Really Ties the Room Together

 This fall I somehow found some time to take on some projects that have been brewing in my mind for years!  So fun to finally make them happen and I love what they've added to our home.  First it was this family photo wall in our guest room (inspiration here).  

 I started by gathering all my old, outdated brass and wood picture frames and spray painted them all the same off-white color.  I put burlap and a fun ribbon behind all the frames, and anchored them at the top of the wall with fun doorknobs I picked up at Hobby Lobby.  The hardest (and most fun) part was choosing which pictures I wanted to display.

 

I saw this project on Pinterest and have always wanted to tackle it in order to display my Instagram prints.  I LOVE instagram, and was SO excited when Walgreens released an app to print instagram photos straight from your phone.   I found a funky, brass frame at Goodwill (it even came with a horribly ugly painting) and spray painted it.  Wire and tiny clothes pins finished off the project.  So happy with how it turned out.

 

I've been looking for a way to store our growing record collection for some time.  We were quickly running out of room in our existing entertainment console, but I didn't really want to buy a new piece of furniture for this purpose.  Enter IKEA Hack!  I became a big fan of the IKEA hack concept when we installed our built-in bookshelves on our second floor, so I thought it might be a great resource for this project. 

 I bought two inexpensive bookshelves at IKEA, and made the cushions myself (tutorial here).  It took me one night to make these come together and I think they are so much fun.

And Sadie LOVES her new window seats!

Five Things Friday

1.  Tomorrow will be our second house concert of the fall season and I am oh so excited.  Probably means it's time to blog about the first of the season.  I due time.  Nonetheless, house concert nights are my very favorite nights of all.  Especially this time of the year.  It's cool and crisp outside, and warm and cozy inside.  The house fills up with friends (old and new) and family.  There are smells galore as people share their homemade goodies at the pre-show potluck.  There are smiles and hugs and laughter.  And then the music.  And the quiet and peace that falls over the crowd as we take in the beauty of yet another perfect night of acoustic music.  Ah.......

2.  I've been purging and organizing and simplifying and it feels SO GOOD!  It started with the guest room closet...expanded to the garage, then the pantry, the store-everything-that-doesn't-have-a-place extra kitchen cabinets, then the junk drawer.  And moved into my office yesterday.  I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.  Rather than spring cleaning...I find that I want to declutter and simplify going into winter.  I want my home to be clean and organized before I cozy up for the season.  And we're making some serious progress on this front!

3.  Last weekend we had the most glorious date night.  Dinner at a new to us restaurant, Fruition, and then the Todd Snider concert, which is always one of our very favorite live shows.  Such a fun night with my favorite person in the world.


4. This.  Nothing makes me happier....

5.  I'm on a mission for the following items for the house....
vinyl storage inspired by this
console table for the top of our stairs

Home Improvements

 

I was going to post pictures and thoughts about the various home improvement projects we took on in March and April.  They included the painting of the entire upstairs of our house (we hired someone to do that part...), moving around of furniture, hanging pictures and artwork on the wall, and some other minor changes.

But really, none of that matters as much as these bookshelves.  This is what started it all, and this is what makes me the happiest.  I've wanted floor-to-ceiling, built-in type bookshelves ever since we bought this house.  It's been sad to have my entire book collection double stacked onto my old college bookshelves all this time.

My neighbor Chris wins the award for neighbor-of-the-year for all the help and support he offered us during this project.

We were inspired by this website, and followed the Billy Bookshelves Hack pretty closely.  Amazing how well that worked and how much money we saved!

 I LOVE these bookshelves.  They have transformed the entire upper floor of our house and the best part is that we find ourselves using this space for reading, playing, and making music more than we ever have.