Rox's Master Bedroom Tour

If you remember me mentioning back in December, my family sold our house and moved back into our old house that we had been renting out.

We hoped to only live here long enough to do some updating and then put it on the market.

We are anxious to move into the next town where we are planting a church.

While I was trying to be optimistic about how much time it would take to paint every interior and exterior wall, purchase new appliances, fix up the yard, and numerous other projects, I don't think M and I would have ever predicted that we could possibly be moving twice in 6 months.

Whew.

We are tired but ready to sell this house!

One of the last painting jobs I completed inside was our Master Bedroom.

We contemplated leaving the room the way it was because the paint job was still pretty good and I didn't think the color was terrible.....at the time.

But now seeing the before and after pictures, I am SO glad I took the time to complete this before listing!

It's crazy what a little paint can do!  

Doesn't the room look so much bigger and less "cave-like"?

And I just thought I would keep it real with y'all again with the before picture - this was amidst the chaos that ensued the week before listing.

Chaos, I tell you.

And here are some other views of our room.

In the top right picture you can see our closet on the right and the Master Bath on the left.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention my purchase that finished my Master Bedroom update - the lamps!

If you scroll back up, you can catch a glimpse of the tiny lamps we had before. 

I knew either the lamps had to change or the decor above the bed.

I've been dying to purchase new lamps but it just hasn't been in the budget.

BUT, I've had a little side job for the past week and had a little to spend.

I thought I would check my regular stops one more time (Marshall's, TJ Maxx, Home Goods, and Target), and I found these babies on clearance at Marshall's for $24 each.....shade included!

If you've ever shopped around for lamps, this price is unheard of!  

Ok, maybe I'm a nerd.....but finding a good deal made my day!

Happy Thursday, y'all!

Rox

Simple Flower Bed { for renters! }

We are so, so happy to live in seminary housing.  Seriously, we couldn't be happier to live in a community that understands EXACTLY what you're going through financially, spiritually, emotionally, etc.!

If you've rented before, though, you understand some of the not so exciting aspects.  I so wish we could paint our walls... I dream of updated cabinets and hardware... and most recently I despised our 'landscaping'.  (No before pictures, unfortunately!)  Imagine with me... scraggly boxwoods, half-dead, broken off, weeds galore, good ol' Mississippi clay not conducive to life except for moss...

I literally encouraged the neighborhood kids to jump on and break the bushes in hopes they would just die completely!

My sweet, sweet hubs helped me fix my sad little flower bed a couple weekends ago, and I'm so happy to share it with you!

After pulling our bushes out with our car (Hubs wrapped straps around the bushes, connected them to the car, and yanked them right out!), we broke up the clay a bit.  We were fortunate to have recently had rain so the ground was still soft.

Using pallet wood and stakes, we formed our raised box.  The front view (it's hard to tell...) is about 3 or 4 pieces of wood.  We added compost and topsoil to the dirt and mixed it up.  I chose all perennial plants so they will (hopefully) stay/come back again.  There's something about having flowers that will die after their season that makes me sad.  Don't get me wrong, they're beautiful!  I just wanted to start out with flowers and plants that I would get to enjoy for awhile!  I may plant some annuals in some pots I have on the other side of my door later...

After planting everything, we laid down some mulch.  We were fortunate to have a neighbor just outside of our townhouses that had a tree stump ground up just a day before we needed mulch.  She was so sweet to let us grab as much as we wanted!  Though mulch is not very expensive, it's always exciting to save a little bit!

Finally, I added a couple fun details.  The plain wood was bugging me a little bit, so I painted an alternating triangle pattern along the front of the box with acrylic paint.  Though the paint won't last forever, I look forward to the natural distressed/aged look after rain and sun do their thang.

I also added a chicken wire frame behind my ivy so it has a somewhere to climb!  I'm probably most excited about my ivy!  I LOVE the crawling look of the viny plants.

Walking up to my front door is SO much more exciting now!  My plants are still little and wimpy, but I can't wait to watch everything grow.  I'm excited about tending my little garden... I just hope I can keep everything alive!

