The Homes I Have Made

Follow Me Over to TheHomesIHaveMade.com

2015-08-05T03:00:00.000-04:00

I am super excited to be launching my newly branded and designed website over on:

The Homes I Have Made

If you are reading this post in an internet browser, in a feed, or in your email, please click over to my new site to re-subscribe and update your links!

Please note: This is the last post that will be featured here on the blogspot account!

Look forward to sharing more great projects with you over on The Homes I Have Made!

Megan

This Week!

2015-07-20T03:00:00.000-04:00

Hello Friends! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. We continue to be busy, busy, busy here...still getting settled with this, that, and the other and working away on lots of fun new projects. I had all these hopes and plans to share a bunch of updates with you guys this week, but I've got to be real with you: getting my new site ready, updated, and launched is taking more out of me than I expected!

Whomp.

I've been trying to squeeze it all in and have been failing. Between finishing, photographing, and blogging new projects, making the blog updates, AND having Henry home with me all day, every day, I have been stressed and frustrated that nothing seems to be getting done. I so badly wanted the site to be up and ready for our "Kansas" launch but it wasn't quite done with the designer...and before I get too far down the road with new projects, I need to get it launched. SO...I'm giving myself a week to catch my breath and focus entirely on the blog update. Fingers crossed this time next week, we'll have a fresh new look around here and get back on track with house updates :) Promise you'll stick with me!

So while I take a little break out here on the blog, know that I am working super hard behind the scenes to get everything done and updated and back up and running! An updated look, enhanced project galleries, a shop, and a faster site are all in the makings! In the meantime, some of my feeds and updates and links haven't been working properly in recent weeks, so be sure to catch up on any posts you may have missed!

DIY Pom-Pom Coverlet	Feel Good Entertaining	Monogram Wall Decal
Why I Make a Home Every Time	Faux Bedroom Built In	Brighten Your Walls with Art

Lastly, make sure you are following The Homes I Have Made on your social media of choice to get updates one what's going on behind the scenes and (more importantly) when I'm back up and running with new a new look and new content!

I really, really hate to do this, but it's got to be done for my sanity and for your viewing pleasure :) With this next hurdle behind me, I should be able to really dive into the latest projects and updates in our Kansas house without turning back! Send lots of good vibes...this Blogger to Wordpress transition is no joke :)
Hope to see you back here real soon! Megan

DIY Pom-Pom Coverlet

2015-07-17T03:00:00.000-04:00

My favorite part of moving into a new house is once everything is unpacked, settled, and I get to start on projects!! There's always a few things I can't wait to do (like the fireplace and built-ins) and knock those out quickly, but most ideas get put on a single big ol' master to-do list. What's nice about having all sorts of ideas at the ready is when I find the time or feel inspired, I pick one and knock it out. I'm in full project mode now, and it feels awesome to be checking things off the list right and left!

Today I'm sharing a project that was actually supposed to be done over a year ago. It was part of the original project list for Henry's bedroom makeover last Spring...but I ultimately decided it wasn't necessary at the time. Well, with his new bed arrangement in this house, the project seemed a bit more necessary so I found the time to tackle it. I'm loving this simple DIY so let's get right to it!

All this time, both back in North Carolina and here, Henry has had a queen coverlet on his bed. His twin bed. In fact, both beds (his and our queen bed) had the same queen-sized coverlets on them. Originally, I planned to trim down the quilt to a twin size, but when his bed was up against a wall at the last house, I was able to tuck all the excess blanket between the bed and the wall and no one noticed!

Well, his bed now floats in the center of the room, and tucking all the excess quilt under his mattress each morning was a big ol' pain. I spent way longer than I should trying to keep everything even and smooth and ultimately decided it was time to cut down the quilt!

Henry's quilt was much newer than the one we had on our bed, and our's was starting to show some yellowing on the edges (eeww). So Henry's bedspread went into the linen closet for guests, and ours' became the perfect candidate for a re-fresh (details about what's on our bed now coming soon!). I had bought 12 yards of black pom-pom trim early last year thinking I'd do this project, so it's been sitting waiting all this time!

Instead of cutting the bedspread down to a traditional size, I just measured how long I wanted it to drape on the sides of Henry's bed. The length was perfect, but I needed to cut off about 26" from one side to make it just the right size. I simply measured and drew a line at the right measurement and with a friction pen (LOVE those things!). The quilt is so lightweight, I cut it down with just a scissors.

The edges of the quilt didn't fray at all, but I wanted to finish the edge just a bit. Thanks to the batting, a traditional hem would be too bulky, and I was not in the mood to deal with bias tape. If I knew how to thread and work the fancy serger I have, I would have just serged the edge. I ultimately did a wide and tight zigzag stitch with my regular sewing machine around the cut edge, enough to finish it off and ensure it doesn't fray over time.

Pom-pom trim is the easiest, most generous type of trim to work with. To keep it nice and flush with the edge, I do pin at every pom-pom. I caught up on America's Got Talent auditions while I pinned, and then attached the trim using the zipper foot on my machine. Friends, use the zipper foot when attaching pom-poms...it makes a world of difference!

And that's it! While it took quite a bit of time to pin, the actual cutting and sewing part was simple and quick. In just an evening, I transformed an off-the-shelf coverlet (originally from Marshalls, I think!) into a charming accent for the little man's room!

One thing I love about pom-poms, is that I think they look great both ways: showing the edge or hiding the edge. Since you don't have to worry about hiding the edging, it really is a perfect way to adorn things like blankets and curtains!

This is one of those "I wish I had done it sooner" projects. Not only is making Henry's bed now a breeze, but man, do I love that pom-pom detail around the edges!

I love how the bedspread now nods to the sham and looks like an intentional set.

(Get the pillow sham tutorial here.)

Pom-pom accents for the home, be it pillows, curtains, bedding or even clothes, are quite trendy right now. Before shelling out the cash for pre-made items, consider adding pom-poms to something you already have! Pom-pom trim is inexpensive (this roll was only $10!!!) and really is SO simple to work with. Little details like these really help a room feel more complete!

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend. Next week, I'll be showing you what I did with the rest of that coverlet as well as lots more fabric-related updates in the house! See you then!

Megan

Feel Good Entertaining (with GlobeIn!)

2015-07-15T03:00:00.000-04:00

Last Friday, I shared with you guys the story of why I make a home every time we move. I chatted about how creating a real home no matter where we are or for how long helps us, as a family, feel safe, comfortable, and happy as we transition communities every few years. What I didn't touch on in that post is one other aspect of why I create: because it's empowering.

I learned early on in my marriage that making things myself was empowering and good for my self confidence. There was just something about the pure and simple act of making things with my own two hands that satisfied a sense of purpose, creativity, and drive deep within me. While it was purely a hobby at first, over the years crafting has become my sanity, my passion and my lifeline as a stay-at-home mom...and even lead me to start this little blog, which in turn has helped me contribute to our family income. On a daily basis, crafting gives me confidence, courage, pleasure, and satisfaction. It runs through me and is part of who I am and how I live my life.

When GlobeIn, a small San Francisco-based startup with a mission of supporting artisans and farmers from around the world reached out to me about sampling one of their Artisan Boxes, I wasn't sure it was a good match for me or this blog. But as I read deeper into the mission of the company and the products within the boxes, I found myself wanting to support other women around the globe who were also enhancing and improving their lives through craft...and in such more potent ways! What arrived on my doorstep was a true treat indeed, and I can't wait to share it with you today!

GlobeIn offers monthly subscriptions of Global Artisan Boxes, which are small, carefully curated, thematic collections of mostly organic and fair-trade items from all over the world. Past collections have included themes such as "Picnic," "Refresh," and "Bake," and most include both hand-made items and fair-trade foods. I got to sample their latest box: "Entertain."

The box is small but mighty. It was packed tightly and neatly was a plethora of treasures, and it was such a treat to pull out and unpack each one! Included in this Artisan Box was:

Palm Leaf Basket from Mexico
Tea-Time Bunting from India
Coasters from Ghana
Spice mix from Palestine
Sun-dried Tomato Caper Spread from Palestine

My favorite element, however, was the little book that accompanies the set and details the story and cause behind each carefully selected item. I loved reading about how, why, and where each item was made and the personal stories of the women changing their lives by making these unique and wonderful items with their own hands!

Since the theme of the box was "Entertain," I decided to pull together a charming little tablescape to show off the collection of items. With little effort, all the included items came together to create such a bright, fresh, and feel-good mid week soiree!

The basket, made of palm leaves by women in Mexico, was the perfect little centerpiece. A simple succulent pulled from the mantel and placed inside became the focal point for our table.

I strung up the adorable bunting (in two of my favorite colors!) to add a punch of color and contrast a simple bird and flower table cloth.

For an appetizer, I toasted up little rounds of whole wheat bread and served them with the Sun-Dried Tomato Caper spread from Palestine...yuuuuuumm...

...and served them alongside a light wine. The coasters were my personal favorite. Made by women in Ghana from traditional batik fabrics (from up-cycled saris!) and the plastic from the bags they carry fresh water in. The colors are vibrant and fun, and the craftsmanship is just lovely!

The generous box of thyme, also from Palestine, had an incredible aroma that you could smell the moment you opened the box! I combined a handful with panko to bread and bake some simple and delicious chicken!

All together, we were able to enjoy a beautiful and wholesome meal thanks to this lovely little collection of goodies.

I love supporting small and worthy causes like these sought out and championed by Globe In, and I love having unique, special, wholesome, and ethical products in our homes and in our bodies. Because of where we live (any my lack of time!), getting these kinds of products often proves challenging. While I would love to go putz through stores to find such treasures, I LOVE that Globe In offers subscriptions that can bring these items right to my door, no matter where I am or how much time I have!

Artisan Baskets are such a fun monthly treat to yourself and would also make awesome housewarming, welcome-to-the-neighborhood, and bridal shower gifts! If you're interested in trying out and supporting the Globe In artists and farmers, you're in luck! GlobeIn is offering a coupon to The Homes I Have Made Readers! Just enter THIHM at checkout to save 25% off your first month's box with the purchase of 3+month subscription!!!!

While this isn't my typical stye post, I honestly had so much fun exploring, styling, cooking with, and photographing these items. I do hope you'll check out GlobeIn and see what other awesome items they have for sale!

I have been a busy, busy bee at my sewing machine lately. Coming up Friday and into next week, I've got a lot of textile projects to share with you! See you back here soon!

Megan

I did not receive compensation for this blog post; however GlobeIn did provide the "Entertain" Artisan Box for me to use and review. Please remember that I only work with brands and products I fully support and that make sense for my home, my family, and this blog. All opinions are 100% my own!

Renter-Friendly Walls: Monogram Wall Decal (with Name Bubbles!)

2015-07-13T03:00:00.000-04:00

I'm on a mission this year to discover, try, and share different ways to color, personalize and style walls without using paint! While a lot of my ideas will be DIYs, I'm also on the lookout for great ideas and products that have major impact without the time commitment and long project list. When my very good friends over at Name Bubbles asked me to help spread the word about their latest product line, I knew it was a perfect fit. Colorful, jumbo, removable monograms? Yes, please!

As some of you long-time readers know, I'm a huge fan of the Name Bubbles company! I first fell in love with their dishwasher- and laundry-safe labels for Henry's sippy cups and jackets and then their dishwasher-safe, dry erase labels we use on all of our pantry containers. I contribute projects to their blog, My Daily Bubble, and adore being part of the (extended!) Name Bubbles family!

While I may be a bit biased, I have to tell you guys: these wall decals are so awesome. The colors are vibrant, they are huge and impactful, they are inexpensive, and are 100% removable and repositionable. If you're looking for a simple way to add a major pop of color to almost any space in your home...this is it!

It honestly took me longer to figure out which amazing pattern, font, and color combination I wanted on my decal than it did to hang it up on the wall. You have to pop over to the Name Bubbles Wall Decal page and play with the super fun interactive menu that allows you to customize your decal in so many fun ways and see it right on your screen!

On a whim, I landed on the pink (what?) stripes (obviously!), and the decal arrived rolled up in a protected box just a few days later. The decals are made of a nice, woven material, so they won't rip when you manipulate them. I followed the simple instructions included right on the decal backing, and had it hung in a matter of minutes. I did have a few bubbles when I first applied it, but as advertised, I could completely remove the decal from the wall and re-lay it a bit better.

The decals are huge - 27 inches! So you are getting a lot of bang for your buck. My head has been spinning with so many fun places you could put these:

In an entryway
Over a bed
Over a crib/changing table
Over a desk
On a desk covered with plexiglass
Behind plexiglass or glass as a fun dry-erase board
In a gallery wall
Behind glass as framed art
On a mirror

I chose to place mine above a set of bookcases and styled it up with some girly accents. Such a fun and whimsical display! A ton of color and personality...all of which can come with me when I move!

The monogram also comes with two mini monograms that look exactly the same but are about 4" big. These are perfect for decorating pencil cups, vases, water bottles, lamp bases, picture frames... anything that could use a dose of preppy pattern!

I'm sure I have your curiosity peeked about those hot pink towers, don't I? Let's focus on the decal today...I'll be sharing the updated tower details here soon :)

Monograms are a fun and graphic way to decorate your walls. The size of these decals combined with the fun color combinations and patterns make these a fun addition to almost any space. If you move around a lot and want to bring it with you, just be sure to hold on to the paper it comes on to ensure your decal travels safely!

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. I've been a busy bee lately between home projects and working really hard to get the new site up and running (hopefully soon!). Thank you so much to all of you who left thoughtful comments on Friday's post. I love the warm response I get on the more personal posts, and I'm so glad you guys loved it as much as I enjoyed right it. Don't know what I'm talking about? Catch up here!

See you back here Wednesday!

Megan

I did not receive compensation for this blog post; however Name Bubbles did provide the wall decal for me to use and review. Please remember that I only work with brands and products I fully support and that make sense for my home, my family, and this blog. All opinions are 100% my own!

Why I Make a Home...Every Time (#loveyourhome)

2015-07-10T03:00:00.000-04:00

There's a story/post I've been wanting to write for a while now and just never made the room in my post schedule to share it! It's the story of why I do what I do to our house even though we move so much. About why I think it's worth it to hang curtains on the windows and pictures on the wall, even when we're only "here for a year." I'm clearly passionate about making a home no matter where we are or for how long, but I've never really told you why! When my friends over at Porch.com asked me to participate in their #loveyourhome series, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to share it!

