Pillows: DIY Or Buy?

This has been the debate in our house lately. We are needing new pillows for the couch and for the new bed. I have been in love with this pillow from Target for months now:

When I told J that I was just going to try and attempt to DIY it, he brought up a good point. When it costs almost the same price to DIY, should you just buy then? We figured if I had to buy a pillow, buy the yellow fabric, and then take the time to make it..does saving a few bucks make sense?

 Even if I ened up making my own white pillow, I would still need to buy all the supplies for that as well. As for us, we ended up buying it. If I wanted to make a pillow super specific, or unique, I think I would DIY. What would you guys do in this situation?! DIY or buy?





PS- the pillow is on a temporary price cut of $5 right now, so if you end up loving it as much as I do, snatch it up now...or DIY-whatever floats your boat:)


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Pinterest Challenge

Have you guys been over to YHL lately? If you haven't, then you missed their announcement of a Pinterest challenge. The focus of the challenge isn't for prizes or money, simply to motivate us all. How many days do you go on to Pinterest and pin a billion things, put them into cute little categories like 'DIY Projects', and then never follow through with actually doing them? Ya, I do over and over again. This challenge is simply to motivate you to choose one project that you've pinned on Pinterest, and actually do it-by next Tuesday AM!

If that isn't enough to spur you on to tackle a new project this weekend, then it might help if I tell you that Emily Henderson is in on the challenge. Yes, like my favorite designer in the world, Emily. Literally everything she has ever done is perfect to me. So the fact that she's participating, totally makes me! Yes, I am that lame and easily persuaded! This weekend J and I will be making our DIY tufted headboard, and submitting it. Who cares that there are no prizes or anything, I just wanna be cool like Emily...for reals.

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Go check it out, and let me know if you decide to attempt to be cool too!

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Changing Things Up A Bit

In a couple of months we have something exciting happening to us and our home..and because of it- it has sent us into full gear. We have known for a long time that there were many rooms that either needed to be finished/started/changed, but have been putting them off. Well now, things are changing- and fast! My main concern with whenever we have to do things fast, is that we don't end up getting our normal deals, or end up with something that we don't totally love. So far, we doing great!

One room that has bugged me for awhile is our bathroom. I was pretty over the blue paint, and everything else didn't go together at all. We have a vanity with a black granite top, a brown bath mat, tan and brown towels, and blue paint..so cohesive;) We finally got around to making it flow, and it started with the paint!

This is our blue paint, that I loved at the time, then it got old..real quick:

I wanted something lighter, something a little more neutral- but not tan, or gray. When it comes to painting in our home, there are very set rules. J does the taping, I do the painting and touchups. He helps with the painting too, but I do the touch ups. I suck at taping, and he doesn't notice all the little mistakes like I do. It works for us:)Another rule is that if we are painting a room that has crown {which almost all do- we love our moudling} you have to paint the area where the crown and new paint color meet with a fresh coat of white. This makes it so you have crisp white lines no matter what!

We chose our paint color based off of a bath mat we found at Marshalls {I love Marshalls}. And don't worry, were not naive in thinking that we will always have this mat {I did buy two just in case though} we made sure the color isn't so weird that it wont be able to go with future mats! Side note: I don't have a color name because they simply 'color matched' it to the rug, but if someone really likes the color, I can give you the #s of it.

Honey gave the rug and paint her kiss of approval:)

And here it is:

I don't have full shots of the bathroom yet, because we are still waiting for our shower curtain to arrive. Yes, you heard me right. We have lived in this house for 2 1/2 years and have never had more than a liner for our shower! Anyone else do that? I'm excited to show y'all the rest of the changes coming up! Also, I don't know if I tell y'all this enough, but man I seriously feel like I have the best readers/friends out there. Thank you guys for always being so supportive, encouraging, and honest!



