I love to make art out of unexpected things. Looking at an object and seeing it only for what it is, is just plain boring. I love to look at things and try to give them new life. Sometimes my ideas flop, but sometimes I can come up with something unique and different. I wouldn't classify this next project as completely unique, but it definitely is a different use for a plain-jane magazine. 

While we were in California visiting Jonathan's brother and his sister-in-law, we went shopping. Of course, the second I spotted Anthropologie I was all about stopping in just to "look around." I knew that most of the stuff would be way beyond my price point...heck all of it was...but I couldn't resist seeking out a bit of inspiration. Their stuff is just so beautiful! 

Long story short, I came across a design magazine that they had on sale! I'm guessing that Design*Sponge must put out this magazine on a regular basis for Anthro. Anyone know? Anyways, for a mere ninety-five cents I purchased the bad boy and did a little happy dance on  my way out of the store (well danced on the inside of course--I was way too excited about this purchase).  

After getting home from CA, I paged through the magazine looking at all of the great summer inspiration. 

And fun craft ideas.

But then I came to the original reason why I bought the magazine. 

These two pages filled with fun graphics of summer items were what caught my eye originally. They reminded me a lot of John and Sherry's twigs and berries prints. So, I took the two pages and a couple of frames I had on hand and got to work. 

First, I pulled out a black frame that I had planned to use on another project. I took the magazine apart and put the first sheet into the frame. I then tested it to see if I liked it better with the mat or without the mat. 

I decided that with the mat, the paper looked a bit more chic and not like something a five year old would do. 

After that frame was all put together, I took out another frame that I had on hand and fitted the other side of the two page spread. With that all said and done, I started to walk around the house looking for a place to put them. I tried substituting them for two canvases I had in the living room, that didn't work. Then I tried using them in the built-ins in our dining room and that just look cluttered. Finally, then ended up on the walls in our bathroom. I had originally planned for something a bit bigger to be put there, and that might eventually happen, but for now, they are gussying up that corner just fine. 

What do you think?? 

Oh! And speaking of the bathroom, I should also share that we got a new rug in there! Let me just spare you the gross details and say that it was all the dogs' fault. Unfortunately, our gifted rug was ruined. So, we purchased this nice dark gray one. He seems to warm up the space a bit. 

I have some gray fabric that I used in the kitchen that I might make a valance with for our lone window. I think the dark gray fabric and rug would go together nicely. Plus, now I need to bring that dark gray up the wall. The rug seems a bit out of place in such a bright and light bathroom. 

The Formula for a Lux Master Bedroom

As I'm sure you remember, Friday our post was about our master bedroom transformation. It wasn't anything too dramatic, but with a bed-switch, some decorative shifting, and general organization occurring, our room was looking spiffy. Slowly this room is shaping into the room that I have envisioned all along.

Yet, there is still something about it that is bothering me. I'm sure you think I'm crazy--heck I even question my sanity from time to time-- but I think its the color that is bothering me. If you look around the rest of our house the colors are soft and more muted. I wouldn't call them pastels, but they aren't as saturated as our bedroom's color. Don't get me wrong, I love the color in our bedroom, but every time I go up there, I can't help but think that it would look so much nicer if it was a bit softer. I would love to add some gray to it. Maybe I would like something similar to the blue in our living room rug.

This color is called Palladian Blue and I have mentioned it before, but don't you think it is beautiful? So soft and soothing. I would love to do something more along the lines of this color. So, that being said, I don't think that's all that needs to be changed. I would love to add more texture to the space. I have been looking around Pinterest for a bit of inspiration and I came across this picture:

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Isn't that white planked wall to die for!? I mentioned it to Jonathan and he rolled his eyes and asked if I was kidding. 

"No, love, I'm being completely serious. I think we should cover our beautiful wall with a bunch of scrap wood and paint it all white." 

Yea. That went over real well. 

Poor guy. He has to live with a wife who is perpetually trying to make things look a certain way. I have a very particular design-eye and when something is off, it just bothers me to no end. Sometimes I know what is bothering me, other times I just move furniture around, re-accessorize, and visualize a different color scheme till I come up with the answer. Unfortunately I'm still learning how to get everything "right." But isn't this just all part of the process? For me it's fun!!

Yup. Again. I realize I'm crazy. 

Anyways, since I can't really go in and change our bedroom in one fell swoop, I figured that I could just write a post about where I would like to get to eventually. It may take years, but at least I have a plan. Let's take a look shall we?

First things first, I would like to create a focal point by covering the wall behind our bed with paneling. I would love to use the process that The Lettered Cottage used to panel a ceiling. See this post for details. It seems like a pretty straightforward project and I really don't think it would cost us more than fifty beans. For all the texture and visual interest it would add, the money would be worth it.

