July 8, 2016

Our New Delta In2ition Showerhead + a Giveaway!!

Hi friends and Happy Friday!  I don’t know about you, but I am just now feeling recovered from the 4th of July!

As some of you may know, we recently remodeled our master bathroom, and went with a black, white and brass theme.

All of the fixtures were from the Delta Trinsic line, so I was thrilled when Delta wanted to partner with me to upgrade the shower head in our other bathroom.  They sent me the amazing Delta In2ition to try out.  It is exclusive to the Home Depot and you can find it here.

I love the traditional look of our guest bath, but the shower head left much to be desired.

How wimpy and sad does this little shower head look?

I cannot say enough about how easy the installation of this shower head was.  I mean, like two minutes. I am embarrassed to say that I had my Dad come over in case I needed help, and I was able to do it myself really fast. Voila!  For a two-in-one shower head, the installation was effortless.

The shower head has a detachable handheld head.  I have to say that after taking a shower using the hand shower mechanism, I am hooked.  Calgon take me away! What a luxury and my kids love it too.   The flow I used was a medium spray, but it also offers three heavier spray patterns, including a thumping massage—and with that long hose, it’s easy to reach down to massage sore feet or legs.  The hand shower—like most hand showers—also features a temporary-shutoff button, a necessity when rinsing off kids or pets.

My hair has never looked so good.  Does anyone remember that Seinfeld episode where their building replaced all the shower head with low-flow heads and everyone had terrible hair?  In addition to benefitting my hair, this shower head is water-efficient as well.  By controlling the speed, movement and droplet size of the water, this showerhead creates the feeling of more water while actually using less.

Want to try one out for yourself?  Delta has generously offered to provide a Delta In2ition showerhead to one lucky reader!  This baby is valued at around $100.  All you have to do is follow the Rafflecopter instructions below.  Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

xoxo,

 

 

 

This is not a sponsored post.  Delta did provide a showerhead for my review, but all opinions, as always, are my own.

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June 9, 2016

Summer Home Tour 2016

Hi everyone!  It must be summer, because it is summer home tour time.  I have teamed up once again with the fabulous Marty at A Stroll Thru Life and many other talented bloggers to show you our summer homes.  There is so much talent and so many different design styles, these tours are chock full of inspiration.

If you are coming over from Our Fifth House- Welcome!  If you are new here, I’m Jennifer – a Human Resources consultant by day and a design enthusiast and blogger in the wee hours of the night!  Our family recently purchased our dream home that we rented for 3 years, so are so excited to fix it up and make it our own one room at a time. Bye bye beige walls and hello color!

Welcome to our home.  Come on in!

There have been many transformations in our home over the last few months, but one of my favorites has been using wallpaper in our breakfast room.  It is the perfect small space to experiment with a fun pattern.

I love my collection of blue and white jars, they are so versatile.  You can use them so many ways in so many spaces.  Some are vintage and some are Ross and Homegoods finds!

I found these prints at an antique fair intending to use them just for the frames, but when I put them against this wallpaper, I fell in love.

We also recently renovated our master bathroom.  I went with black, white and brass fixtures and love the simplicity.  We added some interest with pattern in the subway tiles and dark grout for a graphic punch.

Why must we have light switches, or cords for that matter???  The design nerd in me cringes at the switches in this photo.

My cousin, who is an artist, painted the swan print.  My first piece of commissioned art- I feel so grown up!

We FINALLY got new sofas for our living room.  Our old sofas were my husbands before we got married, so about 14 years old!!  We ended up going with two Kendall sofas from World Market in Midnight Blue. They were super affordable and the style I wanted.  Since they were not a splurge, I will not bite my 6 and 4 year olds’ heads off if they spill something on them.  In a few years, I will splurge on higher-end sofas.  For now they work!

I love the combination of blue and orange, and when I found fun napkins embroidered in orange, I had the colors for my summer table.

We recently painted our dining room a deep shade of purple, almost and eggplant color. It was a bold move, but I love it.

I found the napkins at Marshall’s, the flatware is from Target and the tumblers are vintage.

Finally, I recently made over my daughter’s room for Calling it Home’s One Room Challenge.  You can see the entire transformation here.

For summer, I wanted to add these fun flamingos I found at an antique fair.  I thought they went well with her new pale pink curtains!

I hope you enjoyed my tour.  If you would like to follow along with the progress of the rest of our home, consider subscribing to email updates which you can do here.  Or you can find me on Instagram or Pinterest!

Up next on the tour is Kris from Driven By Decor, who will not disappoint.  Her classic, elegant style is a winner every time and her master bedroom reveal in the past One Room Challenge was one of my favorites!!

