✥ Reader Feature: Fab-U-Lous Home {aTour} ✥

  I stinkin love this dining room- I mean, looove! The Restoration Hardware table, the lighting, the colors int he rug, the stenciled walls, the wainscotting- it basically rocks my world. I may or may not have pinned it to 2 categories in Pinterest!!
That's why I asked Amy from Casablanca to let me share her home tour with you all.




Amy lives in UT- like me! She has a new construction home- her "white house" and her blog documnets her journey to add personality to a blank slate.
It has already come a long way- and Amy has fantastic taste.

Here's a pic of her kitchen-I adore the colors in Amy's home. She's practically famous for these painted leather barstools. She has a great tutorial- and they looked amazing.

This pic was after Amy and her hubby trimmed out the soffit. Now scroll back up- and compare the two. It looks ridiculously awesome, right? It makes the kitchen look like a million mucks!

We're back in my favorite room. I know it's hard to top that kitchen- but there's just something about this dining room that is so super amazing!! Her's the post detailing all the hard work- the stenciling, the wainscotting, etc. Wait a minute- did a mention the coffered ceiling? You have to check it out- fo real!

Here's the post detailing the fun decor decisions for the room. I would totally copy it be inspired by it if I had the large room...or any dining room, at all! ;-)

Here's her beautiful living room. I love that fireplace and she did that abstract canvas art herself! I super love it!

Here's a couple of posts about her room- the paint color, Restoration Hardware sofa table knock off, lighting.

Here's a shot of her kitchenette makeover. It's a part of her newly finished basement {here and here and here}- Take a look at those awesome floors!! I love the herringbone design and that super saturated blue on the walls!

There's so many great spaces to chose from- so last but no least, I thought I'd throw in a few shots from Amy's master bath reveal. How much do you love that woodwork? The wood chandy over the tub was an INCREDIBLE lighting before and after!!

Is was Amy's special touch to do these plain front shutters. They can be opened top, bottom, or all the way. She also has a fun design in this master toilet reveal.

Wasn't Amy's home so fantastic!?! It is so gorgeous- and I love the colors! I've bookmarked a lot of the paint colors- I think they're totally perfect! There is plenty more home I didn't share with you today- and plenty more projects to check out- so stop by and tell her I sent you.

 Thanks Amy for letting us explore your home today! Thanks to the rest of you, for reading. What did you all think?

✥ Guest Post: Top 20 @ It's So Very Cheri ✥

Good morning friends! Today you can find me at my sweet friend Cheri's-she runs the place over at It's So Very Cheri. 

It's a blog that covers everything from DIY crafts and decor, home projects, recipes, tips and some fun family stuff included. You will love Cheri- she is so incredibly sweet, crazy supportive and extremely focused. My mind boggles at her crazy ability to handle all life throws her way!
Because Cheri lives in Florida, she is always sharing amazing beach-y projects. Here's a few recent ones- so you can see how great she is for yourself!

 {Nautical Wreath}

 {Nautical Starfish}

 

{Beach Driftwood Sign}

So stop by and get a little beach inspiration. And make sure you come visit me, too- while you over there! I'm sharing my Top 20 Posts- probably at least a few will be new to some of ya- since I had maybe 6.2 followers when I did some of them! ;-)

✥ Reader Feature: Complete Bedroom Makeover ✥

Dustin and Whitney run a fun blog, The Rooster and The Hen-it's filled to the brim with ideas about home and decor DIY projects. They've agreed to share their master bedroom transformation  today- and even share how they made money on the project and got a new looking room along the way!

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As much as we’ve enjoyed the master bedroom makeover ride, I think it’s safe to say that we’re glad to have it finally done. I guess I shouldn’t use the word done knowing my wife, since she’ll continually tweak and improve on the design - but I’m guessing the current layout will be set at least for a while since we both really like the bright beachy feel. In fact, if you’ll remember our original mood board, airy and relaxed was our goal. Let’s take a walk down memory lane to point out all the projects that made this room come together, complete with costs and maybe a thing or two we learned along the way. Psst, hover over some of the pictures to see the before shot.

Down to Business We started out by gutting the room so we could paint. We actually sold the bed frame, night stands, and the dresser online since we didn’t have another place to put them and we’d be able to use the cash from the sale for our makeover.

Cost: We made $425 Whoot!

Beachy Blue Our next project had Whitney mixing up our own paint - originally trying for Martha Stewart’s Spring Melt, we ended up going for a slightly different version of the color. We didn’t worry so much about taping off the room since we planned on taking care of baseboards in the next step. Cost: Roughly $5 in paint and supplies since we used what we had on hand. This project would probably set you back $25 if you were to head to the store to purchase the paint.

Trimmin’ it Up Since we had purchased new moulding and baseboards for the rest of the house when we moved in, we figured that now would be the best time to finally change out the trim in the master bedroom. We came up with an interesting way to get that finished contractor look, and minimize having to use a lot of tape to get clean lines.

Cost: The baseboard cost $36 and the door and window trim set us back $20. We already had this on hand from a previous project so it didn’t feel like we had spent anything here, but we’re counting the cost anyway.

