast to the middle of the room (see how the old ones blended in a lot with the rug in the before picture?) so we’re happy we switched those out at the last minute. And should we ever want to take them back to the more neutral looking pillows of yore that’s a nice easy swap, which we appreciate. Speaking of $12, here’s the budget breakdown for this mini makeover of ours:
- $0- Dresser and mirror (leftover from old guest bedroom)
- $0- Second daybed (leftover from third bedroom which is now Clara’s nursery)
- $0- primer and paint for daybed (already owned- see that painting tutorial here)
- $20- Ceiling paint (Tide Pools by Behr in semi-gloss for sheen)
- $40- Curtain rods from Ikea (these without the finials)
- $20- Glidden oil-based porch/floor paint for stencil (color matched to Martha’s Lagoon)
- $30- Ceil stencil purchased from a local paint hero of ours
- $7- Sponge for stencil project
- $12- Floor pillow covers (clearance square Euro shams from BB&B)
- Total budget: $129.00
Not too bad considering that we updated everything from the furniture to the ceiling and even the floor. And small changes like those new curtain rods and the painted daybed really make all the difference. Surprise, surprise- we find ourselves out in the sunroom even more these days. Just soaking up the view out the window and taking in the scenery inside, too. We also find Clara staring at the stencils like she’s hypnotized. Kind of making this face. Hysterical. Apparently the girl already appreciates fun home decor. And if we ever tire of anything we can always paint it/replace it in a few quick phases without breaking the bank- just like we did these past few weeks. Woo hoo for inexpensive changes that make you smile.
What about you guys? Do you have any mini makeovers in the works? Are there any sunroom transformations going on at your house? Have you ever plated something faux in real dirt? Spill it.
Psst- Wanna follow along with our sunroom mini makeover from day one? Here’s the first phase, the second phase, and the third phase.
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Fab Freebie: Young Horse Love
***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries***
This week we’re giving away a totally customized painting from a special group of artists. Wanna meet ‘em? Allow us to introduce Blitz, Minnow, and Boomer: the artists in residence at Painting Pony. Yes, I said artists.
If the paintbrushes in their mouths weren’t proof enough that these Chincoteague Ponies know their way around a canvas (I know, I was a bit skeptical at first too), just check out the colorful artwork they create with the help of their trainer Kyley DiLuigi.
Not only do they create one-of-a-kind pieces (with a unique backstory, no less) they also let you add some input about the painting before it’s made, so it’s sure to complement your home. You get to pick the background color and up to four paint colors to be used AND you get to choose which four-legged artist creates it. Kyley also throws in a CD with photos and/or video of it being whipped up.
If you wanna see these artsy horses in action there’s a video of the painting process (as well as other tricks) on the Painting Pony website. Oh, and be sure to check out their rockstar Dachshund sidekick Ammo. Burger so wants to meet him someday.
Now on to the details for the prize (and stay tuned for another special offer on Thursday):
- PRIZE: A custom 16″ x 20″ canvas by Painting Pony as described in this Etsy listing.
- TO ENTER: Comment on this post with the words “PONY UP” and…
- BONUS QUESTION: …since this week’s prize is all about ponies with amazing tricks up their sleeves, why not tell us about another animal trickster you’ve been wowed by (whether its a skateboarding dog you spotted on YouTube or maybe even some amazing feat your own pet pulled off).
- GIVEAWAY CLOSES: Wednesday, September 15th at 8pm EST
- NUMBER OF WINNERS: One
- PRIZE SHIPS: Anywhere in the world!
- USUAL STUFF: One entry per e-mail address is permitted. The winner will be selected using random.org and announced on Thursday. Good luck…
See our Giveaway FAQs page for more info. Pics from Painting Pony.
Mmmm, Mood Boards
Ladies and gents, we’ve dreamed of this day. The day that our midnight coding tantrums and accidental hunger strikes would come to an end. That’s right, we fiiiiinally figured out how to create a simple mood board gallery that you guys can browse by color or by room. Just check out the new Mood Board tab up near our blog header:
We rounded up every last mood board that we’ve made in the last three years – which adds up to nearly 150 of them! – and whipped up (well, if you can call 50+ hours spent wrestling with code) a fun little browsing system for your perusal. Now you can find inspiration for your own home when it comes to color schemes, furniture placement, or just have some accessorizing fun. Even if the furniture, accents, or art that we’ve chosen are no longer available, they’re still useful guides for hunting down (or DIYing) something similar- and hopefully they’re just the spark that you need to get excited about your next home makeover. And of course we’d love to see before & after pics along with a link to the mood board that inspired the transformation should that occur!
