Currently, our “dining room” is a part of the general communal area of our apartment. You know how it goes in these spaces - the living room, kitchen and dining area are really one giant space separated by your furniture if you’re lucky enough to arrange it just so. I’m at my wits end with our place though. As my tastes evolve and I grow into my own decor style, I am eager to expand and get to decorating and DIYing.

BUT. Since that isn’t a reality for me right now, all a girl can do is dream. And dream I shall. So let’s take a look at my new inspiration for a dining room, should I ever have a real one. At this moment, I’m loving the idea of a glamorous space. One where I can host dinner parties, send out invitations written in black ink calligraphy and instructing guests to wear their fancy pants. Shiny and sparkly; my own special champagne room! I can serve my best meals in my prettiest dishes and for a few moments we can all feel like we live the life of luxury.

Here’s a list of what I’m loving. And a huge disclaimer that since this is pretend, price was not an issue. It was SO MUCH FUN.

• Table from Evincodedesign
• Chairs from West Elm
• Chandelier from Shades of Light - if you want to order from Shades of Light, check out Young House Love for a discount!
• Vases and bowl from Pier One
• Sideboard from CSN Stores

I highly recommend this game unless you’re really trying to put a room together. In that case, don’t avoid the price tag. It’ll just be painful when you fall in love with pieces like I have. And to prove my point, I went back to see what the total would be in this simple, yet fabulous dining room of mine: $2,780. Expensive taste is bittersweet. 

p.s. Click the photo to see the details better.

I’m going to make this short and sweet (which is relative, so no judging if this turns into a long-winded post). In my moodboard post for our master bedroom, I included clear bedside lamps. I showed one from IKEA, but it wasn’t really what I wanted. What got me on the clear lamp kick was Bryn from Bryn Alexandra Interiors and her post about  Clear Bedside Lamps. She has a list from high end to affordable and I loved what she showed. Well don’t you know that in talking with my mom (who doesn’t even realize she’s the ultimate DIYer), she found a set of lamps on clearance that she thought I would like. And guess what? They are the SAME ones Bryn posted on clearance from JCP. Oh. Em. Gee. My inner Jill was screaming for the real Jill “You’re a genius! How did you find them?! How did you know?!” But wait! There’s more!

Guess who’s getting those fabulous and perfect lamps for her master bedroom redo? Two thumbs point this way at THIS GIRL. Haaaaaapy biiiirrrrthdaaay to meeeeee! Even if my birthday isn’t for another 7 months, I already have a fantastic gift waiting for me. I can’t wait to set them up and get one step closer to the adult bedroom we (but really just me) desire. Here’s the lamps in Bryn’s house, and of course, they’re in her master bedroom too:

Soon you will live with me my pretty light delight.

So really what the morale of the story here is that if you share you inspiration with others, and are smart about your purchases (like having a clever mom who buys gifts early) you can get exactly what you want. I really did do a little window shopping in store and online to see if I could find a better deal or something I loved more, but I didn’t. And I think waiting until September to get these beauties will make me appreciate the process of updating piece by piece instead one big giant credit-card-debt-that-you-regret-until-it’s-paid-off kind of upgrade.

So if you’ve got your eye on something that you just love and know it will be perfect for you, take my advice: Call my mom. She’ll hook it up.

I did it. I DIYed my first real project. Sure, I’ve updated with spray paint. I’ve rearranged furniture (enough times to make my husband think I have a feng shui addiction). But this is the first start-from-scratch project I’ve completed 100% myself. I shared my master bedroom mood board a little while ago and this project was part of it.

I DIYed a headboard! I couldn’t have done it without some inspiration and a few of the fantastic blogs I follow have tutorials that really helped me realize that I could do it (and how to do it as well). I have to share the big reveal first because we all know it’s the best part:

 Now on to how it’s done. As I mentioned, I read two tutorials over and over and then over and over again to make sure I knew what I was doing. Censational Girl posted about her nailhead trim headboard but I knew I wouldn’t go that fancy. We don’t own power tools, have a garage or actually have the skill to do that (YET). I also read about a DIY headboard on another blog, but I can’t remember which one. Trust me with CG’s though. She’s got more than one, so you should be able to follow. Also, I ordered my nailhead trim from the same place she did, but more on that later. Tutorial time!

First, go to Home Depot with a friend. I recommend a Friday night around 9:45pm. The service is excellent and the rides are free.