Another thing that I would love to do is work on defining the area next to our bed. I mentioned that in this post, but I still am dreaming up ideas as to what it should look like. I'm thinking a cozy book nook or maybe even a desk area.

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I would also love to add something to cover our closet. Jonathan and I have plans in the long run to add some "barn doors" that have become very popular in design lately. Yet, that is very expensive. So the other thought is maybe doing some curtains. A friend of ours recently recommended this to me and, the more that I think about it, I absolutely love the idea! I'm starting to look into it as a possible permanent option too.

Finally, I think there is some general design tweaking that needs to occur. A few things off the top of my head are: I need to figure out a way to cover our box spring that always peeks out over our bed frame. I would like to either carpet the entire upstairs or buy a bigger area rug.

Then we really need to do something about the horrible dresser that we have. It was a hand-me-down from my grandparents and we painted it black to match our bed, but it is in really bad shape. Finally, I really want to add some luxury to our space--I'm thinking a duvet for the bed and different curtains for the windows.

Obviously this is all just dreaming and would cost WAY more than I am willing to spend or even interested in spending right now. But a girl can dream can't she?

What do you think? Am I crazy for thinking the wall color needs to change? Any suggestions from the peanut gallery? 

Geiger Cleaning Week: Day 4

I mentioned in my original post that I would be covering various "themes" this week. I had originally planned on writing about what I cleaned out in our entire house, but that has changed a bit. After the little snafu we had and the fact that I didn't anticipate needing Jonathan's help with so many of these projects, I have decided that the 'entire house' post is going to be one about our bedroom instead. There have been a bunch of chances that have happened up there in the past few days and I figured that you guys might appreciate that more than one about the small changes I have made throughout the rest of the house.

It all started when we decided to clean out the guestroom/storage room and make it usable. I wanted to put the bed that we were using upstairs--into the guestroom, and the bed that was being stored in the guestroom--into use upstairs. So, that switch occurred. But, while we were at it, I decided to do a bit of moving around. If you remember, our bedroom looked like this.

But now, it looks like this.

I decided to move the bed down to the far end of our room. This would allow space to be used more efficiently. I felt like there was too much space on each side of the bed, but it wasn't enough space that we could do anything with it. So now, right when you reach the top of the stairs, there is a wide open space that we can use for a future seating area and dressing area.

Harlie's chair, a mirror, and our dresser are currently arranged there, but in the future I would like to get an area rug and maybe configure the space a bit better. We will see :)

Another thing that I worked on was cleaning out our closet. This space has been a constant battle for me. With the exposed shelving, it is a challenge to keep everything looking good. Sort of like with the open shelving in our kitchen.

So I went to work organizing our clothes a bit better and getting rid of a few things. I also decided it was about time we unpacked Jonathan's box-o-shoes and get them out where he could grab them and go. I sorted, put a few things under the bed for better storage use, and arranged in an attempt to make things feel more open and airy. When I lay down to go to sleep at night, I don't want to be overwhelmed by chaotic shelving. I want to enjoy the organized chaos we have going on. (Please tell me I'm not the only one who can't sleep when there is something unorganized staring me right in the face!) Anyways, its a whole lot better now.

In the end, our bedroom is starting to feel much cozier and more like a retreat. I still would love to get the baseboards in, but we are waiting because we would like to install carpet first. It's all a process people...patience.

And with that being said, the official Geiger Cleaning Week is coming to a close. We never did get to our garage and we still need to finish cleaning out our yard, but that will happen in due time. It has been nice to get a bunch of things crossed off my list, though, and maybe now that stuff is done, and I'm feeling a bit under the weather, I can take a break.

Doubt it, that to-do list still has a bunch of items on it, but you know how that goes :)

Happy weekend everyone!!!

Geiger Cleaning Week: Day 3

Are you ready for it?!?!

Are you ready to see our beautiful (well, now beautiful) guestroom?!?!

Your going to have to wait.

Yes, you will get to see it in this post, but first I need to do a little backtracking.

Let's go back to the beginning state of our guestroom.

Since day one, this room has been our storage space. We never really needed a guestroom because, let's face it, visiting us would be like staying in a $20-a-room motel--you would be scared for your life. A "fixer upper" isn't really a great place to welcome people to. :)

So, we just used the room as our storage space. We don't have an attic or a basement that I trust to store stuff in, so the guestroom has always been the logical choice. Plus this allowed for easy access to things that we may need on a regular basis but didn't want to have sitting in the middle of, say, our living room. It was easy to just throw something in and close the door.

After doing the open-and-throw routine for the past four months, our space was slowly becoming full. I decided that this week was the perfect time to get it cleared out once and for all. I wanted everything in the room to find its permanent spot in our house. I also wanted to create a space that could be used for guests if someone dared to venture a stay in our humble abode.