Ten years ago this fall, I married my Marine husband and then one week later, boarded a plane for Okinawa, Japan. On-base housing was full when we arrived, so we moved into a teeny, tiny apartment out in town to wait for housing to become available. After only living on the island for about 6 weeks, my husband then deployed for a few months. I was a sad, overwhelmed, and lonely 24-year-old newlywed living in a sterile, empty apartment all by myself on a foreign island in the Pacific Ocean. On the phone one day with my Mom, she sensed my sadness and offered: "If I sent you a sewing machine, would you use it?" I said yes, and it arrived a few weeks later. For days, I sat at my kitchen table all alone and taught myself to sew. Using the included manual (no blog tutorials or YouTube videos then!), I figured out how to thread and use my machine. I hunted around the island for fabric and then dove in to making curtains and slipcovers, placemats and pillows and more. With pretty things on my walls and windows, the island life outside my door didn't feel so overwhelming anymore because I had a happy place of my own to figure it all out and fee safe.

A few weeks later, I was excitedly talking with one of my newly-made friends about all the fun things I was making and doing to our little apartment. I was bursting with pride, and the ideas were literally bubbling out of me as I gushed over my newfound passion. Almost immediately, she said something to me that I have carried in my heart ever since:

"Why are you spending so much time, money and effort on a place you'll only live in for such a short period of time? It seems like such a waste!"

While I remember her comment clear as day, I actually don't remember my response. (She obviously didn't deter me, because I've been decorating all of our homes ever since!) But now, all these years later, I know what I should have said and what I'd say now. I look back and realize that with my simple sewing projects at my kitchen table in Okinawa, not only did I turn that little apartment into our first home, I also learned a very big lesson: It's important and valuable to make a home you love.

As military families, we find ourselves in all sorts of living situations. Some are once-in-a-lifetime-opportunities (hello, Japan!), some are not (ahem, Camp Lejeune, NC). Some places top our wish lists, while others are places we don't ever want to go or go back to. But because we support our service members and took on this lifestyle too...we go. More often than not, we end up living far away from our families, the places we grew up, our friends, our roots, our favorite jobs, and our former lives. Sometimes the world outside the door is wonderful, but it can also be scary, frightening, and overwhelming. There are seasons of life when we're up for the adventure, and others when we're not. There are friends to make wherever we go, but loneliness is also a constant companion. Our spouses are often gone, and the hardships of life ebb and flow as they do for everyone.

Having a home...not just a shell of a house...but a real home...allows us a safe, real, personal, comfortable, happy space where we can weather it all. While some see our nomadic lifestyle as a deterrent to creating a home, I see it the other way around. When you're far away from family, when you're completely out of your element, when you don't know your way around or can't read the street signs, coming home to a space that is familiar, just the way you want it, and is your own personal brand of lovely makes dealing with all the hard and uncomfortable stuff so much easier. I pour my heart into creating a real home with each move because it is my sanctuary when this lifestyle is just too much.

If the emotions sound a bit raw, it's because they are. I love being a Marine spouse, I love moving, and I love having a fresh house to decorate every few years. But that doesn't mean it isn't hard...and in the last few days, I've hit my somewhat predictable "I'm in a new place and am totally overwhelmed" slump. I had a miserable day this week driving through the rain, on streets I don't know, fighting traffic, just to buy a simple notion to make a simple project. Nothing earth shattering happened, but it put me in the also predicable "why did we have to move here" funk pretty quickly. After hours of unproductive errands and too much time with a whiney 4-year-old, I walked in the door to our new home, and I literally said out loud as I glanced up the steps to our family room..."oh gosh, I love this home."

And that's why it's important. Because when the life out there is rainy and traffic-y and whiney, the life in here is pretty and striped and happy. I have filled this shell-of-a-house with items that are totally me/us, that make me smile, that bring back great memories, and that just make me feel good. And when I feel good...I am good. I'm a good mom, a good spouse, a good friend, a good daughter/sister, a good Megan.

Even though we've been here just over a month, it's honestly a home I already love thanks to a few projects and efforts put in. (I can't even tell you how much those blue stripes perk me up day after day!) Not every room is done...gosh, not nearly...but I've worked hard to quickly setup/create a few pretty spaces. Spots I can rest my eyes on...spaces that cheer me up and help me stop worrying about the mess/clutter/un-done projects that remain just out of view. These are those spots I already love and that already feel like our home.

I realize I take "making a home" to the extremes a bit and take on projects and ideas most wouldn't simply because I enjoy decorating and crafting and sewing and organizing. But even if you don't want a Pinterest-project-filled home, I encourage you to do things to your space that will help you love it more. Whether it's decluttering a closet, buying a new piece of furniture, painting a wall a fun accent color, finally hanging curtains on the living room windows...whatever. For me and my family, creating a home we love helps us make memories, weather the storms of life, and truly feel at home no matter where the Marine Corps sends us!

I encourage you to check out the other #loveyourhome stories featured over on Porch.com and share photos and ideas of why and how you love your home using the #loveyourhome hashtag! While there, be sure to check out all the amazing resources, posts, and ideas the site has to offer. Not only does Porch.com offer all sorts of ideas and advice for all things home, but it is also a great resource network for home improvement professionals in your area!

I'd love to hear what you've done to help you #loveyourhome. Would you decorate if you moved every couple of years? What are the things/people you need around you to #loveyourhome?

On Monday, I have quite the eye-popping project reveal, so be sure to check back then! Happy weekend, friends!

Megan

Faux Bedroom Built-In (With Bookcases)

2015-07-08T03:00:00.000-04:00

Hello, friends! I hope you all had a fantastic holiday weekend and are having a great week. We snuck in one last real vacation before my husband goes back to work, Henry starts his summer activities, and I dive in deep to home projects and getting this ol' blog updated (soon, I hope!). It was just the vacation we needed after weeks of cleaning, moving, unpacking and organizing; and I wasn't quite ready for it to end. I really forced myself to unplug (hence why the blog and social media were all so quiet!), but I am back feeling super refreshed and ready to get to work!

One of my favorite aspects of moving is the blank slate that each new home brings. And more so, the opportunity to make all of our "old" things feel new and fresh. Even if I didn't thrive on changing things around, the fact of the matter is that rooms from house to house are different sizes, windows and doorways are in different places, and the needs of the family evolve. Therefor, what items go in which rooms and the layout and flow of the new spaces all need to be re-figured out each time around. I've mentioned it a couple times here and there...but I refer to the this process as "puzzling" our home back together. I LOVE figuring out which pieces will function their absolute best in new and different configurations...and it's this simple task of finding new places for our old things that makes everything feel updated even if the decor stays the same! Today's post is all about how two bookcases from our old dining room found a new home in Henry's bedroom, giving them AND the room a totally different feel!

Even before moving in, I knew from the pictures and floorplan of our new Kansas house that we would have no wall for the black bookcases that we previously used as a china hutch in our dining room. One of the best things about our 18+hour drive from North Carolina to Kansas was that I had A LOT of time to brainstorm, daydream, and plan...and it was on that drive that it occurred to me that just maybe, the bookcases could work in Henry's bedroom. It was, after all, the only other room that had a good bit of black in it.

My brainstorming paid off, because we indeed had no room for the bookcases in the dining room, and the they worked great flanking Henry's bed. I loved that they acted as side tables and allowed his bed to float in the center of the room without feeling awkward. The extra shelves were perfect for his ever-growing book stash, and also allowed for some concealed storage underneath. We had a winning solution!

Even though they arrangement was just fine as above, I felt as though the addition of a simple and inexpensive length of wood across the top would not only help the units look more cohesive, but would also give the illusion of a built-in bed. I'm all about adding in some impact and interest in a rental space!!! Greg was on board, so I measured the distance between the outside edges of the two bookcases, as well as the depth of the top and set off for the hardware store to pick up:

1x12x10' pine board
1.25" wood screws
Mini can of high gloss black paint
I already had on hand: sanding blocks, mini roller and paint tray

We started by trimming down both the length and the depth of the wood with a circular saw and sanded everything smooth.

After wiping the board clean of dust, I gave each side and all the edges 2-3 good coats of paint, allowing dry time between coats.

Once fully dry, Greg and I worked together to screw the board into to the tops of both bookcases, essentially creating one shelf across the top! While I knew I'd love the look of having the units joined, it didn't occur to me that I'd gain some great display spots for fun accessories as well as the pom-pom garland from his last room!

If we wanted to take this project a step further, we could certainly have added trim or moulding to bulk up the 1x12. But realizing this was likely a temporary solution for just this year (who knows what will work in the next house!), I didn't want to invest too much time or money! For about $15 and an hour or so of time, we added major visual interest to this bland bedroom!

While we're on the topic of this "built in," why don't I go ahead and show you the shelves! I had so much fun styling these shelves, and did so pretty much as soon as everything was unpacked. With so many extra shelves, I had plenty of space to unify his entire book collection (rather than having it spread all over the house), and added in fun animal/jungle-themed accessories for fun and color!

Nothing on these shelves is new. All of the items are either from his old room, his toy collection, or other items I had hoarded away!

I'm still so smitten with that rhino head above his bed, framed out in the green starburst frame. The black is just a circle cut from vinyl and stuck right to the wall. Of course, as I was editing these pictures, I could't help but feel that some sort of wrapping paper/wallpaper treatment between the bookcases (under the rhino/starburst) might really complete the whole display. We'll see ;)

The light bedding and colorful pillows are a great contrast to the dark bookcases. And you'd think I'd be hankering to paint that "vintage" wood bed, but for some reason, it really works for me, so it will stay as is!

Nothing in this space is new. Everything has been brought from Henry's last bedroom (or elsewhere around the house!). But just by moving things around and adding in a simple DIY, it really feels like a fresh space to me. And talk about killing two birds with one stone: not only did Henry's room get a re-fresh, but we found a great home for two bookcases that would have possibly been banished to the garage! I love moving :) #didijustsaythat?

New around here? Catch up on some of the projects featured in this space:

Painted Wooden Animals
Pom-Pom Garland
Dipped Elephant Feet

Easiest Throw Pillows Ever
Wild Green Quilt
Pom-Pom Pillow Sham

Re-arranging is nothing new, but don't hesitate to give your pieces new homes within your house and new looks within your space. Bookcases are the perfect piece to customize to just what you need. Don't restrict them to just office or work room...think out side the box and you can create some pretty unique spaces within your home using what you already have!

With vacation behind me, I should be back to my normal Monday, Wednesday, Friday posting schedule now. Coming up next: a look at a few of my favorite spaces I've created in this new house so far and how they make it feel like home already!

See you back here Friday!

Megan

THIHM Around the Web #8

2015-06-29T03:00:00.000-04:00

Another month has come to a close, and it sure was a busy one on this side of the screen! As much as I tried to take our moving month easy, I still had quite a few posts due to my free-lance sites! So amid living at the beach, traveling across country and unpacking, I was working away on some fun new content! As usual, remember that these posts will never appear here on THIHM, so I'd love it if you took a quick second to check out all this great content by following the links!

Over on ForRent.com, I continued to focus on apartment/rental living by contributing two quite different articles! In the first, I share an awesome high-intensity, no equipment workout you can do from the comfort of your own home! This is a workout I used to do with my personal training clients, and they hated to love it! If you're tired of the gym and need something effective and simple at home, check it out! For my other article, I share some easy strategies for creating an outdoor oasis, no matter how much time or space you have!

| AT-HOME HIGH-INTENSITY WORKOUT |

| CREATING AN OUTDOOR OASIS |

Over on My Daily Bubble, I'm getting ready for the Fourth of July with this fun patriotic craft. All you need is tape and straws to make these fun and festive party accents for your picnic or gathering this weekend!

| PATRIOTIC PARTY STRAWS |

Over on Coupons.com's blog, I continued with my Saving While Moving series with two more installments. In the first, I chat about strategies for saving money while on the road from your old home to your new home; and in the second, I share tips and tricks for saving money as you move in and re-stock your new home! Both have a ton of great ideas, so if you have a move coming up, be sure to check them out!

| SAVING WHILE MOVING: PART 2 (ON THE ROAD) |

| SAVING WHILE MOVING: PART 3 (MOVING IN) |

And with that, my friends, I'm going to take the rest of the week off! Between moving, unpacking, my free-lance work, starting projects in our new home, and keeping up here on the blog, I could really use a little break, and this is the perfect week to do it! I hope you all have a fantastic July 4th...I'll see you back here next Monday!

Megan

P.S. As I work behind the scenes on a few things blog/website update related, my posts may not show up in your feeds or readers every now and then. Be sure to check back to the website regularly so as not to miss any content. Once the new site is up and running, the feeds should be working properly again!

Brightening Your Walls and Rooms with Artwork!

2015-06-26T03:00:00.000-04:00

Earlier this week, I chatted a bit about how I am on a mission to decorate and brighten the walls of our home without using paint (catch up here!). One of the strategies I suggested was to use brightly colored-mats, frames, or artwork to make large, impactful, stylish, take-it-with-you statements in your space. I've got a lot of blank walls to fill up in this new house, so when the folks over at Minted asked me to share some of my favorite pieces and products, I jumped at the chance to scout out some great artwork and much-needed inspiration for some upcoming makeovers!

As I mentioned last week, I'm not taking on huge overhauls of every room in this house. Some of the rooms will have very similar (if not the same) design schemes as they did in our last home. But we do have a few new spaces that are getting fresh looks, and I know including just the right piece of art will go a long way in making each room feel cohesive and finished! For some rooms, I have a design plan well underway, and I was able to find some wonderful pieces that I know will complete the designs. I have a few other rooms (ahem, my office) that I just can't figure out, so it was fun to use the art as inspiration and jumping off points to get my ideas flowing! Even I was surprised to see where I ended up! Let's get to it, shall we?!

Our upstairs family room is one of the rooms I have a clear plan for. The colors and fabrics are picked (from my hoard!), and I have already started on some fun projects (like the fireplace feature). We shuffled the furniture around for (hopefully!) the last time, and I ended up with a large expanse of wall that is crying out for some striking art. While I LOVE the art I had hanging in our last family room, it doesn't quite fit with this new scheme, so it's been hung downstairs with the other blue/turquoise/lime accents! I found so many wonderful options for this room, but I am reeeeaaallly crushing on the pine needles print (#2 below). Not only does it nod to the green grasses on the mantel, but the pine needles really remind me of North Carolina (our last home). I love having an emotional connection to the things on our walls!

1 / 2 / 3

Our master bedroom is getting a mini update, and I actually think it will be the room that comes together first! We're adding in lush blue accents alongside all the greys and silvers from before, and I am LOVING where it's headed. Our new room is quite a bit bigger than our last one, and the white walls are feeling a bit vacuous. One of these three prints would nicely carry the blue scheme to the walls on the other side of the room. That #5 really has my heart!

