One Room Challenge - Plum Perfect!

There's nothing quite like the One Room Challenge to light a fire under a project, right?  For several years now, I've been a faithful cheerleader and spectator, watching from the sidelines as designers and diy-ers have transformed "before" spaces into beautiful "afters" - all within 6 weeks!

Well, Friends, it's time for this lady to jump in, feet first, and revamp our very needy master bedroom.  If you are visiting my humble blog for the first time, "Welcome" and thanks for dropping by!  I'm Julie, a former Interior Designer, whose passion has always been creating beauty around me.  I appreciate so many design styles and love to blend them into my rooms - our décor is constantly changing and evolving.

However, I have to confess that I have never truly completed a master bedroom in any of our homes, and we've been married for almost 34 years!  It's the room that always got put on the back burner, probably because it's not a public space and guests rarely ever see it.  But doesn't everyone deserve a beautiful bedroom to relax in?  I certainly think so!

Since the bedroom functions differently for so many of us, it's one of the most personal rooms to design and decorate.  We use ours for sleeping, of course, but also for watching tv, reading, and relaxing, especially during the winter months because it is the warmest room in our home.  My hubby and I have slightly differing opinions on things like window coverings, lighting, and storage, but he almost always concedes to my preferences.  That being said, I do shy away from anything too feminine in shared spaces, because it's important for all family members to feel comfortable in their own homes.

Many moons ago, I created a vision board for our bedroom (here) with the intention of starting the project at that time - over a year ago!  Since then, I've incorporated that blue and green color scheme into our living and hearth rooms, so it seemed best to change the palette for the bedroom.  Some of the original choices remain, like the window shades, headboard, and the overall feel of the design.  But I moved toward one of my long-time favorite hues and created a plan based on plum, with raspberry, gold, and, of course, black, which is a mainstay for me.  The large square of plum-mocha on the above board will be our paint color, and the art piece with circles in shades of plums and pinks is the jumping off point for accessories.

The goal is to create a moody, comfortable atmosphere with both masculine and feminine elements, and a hint of sparkle ;)  Furnishings, lighting, and window treatments are straight-lined, transitional in style, and neutral in color; but I'm adding a bit of glamour with small details such as the mini period painting in a lavender frame and the shiny brass lampshades.  A gallery wall will incorporate traditional and modern art, a few vintage pieces, and pops of color.  I'm still working on selecting all of the finishing touches, which is why this vision board is lean on accessory pieces, bedding, and art. 

The project is a cosmetic facelift as opposed to a remodel, but a whole new look was non-negotiable for me.  If I'm finally going to finish our master bedroom, I don't want to simply put a band-aid on it.  The "kicker" when I presented this idea to the hubby was telling him that pretty much everything was going, with the exception of the carpet and a leather chair that will be moved from his office to our bedroom.  Luckily, though, he has learned to live with the idea of frequent change in design and decor around this house!

So, during the next several weeks I hope you'll join me as I post an update each Thursday.  Next week, I'll be sharing the dreadful "before" photos and will get started on removing furnishings and painting the room in this gorgeous, subtle shade of plum. Wish me luck!

Julie

Sharing with:  Calling It Home One Room Challenge, Vintage Charm, Woodberry Designs, Between Naps on the Porch, City of Creative Dreams, A Crafty Mix

Tips on Creating a Woodland Wreath



Happy Spring, Friends!  The weather in Nebraska is in its usual roller-coaster mode for March.  But snow has given way to rain, and the birds are becoming active and buds are popping on our trees, so warm weather can't be far behind.

Our front porch is looking quite barren after a long winter.  Since it's still a bit early to add flowers to the pots and bring out the summer porch décor, I decided to put together a new wreath for our door.  And I was on a mission to spend as little as possible, since I've been forking out a LOT of money ordering furnishings for our Master Bedroom.  I've decided to participate in the One Room Challenge, which gets underway in a couple of weeks, and have been placing some preliminary orders on things that I know will take several weeks to arrive.  Anyway, the budget is squeaking with tightness right now, haha, and this wreath needed to be made mostly with what I had on hand.  Since I am constantly in creativity mode and have a craft room spilling over with "stuff" I was able to scrounge up most of what you see in it.

