Living Room Refresh (a DIY Kilim / Aztec Rug and an abstract Cow Painting)

In case anyone happened to be wondering....I'm still alive over here!

Wrapped up in the crazy, hectic, out-of-control whirlwind that is life with 3 small boys. 

I can hardly believe that my baby boy is 6 months old this week! How on earth did that happen, and where did the past half year go?? 

I've been dealing with some postpartum anxiety (not fun), and so have been trying to force myself to take it as easy as possible. It's so easy to over-schedule and over fill our days, and I just can't do that....so we've been having a pretty low-key summer filled with short bike rides, local parks, and lots of backyard play time :). Suits this mama just fine! 

The only problem with spending a lot of time at home is that I tend to see so many projects that could be done, and things that I'd like to change.  So...without overdoing it, I decided to do a little "refresh" of our living and dining room. 

Nothing crazy. One little painted rug and a few new cushions. Oh...and 4 new chairs. And a new rustic light pine table top (but that doesn't count, because my awesome husband whipped that one up for me one evening) ;)

I just felt like our home needed a little extra punch. Something out of my usual comfort zone. So...I went a little crazy and painted an IKEA Erslev rug in a crazy black/white/pink aztec/kilim-inspired pattern.  

I got this cute cow painting at Home Sense, and fell in love with her :) My sister in law had spotted her and knew that she was right up my alley!

I couldn't resist a couple of new, very reasonably priced, IKEA cushions as well. I like the contrast they add to the room.

Also loving these new chairs :)

Look at those eyelashes! How can you not love her ? :)

I purposefully made the rug a little bit imperfect.....ok...maybe I just really didn't want to take the time to measure it all out, so I "winged" it ;) 

I love how the table top turned out! We were going to invest in a Restoration Hardware Flatiron table...but then decided that, with 3 little boys colouring/glitter-glueing, etc. all over it, we didn't want to have to worry about it. This table top cost a total of $25. Perfect.  We had planned to distress it/age it, but I fell in love with the light pine Scandinavian look, and we've decided to just put a clear wax sealer on it and leave it as is (the actual colour is not as honey-toned as it appears in the pictures...it's much lighter in real life). The bottom of the table is the base of our old IKEA glass-top table.

To make the rug, I used regular latex paint, but added a fabric medium to it (bought at Michael's crafts). I just taped off a random pattern, and then painted it quite roughly with a regular big brush. No mystery to it. The taping took the longest...approx an hour (after the boys were in bed one evening).

 It's amazing what a few small changes/updates around the house can do for your well-being :) I'm enjoying spending time in our living room again, and it's all thanks to a new rug and a big cow.

Another cozy, red Christmas in our house! (Scandinavian inspired Christmas decor)

 It's that time of year again! And I LOVE it!

There's nothing quite like the cozy feeling of Christmas decorations for  me :) 

I kept it simple this year, and didn't buy anything new (ok...ok....just one little cushion and a red reindeer)....does that even count?

I'm hooked on red. It's just so festive, and warm, and inviting!

Our mantel is very similar to how it was last year, but I added a new "Tis the Season" sign that I painted last night :) I kind of like the fun, "not-too-serious" vibe it gives off!

Our little haphazard Christmas village....mostly from the thrift shop.....which the boys LOVE. They play with it non-stop, and I don't have to worry about the odd breakage because the whole bag of little figurines cost about $2! :) 

Anyone else getting ready for Christmas already? We've got carols playing and the fire lit....and it really is "beginning to look at lot like Christmas"! ;)

xoxo

A red, yellow and blue striped shared boys bedroom!

One very tired mama later.......and the boys' bedroom is DONE!!!!

Finally!!

I was trying to redecorate the entire room on a budget, which didn't exactly make it "low effort". 

Sigh...

But it kept me going.....gave me something to do....y'know.....as if I didn't have enough going on already ;)

The best part is that it was all worth it to see that boys' faces when I showed them their new room!! 

They couldn't have been more excited. They literally spent hours sitting/playing/exploring in their new room....reading books even! On their own! wow.....why didn't I do this sooner? :)

Anyways....on to the room.....

It's a very busy, pattern-heavy, superhero-friendly room......I figured (since I really can't stand superhero *stuff*)....if you can't beat them, at least make sure that the superhero stuff that does get into the house is somewhat simple and not too garish!

