Monica Wants It

DIY Dollar Store Blue & White Chinoiserie Ornaments

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 25 Oct 2018 11:00:00 +0000

I LOVE how these DIY Dollar Tree blue and white chinoiserie mod podge (aka: decoupage) Christmas ornaments turned out! Talk about budget friendly decor for the holiday season, and I have the full tutorial for you all below.

This is part of the Dollar Store DIY series hosted by my friend Rachael from This Is Our Bliss, and there's plenty more holiday decor inspiration you can peruse at the end of this post.
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Blog & Life Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 22 Oct 2018 15:00:00 +0000

Hi, friends! I try to only post if I have something new and exciting to share about home decor, BUT today I have news of a different sort. It's actually several announcements, so let's do this. Also, I talk about my struggles with low self-esteem in the online world at the end of this post.

New Website/Blog Design

Monica Wants It is undergoing a huge behind the scenes makeover, and during the course of this week I'll be moving to a new platform/host, so if you experience any hiccups that's why. You can see a sneak peek of the template above (those are not my images, it's just an example).

I hope this process won't last more than a day or so for the actual migration, but I will be working behind the scenes on the new site for at least a month or two to make sure everything migrated over properly.

My goal is for the site to go live after Christmas- I'd love to say it'll be sooner, but I truly don't know how many hours of work it will take and I'm a one woman show.
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Spooky Floral Halloween Centerpiece Idea

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 09:00:00 +0000

I love Halloween decor, but I don't really decorate for it in my home. I did want to this year, so I came up with a fun Halloween centerpiece tablescape idea using items I had on hand plus some dollar store decor.

Thanks a bunch to Tammy from Pink Peppermint Design for hosting this Halloween decor tour and helping kick my butt into gear, and if you've landed here from House by Hoff, welcome!

5 Tips for Creating Chic Fall Decor Vignettes

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 11:00:00 +0000

Today I'm talking fall decor vignette ideas that are chic, simple and effortless to put together as part of the Fall in Love with Texas home blog tours! I'm thrilled to partner up with my lovely fellow Texan bloggers to get you all in the fall mood. We're finally getting a cold front next week, so fingers crossed it'll finally FEEL like fall, y'all.

I created a full fledged fall home tour if you want to check that out, but today is mainly about vignettes- those small little decor scenes that are perfect for bookshelves, end tables, consoles and other small pockets of space in your home.

9 Regrets from Our New Construction Home

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 09 Oct 2018 15:00:00 +0000

Let's talk new construction home regrets. We built our home in 2017 with a local Corpus Christi builder, and we’ve lived in it a little over a year and have compiled a list of 9 things we would have done differently in our new construction home.

I will preface the list by stating that overall we LOVE our home, we are beyond grateful that we live in a beautiful community, and that this list of regrets is mostly a list of things we would do differently having learned from our home building experience.

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$100 Master Bedroom Closet Makeover

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 26 Sep 2018 12:30:00 +0000

The budget master bedroom closet makeover is done as part of the $100 Room Challenge! I feel like our closet has a dash of luxury, sprinkle of glam decor and tons of organization and function. My hope is you'll get lots of closet decorating ideas and inspiration for your home.

Over the weekend I finally got the ottoman reupholstered, and I simply love the subdued vibe it has now. Catch up on the before photos of the closet, lining the closet shelves with wallpaper tutorial and the DIY vintage jewelry shadowbox artwork.

Here's the before:

And the after:

The Best Emerald Green Velvet Curtain Panels

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 15:00:00 +0000

Finding the perfect shade of emerald green velvet curtains (or dark green or dark kelly green...) was no easy feat! But after nearly a year of searching, I've found the perfect, affordable, dark rich green drapery panels for my living room and dining room. You may have seen them in my dining room in my fall home tour, but today you'll get to see a new few shots from my living room.

Chic Closet Artwork from Vintage Jewelry

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 12:58:00 +0000

Hi guys! So, it's another week of the $100 Room Challenge, and I am in PANIC mode because I was lazy last weekend and got nothing, zilch, nada done for this space. In all fairness, there was torrential rain and humidity all weekend which totally ruined my spray painting plans. I guess I will be doing that this weekend in time for the big reveal in a week. Catch up on week one and week two if you're new here.

BUT, do not fret. I did get some of my DIY artwork projects done last night in time for this post. As you all know, I really wanted to display my grandma's vintage costume jewelry somehow in this room since it's where I get dressed everyday, and I had a couple of shadowboxes on hand from this agate project.
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DIY Blue & White Chinoiserie Pumpkin Decor

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 14:00:00 +0000

The amount of love and enthusiasm for my DIY tobacco leaf china inspired pumpkin was amazing! I’m thrilled I’m turning more and more people into bonafide chinoiserie lovers one post at a time. I promised you all fall tutorials all month long, and today I have another chinoiserie inspired pumpkin but this time we’re switching from vinyl to acrylic paint. I love acrylic paint because it is easy to work with, super cheap and available in any color you can imagine.