Here is the full weeks’ line-up, so stop by and see all of the summer decorating inspiration.

Monday – June 6th

A Stroll Thru Life

Life on Virginia Street

Remodelando La Casa

Thrifty and Chic

Rain On A Tin Roof

Duke Manor Farms

Tuesday – June 7th

Life Love Larson

Haneens Haven

Claire Brody Designs

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

The House of Silver Lining

Hymns & Verses

Wednesday – June 8th

Dimples & Tangles

Our Southern Home

Simple Details

Decor To Adore

A Thoughtful Place

 21 Rosemary Lane

Thursday, June 9th

Our Fifth House

Decorating Delirium

Driven By Decor

Making Home Base

Simple Stylings

Cuckoo4Design

Friday- June 10th

Refresh Restyle

Splendor Styling

Monica Wants It

Life and Home @ 2102

 It All Started With Paint

Far Above Rubies

 

xoxo,

 

 

 

 

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May 12, 2016

One Room Challenge Reveal!!

Hi everyone!!  The big day is finally here.  It is week six of Linda at Calling It Home’s One Room Challenge and that means it is the reveal time.  I have to admit that while I felt organized and up to the challenge, completing this space in 6 weeks was definitely a challenge.  However, I am very pleased with the results.  I ended up achieving my goal of creating a feminine and sophisticated space for my daughter.

This makeover was really very budget friendly and included tons of DIY’s including a DIY cornice, DIY mongolian fur stools, DIY framed wallpaper and much more.  I will have full tutorials up on the blog soon.  Until then, enjoy the photos.  Let’s start with the before:

And at long last, here is the after:

 

I hope you enjoyed following along with my progress.  I am so glad this project is completed and we can enjoy her new space.  If you enjoyed these posts, consider subscribing to my blog updates by subscribing here:

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Until next time!

xo

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May 5, 2016

One Room Challenge Week 5: Blood, Sweat and Tears

Hi everyone!!  If you are joining me from Linda at Calling it Home welcome!  To get you up to speed, I am making over my daughter’s nursery into a big girl room.  My color scheme is grey and pale pink. I am going for a soft and feminine feel.

This is Week 5 and man is the pressure on.  My week can be summarized by the phrase Blood, Sweat and Tears. I spent the whole weekend doing DIY projects for the room. I wallpapered the MDF wood panels in between soccer games and managed to cut my finger pretty bad on the board (this is the blood).  The good news is all I have left to do it cut, paint and attach the trim and these will be done.

Next, I tackled my semi-DIY cornice board.  You may recall that I ordered the cornice board custom from a company called Ready to Cover.  I spent the weekend upholstering it.  Why do such projects always seem so simple?  Just use a staple gun and cover the board, right?  Not so much.  This project took hours and my husband helped me with most of it.  Yes, we are still married (this is the sweat and the tears part.)

First, we had to cover it with batting to give it a padded look and mask the wood.  Then we upholstered it with the fabric.  The problem was I did not calculate the yardage I needed correctly.  I had a bunch of extra fabric from making the drapes, but I would have needed to order 3 more yards to get it to cover the length of the board without a seam.   So, in order to save money and time we made do with the remnant fabric and just have a slight seam on each side.

Now all that needs to be done is hanging it.  But this thing is HEAVY and after having my husband help me upholster it, I don’t think I can bear asking him to hang it.  Cue in the handy man.  He came over today to measure and get the hardware required to hang it.  Whew!  Marital crisis averted.

Here is what I have done from my initial list.

  1. Paint room
  2. Wire and install light fixture
  3. Sew drapery
  4. Upholster and hang cornice board
  5. DIY mongolian fur stools
  6. DIY framed wallpaper panels
  7. Cover Ikea dresser with O’verlays
  8. Move out all of the one-eyed dolls, naked Barbie dolls and princess castles
  9. Style and photograph the room (hope there is time for this)

Not bad considering it has only been 5 weeks.  Participating in this challenge has definitely lit a fire underneath me an kept me accountable.  Oh, the pressure of a deadline.

Head over to Calling it Home to follow along with the participants and linking participants.  And don’t forget to check back next week for the final reveal.  In the meantime, you will find me wandering aimlessly around the Home Depot looking dazed and hopped up on Starbucks looking for supplies to finish up this project!

xoxo

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April 28, 2016

One Room Challenge: Week 4 Progress

Hi all!  This should probably be titled Week 4: Lack of Progress.  Eek!!  We are coming down to the wire and I still need to accomplish so much.