So...I made the cushions (seriously...try finding a red "Flash" cushion...or a "lellow" Superman pillow. IMPOSSIBLE.   They were actually really easy to do.....I wanted them to look a little bit rough around the edges, so I just cut out the superhero symbols and appliquéd them on the cushion covers, leaving the raw edges showing. 

I also made a big navy blue euro sham with two arrows on it...one red, and one yellow.

(Read this post to find out why I had to have one side of the room RED and the other side "LELLOW" ) :)

***ps: Please excuse the bad semi-fuzzy pics in this post....the lighting was bad! They're bugging me, so I might retake them....but we'll see if I get a chance! ***

I painted the blue stripes on the wall (it was dark brown previously, so this made a BIG difference to the room).....using no VOC paint, of course ;)

I wanted some personalized wall art that the boys would recognize, so I edited two pictures of them riding their bikes at the skate park, and had them enlarged. 

This picture makes me smile every time I look at it :)  Two very happy little men!

The bunting was one I'd made for Toby's first birthday party, and as soon as I hung it up I knew it was "too much"......the room is busy enough already!! But I didn't quite get it down in time before two small boys ran into the room exclaiming about how much they loved it, and how it felt like a party....and how I was NOT going to be taking it down!!  whoops.   Oh well...Ir's their room, after all !

I very quickly painted some dollar store cork boards and added two little dollar store hats for fun. As you can see in the pictures above, the hats have been getting some use!

I felt like drawing one day last week, and decided to do a little caricature of the boys :) I just used a thin tip black marker and then used watercolour paints to add some colour. The boys loved this! They actually recognized themselves right away, which I thought was funny :)

Toby's RED nightstand.....complete with a padlock and hidden key.

Toby's new big boy Kindergarten backpack!! Yes...my little man is starting school next week! Eeek.

I made these initials with the leftover plywood from the headboard. My inspiration was from Anthropologie originally.....they had these up in their store as part of a display....but I found them on Pinterest (of course!) here. 

And Finn's "Lellow" nightstand! He was so absolutely chuffed to have his own spot to put his own special toys and "jewels" :) 

I really wanted a headboard to lean against while reading bedtime stories...so I decided to make one. It was actually pretty easy. I just had my local hardware store cut a piece of plywood to the right size, then glued some eggshell foam to the back and drilled holes for the button tufting. Then I stapled the fabric to the plywood and threaded the buttons on and it was done! 

I decided to use Toby's double bed as a day bed so that we wouldn't have to deal with either of them rolling off the bed (man do these boys ever move around in their sleep!). It worked out really well...and they still have lots of room to grow!

Well...there you have it. A busy room for two very busy boys :)

For anyone who cares....here's where I got everything:

Red/blue striped curtains: Pottery Barn Kids on sale

Navy star quilt: PB Kids

Cream Linen Euro Shams : IKEA

Red/white patterned pillow: Home Sense

All other pillows/cushions: DIY

Headboard: DIY

Blue pinstripe Duvet cover and shams: IKEA

Pictures frames : IKEA (yellow one was white originally, then painted yellow)

Red and Yellow nighstands: Thrifted and painted DIY

Shared Boys Bedroom Inpiration

So...I've been planning a new boys' bedroom.

If you can believe it, Finn has been sleeping in our bedroom since he was born (yes...almost 3 years), and I think it's time (new baby coming and all) for the boys to share a bedroom :)

Now.....the problem is that poor little Finny calls it "Toby's bedwoom" ....and I just feel like I need to give it a facelift in order for him to think of it as his "bedwoom" as well!

Easier said than done.

Seriously.

I made the mistake of asking them which colour they would like in their bedroom.....Toby said RED....Finny said "LELLOW!" 

Ok....so....ketchup and mustard. Awesome. 

So....I'm going to attempt to keep everyone happy and incorporate red and yellow, but keep the rest of the room mostly white, with a blue/white striped wall. Crazy?  Whatever. I like crazy.

Just a little "sneak peek" as requested by Michelle :)

Navy blue, Red and Yellow Shared Boys Bedroom by tracey-kofoed on Polyvore


(I'm not really actually using these products....more of a DIY deal going on around here....but just so you have a little idea of where I'm trying to go with this)



So...there you have it. My little "project" of the moment!

I kind of love projects.

My goal is to have this finished by next weekend. Think I can pull it off? ;)



Not quite sure where I'll get the energy from, but, if anything, it keeps my mind off feeling sick.

