TfDiaries

Transform Your Ikea Brimnes Wardrobe with These Creative Hacks

2025-01-16T15:30:00.001-05:00

I love my Ikea Brimnes Furniture.

It's affordable, functional and has held up pretty darn well against the ages of time. Or in my case, the wear and tear of my kids and myself being not so gentle on furniture. I'm amazed they're still standing and in good condition. Which is why they're a pretty solid choice for Ikea furniture on a budget and for small spaces.

My only complaint is that it's a bit boring to look at, right? I mean you have the option of white or black. Sure, that's fine, it's a great blank canvas but sometimes you want to zhuzh it up a bit or give it your own personal touch. Lucky for you, I've been personalizing the decade old wardrobes for what seems like forever so I have lots of tips and tricks on how to personalize it to make it your own!

Starting with the simplest touch. Hardware!

A hardware swap is usually the cheapest and easiest swap and I have lots of ideas on how to pick the right pieces for your wardrobe and even your bed. Nearly 10 years ago there weren't very many options because of the awkward sizing from hole to hole so I had to customize my own (here). Now, there's way more options for the 6 1/4 length.

Also some hardware ideas here and here.

Next, Painting!

Yes, you can paint Ikea Furniture and I'm going to tell that the difference between a total disaster and a huge success lies on the right primer! You want to start with two coats of Shellac based primer. I love BINS. After you let you primer dry, usually it only takes and hour you're going to want to use a small foam roller in the color of your choice to coat the wardrobes. If you want to use a sprayer to paint it, go ahead but honestly hand painting isn't too terrible. I highly suggest you use a flat paint because it REALLY conceals flaws. I originally started with the gorgeous navy, Goodnight Moon by Clare for my moody bedroom setup. It was fabulous.

Then fast forward a few years later I wanted a teal green to match my wallpaper and made the huge mistake of going semi gloss over a slightly already flawed wallpaper job (see below). But it was instantly fixed when we pivoted to a flat paint and you can't see a single flaw.

See the difference between semi-gloss and flat paint on the wardrobes.

Semi-Gloss

Flat Paint

Yes, you can Wallpaper them too!

I started with wallpapering the inside of my wardrobes for a color pop with peel and stick wallpaper. Fun clothes need a fun wardrobe, right? It was a little tricky lining everything up in the tight space but I will say the key is to cut the pieces for the door space/gap inside the doors for a more flawless finish. You basically want to lay two strips of paper for the door and layer it in and line it up to the pattern.

We also wallpapered the outside of the wardrobes! And that was a trickier project, by our design. We made it way more complicate than it needed to be. First off by, filling in the gaps and trying to make the entire door front smooth with mdf board and sparkle. Looking back, really all we needed to do was cardboard and maybe tape to fill it in. We completely overcomplicated it and it was revealed that in our case even with lots of sanding our spackle job may have looked smooth on the doors but it was not. However, I will note that the wallpaper we chose did us zero favors on hiding a single flaw because one: it was a super shiny light colored metallic finish and two: it was very thin even though it was high quality paper. So in some light it looked bubbly and less than perfect. If were to do anything different I would just keep it simple and either fill it with cardboard and tape or just not care about filling in the gap. I still love the wallpaper and think it's fabulous. It really made the wardrobes look like custom chinoiserie built ins and it was perfect with the baskets on top!

Also, Appliques!

Several months after our wallpaper wardrobe transformation we ended up moving to a new place and only one wardrobe ended up fitting into our bedroom. The other one is thriving in storage. BUT, with a new home comes new decor choices and I decided that our bedroom needed to be a full wall to wall under the sea mural. Naturally, that instantly clashed with the metallic green tropical wardrobes. So it was time for another wardrobe change! So instead of tearing the paper off I was like what if we paint it? Well, that was a choice. Turns out my semi-gloss on top of the metallic wallpaper didn't do it much justice. So, naturally I panicked and tried to hide it WITH APPLIQUES! I had a bunch of wooden appliqués left over and was like what if I glued these to problem areas to distract from well, the mess. I loved the idea until I painted over it with semi-gloss. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't much better so I pivoted once again to flat paint and all was revealed to be PERFECT. So yeah, definitely love the idea of appliqués to jazz up the wardrobes to make it look more custom.

Another note: I used the shellac primer over the wallpapered wardrobes before painting and I haven't had a single chip.

All that said I hope this inspired you to get a little creative with you Ikea Brimnes Wardrobes and also learn from them mistakes before embarking on a project of your own.

Transform Your Kids' Room into a Festive Wonderland: Easy Christmas Decor Ideas

2024-11-26T11:41:00.011-05:00

We're ready to decorate for the holidays, right?

This year has blown by and I'm still trying to catch my breath from our move in February. It's our first year in our "new" space and I'm over here trying to decide what color to paint rooms and spaces - I have zero plan for Christmas - but I did want to go BIG in the kid's room for the holiday decor this year. Their room is the largest in the house and I was like let's do it up in here to get in the mood for the holidays because I still don't know where the family Christmas tree is going to go...

I went out of my usual 'real-tree' comfort zone and got a small faux tree for their room. I've never done a Christmas Tree in the kid's room before, apparently that's a thing? I figure it can serve as our household Christmas tree if I never get my act together to decorate downstairs. Right?

Like every year - I want whimsical, kitsch and eclectic holiday decor. I loved the DIY holiday paper decorations the kids made a few years ago so I immediately pulled those out and I was like I think we need to make MORE...and gave them free rein to create whatever they wanted for their space. They decided to add a little tinsel onto their hand drawn reindeer, snowmen, snow globes, cocoa mugs and presents before adding them to the walls across the room. Then made different sized ornaments to hang from the wall with paper fan decorations in blue and pink. They look so cute and I love seeing their visions come to life. I especially love that they added little Santa hats to the art around the room - the turtle, duck and giraffe are looking especially festive.

After the paper decorations were up we grabbed their stockings from the Christmas box, some pom garland from a few years back and some tinsel garland to decorate their reading nook and Christmas tree. I love how cute the tree looks, tho I wish I went a little bigger. I also swapped out some art with cute festive pieces like this pink sprinkle deer bust. I added fairy lights and disco balls to make it even more whimsical. I added a few bottle brush trees to their dresser top and more fairy lights on the plants and red mirror before heading over to the bed.

I love their bunk bed and was inspired to go bright and bold for the bedding. I asked them to pick the bedding they wanted and I loved the combinations they came up with. I was very excited about the candy cane stripes because I've been trying to convince them to do stripes in their room all year...

After putting on the bedding I added a few drawings of theirs and a cute little merry Christmas bow under their loft (with the addition of fairy lights because we have to have fairy light everywhere right?). I knew I had to do a garland on the loft side of the bed and loved this disco ball garland. I hung it with some S hooks and thought it needed a little more. You already know fairy lights were involved but I also added some tinsel for flair.

