DIY and Home Decor Blog. Fly Your Freak Flag.
I did it guys.
I’m sorry, but I lied to you. I didn’t mean to lie to you. It just happened.
When I posted the 7 simple & frugal fall crafts, I said there probably wouldn’t be many new fall crafts around here – if any.
And then I decided I needed a green pumpkin…with an ampersand symbol.
Before I knew it, I was in the driver’s seat and my car was practically steering itself to Michael’s.
Story of my life.
Want to create a gorgeous focal point in your home? Have you thought about an accent wall? These DIY accent wall ideas bring the beauty but don’t require a lot of cash!
First off, the title of this post totally has me singing the Kriss Kross Jump song – you’ll think me later for sharing that link.
Other than Criss-Cross, I couldn’t think of a better description for this wall though – besides of course amazingly-awesome-and-total-game-changer-for-my-dining-room.
But that would have been a really long title.
Now, in true “Jenna” fashion, I discovered how and how not to do this type of accent wall.
I started out doing it one way and then ended up doing it another way.
Either way, this criss-cross accent wall was truly a huge game changer for my dining room and does make me wanna jump-jump.
Depending on what colors you want to use and how big your wall is, you can totally get by with $30 for creating this wall.
Yes, $30 for one huge impact.
I know I told you I wouldn’t be doing much fall decorating this year – and I haven’t; I hadn’t even planned on doing a fall home tour, but when Lindsay from The White Buffalo Styling Co. asked me to join in on her Blogger Stylin’ Fall Home Tours, I simply couldn’t say no – and then I thought of a story I wanted to share with you along with the tour, so it was destiny.
Ok, I’m a little over dramatic.
If you are coming over from Decor Chick, welcome! There’s no doubt in my mind that Emily left you in awe with her talent.
If you happen to have some Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, or maybe some Merle Haggard nearby, go ahead and turn it on…it will go nicely with this tour.
There is always that one room that I don’t get along with.
It never likes anything I do. It never feels quite right.
I will rearrange furniture, add this accessory, take away this, paint that – and it always ends with me throwing my hands in the air, saying screw it, and having a drink.
The dining room was that room.
Emphasis on the was.
Once I finally decided to stop worrying so much about it, it evolved into a space that I love.
It now has that same Vintage-Modern-Rustic vibe that the rest of the house has.
Every time I go to pull out my nice china, I kick myself.
Because its not there.
It never was.
I have my great grandmother’s floral patterned china which is perfect for Easter, but no wedding china of my own.
That is the number one item I wish we’d registered for.
Also, I did not intentionally make it wedding week around here. It just kind of happened that way. So yes, while the legality of my marriage is in question, these are all items I wish we would have registered for. I mean did we really need that rug I was over in less than six months? No, we needed this stuff.
As the Preppy meets Hollywood Regency Bathroom Makeover (that wasn’t supposed to happen) progressed, I had a brilliant idea.
I would make a shower cornice. I had always wanted one, so now was the perfect time.
This would not be just any cornice though.
No, no, no.
It would be a Greek Key Carved Shower Cornice.
I spent hours actually using a ruler and level (instead of eyeballing it) drawing the perfect greek key pattern on my new cornice.
And then I went to carve it out.
Who the hell was I kidding?
After about 15 minutes of trying to follow those lines, I realized it was going to look already looked like sh*t.
Instead of tossing it into the trash though, I flipped the board over and whipped up a little Trash to Treasure Shower Cornice.
Every time I visit the paint counter, the paint guy rolls his eyes at me.
He is shocked not when I hand him a mint green or bright pink paint swatch, but a white, black or cream colored swatch.
He has grown accustomed to me selecting not-so-average paint colors.
A couple months ago when I walked in with my Glidden Watermelon Smoothie paint card and handed it to him, he just shook his head.
When I told him it was going on the ceiling, I think he almost laughed.
Heck, I laughed.
This is one of my craziest ideas to date and I wasn’t 100% sure it was going to work out.
It ended up being the spark of the entire Preppy meets Hollywood Regency Bathroom Makeover.
Oh, the power of a pink ceiling.
With pretty white faux molding.
Ready to get rid of that popcorn ceiling? Let me show you how to remove popcorn ceilings and how not to – learn from my mistakes, y’all.
I never intended to makeover my entire bathroom.
I just wanted a bit more color.
It started with the ceiling.
I thought to myself, “Self, you should scrape off the popcorn and paint the ceiling pink.”
Self responded with a very enthusiastic, “YES.”
So I did.
But then the gray paint on the walls didn’t go with the pink very well like I thought it would.
So I painted the walls.
And then I realized the vanity had these weird yellowy patches on it.
So I painted the vanity.
And then I looked at the old shower curtain – it could be a bit more stylish.
So I made a new shower curtain and cornice.
And then I thought to myself, “Self, what about some new artwork?”
You can guess what Self said.
That non-makeover escalated quickly.
