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Our dining room has new shelves!!  They are a little rustic... a little glam... and totally perfect!  I'm SO THRILLED with how they came out! Just look at them!!  So pretty right?? I spent the better part of Saturday afternoon, with my drill, level, and measuring tape, hanging these bad boys up. These shelves are a DIY I'd started a few months back, and then they got totally neglected out of sheer laziness.  They'd been sitting in our garage for about a month after I stained the wood, and then sitting against the wall in our dining room for another few weeks before I finally decided to do something about them. I don't know what came over me this weekend, but I was on a mission to finish unpacking, and with several boxes of books staring me in the face, I knew it was time to get these shelves installed. Originally, I'd been envisioning a lovely rustic bookcase like this or this , but in the end I didn't feel like I could commit spending that much on a bookshelf I...

I just cannot get enough of this image... Source I am absolutely loving the greyed out wood floors, and the perfectly imperfect dining room table, and all the lovely muted colors.... but what I really love the most is the awesome bookshelf in the background.  Totally unassuming, but so cool - a little industrial, a little classic, a little natural. It's amazing. I've seen lots of bookshelves with patterned backs - using wallpaper, fabric, wrapping paper... but I really love how the back of this bookcase has simple planks of wood.  The greyed out, light wood allows all the accessories on the shelves to take center stage, but while they are a "quiet" muted slate for displaying the contents of the shelves, I think that they bring something really special to this bookshelf... I also love that the shelves of this bookshelf are made out of the same cool muted wood (or is it "wood"... so hard to tell!). After admiring this bookshelf for a while, I started brainstor...

So last week I'd jumped the gun with excitement and posted a few blurry pictures of the newly painted dresser that is in our room functioning for storage and as a TV stand... This has been a long time in the making... remember LAST FEBRUARY when I first started talking about this???  Well, it's only taken me eight months to finish this project ;-)  With the hardware attached, I can OFFICIALLY check this project off the list! Yep, that's my reflection in the TV!! I can't even begin to explain how good that feels to be able to say it's DONE.  Phew! I am so pleased with how it turned out - the ultra-marine blue paint color brings such LIFE to our bedroom without being overwhelming, or too in your face. I am in love with how it all turned out, but it was a LONG road to get here... let's start at the beginning... Ikea... on a Saturday... NIGHTMARE.  I got in, I got out, and a glass of wine later, I was ready to get the party started get this dresser built. Step one...

Man oh man... is it Friday yet??? This week, I've been up to my eyeballs in this... Accompanied by these - SUPER confusing building instructions... BTW, what is that first picture trying to say? If you try to attempt this alone, you will fail??   Whatever Ikea... I'm a one woman show! Just call me Tim the Toolman Taylor! As of this morning, this is where my newest little project stands.  Give me some credit!  Those are 3 fully functioning drawers on this bad boy!!  They line up and everything!  Woot wooootttt!!! While I may be celebrating my carpentry prowess a little early, I need to start making some decisions on the direction of this new dresser / TV stand.  It's moving into our bedroom (hopefully sooner rather than later), and I'm starting to think that my original plan for this dresser makeover needs a major overhaul few updates. This photo was my original inspiration for the dresser makeover.  Pretty right?  Simple and clean with prett...

Meet my new little friend... The large round Iron and Rope from Restoration Hardware ... He's rustic and cool and old timey, but welcoming him into your home won't make you seem like a suspender wearing, fake-old-timey poser... but just a cool collector of rad things... The problem?? $650 for a mirror??? I think not! But how easy could this possibly be to replicate??  Sure, those knots are the complicated knots of a skilled sailor, but heck, I'm sure it's nothing a quick Google search (or help from my father... who is a skilled sailor) can't fix! Let's find some eligible mirrors, eh? Here are a few contenders... I'm liking both the size and thin rim around the Ikea version - and that could EASILY be painted black. This is how I see it all coming together... I'd mount the mirror on the wall (as opposed to appending the rope and using that to hold the mirror's weight. Then I'd find some good rustic rope (I'm sure any hardware store supplies it)...