Real Inspired: May 2014

The Power of the Dark Side

Are you a fan of cozy rooms? Does a room reaching out to envelope you in coziness make your heart go pitter-patter? Well, this post is for you. One simple trick to making your rooms look instantly warmer and cozier. And it will add elegance as well.

Want to hear it?

Dark curtains.

I don't normally use dark curtains because I love the whole light and bright beach cottage look. I went with dark gray in our bedroom though, and I absolutely love it! So cozy!

Here are a few more examples:

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Pick any color. Pick a print. Just make sure they're on the dark side.

Mmmmm...cookies.

Super Easy and Cheap DIY Seashell Art

Today is just a super easy craft that you can do in 10 minutes, tops. You really don't have to go out and look for new art all the time. You can actually make your own custom art using everyday things from your everyday stores!

I happened to have all of these supplies on hand already so I didn't even have to go shopping.

You'll need:

wrapping paper
scissors
mounting squares{mine are removable but they have permanent ones too}
a seashell
a small frame{I found this little 4x6" frame at the thrift store and it makes me think of driftwood}

To put together, I simply removed the backing from the frame, cut a piece of wrapping paper to the same size as the back and put it all back in the frame like I would a picture. My frame didn't have any glass in it already but if yours has glass, you will want to take it out since this project requires no glass in the frame.

Then I took a few mounting squares and put them on the back of the shell.

This just shows one but I would put at least three. I put two and I already had to fix it once because of the weight of the shell. I would think that using the permanent mounting squares might solve that problem better since they are quite a bit stickier than the removable ones.

Then you just place your shell wherever you want it in your frame.

I put my shell at an angle so that I could place my art either horizontally or vertically and have it look good both ways.

Super easy peasy right?

Color Tryouts

It started with a shower curtain.

A green one.

A shower curtain I haven't actually bought.

Yet.

A while back I tried to do something awesome in our upstairs bathroom. It wasn't too bad. I liked it for a bit, but I've never felt like this room was finished. We have old light blue and white tile on the walls. White tiles that didn't match the white paint on the walls.

So I tried painting it to match. After much searching, we painted it Behr Nude. A white with a red undertone. It matched better, but I lost that light, bright bathroom. I still haven't painted all the trim because I wasn't sure if I wanted to go all the way with it.

I had tried simple and neutral. I had tried adding more with the navy. But it needed more so I decided to try green and blue.

Before buying the curtain, I figured I better play around and see if the green worked in there before buying it. I shopped the house for all things green and nature-y. If I didn't have kids, this would have taken me about an hour, maybe two. With kids, it took short periods of time over a couple days.

And I apologize for weird lighting in my pictures. These rooms don't get a whole lot of natural light so picture taking and editing is difficult.

I love my fake Ikea plant. And the turtle shell I've had since I was 5. And old vintage bottles. And my DIY shell art that I whipped up in 10 minutes. I'll share that one with you next week!

I also love toilet paper. Really. You know you do too.

I picked these up at the thrift store a few weeks ago. They were dirty and a little damaged but I liked the frames and planned to replace the photos. Now they are in the bathroom opposite from the shelves.

The green art was Target clearance, the horse bookend was a yard sale find. He used to be silver but I'm spray paint happy.

These rugs were sitting in a closet waiting for somewhere. Three of them for $10 each at Marshall's. I don't know if they'll stay or not.

I found this little vintage tray at a yard sale, the small glasses are older and from Mexico, and I love the vintage vase with the metal frog for flower arranging!

And finishing everything up with cheapo bird prints from Ollie's. There's even some blue in on them! These are on the master bath side of our Jack and Jill bathrooms, along with the small tray.

I'm thinking it might work.

What do you think of my green and blue bathroom tryout? Should I go ahead and get that green shower curtain?

The Nesting Place: A Book Review

I'd like to introduce you to one of my new favorite books. You may have caught me raving about it on Instagram or Facebook a couple weeks ago. I'm in love, I'm in love and I don't care who knows it!

The author, Myquillyn Smith{known as The Nester}, blogs over at Nesting Place. You may have heard me mention it before. It's kinda my favorite.

And she is awesome. She is now living in her 14th house in 18 years, 13th at the time the book was written. Crazy, huh? But out of the crazy, is her story. Her story also includes a house full of boys and dog hair. And everything in her house gets used.

Her big mantra is "it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful" and it's a mantra I'm learning to speak to myself every day. From the very first chapter, my perfectionist butt was getting whipped. Not only in how I see my home, but also life in general. I couldn't put it down!

I suffer from this horrible thing called perfectionism. It paralyzes me when I come to make a decorating decision. Usually I end up doing nothing because I don't want to make a mistake. This book challenged and inspired me to just get things done! Because done is better than perfect.

And, really now, who can relate to someone that's perfect? I want the people that come in my house to feel welcomed, comfortable, and like we could just be good friends. That's not going to happen if I'm putting on a perfect, put-together face.

She has a lot of practical tips for making your home beautiful as well. She says to remember your lifelong decorating favorites and incorporate them into your home. Because it makes you happy and it makes your home yours. My favorite things to decorate with when I was little were animal figurines, especially birds and horses, and stuff from nature. Seashells, feathers, rocks...that sort of thing.

I'm not sure how I can use it all together yet but I'm excited to try!

Even if you aren't a crazy decorator person like me, you should still read it. If you have ever apologized for your house when guests come over, then this book is for you too! Throughout the book, the emphasis is on home as a haven for people, not just a perfectly pretty house for pretty's sake. And that's a message we all need to be reminded of.

Through her blog, and now her book, The Nester has helped me remember that home is beautiful because of the lives we live in it and because of the lives of the others we share it with. Many times the beauty is in the imperfection. And it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful.

My Mini Creative Hiatus

Hi guys! I just wanted to check in and say that I'm still here! I had planned some posts this week but I decided to just let it go and take a week long creative hiatus.

I've been using every spare moment to work on some big projects around the house. Lots of painting, rearranging rooms, and emptying all the kitchen cabinets. You can imagine the disaster. Add in working around the kids and nursing times every couple hours and it's been slow going.

If you don't want to miss the end result of all the projects, follow along with the link buttons at the end of this post or the top of the sidebar. Make sure you won't miss it! I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and it's ahmazing!

Like what you see? Follow along!

Behind The Scenes

Remember this post?

So pretty and nice, right?

Want to step behind the lens and see what was going on behind me?

Yikes.

We bloggers show a lot of pretty pictures but real life happens to us too. I always try to show that here. I know it can be disheartening to me when I see all the perfection but none of the angst. I know I'm not the only one. And perfection doesn't make a happy, beautiful home anyway.

That would be love.

Like what you see? Follow along!

April Review 2014

April is over, May is here, and it's time for the April Review!

This is the part of the blog where I come out and show you all of the posts from the last month in one convenient post.

And so, without further ado, the April Review.