All posts in our home

our home: bathroom style on the cheap

by Megan on May 16, 2013 in our home, style a room with No comments

On our latest apartment adventure, we set out to add some color and style to our bland, boring master bathroom. Every apartment we’ve lived in has had the basic bathroom features that are just bland enough to please everyone. Beige counters, basic cabinets and hardware, nothing fancy. But a room you spend your early mornings and late nights in should be at least a little pretty, right? Why can’t I brush my teeth and look at something colorful and happy? Of course, we don’t have the freedom (or resources) to go with a bathroom remodel, so I wanted to add just a few apartment friendly touches to spruce things up a bit.

The easiest thing you can do? Add art. On the two walls that were big enough for frames, we added some color with free art! I cut an old floral print down to size for the frame by the vanity and, adjacent to the shower, I added some super easy paint chip art. We bought the two white frames from IKEA for $5.00 each. The great thing about them is that they are pretty thin, so they don’t stick out from the wall very much, and they are also plastic. Perfect to protect our DIY art from humidity, but it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if the frames somehow got damaged.

One of the most exciting upgrades was buying new towels! We replaced all of our bath and hand towels with these fluffy ones in sky blue, navy, and white. They are also from IKEA and the quality is actually pretty amazing. Plus the colors lend to a more spa like feel and don’t clash with the cabinetry and wall color that we can’t change.

We also upped our bathroom organization! We bought these awesome corner shower shelves from Target that just suction cup right to the wall. We’re over a month in and they haven’t budged. Plus, the people that make them are smart enough to have slits in the bottoms, so they stay pretty clean as well! No fuss, no muss! (By the way, what it muss??)

And on the counter, I put my extensive collection of glass vessels by turning a square vase and glass votive into storage for cotton balls and q-tips. Totally free and it is worlds better than having packages of bath supplies cluttering up the vanity.

No, it’s not the fanciest makeover. Nor the most impressive. But, hey! We’re not trying to win a beauty contest here! The goal right now is cheap and making, what will hopefully be, our last apartment stylish without spending a ton of dough. (But when we get a house, oh man, y’all better be prepared for the paint and projects to be flying!)

What are some other inexpensive ways to freshen up a bathroom? Share ideas for storage and style below!!

have a home philosophy

by Megan on April 16, 2013 in our home with No comments

The past few weeks have been full of a lot of thinking. You know, like grown up thinking. Such as “where do we want to live?”, “what’s going to be the best for our little family?”, “how can we scrape up enough money over the next year to buy our first house?”. I don’t know how it was when you tackled these questions (if you already have), but they. are. tough!! I feel like that’s part of the reason I’ve been so absent from the blog lately. I’m just feeling so overwhelmed with all these decisions! So, I figure it might be best to start small and create a philosophy for our home.

To me, a home philosophy is important for two reasons.

do what you can print – red autumn

Number one, it’s an easy way to focus your decorating intentions. By living under the manta of “doing more where you are with what you have”, I might find myself buying less random trinkets (because they were on sale) and raiding my crowded craft closet for materials to make some original art myself! If you’re like me and pine over all the pretty things you can buy online (thanks a lot, Pinterest!), a home philosophy like this would definitely come in handy.

black and white wall art – Making it Lovely

But the second reason is the most important. A home philosophy gives you a chance to state clearly how you want to live; what daily life is like in your home. The large, simple, black and white print above from Making it Lovely is a perfect example. Because even though all that pretty stuff is great, it’s not what makes your home “you”. (Feel free to stop me if I get too cheesy!)

hand lettered wisdom – Lisa Congdon

As for me and my home philosophy? I’d have to go with the one right above. “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful”. That just sings to my quasi-minimalist heart. Because even though I like ‘stuff’, I hate clutter and I don’t what our home to be defined by non-special junk littering every surface. I want it to be clean, calm, and for everything to serve a purpose. Whether it’s the cute yellow vacuum that’s purpose is to clean carpets or the first real piece of art Josh and I bought together as broke college students that just makes me smile with the memory, I want it all to be beautiful or useful.

our home: master bath updates

by Megan on April 3, 2013 in create, our home with No comments

Wow, so it’s been a while right? It turns out getting back into the swing of things after a one week vacation is totally harder than it seems. But I’m back now and I’m ready for a lot of new projects and fun stuff on Two Live Colorfully!