Obviously I fired up the projector with cozy backgrounds on the pull down projector screen. I love this duo and while I wanted to have the screen across from their beds it seems way more practical behind the bunk bed lofts. They spend way more time on the oversized blue chair so it just makes sense. Also how cute it that cat pillow? I can't.

I swapped out the pink curtains for red and I kind of love this color story. I've been dragging my feet on their room lately and I kind of feel like I'm on the right track now..

What do you think of the diy a little bit crafty, kitschy holiday decor?

Shop The Kitschy Christmas Decor Here...

Transform Your Kitchen: Brown Cabinets That Inspire Creativity

2024-11-25T20:26:00.002-05:00

What's the saying? If you can't beat them, join them.

When I first saw our rental's kitchen my eyes were drawn to the auburn brown cabinets. I didn't hate them but I immediately knew the warmth of the wood clashed heavily with the cool of the white marbled backsplash. The taupe walls didn't help but I had a vision. I was like whatever, I can paint the walls and cover the cabinets with contact paper in a fabulous hue and it'll be the kitchen of my dreams. It had good bones and I was up to the challenge.

I painted the kitchen in a lovely lilac and embarked on my journey.

I ordered a beautiful plum peel and stick wallpaper that I knew was going to look fantastic - my dream purple kitchen was falling into place. I started the process of taking the cabinet doors off to cover them and that's when I immediately ran into problems. The faux grasscloth paper was too thick for my project and frayed wherever I trimmed it, even with the sharpest of tools.

I was crushed.

I was like ok, let's pivot. So I ordered contact paper immediately in hopes I could still make my vision come to life. But, ultimately I decided that it would take SEVERAL rolls and it would end up being wayyyy more plastic/vinyl in the space than I wanted. Also let's be real, it was going to be a ton of work and I already felt a little bit defeated by the previous process.

So I was like ok let's pivot again and wallpaper the ceiling with colors in the kitchen. Surely that will fix it, right? Honestly, it helped A LOT. The colors were perfect and I loved the floral pattern. Especially on the ceiling.

However I still wasn't totally satisfied. I finally decided to ditch the purple kitchen dreams and lean into the red brown cabinets. Yep, I opted to color drench the kitchen in the same color as the cabinets.

After a few swatches I decided Behr Chipotle Red was the color for the job and dove head first into the project. Whew I was nervous, I'd never painted anything brown before (though this is a little more rust/auburn/terra-cotta) but I had to trust the process.

After the first couple of glides with the roller I knew I was finally on the right track. It looked SO much better especially with the wallpaper! After we finished painting I was like well, I guess we better finish things up here and I opted to swap out the light fixture for more drama. I wanted to go earthy, natural textures but with a fun shape. After scouring the internet I found this $150 fixture from Target - it was perfect!

Now, DIY cafe curtains. I bought a silver rod and rub and buffed it to brass, got some rings and made a cafe curtain with old curtains I already had. I just cut them to size, made a few pleats and clipped them with the rings. I don't hate it but definitely want to go MORE color later on. I added a couple of more hanging planters to the window and a hanging basket for storage (the disco ball on top is essential).

Next, breaking up some of the white space on the backsplash with art and command art hanging velcro strips. It added more color to the backsplash which was absolutely necessary. I also added some layers to the counter in the form of cook books, flowers, and little light. Finally, I swapped out the cabinet hardware for the second time with something a little more fun and colorful. I love these pink knobs - I also bought them in orange just in case I get the itch to go monochromatic.

Overall I think it a great start and I can't wait to see how things evolve from here. It's becoming quite the kitschy kitchen and I don't dread spending time in there as much now.

What do you think?

Shop The Kitchen Details

Behr Red Chipotle Paint // Eurydice Floral Wallpaper ( also here / similar) // Rattan Light Fixture (similar) // Pink Stoneware Knobs // Wood Table Light // Brass Hanging Planters // Step Stool // Curtain Rod // Curtain Hooks // Curtain // Chili Pepper Hot Pads // Matisse Prints // White Frames // Amber French Press // Glass Jars // KitchenAid // Alphabet Magnets // Butterfly Magnets // Hanging Plate Plant // Hanging Plate Horse

Transform into Legends: Creative Legolas and Gimli Costume Ideas

2024-10-31T14:21:00.001-04:00

It was only a matter of time right?

Lord of The Rings is kind of a big deal over here. It's easily our number one comfort watch as a duo. It was played so much one year I had to ban it because we needed variety. But did we really? Anyways, when we watch it, it's only the extended cut starting with the Fellowship Of The Ring. Or if we're looking to really dig in we start with the Hobbit...

Anyways, we really like Lord of The Rings. So for my birthday I was like can we please recreate the Fellowship with me as Gimli? But we ran out of time and so we pivoted to Halloween. Obviously we waited until the last minute to nail down details and for some reason the kids did not want to join in on our epic halloween costumes this year. Their loss, obviously.

So it was down to the two of us to recreate the iconic Tolkien characters.

Legolas and Gimli

Sure, we had tons of options and David probably could have been Aragorn, Gandalf and even Gollum. But was there a more iconic duo than an elf and an a dwarf (aside from Frodo and Sam)? The size difference between the two of us was too perfect - so we ran with it. Also it's hilarious.

Now to put it together in a jiffy because, yes, we waited until two days before Halloween to really consider putting a costume together and if I'm being honest I didn't know what we were wearing until the night before/day of. However, David did make/mold Gimli's helmet out of cardboard for me a couple days before and I did the finishing gold paint touches the morning of.

So we have a helmet and a long blonde wig.

Now what?

I definitely wanted to use my own hair for the Gimli beard, so I pulled half of my hair to the front and braided it to look like a full beard. It looked perfect but it was a little itchy above my lip.

For the clothes, I just piled on the layers in Gimli colors to resemble him as much as I could. I layered in.a sequin dress to resemble the mail-chain armor he wore into battle. It wasn't perfect but neutrals and layering was the way to go. I did clunky lace up boots and finished with a cape.

For Legolas, we had a pirate like shirt that kind of fit the bill with skinny pants and a cape. Later (after we took pics) we added a belt to tie it together a little better. But I think it works - you obviously know who we are...

...we were stopped about a dozen times asking if we were Legolas and Gimli so it tracked enough.

Was it perfect? No. But it was enough and I loved it either way..

Stand Out This Halloween: Dynamic Movie Duos from the 2000s

2024-10-30T17:50:00.001-04:00

And the category is Iconic Movie Duos from the 2000's...

This year I challenged my gen-x husband to recreate iconic millennial characters with me for halloween...