I’m using a medium sized white craft pumpkin which is about $5 here, but truly this tutorial will work on any size pumpkin. I highly recommend your pumpkin have a matte surface- acrylic paint won’t adhere very well high gloss surfaces.
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Eclectic & Chinoiserie Fall Home Tour 2018

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 11:00:00 +0000

Hi, friend! I hope you have a cup of coffee or your fave fall beverage and are ready to see my home. If you've landed here from Life Love Larson, welcome! I adore Andrea's chic style and our mutual love of cider donuts.

A bit of a back story before we dive in- we moved into our home about a year ago, so I didn’t really get to decorate for fall last year. This makes it all the more fun to share our fall home tour this year thanks to Marty from A Stroll Thru Life and her amazing tours. It’s so fun to see homes from all different types of styles and regions from such talented bloggers. I'll link up the other homes participating in the tour at the bottom of my post.

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Wallpapering Closet Shelves to Add Style

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 12 Sep 2018 12:30:00 +0000

It's week 2 of the $100 Room Challenge where I'm revamping our boring master closet for only $100 in under 4 weeks! This means we're halfway...which is kind of nuts. I know that four weeks flies by, so I’ve made what feels like a crazy amount of progress in the master bedroom closet because the biggest project is now complete. You can catch up on all the details in my week one post. The major accomplishment this week was getting the built-ins and shelves wallpapered. Let’s check out how it looks now and how we got here.

Wallpapering the back of the shelves has made SUCH an impact in the space! It was a sea of white and now I love the pops of black and white. You'll probably remember that I was planning on using the leftover wallpaper from my master bedroom accent wall:

The Importance of Lighting in Interior Design

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 12:00:00 +0000

This post is sponsored by Babbleboxx on behalf of Soraa. Content and images are all my own.

Today we're going to talk about the importance of lighting in interior design and home decor.

The Importance of Lighting in a Home if You Love Bold Decor

When we were in the midst of building our home a year ago, there were many parts I stressed about, but the parts I stressed out the most about were color and lighting.

Having beautifully designed and colorful spaces, decor, textiles and artwork is no good if you do not have properly lit interiors. When selecting wall color for our space, I was acutely aware of the impact that the lighting would have which is why I went with a slightly warm white wall color because I didn't want my wall color to skew to the blue/cool side of the spectrum. I feel the brass finishes I love look best against a warmer color.

A Guide to Buying Tobacco Leaf China & Decor

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 12:55:00 +0000

I told you all I would be back this week with more about my beloved tobacco leaf china obsession. Tobacco leaf china dates back to the 18th century, and the Mottahedeh family has been reproducing the china pattern for households and museums for over 90 years.

Here's a brief history of the pattern from the Mottahedeh website:

This extravagant design was originally made in China, probably for export to the Portuguese and Brazilian markets. Of all the 18th century dinner patterns, this was the most highly prized. A small phoenix bird perches on the leaves of the flowering Nicotiana (Tobacco) plant. Twenty-seven colors and 22k gold make up this pattern based on an original in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This pattern, one of the longest running patterns by Mottahedeh, continues its strong popularity today, showing that good design is timeless.

And basically, I'm obsessed.

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$100 Room Challenge: Master Bedroom Closet Makeover

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 05 Sep 2018 12:45:00 +0000

I couldn't resist jumping in to another $100 Room Challenge hosted by Erin from Lemons, Lavender and Laundry- I've participated twice before and both times did a dining room. You can view the outcome of my apartment dining room and my current home's dining room. I had a few spots in mind for this round of the challenge, but I finally settled on our master bedroom closet.

$100 Dining Room Makeover (Apartment Style!)

$100 Dining Room Makeover (Black, White & Audubon)

DIY Tobacco Leaf Pumpkin Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 03 Sep 2018 21:52:00 +0000

I LOVE tobacco leaf china and decor, especially if it is vintage/antique. I've acquired a few pieces via estate sales and eBay, but I will hold on that topic for Friday's post. Now, if you're not familiar with tobacco leaf china, go feast your eyes on the gorgeous Mottahedeh tobacco leaf china pattern. Go on, I'll wait. It's so stunning, and I wanted to bring that same vibe to a pumpkin. That's what today's DIY tobacco leaf pumpkin tutorial is all about.

The TV Stand and Curtain Saga Continues

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 14:00:00 +0000

If you follow along in my Instagram stories, you'll know I've been having a heck of a time with two things for my living room- the TV stand (which I talked about in my last post) and the drapery panels (which I originally featured here). I have updates about both, and one involves saving $1000+ and the other involves shipping back curtains yet again.

