Bathroom Theme

Check out the individual ideas on my Bathroom Pinterest Board From Top Left Clockwise: Poppytalk DIY:Custom Fabric Boxes Apartment Therapy's Renters Solutions for pink bathrooms Chevron Wall Inspiration Real Simple's 15 min. DIY centerpieces Mt. Casa Washi Tape      

The main bathroom in the new house is pretty ugly as far as bathrooms go. There's pink tile, a pink sink, and old frosted over bathtub sliding doors. I googled something along the lines of pink bathrooms, and a link for apartment therapy popped up, that had some really great inspirations for pink bathrooms. I really fell in love with the one I have pictured above with the black and white wall paper. It distracts your eye from the pink while making the room look classic. So i've decided on a grey, black, and white theme for in there. I recently discovered Washi Tape, it's a Japanese tape similar in many ways to masking tape although it's much more delicate. People use it for everything, check out this Buzzfeed article to see what i'm talking about. I'm planning on using grey and black Washi tape to make a chevron pattern on my white walls. I'd really like to hang some black and white pictures up in the bathroom as well and I'm thinking about doing city skylines from places I've lived and visited. Check back sooner rather than later for a quick organizing fix I did last night (hint: it involves shoeboxes) and later for updates on the room overall!

Check out the individual ideas on my Bathroom Pinterest Board From Top Left Clockwise: Poppytalk DIY:Custom Fabric Boxes Apartment Therapy's Renters Solutions for pink bathrooms Chevron Wall Inspiration Real Simple's 15 min. DIY centerpieces Mt. Casa Washi Tape      

The main bathroom in the new house is pretty ugly as far as bathrooms go. There's pink tile, a pink sink, and old frosted over bathtub sliding doors. I googled something along the lines of pink bathrooms, and a link for apartment therapy popped up, that had some really great inspirations for pink bathrooms. I really fell in love with the one I have pictured above with the black and white wall paper. It distracts your eye from the pink while making the room look classic. So i've decided on a grey, black, and white theme for in there. I recently discovered Washi Tape, it's a Japanese tape similar in many ways to masking tape although it's much more delicate. People use it for everything, check out this Buzzfeed article to see what i'm talking about. I'm planning on using grey and black Washi tape to make a chevron pattern on my white walls. I'd really like to hang some black and white pictures up in the bathroom as well and I'm thinking about doing city skylines from places I've lived and visited. Check back sooner rather than later for a quick organizing fix I did last night (hint: it involves shoeboxes) and later for updates on the room overall!

Spare Bedroom Theme

My theme board - check out the individual ideas on my Pinterest Spare Bedroom Ideas Board

Way back in April I had posted about doing a bedroom makeover for the spare bedroom since I had just finished with my dresser redo. I had a theme board going then, but now that I've completed some of the projects from it I decided to refocus what I wanted to do with the spare/guest bedroom. I was also waiting until I got the duvet cover finished since that was a major piece to the room, but now that's wrapped up I'm really motivated to get this room looking like something out of an interior design magazine. Plus my mom is coming to visit in a month, and she'll be staying in this room.

I'm planning on buying some pillows tonight, and i'm still sticking with my green, gold, cream, and coral theme. I want the majority of the pillows to be cream and emerald, with a few gold and coral ones for accent. I really love the gold and white polka dot one, and the gold octopus one. From what I saw online, the octopus pillow is pretty expensive, so I'm going to try and find something similar on Etsy. Even if I do end up dyeing my duvet cover emerald, the pillows will still fit. Additional purchases I'm planning on making are a few things from Nate Berkus's Target Fall Collection which I found out about courtesy of a post on Design*sponge today. He has some really cute items and accessories at a wide range of prices that I think will really fit the room without breaking my budget.

The last thing that I think will really tie this room together, in addition to hanging up some art is putting a little color on the walls. With rentals it's always hard to decide whether to paint, if your landlord will even allow that, or to spend money on removal wall paper. Adding color or wall paper can really help tie in the designs of your rooms, and make them feel more personalized and homey. I looked into removal wall paper and it was all really expensive. But then I saw a post of a nursery that had used contact paper cut out in circles and placed on the wall as polka dots. Sold! So i'm going to buy some gold contact paper and put up some little polka dots across the walls. The nice thing with the polka dots is that they can be any size and don't necessarily need to be lined up or in any specific order. All in all I'm really excited about this space, and can't wait to order and get stuff in so I can post some pictures of the whole finalized room!

