When Your Favorite Colors Are Yellow and Rainbows, You Will Never Wake Up Sad

 Hello again my lovelies! 

Well, we did it. We blinked and another Summer break has come and gone. Although the weather hasn't quite gotten the memo yet, pretty soon the air will become crisp and the leaves will turn those gorgeous shades of red and yellow that absolutely light my soul each season. 

Another person who is looking forward to the leaves turning yellow is the smaller man of the house; Mr. Harrison. Since the day he could declare it, yellow has been his favorite color. Literally, any time something yellow passes his gaze, he immediately lights up and shouts "Hey! Yellow! That's my favorite color!" 

So when "finishing Harrison's room" made it to the top of our Summer to-do list, you can guess what was on the tip of his tongue when we began discussing paint colors. Not only was yellow his main request, but he also wanted rainbows. 

Yellow and rainbows. 

Rainbows and yellow.  

Now. I'd like to say I'm one of those moms who put their child's happiness first and foremost, but a direction of "Yellow and Rainbows" was going to test me. Even though I had my doubts about how reasonable an artistic collaboration with a four-year-old would be, I was determined to find a design solution we were both happy with.

And while we did weather the storm on a few occasions (see the disappointing "dot wall") as they say, without rain, there would be no rainbows. 🌈

Harrison's room makeover was way overdue. It's been almost three years that we've lived in this house, and besides some basic decorating and upgrading his crib to a twin bed, no major progress has been made. 

So we started from scratch. 

He knew he wanted yellow, and while my gut wasn't completely on board with an entire yellow room, something I could see working (and truthfully got me SUPER excited) was a yellow ceiling.  

We landed on Honey Locust by Behr, which gave the sense of a true yellow, but not SO yellow that screamed creepy smiley faces or fast food restaurants. The rest of the walls were given a fresh coat of white, which really let the ceiling be the shining star. 

Like the rest of the rooms in our house, as we painted we also replaced all of the thin wooden trim with something taller, white, and more colonial. Replacing trim is something Eric has become kind of a pro at, so while we were going to be doing the work for Harrison's room, he figured it just made sense to stay in the world of trim and knock out the entire upstairs hallway at the same time. 

Of course, this meant I had to VERY quickly choose a wall color. Lucky for me, there were a few shades I was still in love with from when we decided to paint our dining room. Diverse Beige by Sherwin Williams jumped to the front of my mind as the perfect in-between/pull-all-the-colors-together hallway choice. I also knew I'd like it because it was what we painted the bench and cubbies in our mudroom. 

I don't think I ever shared photos from when we initially painted all of the upstairs doors white, so please enjoy this epic before and after featuring some thick and glorious trim transformation!

While Eric conquered the hallway, it was up to the kids and me to take on the accents. First up, giving Harrison a yellow bed. 

Was it the most straightforward process handing my two small children a brush and a roller, hoping for the best? No. Did they actually get the job done? Also no. But they did do about 80% of it and Harrison was totally up for the task. I'd call it a win. 

The second accent I wanted to focus on was a "fun wall". Something to satisfy the desire for rainbows while maybe not actually having a million small arches all over his room. I scoured the web for inspiration and landed on a terrazzo pattern in a muted pallette that was close to a rainbow while also not being too feminine. The process was simple enough and I completed the whole thing in a matter of hours. 

The end result was adorable on so many levels, but when I revealed to Harrison his new wall, he was...unenthused to say the least.👎 

They say the client is always right, and my client wanted rainbows. But my client is also four, and I'm his mom, and I did not want an entire room filled with rainbows like overdone boho wallpaper. 

So we came to an agreement; one big rainbow. 

To achieve this I simply chose my location and marked the widest points on the left and right as well as the tallest point. Then using chalk I freehanded my first arch, taking a step back to check my work every once in a while to confirm I liked the shape I was creating. Once satisfied, I measured 8 inches below, and using my first arch as a guide made a bunch of dashes on the wall to tell me where to draw my second arch. After repeating that process six more times I had my rainbow.

Taping everything off seemed insanely tedious, so I just went nice and slow while using an angled brush. 

I wish I had a video of Harrison's reaction after seeing just the chalk outline, he was STOKED. The kid knew what he wanted, and he wanted a legit rainbow. 