4 | 5 | 6

You may have noticed on our home tour last week that for the first time ever, Greg and I will have separate office spaces. Not only is this good for our productivity, but it means I get to finally decorate a super girly space. In all honesty, this decor freedom has me a bit paralyzed, and I just don't know which direction I want to go. To get my ideas flowing, I let myself browse through all of the artwork on Minted and saved a few that I had immediate reactions to. I played around for a little while with colors and patterns, and I am super excited about both these possibilities. Not quite where I expected to head, but I love them both so so much. Now to decide!

7 | 8

Oooohhh - that #8 floral print has me pretty smitten. I never thought I'd go pink and green in my office (and I'm still am not sure I will), but I do love that print SO much!

One of the biggest design lessons I learned in our last home was that art really is the key element that brings together and finishes off a space. I truly regretted waiting so long to get art up on the walls and don't want to make that mistake again. Minted has so many great option for unique, beautiful art. I love that you can get the artwork framed and in almost any size you wish. Be sure to check out their art marketplace here. And if you're not in the market for artwork, did you know they also do holiday cards, baby announcements and wedding invitations? In fact, they just launched a brand new collection of wedding invitations, so if you or someone you know is planning a wedding, be sure to check it out here!

I'd love to know what you guys think of my plans for these three spaces? Any votes for the office/craft room? Which pieces of art are your favorites? Have you ever ordered from Minted?

I hope you guys have a fantastic weekend. See you back here Monday for my end-of-the-month round up - there's lots of good stuff to share this time around!

See you then!

Megan

This post was written in collaboration with Minted. All ideas and inspiration boards are my own; images of artwork used with permission from Minted. Please remember that I only work with brands and products I fully support and that make sense for my home, my family, and this blog. All opinions are 100% my own!

9 Things Renters CAN Put on Walls!

2015-06-24T03:00:00.000-04:00

My husband's best buddy bet us $100 that I couldn't go the whole year without painting a wall in our new house. He clearly knows me and my love of color too well. While the bet was in jest (I think!), I couldn't help but take it on as a personal challenge! While I love and stand by the transformative power of paint (especially when it comes to military housing when all the houses look exactly the same!), we are only here for a year, and painting back walls is a big ol' pain. Sooooo...challenge accepted! I'm officially on a mission to transform our spaces and give our walls some personality all without painting them!

I've got some fun ideas in the works, and I already revealed my first no-paint update earlier this week (catch up here!) As I've been brainstorming away and searching Pinterest for inspiration ideas, I've been reminded that, with some ingenuity and thinking outside the err...paint can...the possibilities really are endless! Before getting into some new ideas, I thought it would be fun to look back at some of the no-paint wall treatments I've already tried! Today, I'm showing you 9 things you CAN put on your walls without pulling out the paint brush!

1. Paper. Using paper to make 3D art is an inexpensive, simple, and super eye-catching way to dress up your walls. My sister and I crafted these oversized paper flowers out of bright cardstock to run down the all-white walls in my niece's bedroom. We hung these with sticky putty, but staples or tacks would work as well. This idea can be used in endless ways by changing up the shapes, colors, patterns, and layout of the 3D art!

2. Ribbon. My mom, sister and I used to make trips to the Offray ribbon outlet in Maryland. There, we could buy 100+ yard rolls of grosgrain ribbon in a huge variety of colors, patterns and sizes for as little as $5/roll. With ribbon too cheap to pass up, my ribbon stash grew a bit out of control. While living in Virginia (also for just a year), I was looking for a fun way to spruce up the walls in Henry's nursery on the cheap. A zigzag pattern done with some of my hoarded ribbon (put up using a staple gun) turned out to be a fun and simple solution! When it was time to go, I simply pulled all the ribbon down, wound it up, and saved it for future projects!

3. Contact Paper. Contact paper: the cheaper, thinner and more widely-available cousin to vinyl, is a great way to update your walls! While you certainly can apply it like wallpaper, think about various ways to cut apart and arrange it in patterns to mimic the look of wallpaper. One of my most popular projects ever here on the blog is my gold polka-dotted wall done with gold contact paper. I can now attest, having moved out, that these dots peeled right up, in less than 30 minutes without bringing any of the paint with them!

4. Fabric. Fabric on the walls is a wonderful alternative to wallpaper or painting, and sometimes can even be cheaper! Home decor fabric measures 54" wide, so you can get a lot of bang for your buck, especially if you only want to apply it to a nook or accent space. At $8/yard, this fabric installation below cost me less than $25! If you have a bigger wall to cover, look for heavily discounted fabric, king-sized bedsheets, long tablecloths, or curtains. Attaching fabric to the wall can be done in a variety of renter-friendly ways: staple gun, upholstery tacks, upholstery strips, and liquid starch to name a few! I used a staple gun to attach the fabric below. Again, when it was time to go, I simply pulled the fabric down and brought it with me. Thanks to all the yardage, I have plenty to use for new projects...some of which you'll see here soon!

5. Removable Wallpaper Decals. Removable wallpaper decals are another great renter-friendly solution. You can either buy them pre-cut or cut your own from pre-pasted wallpaper (these pictured below were from PBTeen years ago). To apply them, you simply wet them with water and smooth them on the wall with a brayer. While they can look cheesy, if applied in repeating patterns across a large space, they can mimic the look of high-end wallpaper and serve as a fun backdrop to a kids room, playroom, entryway, or office space. Like all the other ideas here, when it was time for us to move, these peeled right off the wall leaving no residue behind! The only bummer with this one though, is they were not reusable! (Photo from this space!)

6. Peel-and-Stick Wallpaper. Peel-and-stick wallpaper is my latest obsession, and I've used it all sorts of things from walls, to dressers, to lamps in recent months. I love that it is very thick, durable paper, so applying and repositioning it is quite easy. Also, these days, there are so many wonderful patterns and colors available that you can easily find something to work with your style and taste (check Spoonflower and Etsy). The only two drawbacks (that I've encountered so far) is that it can be expensive, and it can only be used once (realistically). If you find a paper you love, often times just one roll can be enough to give a space a jolt of style. Below I used one roll to accent our fireplace, and it completely changed the entire room!

7. Wrapping Paper. HomeGoods/Marshalls/TJMaxx sell the most wonderful thick, sturdy and stylish wrapping paper. At $3 for a 30"x12' roll, it's a lot of pattern for little money, and is a viable option when you have a big wall to cover. Wrapping paper can be hung with double-stick tape, staple gun, or tacks. Take note, however: even with the carefullest of installations, the paper won't cling to the wall the way fabric or wallpaper will, so prepare yourself for billows and bubbles. I also found that because the paper doesn't lay perfectly flat against the wall, seams can be pretty noticeable. I personally love to use it in the backs of bookcases and closets when I want some pattern but don't want to see the seams. Still, for the low expense and relative ease of installation, it's always an option to keep in mind...and when you take it down, you can always re-use it as intended: to wrap gifts!

8. Art. Art is a bit of an obvious method for adding personality to a wall, but I had to include this specific example. Beyond just adding art, also consider bringing in colors and textures through the frames themselves. Whether it's vibrant frames or mats, large framed blocks of color are an easy (and sometimes!) inexpensive way to brighten a wall. You can easily swap out colored mats when your decor or mood changes; and of course, everything can come with you when you move! (Photo from this space!)

9. Vinyl. Vinyl has gotten a bit of a bad rep for being cheesy and gaudy. But when applied in fun and interesting ways, it can be a wonderful and completely temporary medium to spruce up your walls. Here, vinyl rectangles applied in a patchwork pattern created the look of tile along the backsplash. A word of caution: be sure you are using re-positionable vinyl, or getting your shapes off the wall can be long, tedious and might just take the paint off too!

This list certainly doesn't include the only options for temporary wall-decor, but hopefully there are some ideas here you haven't considered or tried. I've got a few new ideas in mind for this house, and I'm also thinking about trying new attempts at some of these past ideas. Now to just make up my mind and get going :)

I'd love to know: what kinds of things have you done to your walls without painting? Have you tried any of these methods in your home? How did they work? Do you have any ideas or suggestions for me to try out?

Hope you're all having a great week! On Friday, I'll be back to share a little more new-house inspiration alongside one of my favorite art resources!

See you then,

Megan

Renter-Friendly Striped Fireplace Feature

2015-06-22T03:00:00.000-04:00

When most of our unpacking and moving in was behind us, I literally couldn't wait to get started on a few projects I've been scheming in my head for months! I've been sharing sneak peeks of this project over on Instagram for a week or so now, and I am super excited to share our first renter-friendly update to this house: a striped feature wall around the family room fireplace. I didn't paint these stripes...let me show you what I did!

Ya'll know I am a complete sucker for Target clearance stickers. Who's with me on this one? I've been trying to limit the amount of ~~junk~~ goodies that land in my cart lately, but when I see a deal too good to pass up, I pretty much can't resist. Months ago...seriously, months ago...I came across this blue/white striped peel-and-stick wallpaper with...you guessed it...a red clearance sticker. I pretty much fall for blue and white stripes on anything; and for $15, I knew I'd find a place to use it in our new home somewhere!

Back when we decided to rent this house and I saw the pictures of the fireplace in the upstairs family room, I had my mind set on using the wallpaper to do some sort of feature around it. Once the boxes were unpacked, I literally couldn't wait to jump into this project.

Here's where I started. The fireplace and mantel are deceivingly big: the mantel measures 56" in height, and the space above the mantel to the ceiling is 36" high. The whole thing is about 76" wide!

My very first step, which I forgot to photograph (sorry!!!!), was to sketch and plan on a sheet of paper. I only had one roll of the wallpaper that measured 20" x 16.5' and had no intentions of buying any more. I had an image in my head, but before cutting and applying the paper, I had to make sure I had enough paper to achieve the look I wanted. I roughly sketched out the dimensions of the mantel and the ceiling hight, and then taking into account the measurements and pattern repeat of the paper, figured out how best to lay it all out. After playing with a couple different options, I determined I had enough paper to extend the stripes 2" beyond the mantel on each side, as well as down the sides of the fireplace.

Once I had my plan in place, I used a level and plain ol' masking tape to mark out vertical lines to act as my outside borders for the paper application.

I then used a rotary cutter, ruler, and mat to cut my paper down to the right lengths, which for me, was 80" strips (at least for the top).

I can't stress enough how important that sketching/planning part is. As I was playing with different ideas, I realized that the top of the wallpaper had a white stripe. Because I wanted the paper to contrast with the white ceiling, I needed a blue strip across the top. While I could have just flipped the paper, see that tiny white edge along the bottom of the roll? That's to help line up the next section of paper. I needed that tiny strip on the bottom to help lay out the rest of the paper down the wall. After some more sketching and planning, I ultimately determined I had enough paper to trim off the top white strip so that I could have a blue strip running across the top while still having my small white guide strip along the bottom!

I don't have installation photos for you. Not because I forgot, but because getting the long strips of paper up onto the wall above the mantel without creases or bubbles took both Greg and I working together up on stools. In all honesty, putting the paper on the wall wasn't the easiest thing in the world. Our strips were 80" long, and that's a lot of paper to hold and level and place and smooth so that there are no bubbles and the lines run straight. The good news is that this paper peels off the wall and repositions beautifully, so with some perseverance, the first two strips were placed in about 30 minutes!

Once the long strips were up, I was able to work down the sides of the fireplace with more manageable pieces of wallpaper. The only tricky part here was working around the fancy molding on the mantel. Once I had the paper placed, I carefully cut away the paper with an Xacto knife, essentially tracing along the edge of the mantel. It's not perfect, but from a distance you can hardly tell!

Not counting the measuring, sketching, and calculating, the wallpaper installation took us about an hour after Henry went to bed. I've said it before and I'll probably say it many more times: never underestimate the power of a good stripe! Even in small doses, it can completely transform a space. Even I couldn't believe it when I stepped back and saw the result!

With the wallpaper up, I couldn't wait to get some of our other accessories up off the floor and on display!

The brass-colored mirror is one of my favorite recent purchases. I actually bought it just before leaving North Carolina while I was on a shopping trip with a girlfriend to furnish her house! I didn't know the measurement of the space between the mantel and the ceiling; but when I saw it, I knew it would look amazing on the blue and white paper. I was SOOO excited when it fit oh-so-perfectly!

On the right side, a few more thrifty accents...

The vase was another Target clearance score from ages ago. I've had it stashed away because I never had a good spot for it in the last house. I'm so excited to finally have a place for it. The grass is fake from Michaels and used to be in our playroom. It's one of the only fake plants I've owned that actually looks pretty great!

These brass candle holders were a treasure from my parents' basement. I love their unique shape!

I initially had a tough time figuring out what else to put on the mantel to balance the white vase and candles. I'm trying so hard not to go out and buy new things in situations like these, so I turned to my prop/party/decor stash. These glass candlesticks, which I normally use for parties, were the perfect size and scale, but I didn't want to add more candles. I decided to give succulents another try...fingers crossed I can keep these babies alive this time!

My favorite planter, Mr. Owl, has been put in his new place and given a new head of hair :) We're going for a more disheveled, tussled look this time around!

Stripes, brass accents, white pottery, and some plants all together really help make this new house feel like home already! This wall is officially my new happy spot.

And for those of you out there who have seen these chairs and are wondering...yes...this is exactly the direction I'm going, and I cannot wait to pull the whole room together!!!!

Peel-and-stick wallpaper can be VERY pricey. At full price, this roll would have been $30, and I've seen prices much higher than that on other sites and stores! If you wanted to do an entire room or even an entire wall, it can really add up fast. Keep an eye out for sales, clearance items, and discounts for similar products. To keep costs way down, use temporary wallpaper in a nook or to define a small space (like I did here). With some planning and brainstorming, a single roll can go a long way!

Adding this completely temporary peel-and-stick wallpaper, even in a small dose, completely changed the look and feel of an otherwise bland and boring room. Not only does the paper provide a focal point for the whole space, but the high-contrast pattern adds life and vibrancy to the room. For $15 and an hour of time, I'd call this one a success!

I'd love to know what you guys think? Have you used peel-and-stick wallpaper? Have you ever considered using paper to accent a small space? Are you shocked that my very first project involved getting some stripes into our new space? #cantstopwontstop !!!!

Hope you're week is off to a great start. On Wednesday, I'm going to share a quick round-up of some other completely renter-friendly wall treatment ideas. See you then!

Megan

We're Here For a Year - Let's Do This!

