Painted, Facebooked, and Ohdeedohed~

First up...I painted my green buffet white. I know...I know. Some of you are going to be very mad at me. I tried to live with the pretty green in our new house. Honestly I did. And it simply did not work. I couldn't take it anymore. Well, that, and the fact that if you saw the piece up close, it was looking very worse for the wear. We purchased it with the green paint job, and the man who had refinished it? Well, let's just say that he didn't do the best job. It was chipping like crazy.

BEFORE (pretty in our old house):

So the hubby gave it a good sanding, then I pulled out the white paint and set to work. I'll be honest with you. I don't really like to paint that much. But what I do like is the almost instant gratification I get from it. The furniture (or room) transforms so quickly right before my eyes...like magic.

AFTER (pretty in our new house):

And now that this pretty piece is white...it is like magic! It brightened up the space...and it looks so clean and fresh and spring-y. It makes me happy! Now for a little accessory tweaking...but that's another post.

Next up, you can now find The Shabby Nest on Facebook!! And I need some fans! Yes I do. I've placed a Shabby Nest fan box over on my sidebar. If you feel so inclined, I'd love to have you as a fan on Facebook!! Yes I would!


Finally, for those of you who haven't seen my mini-mudroom, (there are some of you out there right?) Ohdeedoh ran a fun feature on it yesterday. You can find it here.

With the busy Easter weekend, and now spring break upon us, I'm still making my way through all the fabulous Frugal Friday links from last week...so look for Linky Love comin' up soon.

And don't forget to go vote for the week 6 challenge at So You Think You Can Decorate! I can use all the votes I can get. ;-)

Have a great day~

So You Think You Can Decorate: Week 6 Challenge

Welcome to the week 6 challenge for So You Think You Can Decorate! This week's challenge is paint. For those of you who have been reading my blog for a while, you will recognize my boys' room from our previous house. I wanted to use it for this challenge, however, because it is such a great example of what paint can do.

Now on to the post...

Never underestimate the power of paint! It is one of my favorite decorating tools. This is the room that all three of my boys shared in our previous house. It was large, but it was long and narrow. I wanted to create the illusion of width, so I decided to use a wide horizontal stripe around the entire room.

Because I used a single wide stripe, the eye is drawn from side to side across the room making it seem wider.

The stripe was very easy to create. First I painted the blue base coat. After it was thoroughly dry, I measured and taped off the line with painter's tape. Here's a tip...seal the inside of painter's tape by painting the tape edges with a bit of the base coat color first. Then when you paint the stripe color it won't leak under the painter's tape...preventing messes when you remove the tape.

I chose to paint the stripe about 2/3 of the way up the wall...the perfect height for hanging artwork. (or towels...)



Because the stripe reminded me a little bit of a racing stripe...the pennant flags above the crib seemed perfect.

Stripes like this one can be used in just about any room to add visual interest...use subtler colors for a more sophisticated look, or even create a stripe with chalkboard or magnetic paint for a more whimsical approach!

But don't forget...paint is the decorator's best friend! It certainly made all the difference in this room!

The competitition is getting super stiff over at So You Think You Can Decorate...I could really use your vote...if you like this project head on over!! THANKS!

xoxo
Wendy

So You Think You Can Decorate: Week 5 Challenge~

Welcome to Week 5 of So You Think You Can Decorate! And this week's challenge is fabric!



I must admit that I have a bit of a fabric obsession. It's amazing what fabric can do for a room. Let's take my son's room for example. A typical basement bedroom. It has a very small window which doesn't provide much in the way of a focal point. (or much light for that matter, so please forgive the photography.)

Here's the after of that same room...with fabric added in the form of a roman shade, drapes and accent pillows. What a difference!! (Again, please forgive the low light photography....not the best to show off how cute everything actually turned out...sigh.)

First up, the roman shades and drapes. I actually made the shades using a vinyl mini-blind, Fabritac glue, and denim. A super easy and inexpensive way to create custom roman shades in whatever fabric you choose. And when I say easy, I mean this is seriously easy folks!! And since I used a tutorial to make these....I'm going to share it with you! Here's the link.

