Decor

12.28.2016

Guest Room Makeover

Guest Room Makeover

I recently gave our guest room a makeover (go HERE to see that makeover), and I promised to share all the details and sources for the decor pieces.

The velvet pillows are from Hobby Lobby. I randomly stumbled on them while shopping for something else (don’t forget to find their 40% off coupon on your phone for an item not on sale).

The headboard is a flea market find I found several years ago and painted – fabric and all (see the tutorial HERE)!

I found the bedding (duvet cover, shams, and sheets) at Kohls.

The brass lamp is from Target, and I love its simplicity next to my ornate headboard.

The small end table is marble and brass and is also from Target.

The oil painting was a garage sale find for only $10. The previous owner wrote a note about the artist and how she acquired the painting.

This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

The pom bed skirt is from Amazon.

The gold pot is from Hobby Lobby and is the reason I stumbled on the pillows.

I hope you all are enjoying the holidays and gearing up for a Happy New Year! I’ll be sharing a roundup of my top five posts from 2016 later this week.

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12.19.2016

Tivoli Audio

Tivoli Audio

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Tivoli Audio. All opinions are 100% mine.

Last month marked three years in our home, and next month I will be celebrating my three-year blog anniversary. As a mom of three, I love being able to work from home while doing what I love – creating. Blogging really is my dream job, and I could not be more thankful.

My only complaint with blogging (and working from home) is solitude. Now that my youngest is at school, I am left alone in a completely silent home (which is definitely a change after having at least one kid by my side for over the past decade).

When I was approached about partnering with Tivoli Audio, I was excited because I am constantly playing music to keep the silence away. I fell in love with their ART Speaker. It is a unique product that can hang on your wall like a painting or be placed on its stand as a work of art (not something you need to hide).

Set up was fairly easy and just required downloading the ART – Tivioli Audio Wireless app which walked me through the entire setup process.

Neatly hidden on the bottom of the speaker you can find all the buttons and other technical stuff. I use an electrical outlet to power my speaker, but I love that there is an optional rechargeable battery to hang it without wires.

I pick my playlist for the day, hit play from my phone, and take away the silence through music (which is so funny to me because when my kids were home all I wanted was silence)!

You can start with a single speaker and slowly build your full home system.

Besides enjoying music while I work, I love that Tivoli Audio’s ART speaker also works for background dining music.

The office is right across from our formal dining room. I love to play music while entertaining (especially during the holidays), and this speaker serves both the office and our dining room perfectly.

Tivoli Audio products are available around the world through a large dealer network as well as direct from their website: tivoliaudio.com.

I am a huge fan of the ART speaker because of its unique mix of style and sound. I love a product that functions well, but I really love a product that functions well AND fits into my decor seamlessly. Tivoli Audio’s speakers makes a great gift for music, radio, and podcast lover or for yourself.

Also, don’t forget to check out Tivoli Audio’s Cube Speaker. It is a simple box that can be placed anywhere and used as a single speaker or paired with other speakers (such as the ART speaker) as part of your home’s system. It doesn’t take up much space and can be easily moved from room to room with the optional battery back and no wires.

Do you play music in your home? I would love to know where you would put your Tivoli Audio ART (or cube!) speaker. Don’t forget to sign up for Tivoli Audio’s emails and receive 10% off your purchase!

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12.17.2016

Master Bath Remodel | Week One

Master Bath Remodel | Week One

The day after Thanksgiving, we starting a demo on our master bathroom (please pretend I have safety goggles in the picture above). Here is a before of the shower (problem) area:

And here is an after (demo) photo:

We were all pretty proud of ourselves for our demo work! As I mentioned before, we had a significant leak under our shower. So significant, we haven’t used our shower since we moved in three years ago. Here’s what the shower leak looked like once we removed the tile:

Near the wall, you can see the support beam is rotted.

Here is a closeup:

Seeing this confirmed why were remodeling that bathroom. My amazing dad came and helped us with the demo. He spent his birthday ripping out tile and toilets. The boys came in to inspect our work and kept safe with a nerf mask and handkerchief…

Overall, the demo went well. There were a few minor hangups like cutting a water line and the rented jackhammer not working. However, we charged through and are left with a bathroom ready to be remodeled. And then we waited…

Luckily we did not have to wait too long – two weeks after the demo, the contractor arrived!

