Diving Into Blue

After I added my blue octopus over our family room fireplace and summerized the mantle I thought I was "done" with this room until fall.  

 While my family thinks the octopus is pretty cool, their one critique is that I needed to add more blue around the rest of the room. 
Even my husband, who doesn't like change and always thinks our house is "fine" they way it is, (he doesn't get my need for constant change) commented the room needed more blue. 
Off to the fabric store and Home Goods for a blue makeover.
I'm diving in head first.

Here's what I did.

 



 

I made some pillows. 
The fabric feels almost like a beach blanket.  It's thick, textured, and sturdy.
Don't notice the brown couch the pillows are sitting on. 
I don't like it, but it's comfy, in great shape, and paid for, so it's staying for now. 
I have steered away from the Tuscan look, but some furniture pieces like this one still haunt my house.

 

 

I slip covered my ottomans with coordinating fabric. 

I sewed the seams inside out for a more casual, beachy look. 

I picked fabric that is very durable because my kids like to throw the pillows on the floor to watch TV and my husband likes to ball them up to stick under his legs when he stretches out on the couch. 

 I took the gray velvet slip cover off my other couch for now.

I don't think I showed you this Ralph Lauren jute rug I picked up at Home Goods for a steal a few months back. 

It's very soft and comfortable for bare feet and floor lounging kids.

I like the texture it adds to the room. 

Since the room has a very neutral color scheme,

I can change out the accessories whenever I get bored.
Pretty much any color works in this room.

 

 

My mom gave me a blue and white dog bed for Piper.  

I think she likes it.

 

I picked up the blue glass float from Home Goods.

I found the Cabinet of Natural Curiosities book on clearance years ago at Anthropologie for $25.

I added my new pillows to my $10 Craig's List wicker chairs.

 

 

To see how I made my vertical succulent wall go here.

 

I changed out my glass bubbles with sand, coral, and shells.

No blue, more beach.

 

 

Piper follows me around where ever the photo shoot is happening. 

Her brother and sister are grand champions.

 Maybe she wants to be a supermodel  too.

 

 

 

 More seashells and blue watering orbs were added to my candelier.

 



 

I used the left over pillow fabric and jute webbing to make a runner for the dresser behind my couch. 

This dresser stores all my craft supplies.

I took the leftover glass from my DIY Restoration Hardware Rope Planetarium Chandelier and re purposed it as a mini green house.

I added blue ribbon to my DIY glass lamp shades.

 

 I added some blue accessories to my DIY industrial shelves on the other side of the room.  

 

The candles are from Home Goods. I already had the Fleur Di Ly's plaque and I just gave it a quick spray with blue paint. 

The boxes were found in the clearance bins at Michael's.

 

 

 

 

 

Have you been diving into any new decor for your home?

 

Enjoy the rest of your summer.

Thanks for checking it out.

 

 

 

Making The Cut

Happy Belated Easter!  I hope you and your family had a wonderful day together.  I on the other hand, missed Easter and spent a good part of the day in bed sick.  I have a nagging cough that I can't seem to shake which is unusual for me since I haven't been sick in over a year.  I tried playing volleyball Monday morning hoping a good sweat would make me feel better.  I'm much better today.

The first cut was the huge molding project in my husband's new room.

We made great progress on Saturday.  When I say "we" I mean my brother Mike.  I can do simple molding projects like window casings and fireplace mantels, but this room has some difficult angles.  Mike is really talented with wood working.  He wears a suit everyday and is an investment banker by trade, but could easily have been a cabinet maker.  I basically followed him around, handed him the nail gun, and tried to stay out of his way while he made all the cuts.  My husband spent the afternoon jack hammering out the fire pit.  More on that project later. 

This is where the new room is at right now.  Mike put baseboards on the wall and then put another piece of baseboard on the ceiling.  He has been coming after work this week and is in the process of putting up crown molding between the joint where the ceiling and wall meet.

Here is step one of building the crown molding, baseboard on wall and baseboard on ceiling.

The corners may look like 45 degrees, but they're not.  Nothing in this house is plumb.

Once the crown molding is added you won't see the seam or the gaps in between the two baseboards.

Here is the next step, the added piece of crown molding.  I have started filling the nail holes and joints with spackle.  I still need to sand and paint.

Here is the room before.

After painting the walls and ceiling.

After progress.

I also painted the inside of the front door black (the outside is already black).  I added window casings  and here is the partially completed crown molding.

Once painted the molding will look like one large piece of molding.

This corner is ready for sanding.

The second cut was the CSI Pillow Challenge
I made these for my slip covered couch awhile back and you can see them here.

My pillows made the cut!


If you get a chance, go see all the cute and creative pillows over at CSI.

Have a great weekend! 
Casey has a soccer tournament in Bakersfield, I have a volleyball tournament is Anaheim, and Cami has a volleyball tournament here in San Diego.  I think the molding work will have to wait till next week.

  Thanks for checking it out.