DIY Showoff Feature of the Week Winner!

Super excited to announce that my little chairs were featured as the winner of the DIY Showoff Feature of the week!

Read more about it:

DIY Chair Makeover – before and after x 2

Thank you, Roeshel! If you haven’t checked out her blog, you need to! She has some great DIY projects to browse through!

Master Bedroom Makeover on a Budget

You know the saying…the cobbler’s children have no shoes. That pretty much sums up my own house and the lack of decorating I’ve been able to do while working on other people’s homes.


But I finally decided to do a long overdue mini makeover one room at a time, starting with my master bedroom. I didn’t really have a lot of room in the budget, which is always challenging when trying to makeover a room! But for $150 and 24 hours, I think I did pretty well!





After six years in our house, we still had the builder white (or cream) walls. We wanted to take the room from Country Cottage to Urban Sophistication.





I think the biggest impact in the room was paint. I chose a subtle gray from Benjamin Moore called Gray Huskie that I had color matched at Lowe’s. Keep in mind that I didn’t replace any of my original furniture. The paint really helps the furniture stand out.


I saved a lot of money by painting myself. It really wasn’t that bad…took me about 5 hours from start to finish. The biggest trick to painting a room is to do all of the brush work first and then do the rolling.





We mounted our flat screen on the wall before the makeover but that was actually a pretty easy project as well. We found our mounting kit online which saved us over half the cost of buying in the store.





Besides paint, the only other purchases were the area rug, which I snagged for $55 at Ross and the charcoal drapes that were $25 for a 2 pack at IKEA.





All of the accessories around the room were items that I already from other areas of the house, with the exception of my champagne hammered lamp on my bedside chest that I scored at a thrift for $9.00! The lamp shade is from Target.





My vanity and fiddle back antique chair was a thrift find as well that I refinished in a weathered warm silver. The chair was about to go in the dumpster and I convinced the store to let me have it for $1.





I still have a few more odds and ends to finish up in the room. I’m hoping to paint my doors leading into the bathroom a shiny black and change out the hardware to crystal door knobs.





I repainted a wooden carved lamp and accent clock to match the new room as well. Soon I hope to take old frames and add a gallery wall of family pictures above the dresser.


 


My bedding and accent pillows were all collected over the years at discount stores like HomeGoods and T.J. Maxx. They weren’t new for this makeover but with the cream walls before, they were washed out and didn’t “pop” like they do now.





My last item to complete the new look will be to upholster a French style thrift chair in a fun pop of color like the sofa below.





Rebecca Sofette $1495 shown above


I’m so happy about my $150 makeover that I’m getting motivated to update the rest of my house, room by room.


Need design help? Find out more.

Christmas Cheer Using What’s On Hand…

It seems I start decorating for Christmas earlier and earlier these days. I always have a house full of relatives for Thanksgiving, and I like having it out of the way before it gets busy around here. Its also cozy having our turkey dinner by the tree.

I try to use what’s on hand, so I don’t go out and blow money on decorations for two months out of the year. I’ve accumulated quite a lot of holiday stuff over the years though. A lot of it I made or repurposed.

My artificial tree in the living room was one that I bought for my Urban Farmhouse suite last year. I got it for $40 while out thrifting! Its full, classic and stands over 10 feet tall.

 

I wanted to do something really relaxed and whimsical for the mantel this year. I had a large vintage frame that I used as a chalkboard at Urban Farmhouse over the years. I originally planned to use the chalkboard and write a cute saying on it in white chalk, but then I kept thinking about the subway art that’s so in right now.

I found this great Free Printable Christmas Subway Art that I thought would be perfect for the frame. You can get it here.

Some of the other things I had on hand were vintage decorations that I just used in a new way this year.

  

For the formal living and sitting room, I wanted to keep it a little more sophisticated…again, just adding touches with things I had on hand.

 

The tree in our front room was another great find on Craigslist. It was still sealed in the box and was originally purchased for a model home that sold before the holidays. I think I’ll try one of those no-sew ruffle tree skirts I keep seeing on Pinterest….the one in the picture is too dinky for this tree.

 

I always like extending the décor into other rooms in the house in small doses as well, including the bedroom.

Wishing you and your loved ones a Happy Thanksgiving Holiday!!!

Time for Christmas Cards!

Its that time again…and for those of you with young kids, you know that Christmas cards aren’t the same without pictures!

I used to pay for photography sessions, but after investing in a good camera for Urban Farmhouse, I decided to try my luck at my own mini photo sessions with my favorite subject, Nikolas.

Yesterday morning I took Nikolas to a really cool area over by our local library to see if we could get a good shot or two for our card this year.

Drum roll please….I think we found a winner!

Aside from the one above, I got some other really great shots, just letting him discover the area and get silly with me.

  

Before I knew it, I had dozens of great shots that I can now use for grandparent gifts! (Busy moms gotta love multi-tasking!)

 

  

(The G.Q. Pose!!!)

 

 

Here’s My Amateur Photography Pointers:

1. When photographing kids, let them lead you and take cues…if they wanna get silly, let them get silly…personality is the key to great pictures!

2. For outside shots, overcast weather is best (no squinty eyes and shadows!).

3. I don’t have an expensive lense, but I do rely on an editing program to get cool effects. (I use Picasa and Picnik….it’s free and super easy to use!!!)

4. Don’t overload on props…keep it simple for timeless photos.

5. Snap Away! I took 500 pictures in 35 minutes, but got the shots I wanted and then some.

Most importantly…have fun!

We laughed so hard we had tears streaming down our faces by the end of the shoot. Then we went to have milk shakes and hamburgers together. It was a great date with my boy. In twenty years from now when I look back at these pictures, I know I’ll feel the happiness of our day.

 

Good Luck! Now, go out and make some memories with your kiddos!

Practice Makes Perfect…Especially with Driftwood!

I was pretty excited when I first figured out how to “paint” a driftwood finish, giving pieces the weathered look that’s so in right now.
My first attempts were decent but I think I’ve finally tweaked the process enough now to give a truly realistic finish with some subtle wood grain.
This is a dining set I found and refinished this week for a super cool family here in Frisco.

They could see past the maroon, vinyl seats and chipped up tabletop to the beautiful French look we were going for.

I’m loving how the colors of the table contrast so well against their dark hardwood floors.
 
Thanks Carrie and Jeb! You guys rock!

I guess its just like the ole’ saying…practice makes perfect.
If you’d like me to find your perfect piece of furniture and give it a weathered, driftwood look, give me a shout!baylorkls@aol.com

Chairs, Chairs and More Chairs…

Well, the Chevron Striped Metallic Chair was such a hit, that I happened upon a large lot of them while out the other day and snagged them up! They about sold out in an hour but the good news is that I have two left for sale.

Before

After a refinish job…they are on there way to get a new seat cushion in Chevron Stripe twill.

 

I’ll put up the after picture when the new seat is added!

I hope everyone has a safe and super fun spooky night…

Happy Halloween!!!