Rain on a Tin Roof

DIY and Home Decor Blog. Fly Your Freak Flag.

Decorating

How to Coordinate Paint Colors Throughout Your House

By 80 Comments

I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve attempted to select a paint color and it has ended in either tears, drinking or both.

Usually both.

Throwing of hands in the air, slamming of fists on tables and/or walls is typical as well.

Obviously, buying sample pots of paint and testing those out on your walls is the way to go, but if I bought a sample pot of paint for every color I thought may work, I would have a closet full of sample paint pots.

One of my biggest challenges is often coordinating paint colors throughout my house – thus why there is a lot of black and white in my home.

Click the link below to find out about this super easy trick for coordinating paint colors!

Read More

Lighting for $300 or Less: Chandeliers, Flushmounts and Sconces

By 32 Comments

There are two things I’ve wanted to tear my hair out over with the renovation of the 70’s Landing Pad – the master bathroom renovation and lighting. Oh wait, I forgot about wallpaper removal. Make that three things. And then there was the paint color selections. Hell, let’s just go on and admit that this whole reno is going to send me to the looney bin sooner than I expected.

Anyway, this post is supposed to be about lighting. To date, I have bought one single light fixture for the 70’s Landing Pad – a lucite chandelier (just like this one) from a local antique store. You guys aided in that purchase by telling me to go ahead and just buy it when we were chatting about the kitchen plans. When I went to go buy it, it was marked down and I got an extra 10% off, so it ended up being $150. Thanks for enabling me, y’all. I am madly in love with it, but can’t decide the best place to put it. Entry? Dining Room? Kitchen?

And then I started looking for lighting for the rest of the house.

And that’s when I lost my shit and preceded to find the nearest corner to go into the fetal position and cry.

Click the link below to read the rest…

Read More

Masculine Bedroom + Office Makeover Full Source List

By 6 Comments

I realize it’s been well over a month since I first showed you the masculine guest bedroom and office makeover – A.K.A. Bill’s room.

Essentially, Christmas threw up everywhere and this post kept getting pushed to the back burner.

This room is by far one of my favorites and really, I just pulled it together, Bill came up with the plan and he knocked it outta the park. We used a mix of new items with ones we already had, we DIYed a thing or two and of course, we mixed in a few yard sale and thrift store finds. Here’s the full source list for everything in the space – if something is no longer being made, I tried to find a similar version for ya.

Click the link below to read more…

Read More

Masculine Bedroom and Office Makeover

By 107 Comments

How many uses can you find for one average sized bedroom?

Well around here, we can find three.

Apparently, we like a challenge.

I thought that as kids got older, they liked to spend more time with their friends – away from the adults in their lives.

Apparently, I was wrong.

Or either Bill is the exception.

It seems the older he gets, the more he’s here.

I’m not complaining – I’ll take all the quality time I can get; he’s off to college next year.

In the meantime though, the room he was inhabiting was not very “Bill.”

While Elvis loved his jungle room, apparently Bill was not fond of a similar theme with the leopard print wall in his room.

I was also invading part of his space with my office area.

So I told him he could decide what he wanted to do with the room.

I know – I couldn’t believe I uttered those words myself.

Click the link below to read the rest…

Read More

King Headboards for $300 or Less

By 36 Comments

I am not a snuggler.

I can be a snuggler for about five minutes and then you need to get off of me.

Grunt Labor isn’t a snuggler either. This is good.

However, he does roll over in his sleep quite a bit and while doing so, his face sometimes becomes thisclose to mine and he breathes right on me.

And I hate that.

I do love him though, don’t get me wrong. He knows I can’t stand him breathing on me. Some nights I give him an elbow or kick to get him to roll back over. If I’m feeling nice and don’t, then I usually don’t sleep great or it takes me forever to get to sleep and then he feels terrible the next morning when he finds out I didn’t sleep because he was breathing on me.

We need a king sized bed.

The best sleep we get is when we stay in hotels with king sized beds. I love him, but I need him to be on his side of the bed. In his defense, he says there are some nights I get right up on him, although I don’t remember this, so I cannot attest to its validity. Maybe he needs me to be on my side of the bed as well though.

So we’re on the hunt for a king size headboard and/or bed that won’t cost a year’s worth of preschool.