He pulled out the rotted subfloor and fixed the support beam.

I am SO relieved to have that beam fixed. It was so bad, our master bedroom (on the other side of this wall), had a fairly large hole into the crawl space.

I used to imagine little mice crawling in while I slept…

Day two was spent rebuilding the subfloor and waterproofing the shower. The contractor was so kind to bring in my bathtub. We were a little concerned about it fitting. Luckily it does, but it will be a tight fit.

Thanks for coming along on Master Bath Remodel | Week One edition – More to come on our bathroom remodel!

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Seasonal Decor

12.13.2016

Christmas Home Tour

Merry Christmas! Although I did not participate in any holiday home tour blog hops this year, I still wanted to share a quick Christmas home tour (and please join me on Hometalk’s Facebook Page on December 22 for a LIVE Christmas home tour).

I shared our front door holiday makeover with Balsam Hill last week, and I absolutely love our front door this holiday season.

Our office has the “fun tree” with the kid’s homemade ornaments as well as some pretty and colorful ornaments. All of the gifts they hand wrapped are under this tree. You may be able to spy a gift with two Slim Jims taped to it – that is for me from my middle son. 🙂

I love our flocked tree, but storage was not good on. It had quite a few holes throughout, and I tried to stuff it full of ornaments to hide the gaps. Unfortunately, they were still visible. Then, I came across this gorgeous idea from Lucy of Craftberry Bush. I wasn’t able to find the dusters Lucy refers to for a decent price, so I improvised with a furry throw I found at Dollar General.

They were buy one get one free, but they only had one white (I bought one in gray because they are just so soft and a great buy). I cut the backing off and cut it into strips.

It does a pretty job of hiding those gaps I hate!

I am still in the process of working on our dining room. It has me stumped this year, but I hope to have something soon.

I did not hang fresh garland this year. I have tried that in the past, and my middle son spent the season coughing and sneezing. So he was not miserable this year, I hung fake garland and lots of (fake) wreaths.

I shared our mantel a few weeks ago when I shared the tutorial for this DIY wreath sign.

Our tree is from Balsam Hill, and it is the most realistic artificial tree I have ever owned.

In October, I made over my mantel with Home Depot and participated in their Holiday Style Challenge. We enjoyed the temporary wallpaper for a little while, but ultimately just realized it was not really my style. Thank goodness it was removable!

I made this Christmas countdown last year, and it is by far my favorite DIY Christmas project to date.

Enjoy your holiday season!

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Seasonal Decor

12.09.2016

Front Door Makeover with Balsam Hill

I teamed up with Balsam Hill once again, but this time it is for Christmas (last time was for my fall front door makeover).

I am absolutely in love with my front door entrance. It is elegant and inviting AND it all looks just as gorgeous at night (which I will show a little later in the post).

The wreath and garland are Balsam Hill’s Bay Laurel with Mixed Berries Foliage.

If you would love some gorgeous holiday decor for your home, Balsam Hill is offering my readers a coupon code good through the end of January. The Single Ball Boxwood Topiaries from my fall front porch were reused, and they will definitely stay outside the front door year-round as they work well with each season.

My topiaries, garland, and wreath are lit and make a beautiful statement once the sun goes down (which is way too early here in Indiana).

I also added a couple of Balsam Hill’s Candela Crossbar Lanterns.

I put the Miracle Flame Outdoor Battery-Operated Candle in each lantern, and the glow is perfect.

Right before I was getting ready to take photos of my front door, I saw a post by The Painted Hive. Kristine updated an outdated door by painting over glass panels. I need to preface this by saying that from the day we moved into our home three years ago, I have never loved our door. It is not an antique (the previous owner added it soon before we bought the house). I wanted a solid door – the fancy glass is not my style. I always tell people home decor is like clothes. We all like different styles of dress, and well all prefer different styles of decor in (and outside in my case) our homes.

You can see the fancy glass here in my fall decorated front door…

I had to do a little persuading, but Steve agreed to let me cover the glass (even though he thought I was crazy). I promised I would make it removable in case it turned out to be a disaster. I began by using wrapping paper to make a pattern of the glass.

Once the pattern was made, I traced it onto some thin plywood I had leftover from an earlier project.

I cut two pieces out for the front and inside of the door and used caulk to hold the board in place (remember I promised Steve I’d make it removable).

