More Boys' Room Inspiration~

I have to be honest, decorating children's rooms is my favorite part of designing.  I like the freedom that comes with not having to take things so seriously.  With being able to add a good dose of whimsy to a space.  Children's rooms are just plain fun. 

So when I know that I get to redo the kids rooms, like I will in our upcoming move, I spend inordinate amounts of time planning and daydreaming about the spaces.

Of course, this time around I have some practical issues to contend with as well...like fitting three boys in one room.  I shared my dreams of a bunkroom in this post, but I also have to realize that the room the boys are moving into won't allow a huge built-in bunk space.  So I have been searching online for bunkbeds with trundles, and other bunk inspiration.  And that's when I found the new line from Restoration Hardware. (Okay, just so you all know...Restoration Hardware is not paying me for this post...this is just me...having some serious infatuation with their new products...)

Holy darling stuff, Batman!  I admit that I got excited when I found out a couple of years ago, that RH was starting a line for babies.  And I liked it.  But I wasn't wild about it - everything was pink, green or blue with polkadots or stripes- that's it.  So even though I received their emails, I didn't often take the time to read them.  Until this week when I saw the one with the picture of the bunkbeds.  I didn't know RH made bunkbeds, so I clicked on it.  And fell in love.

I am big into a soft-industrial look, especially for the boys' room...so these spaces are all right up my alley.

I love the zinc-finished wall pockets and the storage behind the bed.

Here I am in love with the bedding....and the vintage lockers. 

I would live at the beach if I could, so nautical rooms are always a favorite.

I love the stencil letters on the wall...and check out those cute floor pillows.

So much inspiration in one room.  I love the vintage school chairs and the table with the metal top (I'm seriously considering getting a metal-topped table for our dining room- virtually kid proof.)

I love the metal storage baskets, and the amusement park art.

I adore this menswear-inspired bedding.  When we moved into our last house, I was determined to find menswear-look bedding for the boys room...not as easy as it might sound.  And now, here it is.... hmmm.

Lovin' the locker-style desk and the ticking stripe bedding.  And those cute vintage clipboards used as frames!

This room is just plain soothing. 

A leather headboard....don't know if I dare with my crazy kiddos...but I love it.

And here's the bunkbed that caught my eye.  Lovin' the dark stain...and the heaviness of the piece.  It even has a trundle.  Alas, I think the pricetag might be a bit rich for my blood.  But a girl can dream, can't she?

So I'm off to plot and plan for the boys' room some more...I'm having too much fun!

Cutesy-Country to Ooh-la-la! A Bench Makeover~

A while ago I showed you this bench. My dad made it for me back in the late 80's or early 90's. I was big into the country look at that point, so I asked him to put that oh-so-cute heart cutout in the back.

Fast forward 20 years (yikes...am I really that old?) and I'm not so into the country look anymore. But the bench is sentimental... and I wanted to use it.

So here's what I did.

First, I painted it a fab aqua. (Milk Pail by Marth Stewart).

But darn it! There's still that cutesy heart cut out.

Then I remembered this wall hanging/plaster-plaque-replica-thingy (that's the technical term) I had in my decor stash. And it was just the right size to cover that heart cutout. So I painted it out in Milk Pail as well.

Then I performed a bench to plaster-plaque marriage ceremony which consisted of attaching the plaque to the bench with a couple of wood-screws (it already had hanging holes on its back.) Just hung it on there and VOILA!

A French-ish beauty of bench!

This pretty little bench will be sitting under the silhouettes I shared yesterday. Anyone guess yet what that area is going to be?

Linking up....

Have a great day~

Furniture to match my blog: A dresser redo~

I have been wanting to switch up the living room for quite a while. I really, really, really, really, really times 10 to the 3rd power wanted to add in the color blue. The color of my blog...okay, that's not the reason...but don't you think it's nice for your blog to match your decor? Ha! Alas, our rug (which was lovely and in great shape) was all in warm shades of gold, red and brown. But then, as you may recall, the Princess was sick in the living room. Gross. But serendipitous in a way.

We *had* to replace that rug, so for Christmas the hubby and I pooled our gift money and bought a new rug. Pretty and neutral.


NEW RUG



Then the fireworks began. With a new neutral rug, my decorating-obsessed self was free to make some switcheroos.

I am lucky to have a hubby that loves decor *almost* as much as I do. He is really open to my suggestions of change. And very helpful as well. So when I told him I wanted to switch around the living room and add some blue...he was game.



