Rugs USA and an update

I've slowly started the babyproofing process around our home.  One of the things that hadn't occurred to me before was how un-baby friendly our shag rug was.  I love the look and feel of it and the texture it added but the truth is it shed a ton.  Even after having it for four years, it still shed everywhere.  With our little one trying to learn to crawl she was constantly grabbing handfuls of fuzz and of course trying to put them in her mouth.  So, all of that to say, it was time for a new rug.  We sold the other one on craigslist and the wonderful folks at Rugs USA allowed me to do a review on one of their awesome rugs.  I've used Rugs USA a lot for design clients with great success.  The people at Rugs USA were great to work with and the shipping was super fast.  After much deliberation, I chose the Edison Rug in Cocoa.  I wanted to keep things neutral in our living room but lighten it up a little.  It's amazing how much it brightens up the room!  

Here's how the room looked before with the old shag rug.

I love the geometric pattern and texture variation between the darker and lighter areas.  We've already had a few little spills and they have cleaned up really well, something I wasn't expecting, but it's a great asset especially when there are little ones around.  

I'm very pleased with the rug and would definitely order from Rugs USA again.  The prices are great too, especially for the quality.  They are constantly running sales as well for even greater discounts.  For more inspiration check them out on Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook.

You may also notice that we got rid of the glass coffee table.  That was just an accident waiting to happen so we went ahead and craigslisted that as well.  I searched for a long time for the "perfect" ottoman for this space.  I didn't want to spend a fortune, but I wanted something that looked nice and had good storage.  I also wanted it to be wipeable for the spills that are sure to come.  This one fit the bill.  It lifts up for easy storage for things like diapers and toys and I love the nailhead trim.  I was leery to buy something like this online so I ended up purchasing it from TJ Maxx.  When I saw it I instantly knew it was the one.  I did a quick little search online though and found that they sell the same one here  in case anyone is interested.

peek a boo

I never thought I'd be doing a before and after of a trashcan, but here we are.  I found this trash can at a thrift shop (don't worry I gave it a VERY good scrub down).  I wouldn't typically be shopping for a trashcan at a thrift store, but I thought this one was really cute and vintage and even though it was old it looked like it had never really been used.  So, it came home with me.  After a nice cleaning, I decided to give it a paint job.  I always forget before pictures but here's an idea of what it looked like.  It was sort of an army green color, see it on the inside?

I painted the outside gold, as you can see in the picture above, but wasn't crazy about the green on the inside still.  So, I got inspired by this bowl that I painted.  I still had the purple spraypaint in the garage so I gave the inside of the trashcan a fun splash of purple, it's kind of like the Louboutin of trashcans, red shoe sole/purple inside, see the comparison?  Ok, maybe that's a stretch.  I'm sure Mr. Louboutin  would be horrified that I compared his shoes to a trash can.  

I like how I can see the pop of color when I'm sitting at my desk.

You may notice another new addition.  Remember my mousepad dilemma?  Well, the lovely Liz at Birdaria sent me this stylish mousepad for my office.  It fits right in and I love the fun, geometric pattern.

Time flies when you're having fun

I can't believe my daughter just turned 7 months, I know everyone says time flies when you have a baby, but it sure does.  It seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital.  She has grown up so much and we can see more and more of her personality every day.  It's so amazing to see her learning and discovering new things.  We just got back some of her 6 month pictures and I couldn't be happier with how they turned out.  They are some I will cherish forever.  They were taken by the oh so fabulous Amory Anderson.  

I wanted her outfit to be special for these pictures, so I made her this romper (with a lot of help from my mom) and headband to match.

she loves statement necklaces too!

the teething is out of control, nothing is off limits, jewelry is her favorite...

Amory doesn't just take pictures, she captures special moments, which is part of what makes her such a great photographer

she adores her daddy...

If you are local to the Charlotte area, I highly recommend her.  She has a special going on, only available this time of year.  It's great for family pictures, Christmas cards, Christmas gifts, etc.  We are actually doing a mini session with her as well to get our Christmas cards done early this year, can't wait!  Her bookings are filling up fast, don't miss out on this great opportunity!  