Here’s what I’ve found so far…

Click the link below to read more…

Read More

My Favorite Green Color Combinations for Decorating

By 18 Comments

It was love at first spray when I made the Kate Spade Inspired Lamp Makeover.

I had met my decorating color soulmate and there was no turning back.

Green and I went together as well as me and cheap beer.

Well, almost. Let’s face it – cheap beer will always have my heart. Oh, and Grunt Labor too.

I think one of the main reasons I love green so much is because it looks great with my second in line favorite colors.

Click the link below to read more…

Read More

Best Sources for Affordable Wall Art and Favorites Under $50

By 14 Comments

In case you didn’t know, I’m not an art connoisseur.

Now a cheap beer connoisseur, I am.

Ok, really just Miller High Life.

Here’s how I decide what art to hang on my walls:

I browse online and/or thrift stores.

Ooooo, I like it.

Look at the price tag.

Ooooo, its cheap.

Buy it.

Ooooo, its expensive.

Leave it.

Pretty straightforward, no?

While there may never be a priceless hand painted original piece of art hanging in my home, excluding the circus’ art, these pieces either already reside here or will at some point.

Because they’re pretty.

And cheap.

And nothing beats pretty and cheap together.

Click the link below to get the details!

Read More

The View from the Floor | Painted Ceiling Designs

By 98 Comments

Sometimes I lay on the floor.

For no good reason at all.

Sometimes I close my eyes.

And daydream.

Sometimes I stare at the despicable popcorn ceiling and try to find the strength to remove it.

I usually decide I’ll pay someone to do that before I scrape ceilings again.

Sometimes I just ponder life’s mysteries.

Either way, the ceiling is usually ugly.

And most of the time, my wondering leads me down a rabbit hole of painted ceiling designs.

Read More

13 Stunning Home Ideas I Found in One Place

By 24 Comments

Last Wednesday they let me into the Nashville Symphony Show House.

I’m quite certain the powers that be must have never read my blog before to know that this gal is borderline redneck and hadn’t set foot in such a fancy house before – otherwise they may have thought twice before sending my invitation.

I walked out of that house scolding myself for using inappropriate language in front of people who never met me before, but brimming over with DIY and decorating ideas.

I quickly got over the inappropriate language scolding. I feel overall they became better people for having met me.

The ideas though – my head is still spinning. Here’s 14 stunning home ideas that I took away from the Nashville Symphony Show House – and really, there were waaaay more than 14, but I felt I should cut it off somewhere instead of keeping you stuck here reading all day.

Read More

Decorate My Space: Hope’s Kitchen

By 18 Comments

A couple weeks back I asked for y’all’s help on decorating my stairwell.

You were amazing with your responses.

My stairwell isn’t decorated yet, but I’m still mulling over all your ideas.

I thought it might be fun to ask for reader submissions and let everyone help out on decorating another space!

The first one up is Hope’s Kitchen.

Let’s start with her color scheme ideas and inspiration.

Read More

10+ Kitchen Ideas for Decorating, Organizing, and Storage

By 24 Comments

I am all about a pretty space.

I’m also all about a real life space.

The problem is that pretty + real life don’t always work together.

And real life tends to trump pretty everyday of the week.

I always struggle with finding that happy balance between pretty and real life in the kitchen.

Prime example: the chips will always live on top of the fridge. No, its not pretty, but that’s where we expect them to be, so that’s where they will always be come hell or high water unless we magically get more pantry or cabinet space…which I won’t hold my breath for.

That being said, these are my best kitchen ideas for merging real life and pretty.

Doritos bag on the refrigerator not included.

Read More

14 Classic Black and White DIY Projects for Any Space

By 7 Comments

I love color. I love kelly green and navy blue and red. And I love black and white. Why? Because it goes with kelly green and navy blue and red. Oh, and also pink and orange and purple and any other color under the sun….These 14 black and white projects can be worked into any space.

Read More

5 Easy Steps to Decorating a Bedroom

By 2 Comments

Let’s talk about the boudoir today, shall we?

What are your thoughts on decorating it? Easy? Hard? Somewhere in the middle?

Our first bedroom makeover was definitely harder for me. Or I should say, it just didn’t come together as easily as other makeovers have. That could probably be why I changed it a little more than a year later.