I did have to use a couple of nails to hold the board in place while the caulk dried.

I picked THE COLDEST days for this project, and I tried to keep the cold air out.

After an afternoon, the caulk was dry and the door was freshly painted and my glass was gone (or hidden).

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*This post contains affiliate links and is a sponsored post by Balsam Hill. I take pride in reviewing only products that fit my brand and will be beneficial to my readers. And while this post is sponsored, all the opinions are my own.

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Decor

12.04.2016

DIY Guest Room Makeover with FrogTape

This DIY guest room makeover may be my favorite yet. Our guest room was overdue for an update, and that makeover included an easy (but high impact) DIY paneled wall.

Before I share that DIY tutorial, I want to talk about my design board for this space. My first goal in designing the room was to make my guests feel pampered. I decided the best way to pamper them is with a beautiful space to rest and sleep. Here is a before photo of the guest room:

And here is an after:

While envisioning this space, I saw luxury. To me, luxury is dreamy colors (I chose a blush, gray, and gold color palette) and layers of gorgeous textures and inconsistent repetition.

I used textures of all sorts from velvets to knits to plush furs. I also softened the walls with a lighter gray (Behr’s Silver Drop) and added texture to the walls with the DIY paneled wall.

DIY GUEST ROOM MAKEOVER PANELED WALL SUPPLY LIST

1″ x 4″ x 8″ primed MDF boards
Wood Trim for top detail (also in 8 ft length)
FrogTape®
Nail Gun
Caulk
Level
Measuring Tape
Pencil
Paint Brush

This paneled wall (I already had everything but the boards and paint) cost me around $100. Because there is a door on my wall, I decided to begin the paneled wall at the top of the doorframe. I used my nail gun to install the wall, and I hit studs whenever possible (and used a level to make sure I kept everything straight).

I was only able to get 8-foot pieces in my car, so I was not able to get pieces large enough to span the full length of my wall. There would be a seam somewhere, so I decided to put mine in the center of the wall (I like symmetry).

I added the vertical boards after my horizontal boards were installed.

I kept everything evenly spaced and straight with the measuring tape and level. Once the paneling is installed, it can be caulked.

Once the caulk is dry, it is time to prep for painting.

The paneled wall and the other walls in the room were painted a pale gray (Behr’s Silver Drop). The off-white trim moldings were protected by using FrogTape® brand painter’s tape for crisp clean edges every time.

I am a huge fan of frog tape, and I love to partner with them whenever I can. It is a product I really couldn’t live without. I use it in all my painting projects!

I love this room dreamy room and hope my guests feel pampered when they visit.

All the bedding sources will be shared soon in an upcoming post.

What special things do you do to pamper your guests?

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*This post contains affiliate links and is a sponsored post by FrogTape®. I take pride in reviewing only products that fit my brand and will be beneficial to my readers. And while this post is sponsored, all the opinions are my own.

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12.01.2016

Master Bath Remodel – It’s Happening!

Master Bath Remodel – It’s happening!

Over the past several years, I have been dreaming about our master bath remodel – again and again. The first year in our home, I dreamed up an elegant bath remodel. A year and a half ago, I shared this pretty roundup of bathroom ideas. And this past summer, I shared this design board. We bought our house knowing there was a leak under the master bathroom. The leak was so significant that we were advised to not use the shower – unless we were okay with ending up in our crawl space. Three years have gone by without fixing that leak because life kept happening – the air conditioner went out (and we decided to replace the furnace at the same time), the water heater needed to be replaced (and the pool water heater), and we had some leaks and needed to replace part of the roof. For the past three years, we haven’t showered (in our master bath shower), but it is remodeling time! Instead of me boring you with dream boards, I will bore you with progress reports! We demoed the bathroom last weekend (I will share pictures from the demo soon), and we are (finally) ready to go on this remodel! Our garage is filled with all kinds of amazing things just waiting to make their home in our new bathroom.

The bathtub is the centerpiece of our bathroom. I spent so much time searching for the perfectly shaped tub, and I think I found it with this Lindsey Acrylic Freestanding Tub.

I have always dreamed of a gorgeous tub faucet coming up from the floor and this Moen Weymouth Tub Filler is just amazing.

We will have matching sink faucets from the Moen Weymouth Collection.