My theme board - check out the individual ideas on my Pinterest Spare Bedroom Ideas Board

Way back in April I had posted about doing a bedroom makeover for the spare bedroom since I had just finished with my dresser redo. I had a theme board going then, but now that I've completed some of the projects from it I decided to refocus what I wanted to do with the spare/guest bedroom. I was also waiting until I got the duvet cover finished since that was a major piece to the room, but now that's wrapped up I'm really motivated to get this room looking like something out of an interior design magazine. Plus my mom is coming to visit in a month, and she'll be staying in this room.

I'm planning on buying some pillows tonight, and i'm still sticking with my green, gold, cream, and coral theme. I want the majority of the pillows to be cream and emerald, with a few gold and coral ones for accent. I really love the gold and white polka dot one, and the gold octopus one. From what I saw online, the octopus pillow is pretty expensive, so I'm going to try and find something similar on Etsy. Even if I do end up dyeing my duvet cover emerald, the pillows will still fit. Additional purchases I'm planning on making are a few things from Nate Berkus's Target Fall Collection which I found out about courtesy of a post on Design*sponge today. He has some really cute items and accessories at a wide range of prices that I think will really fit the room without breaking my budget.

The last thing that I think will really tie this room together, in addition to hanging up some art is putting a little color on the walls. With rentals it's always hard to decide whether to paint, if your landlord will even allow that, or to spend money on removal wall paper. Adding color or wall paper can really help tie in the designs of your rooms, and make them feel more personalized and homey. I looked into removal wall paper and it was all really expensive. But then I saw a post of a nursery that had used contact paper cut out in circles and placed on the wall as polka dots. Sold! So i'm going to buy some gold contact paper and put up some little polka dots across the walls. The nice thing with the polka dots is that they can be any size and don't necessarily need to be lined up or in any specific order. All in all I'm really excited about this space, and can't wait to order and get stuff in so I can post some pictures of the whole finalized room!

DIY Ruffled Duvet Cover

Anthropologie's Nimbus Duvet Cover - $130                                 My Copycat Version - $60

It's been quite awhile since I've had time to do a craft project, let alone post one. Seeing as how labor intensive this duvet cover was to make I feel like it makes up for all the projects I didn't get around to over the summer. Now that the seasons are changing and it's getting chillier here I end up spending more time inside which means more projects get finished. We also moved into a new house, and I have plenty of ideas for projects and things I want to do. I plan on posting some of my ideas and room inspirations from my Pinterest boards later on this week.

 I originally wanted to make a duvet cover because the comforter I have is years and years old and is dirty and flat, and should probably be thrown away. Seeing as how I'm into using things until they disintegrate in my hands I figured I could probably just make a simple duvet cover to pretty it up a bit, and extend the lifespan of the comforter. While looking around online I originally found a number of beautiful duvet covers on Anthropogie's website . If you click that link you'll be taken to images of some of gloriest looking bedspreads you can imagine, the downside is that they all cost between $150-$399! Even a pillow/sham is around $80-$90.  Gag, right? Lucky for me, there are a lot of other bloggers out there who had the same idea as me and just decided to make their own versions and had step by step tutorials to follow.

I originally based the version I wanted to make off of the Cirrus Duvet cover, but I can't find a link from the Anthropologie website of that, however they have a very similar version called the Nimbus Duvet cover, which is the picture up top on the left. I followed Mari Makes tutorial, which was fantastic and easy to follow. I did some things differently: I didn't add a border to mine, and instead of having the strips of fabric that hold the ruffles in place show I chose to keep those on the inside. I felt that they really broke up the look of the ruffles. I used really small pieces of fabric for my strips, so maybe the size and the fact that I kind of rushed through it made it unaesthetically pleasing to my eye.

I originally wanted the duvet cover to be emerald green, the theme for the spare room is based around the dresser I redid, and I thought an emerald cover would really tie that in while being dark enough to make it less obvious if it got stained/dirty. I wasn't able to find emerald flat sheets anywhere though which is why I put this project off for awhile. I finally just settled on white, however I did see a cute pair of coral colored flat sheets at Target. I bought 3 queen sized flat sheets, 2 for the front and 1 for the back. I won't go through the step by step, you can check out the Mari's tutorial for that, but this was pretty easy to make if not time consuming. The most frustrating part to me was the amount of fabric you were working with, a lot, and the space you need to lay everything out when measuring, etc.

I love the way it turned out and I can't wait to buy some new pillows and continue decorating this room, check back soon for a post dedicated to my spare bedroom decorating ideas and updates on the room itself!

