www.scentsy.com/melaniegraves
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Scentsy presents Fill the Stands
I am so proud to announce that I am a consultant for SCENTSY, the hottest new thing in candles, wickless candles that is. You have kids? or animals? These are great for your home. No chance of being burnt by the wax plus super easy clean-up when you want to change the scent. There are over 80 scents to choose from. Place your order today:
www.scentsy.com/melaniegraves
www.scentsy.com/melaniegraves
Monday, March 1, 2010
So much more to share with you
Today was blog catchup day. Boy do I have a long list of things to share.
1. DIY table project... I gave you a little teaser earlier. It's exciting!!
2. Great room - I painted, hung new curtains and did a bit of accessorizing.
3. Kitchen - Painted this too. Lots of new knick knacks to show
4. Guest bathroom - Mini makeover
5. Guest bedroom - I told you about this makeover here. I got antsy with it and am in the process of changing it.
I've got a little sneak peak... Wanna see? Do ya...huh, huh?
Ok... here you go
That is it for now! I am sure there will be more to come. I am learning how to sew and hope to have something to show for it. :-)
1. DIY table project... I gave you a little teaser earlier. It's exciting!!
2. Great room - I painted, hung new curtains and did a bit of accessorizing.
3. Kitchen - Painted this too. Lots of new knick knacks to show
4. Guest bathroom - Mini makeover
5. Guest bedroom - I told you about this makeover here. I got antsy with it and am in the process of changing it.
I've got a little sneak peak... Wanna see? Do ya...huh, huh?
Ok... here you go
That is it for now! I am sure there will be more to come. I am learning how to sew and hope to have something to show for it. :-)
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Coming soon...DIY dining room table
Here it is.... My first DIY project! I paint and decorate like a lunatic, but I have never really done much DIY.
Here is my very first victim. Stay Tuned!!
Here is my very first victim. Stay Tuned!!
Master Bedroom Makeover
I started this project September 2009. It was done just about a week later, but low and behold I have been procrastinating. It is so dang hard sometimes to just sit, type and upload photos.
I am a really bad "before" picture taker. So I am going to improvise a bit here.
We have lived in our current house for just over 3 years. When we moved here, we bought a few new pieced of furniture, but mainly kept what we had been using at the old house.
Here are some pictures of the master bedroom at the old house, complete with the tropical safari motif: (FYI....while we lived here, this bedroom was painted twice and the decor changed about 4 times. Somethings never change)
Then I got sick of the palm tree bedding and bought a bed in a bag that was not so decor specific. Everything else in the room stayed the same and then we decided to move to our current home.
So imagine the room below with all of the previous items in it. Can you see it??? Our current room has vaulted ceilings, an alcove and is about 2 times the size of our old bedroom. Everything fit so much nicer.
There is a window to the right, the closet and bathroom on the left and the alcove to the right and behind me.
Here is the master bedroom redo and how it looked right when I was done. Can you believe that there were more changes even once I was complete? I swear a decorator is never done.
I bought the wicker headboard off of Craigslist for $50 about a week before we moved. It was already black. PERFECT!
Nightstands and throw pillows were purchased at IKEA
Lamps and art above bed were purchased at Home Goods
Bedding was purchased at JcPenney
Paint is BEHR Ultra Plus, Bleached Denim, from Home Depot
Curtains were made by my mom with pillow ticking fabric given to me by my Grandma. Over 10 yards.....SCORE!
The wicker chair was brown, so I sprayed it red.
Ottoman and lamp were re-purposed from our great room. Perfect little reading corner, don'tcha think???
This is the alcove I mentioned... about 30" deep. Recognize the armoire? It's the same one that was in the old house, just some new adornments for the top, all purchased at Home Goods. Don't you love the color of the tin wall art? Bought that at Home Goods too. Gosh I LOVE that store!!!
Dresser was purchased at IKEA and is from the same family as the nightstands. IKEA calls the color black-brown, so it is not a true black, but I love it just the same. I was going for clean lines and drawers that opened and closed easily. I put the dresser and nightstands together while my husband was away all summer. Super easy, except for the 20 million trips I took up and down the stairs. The boxes were GI-NORMOUS and weighed about 900 lbs. (kidding, but they were heavy) so it was brought in piece by piece.
Now for "after all the work is done" changes. I had wanted a real bed for some time, and convinced the hubby that we needed one. My only challenge was going to be the height. Our mattress/boxspring combo is about 37" high. The IKEA bed, that matched the furniture we bought, was 52" tall at the headboard and 26" high at the footboard. That meant that the mattress was going to sit above the footboard by 11". That was just too weird for me.
So I went on a search for the perfect bed. It had to be black, have straight lines and include a headboard/footboard and rails. Have you ever looked for a king size bedframe???? Holy Cow, these things are expensive. After many, many nights perusing Craigslist, I decided to check out Overstock.com. I had heard super great things about them and who could pass up shipping for $2.95.