The bathroom floors will be this pretty Storka Segato Riverwood – Breggia Porcelain tile.

The glass shower will be tiled from floor to ceiling with this Overton – Derby Glazed Wall Tile.

The shower floor will be tiled with this Manhattan – Pure White Matte Hexagon Mosaic (along with some black tiles sprinkled in).

This Blakely Antique Silver Three-Light Foyer Fixture will hang over the tub.

The bathroom will have two of these Avanity Modero Chilled Gray 60-Inch Single Vanity Combo with White Carrera Marble Top.

This Infinity 36″ Round Wall Mirror will hang over each vanity. More bathroom fun to come!

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Seasonal Decor

11.27.2016

DIY Wooden Wreath Sign

After hanging my Christmas wreath over my mantel, I felt like it was missing something. My solution was this DIY wooden wreath sign!

For the sign, inexpensive plywood works well. I found a piece that was 4′ x 4′ so I just needed to cut off a foot since I wanted my sign to be 3′ x 3′.

Home Depot offers a free cutting service which made it so much easier (especially since the last time I used the table saw a piece went flying and hit my windshield).

Once I had my plywood cut to size, I printed about my artwork. It could be printed at a printshop on a large 3’x3′ paper (probably the easiest choice), but I tiled the artwork and printed it at home.

You can download the PDF file for the wreath here –> wreath-art-3×3

I painted my boards a slightly off-white color and gave them two coats of paint.

The printout was cut and taped together.

The type was transferred using good, old-fashioned carbon paper.

It really was less time-consuming than you would expect.

After all the words had been transferred using carbon paper, I painted the lettering with a small brush and black paint.

Once my lettering was complete, I used the chop saw to cut down furring strips for the frame.

I painted them black (with spray paint) and attached them to the frame with an air gun.

A small hook was added to hold the wreath.

Once the hook is in place, hang the wreath and it is ready to be displayed!

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Seasonal Decor

11.23.2016

Style Challenge Mantel Reveal

It is time! Are you ready to see my holiday mantel reveal and discover what was inside all those boxes?!

A little over a month ago, I was asked to participate The Home Depot’s Holiday Style Challenge. I am always up for a challenge and who doesn’t love a reason to begin decorating for Christmas early?! The Home Depot sent me four large boxes of holiday decor and requested that I decorate my mantel using the items. Home Depot’s Holiday Style Challenge boxes are the most fun boxes I’ve ever received. They are covered with past participates designs.

Go to The Home Depot blog to see the full Christmas mantel reveal. But first, here is a little sneak peek:

Want to know how to make the large DIY wooden wreath sign? The full tutorial is on the blog and you can see it here. It is a great and inexpensive way to fill a large space – especially over a mantel!

I have never decorated with red before, so it was fun to try something new – although I’ll probably go back to my neutral Christmas decor next year…

Thanks so much to Home Depot for the fun challenge of the style challenge mantel reveal!

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11.21.2016

Wiser Air Thermostat

Today I’m sharing the Wiser Air Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat Install and Product Review. This post brought to you by Schneider Electric . The content and opinions expressed below are that of Sincerely, Sara D.

I would love to have a smart home, so I was excited when I was invited to partner with Wiser Air on their smart thermostat.

With Wiser Air Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat, it is easy to take control and make wiser choices – from the palm of your hand!

The thermostat I had before was fine, but it wasn’t smart and had nowhere near the comfort and control that Wiser Air’s thermostat offered.

Installation was much easier than I expected. I always seem to mess something up along the way, but it was a smooth and simple installation and setup!

Before beginning, make sure you turn off the power supply. I turned off the room I was working in as well as the air conditioner and furnace units.

I pulled off the old thermostat.

And took a photo to remember how to put back the wires on the new thermostat.

I removed the wires from the old system.

And took off the old mounting bracket.

I held up the new thermostat to see if I needed to do any work to the wall. The Wiser Air smart thermostat comes with a mounting plate to help hide holes or unpainted walls, but I chose to paint my wall and forgo the mounting plate.

I painted the wall so my new system would look great.

Once the paint dried, I added the new system’s mounting bracket.

Looking back at my photo, I put the wires where they were supposed to go, and it was as simple as clicking the wires in place (versus screwing them in with a tiny screwdriver).

