Deck the Door ARROW DOOR MAT DIY {Deseret News Home Show}

HI! I'm excited to share my Simple DIY "Arrow End Door Mat" that is on display at the DECK THE DOOR Display this weekend at the Deseret News Home Show!!!

The DECK THE DOOR CHALLENGE is all about bringing personality to your front door while staying on budget (under $50). Each designer was assigned a month, I was given February.

I really wanted to make a door mat. So I did, for under $15.

"Daydream" Crafting Soiree {Apostrophe-S}

Last week I was able to share a secret with a few of my friends...and I'm so excited to be able to share it with you here today!!! There is a brand new, super fun, Craft Kit Company that takes all of the guess work out of making your own chic crafts. It's called Apostrophe- S. And although they're new on the craft kit scene, they aren't new to crafting...or high quality....or cornering the market on creativity. Why? Because Apostrophe-S is a sister company to Stampin Up. 

Apostrophe-S has taken the same quality and creativity that you know and love in Stampin Up products and are in the process of developing lines of Craft Kits to make crafting simplified, no matter what your skill level.  They have put together kits that come with all of the components you need to make each craft. No more driving to several different stores to purchase $20 worth of ribbon that you only need 6 inches of...these kits come with just the right amount of top-of-the-line supplies. Crafting has never been so streamlined or hassle-free. It's all the good about crafting and none of the running around, working out the kinks or having crafting fails (come on, admit it...you've had at least one epic crafting fail haven't you? I hate when that happens!).

Apostrophe-S asked if I would host a girl's crafting night and I was thrilled to be able to have a Daydream Soiree...using their Daydream Dream Catcher kits. The ribbons and details in this kit are simple gorgeous. Crochet lace, velvet, sequins and feathers are quite the combination!!! It is seriously such a lovely project. 

Year of Change Challenge AUGUST REVEAL {Styling Bookshelves}

This month the decorating gets going with the usual suspects (Life on Virginia Street, Suburban Bitches, and Rosa Beltran Design) and our uber talented guest designer Jade O’Connor! Her Southern style showcases her eye for mixing traditional with eclectic. I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT SHE DOES WITH HER SHELVES! 

So, here we are! Hello, last weekend of August!

And as I mentioned, this month's challenge was to style a bookshelf. 

Styling Bookshelves?!!!

 This is one of my most favorite things to do in the decorating realm. 

I love books and I love stuff. 

What people have on their shelves and how those objects are displayed says a lot about you. (For instance, my dusty shelves may indicate that I don't clean often enough, jk). Sometimes the organizing and styling task can be overwhelming when you think about attaining a look that is clean, uncluttered and balanced. Especially if you are working with collections.

 I have several bookcases in my home (because I'm a book nerd), so the biggest part of the challenge for me was to decide which shelves I wanted to tackle. 

I decided to give my living room book shelf (an old, ugly, battered bookshelf that has been through 5 moves with us) the heave-ho and tackle a bit of a DIY IKEA HACK.

For details on my IKEA Bookshelf Hack head over here.

The room that I've been working in may look familiar to you. Back in February I shared my Idea Board for this teeny, tiny Living Room to be transformed into a LIBRARY READING ROOM.

Yup, that would be a Brass Etagere in the picture above.

So, now that you know the look I'm after...here is my 
HACKED AND STYLED 
Bookshelf! 

Trust me, I have enough STUFF to fill up every inch of this shelving unit. But this is more a display etagere, so keeping things light, balanced and colorful was my goal. 

Be sure to check out Erin & Tricia's, Rosa's, Sarah's and our guest designer,  Jade's Shelf Styling magic!!!
This month's was a super fun challenge....but I seriously can't wait to share what we'll be working on and with whom we'll be collaborating with in Sept...
Monday I'll be announcing the Year of Change Challenge for September!

DIY {Crib Spring Memory Board}

Last week I revealed my daughter's AUDREY ROOM.

One of the fun DIY Projects that we did together was the metal memory board to collect all of her keepsakes...because, well, she's a bit of a hoarder. Did I say that out loud?

