Book Shelf Ideas

I'm starting to work on the bookshelves in my office today. I have two mini book cases in my office. They are far from special. Just two small particle board book cases that hold all my books. You might have seen in yesterday's post that I picked up some wrapping paper at HomeGoods I plan on covering the backs with. I also plan on spray painting the rest of them white. Here are my bookshelves in their current state, and the wrapping paper I hope will make the backs of them "pop":

 

As you can see, they are currently black, dark and full of books. They are pretty much just functional and nothing more than that. My goal is to make them both functional and pretty. So I started looking on Pinterest for ideas. Here are some of my favorites:

(From here, here, and here)

They are all obviously on a much grander scale than my little puny ones. But they're kind of how I envision I want to style mine. I may need to move some books to a basket since I have limited shelf space, and I plan on concealing some books in storage boxes.

I also want to include lots of fun accessories. Here are some I think would be awesome:

TOP ROW (From left to right):

1. Chevron frame from Anthropologie

2. Fun urchin balls, only $12.99 each at Z Gallerie

3. Gold pig bookends (love these!) - $29.95 at CB2 

MIDDLE ROW:

4. Large sculptural coral from Target

5. Graphic frame - Nate Berkus at Target ($14.99)

6. Red coral from Z Gallerie - found here

BOTTOM ROW:

7. Brass animal figurines - only $9.99, Threshold at Target

8. A simple Tiffany box would be nice to hold smaller books or items. (image from here)

9. Fun frame from Target

I don't think I will have all of the accessories I need to complete them this weekend, but hopefully I can get them looking spiffy pretty soon! Will share pictures when these babies are finished! :)

Adventures at HomeGoods

This weekend when we visited Trent's family in Ohio, we had most of the day Saturday to shop. And shop, we did. One particular store I had to go to was HomeGoods. There is not a single HomeGoods near us, so whenever we are traveling and I see one, I immediately scream "HOMEGOODS! WE HAVE TO GO THERE!" Then Trent rolls his eyes and reluctantly pulls the car into the lot and I grin with excitement.

I wish we would have had more time to spend shopping there, but then again I don't because I probably would have spent way more money than I already did (which was about $90.00. ($89.58 to be exact) On home decor. Yep. No willpower, I tell ya.)

As soon as I walked in I saw tons of things I loved. Like the white fish pitcher below:

See it? Here's a close-up:

SO wish I had a place to put this. Or a practical use for it. I love it. Haha.

I also saw tons of decorative items that would look amazing on book shelves..and the gold garden stool in the picture below had me really wishing I could take it home with me:

Isn't it awesome? I wish I could've gotten it for my office. Oh well.

Here are some of the things I did buy:

Another little ceramic owl to add to my collection. This area in the kitchen is patrolled solely by owls, didn't you know? I love it - it's green so it totally matches my kitchen. And holds our dishwashing accessories. 

This owl had to come home with me too....yep, he is pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen. 

Then there were more pillows.....

I seriously can't resist HomeGoods pillows. The gray and white one is amazing and that bright floral one had me at OMG I NEED YOU.  Seriously, it was like those Pier 1 commercials where the decor talks to you.

Yep, that was happening with those pillows.

I actually decided to get the bright floral one because it looked ridiculously similar to the pillow cover I was drooling over for this space at West Elm, but it was actually cheaper - as in about $16.99 compared to $29.00. So glad I found this one before I bought the more expensive one from West Elm. (West Elm, I love you, but sometimes you're just too darn expensive for a cheapo like me.)

And I love it in this space. It was just what this corner needed to balance out my new bright and colorful artwork!

Doesn't the space look so much brighter and more pulled together? Check out the Before and After:

This is just after bringing in one more piece of homemade art and two new pillows! I love this corner now. It looks so much more "finished" to me.

I also picked up some wrapping paper that I plan on using for the backs of my mini bookshelves! There was only one roll left of this chevron pattern (wish there were two of them), but I really loved it so I had to get it! I plan on tackling this project maybe this weekend, so I will definitely share how it turns out!

My last HomeGoods find was a small white lantern with a faux LED candle/light inside for the front porch. I forgot to get a picture of it, but I will take more porch/outdoor pictures soon, and that little guy will definitely be there! I plan on putting together a little vignette out there on the old wooden crate for summer. Just not sure what else I am including in my porch display yet.

That's about the gist of what I picked up at HomeGoods this past weekend. I still wish there was one in our area, but I guess I will be happy we have both a Marshall's and a TJ Maxx. They are extremely similar after all. Just not HomeGoods. Sigh.

