A Cozy Place to Read

I am notoriously known for being easily distracted when it comes to homework {just ask my college roommate}.  So the night before my exam last week, I decided to go to Ikea.  We arrived at 7:50, they closed at 8.  We had to book it.  We flew through the showroom, tried out a few different chairs, and settled on the largest one they had.  When we went to go grab the box, we realized it was a lot larger than expected.  Nicole insisted it would NOT fit in the car.  I insisted it would.  We purchased the chair and made our way to the parking lot where we soon discovered Nicole was right.  But I was not wrong.  Although the box refused to get it the car, the chair outside of the box seemed to fit just fine.

See how happy Nicole looks in the background?  But I am oh so happy that we made it work because it is perfect in my reading nook.  It will need a little tweaking in the next couple of weeks so stay tuned for that fun adventure.

The ottoman I purchased has yet to be finished as I am having a hard time picking out a fabric.  I am open to any suggestions for colors/designs!

The bedroom is slowly but surely coming along.  All these pictures definitely make me realize how much a new paint job is needed.  Any volunteers {you know who you are}?  I'll pay in treats!

And on a completely random side note...my dog is incredibly talented.  Yesterday Cody showed me how he can throw a random stick out into our grove {where there are 1.4 million other sticks} and somehow B will come back with the same exact one.  I'm thoroughly amazed.  

Awarded

Guten Tag!

My German roots are really shining through today due to the wonderful award I have been given by Dacia over at Lemon Drop Life!  It is called the Liebster award, which is a German word that translates as "dearest" or "favorite" and is given to blogs with less than 200 followers.  Needless to say, I was pretty excited because who doesn't love getting awards?  So Danke Schoen (thank you) Dacia, it is much appreciated!  

Now I get to pass the award on to five other new and creative blogs that I have hand selected.  Make sure to check out the blogs because they are awesome!  Here we go...

1) Michelle at Yellow Suitcase Studio.  I found her through Pinterest and have been dying to make her wool sweater blanket.  

2) Brittany at Brittany Makes.  She is very creative and makes beautiful crafts and jewelry, as well as awesome furniture revivals.

3)  Jane at Urban Jane.  I love all the furniture she has refinished, even if she didn't keep my favorite table :)

4) Anne at Hello Newman's.  Her house is adorable and I am slightly obsessed with her dining room.

5)  Maxwell House Interiors.  I love love love the bathroom transformation and cannot wait to see more.

So the rules are as follows:  Display the award on your blog, choose 5 people to pass it on to, and make sure to link back to the person you got it from!  Have fun! 

Gallery Wall

This project has been a long time in the making and I am beyond thrilled to finally have it finished.  It started out as one of those "quick" projects but ended up taking way too long.  The wall started out as this:

Not bad, but a little bare.  Plus, I had a whole bunch of left over white frames that needed a home.  I started by taking all my frames and laying them on the floor.  I figured I needed to purchase three more to make it work for the size I was looking for.

All the white frames in the picture I already owned (bought from Goodwill and spray painted white).  The color frames were new (also from Goodwill), and I really liked the look of the various colors.  One of the reasons I love buying used stuff is because of the sentiment that is attached to some of the pieces.  I found this little note on the back of one of the picture frames and thought it was so sweet.  You don't find this kind of stuff at Target!  {Nothing against Target, it is one of my favorite stores}  

The frame on the bottom left was repainted in a black metallic, and the brown frame on the right was restained.  I also painted the round frame in a brown metallic just to even things out a bit.  After I figured out the perfect layout on the floor, I cut out pieces of paper in the shape of the frames and made marks where they needed to be hung.  

This is really helpful to make sure everything is even and level without having to make a million holes in your wall.  Unfortunately, not all of these frames had hangers so I had to put them on myself.  This was one reason the project was drug out a little more than expected.  And then, of course, there was also the issue that when I bought the frames a couple of months ago, I tossed most of the glass and backs that went along with the frames.  It was a challenge, but I managed to cut all new backs and even find some glass that worked. 

I think one of the hardest things about gallery walls (besides hanging all. those. frames) is figuring out just what to put in them all.  Of course, you can always fill them with pictures of family or friends, but I was looking for a little something different.  So here are some ideas I came up with, along with ideas that I will probably be using in the future.

1) Letters.  As you can see I chose the letter E {already had it on hand from the wedding}.  Letters make a great addition to a wall full of frames to break up the squares a little.

2) Framed objects.  I chose keys because I love the look of vintage keys, but there are many other objects that will look great in frames.

3) Scenery pictures.  I chose to include pictures of the buildings on our yard.  Normally this building wouldn't be frame worthy, but paired with a bunch of other pictures it looks really good.  The same goes with pictures of people-non traditional pictures work well in large groups.

4) Marriage certificate or other special document.  Don't worry, this is just a copy, but I love how it looks on the wall.

5) Maps.  These are quite popular right now and there are many different ideas people have come up with for them.  I chose to print off an old version of MN {which was free}.

6) Keys.  Along with the framed keys, I also included a giant key that I just liked and had no where else to put.

