DIY style

Tumeric dyed duvet cover

I've never been much of an artist. My sister, she is amazing. President of the art club, that girl was. My little brother is an artistic genius as well. While I'm no abstract painting genius, I like to think that my artistic gene's have made their presence known with my DIY projects. I like getting crafty, people. When it came time to move into our new apartment I wrote about how Nick and I got rid of everything (here). I decided to be super selective on what we hung up on the walls and displayed. Since we are living on one income so I can stay at home with the babe, I don't really have the luxury of snagging amazing items from places like urban outfitters or anthropologie (although, the sale stuff is gooooood sometimes).

No filter, this is the awesome color using tumeric. I feel if I soaked it longer it would have been more orange-y. Next time!

This piece of driftwood was free at a rebuilding center. Felt hearts were done completely out of boredom and they add a cheesy flair that I kind of love.

Silas's dream catcher.

These cute little cones were picked up on our trip to Ashland. What started as a holiday decoration has become permanent.

So, I craft. And in the end I usually love the result and the look it gives our space. Also, I find it therapeutic and doing these little projects usually gives me a few minutes of greatly needed alone time :) Happy crafting! xo

Hi, we are crazy.

It's a weird feeling...that scared/excited/nervous/anxious feeling. It's overwhelming to say the least. We are getting closer to finding a home and I can't help but go over the decision a million times. At the moment we are in a great apartment...and yet here we are wanting to put an offer in on this fixer. Fixer. It is not move in ready by any means, so there is that. It needs so much work, most of which we are confident we can do ourselves. Such a scary thing though. I've always dreamed of renovating a home. Bringing a vision to life is thrilling in every sense. As a couple who just had a baby and is down to one income though it is such a terrifying and bold move. We have some stashed away funds and we feel like we could make this all happen on a pretty conservative budget, but I'm no idiot. I watch HGTV like it's my job. I know those hidden issues pop out of nowhere and that fear is holding me back. I'm sure we'll go for it though...and I am pretty confident that the sellers will accept our offer (they are seriously motivated, according to their agent). So it's becoming real, this whole homeowner path we are going down. Can't wait to update you on this whole mess! xo

*after we toured the home, I obviously came straight back to our house and jumped on pinterest. Here are some ideas that correlate with what we would be working with (this is all hypothetical. we have not yet purchased the house).

Honeycomb tile. I love you.

White walls are on the agenda.

Looking into counter top options (the whole kitchen needs to be gutted). You can make your own concrete counter tops. Are we ambitious or what? Maybe, or we are just cheap asses ;)

It has a fireplace! I'm loving the vintage mirror over top.

The bathroom is also a gut job. Loving this modern tub and vintage fixtures. Of course, subway tile is a must!

*All images via pinterest

Home is...whatever your money can get you. yikes.

Alright, so let me just lay it out for you. Nick and I pretty much scour the real estate websites on the daily looking for potential homes. We lie in bed at night with our iPhones gleaming in our faces scrolling through homes and excitedly showing each other what we find and exclaiming what we could do with it. Many get sold and we *sigh* heavily wishing that we would have had our act together to put an offer down. Rewind to the end of this past summer and we were actually gonna go for it. Got pre-approved, went house hunting. Then we got scared. Were we ready? We just had a baby and paid a mountain of medical bills, so it was scary to jump into another big financially draining pit. We filed away our approval letter and decided the time was not right. Well, we can't stop thinking about having our own home. Apartment living with a 9 month old is rough. He likes to scream/talk and our neighbors upstairs like to stomp around in heels. It's annoying on both ends...well, not so much Silas screaming, that is quite hilarious. The thing is, when only one of you is working the dough isn't quite rolling in like it used to. We cut our income in half (half!!) when we decided I would stay home with the babe. I mean, daycare is frickin' expensive and I (we) prefer that I'm the one with him rather than some stranger. So, here we are looking things over and it's surprisingly looking good for us as far as the housing thing goes. We've talked to some people and we are pretty confident that we can make something work. We don't need a huge mansion with mid century design and gorgeous hardwoods. All we need is something that can be made into that :) We are both willing to put in some sweat to make a house our home. It's exciting and scary and kind of confusing all rolled up into one ball. I see where people went wrong with this mortgage business...the first guy quoted us waaaay more than we could afford, but now we found ourselves a dude who is really into showing us what is out there for us and seems to genuinely not want to screw us over. So yah, here's to house hunting! xo

Some inspiration for our *hopefully* new house in 2014!

*all images are via Pinterest

The great purge.

Soooo I'm literally getting rid of everything. And I mean everrryythaanng. Couches, TV's, dining room table, etc. I feel this serious need to start over and i think it has to do with all of the weird energy my "stuff" gives off. The couch and coffee table were an ex-boyfriends, the dining room table and TV were bought with said ex-boyfriend. It just feels a little odd, yah know? We are moving in a month to a new place and we just want to start fresh. We are kind of in the middle of doing this in all aspects of our life. Nothing is off limits. I just can't get rid of this desire to clear out all of the bullshit. I want simple and clean and that needs to be applied to both my physical space as well as my emotional. My best friend and I have this weird analogy and it goes a little something like this...we all have a bucket of shit that we carry around with us. Everyone has their own. Do not put your shit in my bucket. It's filled with my shit. And I have more than enough. Can you feel me? I hope that made some sense. I feel like I've allowed too many people to put their "shit" in my bucket this past year. And I'm tired of it. Am I just rambling now? Anyways, what I am trying to say is that I need to do a little cleansing and I figure what better way to start than with my living space. Here are some inspiration pics for what I feel will make a warm, clean, and stimulating space. I can't wait to make it happen.

This space feels cool. I love the mixing of texture & color.

This couch is one of my inspirations. I am looking for a victorian style couch that I can upholster myself in some thick, white muslin fabric. Wish me luck!

My goal is to actually get some pictures up. I love this unconventional way of display.

A gallery wall is another something I'd love to incorporate into our new space.

Bar. Antlers. Need I say more?

I can't wait to show off our new little habitat once we get settled in!

xo

*Follow me on pinterest to see more of what is inspiring me at the moment.