Here are just a few of my favorites, clockwise from top left: Don’t Mess with Texans necklace, Mermaid Tail earrings, and Feather bobbies.

And while those baubles are fun for every day, she also specializes in curated (by you) gift-wrapped bridal packages. With 170+ wedding contributions under her belt, what better way to thank your bridesmaids than with custom jewelry to polish off their looks? (On a side note, my handyman popped the question four years ago this weekend. Love him.)

But let’s talk about what’s in it for you. We’ve teamed up with Kalli to treat one lucky reader to their choice of the following items from Kalliart, clockwise from top left: Lemon Colorblock necklace, Starcrossed necklace, or $40 towards your wedding gift package (see details, below).

The details:

• Up for grabs: One lucky winner will receive their choice of a Lemon Colorblock necklace, Starcrossed necklace, or $40 towards any $100 custom bridal jewelry order; can be for bride or bridesmaids and can be any combination of earrings, necklace, bracelets, etc. featured in Kalliart. (Wedding must be no earlier than March due to time constraints.)
• To enter: Simply comment on this post with your jewelry of choice and let us know, what’s your go to piece of sparkle? Is it your favorite chandelier earrings? Your over sized gold watch? Or is your wedding ring all you need?
• For additional entries: Share this giveaway on Facebook or Twitter, then come back and leave a comment letting us know. (One additional comment for each method – up to 2 extra entries!)
• Giveaway ends: Tuesday, February 7th, 6pm EST
• Shipping restrictions: Anywhere in the world

Bonus: Use promo code YBHfreeship while shopping Kalliart and get free shipping through February 14th! The lucky dog winner will be selected using random.org and announced on Wednesday, February 8th. Good luck and happy entering!

All images courtesy of Kalliart.

And then I remembered we sort of mentioned it back in the day for our very first house tour. Which, by the way, holy ships!, how our home has evolved! Not being one known for getting right to the point, I’m trying to say that we’ve added another floating frame to our bathroom wall of photo strips:

Over the last few years since the original tour was posted, we’ve received the random email asking where we get the frames (JoAnn’s) and where we find the booths (our favorites in Chicago are Quenchers, Charleston and any Renegade pop-up). And you’ll notice that while they used to be black, we sprayed them white during our bathroom’s umpteenth color transition.

During a recent weeding of unnecessary office items, I realized we had one more black floating frame. We didn’t need it for the studio-to-be, so I sprayed it down and filled it with a handful of strips that’ve been stashed for far too long. (On a side note, we’ve only ever seem them in black, and online searches turned up too-expensive results.) The next day, I got an email from West Elm boasting their frame sale:

We don’t need another – we’re up to total of 7, but isn’t that how it always goes? A day late, of course.

Unexpected bathroom art makes us happy (the kitchen’s a close second), and since we keep that door closed at all times (see why, right here), it’s nice to not have to stare at our goofy faces in, say, the living room. No, we’d much rather reserve that for the kiddos.

How do you stash your booth strips?

Wait, you see what I did there? The fauxdenza? It’s done. Coined by Anna at D16 and used again by Morgan at the Brick House, the fauxdenza has finally found it’s way into the studio:

We used the same Ikea Akurum cabinets and Applad doors (the ladies are smarties, I tell you; who thinks of this?) to create a task station of sorts. While I don’t plan on working from this desk (it’s very shallow at just 13 inches deep), I did want to utilize it as a place to perch temporarily, even if just to check a few emails. The majority of my time will be spent at the painting table, which will eventually find it’s way into the room after a new paint job (ironic, if you think about it).

The cabinets we chose are meant to be used as upper kitchen cabinetry, so they’re installed using Ikea’s suspension rail system. Because of this, we hung them at at 36 inch counter height, which allowed them to float 5 inches off the floor and give a feeling of weightlessness. Always something we like in small quarters.