7)  Pictures of pets.  I chose not to include any people pictures, but I did want Boston pictures to be included.  

8)  Framed numbers.  There are a lot of significant numbers to choose from.  The 7 represents our wedding day, but you can also choose birthdays, the year you met, the year you got married, house numbers, number of people in the family, etc.  

9) Chalkboards.  I think a gallery wall is a perfect place to have a framed chalkboard with meaningful sayings.  

10) Framed art.  I don't really think these two pictures can be classified as "art", but I like them.  These are the pictures I originally had on the wall and are simply printed off from the computer on scrapbook paper.  Super cheap and easy and the silhouette can be of anything.

11) Framed words.  Along with numbers come words.  I had a hard time choosing this one because there are so many options (i.e. place we met, got married, first address).  In the end I chose a word in our current address because it was the shortest one!  The background for this frame is pages cut out from an old book and mod podged onto a piece of paper.

12) Framed Bible verse.  I chose not to do this one only because I have a chalkboard for this purpose.

13) Lyrics from a song sung at your wedding.

14) Poems/sayings

15) Hand prints.

Alright, I am stopping at 15.  There are so many options, it just takes a little creativity.  Almost all of the artwork in the frames was free, except for a couple pictures that I had printed off, which made this project very affordable.

So. Many. Projects

I have A LOT of projects going on right now, not to mention my first exam in grad school coming up next week.  Now I'm not one to start worrying early, so by next week I will either a) be completely laid back about the whole thing, b) be completely stressed out, or c) feel super prepared to ace my first exam {doubt. it.}.  

In the meantime, let me share with you a few of my projects that are currently underway but have no end in sight.  First off, we have this little ottoman:

Don't you just love unexpected finds, especially with those legs?!  He was a Goodwill purchase and actually came with a matching chair.  I really had no interest in taking the chair home with me at this point, so I bought the set and donated the chair right back {not that I don't already give that store enough of my money}.  Now I have every single piece I need for my reading nook...except a chair.  Someday people, someday.  This may be needless to say, but the ottoman will be receiving a paint job and new fabric to tie it in with the space.  

Next, we have this lovely piece of furniture.

I bought it about a week ago from the overpriced store that I always seem to find stuff at and snatched it right up.  This is the same place that had a buffet I loved for 6 months until the day I went to go purchase it and it was sold.  I knew I needed to act quickly.  Now you may not be able to tell in the picture, but she needs a lot of love.  Her color isn't bad, but her poor paint job is chipping everywhere.  This will most likely be a long process, so do not expect any after pictures of her for awhile!  And if you are wondering, she will be {fingers crossed} sitting in my living room next to the couch as sort of an end table/space filler.  

As you can see, that corner is pretty bare now that the Christmas tree has been taken down.  So bare, in fact, that I had to decorate it with my favorite thing in the house.  Now unto the next project:

A craft table that is currently under construction.  Don't judge me for still having the plastic from painting taped to my walls.  If I can lift the piece of wood Cody cut for me, I will hopefully be painting it and putting it together by this weekend.

I also I have another project going on with one of the walls near the kitchen, two large wall projects for the basement, and several sewing projects that I am pretty pumped about.  As you can see, there is a lot going on around here.  Which I suppose is why none of them are actually getting done after they get started.  So off I go to tackle at least one project today!

Mod Podged Mail Holder

I just realized we are already half way through the month of January and I still haven't done a single post about my Silhouette projects {so much for dedicating this month to it!}.  But we must start somewhere, so here it goes...

As part of my organization resolution, I decided something needed to be done about our mail situation.  This is how it typically works:  Cody gets the mail on his lunch hour.  He comes home and sets the envelopes on the table so we will pay attention to them.  They sit on the table for several days.  Tara gets annoyed with them sitting on the table.  She moves the envelopes to the office and sets them on the desk.  No one ever goes in the office.  The envelopes get forgotten about and bills do not get paid.  Unfortunately, this has been happening way too frequently, so something needed to change.  Cue my shopping trip to SAVERS {yep, that's right, branching out from Goodwill} where I found the perfect little mail holder.

It is adorable, but completely wrong for my house.  I almost feel a little bad painting it since someone went through so much work to make it look this lovely.  But then again, it was at Savers so I guess no one really wanted it anyway.  

I applied a fresh coat of paint to the entire thing and found some cute mail themed scrapbook paper that I happened to have on hand.  I applied a general amount of Mod Podge and she was looking just as lovely as ever.  

But since January is {supposed to be} Silhouette month here at Behind the Red Barn Door, I didn't stop there.  I also added some letters that I cut out with my Silhouette just to make sure we are extra organized.

  

It has already been put to good use.

No more late bills in this house!

What I Did This Weekend...

Who know painting could be so dramatic?  It started a few weeks ago when we got our new television in our basement.  As I sat down there, I realized how much I disliked the colors we had chosen for the walls.

I contemplated painting all the walls the green/brown/taupe/tan/beige color, but remembered how much I loved this color I had seen in Pottery Barn.

