A Magical Inspired Christmas Tree

I'm typically a one-tree type of person. We've always had our one big family tree in the living room covered with handmade and collected ornaments. I add a few things to 'pretty' it up a bit but it's always been the family tree. 

This year, I had it in my head to create a stand alone, pretty tree separate from our family one so I could get creative with it! And my mind immediately jumped to Harry Potter & Hogwarts. If you know me in real life at all, you know my love of the magical world of Harry Potter is big. I thought it would be so fun to channel that love into a creative and magical tree. 

I've been planning it out in my head all year so it's been so fun collecting the right pieces & seeing it come to life! I'll add details below and won't make you wait. But here is my 2020 Harry Potter inspired magical tree!!

Bohemian Teen Bedroom Makeover

So last I shared was our back porch makeover and, little did you know. we've done SO many makeovers to various rooms in the house in the past few months.

Both of my teens asked to have a room revamp and with momma needing projects, I gave in. 

Emily was the first to request a room makeover during our extended break and I was so sad to transform her room at first because it was the first room we had redone when we moved in. She had outgrown the bright colors and younger decor and wanted something a bit more grown up. She had a hard time putting into words what she wanted so I took her to Hobby Lobby to start pointing out things that she liked. Immediately, she gravitated towards all things boho, earthy and plant-related.

We found a piece of pottery that she LOVED and our entire room design became inspired by it. She chose a periwinkle purple for the feature wall based on the colors from the pottery and we are obsessed! I'm pretty sure it's now my most favorite room in the house. I was so hesitant about redoing a room that we already loved but I'm so glad she talked me into it. 

You may remember her coral room from the post a few years about it. You can read about it here. 

The piece of pottery that inspired the room is this pretty little guy from Hobby Lobby: 

Black & White Patio Transformation

I'm so excited to finally get this post up because it's been a long time coming!

We started working on our back patio about two  years ago when we decided we needed to make it a place that we actually enjoyed being. 

We had several issues going against us and it's taken us some time to come up with solutions for all of them and cultivate our dream space. 

The main issues: 

1. Our patio area isn't completely covered. Meaning parts of it still gets rain/full sun and the full impact of Arkansas weather. We needed things that could 'weather' all of that pretty well. 

2. We have two outdoor dogs that were constantly bringing mud, dirt, hair and all that fun stuff up into that area. It was constantly dirty & dusty and it made my head spin. 

3. We live on a sloped lot. BONUS with there being virtually no trees so leaves weren't a huge issue. But water, dust, and any yard debris inevitably ends up on the patio. Cue head spinning again. 

So. We had to come up with some creative solutions. The main one being how to create a more closed off space without spending wayyy too much money and still keeping it aesthetically pleasing. 

I don't have the best before/after photos because I was a horrible blogger during the process but let's use this one to show the crazy transformation it went through: 

I'm sure I purposefully didn't take pictures of the yard side before because it was such a disaster but the top gives you a good idea of what we were working with. 

Faux Canvas & Floral Door Hanging

If you're anything like me, you tire quickly of having the same things hanging day to day.

I tend to have areas in the house that I don't rearrange very often but our front door is certainly not one of them. 

My wreath styles have changed a LOT in the past years and this spring I decided to go with something a bit more non-traditional than a typical round wreath. Although my wreath from last summer was round, I still consider it a bit non-traditional too. You can see my cute snow-cone wreath from last year here. 

This year, I went with something a bit more neutral that could withstand spring & summer if I wanted it too. And my choice of flowers tend to nod towards Fall too which was a happy accident. 

I actually created the fabric/wood hanging last fall for my fall mantle but decided it was lightweight enough to hang on the door as well! 

DIY Ombre Wooden Spring Sign

Is ombre still even a thing?? 

It seemed like it was all the rage last year. 

I love the subtle light to dark that ombre provides and thought it would be fun to do it with my favorite aqua color. 

This super easy sign is the perfect thing if you don't like to commit to one thing (like me) and change your decor up constantly. 

This thing is sturdy enough that it can stand on it's own or prop against other items for a layered look. 

I created the actually wooden base of the sign a couple years ago and it's floated around to various set-ups and parties. 

I originally created it to be left blank and just added a simple nail to the middle to hang wreaths & smaller signs from. 

You can see it being used as a 'wreath' holder of sorts in my valentine mantle here. 

I decided to risk it a bit and added my letters on this one with a touch of hot glue. But it'll be easy enough to pop them off and sand it down a bit to use as a blank canvas again if I want. 

It's easy enough to create. Here's what you need: 

*1x4s (cut these to your desired width)

*Trim pieces (or more 1x4x or even 1x2s)

-Nail gun/screws

-Blank letters (mine are here) 

-Paint 

-Pom garland (mine is here) 

-Scrap Burlap

-Vinyl 

First, create your base. 

I cut my boards to my desired width and used other scrap pieces to screw along the backs to hold them together. I had some scrap thin pieces of trim left from a roadside haul and used those to trim out around my sign using my nail gun and a few screws. Imperfect is ok here :) 

I painted my inside boards white & distressed. 

For the letters, my sweet 13 year old painted them in an ombre blue finish and I'm obsessed with how they turned out. I used a touch of hot glue to fix them to the sign. 

The 'hello' banner was made with scrap burlap cut into triangles and ironed and then glued to twine. I used white vinyl for my wording. 

For some added fun, I strung a cute felt ball garland above the banner. I love the texture & interest it gives it! 

I wasn't going for a seaside vibe but I'm definitely getting hints of it with this little project. I'm loving having some beach-inspire hues & texture to welcome spring in. I'm actually kinda sad that it'll be coming down soon for summer. 

I'll show you the whole spring mantle in just a couple days. I went full force with a gathered/beachy vibe and it's been so calming to have up during these crazy quarantine days. 

Have a wonderful weekend, I'll be back with the full set-up soon!!! 

Winter to Valentine Mantle Update

After Christmas ended and decor started filtering back to 'normal', I decided I wanted to keep my mantle still on the cozy/winter side of things. 

Since most of the Christmas mantle, (you can see more about it here) was filled with neutrals and then pops of Christmas trees & red, I figured it would be somewhat easy to add a few pieces to transform it from festive to cozy. 

And since I'm terrible at blogging lately, I full on forgot to take a photo of the 'winter' version but really only one thing changed. 

So let's chat a cozy, wintery, Valentine mantle, shall we? 

So for a Valentin-y, cozy feel, the two sides of the mantle were changed. 

Down came the reindeer & trees and up went stacks of aged books, brass candlesticks and a few metallic pieces. 

DIY Preschool Valentines {You Color My Heart Happy}

How is it time to already be talking about Valentines?! 

I wanted to pop on and share our DIY valentines for this year, preschool version :)