Decorating

Target Love

| The Bee Life

As I have been price shopping around for the perfect pieces for our master bedroom, I keep coming back to one place over and over again – Target. Their prices, convenience and in my opinion quality (for the price) can’t be beat.  I am always down for a bargain – even though as much as I would love to shop at some of the higher end spots regularly like Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn or Anthropologie – there are many other things I like to enjoy with my money!  See if you can guess which of these is from Pottery Barn and which is from Target (don’t cheat!) – you might be surprised by a few…
Target vs. Pottery Barn
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How did you do?  These pieces are pretty similar and nearly identical, but the difference between price point is not even on the same level! Target is the clear winner when it comes to price, but I still love and dream about you Pottery Barn (and Crate & Barrel and Antrhopologie).  I also like to decorate or re-accessorize somewhat frequently, so spending more than I need to on pieces isn’t ideal – I am just lucky I have more rooms to move the ‘retirees’ to!

What’re your favorite ‘bargain’ spots?

Inside Our Christmas

| The Bee Life

Last weekend was full of decorating for Christmas! And with continual tweaks being made (always) I wanted to share with you our red and plaid Christmas wonderland!

The Dining Room
I wanted to keep the decor simple but still make a big impact and fill the space. I created depth by layering the plaid table runner and the greens.  I used extra bulbs to fill the glass vases and sprinkled some votives throughout for some nice mood lighting in the evenings.

Ornaments
We have a super tall skinny tree in our dining room as well, this tree is used for all of our ornaments, mostly B’s and one’s we’ve collected together.  I have yet to inherit all of my childhood ornaments from my parents, but then I think we will need a much bigger tree! I love opening the ornaments every year, they all have meaning and memories built behind them.

Cozy Living
The Merry Christmas sign was inspired of course by something I found on pinterest and one of my wood crafts! I hand painted the lettering, and used 100-year-old wood from our attic, it’s pretty hefty. The polar bear also holds special meaning, although it was a lucky find last Christmas season – my grandma used to have a ledge of polar bears, and it wasn’t until after she passed I truly appreciated that sentiment and wished I had asked for a few of hers.

The Tree
Here it is!  Our first REAL tree! She is a beauty.  Lots of lights and gold and red accents to trim the tree. And of course an angel as the topper (she was tough to find!)  – the last missing piece is a tree skirt.

I love being able to enjoy the house decorated, last year we were just moving into our house on December 13th – so throwing some decorations up and the fake tree was all we managed amongst the other chaos!

Merry Christmas!

Attic Update – 4 Month Check-In

| The Bee Life

Our 4-monthAttic update!
Well in case any one is loosing sleep out there, here is an update on our attic! hehe. Since my last update a month ago; it’s been nothing but insulation.  B has been doing an awesome job at insulating the place, adding baffles and making sure everything is “properly breathing.”  Insulation is a messy and time consuming job, but the end is in sight!

Drywall started this weekend, and the space is looking like a room again!  Last week we made a Lowe’s trip and tried to pick up and order a lot of the finishing touches for the attic, like paint, blinds, closet doors and the drywall! So now it’s really getting there.

A few of the questionable items, like what we are going to do with the floor have been cleared up.  We are going to paint it a light grey and call it a day, we bought durable gloss paint for a more heavy-duty finish. We are also hoping to put some sort of carpet tred or runner up the stairs to soften the squeaky steps.

I have a few more fun projects up my sleeve for finishing touches, I’ve made good progress on re-beading our chandelier, and am sketching some DIY plans for our custom wing-back upholstered headboard.  Another part I can’t wait to get doing is customizing the walk in closet with useful shelving and making the most of the “small” space.

We’ve put two-solid days in this weekend of drywalling and will continue nightly after work.  B’s brother and dad will be in next weekend to hopefully finish up the last of it!

Keep your fingers crossed everybody! We are getting there!

DIY – Wooden Christmas Tree

| The Bee Life

Let the unveiling of wood crafts continue! Here is one to surely be easy with lots of options for customization!

With the 100-year old beams from our attic, we created these beauties.  Figuring out the measurements was half the battle – so hopefully the sketch below will help you! We also created a slightly longer and narrower tree so that we can have a little wooden tree family this holiday season in our front yard!

Wooden Tree How-To
Once we had all the pieces cut, we screwed the horizontal posts starting with the square topper first and worked our way down, eye-balling the distance, we even intentionally made a few crooked to give it a custom feel.  The version below is the one I made for my mom – with the bible verse; “For unto us a child is born.”  I free handed the lettering (with a Q-tip, yes I know strange, but that’s my paint brush of choice) with some white paint I had around the house.  I used some small trim work nails for the star and wove colored string around to create the star pattern.  Last but not least, stick you post in the ground for Christmas and you’re one step closer to decorating for the holidays, you could even wrap some lights around!

Happy Crafting!!

Master Bedroom Inspiration

| The Bee Life

Oh how things can change within a year! Almost a year to the date, I posted this Bedroom Retreat – which while all in good fun, the idea’s have transformed immensely!  Here are a few of the items on the must-have punch list and some inspirational pictures for elements that I want to pull from.

  1. Wing-back Upholstered Headboard
  2. Matching nightstands with table lamps
  3. Pop of color in curtains, pillows, accessories
  4. Accent Wall – Herringbone Pattern
  5. Cozy and comfy seating area w/ fireplace
  6. Thick baseboard trim
  7. Open concept railing
  8. Classic chandelier (DIY Project)

diy-wingback-headboard-tutorial-king-size: Master Bedroom Makeoverschairs- overstock, curtains, world market, tiny ottoman in tween for sitting area:

Our attic is slowly but surely coming to life and as much as I hate painting, I can’t wait to paint the room and do the finishing touches like the trim and our open concept railing. I am really wanting to have pops of navy, yellow and pink around the room, but still creating something that B will like and isn’t too girly. We are getting so close to the finishing touches it’s hard not to get excited!