2015-06-19T08:49:00.000-04:00

It's a good day for a heart-to-heart, don't you think?

It's only natural, as we move into a brand new space, that my head fills with all sorts of ideas and plans. As you might expect, I would do all sorts of things to this latest home of ours' if I had unlimited time (and unlimited financial resources, ha!) But the reality of our situation is also setting in. We are only here for a year. There is a time limit on what I can do here...and because of that...there are practicality limits as well. As much as I want to...I can't makeover this entire house. I can't re-do our decor from scratch. I can't furnish every inch of this space. I can't customize our things to this house too much...because a year from now, we're going to be tearing it all apart and heading to another new home. Even though we've only been here two weeks, I already feel like the clock is ticking down. I hate feeling rushed.

When I dwell on this too much, it gets me down. This lifestyle is wonderful, but re-making a home (when you're someone who loves it as much as I do) over and over again can also be really draining and mentally and emotionally defeating. Not being able to do everything you want to do in a home is just plain frustrating to a gal like me. While I'm tempted to mope about it (and trust me, I've done my fair share of moping about this particular move!), I also recognize that I have a really unique opportunity here. Because I need each space we live in to feel like a home; because of this blog; and because of you guys out there reading...I'm choosing to shrug off the "what does it matter" thoughts that creep in every now and then and instead embrace our story. I'm acknowledging that we are only here for a year, and am challenging myself to make this house a home all within our time, budget and practicality constraints!

When I first sat down to put this post together, I originally planned to do inspiration boards for all the spaces in this house. But they weren't coming together. The reality is, I'm not planning massive overhauls. Yes, there will be new things and new fabrics and new colors introduced and (some) new room schemes. But instead of a full-house makeover like our last home, this move is all about puzzling our "old" things together in ways that feel fresh and further refine our aesthetic and our lifestyle. I can't take on the big home renovation projects other bloggers can. But I am ready to put my creativity and ingenuity to the test and come up with new, unique, renter-friendly, and budget-wise projects and real life solutions that we can all use to make our houses a little homier and our lives a little prettier!

Here's a few things I'm plotting on this side of the screen:

We're not painting (or at least trying really hard not to ;)...so I'm embracing our white walls and bringing in colors in other ways!
We're not replacing everything we have (like our last move)...so I'm coming up with new ways to give our old things fresh looks.
We need to watch our budget...so we're making choices about what we need in this house and what we really don't.
We're accepting that we're here for a year...and that not everything will get done!

Here's a look at things on my mind lately!

And last but certainly not least. I've been working for months with a graphic designer on a new brand/blog overhaul and we're getting close to the end. I'm gearing up to to get the new site up and running (hopefully) in the coming weeks. If I disappear on you for a bit, that's most likely what I'm working on! Here's a sneak peek of where we're headed!

Thanks to this blog and some goals I've set for the year, I'm actually super excited about the year ahead. I think you guys are excited too because I can feel the momentum building around here lately! All the comments and pageviews and likes and pins from my last few posts have had me walking on cloud nine all this week - so thank you to all of you for your encouragement and support!

We're Here for a Year....Let's Do This!!!

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend. I'll see you back here on Monday with our first project in this house!

Megan

Thriving & Surviving Military Life: Our #1 Trick for Getting Settled Fast!

2015-06-17T08:30:00.000-04:00

Since the beginning of the year, I've been dedicating one post per month to sharing snippets, encouragement, tips/tricks and nuances of living a military lifestyle. (You can read my last installments in this series here!) My hope with these posts is not only to share glimpses into our unique lifestyle with all my readers, but also to serve as a resource for my fellow military spouses who read this blog (which is starting to become more and more!!!) who can specifically benefit from my family's trials, errors and successes. I have coined today's post a "military thriving and surviving post" because the tips and tricks I'm sharing here specifically apply to a military/professional move. But don't click away just yet because these ideas can apply to anyone who is trying to get settled after a transition, no matter the distance or how it's done. Plus, I'm sharing the very first glimpses of our new space with stuff in it! (If you missed our new house tour, catch up here!)

Would you believe me if I told you just 5 days after the moving truck arrived at our new home, we were completely unpacked and put away, had no boxes or trash in the house, had done two major shopping trips, and were starting to hang things on the wall? It sounds impossible, but honest to goodness it's true, and I have pictures to prove it! For those of you who know me personally, you might not be too shocked. When it comes to sorting, organizing, and tackling big messes, I am quite the force to be reckon with. But before you think I have magical move-in powers, let me let you in on our family trick!

See those guys in that picture getting ready to unload our truck? They are the ones who not only brought everything from the truck into our house but also unpacked all our boxes, unwrapped every last dish and frame, broke down all the boxes, and carried away all the trash.

If you are a military family, do you know you rate a FULL unpack?!?! Some people know this and some don't. In our experience, most families "wave" the full unpack and choose to unpack boxes one at at time on their own timeline. We've done it that way a few times. But on our last few moves, we opted to have the packers unpack everything, and I don't think we'll ever go back to doing it ourselves. To each family their own; but today, I want to show you just why we let the packers do the un-packing.

To be clear, when I say "full unpack," this simply means that the movers will unpack the boxes and take the trash away. They can't and won't put anything away for you, which means the house fills up fast. When one surface is full, they put stuff onto the floor. When the floor is full, they make piles...and then more piles. By the time the packers leave, the boxes are surely gone, but you are left with one heck of a disaster!

After our full unpack, our house looked like this in every.single.room. No rhyme. No reason. Piles and piles of stuff. Some of it is in the right room, some of it isn't.

A full unpack is not for the faint of heart. You have to be okay with the packers touching all of your stuff and with lots and lots and lots of stuff everywhere. At first it will feel overwhelming and awful, and you'll wonder why you went this route. But in just a matter of days, your house will be put away. Not decorated and not anywhere near "done." But you will be unpacked and functioning within days. All that time and energy that would be spent tearing boxes apart, unwrapping items, and corralling trash is instead all put toward putting the house back together.

Our movers arrived Friday morning and left Friday evening (with all the boxes and trash in tow) around 5:00pm. I grabbed my camera on the following Thursday to show you just how far we came in the span of one week. These aren't final shots of our spaces. Nothing here is staged or decorated or really blog-worthy. Things aren't yet in their final homes; moving in and getting settled must happen before the projects and decorating start. I can't believe I'm posting these pictures online, but I really want to keep it real for you guys!

One week in... here's the family room...

The dining room...

The kitchen...

The master bedroom (including a new mattress!)

Henry's room...

Greg's office...

Megan's office...

The playroom...

I forgot to take pictures of the garage, but it's in a similar state. Things aren't quite final out there, but mostly sorted and put away. And just so you don't think I shoved things in closets just to get them off the floor...our closets are probably in the best shape of all!

Admittedly, I can be a bit of machine when faced with a big mess. After the packers left, I didn't really stop moving for almost 48 hours, with just breaks for meals and sleep! I have a knack for quickly identifying where things should go and how, and set right to work making it happen. While the messes really cause me anxiety, I am truly in my element putting everything back into order!

Our week went something like this:

Friday night - Playroom / Half of Kitchen / Master Bedroom Closet
Saturday - Rest of Kitchen / Megan's Office / Henry's Bedroom
Sunday - Family Room / Master Bedroom (loosing steam, but house is very functional at just 48 hours in!)
Monday - Errands - no unpacking!
Tuesday - Greg's Office / Garage
Wednesday - Errands / Laundry Room
Thursday - Hall closets / start hanging things on wall!

A full unpack is our secret to getting settled FAST! We find that we are able to set right to work getting things put away faster, and are able to find the things we need easier because everything is out of their boxes in the open. I realize this way is not for everyone...here's a few more pros/cons to consider!

Pros to a Full Unpack

The trash is gone right away.
Time that would be spent breaking down boxes is instead spent putting items away.
You can find what you need right away.
You are forced to deal with everything right away because the clutter is so bad.
You don't have still-packed boxes sitting in closets/storage months later!
You can assess damage right away, which makes filling out claims and paper work with moving company much more efficient.
By seeing everything at once, you can quickly assess what will fit/not fit in a particular space; if you need more/less furniture, or what kind of storage you may need to get right away.
Life gets back to normal very quickly!

Cons to a Full Unpack

It makes a HUGE mess (I really can't emphasize this enough!)
Because of the mess, you sacrifice mobility around the home.
Items can get broken - the few times we've had damage is because movers were careless as they were unpacking. You may also break/damage things as you move around the very cluttered house.
Movers get crabby - they don't like doing a full unpack because it lengthens their day.
It forces you to work quickly and possibly not think through how best to store/put away certain items.
All you will do for the first few days is put stuff away. If you have a trip planned or guests coming or activities scheduled, it may be better to leave items in boxes until you have the time to deal with them.
If you have little kids, having stuff everywhere may be more hassle than it's worth. Keep your family dynamics in mind!

Lastly, now having done a full unpack four times, here are a few things to make it go as smoothly as possible!

Mentally prepare for the mess. It's going to be bad. Focus on tackling one pile at a time.
Set out extra tables for packers to place breakable items on (such as dishes) so they don't get put on the floor.
Set expectations. Tell the moving crew first thing that you want a full unpack. This alerts them to the length and kind of day to expect.
Keep your packers happy. We've had packers rough-handle our things because they are grumpy about the full unpack. Snacks, cold drinks, and a friendly attitude go a long way in a making a more pleasant day for everyone!
Keep an eye on the trash. Movers move quickly and things can be left behind in all the paper and ultimately swept out the trash. As best you can, makes sure all the paper is empty before leaving the house!
Do your part. Help clear trash, put things away and work as a team with the packers to get the unpacking done as quickly as possible.

Whether you have professional packers or not, getting those boxes empty is key to getting settled quickly. Oftentimes we have to re-visit certain closets or rooms to refine or even re-do how the home is organized, but we find getting through the initial round of unpacking quickly helps us return to normal and start on the fun stuff much faster and easier! After the packers left that Friday night, I wondered why we went the full unpack route once again...but when the house was in mostly functioning order by Sunday night...I was so thankful we went for it. With the initial unpacking done, you better bet the projects have started!

What do you guys think? I'm curious how many of you opt for a full unpack when you move? Or do you rather unpack one box at a time on your own schedule? Are there any other pros/cons I may have forgotten?

This post marks the end of my moving-related content. It's time to get back to the decorating! On Friday, I'm going to chat a bit about my plans for this home while we're here and my own expectations for the year ahead!

See you then!

Megan

Welcome to Kansas | House Tour (Before)

2015-06-15T03:00:00.000-04:00

Last week I shared with you all that we have finally and officially moved into our latest home in the great state of Kansas! (By the way, I was so excited to get comments and Inst-messages welcoming me to Kansas from so many readers! Who knew I had such a great following here in Kansas! Hugs to all of you who made me feel so (virtually!) welcome!) This last week or so has been a flurry of activity on this end as we get settled into our "new" home. We've made awesome progress...but before I start to give updates and show you some of my first few projects here (yes, I've already been working on some things!), I wanted to give you the full "before" house tour. I realize that looking at pictures of a random, empty house isn't exactly exciting. But I like to show what we're starting with and share some of my first impressions of our new digs before diving in. It's always fun for me to refer back to this post as the months go on and the spaces evolve. This post also serves as the launch of the latest/newest round of posts and projects here on the blog! The official start of our next chapter, if you will. So let's get to it!

As I explained in this post, we decided to live off base here in Kansas. We've lived on-base for three out of four of our last duty stations, and I was really craving a change. We weighed a ton of pros and cons; when decision time came, off-base felt like a better fit for our family at this point in our lives. Only time will tell if we made the right call, but so far, we're really, really happy!

This house is a split-level house, so also for the first time: we have stairs! (In all honesty, my legs were really sore the first two days from all the up-and-down the steps! That sounds a bit pathetic - I swear I workout! - but it's quite the change after 10 years of single-story living!). This house has four bedrooms, three full bathrooms, an attached garage, and a finished, walk-out basement with a landscaped and fenced-in backyard. It's just a touch bigger than our last house...so everything is fitting really well. We are loving the fourth bedroom, so many extra closets and an actual backyard. In general: we are LOVING living in a REAL, normal house for the first time ever!

The layout is a pretty standard split-entry: as you walk in the front door, you can either go up or down. Let's go up first!

As you walk up the stairs, immediately to the left is a large family room with a single large window (that lets in amazing light!) and a fireplace. The ceilings are really high and there is a ceiling fan, which has been very welcome during these hot Kansas weeks so far! (By the way...who knew Kansas was so HOT?!?!? And we're coming from the south!)

As you face the back of the house, to the right is the dining room...behind that wall (in the above photo) is the kitchen.

The dining room is a nice size with real hardwood floors and more big windows. The light in this house is so great, and I am already getting much better pictures than in our last home!

Adjoining the dining room is the kitchen. I am so thankful to have windows in the kitchen after our last cave-like kitchen...and this is our first time having an island. I am already in love with it. Admittedly, all the brown is not my favorite and we're a smidge low on cabinet space, but the layout and natural light have really won me over!

Right off the dining room/stairway is a hallway that leads down to three bedrooms and a hallway bathroom. The hall also has two closets: a coat closet and a linen closet (the two first doors there on the left).

The first door on the right is Henry's room. It's a nice size with a good closet.

The second door on the right as you go down the hall is an almost-identical sized room which will serve as Greg's office. Yep - separate offices this year...YAY!!!

At the end of the hall is a very basic bathroom...

Across the hall is the master bedroom, which I LOVE! It has nice high ceilings, great natural light, and so much more space than we had in our last home.

The en suite bathroom (the double doors on the right in the photo above) is such a huge upgrade from our last teeny-tiny bathroom...a spacious vanity with a soaker tub, a shower, and a window make it feel pretty luxurious!

This master also features TWO closets!! Forgive my "shouting," but Greg and I have been sharing a closet for the last four years and have hated it. There's a reason you never saw the closet reveal in our last home - it was always a disaster. I'm so excited we have our own spaces! It's nothing fancy, but it's all mine! You can get a peek at how I organized it already here!

That's the whole upstairs. Let's head back down...

We have a "room under the stairs" for extra storage and tornado shelter ;)

Just to the right of the storage area, is my new office. Friends! This room is big and well-lit, and I am so excited to get to work in here!

The room has this 8" ledge that runs around 2 walls in the room. At first I wasn't sure what to do with it, but it's actually coming in pretty handy!

And my favorite part of this house? Right off my office is a downstairs family room which we will be using as a playroom. This separate space for Henry and (more importantly!) his toys has already been a game changer for us. (We may have already been to IKEA when I snapped these photos ;)

One of the main reasons we ultimately were swayed to go off base was because the craft room and playroom were separated off downstairs...and...this...