Enter this pretty little $25 dresser. Yep! $25. It was an aweful minty shade of green. (Doesn't look quite as minty or aweful in this photo.) But it had pretty lines. And, did I mention it was only $25?!?



DRESSER BEFORE (the hubby had already started removing the knobs...bless him...he's not a blogger, afterall...but he did stick the drawers back in and even took the before photo for me.)

I told the hubby I wanted to put it in the living room...and I wanted it to be blue. He agreed. And even volunteered to do the painting since I am currently bogged down with other stuff.

Here comes the tricky part. We wanted to find the perfect shade of blue. So I emailed this sweet lady who has a fabulous dresser in a delightful shade of blue. And off we went to Lowe's to get the paint. Alas, it was not quite the right shade for our decor. So we had them lighten it to 75%...brought it home...painted the dresser...still not right.

Then I pulled out some pretty throw pillows we had in the master bedroom and asked the hubby if he thought their color might work. A nice grey-ish french blue. He loved it. So off we went to Lowe's again...pillow sham in hand... and found the perfect blue. Cafe blue by Valspar in semi-gloss.

And the hubby (injured leg and all) painted the dresser yet again. We switched out the knobs for some fabulous clearance versions (again from Lowe's) and VOILA! The perfect addition to our living room makeover.

Here she is in all her glory.

DRESSER AFTER

(And what French Blue dresser would be complete without a little Le Tour Eiffel?)

Of course...when you add a blue dresser to the living room...you have to shift furniture...paint other furniture...switch up the accessories...switch the slipcover on the sofa...etc. etc. I'll show you all the rest of the changes just as soon as I figure out what to do with the curtains. They are in dire need of a little spruce up! But for now...I'm sure loving that blue dresser!

xoxo

Wendy

A really useful cabinet~

Happy Monday, dear readers! It's been a jampacked weekend here at the Shabby Nest...full of party after party...some for the kiddos...some for the whole family...but somehow, despite the craziness, I managed to get in some good old house cleaning.

And while I was cleaning, and putting away wonderful, clean-smelling, fluffy piles of freshly washed and folded towels, I thought it might be fun to share my makeshift linen closet with you all.

I have mentioned before that the one thing this house truly lacks is closet space. So when we moved in, I had to figure out what to do about a linen closet.

Enter our antique salvaged cabinet. We saved this baby from the Hubby's parents' shed which was being demolished. It has had many reincarnations since we saved it. It has been a coat closet, a pantry, a china cabinet, and now it serves as my linen closet.

During one of the cabinet's reincarnations, I had the hubby add the second shelf. It serves as a perfect spot for towels. But because I have yet to convince the hubby that he wants to build another shelf, I had to be a bit creative for the rest of the storage.

Bed linens are piled high in a pretty basket, while smaller linens like pillow cases, light blankets, and shower curtains are stacked in wire baskets rescued from a now-defunct refrigerator at our former house.

On the top shelf? Pretty blue toile boxes that hold special treasures...the blessing outfits of my three boys (the Princess' blessing dress is on display in her room.)

I just love this very useful cabinet...and its latest role as linen closet. Do you, my dear readers, have a particular piece of furniture that you use and reuse in many different ways?

Have a great Monday~

Acrylic Furniture~

Acrylic. Lucite. Whatever you want to call these see-through beauties, I'm enamoured. I believe that even the most traditional home needs a touch of the modern in it. And acrylic furniture can do just that...stunningly. Something about the "sheer" quality of these furniture pieces lends a sort of ethereal sophistication to a space. And I find that very appealing.

I have long admired these Louis-style ghost chairs. They offer traditional lines, in a very contemporary material.

This coffee table is contemporary in form as well, but it is a great alternative if you don't want to visually add weight to a room. I've been admiring Lauren's ever since she got it.


I think this particular chair is amazing! I really love the metal legs. Yesterday, while wandering around IKEA, I noticed that they have an acrylic chair with metal legs for a mere $99. (Trust me, if you look around online for these sorts of chairs, you'll realize that's a steal.) I got so excited when I saw it...but couldn't quite convince the hubby that we needed one. I'm still plotting planning where I can fit one in our house...and I will convince him...oh yes, I will.

I just thought this last one was pretty...I love the addition of the seat cushion. Very unexpected.