DIY – Give Thanks Door Tags

| The Bee Life

I initially shared some of my wood crafts (see here) that I hoped to do with all of our left over wood from our attic.  Well I’ve made some progress, and wanted to share one of the first ones finished, it’s an easy DIY for your outdoor decor.

IMG_8241
Just a reminder: all wood was reused from our house, so I worked with what we had.

After the cutting was complete I wanted to create a faded chevron pattern, so I free handed the pattern with white paint on the tags.  After that dried, I sanded down significantly so the pattern was faded, enough for the wood grain to show through. Next I carefully free-handed the ‘give thanks’ on the tags, with a permanent marker. For the finishing touches, I found some old rope that the previous owners so generously left at our house and eyeballed the length and cut! Tied a knot, and done. Please I was able to use supplies from around the house, this virtually cost me $0 to make, just a couples hours here and there after work!

Finished
I gained inspiration for this from ‘That’s My Letter‘ – although the tags she made are much larger, I might go back to the drawing board and see if I can make mine a bit larger (with more scrap wood). The best part about these, is they can be reversible for the next holiday, I plan to share the flip side in an upcoming post (hint: green and red).

Decorating for Fall

| The Bee Life

In case you didn’t know, I love fall – I mean… who doesn’t?  But one thing I don’t like is the immense amount of Halloween specific decorations that are available or the standard cheesy scarecrow and thanksgiving cornucopia.  So I wanted to share ways to keep the decorations up from end of September until the Christmas tree’s are being chopped down!  Also this is the first time decorating our house, so I needed some extra inspiration!  Breaking this down, there are a few focus areas to really spend your time, be creative and make a statement.

Focus Areas: Front Entry Space, Mantle, Dining Room

You can really make an impact with your outdoor decor, simple sprucing and added pieces are easy accents to make a big difference. Mums and pumpkins are no secret, it’s having the right amount and pairings that really set you apart from your neighbor.

Bold and Inviting
Simple & Clean
Industrial Rustic

Moving inside; there are two places to focus on, your mantle and dining room table. The mantle is the focal point in your living space, making a statement with this, again, can be done using simple and inexpensive elements like pumpkins and candles.  For me, I think the simpler the better – that way you don’t have to go overboard. I love these examples below.

Homey
Neutrals
Pops of Color

Your dining room is the place where the family will connect, especially over one of the biggest dinners of the year, Thanksgiving.  Having a centerpiece that is no fuss and can be kept up for almost two-months, allows you to focus on the meal plan and less on the supporting elements.

Stunning & Elegant
Pops of Color

Since this is our first fall in our house, I’ve been having fun figuring out ways to decorate these areas of the house.  I know it’ll transform over the years, but I’ve been loving being able to buy fresh mums, pumpkins and gourds!  It’s been a work in progress, but I hope to share some of my key spots soon with you!

Happy Decorating!

Mums. Plaid. Boots. Pumpkins.

| The Bee Life

Ever since Wednesday, the beginning of Autumn, it’s now acceptable to decorate for fall! Here are some of the essentials for fall. And it comes down to the basics, Mums, Plaid, Boots and Pumpkins.

Beyond adding mums to your front foliage for a last bit of color on your porch- pull the colors of mums into your home to brighten the darker nights.  Sherwin-Williams’, ColorSnap app allows you to pull colors from any photo and find the same color, it’s amazing.  Use these as inspiration in DIY projects or painting your pumpkins!

Thanks to Target, Plaid is covering every other commercial accompanied by catchy songs we loved from our past. If you haven’t checked out Target’s Plaid section, please do – you’ll fall in love with at least one or five things. Promise. But instead of going overkill in everything plaid, here are some other ways to incorporate plaid in this fall without giving your house or wardrobe a complete makeover.

Plaid - Essentials
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Boots! As much as I love a good knee-high boot, I am really loving the bootie look for this fall – classic, easy to put on, and versatile with jeans, tights, and dresses!  Here are some of the boots I have my eye on this fall.  Of course, having a great pair of rain boots for those dark nights is key too.

Boots_Fall Essentials
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Pumpkins! Of course, you can’t forget about pumpkins! One of the most important things when picking out your pumpkins is getting a variety of sizes, small pumpkins can be great around the house as accents or focal points in your centerpieces.  Larger pumpkins are great to serve as the supporting cast to your mums.  Creating wooden pumpkins for an easy DIY helps with cost year over year, and can allow for updates and custom pieces in your home, inside or out.

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/decorating-ideas/g240/natural-halloween-decorations/#ixzz2fSPGhttc&i
http://dandelionsdragonflies.blogspot.com/2011/10/front-porch.html
http://www.occasionallycrafty.com/2010/10/one-last-fall-craft-2×4-pumpkins.html

It’s hard not to love fall, it’s one, if not my favorite season for many reasons, but especially the ones above!

Wood Crafts

| The Bee Life

With our recent attic project (see here) we have a lot of old wood that we’ve replaced, meaning we have a lot of old wood sitting in our garage waiting for something amazing to happen to it! So I have a few projects brewing in my head that I hope to start working on for the upcoming holiday seasons for some nice holiday decor. I also have a few projects/presents in mind for family and friends. Here is just a few sneak peaks of a few of my ideas…

I might even brainstorm and create a few ideas of my own for more holiday-esq door signs and decor.  That is one thing I love having year round, and with the front door about to be painted within the next month – yes a color has been chosen, (you have to wait to be surprised) we will be able to showcase some of those new ornaments.

Hope you have a crafty, inspiring weekend!