Once everything was set, I carefully set the thermostat on the bracket and turned on the breakers for the room, a/c, and furnace units.

The touch screen walked me through all the setup, and I added the Wiser Air app to my phone.

Once everything was set up, I synced my phone and thermostat.

I absolutely love having a smart thermostat that is a touch screen and fully customizable to my family’s needs. Wiser Air’s Eco IQ™ self-learning finds the right temperature for you. Users don’t need to pick a number but just let the thermostat know if you are too hot or too cold. It optimizes comfort and savings based on user-interaction and other factors such as home thermal profile, humidity, outdoor weather, and system run times.

I have a full installation video here you can watch:

Wiser Air Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat’s Wiser Pulse is an ambient glow feature on the thermostat that lights up BLUE for cooling, YELLOW for heating, and GREEN when Eco IQ™ is saving energy. It is sleek, reliable, and intuitive. The thermostat comes in two colors (black & white), and you can purchase it on Amazon.com, HomeDepot.com, the Microsoft Store, New Egg, or BestBuy.com.

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Seasonal Decor

11.12.2016

Thanksgiving Table Decor

I have Thanksgiving table decor ideas for you today.

A pretty Thanksgiving table was necessary since we are hosting Thanksgiving this year (and I can’t cook).

Earlier I shared these DIY succulent pumpkins. They are still alive – almost two months later (and it is down to the home stretch now)!

The gold flatware is from eBay and the white plates are from Walmart’s Better Homes Homes and Garden line. The smaller gold dishes and napkins are from HomeGoods, and the little frames are from The Dollar Tree.

The large captain chair at the head of the table is from a garage sale (only $10), and I am looking for something similar for the other end. Until then, I bring in one of the kitchen table chairs to fill the empty space.

The succulent pumpkins turned out so well and have been well worth the time and effort they required to make.

I found the copper mugs at The Home Depot but am not sure what I will serve in them. I added them because I loved how the copper and gold worked together.

This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

I found the gray table runner on Amazon.

The hand-lettered “give thanks” was clip art purchased off Etsy.

This table will be for the adults and we will have a kid’s table as well. I haven’t planned the kid’s table yet, but it will be much more relaxed than this table decor.

I share the tutorial for this DIY vintage pumpkin patch sign as well as the (editable) printable.

I ended up chalk painting the smaller white pumpkins because the bright orange stood out too much with the rest of the table decor.

I am looking forward to hosting Thanksgiving this year with our Thanksgiving table decor.

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11.11.2016

Winter Checklist Printable

I’m excited to share this free winter checklist printable.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Lennox®. All opinions are 100% mine.

Here in Indiana, we have had such an unusually warm fall that it is hard to believe winter is right around the corner.

Just a few days ago, I found a lily in full bloom (which is really crazy for Indiana).

However, before long, we will be saying goodbye to our mild, warm fall and hello to winter.

There are several ways to prepare for the harsh cold weather heading our way:

Check your air filters. Replace or clean if needed to help with efficiency.

Open blinds and window treatments during the day to let the sunshine in (especially southern facing windows) and close them at night to help insulate the house.

Lower your water heater to 120 degrees.

Add weather stripping. Check for gaps around windows and doors.

Get a programmable thermostat. Lower the temperatures when you are gone and at night.

Close vents and doors in rooms that are not used regularly.

If you want to stay warm this winter, the Ultimate Comfort System™ from Lennox® is a unique system unlike any other. It is comprised of the quietest, most efficient, and smartest HVAC systems on the market (find a dealer).

Here is what makes up the Ultimate Comfort System™:

XC/XP 25 Air Conditioner/Heat Pump: The quietest and most efficient air conditioner/heat pump you can buy).
SLP98V Variable-Capacity Gas Furnace: The quietest and most efficient furnace you can buy.
iHarmony® zoning: Let’s you control the temperature in different rooms of your home for precise comfort.
iComfort® S30: The smartest Wi-Fi touch screen thermostat on the market.
PureAir™ System: Cleans the air in your home better than any single system you can buy.

Check out the Lennox® fall promotion and get rebates of up to $1,600 on a qualifying Lennox® home comfort system.

To keep you on track, I created this free winter checklist printable:

Click HERE for the PDF —> winter-checklist

I’d love to know – what do you do to prepare for winter?

Go like the Lennox® Facebook page for more winter prep tips!

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