Winter Mantel.

Hubby and I want to start a new trend.  We are determined to make it totally acceptable to keep Christmas lights up throughout the winter.  And no, I’m not talking about our icicle lights hanging from the gutters. ;)  I am referring to the lovely glow that indoor Christmas lights create in a space.  We had so many lights up during the holidays that after we took everything down, it never felt quite right without that cozy factor during the dark winter nights.  We missed it like crazy.

My solution for our dilemma?  Decorate our mantel in a wintery theme, and buy a strand of white lights to give us our cozy back!  {I couldn’t use the strands of white lights I already had from Christmas...the cords on those were green, and they would have stuck out like a sore thumb.  I needed white to work with my winter theme.}

To begin the process, I wanted to transform the mirror we already had on our mantel.  The size and pattern of the frame was great, but the plastic-ish, black color just didn't do it for me.  I tried to remove the frame, keeping the mirror in tact.  I was going to use some 1 x 5's I had cut down at Home Depot to create a new frame, but for the life of me, I could NOT get the frame off of the mirror.  They used some major league, permanent adhesive on that sucker.  So it was on to plan B...spray paint.

You saw me priming the mirror here {when I transformed the quatrefoil mirror from Tar-jay}.  I'm not sure if it was the weather, or if I didn't clean the frame up enough, but the spray paint didn't seem to stick that well to the beaded part of the frame.  After one coat of spray primer, I decided to switch to my tried and true Behr Paint and Primer...in white semi-gloss.  It gives great coverage, and I already had an entire can of it leftover in the basement from when we painted our trim.  {Free = awesome.}

I painted several coats and after a few days of curing, I put the mirror back up on the mantel.  Hubby and I both agreed...we loved it 10 times more in white.  It was much more “us”.

With the mirror back in place, it was time to add some accessories from around the house, some snowy branches I found at the grocery store {Stop & Shop's floral department has some great things at even better prices} and the pièce de résistance...the white lights.

I am super happy with the mantel and we adore the light it casts at night.  Until we can get a gas fireplace installed, string lights will give us the ambiance we want at night, and for a WHOLE LOT LESS money. ;)

Anyone else want to jump on the “use Christmas lights allllllll throughout the winter months” bandwagon?!?  Come on.  You know you want to! ;)  Or do you think we are being totally tacky?  You can be honest. 

I Love Goooooold.

And I love Tar-jay.  I can’t go in there without spending two times the amount I thought I would when I first decided to go there.

Case in point?  I went to look for a lamp shade to replace one in our bedroom that I mayyyy have splattered with paint while hammering a lid shut after painting our bedroom for the millionth time.  As I navigated my way through the store towards the lamp aisle {I’ll get back to lamp shades in another post ;)}, I had to pass by numerous pretty things.  I forced myself to stroll on by the first time around, but I caved when passing them by for the second time.  This shapely lady ended up in my cart.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the plastic-ish black frame, but I knew that could easily be fixed with some gold spray paint I already had on hand.  {Yup...the same paint I used to make this cheap art for our bedroom.}

The conditions around here aren’t ideal for spray painting, but one Saturday the temps happened to reach the mid-40’s, and I decided to live on the edge and set up my spray painting shop on our back porch.

One quick coat of a spray primer...

Then two quick coats of gold...

And I was left with this.  I’m.  In.  Love.

Not too long ago, I would have never thought mixing metals would be my jam...now, I’m obsessed.  I love the un-matchy-matchy feeling of it.  Anyone else enjoy mixing it up?

I'm linking up to:

http://www.thisthatandlife.com/2013/06/bling-it-out-link-party-link-your-gold/

Freshline Prints

Little by little, I added some touches to our entryway so that it wasn’t so “bleh” when you glanced towards the front door.  First was the mirror that took entirely too long to hang, then I added a fun pop of color to the front door and now I’m revealing what was in those frames hung to the right of the door.  I realize that it looks like there was already something in them, but what you don't know, is that I didn't change anything from the second I bought them.  Yup, I hung them with whatever pre-packaged "photo" came with the frames.  Classy, huh?  At least they weren't banished to our guest bedroom with the rest of the frames I purchased during a 50% off sale at Michael's. ;)

After a very non-scientific evaluation of the space between the end of our barn door track and the front wall of our home, I figured that two 8 x 10 frames would be the perfect fit next to our front door.  I knew I wanted some grey and yellow “home-themed” prints, and I also knew I wanted those prints to come from an Etsy shop that I love, Freshline.  I poured over the many beautiful things the shop owner, Colleen, has to offer, and carefully narrowed my choices down to just two prints… the Skeleton Key with Your House Number and the Welcome Sign – Home Sweet Home.