For our whole project, we spent around $40.  And most of that was for the plants!  Not too shabby!

Thanks for letting me share my little garden with you, friends!

-Jess

P.S.  We are all okay after the storms yesterday.  We are so grateful for God's protection in such a scary situation.  I know others were greatly affected... Praying for restoration and peace in Mayflower, Vilonia, Tupelo, Pearl, Tupelo, and some towns in Alabama.  

Home Tour { Jess' Living Room }

Welcome to my living room, friends!

This is a combination living area/playroom/extended laundry room/storage room/movie room.  For those of you that live in smaller homes, you understand the need to be creative with space you have!  If you read my recent post HERE, you remember hearing my husband started seminary in the fall.  We chose to live in 'Seminary Housing', and we absolutely LOVE it!  A downside is the opportunity to customize our home.  Fortunately, white walls are easy to work with!  So, here's how we have made an apartment feel like OURS:

Y'all.  We have a wood-burning fireplace!!  And you better believe we used it this winter.  It was a cold one.  We are currently using two pieces of furniture that belong to our bedroom suite in our living room.  (We had NO room for either piece in our bedroom, and we truly needed each of them in our living room! WIN-WIN!)  

The former bedside table is now our 'media console' and holds all our DVDs, controllers, and our beloved Super Nintendo.  Many a date night has included an intense competition of Dr. Mario. 

To even out the height of the TV, I store our ottoman in front of the other window with two suitcases stacked on top.  Though the suitcases may look purely decorative, each serves a fantastic purpose!  The wicker suitcase holds our fireplace tools and firestarters, and the blue suitcase serves as our indoor toolbox.

The chest of drawers is a multi-purpose piece and holds everything from tupperware to canned food.  Our small kitchen doesn't have a pantry so we once again got creative with our space.

(The door you see next to the ottoman leads to our back porch!)

 

Though I am not a huge fan of our denim and white striped couches, I'm happy they add a little pizzazz to our place.  We'll just call them our conversation pieces.  (Y'all I'm pretty sure I saw these couches on Full House... haha.  They're timeless, right??)

Friends, I have a secret.  Our long couch (with the mirror above it) and the side tables are actually pulled out about a foot and a half from the wall.  What's behind them?  The real question is, what's NOT behind them?  We needed some easily accessible storage that's kid-proof, and this has been our best storage solution yet!  You do what you gotta do, peeps.

A sweet friend that shares my taste gave me that AWESOME metal art piece.  Isn't it fantastic??  For now it's mounted straight to the wall, but I have visions of painting it and mounting it to reclaimed wood!

Do you see my LAMP I posted about HERE and HERE?  I still haven't figured out what to do to make me completely happy with it.  {SIGH}  Someday.

Thanks for continuing the tour with us!  We love sharing our homes with you!  Plus, it gives me an excuse to clean up!  You better believe this isn't the everyday look of this room.  Picture crumbs all over EVERYTHING.  Toys and clothes spread across the floor.  Laundry folded (or not) on the couch.  Movie playing in the background.  Y'all, to keep it REAL, I recently found a VERY, VERY, VERY old half-eaten banana under the TV table.  

On that note, I'll let you move on with your day!

Thanks for reading, friends!

-Jess

My Very Own Coffee Bar!

We are so excited to get back to the bloggin' groove!  All of our lives over the holidays were completely full of celebrating, decorating, relaxing, unpacking, traveling, lovin' on family, missing each other, organizing, eating, and the list goes on!  We are so grateful for y'all bearing with us as we tried to catch our breath a little over the break!  We have some fun stuff in store for y'all so PLEASE join us as we dive into a new year!

Remember way back ( HERE ) when I dreamt of a coffee bar?

Guess what...

That's right, folks!  I finished a project, followed through on a plan I had, and I LOVE IT! 

I wanted one MOSTLY out of necessity.  Our new place has a very small kitchen... so with a coffee pot and microwave on the counter alone, I was making PB&J sandwiches at the dining room table instead of in the kitchen.  Plus, why not dedicate an entire wall of your house to something you use EVERYDAY.  My dear coffee, you're worth it.

