tutorial {tuesday}

 I have ALWAYS wanted a canopy bed. With huge curtains and a big fluffy bedspread. Every girl wants to be a princess right? Right? Ok, maybe I'm just lame. But then I married this:

And "this" would have none of that. Absolute refusal to have a canopy bed. So I figured there had to be a way to do a quick, easy canopy without it costing an arm and a leg and being princessy.

 So I started with some wooden dowels from Hobby Lobby ($.29 a piece) and some sheer fabric panels from IKEA (two for $5.00) .
 I inserted the dowel through the casing. Not. too. difficult.

Then I thumb tacked them to the ceiling. Yep, thumb tacked. Pretty easy, and I'm pretty sure I like it. And hubs hasn't seen it yet, because I figured it's always better to ask forgiveness than permission. Just sayin.

Have a great Tuesday and let me know what you think! Linking up to THESE parties this week.



***UPDATE***
I wasn't fully loving the canopy until I went to IKEA and added two side panals as well, so it's basically a big rectangle at the head of the bed with curtains coming down. LURVE.

Gathering is also a great look. Thanks for stopping by! Comments and followers are most welcome! Love to hear from you!

epic {fail}

Sometimes I get really awesome ideas. Around 1:00 in the morning. Usually it would be a pain getting ideas that early, but I get so excited I forget that logically most ideas that come at 1:00 just really aren't that good. I even made a tutorial on this idea. Then I got to the end. And chuckled. Then laughed a little because of the outright badness. And then I put it on the couch because I'm too lazy to make something else. And really, the ugly duckling now holds a place in my heart. And it's not too bad... just for sure makes it to the failometer. So here is the rosette pillow I so awesomely thought of at one in the morning. Who wouldn't think that toile, tulle, and burlap would make an awesome combo? I mean seriously.

I had some old pillows laying around. So I cut two squares out of toile about 1/2 inch bigger than my pillow form. I then sewed them together in preparation for putting in the pillow until I realized I needed to put the rosette on one side before I could do that. Commence un picking. And no, this isn't my first rodeo, I just have a seriously pregnant brain.

I started with a layer of tulle. It was leftover from the center pieces at my wedding, so it's a little sentimental, hence, I couldn't throw away 12 yards of red tulle. Sad, I know. To make the ruffle I cut a strip about 5" wide, folded it in half and then sewed the two edges with a basting stitch. Commence gathering. I like the word commence.

I also did that with the burlap, but no ruffling because the material was so thick. Instead I folded it into a octagonal shape (is that a word?) and pinned and sewed the edge. At this point I kind of liked it; it actually looked pretty cool.

This is where the epic fail sets in. I had a big hole I needed to fill in the middle that I thought the tulle would be great for. Wrong. You can see through tulle. Duh. I should have used the toile. It would have looked a lot better. But by the time I came to that conclusion I was way too 'I don't care' to turn back. So I sewed another ruffle in the middle. It didn't make it all the way, and I really didn't want to have to sew another layer of tulle. So I found some gray suede. I thought I love gray! I'm sure it will look good. Oh boy.
And here it is in its glory.


In the grand scheme of things its not too bad, but next time I'm whipping out more toile. You will also notice my living room has undergone another transformation, from this post which I think is here to stay, except for the addition of some creme pieces with the dark ones. I just sometimes have the habit of seeing a fabric I love and then thinking it should be all over my house when my style can be WAY too traditional for that. Yikes. I'd love to see if you make a rosette pillow using burlap! Message me your link! Happy Wednesday!

the {beginnings}

When we found out we were pregnant we were pretty happy. This one was planned and so it didn't come as a shock. What did come as a shock was the immense planning and doing that new babies require. Yikes. I think they should hand out manuals on families with every marriage certificate.
So we started getting the nursery ready, because we were lucky enough to have a room for that. It was originally the guest bedroom and originally had started as stark hospital white. Yum.

My first thought was to paint it a green that the office was in and then just add pink or blue as the accent wall when we found out the gender. So this is how it sat, for months. White can be an accent right? :) Because I'm a habitutal redecorator, I decided I didn't like it and figured I wanted something a little more classy after seeing this:

That way I could use the gray/white coloring I wanted without having to wait for the gender of the baby, and then when we resell they don't have to repaint. If they want.

So we got to work on our fake 'board and batton'. We went to the home depot and bought a regular chair molding that we liked that came in a bundle for $60. You can buy the exact amount that you want for the room so it will be cheaper, you just need to measure the walls. We just wanted extra for the master...if we ever get around to that. (I say we, but I really mean me, because Hubby would probably be content living in a cardboard box). Have I also told you hubs hates his picture taken? He does. We put the chair rail a little higher than normal at about 54". Then we bought wood strips that are also in the molding isle, they are about 3/4" wide and are $.33 a foot. We cut them at the home depot to 54" a piece because you can do that, and then you won't need a saw when you get home for them. The rail, not so much. You'll need a saw. We placed the strips 2' apart around the room, give or take a few inches in some spaces. Really you just place them how they look best to you. A nail gun is extremely helpful for this part.

Once it was all up we sealed in the top seam on the chair rail and all the strips and holes with wood filler. This is probably my worst hated job ever, and after that the room sat for another month because filling holes in wood seriously is a demotivator for me.

The next step would be to manipulate invite a really nice brother or neighbor to come paint it for you. That's the best way I think. If you have to paint it yourself, then good luck. Ok, well I did paint a little...

I choose a light grey satin for the top which makes the room so soothing and light, and then the base is a white semi gloss. Obviously you can pick whatever colors you want.

Even though it messed up the 2' rule, we framed in the closet and window, which really made them look a lot better. Ignore the fact my closet won't close. I'll get to that....eventually.


We're super happy with the results! It makes it so elegant and everything is coming together awesome! Do you like it? Let me know if you have any questions! Total cost for the project was about $60- $30 for the strips, $20 for the chair rail, and about $10 for paint and supplies. Happy Tuesday!