To make a long story short, I found the perfect bed for just over $300. That was a super steal for a king compared to the bajillion beds I looked at. And to top it off, shipping was FREE!!!! It was just too good to be true.
So.... drum roll please....... TA-DA
Notice the items in this picture that are different than the original? Let me point them out....
1. Lamps are different. Since the September, I have painted our great room , kitchen and hallway. The red lamps were in the Great room and did not go with the new color, so I switched the lamps.
2. The bedding is different. I am sure that a lot of you have summer and winter bedding. No?? ok, again, I am crazy and I do! The striped bedding is lightweight and perfect for warmer weather. I have a down comforter that we use for cooler times, but with the new decor, I didn't have a duvet. I totally scored on this set. It is from Pottery Barn and I bought it from a friend for $10. No, I didn't leave off a zero. 10 freaking bucks!!
3. The yellow pillows were red in the original picture, but it was just too much with the red stripes. I went to IKEA, bought new shams and I love it even more.
4. Since the duvet set came with only european shams I had to have something to cover the regular sized pillows. I got the cool white shams at JcPenney.
5. The ottoman never has a permanent home. I generally keep it in front of the red wicker chair during the day or if I am sitting in the chair, but at night it goes to the end of the bed so that our fat cat, Cooper, can get onto the bed. Oh, what we do for our animals!
I follow many decorating blogs and absolutely love what people do to transform their spaces. I am continuously in awe of the talent out there. There are so many different styles of homes and decor. I tend to envy how people decorate and wish that I had some of their finesse but in the end, I love what I have done too. My rooms are cozy,comfortable and most important, lived in. It makes me feel great to hear "your house is very comfortable". I guess that could just be the 7 foot couch we have that you can just fall into, but I will just chalk it up to great design.
I am a really bad "before" picture taker. So I am going to improvise a bit here.
We have lived in our current house for just over 3 years. When we moved here, we bought a few new pieced of furniture, but mainly kept what we had been using at the old house.
Here are some pictures of the master bedroom at the old house, complete with the tropical safari motif: (FYI....while we lived here, this bedroom was painted twice and the decor changed about 4 times. Somethings never change)
Then I got sick of the palm tree bedding and bought a bed in a bag that was not so decor specific. Everything else in the room stayed the same and then we decided to move to our current home.
So imagine the room below with all of the previous items in it. Can you see it??? Our current room has vaulted ceilings, an alcove and is about 2 times the size of our old bedroom. Everything fit so much nicer.
There is a window to the right, the closet and bathroom on the left and the alcove to the right and behind me.
Here is the master bedroom redo and how it looked right when I was done. Can you believe that there were more changes even once I was complete? I swear a decorator is never done.
I bought the wicker headboard off of Craigslist for $50 about a week before we moved. It was already black. PERFECT! Nightstands and throw pillows were purchased at IKEA
Lamps and art above bed were purchased at Home Goods
Bedding was purchased at JcPenney
Paint is BEHR Ultra Plus, Bleached Denim, from Home Depot
Curtains were made by my mom with pillow ticking fabric given to me by my Grandma. Over 10 yards.....SCORE! The wicker chair was brown, so I sprayed it red.
Ottoman and lamp were re-purposed from our great room. Perfect little reading corner, don'tcha think???
This is the alcove I mentioned... about 30" deep. Recognize the armoire? It's the same one that was in the old house, just some new adornments for the top, all purchased at Home Goods. Don't you love the color of the tin wall art? Bought that at Home Goods too. Gosh I LOVE that store!!!
Dresser was purchased at IKEA and is from the same family as the nightstands. IKEA calls the color black-brown, so it is not a true black, but I love it just the same. I was going for clean lines and drawers that opened and closed easily. I put the dresser and nightstands together while my husband was away all summer. Super easy, except for the 20 million trips I took up and down the stairs. The boxes were GI-NORMOUS and weighed about 900 lbs. (kidding, but they were heavy) so it was brought in piece by piece. Now for "after all the work is done" changes. I had wanted a real bed for some time, and convinced the hubby that we needed one. My only challenge was going to be the height. Our mattress/boxspring combo is about 37" high. The IKEA bed, that matched the furniture we bought, was 52" tall at the headboard and 26" high at the footboard. That meant that the mattress was going to sit above the footboard by 11". That was just too weird for me.
So I went on a search for the perfect bed. It had to be black, have straight lines and include a headboard/footboard and rails. Have you ever looked for a king size bedframe???? Holy Cow, these things are expensive. After many, many nights perusing Craigslist, I decided to check out Overstock.com. I had heard super great things about them and who could pass up shipping for $2.95.