And this idea gallery will always be growing since we’ll be sure to add more mood boards to the mix as we continue to whip them up (the newest boards will always be displayed first). So go forth and search mood boards to your heart’s content, either by color or by room. Or you can choose to view every last one of them if you’ve got some time on your hands. We hope you have as much fun looking around as we had coding it celebrating its completion!
Just follow this link (or visit the new Mood Boards tab under our header) and remember that you can click any mood board thumbnail for a bigger image and a link to the full source list. While it’s not the most technologically advanced gallery, we hope it does the trick of making it a bit easier to digest all of those furniture and accessory riddled mood boards.
And we’re planning something similar to wrangle all of the inspirational “afters” that we’ve featured thanks to readers and people that we’ve house crashed over the years too (just picture one big database of Reader Redesigns, Design Dilemmas that have been solved, and House Crashings arranged by room and color for you to sift through). But for now we’re just trying to muster the energy to look at all of that HTML again. So stay tuned!
Reader Redesign: Bringing The Island Inside
Oh to live in paradise. At least we have readers like Clara (love the name, btw) so we can live vicariously through them. She and her family currently live in the Dominican Republic and she sent us the stunning makeover that she recently accomplished in her daughter Nadia’s room. We’ll let Clara do the rest of the talking. Here’s her letter:
I have been reading your blog for a long time now and thought you might like this makeover. We recently moved to our new home, and while we are tight with our purse we refuse to live in a drab place. Having finished acquiring furniture (we moved here with almost nothing), next we turned our eyes to our daughter’s bedroom, which badly needed some injection of color to cure an acute case of meh!
With a budget of 100 dollars I sure had my work cut of for me, but armed with inspiration from our tropical surroundings along with glue, fabric, and paint I succeeded at giving my daughter an inspired and inspiring space:
I painted the only full wall in the bedroom blue (it’s a local brand, not available elsewhere). I also painted the doors and closet with white latex paint. It was the most expensive and time-consuming task that I took on (so that says a lot).
The dresser/bedside table is from Ikea, I painted it and covered two of the drawers and the knobs with fabric. I also made new lampshades for some really inexpensive swing-arm plug-in lamps from eBay.
Almost everything was made with things I found around the house, which helped me keep the budget so low. Instructions for most of the projects are available in my first blog post about the makeover, and you can see more after photos in the second. – Clara, The Home in Paradise
As if we didn’t need more reasons to wish that we permanently lived on some island getaway. We love the fresh colors and affordable attitude that Clara brought to Nadia’s new room. Now we’re just left wondering when we when can pop over for a visit…
Have a fresh and happy weekend everyone!
Falling For Our Sponsors
Fall is definitely in the air- and we’re feeling full of gratitude. So we’d like to take a moment to toss out a heartfelt “thanks” to all of you lovely folks for reading as well as send some serious appreciation out to our awesome sponsors in this monthly shout-out post (after all, they make the other 40+ posts that we write each month possible). So feel free to take a peek at all they’ve got to offer… along with a few exclusive YHL discounts for you guys to cash in on. Yay discounts!
BULX serves up home improvement essentials the way we like ‘em: deeply discounted. After you sign-up for a free membership, you get access to limited time sales on fixtures, furniture, and accessories at up 75% off retail (we sadly missed out on a $1000+ Henckels kitchen knife set that BULX was selling for $250). Plus you earn a $25 credit when a referred friend orders- and the discount code YHL gets you $20 off your first order.
Trendy Peas is a terrific source for kid-friendly but still oh-so-modern decor and art. They’ve got a variety of cool clean canvas artwork as well as whimsical fabric decals for your walls. It’s a must stop shop for anyone with a nursery on their to-decorate list (or even if you’ve got a baby shower on your calendar).
Design for Less is home to The Glass Mosaic Outlet and The Natural Stone Outlet, both of which boast a collection of drool-inducing glass, metal, natural stone, marble, and recycled tile. There are definitely some killer styles to be found – even in the sale section!