A walkout to a huge, fenced-in yard with a great patio and deck! We have never had a yard like this, or a patio/deck...so this will be very, very fun for our family!

The other thing we haven't had in a while? An attached garage! You don't realize what a difference it makes until you live without one for a while. It has finished walls and a floor, and it's so nice to feel like it's an extension of our house versus a grungy, gross, hot garage!

So there's the first glimpse into our home for the next year! Now having lived here just over a week, we are truly loving the extra space and the little imperceptible differences that come with living in a real house (versus base housing which, in our experience, is really just an apartment pretending to be a house!). It's not the fanciest house, that's for sure! But after living in boring builder basic for quite a few years now, this house really is a treat!

We're in a really unique situation this time around, being here only for a year...and I am anxious to hash out my ideas and set my own expectations for this house! I'm going to chat a bit more about my plans later this week. On Wednesday, I'll be showing our one-week-in progress, and share my secret for getting completely unpacked and settled in a new space FAST!

See you soon!

Megan

Moving Essentials | Must-Have Items for Keeping Life "Normal" Between Homes!

2015-06-12T03:00:00.000-04:00

This most recent move marks the 6th time in the last 10 years that Greg and I have packed up our home (with the help of professional movers, of course) and re-located. Over the years, we've had some pretty bumpy and miserable transitions due to rookie mistakes and poor planning. Like the time we slept on the bare carpeted floor for DAYs with our clothes rolled up as pillows because we didn't think to bring the air mattress/pillows and refused to go out and buy new ones because ours' were on the inbound moving truck. Or when we moved with Henry at 8 weeks old, and I packed ALL of his 6- and 9-month clothes in the car because "babies grow so fast, and we might need them before the trucks arrives;" and then we could never find anything we needed because the car was too full of baby stuff! #truestory

Well, the 6th time must be a charm because this move was our most bump-free one yet! We finally took the time to give some good thought to what all we'd need in the last house before checking out, on the road between homes, and in the new house before the moving trucks arrived...and then packed our cars accordingly. Yes, our cars were full; and yes, we had bags and bags of stuff to bring in and out of each place we stayed over the course of three weeks. But we were able to eat in more frequently, save money by not re-buying things we already own, and live relatively comfortably for an extended period of time without a majority of our belongings!

I realize not all of you wonderful readers out there are moving this summer or anytime soon. But I also know I have more and more military spouses out there reading, as well as other folks who have moves coming up, and thought this time-tested info was worth sharing. Use it this summer, send the link to a friend who is moving, bookmark it for later or just pass on through for today. I promise new-house content is coming SOON!

One last thing: these lists don't contain the obvious things like clothes, hygiene products, and snacks - I'm pretty sure you all know you need those things when you travel! Instead, these are the things you may not have thought of but will be oh-so-thankful you have them when all your stuff is packed onto a truck! Also, each family and every move is so so so different. Keep in mind your unique situation, where you're moving to, how you're getting there, and what your family needs to be comfortable in mind at all times!

Okay...I've broken it down into four categories: Eating / Living / Kids / Valuables. Let's get to it!

One of the toughest parts of living between homes/traveling is eating out for every meal. Not only do the costs add up fast, but it only takes a few days for the effects of excess calories/fat/sugar from restaurant food to take its physical toll. We have found that bringing just enough kitchen essentials to prepare simple meals and enjoy our creature comforts of morning cereal and coffee makes a huge difference. Here's our must-haves for meal time and why:

Paper plates, napkins, bowls, cups, and utensils. Moving time is not a fun time to be doing lots of dishes. You can certainly cut back on waste by packing plastic-ware and washing as you go, but the simplicity of paper really can't be beat.
Folding 6' table. Sitting on the floor for meals gets old really quick. These 6' tables that fold in half are WONDERFUL for eating meals on, and they still fit in any sized car!
Camp chairs. Not just for meals, but also for watching movies/reading books on electronic devices or even just hanging out...chairs are better than the floor at any age; and like the table, camp chairs fold up for compact transport!
1 cutting board + 1 all-purpose knife. Have you tried cutting vegetables with a plastic knife? Not fun. Leaving back a single cutting board and a good knife allows you to prepare meals with ease!
One pot + one pan + one cookie sheet. Between these three kitchen items, I am able to make a many of our favorite family meals.
Ziplock bags. Cooking while moving is not completely enjoyable. To reduce the awkward and exhausting meal prep times, I often cook in bulk and then bag up leftovers for following days.
Coffee pot + mugs. Greg and I are pretty serious about our coffee, and running out first thing to Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks gets time consuming and expensive. As ridiculous as it seems, keeping our Keurig and two real coffee mugs back is completely worth the hassle in order to have favorite morning beverage just as we like it!
Dish soap + sponge + paper towels. Even if you go with paper plates and utensils, the pot, pan, cookie sheet and mugs still need to be washed. Keep back basic washing supplies to keep everything clean.

I already told you our story about sleeping on the floor with nothing but our clothes as pillows. We've also been guilty of having to shower sans curtain because we forgot to keep one back/bring one with us and didn't realize it until shower time! Here's a few more of our Living Must-Haves...

Air mattress. I used to think sleeping on the floor was no big deal. I must be getting old, because the last time I did it it was pretty much torture. An air mattress, while not the most comfortable thing in the world, is a big upgrade from the floor. Just don't forget the pump!
Bedding + pillows. Sleeping is a whole lot better with sheets and pillows. Just saying. Not only are they good to have with you for the air mattress, but you'll know exactly where they are once your mattress does arrive in your new place!
Shower curtain and/or liner. Even if you pack the curtain, leave back the liner to keep both mess and privacy in tact. Be sure to take it with you (or buy a new one en route) so you can shower comfortably in the new place as well.
Towels. Air drying is fun and all, but really...there should always be room in the car for towels!
Laundry detergent. If you're going to be without your stuff and on the road for a while, doing laundry is inevitable. Movers usually won't move liquids. Instead of giving it away, keep detergent with you so you don't have to buy while in transit.
Hand soap. The old home and the next home both need hand soap. I've been guilty of giving all our soap away when purging our liquids only to run right back out and buy new bottles because well...you need hand soap. Bring it with you. It will get used. Just bag it up in those Ziplocks while traveling to keep messes at bay.
Clorox wipes. Even in an empty house, it's nice to wipe down surfaces after meals or bath time. Keep a single container back and bring them with you to the new place to give it a quick wipe down before boxes are brought in.
Step stool. More often than not, we have to paint and clean before moving out. Usually the step stool gets packed up, and we're left asking neighbors to bail us out. Not a big deal, but this time we kept ours' back, and it was used a ton. It's now on our Moving Essentials List!
Trash bags (not pictured). Even though the trashcans will likely get packed up, you will still generate a lot of trash, especially during clean out. Keep back a box of big trash bags that can easily come with you.

There are other items I didn't list as "essentials" but might be useful to keep back depending your situation. Paint rollers/trays, a vacuum, cleaning supplies (don't give them away until you've cleaned!), and a lamp (if you don't have overhead lighting) can all be useful!

Moving is a stressful time for the whole family, but especially for the kiddos. Our little guy is handling this whole transition like a champ, but we've also tried to keep our routines and systems in tact to help him out. Keep in mind, our son is 4, so we are out of the baby stage that requires a lot more stuff! These were our must-haves for our son this time around!

Sleeping bag/crib. Depending on the age of your child, you'll need to consider something for them to sleep on. Pack'n'plays and sleeping bags are the easiest and most compact options for kiddos...although I've seen some pretty cute kid-friendly air mattresses as well!
Music player/noise machine. An empty room (in the old house, but especially the new one) can be really frightening. Having Henry's usual music helped him fall asleep without any troubles.
Sippy cups. While Greg and I relied mostly on paper products, I did keep back Henry's plastic sippy cups both for ease and his comfort. They keep spills at bay (in the home and in the car) and can be put right into the fridge for repetitive use.
Books. Bedtime stories are part of Henry's nighttime routine, and we really didn't want to disrupt it during this transition. Even though he was in a sleeping bag in an empty room, he still had his normal series of events. Don't bring the whole bookcase...5-8 books you can rotate between is perfect!
Toys. Henry had to do a lot of playing on his own while we painted back our house and coordinated packing/unpacking with the movers. We strategically picked easily-packable toys that keep him entertained for long periods of time. We brought coloring supplies, a box of trains (no track) and a box of blocks, and he was good for three weeks!

Finally, it is highly recommended that you keep any and all valuables with you in your suitcase rather than in the moving boxes. For safe travels, here's how we handled our most valuable things:

Jewelry. I am not a huge jewelry wearer, but I do have quite a few expensive pieces. As such, I use a two-part system to transport my jewelry. I use this jewelry portfolio for my costume-type jewelry that I wear more often and keep in a more accessible part of my suitcase. I then have a travel-sized solid jewelry box that can hold the rest of my collection. This box stays deeper in my suitcase and doesn't come out while in transit. When in hotels, we lock this box into the safe if there is one.
Important personal documents. Passports, birth certificates, marriage certificates, medical records, car/house titles/documents all should be hand-carried from one location to the next. I shared here how I organize these items and keep them safe while on the road.
Camera and lenses. Nice cameras, as well as lenses should be personally transported as well. Use a bag especially designed for camera equipment to ensure everything travels safely.
Computers/devices. Admittedly, we are a huge Apple/gadget family. Not only for my work here on the blog, but also in our personal lives, we use our devices a lot. We have a pretty hefty collection of expensive and precious electronics, and we choose to bring all of these items in our cars, including the big computer. We use the original box to pack/transport the computer and have cases and covers for our phones, tablets and laptops. All the small electronics are packed into one single "Electronics bag" so we can easily find it, access it, and bring it in to hotels with us as necessary.
Cords/charging devices. Whether it's for your phone, camera, laptop, portable tv...whatever...be sure you don't let the packers box up your cords. Set them aside and keep them in a designated bag so you can find them and keep charged up at all times!

Greg always calls us "The Clammpets" when we move. Every.single.time. And for good and obvious reason: our cars are always packed to the gills with all sorts of ~~crap~~ things...some quite necessary, others not so much (although we've never had a rocking chair tied to the roof...yet!) The fact of the matter is when you move long distances and are faced with the possibility of living in temporary lodging or your new place without your stuff for long periods of time, there are just some creature comforts that make life a bit better and a bit more normal for all! With each move, we learn what things need to be added or can be kept off the list for next time.

I'd love to know: Do you move a lot? Do you have a "No Pack" list of things you keep with you during a move? I'd love hear what you load up in the car/suitcases!

Next week, I'm planning on revealing our Kansas house and showing you everything going on here! For now...back to unpacking!

See you Monday!

Megan

Smart Packing Solutions with EzPacking!

2015-06-10T03:00:00.000-04:00

On Monday, I (finally!) shared with you all what we’ve been up to for the last few weeks, including some of our family antics and where our next “new” home is (if you missed it, catch up here!). I casually mentioned a few times that we were living in between homes…without our stuff…for the last three weeks. Did you catch that? Three weeks! Three weeks of hotel, “on the road,” moving from place-to-place living. Later this week, I’m going to share with you all the necessities we keep off the moving trucks in order to keep life comfortable when we’re between homes. But today, I want to chat a bit about how I packed our suitcases to survive three weeks (which included a beach vaca and a cross-country road trip!) and to introduce you to my new favorite organizing solution: EzPacking Traveling Organizers!

A few months back, I spilled the beans on my number one secret to keeping our home and life clutter-free, streamlined, and organized: bins, baskets and totes for everything and anything! From shoes to spices, glitter to granola bars, I put almost everything in its own dedicated container. I find this single solution helps me put things away easier, find things faster, and keep my surfaces, drawers, cabinets, and floors easy on the eyes. So when EzPacking contacted me, asking if I’d like to try their new packing-made-easy Travel Organizers, my interest was certainly piqued. After perusing their site and watching their videos (all fully aware that we had this big cross-country move coming up), it was a match made in heaven, and I literally couldn’t say “Yes!!” fast enough. I picked The Complete Bundle in the royal blue color (I obviously can’t pick anything that doesn’t match my home!); and when the items arrived (quickly and in a simple little package!)…oh be still my organizing-loving heart…

All the totes were bright, clean, and perfectly labeled. I’m such a sucker for good branding and quality products, and opening this package was a feast for the eyes. The embroidered elastic labels on the shoe and laundry bags had me completely smitten!

The Complete Bundle includes:

1 Extra Small Cube
2 Small Cubes
2 Medium Cubes
2 Large Cubes
1 Foldable Duffle Bag
1 Set of packing boards (one of each size, not pictured below)
2 Shoe Bags
1 Laundry Bag

These bags are tough, made in just the right sizes, and the zippers are super sturdy. I put them through their paces over the course of the three weeks, and they held up beautifully. I am so excited to show you these babies in action! Note: these are not staged photos, this is real life packing, people!

As other military families can attest, when you move, there is no way to know how long you will be without your stuff. Trucks get delayed, shipments get lost, and at peak moving time, it can just take a long time to move stuff from point A to point B. As such, you have to be prepared to live for a while without all your stuff. For our family, we were looking at 3-6 weeks from when our trucks pulled out to when they would arrive at our new home. Besides preparing for a variety of weather and temperature conditions, we were also going to the beach and a few dress-up events. In short, I had to get all this…

...to fit into this…

When I first started playing around with the different packing cubes, they seemed quite small. But as I started folding and sorting, I was truly amazed at what all could fit inside! Here…I have two different bathing suit sets in one Small Cube: 2 swim briefs, 2 swim shorts, 2 swim tops, and 2 sun shirts.

Five sets of workout clothes, complete with socks, headphones, watch, and belt all tidily fit into a single Large Cube!

The organizing geek in me couldn’t wait to use the included shirt folding boards! Nerdy-ness aside, they really did reduce bulk, ensuring I could get as many shirts into the Medium Cube as possible! In this Medium Cube, I have two long-sleeve button-up blouses, 3 light-weight blouses, and 4 t-shirts with room to spare!

Accessories/undergarments, tops, and bottoms/dresses were categorized and packed into single Small, Medium, and Large Cubes, accordingly. In these five cubes was a majority of my wardrobe for the 3 weeks:

2 bathing suit sets / three lightweight scarves / 2 belts / 7 underpants / 2 bras / 9 tops /

4 shorts / 3 pants / 4 lightweight dresses

The EzPacking folks also offered their Storage Cube for me to try, which is quite a bit bigger than the Travel Organizers. Although this cube is designed to store winter clothes or bulkier items in your closet, I found it was perfect for packing our heavier items like sweatshirts, jackets and jeans, as well as “extras” for Henry...all things that we “might” need but probably wouldn’t!

