Sweater Pillows

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Please tell me I am not the only one that goes into Pottery Barn this time of year and has to resist the urge to curl up on one of those down couches, covered with sweater pillows, and take a nap.

This fall, I've tried to create that same feeling in my family room.  I found a few cream cable knit sweater pillows at Hobby Lobby for $12.50 each.  I combined them with my white fur pillow I already owned and a  chunky chenille throw from Target.

Happy Napping!

Fall Mantel

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For years, I have dreamed of having a fireplace mantel to decorate for the holidays!  Yet, when it came time to decorate my first mantel for Autumn...I was totally stumped.  Not only that, I was still loving what was already there.  So I decided to keep it simple...

Join me on Thursday and I will share my easy and super affordable autumn decor tips, including the mantel garland and white ceramic pumpkins.

Coastal Inspired Family Room

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In case you have forgotten or are new to my blog, here is what the family room looked like just a few months ago when we moved in on June 11th.

This is the first room that is starting to feel "done" to me. 
  I love that the room has a cozy feel, but can easily fit 10+ people for movie night!

I was inspired by Thrifty Decor Chick and her plank wall fireplace surround.  Luckily, her detailed instructions made it pretty easy for my husband to install the same thing for our family room in around 2 hours.  At a cost of $80, it adds a lot of detail to the room and really makes the fireplace stand out when you walk in.  (this still needs nail holes filled and painted)

Do you remember the buffet I snagged a few weeks ago on Craiglist for $25?

  It is now happily living in the family room as our tv stand.  I adored the wooden inlay that was on the drawer fronts, but the rest of the buffet was in rough shape.  I decided to sand and paint the body of the piece white and leave the original finish on the rest.  Even though there are still some imperfections on the drawers, I am happy with my decision not to paint them.

The pouf and ottoman double as extra seating and a place to put your feet up, they can be easily moved around as needed.

I am very pleased with these white Extorp chairs from Ikea.  They are comfortable and if I should get a stain on them that cannot be washed out...replacement covers are only $29!

The ottoman also has a removable lid for storage.

I picked up these lanterns on clearance in the garden section of Target

I always keep an eye out at Goodwill for interesting coffee table books.  The large baskets hold reading material that the kids are using or projects they are working on.  Remote controls are a part of life, I grabbed an inexpensive tray from Big Lots to corral them.

Source List: 

Paint Color - Sherwin Williams Upward Blue/75% strength

Large Chevron Rug, RugsUSA  

Striped Curtains - Made from West Elm shower curtains

Bamboo Blinds - Home Depot

Ektorp White Slip Covered Chairs and Ottoman - Ikea

Hemnes Coffee Table - Ikea

Corner Chair - World Market 

Coral Pouf - Privet House for Target

Side Tables - Tables that my mom was no longer using, sprayed with light gray paint and updated with pulls from Hobby Lobby

Lamps - HomeGoods with burlap shades from Target

Map Pictures - DIY from vintage Atlas
Large Round Mirror - Lowes

Accessories - Target, Ikea, Home Goods

Join the PinParty at Fox Hollow Cottage

A huge thank you to Thrifty Decor Chick and her Show Us Your House series for getting me in gear to share pictures of our new family room!  Please stop by her blog to see many more inspiring family spaces.

(More) Map Wall Art

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I loved the framed maps I had hanging at our old house.

  If I hadn't spotted this amazing atlas book at Goodwill for $2.49, I probably would have gone ahead and hung the same framed maps in the new house.

The atlas is over 50 years old and full of vibrant color pictures.  I just had to use them in some way at our new house!  I admit, I felt a teensy bit guilty cutting pages out of the book.  I was very careful though and the book can still be enjoyed on our coffee table.

I found 3 clearance 16x20 frames from Hobby Lobby for $10 each and spray painted them white.  They were probably on clearance because the glass broke in every single frame while I was taking them apart!  Oh well, good thing I hadn't planned on using the glass anyway.

I picked 3 of my favorite maps from the book.  Then I purchased a charcoal gray mat board for $7.99 (also from Hobby Lobby) that I was able to cut down to the correct sizes.  I used some Mod Podge and coated each mat and the back of each map, before the glue had totally dried I placed the pictures on the mat and gave it another good coat of the Mod Podge. 

I'll admit, at first I thought the project was going to be a complete disaster!  The maps looked like they were puckering and would not stick at all.  After they dried though, the puckers flattened out and because of the Mod Podge coat on the entire picture, they look like I bought them that way!  At least I think they do.  :)

It's very important to put a coat of Mod Podge on the mat and the back of the picture first...trust me, I learned the hard way! (see those few little puckers at the bottom?)  lol  Thank goodness for Pinterest, I was able to stop and get some tips so I didn't mess things up too much.  The puckers give it character.

The wall behind our couch is large and was very empty!  The 3 pictures filled it nicely and came it a total of $50, including atlas, mats, frames, spray paint and Mod Podge.  Tomorrow I will show what I did using the index pages of the atlas.  ;)

Moving is a lot of work!

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I know I have disappeared the last few weeks.  Unpacking has been my main focus!  After feeling like my family has been uprooted in one form or another for the last 6 months I have been on a mission to get us feeling settled.

I don't have many house pictures yet as we are still painting and all that fun stuff.  However, I thought I would show a few pictures from the day we moved in.  Because our closing was on Monday morning, but the house was finished on Friday, we were able to sneak in over the weekend and start some painting.  (Don't worry, the building supervisor gave his ok)  As always, I can't believe what a difference paint makes!

The kitchen before:

 The family room before:

 The entryway before:

 The kitchen after:

The paint color is the same Sherwin Williams Upward blue we had in the old house.

(notice the "happy closing day" cupcakes we got for ourselves.....err...the kids.)

 The entry way after:

I chose Sherwin Williams Repose Gray for this area

(That little wall beside the stairs has since had stripes added, I will post more on that later!)

Here is the outside the day we moved in...of course, the garage is now FULL of stuff still to be unpacked now.  Mostly home decor that I need to decide where to put on the walls.

My favorite thing about our new house is the lot.  We live on a street that dead ends at a farmer's field.  There are 6 houses on the street and 8 kids to play together.  My kids have had a blast being able to go outside and play! I have peace of mind knowing that the pretty much no cars are going to come down the street and the ones that do are the parents of some of the kids playing. 

So in other news, Evie learned to ride her bike last week and yesterday we dropped McKinley at church camp for the week.  So far, it's been a great summer!

Design Boards...again.

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I keep playing with the whole design board thingy...here is what I came up with so far for the family room.

I honestly have no idea what artwork, lamps, etc...are going to go in that room! 

The rug was impulse by this morning from RugsUSA...I hope it matches in person!