However, my sweet mother-in-law really came through this week.  I came home today and had these beautiful silk drapes lying on the bed.

Despite her crazy hectic life, she took the time to sew them for me.  I do have basic sewing skills and a machine, but it would have taken me SOOO much longer.  She is such a life (and budget) saver!!  They are a rich duplioni silk.  I had time to hang one of the panels and I love them.

Sorry for the horrible I-phone photo (it will just make the after pictures so much better, right?). The pale pink color looks a bit different depending on the light.

Even though I can cross the drapery off my list, I still need to finish the following:

Upholster and install my cornice board above my window treatments and hope they turn out similar to this.  It should arrive by the end of the week.

I still need to do my DIY framed wallpaper panels.

I have cut the MDF board to size and ordered the trim for the frame.  This should be a relatively quick process.  The hardest part is going to be getting my husband to help me hang them on the walls! Seriously, weeks ago we repainted the entire interior of our home and to date, almost EVERY single piece of art that was once hung is still leaning against the walls.  I might have to make it my mission to make that a major interior design trend!

I also still need to find a few sunburst mirrors to use on one of the walls.  When I determined I did not have enough wallpaper for an entire wall in the room, I decided to use the look of a bunch of mirrors to decorate one wall space.  Similar to this, but with less gold.

Needless to say it is going to be a busy, DIY kind of weekend around our house.

Stay tuned next week and don’t forget to follow along with the other ORC participants here.

xoxo,

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April 21, 2016

One Room Challenge: Week Three

Oh my.  I think week 3 of the One Room Challenge is where the regret starts hitting you.  You have 10 DIY projects to get done.  Things you have ordered haven’t arrived.  You start second guessing your choices.  After all six weeks is a pretty short time frame for transforming a room.

All is not lost, however, I did accomplish a few things in my space.

First, I completed my DIY Mongolian fur stools.  These were actually inspired by another One Room Challenge Participant Preciously Me.  I will have a full tutorial up on the blog soon, but it could not be simpler: $10 Ikea stool + Mongolian fur pillow covers. It’s that simple.

I am not loving the shade of pink i painted them, so I am on the lookout for an even paler shade of pink spray paint.  Any recommendations?

Second, I ordered a custom cornice board from Ready to Cover.  I posted about their DIY cornice boards in this post.  I am hoping mine will look something like this.

Once it arrives, I will still have to upholster it, but at least I have it ordered.  Whew!

Third, the wallpaper I have ordered arrived all the way from England.

It is so lovely in person.  Makes me happy just looking at it.  Upon seeing it,  I was hoping that one roll would be enough to cover a small accent wall in my daughter’s room.  However, it looks like I will need to have two rolls and that is too expensive and I don’t know if it would arrive on time.  So framed panels it is.  Now, I just need to do the work to frame them.  Sigh.  It will all get done somehow, right?

So that is it for this week’s progress.  Over the weekend I hope to paint a chair for the room and start sewing the drapery (and attend a dozen little kids parties :))

Until next time.

xo

 

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April 14, 2016

One Room Challenge: Week Two

Hello friends!  So, they say progress, not perfection, right?  That is how this One Room Challenge is feeling right about now.  One a positive note, I got the room painted and the lighting fixture in, which is huge. However, it just doesn’t seem to add a ton of “wow” to the space.

If you are new here, I am updating my little girl’s nursery into a “big girl room.”  I have chosen pale pink and gray for the color scheme.  The walls used to be a very bland light beige color.  I have chosen Stonington Gray by Benjamin Moore for the walls.

Now that I see it in the space, I know it is going to pair perfectly with the pale pink accents I have planned.

 

Another huge game-changer for the space was lighting.  We live in a very old home built in the 1920’s and many of the rooms do not have overhead lighting.  First world problem, I know.  But it did impair doing homework and playtime for my girls.

Since I had to hire an electrician to wire in the lighting, my budget for lighting was small to say the least. I couldn’t believe my luck when I found this Vintage Gray Chandelier from World Market marked waaaay down as a floor model.

I don’t believe they make this same one anymore, but a similar one can be found here.

Here is a quick peek at how it looks in my space.

 

So that about wraps up my progress for the week.  The good news is a bunch of products I have ordered have arrived.  My Nina Campbell wallpaper that I plan to frame came lightning fast from England and the pale pink silk fabric I ordered arrived. 

I have also made some progress on some DIY faux fur stools.  Stay tuned  . . .

Check back each Thursday to see check on my progress on the One Room Challenge.   Knowing you will be here keeps me accountable!

xoxo,

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April 7, 2016

One Room Challenge 2016

Hi everyone!  I am so excited to announce that I am going to be participating in Linda at Calling It Home’s famous One Room Challenge (“ORC”) as a Guest Participant.

