Having a pantry is somewhat of a luxury, but having a dream pantry, wow. I smile every time I walk in there now, which is a far cry from what it was a month ago. When we bought our house, the pantry had wire shelves, which are standard and they were fine. Fast forward to … Continue reading HOW I DIYed MY DREAM PANTRY!
The holiday season is my absolute favorite time of year. I'll take a snowstorm, hot cocoa, and Hallmark movies over a summer BBQ any day! And while gifts are definitely not the center of the Christmas season for us, I still have so much fun picking out gifts that I hope my loved ones will … Continue reading HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 2021
Last Christmas I rolled up 6 certificates, tied them with a ribbon, and put them in a box under my parent's Christmas tree. I love to give meaningful gifts, but this one probably takes the cake. Both of my parents are very busy people who have been wanting to update their very orange kitchen for … Continue reading THE GREEN KITCHEN
When we had our floors redone this past spring, we had to remove the wire shelving that was in our pantry and I made the decision not to reinstall it because I didn’t love it. So, yes, it’s been about 4 months now that we haven’t had a functional pantry. We’ve been using a bookcase … Continue reading PANTRIES THAT ARE INSPIRING ME
Fast Growing Trees supplied the trees for this project. As always, all opinions are my own. I grew up in Northern Michigan where our home was nestled in the middle of the woods and you had to drive 30 minutes to get anywhere. I loved going out in that forest and building forts with my … Continue reading It’s Tree Planting Season!
Painted countertops - whaaat? That’s basically the reaction Jordan had when I told him my idea for my parents’ countertops. Their counters were a dated, gray laminate with wood trim that matched the cabinets and they desperately wanted something that would breathe a little life into the kitchen. New stone countertops are beautiful but pricey, … Continue reading DIY FAUX MARBLE COUNTERTOPS
Three years ago (almost exactly) I painted the cabinets in our Arkansas home. I did more than just paint the cabinets in that kitchen but holy cow - transforming those dated oak cabinets to a clean, white color was incredibly impactful. I still remember the feeling I had after just the primer went on because … Continue reading HOW TO PAINT YOUR KITCHEN CABINETS THE RIGHT WAY
Drumroll please….the blog post you all have been asking for us finally here! I rebuilt this shower just before I started my blog and have received so many requests for a post dedicated to this project, so here it is. Here is where we started. A builder's grade fiberglass shower. Some of my pain points … Continue reading HOW TO DIY A TILED SHOWER
What started out as a "quick" bathroom makeover due to project creep (we redid all of our floors on the main level) has turned into one of my favorite spaces I have ever done! I really stretched myself creatively in this space and I feel like every time I take those risks, it just makes … Continue reading POWDER ROOM REVEAL
I didn't originally have our main floor powder bathroom on the renovation schedule this year - there are a lot of other spaces that I've been itching to do first - but when we redid our floors, this bathroom succumbed to "project creep." Even though it was kind of an unplanned project, I have been … Continue reading HERRINGBONE IN THE POWDER BATHROOM
I've been pinning inspiration photos for the half bathroom like crazy, so I figured why not share them with you? I'm noticing that my style has changed significantly from the first few projects I tackled in our Arkansas home. There I leaned more farmhouse-y, but now I feel like I have honed in more on … Continue reading POWDER BATHROOM INSPIRATION
This nursery was such a labor of love. Lots of late nights and nap times went into making this room, but it was totally worth it!
Wow it has been a minute since I've had a blog post for all of you! Last I wrote we had just (finally) finished the master bathroom in preparation for selling our beloved Arkansas home so we could move to Utah for Jordan's job. We sold our home, moved to Utah, and found another great … Continue reading DIY BOX TRIM
This bathroom has been a long time in the making and while most of the work was completed before I started my blog, I finally finished this room up! Here are a few before photos. Nothing horrible, but definitely not our style. The bathroom was a huge selling point for me on this house because … Continue reading MASTER BATHROOM REVEAL
Our guest room is awesome. I love having it. We live pretty far from family, so when they come to visit it's great that they always have a place to say! But since the craziness of this pandemic has meant that Jordan has been working from home for over four months (and will continue that … Continue reading CLOSET TURNED OFFICE!