Z Gallerie is loving gray – and gray is loving ZGallerie right back. This collection is sleek & sophisticated as always, and includes crisp white furniture, strong black accents, and comfortable bedding and accessories of every shade in between. We’ve got more from the Z coming up later this month, but don’t hesitate to poke around on their site in the meantime (especially in the sale section!).
The Tile Shop is more than just purveyors of all things tile-related, they’re also an awesome source for gaining the know-how and the confidence you’ll need to tackle a tiling project. Their website is stuffed with tutorials for every type of tile job and even common troubleshooting issues, plus they host free in-person seminars each Saturday morning. And don’t forget to take 10% off when you use the code YHL10.
Shades of Light has home decor items in every style from traditional to modern and offerings in almost every home decor category. For example, if you’re digging damask lately you can find it on a pendant, a rug, and even – you guessed it – a lamp shade. Be sure to check ‘em out online or via their catalog (and you fellow Richmonders can browse in person, of course).
WallQuotes.com has been mentioned a few times before, but we just have to call out their awesome custom design tool this time. It’s a fun interface that let’s you style any quote with different fonts, colors, and even embellishments which you can then order right away. And when you do, don’t forget to take 15% off with the code YHL15.
Hoot Design Co. has always had a place in our heart for their one-of-a-kind graphic posters and greeting cards, including their signature Simply Baby poster that brings the alphabet to life in a fun and personal way. And now there’s one more reason to love ‘em – you can get the Simply Baby poster in a horizontal 34″ x 18″ format so you can now enjoy it if that’s the size your blank wall craves.
Heart & Stone is custom silver jewelry that’s not only made from recycled materials, but is no doubt full of beauty and meaning at the same time. Each piece is handcrafted and with a range of charms, rings, and stones to choose from you can create a personalized piece to honor your kids, your true love, or even your favorite four legged friend. And it can all be done to the tune of 10% off with the code YHL10!
Vol. 25 has a way with words. Her shop is chock full of charming little sayings made even more charming by the graphic illustrations she uses to transform those quaint quotes into wall-worthy art. Whoever thought a T.S. Elliot quote about spoons could look so sweet?
Lisa Leonard Designs is another sponsor who knows her way around a beautiful quote. She spins thoughtful words into gorgeous sterling silver jewelry that she crafts herself – like her latest creation featuring a hope-filled and feather-inspired quote from Emily Dickinson.
Ruby Plaza is like a virtual flea market. It’s a place where you’ll find tons of vintage, antique, reproduction, and bandspankingnew items that you won’t spot at your usual shopping haunts. And just like a real flea market, there’s a certain excitement about browsing around for some diamond in the rough item that’s looking for someone to take it home with them.
Frame The Date takes any special date and lets you commemorate it in a stylish custom frame. And speaking of custom, the process of actually personalizing your piece is pretty cool. You even get a bunch of photo options when it comes to deciding exactly how you want that special month, day, and year to look.
Name Your Design‘s creator Stacey is clearly a woman with style (as evidenced by the crisp, modern, and personalized designs that she whips up for kid’s walls – including Clara’s own customized giraffe growth chart). But did you know that her son Parker’s nursery was even featured on Apartment Therapy’s Ohdeedoh? Check it out on Stacey’s blog. Oh, and get 10% off orders this month with the code SEPT10.
Freshline‘s playful illustrations grace pillows, prints, fabrics, and even invitations – and of course they’d love to grace your home as well. Check out Freshline’s Etsy shop for an assortment of designs or contact ‘em for some custom work as well. Be sure to take advantage of 10% off any orders with the code YHL10 when you do!
Fresh Home dished out a sweet prize in a giveaway last month, and you can still get your hands on a subscription to this “fresh” shelter pub – or even score a free issue if you wanna take it for a test spin. We think you’ll be just as charmed by the colorful and do-able projects and inspiration pics filling each quarterly issue as we were.
Smock Paper and their 100% sustainably printed letterpress designs got you all excited last month with their giveaway. In case you missed it, be sure to check out the greeting card and invites we’ve talked about before (as well as their new line of pads, sticky notes, gift boxes, and gift wrap). Plus we’re working on having a discount ready for you guys next month once the Smock founders are back from their vacay.
Now that we’ve shared all those words of thanks we have one more huge THANK YOU to sling at you guys, our amazing readers. Thanks for dropping by everyday, every week, or every “I’m bored, let me check up on that blog I heard about” moment. We appreciate it immensely!