If you are not familiar with ORC, it is where 20 designers are challenged to transform a room and document their process every week.  Anyone can take the challenge and link up their progress every week.  This year is even better as they are partnering with House Beautiful as a media partner.  It doesn’t get any better than that!

If you are new here, you might not know that I have been talking about decorating my daughter’s big girl room for ages now.  I am using the ORC to light a fire under me to actually get something done.  I have followed along for years and always wanted to participate, so this is the year!

Here is the before photo (giant Elsa doll and all!)  I thought I would keep it real and the worse the before photo the better the after, right?  Obviously, storage is going to be a major component of this space.

Here room gets terrible light and our home is very old so there is no overhead lighting, so new lighting fixtures are in order.  The only thing that is really staying is the bed!

Here is what I am dreaming up for this space.  The color scheme is going to be grey and pale pink.

I plan to go with classic bedding, pale pink silk drapes and DIY faux fur stools.  There is so much to be done, but having to show my progress each week will keep me accountable!  Here is my project timeline:

Week 1: Paint

Week 2: Lighting

Week 3: DIY Stools and framed wallpaper.

Week 4: Drapes

Week 5:  Accessories and bedding.

I hope you follow along with me as I document my progress.  I will update you each Thursday, so mark you calendars!  I also hope you follow the amazing designers who are the official challengers.  Head on over to Calling it Home to follow along.

Until next week!

xoxo

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March 2, 2016

Leftover Lucite

Hi friends!!  Happy Hump Day.  I am finally feeling somewhat caught up on life after going on our vacation.  It is very Spring-like her however, and I am starting to get Spring fever.

As some of you may know, a few months ago, I did a DIY tutorial on lucite drapery rods.  I LOVED how they turned out and you can read about it here.  The added bonus of ordering the lucite from Nationwide Plastics was that they custom cut the rod to fit your window.  Little did I know that they would package and send the extra lucite that had been cut off with my order.

So, I find myself with 4 1/2 feet of lucite for another DIY project.  A quick glance at Pinterest gave me some ideas.

I could do a DIY lucite towel bar for my new bathroom.  In fact, a towel bar is one of the few things I have not installed.  I think it would go well with my black, white and brass scheme.

Lux Holdups via Etsy

I could make pulls for a door or cabinet.  How glam is this?

Lux Holdups via Etsy

I could update some of our kitchen cabinetry!

Lux Holdups via Etsy

If I have a tiny bit left over from one of these projects, I could also DIY a lucite towel hook.

Lux Holdups via Etsy

I could do a custom closet rod.  This was in a boutique, but imagine the possibilities!!

Lux Holdups via Etsy

If you are a real baller and have a ton of lucite, you could also do a stair railing.  Sorry to disappoint, but this project is way out of my league!!

A Storied Style

I am leaning towards a towel bar because that is the most practical for me at the moment?  Would would you do with leftover lucite?

Have a fabulous day!

xo,

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February 24, 2016

Exercising Restraint

Hey hey hey!!  I am back from my glorious Mexican vacation and I ain’t gonna lie- it is hard to get back to real life.  Too much money spent and nothing to do now but laundry and catch up on work!  My little bit of a tan is already starting to fade!!

The exciting news is that we had two rooms in our house painted while we were away.  I am pleased at the result, but it always takes me a while to adjust to any visual change in my home, even if it is a change for the better.  One of the rooms we had painted was my daughter’s and we moved all of her furniture and toys into our dining room so they had better access to her room.

When the time came to put her room back together, I found myself really editing what I chose to put back into it.  Now our dining room table is filled with decorative accessories that I opted not to put back. I have drawn the conclusion that in many rooms in my home, I simply have too much stuff.  Too many accessories.  I think my husband agrees ( he secretly thinks I am a hoarder!)

So, this time around I am really exercising restraint.  Less is more.  Negative space can be just as inviting and beautiful as a room full of objects.  While, I am still far from a minimalist, I found the images below inspiring.  You can tell that restraint was exercised in each space.  Each one simple, but beautiful.

 

Via

Via

Via

Via

Via

Via

Via

What do you think?  Is it too stark for you?  Do you ever find yourself constantly editing your spaces?  I am by no means a minimalist, but I do find myself constantly evaluating if something is needed in a space.

I know one thing for sure, it is much easier to keep clutter at bay with a minimalist approach!

I have Spring fever, so hoping to have some Spring-inspired posts soon.  If I can’t be in sunny Mexico, at least I can dream of Spring.

xo,

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