In the remaining Large Cube and Extra Small Cube, I packed Henry’s “one week” wardrobe so that we wouldn’t need to access the large Storage Cube at the bottom of my suitcase!

In one Storage Cube and one Complete Bundle, I was able to pack Henry’s wardrobe and my wardrobe, including beach, dress-up and cold weather items, for our three-week trip! Sure enough, all of our “just in case clothes” stayed packed away in my suitcase, while we both used all the other cubes easily and efficiently.

As you might guess, my absolute favorite aspect of this packing system is that finding just what you need is a complete cinch. Need your bathing suits? They’re in that small cube all together. Need your workout clothes? They are all packaged together too. Likewise, pulling out just a top and pair of shorts doesn’t require unearthing the entire suitcase!

Another favorite aspect of these cubes is that they make unpacking while traveling quick and easy too. Instead of unpacking all the totes, I placed each cube, as is, right into the dresser drawers! Pulling out and replacing items was super simple, and when it was time to pack up and move on, I just zipped up the cubes and put them back into my suitcase!

Lastly, the EzPacking folks didn’t overlook anything! Generous-sized shoe bags, a laundry bag, and an extra (foldable!) duffle bag are also included (and were all also used on our trip!), literally providing everything you need to stay organized no matter how much you’re packing or how long you’re traveling!

Are you convinced you need these travel organizers yet?

My friends at EzPacking are now offering a 10% discount to all THIHM readers between now and June 17th!!!! Just use the code MEGAN at checkout!

If you’re ready to give EzPacking a try, I can’t recommend The Complete Bundle enough, especially since it comes with the awesome shoe and laundry bags. If you want to test the waters first, try the Starter Set to get a feel for the size and function of the cubes. I promise you'll be heading back for more!

To all my international friends, EzPacking does ship overseas. Just be sure to email them for a specific shipping quote before ordering!

From the start, I loved the concept of the zippered totes because I am really just a sucker for having my items, no matter what or where they are, compartmentalized. However, I completely underestimated how truly easy these little totes would make packing a large suitcase for an extended period of time...and even more so…how these simple little bags would keep me and my family organized and sane on our three week adventure. There was no rummaging through suitcases, no big messes, nothing forgotten, nothing left behind at each stop. I was honestly blown away how something so simple made such a huge difference in something that can truly be a such a hassle.

These EzPacking Storage Cubes are now on my traveling/moving “Must Have” list – see what else we consider moving essentials back here on Friday!

See you then!
Megan

I did not receive compensation for this blog post; however EzPacking did provide the travel organizers for me to use and review. Please remember that I only work with brands and products I fully support and that make sense for my home, my family, and this blog. All opinions are 100% my own!

The Last Few Weeks (and Our New Home State Reveal!!!)

2015-06-08T03:00:00.000-04:00

Heeeeellloooo Everyone! Sorry for the silence around here last week. I actually had posts planned out for the whole week, but was unexpectedly without Internet for a few days, which (as you might expect) kept me from getting them up here on the blog. I'm back up and running, and I am really excited for today's post. This isn't my usual home decor-/project-related post, but so much has been going on the last few weeks that I just had to take a moment to share!

Over the last three weeks, while I've been sharing my grasscloth-covered trunk tutorial, my organized printer station, the last few reveals of our North Carolina house (you can see the family room reveal here and the whole house tour here in case you missed them!) and more...pretending all was normal and right in our home and our life...so so so much was happening...

The moving trucks came. After three days of packing and two days of loading, our stuff was on it's way to our new home without us.

Yes, five days of packing and loading - we've never needed five days before and shouldn't have this time either. There were hiccups, stresses, and frustrations along the way...but by Friday, our home finally looked like this:

We've moved enough times now to know that we hate eating pizza on the floor and not having our coffee first thing in the morning, so we keep back just enough to make life comfortable! I'll be sharing my "No Pack/Life on the Road" must-haves soon! (If you're wondering, the flowers were from Mother's Day :)

Then for the next three days, we did this:

Henry thought it was the coolest thing ever that he actually got to help paint. I, however, was truly sad to paint over my beloved stripes as well as all the other walls we've enjoyed the last three years.

Four gallons of paint+primer and three straight days of paining later, our house was returned to it's original state. All traces of our home, our personalities, our life there now only live in our memories (and here on the blog!)

We cleaned and cleaned and cleaned to prepare for checkout while Henry got in some final playtime with his very best friends across the street. After packing up the cars, we snapped one more family shot in front of our "Yellow House" and then said farewell to our North Carolina home. (See that look on my face? That's pure exhaustion mixed with holding back tears so Henry wouldn't freak out!)

Instead of hitting the road right away, we did something we've never done while living in North Carolina! We went to the beach...for two weeks!!!!! While we've done day trips to the beach many times, we've never actually stayed at the beach during the whole three years. Since our new house wasn't going to be immediately available, we jumped at the opportunity to live in a beach condo on Emerald Isle, North Carolina to wait our time out.

Best.Idea.Ever.

Greg was still able to go to work, Henry still went to school, and I still got some work done...but in between, we were able to play, relax, and rest up for the trip and task ahead!

During our time on Emerald Isle, we also went to 1940's themed dinner dance aboard the USS North Carolina with some dear friends. Greg and I are HUGE swing/ballroom dancers (we even took lessons for a year!) so this event was such a fun and special way to close out our time here in North Carolina! I LOVED getting dressed in period garb, and the decor and details of the event did not disappoint!

Right next to our beach condo on Emerald Isle were these HUGE wild flower fields. Every time I drove by, I wanted to stop and take pictures. One night after dinner, we were all in good moods (and relatively matching attire) so we headed out for an impromptu photo session. Henry has entered the "fake smile" stage, but we were actually able to capture some pretty good ones. What I love most about these pictures is that they represent such a fun, special, calm, and relaxing time for our family. A time we really, really needed.

After a few last-minute meetups with some of our closest friends, it was finally time to hit the road. Our travels took us from North Carolina...to...

...into...

...then to...

...through...

...to our NEW HOME in the STATE of KANSAS!

Phew!!!!!! Okay now - pick your jaws up off the floor. Did you figure it out? Did you guess right? Are you in shock? It's okay...I was too, for a really long time. In fact, now that we're here, I'm still kind of in shock. To be clear, I have nothing against the lovely State of Kansas. It's just that when you're a Marine Corps family, Kansas is not really on the "usual" lists of places to be stationed. Never in a million years did I think we'd be living in Kansas. But we are...we're here for a year...and we're going to make the most of it!

Exactly three weeks after saying goodbye to our North Carolina home, we opened the doors to our 6th home to start our next adventure. All of our stuff arrived on Friday, and I am totally in my element puzzle piecing our home back together. I am just sooooooo excited to show you guys everything.

Just a quick head's up: my posting schedule may be a bit bumpy over the next month as we get settled. Just know that good things are coming down the pike, so check back regularly! If you don't want to wait for updates to hit the blog, be sure to follow me on Instagram where I'll be sharing real-time progress!

Before I sign off, I just wanted to thank all of you who have left comments, written emails, left Facebook messages and Instagram notes lately about me, our final North Carolina home reveal, what I do here on THIHM, and this transition to our next home. I am thrilled that you guys are excited to follow along and share in this next adventure with me and my family. I am just so thankful that you make time for me, my ideas, and this blog; knowing you guys are out there cheering us on means the world. Hugs!

Check back here on Wednesday for an AWESOME product review! See you then!

Megan

Home Tour | Camp Lejeune, North Carolina

2015-06-01T03:00:00.000-04:00

The time has come to do our final house tour of our current home. When we moved in three years ago, I thought this post would come within just months...maybe one year later. Little did I know that I would literally spend our entire time here working on this house, only calling it done in the weeks before moving...and not because it feels done but because the moving trucks are arriving, and it's literally time to go. I'm filled with such emotion, amazement, satisfaction, and pride as I look at all these pictures (and caution: there are A LOT of photos ;) How the house actually all came together...one idea, one project at at time. What all I (and we) created with our own ideas and own two (or four!) hands. I didn't really know where this house would end up when we started, and there were so many wrong turns as well as excited moments along the way. This was real life trial and error done for the pure enjoyment of creating homey, pretty and personal spaces for me and my family. And here...at the end...I'm just so...proud.

This house is an 1800-ish square foot single-story Capecod-style home aboard Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. It has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a detached two-car garage (although we hardly ever parked our cars in it!). This house is military base housing to the core: nothing special, nothing fancy. No architectural details, no fancy appliances, no high-end finishes, and not a lot of windows. It has builder basic bathrooms and a kitchen, popcorn ceilings, worn carpet throughout, and fake and mis-matched flooring across four rooms. We weren't allowed to tear down walls or rip out carpet or tile back-splashes or paint cabinets...but with a ton of ambition and all renter-friendly ideas and DIYs, we transformed this boring and basic home into something truly special.

(A few quick notes about this post before I dive into a whole bunch of photos. You can see the "before" shots of this house here, our paint colors here, and the inspiration boards for this space here. I'm not including room descriptions, product sources, or tutorial links here because I have done all that in my room recaps for each space, which I will link throughout or you can find here. This house and these spaces evolved SO much in the course of three years that no room reveal posts I've done so far seems quite accurate. As such, my goal for this post was to show our home in as close to it's final state as I could get. If there is a space or project shown here that you can't find in the depths of my archive, leave a comment or write an email and I'll try and point you in the right direction!)

Okay...grab a drink (seriously, this is a long one...go grab a drink and maybe a snack!), sit back and relax, and let me give you one last look at this, our 5th home (sniff).

We affectionately call this home our "yellow house." In addition to giving the front porch several makeovers as seasons changed, we dug out the front flower bed and did all the landscaping ourselves. On most days, our driveway was littered with kid toys and project supplies. We use every inch of this home...inside and out!

Come on in!!! Since we actually don't enter the house through the front door, our foyer is much more decorative than functional. A lemon-lime console table and gallery wall greet visitors, while we store our book collection in a nook behind the door. The front hall closet actually functions as toy and seasonal storage instead of coats!

Right in the front door, off the small foyer, is a great room that measures about 13'x18'. We split this large room into two different zones: the playroom and our family room.

Our large, blue sectional serves as a room divider, creating distinct spaces that are unified through a consistent decor scheme. One of the very last elements to come into this space was the grasscloth-covered trunk, which is possibly one of my most favorite projects ever!

As you continue to move toward the back of the house, you come into our spacious dining room, easily one of my favorite spaces in our entire house. Immediately to the right, is a hallway that leads to all the bedrooms. Further back and to the right, is the kitchen and laundry room. The sliding glass door leads to a 3' square concrete slab and an alleyway, so we essentially have no backyard.

The kitchen is right off the dining room and has cabinets and appliances on the only three walls of the room. This space was high on storage and brown cabinets but very low on design and natural light. This is our version of making lemonade from lemons!

Between the dining room and kitchen is our laundry room/pantry. This was one of the very first spaces I completed in this home, and it didn't change a bit our entire time here!

As you come from the dining room and down the side hallway, you come across an alcove that we transformed into our family command center and drop zone. Since we always enter/exit through the side door that is further down this hallway, this turned out to be an awesome use of this awkward space!

Just to the right of the command center is our hallway/guest bathroom/Henry's bathroom. It is basic and simple...bright and cheerful.

Across from the bathroom is a very large linen closet that we outfitted with all sorts of baskets, totes and bins to hold everything and anything our household needed!

Directly across from the command center is the first, large bedroom that we used as a craft room and office. As you walk in the door, the "office" side of the space is directly ahead, with the craft side of the space off the the right. The far wall features a workstation with countertop while the fourth wall holds my sewing desk.

We removed the standard closet shelves and stacked cubed shelving as high and tight as we could to hold all sorts of craft supplies, books, and more in a single closet!

Right next to the craft room is Henry's bedroom. A bright, fresh and really fun space that he is proud to call his own and show off to anyone who comes to visit!

At the end of the hall, before you head out the side door is the master bedroom along with an en suite bathroom. It is a small and awkward room but thanks to a great paint job and glamorous finishes, it is a serene and comfortable retreat at the end of busy days!

As you walk out the side door into the garage, this is the back corner work space, that I wish I could say looked this clean and tidy all the time. The reality is that our garage is in a constant and fluctuating state of chaos. The other side and back storage room have never gotten to a place that I felt like I could photograph it and show it off!

And with that, I'm bringing this, our North Carolina home for the last three years, to a close. It's time to pull everything apart and return this house back to its blank slate status; to box everything up and move it all to our next home that is awaiting our personal touch (and to keep documenting it all right here for you guys!). I hope you enjoyed this post, as well as the past three years of projects, wrong turns, and successes in making this empty space our home! For all you renters and military spouses out there, just because we move frequently and often live in bland/boring housing, you can make a space that feels like home no matter how far from home you are. You can make a sanctuary that feels real and true for you and your family to create memories in and endure tough times in. You can give a boring home loads of personality through renter-friendly projects. And at least for me and our family...the effort, time, and cost are all totally worth it. Farewell, Yellow House...it's been so, so, so good.

Megan

THIHM Around the Web #7

2015-05-29T03:00:00.000-04:00

Another month is drawing to a close, so it's time again for my monthly round-up of my projects and writings featured elsewhere on the web! This month was a relatively light month; and as you might expect, several of this month's posts (as well as next month's) focus on moving strategies! As always, please keep in mind these posts and projects will never appear here on THIHM, so be sure to follow the links and like, share, and pin from there!

As a military spouse with a husband who has been deployed A LOT in the last few years, I've become a pro at making myself dinner night after night without relying too heavily on peanut butter sandwiches and bowls of cereal! Over on the ForRent.com blog, I am sharing my tried-and-tried strategies for making myself meals without spending hours in the kitchen alone!

| EATING WELL WHILE LIVING ALONE |

Over on the Name Bubbles blog, I am sharing a super fun and simple DIY tutorial for making "sentiment sticks." These are the perfect solution for dressing up and customizing simple plants and flowers to meet all of your gift-giving needs this time of year!

| DIY SENTIMENT STICKS |

On Coupons.com's blog, I am writing a four-part Saving While Moving series, in which I share all my tips, tricks, and strategies for saving money while making a cross-country move! Right now, Part I - Saving While Preparing to Move is live and chock full of great ideas. If you have a move coming up, I highly suggest you check it out!

| SAVING WHILE MOVING: PREPARING TO MOVE |

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend. I am busily preparing my final home tour post, which I'm hoping to have put together by Monday. I really can't believe it's almost time to close this chapter of our lives and open the next.

