big kid room

well i finally got around to taking photos of basitan’s new big kid room! i love the way it turned out and he does too. the transition of moving rooms and getting into a big boy bed was easier i believe because there was so much hype about how cool his new room was. i really didn’t get too many new things for his room, but just changed the arrangements of his stuff from his nursery. i hope you enjoy!

bed: craigslist for $20 then i painted it yellow
duvet: h&m home
sheets: target
letters: junk stock
dresser: craigslist for $80 already refinished!
black and white prints: paper kite
cloud hooks: hobby lobby
rug: urban outfitters – old
hanging numbers: target’s dollar isle!
bright light lamp: from brian’s childhood
rain drop wall: i made a stencil and painted with black chalk board paint

basement reno – the bathroom

we recently underwent a renovation in our basement. we added a bathroom, a non-conventional bedroom, office and a family room. before, our basement was a cold, semi-finished spaced that we never used as a family. brian works from home and the poor thing had his office down there. during the winter he had 3 space heaters pointed at him all day. i will share with you all the new spaces we created down there over the weeks. first space is the bathroom.

the bathroom used to be our storage closet. it had a window and pipes from the bathroom above so we thought it would be a perfect spot for a bathroom. i chose to do black slate floors and a white subway tiles with a high contract grout color for the shower. we chose a cool light grey for the wall color throughout the basement and just love the color. i knew i wanted to keep the bathroom simple and clean. i mixed black and chrome metals to give a variety and chose a warm wood vanity for a little character. i couldn’t find any vanity that i liked enough that was in our budget. so i found this vintage dresser on craigslist for $100. i bought the sink for $60 and had my contractor cut down the drawers for plumbing and then the hole for the sink. i bought the knobs for the drawers at tj maxx for $8. all in all the vanity cost less than $300… i love it way more than a pre-fab vanity and it add just enough character to make it feel like my own. the mirror was from overstock and the sconces from home depot. the accessories (baskets, towel rack and hanging bags, and vanity magnify mirror) i bought from ikea. the bath mats i purchased from h&m home. i seriously designed this bathroom on a cheapskate budget. but in my opinion it feels classic, timeless and maybe not expensive… but quality.

i love the way it turned out and can’t wait to share more of the basement.

guest post: diy story stones

 

i have another guest post over at parentsavvy.com for you all to check out! these story stones are the perfect tool to let your little one’s imagination run wild. check it out here.

guest post: free valentine’s day printables

valentine’s day is just around the corner. click here to download these adorable FREE valentine’s that i designed for parentsavvy.com.

guest post: 11 clever playroom ideas

 

i have a new post over on parentsavvy.com. i had a ton of fun looking for these too! check it out here

taura horn photography – branding

 

i recently had the pleasure of helping my sister of taura horn photography with new branding for her business. i really love how her logo turned out, girly but has a bit of an edge, just like her. taura was born during a time when my parents were rather… hippie… and her astrological sign, taurus, was the inspiration for her name. i incorporated the taurus sign, the bull, into the logo and gave the typography an astrological aspect with the “A’s” and the “O”. i created a mood board for her so that she has a good foundation to stretch her brand throughout different platforms. i designed patterns and gave her a color palette to work with. i love the way the logo works with her photography style too. go to her site and you will see, her work speaks for itself. thank you taura for letting me to help you – it was so much fun!

diy updated hutch

 

well it’s been a while since i have blogged… i think life got in the way. i have been doing lots of projects around the house and this happens to be one of them. this hutch has been in the family (brian’s side) for a long time and was passed down to brian and me. i have always loved it but wanted to update it without losing it’s rustic charm.

i decided to pain the interior of the cabinets and clean all the fixtures. cleaning all the fixtures was a bit of a process, and a lot of the metal lost its patina over the years, but with a little bar keeper’s friend and some elbow grease, they cleaned up nicely. i decided to paint the inside of the hutch white because it will go with anything. i was debating stenciling a pattern over top, but figured i would stick to the simple white for a while until i get a wild hair and need a project to do.

i am really really bad at staging… as you can see. i just kind of grabbed random crap that i had in the hutch before or laying around the house. the cupboards are a little dark and they almost need under-lighting, but that will be another day. overall i am really happy with it and think it gave this little hutch a nice modern makeover.

ps. i have done a little bathroom update that literally has taken forever… and it’s almost done and ready to share!

babylit books

image source

i was at barnes and noble yesterday and came across the most adorable books ever. i mean i couldn’t contain myself, i kept trying to show brian how unbelievably awesome these books were. babylit has a series of children’s books that are based on literary classics. they range from learning colors and numbers, to weather and opposites. alison oliver does all the illustrations and i am in love with her work. the detail, colors and characters are right up my alley. to me, the illustrations are what makes a children’s book – when i was a kid, that’s what i loved most about books (and who would’a thunk i would grow up to be a designer and illustrator!). i knew i had to get bastian one, but i was fumbling around trying to figure out which one i should get, i wanted them all! literally brian was dragging me out of there while i was picking up books and flipping through the pages saying “oh cute, gosh how cute! look at this!!” all i know is my collection will grow and i really hope bastian loves them as much as i do. what an adorable shower gift would this be! check out all of the books here and allison oliver’s work here

powder room makeover

i recently did a mini makeover to our downstairs powder room. before, it was drab and kind of boring. the color wasn’t bad, but our whole house is painting that neutral tan (it was that way when we moved in) and i was in need for a change. i have this problem (maybe it’s a good thing?) with wanting to have some kind of project to work on. whether it be design work, crafts, or house mini-reno’s. so i end up moving from room to room finding different things i want to change. this time it was the powder room.

i was inspired by this room i saw in the land of nod catalog. first i painted the room benjamin moore’s royal breeze. then i spray painted the mirror, waste basket, vanity door knobs, toilet paper holder and hand towel ring bright gold. i also added a gold stripe detail on the soap dispenser. i bought gold contact paper from here – i need more and am hesitant to buy from this place again because i think it’s over priced with shipping and some other stupid fee the company tacks on…so i am waiting to find it somewhere else. i then measured and cut out 40 circles that around 8 inches in diameter. i didn’t get a circle cutter but i am sure it would have saved me time. i then pealed off the back of the contact paper and began randomly sticking them on the wall. i made sure some of the dots wrapped inside the corners of the wall then cut some circles in half and had them butt-up to the ceiling and door frame. i am really in love with the final product. it’s fun and quirky – perfect for a small space like a powder room. if you are wanting to try something a little wild with your house, test it out on smaller spaces because then it won’t be as hard to change it if you end up hating it in a year.

DIY geometric lamp

 

after a little catastrophe with the cat and a paper lantern, i had to find a replacement lamp for this corner in our living room. i knew exactly what i wanted but didn’t want to pay that much money for it. i had seen tutorials on how to make geo-inspired wreaths and i knew it was something could replicate but in a pendant light form. in the tutorial, she uses cocktail straws, but i wanted the lamp to be thicker so i used normal drinking straws. i used floral wire to tie all the straws together (watch her tutorial) and then spray painted it copper with paint i already had. i decided the cord needed some va-va-voom so i wrapped it with neon yellow yarn that i had. i also spray painted the base of light cord copper so it didn’t stick out. i bought the round bulb at home depot. all in all, i spent about $9 total, $7 on the light bulb and $2 on the straws. not bad huh?! it’s definitely not perfect, but no DIY project usually is. i really love the way it turned out, so thank you ramsay for destroying my paper lantern and forcing me to make something really cool!