Antique Shopping Near Columbus, Ohio

Oh my goodness, it's finally feeling like spring outside! I'm LOVING the weather!! As promised, I am sharing a few finds from our antiquing adventures in Ohio this past weekend. I wish we could have stopped at all of the antique shops, but we only had time for a couple, both right outside of Columbus. The first was downtown Delaware, which I don't have any pictures from. But I did get a small hand painted bowl there, which I was going to set by my nightstand to hold jewelry, but right now it is living on the living room end table:

I still need to do some rearranging/switching out of accessories for spring, so I haven't decided what I am going to do with it yet or where its permanent home will be.

Although I didn't capture any photos from the shop in Delaware, I did catch a few at the second shop we visited, called Powell Liberty Antiques in Powell, Ohio. Downtown Powell is really cute with a bunch of little shops. We stopped into the cupcake shop, too which was delicious! (See more about that here)

There were so many things I really liked in the two shops we went to, but I only snapped pictures of a few items. Like this chalkboard I thought was cool. It looked like it was made out of an old window frame:

There were also these adorable vintage salt and pepper shakers. So cute!

And this bar-height chair that looked like it had been refinished. There was only one of them, but wouldn't it look cute in a white kitchen with turquoise accents (maybe with the salt and pepper shakers too)?

One of the coolest things we saw all day was this old coin piano from the 1920's. Trent put a quarter in the slot, and it began playing music while some wooden (or metal?) horses spun really fast around in a circle as if they were racing.

Here's a little description that was on the piano:

I'm guessing these are the songs that it plays:

 Here are the horses when they're not in motion:

It was so cool and reminded me of something that would be on the show American Pickers. (Love that show, especially since they're local to us!)

That's unfortunately all the photos I have from the antique shops we visited. Here's hoping this summer will be full of many more antiquing adventures!

Book Review: Young House Love

Time to share my first "book review" from My Reading List today! Aren't you excited?? (Sidenote: My books arrived from Amazon so I have some more reading material - woot!) While we were on our way to Trent's family's near Columbus, Ohio for the weekend (about an 8 hour drive from our house in Western Illinois), I had time to read John and Sherry Petersik's awesome book titled, "Young House Love - 243 ways to paint, craft, update, and show your home some love." See more about their book here.

Since they are my favorite bloggers of all time (I even got to meet them on their book tour), I of course loved the book. There are 243 different ideas for home-related DIY projects to take on, and it's written in the same style as their blog, enthusiastic and sweet just like John and Sherry are. I had preordered the book on Amazon and received it back in November when it was released, and I had since paged through its pretty pages and read bits and pieces but never really sat down and took in all of the projects individually, thinking about those I wanted to take on, or those that I had already conquered.

Now that I had the time to go through the whole book, I was able to bookmark the projects that stood out most to me and the little tidbits I loved. Although the book is full of thoughtful and amazing tips just like their blog is, one of my favorite parts was what they wrote in the Introduction on page 11 under "How to use this book." They said the following:

"This book doesn't include a lot of don'ts. It's more like a do anthem. Rules are limiting, and we find that in making a house a home there shouldn't be too many of those since it's a very personal experience and it's going to be a different journey ... for each person."

I love that. If there's one thing I've learned from John and Sherry's DIY adventures it's that it's important to make your home "your own," and to do whatever makes you happy. I'm starting to learn that after living in our house for a little over two years now. I think I'm decorating less and less according to the "design rules" you read in text books and more with my personal preference lately! It's evident in the bright colorful artwork I'm beginning to hang on my walls, and my little ceramic owl figurines I've started to collect. Nothing makes you happier than walking into every room and seeing the things you love displayed.

Another important lesson to be learned from these two is that it takes time to make your house into a home that you really love. I can say that that's definitely true! Although I would LOVE for our house to be complete and a house that we love every bit of right at this moment -  it just ain't gonna happen. It takes lots of time and patience. And work. It doesn't happen overnight. So we've just learned to do things one step at a time and have patience..and enjoy the ride along the way.

Honestly, John and Sherry are so inspiring with all that they've accomplished and this book is just one other way they are able to put all of their hard work, knowledge and talent into something that inspires and encourages others to try and do the same. I've learned so much from them so far following their blog for a few years now. It's crazy to think that I'm 25 now, the same age they were when they started all this..it gives me hope for what I can still accomplish!

I was surprised at how many of the projects in the book we've already taken on in the two years we've lived in our house. It made me feel pretty proud, I'm not gonna lie. :) Just take a look at this list I made of the projects in the book I've tackled to date (before the book came out, that is - some of which I've already mentioned on my blog, others which I may have to write a post about!):

#38: DIY Backsplash. We installed a beadboard backsplash in our kitchen during Phase 1 of our kitchen reno project back in 2011.