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New Office Chair

A miracle has happened over at DBD. We finally got an actual office chair. And not only does it work beautifully, is comfortable, and realistic...its also great looking!! Lets go through some of the chairs I have claimed over the years as my office chair:

For my first 'office chair' I used one of our old grey dining room chairs. Crazy looking back at how much our dining room has changed:

In this photo, both the green chair and the tan one in the corner have been my office chairs at some point

And now for my favorite box ever to arrive at our house...Oh how I love my Overstock.com!

I assembled this chair is approximately 10 minutes. Yes people, this is Adri talking, not J. Yes, I am capable of assembling a piece of furniture {lets just ignore the fact that this chair only had about 4 steps!} Here is our new beauty!!

Its a  Overstock knock off of the stunning Eames Management chair, and a cheaper version of Crate and Barrels knock off. Now a days there are about a million and one companies that replicate Eames chairs, and I understand why. The Eames chair goes for anywhere around $600-$1,000. The C&B chair goes for $300. Our chair...a whopping $180! And it has amazing reviews, which I always love because that helps me make up my mind 90% of the time!

I am already in heaven now sitting at the desk, and it makes me stay here longer, which I can't decide if its a good thing. I will just pretend that my hours of looking at other blogs and Pinterest are research, which makes it sound official and important;)

Do you guys like the chair? We even moved stuff around {in and out as well} because the chair gave the office a new feel that we wanted to go with! 

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Design Inspiration Monday

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Love the photos going on this week! The last one especially, because the chairs now have a soft spot in my heart {you will see later this week why}. Happy Monday all!

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Batting Galore

Lets be real here, I originally wanted to title this post "Batting coming out of my butt" but then I realized that just sounded so terrible. What my intention with that title was to say that I have a ton of batting at my house right now, not that I literally have it coming out of my butt. Needless to say, I changed it to 'batting galore', and now you know the behind the scenes of coming up with a Title:)

I do have a crap load of batting at my house right now, and I cannot wait to tackle the project that it entails. Not this weekend {boo for the MBA program taking over Js life} but next, J and I are going to make a new headboard for our bed. We have a bed that we got at Pruitts when we first got married, and it still 'works' but we no longer like it! Its pretty intense and dark, and we want something a little lighter {and more romantic}. Lets not mention that last part to J, as he doesn't want our room to be girly;)

We have gone through our options for a new bed, and honestly a new real bed from a real store isn't an option. And even if it was, this sounds way too fun to not DIY. The other option J thought of was hilariously inappropriate a no-go. He wanted to do something similar to our driftwood art project, but instead of having a verse on there, he wanted it to say Magic. Just the word magic. That way anyone walks into room and asks "why does it say magic?' he could comedically reply "ooo, cause thats where the magic happens". No lie people, this is what J thinks of as a possibility! Gotta love him:)

Anyway, this is the mass amount of batting I purchased yesterday from one of our favorite fabric stores SAS:

That right there is 10 yards of batting

SAS seriously rocks people. I got the most perfect upholstery fabric there for a mere $3.99/yd and the batting is 100% Polyester and it was $2.99/yd.

We are using a combo of tutorials. Sticking fairly closely to Centsational Girls , and adding a little bit of Remodelaholics as well. I seriously can not wait to start this project and to soon have a totally romantic light and sophisticated headboard for our room! Hope y'all have a fantastic weekend! Happy Friday!


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Easy And Yummy Cupcakes

I have this amazing friend who does it all {I actually have a couple of those, how lucky am I!?}. Kylie is a perfect wife, Modern Manor store owner, soon to be mama, AND is always insanely crafty and creative. Her and her sister-in-law made a crazy amount of cupcakes for their sisters birthday, and I just had to show y'all {and include the recipe links} so you can be as amazed as I am!

