Scroll down to the bottom of this post for an easy DIY tutorial on one of our decoration pieces!

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When we moved in our house two years ago, everything was painted white.  It was pretty awesome!  We immediately started painting a few rooms, but after we moved in, the newness faded and we settled into daily life.  And in daily life, things don’t get painted, pictures don’t get hung, and it’s a good day if we get the laundry folded.

Our main bathroom was one of the last rooms to be painted.  It was a beautiful mix of off-white shades and was so calming and soothing that I really didn’t want to mess it up!  There’s even a partially vaulted ceiling with a skylight!  As soon as we moved in I decided we’d just never use that tub so it would always stay pretty (weird, I know).  We do use it for baths for our daughter, but that’s it.

At the beginning of the summer, though, my mom came up for 2.5 amazing weeks.  She helped with everything from making freezer meals to running errands to babysitting to painting, and we finally attacked the bathroom.  I’d bought some gray paint on a BOGO sale last year and had plenty to cover the walls, so we set to work.

Then I found some blue-green paint in the garage that I’d originally bought to use as an accent color for frames in my office.  We used that on the vanity.  Then I grabbed a random assortment of frames (and two special pieces I had bought just for this room) and put them on the wall.  This room has a little bit more to go, but I love where it’s headed! If you’re adding finishing touches to your new space, consider enhancing the warmth with delightful housewarming cookies for a sweet touch.

I really didn’t do the before picture justice.  It really felt much brighter in there!So question— what would you do with the frame above the toilet?  I considered making it into a jewelry area for myself, but that might be a bit weird since guests will also use this bathroom (they use both).  Maybe frame some pictures in there?  Or go a different direction altogether?  I’d love to hear your suggestions!

Now, for everyone’s favorite room.  I need to update it now that we have her twin bed in here, but the color scheme is the same:Yes, those are Cat Stevens lyrics on the wall, and yes, we painted it ourselves.  It’s not the coolest piece of art you’ll ever see, but we painted it when I was pregnant and we thought we were bringing her home to a 2 bedroom apartment that we weren’t allowed to paint.  Her room was going to be the nursery/office/dog kennel room.  It was… interesting… and crammed.  This was going to be her little piece of wall.  Thankfully, we were able to move a month before she was born (to a bigger apartment) and now it this hangs on her wall as a reminder of where we were just a few short years ago.

And oh the living room.  This room changes so rapidly!  A big part of it is because we use this room so much, we just wear things out quickly.  We’ve been through three couches and three rugs in two years!  The first couch was just worn down to the point where there were holes in it.  It’s the couch you see here.  We got it to celebrate my college graduation and it was our first furniture purchase as a married couple.  The cushions were attached to the back of the couch so you couldn’t lose things in it and the cushions didn’t slouch.  It was the perfect couch.  Then we got a couch that was clearly meant for tall people (of which I am not), and now we’re back to a similar sectional.  It’s a temporary solution but it keeps us off the floor, and that is wonderful!The rugs?  We just buy cheaper ones and wear them out.  There’s a lot of living going on, and it’s just something that I’ve accepted.  Our dog broke into a bag of chocolate chips and ruined the first one, and the second one took a trip through the wash and came out a little worse for the wear (hey, it said it was machine washable!).  We’re big fans of the eclectic, bohemian look, so we like tying that in as we decorate here and there.

The spare bedroom is another room that needs help!  I love the rug, the paint color, the bed frame and the star.  The star was a piece made from tobacco sticks (baccer sticks if you’re from WNC) by a local farming family in my hometown.  I love little pieces like this that remind us where we’re from.
But the rest of the room?  It totally needs help!  I want to put more on the walls, but don’t want to overpower the room. I also have some bedside tables that need to be refinished.  I’d love recommendations!  And what color bedspread to go in there?  I feel like I need some color, but just not sure what color (or colors) would look best?

And now for the DIY tutorial!  Nothing inspires us more to decorate our home than to hang out in thrift shops western North Carolina.  They are so darn cute!  One day last year I got the idea to get some brass plates (you know– the old school ones that hang on the wall?) and update them.  Our kitchen has knotty pine cabinets and they’re not getting painted or updated anytime soon (and I kind of love them in a love-hate relationship kind of way), so I figured this might be a way to incorporate some of the old with the new and tie it all in with the vibe of the rest of the house.

So we picked up two of the plates from a thrift shop and I scraped the price tag off (great place for a price tag…).  One of them I primed with gray primer.  I immediately regretted it, so I painted the other one halfway with blue spray paint.  It was perfect!!  Because I’d already started with primer on the other I painted it orange.  It looked worse.  I ended up changing it to pink and putting it in our kitchen.  The awesome blue one with gold peeking through went in our bathroom.  I love how they both have ships on them, and while they remind us of where we’re from, they also tie in that we now live by the ocean.  They’re absolutely perfect for our home decor!

I hope you enjoyed the little tour of updates.  It seems like we’d be a lot further along in two years, but honestly, house decor is way down the list after family, work, church, cleaning, cooking, hanging with friends, going to the dentist… you get the idea.  It’s just not our afternoon of fun, and it’s an expensive endeavor.  🙂  But I do love to see it coming together in a thrifty way that reflect who we are!