Filling Up a Large Living Room Wall

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 17 Aug 2018 21:40:00 +0000

We've lived in our new home for nearly a year now (time flies!) and while I've gotten a few things in place for the space (namely the sofa, ottomans, and rug), we've been at a huge stalemate in terms of what to do on the super long TV wall. I wrote about this last year, and while I really wanted a fireplace in the space for mantle type decor options, ultimately they were too small in scale for the space. After nearly a year of thinking, my husband and I decided we wanted the widest TV console/stand we could find for the least amount of money possible. NBD, right?

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Why I Got a New Living Room Rug

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 14 Aug 2018 14:51:00 +0000

In theory, my black and white rug that I bought late last year was a perfect fit for my living room...but after a few months living with it (about 6 months to be exact), I felt pigeon holed into that color scheme AND the white was starting to become not so white from all the foot traffic and Pee Wee. I knew I'd have to replace it, but with what? Fast forward to April 2018 when I had the immense honor of being part of the High Point Market Design Bloggers Tour. We got to visit the Karastan showroom and celebrate their 90th anniversary in business, plus we got to see their new Custom Carpet Bound Rugs!

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How to Make an End Table Taller

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 09 Aug 2018 13:35:00 +0000

What do you when you find a gorgeous piece of furniture at an antique or thrift store that is so perfect minus one tiny issue, such as it's a hair too short? Well, if you’re me, you whip out your debit card and buy it anyway and figure out a solution later...which is exactly what I did. So, today we're discussing how to add a bit of height to an end table or other piece of furniture.
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I'm Back and I'm Alive.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 14:00:00 +0000

Hello, friends! I decided to take the summer off from blogging for numerous reasons, mainly my emotional and mental well-being, and I just honestly needed a break. Without divulging too much of my personal life on here, I can say that sometime in April/May after High Point Market I got really depressed about this whole blogging thing. I mean, I literally would sob over blog stuff to my husband.

Onelink Safe & Sound Review: A Smart Home Must Have

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 03 Jul 2018 14:21:00 +0000

Thank you First Alert OneLink for sponsoring this post. Onelink Safe & Sound - Meet Your Family’s New Best Friend. #ONELINKSTORY

We've lived in our new home for almost a year, and while I've had tons of fun decorating spaces, my main priority was safety features to protect my family and our home. I made sure we had a home security system and cameras, and luckily given that it was a new construction we were fortunate enough to have our fire alarms hardwired into various spots in our home, such as our master bedroom.
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Summer Party Crash Tour: Bar Cart Styling Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 11:00:00 +0000

I'm here to PAR-TAY today as part of a Summer Party Crash Tour, hosted by Ola from J'Adore le Decor, with some of my lovely blog friends. Summer starts TODAY although you would totally not know that given the insane level of rain we've received in South Texas this week. I'm hoping the sun comes out in full force this weekend.

As part of this progressive summer party, I chose to provide some summer bar cart ideas. You can catch my spring bar cart tips over in this post- I love to decorate my bar cart and I probably change it up about 4-6 times a year. The fundamentals of my bar cart stay pretty much the same, but I rotate the decor, florals, candles, glassware, etc.

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Summer Home Tour 2018

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 11:00:00 +0000

Hi friends! Thanks for stopping by today for my summer home tour- a huge thanks to Marty from A Stroll Thru Life for wrangling all of us together for this fun week of gorgeous homes!

If you're here from Haneen's Haven, welcome! She has a truly gorgeous and eclectic home- I love her recent ORC makeover.

My home tour is going to consist of a few shots of my kitchen, master bedroom/bathroom, and a tiny glimpse of my in-progress living room. If you follow my blog, you'll know I completed an office makeover, a dining room makeover, a master bathroom makeover, and a master bedroom makeover in the first 4 months of the year. Since then, I've been taking a break because I am now tackling and saving money for our living room.

Styling & Decor Tips from High Point Market

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 30 May 2018 15:00:00 +0000

Happy Wednesday! I know things have been quiet on the blog front, and it's because I allowed myself some time off after completing an office makeover, a dining room makeover, a spring home tour, a master bathroom makeover, and a master bedroom makeover all within the first 4 months of the new year. Oh and in between all of that making over, I went to High Point Market in April as part of the Design Bloggers Tour! I wrote about the highlights, color trends and today I'm wrapping it up with styling and decor tips/ideas I garnered from market this year.

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Color Trends from High Point Market Spring 2018

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 14 May 2018 12:00:00 +0000

I'm back with my second after market post from my High Point Market trip last month as part of the Design Bloggers Tour! My first post was all about the highlights from each of the gorgeous and impeccably styled showrooms we visited. Today's post is about the three predominant color trends I noticed across several showrooms, and my goal is get to you pumped about injecting some color into your space. Some of the colors are incorporated in a subtle fashion, while others are full fledged in a space, so there's something for everyone.

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