First, I emptied everything out of the room. I figured that this would force me to find a space for stuff. We are hosting our Bible study group this coming Monday, so I knew that having all of the stuff in my dining room would force me to put it all away before they come. This was strategic planning on my part.

Then, after moving it all out, I cleaned the room from top to bottom. The floors needed a good scrub. Can you believe that the previous owner, we will call her Fran, covered this beautiful floor? (p.s. we removed the rug when we purchased the home back in January, but never did anything else. So when we started throwing things in this room, it was on top of all of the dust and grime that was there after that process.)

After I cleaned up the dust leftover from Fran's unnecessary rug, I thought the next logical thing to do would be to bring in the bed frame we were going to use. You read about that whole ordeal in yesterday's post. Long story short, with the help of Jonathan, the beds were switched and then yesterday afternoon I worked on putting the guestroom together.

So, let's get this show rolling shall we?

Without any further ado, here is our new guestroom? Would you like to come and stay?

I have to say that this is definitely the most traditional-feeling room in our house. It wasn't entirely intentional. It just so happens that the stuff, we had leftover after decorating the rest of our place, seemed to have a traditional-vibe to it. I don't know if you can tell, but I was also going for a cozy cabin feel too-the pictures above the dresser, the sled, our skis in the corner. Though, when Jonathan saw it yesterday he referred to it as a "old farmhouse bedroom." So, maybe its style identity is hard to decipher, but nonetheless we really like it.

The only things that I purchased for this space were the rug and the curtains. I picked it all up at Big Lots for a total of $48. Not to shabby for a total room makeover adjustment. In the future we have huge plans of gutting this space and completely renovating it, but that is our goal for next winter--stay tuned. :)

Well we have come to the time in this post where I ask you for your opinion. Come on guys-dish it! Do you know the design identity of this room? Would you be comfortable staying here? Anything you would add or subtract?

A Change in Pace

Well, we had a little hiccup in our Geiger Cleaning Week preparations for day 3's post. I guess this picture will help you to understand why.

Yea, that is our bed chilling in on our stairwell. Long story made really short, I decided to switch bed frames. We had one sitting in our guestroom and then we had the frame we were currently using.  I thought I could switch the two on my own. While Jonathan was at work. Yup. I was sadly mistaken. After trying to wriggle it around a bunch, I realized that I was just damaging the stairs more and more and that the headboard wasn't going to be going anywhere under my man woman power (or lack there of). So I gently rested it there and sent Jonathan a text along the lines of, "You might hate me when you get home, our headboard is currently wedged in the stairwell. I promise to fix all damages. Just assure me of your love please." 

Needless to say, my plan for day 3 was totally destroyed at this point. I wanted to clean out our guestroom and get it looking organized and spiffy, but after the realization that the beds weren't going to be switching positions any time soon, I gave up on the rest of the process and moved onto another project for the day. In the end, it was probably for the better anyways. I was feeling awfully sick and by one in the afternoon had already gone through an entire box of kleenex. So, I banished my sick self to the couch and started working on an easier project. 

Awhile ago, I saw this project on Pinterest. I remember thinking that it was cute, but where would I put a gigantic pink heart in our house? It really wasn't my thing. So, until recently, I had forgotten about it. But then, my sister-in-law blogged about it a couple of days ago. I sat there reading her blog and suddenly inspiration hit! See, I have been wanting to do a monogram project ever since I did this one. I was satisfied with the afore mentioned project, but I still wanted something else. Seeing the string and nail project, it hit me that I could do our initial instead of the heart! I figured it would be something different and also be a statement piece. I had purchased all of the materials last weekend and since I was banished to the couch, I figured yesterday was the perfect time to get working on my idea!

First I gathered all of the materials. Like I said, I had purchased some nails and string to match the color scheme I was headed toward and  I just created an outline of a big "G" using Microsoft Word and printed that out.  I also grabbed a hammer and a board that I found in our garage. The board was the backside of the cover that was used for the crawlspace entrance above the back-end of our house. Do you remember this gross before picture? See the big white blob near the middle of the picture? That's it.

This project was pretty self explanatory and if you need more detailed directions, please visit this link. But basically I just laid down the piece of paper in the center of my board. Then I proceeded to hammer nails into place about every half inch around the outline of the "G." Then, I ripped the paper out and started going back and forth with the string. The only thing that I didn't do, that the directions said to, was outline the entire thing with the string at the end. I didn't feel the need to and really liked how it looked without it.

To tie off the string I just turned it back on itself. This is an old boat tying trick that I learned as a kid. It creates a pretty solid hold. And with that, the project was done! I quickly set it on our end table and snapped a few pictures. It won't be staying there, but I will find a more permanent place for it once our house is put back together.

Oh and just to keep things real around here, this is the current state of my dining room. 

Are you as freaked out as I am? Tomorrow I should be back with a full update on our guestroom. I really don't think you are going to want to miss this!