#44: Paint your kitchen cabinets. We also did this in Phase 1 of our kitchen makeover, which you can see here.
#54: Reupholster a dining chair. I painted our old kitchen chairs, then we reupholstered them with some foam and some fabric. See the before and after in our kitchen post.
#70: Line your drawers with patterned paper. I haven't blogged about this, but a year or so ago I fixed up the inside of an old dresser given to us by Trent's sister by just cutting some wrapping paper to size and using double stick tape to attach it to the inside of the drawers. and Voila - instant drawer liners!

#94: Add storage ottomans. I love me some storage ottomans. So far we have two and right now they are both in the bedroom. I would love to add more. They're great for a little stylish storage!

#117: Master a few framing arrangements. So far I've added some frame arrangements to the living room and bedroom. See how I did them here!

#139: Start a collection. I've definitely already done this with my Owls and my Plates! Another great way to personalize your home and turn it into a place you love!
#172: Get something special for your home by getting away from it. Love this one. We picked up some shells and a starfish from our East coast vacation last summer (see post about it here) and by displaying it in our home, it adds a nice touch of sentimental value to the space!
#232: Hang new house numbers. This is one of the quick updates we did in the front of the house to spruce it up a little. (See post mentioning this update it here) Amazing at what such an easy and quick update can do to improve the look of your home!
\#237: Upgrade exterior lights. We updated our front porch light - see this post for details. We love it soo much more than that ugly eyesore that was there before!

See why I was surprised to find we had tackled so many of those projects? There's ten right there checked off my list :) 
Here are some projects in the book that I still want to take on:
#1: Faux wallpaper the back of your bookcase. I would love to do this to my bookshelves - I love that it's such an easy solution to spruce them up a little!
#34: Hang textured wallpaper for a tin-ceiling effect. Trent and I both want to do this in our hallway!
#51: Make etched-glass containers for your counter. I've been wanting to do this with our glass cookie jar.
#61: Make an upholstered headboard. It would be fun to take this on in my sisters new apartment. Maybe I could even do it for my own bed someday, even though we have a wooden headboard already!
#104: Deal with bookcase clutter. I want to do this with my bookcases. They're a little crazy at the moment! Would love to make them look nice and appealing to the eye.
#197: Ceramicize something. Totally going to do this to my horse bookend! It actually may already be in progress... ;)

So, to summarize this very long and detailed post, I pretty much loved this book! One book checked off my reading list :) 7 more to go! See the whole list here.

 

Easter Recap

As you might know, we made a trip out to Ohio this past weekend to visit some of Trent's family and celebrate Easter with them. We had a blast and only wish we had more time to spend there. Alas, it is about 8 hours away so the trip doesn't happen often enough! We got home last night at about 10:00 only to go into work again this morning. Needless to say we're still a little tired But it was worth it. Here's a little recap of how we spent our Easter weekend!

Thursday night, the night before we left, we packed after I got home from work, and then I painted some Easter eggs :)

I didn't have any food coloring, so I figured what the heck - I'll just paint them! So I grabbed a few colors of acrylic paint I already had laying out and painted them in colorful, crazy patterns. I did it pretty quickly because I was tired, but it was fun. We haven't eaten them yet. I don't really want to, because they're too pretty. :)

Friday morning we left for Ohio. It was around 8 hours to the Columbus area from our house.

Friday night when we arrived, we met everyone at a restaurant/pub for Trent's cousin Aaron's 30th "surprise" birthday. I say that in quotes because he kind of already knew about it, but he didn't know we were coming down from Illinois so it was kind of a surprise! We had a great time.

Here's Trent, and the birthday boy.

And some of the gang...

We went out to another bar afterwards then settled in at Amanda and Steve's for the weekend. 

The next day was absolutely gorgeous outside for March.

We hung out downtown Delaware for a little bit and met Amanda, Steve, and little Eli for lunch at Opa, a little Greek-style restaurant. It was delicious!

Then we did a little Antique shopping downtown Delaware and Powell (you know I love a good antique store). They had some awesome finds - I'll share some of them later this week. We even stopped at a place that Amanda and Steve recommended, a little cupcake bakery downtown Powell called Pink Moon.

Trent got a Dreamsicle/Sherbet flavored one, and I got Chocolate Chocolate. They were extremely yummy.

Downtown Powell was so cute. I wish we could've went to more of the shops, but we only had one day of shopping so we had to squeeze it all in.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at Polaris mall in Columbus, which was so nice! Wish we had a mall like that here. I had a great time shopping, and we were of course exhausted afterward. I will share my finds this week! Atleast the antique and home-decor related ones :)

We went back to Amanda and Steve's, watched the Ohio State game, had some yummy vegetable lasagna for dinner and called it a night.

 Sunday morning, we dressed up in our Sunday best and went to church with Trent's family.

Then we had a nice lunch with all of them and got to relax a little before the drive back.

It was a fantastic weekend and we're still worn out! Not a bad thing though! :)