We recently moved into our new house, and I’ve been busy arranging and re-arranging things to get us settled. In this process, I was fortunate to receive a beautiful new sideboard cabinet from Hernest.com. This item was generously gifted, but … Continue reading
Sometimes, milestones are measured in unusual ways. I know my kids are getting big, because it’s finally possible to take a picture of JJ’s room that is not a total disaster! We (I) were focused on finding a new house … Continue reading
I have been in love with patio string lights for so long. Unfortunately, our last house didn’t really have a respectable outdoor entertaining space, but our rental house last year and our new house both have great patio spaces! I have been waiting to do this project creating posts to hang our lights, and I am so excited that we finally did it! It’s not hard (you do need some muscles!), and I am excited to share the how-to and our results!
Here’s what you’ll need:
Here’s how to do it:
Of course, we had a warm spell last week and it’s cooled off again, so we’ll have to wait a bit longer to hang out here!
Julie AKA “Jewels”
When we moved into our house, the small enclosed balcony became a place for LEGO, board games, and other toys. Now that the boys are older, I’m excited to reclaim this room as a more grown-up space for reading, lounging,… maybe even napping!
At 5’x15′, there is not much space in here, which made this a quick project! The key elements I wanted to include were:
The look I wanted to achieve included:
Here are some pictures of how it has all come together. I did buy this daybed quilt set, but otherwise, everything in the room we already had in our house!
I love this ceramic garden stool, but I have been looking for the right spot for it – what could be better than this indoor-outdoor room?!
This bookcase was my grandmother’s. I repainted it about 20 years ago and added the caning (post coming soon) for this space, to create a tropical feel.
We’ve had this round mirror for a while, and it’s a bit small for where it was hanging before, but it works perfectly here. The walls in this room are crazy hard to drill into (which makes sense, because they are actually exterior walls), so I braided some rope from my macrame days and hung it from a hook in one of the ceiling beams. I like how it adds to the outdoorsy, bohemiam vibe in here!
This room is a win-win with the plants – they love all the light, and they definitely help make me feel like I’m outside in nature!
This daybed is a magnet for people who love to snuggle!
Finn would also like to snuggle on the daybed. This is his mildly dissatisfied face, because he had to stay on the rug…
Last couple of close-ups of this vignette. I love how everything old feels new again, when you find just the right combination!
So excited to read, and snuggle, and knit, (and nap) in our new sunroom!
Julie aka “Jewels”
I’m really excited to be a Guest Participant again in the One Room Challenge! This is a great way to get inspiration and motivation for your home. This spring, I re-decorated our boys’ bathroom. For this fall’s challenge, I’m transforming our teen’s … Continue reading
I’m really excited to be a Guest Participant again in the One Room Challenge! This is a great way to get inspiration and motivation for your home. This spring, I re-decorated our boys’ bathroom. For this fall’s challenge, I’m transforming our teen’s bedroom. His new space is inspired by an industrial loft, with an exposed brick wall and other great features! Thanks for following along!
Kai is a quiet kid who doesn’t share much or ask for much. When the boys wanted their own rooms last fall, he ended up in my former craft room, and I made very few changes when I moved him in, other than adding a bed. Although he does not ask for much, he does show his appreciation, and I was excited to do something special for him, before he goes off to college in a few more years – sniff, wah!
I know how fast they grow, so I wanted an adult space, where we could add a few personal touches. I also imagine that some day, I’ll gain this room back as a craft studio, so I kept all that in mind in choosing a simple loft-inspired design scheme. There are vintage, industrial, and hand-made touches that will allow this space to endure and adapt to our family in the years to come.
Image sources:
Are you as excited as I am?!
I created my design plan the way I usually do, looking for inspiration spaces and then identifying the elements and themes that I want to incorporate into our home. The Design Cookbook has more details on how you can use this approach to create spaces you love!
Here are two of my inspiration spaces for this project. I could not find an original source for the first picture, so please let me know if you find it, so I can give credit!
This second room was featured on the Street Easy blog.
The features I loved in both of these spaces – and that I knew I wanted to recreate – are:
I’ve done a little bit of sourcing and preparation already, but there is a lot of work left to do in the next five weeks! I can’t wait to share all the projects and see the final space!
A huge thank you to Linda for creating the One Room Challenge community, and high fives to all my fellow bloggers whose hard work and creativity were great inspirations! Be sure to go back to the One Room Challenge blog and check out all the other projects!
Julie aka “Jewels”
I’ve mentioned before that we use our formal dining room for most of our meals. This was a tradition my mother started when my sister and I lived at home, and I enjoy continuing it with our family.
I’ve posted about durable tablecloths and table runners to give your dining room a more formal look while still holding up to the kids. Recently, I have been debating about adding a dining room rug. I never even entertained (ha) this idea until the last few months, now that the kids are older and (a little) less messy. I really wanted the finished look of a rug, but I need to keep things practical as well.
I’m going to share my inspiration rooms, our current space, and the rugs I’m considering. There are literally thousands of options out there, and I’ve narrowed them down to my favorites.
First, here’s how our dining room looks now, without the rug.
So, you know I have a design crush on Amber Interiors. These are a couple of my favorite dining rooms designed by Amber Lewis and her team.