Is that not the cutest table set up you have ever seen?! I guess it helps when the person setting it up owns a vintage furniture store;)

Here is the run down of what was made {keep in mind- these are all mini-cupcakes}:

1. Chocolate / Chocolate Buttercream (brown)

     CC{cupcake} - Easy chocolate cupcakes

      Frosting- just add coco powder to taste

2. Vanilla / Buttercream (white)

     CC - Vanilla Buttermilk cupcakes

     Frosting - Vanilla buttercream frosting

    

3. Marble / Marbled Buttercream (brown )

     CC - Equal Parts Vanilla & Choco 

     Frosting - Equal Parts Vanilla & Coco frosting swirled

4. Vanilla / Raspberry Buttercream (blue polka dot)

      Kinda take after these cupcakes : 

      Basically just make the frosting special by smushing a bunch of raspberries into the buttercream {yum, right?!}

5. Chocolate / Raspberry Buttercream (blue polka dot)

    Same as above just with chocolate cake

6. Lemon / Lemon Buttercream (pink)

    CC- Vanilla base plus 1/2 teaspoon zest for 12 mini cc 

    Frosting - lemon zest & extract to taste

7. Funfetti / Funfetti Buttercream (white)

    CC- Vanilla base ... add sprinkles to both cake & frosting {kinda like these}

   

8. Cookies & Cream / Cookies & Cream Buttercream (pink)

    CC - Vanilla base ... add oreos to both cake & frosting  {kinda like these}

    

Thats right, they made 8 different types of cupcakes, and they made it actually be a simple process! They simply used either the vanilla base or chocolate base, and modified with extra flavors. She said that the vanilla buttermilk cucpcake recipe was for sure a keeper!

This is my favorite photo from the day, and is currently my background on my computer. It's probably a terrible idea to have a million cupcakes to stare at daily, and my waistline agrees, BUT my heart says GO FOR IT:)

Do you guys have any recipes for cupcakes that are must haves? I know some of my favorites are over on Our Best Bites...tell me yours!

Fun Little Changes

I don't know about you guys, but J and I love to move stuff around in our home. Its really amazing how moving a piece of art from one wall to another makes you have a whole new appreciation for that piece! Last week we moved our antler {fake} friends to flank the TV, and this is what we replaced them with:

Its a fairly accurate world map;) We love how big it is, yet its not overwhelming to the space. When we got it, it was actually a gold color, and of course we had to paint it. Nothing against the original color, but we just never can love something as much if its untouched apparently! We got the map at Amazon.


Another little move that we did, that seems to make a huge difference, is finally moving the old stereo. We had this stereo next to the buffet in the dining room {always knowing that that was not where it was actually going to stay} and we moved it out into the living room. It makes the room feel so much more completed!

The stereo was $30 at an auction we went to over 2 years ago, and the art {the other piece is on the other side of the window} hanging above was also from an auction for $5 a piece. We cant seem to resist a good deal at auctions:) What have you moved around in your home lately? Do you agree that one little change can make all the difference?!

Laundry Room Cabinet Cover

You all heard me admit last week that I am a terrible sewer. And its true...except when the projects are super easy. By easy I mean, seriously easy. I made a simple cover out of some fabric I get for a steal from SAS, and I love it! I simply cut it to size, sewed the edges in for a nice clean look, and made a slot for the pole to go into.

To get the cabinet ready, my handy hubby installed two hooks and a small galvanized metal dowel {that he cut to size with a hack saw} that we got at Home Depot. 

 Here is what I have been looking at for weeks:

Thats our paint sprayer sitting on the sink:)

This is now my view:

I love love love it! Its super simple, but yet fun at the same time. When I need to get the detergents or products out, I simply reach in or throw the flap up. I contemplated making the curtain a two panel curtain, but then I was afraid I would always leave one side open a little too much and constantly be looking at all thats inside. And for those of your who have been asking about the faucet, here is a closeup. We got it {here} on eBay.

Hope you guys like it! And I hope it encourages all of you who said you are terrible at sewing as well. Start with simple projects and it will boost your confidence!

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Design Inspiration Monday

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Heres to starting off the week with a positive attitude and beautiful images:) Happy Monday loves.

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