Before we left for Oregon, we had been working on sprucing up our master bath. The before was pretty bland.

We’re not quite done yet, but we did finally get some new towels and I made some fun paint chip art to liven things up!

We bought our towels from IKEA and they are surprisingly luxurious! We probably stood in the towel section of the store for a good 30 minutes trying to decide what colors to get. Of course, in the end, we went with the three colors that were right next to each other! Two fun royal blue, spa blue, and crisp white to balance out the colors.

I also grabbed a few of these NYTTJA frames for both bathrooms. They are thin, light weight, and the front is plastic, so I thought they’d be perfect to stand up to the moisture and steam from showering.

As for the art, I just raided the paint chip section of Wal-Mart, cut each chip into a square and then used double sided tape to attach them to white paper. It took less than 20 minutes and I love the way it looks! We had some pink paint chip art in the bedroom of our last apartment and I just think it’s a really fun look. It kind of reminds me of a photo that’s been blown up and each square is a pixel. Pretty cool and 100% free.

Still on the list of things to do:

add some art on the opposite wall
frame out the mirror
style it up

What rooms have you been making progress with? And what are your favorite paint chip projects? I know there are some really neat ones out there!

get organized: shower solutions

by Megan on March 13, 2013 in organization, our home with 1 Comment

Last week, we shared the before pictures of our master bathroom before starting to make it over. One of our big issues was shower storage. Up until now we’ve just been keeping all of our bottles around the sides of the tub, and it was not working out. Gunk would build up super quick and it got to be pretty gross. So, I sought out some alternatives.

In the past, we’ve had one of those hanging shelves that goes over the shower head, but we wanted something a little different. However, I also did not want to get one of those corner units on a pole. After a while, I’ve seen those get pretty gross. But luckily, I found these suction cup corner storage shelves at Target for $7.99 each.

They are perfect!! We’ve had them up for a couple of weeks now and the suction cups haven’t budged! They’ve even got a little area for razors and a hook for loofahs!

Plus, even loaded up with our shower stuff, they look pretty nice!

Now, we’re moving on to art and other fun stuff (like new towelssss!!!)

our home: video tour!!

by Megan on March 11, 2013 in our home, videos with No comments

**Hey! We’re on vacation this week! But don’t worry, we’ve still got four solid days of Two Live Colorfully awesome-ness! Enjoy!**

There has never been a video on this blog! What?! It’s time to break that streak. Today we’ve got our very first video, a tour of our apartment. Sometimes it’s hard to visualize a space, especially the layout, with just pictures. So, here you go! A full apartment tour just for you!

Projects mentioned (just in case you want the details):

Navy & white striped curtains (made from bedsheets!)
Gilded chair makeover
IKEA IVAR bookcase
DIY embroidery hoop mobiles (one of my favorite projects!)
Bright, flowery canvas art
Geometric bedroom art
Bleach pen designed curtains

our home: bland, boring bathroom

by Megan on March 5, 2013 in our home with No comments

Well, we’re on track to get our apartment put together before the summer and the next space on the list is our master bathroom. It is bah-land. I mean really lame. No decor, really no color at all. master-bathroom-makeover-before-3 As you can see, it’s your standard builder-basic apartment bathroom. Pretty much no personality. Plus we’ve got a major mis-match going on with the shower curtain and our towels so the whole room is just not working out.And ever since we’ve moved in, we have just been putting our shampoo and body wash bottles around the sides of the tub, so we definitely need a solution for that. master-bathroom-makeover-before-4

Here’s the plan:

Add some fun, colorful art
Update the shower curtain (or get another one)
Buy new towels (plushhh ones)
Get some sort of shower organization system
Possibly find some temporary method for framing the mirror?