Of course he was up to the challenge and I have to say for someone who has NEVER SEEN ANY OF THESE ICONIC 2000's FILMS, he 100% nailed it after only seeing a single clip of the scene.

I'll let you decide which one is the best, but I definitely have my favorite!

As far as recreating each duo's character we decided we had to use items we already had in our closet which was easy but also a little tricky at the same time. We'll say the shoes for him were the hardest but he managed by wobbling into my shoes for a few minutes to capture each character's essence.

Let's dive in and go over each movie duo we recreated...

and don't forget click each title to see them in video form.

A Cinderella Story

The (hilarious) wicked stepmother Fiona played by none other than the iconic Jennifer Coolidge & "Cinderella" - Sam played by Hilary Duff. I have to say Fiona has many memorable one-liners throughout the film but this scene where Sam asks to go to the dance is easily my favorite and most iconic.

What you need to recreate this duo:

Fiona

Goggles (or tanning bed goggles), towel and glass with a straw

Sam

We used a solid blue cropped tee but she wore a striped top in the scene with jeans.

The Parent Trap

I know, I know - I don't know how he hasn't seen this movie either but he does know they're twins separated at birth-ish. We recreated the iconic twins, Hallie and Annie played by Lindsay Lohan.

What you need to recreate this duo:

Hallie and Annie:
Green Ringer Tee, Green Shorts, Green Hoodie and White Sneakers

Legally Blonde

Another one I'm really surprised he hasn't seen but I showed him this clip of Elle teaching Paulette the "Bend and Snap" and knew this had to be the part we recreating because it's just so ridiculous.

What you need to recreate this duo:

Elle Woods

Yellow floral top, cropped jeans and heels

Paulette

Pink graphic tee (the more ridiculous the better), denim skirt and white ruffle socks with heeled sandals

optional: denim vest

Transform into Iconic Characters: Nail the Uncle Fester & Debbie Duo This Halloween

2024-10-30T16:30:00.001-04:00

Speaking of Dynamic Duos...

Let's talk about how the iconic couple Uncle Fester and Debbie Jelinsky stole the screen with their very unorthodox love connection. Well, her plotting his demise and him being totally into it (unknowing of her true intentions).

Anyways, their back and forth is easily one of my favorite parts from the classic, Addams Family Values. But what takes the cake is after they get married and he's transforming his look to totally not Fester. Pastels and red hair? Yes please! It's totally absurd - so much so that I knew that this redhead had to eventually use it for a halloween costume idea.

It's too good to leave in the vault of redhead halloween costume ideas churning in the back of my head.

So I did what any reasonable person would do I dove into my closet to see what I had that I use to take the costume from just an idea to reality. Spoiler alert, I had everything except Debbie's blonde bob wig which after a quick click was on it's way to arrive the next day for pictures!

I'm going to preface that everything was actually super easy to put together EXCEPT transforming my hair from big, fairly long waves into a bowl cut. But after lots of trial and error - I really thought the toilet paper rolls were gonna be it - I discovered the most random and easiest way to transform my hair. A folded velvet robe belt. Random right? I put my knowledge of the "heatless curls" hack everyone does and decided that if I lay my hair forward on the bed and roll my hair up with the belt it will look exactly like a bowl cut. Almost too good. Stroke of genius in a pinch.

Next, a bit of makeup. Hallowed smoky eyes and a tiny bit of grey contouring. On Debbie we opted for a red lip, a light smokey eye and lots of blush before throwing on the wig.

Now, the wardrobe.

For Fester:

A white blazer, blue turtleneck, khaki chinos and clogs (don't forget the pillow and shoulder pads)

For Debbie:

She usually wears a red form fitting dress with the flow blazer/duster but I opted for a red and white printed top and skirt, raffia belt, gold necklace, red duster, platform heels and a straw hat with a flower pin over the blonde bob wig.

I think we nailed it, what do you think?

Celebrate Your Libra Birthday With This Zodiac Themed Birthday Shoot

2024-10-02T14:39:00.003-04:00

"I'm a libra, what sign are you?" - Dwan, King Kong 1976

This year for my annual creative birthday photo shoot I was feeling pretty uninspired and couldn't nail down a particular theme for my pictures. I had a few ideas swimming around but honestly I wasn't very excited about putting anything together. SO I decided to lean into my indecisive nature and do a whole libra weighing the scales themed photoshoot to celebrate another year around the sun. And to be honest - it actually might be my new favorite birthday shoot!

The best part is anyone can do it and adjust it to their zodiac/astrology sign... It can be as creative as you want it to be. For me, I knew scales were essential and of course some floating in the clouds was the way to go as an air sign. But where do I even start? So I ordered a gold dress, celestial crown, and some hanging brass planters to complete the goddess inspired look. Next, was putting it all together and shooting the pictures. Originally I found the most perfect garden in the clouds but a week of rain quickly torpedoed that idea so we pivoted to shooting against the green screen which actually turned out to be pretty great. We hung our trusty green screen, set up an additional light to help even out the overcast, rainy day and got to work. The shoot itself was actually pretty quick because we really only needed a few shots and it was kind of a controlled environment.

Next was the tricky, most time consuming part: editing. But after a few editing platform fails I realized Canva was the way to go for nearly perfectly removing the green screen background from the image

as well as creating new backgrounds from their graphic library for my "Libra Goddess" floating in the clouds inspiration. It was also super easy to layer in clouds to give the whole image dimension.

After I was happy with my work on Canva, I exported and imported the images to Lightroom, added my favorite preset to give it an ethereal vibe and did a little tweaking. I initially wanted to use Adobe generative fill to do the whole project but I had issues getting it to load and initially abandoned my efforts on my phone and desktop. I might revisit the idea in the future when I have the headspace to deal with it.

In the end, I'm pretty happy with the results from the shoot and hope you feel a bit inspired to have a zodiac themed shoot for your birthday!

A little blurb about how I started doing creative birthday shoots 5 years ago as a way to do something creative for each birthday and somehow it's become an annual tradition to inspire the year ahead. Also it kind of helps soften the blow of the existential crisis that comes with each birthday as we get older. This one was a bit of a toughie because 38 is embarking on the last couple years of your 40's and trying to check all the boxes before stepping into a new decade. But there is something magical about documenting each new year with a little something special like a photoshoot - it just makes it more fun and less serious maybe?

Quick and Effective Ways to Improve Your Home Office Setup

2024-09-13T13:05:00.007-04:00

When we moved into our new place back in February, one of the rooms I was most excited about was my future home office. It had loads of natural light, a gorgeous archway and a decent amount of space. I was over the moon and couldn't wait to put it together. Originally the space was painted a beige hue that wasn't doing it any justice so I grabbed Behr's Ultra Pure White and gave the room a brighter paint job. It instantly opened up the space.

