porch makeover: peony wallpaper

peony-wallpaper-diy-2When we bought our home, our back porch was designated as the family room. Yet, the set-up that they had felt off. The large living room was nearly empty, and the back family room felt small and disjointed from the rest of the house. I knew immediately that I would be combining our living room with the family room, and that the back room would become a porch.

peony-wallpaper-diy-1Before photo.

Once we had moved in and I had turned the space into a porch/dog room/office, my next task was to make the room look nicer. With its grey carpets, low ceilings, and dirty white walls, the room felt more like a messy dorm than a nice area to study and a cozy space for the dogs to hang out. Sure, it didn’t need to be gorgeous. It did need to be different, though. I just didn’t know how.

peony-wallpaper-diy-4One thing about still having to get up in the middle of the night to nurse Remy is that I do all of my best internet searches then. After perusing Pinterest one night, I found the prettiest back porch. The layout from the kitchen to the back living space was almost identical to our home, it was actually quite startling. The only difference was that the Pinterest room had wallpaper. I knew that I was going to have to buy some as well.

peony-wallpaper-diy-6I lucked out by stumbling across nearly identical wallpaper at HomeSense. I didn’t even know that they sold it there, so it was quite a happy accident. It was so easy to install! I’m going to be returning to the store to get more (but different looking) wallpaper for our bathroom. However, one room at a time.

peony-wallpaper-diy-7We really only have a few hours each weekend to do renovations and DIYs, but I’m kind of enjoying slowly setting up the rooms. I definitely feel less pressure to have a perfect home, this time around. I’m thankful for that.

<3

Emory

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get a beautiful home for less!

Having recently moved, I have noticed that there is so much gorgeous home decor stuff out there! But the problem is that if you bought it all, you’d have no money to pay for a place to put it in! So how can we get the look we want without bankrupting ourselves? Read on to find out.

Know your style

The first thing that is essential for getting a gorgeous home, without spending your life savings is to be clear on your style. You need to think carefully about the look that you want, the function of the room you are decorating, and who will be using it. It cannot be based on just aesthetics alone!  All of these three factors should combine to point you towards the style of decor that would be appropriate for that particular space.

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Use Trends as Accents

Home trends seem to move with the speed of light these days. There are new trends, retro trends, and eco trends to keep up with. The problem is that if you decorate your home with trend heavy items like wallpaper, it can look dated very quickly. Then you are stuck with something that is out of fashion or stuck with the cost of redecorating, so it is in fashion.

That is why is essential to cherry pick aspects of current trends that could work in your space, and use them as accents. For example, there is a current trend for brass, terrariums, and crystal geodes. These make great decorative accents to update a room, and can be bought separately from high street retailers at little cost.

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Keep A Plain Canvas

To allow the ‘trends as accents’ approach to work, it’s a good idea to keep the walls and carpets of your home relatively neutral. This means that they act as a blank canvas to compliment your accessories.

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It’s also the cheapest way of decorating your home. Plain white or cream walls are cheap and easy to repaint when they become dirty or scuffed. They also make a small room look bigger, as the reflect light well.

Have An Eye For A Bargain

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Anyone that is keen on staying up to date with their home decor choices will usually have a good eye for a bargain. Whether it’s searching the flea markets at the weekend, or looking for Kohl’s coupon codes, when you have your heart set on that one special piece. Remember there are discounts and bargain to be had if you look hard enough, and have enough bottle to haggle the price down!

Upcycle

Another way of getting a beautiful home without breaking the bank is to upcycle things. You’d be surprised how many people throw perfectly functional items out just because they no longer fit in with their home decor. What they don’t realize is through with a little elbow grease you can transform a broken down object into a gorgeous piece for your home. Ask your relatives and friends if they are throwing anything out before you scour the auction rooms.

** This post has been contributed by Sarah Jones.

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road trip : british columbia

Screen Shot 2014-07-17 at 9.26.37 PMIf you can recall this post from the beginning of last summer, my mum and I flew across the country to see the house that she thought she had fallen for. What then ensued felt like an episode of Catfish. At first, the home appeared to be my mum’s dream house. In person, it was a different story, and was very rough around the edges to say the least. Typical Catfish. After flying back home and reconsidering it, my mum changed her mind and fell in love with it one more time. Then she purchased it! Although she would never admit it, she’s a hopeless romantic.

Screen Shot 2014-07-17 at 9.25.01 PMThese Instagram photos were taken during our last trip. If you would like to see exactly what we are up to, then you can follow me here.

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Until Friday!

<3

Emory

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tlb: our tongue and groove tale

Tongue And Groove Ceiling 4Eight months ago, when we were planning the design for The Little Barn, we apparently made the decision to have a tongue and groove pine ceiling installed. For some reason, this important detail somehow slipped my mind.

Tongue And Groove CeilingThe foundation went in, the walls went up, the installation and drywall were next, and finally it was time for the ceiling. Around the same time, I was at the house with our contractors trying to pick out flooring. I mentioned that I wanted dark flooring since the walls and the ceiling colour were going to be white. Our contractor proceeded to ask me if I was planning on staining the ceiling white? I asked him if he meant paint instead of stain? He replied that he meant stain, since we’re getting a pine ceiling. I was now very confused. I asked him since when were we putting wood instead of drywall up there? He reminded that it was always the plan, and that I had said that I wanted a ceiling similar to the one in my mum’s barn. At that point I knew that he was telling the truth, since it completely sounded like something that I would say. I just didn’t understand how I wouldn’t remember such a momentous detail. Is that not weird?

Tongue And Groove Ceiling 1This was not the only time that I had forgotten our house building plans while building our home. Some days I was just so tired from working, trying to cope with Holly’s health problems, and starting up my store, that I had no energy left for making decisions about our home. I would either just blurt out the first idea that came to my mind, or tell our contractor to surprise us. When I later asked how they were able to get the ceiling stained that particular colour, they said, “you don’t want to know.”

Tongue And Groove Ceiling 2I probably went about this home construction thing a lot more relaxed than most people would, but hey, to each their own.  

Tongue And Groove Ceiling 5In the end, everything turned out beautifully. Especially our ceiling.

<3

Emory

P.S. Only one more week until the final house tour of The Little Barn!

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crate & barrel

Crates2I love crates. I feel like Brick Tamland when I say that, but it’s true. I freaking love ’em!

Crates4Crates3Our contractor built us an entire home without installing any type of shelving. Not a single one in the kitchen, living room, bathroom, bedroom, mudroom, or closets. None. I know what you’re thinking. We must be crazy. There, I said it for you. Do you know what? I would have to agree with you. However, given that my husband and I built and installed all of our shelving in Little Green, I’ve come to know exactly what I like, and how I want it to look. No contractor of mine is going to get his hands all over my ledges, dagnabbit!

Crates5We placed crates all over our new kitchen in The Little Barn in lieu of cupboards. I personally like their uniqueness and the overall feel that they exude, as opposed to generic or modern cabinetry. Plus, I’m tidy. No object will ever be out of place in these babies!

Crates1My Jesus plaque hanging next to the thumbs up hanger is a little ode to the film Dogma. Did anyone else catch that?

Crates6Have a great day! Please go easy on me in the comment section! :-)))

<3

Emory

  • Hello! My name is Emory. I am a wife, mother of four (three on earth in heaven). This is our life on the Canadian prairies.
    email: helloscarlettblog@outlook.com

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