Traditional Meets Tropical Dining Room Reveal!

Hello hello hello!

It's me. AGAIN! Can you believe it!? 😄

Who remembers the last time there's been multiple blog posts within a two-week period? Anyone? Because this girl can barely remember herself. My guess is it would've been somewhere between 2013-2015. Simpler times, when spray painting a lamp or writing about some random thing I found on Craigslist was enough content for a sufficient post. (I would STILL buy those pink chairs btw). Nowadays unless you're completely overhauling an entire room, it barely seems worth the time when you could watch about the same thing in a 60 second Instagram Reel.

Well, lucky for you dear reader, this post IS about an entire room overhaul. May I present to you our traditional meets tropical dining room! 

This room was CRANKED OUT. I don't think we've ever completed anything from start to finish so fast. We cleared the decor on a Friday evening, went full speed ahead with the help of our in-laws over the weekend, then that following Saturday I wrapped up putting everything back again. 

For a little perspective, below is what the room looked like when the house was listed. 

Here it is after we were living in it for a year. 

And here we are a few moments before putting up the first strip of wallpaper. 

That's right, wallpaper. But not just any kind of wallpaper, REMOVABLE wallpaper. Which I am convinced is proof that there is a higher power because for the amount of traditional wallpaper I've stripped, ripped, and cursed at over the years I honestly NEVER thought I would be one to put it ON my walls. But you guys, this stuff is amazing. Removable, non-damaging, forgiving, peel-and-stick wallpaper is SUCH an easy way to bring pattern and texture into your home it's going to become your new best friend.

For this project I found the perfect pattern at Tempaper.com. They have tons of beautiful designs to choose from but this one caught my eye immediately. The tropical vibe was exactly what I was looking for and the color palette not too crazy to turn Eric off. Plus the toucans were just "tou" cute (see what I did there?). 

Pure joy. 

But if you notice, we didn't wallpaper all the way to the floor. That's because the bottom third of the wall we decided to install board and batten. Board and batten describes a type of interior paneling that has alternating wide boards and narrow wooden strips, called "battens."

For both the vertical and horizontal boards we used 1''x4'' pine ripped down so each piece was only 3'' wide. The baseboard was a 1''x6'' trimmed down to 5.5'' to match the height of the new baseboards we've installed throughout the rest of the house. We went through a few different options while determining the distance there would be in between each vertical board, but in the end decided it would be easiest if we kept to where the studs were in the wall. That spaced each board approximately 16'' apart, give or take a few inches in the gaps around the corners and flanking the doorways. 

And that was where we ended after a very busy weekend. 

The next few days were focused around priming, caulking the seams, covering nail holes, and ordering more wallpaper because apparently my math was wrong... go figure. 🤷

While we waited for those last few rolls to arrive (and shout out to Tempaper because it only took maybe four days even without expedited shipping) we picked up our brushes once more and continued painting the board and batten. Compared to the bright Alexandrite green of the mudroom, here we went with a deep moody grey with purple undertones; Stunning Shade by Sherwin Williams. 

I LOVE how the color drastically changed the whole mood of the space. It's dark, but dark in a way that is calming. Plus pairing it with a lighter wallpaper really balanced everything out. After a second coat and any final touch-ups, the only thing left to do was install the top most piece of trim. 

That, and break the room in with an impromptu art project. 😉

Ok, I'll stop talking, now pull up a seat at the table and enjoy these DELICOUS "after" photos! 

How a room evolves over the years is one of my favorite part of interior design. Great homes take two things; time and love. Dont rush the process, use those cherished items you hunted down and scored (like our dining room table), DIY'd yourself (like our chairs), or were so excited to purchase because it was the first "new" thing in your home (like our chandelier).

Don't fret over how long (or short in this case) a room comes together. Do what brings you joy, and remember to TAKE PICTURES. Nothing makes the journey more worth while than seeing just how far you've come. 

Check out all of our home improvements, by visiting the OUR NEST page.

Our New Mudroom! Which I Forbid Mud To Ever Enter

Hello beautiful people! 

I hope you are all having the BEST July and soaking up as much fantastic Summer fun as humanly possible. We were able to take a long week to vacation with both of our families this year and had an absolute blast. 💜But now that we're back, things have been moving around the house and we are getting down to business!

That's why I'm so excited to share with you today our completed Mudroom!!! We worked on this space for approximately two months, and the transformation was 100% worth it. The function and layout work so much better for our lifestyle and the amount of storage has tripled. 

So this is what we started with when we first moved in. Nothing to brag about - a cute-sized room - but our shoes piled up, there was nowhere to put anything extra, we didn't have enough hooks for our coats, and it brought me NO joy walking in every day. 

To really utilize the space we decided to create a whole built-in moment. I knew from the beginning I wanted lots of shoe cubbies, lots of hooks, a bench, and a large shelf on top to put decorative baskets for even more storage. As we started to build things out, we decided to add four additional shelves to the right as well. 

Oh, and it was going to be a KILLER color. 

This killer color is Alexandrite by Sherwin Williams. It was the March 2021 color of the month and as soon as I saw it I fell in love. Bold colors are the best. If you're timid about adding them to your home, smaller spaces like mudrooms, bathrooms, pantries, or closets are great places to dip your toes into the paint! 