Anthropologie's Nimbus Duvet Cover - $130                                 My Copycat Version - $60

It's been quite awhile since I've had time to do a craft project, let alone post one. Seeing as how labor intensive this duvet cover was to make I feel like it makes up for all the projects I didn't get around to over the summer. Now that the seasons are changing and it's getting chillier here I end up spending more time inside which means more projects get finished. We also moved into a new house, and I have plenty of ideas for projects and things I want to do. I plan on posting some of my ideas and room inspirations from my Pinterest boards later on this week.

 I originally wanted to make a duvet cover because the comforter I have is years and years old and is dirty and flat, and should probably be thrown away. Seeing as how I'm into using things until they disintegrate in my hands I figured I could probably just make a simple duvet cover to pretty it up a bit, and extend the lifespan of the comforter. While looking around online I originally found a number of beautiful duvet covers on Anthropogie's website . If you click that link you'll be taken to images of some of gloriest looking bedspreads you can imagine, the downside is that they all cost between $150-$399! Even a pillow/sham is around $80-$90.  Gag, right? Lucky for me, there are a lot of other bloggers out there who had the same idea as me and just decided to make their own versions and had step by step tutorials to follow.

I originally based the version I wanted to make off of the Cirrus Duvet cover, but I can't find a link from the Anthropologie website of that, however they have a very similar version called the Nimbus Duvet cover, which is the picture up top on the left. I followed Mari Makes tutorial, which was fantastic and easy to follow. I did some things differently: I didn't add a border to mine, and instead of having the strips of fabric that hold the ruffles in place show I chose to keep those on the inside. I felt that they really broke up the look of the ruffles. I used really small pieces of fabric for my strips, so maybe the size and the fact that I kind of rushed through it made it unaesthetically pleasing to my eye.

I originally wanted the duvet cover to be emerald green, the theme for the spare room is based around the dresser I redid, and I thought an emerald cover would really tie that in while being dark enough to make it less obvious if it got stained/dirty. I wasn't able to find emerald flat sheets anywhere though which is why I put this project off for awhile. I finally just settled on white, however I did see a cute pair of coral colored flat sheets at Target. I bought 3 queen sized flat sheets, 2 for the front and 1 for the back. I won't go through the step by step, you can check out the Mari's tutorial for that, but this was pretty easy to make if not time consuming. The most frustrating part to me was the amount of fabric you were working with, a lot, and the space you need to lay everything out when measuring, etc.

I love the way it turned out and I can't wait to buy some new pillows and continue decorating this room, check back soon for a post dedicated to my spare bedroom decorating ideas and updates on the room itself!

DIY Felt Sewing Booklet

I finally made it over to the craft store (JoAnn's) this weekend and picked up some things for my next couple of projects. Even though I couldn't find my stack of coupons, which of course I saw immediately when I got back home, it's student discount month and I got 20% off. Whoop!

Craft loot

I got some tie-dyed felt, which I used to make the felt booklet I'll be getting to further on in this post, thread to make bracelets with, and a couple yards of different trim that I'm going to make headbands with. About a week ago my grandma sent me a little booklet she found in her sewing basket that has an easy craft a month, under the month of March there were instructions for a felt sewing booklet.

Copyright Martha Stewart

I knew right away I wanted to make this because my sewing basket is a mess. I have a very small little basket and an overabundance of stuff that is usually spilling out of said basket. I figured I could place all of my needles and buttons and other things in this booklet as opposed to them just being everywhere. The inside of mine didn't come out nearly as cutely organized as the one in the above picture or some that i've seen online, mainly because I have about a million needles, but hey it gets the job done. I also saw this cute one for earrings that I thought was pretty neat when I was googling around. So you can make one of these and use it for more than just sewing supplies. Click the link to see pictures and what supplies you'll need to make your own!

I finally made it over to the craft store (JoAnn's) this weekend and picked up some things for my next couple of projects. Even though I couldn't find my stack of coupons, which of course I saw immediately when I got back home, it's student discount month and I got 20% off. Whoop!

Craft loot

I got some tie-dyed felt, which I used to make the felt booklet I'll be getting to further on in this post, thread to make bracelets with, and a couple yards of different trim that I'm going to make headbands with. About a week ago my grandma sent me a little booklet she found in her sewing basket that has an easy craft a month, under the month of March there were instructions for a felt sewing booklet.

Copyright Martha Stewart

I knew right away I wanted to make this because my sewing basket is a mess. I have a very small little basket and an overabundance of stuff that is usually spilling out of said basket. I figured I could place all of my needles and buttons and other things in this booklet as opposed to them just being everywhere. The inside of mine didn't come out nearly as cutely organized as the one in the above picture or some that i've seen online, mainly because I have about a million needles, but hey it gets the job done. I also saw this cute one for earrings that I thought was pretty neat when I was googling around. So you can make one of these and use it for more than just sewing supplies. Click the link to see pictures and what supplies you'll need to make your own!

