Sunday, October 16, 2011

A Master Bedroom

Late one evening about 2 weeks ago, I sat in bed checking my emails when one popped up with an airline ticket to Denver for ME!!!  Todd was downstairs in his office talking to his brother, Adam, so I quickly ran to the vent and yelled down, "THANK YOU ADAM!!!"  The two of them had been coordinating schedules to find a time when I could take a brief escape from life for some therapy.

I was going, by myself, to Denver for 3 days to DECORATE!!!

Adam needed help with his office and they were finally going to do something to their master bedroom.

They had flown me out for 24 hours the year before to help do their baby's nursery:


As well as their kitchen, living room and a gallery wall:

(even though the empty frames look cool, there will someday be pictures in those frames)

Yeah, I actually got all of that done in 24 hours.  It's amazing what I can do when I have a 2 liter of Diet Dr. Pepper in my system.  I had even brought our newborn Dakota with me on that trip.

They liked that work enough, that they figured I was worth using again for their master suite.

Why is it that most people leave their master bedroom for the very last when decorating their home?  I know that not everyone sees it, but shouldn't your room be the oasis that you can escape to at the end of the day and feel relaxed in?  Something about bare walls, clothes scattered on the floor, mismatched bedding and broken lamp shades just doesn't say "welcome to bed after a long hard day."

I have personally found that when you spend the time to make a room in your home look put together and pretty it makes you want to keep the space a little bit cleaner, thus making it a room you want to spend more time in and feel relaxed in.

My basement is unfinished.  Toys EVERYWHERE most of the time.  And when the toys are cleaned up and put away, instead of scattered all over the floor, even the kids stay down there longer.  It isn't just adults that crave an orderly place (okay, maybe I am only speaking for myself and my family).

Please note, my house is not always spotless, but I do try to straighten it once a week.

Kids like to play in clean rooms, they just don't like to clean play rooms (Yeah, I totally just came up with that one on my own!).

Back to what I started, when I arrived I was still quite sick, but no decorating adventure can knock a sick Mel down (maybe for a nap in the afternoon)!  That night, I surveyed the space that we (Angie, Adam and myself...the little boys even helped paint a bit) would be transforming.  Take a look for yourself:




Early in the morning we got to work on refinishing the dresser, nightstand and headboard.

 After a good wipe down with TSP

 One coat of primer and two coats of Ivory Paint

After glazing

Pretty awesome, right? Adam wanted Black furniture.  Angie didn't want to dust black furniture.  She suggested Ivory.  Then she wanted to glaze the furniture.  I thought it was a nice compromise.  However, I wasn't quite sure.  I had never glazed anything before and was intimidated.  But after reading through a great post on painting furniture and another one on glazing furniture, I was ready to attack!  I am so glad I did.  It has inspired me to want to try it on my dresser here at home.

We also tried to stick to a more affordable budget.  No opening up a magazine, choosing a room and saying, "I want all of that" and a couple thousand dollars later having it.

This meant driving around to various stores like TJMaxx, Ross, Hobby Lobby and the like and gathering what we could in such a short amount of time and getting it all put in place.

We painted the master bedroom Benjamin Moore Shaker Beige, brought the furniture up, and then hung our awesome mirrors, placed the quirky lamps, and made the bed.


Mirrors from World Market

Sadly, I had to catch a flight back home, so I wasn't able to stay for the installation of the drapes and the shelf to go under the arched window or to paint the master bath and get that put back together.  I am hoping for pictures of that soon.

Angie and I had been posting things on Pinterest before I got out there, and I updated it a bit to reflect what we actually used as well as the tutorials for painting the furniture.

I have to boast about my host and hostess for a moment.  When I arrived in Denver, there on my bed was a 2 Liter of Diet Dr. Pepper, ear plugs, and a fancy face washing thing.  Despite arriving late in the evening, Angie made me a delicious meal.  The following day I was coughing and had a runny nose and no voice.  That night Angie insisted I take an Ambien and get rest.  It was exactly what I needed (although even 1/2 a pill had me quite loopy the next day).  She brought me breakfast in bed at 8:45am (I don't know the last time I slept solidly for that long).  I was treated so well and I came home feeling 95% better.  It was exactly what this sick mommy needed.  Rest, decorating therapy and lots and lots of talking with Angie.  I am so blessed to call Adam and Angie family.

Adam's Office

My brother-in-law recently moved into a different office and his space needed some sprucing up.  Considering that he spends more time in his office than in his own bed at home, it needed to be a place he wouldn't mind working in.


As you can see, he was given the standard office furniture.  This is what my base was to start working with.  He works for a mining company and has traveled the globe plenty (mission, travels with his wifey, work) and has collected a lot of cool trinkets.  I used those items and information as my inspiration point and gathered from there.