The pictures were already in the exact colors I desired, so I just had to request for them both to be printed in landscape orientation.

I placed my order and impatiently waited for the prints to arrive.  They were definitely worth the wait.  Both were just what I was looking for and fit perfectly into our home!

If anyone is looking for some beautiful, modern prints to hang in their home, I highly suggest you check out Colleen’s Etsy store!

Now, if I could just find a fun doormat for the entryway, I’ll be all set!!

Anyone else have a favorite Etsy store?!?!

How Dare I!

I began to write a post to talk about the fun {and crazy cheap} art I made to hang in our master bedroom, when I realized I am WAY behind in sharing the developments that have taken place in there!  No, that was not supposed to be a dirty joke {whoops}, and for sure, that wasn’t a sly way of announcing I’m pregnant haha.  It just means that I’ve spruced some things up a bit since I last shared the space.  I send my sincerest apologies via the Internet as I hang my head in shame over my keyboard.

Okay, back to business…

Our master bedroom has come quite a long way since the beginning.  It started here with some old furniture and a color that just wasn’t right…then it underwent quite a few changes: color, layout, furniture…then I found the perfect mirror and revealed where our new furniture came from…and thennnnnnnnnnn, I stopped sharing.  Boom, just like that.  I wish I could tell you there was this grand plan behind why I stopped, but the fact is that it just never seemed the right time to share.   I kept having little tidbits I wanted to divulge, but then one small thing would lead to another and, well, you get the picture.  It just never seemed “finished” enough to put a post up.

But let’s be serious…we are trying to accomplish things on a tight budget {which can extend timelines}, and in the lovely world of home décor nothing is ever really “done”.  Things are constantly evolving and changing, so I finally took a step back and realized I needed to stop worrying about a finished product and just keep it real with our progress to date.  :) 

You see…it all started with that darn mirror.  I needed to find the perfect spot to hang it on the wall, but I wouldn’t know where that would be until I found two chairs that I envisioned under it.  So I started hunting down chairs.  They needed to:  1) have the look I was going for, 2) fit in our tight budget, 3) not take up a crazy amount of floor space and 4) be comfy.  All of this criteria meant I was searching without success for quite some time, but finally, good ‘ole Tar-jay came through for me and I took the plunge.

{Please excuse the junk on our bed...like I said, I'm trying to keep it real here. ;) }

Phew, that meant I could cross the chairs off the list, the mirror now had a place to be hung and I’m done…right?  Wrong.  Now I needed to find the right table to place between the chairs.  And so, the search was on, again.  The table had to:  1) be the right height to fit with the smaller-sized chairs, 2) not compete with the metallic mirror above it and 3) be inexpensive!!!  It didn’t take me very long to realize that I wanted a ceramic garden stool to act as my table.  They are the perfect height and can be moved to any area of our home and blend nicely.  I came across so many beautiful ones, but everything was out of my budget {yes, even the ones on Joss & Main, One Kings Lane and The Foundary for $89…I wasn’t joking when I said I was on a budget}.

This “table” eluded me for quite some time….until one of my favorites places came to the rescue...the one and only, Home Goods!!  My mom and I made a random trip there and found the perfect, zebra-ish patterned, off-white stool for just $39.  TOTALLY in my budget. 

Finally I was getting somewhere…chairs, check...mirror, check…”table”, check!  That left one last thing for me to take care of…curtains.  And what was going to be my biggest issue in finding those?!?!?!  Budget.  Anyone shocked?  Nope, didn’t think so.

Luckily, our curtains are purely decorative and we don’t need them to actually close {we have blinds for privacy}, so that enabled me to purchase panels from ZGallerie that stole my heart from the get-go.  These geo panels were out of my budget if I needed to purchase 4, but luckily {with some help from my mom}, I was able to buy 2 and turn them into 4.  I adore how they turned out, and I must say…the hubby and I are thrilled with how our room is coming together.