After revealing my laundry room last week for the One Room Challenge, I got so many requests for more info on the backsplash! So here it is - a quick and easy tutorial for how to add this to your own home 🙂 This is in no way sponsored by RoomMates, but I was very … Continue reading FAUX HEX TILE BACKSPLASH
Yay! Reveal day is here! The extended 8-week timeline of the challenge this round has made this last few weeks a breeze for me. When I did my bedroom in the fall, I was stressed and scrambling. This round, I was done a week ago! I have no clue how this happened. I am a … Continue reading LAUNDRY ROOM REVEAL! : ONE ROOM CHALLENGE WEEK 8
Who else is getting excited that the One Room Challenge is almost over? I’m excited because I’m right on track (actually I’m ahead of schedule, which never happens), but also because I can’t wait to see all the beautiful spaces revealed! It’ll be awesome, I’m sure. Follow along with everyone's progress here. This week I … Continue reading MY GLASS FRONT LINEN CABINET DOORS : ONE ROOM CHALLENGE WEEK 7
Can you believe it's already week 6 of this challenge?!? Had it not been extended due to the virus, this would be the reveal week - thank goodness it's not! I still have a lot to do and am enjoying the slightly slower pace the 8 week timeline allows for. I made a lot of … Continue reading COUNTERTOPS AND SHELVES : ONE ROOM CHALLENGE WEEK 6
Well, we're halfway through this challenge! Up until this point I feel like a lot of the progress has been laying a foundation for what's to come, so I'm anxious to get to some of the more...exciting parts of this room! Don't get me wrong, I am stoked about these cabinets, but I'm ready to … Continue reading LAUNDRY ROOM UPDATE : ONE ROOM CHALLENGE WEEK 4
The whole purpose of this laundry room makeover is to add some storage to this space, and it's happening! Our house has one coat closet and then a closet in each bedroom, so storage space isn't exactly in abundance over here. I got 2 unfinished wall cabinets and a base cabinet from Home Depot. Since … Continue reading CABINETS! : ONE ROOM CHALLENGE WEEK 3
It's week 2 of the ORC, which means the first change in the laundry room is in the books! All the other participants are making big changes too, so head over there to see more awesome projects. Because I had a bunch of these materials left over from other projects, this cost me less than … Continue reading DEEP BLUE BOARD AND BATTEN : ONE ROOM CHALLENGE WEEK 2
Eeek! It's time for the One Room Challenge again! I waffled back and forth as to whether or not I wanted to participate since I am still working on finishing up the exterior, but I am so excited about the potential in this space and I can't resist a good challenge. If you weren't following … Continue reading LAUNDRY ROOM MOODBOARD : ONE ROOM CHALLENGE WEEK 1
Okay, so this brick porch might be the best thing that has ever happened to the exterior of our house. It's at least tied with the limewashing. I love it so much! Christmas 2019After limewashingTa-da!!! I knew that after the brick was limewashed, the house was going to feel a little one-tone and that I … Continue reading DIY HERRINGBONE BRICK PORCH
Over a year ago when I fell down the rabbit hole of white brick exteriors on Pinterest, I started dreaming up what my own house would look like white. I have nothing against traditional brick, but a good white exterior just makes my heart flutter! This is just the first of many exterior projects on … Continue reading WE LIMEWASHED OUR BRICK!
When I set out on the massive closet overhaul project, building the drawers was hands down the most daunting part for me. Everything else seemed straight forward and I was confident I could execute it well, but I have never built drawers before this. In fact, my only experience with anything resembling drawer construction was … Continue reading HOW TO BUILD (AND ORGANIZE) YOUR OWN DRAWERS
I have been wanting to do this fun treatment to this big, vaulted wall in E's room for a while now, but getting anything done in that room is difficult because I can't work while he naps! Since I already had the supplies and J is now working from home, I figured that this was … Continue reading NURSERY ACCENT WALL : IT’S NOT WALLPAPER, IT’S BETTER!