To make a long story short, I found the perfect bed for just over $300. That was a super steal for a king compared to the bajillion beds I looked at. And to top it off, shipping was FREE!!!! It was just too good to be true.
So.... drum roll please....... TA-DA
Notice the items in this picture that are different than the original? Let me point them out....
1. Lamps are different. Since the September, I have painted our great room , kitchen and hallway. The red lamps were in the Great room and did not go with the new color, so I switched the lamps.
2. The bedding is different. I am sure that a lot of you have summer and winter bedding. No?? ok, again, I am crazy and I do! The striped bedding is lightweight and perfect for warmer weather. I have a down comforter that we use for cooler times, but with the new decor, I didn't have a duvet. I totally scored on this set. It is from Pottery Barn and I bought it from a friend for $10. No, I didn't leave off a zero. 10 freaking bucks!!
3. The yellow pillows were red in the original picture, but it was just too much with the red stripes. I went to IKEA, bought new shams and I love it even more.
4. Since the duvet set came with only european shams I had to have something to cover the regular sized pillows. I got the cool white shams at JcPenney.
5. The ottoman never has a permanent home. I generally keep it in front of the red wicker chair during the day or if I am sitting in the chair, but at night it goes to the end of the bed so that our fat cat, Cooper, can get onto the bed. Oh, what we do for our animals!
I follow many decorating blogs and absolutely love what people do to transform their spaces. I am continuously in awe of the talent out there. There are so many different styles of homes and decor. I tend to envy how people decorate and wish that I had some of their finesse but in the end, I love what I have done too. My rooms are cozy,comfortable and most important, lived in. It makes me feel great to hear "your house is very comfortable". I guess that could just be the 7 foot couch we have that you can just fall into, but I will just chalk it up to great design.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
DIY recessed light conversion
Hello my friends!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I have been a bad, bad blogger. However, I have been busy so I have lots to share. It will most likely be in multiple posts, so just bare with me.
I have seen these fun & easy fixes to the traditional "blah" recessed lighting. I wanted so badly to try them out so I finally did it. The kitchen was the natural choice since it is the only room in the house that has recessed lighting.
My preference would have been to hang them over the bar part of the counter, but the builder was obviously not thinking about my decorating needs when he built the house as the lights are not directly over the counter. The next choice was the kitchen sink. Not only is it directly over the sink, but it has its own switch to boot.
I went to Lowes today and found this guy on the shelf for just under $19. It came in both nickel and bronze finish. I choose the bronze finish as most of the lighting in the house is already bronze or black.
The picture on the box pretty much says it all! The directions that come along with it are very easy to read and understand.
The globe is an extra piece and cost about $20. There were many different ones to choose from and cost anywhere from $7.50 - $20 each. Make sure that you pick the globes with the flat tops. The ones with the lips don't work for this application. I had a gift card with about $4.00 on it, so after all was said and done, the total project cost me just over $35 and took about 10 minutes to install.
Voila, instant glow!!!! I love the way it looks. The globe is a fun shape and it really brings some interest to the kitchen. It flows nicely with all the new paint colors I recently brought into the house. (More on those projects later) I have a crappy digital camera and it takes horrible pictures without the flash, so this is the best I can get on the glow. I hope this helps you decide to take a leap and do a bit of cheap and easy updating to your home.
I have been a bad, bad blogger. However, I have been busy so I have lots to share. It will most likely be in multiple posts, so just bare with me.
I have seen these fun & easy fixes to the traditional "blah" recessed lighting. I wanted so badly to try them out so I finally did it. The kitchen was the natural choice since it is the only room in the house that has recessed lighting.
My preference would have been to hang them over the bar part of the counter, but the builder was obviously not thinking about my decorating needs when he built the house as the lights are not directly over the counter. The next choice was the kitchen sink. Not only is it directly over the sink, but it has its own switch to boot.I went to Lowes today and found this guy on the shelf for just under $19. It came in both nickel and bronze finish. I choose the bronze finish as most of the lighting in the house is already bronze or black.
The picture on the box pretty much says it all! The directions that come along with it are very easy to read and understand.
The globe is an extra piece and cost about $20. There were many different ones to choose from and cost anywhere from $7.50 - $20 each. Make sure that you pick the globes with the flat tops. The ones with the lips don't work for this application. I had a gift card with about $4.00 on it, so after all was said and done, the total project cost me just over $35 and took about 10 minutes to install.
Voila, instant glow!!!! I love the way it looks. The globe is a fun shape and it really brings some interest to the kitchen. It flows nicely with all the new paint colors I recently brought into the house. (More on those projects later) I have a crappy digital camera and it takes horrible pictures without the flash, so this is the best I can get on the glow. I hope this helps you decide to take a leap and do a bit of cheap and easy updating to your home.
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