Spring Cleaning - Mini Blog Update

I apologize for how light my posts have been this week, but I promise it is all for a good reason.

While I haven't been doing many DIY around the house this past week, I have been doing a lot of behind the scenes work on the blog. For the past three weeks I've been working closely with a designer who has redesigned the SKOL blog.  We are hoping to have it completed in the next week and installed shortly after. I'm also trying to clean up some old posts, fix pictures, edit tags, blah blah blah.

Basically, Spring is coming and I'm ready for a fresh, lighter and brighter look and a more organized blog. We can call it a 'spring cleaning' of the blog.

Here is just a sneak peak of the new layout.

We still have a few small tweaks and proofs to go through before it's up and running. I'm so picky that I'm sure I'm driving the designer nuts. I can't help it though, I'm a detail oriented person.

I'm really excited not only with how the layout is going to look, but with the new direction I am planning to take the blog. Included in this blog 'spring cleaning', I am working towards having an up-to-date house tour page, and an actual 'about me' page among other things. I am also creating a completely organized and easy to maneuver catalgoue of all my DIY projects in one place. 

I also plan to branch out a little with my blogging. While this blog is primarily a DIY blog that talks a lot about home decor, I would like to do more with the lifestyle aspect. I've done a few clothing or beauty posts in the past and a recipe post or two, but would like to make it a weekly occurance. So I have decided to dedicate Friday posts to a 'lifestyle' topic, whether it be fashion, nutrition, recipes, fitness, whatever I'm feeling that week. I'll let the next few weeks be sort of a test run and see how it goes.

Check back later to read my first Friday Lifestyle post!

And don't worry, I'll be back next week with some fresh DIY and a pallet update.

Inspiration: Florals

Maybe it's because Spring is around the corner, or maybe it's the fact that I can't keep a real flower alive for more than a week, but lately I've really been into floral patterns both in home decor and in clothing. I'm seeing flowers everywhere. I been craving those bright florals, and have been mixing them with gold and lace - so girly and so unlike me!

Even the Anthropologie homepage is covered in blooms.

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I just bought myself one setting of these dishes from Anthropologie to use on my place rack in the dining room. I love the hand painted look of the design on these dishes and the colors look so good against the dark furniture and neural colors in the dining room.

 

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I bought this sachet from Anthropologie a few months ago and stuck it in my undies drawer. Not only is it an dainty little accent, but it makes my clothes smell so pretty.

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I recently bought this adorable floral contact case from Urban Outfitters to keep on my nightstand for those nights that I don't fall asleep with my contacts in!

The frame is an another Anthropologie purchase. It's one of my favorite little floral details that holds the first picture of Jordan and me as a couple almost 6 and a half years go.

Here are a few other florals I've been liking lately:

These two gorgeous upholstered chairs from Anthropologie.

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I'm finally coming around on the idea of wallpaper in the home. I used to be very anti-paper, but now think it would be cool to use on an accent wall, or inside of a small closet. These are my two favorites:

here and here

If you aren't quite committed to going as bold as wallpaper, there are many, smaller accent pieces that can be incorporated in your home instead.

Pillows are the easiest way.

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I love, love this LOVE pillow

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You could also go simpler with a shower curtain or duvet cover.

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And if you're willing to splurge a little, this flower rug pretty fabulous.

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 I'm certainly loving and craving florals for Spring and Summer and plan to incorporate some more into our home. How do you feel about florals?

Pallet Update

This weekend was dedcated to more prepwork for the pallet. 

I sanded down all the spackle spots as well as the rest of the pallet. While I like the 'rustic' look of the pallet, I needed to get smooth edges all around before I primed and in order to avoid any unnecessary splinters.

After a mini discussion, Jordan and I decided not to remove any of the planks on the back of the pallet as we will most likely need them to help stabilize the pallet when we hang it on the wall. (We're still planning exactly how we want/need to hang it so that it both looks nice and will be sturdy enough.)

Once the spackle spots and rough edges were sanded down, I primed the pallet using this spray paint from AC Moore.

One can was just enough to give the entire outside of the pallet a good coat.

After I did the first coat of primer, I started to notice a few spots that need to be respackled and touched up. I also still need to prime the inside of the pallet. I plan to pick up two more cans and hopefully get this boy primed and ready for paint by this weekend.

I'm already happy with how it's starting to look with just a little bit of white paint.

Oh, and here was my helper for the day.

Photo of the Day: 3.10.12

I was kicked out of bed at 6AM.

Seriously, More Spray Paint??

Rounding out the end of another week with yet another post about spray painting. Can you tell that I'm officially hooked? Hooked on gold and hooked on spray painting. I'll admit I've had to curb myself a bit before I spray paint my entire house. There have been a few times that I considered attacking several items with the can of paint, but realized that I'm not Midas and I need to settle down before I turn everything to gold.

This time it all started with a trip to Anthropologie (I feel like I start so many stories with that!). I didn't really have a plan to purchase anything in particular, but I've always been keeping an eye out for some new dishes to replace the white one in the black metal plate rack on the wall in our dining room.

I found these absolutely gorgeous dishes from Anthro. Although I wish I could have a complete set, I only purchased one dinner plate and one salad plate. I really don't need another set of dishes. We don't even use our wedding china.

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The rest of the dining room is so neutral and simple that these bright flowers are a pretty pop of color. I love how the flowers look (and probably are) handpainted on each individual dish. Each dinner plate and salad plate are slightly different so you can tell they weren't manufactured prints. Plus I love, love the colors.

Here's a super old picture of that corner of the room for reference:

Black, grey, white, boring.

Once I put my new plates into place, I loved how they looked, but thought that the black iron rack was a bit dark and distracted from the pretty colors in the dishes. I've had gold spray paint on the brain since this project, and then these quickie upgrades, so it didn't take long to decide that I wanted to do the same.

While I was spray painting, I figured I'd tackle another piece in the dinig room that was a bit dark for my liking. This iron candle holder was given to me by my mom when we moved in. She had it in our house growing up and let me take it with me when I moved out. I've had it on the dining room wall pretty much since we've been in the house.

Two fresh coats of gold spray paint later:

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What a difference! Here's a shot of my 'new' dish rack with my other fun colored Anthro dishes. Of course I'm itching to buy even more to add to the dining room. Maybe one of these days I'll finally purchase a rug..... how many times have I said that?

And here is the 'new' gold candle holder.

Seriously, why didn't I do this sooner??

I am so excited at how much better these two iron pieces look with just a wave of my wand (and by wand I mean can of spray paint) and a few minutes of drying time. Ok, I admit sometimes I walk into my dining room just to look at how great it looks. The gold on the candle holder ties in with the gold on the beverage cart so both pieces look like they belong together in the room.

Spray paint is the easiest and quickest way to do a great looking upgrade for next to no money and in little to no time. I can't believe I'm just now jumping on the spray paint bandwagon.  Of course you all know this won't be the last spray paint project in my house. I'm hoping to do bigger and more complex projects and really push myself with my creativity.

Must. Resist. Spray. Painting. Everything.

This weekend: More pallet fun. Prying the back pieces off and painting that bad boy. Maybe, just maybe getting it hung up, but I make no promises. Poor Jordan has off from work so I'm recruiting him to help me. Such a good hubby.

Happy Friday!! :)