Have a lovely Tuesday~

Linky Love~

Isn't blogland an amazing place? I just love Frugal Fridays! The amount of talent out there in our little corner of cyberspace is inspiring!!


Here are just a few of the fabulous frugal ideas from last week's linky party...


The Painted Hive shared an adorable vintage stool makeover. You know I just can't resist furniture with numbers on it. These stools are so cute!

I loved this table makeover from Primitive and Proper! So graphic and fun...and the colors are perfect!!

A new use for painter's drop cloths....a painted canvas rug. This clever idea was shared by Less Than Perfect Life of Bliss.

Design Life shared a pretty nursery done on a budget.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg, folks! If you haven't had a chance yet, scroll down and check out the other wonderful frugal projects and finds!

Have a great day~

Living Room Update~

After my Frugal Friday post, I had a lot of inquiries about the chairs that are sitting next to my rehabbed console.

I picked them up a little while ago at TJMaxx HomeGoods. Their tufting and fabric reminded me of the Sparrow Chair from Serena & Lily that I talked about in this post.

Sparrow Chair by Serena & Lily on left

So when I saw them at HomeGoods for an amazingly low price, I couldn't pass them up. I thought I would put them in our newly redone Master Bedroom, but I liked the way they looked with the freshly painted console even better.

I also wanted to share with you all the mantle mirror transformation.

You may remember this before picture. I just couldn't stand the black mirror frame. So I pulled out my trusty paintbrush and went to work.

Here is the mantle with the same mirror painted out in a soft cream. So. much. better. Amazing what a little paint can do, huh?

And thank you to all those who gave me suggestions on how to clean the discolored stone. That's on my to-do list before the final living room reveal.

Have a great Monday~

Infatuated~

I have a little bit of a crush on this sweet chair...

From Target.com. Isn't she pretty?

If you haven't had a chance to see my little home tour for the Blog Parade of Homes, scroll down to yesterday's post and enjoy.

Coming up tomorrow....Linky Love!

Have a great day~

This I love: Inspiring others~

A few weeks ago, I did a post about Restoration Hardware and their fabulous line of "green" furniture.

Photo from Restoration Hardware

Well, this last week, I received an email from one of my readers, Ana of Knock Off Wood. The subject line read "Look how you inspired me! Many thanks!". One of my favorite things about writing my blog, is sharing inspiration with others, so I hurried to see what Ana wrote. Here's what she had to say...

Thank you for your post back in November on the Restoration Hardware Catalog. I loved the post so much that I went out and found some scrap boards in my yard and bought $9.98 in screws and built a Farmhouse Table, very similar to Restoration Hardware's table, retailing for $2750. Thank you so much! You are greatly appreciated!

You know me and frugal decorating - after an email like that, I HAD to see that table, and fast! When I took a look at Ana's photos, I was amazed!

This is the table that inspired Ana...

Photo from Restoration Hardware


And this is the table that Ana made. This gorgeous table for $9.98!! And she even did a post that included the plans so that you can make one yourself !! I dragged the hubby over to the computer to take a look, and made him PROMISE on the spot, that once we are relocated, he will make me one of these babies. $9.98...sigh...perfection.

Photos from Knock Off Wood

Thanks for your email Ana!! So glad I inspired you...and so glad you paid it forward with this amazing tutorial!

Isn't blogland wonderful??

Have a great day~

The Amazing Transforming Sofa~

This is how my living room normally looks. Note the sofa. Tan slipcover. Very non-confrontational. But also, just a little....um...dull. Don't get me wrong. The tan is a nice supporting color. It goes well with almost any other color I throw at it. It. hides. dirt.

But the other day, my little boys (aka The Toddler Demolition Team) decided to draw on the couch. With marker. Washable marker, luckily. But we happened to have a showing scheduled for the next day. Not enough time to wash the slipcovers and let them dry.

White slipcovers to the rescue. We used these white slipcovers in our former house when the sofa was in a lower traffic area. I love them. I repeat. I love them. It was like breathing fresh air into the house when I slipped them on. Of course, I don't think the color scheme in this house lends itself well to the white, but I enjoyed piling all of my pale pillows on both the sofa and the big cushy chair.

I'm thinking in our next house, I'll try to use the white again.

Sources:

Sofa and chair: Ektorp from Ikea

Throw Pillows: Most available in my Etsy store

Don't forget The Frugal Friday Linky Party here at The Shabby Nest this Friday! Get your frugal decorating ideas ready to share and come here to link up!

Have a great Wednesday~