Do you remember the dresser? Look HERE.

Our coffee bar takes up a wall in the dining room and creates extra storage for everything from pens and paper to extra coffee mugs and tea.  We're excited to actually have a dining room in our new place!  I can't wait to turn our table and chairs into my next big project... I promise to share it with you!

We use the wall opposite of the coffee bar as our catch-all.  The front door is right around the corner (to  the left) so it was the perfect spot for our 'mudroom'.  The chest of drawers balances out the other side of the wall AND adds almost necessary extra storage for craft and sewing supplies.  I made sure to save ONE WHOLE DRAWER for the hubs books and such.  Poor guy was having to keep his books in the trunk until I organized a little... 

Please know that our dining room NEVER looks this clean... real life is a trash can in the corner by the coffee bar, hats and jackets on the table, crumbs covering the floor, sticky-ness all over the table, shoes on the floor, junk mail, books, artwork, that mornings half-eaten breakfast... It's always great to have an excuse to clean up!  This was mine!

Thanks for reading, y'all!  It's great to be back at it, and we so look forward to sharing a lot more with our faithful followers!

-Jess

Home Tour: Jess' House {Master Bedroom}

Although I'm happy with my bedroom right this moment, it's definitely in the 'not-quite-done' stage.  I don't necessarily have very specific ideas in mind for the 'finished product', but I don't just completely LOVE every tiny detail.

With that in mind...

I'm so grateful for our bedroom suit!  We have PLENTY of storage space with all of the drawers so we don't have to have random stuff piled all over the dresser.  (Notice that I said 'don't have to'... our room is usually the catch-all for normal days... if company comes over, I usually throw everything in our room and just close the door!)

Our super simple white quilt makes our bedroom very versatile... I feel like I can change things very easily without feeling like I want to buy brand new bedding!

Have y'all seen my pillow on Pinterest??  Chances are you've seen THIS tutorial before.  SO easy, so simple.  Mine's not as nice as the pin, but I used thicker material... it's seems like the thinner the material the better.

The wreath above my bed was made using faux pussy willow branches (Wal-Mart).  I stretched a wire hanger into a circle and just wrapped three branches around the circle.  This is one of the things I like ok in my room, but I would LOVE to hang a starburst mirror here instead.  I'd rather use my wreath on the front door!

(Excuse the the dark frame around the picture... no clue what happened!)

My beside tables get cluttered SO easily.  I decided that if I had trays on them I may keep them more organized.  Or the trays would just hide the junk I tend to throw on them...

I bought my cute coral lamp from a Facebook yardsale in my town.  Although I love the color, I'm pretty sure I want to paint it eventually..  I bought the gooseneck lamp from Goodwill WITHOUT a shade on it...  I thought I liked the look of it with the shade, but it's starting to just look out of place.  Any suggestions on what to use for a replacement shade? Or how to make one??

I just recently added the mirrors over my bedside table, and it's made a huge difference in the look of the room!  It's definitely made the room look a little bigger, and I LOVE the reflection of the lamps when they are on.  I loved the IDEA of the four mirrors paired together instead of one big one of the left side, but now that they are on the wall, I would like to add larger frames to them.

I haven't done much with my dresser... like I said, it's usually full of junk.  My lamps are boring (remember the lamps I mentioned in THIS post?), and it's just empty.. we'll see what happens there.

I absolutely LOVE my curtains!  You may remember my 'Choosing Fabric' post, and you can see the pattern close up.  The neutral colors make the pattern very, very subtle.

The chest of drawers (or better called 'Chester Drawers' here in the South) most recently held a large OLD school T.V.  That thing was a HUGE eyesore.. so for now, it houses a couple wedding photos of my boo and me. :)

Last, but not least, I have my photo wall... I made these burlap photo holders not too long after we moved in our house (about four years ago).  They've served us well.  I covered cardboard with burlap and added ribbon and photo corners.  I have yet to frame my nice prints... these are my cheap-o Wal-Mart prints and are not covered... my photographer was SOOO great y'all.  I still LOVE my pictures so much!

