Theme The fist step in creating a flatly is to choose a theme. A theme is important because you want it to be cohesive. You can choose a theme a number of different ways you can start with one item that really inspires you or a color for example. So in this flatly to the left the theme as Pink since it is getting close to valentines day!
You could also have chosen a theme based on an item. Sometimes the theme will come after you have the anchor pieces so steps one and two are interchangeable! Sometimes you start with an anchor piece and then choose a theme. For example a Rae Dunn mug could be your anchor but the theme could be a number of different things, coffee, Hot chocolate, Valentines, Christmas. The options are numerous!
1 Comment
 Welcome to our first Christmas in this fun fixer upper log home! While we are still under construction in many rooms we still have made tremendous progress and are having a wonderfully beautiful Christmas here in the Northwest!
If you came from Dabbling and Decorating welcome. We are sure you enjoyed Ann's amazing home and great tips! Whether you came over from Ann or from Instagram or however you found us we are glad you are here! Grab a cup of hot cocoa and stay awhile! While this home is certainly a different style than we have ever owned we are embracing it and loving every minute of it! Our mudroom is the first room we renovated you can find that link here! Since it was the first update it will also be the first we share here on our holiday decor tour! With a log home we decided to go mostly with traditional Christmas colors this year! And of course what kind of decorator would I be without throwing in some buffalo plaid this year!  A quick DIY update changes this room!Well at least we thought it would be a quick update. This room had indoor outdoor carpet which is typically easy to clean and get smells out of but this one smelled like a wet dog had been living in it ...... maybe because it had! So we ended up ripping up the carpet and it still smelled :(! We ended up replacing all the sub flooring so at least now we know it is good and smell free :)! Happy Nose!
The benches were already installed and so were the hooks. YAY!!! So a quick coat of paint updated those and really brightened the room right up! Bonus the two sides both lift up, for hidden storage! Below is the before picture of what it looked like before we began our DIY project and then after ripping the carpet out and painting. 
If you have ever tried to retrofit a farmhouse sink in an older house you know the troubles that can you can encounter. If you haven't let us warn you - even though it is fairly straightforward; if you are dealing with cabinets that are not exactly level you are in for some work trying to get it level. You have to build supports if your cabinet was not originally used for a farmhouse sink so why not build the supports as levelers also!
My brilliant husband came up with this genius idea on how to easy level it without shims and any one spot can be adjusted easily and quickly to get it level and keep it level! 
We have had a lot of interest in our Guest room Internet sign so we thought we would just do a quick blog post and include it here for you to be able to download! It is always nice to have these documents around your house for guests so they don't have to bother asking for the Internet password - it is already in their room waiting for them! Or you can make a few and put them in various places in your house. We have found they are great in the family room for the babysitters. They have come in handy after the kids go to bed and they want to get on the Internet and not use their data!
Important note before you do any electrical work in your home you should consult an electrician. Always use extra precautions also. Make sure the power is off and use a voltage tester to double check.
After you have consulted with your electrician you are ready to get started! Styling and building your own Industrial wall sconce or lamp is probably easier than you think! We love the look of the pipe lights but weren't sure if we wanted to fork out the money so we decided to build one ourselves first before we bought one. Now we like it more and we can configure them any way we want and the price is great when you do it yourself. So get dreaming up what you want and let's get started!!  We have four full bathrooms in our house and while technically all of them were usable they didn't exactly inspire relaxation or style. They were functional and fantastic for the 1980s but we preferred a more up to date style without breaking the bank because let's face it the whole house is stuck in the 80s! Don't get me wrong we love it; great space great rooms gorgeous fireplaces and breathtaking views so fixing up the decor for all these things we will take it.
Below are some of the ways we saved money on our project and other things to consider. It is so easy to get lost for hours on Pintrest, Instagram, or Houzz; but whatever you use to search for ideas it is important to narrow those ideas down once you have a good idea of your overall desired style and budget. Let's face it we can all drool over some of the wonderful pictures and ideas out there but it is not always a reality so we keep those thoughts in mind as we figure out how to get a similar look on a budget!
We have developed and will share with you our easy and successful process that we developed over the years of fixing up homes. It will help you take control of your project and be successful with the overall desired style and decor whether it is farmhouse, country or anything else the process is the same. 
When you buy a true "Fixer Upper" there are so many projects it can be difficult to prioritize them and to wrap your head around when and how to do each and every one especially when taking budget into account. At first we found ourselves searching supplies and how to complete one DIY project then another and another because we were so excited to complete them all but we were limited on time and money for each of them because the budget is a reality for us like it is most.
While hesitant because of the expense (although decidedly less than a tractor), this CanAm has been a blessing! This winter we have had an incredible amount of snow. With our driveway being over a mile long, my arms are thankful that this awesome machine is doing all the work!
It handled almost all circumstances; however, we did get stuck once because of too much snow so we added the snow tracks. Since adding them we certainly don't have that problem and it has made it twice as fun and twice the beast. We can go anywhere and climb almost anything now. Exploring the property has never been so fun in the snow! In addition to pushing snow it will be a great workhorse for us with animals and gardens. We even used it to haul a new dishwasher to the house when the delivery truck got stuck on the road coming up. We were able to bring it up and get it installed while waiting for someone to pull them out. Living on a farm and a Fixer Upper leaves little time to sit around and wait when delays happen! This is not a sales ad for the unit we just love it and have enjoyed the work and play with it!! |
View from Farmhouse!
View from farmhouse of the Golf Course!
|