I bought a 60″ w x 32″ h piece of plywood. I have no idea what kind. We chose the thickness based on what was eye level. There was a HD guy there to “assist” but I’m not convinced he knew what he was doing. What really tipped me off that he wasn’t properly trained was the fact that we almost convinced him to let Katie use the wood cutter. Not smart. We still don’t let her use bread knives, but that’s another story…

After Home Depot, we went to JoAnn Fabrics and bought a great golden tan fabric (2 yards I think) that was a classy jersey knit. No, that is not a contradiction. My headboard fabric is like Snooki covered in glitter. Okay, that probably didn’t paint the right picture. Anyways, it works people. I also bought 1″ thick foam and 2 queen size bags of batting. I wanted this puppy thick and comfy so in case anyone steals our bed, we can sleep on the headboard. Is this getting weird for you too? Blame the wine…

After she was all wrapped up in the foam and batting, I got my staple gun and put about a thousand staples in to secure the padding, then to secure the fabric. You would think I took a picture of the headboard with just the fabric. Nope. Too excited to get to step two. The trim!!! I mentioned before that I ordered my nailhead trim from Beacon Fabrics, just like CG. Not because I want to do things exactly like her, but I couldn’t find it in any store. Any where. I live in the DC metro area and no one sold this stuff. Le sigh. So I anxiously waited for it to arrive and within a few short days it was time to complete my DIY headboard journey.

I read that you need to use a rubber mallet to hammer these so you don’t ruin the finish. This is good advice. And I don’t have a rubber mallet, so I improvised like any good DIYer would do.

I used my sock. By the way, don’t use good socks. That poor guy is holey and had to be thrown away. Also, while the nailhead trim is easy to shape, the sides are quite sharp. I had cuts and was bleeding. Yes, I bled making a headboard. My fingers looked like they got into a fight with a ream of paper. Paper, 1. Fingers, 0. Luckily, the trim went in easily and quickly, so after I bandaged up my battle wounds, I finished up and was left with a fabulous new headboard! The best part is that since we have a platform bed (IKEA Malm) I was able to wedge it between the mattress/boxspring and the back part of the bed. Since we’re still renting, I am hesitant to put too many holes in the wall. I’m lazy and don’t want to patch those bad oscars up when we eventually leave.

If you think you want to tackle this project, DO IT. The foam/batting/fabric wrapping took 5 minutes. The trim really wasn’t that bad (I’m dramatic) and it’s totally worth the end result. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go bask in the glory of my comfortable and under $130 project.

Even though there is only one exclamation point on that title, I’m basically screaming this. I am SO pumped to share my inspiration. I finally feel like I’m getting somewhere with what style  I we want in our master bedroom. I definitely favor dark wood and warm colors, so when JT said he wanted a bright bedroom, I panicked. Luckily, we compromised and found a great bedding set at Kohls – Apt 9 Options in green. The photo I’m going to share shows it in charcoal, so just imagine white where you see gray. So without further ado, here’s what I’m working towards:

We currently have IKEA Malm furniture in medium-brown. Every other day I want to paint it, then not, then add drawer pulls, then not. So for now it’ll just stay the way it is since I can’t seem to make up my mind. I also can’t seem to convince my husband to let me go paint crazy. With our bedding and the furniture, the rest of the room I want to keep light and white. I am loving the clear, crystal lamps. I plan on scouring Home Goods and TJ Maxx this weekend to find a deal. The one listed above is from IKEA, but while I was blog-stalking (don’t judge me, we all do it) I came across someone who found one for $20 at Marshall’s. I know that deal is still out there for me! We also have a full length mirror, which I plan on painting the frame white, but I am LOVING the idea (from IKEA of course) of setting it up on a little storage unit. That is actually a tv unit with a shelf left out, but we’ll see what I can find. That might be a thrift store or Craigslist search.

And of course, I didn’t forget the little details. I’ve been helping a friend get her new apartment decorated fab and I saw some great vases at Ross recently. The vases and candle votives above are from West Elm (which I happen to have a giftcard to) but I’m going to hold out for some local deals. I just can’t resign to using my giftcard. It’s like a little piece of gold in my wallet. No, I don’t think that’s a ridiculous statement. You’re just jealous that you don’t have one. How do I choose?!

Anyways. The biggest part of our master bedroom upgrade will be my DIY project I intend to tackle in the next two weeks: a headboard! That’s right. I just completed my first mood board and I’m already diving into a DIY headboard. Crazy. I can’t help it. I’ll definitely let you know how that goes. In the mean time, I need to make a list of what I need so I can control myself when I am unleashed into the wild. And by wild, I mean Home Goods. Which happens to be right in between World Market and TJ Maxx. I may need a leash.

Before I start updating, I’ll snap some before pics. I know how much we all love before and after shots! Why isn’t Home Goods open 24/7?!