Now we just need to get some art up on the walls, finish a CL'ed ottoman makeover, mount our flat screen TV, add some more personal touches and we will be able to call this room complete!  Woohooooooo! :)

Bye-bye Blanco!

I love white.  It's clean, it's modern...it's light and airy.  But too much of it is just plain boooooooring.

Enter this area of our home....

White ceiling + white trim + white door + ginormous white barn door = bleh.  Okay, maybe “bleh” is a little harsh.  Let’s use sterile instead. ;)

So with a little paint and a little effort, our front door went from boring white...

...to a fun, icy blue!

Of course the addition of an old mirror and a couple new frames also helped to spruce up the space a bit.  Sometimes I am still amazed at how a splash of color and a couple accessories can make a space feel more and more like home.

Yay for crossing more things off the "to-do" list...no matter how small they may be!! :)

That Took You How Long???

I really can't believe it took me several months to hang something pretty next to our front door.  What makes it so bad is that a) I always knew what I wanted to put up and b) I already owned the mirror, and had it in my basement since day one.  {It was one of the first things I bought for our old townhouse.}

Heck, it even took me a couple days weeks {no lie} to hang it once I brought it upstairs.  For the longest time, it lived on the couch.  I'm pretty sure Perny didn't appreciate the company.  He's not a fan of things that can't pet and snuggle him. ;)

Finally, after realizing I was sick and tired of having nothing on the walls, I got busy hanging some stuff.  You saw a couple things I was working on here, and shockerrrrrr...they are still not hung.  But at least this blank sliver of wall went from this... 

To this!

And for those of you who don't follow me already {retroranchreno...follow me!}...here is a shot of the area, a la Instagram.  I just love how the fancy, intricate mirror looks next to the bold, modern pattern on our curtains.

It's SUCH a transformation, right?!?!  I'll give you a minute to catch your breath after all that excitement!

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Obviouslyyy, I'm kidding.  I know it's not a knock-your-socks-off transformation, but every little bit of decor makes our place feel more settled, and more like home.  Since I took these pictures, I've even hung two frames in that area, and bought some paint to slap up on the door.  Of course, I haven't gotten around to adding pictures to the frames or actually painting the door, but every little bit counts, right??  :)

Moreee Painted Furniture...

This is finally a "sort of" reveal post of the mid-century modern bedroom furniture we Craiglisted a couple months ago.  I mentioned this deal a bagillion times already...but for those of you new to the program...the set was $200, and included a long dresser, armoire and two nightstands.  Since the hubby and I are lucky enough to have these fab closets, we knew we wouldn't need the long dresser in our bedroom.  That piece now serves as a console table in our living room.  The remaining three pieces received some TLC and are finally at home in our bedroom.

The pieces started out looking like this...amazing lines, but a little rough around the edges...

Then we busted out some awesome enamel primer...

And then we painted the armoire a green/blue shade, a touch lighter than our accent wall...

And the nightstands were painted a bright white...

Here is the armoire in our bedroom with it's new satin nickel hardware...

And here is a sneak peak of the inside...{the bottom two drawers aren't being used}...

Here is a close-up of one of the nightstands...

And these pieces aren't quite done yet.  Since purchasing this obsession of mine, I have decided to switch up the hardware on the pieces, and possiblyyyyy paint the legs in a metallic finish.

For some reason, the satin nickel just isn't doing it for me on the repainted furniture.  I think an aged brass or bronze look would finish them off perfectly.  So I hopped on eBay and found the options below.

This one would serve as the pulls {they do not read so yellow in real life...they are closer to the color of the mirror}...

And this would serve as the knobs....

I can't wait until they arrive at the house so I can see how they look.  The best part is...if I don't like them as much as my first choice, I'll just put the satin nickel back on!  I'm shocked that I have been combining all sorts of metal finishes in my house, but it really is giving me the eclectic look that I adore.  Things don't have to "match"....they just need to flow.  {Look Mom, I'm growing up hehe.}

Do any of you like to mix metals....or do you prefer a more uniform look???