Bedroom Updates

I've been really slacking on posting recently! I decided I should just jump right back in and show you some of the updates we've made in our bedroom.

We added a clock/starburst mirror to the wall above our bed. I had originally planned to put a large framed print here, but found this clock at HomeGoods and decided it was too good to pass up. I like that it's a unique shape and I love the antique-y metallic color.  I haven't taken any good pictures with my camera yet, so this is an all iPhone picture, but oh well!

I'm also working on a new project in this room, although this one is slow-going. I'm adding a gallery wall to the main wall in the room (to the left of our bed in that picture above). I'm planning to create a wall of frames around a mirror that goes above the dresser. Currently, we have a matching mirror and dresser there, but I plan to paint the furniture and get rid of the matching mirror. Here are some inspiration pictures from Pinterest about creating a gallery wall around something like a tv or mirror.

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I'm have already collected a bunch of wood frames in white, champagne, and distressed gray that I plan to use. For Christmas, I received these two Etsy prints that I will use for this gallery wall. Darah at The First Snow Etsy shop has such amazing work!

Here are some ideas for other pieces that I am planning to incorporate:

Anyways, that's what I'm working on right now. The weather forecast looks like it will snow a few inches tonight here, so hopefully I will have time to post again tonight or tomorrow! If you're getting snow where you live... stay safe and warm!!

2013 in Review

As we get started on a new year, I want to go back and see what some of my most popular posts were from 2013! So, here they are:

Tiling the backsplash in the kitchen Part 1

and Part 2, grouting!

This project was a lot of hard work, but it turned out really well. We also saved a ton of money doing it ourselves and by doing it we learned how to lay tile! Plus, if we can do a herringbone pattern, we can do anything, right!?

DIY Raised Garden Bed for ~$30

We loved having fresh veggies all summer, and this project was more than worth it's cost in veggies produced. Plus, it is still holding up well, even in the winter, so we will be able to use this for years to come! The chicken wire prevented rabbits and other animals from getting to the vegetables, but still allowed easy access for us to reach everything. 

Date Night Recipe: Beef Wellington

This recipe was so good! If you're looking for something special to make for an amazing night at home, try this. Make sure you get quality beef and you won't regret it... the beef is the superstar of this meal. Plus, it's very filling, so one filet can almost fill two people, depending on the size. Yummm!

Cucumber Crostini

I made up this recipe on a whim when trying to think of a fun summery appetizer for a party.  I was inspired by tzatziki sauce and cucumber tea sandwiches, and came up with this.  It's so refreshing, and I think my friends and I could eat them any time.

Media Room Update

This year, we completed decorating our media room. This was a fun room to transform, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. We spend a lot of time in here, and now it's both comfortable and pretty! 

DIY IKEA French Pleat Curtains

This is a recent project that we completed for our bedroom, but it has tons of use for almost anyone. I love that you can take standard IKEA curtains and elevate them to something that looks a lot nicer.

60th Birthday Party

We hosted a big 60th birthday party for Kevin's mom in March of this year. It was a lot of fun and we loved seeing family and friends. All of the little details really made the party personal!

Our Next Project

Picking paint for our bedroom really got us going on redecorating our bedroom this year. We have made lots of progress, and I love how it's turning out. We ended up painting the walls Evening Dove by Benjamin Moore. I haven't posted about this project enough, so I'll be sure to update with all of our progress very soon! 

Easy Pistachio Ice Cream

This pistachio ice cream turned out really well, it's a nice summer treat! If you have an ice cream maker, you could be enjoying this in no time!

Holiday Updates

Yes, I realize I've been really slacking about blogging recently. Things have been a whirlwind with work and the holidays, there's just not been a lot of time! However, my lack of activity on here does not reflect what's actually going on, we've actually been doing quite a bit of work.

In our bedroom, we are slowly but surely making changes and I'm loving it! A few weeks ago, I got the jewelry armoire that I'd been considering on sale in a Cyber Monday sale. I got the Oxford Jewelry Armoire from HomeDecorators in white. I had been planning to buy this jewelry armoire from Ballard Designs, but at the last minute I decided that the French white was too yellow for my liking. I am really happy with the armoire, now I have lots of storage for both fashion and nice jewelry.

We also ordered a new bed for our room and it came in this week!  I had originally planned to DIY a headboard, similar to my upholstered ottoman... but, after much thought, I decided that we wanted the upholstered side rails as well. I kept trying to figure out what kind of bed skirt we would do with a headboard with our bedding, and finally decided that ordering the bed was the best way to achieve the look I wanted. We got the Montmartre bed from Joss and Main. I wasn't sure how the process would be, it was my first time ordering from them, but it was awesome. The bed even came in earlier than expected! So far we are loving it, and it makes a big difference in our room... another check for slowly phasing out our old furniture!

Other than those things, we are prepping for Christmas around the house. Our tree went up the weekend after Thanksgiving, although the rest of our decorations took a while to get completed.

Lastly, I am super excited because our annual Christmas party is this Saturday! We love hosting our friends for this party each year, it's going to be so much fun! I have a lot of shopping and cooking to do before then, but I know it will be wonderful. And, as if reuniting with old friends and celebrating the holidays wasn't enough, I'm sure the festive cocktails that I've prepared will get everyone in the right mood!

Hope you have a great last weekend (!!) before Christmas. Have you finished your shopping?

DIY Custom French Pleat Curtains

When we chose the dark blue paint color (Benjamin Moore Evening Dove) for our master bedroom a few months ago, we decided that we would hang white curtains from floor to ceiling to make the room feel lighter. The room has a vaulted ceiling, but I loved the high contrast look of the tall white curtains in other rooms. 

Shopping for curtain panels can be a pain... you need to find the correct length, material, and sometimes you get stuck between options like tap-top or grommets... which can be right for certain rooms and situations, but wasn't what I was looking for. I decided that I wanted either back-tab curtains or French pleat (pinch pleat).  Panels like these vary widely in cost, but a lot of times you will spend a lot of extra money just to get the pleat look. Well, here's a great and surprisingly cheap option for you to make your own French Pleat curtains using Ikea Ritva curtain panels. 

A pair of Ikea Ritva panels comes in either 98" or 117" lengths, so you get a lot of fabric for the low cost (you can always hem them to be shorter, if needed). I bought the 98" length and I'm really happy with how they look. Here's how I created the French Pleats.

 You will need to buy the panels from IKEA and then buy triple pleat hooks (like these) from somewhere like JoAnn Fabric or on Amazon. IKEA does sell some pleat hooks, but they are double pleat hooks and won't give you the same effect. If you want the triple pleat, you will need to buy the 4-pronged pins.

The nice thing about using the Ritva curtain panels, is that they have built in pleater tape into the header of the curtain. (If you are doing this with another kind of panel, you will need to sew this pleater tape into the top section of the curtain yourself) This means that you can create almost any design of pleats that you want... you just need to figure out where to put your hooks.

To start, put one of the prongs into a slot in the header.  Then, depending on how deep you want the pleats, place the second prong into another slot. Continue this until you have your finished single pleat.  Before you start your panel, you will want to decide how big you want each pleat to be and how much space you want to leave in between pleats. For my curtains, I had 5 pleats (each created out of 8" of panel width) leaving about 3" between each. On the ends, you can put a single pin in a slot to keep the panel ends neatly attached to the rod.

 When you are done, it looks like this:

Then, you just need to either attach the hooks to rings and hang them, or use the rings directly on your rod.

There you go! I'm pretty excited about the way they turned out. I still need to do a lot more in this room, but having curtains up already makes it feel so much nicer!