DIY Collage Wall

After getting married we moved to a new town and a new house. One of my most favorite things to do after moving is to decorate. I love unpacking all of our decorations and putting things up. This makes it feel like home so much quicker then almost anything else you can do. So in this house like in our old one I decided to put up a collage wall.

My best advice for putting up a collage wall is to find a center piece and make that the focal point. My center piece is a large sign I found a few years ago that I really loved. It is a good size and it gives the wall some structure.

From there I laid out all of the pieces I for sure wanted to use on the wall and then some extra one's that I could use also to fill in. This gave me a pretty good idea of what to put up and how to make things balance on both sides.

I like to use a variety of signs, crosses, pictures, and canvas art that I have for my collage wall. This gives the wall a nice variety and gives you the option to mix in your accent colors. I always try to find a couple of fun colors I can mix in on the whole wall that go with my room.

The best advice I can give you is to just stare at your wall and start with one piece. Then I add to each side until I think the wall looks complete. This isn't the best way I'm sure but its how my brain works. I need to see things up on the wall and sometimes this means that things get moved around and we have a few extra holes in the wall but that's how life is.

So this is my advice on having a collage wall, just go for it and if you have a few extra holes you can blame it on me and creativity!

What is your collage wall advice? If you have a collage wall please share a picture with me! I would love to see your masterpiece.

I'm linking up at these parties!

Mirror Up-cycle

I found this mirror at a thrift store for $7. The hanger was broken on the back and the corners were a little scuffed up. It was definitely a fixer upper but I loved that the frame was solid wood and it's a BIG mirror. I knew there was no way I could find this big of a mirror without a large price tag so I snatched it up and went to work. 

In a moment of genius I thought I'll put this newspaper down and then tap the corners and stick it al a little under the edges so I don't get any paint drip. This seemed like a great idea at the time. It definitely worked and there was no pain on the mirror at all. Getting the tape and newspaper out from between the frame and mirror was nightmare. I had to use an exacto knife for a lot of it. I would definitely not recommend doing this. Just stick the newspaper under the frame and be careful when painting. 

First I used a white base coat because the wood is really dark. It took two base coats with how dark the wood was but I did really light coats and it seemed to work well. 

After my base coats I used a grey-blue paint I got a free quart of at Ace. I love this color and I have it on a few different pieces in my living room so it worked out perfect that I used it on this mirror.

Then of course I distressed the frame and showed off the great lines and the original wood color. You can also see some of the white base coat show through in some spots which I love. To fix the hanger on the back I just bought some wire at Ace and used the attachment pieces already on the back of the mirror. All it took was some wire cutters and pliers to get the wire secure on the hangers. This mirror is very heavy to we had to make sure it was put into a stud. I would definitely suggest always putting heavy items into a stud. This is a very important safety precaution.



I think this mirror turned out great. It looks wonderful on my wall above our love seat. Now just to make something to go on each side of the mirror. It needs some accent pieces.

What do you think I should put on each side of the mirror? 

I'm linking up at these parties!

Craft Room Pinspiration

In the new house there is a spare bedroom I have decided it is going to be my craft room/Eli's play room. With Remy running around now me and Jarr decided it would be best to give Eli his own room with his toys and things so he didn't feel like he had no space in the house. Yes I realize I am talking about a cat and a dog but they are our fur-babies and we like to make sure they feel at home in our home.

Anyway, in this room I am trying to decide what they best way to store everything is. I have a huge variety of things and I have been pinteresting like crazy to try and decide what to do. I think so far I have narrowed it down to a few different ideas.

You can find a tutorial for something like this at Lovely Little Details I couldn't find the original post for this. 

I LOVE mason jars. They are so easy to decorate with and super cute. I love using them around the house for decorations and I think they are great. So this idea is right up my ally and I am loving how the mason jars are attached to a nice piece of molding to add a little detail. 

You can find the instructions for this peg board as well as more craft room tutorials at Nest of Posies.

I really like peg boards. I think they are a great way to store a lot of stuff and the color of this one is gorgeous. I really like how she used little curtain rods to store ribbon and I think the paint at the bottom is really neat. She also feeds me love of mason jars on the left of the peg board. Those antique blue jars are gorgeous! 

You can find this bookcase tutorial and information over at I Heart Organizing. 

I have lots of bookcases on hand to organize the spare room/craft room with, right now everything has just been put on them in disarray. I love how she has put her wrapping paper on a shelf and used the other shelves to put all of her other wrapping tools in boxes. This is such a cute shelf the colors make it great decoration for any room as well as wonderful storage. 

These are three different concepts I definitely want to incorporate into my craft room in some way. These lovely ladies have given me great inspiration for my new room! I can't wait to get started now. 

Do you have any tips or suggestions on what to do for my craft room? 

I'm linking up at these parties!

Kitchen Hutch Remodel

So we recently moved into a bigger house so we could have more room. Just another rental until we graduate and get big kid jobs. I don't know if all rentals are like this but everyone I've lived in has about zero cabinet space in the kitchen. Now a lot of college students don't cook but I do. I love to cook and I need space in my kitchen for my pops, pans, odds, ins, and food! So when we found the new place I noticed the lack of cabinet space once again and decided to do something about it. 

I got on Craigslist and looked until I found an old wooden hutch that I could get for a reasonable price and redo. Of course when we went to pick it up Jarr gave me the "are you serious right now, this is hideous" look. I just smiled and said you know I can work magic when I have an idea. 

The above picture is of the original hutch I purchased off of craigslist. Please ignore the stuff in the background this was in the middle of moving. 

So I cleaned the hutch really really good which it needed very badly, it smelled like a house from the 70's. It looked like a house from the 70's, and it reminded me of my grandma's house. I'm sure that most of you can relate to that. 

Please ignore my very lived in kitchen with the trash can and Eli's litter box. What we did was paint this bad boy about 95 million times to get her white. I used 3 coats of primer to get rid of the dark wood color and then two coats of Benjamin Moore Antique White to get her this lovely cream color. I replaced her knobs with some I got a Lowe's that I like the color of better. 

And we put chicken wire on the inside of the doors so you can see in the cabinet. I LOVE the way this piece turned out and I am so proud of my beauty. It took about a week to paint her, letting each coat dry overnight. I didn't put any kind of sealant on her I just let her drive for a week before we put anything on her and she seems to be taking everything well. I absolutely love how much storage she provides and I am so happy with my remodel. 

Here is the finished product complete with decorations on top. 

What do you think about my new kitchen storage? 

I'm linking up at these parties this week! 

New Adventure

Over the last 6 months I have started a new business venture with my mom and aunt. We are going to different craft shows and rodeos selling jewelry, purses, belts, hats, scarves, and my hand made home decor. We have been quite successful at this new little business venture and are having a wonderful time doing it. I always dreamed of selling some of my decor that I've been making for my own home for years. I never thought that my mom and aunt would get in on the action with me though. 

One of my cross pieces. 

This has been a great adventure for us and I'm so glad that we have decided to do this together. I am hoping that maybe someday I could open up my own boutique and try to make this a real career. All these years of college education and almost finishing with my degree and now I decide I want to do this. I guess I should squeeze a few business classes in these last 2 semesters so I have some idea of what I'm doing. 

A faith sign and cross. 

Any advice you lovely ladies have would be greatly appreciated! We are brand new and trying to make things work. It's amazing how helpful people are in these situations! We have had so many amazing people come and help us figure everything out! 

Have a wonderful day ladies!