Next, I brought in some art and curtains to add some pops of color because I wasn't really used to having white walls but I wanted a blank canvas to really decide what I wanted to do with the space. It was looking like it was coming together with the addition of plants and some decor pieces that fit the space but it felt like something was missing, big time. Obviously it was MORE COLOR!

But, I didn't want to invest in any more paint until I had a clear idea what I wanted to do with the space so I took a look at what I already had in storage and set me sights on my previous office's color Vacay by Clare. I was a little nervous about using the same color for both office's but it was a great hue and the lighting in this space is WAY more brilliant than the last space so it had to be different, right? I pulled it right out and decided I didn't want to commit to the full room just yet so I decided to paint the ceiling to give the room a bit more height and a pop of color.

Immediately I loved it but I wanted a bit more color so I decided to create a colorful gallery wall along the side of my desk to bring everything together. I included some art & fun accessories - don't sleep on putting fun bags and hats (even jewelry) on the wall. It's a fun way to add texture in unexpected ways.

I brought in a colorful vintage inspired aqua rug and everything seemed to fall into place. Naturally, I had to swap out the boob light fixture and had just the fixture with a fun medallion from my old bedroom.

SO MUCH BETTER.

I hung a floating shelf behind the sofa for additional storage which totally makes up for the wasted space behind the sofa because of the radiator. I filled in the extra space with plants because I want to make it look like I'm on a tropical vacation while I'm working (also the plants really like this light). Added a couple of chairs (these are so popular!) for 'meetings' at the round table and used bowls as storage for notebooks, writing utensil and miscellaneous cords. A stool to double as a side table with a storage basket underneath for pads and books. I LOVE this room divider/screen to hide stuff behind and of course hang pretty dresses on.

I REALLY love using vintage baskets to store office essentials and some camera gear. I've found that the fun unique pieces really brings things to life and give me a little smile like the small flower vintage pill box from my grandmother gave me is used to store my SD cards and the tiny tea light votive for mini colored pencils for doodling.

Since my office also kind of doubles as a dressing room/vanity - I have all of my accessories and make up setup in fun bowls across my dresser. It's organized yet out in the open because I will forget what I have if it's not right in-front of me. In the future I'd love to ditch the bulky dresser and build built in's with storage across the arched wall but for now I love this quick fix.

I also just realized this entire transformation ended up costing me nothing because I already had everything I used so that makes it even better because I feel like it was a pretty big transformation with not a lot of effort.

BEFORE AND AFTER

The other side...

-Shop The Room-

More is More...

What do you think?

Create a Magical Mermaid Oasis in Your Bedroom with These Stunning Wallpapers

2024-09-04T12:33:00.002-04:00

It's no secret that I love a wallpaper moment. If I had enough arms and hours in the day every wall or ceiling would be covered because I love how it transforms a space.

Enter, Tempaper Coral and Kelp Arctic Splash Wallpaper. (use Megan15 for 15% off until 10/31)

We had just swapped rooms and gave the kids the large primary bedroom. I was in search for inspiration for our new, much smaller bedroom with big bright windows and found myself scrolling on Tempaper's Wall Murals page (yes, I scroll wallpaper websites searching for inspo regularly). That's when it caught my eye, the watercolor coral and kelp design in a variety of colors - immediately I was inspired and knew what I had to do - channel my inner child and create an under the sea inspired bedroom design. If you've been around a awhile you know I'm a bit of a Thalassophile - yes, I'm obsessed with all things ocean and it's creatures including coral and kelp. So I got straight to work put together a quick moodboard/mockup of how I wanted the room to look in a few different colorways before reaching out to the Tempaper team and ordering samples.

Several peel and stick samples arrived within the week and I couldn't wait to stick them on the wall to pick my favorite color way. Naturally, that's when it got tricky. I loved them all and couldn't choose just one. The pink was warm and unique, the arctic splash was cool but calming and the moody blue was mysterious yet colorful. It took me a good couple of weeks to finally bite the bullet and opt for Arctic. Mainly because our previous apartment's bedroom was a moody blue hue for years and I wanted to try something new in our new place.

After measuring ever nook and cranny in the bedroom I received a mockup that I had to approve before sending it to print. I was so excited seeing my vision come to life in mockup form. I signed the proof and waited on pins and needles over the next couple of weeks waiting for it to arrive and naturally second guessing my decisions as a libra does. The moment it arrived and saw it in person I knew I made the right decision - it was perfect.

I couldn't wait to hang it up but we had to paint the ceiling and trim first to contrast with the paper. I wanted to wait until I saw it in person to make my final paint decision because as it turns out it's a little more green/seafoam hued than I initially had thought - but was actually so excited to discover! So I took a roll out and headed to the paint store to pick a color. Ultimately I decided on a deep green teal that matched perfectly to the details in the coral.

We painted all of the trim and the ceiling - gave it about a week or so and then got to work on the wallpaper. Because it's a custom made peel and stick mural all of the pieces are cut to size and labeled accordingly. You also receive your approved proof as a guide to where each piece goes. Honestly, this makes the process go so much faster and easier. After getting the first strip up, which in my opinion is always the hardest we found a flow and got things going. It took us about 6 hours total to hang and trim the excess (about an inch or so on the bottom).

And now the results! Look at the before and afters...

It always amazing when you see your vision come to life - Perfection!

disclaimer: Tempaper gifted me wallpaper for this project. All opinions are my own.

Are you Looking for Spring Bedroom Decor Inspiration this season? You will love this bright green bedroom!

2024-04-04T16:23:00.007-04:00

If you've been following along for awhile you've likely seen my moody teal bedroom. It was the perfect sea of blues and greens with no shortage of color pops. While I love the dark and moody sometimes it's not the best for my mental health especially on those long gloomy overcast days. The calm and serene deep blues occasionally turns into a dark cave and well, it's time for a change.

A big change in the other direction!

Bright Kelly Green! Or more accurately Clare's Matcha Latte. I pulled inspiration from the green door and green dresser deciding to color drench the entire room in this bright and lively hue. If you're looking for a bold change don't shy away from painting the ceiling (even as daunting as it looks) because it often makes the room look even bigger and boy did it!

And while it was a bit of a task to paint the entire room plus the ceiling it was well worth the effort even with a few hiccups. There's always hiccups with home projects, isn't there? At the homestretch when I ran out of paint mid-ceiling, in a pinch I took the color to Home Depot to color match it. After a few trips and tries they were finally able to match the color pretty closely. Whew! On to the next hiccup when I finally got the ceiling painted and ready to change the light fixture we discovered the hole was much too big for the fixture and we pivoted to adding a ceiling medallion. Painting it, you guessed it, green! It turned out amazing and adds the perfect amount of texture to the brass globe flush mount light I picked!

