Barn Wood Coffee Table & Living Room Makeover: Part 1

I live in a world of brown.
My couch is brown, my floor & walls are brown, the chair & ottoman are brown, my TV stand is brown....you get the idea. I need white with pops of color in my life and I have decided it should start in my living room.

The first thing we decided to work on was the coffee table. Yes, the top is brown but I made up for it with other things in the room.


 I saw a coffee table makeover from City Farmhouse and knew that was the look I wanted. She used an Ikea coffee table and stained and aged wooded boards to give it a worn farmhouse look. 

source

I loved the look but I didn't want to spend $40 on lumber and I didn't want to take the time to age wood.

My husband and I were in the city one day and saw a pile of old barn wood. We fit as much as we could in our van and started brainstorming what we would do with it. 

We talked about building a patio table.

We talked about making a bench for our entry way. 

It was such a great find that I didn't want to use it until we knew for sure what we wanted to do with it.

A light bulb came on and the old barn wood is now the top of our coffee table.

I bought this coffee table at Goodwill for $7. Over a two year period I painted it a pretty greenish blue, then a light gray and then turquoise. I hated the turquoise!
I painted the table white and had my hubby add the barn wood to the top.

The boards are tongue and groove boards so they fit like a puzzle.
My husband cut the boards so they over-lapped the edge of the table, fit the pieces together and screwed them in place.

As I mentioned brown has taken over my house. I've said it before.....it looks like Mr. Potato Head threw-up all over my living room (and probably other areas too).
Yes, there is still brown in this space but this is only part 1 of this living room transformation.

this table was also a light gray and I put a quick coat of yellow to brighten it up.

I really wanted a custom slipcover for my brown couch but I can't sew and I didn't want to pay $400 plus to have someone make one.

Overall, I like the slipcover. It takes looking at pictures to see how you didn't tuck all of the fabric. Oh well!
I have been sleeping on the couch lately (all pregnancy related) and there is hardly a wrinkle when I get up. That fact alone makes me love this slipcover.

Want to know where everything came from?
I found the yellow pillows at World Market for $12.99 each
The woven tray is from World Market $19.99
Slipcover from Target $99
Rug is from Target  (bought 2 years ago)
The black and white photos were taken by Dan's grandfather so they are very special to us.
The other pieces on the gallery wall are pieces I collected and stored for doing this project and the 4 small colored prints are from a trip we took to D.C.


We have started looking at wall colors so that will be included in part 2.
We have a one-sided vaulted ceiling and a large open room so I'm a little worried about how to blend the rooms together without it all being one color. Suggestions?

What projects are you working on?
Has brown taken over your house....or are you a fan of brown?
I would love to hear about it! Leave a comment here or on my facebook page (click here).





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Faux Embroidery Art & Rosette Tutorial

I adore the embroidery art I see on Pinterest and making a few of them has been on my to-do list. 

It seems pretty simple... embroidery hoop, scrapbook paper or fabric and you have instant art for a nursery, a little girl's room or a gallery wall.

 I also wanted to make them for staging photos on my blog. 

I recently did a dresser for a little girl and my normal staging was feeling kinda old and I wanted something new.

I'm a ~ I want it right now~ kinda girl so I wanted to find a way to make embroidery art with supplies I already had and the cheapest way possible. If you already have the supplies then this project won't cost you anything.....if you don't, it's still pretty cheap. 

I'm going to try to give you step-by-step photos to show you what to do.....so bear with me (and all the pictures).

  To make the faux hoops I used:

• diaper box
• scrapbook paper (you can also use fabric)
• scissors
• glue stick
• hot glue gun
• ribbon
• paint can for circle templates
• pen or pencil

Cut the diaper box along the folds (including the flaps on the top). After you cut the box you should have four large squares (which comes from the sides) and four small rectangular pieces (from the lid of the box).

To trace my circles I used paint cans. I used a sample size of paint (as pictured) and a quart and gallon can of paint for the larger two hoops.

After you cut the cardboard template lay it on top of you scrapbook paper and trace a circle onto your paper. Make sure to trace on the backside of your paper.....if not you will have this.

You don't want ink showing so make sure to trace on the back of the paper.

