christmas decorations, so far...

I've been super excited to decorate the house for Christmas. It is so much different buying and making things to decorate our house then it was for a rental apartment. I chose a neutral color palette with metal tones.

We bought a (fake) tree a few weekends ago, and I just couldn't wait to get it up and get it decorated. I've been picking up Christmas ornaments for a while, one-by-one, because I wanted to have a unique combination - no regular glass ball ornaments. My mom has also been buying me handmade, one-of-a-kind ornaments from a small boutique in Zionsville for the past few years. Many of our ornaments are music-related; not just because of my last name, but also because of James' & my love for music and the huge place it has in our lives. I love the instrument ornaments I found, some music notes, and treble clefs.

Tree skirts are so expensive! I wrapped 2.5 yards of burlap around the base of our tree for a natural and chic look for only $7!

For those of you who haven't seen our house in person, this is your first look at our bright red living room! This is the color the living room was painted when we got the house. It is not bad, but it is not our style; we want to use more earthy colors in our house, so come January, these walls will see a big change -- but for now, they work for Christmas!

I made a sign to hang with our awesome mantle for Christmas - "peace on earth". I cut my own stencils, because I hated all the fonts the stencils I could buy were in of course, using an exacto knife. I then placed my stencils on pieces of burlap, and sprayed with brown spray paint. After that, string together, and voila!

I saw some twine-covered tree cones at Pottery Barn a while back, and LOVED them. The only thing I didn't love about them was the fact that they were $49! I knew there had to be another option. I kept my eye out for something similar that was cheaper, never found it, and decided I should just make my own. I do like that the ones from Pottery Barn go to a full point better, but ya know what? That is not worth another $34!!

Want some? I'd be glad to make them for you! $20 (Hey, I gotta make a few bucks! And otherwise you'll have to spend $49!)

That is all for now. I'm working on a few other Christmas decoration projects, and will post them soon!

downstairs bathroom

We've been working on lots of things in the house recently. There is finally one room that is basically done - the downstairs bathroom!

When we moved in, the bathroom was a basic tan color, along with many other rooms in the house. We want the rooms in the house to have more impact with the colors. We were also excited to be able to paint rooms whatever color we want after living in rental houses and apartments for so long, where you are stuck with whatever color it is - usually tan or white.

The wheat color and white were already set as part of the color palette because of the white fixtures in the bathroom (shower, sink, toilet) and the wheat-colored tile floor. I wanted this room to be kind of bold, but still somewhat neutral so it didn't seem out of place in comparison to the rooms around it, so I chose the light slate color for the walls. I found a great shower curtain at target, and incorporated the mustard color from it.

This was the first room I've ever painted by myself, I'm pretty proud of it! I knocked it out one Sunday afternoon and only had to make a few touch-ups. I can't wait to get some of the other rooms in the house painted.