Tag Archives: design

Vintage Embroidered Tablecloth Sundress

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This past summer, my sister and I took some time to sort through boxes of things from our mother and two grandmothers. These have accumulated at our family house, and the experience of opening them was nostalgic, sentimental, and at … Continue reading →

Faux Bamboo Ikea Hack Daybed – Week Five – Spring 2025 One Room Challenge

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The Spring One Room Challenge has been just the motivation I need to decorate our bedroom addition! And the most important project is, of course, the bed! I love customizing furniture – remember my DIY built-in shelves or the DIY … Continue reading →

Urban Boutique Bedroom Inspiration – Week One – Spring 2025 One Room Challenge

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  • Week One: Urban Boutique Bedroom Construction and Inspiration

I seriously love the One Room Challenge. It’s just the motivation I need to finish off projects, and the community is always really positive. I love finding new accounts to follow for inspiration and encouragement! I’ll link my prior ORC projects at the end of this post.

This Spring, I’m going to be decorating a new bedroom addition we built last year. It’s going to be a room for our oldest, when he’s home, and also serve as a guest room or lounge!

I can’t take credit for the construction work, but I will take credit for the inspiration – I very literally had dreams about finding space for just one more room in our house, to accommodate our family of five, with regular visits from my dad. After turning ideas around and around in my head, I figured out that we could enclose a little unused patio and reconfigure the adjacent rooms to make a new bedroom and bathroom. Some of us lived through the months of noise and dust, but you can just enjoy the pictures!

The result is a small bedroom and bathroom that make a big change to how we live in our house. While I couldn’t give our oldest a lot of square footage, I wanted to give him a lot of style and function in this cozy space. I got design inspiration from a lot of places, but my biggest inspirations were Designer Timothy Whealon’s living room featured by New York Social Diary and the Woodlark Hotel in Portland, where we enjoyed a stay a couple of years ago.

When I find a space that really inspires me, I try to describe the key elements, like a recipe, to help me recreate it. And when I am looking at a few spaces, I try to find the common elements that I love. For this project, I was drawn to:

  • light walls
  • wood floors
  • gallery wall with white and light wood frames
  • color palette of taupe, black, white, and deep green
  • wood, brass, and glass accents
  • plants!

I’m so excited (and nervous!) to tackle this project – hope you’ll follow along!

You can see all the other fun room transformations on the One Room Challenge website!

Julie AKA “Jewels”

DIY Dining Banquette Cushions – Week Five – Fall 2023 One Room Challenge

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I love the relaxed feeling of enjoying a meal and good company while lounging on a comfy banquette. I’m so excited that I have finally built our deep dining bench. Now, I have to add the cushions! I could not … Continue reading →

DIY Built-in Dining Banquette – Week Four – Fall 2023 One Room Challenge

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The Fall 2023 One Room Challenge is underway! In the spring, I decorated our entryway, including turning our closet into a mini-mudroom. This fall, I am working on our dining room! One element I have been planning for some time … Continue reading →

Elegant & Airy Dining Room Inspiration- Week One Fall 2023 One Room Challenge

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Welcome to the Fall 2023 One Room Challenge! This is such a hectic time but also such a fun one, with lots of projects to do and explore and a great supportive community! In the spring, I decorated our entryway, … Continue reading →

DIY Stenciled Silhouette T-shirts

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Honestly, I don’t get tired of planning the boys’ birthday parties. This is different than saying I don’t get tired executing my own plans, which I do, but the ideas are so endless and inspiring, so I hang in there, and their happy faces are always the best reward!

This year, L wants a Ninjago birthday. I have to say that Lego’s marketing strategy is truly brilliant – combine Lego, a fantastic toy, with every possible boyish fad – Star Wars, Harry Potter, Pirates, Lord of the Rings, and Ninjas! It’s irresistible, as the clutter in the boys’ room will attest.

I’ve mentioned that I try to do a larger and reusable treat in place of a goody bag of small items. This time, I wanted to make the boys Ninjago T-shirts.

You can actually find T-shirts for sale for a reasonable price, if you keep your party small, but 1) I wanted long-sleeved shirts, since our weather is temperate year-round and 2) I think everything is more fun when you make it yourself!

I got the shirts at BlankShirts.com. I’m not affiliated with them or anything – I just figured I’d share my research in looking for inexpensive blank shirts. You can get short-sleeved shirts for as little as $2. I got these long-sleeved ones for about $8. I’ve also found some on clearance at Lands End for as little as $5, but you won’t get the same range of colors there.

I’m trying two different ideas for the shirts:

  • stenciled ninja silhouettes for the older boys
  • ironed-on and painted Ninjago eyes for the younger ones

Stencil your own T-shirts with contact paper and fabric paint. The ideas are endless. These are for a boy's Ninjago birthday party. {Jewels at Home}

Here are the instructions for the stenciled T-shirts.  I’m really thrilled with how well they turned out, and it was quite easy!  I’ll post the Ninjago eyes when they’re done.

  • Choose a ninja silhouette from the Internet and enlarge it.
  • Tape the printed silhouette over some contact paper and cut it out with a craft knife. I was able to do two layers at once, to make two stencils. (top row of pictures below)
  • Stick the contact paper stencil in place on the shirt, with a piece of cardboard inside the shirt. (bottom left picture below)
  • Use a stencil brush or sponge to apply black fabric paint. Remember to use small amounts of paint at a time and “pounce” up and down, so paint doesn’t bleed under your stencil.
  • Remove the stencil. I was able to reuse it a few times.

Stencil your own T-shirts with contact paper and fabric paint. The ideas are endless. These are for a boy's Ninjago birthday party. {Jewels at Home}

  • Once the paint is dry, heat set the stencil with a hot iron.  I used a thin press cloth on the front and then also ironed it from the inside. (pictured below)
  • Your pattern will last longer if you wash it inside out.

Stencil your own T-shirts with contact paper and fabric paint. Heat set the paint with an iron. The ideas are endless. These are for a boy's Ninjago birthday party. {Jewels at Home}

Yay!  The pattern on these came out very crisp and looks great.  I’m already thinking of other patterns to try!

Stencil your own T-shirts with contact paper and fabric paint. Heat set the paint with an iron. The ideas are endless. These are for a boy's Ninjago birthday party. {Jewels at Home}

Stencil your own T-shirts with contact paper and fabric paint. Heat set the paint with an iron. The ideas are endless. These are for a boy's Ninjago birthday party. {Jewels at Home}

More ninja-themed T-shirts coming up soon!

“Jewels”