I also swapped out the brass globe lights on our headboard with glass plug in sconces. I couldn't stand the cords so I wrapped them with silk scarves! It's such a clever and unique way to cover unsightly cords and easy swapped out with you moods and desires.

See the tutorial here:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Megan Zietz 🌸 Colorful Content & Interiors (@meganzietz)

I kept the floral Ted Baker bedding from this post and brought back my velvet Annie Selke euro shams from this post. It's like a bright spring day.

I finally tackled the big empty wall between the bedroom door and door out to the backyard by creating a massive gallery wall! I incorporated a bit of originally art, some art I commissioned the kids to create along pieces I received from friends and family. I even hung the dated TV and incorporated in the gallery wall - it looks so much better! We covered the IKEA Brimnes Wardrobes with Peel and Stick wallpaper but I'll share that in another post because a lot was learned on the expedition and it deserves a full post. But I will note I swapped out the hardware on the bed for little drawer pulls and they look so cute!

I went ahead and painted the little pink dresser so I would have two matching green dressers to blend into the gallery wall and created a DIY hanging pendant lamp with this gorgeous lampshade (diy post here). In addition to new bolder and brighter curtains I hung some plants from the ceiling to drive home the fresh spring day theme.

I love all of the details...

Shop My Green Bedroom Decor Here:

This will change how you think about moving and the best tips and tricks to prepare you for moving day

2024-02-27T12:24:00.003-05:00

We're moving!

I'll be honest here, the process of moving is a lot. Especially when you're a bit of a maximalist, are a bit of a large family and have acquired quite a few things over the last several years at your place. 3 kids, two cats and a husband who loves to hang onto things as much as you do is plenty.

After we signed the lease on our new place my brain went straight to dread trying to process how we were going to pack up our entire life and get it over to our new home. Panic had already set in before I remembered how my friends enlisted Roadway Moving in the past and how they raved about the service and about how they made moving a breeze. I figured it was time for me to join the ranks and get some help from the best moving company in New York City (they're all over the country and do long-distance moves too!).

At first I was like "could it be too good to be true?" After all, a lot of my friends only have one kid and aren't really big collectors of items (ie: not maximalists). Well, there was only one way to find out, so I reached out to partner and after going over an extended list of all the things we needed to move, I started to feel a bit better and more prepared. We opted to pack ourselves and have them come pick up everything, do a bit of carpentry (disassembling and assembling furniture) and get us all settled in at our new place. They dropped off the boxes a few days before our scheduled move with tape! It was about 110 boxes ranging in different sizes and shapes. Some for hanging clothes (I love the wardrobe boxes, so clever), some for china - like dishes and kitchen stuff, book boxes, linen boxes and large boxes. We were ready to get started. Now what?

Because we were simultaneously "un-decorating" our colorfully decorated home and returning it to it's original neutral state we decided to start packing the rooms we had finished.

First up: the bedrooms. It took us about an hour to pack up our clothing and personal items. We were on a roll! The wardrobe boxes helped us take everything hanging in the closets to hanging in the closets at our new place. I slung handfuls of dresses on hangers from my wardrobes to the bar in the box with ease, then closed the opening of the box and secured with tape. I felt like an instant packing pro.

After we wrapped and secured the boxes in the primary bedroom we headed to the kids room where things got a bit more complicated. There were lots of clothes (x3), toys, legos and an abundance of books. We broke out the linen boxes for the clothes, book boxes and extra linen boxes for toys, legos and books. We used a couple of large boxes for bulkier items like shelves and bigger toys. It took us a couple of hours but we finally secured the tape on the last box before heading into the bathroom with a large box. Our quickest, likely easiest boxing of rooms yet.

We got to work on the living room, office and entryway closet, which left the kitchen for last the night before, since it had the most "little pieces" and well, tons of breakables. As I got started on the kitchen I realized I didn't have any packing paper so I immediately sent an email to our move coordinator (everyone gets one) asking if it was possible to bring paper to help pack up the dishes, mugs and glasses. No problem.

The foreman, Lucio and his team showed up bright and early the next morning and immediately jumped in. It was like an assembly line of men moving boxes. It was amazing. After they moved the majority of the initial boxes they dove into the kitchen and packed it for me! I was amazed at how quickly they finished packing the kitchen - it took me ages to even make a dent in it the previous night.

As the morning went on, the apartment got emptier and emptier. They got straight to work on taking apart the massive triple bunk bed and our queen Ikea brimnes bed before packing it and all of our other furnishings snuggly in cellophane and padded blankets. They also took the time to take apart items that wouldn't easily fit through the doors such as our living room sectional, outdoor sectional and hanging egg chair stand.

They were quick on their feet and came up with clever options in the moment- especially when we got to our new place and discovered the doors and openings were MUCH smaller that the previous place, especially when going to the backyard. They pivoted like pros.

They cleared every room with care including packing up all of our frames, mirrors and patio (filled with a pretty hefty plant collection). Everything was boxed safely and transported to their new home.

After they finished packing the trucks, yes, we had two trucks, we met them at our new place and watched them flawlessly unload the furniture, reassemble the beds and put all of the big pieces where they belonged. Finally the boxes came out and our time together was coming to an end.

I was so impressed with how professional, kind and helpful they were over the course of the day. They made what was definitely once thought as one of the most stressful tasks you have to do into a "WOW! That really wasn't that bad." Lucio and his men went above and beyond and really made it the easiest move I've ever experienced. If you're moving and you have a Roadway in your area, hire them! I can't recommend them enough.

Tips For Moving with Roadway

- Opt for the full service packing and move if you can.

- Wear comfortable clothes / layers.

- Have lots of snacks and water on hand for you and the movers.

- Make sure you have a clear path for movers. Path of egress is key!

- Try to stay out of the way but also be available for any questions the movers might have such as "where does this box / piece of furniture live"

- Permanent markers to describe what's in your boxes on the top AND sides of the box.

- No matter how much you offer to help they're going to say no so you might as well sit back and relax while you can because the unboxing is all on you. It's exhausting, so rest up.

- If you're packing yourself, ask for packing paper!

- Make a task list of all the things that need to be packed and check it off as you go. It's way easier and satisfying to see the progress.

- Have an extra landing zone for box overflow. Our living room quickly filled up and we designated the entryway hallway and garage for overflow areas for boxes that didn't fit in a certain room.

- Have a change of clothes, pajamas and toiletries on hand in a bag or suitcase so you don't have to wade through boxes on moving night.

- Have a plan for kids and pets! We took our cats over to the new place the morning of and set them up with food, water and litter in the bathroom.