See you then!

Megan

Inspiration Versus Actual: How Did It All Play Out?

2015-05-27T03:00:00.000-04:00

I'm feeling pretty nostalgic these days. As we pull our North Carolina home apart, it's only natural for me to reflect about our time here...all the memories made, holidays celebrated, challenges endured, and of course...projects made, photographed, and blogged! Three years ago, we moved into this house after living in our previous home for just a year. This home felt like my design oyster of a sorts, and I couldn't wait to make over room after room and put all my ideas and creativity to work. And for three full years, I have done just that. Project after project and makeover after makeover. I literally hung the last thing on the walls just a few weeks ago.

When I realized it was just about 3 years ago to the day that I was sitting in a hotel room (waiting for this house to become available), immersed in plans, color samples, fabric swatches, and countless pins, excitedly designing out inspiration boards and project to-do lists for this home, I couldn't help but want to look back and see how it all played out. While I referred to these inspiration boards a lot in the first few months/year in this home, I haven't looked at them in a really, really long time. So today, I'm revisiting my inspiration boards from three years ago and showing you how they turned out in real life. I didn't edit a thing from these original boards, and it sure is interesting (and fun!) to see how simple color, fabric, and project selections translated into real rooms in our home!

Dining Room. The dining room is one of our favorite spaces in this house, and it also came together the easiest. For not referring to the inspiration board for a long time, it's pretty amazing how close the room result came!

Living Room/Playroom. On the flip side, the combined living room/playroom was the room that took the longest, wrapping up just in the last few weeks. I wavered a lot from the original "plan," especially in the beginning, completely changing the color palette to red/white/blue. After things were going no where good, I returned to the cobalt+turquoise scheme, also adding in lemon and kelly green. As I look now at my starting inspiration board, I don't think I had a solid direction/mood for this space mapped out. Perhaps that's why I had the hardest time pulling it together!

Master Bedroom. The master bedroom was the room that came together slowly, but came together easily. All of the pieces fit together just right, it was just a matter of finding the time to do them! Of all the rooms in our home, this final result matches the inspiration the closest. I think it is because the inspiration images reflected a total room feel, rather than isolated projects that I had to somehow puzzle together.

Henry's Nursery. Woah! Raise your hand if you remember Henry's original nursery!?! Even though I pulled this room apart just over a year ago, it feels like ages since his room looked like this! This was a fun and whimsical room with a painted ceiling and stripes on the wall. I pulled this room together really quickly because 1) I used many items from his nursery in our previous home, 2) I had a clear theme, and 3) baby rooms are just too fun to work on! My only regret here? Painting the ceiling lime green. Little did I know everything in the room (from the toys to furniture to our faces) always looked putrid. Never again!

Henry's Big Boy Room. Around March of last year, I had enough of the green ceiling and the baby nursery feel. So when we transitioned Henry out of his crib, I also took the opportunity to give the room a fresher and more grown up vibe. By this time, I had a better handle on how to create a truly helpful inspiration board by focusing on the overall, cohesiveness of the different elements rather than just a visual cluster of colors and project ideas. As such, this room came together quickly and easily and was never touched up after I proclaimed the room done. This room is still one of my all-time favorites.

These last two room comparisons require a bit of an explanation. Both of these spaces were re-done several times with the final result swaying significantly from the original inspiration. (Sometimes you end up abandoning plans all together when the room is just not coming together the way you wanted.) As many of you long-time readers know, neither of this spaces finished up as I have them here. I am planning on putting together one final full house tour to show you the final state of every room, so today I wanted to show you how they ended up before I decided to change directions all together!

Craft Room/Office. This room is another example of how the inspiration board didn't do me any favors in providing a feel, mood or solid direction for this space. While I did create many of the projects seen on my board, I floundered a TON in getting this room to a place where I felt productive and creative. I ultimately ended up abandoning the green completely (swapping it for gold accents instead) and concealing many of my craft supplies behind doors and drawers for a more streamlined look.

Outside. As many of you long-time readers know, our front porch has had the most different looks of any other space in our home. This is partly because outdoor items in the North Carolina elements (sun, sand, wind, rain) take quite a beating. And as I replaced things, my aesthetic changed considerably. I also found red a bit difficult to decorate around and slowly but surely eliminated it from everywhere around our home. Still, my original front porch was an almost-perfect reflection of my inspiration board (and I still REALLY love that color palette)...in fact, I might even go back this direction for our deck/patio space in our next home! Good thing I have a lot of the fabric leftover ;)

All in all, this little exercise and walk down memory lane was really fun and encouraging to me. I am certainly not a designer and don't know a thing about the "right way" to design a room or put together an inspiration board. I made a lot of mistakes along the way and even abandoned some of my plans all together...but I also learned a ton about myself, what I like/don't like, and what elements help a room come together well. Many of these spaces indeed turned out similar or close to my original plans for the space; and I can now see that the rooms I really floundered in didn't have a good solid direction mapped out in the first place.

As we head into our next home for the next year, I'm not going to be able to re-design our entire home top-to-bottom (thank goodness!). However, I'm now super excited to pull together some fresh inspiration boards to help me put things together and continue to refine my style and our home in our new spaces!

I'd love to know...Do you use inspiration boards when you make over a space? Do you find them useful or restrictive? Do you ever stop and look back at your original inspiration for a space? What do you think of how my spaces turned out?

I hope you all had a fantastic holiday weekend! If you follow me on Instagram, you know we have been soaking up some of our final days of North Carolina sun and sand. I can't believe our time here is actually coming to an end!

See you back here Friday for my monthly writing round-up!

Megan

Organize This: Printer Station

2015-05-22T03:00:00.000-04:00

Time is quickly winding down in this house (sniff), but I wanted to sneak in one last Organize This post centered on a little nook that I made over quite some time ago but never got a chance to share! When I consolidated my craft work station and re-arranged our craft room/office at the end of last year, my blue towers needed a new home. After shuffling around (and selling off) a few items, our former printer station and blue storage towers were combined on the same floor foot print to create the ultimate Printer Station!

For whatever reason, my son is (and always has been) obsessed with our printer. Having it concealed before worked great, but putting the printer up high has worked even better! I love having it completely out of the way and off our desk surface but easily accessible when we need it. Three cheers for wireless technology that truly allows you to put items exactly where you need them! Thanks to the printer, a stand-alone acrylic file holder and the storage drawers below, all of our printing supplies are in one handy place!

In the three drawers right below the printer, we keep extra printer ink, cords, printable CDs, and white printer paper for quick and easy access whenever these supplies run out. I love having dedicated places for these items. When we run out, both Greg and I know exactly where to find replacements; and when we buy extras, we know exactly where to put them!

In the acrylic file holder right next to the printer are all the speciality papers I use for various craft projects, as well as those we use for household tasks.

I found the clear acrylic box at Staples and cut the gold "Files" label with my Cricut out of gold contact paper.

Because I can't leave anything plain, I used Jen's great trick of upping the style factor of my file folders by adding washi tape across the tabs and labeling with a fine tip marker.

Inside all these folders are my specialty papers: white cardstock, glossy photo paper, laminating sheets, return address labels, printable sticker paper, t-shirt transfers and more! After trying different methods for storing these types of supplies, I have to say I LOVE having them in separate, labeled file folders right next to the printer. No more mixing of the various printer-friendly sheets, and everything is ready right where I use it!

And with that...we have a handy and convenient Printer Station in our home office. An out-of-the-way, centralized location for anything and everything printing-related that we need and use on a daily basis!

As always, my goal with these little Organize This posts are not to show you huge organization overhauls, but rather simple little solutions that you could complete this weekend that will make a big difference in the day-to-day functioning of your home! Be sure to check out my other posts in this series below:

Organize This: Bakeware	Organize This: Recipes	Organize This: Tiny Toys
Organize This: Wrapping Paper

I hope you all have a fantastic holiday weekend! We have a really fun one with friends and family planned, so if I am not here Monday, it's because I couldn't tear myself away from the fun to write my post ;)

See you back here soon!

Megan

12 Wallpaper Ideas for Renters!

2015-05-20T09:30:00.000-04:00

I've had wallpaper on the brain...and in my hands, on my furniture, and on my walls...lately! I love working with wallpaper in unexpected ways, as well as figuring out creative ways to get the wallpaper look without the hassle and permanence of the real deal! For all of you who love the look of wallpaper but are unable or unwilling to paste paper to your walls, I've rounded up 12 of my favorite (and completely renter-friendly!) projects to help you get your pattern fix!

1. Transform a Lamp Base. Use removable/repositionable wallpaper to add personality and style to otherwise boring lamp bases. This technique works best for lamps with straight and simple shapes. Since it's removable, it's easy to change out as your decor or mood changes! (Used here: (this one is from Spoonflower)

2. Dress Up Cardboard Boxes. Basic cardboard boxes can become gorgeous and functional home accents by simply covering them in metallic wallpaper. Pre-pasted wallpaper makes this project a breeze: just cut, wet, and wrap! This is a great project for using up samples or leftovers from a bigger project. (Used here: this one from Lowes)

3. Create Graphic Pop Art. When paired with wood, paint, and clear resin, large wallpaper samples or scraps can become eye-popping, one-of-a-kind works of art that come down and move when you do. This technique can be customized to suit any decor style or color scheme by swapping out the colors, papers, and shapes. (Used here: free samples from Walls Republic)

4. Give Furniture a (Temporary) Face Lift. Need to quickly and easily change the look of a piece of furniture? Maybe you temporarily moved it to a new room, and it no longer matches; or you are really craving a new look but hubby won't let you paint it. Cover the entire piece or just sections of it (in this case, the drawers!), with removable/repositionable wallpaper to give it a temporary update. Same as the lamp project above, this works best on furniture with clean, straight and simple lines! (Used here: this wallpaper from Spoonflower)

5. Create a Focal Point. If your space is feeling a bit one dimensional or needs a distinct focal point, consider introducing a new look through wallpaper. Instead of on the wall, cover a main piece of furniture in durable and textured wallpaper to create a visually interesting accent for your space. Wallpaper is a fun and often easier alternative to paint or stain, allowing you to create unique, one-of-a-kind pieces for your home with ease! (Used here: this paper from Walls Republic)

6. Make Your Own Wall Decals. Wall decals are a great way to get the wallpaper look without investing in rolls and rolls of expensive paper. From a single roll, cut shapes from pre-pasted wallpaper (using an e-cutter is best!) and secure them to the wall in an interesting, repeating pattern with water. When it's time to go, the decals peel right off without any fancy steamers or chemicals, and leave no residue behind! (Used here: this one from Lowes)

While I love a good wallpaper any day, I also love to re-create the look of wallpaper on the cheap using other materials such as wrapping paper and fabric. These next few projects utilize these other mediums, but the effect is the same and can certainly be achieved using wallpapers as well!

7. Make Your Closet Fun! In the same way that pretty paper liners add a pop of fun and whimsy to your drawers, adding fun paper to the back of closets can make putting items away a bit more exciting. Thick wrapping paper adhered with double-stick tape is the ideal faux wallpaper for renters! Unlike wallpaper though, wrapping paper rolls only contain about 12' of paper so be sure to buy enough for your project. (Used here: wrapping paper from Marshalls)

8. Pretty Up Your Work Space. Patterns don't necessarily need to go on the walls to make a graphic statement. To brighten up dark furniture surfaces or add a bit of interest to your work station, put patterned paper under a sheet of plexiglass for a cheap yet ultra chic makeover! (Used here: wrapping paper from Marshalls)

9. Manage Tasks In Style. Instead of using a basic dry-erase board in your work space, place patterned papers behind glass frames to create pretty and fully customizable wipe boards. Now both functional and decorative, who said office supplies couldn't be stylish? (Used here: wrapping paper from Michaels Craft Store)

10. Create the Ultimate Accessory. This frame utilizes the same concept as above, just in tray form. Attach thick plexiglass and handles to a sturdy frame to create a clear acrylic tray. To tailor the tray to your decor or for any season that comes along, simply swap papers underneath the plexiglass (held in place with double stick tape). By swapping out decorative papers, you have one home accessory that can work all year long! (Used here: wrapping paper from World Market)

11. Define a Nook. Wallpaper, or in this case fabric, on the wall can help define a nook or zone in your house where there isn't one. Here, a random corner in a hallway becomes a defined, eye-catching and stylish command center thanks to the help of polka dot fabric secured to the wall with a staple gun. Using paper or fabric in small doses like this is also a great way to keep cost and labor down! This wall used just under 3 yards of 54" wide fabric, costing me about $25 and took me about an hour to install! (Used here: Waverly On the Spot fabric in Estate Blue).

12. Brighten Up a Bookcase. Dark bookcases can be brightened up, made more visually interesting, and tied into the room decor scheme by adding paper (or again, fabric) behind the shelves. This look can be achieved in a variety of ways. Here, the fabric is held in place with adhesive-backed Velcro. However, you could also adhere paper with double stick tape, staples, or tacks. For a very removable approach, adhere paper/fabric to cardboard, luan, or foam core cut to size, then slide the sheet into the back of the bookcase before inserting the shelves (which will hold the board in place!). (Used here: Premier Prints Zig Zag in Black and White )

Just because you're a renter (or even if you're not but don't want to deal with the permanence of wallpaper!), there ARE ways to use this fantastic home decor accent around your home in ways that provide major impact but are totally movable. I love that more and more sites and companies are offering amazing patterns in wallcoverings, giving me all the more reason to come up with new ways to use them up in our homes! You better bet more wallpaper projects are in my future!

Hope you're having a great week! On Friday, I am sharing one final look/reveal from our home! See you then!

Megan

DIY | Grasscloth-Covered Trunk (with Walls Republic!)

2015-05-18T10:31:00.001-04:00

Happy Monday, Friends! Boy oh boy, do I have a treat of a post for you today! I've been so giddy to share this one with you so let's get right to it!

It's been a long, cold, rainy winter here, making it difficult to make over furniture - one of my favorite hobbies. With warmer temperatures finally here, I kicked off my furniture revamping season with a bang. Take a look at our new grasscloth-covered trunk/coffee table! I am so smitten with this piece, I'm going to let the photos do (most of) the talking!

I mentioned a few weeks back that I was partnering with Walls Republic for a few projects to introduce you to their amazing line of quality wallpapers. (Be sure to check out my Wallpaper Silhouette Art here!) I LOVE wallpapers and wallcoverings, but being renters, its traditional use is not really a viable option for us. However, there ARE ways to use wallpapers to bring color, texture, and so much style to your space that are totally renter-friendy and completely movable!