A crazy metallic abstract painting adds a modern touch

My craving for change around this house is still going strong...

I was feeling trapped in an overly "pretty" home (yes..I know...how could it possibly be pretty with so many boys around?) ;)

I decided I wanted something dramatic and colourful. With a little bit of gold and silver thrown in to shake it up a bit. SO......I found a huge canvas in our garage and got to work after the boys were in bed. 

I really had no idea where I was headed, until the brush hit the canvas.....probably not a great idea, in hindsight. I'm not 100% in love with how it turned out, and of course now I can think of so many other cooler geometric designs I could have done...but whatever. It's serving its purpose for now....definitely packs a fairly big, fun, colourful, geometric punch when you come into the room :).

I was *trying* to force myself out of my comfort zone. The pretty little comfort zone that has a lot of pink and flowers and white. Ok...so, there's still a substantial amount of pink in there, but there's also dark blue, and gold, and silver :) It's hard to capture the metallic paint on camera in the light today, but I love how the light reflects off the gold and silver paint. It definitely gives it a whole different look. Adds some much-needed "glam" factor :)

Well....that's it, that's all :)  So my life may not be overly exciting if this is the biggest thing going on right now, right? ;) whatever. Excitement is overrated.

xo

Family Rules ...... our new sign

Can you believe it's February already?? 

It feels like the year just started, but as usual, it's flying by!

For some reason, I get a real urge at the start of every year to make changes around the house.....you know...organize random drawers, switch furniture/art around, add a few new little accessories....that sort of thing. 

Ok....so maybe I actually do that all year long, but the craving for change is stronger at the start of the year, for some reason. I think it's got a lot to do with taking down the Christmas decorations. As soon as they're down, I need something uplifting in their place.....something new and fresh :)

Anyways......this is one little project that I did last week, and it makes me smile every time I come up the stairs into our living room :)

I'm sure you've seen signs like this around pinterest, etc....I've been wanting to make one for a while. 

Toby loves it too....he's constantly coming up with new "rules" that he'd like me to add to the list :) His latest was: "We should always try to go to the bathroom every once in a while, and not leave it too late until it's an emergency" :) haha......true...true. 

Maybe it was February, maybe it was just my love of this girly colour, but I kind of liked the pop of pink on the bottom line :)  I'm somewhat partial to the pink/grey colour combo in general, if you hadn't noticed ;)

I used a stencil for the big letters, and just freehanded the rest of it. I smudged it up a bit ...just cause I liked it better that way. And...hehe....it covers up my somewhat woeful paint job ;)

Funny how little projects like this can make your day. Or am I the only one? :)

A new Pink Abstract painting for our living room

Toby and I did a little "project" today....

We've been waiting for a beautiful sunny day like today for so long...

and once we got little Finn to down for his nap, we whipped out our paintbrushes and got to work!

There's just nothing quite like painting in the sunshine. 

It's my "happy place" :)

And I couldn't be happier with the results! The look on Toby's face when he saw that I'd given our "masterpiece" pride of place on the living room mantel was priceless! :)

He was so cute, working away at the painting, all down to business in his painting jeans. I wish I'd taken a picture, but sadly, I was just having too much fun.

It's the perfect pop of colour that I've been craving. 

I decided to try it standing up "tall" on the mantel....but I'm not sure if it looks grand, or weird. What do you think? Should I turn it over onto its side? I sort of like how it makes the ceiling appear higher.

Just look at all his cute little swirls and splatters :)

Love it!

And to add even more delight to our day.....we discovered a cute little chubby mama robin has made her nest under our deck. 

And look what we found when we peeked inside....!

Aren't they so beautiful? We were careful not to touch, or get mama robin too scared....and she's back on her little nest right now :)

Toby said "Mom...how did she know that there was a dragon at this house, that will help her protect her eggs?...I'm so glad that she chose our house instead of the neighbour's"

He said that first thing tomorrow morning, he's going to go and listen to see if he can hear any baby birdies. Or any tapping on the eggs, from the deck above ;)

These little "muffins" (as they're often referred to as) are the source of so much fun, and just about as much exhaustion. They are full of life and beans and craziness. 

Here they are wearing their hockey gear....in the spirit of the playoffs :)

I hope you've all had a wonderful day!

I know we did :)

xoxo