Friends, welcome to my new Preppy meets Hollywood Regency Bathroom that wasn’t supposed to be.
I may be giving myself too much credit.
My head may be getting a bit too big.
But….
I’m giving succulents a try again.
With the success (meaning I’ve had it for more than a month and haven’t killed it yet) of the fiddle leaf fig and the banana tree, I’m thinking, hoping, praying that I can keep these succulents alive.
In the past year, I’ve successfully killed two succulents.
Yes, I’m well aware I’m the only person on the planet who can’t keep them alive.
I decided that maybe if I gave this new succulent a cozy, happy, pretty home it would want to live longer, so I made it a succulent book planter.
What better place for a succulent to live than in between the pages of a book?
Heck, what better place for anyone to live than in between the pages of a book?
I’m going to be real honest with you guys. There most likely will not be lots of new fall decor at my house this year. I would just rather spend my time working on stuff I will see all year long than just for a month or two. That doesn’t mean I don’t love fall – I do. And I will still put out my fall decor from years past, just not anything new. So, here are my favorite fall crafts and decorating ideas I’ve done in the past that may be oldies, but still goodies.
I am almost ashamed to show you just how gross my sidewalk was.
Almost.
But I know that you guys understand the concept of real life.
Real life that involves neglecting things such as the sidewalk while focusing on much more important and fun things such as a kitchen makeover or just chasing around the circus at the park.
When we bought the beloved foreclosure, the exterior was the last thing on our minds. It may not have been that pretty, but there was nothing wrong with it and we would have rather had a functional kitchen and bathroom rather than a pretty exterior.
So we didn’t really touch the exterior except for some painting on the porch and a semi-makeover on the screened-in porch.
This summer I kicked the screened-in porch up quite a few notches with a complete (and super colorful) makeover.
And then I looked at our sidewalk.
And realized just how disgustingly gross it was.
What makes DIY projects and crafts even better?
When they are EASY DIY Projects and EASY crafts and……..when they cost LESS THAN $10!
Can I get an amen?!
I love a good hack, especially a good hack that is so much cheaper than the real thing. Painting a basic rug is an affordable way to get exactly the look you want without paying a fortune on a rug that may get grape Kool-Aid spilled on it only minutes after you put it down. Yea, you know what I’m talking about.
You guys.
I just got back from an amazingly fun wedding weekend.
In Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Totally in the middle of nowhere – or so it seemed, but our group rocked that town like none other. You can see some of the debauchery that took place on my Instagram account.
There are so many stories from this weekend that will be making their way onto the blog.
Prepare yourself.
However, I am still trying to unpack and regain some sleep from the lack thereof this weekend.
Oh, and Better Homes & Gardens is coming to photograph my kitchen on Wednesday.
Wha What?
Yep. I found out about a week and a half ago and went into crazy mode immediately.
Needless to say, I am running around patching nail holes, touching up paint, and deep cleaning like nobody’s business.
Therefore, I have for you a very quick, very simple, very cheap DIY project:
Faux Jadeite
Is there anyone else out there that just feels the need to add a little bling everywhere?
A little gold here, a little glitter there?
It just makes everything a little more fun and pretty.
When I made over the porch recently, I realized that these mason jars didn’t quite fit with the fun, colorful vibe going on out there. I wanted to keep them though to use as lanterns for extra lighting at night.
My solution: Bling ‘Em Out.
Now, I have sparkly glitter mason jars.
It may be 2014, but I am still so skeptical about purchasing items online.
I’m always worried whatever I order isn’t going to look like what it looks like online or it will be different than I pictured it.
This is especially true when its a larger scale item or something that costs a good bit of money.
I absolutely despise paying return shipping fees if its not what I expected.
A lot of times though, prices are just so much better online than in store.
For example, fabric.
Oh my goodness, I could stay in a fabric store FOR-EV-ER.
(Please picture me saying FOR-EV-ER just like the kid with the glasses said it in The Sandlot.
And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, run and find a copy of The Sandlot and watch it.
Even though my brother subjected me to watching it over and over and over again one summer until the VHS finally gave out (thank you, lord), it really is a great movie.
Ok, back to fabric. I love fabric. I buy fabric and have no clue what I’m going to do with it all the time – I just think its pretty.
However, fabric can be so ridiculously expensive – except in this great realm of possibilities that we call the internet.
Seriously y’all, when I was using dial-up internet 15 years ago to download music illegally from Napster (we had no clue it was illegal then), I never dreamed I would one day be able to purchase just about anything I wanted with the click of a button.
Toilet paper. Click.
10 swimsuits from Victoria’s Secret (so you can try them on in the privacy of your home, only to return all 10 of them). Click.
Fabric. Click.
Now that I’ve rambled on and on about The Sandlot, the amazingness of the internet, and other things that the cheap beer I am drinking has led me to type, let’s talk about the real question here:
How I Buy Fabric Online Without Seeing It In Person
