All posts tagged two live colorfully

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!

room love: vintage inspired

by Megan on March 21, 2013 in room love, style a room with No comments

It’s been a looong time since I’ve done a “Room Love” board but I just had to bring it back today. If you haven’t seen it yet, Emily Henderson styled Bri Emery’s living room and it rocks my world. Plus, it’s pretty cool when two bloggers you follow religiously, team up.

This room is outstanding! It’s bright and airy, it’s got lots of fantastic styling, and it’s beautifully mis-matched. Plus, it’s a rental! They brought this whole room together without painting the walls and doing anything super dramatic so it’s very achievable. Take a look:

Ahhh! It’s styled up but I don’t think too girly, which is obviously what they were going for because a couple lives here. The furniture, which is mostly reupholstered vintage finds, is all complimentary and all the color comes from fun accessories. And plants!!! We have zero plants in our apartment because I have a black thumb, but my birthday will be rolling around in a few months, and it’s been a tradition for the last few years to attempt to not murder a new plant so, we’ll see.

Now, here is my take on Bri’s new living room. It’s so amazing what Emily can do with those vintage pieces, but if you want to recreate the it’s nice to have a few easy-to-go-to resources:

There is so much fun stuff here!

According to the design recap, one of the goals was to purchase investment furniture; pieces that might have been a little pricy but would last forever. So, even though that Carter Credenza will run you in the neighborhood of $1700.00 it has a life time guarantee!! The couch is also a splurge at $1900.00 but it’s got a classic shape and the darker fabric will keep it looking nicer longer. Plus you can change up the look with different pillow case covers and throws!

I also mentioned how much I love the plants in this living room! Especially that huge fiddle leaf fig tree! The ficus plant from IKEA gives you a similar effect with the big gorgeous leaves with a smaller price tag.

Another one of my favorite elements is that black and white tribal print chair. According to Emily, it was a vintage find that was reupholstered in that awesome fabric but I think the Varanasi Stool from CB2 has a very similar vibe!

And, as far as accessories go, it’s all good, baby! Emily incorporated a lot of gold accessories, which totally rules. (I mentioned I’m really digging gold right now, right??). Fill in the gaps with fun, colorful items like lamps, pillows, and books!

I think the reason I love this space so much is because it is a room that looks very livable. It’s not a matchy-matchy, buy everything in a set sort of vibe. It’s very true to Bri’s style.

What do you think of this makeover? Do you love the “lived in” vibe as much as I do??

our colorful life: spring break in oregon (+ instagram!!!)

by Megan on March 19, 2013 in our colorful life with No comments

We’re back!! Last week, Josh and I headed out on a jet plane (actually two planes!) to finally visit the place we’ve been dreaming of moving for the past 3 years! Southern Oregon!! Now, I know that’s not your usual Spring Break destination, but for us, it was just as exciting!!

You might be wondering why it’s so exciting? Well, back in 2010, when we were living in our first crappy apartment, still in college, we started talking about where we’d want to live after graduating from college. We literally looked up a US map, and picked the area with the least natural disasters and the best (for us) weather. And since, northern California is still California (read: hella expensive), we chose Oregon. We have close family there, we had never been to that state before, we just picked it. Well, last week we finally went and I’m really happy to say that we still want to move there.

Picture time!! Over the last few months, I have rediscovered instagram, so you’ll being seeing our vacation photos through hipster-colored glasses! Hurray!)

When we first arrived in Oregon, we had to get our rental car. I ordered the tiniest, cheapest option they had… We ended up with this fancy pants Ford C-max hybrid! (Too bad we pre-paid for all that gas it didn’t use, but what can you do?)The day of arrival and the first full day, we spent cruising around Medford. Checking out schools and neighborhoods, and drinking coffee. Seriously, there is a coffee joint on just about every corner. It ruled. And the other thing we couldn’t get enough of? THE VIEWS!!! Here in Texas, it’s flat. flat. flat. But, Medford is in a valley and the whole city is surrounded by these gorgeous mountains! We even drove up Roxy Ann Peak and looked out on the town below! It was gorgeous.

On our second day, we took a quick 15 minute drive to Ashland, OR where we checked out a local farmer’s market with straight-from-the-farm veggies and homemade pastas and pastries and all things amazing. The weather was perfect, and we even discovered a few vegetables that we didn’t know existed! Everyone was so friendly and welcoming and they answered all of our silly questions when we told them we had never been to a farmer’s market before. (Me: “What’s THAT vegetable??” Farmer Woman: “…Brussell Sprouts” Me: “ooooOOO”)Our third day in Oregon, we headed back to Ashland for an early lunch at an awesome local place called The Breadboard Restaurant. An inquisitive duck looked over us as we chowed down on some amazing food. Even though Ashland is pretty small, it’s fairly well known for their Shakespeare Festival which goes on for the majority of the year. We got to look around their gorgeous Elizabethan Theater. Josh even snuck on stage, but he refused to woo me with a sonnett… Boo!Right behind the theater was this gorgeous little duck pond with just one lonely duck. We sat on a bench and chatted for a while, enjoying the perfect weather!!

