lucy's room makeover

As many of you know, it's become a tradition to redecorate and paint a fresh mural in Lucy's room every couple of years. Her room is tiny and as she's gotten older, her style and interests are always changing and evolving. And this year, together we decided on a Matisse inspired wall. Lucy's middle name is Matisse and it seemed appropriate to at some point in her life create a Henri Matisse inspired wall. The best part of was planning it out and spending time painting together. Here is a little peek. 

BEFORE

I painted this butterfly mural back in 2016. 

Looking for a little more inspiration when it comes to using paint and creativity to transform a space?

painted floor runner   painted countertops    statement wall   kids statement wall  flower mural   guest room mural  doodled dishwasher   painted deck  kids room makeover

ocean themed gallery wall

About every six months I get an uncontrollable itch to move things around in our house. I'm a MAJOR nester and I've been like this for as long as I can remember! In fact I can remember being a kid constantly moving my bedroom furniture. Recently I got that old familiar feeling and decided to do some major cleaning, organizing and changing our living room space around. The biggest change I made was to create an ocean themed gallery wall in our living room. 

The ocean plays a huge role in our lives- it is where we go to explore, pray, celebrate, exercise, connect and play. And since I come from a surfing family, we have lots of photos and surfing paraphernalia around. I thought it would be fun to use some of my favorite photos to create an ocean themed gallery wall. I started by printing the photos (I use a Cannon Pixma Pro-10). While I love color, I tried to select photos that had a color theme- lots of bright white with pops of subtle blues and greens. Then I framed everything in white frames.

Next, Andy hung an alaia surfboard that he recently shaped. An alaia is a thin, round nosed, square tailed surfboard ridden in pre-20th century Hawaii made from wood. The board was so pretty that I thought it would make a neat focal point for the wall. Andy made some sturdy wood hooks for the board to sit in and easily be removed when he uses it.

Then I arranged the framed photos beneath the board and called it good!

I love how bright and white this simple change has made in the living room. I also love being surrounded by all things from the sea!

tin tile coffee table

I've been busy tackling all kinds of DIY projects around the house and something I have been putting off for WAY too long is remaking our ottoman. A few years back I bought a big tufted ottoman in a very light beige and over the last 3 years, the fabric was destroyed by a certain (cute) someone (thank goodness for our white slip covered couch). From spilled juice to permanent markers, the ottoman was pretty disgusting and it was time to figure something out. 

Before getting rid of it, I thought I would at least see if there was something under the stuffing and fabric that I could salvage. I considered making a slip cover for it but I really wanted a coffee table with a surface that could actually be used. Much to my delight, there was a nice sturdy wood frame underneath. At first I thought I would tile it with glass tiles but then I came across faux tin tiles at my local Home Depot and I thought they would make a really cool coffee table!

I have to say this was one of easiest projects I have tackled! The tiles, while they look like tin are actually a light weight plastic (they can even be painted) that you can adhere with heavy duty double stick tape or construction adhesive. I cut my tiles to size- they come in large sheets- and then covered the entire table (top and sides). It was SO fast and easy- even Lucy helped out with this one

The result is a really cool large coffee table that has a little bit of a boho vibe to it.