It become the inspiration color for the basement.  Now I know this color is called Newburyport Blue from Benjamin Moore.  I also know that how paint looks in a picture in a catalog is completely different than how it looks in real life {true story, this color is actually ALOT darker, almost navy}.  So my goal was to find a color that looked like the picture.  I got my paint swatches and went through the whole rigmarole of holding it up to the wall at different times of day, on different walls, at different angles, etc.  I found the perfect color-Behr's English Channel.  As a matter of fact, it was so perfect I decided to just go for it and purchase two gallons.  

And I am sure you all can guess that it was indeed NOT the perfect color.  It was very very blue.  Like, say, the English Channel?  I'm not sure, I have never been there.  Anywho, I knew I couldn't paint any of my walls that color, so I marched right back to Home Depot and demanded they retint my paint.  Actually, I asked very nicely if they could make it look a little more like....Newburyport Blue.  The paint guru over at HD said indeed she could.  So she added a little raw umber to the paint and sent me on my way saying "go try this out and come back if it needs more" {I am pretty sure that's how it went anyway}.  So I went home and tried it on three walls, just to get the full effect.  It was ALOT better, but it was still very very blue. 

Do you see?  Primary blue is pretty much what that should be called.  So I went back the next day, only to find my paint guru was NOT working and a teenage boy had taken her place.  No worries, I figured, I know exactly what I want so this should be pretty simple.  

"Can I help you?"

"Um, yes, I need my paint re-tinted.  I already used some of this can, would you like me to even the two cans out for you so they will turn out the same?"

"No!  You CANNOT do that!  I can only re-tint the full gallon."

"Very well, I will just use the half gallon for my base coat."

The young worker proceeds to open my full can and gasps {seriously, he gasped}, "this can is WAY too full, I cannot fit another drop in here or it will overflow!!!"

"Oh ok, so.....should I pour some of it into this already used can?"  

I was completely serious when I suggested this and still do not quite understand what the big deal was.  But apparently was a huge deal, because out came another gasp and eyeballs the size of baseballs.  Once again, I was told that I CANNOT do this {seriously dude, it is my paint!}.  He then proceeded to tell me how by doing this I would get a completely different color of paint.  This may be true, but I figured it was better to try it then to buy all new paint, right?  So I offered up anther suggestion.

"How about we go ahead and try it and if it turns out awful, I will just call it my fault".  This is about the time when all of Home Depot fell dead silent and everyone turned to stare at me.  So I let the young worker come up with the next solution, which involved added tint to the emptier can and mixing it together myself when I got home.  This sounded like a perfectly legitimate option and I agreed.  Then another half an hour passed as we argued about how much white and raw umber to add.  Pretty sure they should have just listened from the start.  

So home I went, ready to test my new concoction.  It was a lot less blue and we ended up having plenty of paint, which is a good thing because 1:  I am probably banned from Home Depot for awhile, and B:  I could not replicate this paint color if I tried.  

So here is the final color, distorted by a point and shoot camera and a bad sun glare.  

Now off to finish with the decor part of the basement.  I will keep you all updated on the progress!

Love at First Sight

Bos met his future wifey today.  She is not quite his size yet...

As a matter of fact, she is the size of his rope bone which he is able to completely shove in his mouth (hence why Cody is holding him in the picture).

So you may sleep for now Bella, but next time you come over we are releasing the beast!

My Dream Home

Lately, I have been really into pinning inspiration for my "future home".  I have a very specific image in my mind about how I want it to look, and thought it would be fun to do a post about it so that in a few years I can look back and see how much {or little} my tastes have changed.

It's no secret to those who know me that my dream is for Code and me to build our own house on THIS property next to THIS barn...

I am absolutely in love with the look of stone houses.  I want it to look like it's straight from Europe.

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With a matching stone fireplace that goes all the way up to my vaulted ceiling.

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I am currently in love with any and all reclaimed wood.  I am picturing using the walls of the buildings on our yard to make into our wood floors :).  Hopefully they will be able to withstand Boston!

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And let's not forget the necessary wood beams for the ceiling and planks on the walls.

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A mudroom is also going to be necessary, with a laundry room and bathroom connected for my dirty hubs, dog, and kids.

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Aren't these pictures perfect?  And since I never change my mind, I will most likely still love these when it is time to find a new home :)

New Beginnings

I just want to take a moment to congratulate my one of my favorite couples in the whole world, Logan and Annie.  My brother-in-law proposed to his girlfriend last week and I am so unbelievably excited.  I have always wanted a little sister, and now I am finally getting one!  Plus, I think she is one of the best ones I could have asked for.  I knew it was only a matter of time since she caught the bouquet at my wedding :).   

The proposal was amazing, so be sure to check it out here.  We have pretty much planned the entire wedding this past week, but for some reason I have a feeling it isn't quite over with yet.  No worries though Ann, I am completely prepared for absolutely anything that you come up with for me to do.  Maybe you will finally get your pay back for all the crazy things I made you do with me over the last couple years?  Or maybe not.  Either way, bring on the madness!