We first mentioned the fauxdenza right here, and we admitted the pains of finding a properly sized plank of wood at the needed 13 inch depth. (On a side note, a top is necessary since the finished cabinets have exposed screw heads; after all, they’re never meant to be seen in their actual setting.) After searching high and low, we found a beautiful piece of white oak from Wood World, cut it to our proper dimensions and finished it up with a nice, dark stain (we used Minwax Jacobean, but see our complete three step conditioner, stain and poly system here).

We used mitered edges (although if you’re looking to save some trouble, Morgan used straight, flush cuts, and it’s still beautiful) and settled on a length of 89 inches in total. This left a 35 inch middle gap for stools and barely 3 inches of space to the door. But because it’s such a shallow depth, there’s no awkwardness or hip bumping when you walk into the room – a very good thing for a counter-height-hipped girl like myself.

To save money, only the exposed side of our task station has an appropriately sized slab of the oak. We needed to shave off about 3 inches of depth from the original purchased piece (we picked up a 16 inch deep plank), and we used that extra depth to create a faux-side on the end that meets the wall. Here’s the exposed side, but no one will ever know the opposite end is a partial piece:

Keeping in mind that this’ll likely be a landing pad for my laptop, we drilled into the top for access to the electrical outlet below. We’ve also been toying with the idea of using my pretty pendant as a hanging desk lamp, in which case, that cord will need to have a place to go, too.

As for how it all stays in place, we carefully drilled pilot holes from the inside of the cabinets to attach the top and sides. To make sure we don’t accidentally get drill happy and poke through the other side (ugh, the horror that would have caused!), Scott marked his drill with blue tape to signal where to stop.

For center support and added security, we added two L brackets. And to show off how tough this guy is, we snapped this photo for Facebook and learned a little something about “owling” in the process.  (Have you heard of this? We’re so behind.)

Aside from a few shipping items (put away after this was shot), the concealed storage is still mostly empty. Much to Scott’s dismay, I’m having a bit of stage fright on where things will go; I’m getting caught up on the perfectness of it all (this, of course, after I boast the joys of imperfectionism in gallery walls).

There are so many ways to customize the end layout you’re looking for, and our best advice would be (if possible) to go to Ikea and see the options available. In all honesty, we went with one idea in mind and left with another. (But isn’t that always the case with that place?) We actually have 3 cabinets – 1 on the left and 2 on the right, one on top of the other. The total for the 3 and all the components (rails, drawer silencers and the luxury of carrying home our weight in boxes) came in under $250, and although that doesn’t exactly make my thrifty heart sing, it did afford us an 8 foot desk. A sturdy, floating, custom fit counter height desk.

As mentioned before, we’re planning a wall of exposed shelving to go above this desk/task station/fauxdenza, so more and more (and more!) storage is to come. But, uh, we have to build it. Again, (say it with me?) one step at a time.

Even still, we’ve had some fun crossing off the ol’ to do over the last couple of weeks:

• Prime the walls, trim and doors
• Paint the walls, trim and doors
• Install crown molding and chair rail
• Paint the painting table for the new room (yes, really)
• Sell and/or donate the unnecessary furniture
• Design, build and install a storage wall (similar to our media wall)
• Decide on artwork for the room
• Clean, paint and prep thrifty frames
• Frame, mat and hang inspirational artwork (using this technique)
• Decide on lighting
• Decide on textiles: rug, curtains and upholstery for seating (halfway there)
• Buy the decided upon things. Budget. Install them. (halfway there)
• Re-stock painting, shipping and packaging supplies
• Pull it together like we own it
• Return to normalcy (we can only hope)

So, have we sold you on the fauxdenza yet? Who’s with us?

See more of our studio ideas on our Pinterest board, right here.

Our frame hoarding was all for good reason, as we planned on using them in the studio. The “real” ornate frames kept their metallic sheen, creating the layered look we were going for. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been fussing over what art’ll go where, mat sizes and glass to-be-cut. (And in this meantime, you’ve heard me mention how these frames have been gracefully lining our halls, creating chaos and causing Jack countless panic attacks.)

It’s amazing how long this process can take – between unrolling on-hand art in tubes, ordering prints online, measuring, re-measuring and just getting yourself to the hardware store for custom cut glass.