It took us a bit longer than expected, but we finally hung up his art, signs, and shelves which brought this update to an official close. I'd love to bring in more of the rainbow colors as well as additional pops of yellow here and there. Just like Harrison, this room will continue to grow as time passes. 

Anyone who's followed this blog through the years knows I have strong opinions about how I want my space to look. Design matters to me. It brings me joy, and I want it to touch all areas of our home including the rooms of our kids. Finding that balance of applying what they're currently obsessed with but in a beautiful way, is a challenge I'm more than happy to take on. 

As for my yellow and rainbow-obsessed child, I'm aware it's unrealistic to think Harrison's tastes are going to stay the same for a long period of time. Tomorrow he could declare that he doesn't like yellow or rainbows and he wants a new room with robots and superheroes. 

And if that happens, I'll look into that adorable little boy's bright blue eyes, give him a big hug and say; "Well, that's too damn darn bad. Now go play in your yellow room." 

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

Why Paint Neutral Walls? Because the Rug Will Be Everything!

Hello hello hello my friends!!!! 

So it's been a hot minute since we've shared anything substantial in the home decor department. After finishing our kitchen redesign earlier in the year, we took a beat, which was nice. But now the weather is getting warmer, school has officially ended, and we're looking at everything we could squeeze into the extra free time that comes with Summer vacation. 

One thing that's been on our mind (ok, mostly my mind) is our living room. Since the beginning, I've had this vision of a black fireplace surrounded by white built-ins. With the bolder look of our kitchen, and how it's one open room in combination with the living room I thought lighter might be better on the walls, and color would be amazing everywhere else. 

To confirm this thought, we of course created a MOOD BOARD! 

After feeling very confident that this was the direction to go, I began implementing pieces of the design bit by bit. I first painted the fireplace black, which immediately made it feel SUPER chic and was a massive improvement. 

The power of paint is real honey! 

What cracked me up the most about painting our fireplace was the number of comments I received on the blue wall. That wasn't even the thing that changed and everyone was "ooohing" and "aaahing" over it. 😑 It's a nice shade of blue, don't get me wrong, but every time I looked at it the only thing I could think about was what color to change it to. Eric couldn't understand this unrelenting urge to paint. Why do the work to paint something we're just going to repaint and build cabinets over??? 

Because I wanted it to be MINE! Gah! 

That's why at 3:00pm on a random Sunday, I got on my tiptoes, looked Eric in the eye, and said "I'm going to paint this wall black and white. We already have everything here, Harrison said he'd help, so stand back!" 

Once my little assistant and I got started it went pretty fast. The pace really picked up though when said helper got distracted by watching "Sing 2". Kids are the most okay-ist helpers ever. 😂

By the time we went to bed the whole project was complete, and this is what greeted me in the morning! 

With everything back in place, immediately I was blown away by how much LARGER the room looked by switching the blue for white! The perspective totally changed once that singular wall wasn't being pulled by the dark shade. Adding black behind the fireplace created a fabulous bold moment while also serving as a simple trick to camouflage the TV. 

The sunshine just bounces around, filling the whole room with light airy goodness. And don't get me started on those gold velvet macrame curtains. Obsessed. 

With the paint done, the next item I wanted to tackle was the rug. I had been on the hunt for the perfect rug for MOOOOONTHS. Months and months of scrolling, thinking, checking sizes, and swapping this for that in my mood board to see what would look the best. 

But by having the new color on the wall (or lack thereof), I was able to zone in for one more deep dive into the world of rugs. A few clicks later and this beauty stopped me in my tracks. 

She's big, she's bold, she's FUCHSIA, and I fell so hard. 💜 Because if I'm going to have white on my walls, you better believe the floors will be popping. 

So here we are gang! The end of our little living room journey and where she stands today! 

A semi-traditional but slightly bohemian purple rug may seem like an odd choice, but I've been gushing over the play of color and pattern since the moment we laid her down. Plus the 10'x14' size adds another layer to make the room appear larger compared to our old 8'x10'. Choosing the proper size rug for a space can make all the difference.

Thank you for coming with me on this journey. 😄Here is a fun little throwback to when we first moved in. 

My heart flutters a little every time we pull a room together. Eric and I have talked about taking on the built-ins over the summer, and I'd like to freshly paint the rest of the space while also replacing the trim...but we'll see. So even though it's not "complete", our living room now feels cozy, colorful, a little cooky, and well...us. 

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.