We’ll be having family over in April, so we better get moving!! Stay tuned for updates!

Are you an apartment dweller? What have you done to spruce up your bathroom to make it a little less blegh?? Tips and suggestions are much appreciated!!

our home: curtain update (when your husband is right!)

by Megan on March 1, 2013 in do it yourself, our home with 1 Comment

Let’s add a point to Josh’s side of the “design decisions” board, shall we? Last year, when I made these big, bold striped curtains, I thought one panel would be best because our living room window doesn’t have equal space on each side. (For more info and pictures on that project check out this post here!) Josh thought two panels would look better, but I convinced him that I knew what I was doing. Now, months later, I realized he was totally right.

Here’s what it looked like before:

Not bad or anything. In fact, it looked pretty good. But once we moved my pink computer desk in here, the one-paneled window looked really off kilter. Exhibit B:

So, last weekend, I decided it was time. I took down the curtain, sliced it right up the middle, “hemmed” the edges with iron-on hem tape, and put them back up.Bam! A pretty quick update that made a huge difference! Now it’s much more balanced and it frames out my pink desk perfectly. And, oh! Hello, gorgeous gold chair! Look at you and your fine self in your rightful spot!

So, picture Josh doing a happy “I was right” jig. That should start your weekend off right!

Have you ever realized that someone else was totally right about a home project after the fact? Feel free to describe their happy dance below!!

make this: geometric bedroom art

by Megan on February 15, 2013 in our home, style a room with 5 Comments

We’re still moving along in the bedroom and the progress is becoming noticeable! Yay!! Our primary focus right now is getting art up on the walls and adding some style.

Today, I want to share this fun geometric art project that we completed last weekend. I’ve been loving all the geometric-ness that’s been popping up around Pinterest lately, and this was an easy DIY-able idea that I found on The Red Thread (a blog you should definitely get friendly with). And this thing certainly packs a punch!

Now, in Lisa’s version, lots of colors works amazingly because her room is largely white. We’ve got a lot going on already with those curtains we snagged at IKEA last year. They are powerful and kind of command the room, so I decided our version would stick within that color scheme: purples, gray, and white.

I also went a little larger. I picked up three foam boards from the dollar store (instead of two) and secured them together vertically. It takes up a lot more visual space this way. I’m thinking of flanking it with some “chill” art above the nightstands would balance out the strictness of the geometric pattern and just about complete this side of the room.

It took about 2 hours and, because it’s all made on foam board, it was super easy to hang. I just used three velcro picture hanging strips (like these) at the top and used sticky tack to secure the bottom corners. Plus, knowing that what’s hanging over our heads at night is not super heavy let’s us sleep a little more peacefully, just in case it does come down. Which it won’t, but still.

What are your favorite DIY art projects? Do you like frames or canvases? Or made from something unexpected? Share below!!

make this: the lazy girl’s diy bedskirt

by Megan on January 30, 2013 in do it yourself, make this, on a budget, our home with 5 Comments

I’m not afraid to admit that in the past, I have been quite vehement about never ever having a bed skirt. Traditional bed skirts just aren’t my thing, with their ruffles and often dusty colors. No. But when we moved into our new apartment, 816, we opted to sell our huge bedroom set in order to have a little more space in the boudoir. Because, even though our new bedroom is actually larger in terms of square feet, it’s basically a perfect square which means things just fit differently. So, we sold our first “grown-up furniture” to our newly married couple friends and picked up a cheap, metal bed frame from Wal-Mart. The extra space is glorious! The tacky, brown metal bed frame, not so much.

The first thing we tackled was making a DIY Upholstered headboard to frame out our sleeping quarters. Next, we picked up some new plush bedding. Then it was finally time to address the under belly of the beast.

My focus with any project (as with any!) was to keep it looking like something I purchased and to complete it with as little hair pulling and money spending as possible. For this super simple, straight bed skirt, all three objectives were accomplished!