One of the best (and easiest!!!!) ways is to use gorgeous, textured wallpaper to cover an unsightly piece of furniture. You won't believe how easy this project is, and I can't wait to show you!

FOR THIS PROJECT, YOU WILL NEED:

A piece of furniture with relatively clean lines
Wallpaper of your choice - I used this gorgeous aqua and blue grasscloth (I ordered one roll and used not even half of it!)
Mod Podge - I used matte finish
Paint - in the same color as the background of your wallpaper (as necessary)
Spray paint and primer - as necessary
Decorative accents - hardware, nailhead trim (always necessary ;)
Tools: Scissors, cutting mat with ruler and rotary cutter, foam brush, paper cups, screwdriver

I started with this old, quite ugly trunk that we've had for YEARS! We bought it at an auction in Okinawa, Japan (there may have been wine involved ;) We've held onto it because it's super functional (hello, storage!), but its color and style never really worked for me. I always knew I'd give it a makeover, but since it was made of MDF and had a ton of chipping paint, neither painting or staining it were really options. This piece was a perfect candidate to cover in wallpaper...hide all those imperfections!

Like with any furniture makeover, start by removing all the hardware and taking the piece apart if it has drawers, lids, etc. I removed all the hardware, and then removed the lid from the base of the trunk by taking off all the hinges.

The bottom edge of my trunk was curved and had some tricky decorative edging on the legs. While I possibly could have papered the base too, I really wanted a simple clean look around the bottom. After a very good cleaning and light sanding, I flipped the base of the trunk over and gave the very bottom of it my favorite durable white paint treatment: Zinsser 123 Spray Primer followed by Rustoleum Gloss Protective Enamel in White.

With the base drying, I sanded the lid lightly to remove dirt and some sticky residue buildup. After taking some measurements of the lid and the wallpaper itself, I knew I was not going to be able to cover the lid and fold the wallpaper down over all the edges (essentially, wrapping the lid). Since I was going to have to have seams somewhere, I decided to paper the top and sides separately. So that the yellow trunk wouldn't show through on the corner edges where the seams would be, I painted all the edges with matching paint (that I had one hand). In hindsight, this was a really good call, because it really camouflages where the paper edges meet!

With the paint dry, it was time to apply the wallpaper. I started by measuring the dimensions of the top of the lid and cut a single sheet to cover the entire thing. I double checked all my measurements before cutting, and got nice clean cuts by using a rotary cutter (highly recommended!)

A note about wallpaper pattern: Although I honestly picked the grasscloth because I LOVED the colors and texture, it turned out to be a perfect paper choice for this kind of project. Matching patterns on and around various furniture angles can be quite tricky. The grasscloth was varied enough that matching patterns from the lid to the sides to the base was very seamless (ha!). When picking your paper pattern, be sure to keep in mind how often you will have to line up the patterns on your piece. Also, when determining how to cut and paper your furniture, spend some time figuring out the best way to cut it and line it up so that the pattern reads the same direction for all angles, as applicable!

I went back and forth about how to secure the wallpaper (which does not come pasted) to the trunk itself (debating between wallpaper paste and Mod Podge). After reading several other tutorials, I gave the Mod Podge a go (because I had it!) and it worked beautifully!

To secure the paper to the top, I worked on half the trunk first, secured the paper, then worked on the other side. Start by coating a section liberally with Mod Podge. Lay the paper onto the Mod Podge (wrong side down, obviously), lining up all the edges as best you can. Use a brayer to vigorously smooth out any wrinkles or bubbles. This wallpaper was nice and thick so I could tug and position it as I needed to without worries of it tearing!

Although I cut my paper as accurately as I could, I still had a teeny tiny bit of paper overhang the edges. I flipped the lid over and then very carefully used the rotary cutter along the edge of the lid to trim away the excess paper. Worked perfectly!

With the top papered, I measured the height of the side of the lid and added an extra 3/4" to wrap the paper under the edge of the truck (toward the inside).

I was able to cut one long continuous piece to wrap the entire circumference of the trunk (a benefit to using wallpaper: you can make really long cuts!) I applied it the same way as above: one section at a time, applying Mod Podge generously, lining up the edge of the paper with the top edge, and then rolling it all smooth and taught. Work slowly and diligently, because once the glue dries, you can't get wrinkles out!

Once the paper was attached all the way around the edge of the lid, I folded over the excess paper to the underside of the lip, securing it with more Mod Podge all the way around.

At the corners, I clipped the paper (on diagonal), which allowed me to make a nice corner fold. To get the paper to stick and lay nicely, you may have to use a lot of Mod Podge, and secure it with tape while it dries.

Above is a shot of the underside lip of the trunk with the edges folded over nicely. Below is the view of the top of the trunk. You can see how nicely the paper lines up at the corner edges, and how thanks to the blue paint, you can hardly notice a seam. To ensure the paper doesn't peel up over time, I added 2 very light coats of Mod Podge just at the seam to seal up the corners. Use a tiny paint brush to do this, as the matte of the glue can slightly change the look of the wallpaper. Note: I did not seal the entire trunk, just the edges where the papers met.)

I essentially repeated the exact same process for the base of the trunk. I wrapped a single cut all the way around the trunk, papering and smoothing once side at a time. I then folded over and glued the paper onto the top lip to create a nice finished edge, just as I did on the lid.

With all the sides papered, we re-attached the lid to the base with the original hinges. The final step was to add a new nice, large silver handle (so we can open the trunk!) to the front and some nailhead trim around the base. I wasn't sure if I'd use the trim; but once I held it up, it finished off the piece so nicely, I knew we had to do it (I had an awesome helper!)

And with that, our ugly duckling of a trunk turned into quite the gorgeous swan!

I know I say a lot of projects are "easy," but I have to tell you that even I was surprised at how truly easy this one was. You do have to start with a nice simple piece that lends itself to papering. But once you figure out just how to cut your paper so that the patterns line up, it's a matter of cutting, gluing and smoothing. No sanding, no filling holes, no messy paint, no waiting for paint to dry or applying top coats. Once the spray paint on the base was on and dry (admittedly), we were able to move onto papering and hardware, and this whole thing was done in about a day! It is truly a doable and durable way to makeover a piece of furniture and give it a whole new life!

With every furniture makeover, I say "this one is my favorite." But I really mean it this time. Never did I think our ugly yellow trunk would have turned out so beautiful. Working with the grasscloth wallpaper was an absolute dream. It was easy to cut, easy to apply, has gorgeous color and texture....and the result is so high end. Greg and I keep looking at it over and over, not believing we actually did it ourselves! As a renter, I would never be able to have this kind of look in our home, but by applying gorgeous wallpaper to an old piece of furniture, it has completely changed the look and feel of our whole space in a way that can come with us!

Dare I say, I like this here better than the ottoman I've had all these years?

What was going to be a garage sale cast off has become one of my favorite items in our entire house. You better bet this baby is coming with us to our next home! And I am so smitten with this technique, I want to wallpaper all our furniture now! #kiddingnotkidding

I'd love to hear what you think? Do you love that blue grasscloth as much as I do? Have you ever used wallpaper to cover a piece of furniture? I am anxious to see how it holds up - I'll be sure to report back in the coming months!

See you back here Wednesday with some more fun projects using wallpaper!

Megan

I did not receive compensation for this blog post; however Walls Republic did provide the beautiful grasscloth wallpaper for me to use and review. Please remember that I only work with brands and products I fully support and that make sense for my home, my family, and this blog. All opinions are 100% my own!

Organize This: Wrapping Paper

2015-05-15T03:00:00.000-04:00

Raise your hand if you're a sucker for Marshalls/HomeGoods wrapping paper? Or any wrapping paper, really! Me me me!

Wrapping paper, and other tube-like paper (shelf liner, wallpaper, vinyl), can be a bit tricky to store in a way that keeps it nicely rolled and protected but also easy to access and put away. I've tried a variety of storage methods over the years. I even bought all the supplies to make a wall-mounted wrapping paper station a few years back, but ultimately determined that the for the amount I have and the frequency I use it, a big fancy wall system wasn't really necessary! For the past year or so, I've used a pretty simple system, and it's working perfectly...so I thought I'd share it as my next "Organize This" installment!

I use wrapping paper, shelf liners and wallpapers for all sorts of things, including wrapping gifts (duh!), craft projects, lining drawers/cabinets/closets, and photo backdrops. I often can't resist any papers that match our decor scheme or in a palette I love. Just in recent weeks, our local Marshalls has had so many patterns I knew I could put to use both in our current and next home! #ilovestripes

To keep my papers from unravelling while being stored, I like to clip a small binder clips at the ends of each roll. This keeps my papers rolled up tight and the edges from getting caught on each other, ultimately allowing me to store more!

I, of course, love all the fancy wallpaper systems on Pinterest and across the web; but for me, a vintage brass trash can has been just the ticket. It tucks neatly into the corner of my craft room, I can see all my options at a glance, and I am able to pull out and put back rolls with ease. Having one can forces me to keep my hoard at a minimum (because let's be honest, it could easily spiral out of control!), but I could always add additional bins in coordinating sizes and textures if needed.

This storage solution (obviously) isn't anything fancy, but I've been really pleased at this simple and functional way to store my rolls of paper. Whether you have a lot of wrapping paper, vinyl, or craft paper and you're tired of it falling out of the closet every time you open the doors or digging it out from the bins under the bed, this is a solution worth considering! To up the style factor and customize it for your home, keep your eye out for decorative baskets, bins, planters, or large vases that would function the same way! If you have a really extensive collection, sort by colors to keep it looking streamlined and decorative as well as functional!

I love sharing simple little tips like these that make our home a bit more functional and a bit less cluttered. Check out these other quick and smart organizing solutions!

Organize This: Bakeware

Organize This: Recipes

Organize This: Tiny Toys

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend! I have an AWESOME project reveal in store for you Monday - can't wait to show you - see you then!!!

Megan

Who Inspires You?

2015-05-13T03:00:00.000-04:00

Do you have a favorite designer? Someone whose designs, no matter the space, style, or color palette, make you swoon? For me...and quite possibly for many of you...it's Sarah Richardson. Sure, there are many other designers' spaces that I truly love. But Sarah's ability to combine timeless design with modern and whimsical touches gets me every.single.time. And the way she upholsters furniture? Oh friends...fabric and patterns combined at their finest! On her shows and in her book, I gobble up her spaces like candy. And while I certainly don't attempt to copy her designs, there have been some key inspirations from Sarah in our current home! So today, I thought it would be fun to show where some of my favorite project ideas really came from!

The Grey French Provincial. This is the project that actually inspired this entire post. This image/project, has recently gone somewhat viral on Pinterest; and while I love the traffic/pins/comments on this big grey beauty in our Master Bedroom, I don't feel like I really deserve the credit! As you can tell, I was heavily inspired by Sarah's design. I pinned this image years ago...before moving into this home. When I stumbled upon an almost-identical dresser in a consignment shop shortly after moving here, this image immediately came to mind and I wanted buy dresser right away. It took me a while to pull the whole look together, but I love this display so much...one of my favorite spots in our house. While Sarah certainly knocks it out of the park, I can't help but be proud of my budget-friendly version!

Black and White Dining Room Rug. As our dining room came together with the blue and white walls and the dark furniture, I really, really wanted a rug on the floor to ground the entire display. My gut kept telling me a black and white rug, but I feared it would be too busy with everything else I had going on in the space. So...I did what most of us do these days...I turned to Pinterest to see if I could find a similar look that could help me decide if I was on the right track. Shortly after stumbling upon this space from Sarah, I knew my gut was spot on. The black and white rug in our dining room was a total game changer...and Sarah's design gave me the confidence to go for it!

Chevron-Edged Curtains. I came across these AMAZING cobalt and white chevron-edged curtains on Pinterest and made my own version for our office long before I knew the design belonged to Sarah. When I saw this room revealed on Sarah Sees Potential, I had to chuckle because it just seemed so fitting that if I loved the look so much, of course it came from Sarah! It's the small details like this one that make Sarah's rooms so special and interesting. Adding a contrasting edge to curtains is a super simple and budget-friendly way to add some major visual impact to a room. I have plans to use this idea again in our next home!

Blue Patterned Dining Room Chairs. Sarah uses textiles in such an impactful way in every space she creates - it's absolutely one of my favorite aspects of her designs. In one of her episodes she said something to the effect of "To tame a bold/strong pattern, use it in several places around the room. If you only use it one spot, your eye will immediately go to it and stop. If you spread it around, it works." (Not an exact quote, but you get the sentiment!) When I chose this really busy cobalt blue fabric for our dining and family room cornice boxes, they really stood out (in a not good way!) I followed Sarah's advice and used the bold fabric to cover our chairs as well. While they are super busy and bold, the repetition of the pattern around the room helps the pattern feel less overwhelming and the whole space feel more cohesive!

Cobalt and Turquoise Color Palette. This is another scenario where Sarah more confirmed my design choices rather than inspired them! I started marching down the blue+turquoise path long before I saw the Sarah Sees Potential episode where she creates this stunning blue and turquoise family room. When I saw the episode, I was in the throws of wondering I made some big design/color mistakes. I was so excited to see her use the same color combination (flawlessly, I might add), and you better bet I studied every inch to see why her's works and mine misses the mark in some ways. I'm so excited to give this palette another try in our new house!

Pattern Combos. I've said it several times already, but the one element that gets me over and over in Sarah's designs is how she combines fabrics on her upholstered pieces and pillows. I LOVE fabrics and patterns, and combining them right can create such a visual treat. When I found these vintage club chairs with exposed fabric-paneled backs, I knew this was my chance to try a dual-fabric treatment. As I was picking fabrics, I channeled my inner Sarah Richardson and dared myself to be bold with my selections. I almost backed out of using the stripes, but I am so glad I ultimately went for it. Using different patterns on these chairs is truly what makes them remarkable. I'd like to think Sarah would love them as much as I do!

I love Sarah's designs so much but would never be able to re-create the magic she makes in her spaces. By studying her rooms and following some of her design tips, I hope to be able to infuse some of her style and brilliance into our home. Thanks for all the amazing inspiration, Sarah! You've got a dedicated fan in me!

I'd love to know - whose designs/style do you love or try to incorporate into your home?

Megan

Painted Wooden Animals	Pom-Pom Garland	Dipped Elephant Feet
Easiest Throw Pillows Ever	Wild Green Quilt	Pom-Pom Pillow Sham