The drapes were created using blue and white ticking fabric. They were very simple to sew. I chose not to create a rod pocket, so all I did was hem the top and bottom, leaving the selvages instead of hemming the sides. Then I pinched the tops and attached curtain rings to hang them.

Here's a closeup of the back of the roman shade, so you can see the "skeleton" I created from the mini blind, and I tried to get a decent closeup of the window treatment....you can sort of see the folds of the roman shade...(drat that basement lighting.)

In this photo, you can see the way the ticking drapes frame out the bed. The addition of handmade accent pillows adds softness and personality to the bed.

I made these pillows using one of my favorite tricks...photo transfer paper. I just love my son's handsome face looking back from his bed...even when he's not sleeping in it. The firetruck pillow features a vintage firetruck photo and more blue ticking to tie in with the drapes.

A couple of tips on using photo transfer paper...first, I recommend the Avery brand. I am not being paid by them, I have just tried pretty much EVERY brand of photo transfer paper out there, and I have had better and more consistent results with Avery than with any other brand.

Second, if you are using text in your design, MAKE SURE YOU REVERSE IT. You will need a photo editing program to reverse the text...but make sure you do it. Unless you are extremely particular about an image, they can usually be printed without reversing them. I didn't reverse either of the images used in this project, and I can't see a difference.

Then all you need to do is follow the directions on the package. Photo transfer paper is very easy to use, and can create some great custom pieces for your home.

For the pillow with my son's photo on it, I simply ironed the photo transfer directly onto the fabric I was using for the pillow. For the firetruck pillow, I ironed it on a seperate piece of canvas, cut it out, and then sewed it as a patch onto the ticking fabric. (Which leads me to another tip on using transfer paper...you don't want to use the transfer paper on fabric with a print...the print will show through).

After seeing how cute the portrait pillow turned out, I think I may have to make one of each of my other three kiddos....wouldn't they make a great addition to a family room?

Like I said, it's amazing what fabric can do for a room!!

The competition is getting tough over there at So You Think You Can Decorate. If you liked this project, please hop over and give me your vote. I could really use it. ;-)


Have a great Monday~


xoxo
Wendy

So You Think You Can Decorate: Week Four Challenge~

Welcome to the Week 4 Challenge for So You Think You Can Decorate.


This week's challenge is to use the color white. "No problem", says I. I just love white!! Our Master Bedroom has received no love at all since we moved into our house a little over 2 months ago. My plan was to use a large dose of white in this room. Perfect for the week 4 challenge!!


Here is a before photo...and a perfect example of how NOT to use the color white.

No headboard, no curtains, lumpy-bumpy comforter. It reminds me of a bad dorm room...with the exception of the color on the walls. And because we are renting our home, the wall color had to remain...providing a little bit of a challenge, but I love a challenge!

So let's see... a list of everything I needed to get this room out of its bad-dorm-room-funk and into master-bedroom-retreat-mode...

• a headboard
• window treatments
• pretty bedding
• a bedside table
• art

Wow! That's a tall order...but here we go!!

Now here is an after photo....hard to believe it's the same room, huh?

The Headboard:
I wanted to use a piece of architectural salvage as a headboard. So off I went to the only architectural salvage store in the surrounding area. I decided to use an old 5 panel door. The problem was the price. Just a little more than I wanted to pay. Enter my dear husband who built me a "5 panel door" headboard out of a bunch of old wood in our storage room. We painted it out in a pale dove gray to match the gorgeous curtain panels I found.


Here is a closer view of the headboard. Join me here later this week, when I'll go into more detail about our design process and how we put this together.

Window Treatments:

I purchased the drapery panels ready-made from IKEA and actually ended up saving a lot of money over the amount I would have spent on fabric to make the same extra long curtains. I hung them at ceiling height to make the room seem taller. The curtain rods I used (not pictured...sorry) were pretty much the least expensive ones they had at IKEA...problem was that they were black...so I just spray painted them with Krylon spray paint in a brushed nickel finish...problem solved.