DIY Pallet Headboard We channeled our inner woodsman by dicing and splicing up pallets for the pallet headboard. We feel pretty cool that so many sites including Miss Mustard Seed gushed over it - but even had that not happened, we still love it.

Cost: While the pallets were free, I did have to buy new blades for the sawzall for about $5 and used about $3 in finishing nails.

Seashell Art Fresh off a trip to sunny San Diego had us missing the beach. Whitney put the shells and sand dollars to good use by finding a creative way to display them.

Cost: We re-purposed an old frame and dressed up some seashells with just a bit of paint and rope, so we’re gonna call this one pretty much a freebie.

Ballard Designs Knockoff Chair We were able to get a $500 look in the room for a fraction of the cost with this furniture paint and re-upholstery job. We used the fabric inspired by Ballard Designs and a bit of trim from Hobby Lobby to make it all happen. Check out all of that action here.

Cost: Chairs came out to be $10 for the pair at a yard sale. We couldn’t have used more than $1 in paint and primer we already had. The biggest expense was the $15 in fabric and the $5 in trim. At $31 we thought it was fantastic deal.

Pallet Mirror With some pallets left over from the pallet headboard and a mirror that came as part of a new dresser we picked up at one of the last garage sales of the season, we created a pallet mirror to hang over the faux fireplace which we had moved from downstairs to the master bedroom.

Cost: Once again the pallets came free thanks to Whitney making a plea to a couple local merchants and we’ll allocate $2 out of the $20 we spent on the dresser toward the cost of the mirror. The contractor’s glue from Home Depot was $3.

A Duvet Cover...Again We changed up the old duvet cover with goldish-green light weight faux suede fabric. It added the punch of color we needed. Whitney added a dark grey bed-skirt she found at Target to help complete the look. Costs: The bed turned out to be the most expensive project of the room with the fabric costing $30 and the grey bed-skirt $27.

Canvas Art Makeover One of my favorite projects was Whitney’s transformation of the outdated canvas art we picked up and turned them into pieces inspired by Ballard Designs. Costs: The canvas art pieces totaled $.10 and since she used good -ole house paint ($.50 worth), this art was nearly free too.

DIY Drapes, Finials, and Rope Tiebacks We still laugh about the lady serving mimosas at a yard sale, but nothing makes us more happy then saving money, which is exactly what we did by making our own drapes, finials, and rope tiebacks. I just know we’ll be painting these curtains in the future, stay tuned.

Costs: The curtain fabric was only $2, but the rod we picked up at Hobby Lobby was $22 after a 40% off coupon. The finials were free since we re-puprosed them, and the rope tiebacks were made from the largest natural rope one can buy from Lowe’s at $.69/ft ($6.00).

That Gold Stuff Not everyone has jumped on the gold train, but it fits in so well with the new master room that we just had to have it as an accent. Our main gold piece is this old gold pendant ball light that dresses up the corner. Costs: Once of the best garage sell finds of the summer at only $4 and a smidge of gold spray paint to cover the cord.

Pillow Talk Whitney’s obsession with pillows paid off in a big way with our DIY pillows. We saved on the pillows themselves by reusing ones that we had around. Costs: We’re not counting the pillows themselves since we got them so long ago, but we did end up using about $20 in fabric from our favorite stores.

Smelly Night Stands My sacrifice for not breathing from San Diego until we got back home was worth the resuscitation efforts with our gold and cream night stands. We definitely learned that painting in cold weather is not advised, but we were able to fix them up and transform them into just the thing to go next to the headboard. Costs: We bargained with the seller of these tables getting her down to $8 for the set on account of the broken handle which we easily fixed. We won’t bother to count the paint on this one since it was minimal.

DIY Drum Shades and Carboy Lamps We delved into the world of lamp making by not only figuring our how to wire a carboy jar, but also how to turn some very ugly crafting hoops into a drum shade that would have cost us a chunk of change at the store. We’re still a little impressed with ourselves. Costs: The carboys and craft hoops were a total of $1, while the combination of burlap and interfacing came to $8.

We originally had a budget of $50, but later increased it to $100. We’re pretty cheap, but I think we shot way too low on this one. Once we passed that mark, we figured the extra cost would be worth getting the right look, and we’re glad we did. All in all, here’s how we came out on the master bedroom makeover:

Paint and Supplies: $17 Furniture: $18 Trim work: $56 Accessories: $61.10 Fabric: $80

Total cost: $232.10 Total cost after furniture sale: We made $192.90! Wow, what an upgrade, especially to find out we actually made money on redesigning our entire room. We both agree that the new room is so much better than what it was before, but what do YOU think?

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Oh maaaan! Do I ever want that faux fireplace!! From the moment I saw Dustin and Whit's I knew I needed my own! It's one of the main items I search the garage sales for!  I super adore the stacked wood inside, too! I know all of you are crushing on the floor to ceiling pallet headboard! Drama- with a rustic vibe- I love the stain variations, too cool!