A Travel Tale: Pisa

 

!!!!!!!

My Aunt Gretchen, or at least I think it was my aunt and not a random blog reader named Gretchen, sent me a blog message asking to share something about Italy. One of my favorite days was the day my sister and I ventured on a day trip from Florence to Pisa. We started out our morning at our hotel, the Fattoria Degli Usignoli which was up on a hillside in San Donato/Fronzano, about 30 minutes outside of Florence. Breakfast usually consisted of one, or in my case 2 because they were delicious and it was Italy, croissants with this delicious chocolate spread called Nutkao. Followed by some fruit, or a hard boiled egg, or a mini sandwich with salami, cheese, and bread. Not to mention some coffee or a cappuccino, or a cup of both!

Click the link to see the rest of the day trip in Pisa

 

!!!!!!!

My Aunt Gretchen, or at least I think it was my aunt and not a random blog reader named Gretchen, sent me a blog message asking to share something about Italy. One of my favorite days was the day my sister and I ventured on a day trip from Florence to Pisa. We started out our morning at our hotel, the Fattoria Degli Usignoli which was up on a hillside in San Donato/Fronzano, about 30 minutes outside of Florence. Breakfast usually consisted of one, or in my case 2 because they were delicious and it was Italy, croissants with this delicious chocolate spread called Nutkao. Followed by some fruit, or a hard boiled egg, or a mini sandwich with salami, cheese, and bread. Not to mention some coffee or a cappuccino, or a cup of both!

Click the link to see the rest of the day trip in Pisa

Back from Travels

Hi everyone! I'm just getting back from traveling to Italy and spending some quality time with my family back at home. I had a fantastic trip and loved Italy so much. From the food and culture to all of the unbelievable historical sights. Rumor has it that a big work conference is going to be in Italy next year so it looks like I might get to go back sooner than I would've imagined.

Needless to say, I haven't done any crafting but that doesn't mean I don't have plenty of plans. My mother wants a Minoru jacket after seeing how mine turned out, and I really want to put together a duvet cover for my bed. I hadn't been able to find any emerald sheets, but I'm going to do some heavy duty searching in order to find something that can work. My grandmother thought that white sheets with an ivy design might work well, and that's what I'm considering doing in a last ditch effort if I can't find any emerald. I have plenty of other little projects that I want to work on as well. Since we're moving at the end of July my friend Kate and I have been brainstorming decorating ideas as well as crafty things we want to work on together. I can't wait to have someone (who lives with me!) to work on fun crafty things together and just brainstorm with. We even have decorating plans for a craft room. I know we're going to want to do everything at once, but hopefully we can reign ourselves in to go slow and just systematically work room by room. I'm guessing it will take about a year to get everything the way we want it and have money to buy the things we need to do so. Plus, I guess I have to give them some time to actually get settled into their new surroundings.

Speaking of time, why does it seem like the summer months are the busiest jam-packed months? I had/have all of these plans for hikes and beach days but between work and moving and crafting time it doesn't seem like i'll get to just take time to just relax in the sun. My whole week is already scheduled and it's only Monday. I have a white-water rafting work field trip tomorrow during the day, in the evening I'm going to see Mean Girls with some friends at Red Rocks ampitheater. Wednesday I have a volunteer info meeting since my friend Danielle and I have volunteered to work at Colorado Brewer's Festival this Saturday. So busy, but I can't really complain because all of those plans include fun. I just wish I was less scheduled. All that being said I feel inspired to do a mid-month wishlist full of relaxing things that are perfect for the summer months.

Make sure to check back for that and hopefully some craft related posts!

Hi everyone! I'm just getting back from traveling to Italy and spending some quality time with my family back at home. I had a fantastic trip and loved Italy so much. From the food and culture to all of the unbelievable historical sights. Rumor has it that a big work conference is going to be in Italy next year so it looks like I might get to go back sooner than I would've imagined.

Needless to say, I haven't done any crafting but that doesn't mean I don't have plenty of plans. My mother wants a Minoru jacket after seeing how mine turned out, and I really want to put together a duvet cover for my bed. I hadn't been able to find any emerald sheets, but I'm going to do some heavy duty searching in order to find something that can work. My grandmother thought that white sheets with an ivy design might work well, and that's what I'm considering doing in a last ditch effort if I can't find any emerald. I have plenty of other little projects that I want to work on as well. Since we're moving at the end of July my friend Kate and I have been brainstorming decorating ideas as well as crafty things we want to work on together. I can't wait to have someone (who lives with me!) to work on fun crafty things together and just brainstorm with. We even have decorating plans for a craft room. I know we're going to want to do everything at once, but hopefully we can reign ourselves in to go slow and just systematically work room by room. I'm guessing it will take about a year to get everything the way we want it and have money to buy the things we need to do so. Plus, I guess I have to give them some time to actually get settled into their new surroundings.

