Modern Boho Summer Home Tour

Welcome, friends! If you're makin' the rounds on the Blogger Stylin' Home Tours hosted by The White Buffalow Styling Co., I've got some tough tours to follow! If you're following the order of this little hop then welcome from Circa34! Love her down to earth style so much. There has been no shortage of beautifully fresh Summer homes, not the least of which is our very own Cate's! You can view her Summer home tour here if you missed it last week!

While Cate's gorgeous home tour was eclectic, indeed, I'd say my style leans heavy toward easy breezy bohemian. I've always had a pretty laid back personality by nature and my husband is much more so. The casualness of the bohemain style suits us really well and is how I'd describe the nature of our home. With a woodsy backyard and lots of natural light, there's a fine line between the outdoors and indoors here. We've got three little ones ages 6, 6, and 5, and they keep the pulse of our home thumping hard. It really is a house of wild things, both inside and out! While our laid back, natural style is mostly bohemian, we don't quite have that layered element of stuff upon stuff - it's something of a cross between bohemian and minimalist, which is funny because they're really on opposite sides of the style spectrum! But it's what feels natural and comfortable for us, as any home should be to it's owners. Shall we look around?!

Our basement is our family room and playroom. We didn't need to do much down here after acquiring a hand-me-down sectional from my folks and turned a vintage WWI cot, (previously a bench in our living room , as Cate has in hers), into a coffee table.

We've got a line up of Summer movies ready to go, for sure!

Around the corner from the comfy is the playful and line totally gets blurred. The toys may 'sleep' in this space but they come out to play all over the basement during the day. I just love it.

This wall is the newest addition in our home at the moment! I used a bit of teal paint that I had bought for a bathroom years ago to create a fun backdrop for the kids' favorite art work. I want all of it. Give me all the cut-out hand suns, finger painted stegasaurs' and handprint bouquets. These are the days!

Before we head back upstairs we'll pass by our little built-in desk that the kids will use from time to time to play reading and math games after school. Since it's enclosed on three sides its a nice uninterrupted spot to work!

Head up six stairs and you're in our (mostly) open main floor! The kitchen is closed off behind that wall to the right, but we hope to do something about that in the distant future. Don't come back for an update anytime soon!

I pulled some small shelves off the wall straight ahead and replaced them with an oversized tassel weaving, (tutorial here)! It's perfect for this season - light and airy, no fuss, no muss. (WHAT does muss mean, anyways?)

Our dining room was one of the first rooms we tackled. We use it for everything - family meals, homework, crafts, styled photos shoots, poker nights, dominoes, and other favorite games.

The industrial shelves, (tutorial here), were the game-changer for this area as they provide space to keep all craft supplies as well as a command center for me to attempt organization. Doesn't that over-sized calendar make me look like serious business? Hah! :)

And if you happened to check out the industrial shelves tutorial you'll notice how dark our World Market Garner Extension table was originally. I sanded it down for a lighter, more natural finish. Word to the wise, don't use an electric sander indoors.

Summer may be quickly approaching but Shire's and my tea game is going strong! We enjoy all the berry-licious teas this time of year. The china tea cups on the left are my grandmother's and the two on the right are my Momma's.

Drying paint brushes are a given on this windowsill and I finally found a container, (thrifted aged brass for the win), to keep them in so they don't drip on the sill!

Moving upstairs our first stop is Shire's bright and happy room. She's 6 and is just all the good things bottled up in one petite package.

Goodness, I hope she still likes bringing art into our home when she's older! (Speaking of art, the painted cow was done by my Grandmother!)

And this is Colin's and Mason's shared room. They're 6 and 5 and every bit worth the amount of work - brilliantly fun, smart, expressive and with super sharp interests du jour.

By using their closet for all their clothes we were able to maximize floor space with narrow toy and book storage pieces, (both thrifted).

So it's blue painters tape and computer paper. You won't find this on Pinterest, that's for sure! Their room is wall-to-wall drawings of whatever's on their mind, (garbage trucks, excavators, dinosaurs). And sometimes Daddy adds a piece of his own here and there, too. :)

Last stop is around the corner to our room!

The wal is the 'Fuji' stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils using Americas Cup Navy by Behr. It adds a fun twist to the traditional antique bed that's been in my family for generations upon generations, (my great-great grandmother and great uncle were born in this bed - nice visual, eh?)!

I pinky swear I will have this hanging at my bedside for the rest of my life. Happy Mother's bay, forever.

That's it folks! Thank you all so much for taking the time to come by! I encourage you to head straight over to my girl Shavonda's tour at SG Style - I adore her style and her home never disappoints!

Here are the rest of the tours in order:

Monday:
The White Buffalo Styling Co.
Cuckoo for Design
Bliss at Home
Eclectically Vintage
Dimples and Tangles
A Designer at Home      
Claire Brody
Julie Blanner
Tuesday:
Nesting with Grace
Place of My Taste
Our Storied Home
The Chronicles of Home
Life on Virginia Street
Simple Stylings
Restless Arrow
Wednesday:
Inspired by Charm
Hunted Interior
Sarah M. Dorsey
Primitive & Proper
Swoon Worthy
HI Sugarplum
Brittany Makes
Burlap & lac
Thursday:
My Sweet Savannah
Jennifer Rizzo
Circa ‘34
StyleMutt Home
SG Style
Bright Green Door
A Creative Day Blog
Friday:
Craftberry Bush
The House of Silver Lining
The Makerista
withHEART            
The Wicker House
My Fabuless Life
Iron & Twine
House of Hipsters

DIY Tree Stump Tables - ||Full Tutorial||

You guys, Cate and I have been working on a little side project that we are so close to finally being able to reveal! It's our first full design job and we lucked out with the sweetest young client who just moved into an apartment in Washington D.C. Aside from her bed, a sofa and a chair, we are starting from scratch. We are at the point now where most of her large pieces are done and we're moving into the fun decorating stage! 

