Canvas Pictures

I got this idea from my best friend Amelia at Amelia's Notebook. She had made canvas look alike pictures with some of her wedding pictures and they we so beautiful that I copied her. Click to see her tutorial.

Here is my version. These are haning in our master bedroom. They look so great in black and white with our gray and yellow color scheme.

I hope you enjoy.

-Caroline

My Dream Headboard

I have had my heart set on making a panelled headboard since I started watching HGTV. I was not sure what colors I wanted, the fabric or how big but I wanted one. So now that I have a house, I made one... with Aaron's help of course. Below is a picture of our very messy bedroom before we got all of our furniture (the reason for the mess) and the headboard.

And this is my masterpiece. I am in LOVE with it and cannot wait to plan the rest of my master bedroom around it. So the headboard is massive. It is 80" long and 60" tall so it could "over shadow" our king size bed. I found the fabric at GDC on Labor Day so I got a deal. We used plywood to make the 12 20X20 squares. The nice people at Lowes cut the squares for free. Then another piece of plywood in screwed on to the back. It is hung directly on the wall with some really heavy duty hangers because over all it totals more than 200 lbs.

So here is the starting point for my master bedroom deisgn. Some other things I have in mind are getting two quilted comforters... one gray and one yellow, redoing a chair for seating, makeing some curtains, and getting some accessories.

I hope you like it and I hope you get inspired!

-Caroline

Curb Appeal

Recently, we decided to redo the front yard landscaping and add some colorful accents. Below is the before with pinestraw and a little plastic seperater between the sidewalk and the flower beds. Also, you cannot see but there is monkey grass in the little areas next to the driveway.

This is the after! We used black mulch and planted 4 Kale plants. 2 were purple kale and 2 were white kale. Also, we planted 7 caldium bulbs. We hope those come up because we may have planted them too early.

We added new stone pavers along the sidewalk and around the front of the bed. Also a green "A" flag on the stake in the flower bed and the blue South Carolina flag. Y'all knew we had to have one of those!

Just a couple of other things left to do to complete the project. I want to get 1 or 2 tall, colored planters next to the door and maybe painting the door. If you have any suggestions for colors for either let me know. Also, eventually, we want to change all of the door knobs and hardware to brush nickle. So that will change on the front door as well.

Hope you like the changes. There are many more to come!

-Caroline

I am back!

Sorry friends for my absence. I have been in Atlanta this weekend for the Weight Management Symposium. I learned a lot for my nutrition career, got CPEs for my Dietetic credentialing, and got to catch up with old friends. I stayed with my roommate from college... Thanks Whit. We ate dinner with our other 2 roommates, Jess and Rach. Then I got to see my friend from graduate school, Amy. It was nice to go to the conference and learn with my friend again. I got caught up on the research, got to learn semi-how to cook from a chef, and learn different ways to market myself and my services in the growing nutrition and health world. I got loads of new recipes in the exhibits as well. Look for some of those to come!

- Caroline

Nate Burkus Show

So today was my my 2nd or 3rd time ever watching the Nate Burkus Show. Nate is Oprah's designer and now has his own talk show in the morning. Today's show was about reusing old things that you have around the house. I loved some of the ideas and looked on his website for more. Here is some of what I found and wished I had a bigger house to put them in. Maybe one day!

Shelving first. These pictures are different coffee tables, night stands and desks cut in half to make shelving systems and desks with shelves. I loved the idea and the colors. I guess I should start collecting tables now!

Next is a rope shelving system that is hung from the ceiling. It looks so rustic but nice paired with the other things on this set.

Kitchen Island. This piece he made from an old 2 piece armoire/ cabinet. He did not use the top piece but put a piece of cut stone on top of the bottom. He painted it and added hooks, the paper towel rack and new drawer pulls. I need a bigger kitchen to house this beauty.

These are pictures are just from the website and compiled from other shows but I loved them. First, are portal mirrors in yellow of course. I really love finding stuff for my bedroom. I will have to think of how to make some. Let me know if you have any ideas.

And one thing for Pearl. I saw this set of dog bowls and want them so bad. Of course the color attracted me but also I have been looking for cute dog bowls that are off the ground. Right now we have a wire set I got on clearance and I want an upgrade.

All pictures from the Nate Burkus Show

I love looking at this stuff and cannot wait to have the resources and the space to create some of these ideas!

- Caroline

Some decorating ideas...

So these are some of the things that I have found while looking on other blogs. I am looking for inexpensive ways to decorate the house. Also I like the idea of doing unexpected things or using unexpected things. Here are some of the things I have found that you might see in my house sometime soon!

I saw this find on Dot Dot Dot by Tasha and loved it. She has a tutorial and uses beach towels she found at Walmart at then end of the season and some wood to make this cute wall art.

I have been looking for a chair for our master bedroom for a while now. The colors are yellows and grays. I saw this chair at Chrissie's Collections and loved it. She just referbished an old chair. Now I will be brodening my search to find a chair I can make my own!

This little beauty caught my eye because I have no cute way to store jewerly. I loved this because you can make it into anything you want. This one uses pages from the dictionary but I am thinking of using some fun scrapbooking paper.

Allison at Little Lovelies

This next piece I think is so great and unexpected in any house. Also, it is the only why my husband will be able to hang a buck head in our house. This one has different, fun wrapping paper scraps to make the head. But I like things a little more uniform so I am thinking different patters but in the same color scheme.


Tilly at This, That and Everything Inbetween


This just caught my eye because it was so simple. I love canvas pictures and could see it in my kitchen/dining area. I my incorporate some more words though.

Lisa at Her Beautiful Mess

This canvas art was also cute. It is different and does not look that hard to make. There are a couple of places I could see this in my house... just with some different colors.

Lisa at Her Beautiful Mess


All of these have inspired me to get creative. I hope you saw something that might inspire you !

-Caroline

The House!

We closed on our house about 2 weeks after we got back from our honeymoon. It was a little inconvient to live with our parents again but it was worth the wait. The hosue is in a country club neighborhood so close to everything you could need. That is why I love it... and the side walks to walk Pearl (our dog). Aaron likes it because it he is so close to a golf course and driving range. I know many have asked for picture so here are some!

Looking from the curb

Guest room... with some mess:)

Front Hall with the new table!
Living room with hubby and Pearl

Master bedroom... again messy:)

Backyard

Kitchen

Dining area

There is still some other things to do and I will keep y'all posted on the new additions and projects that I do. I have already done some and will update next time.

Catching Up!

To begin this adventure of letting you into my life, I would like to chatch eveyone up on what has been happening since I became a wife. These last nine months have been CRAZY! Some of the many things going on were my wedding, buying and decorating our (my hubby and myself) first house, and cheering on Auburn to a National Football Championship! (Our first football season as a house divided)

Seeing as how I have been slack on showing pictures, I will share a couple now. First and formost, the wedding. It was in our hometown of Charleston, South Carolina and was my dream "big southern wedding" with all of my friends and family present. The service was at First Baptist Church Charleston and the reception was held at Magnolia Plantation.

All the pictures were taking by our fabulous photographer, Joanna Dehart.

Me and the Hubby at Magnolia Plantation

"You may kiss your bride"

Wedding Party

Aaron and I with our Godchildren

Cutting the Cake

We went on our honeymoon to the Mayan Riveria in Mexico. It was sunny, warm (but not HOT), and relaxing. We got massages and went to a zip lining park! It was so much fun. We also met a couple from Charleston that were on their honeymoon and got married downtown the same day we did. What a small world!

House pictures and decorating to follow!