Speaking of time, why does it seem like the summer months are the busiest jam-packed months? I had/have all of these plans for hikes and beach days but between work and moving and crafting time it doesn't seem like i'll get to just take time to just relax in the sun. My whole week is already scheduled and it's only Monday. I have a white-water rafting work field trip tomorrow during the day, in the evening I'm going to see Mean Girls with some friends at Red Rocks ampitheater. Wednesday I have a volunteer info meeting since my friend Danielle and I have volunteered to work at Colorado Brewer's Festival this Saturday. So busy, but I can't really complain because all of those plans include fun. I just wish I was less scheduled. All that being said I feel inspired to do a mid-month wishlist full of relaxing things that are perfect for the summer months.

Make sure to check back for that and hopefully some craft related posts!

Minoru Update: It's Finished

  Ahh my lazy left eye is showing
I finished my first ever jacket, and it was so easy to make! I can honestly say that I loved this pattern from start to finish. The pattern and instructions included were easy to understand and very clear and if I was ever confused I would just click over to the sew-along posts that Tasia has posted over at Sewaholic. I was surprised at how fast I got this done. I was originally thinking it wouldn't be finished until the end of July, but it only took me two weeks! I am dying to make a couple other variations of this. I definitely want a heavier version for winter, and a snowboarding version if I can find the right fabric. The long length, sleeves, and high collar would make this coat perfect for snowboarding in. Most snowboarding apparel is still geared to guys and even the women's brand's still make 'baggy/boyfriend' style apparel. It will be nice to look like a girl for once when riding!

The pockets are even I swear, I'm just grabbing it weird

The only changes I would make would be to line the hood, and possibly add some outside pockets the next time. I originally was going to put dark blue/black buttons on the pockets but I snapped my button in half so I figured the red just make the pockets pop.

  It clearly needs a good ironing to press it out a bit

I like the fit on the jacket a lot too. At first I was worried that it would be too big once completed, but once you add the the elastic to the waistband it comes in quite nicely. However I still have room to wear sweaters or bulkier objects underneath without feeling like a sausage

 

Unveiling the secret hood in the collar

 

There is only one thing that I did wrong when sewing. I accidentally sewed the inside collar on the lining on the wrong side so the seam is sadly visible. No one can notice it because it's only visible on the inside around my neck, but it's just one of those things that will drive me crazy forever. At least I know for next time, and will hopefully remember not to do that again. Other than that I was pleased to not have made a lot of mistakes or little things that I would notice even if no one else does. I can't wait to try out some of Tasia's other patterns as well!

  Ahh my lazy left eye is showing
I finished my first ever jacket, and it was so easy to make! I can honestly say that I loved this pattern from start to finish. The pattern and instructions included were easy to understand and very clear and if I was ever confused I would just click over to the sew-along posts that Tasia has posted over at Sewaholic. I was surprised at how fast I got this done. I was originally thinking it wouldn't be finished until the end of July, but it only took me two weeks! I am dying to make a couple other variations of this. I definitely want a heavier version for winter, and a snowboarding version if I can find the right fabric. The long length, sleeves, and high collar would make this coat perfect for snowboarding in. Most snowboarding apparel is still geared to guys and even the women's brand's still make 'baggy/boyfriend' style apparel. It will be nice to look like a girl for once when riding!

The pockets are even I swear, I'm just grabbing it weird

The only changes I would make would be to line the hood, and possibly add some outside pockets the next time. I originally was going to put dark blue/black buttons on the pockets but I snapped my button in half so I figured the red just make the pockets pop.

  It clearly needs a good ironing to press it out a bit

I like the fit on the jacket a lot too. At first I was worried that it would be too big once completed, but once you add the the elastic to the waistband it comes in quite nicely. However I still have room to wear sweaters or bulkier objects underneath without feeling like a sausage

 

Unveiling the secret hood in the collar

 

There is only one thing that I did wrong when sewing. I accidentally sewed the inside collar on the lining on the wrong side so the seam is sadly visible. No one can notice it because it's only visible on the inside around my neck, but it's just one of those things that will drive me crazy forever. At least I know for next time, and will hopefully remember not to do that again. Other than that I was pleased to not have made a lot of mistakes or little things that I would notice even if no one else does. I can't wait to try out some of Tasia's other patterns as well!