To achieve a similar look you need just a few things! First of all, fabric! I chose white tone-on-tone polka dots. It introduces a new pattern to the room but there are no crazy colors to clash with what’s already going on. Now, as far as measurements go, all I did was measure the three visible sides of our queen size bed which totaled 220” (60+80+80), which equaled just over 6 yards. Then I divided that in half! When you buy fabric, you usually get cuts that are folded in half. I figured I could just cut right down the fold and get the perfect amount of fabric for half the price! I would advise getting ¼ – ½ a yard extra, just in case!

You will also need iron-on hem tape, scissors, safety pins, an iron and an ironing board!

The first thing I did was send my fabric through a wash cycle. It’s best to start out clean! Then I cut my fabric in half long ways to get the length I needed to wrap around the three visible sides of our bed.

All you do then is hem around the edges! When you’re done hemming the long sides, use your no-sew tape to hem the two pieces together, making sure the pair up the “nicest” sides (that way you get the best bottom edge for your skirt. I used two strips of the hem tape for extra durability.

Now, we dress our bed! Since we basically just created a wrap-style bed skirt, you don’t have to remove the whole mattress to put it on! All I did was scoot the mattress over, start in the back corner and safety pin the skirt to the box spring. I moved all the way around, safety pinning about every foot or so and then moved the mattress back into place!

For neat corners, just wrap around and fold the top over. Pin and it’s perfect!

And done! Easily completed in an afternoon. And the best part is, it’s easier to remove than traditional skirts, it’s customized to our décor, and the entire project cost less than $20.00!!

Plus, it just makes such a huge difference! Here’s the before:

And then the after:

And, if you’re wondering about those cute yellow chevron pillows, “the lazy girl’s custom pillow” is coming up too!

Now that we’ve finished the office, we’re going to be spending a lot more time in the bedroom (in a purely decorating sense, people!). We’ve got plans for some big, DIY art and some major styling all on the cheap (but awesome) plan! So, stay tuned for that!

What sort of fabric projects have you been working on lately? Maybe curtains like our bleach pen designed curtains or our bold, striped curtains? Or something else? Share below!!

that’s a wrap: office reveal

by Megan on January 28, 2013 in on a budget, our home with 5 Comments

So, the office is done. Well, mostly done. There are still a few finishing touches I have planned, but for the most part this room is finished. You might remember what it looked like just a few weeks ago but now, it’s clean, it’s organized, you can actually walk through it without fearing for your life. Overall all, I’d call that a success.

Now, let’s take the tour!

The most obvious change is the fact that you can actually see the floors! (Carpet! Who knew?)

I finally hung up all of the art and frames that we own. There’s still quick a bit of empty space (and yes, that one frame still has the advertisement photo in it), so we’ve got room to grow, but stuff is on the walls which is the main focus! When Josh and I graduated from college, his dad got us a double frame which now houses both of our diplomas which is pretty cool.

By the window is Josh’s workspace. Being a first year teacher, he is in here a lot, so it doesn’t stay neat for long, but he did put in some creative storage solutions like the hanging file folders and wire shelving next to his desk.

Here, you can see the curtains I designed with bleach pens and also one of the Christmas presents I got for Josh, a signed Source Fed poster (which is a news program we watch on YouTube that is hilarious, but still super informative!!)

On the opposite wall is our family calendar (which we snagged on etsy) and more art.

This small bookcase serves as storage for binders and all office supplies.And, in the last turn, we’ve got the door and Josh’s keyboard. You can also see that we hung the curtains super high which makes the ceilings look taller and also takes up that empty visual space about the window and doors.I do want to add something in that space around the rest of the room, but I’m just not sure what yet. Maybe giant confetti shapes or something fun like that!

And that’s our office! Finally functional and a little bit stylish. Like I mentioned, there is room to improve and add over the duration of our time in 816, but just the progress we’ve made is so worth sharing!

Have you overhauled any rooms lately? Discovered any floors you didn’t know existed?

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