Making your baubles last

I am a total sucker for statement jewelry, anytime I see a new piece I can always justify the purchase. The down side to buying statement pieces is that they rarely last. The tend to tarnish, especially the gold pieces which deterred me from buying for a while. Not to worry I have a solution!

This spray works miracles! You can buy it at Michael's or any craft store, follow the instructions on the can. My suggestion is to do your spraying outside and make sure they dry completely prior to wearing.

The pieces I have sprayed are as good as new- I highly recommend the spray, such an inexpensive solution to "big" problem! :)

DIY Wreath

I have been looking for a new wreath for our front door for a while, I wanted something bright and fun but also personalized (of course!) I pinned this wreath a while ago, as well as a similar one with a monogram instead of the numbers. Ultimately I decided on the numbers because it is less predictable for me :) 

I had so much fun picking out the colors and painting the numbers! It was such an easy and fun project for a Sunday afternoon!

 

Happy Sunday! :) 

Sunday Funday- for your skin! :)

I have always struggled with my skin, I break out easily which means I would pack on the make up to cover it up which then causes increased breakouts! Ugh the cycle of it all!

There are few rules I learned in college:

1. Never go to bed with your make up on (no matter how many drinks you've had!)

2. Less is more- the more you try to cover up the worse it looks

3. Find a routine and stick to it (see my "favorites" page for what I use)

4. Clean your make up brush often

5. Moisturize

#4 is by far my favorite- my roommate & I would love to clean our brushes weekly! To this day I still update her when I clean them because she is the only one who understands this crazy obsession!

I have purchased a variety of cleaning products over the years, some more expensive than I am willing to admit! Then along came Pinterest (seriously what would I do without it?) and I found a homemade version which actually turned out to be better for me as I have pretty sensitive skin. I was using blue Dawn because that is what everything said to use, however I found myself buying Dawn specifically for this, so I substituted Method dish soap (which is what we use in the kitchen) and it worked just as well!

Brush Cleanser:

1 cup of warm water

1 TBSP white vinegar

1 TBSP dish soap

Soak the brushes in the mixture for 10-15 minutes, rub through the brushes to loosen anything that might be stuck in the bristle. 

Rinse through with warm water rubbing the bristles until the water dripping off the brush is clear. Leave flat to dry.

Check out these "before & afters!" 

 I also take an antibacterial wipe to the handle just to get the excess makeup & germs off :)

 In case you were wondering what the water looked like after I soaked all of the brush for some time take a peek at this! It is pretty gross to think all this came off, but also super satisfying to know they are now clean :) 

Making Our House a Home

It has been about three months since we've moved from DC to our new home. When we first moved in we marveled at the space, three bedrooms, with an actual dining room AND kitchen that were two separate rooms, it was like I died and went to real estate heaven. As far as style goes I gravitate toward soft colors, romantic ambiance and more vintage with a splash of french country kitchen- quite a style huh? I just really enjoy finding pieces to bring a room together that you wouldn't normally expect. See what your decor style is with this quiz on Ethan Allen!  

 As soon as we moved in I had all these grand ideas to decorate each room and what I thought would look great. Certainly no shortage of ideas, however trying to make all of that work after just moving and try to get settled was tough. Luckily we have awesome friends and family who donated things they were looking to get rid of. It was super generous of everyone and we are so grateful!

 We ended up furnishing our entire spare bedroom with things we were given (a huge thank you to our family!!) A few of the pieces we did a little "updating" to. This is the before photo of the dresser. I really liked the raised parts to it and saw this as a great opportunity to paint it a contrasting color. Off to Home Depot I went (which is pet friendly FYI!) I poured over different color palettes and decided to go with a navy and white. My thought was it is a great color scheme for an adult bedroom, but could also transition to a room for a little one someday! Also navy & white is such a classic combination that you can incorporate lots of pops of color to add another dimension to the room. 





Here is the finished product! I will start by saying after 2 days of sanding and painting this piece I decided I did not like the color. So back to sanding I went this time with a little help from my husband :) When I went back to Home Depot they were awesome, they changed the color for me free of charge! They did mention that if you go with the "high gloss" finish it has a tendency to change the color- something to note for future DIY projects! In my case it was pretty drastic- the color was definitely more of a cobalt than navy. 

 Here is a detail shot of how it turned out. Personally I love the higher gloss finish, I know that isn't for everyone but it is definitely an option to skip just go with a matte finish.





Here is my bigger project of the room, a tufted headboard! I got a lot of the inspiration for things I saw on Pinterest that I loved, but wasn't willing to spend hundreds on. If anyone is interested in the tutorial of how I did the headboard feel free to email me for details. I used the headboard that came with this bedroom set thanks to my Aunt! :) I didn't take a before shot- sorry about that. However it was the same color as the dresser, and fits a full sized bed. 


I did a lot of research about the different ways to do a DIY headboard, most of which use plywood and hang on the wall versus being on the actual frame. I actually think this might have been a little easier as the headboard was already really sturdy so I just added a three inch foam from Home Depot and premeasured all of the places I wanted the tufts to appear, make sure to space them out evenly otherwise they won't appear correctly on the headboard, then added the foam and did the tufts.
Getting the tension even on all the tufts wasn't very
easy but I did the best I could. I also hand covered all
the buttons with matching fabric. I can definitely see
myself redoing this sometime in the future hopefully
to get better tension on the tufts. Overall I was happy
with the results, and was very appreciative of all the
help I got from Oliver! I owe that guy :)