- Tip your movers! We were suggested to tip 10-20% of the quoted move price, we ended up opting for 22% because they went above and beyond.

disclaimer: I collaborated with Roadway Moving to be able to offer my readers a reliable mover they can trust, in return they were generous to offer a free move and all opinions are 100% my own.

Break Out Of Your Comfort Zone This Year With Colorful Retro Inspired Christmas Decor

2023-12-12T13:00:00.006-05:00

Give me tinsel, give me drama and give me a little bit tacky!

Christmas decorations aren't meant to be boring, right? I feel like it kind of has to border on a bit tacky and this year I was like let's throw everything together and see how it looks.

Spoiler: I kind of love it.

I bought a ton of tinsel garland trim that was meant for costumes and hung it around the entire living room and boy it was a task but I love the way it turned out. It reminds me a bit of a retro 1960's Christmas set up. It's a lot but it just sparkles and shines. ALSO I love the look of tinsel but I hate how wasteful it is and I get to reuse these over and over again! So, sassy and a bit sustainable.

I also tried my hand at diying some floating candles along with floating disco balls. Not as hard as I had imagined it would be to do and shockingly they stayed. I love the idea of floating candles with a bit of sparkle from disco ball ornaments hanging from the ceiling. Just a bit of scotch tape and fishing line and you're good to go!

Since we were going the borderline tacky route I was like what about the tinsel curtains I have in my studio for backdrops. I hung them around the windows and the way the light reflected off of them during the day was nothing short of magical.

I didn't buy any new ornaments this year but the globes we've had for what seems like forever paired with the 100's of different sized and colored disco ball ornaments we've collected over the last few years. Note: Disco Ball Ornaments make great tablescape decor ideas. I love them on plates (below)!

Love the decor? Shop It Here!

(affiliate links)

Show Off Your Colorful Side With Maximalist Kitschy Christmas Tree

2023-12-11T15:18:00.008-05:00

I've always loved a kitschy, colorful Christmas. The more unique and eclectic the better!

No, it definitely doesn't need to match but for me it needs three things: lots of color, texture and a bit of fun. This year when I dug out Christmas decorations I decided to layer on multiple garlands, lots of disco ball ornements in addition to our usual stockpile of colorful globes, eclectic and handmade ornaments. I could've gone bigger and brighter with the lights but I'll save that for next year.

For the stockings I decided they would look fabulous nestled in with our basket wall with a bit of evergreen clippings from the tree and faux cranberry branches.

Since the living room is an open layout we usually put the tree against the short wall between the living room and dining so the tree is front and center! Honestly, I love it from both angles and it's even better reflected in the entryway mirror. It's the perfect spot for a mini holiday shoot in all sequins.

Scroll down for my favorite angles and links to the same or similar products to recreate the look!

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(affiliate links)

Brighten Your Bedroom This Spring With Colorful Bedding and These Simple Yet Clever Tips and Tricks

2023-05-16T08:50:00.003-04:00

Florals For Spring? Groundbreaking.

Truth be told, a floral pattern can brighten up a space, and the BEST, most simple way to do it is with bedding! I've been looking to give my jewel-tone, moody bedroom a bit of a refresh for a while now, and what better time than Spring to swap out the old with the new? I wanted something bright and cheerful to give me a bit of a pep in my step as I head into the new season. Think walking down the tulip-lined sidewalk in your favorite sundress, sipping on your iced drink of choice with fresh pastries in hand as if you're the main character of an early aughts rom-com about to have a meet-cute. Let's be honest, there's nothing like Spring in NYC, it's almost romantic. Ok, it is, so what better way to channel a simple bedroom refresh than to draw inspiration from one of the most picturesque seasons in the city, Spring?

Give me pastels, give me luxurious textures, and give me FLOWERS! Lots of them. Romanticize your fabulous boudoir as if you would yourself going about your day on a fabulous spring day. Enter this brilliant Ted Baker bedding from Decoratd. A moment for the rich colors and fresh blooms inspired by The Hampton Court Gardens in London. They're whimsical and the perfect contrast for my deep teal walls giving them the brightness I've been craving throughout the winter.

Before we dive into all the fabulous Ted Baker bedding details, Let’s talk about the process of picking colors and patterns and making them pop in your space.

First, pick your color palette. It can be minimal like 1-2 colors or maximized to several colors. I love a more is more moment so I went with a few different hues to integrate throughout my bedding refresh. I usually start with my HERO item to help me decide on a color palette. In this case, it’s the Ted Baker New Hampton Comforter Set. An easy rule of thumb: If you’re picking bedding with patterns that have multiple colors, chances are that the colors found on the bedding will work in your color palette. It’s a built-in mood board. For instance: The main color of the comforter is a lighter blue and the flower patterns spread across the comforter have multiple complementary colors like soft pink, rose pink, and yellow with some richer contrasting colors like deeper greens, blues, red and orange.

I chose blue, soft pink, deep green with a pop of yellow, rose pink, and teal for my color palette. Blue for the comforter, pink for the sheets, green for the quilt, and yellow, pink, and teal as the little pop from round throw pillows. Another favorite color palette picking tip: look at the color wheel and decide which complementary colors or contrasting colors you want to use to create your palette.

Pick a pattern (or two or a few). Do you want just one pattern to be the star of the show or do you want to play with prints? For me, I did a little of both. I let my floral comforter shine while also integrating subtle almost neutral patterns into the design. Hear me when I say it’s all about scale. I went with a tiny pattern for layering the Ted Baker T-Quilt over the comforter. The scale of the embossed T’s is so small that it coordinates perfectly with the flowers. For the round throw pillows, I went larger with the scale since they’re a similar pattern but with contrasting colors. Note: florals and animal patterns are neutral patterns and can be paired with nearly any print.

Mix and Match. Yes, to a mix-and-match bedding moment. No, you don’t have to build your entire bedding collection based on the picture on the website. You can play around with colors and patterns while layering in different pieces to make it more personal and more you. After all, it is your bedroom. For me, I mixed and matched the Ted Baker New Hampton Comforter Set with a complementary soft pink Ted Baker Plain Dye Sheet Set.

I layered the luxurious satin Ted Baker T-Quilt over the comforter in a deeper contrasting forest green with matching Ted Baker T euro shams and decorative pillow to tie together the blues and greens from the walls and ceiling to the bedding to make it cohesive and blend while also giving the floral comforter that extra pop.

I think more florals are more so I couldn't resist finishing the look with both the Ted Baker New Hampton Decorative Pillow (yellow) for the bed AND the Ted Baker Peppermint Decorative Pillow (pink) for the pink corner chair. It’s like everything was made for my bedroom but it wasn’t exactly shown this way on the website, so get creative - mix and match!