That's about it folks..

Check back to see more of my house! :)

Home Tour { Rox's Boys' Room }

I have 2 boys, 14 months apart, ages 3 1/2 and 4 1/2.  They've shared a room since my youngest was about 6 months old.  Although at times we question whether it's a good idea to have them in the same room (when they are playing at night or waking each other up), I can't imagine it any other way.  For the most part, they do really well together and it's been fun decorating and creating a room for 2.  

We don't have a play room, so all the boys toys are stored out on their shelves or in their closets.  I try to keep a lot of it put away so that it isn't a huge mess every time they play in their room.  (You can view their closet organization project I did a while back here.  Although, I must confess -- anyone else sing the Britney Spears song in their head while reading 'I must confess'?  I KNOW it's not just me -- it is not as clean now)  I've also figured out that if they don't have daily access to all of their toys, we can keep some stashed away and pull them out when we need something different to play with and it's almost as good as having a brand new toy!

{ Side note: Since my boys have seemed to master sleeping through the night pull-up free for month or so AND I have a child who is very tall for his age, we will be upgrading to twin beds very soon.  SO, we will be selling these handmade beds (sans mattresses) as well as the bedding (which is in great shape) very soon.  So, if you are interested in purchasing either, keep checking back!}

With the new beds and bedding I plan on changing up the decor too.  Am I the only one who can't just leave a room the way it is for very long?  

And in case you haven't noticed, Jess and I have very similar tastes in decor, especially in boys rooms.   We have the same greens, grays, browns and blues.  Check out her boy's room post here.

What are you favorite colors for boys' rooms?  What are some ways I can update their room to grow with them into school age?

Rox

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Home Tour { Jess' House: Girl's Nursery }

My baby girl's room was SO fun to decorate.  I had so much trouble figuring out my little guy's room... when it was time to decorate with pink, I was like a kid in a candy store.  (Or just like I would be in a candy store. I. LOVE. SUGAR.)

My baby girl isn't really a baby anymore, and her nursery won't really be a nursery much longer.  P-man was already in a toddler bed for 6 months at her age (which was pretty early, but it worked for him...)!  So this is partly to document her nursery while it lasts! *Tear*

Follow me into my little gal's nursery:

I love the sweet watercolor prints I see on Etsy.  The three on the left were my attempt to own some "artwork" without paying $20 or more per print.  It's OBVIOUSLY not profesh... but it fills up wall space for now!   I used a nail through the back piece of each clothespin to secure them to the wall.

I'm pretty sure the crosses were gifts to Parker when he was a baby.  I just spray painted each of them.

The garland is just a strip of unbleached muslin with knots tied in it.  The fabric birds were made using THIS tutorial.  (I used to have 4 up there... my little guy decided he needed to use them for his own versin of Angry Birds.)

I found the cute little play crib at Goodwill for $7.  Isn't it cute??  Baby girl LOVES to lay her dollies down for a nap.

A family was getting rid of the crib and CUSTOM-MADE crib bedding and offered it to my mother-in-law. She passed it on to us, and we absolutely LOVE it.  We would have had to pay A LOT for both!

The 'rug' is just a pillow sham from Goodwill. Improvise.

My mom is an AWESOME thrifter.  I mentioned one time that I'd love to find some cool old suitcases to decorate with.  The next time I saw her she found THREE for me! 

The sweet crown and veil was made for me by my Grams for a wedding I was in when I was little.  I love special things like that!  The baptism dress I made for my girl using multiple tutorials all smashed together.  I literally couldn't tell you how I made it now if you asked me!

We have two matching side tables and a matching coffee table for our living room, but we only have room for one side table.  Baby girl's room was the perfect spot for the extra one! 

This collage was SO fun to put together.  All the frames are thrifted and spray painted using Rustoleum's Heirloom White.

1, 4, & 7 were paper dolls that my sisters and I had when we were little.

2 & 8 are unbleached muslin framed in embroidery hoops with handmade flowers.

3 & 6 were cute pictures found in an issue of Real Simple magazine (can't remember which one!).  The pictures were so great and perfect for the nursery that I just had to frame them!