Speaking of gathering, I only had 2 days to gather things for the office and install it all.  His office is in Denver.  I don't live in Denver.  But I was able to go out for a few days of therapy and throw this together.  It's difficult doing rooms this way, because there are always items forgotten (a plant for the corner, books for the bookshelf) and I don't have enough time to get the last few items and then I never really get to see the room completed!

It was hilarious when I was placing his items on the bookshelf, because every single item had a story and he kindly took the time to share it with me.  He likes his stuff to have a history, so when I purchased a statue of an elephant and it didn't have a unique or personal story behind it, he warned me that he might have to return it.  If he does, that's fine. I am sure he will pick up something awesome on his next adventure around the globe and he will have a spot on the bookshelf to put it.  I didn't take an after picture of the bookshelf because it is lacking BOOKS!  Hopefully he will pick up a few of those on his journeys too.


As you can see, I rearranged the furniture a bit.  I moved the bookshelf to sit at an angle near the window, it softens the hard edges of a small office like that.  Then placed a soft and comfy chair in the corner where the bookshelf used to sit, because people are no doubt going to come into his office and want to hear all about his Peruvian Calendar Gourd.

Adam had his ever so important diplomas framed.  Might I take a moment and remind everyone that if you are going to spend the money on an education, spend a little bit more to have your diplomas framed RIGHT!  Please don't go into Wal-Mart, purchase a frame that says "Document Frame" and call it good. You worked hard for that piece of paper, display it proudly and give it the attention it (and you) deserve! Yes, it will cost you at a minimum $100, but it is so much more impressive, especially if you are in the business of impressing people.  You mats should be a minimum of 2".


I chose this lamp because it fit in with the collected feel of the office.  I will make up a story about this lamp for Adam: While exploring area 52 in New Mexico, I found this in a dusty and spiderweb filled prospectors office near a gold mine.  A wrinkly old leathery man was sitting outside.  I asked if I could have the lamp and he told me that the faded spots were from the time the mine collapsed and all of the rocks and residue came billowing out and reached as far as the office.

There, maybe he will feel better about having something purchased in his office.

Adam was hung up on having an orchid in his office and Ikea (yeah, Ikea) had some gorgeous ones! I never knew Ikea sold plants.

If you are interested in any of the other items in his office, you can see where I gathered them all from HERE.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Thank You, Pinterest

My Sister-In-Law recently gave birth to her first son.

They named him Spike.

Okay, we call him Spike, but he was really named after his dad and grandpa (no, their name isn't Spike).  But Spike is so incredibly fitting as he came out early and weighed well over 9 pounds!

Anyway, mommy-to-be was in need of some baby items of a more blue nature, so we (my mom, sister and I) decided to throw her a baby shower.  Baby Boy's name was our inspiration for the theme of the shower: Dinosaurs!!!!  Cuz some of them had spikes, ya know?

Thanks to Pinterest we were able to put together a "board" and gather ideas from all sorts of creative people out there!  Of course, our budget wasn't nearly as lavish as some of those that I have seen.  Nonetheless, I wanted to share with you some of the cute things we came up with.

 Those little blue dino tags actually lifted to reveal a pregnancy term that could be associated with each candybar.  For example;
Stomach after delivery: Jelly Belly
Daddy at Conception: Big Hunk
11 Pound Baby: Whopper
Epidural: Life Saver
Medical Bills: 100 Grand

If you are throwing a dinosaur party and aren't already saavy (as if I am) with digital scrapbooking, let me know and I can email you the files for the signs, invites and treat bag tags that I made.  Or else you can go here and buy the ones I borrowed the idea from.

 For the Herbivores we had a delicious Fruit Salad and Veggies each served in their own little fish bowl

 For the Sweetivores we had rocks from the stone age and little cupcakes topped with candy dinos that my sister made...yeah, she made those cute little creatures (using a mold, of course)!

 You'd think they were too cute to eat, but after eating one, you'd be able to justify that history must repeat itself and these guys were bound to become extinct too.

And of course, the Carnivores.  I was in charge of something simple that I couldn't mess up: Lil' Smokies in BBQ Sauce.  The culinary master, my sister, made those divine looking bacon wrapped chicken bites.

P.S.  Sometimes I think that those other parties are very similar to ours, but that the right camera and person behind it can make the whole event look ...I don't want to use the word "better" because our party was awesome...but they make it look, enticinger (I'll check my Scrabble word list to see if that's a word I can use).

I'm our photographer and I have some little silver digital that is "dated" in technical terms...like 5 years old.