decorating

Living Room Reveal {Part 1}

May 20, 2013 By Megan 1 Comment

I mentioned a few weeks ago, that I had worked on another creative storage solution for my place. I finally was able to take pictures of it, so I’m doing a little reveal today.

My bedroom closet is teeny tiny. Like small enough to only fit one season’s worth of clothes {i.e. fall/winter}. Since there was a whole other set of clothes for spring/summer that needed a home, I had to get creative.

My living room is basically one long room {I plan to show you more pictures later}. Because of the size, I really only had room to put one small couch in front of the tv. That left an awkward space behind it. So, instead of letting that space go to waste, I decided to put a dresser behind it to store all my remaining clothes and summer/spring shoes. Here it is in all its glory.

This back corner of my apartment hardly gets any sunlight, so these pictures are a little darker than I would like, but hopefully you are able to get the picture.

The dresser is actually a Habitat Restore project that I re-finished and I plan to blog all about the step by step tutorial of its transformation soon.

It’s the perfect size for the wall and the perfect size for storage. Fits all my remaining clothes perfectly. Now that it’s basically summer, I need to switch things around and put my winter clothes in it instead.

You may recognize many of the accessories I used to decorate & style the top of the dresser with. The fan, books and bottle are all from my previous bookshelves in Nashville. The window is from my old bedroom. The bird print is actually from Emily Jones Design. I bought it when they were having a 50% off sale. Was waiting to find the right place to display it.

The two pieces of wood are actually candle holders that I bought at a little indie craft fair in Greenville before I moved down. I bought the lamp from Kohls and I made the little moss monogram ‘M.’

I love this little corner of the apartment and love that it’s one of the first things you see when you come inside. Plus, I love when you can make something pretty but also make it functional.

Are you using a dresser or another large piece of furniture in your home outside of your bedroom to store things?

Creative Storage Solutions

May 8, 2013 By Megan 2 Comments

I live in a teeny tiny apartment. It has plenty of space for little ole me, but when it comes to storage, it’s a little sparce.

I’ve mentioned before that I might be a borderline hoarder. I have a ton of stuff, I’ll be the first to admit. Most of the excess stuff that I don’t need on a daily basis I’m storing at my fiance’s house, but there are some things I needed to store at my place that I would need to use every now and then.

I do have a decent amount of kitchen cabinet space, but I also had a lot of kitchen items. After I unpacked my boxes and put everything away, I still had a few things that I didn’t have a place for. So what’s a girl to do…get creative.

Instead of using a normal table as my coffee table in my living space, I had this chest I got from Target a few years ago that I decided to use.

And here’s why.

Inside of it there is a ton of storage space. Those kitchen items I couldn’t really find a place for are now housed in here. And luckily these aren’t things I need to fish out on a daily basis. Just things I would need when baking or entertaining.

For those of you, like me, who live in small spaces, creative storage is essential. Here are a few additional creative ‘hidden’ storage solutions if you are struggling to find a place for everything.

Obviously if you were renting you couldn’t build this out. But, if you live in a small home you own, you could cut out some space within your stairs to store blankets, etc.

{Source}

This is a clever way to create some storage on your shelves while also making them look pretty. Create some hidden storage using books like Sewing Barefoot did. Great way to hide cords, remotes and other small items you don’t want to be seen.

{Source}

Skirted tables are another great storage solution. You can hide some of your larger items underneath the table and cover it up with some pretty fabric.

Here’s another great storage option that also makes your shelves look pretty. Hide a storage box behind a large picture frame and mount it on your shelves. You can store additional keepsakes or even stationary or important documents in the storage box itself.

{Design Sponge}

And why not take advantage of that space underneath your bed. Keep everything organized by using storage drawers with wheels.

{Martha Stewart}

Plan to blog about another storage solution that I finished recently as well as show you pictures of my entire living room. Stay tuned.

P.S. Don’t you just love my pretty coffee table flowers?

I took those from some of the many flowers I got on our engagement night and put them together in my new mason jar.

Have you come up with any creative storage solutions in your home? Do share!

How to Revamp Your Old Kitchen Table {Using Chalk Paint}

April 10, 2013 By Megan 13 Comments

Well friends, I finally did it. I can now finally say I have used chalk paint. I had wanted to give it a try for a while with all the buzz I’ve been hearing about it, but never really had the right project. Well the right project finally came along with my new/old dining room set.

When I moved down to Greenville, my parents gave me their old kitchen table that had been sitting in my grandparent’s garage for a few years to use in my new place. Since I didn’t already have a kitchen table, a free table was definitely appealing. Plus, given that I didn’t have a job lined up right away, buying a kitchen table and chairs was out of the question. But, the downside was that it looked like this.

Super dated wood. But, I thought I would give it a paint job and hope that the finished product looked better than how it started. I found an Annie Sloan stockist here in Greenville and bought a can of Pure White. Now, I will say, the chalk paint was pricey. I was a little hesitant to purchase {see comment above about being unemployed}. But, I heard a little goes a long way so I was hoping I could paint multiple projects with the one can {which I did and hope to blog about the other project soon}.

So with my Annie Sloan chalk paint in hand and a Purdy brush, I got to painting the table. After one coat, you could see some of my brushstrokes.

Two coats was definitely the ticket.

The thing that I liked about the chalk paint was how easy it was to distress. The idea of having to put a lot of elbow grease into distressing the table wasn’t appealing. But, with the chalk paint, it only took a little bit of light sanding with a sanding block to distress it.