The Pretty Bedding:

The bedding is the thing that really makes the room and ties the whole color scheme together. I added the tan burlap pillow and the pillow with the crown motif to tie in the color of the walls. The pillow with the vintage french photography graphic ties in both the tan and gray colors while the charcoal pillow punches up the gray in the color scheme. The pretty rosette pillow finishes the grouping. One of the keys to using white in decorating is texture. The lovely coverlet on the bed adds that element beautifully and makes the entire bed seem elegant but comfortable.

Here is a close up of the ribbon detail on the pillow cases. Join me later this week and I'll tell you more about these as well.

A Bedside Table and Art:

The side table was in our basement and was old and beat up. I gave it a coat of fresh white paint and it became the perfect partner to the bed. To accessorize the table, I added a lamp that was previously black metal. I simply spraypainted it with the same Krylon paint I used on the curtain rods, and it looked perfect. I added a favorite photo of the Hubby and me in a silver toned frame, and for a bit of color some lovely pink stalks in a large vintage canning jar with a unique metal lid that added to the color scheme (and helped with the flower arranging.)

Finally, to finish off the grouping, I added a painting I made of a stylized damask motif. I found another piece of scrap wood in our storage room and used leftover paint from the headboard and table. It ended up being just what the room needed...a little modern but with a vintage feel. (You can see it a little better in the photo below.)

Now our neglected Master Bedroom is a pretty white retreat to relax in at the end of a busy day!

Please take a minute and go vote at So You Think You Can Decorate, you won't be disappointed!

Resources:

Drapery Panels, curtain rods (not pictured) and Ofelia Coverlet: IKEA

King Size pillows and white pillow cases (gray ribbon detail not inlcuded): Target

French Photography Graphic pillow, Crown pillow, Gray Ruffle pillow and White Rosette pillow: available in my Etsy store (theshabbynest.etsy.com)

Clock pillow was won in a drawing here.

xoxo

Wendy

So You Think You Can Decorate: Week 3 Challenge

Welcome to Week 3 of So You Think You Can Decorate! This week's challenge was to use something old. Not a problem around these parts. But as soon as I heard what the challenge was I knew exactly what I wanted to share...

I just love breathing new life into something old and lovely that has been neglected. Case in point, this beautiful, antique, wrought iron bed. It has amazing details and a fabulous curved foot board that just makes me drool. It sat in my sister-in-law's barn for years because it didn't have any side rails. I asked her if I could have it, and try to bring it back to life, and she agreed, although she may have been a little skeptical that I would be able to do it.

Finding the exact rails that would work with this bed would have been very time consuming, and probably very expensive. Luckily, I had a plan that involved my metal-working father. Between the two of us, we formulated a workable solution that involved a king-size metal bed frame, bolts, welding, and lot of muscle from my Pop. Thanks, Pop!!

This is what the Princess' bedroom looked like after I had finished her smocked curtains, but before the bedframe was rehabbed. Pretty, but lacking a certain something.

After my father finished rigging the frame, I gave the head and foot board a fresh coat of paint. Now this beautiful bed stands proud as a testament to what a little love and a lot of ingenuity can do. It is the crown jewel of my daughter's bedroom.




I dressed the bed in a vintage-inspired matelasse coverlet, the palest pink bed skirt, and a pile of scrumptious pillows. And because my daughter is a 7-year-old with modern sensibilities, I decided to add some funky new fabrics in addition to the soft, vintage-look floral, and the chubby chenille. A damask-inspired print in a lime green and the same pattern in a hot pink colorway really add punch and playfulness to the pretty old bed.

I also added the wonderful fabric decal Spring Dress Up Doll from Love Mae. I have recommended these beautiful decals to some of my Design Consultation clients because obviously they are darling, but they really are reusable! The princess constantly changes her doll's outfit and the decals look as great as the day we got them. They also add a touch of "mod" to this vintage-y room.

