take 1 | guest room

after much searching for inspiration for our guest room we finished the little project.  this was honestly one of the easiest, inexpensive art project I've done.  but first, let me show you the room.

one of the biggest purchases we've made as a couple yet was this bed.  we needed a spot for our guests to stay.  and I love the way that the bedding works in the room.  I'm thinking of what to do for the headboard, but that can wait a while... if you have any ideas please shoot them my way ;)

a little seating area for guests to read a book, make a phone call, or just simply put on their shoes.  plus, I love showing off the hub's mates he picked up while living in argentina.

and here is the art project.  honestly, so simple (tutorial here).  well, picking out the fabric was a little bit of a chore, I have a hard time getting what I want to work together when I have so many different kinds of fabric I love.

this room is still a work in progress as we have a few more things to hang on the walls, a desk to save up for, and other little things... but, it is ready for guests!  so come visit, stay for a while and enjoy boise with us!

moving into our first home

we moved into our very first home the first weekend of december.  with help from my parents, brothers, and my roommate that now lives in san diego, but came for the weekend.  we had some painting to do before moving in, both inside and outside.  but we were so excited for that moving day.  since then, getting everything settled has been a continual project, and we've loved most of the process.  here are some before and after photos of the interior.

the living room/dining room is one large room stretching the spans of 

the front of the house.

before

after we moved in.

(paint: martha stewart spud)

one decorating project has been this collage above our entry table.

the bedroom

before

after

(paint color: martha stewart arrowroot)

I love the walk in closet!

and the small office/dressing space that is attached to the master

the bathroom

before... the yellow was far too bright!

after a little paint and cleaning... I love the vintage tub, shower, and floor

(paint: martha stewart tidewater)

the kitchen

before

after... we have so many plans for this kitchen in the upcoming year...

second bedroom

before and after!  

making our house feel like home has been a process.  we've enjoyed every part.  there are many projects on our list and items we want to purchase, but for now it's perfect... a place we can come home to at the end of the day and enjoy.  and so close to places we enjoy.  the move has been great.

homemade gifts :: personalized pilsners

the husband drew my older brother's name for our homemade gift exchange.  the biggest challenge for the hubs and me is to make something that the gift receiver will not only enjoy, but use.  so for my brother this can be really challenging.  after multiple ideas we came up with something that the hubs thought the brother would really enjoy.  personalized pilsner glasses.

the project started with a few simple supplies: 

a set of pilsner glasses from IKEA, etching cream, and left over shelf liner.

then we needed an image to make into a stencil and etch on to the glass.  so, the "H" from the family business and his last name was a perfect image to use.  husband printed multiple sizes of the "H" on to cardstock, he decided on the perfect size for the size of the glass.

the image was then traced on to some shelf liner that I had left over to make an adhesive stencil, the stencil was then cut out with a razor blade.  an individual stencil was needed for each glass in order to be sure that it stuck strongly enough to leave a crisp edge to the image.  this was the most time consuming and difficult step of the process, both the cutting and placing of the image took patience and attention to detail. 

the etching cream was used according to package directions --brushed on in one direction and let to sit around 10 minutes before rinsing off. rinsing it off.

the final product was great... a nice sharp "H"... we were happy with how appropriate they were for a guy, not at all crafty and girly.  my brother loved them too!

the gift was accompanied much like the wine stopper gift.  we added my brother's favorite, a 6 pack of bud light and a bottle of clamato to make his own "red beer". 

homemade gifts :: wine stoppers

each year my family draws names between my siblings, parents, aunts and uncles, and cousins.  we draw names and then give home made gifts.  this is the third year we've done it.  the gifts are getting harder to make because we have made them for a few years now and we try not to copy each other.  this year's gifts, in my opinion, were the best yet.  I drew my cousin, Stacia's name, and the husband drew my brother's (his gift to follow).

I made Stacia wine stoppers.

here are the supplies: 3 decorative drawer pulls from hobby lobby, corks, gorilla glue epoxy, a decorative box, and paper "fluff" to fill the decorative box.

first I took the drawer pulls and corks and decided a good height for the corks to be.  I could have left the corks exactly how I purchased them, but I thought they came too far out of the bottle.  I measured and cut three corks down to the size I desired using a hack saw.  husband then drilled a hole in to the middle of the cork for the drawer pull to go through.

he also made the hole slightly larger on the bottom so we could counter set the nut into it.

then all pieces were put together.  (for two of the stoppers I had to buy a decorative "washer" from home depot to finish off the cork so that it looked right against the glass pull)  I put the epoxy on to the top of the cork, and inside the hole of the cork, and screwed the cork onto the pull.

after the epoxy dried the husband cut off the remainder of the pull, the bolt part of it, with a hack saw.  he then used a grinder to make it smooth.  the final step was to add some epoxy to the base where the nut and bolt were showing to make sure it was completely smooth and secure.

the finished product:

she loved them!  and so did I.  I want to make a set for myself now too!  I also added a bottle of champagne to the gift (her favorite), but these given with a bottle of wine would be a perfect hostess gift, housewarming gift, or a gift for any other occasion -- they can be completely customized for the person in mind and they are more personal than any other stoppers I've seen in stores.