Want to recreate the look? Shop Each Item Below:

Ted Baker New Hampton Comforter Set

Ted Baker Plain Dye Sheet Set in Pink

Ted Baker T-quilt in Green

Ted Baker Euro Shams in Green

Ted Baker Decorative Pillow in Green

Ted Baker New Hampton Decorative Pillow

Ted Baker Peppermint Decorative Pillow

Are you decorating with Florals for spring?

The Easy Way To Make Steve Zissou Inspired Halloween Costumes For Your Entire Family

2022-08-05T16:29:00.005-04:00

You'd never guess what we used to create our Steve Zissou Inspired Halloween Costumes this year.

Pajamas!

Yep, that's right solid pajama sets for the entire family, including the cat. Because who really wants to store away halloween costumes when October ends. You really want to wear them all year long, right?

Grab a few colorful solid pajama sets and some puffy paint and let's get to work to create Team Zissou inspired halloween costumes that you'll wear for years to come. Because let's be honest it is in the Top 3 of Wes Anderson Films.

Let's get started shall we?

We have Steve in his wetsuit, Jane in her khakis, Ned and Klaus in their classic blues, and Hennessey joining the search for the elusive Jaguar shark in his crisp whites and flip flops.

We used puffy paint and fabric markers to draw the iconic Zissou uniforms and to make leopard spots on the cat's costume that they absolutely hated wearing.

After the paint dried we accessorized with the Zissou must-have, red caps.

David brought his prop master skill with the yellow submarine made from a cardboard box, Klaus's binoculars out of toilets paper rolls, Jane’s tape recorder out of a cereal box and Steve’s wetsuit swag made out of cold grocery delivery bags for a photoshoot in the living room.

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Try This Easy DIY To Transform The Iconic SNL Celebrity Jeopardy Skit into a Group Halloween Costume

2022-08-05T13:08:00.002-04:00

In your opinion, what's the Saturday Night Live skit that EVERYONE knows?

For me, it's More Cowbell and Celebrity Jeopardy. Though, I often laugh myself to tears with Lawerence Welk's Maharelle Sister's Skit.

So, I think we can agree that EVERYONE has seen the iconic game show gone wrong, Celebrity Jeopardy skit with Will Ferrell as Alex Trebek. Right? My favorites were always the skits including Potty Mouth, Sean Connery (Darrell Hammond) and Rebellious, Burt Reynolds (Norm Macdonald) aka Turd Ferguson.

So, we decided this year was the year to take our love for the skit and bring it to life in Halloween form. The results were definitely beyond our expectations and we couldn't keep a straight face while shooting the pictures for the reveal. Let's just say, Sean Connery really got into character for this one.

Let's talk about making the costumes come to life.

Don't get rid of your cardboard boxes just yet, they're essential for this one! AND you can even take the podiums to go...

First, we started by shaping boxes into free-standing podiums with duck tape and painting with a light blue acrylic paint that we had left over from the kids bedroom.

We used yellow painter's tape to outline the boxes and a separate piece of cardboard to create the JEOPARDY! logo in navy and white paint.

And used MCSquares re-usable white boards for the names and card for "Alex" to hold.

After the podiums were finished, we got to work on shopping our closets for the costumes.

For Alex: we went with a light colored suit, white shirt and red tie and oversized brown leather shoes. We really wanted the hair and makeup to be the focal point so we teased and pinned back his hair and drew a very strong mustache using eye liner.

Next, Burt, er, Turd: A leather jacket, bolo tie and red shirt was key. We bought a foam hat off of amazon to complete the look with a massive drawn on mustache a la Burt Reynolds.

Finally, Sean Connery: A black turtleneck, suede jacket and lots of dry shampoo to give that salt and pepper hairstyle appearance with a little bit of eye liner to define the beard.

Watch the skit on repeat to practice the facial expressions and lines and you're good to go.

Last Minute Easy DIY Couple Costume Idea: Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhand and Kim

2022-08-04T15:38:00.004-04:00

Looking for a last minute couples costume idea that takes barely any effort and is likely hanging in your closet?

Edward Scissorhands and Kim!

For Kim, all you need is a little white dress.

For Edward Scissorhands, grab a black turtleneck, black slim fit pants, a bunch of belts and/or buckles, and assorted scissors (if you want to go for the real thing - we thought colorful fiskar scissors would be kind of funny). Layer the belts together over the black turtleneck and pants, add some makeup, tape on the scissors (or make faux scissors out of cardboard and construction paper) and you're good to go win a halloween costume contest.

Jazz Up Your Ikea Brimnes Wardrobes With A Fun Zebra Print Wallpaper

2022-08-01T15:05:00.012-04:00

I couldn't help myself, I needed to make the inside of our Ikea Brimnes wardrobes as fabulous as the outside and the outfits inhabiting the space. So I grabbed a few rolls of the iconic Scalamandre Zebra print Peel and Stick wallpaper from The Inside and got to work.

I'll preface by saying, no this wasn't the easiest of tasks but with a little patience. I was able to get the job done and be pretty excited with the after..

TIPS:

Remove all of the contents of the closet and start from the back of the wardrobes to the front.

Do the doors last.

What You Need:

3 Rolls Of Peel and Stick Wallpaper

Smoothing Tool

Exacto Knife

Scissors

Lots Of Patience

Shop The Wallpaper

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5 Shades Of Purple You Have To Wear This Season

2022-07-29T14:12:00.002-04:00

It's a purple party! Veri Peri is the 2022 color of the year and the purple hue has been spotted everywhere from paint colors, beauty trends and of course my personal favorite, dresses. So I'm sharing some of my favorite dresses in hues of purple and where to shop them this season.

I'm currently loving: Violet, Lilac, Lavendar, Periwinkle and True Purple

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Add some color to your home office space with this gorgeous green hue from Clare Paint

2022-07-11T11:41:00.005-04:00

Since moving into our space my office closet has been a few different colors and they just didn't seem to fit the bill. I was on my way to paint it white when I asked myself what if the gallon of Clare Paint Vacay I had sitting in the closet would be the perfect match to the leaves from the wallpaper?

Well, I pulled it out, gave it a good stir and tested a spot on the trim.

Holy Moly, it was a match and looked amazing!

So I went to work on the entire closet and the results were a total game changer for the space! The green-blue hue instantly brightens up my cave like office and is the perfect contrast to the soft baby pink walls. AND it looks fantastic against tropical chinoiserie wallpaper. The room appears a little bigger and way more luxe than the previous finishes. I swapped out some throw pillows and layered in some Annie Selke rugs to tie it all together. It's safe to say this space is looking more and more put together by the day.

Next up, adding a contrasting wallpaper to the opposite wall. Will it look amazing or be a total mess?