Since then, I’ve figured out how to decorate a bedroom in five easy steps.

Of course, this the “Jenna” way of decorating a bedroom – most definitely not the official way – but I fly my own freak flag.

Proceed with caution.

Read More

How I Buy Fabric Online (Without Seeing It In Person First)

By 36 Comments

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

Read More

7 {To Die For} White Kitchens

By 17 Comments

Ok, maybe not To Die For, but you know what I mean. They are good.

Way good.

Let’s talk about white kitchens for a moment, shall we?

First off, let’s define them. To me, a white kitchen is one that is mostly white of course. It doesn’t mean that all the cabinets have to be white, the backsplash white, or the countertops all white. To me, it just means that when you look at the overall space, it feels light and airy.

Personally, I love white kitchens. To me, they have the most clean lines and seem the most inviting.

Read More

9 Nursery Ideas That Won’t Break the Bank

By 8 Comments

Let me go ahead and squash what all of you are thinking.

I am not pregnant.

Nor do I have any plans of being pregnant. I am a one and done parent. Or even a one and fun kind of parent. To all you other parents out there that have multiple children, my hat is off to you. The thought of having another one just makes me want to go take a nap. Grunt Labor, the kid, and I are perfectly happy as a unit of three.

Over the past week during the fiasco of preparing for the kid’s birthday party (details coming soon), I started thinking about her nursery and what all has worked in there for us, what didn’t work and what I would do differently. I thought some of you guys with kiddos on the way, may want to hear my words of wisdom.

Or not.

But trust me, my words of wisdom on nursery ideas and decorating is far better than my words of wisdom on actual parenting. At least I can admit it.

Read More

14 Real Life Bedroom Ideas Anyone Can Do

By 29 Comments

Ok, ya know how sometimes when you are reading a magazine or browsing on Pinterest, and you see those perfectly gorgeous bedrooms? There is high end wall art, beautiful mirrors, comfy bedding, and perfect antique furniture.

And you know that the bedding alone probably cost $1000?

If you have $1000 to spend on bedding or on a mirror or wall art, by all means, go for it.

I don’t.

Hell, I can’t remember when the last time was that I had $1000 to spend on a whole room.

Oh, wait, yea, I haven’t ever had that.

So, for the rest of us that want beautiful bedrooms without breaking the bank, here are 14 real life bedroom ideas that anyone can do.

Read More

20+ Living Room Ideas

By 20 Comments

Y’all, I never thought in a million years I would ever show you my living room.

Seriously.

I don’t know why, but for me, decorating the living room has always been a struggle. I’m not even quite sure what it is. But I have a few theories: I can’t mix patterns well, the ugly television has to go somewhere, and there is usually a piece of furniture in there that I despise and can’t really be changed at the moment.

My kitchen. No problem. Maybe it’s because there are so many “fixed” items in there that could easily be changed like painting the cabinets. And updating the barstools was easy. And I knew I wanted stainless steel appliances, since we had to buy appliances considering there were no appliances at all in the foreclosure.

The same was true for my bathroom. I knew I wanted white marble floors – it was a classic that went with everything and I easily found a new vanity for cheap.

Anyway, the living room always stumps me. I have finally shown it to you here and most recently here. I’m still not 100% in love with it. However, its growing on me and decorating is a process for those of us that don’t have hundreds of dollars to drop in one shopping trip.

So, to continue inspiring me in my living room endeavors and to hopefully inspire you, I’ve gathered 20+ living room ideas that will hopefully help us all out. Unless you are a living room decorating genius. In that case, I bow down in your genius presence.

Read More

Emerald Green Decorating Ideas

By 18 Comments

According to Pantone, the color of 2013 was emerald. And that was just fine by me. I did not call to complain. I’m sure they breathed a sigh of relief that I approved. Not. Really, I’m not one who changes everything in my home just because a new trend is out or something is hot…

Read More

10 Navy Projects and Ideas

By 32 Comments

Maybe you have figured it out by now. Maybe it was the barstools, or the chevron tray, or the new buffet. You have most likely figured out, that I love navy. Its classic and can work with most any color. My favorite navy combination being navy and kelly green. Here are some of my favorite…

Read More