 Tip: glue your paper down before you add your ribbon. After you glue your paper flip the cardboard over and trim any overlapping paper. 

 To hide the edges of the circle use your hot glue gun to adhere the ribbon. 

I worked in sections instead of adding the hot glue all at once. Make sure to use a thin strip of hot glue or it will seep out when you press down the ribbon.

Easy, huh??! Now you need to embellish it a little. 

A few years ago I made rosette necklaces and I had some extra rosette's in my craft stash. 

There are ton's of tutorials online on how to make rosette's (that's how I learned how to make them).

I'm going to share a quick 101 on how to make them. They are easy to make and the more you make the better you get at making them. If you need a little more instruction I would suggest googling "rosette tutorials" if you need something more in-depth.

To make a rosette all you need is:

 fabric cut in strips

hot glue gun

extra glue sticks

I don't normally measure my strips of fabric but you can if you want. 

I did measure these to give you an idea of their length. The purple strips are about 9 inches long and the blue is maybe 14 inches. They are 1 to 1.5 inches wide. 

The shorter the strip the small the rose and the longer the strip the fatter the rose.

Tie a small knot at one end and then slowly wrap and twist the fabric around. 

Another thing that makes the size of the rose is how tight and how loose you wrap your fabric. Wrap tight and it will be small, wrap loosely and you will have a bigger rosette.

 I normally add hot glue every time I complete a full wrap. 

Just use a dab of glue because you don't want extra glue coming out and showing on the front of the rosette.

 

When you get to the end just glue and fold the extra fabric to the underside and trim any extra that shows. 

 

 Now you've made your first rosette! Aren't they fun?

I like the frays of fabric that show on the front but if you want a cleaner look you can trim them. 

Cuticle scissors work like a charm. 

Use your hot glue gun to glue the rosette to your embroidery art and you are done. 

A few tips:

Practice makes perfect.

Place your hot glue gun on an extra piece of cardboard to protect your working surface.

Be careful with the hot glue.....it burns and it hurts. 

You will probably get a small burn here or there when you glue your rosette.

Be creative...maybe use some glitter, beads, or other supplies you have.

If you don't have a diaper box use a cereal box or anything else you have on hand.

Use small scissors to cut any glue that shows and any flyaways.
Use command strips or tape to hang your hoops....(depends on their weight).

I had all of these items on hand so I did not spend anything on this project.

If I had my way, I would have loved to pick out cute vintage scrapbook paper or cute embellishments but I grabbed what I had in my stash.

Would you try this faux technique or just stick with the original embroidery hoop art?

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Mini-Makeover with DIY Board & Batten

One of my favorite blogs is Better After. I. LOVE. THAT. BLOG!!! While doing my weekly check-in, I came across a bathroom re-do featured from Alison at Thrifty and Chic. She redid her guest bath for $60 bucks and I wanted to get on that ASAP!

 Source: Thrifty and Chic

With help from my hubby this is our mini makeover

We used two 1x4's, which made the shelving and under ledge and nine 1x2's which made the vertical parts. They were all 8 feet long but we made the shelves a little over 5 feet. 

Prep work included: cutting, sanding, nailing, screwing, leveling....(okay, my husband did all of this but it looked super easy)! I'm not doing a complete tutorial but if you want a step-by-step click on the link for Thrifty and Chic which will walk you through the whole thing.

After all of the wood is up make sure to caulk all of the gaps, sand and then paint. I painted two coats of Swiss Coffee by Behr (love that paint) and then decorated.

I had everything on hand except for the frames, wood supplies and towels.

Here is a rundown of where everything came from:

Vases are from Hobby Lobby

Dictionary prints are from Etsy (click here for the shop)

Flowers are from my garden

Towels are from Marshall's 

Frames are from Michael's  

Wood and Caulk are from your local hardware store

Here's the best part....the wood only cost $15!!! Moral of this story: if you have most of your supplies on hand you can do this SUPER CHEAP!

We are wanting to paint over the brown (oh, I loathe brown) but I'm putting that off until next weekend. So far, I love the look of the board and batten and I adore my framed prints. They are printed on old dictionary pages and each one is individual.

What do you guys think of the board and batten look?