We’re not completely done, but we’ve got a good start.

Here’s our highly thought out process (ha!) of hanging a gallery wall when you’ve got less than 8 square feet to shuffle about. After taping off where we’ll be installing a chair rail, we framed what we’ve got so far (using this process) and laid everything out on the floor. After moving frames about just so for the better part of an hour, we came to this:

The only problem with that layout is our teeny, tiny art was too high. As a girl that wants things done (and wants them done now!), I wasn’t thinking clearly and was about to call it quits for the day. That is, until Scott offered this genius solution: just flip it.

Using anchors (for strength and safety), we hung the largest middle frame on the bottom row first, then continued with the frames flanking each side. After the bottom was complete, we worked on the top from right to left, leaving an approximate 3 inch gap (mostly eyeballed) between each and every frame. Scott did the majority of the hanging using this trick and eliminating almost all math (while I said things like lower, higher, a little to the left, no no too far!), and that makes for one happy couple.

We know that there are many tutorials on how to hang gallery walls, but the beauty of a wall like this is that it’s meant to look less perfect and more layered, funky and collected. Yes, we could have cut paper templates for each frame size and tacked ‘em to the wall for proper placement (and considered doing so), but this method worked like a charm, too.

We love it.

There are still frames to fill (Big Bottom, I’m looking at you), but art’s on the way, and we’ll share what’s what once they’re all in place. A big, big thank you goes out to Ammo’s momma, Kyley, at Studio 3 for providing us with a few selected mats – you know we love Frames by Mail, but some of our sizes were so specific that they weren’t able to offer us the flexibility Studio 3 could.

Have you hung a gallery wall in your home? Or maybe you’ve thought of doing so but got stuck on the how-to?

See more of our studio ideas on our Pinterest board, right here.

You’re so… big. And bright! Oh, happy, happy sigh.

Um, but, really. We couldn’t be more thrilled with our lighting purchase. However, this is not the happiest of lighting tales (although the ending is), as it could easily contend with the saga – turned love story – of our kitchen fixture (more on that right here).

As far as studio lighting goes, I had one major criteria: I needed lots of it – to detail each and every puppy paw that passes my painting table, of course. After finding this pendant at the Lamps Plus Open Box Outlet (for close to half the original cost), I knew it’d be the right fit. The four bulbs it required would allow all the light my heart desires while being clean, classy and, again, big. At 24,” the size alone was bound to create impact – especially in a room that’s only 8′ wide, but the style and shape would add elegance and simplicity. As an open box item, I knew full well that I risked minor defects – but I didn’t care. The price was right, and my decision was made.

After paying for said light and receiving confirmation, I was told a week later they oversold it. Yes, I was peeved, but let’s just say an ensuing customer service snafu had me seeing red, so I set my sights elsewhere. The problem is, nothing else fit the bill. I was stuck on needing four bulbs. I had a small budget and high hopes. After weeks of (literally) dreaming of the one that got away, Scott took the reigns, called Lamps Plus, and pleaded our case. I obnoxiously perched too close for comfort and tried to whisper things like, tell them it was their fault! They owe us! Nag, nag, nag! I hate to be that person, but desperate times… well, you know.

In the end, he sealed the deal for under $200 (not cheap by any means, but worth every penny, close to 30% off the retail price, and it’s built like a champion), and we got our pendant. And because they oversold the open box variety, we got a new one. Win!

And a day before install, you might remember that this happened:

In a strange twist, this is the light that we were replacing with the new honker. No one was hurt, but dang crashing glass can make some noise. We’re still not sure how it happened, but we’d like to think Helen had a little something to do with it. Creepy timing. And to tie this whole mini saga back to the beginning, the suicidal light is actually the original kitchen fixture from Lighting Love Story number one. Whoa. Now that’s full circle.

As for the fauxdenza – it’s done! You can also see another in process project in the first photo (spoiler), but more to come on all those things. One step at a time, remember?