Our client is an eclectic gal who appreciates various design styles, (so up our alley), and when she mentioned a desire to include some rustic elements in her decor, our minds jumped right to tree stump end tables, (yes, Cate and I have this weird thing going on where we often think of the same thing at the same time. It's both cooky and awesome).

I took a few shots of one of the finished stump tables in my home to show you since we're banking suspense for a full reveal post of this secret apartment. ;)

This seemed like a quick and easy project, but once we got rolling there were a few more logistics to consider. Hopefully this information is helpful to anyone out there who wants to try this so it really is a quick and easy project for them!

The first consideration was which type of wood to use. Oak and Maple are both popular trees in our area, but with Oak being so heavy, we decided Maple would be a better option, (we're strong girls, but our client is in a second floor apartment with no elevator, so....). When we found a tree cutting service taking down some Maples in my neighborhood we hit the jackpot! They were willing to give us what wood we needed for free and even offered to cut the specific size we needed, which was 24", (although for some reason they cut us two 48" sizes, so in the end we had to cut them ourselves anyways).

The next task was bringing the stumps inside to dry out, (by inside, I mean a garage or some covered area that's not your house). This is important as it will make the next stage, (stripping the bark), a little easier, and also help get rid of any critters under the bark.

Here's what one of the stumps looked like before leveling off the surface and stripping the bark. We used a miter saw to shave off the top surface to get it more level, (thanks for taking that on, Matt).

After a week or so of drying out the sumps, it was time to remove the bark! Cool as the bark looked on the stump, we wanted to warm the stumps up a bit and remove the cool grey toned bark. Also, not to deter anyone, but there are things that live in bark, so removing it will ensure a bug-free stump table. ;) 

To remove the bark I used a spackle knife and hammer. I'd pry the spackle knife under the bark a bit, and then tap the hammer on the spackle knife handle to pull the bark up. Then I could just lift the bark off easy peasy.

Here is the difference between a bark and de-barked finish. Love the multi-toned warmer colors of the wood underneath the cool grey bark!

After all the bark is stripped and the top surface is sanded smooth, (I used a rough, 100 grit sandpaper followed by a fine 220 grit paper to get the top surface really smooth to the touch), it's time to seal! I sealed the entire stumps, top surface as well as up and down the sides, with Minwax Polyurethane Sealer.

And bodda-bing! You've got rustic end tables! 

We are so excited to share these tables in the context of the apartment we're working on! Soon, baby, soon. If you happen to try this project yourself, please promise you'll share with the rest of us! We love seeing and showing off your creativity and handiwork , (just post photos of your projects to our Facebook page). 

And don't feel confined to end tables - another idea for tree stumps is using them as stools - I used a chunk that we needed to cut off from the original 48" stumps to use as a little stool under our industrial shelves. It's the perfect height!

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Alternative Bedside Ideas

Hi All! Last week our sweet friend, Iris, (Around the Watts House), alerted Cate and me of a fun opportunity to submit some refinished work to HGTV and we couldn't wait to spread the word to you! (Thanks for lookin' out, Iris!!!) The call is for all madeover bedside tables and nightstands - they're asking peeps on Twitter and Instagram to tag their new and improved bedside pieces with #HGTVmakeover for a chance to be shared in one of HGTV's upcoming blog posts! How fun! You have until this Friday, 2/20 to tag your work if you've got something to share!

I think our girl, Cate, has a pretty good chance with these beauties, yes?!

Interesting fact: My home has not a single bedside table! I actually never thought about it until Iris shared this HGTV contest for bedside tables with us! Here's why we've skipped traditional nighstands: The boys need about as little furniture as possible in their room. We've got their beds, a bookshelf and that's it. The rest of the space is spared for wrestling. And by keeping their decor simple, I'm pretty confident we've spared ourselves some emergency room visits. :)

Our girl Shire's bed is snug inside a little nook in her room. It's a cozy spot that fits her twin bed, but with only a few inches on either side there's simply no room for a table. So we placed a shelf above her bed! This acts as both surface space for her water bottle at night, a spot for her beloved knick-knacks, (she's a true bowerbird), and topped with a piece of art, it's also her 'headboard'.

And then there's our master bedroom. A couple weeks ago I shared our bedroom after stenciling the accent wall behind the bed, but I didn't talk about any other details in our room. If you caught that stenciled wall post, you might recall me saying the bed is an antique family heirloom which has been passed through my family over several generations. With my bohemian driven style, I just couldn't see anything holding it's own right next to that headboard. So, I decided to do something minimalistic and just float a pair of shelves! 

We used basic white laminate board shelves from Lowes, but topped them with a piece of stained particle board cut to the exact same size for a customized two-tone look, (which we echoed on our floating wall shelves as well).

These shelves meet our surface needs and we never feel like we need more storage. I love how using something simple at either side lets the bed shine!

I'm not sure if our bedside solutions meets the criteria for the #HGTVmakeover contest, but I thought them worthy of sharing for anyone else who might be stumped on bedside surface space! 

Thank you all for stopping by!

Don't forget to tag your refinished bedside tables and nightstands with #HGTVmakeover on Twitter and Instagram! We'd love to hear if any of our friends get featured, so keep us posted!