A closeup of the pillows, so you can see the fabulous fabrics!!

Here is a before of the nightstand I used in the room. You can read about how I got the idea to use ribbons for a drawer pull here.

I rehabbed it with a fresh coat of white paint and switched the brown and white striped ribbon for one in hot pink polka dot. Coupled with the bed, it makes a pretty vignette and is a nice place to put the pretty little vintage lamp that I also rehabbed with a few coats of spraypaint. You can read about that redo here.

Finally, to bring a little color to the foot of the bed, I secured a green and pink berry wreath to the center post with another bit of polka dot ribbon.

And everything old is new again!

Head on over to So You Think You Can Decorate and check out all the great projects. Make sure and vote for your two favorite projects... and if mine happens to be one of them, I won't argue. ;-)

xoxo
Wendy

"A Mother's Book of Secrets" Winner

Popping in on a Saturday to announce the winner of the drawing for Shawni Pothier's book, A Mother's Book of Secrets.

The winner is Crystal who said, "I love Shawni's blog. She is such an inspirational mother. And Lucy is just the sweetest."

Crystal drop me an email and I'll get you set up with your prize.


If you didn't win the book but would like to purchase one for yourself (remember all proceeds from the sale of this book go toward fighting blindness) you can do so here.

Lot's of inspiration to be found in this week's Frugal Friday Linky Party....if you haven't had a chance to see all the great post...scroll down and take a look!!

And fnially, don't forget the winner of this week's challenge at So You Think You Can Decorate will be announced today and one designer will be sent home. :-( The week 3 challenge goes up tomorrow!!!

Frugal Friday Linky Party~

Welcome to this week's edition of the Frugal Friday Linky Party!

Okay, okay, I promised that I would have a Frugal Friday post today, and guess what...I don't. I have been working so hard on my projects for "So You Think You Can Decorate" (SYTYCD) that I haven't had time for much else in the way of decor projects. Some of what I have been doing for SYTYCD would make a great Frugal Friday post (or two or three) but I have to keep it all under wraps until I premier it on SYTYCD. So please be patient with me...hopefully I'll get a Frugal Friday post up next week.

In the meantime, I'm excited to see what you all have been up to.

You know the rules...

1. Link directly to your post, not just to your blog.
2. Please link back to the Shabby Nest so others can enjoy the frugal goodness as well.
3. Give our participants some comment love!!

Don't forget SYTYCD announces this week's winner on Saturday and then on Sunday, the week3 challenge will be up for your vote!!

So You Think You Can Decorate: Week 2 Challenge~

Welcome to this week's project for So You Think You Can Decorate! It has been so much fun participating in this exciting competition with such a talented group of ladies. (I mean seriously!! If you didn't get a chance to check it out last week, you really need to get over there this week...simply amazing!)


This week's challenge was Catalog Inspiration. I knew as soon as I heard what the challenge is, that I wanted to share my Pottery Barn-inspired chalkboard with you all.


I have been wanting one of those huge chalkboards in the Pottery Barn Catalog for ages! Trouble is, I didn't want to spend the $149 it was going to cost to buy one. So what's a frugal OCD (Obsessively Consumed with Decorating) girl to do? Why, make one of course!

So with a little help from the Hubby, I made my own chalkboard. All it took was a 4x4 piece of underlayment (readily available at your local big box hardware store), some 1x3's, nails, wood glue and some chalkboard paint. Pretty soon we had ourselves one of these. You can read more about how we created it here.

Of course, a Pottery Barn-inspired chalkboard deserves a Pottery Barn-inspired setting in which to dwell. So I set about creating one. And here is what I came up with.

I decided to use a rustic wood console table as the basis for my vignette. It's similar to one I've seen in the PB catalog, and it was approximately the same width as the chalkboard so I knew it would work perfectly. After I had the table and chalkboard in place, it was time for the accessories.