I already had a twig wreath that had Fall stems on it, so I took that apart to reuse (reduce, reuse, recycle, right?)  And I have quite a collection of various faux stems, flowers, and branches to work with.  A little tip that helps me when I create wreaths is to work in 3's.  Some of you have seen photos of the wall vases that hang in a frame in our hearth room.  I often buy stems in groups of 3's to place in those vases.  Because I love to change things up around the house regularly, there are quite a few leftover branches that had once been used in the wall vases.  And that's where I began with this "new" wreath.  I had 3 of the yellow-green leafy branches you see here and also 3's of some of the less noticeable stems and branches.  It works well to space the branches apart by 1/3 of the wreath and then just keep inserting more leaves and branches at the same basic intervals, rotating the wreath as you go.  Fern leaves are often a go-to for me because they add texture and fill space well.  Buying faux greenery bushes and cutting them apart is a good way to save a little money.

I really like a woodsy look, a little wild and as natural as possible.  Something I learned after working at a floral shop years ago was to always go a little bigger and a little more loose and free than you think.  After all, Mother Nature doesn't paint her pictures in orderly, tight grids.  Usually, she has a free spirit, which was hard for this perfectionistic designer to learn at first.  But the more I practiced, the better I got at it, and I think the results are positive, don't you?  See how the wreath stretches from door jamb to door jamb?  (I'm waiting for my husband and son to complain about that when they use the door!)



Even though I have gotten free with my styling, I'm still working on breaking out of my color comfort zone, haha.  I wanted this wreath to be subtle in color, blending with the green of our front door.  But I added a hint of white for contrast, and there is a LOT of texture that helps it pop from the background. 

There is one little problem we encounter every spring, though.  The finches and robins that come back year after year to build their nests on our front porch seem to think that I hang door décor for their convenience.  They love to build nests in my wreaths, making it hard for us to come and go through the front door; or worse yet, they build their nests near the door on the light fixture and deconstruct my wreaths to use as their building materials!  So, this wreath is actually coming back into the house until after nesting season.  I'm thinking of putting it on our sunporch for a couple of months to pretty up that space :)

I hope you'll all stop back here the first week of April when I begin my One Room Challenge!  It will be my first attempt at this, and I'm excited about creating a gorgeous Master Bedroom for myself and the hubby.

Julie

Sharing with:  Share Your Cup, Vintage Charm, French Country Cottage, Between Naps on the Porch

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Holy Moly, Friends, it's been too long since I've posted!  My only excuse is that my mind and body decided to take some unplanned time off for reading, relaxing, and meditating.  I may have had a touch of the end-of-winter-but-still-winter doldrums, or more likely I've just been lazy, haha.  If you are reading this, thank you, thank you for sticking with me and my little blog :) 

At this time of year, it seems many of us are craving the sights and colors of a new season.  In that spirit, I've created some Spring-inspired home décor to brighten and refresh my spaces (and those of my Etsy customers, too!)

Vintage floral brooches have been central on my radar lately.  I painted this keepsake box green and added several jewelry pieces to pretty it up!  I think the lattice design on the top of the box also adds to a garden feel.  Aren't these flowers , butterfly, and ladybug cheerful?

Another one of my favorite treasure-hunting finds has been these bugs, which I've attached to some cute bud vases.  What is more synonymous with flowers than bugs, right?  I confess that I've always had an affinity for insect art and sculpture.  But if you want to see me do a very frenzied piece of creative movement, accompanied by teen-girl screaming, just put a real bug near me (most especially, a spider...GAH!!!)

These jewelry bugs, though, are too pretty to frighten anyone.  Who could resist a little insect crawling up a sweet bud vase?

This bug is a small vintage brooch, which I've attached to a new bud vase that I picked up at Michael's.  The colors and pewter finish have a bit of a Southwest flair, don't they?

For this vase, I went with a "vintage" 1991 piece that I found at our local Goodwill store.  There is a label on the bottom that gives the date; and honestly, I'm not sure if you could consider '91 "vintage" but since it was made 26 years ago, it's definitely not new!  My 27-year-old daughter might not appreciate being called vintage, though, haha.  She has already requested that I make a bug pot for one of her succulents.  That girl is the queen of growing succulents, I tell you!  It's like a botanical garden at her house, and you know that she did NOT get that skill from her mother.

The beetle that I embellished this vase with does not appear to be old, even though I purchased it at an antique store.  There is a dealer there who always has bits and bobs of old and not-so-old items.  I've been eyeing this insect for a while, and then the inspiration struck to make these fun vases.  I am terribly tempted to keep this piece for myself because the color scheme is perfect, but my better sense tells me that it needs to be added to my Etsy shop ;)

And here are some charming little flower wall plaques that I painted and embellished with vintage earrings.  Wouldn't these be cute in a she-shed or girl's room?  I could also see them on a gallery wall - they have a bit of a Boho vibe.