And then on our last night in Oregon, we drove over to Jacksonville, OR for a wine tasting and dinner. This was an even tinier town, but the drive there was gorgeous with lots and lots of vineyards! Neither of us are really wine fans, but I actually found one that I liked and the dinner was pretty great. Plus they had live music and we sat in loung-y chairs and pretended to be fancy. And then it was time to return to Texas. We were sad to leave but so happy that we actually loved a place we randomly selected on a map. We actually are making plans to move there within the next year or two, which will be whole other adventure!

Did you go on vacation for spring break? Where did you go?

color pops: minty fresh

by Megan on March 14, 2013 in color pops, style a room with No comments

Mint is just an all around great color. In fact, it might just be the perfect pastel. It can be casual or fancy and a few pops of mint look great just about anywhere. With St. Patrick’s Day and Easter celebrations going on this month, I thought a Color Pop tribute to Mint would be very appropriate!

As you can see, there are a lot of different shades of mint, so it’s up to you to decide which you like best. Bright and cheery like those pillows? Or muted and moody like that awesome couch? I’m pretty sure any guy would be happy to hang out on that!

Plus, mint is super versatile with other colors! Pair mint with touches of gold for an instant glamorous touch. Or match it up with bright colors like coral and yellow for a more casual, fun aesthetic. Either way, mint makes an amazing color pop. Wouldn’t that couch be gorgeous with some fun patterned pillows? And, honestly, that mint nail polish (which I own) is perfect for a spring time manicure…

I guess, my final thought it: Mint, get you some!

Want to see more Color Pops? Check out the (always growing) gallery here!

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!!!)

make this: painted wooden easter eggs

by Megan on March 12, 2013 in celebrate, easter, make this with No comments

**Hey! We’re on vacation this week! So, we might be a little absent from social media and all that jazz, but you’ve still got four days of awesome posts coming up!! Have a fantastic week!**

Like St. Patrick’s day, I have never really been into decorating for Easter. The traditional pastels and frills aren’t really my style. But this year I decided to do a little branching out and do at least one Easter project. If you follow me on Pinterest, you’ll see that a lot of the Easter inspiration I pin is mostly different (and amazing) ways to decorate eggs. Long gone are the days of those crappy little color tablets and flimsy wire egg holders. There are so many neat things you can do!! But we’re not exactly in the position to go the traditional hard-boiled egg route either, so I adapted.

These hand painted wooden eggs turned out so adorable and can be used year after year! I found these wooden eggs at Michael’s for $1.99 each. I took home three.

I deliberated for a while about what sort of design I wanted to go with and in the end I decided on my current favorite color combo: metallic gold + any other color! I covered the eggs with a few coats of some fun pastels and then, after they dried, I went back and hand painted some fun designs.

I love that they are sort of imperfect. You can tell they are hand-painted and that gives them a little character. Plus, they totally have a casual vibe going on. No fussy, stuffy Easter bonnets needed here!

Also, a fun tip for painting polka dots! I dipped the end of a paper straw in gold paint and then used that to create a polka dot “stencil” of sorts. The straw gave me a gold dot outline, and then I just went back and filled them in. Again, they aren’t perfectly equal but I like it!

Next week, I’ll be sharing all of our Spring decor and you can see where these adorable little eggs ended up!

What’s your favorite way to decorate Easter eggs? Are you trying out any fun new techniques this year??

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

make this: miny glitter birdhouse

by Megan on March 7, 2013 in create, make this with No comments

Today, I thought I’d share a quick little spring craft. With the exception of Christmas and Halloween, my holiday decorating mantra is “little touches.” I don’t go all out crazy, but I like to have fun seasonal accents around the apartment.

When I was at Michael’s last weekend, I saw these fun little wood bird houses for $0.50 and couldn’t resist grabbing one.

And, because I’m not huge into pastels, I decided to go with glitter. You know that saying about birds and shiny things? Well any bird tiny enough to live in this bird house would be smitten!!

Some Mod Podge and chunky gold glitter and we were in business.

Bam! Look at that bling! Once that dried, I used a bright pink craft paint to color the finish the rest of the house.

It looks super cute on our bookcase too. I’ve got a few more spring decor updates coming soon! Including some very pretty wooden Easter eggs, so make sure to stay tuned for that!

What kind of spring crafts are you working on? And what’s your holiday decorating philosophy? Do you go all out, add a few touches, or nothing at all?

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