My Living Room: The Reveal~

Hello, my lovelies!!  I'm so excited to share our living room with you all today!  It's been a really fun room to put together with some interesting details that I can't wait to share.  So off we go...

First, the BEFORE photos...

Exciting, wasn't it?  As you can see, the room was just begging for some interest.  So we got busy working on it.

Let's be honest.  It was a lot of work.  But we had a lot of fun in the process. So without further ado, here are the AFTER photos...

I am a big fan of neutrals, and in this room I went for a neutral palette, but I didn't want it to be boring, so I mixed it up with some great patterns.

I also wanted to warm up the grays and blacks, so we chose to add some brown to the palette.

The rug is from Flor (more on that later) and the coffee table is from World Market.

The sofa is an IKEA Ektorp series.  The pillows are from Etsy.  (The large one in the center is from my fabulous sponsor Elisabeth Michael.)

That cute rustic birdcage was a gift from my mother.

We changed the stair wall from chocolate brown to this fabulous charcoal gray, Magnetite by Martha Stewart.

I had been thinking of doing a gallery wall in the stairwell, but the Hubby suggested we create one on the charcoal wall.  I love it!! The white frames against the gray are beautiful!  Our plan is to add more frames as our budget allows until the whole wall is filled.

The tufted chairs are from TJ Maxx.

The white frames are from IKEA.

On the window wall, I framed out the windows with natural linen curtains from IKEA.  To create architectural interest (since there was no fireplace) we put a bookcase, and topped it with a beautiful large-scale charcoal done by the hubby's father.

The leather chair is the hubby's and was purchased years ago (pre-blogging days) so I don't remember the name of the shop.  The faux fur pillow is from Target.

I hung the curtains, higher and wider than the windows to create the illusion of the windows being larger than they actually are.

The antler was a gift from my mother.  I love it coupled with the folded book I made a few years ago, it adds such great texture.

The entry is one of my favorite parts of this whole room design.  What appears to be wallpaper on the wall, is actually hand done.  I'll tell you all about how I created it in an upcoming post.

I topped the console with a photo purchased from IKEA, as well as the hubby's photo of train tracks in a tunnel.

I'm really happy with how it all came together!  It just proves that neutral doesn't have to be boring. In fact, they can be down right lovely!!

Have a great day~



My Boys' Room: The Reveal~

Hello, my lovelies!!  Today's the day!! I'm finally going to "reveal" the boys' room.  I hate to use the term "reveal" though, because I know I will end up tweaking things as time goes on.  But since it is basically in its' finished state, I figured I should finally share it with you all!

This post is going to be a bit picture-heavy.  I have a hard time editing out photos I love...plus that's what we all really love about blogs anyway, right?  So off we go...

I talked and talked about finding bunkbeds for the boys.  I love what we ended up with...espresso brown, substantial, and a steal because we bought the floor model from a warehouse store.  Again, I say, I love them.  Now we just have to get the matching trundle for Boy #3 so he can join his brothers in here.



On the other side of the room is the striped wall.  I am so in love with the bold stripes and the rich blue.  The expedit bookcase is perfect turned on its side to give the boys extra toy storage, and I adore the deer head... (more on that in a bit.)

Here's the green dresser.  I'm so glad I chose to paint it this wonderful shade of green!  It gives the room some real pep!!  And the "B" wall?  I couldn't be happier with how that turned out.

So on to the deer head...it's from Cardboard Safari.  I wanted something whimsical that "screamed" boy!  What better than a "mounted" cardboard deer head?  To give it some presence in the room -  and to give the room some rustic warmth -  we put it on a board we made from an upcycled palette that we got for free on the side of the road. 

I love the look of the globes against the striped wall...and my little boys are especially in love with the tiny, vintage piggy-bank versions which Boy #2 calls his "penny planets".  If you look closely, you can also see their special "rock collection" proudly displayed around the base of the lamp.  Of course, Boy #1's lego Hogwarts Express also finds a place of honor here.

Back to the bunkbeds...finding just the right bedding was a bit of a challenge.  I really wanted something neutral in color that looked like linen.  I lucked into these duvets at IKEA.  They are perfect!

The green pillow cases also came from IKEA and just happen to be the exact color of the dresser.  The sconce on the wall is another IKEA find.  And the cute bicycle pillows came from HomeGoods.

Here's that sweet green dresser and the "B" wall again.  The globe is vintage and was a gift from my mother.  "I love you to the moon and back" is the way Boy #2 and I say "I love you" to one another.  The sign was gifted to me by my lovely bloggy friend Leslie of  Glitter and Bliss.

Hope you enjoyed this little tour of my boys' room!! 

Have a great day~

Blog Parade of Homes~

Happy Monday everybody! Today, I'm really excited to be partipating in a Bloggy Parade of Homes sponsored by Poppies at Play!

If you've never been to the Shabby Nest...WELCOME! I'm Wendy...a busy mother of four who loves all things home! I aim to make my spaces beautiful and livable and to create those spaces without breaking the bank. I hope you enjoy this little tour of my home, and if you like what you see, I hope you'll stick around!! I always love to meet new bloggy friends!



For those of you who are regular readers of the Shabby Nest, the first three rooms I'm going to share will probably look quite familiar...but, at the end of the post, I've included a sneak peak at our in-process living room that I hope will pique your interest in what is to come for that room!

Boys' Sock Monkey Bedroom

First up, my boys' sock monkey bedroom. I used my collection of vintage sock monkeys as the inspiration for this room's color scheme, and I just love the result. To read more about the process I used to create this room go here.

The Princess' Vintage Cottage Bedroom

Next up, the Princess' bedroom. For the centerpiece of the Princess' room, I used a beautiful old wrought iron bed that I inherited from my sister-in-law. You can read more about the Princess' room here.

White and Gray Master Bedroom Retreat

Ah, my master bedroom. I can honestly say that this is the first time in my married life that I have LOVED my master bedroom. The gray and white palette, the luxurious bedding, the custom headboard. All of it. It is really a retreat!!

You can read more about it here.

A Sneak Peak at our In-Progress Living Room

And here is the sneak peak of our living room that I promised you! It's starting to really take shape and I'm excited!! I put a fresh white slipcover on the sofa and sewed up some pretty throw pillows in a chocolate brown and cream trellis pattern.

We painted the buffet white (which I l0ve!) but are still looking to switch out the accessories and add a colorful lamp. The console under the large charcoal print (by my father-in-law) is still waiting it's coat of paint. I'm currently debating between a dark taupe - a color found in the area rug - or an olive green...you'll have to stay tuned to see which color wins out. The lamp on the console also needs replacing...

Do I spy painter's dropcloth drapes? Why yes!! They're perfect in the space!!

Here's a view of the opposite side of the room. We're hoping to replace the mismatched chairs and add a coffee table. The large black mirror over the mantel is going to receive a fresh coat of cream colored paint so that it matches the trumeau mirror propped in front of it. I'd also love to paper the back of the back of the built-in bookcase to lighten up the color a bit. Because we are renting, we can't paint out the bookshelves nor can we do anything about the discolored stone on the fireplace or the "lovely" brass fireplace grate, so the best I can do is camouflage them. Exactly how I'm going to do that remains to be seen!

I hope you enjoyed this little tour of my home! To continue on with the Parade of homes, click the #2 below!

If you weren't able to tune in for my FaveCraftsRadio interview last night, you can click here to listen to an archived version of the broadcast.

Have a great day~