I gave all the chairs, table legs and table a good distressing. Since the shape and design of the table was already old and dated, I figured I would just accent the ‘old’ and make it look worn.

Next came waxing. I was a little nervous about this part. I wasn’t exactly sure what to do. I wanted it to look antique {given the old factor again}, so I bought both the Annie Sloan clear wax and dark wax.

The instructions said to use either a rag or brush. The brushes the stockist sold specifically for wax were close to $40, and this girl didn’t have that kind of money in her budget for a brush. So I opted to go with the rag option. Just bought a pack of cheap white ones at Home Depot.

With my finger and the rag, I rubbed on a little bit of the clear wax in a spot and then with a separate rag, rubbed on a little bit of the dark wax.

You can see the difference between the dark wax finish on the left versus the right without the dark wax on the back of the chair. Just makes it look a little bit more aged.

Having my first painting project be a kitchen table with chairs full of spindles, was probably not the best idea. Let’s just say it took foooorever to finish. And hand rubbing the wax on the chairs was almost the death of me. Seriously, I really thought I would never finish.

Not sure I will ever paint kitchen chairs again because of this project.

But, I did finally successfully finish. Here’s what each piece of the dining set looked like once it had been waxed.

I know you are also supposed to buff the wax after it dries for a bit. I attempted to do this, but not sure I was super successful. Because I used the rag option, I think I ended up using too much wax overall which made it a little harder to buff. From what I understand though, the buffing is just to give it a shine, so I was ok if my table and chairs weren’t super shiny.

Here’s the finished product all set up in my new place.

For a first painting project I think it turned out great. I do think I went a little too far with the distressing. If I did it again, I wouldn’t distress everything quite as much.

You may notice something wrong with the kitchen table. Because the table was sitting on the ground, I forgot to wax the brackets underneath. Oops. Once I realized it, I probably could have fixed it, but after spending days and days working on this project, I decided I could live with it the way it was. You don’t really notice it unless you get down {like I did with the camera}.

I think the final product looks way better than it did to start with so I would consider that an overall success.

Would you agree?

Have you ever used chalk paint? If so, were you successful in buffing the wax?

Linking up to: Home Stories A to Z, Shabby Creek Cottage, Liz Marie, Serenity Now, Uncommon Designs

Sunday Brunch Tablescape

April 5, 2013 By Megan Leave a Comment

I gave you guys a little tour of my new apartment dining room on Wednesday. I’m loving my new little eating area and am excited to have dinner guests over at some point in the near future.

Even though I haven’t had anybody over for a meal yet, you may have noticed that the table in the pictures was actually set. I did a little trial run and created a little tablescape that would be perfect for a future Sunday morning brunch.

Today I thought I would share with you guys how I created this little Sunday brunch tablescape in case you wanted to re-create it yourself.

Here’s an arial shot of the whole table. My table is a little small, so with four place settings it’s a little tight, but definitely do-able.

Have you guys seen Target’s new Threshold line? If I wasn’t already obsessed with Target, their new decor line would definitely suck me in. They have tons of colorful decor items, including plates. I bought four Threshold plates that had a fun blue border around the edge. I used white side plates that I already had and put them on top of the blue plates.

The ‘placemats’ you see are actually linen napkins from Target. I just folded them a bit so they would all fit on the table. I was trying to find something neutral and didn’t really find anything I loved so I got the napkins and hoped they would work as placemats and they did!

I thought it would be fun to create little ‘placecards’ for each place setting as well. I cut out circles from brown kraft cardstock and stamped a silhouette on each of them. Instead of just stamping them, I also embossed the silhouettes to add a little texture. You may recognize the stamp from my silhouette iPhone case. You can see the full tutorial here on how you can emboss any stamp.

No tablescape is complete without some fresh flowers. With it being officially Spring, the grocery store was full of pretty fresh flowers so I picked up some pretty sunflowers to use as a centerpiece.

And no brunch is complete without food. So this Sunday brunch menu includes some delicious blueberry bread.

Next week I’ll be showing you guys the full tutorial on how I painted the kitchen table and showing you pictures of what the table looked like before {one word-dated}.

The only things I bought were the four plates, napkins and flowers which equals a budget friendly brunch.

When you guys have people over to eat, do you like to get creative with your tablescapes?

Linking up to: Liz Marie Blog, Finding Home

New Apartment Dining Room

April 3, 2013 By Megan 3 Comments

A while back I gave you guys a little tour of my new apartment. I showed you pictures of my new bedroom and my new bathroom. You may have been wondering about the rest of my place. I wanted to get a few projects done and completed before I took and showed you guys pictures.

But, I have finally finished all my dining room projects so I thought I would give you guys a little tour of it today.

Let’s start with the before shall we? This is really the only before shot I have {filled with tons of boxes}. But you get the idea.

Here’s the after.

You may recognize a few things in my dining room from my old bedroom. I hung the frames and glazed mirror from my bedroom gallery wall on either side of my window in the dining room. I also bought some round mirrors from Target to add to the mix.

If you missed my tutorial on how I made the drop cloth curtains and the curtain tie backs, you can see the full post here.

The dining room has a fun little feature…a pull down ironing board. I don’t use it a ton, but sometimes when I need to run an iron over something I need to wear to work I’ll pull it down real quick in the mornings.

Here’s a close up shot of the right hand side of the window.

You may also recognize my chandelier over my table. I got it from Ikea when I was at Haven last year and had it installed in my bedroom.

I took down the old light fixture in the dining room {or should I say a certain someone else took it down for me}. And replaced it with my pretty shiny chandelier.