Now, who wants to get some customer service stories off their chest? Anyone?

See more of our studio ideas on our Pinterest board, right here.

In other news, this little home is outta control. Because of aforementioned promises, we really have been taking things one step at a time. And as a result, things are moving slower than we’d normally allow. For the last few weeks, our skinny hallway is barely walkable (Jack’s little heart stresses at the thought of running past all the frames, mirrors and bike wheels) and our kitchen counter tops have become the landing zone for pretty much everything.

But this is all at the cost of a custom made desk for the studio. And it’ll be worth it.

We were inspired by The Brick House and Morgan’s fauxdenza. It’s sleek, clean, and most importantly – only 13″ deep. See hers, exhibit A:

I already have my painting table, so we simply needed another thin desktop for me to use as a mini task station, a landing zone for the laptop and a zone that’s functional without taking up space.

Like any unassuming couple, we took off for Ikea, and came home with lots of boxes. Like Morgan, we used Akurum cabinets with Applad doors (meant to be used as upper kitchen shelving, hence the shallow depth). Unlike her, we chose a different configuration that allowed us to have a pull out drawer.

We built and built.

Then we followed the Ikea instructions and got to hanging. While we would have loved a long wall of nothing but storage, we also liked the idea of fitting a few stools underneath. Once they were up on the wall, we staged our desk using these stools we got from Overstock. The camera lens does add distortion, but there’s no denying how small this room is:

We were on the right track, so the next step was finding a piece of wood that was 8′ long x 13″ deep. While any number of bloggie fauxdenza posts may lead you to think this is a common, easy to find thing – it’s not. We called several local lumber yards and struck out each time, learning that the standard depth is less than 12.” After a whirlwind of phone calls, we found one 16″d lone piece of white oak at Wood World (snicker), paid a pretty penny for it (more than we would’ve liked, although, it is gorgeous) and very, very carefully made our cuts, sanded it down and got to conditioning, staining and polying. Phew.

As for the whole rundown on our steps, it’s simple: we followed the can’s instructions. 1 coat of wood conditioner, 2 coats of stain (we used Minwax Jacobean, which as far as we’re concerned, kicks Dark Walnut’s ass) and 3 coats of Minwax Polycrylic with a light sanding between each layer. (This is the same method we used for the wood panels on our media wall.)

And now? Here’s the state of things:

Perhaps the hardest part of this process is the waiting. There’s a good 24 hour window between staining and polying, and then there’s a half a day wait before handling. (If you’re ever unsure on dry times, read the can!) And when you’re moving around a tiny, overcrowded room and the light fixture comes crashing down (yes, this actually happened; no, no one was hurt), there’s even more time spent cleaning up glass then time spent adhering completed wood to Ikea cabinets.

Oh, boy.

Before this week is over, we will have a finished desk! And we’ll show and tell. And then, wouldn’t you know, it’s on to the upper shelving. A whole wall of ‘em. (Insert evil laugh here.)

So, hey, what’s up with you?

First photo via The Brick House. See more of our studio ideas on our Pinterest board, right here.

After an Ikea day last week, Scott and I picked up – on a whim, among other items – the full length Stave in white. The hinges sold us (it swings out from the wall! Genius!), it’s thick and sturdy, and it was a very reasonable $39. In addition, it was one of those rare Ikea items that was made with quality-ish materials, reflecting a very normal-sized, very accurate “us.”

Ladies, I am sold on the full length. I can see my shoes. I can double check the pet fur on my backside and lint roll my jeggings (yeah, I said it) before walking out the door.

Oh, and it reflects light down the hall and yadda yadda, too.

We snapped the above phone photo last night while it was propped against our laundry door – reflecting our current messy hall, paint stained jeans, Jackie paws and all. Ten minutes later it was hung in a hidden hallway nook so it can swing towards the bedroom, making it easier for that out-the-door clothes check. When not in use, it stays flat against the wall. Again, genius.

In the midst of Operation Studio chaos, it felt really, really good to check off one project. An unplanned project, but a satisfying one nonetheless.