Under the sea

I don't know about you, but when my sister and I were a little we loved The Little Mermaid.  We may have even secretly wanted to be her.  I guess that love has stuck with me all the years because I found myself drawn to this adorable hook for my powder room makeover.  It was a steal at Hobby Lobby for $2.99.  You can find it online here.  I couldn't find any in my local store so I had to order it online.  I also found these two hooks when I was searching and snagged them up too.  They were just too cute to pass up and I know I'll find a use for them somewhere.  They both need a coat of glossy spraypaint (white or any other color would be great), but I think they are so fun.

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Anyways, back to the mermaid.  Here she is.  I wasn't really feeling the current finish so I prettied her up a bit with some gold spraypaint.  (I used Rustoleum metallic gold because it's what I had on hand)

and hanging in the bathroom after her little makeover, As you can see, I've finished painting the black and white stripes in the bathroom.  I'll share a full reveal once I get some pictures taken.  Everything has this weird glow in there when I try to take them.  I need to make a few touch ups to the paint too.  The room has a very subtle seaside theme so she fits right in.  Now I just need a cute little towel to hang on her fin.    

Chalkboard Wall

I've always wanted to do a chalkboard wall in my kitchen.  I know chalkboard stuff is all over the place, but I still love it.  I finished this a few months ago and realized I'd never shared it.  I think it will be great for the little one to draw on when she gets older too (if I haven't changed my mind and repainted it by then ;))  It's also a great place for me to write reminders to myself or grocery lists.  I already had the chalkboard paint in the garage so this was a free update and only took an hour or so.  

I've got better plans on where to put the chalk, I realize little fingers will be all over this very soon.

 

Winner

The winner of the Novica giveaway is 

Nick and Meg Smith

Thanks to all of you who entered!

On another note, it's starting to finally feel like fall around here, the weather is perfect (in the 70's), pumpkins are filling the grocery stores, and babies are wearing colored skinny jeans.  

We found these at Old Navy but I've seen some cute ones pop up on zulily too.  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Powder Room Progress

I'm happy to report I am slowly making progress in the powder room.  I didn't really think about it at the time, but I guess painting over pumpkin is about like painting over red.  It takes A LOT of coats and A LOT of paint, I learned that the hard way.  I think it took four coats, I'm not sure though I kind of stopped counting after three.  Here it was after two coats.  I'm happy to say the first step of the painting is done, now I just have to work on the stripes.  The room already looks much bigger and so much more fresh and clean in there.  

I also switched out the mirror in there to this one I found at Goodwill.  I didn't really mind the gold color so much but wanted something that would pop a little more and wanted to bring in some mint green.

These aren't the best after shots (maybe my sister can teach me to take pictures of a bathroom with no windows and terrible lighitng), but it gives you an idea of how things are looking in there.  I painted it with Rustoleum Seaside Green

Nate Berkus on HSN

This is not a sponsored post, just saw these great finds and wanted to share them with you.  I love the Nate Berkus Show and many of his products.  I heard he is introducing a new line at Target, can't wait for that!  While I was browsing for a client, I stumbled upon these great Nate Berkus finds at HSN.  I don't know why, but I never think to shop there and they have some pretty great stuff and some great prices.  Here are some of Nate's products for HSN that I'm loving.

ikat studio sofa

Everyone loves a tufted nailhead headboard

This awesome mirror is on clearance for $39.95!  What a great deal!

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you had me at brass, love these lanterns and they start at $19.95!

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set of 2 IKAT trays, $19.95

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It looks like most, if not all, of his items are on clearance which  means there are some great deals!  Definitely check it out!

Novica

Today I have a review and great giveaway to share with you!  I was contacted by a company called Novica in regards to doing a giveaway or a review for them.  I thought why not share with you guys and do both.  I had never heard of Novica before but I'm so glad they contacted me.  It's a really neat site with goods made by artisans all over the world.  It took me a while to decide what I wanted to purchase, but I finally settled on this set of glasses (we are using some pretty ratty looking ones right now and could use an upgrade).  I fell in love with the green color immediately.  Once they arrived, I couldn't have been happier.  They are great quality, thick glass, and since they are hand made they are one of a kind.  I also love that every item for sale on their website has a story that is included with your item.  It's just neat knowing you have a hand made, one of a kind item.   