Teen Girl Room {The Audrey Room REVEAL}

Several months back, I shared my E-Design for a client in Florida who requested "an airy, maybe pink, maybe orange, maybe purple, maybe white and gold, fun and quirky yet grown up, Audrey Hepburn sort of room" for her 14 year old. I interpreted this as "SUGAR, SPICE & KILIM".  It's light and breezy, bohemian yet elegant, and most importantly, still fun and not stuffy....because, after all, this room is for a teen girl, right?!

This Eclectic Teen Girl Room is one of the most popular rooms I've ever designed.  Meeting client expectations and having happy clients is what I shoot for, but I loved (fell hard for) this room, too. And it wasn't just popular with me...it was a huge hit with Commona My House readers, with PB TEEN, who shared it on their Instagram account,  and guess what? It was something my 12 year old daughter went BANANAS over. 

So, now it's August and my daughter's 13th birthday is almost upon us. Her room was ready for some freshening up...the dusty yellow paint that we inherited when we moved in a year ago was showing its age...and age spots (there were lighter shades of pale all around the room, causing me to wonder if it had been touched up with a different shade of paint at some point or maybe some parts of the room had gotten 2 coats and maybe some hadn't).  It was time for an update, as even a maintenance issue. The yellow was pale, yet it made the room shrink.

I didn't need very much convincing to jump on board with a modified SUGAR SPICE & KILIM plan for my daughter's room. New furniture was out of the question. Our budget was literally, thousands of dollars less than my E-Client's budget. In fact, I really didn't have a budget. Let's say, I wanted to only  spend under $50 and use/re-use/recycle what I already owned. I also thought that we could get the foundations of the room down and then add other elements (funky chair, brass bed) when the time is right in the future.

SO with paint and several DIYs we planned:

THE AUDREY ROOM. 

The pink paint color in the pictures varies depending on whether the chandelier is on or not. I didn't use filters in these pictures. I painted the window wall pink as seen here.

Remember that vintage mirror? Here it is in it's second life as a Chalkboard Headboard.

This "Sabrina" poster was a huge inspiration for the room. The gold backdrop, elegant Audrey, the touch of pink and black...yup, my daughter's favorite movie is "Sabrina" so we started here.

We had a crummy white stool from Target (bought for under $10 about 5 years ago). I'll be sharing how I transformed it from Crummy to Chic in a How To Post next Monday!

We'll be watching for a Brass Headboard (or look alike) in the future, but for now, the bed is complete with the Chalkboard Headboard and a hoard of pillows :)



Teen Girls have clutter. I've seen a few of these in Blogland and thought I'd give it a go!
I'll be sharing details on what and how this came to be on Monday, as well.

This fabulous gold Chanel quote was a special touch in the room
Made by my friend Lara at Hapagirl! scroll down to see how you can have one of your own!

I had this chandelier tucked away for several months. Given to me as payment, I was waiting for just right client to use it, and alas, it found its home here!

I couldn't do an AUDREY ROOM without sneaking in some Holly Golightly.

Yes, that is an imperfectly made bed. I asked the 12 year old to make it herself. She lives in this room.
She thought she did a good job, and I do too.  This isn't perfect. But I think it's perfectly imperfect :)

Yup, a real 12 year old girl lives here. Those are her not so perfect and quite well used ballet shoes. And that is an imperfectly made bed...I asked her to make it herself. This room isn't staged just for the photos, this is her real stuff. And that is my real life way of decorating. You should love what you have in your rooms. Don't just put "stuff" on a shelf...put things that mean something and speak to you. That's how I feel, anyway. Otherwise "stuff" is just "stuff". And that is hard to have your home feel like home if you're just surrounded by stuff that doesn't speak to you. Just sayin'.

If you'd like to see how I made the Chalkboard, go here.

Come back on Monday and I'll be sharing the tutorials for
the Audrey Shag Bench


the Metal Memory Board



Sources

and Styling Tips for Reusing What you Already Have.

Now, I couldn't share this today without including some lucky reader in some way!!!

I will be giving away a little AUDREY ROOM Prize Pack to one lucky reader next week.
The Prize Pack includes a few touches from around the room:

Chalkboard Labels, Gold Striped Notepad, Gold Foil Print from Hapagirl,

JCrew Jewelry Tray, Cents of Style Necklace and Earring Set.

a Rafflecopter giveaway