I chose to use a pineapple garden finial and a tall topiary as the basis for my tabletop accessories. I then added in a galvanized letter H (from Anthropologie), a small cement nest (holding another bit of green to echo the green in the topiary) and an old house number nestled in the prongs of a vintage floral frog.

Of course, as any PB aficionado knows, it's also important to accessorize under a table. So I grabbed an antique box with a fabulous patina and added a wire basket full of books on top. Now, to make the basket look especially Pottery Barn-ish, I turned all the books backwards, so all that is visible are the white pages. (This is one of my favorite PB decorating tricks...it looks amazing in a bookshelf.)

I also added these cute terracotta pots filled with an old wire brush and sandpaper belt strips (sounds strange I know, but it looks perfect!) The pots were new when I purchased them. Too new. So I gave them a patina by brushing a wash of cream and burnt umber acrylic paint mixed with water over each of them. I then painted the "No. 3" on the front of one of the pots for a little interest - and because I just can't resist the urge to number things as evidenced here.

Finally, here is a great trick if you lack wall space OR if, like me, you just simply have too many wonderful pieces of art, and want to rotate them a bit. Borrowing another decorating trick I have seen in PB catalogs, I simply placed a couple of framed pieces of art in a big basket. The photos (at least the top one) are still visible in the basket, and the black frames echo the black in the chalkboard to create a sense of balance. I just love how it all turned out.

If you haven't been there yet, please head over to So You Think You Can Decorate and vote for your favorite two projects! (And if mine happens to be one of them, I won't mind a bit.) ;-)

Have a great day!

Dreams of France Winner~

Just popping in on Saturday to let you all know that Katevp-A from Katies Geranium is the winner of the Dreams of France Giveaway!! Congratulations Kate! Drop me an email and we'll get you set up with your prize!!

If you haven't had a chance to see all the Frugal Goodness that is this week's Frugal Friday Linky Party scroll down and check out the wonderful posts!!!

AND, today they announce this week's winner and the designer who's "going home" over at So You Think You Can Decorate...then tomorrow starts Next Week's Challenge...come over and join in the fun.

So You Think You Can Decorate - Week 1 Challenge - Accessories~

Welcome to Week 1 of So You Think You Can Decorate! I'm so excited to be a part of this amazing competition!

This week's challenge is accessories. It's amazing what accessories can do for a room. Case in point, my little boy's room.

Because we are currently living in a rental home, we aren't able to paint. When I put my boys' beds in their room, it was just blah! Can you say, "BORING BEIGE"? I knew that accessories were going to play a major role in bringing some interest to the space.

But I needed inspiration. I have a collection of vintage sock monkeys that I inherited from my mother, and I knew that I wanted to use them in my little boys' room. So I chose a sock monkey as my inspiration accessory. I decided to use the colors found in the monkey as the color scheme for the room: chocolate brown, tan, and white with touches of red for an accent. In the photo below, you can see how I brought these colors into the room with the fabrics I used on the accent pillows.

Here's a pillow hint: King size pillows work well on twin size beds...They are the same width as the bed, so they are very substantial looking. (Compare the before picture above with the after pictures to get a real feel for what I mean.)

Then, in order to visually seperate the headboards from the wall (since both are essentially the same color) I decided to do two things.

First, I extended the curtain panels behind the headboards. I made the curtains using a tan and white ticking fabric that was both boyish and created visual texture. They were so simple to make. I had to sew two lengths of fabric together to create the width I wanted, but then, since I wasn't sewing a curtain rod pocket, all I did was hem the edges all the way around. And since I wasn't using them for light control, I didn't need to line them. Straight line sewing. Simple.

The second thing I did to create the visual separation was that I added a row of brown nailhead trim along the top of the headboard. This allowed me to create a sort of border between the headboards and the curtains behind, and to bring in more of the chocolate brown color.

And if you'd like to know how I made the headboards, I talk about it here.