Here are the glasses I chose. (picture below is from the website) 

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and here they are in my home, I did a VERY quick table setting with them

(I know someone will ask, the napkins are dwell studio from Target a few years ago) 

Now it's your chance to explore their website and tell me what you would choose if you win.  Novica is offering one of you a $50 gift certificate to their site.  I've done a little roundup of some neat items I've found on their site, but I want to hear what you would choose if you win.  So, leave a comment on this post saying what you would choose if you win.  For an extra entry, become a follower of this blog and leave a separate comment stating that you did so.  And for one more entry, blog about this giveaway.  So you can leave up to three separate comments for three entries.  Good luck and I will announce the winner Friday morning September 21st.  

They have some unique women's clothing

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lots of great mirrors

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and I love this cowhide ottoman

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Novica has lots of other great items for sale, be sure to check out their dresses, unique tops, silver bracelets, jewelry from Peru, pearl earrings, and men's clothing too!  There's a little something for everyone.  

Updated Crib Headboard Tutorial

Many of you have requested a more in depth tutorial on the crib headboard and how I attached it, so I'm just going to expand a little bit on the previous post that I did.  Hopefully this will clarify a few things but if you have any additional questions ask away!

We were very fortunate to receive a crib from a very sweet couple.  It was in excellent condition and is a beautiful, solid piece of furniture.  Naturally since it was in such great shape I didn't really want to paint it or mess up the finish so I decided to add my own little touch to it to personalize it.  I stored this idea away long before I was pregnant because I thought it was so clever.  The oh so creative girls at All Things Thrifty did something similar to a crib that got my wheels turning.  Check out their version and more details here.

I love what they did with theirs but was a little nervous about the buttons and wanted a more feminine look.  So, I started out with a piece of board from Lowe's.  It's basically the peg board you use in the garage with the holes in it minus the holes.  It was the perfect weight and I  knew it wouldn't bend or warp like plywood can do sometimes. 

I wanted the top to have a curved edge so I made a template using craft paper.

Next, I taped it onto the board and traced the template.

Then, I cut the shape I wanted using a jigsaw and following the line I had traced.  Next, I covered it with white fleece material.  I thought about doing a thin layer of foam but didn't want it to be too thick to where it wouldn't fit in the crib easily.  The fleece was just thick enough and cheaper than the foam too.

Then I covered it with material and attached it to the crib.  I didn't want to damage the crib so I had to get a little creative with how I attached it.

Basically I purchased two inexpensive pieces of 1 x 2 from Lowe's and had them cut it a few inches shorter than the width of my headboard.  Then (I didn't take a picture of this) but I attached one of the pieces of 1x2 (horizontally) to the back of the headboard where I wanted it to rest on the railing of the crib.  I attached this piece before I attached the fabric because I screwed my screws through the front of the board into the 1x2 on the back.  That way the screws were covered by the fabric.  (If you weren't concerned about keeping the crib undamaged, you could just screw the piece of 1 x 2 directly into the crib railing after you attached it to the board, but I didn't want to damage the crib.)  I also screwed three long screws through the front in a horizontal row, about 6 inches below where I screwed into the 1 x 2 (measuring where they needed to go before hand so they would come through the rails on the crib)  Hopefully this picture will help it make a little more sense.

I added some nuts to the bolts and screwed them on tightly to make sure the bolts would stay in place.  You can kind of see them in the picture above.  Then, I took my second piece of 1 x 2 and drilled three holes in it for the screws to go through.  This piece of wood is going to go the opposite way of the first piece (you'll see in the picture).  I measured where they needed to be to make sure they would be in the right place.  

Then, I attached the 1 x 2 to the back of the crib making sure the three screws fit through the holes I drilled.  Finally, I tightly screwed on three nuts to make sure it would stay in place.  This method worked really well for us and did not damage the crib at all which was our main concern.  Now, if I decide to do something different with it down the road there is no damage done.  

  

For the fabric, I chose a fun, yet sophisticated, black ikat fabric from here.  Fabric.com is definitely my go to place for fabrics these days.  They have great prices, great selection, and I always get my order within a few days.  No, they aren't paying me to say that either, I just really like their site :)

and now we have the finished product!