The SEA

One of the projects from the bedroom that was DIY, was this SEA decoration. The wood brings a natural "outside" feeling to our little room. I was inspired by my mom's creation that she made for the beach cabin. She saw a 5 ft. seahorse for the wall, made out of driftwood, in a magazine. Let's just say it cost as much as a small country... Anyway, she had my dad cut the seahorse shape out of plywood and then she hot glued mulch, yes garden mulch, to the whole thing. Perfectly placing each one. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of it, but the next time we go, I'll get one and post it. It is truly a work of art. I wanted to do the same thing, but on a much smaller scale. I bought the letters at Hobby Lobby and went searching in my front yard. (don't worry, it just looks like you are pulling weeds) Brought my mulch in and hot glued it on, covering the entire letter. Voila! My own "driftwood" decoration. Easy! And cheap!

If you are noticing the driftwood fish on my dresser, it is from Marshall's.

(I'm not that good)

The Furniture...

You know when you are first married and you have, we had, no money? Well, my sweet parents bought us a furniture set so their poor little darlings wouldn't have to sleep on the floor. $500 for this whole set. And yes, we had to pay them back. Slowly. In installments.
Well, it was time for a change. This is really good, all wood, very heavy furniture so I didn't want to just chunk it. I wanted to paint it! Michael jokes not to stand too close to me because if you stand still for too long, I might paint you...

Anyway, this was probably the most fun part of the bedroom for me. I primed it, painted it, antiqued it, and sealed it. (that set of instructions is becoming a repetition in my blogs) Antiquing the furniture is just taking off the paint and making it look old where life would have nicked it, bumped it, and worn it down. What I love is that the original wood color comes through with this process. I used water-based sealer again on these pieces because there is no odor. (I did not want to attempt to move these beasts!)

The headboard is covered by a ton of pillows but I love how it turned out.

Here is the before picture of the furniture. Very dark.

Bedroom Finished! Part One

Here it is! I'm so excited it's done. (I still have to caulk a few places and decide what I'm gonna do with the naked window)

Today I'll show you the whole room and then tomorrow I'll post in more detail about the furniture. Anyone can do this!! I think the paneling on the back wall really made a difference. Thank you Michael for being my carpenter!

I found the cute little shutter at an antique store and the driftwood fish at Marshall's. (more on the "SEA" decoration in another post)

This is probably one of my favorite things in the room. I was inspired by two pictures and one of them had this coral. I NEVER thought I'd find it and then I walked into Marshall's, the clouds parted, the sun shone down, and the angels were singing. On the bottom shelf of the coastal decor was MY coral!!!! The shelf I found for half-off at Garden Ridge.

So as you can see, the room went from dark to light. From out dated furniture to repurposed antiques. I think this picture looks like one of my boys' "Can you spot the difference?" books... Stay tuned for tomorrow's post on the furniture!

Some details...

Here are some of the little details and DIY's that I've added to the bedroom.

I had three canvas prints that were above my bed, but didn't quite match the new colors. I took some spackling and smeared it on top of the canvas making sure I created some texture. After that dried, I painted it the Sea Sprite I used for my accent wall. Next, I dry brushed some off-white that I used for the furniture to highlight the texture. Finally I cut burlap, frayed the ends, and hot-glued it and a shell to each canvas. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Right?

Click here to see each step.

Next, I found this cute "coral reefy" looking thing at Marshall's and added a wooden fish. Also, in the picture is a DIY project for some great coastal candles. Just take some shells and sea glass and hot glue them around the candle and add some hemp twine. The "Beach Walk" diffuser from Yankee Candle Co. adds the wonderful beach scent.

Another great find was this Fisherman's Hat. I found it at the local Antique store for $5. I was so excited. I placed it on some decorative trunks and it goes great on Michael's dresser.

I found these great antique books at a garage sale and put them on my dresser along with a collection of shells and some coastal potpourri. I LOVE the titles!

There you have it. Some of my new finds and DIY projects that make up my new bedroom. Stay tuned tomorrow for the big reveal!!

Another Peek...

Good morning blog world. You know when you watch those makeover shows and all you really want to see is the before and after? When they show you the people's reaction, and you know it's going to be good, but you still have to sit through an hour show to see the reveal?... I hate that! So, with that being said, I'd like to show you another sneak peek... :) Sorry bloggers, I just have to let my mom see my room before I post pictures.

I've been busy finishing up. The trim, painting, hunting down the perfect decoration, etc. It turned out better than I thought. The hanging lantern above is one of the cute little pieces I put on the wall. I love looking at other blogs and websites to get ideas and I came across two that inspired this. One is from a great site called The Shabby Chic Cottage. I love it. I used her idea of taking a PLANT hanger to display a lantern. (who would have thunk it?) I got it at Lowe's and spray painted it. Here is her version...

The other lantern I fused together with this one was from a blog called Thrifty Pasonage Living. She took a Pottery Barn idea and made it affordable. Love it! Here is her creation.

So with both of those ideas I knew what I wanted. I was going to get some wire and make my own until I found this cute white lantern at Pier One for ten bucks. I also found the sea glass, sand, and candle there. Distressed the plant hanger a tiny bit and hung it. There it is. Another sneak peek before the final pictures. More to come...

Have a great weekend!!

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Things to come...

I have been working on our master bedroom the last few days. Yes, I'm redecorating it. Again. I will explain why. Some of you know my parents' beach house was destroyed by Hurricane Ike. Down to the cement. Last spring it was built again and the fun part was decorating and painting! My parents live in the Beaumont area, and my mom enjoys coming to Houston to shop. When she's not able to make it, I scour the stores in our area for all things coastal. (Marshall's is our favorite) Well, after buying a few seagulls, starfish, and coral, I started getting a little jealous. I want to decorate something cute and coastal...(in a whiny and pouty voice)

Here is the plan...
So far, I've completed the furniture and I can't wait to show you! I am working on decorations and the back wall. I am doing everything very lost cost and hopefully will be able to blog about the handmade items and DIY furniture. If you have any questions about ANY of the projects I post, please write me. This first piece is a DIY word art. I had an old fence board and broke it down to about 18 inches. I lightly and roughly painted the surface. Then sanded. (I've never loved sand paper as much as I have in the last few weeks) I like using a very heavy-duty paper. This was 100. For finer sanding on my furniture, I used 220. Then I took some foam stamps I had and dipped them in different acrylic paint. Took some old letters and stenciled the word BEACH. WAVES and SURF are handwritten. Then sanded some more until I got it just right. My sweet husband actually asked me where I got it until he noticed the stamps were familiar.
The best part? It cost me nothing!!!

Stay tuned for more pictures and how-to's!
Kerrie