5  is just four wooden plaques (thrifted by my mom!) painted with acrylic paint.  I'm pretty sure I just mixed a bunch of colors together until I liked it! :)

This room obviously couldn't have been decorated without my mom and mother-in-law!  The Strawberry Shortcake (one of my FAVORITES when I was little) records were thrifted by my mom, and the dresser was painted by and given to us by my mother-in-law! 

The glider is probably my least favorite thing in this room.  I begged my hubby for it when my little guy was born, and I can count on two hands the number of times I've used it with BOTH kids.  I just prefer snuggling on the couch instead of rocking!  It's a really nice glider for the price though!

You may remember the tutorial for the quilt found HERE.  If not, check it out!!

The large mirror was a wedding gift that we spray painted using Rustoleum's Heirloom White.

The tissue paper flowers are one of my FAVORITE things about this room.  I originally made them as decorations for baby girl's first birthday (using THIS tutorial), BUT I loved them way too much to throw them away or put them in a box.  I feel like they found a good home for now above the mirror!

That's about it!  I left out little details here and there just to avoid a super long post!

If I skipped anything that you'd like to see closer or hear more details about, leave us a comment or e-mail us at ofdwellinganddress@gmail.com.

Thanks for reading!

Guest Bedroom Update (Rox)

Our guest bedroom/soon-to-be nursery has been the catch-all junk room since we moved into our home almost 4 years ago.  And FINALLY, with the help of mystery sister #3 (who WILL post soon, I'm certain) last Fall, we finally got a fresh coat of paint on the walls and trim.  

By the way, who decided it was a good idea for the trim of a new-ish construction house to be painted the same butter yellow as the builder's grade paint on the walls?

Seriously.

In every. single. square. inch. of. the. entire. house.

Terrible idea.

Especially because painting trim takes FOREVER.

End rant.

And back to the guest room.

So, we used leftover paint from our Master Bedroom.  The color is Sherwin Williams Rain that we had matched in Home Depot's Behr paint.  And it was 100% copied from my second mom's home.  This was the first blue I have ever liked on the walls, and with its gray undertones, it creates such a calming atmosphere.  Our Master Bedroom has been painted this color for about 3 1/2 years now, and I still love it.

I always forget what a difference a new paint job can do to a room.  For one thing, it gives it a fresh clean slate and helps jumpstart the decorating process and finishing up the room.  

This room is far from complete, but I love seeing how a room can be transformed, so I thought you might too!

Paint: Sherwin Williams Rain matched in Behr \\ Pillow: TJ Maxx clearance \\ Quilt: Target clearance

The main things I have done are purchase a couple new accessories.  I picked up the quilt first from Target and then the pillow for from TJ Maxx.  Both were on clearance for over 50% off and ones that I had been eyeing for some time.  So, if you see something you really like, hold out for a little while and usually you can catch it on sale!

These are the items I had for the room.  And actually I bought the curtains first.  

And here's the story.

My husband and I recently went to Atlanta for a conference and the one thing I wanted to do while we were there was go to the infamous Ikea.

And being the loving husband that he is, he obliged.

(I'm sure he was still being loving, but let me be honest.  He was probably sick and tired of hearing me meantion, "I really want to go to Ikea.  Wouldn't it be cool to check out Ikea?  I've heard so much about Ikea and have been dying to visit.  If I had one wish in all the world it would be to see Ikea first hand.  Ikea.  Ikea.  Ikea.  IIIIKKKKEEEEAAAA."  I don't blame the poor guy for doing anything it took so that the word "Ikea" would never be uttered from my lips again.)

So, Ikea was amazing.

And overwhelming.

But amazing.

And I spotted these curtains about half way through the store and thought they would fit nicely in my carry-on bag my husband's carryon bag on the way home.  Because, who am I kidding? There is NEVER any room in mine.  And I thought they would go perfectly with our paint color.  So, I bought 2 pairs.  

I hung one pair up in the guest room.  The other stayed in the package.