The vintage rugs in these rooms feel accessible, because the complex patterns will hide small stains. This set me on a hunt for a vintage-style Persian rug for our dining space. While part of me would love to find a gorgeous high-quality wool rug, I am just too chicken – or too smart? – to put a few thousand dollars under my table for my kids to drop food on and my dog to lick… so, at least for now, I decided to look for an inexpensive synthetic rug that won’t make me cry every time something falls on it.
Here is my short list of rugs. My color scheme is greys and blues, and I was looking for something that had pattern but was still muted enough to feel neutral.
1 Unique Loom Rockwell Berkshire Area Rug
2 Safavieh Evoke Vintage Oriental Silver/ Ivory Distressed Rug
3 Freetown Distressed Vintage Inspired Gray/Ivory Rug
4 Willoby Vintage Oriental Charcoal Area Rug
And I have more rug ideas and inspiration rooms on my Pinterest board.
So, what do you think? Here’s another picture of the room currently. Our mantel is pretty busy, so I don’t want to add more busy-ness to the room, but I think it would really define the space and also show off the base of the table, which is a lovely Craftsman design.
I haven’t made a final decision yet, and I like all these rugs so much, that I might by more than one and put it in the living room or upstairs hallway…
So, whadya think?
“Jewels”
I’m really excited to be a Guest Participant in my first One Room Challenge! This is a great way to get inspiration and motivation for your home. For this challenge, I’ve decided to re-do our kids’ bath. It started out with a cute beach theme that seemed perfect when the boys were little, but now I am ready for it to grow up with them. Our new look features neutral colors, natural touches, and enough personality to stand up to three boys! Thanks for following along!
Recap:
Have you noticed that I’ve only been taking pictures of this bathroom from one side? Yes, it’s a small room, but I’m not too proud to stand in the bathtub or behind the toilet to get a good picture, like when I redecorated our master bath or our powder room! The reason I’ve been taking pictures from just one side is that one of the pendant lights over the vanity was broken, and both of them were originally hung too high. Finally, almost seven years after we renovated this bath, I’m finally really happy with the pendant lights.
As you know, I’m not afraid to use power tools, like when I made the DIY shelves for this project or built these plant stands. But, I am a little afraid of electricity. Steve helped me out and hung the new lights from West Elm. They look great with these LED Edison-style bulbs!
Speaking of that, let’s talk about light bulbs! I wanted the vintage Edison-style light bulbs, but there was a bit of trial and error to get the right ones. These were the third set I ordered… I’m used to looking at the wattage, which tells you how bright the light will be, but I forgot to look at the Kelvin, which tells you how “warm” or “cold” the light will be. I started out with 5000K, which was a very bright white that didn’t feel quite natural in the space. I then (accidentally) bought 2200K bulbs, which are very warm amber-colored. I finally found these bulbs in 3000K, and the light is just right (I am feeling a bit like Goldilocks, here!).
This chart from the LED Exchange is helpful for understanding Kelvin:
Links to the products and DIY projects I used in this room are at the bottom of the post.
And without further ado, here are some more pictures of our finished space!
A huge thank you to Linda for creating the One Room Challenge community, and high fives to all my fellow bloggers whose hard work and creativity were great inspirations! Be sure to go back to the One Room Challenge page to check out all the other projects!
I’m already thinking about the fall challenge and wondering what room I will redecorate!
“Jewels”
I’m really excited to be a Guest Participant in my first One Room Challenge! This is a great way to get inspiration and motivation for your home. For this challenge, I’ve decided to re-do our kids’ bath. It started out with a cute beach theme that seemed perfect when the boys were little, but now I am ready for it to grow up with them. Our new look features neutral colors, natural touches, and enough personality to stand up to three boys! Thanks for following along!
Recap:
For week five, I am personalizing towels for the boys. I wanted the look of matching towels, but I still wanted to be able to tell their towels apart, because there are some things that even the closest family doesn’t want to share…
Fortunately, I remembered how I had added trim to our master bath towels, so I adapted that project for the boys. I started with solid grey towels and white grosgrain ribbon in 1.5 inch and 5/8 inch widths. I sewed on one stripe for our oldest, two for our middle boy, and three for our youngest.
I’m showing the towels folded nicely, but I actually have robe hooks for the boys to make it easier for them to hang up their towels.
Time to head back to the One Room Challenge link-up page to check out the progress on all the other exciting projects!
Final stretch this week! Hint: I am enlisting Steve to do play with electricity!
“Jewels”
I’m really excited to be a Guest Participant in my first One Room Challenge! This is a great way to get inspiration and motivation for your home. For this challenge, I’ve decided to re-do our kids’ bath. It started out with a cute beach theme that seemed perfect when the boys were little, but now I am ready for it to grow up with them. Our new look features neutral colors, natural touches, and enough personality to stand up to three boys! Thanks for following along!
Recap:
Now that we are over the hump and into week four, it seemed like a great time to add some art. I though about creating something myself. And then I remembered I can’t draw… Etsy to the rescue! I bought downloadable files and printed and framed them for our space.
It’s amazing how art makes a room! These pieces add so much character and polish to our bathroom. Since this room has a neutral design, I like how these whimsical signs make it feel like it is still a kids’ bathroom.
Here are links (some affiliate links) for our new accessories:
There’s tons more inspiration back at the One Room Challenge link-up page. Go check it out!
“Jewels”
Jewels at Home 