In the photos below you can see that I chose to make the curtains stationary by suspending them from curtain rings and more brown nailheads. A circle motif is repeated in the rings, the nailhead trim on the headboard, and then in the accent pillows on the bed with a stitched circle pattern in the large brown pillow, and polkadots on the smaller budoir pillow.



I also added a personalized piece of art from one of my favorite online shops, Sarah and Abraham, above each of the boy's beds (the art features a silhouette with each boy's name). I made the art appear to be hanging from the curtain rings above by attaching a chocolate brown ribbon to the back and clipping it to the center ring above.

The dresser in the room is an heirloom piece that we inherited from the hubby's grandmother, so I wanted to take extra care how I accessorized it. I added another sock monkey, as well as a vintage shoe stay and a barn star tied to a lamp with red checked ribbon. I added an additional punch of red with the cute "giggle" sign, and finished off the grouping with a vintage-look world globe.



As I mentioned before, the room is shared by my two youngest boys (aka the toddler demolition team). I decided to accessorize each of the beds in the same way to create a sense of symmetry and add to the visual appeal of the space. But to add individuality, each of the beds has a monogram, and of course, the art above each bed is personalized as I mentioned previously.

Now here's a little bit of information that you probably won't care about at all, but which I think is very clever. Mr. Three's bed originally belonged to my oldest son. Now, the monograms (which are made from white felt) on the bed are attached with fabritac which is not nearly as easy to remove as hot glue. So, you may ask, how did I change the monogram? Luckily Mr. One's monogram is BHE and Mr. Three's is BHL...so I very carefully cut off the two horizontal lines at the top of the "E" to create an "L". Pretty quick thinkin' huh?



Overall, a great start to this room!! Can't wait to finish accessorizing the other three walls. ;-)

Shopping Resources:


Brown polka dot fabric on budoir pillow: Brown Dottie by Moda

Stripe fabric on accent pillow: Wanna be a Cowboy by Samantha Walker for Riley Blake

Brown circle and square accent pillow: Walmart

King Size pillow case: Better Homes and Gardens for Walmart

Osnaberg fabric on headboards: JoAnn's

Tan and white ticking fabric: Walmart (believe it or not, I scoured the internet to find this fabric to no avail, then happened upon it at my local Walmart for only $4/yd. Serendipitous, no?)
Personalized Silhouette prints: Sarah and Abraham


Hope you enjoyed this little project as much as I did. If you liked it, I would love to have your vote over at So You Think You Can Decorate!

Have a great day~

Serenity Now (and a couple of other important things)~

I've been having a bit of a stressful week. Actually that may be a bit of an understatement. I've been under so much stress that I gave myself the worst migraine I've had in ten years. Luckily, the hubby took the kids for the afternoon and I slept....for five hours....in the middle of the day....that NEVER happens.



So, I guess my point is, I need to relax. chill. veg out.



My decorating style isn't what one might call modern. I tend more toward cottage or traditional. But when I saw this beautiful modern home by Michael and Alexandra Misczynski in Veranda, it spoke to me. And you know what it said? Calm down. Isn't it serene? Lovely.

The tonal color palette.

The minimal accessories.

Very zen.

And uncomplicated.

Aaahhh. Serenity Now. (I miss Seinfeld, don't you?)

The winner of the Faded Prairie drawing is Brittany from The Dalomba Days. Congratulations Brittany!! Drop me an email and I'll get you set up with your lovely prize!!

Don't forget TOMORROW is the Frugal Friday Linky Party....MckLinky goes up at 12:00 MST for all you night owls. Get your Frugal OCD (Obsessively Consumed with Decorating) posts ready and come join the fun!

Oh, and just as important....So You Think You Can Decorate (SYTYCD) begins Sunday. I've been working really hard on this week's challenge...and I can't wait to share it with you!! But it has to remain a secret for now. I promise that after it appears on SYTYCD, I'll post it here in greater depth, so you can know everything there is to know about it. ;-) Please pop over and check out "reality blogivision" at its finest, and vote to save your favorite designer. (And if that vote should be for me, I won't argue!)

Have a great day!!