While you over at the Rooster and the Hen saying hi- make sure you check out their awesome kitchen reno, too!! I want to paint my cabinets so badly- *jealous!!

DIY Industrial {style} Expandable Light

One day while browsing Etsy I cam across this super sweet vintage light- only problem...it sold for 1200$.  Yup. One thousand, two hundred dollars. Now remember- it is authentically old and stuff, so that maybe counts for something.{I purposely did not provide a link to this sale- cause I don't want to screw up someone's business/livelihood- so I didn't want to link my "fab" DIY to their sale--comprende?} OK- back to the light- the second I saw it, I knew two things.{1} I wanted it as a sconce for my spare bedroom.{2} I knew I could make my own! What You Need: Tin Funnel {from Harbor freight- 5 bucks}Frack Mirror {from Ikea- 5 bucks} Light Kit  or salvage old one- {dismantled old light- zero dollars}Vintage looking or "cool" light bulb {depends on which you buy} This project was so super easy- once you have the right supplies. You read the supplies right- the Frack is a mirror from Ikea. It's in the bathroom supply section of the store and comes with a sweet expandable arm. 

Instead of buying a light kit I used the innards of an old light. I glued the base of that light {that metal pole} to the base of the funnel. Then glued the pole at the end of the light to the screwable portion of the Frack mirror.

 

I used clear automotive glue to adhere all the pieces together. It's supposed to be good for high temps- but I haven't given the lamp a good trial run...so I guess we'll see! {I'll keep ya posted! ;-)  } There's probably a zillion ways to put these items all together- but it was one of those things where this wasthe stuff on hand and went for it.

 I super love how the light can be expanded over your head for easy reading- or not. The arm swings- so the light can stay against the wall- or the window. It really makes for a great bedside reading lamp- something unique and vintage-y looking. I know some folks dig the original- and wouldn't think twice about the 1200 price tag...but my heart goes pitter-patter for a good deal and a great DIY.

 Here's a few bonus shots- from the post with new map art I just made.

You can see how the expandable piece moves in and out. It also swings side to side, so it can be moved out over the bed- or against the wall, out of the way.
What do you guys think- original or knock off?

Looking for places to link up your projects? Check out my Party page.

I'm also linked up here.

✥ Reader Feature: Beach Cottage Dining Room ✥

 I hope you guys had a great weekend! This week's feature is from Mary Ann over at Classic Casual Home. She's is a professional decorator, something you would have figured out on your own when you see her lovely spaces. 
 I could realistically share each and every room in her home for a feature- they are all that beautiful- and I second and third guessed my decision which one to pick for today!! I'll just have to invite her back for another round! ;-)

Maybe you remember her freaking ridiculously awesome kitchen she shared with us awhile back? Today she's going to share her dining room transformation.

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This is an "after" photo of our recently remodeled 1950's beach cottage dining room.

Here's what it looked like before, right after we bought the house.  

I wanted the window removed to have a feature wall.

 Plus, we live so close to each other on Lido Isle, you looked right into the neighbor's front door.

 The low opening to the dining room was slightly arched to raise it.  The door to the kitchen on the left was removed so that we could have a walk-in pantry (see here) on the other side.

Where the door used to be we created a small alcove.

 The alcove now houses a Napoleon III marble topped bookcase and an 

oil painting that we bought in Paris. 

Also, displayed is a painting that I love done by my cousin, 

Janice of the apartment where we lived in Paris.

The Louis Philippe commode above (behind the loveseat)
is in our current living room featured here.

My mother gave us the antique sconces that I had refurbished.  

They are sentimental as I remember them from my childhood hanging over the 

living room mantel and later in the dining room.

We moved the peak of the ceiling to center it more in the middle of the room and added a tongue and groove wood treatment.  The iron chandelier is from Circa Lighting by Suzanne Kasler. 

 I hand applied some gold to the quatrefoil design and added candle wax covers.

The original watercolor and ink shell engravings are from the antique book

"Conchology, the Natural History of Shells" by George Perry, London, 1811.

We have dinner here most nights.  I shouldn't admit this but you can eat here

 and also watch the television in the living room.  Anyone else watch television during dinner?

 Have a seat and join us for dinner!  I'll turn off the television.

Best Wishes,

Mary Ann

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What a great home- I love how Mary Ann saw the potential to bring the space to the next level, combined with her talent you get such a beautiful home! Her table dressed for spring knocks my socks off!!
Next, stop in and see Mary Ann's living room- all ready for summer. While you're there don't forget to ohh and ahh over her new wood and iron chandy! It's just perfect with those awesome vaulted ceilings!



Here's another glimpse into her home- it's her daughter's {and sometimes guest} room. I love how Mary Ann embraces color- her beach cottage is so cheery!!

Thanks, Mary Ann- for coming to visit today!
What do you guys think? Do you love that home as much as I do? Isn't Mary Ann a sweetheart?

[PS] I feature YOU GUYS  {my readers} every Monday! Do you have a room makeover- or maybe have a home tour you'd like to share? 

Drop me a email or shoot me a link. Let's see if we can work it out!!  xoxo