With this room I also made the call to paint the ceiling. I wanted to give the sense of "coziness", have color completely surround you when you entered and bring it's energy over your entire being. That, and painting the ceiling is a whole mood. A mood I am here for! 

I also knew it was the right call when we hung the light. Something just wasn't doing it for me when I saw green walls, a white ceiling, and a blue chandelier. One of those elements had to give, and it was NOT going to be my new light fixture. Can we just take a moment to appreciate her??? She's glorious. And an absolute STEAL since a reverse image search led me to discover her OG price was over $450, and I snagged her for $60. Eric had to do a little mechanical magic to make her compatible with the ceiling height, but man was it worth it. 

With the light hung, the painting complete, and the bench assembled, it was finally time for accessories! I headed to At Home one evening and found these baskets (brown / white) which fit great along the top. The rug is from Overstock, and the shelf baskets and hooks are both from Amazon. 

Things are looking pretty good right!? Could it get any better? 

You betcha because there is still TRIM to be had! And if you whip around to the back wall, we did a little self-assembly and used two of these IKEA cabinets to create storage for all of our cleaning supplies. It's narrow depth was perfect for against the wall, and of course I couldn't leave well enough alone, and had to add my favorite hardware. 

The rest of the decor came together via DIY art and pieces we've had for years. As I was laying things out, I contemplated trying to move the Dyson, but ended up just incorporating it into the gallery wall design. I think it works! 

The black basket tags were the last thing I picked up before delcaring the room complete. There's just something about "slapping a label on it" that gives that feeling of satisfaction and done-ness like nothing else, you know? 

The fact that our house even has a mudroom is such a blessing. We went from our first place (that didn't have any sort of "landing" space at all) to a full size room right off the garage (which we ALSO didn't have before). There's a place for our shoes, a place for our stuff, a mirror to check yourself out, and hooks on hooks on hooks! Top it all off with it's brand new look and you have here one happy lady. 😊

What would some "must haves" be in your mudroom? Have you ever painted your ceilings? Do you have somewhere just begging to be a bold color? Share your thoughts below! 

Check out all of our home improvements, by visiting the OUR NEST page.

Light It Up! Creating Stylish Lighting On The Cheap

Happy first few weeks of Summer friends!  

We've been spending our time enjoying the sunshine, our backyard swingset, exploring the local parks, and having lots of "water days'. So far, so good. 

Lucky for us, long days of playing outside mean early bedtime for the kiddos. And as any parent knows, the most productive hours of the day typically happen after the sun has gone down and your "helpers" are away in dreamland. 

Among larger projects like updating the trim and finishing the mudroom makeover, I've been slowly working my way through the house addressing our light fixture situation. Our "fixuation" if you will. 

From the moment I saw the listing pictures, immediatly I thought to myself, "Well these have to go" to pretty much every single light in the house. Nothing about them brought me joy. Their color, their shape, their resemblance to a certain part of the female anatomy, nothing. In fact, right in the middle of move-in day, my mother-in-law accidently stood up under one of the chandeliers and busted the glass dome into a million pieces. Thank goodness she was unharmed, but in the middle of her endless appologies I finally had to hold my hands up and shout "I HATE ALL OF THESE LIGHTS! It is MORE than OK that you just broke one!"

But replacing all of your light fixtures can be a pricy task, so I didn't want to try and purchase everything at once. So the first item of business came up during Black Friday, we pulled the trigger on this brass chandelier from Wayfair. 

I love the crazy arms and how you can adjust the height and orientation of them. The brass coloring wasn't quite what I envisioned though, so one day a light bulb went off (ha) and I bought myself some Rub 'n Buff to add more brassy-ness to it's finish. 

It was after that moment that things really took off. Rub 'n Buff is SUCH an easy way to bring that warm antique gold to almost any surface. So instead of purchasing new lights for our kitchen, toy room, and hallway, I just buffed the current semi-flush ones we had, and honestly, I really love how they turned out! The old style that turned me off so much before, suddenly had my heart fluttering. 

Funny story, so remember how my MIL head-butted one light? Well her son took out another. Poor Eric was doing dishes one evening and crashed into the hanging light above the sink, shattering the (ugly) shade. Which gave me the perfect excuse to swap it for somethig more modern. 

And most recently, the many boob-lights that were upstairs in our hallway and closet are now brassy and classy! Those were just $23 flush lights from Costco, major save from the similar designs you'll find for $70 or more. 

If you follow me on Instagram, you'll for sure have seen the adventure of this beaded beauty. She's a Facebook Marketplace find for $60 and right now is on Overstock for over $480! She is sooooo pretty, and I was overjoyed when Eric figured out how to remove the chains and make her work for our mudroom. 

So that's where we are right now! A few purchases, but overall we really just utilized what we had by jazzing things up a bit. There's still our bathrooms and laundry room to do, as well as upgrading all bedrooms with ceiling fans. 

But you know, one bulb at a time.

To turn the light off on this topic, I'll leave you with some pretty satisfying before and afters. 

Have you ever used Rub 'n Buff? What other tips and tricks do you know for updating light fixtures? How many boob lights are in YOUR house? 

Check out all of our home improvements, by visiting the OUR NEST page.