The photo above shows what these pieces looked like before paint.  They were very antique-heavy and dated-looking.  A few coats of chalk paint in happy colors brought them into the present.  And of course you knew that I had to add a little bling to each one.  I mean, it's my "thing."



So, here are the newest Spring items that I'll be adding to my Etsy shop this week.  Let's hope the actual Spring season will soon follow!  Here in Nebraska, we are having another dose of winter with wind chills in the single digits for the next few days...ugh!  I hope it's warmer and sunnier wherever you are.

Julie

Sharing with:  Between Naps on the Porch

, Domestically Speaking, A Stroll Thru Life, The Scoop, Vintage Charm, Share Your Cup, A Delightsome Life, French Country Cottage

Transitional Mantel

Happy Day, Friends. I'm enjoying the President's Day holiday by sitting at Barnes & Noble, surrounded by some of my favorite things - lots of books and good coffee. I'm trying not to feel too guilty about all of the things I could and should be doing on my day off from work, and giving myself a few hours of stress-free space and luxury. I find that even when we ladies purposely take some time to recharge our batteries, many of us feel anxious about it. I supppose the coffee (not decaf) doesn't help to ease the anxiety, does it? Haha.

Ok, I did accomplish a little something this weekend and am sharing it here. Our mantelpiece had been neglected after the Christmas decor was put away, left with just a couple of non-holiday remnants and looking bare and unfinished. It was calling out for attention. But one of my weird quirks is that I like to decorate for the season and not jump ahead or lag behind. Ugh, or maybe I just like to overthink every design decision for no good reason!  At any rate, despite some really warm weather we are having here for a couple of weeks, winter is nowhere near its end. This is Nebraska, after all. We often get snow dumped on us in March, and even sometimes in April.

I certainly don't want to decorate with pinecones, pine branches, and snowflakes now that we are heading into March, but I'm not quite ready to add full-on spring decor either. So, I thought I'd try a natural green scheme with just a hint of white, which can transition easily through the next couple of months.

These 2 faux-thyme topiaries, which I bought a few years back at a tag sale and are a staple in our decor, were the jumping-off point. I just love their airiness and texture, and I got them for a true steal! Originally, they came in matte black pots, which looked fine. But a while back, one was knocked over by wind coming in through a window, and it broke. I kept that a design secret for a long time as I displayed them with the missing broken chunk turned toward the back side. But because I still love them as much as I did the day I bought them, I knew that they needed new pots. My favorite store came through for me, once again, and I picked these up at Anthropologie over the weekend. I had to break the old black pots with a hammer to dislodge them, haha. My husband thought I'd lost my mind a little bit!
Don't they look pretty in these new vessels?  It's hard to see in these photos, but the finish is a soft metallic champagne-gold with heavy distressing.

The other faux boxwood double ball topiary in the white pot is from Ballard Designs. I love the look of a collection of topiaries, but there is no way that I would be able to have live ones with my history of plant abuse! So finding the most realistic-looking fake ones is my mission. Same holds true for flowers a lot of the time, although I do incorporate fresh flowers into our decor when I really want to spruce things up.

This large vintage green glass vase has been a staple in my decor for awhile. I often fill it with long branches to fill space and add motion to my vignettes. The branches in here are all faux. They look pretty real, don't they? Thankfully, retailers are getting much better at offering good-looking faux florals now. The pussy willows are always a sign of hope for spring. And I decided to add some flowering branches in white for extra fill, texture, and color (I do consider white a color in this grouping because it's not green, wink.)  The grapevine and moss decorative ball adds just a touch more green and echoes the shape of the double ball topiary.

These windows have been hanging above our fireplace for a number of years now.  I like them because they add a backdrop without distracting from what is on the mantel, and they tie in with the oak finish on the mantel's shelf.  Lately, though, I've considered painting them...black, maybe?  What do you think?  I'm not really a stained-wood type of gal, so I've slowly been painting over some of the trim work in our house.  I'm not sure if the black would be too visually heavy, so I'm still kicking the idea around in my head.

So, here's my simple and transitional mantel for spring.  I was going to say "early spring" but I know myself well enough to be sure that it will stay this way until summer.  At that point, I'll probably have to at least switch those spring branches to something different, and maybe run a feather duster over the rest, haha.  

I hope you're enjoying some mild weather where you are.  I know that some of my blogging friends are already working out in their yards and dusting off patio furniture.  Ugh, I'm so envious!  Here in the Midwest, all we can do right now is "hunker down" and get ready for March Madness :)

Julie

Sharing with: Inspire Me Tuesday, Inspire Me Monday, The Scoop, Vintage Charm, Shabby Art Boutique, Between Naps on the Porch