Before

After

Try This Fun and Colorful Way To Style A Tablescape For Your Easter Celebrations This Season

2022-04-01T10:52:00.066-04:00

How Egg-citing! It's almost Easter. This year I wanted to create a colorful treat table for the kids and try my hand at some new recipes to make things POP (and well, extra special). So I stopped into Michael's an grabbed some colorful essentials to make my vision come to life. Think lots of pastels, a little bit of print, flowers and of course treats!

Let's talk the tablescape! I made these easy folded bunny napkins (tutorial) and filled the middle with disco balls and Easter eggs. I bought some cute pastel hued plates, gingham napkins, colorful vases and a grass runner to fill and cover with treats and flowers.

I filled cute colorful paper egg cartons with yellow chick shaped cupcakes. As well as flower and egg shaped sugar cookies and Rice Kristie treats dipped in colorful candy melts. After arranging the treats in the boxes I got to work on the rest of the tablescape by adding glitter jellybeans, mini disco balls and dipped Easter eggs on the faux grass runner with tulip and rose flower arrangements.

Finishing each table setting with a pair of bunny ears.

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The Pretty in Pink Retro Entryway To Recreate At Home

2021-09-22T13:27:00.004-04:00

Hi Friends! Let's talk entryways today.

Ours has been ruffling my feathers since we moved in two years ago. We started with a leaning mirror or two and I really just didn't love that it wasn't put together, cohesive or functional. Also, it lacked the pizazz I felt the spaces around it had so I got to work and started brainstorming ways to make the space fit our small awkward space and still pack a punch when it came to personality.

First things first, the wallpaper!

For me, an entryway needs to make a statement upon arrival so I tapped my friends at Limitless Walls to help me create a custom design for the space. We color matched my Clare paint colors Baby Soft and Rose Season to make the perfect statement with the groovy lines running up and down the wall. To say I'm obsessed with how it came out is an understatement.

Next, the storage and furniture!

I've been wanting a sideboard for what seems like forever and this Castlery "Almo" sleek mid-century shape was the perfect fit for making this long empty fall feel more functional. AND it has so much storage. We also wanted to incorporate my sassy fringe mirror and pink rattan velvet chair for tone on tone color pops. I borrowed one of my Julian teal velvet ottomans from the living room and it looks perfect in-front of the mirror for a little spot for easy shoes on and off.

We also needed a little extra storage at the narrowest part of our entry so we opted for a more compact shoe cabinet & hanging wall basket catch all (which is arguably one of my favorite details).

And Finally, the details!

The paint chip Annie Selke runner brings everything together and make all the colors pop. I'm obsessed and want to put it every where, would that be too much? We also snagged a smaller version for the doorway.

Styling the sideboard and the shoe cabinet was of obviously the easiest of all the tasks and I can't get over how everything just came together with stuff I already had.

Our Gantri Gio Task Light was subtle yet added a warm retro glow. I layered in some (borrowed from other rooms) leaning art because I'm indecisive and still haven't found the perfect fits for the area but secretly love these together. Plants, candles and bowls finished things off and I'm pretty close to saying we're finally done.

Now we just need to decide on a bold door color for the front door and perhaps I'll be settled enough to leave this area alone for awhile..

The Blue Velvet Chair You Didn't Know Your Space Needed

2021-09-20T18:19:00.002-04:00

Whoa, it's been a hot second since I posted over here. But we're back and ready to talk about this lush velvety blue chair from Castlery.

I'm gonna start by saying that it's BIG - I did not measure out where I had initially intended to place it and I was real nervous when it arrived and turned out to be massive. However, I found the perfect corner for it and it's really doing it for me with the pop of pink in the background.

So yes, this is the sign you needed to snag yourself a comfy blue velvety soft chair for your digs.

Chair & Room Details

Chair "Madison" via Castlery // Julian Poufs // Opalhouse Minsmere Media Stand // Annie Selke Pillow // Threshold storage side table // Clare Paint Rose Season // Vintage baskets // Farm Rio Rainbow Dress // Retro Babe Co. Flower Blazer //

How Cute Is This Small Pink and Orange Office Space With Chinoiserie Tropical Wallpaper

2021-05-18T17:02:00.004-04:00

This small little office space has been through quite the evolution over the past year. From paint to wallpaper to furniture to art - I feel like it's constantly growing in 'finding it's rhythm', or at least it's me finally getting it together in some form or another.

It feels settled I guess - not quite done but getting there. After all, it's a marathon not a sprint when it comes to putting together a home, especially with me. I definitely need a new light fixture and drapes for my next installment.

But alas, here we are with layers of texture and character making their way across the 200 square foot pink room with tropical chinoiserie wallpaper and rust orange accents. I never in million years would have thought I would have any type of orange decor in my space, especially of the rust hue, but here we are.

I simply love it.

As for details, this room wears many hats - aside from being an office / studio it houses some of my clothes, accessories, office supplies, beauty products, camera & lighting equipment. So storage has been key to keeping things organized. I've loaded up vintage hat boxes, storage bins from Open Spaces, vintage wicker baskets and a bathroom etagere cut down in a cabinet to keeping everything in place (and out of sight).

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The Affordable & Renter-Friendly Patio Makeover Idea You Can Re-Create At Home This Season

2021-05-08T16:28:00.002-04:00

It's Patio Season!

Last time you saw my outdoor space (here & here) I was just starting to add furniture and plants. This year I wanted to make it a little more cozy and less sterile when it came to the outdoor wall. The off white, bare walls just weren't doing it for me and I was ready to give them a little love. So I, with some help from Command outdoor clips and hooks gave the space a much needed upgrade. While it's not perfect and I would love to go 'bigger' it's a nice step in the right direction.

First, I ordered some faux ivy with fairy lights ($10!) to create a climbing ivy wall.

It was surprisingly easy and took a couple of hours from start to finish. I started by going from top to bottom and then across for the window with the Command outdoor light clips. Waited 30 minutes and then gently slid the ivy vines into each clip. I went a little under 2 feet between each clip. I will say that you're going to want a smooth surface to work with, my wall is smooth and rough in places so some of the rough spots weren't sticking that great and ended up falling down so - opt for a smooth surface and save yourself some time and effort.

After I got the ivy clipped in I started layering in the the fairy lights. After the fairy lights were up I added clips for the solar powered hanging lights along the window frame down the wall and across the balcony.

Then the accessories! The Command outdoor stainless hooks hold up to 2 lbs. so I gathered some cute hanging accessories like woven feathers and baskets. Applied the hooks in spots that I decided needed a little pop and waited 30 minutes before hanging the pieces. And voila! The wall was done.

I added some plants, pillows, a blanket and got right to work getting cozy.

The night time view is even better....

Before

After

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