And here's another thing about these curtains.  I don't have anything else in the color red in my entire house, so they kind of feel out of place.  And secondly, I am not naturally drawn to the color red, so I couldn't ever find any accessories (pillows, rugs, lamps, etc.) that I really liked.  So, as you can see, they don't go with the other things I have bought for the room since then (see picture above).

But, I do LOVE the pattern and if I could make them work in my house, I would. 

And I'm SURE one of you could totally make them look amazing if your house.

{ And if you happen to need more than 2 pairs of these curtains, they are currently sold on Ikea's website, for $14.99 a pair but with a shipping cost of $11.00, making them $25.99 a pair.  So, you are definitely getting a deal here, but they are still available if you need more or don't win these!  And they can give you a few more details about the curtains. }

So, with that being said, I am selling them to the first reader that emails us at ofDwellingandDress@gmail.com. 

2 pairs available (each panel measures 57" x  98"):  1 opened package $18 - FREE SHIPPING //

1 New in package $20 - FREE SHIPPING // Both Pairs: $35 - FREE SHIPPING

I will respond to your email and let you know you've won the items and ship them ASAP.  Again, first come, first serve.  If you do not receive an email back, they have already been claimed.  I will bill you through PayPal as soon as I hear from you!

Have you done any redecorating lately?  What colors are you naturally drawn to?

Rox

Home Tour {Jess' House: Boy's Room}

We bought our house about 3 1/2 years ago right before my son was born.  Our house is SLOWLY but surely all coming together... 

We love, love, love our little house, but I can't leave it alone!  We didn't move in, 'get settled', and just live in it.  Little by little our home has evolved from just putting up decorations that we already had to looking more like a home that we love.

My little guy's room isn't quite 'done' (will it ever be??)... but I wanted to share what we've done so far.  Over time, I plan to keep you updated on new projects/changes to little guy's room as we go.

Without further adieu....

We randomly found a gallon of the exact color paint we were looking for in the 'Oops' paint section at Wal-Mart.  At 50% off the full price of paint, we couldn't pass it up!!

Although the top bunk has only been slept in once, nothing says 'BOY' like a good ol' bunk bed!  It's nice to have an extra bed available for company, especially when you're without a guest room!  

I made up my own template for the wooden moosehead by googling images of moose silhouettes.  I used a jigsaw to cut out all the pieces and stained them in espresso.  You can tell the antlers are sagging a bit... need to put fixing that on my 'to-do' list!!  I found the tutorial for the faux metal arrow HERE.  I completely copied her by putting it directly above the bunk bed like she did... oh well, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right??

I found both the comforters and the ABC fleece sheets on sale.  The train sheets were gifted to us.  As much as I hate how much the sheets don't match in the picture, I guess it's at least proof that we clean the little guy's sheets! :)

I needed a bedside table but didn't want to buy anything.  I had both of the baskets already and just stacked them.  I topped it with a wooden eating utensils holder (upside down) just for a flatter surface.  As you could easily guess, the 'table' gets knocked over all the time.

The dresser (is it really a 'chest of drawers'??) is the same bedroom set as the bunkbed.

The canvas had already been painted on so I spray painted it white and hand painted the 'hello'.

The other items are just a hodge-podge of things... I'm not quite sure it will stay this way...

My talented hubby built the toy box and the chicken wire frame for me.  He adapted a couple different plans from Ana White and came up with his own for this masterpiece! (It's painted using another can of 'Oops' paint!)  The frame was for a craft fair Rox and I did a couple years ago, and in the spirit of re-using I put it up for Parker to hang his artwork.  I'm not entirely sure I love the CHAOS on that wall... I feel like either I need a calmer wall piece or a more organized-looking piece of furniture there... 

Now onto the next steps...

With such a big open space on the floor, I would LOVE to have a chevron print or striped rug near his bed. I would also love to have curtains hung.. I feel like it would help fill in the blank space on the window wall.  Finally, I want to find a small side table or stool to replace the baskets next to his bed.

That's it!! For now...

I will be sure to keep you updated as I add and change things! 

Thanks for reading! And remember to follow us on Bloglovin' and on Facebook!!!