After countless hours spent working on this project, the closet builtins are finally finished! I don't want to sugarcoat the amount of time and effort this beast of a project took, but I will say that it was 100% worth it. My closet is now a crazy luxurious room, taking the place of the embarrassment … Continue reading DIY CLOSET BUILTINS : PART 4
Are we there yet? When I took on the closet project, I mapped out what I thought the timeline would look like. 3 weeks maximum is what I came up with. Do you know how long it has been? I'm currently sitting at 5 weeks, but I'm not finished yet. Good ol' DIY timelines, right?!? … Continue reading DIY CLOSET BUILTINS : PART 3
Wow! This bedroom makeover has been a whirlwind in the best way. My friend asked me to come help her install a green board and batten wall and it morphed into this amazing full bedroom makeover. The furniture pieces are all family heirlooms, so we didn't touch those but everything else got a total facelift. … Continue reading MODERN BOHO BEDROOM MAKEOVER
Last week I took a break from blogging because while I worked a TON on projects, I was split between a couple of different ones and felt like there wasn't quite enough progress anywhere to merit a full post. Funny how that happens sometimes, huh? But this week I have made some amazing progress on … Continue reading DIY CLOSET BUILTINS : PART 2
I am so excited to share the whole process of our closet makeover with you guys! Having a beautiful closet feels like such a luxury, so I'm seriously pumped to be adding this feature to our home. Hopefully having a drop dead gorgeous closet will help us keep it clean... maybe! The first step is, … Continue reading DIY CLOSET BUILTINS : PART 1
It's done, it's done, it's done! This project really should have only taken two, maybe three days but our household got hit with RSV hard so it took about a week. E had RSV, pneumonia, and a double ear infection (poor kid). He so lovingly shared all his germs with me and I'm going on … Continue reading DIY FAUX VENT HOOD
While I finished the bulk of the kitchen before Elliott was born in November of 2018, there were still a few finishing touches that I wanted to do. cABINET Hardware Okay, I think we added the hardware before Elliott was born, but it makes such a difference! We used these cup pulls for the drawers, … Continue reading KITCHEN MAKEOVER PART 3 : FINISHING TOUCHES
I'm taking a page out of one of my favorite bloggers (Chris Loves Julia) and sharing all of the projects that I have planned for this year! I have a full year planned and I'm super excited to take you all along with me! The first projects I am going to tackle are things that … Continue reading 2020 VISION : MY PLAN FOR THIS YEAR
A year ago, my parents bought a new house! They have a lot of big dreams for what the space will eventually become and I'm so excited to help them along the way. I only wished we lived a little closer (like closer than a 20 hour drive) so I could help them all the … Continue reading MY PARENTS’ QUICK BEDROOM UPDATE
Last week I shared how I built my builder's grade stock cabinets up to the ceiling and added a couple of farmhouse touches. While those were all exciting things, our biggest issue with the kitchen still remained - the color of the cabinets! We had what are very common in many builder's grade kitchens, which … Continue reading KITCHEN MAKEOVER PART 2 : WHITE IS THE NEW ORANGE
When J and I first walked into this house while we were house hunting, I just had a feeling this house was the one. There were problems that created a list of projects a mile long, but the house had just enough redeeming qualities to make me really excited about what I could turn it … Continue reading KITCHEN MAKEOVER PART 1 : FARMHOUSE TOUCHES AND CEILING HEIGHT CABINETS
Almost 2 years ago, I completely redid the fireplace in our house. One of the best decisions I made with that fireplace was adding thin brick and then using a fun technique called German schmear (thank you Joanna Gaines!!!) to give it new life. Don't you love this sign from Ebenezer Market? I'm still trying … Continue reading FROM DRAB TO FAB : GERMAN SCHMEAR STONE FIREPLACE
I've been so excited to share this project with you all because I had so much fun working on it! My friend Whitney asked me to help her install a shiplap wall in her living room to add in some character. She has a very simple and minimalistic style, so she wanted something that was … Continue reading DIY FAUX SHIPLAP WALL
Let's talk vanities for a hot sec. Why are they so expensive? Okay, actually I get why they're so expensive. The base is pretty simple - it's a box with some doors and drawers but when you add on the fact that it needs a countertop and a sink, the price tag makes more sense. … Continue reading UPDATING OUR BUILDER’S GRADE VANITY
I talked about the awkward shape of our bedroom in my post a few weeks ago. To solve the problem, I knew that I wanted a bench under the window. While I would have loved to build a gorgeous window bench with built-ins on both sides, it wasn't going to work with our space because … Continue reading EASY WINDOW BENCH
These past 5 weeks have flown by at lightning speed. If you have experience watching HGTV shows (do they offer an award for HGTV shows binged? I think I deserve it) , then you know that their timeline for redoing an entire home is usually somewhere between 6-10 weeks. This precedent may lead you to … Continue reading MASTER BEDROOM, THE REVEAL : ONE ROOM CHALLENGE WEEK 6
I can't believe that we are going into the last week of the One Room Challenge. Five weeks to completely makeover a space feels like running a marathon... if marathons involved zero running and a lot of power tools. I am very task oriented, so I always have some sort of project in the works. … Continue reading A BENCH, A LADDER, AND TWO GALLONS OF PAINT : ONE ROOM CHALLENGE WEEK 5
This week has been all about this beauty of a dresser and I have had so much fun, but it has also been so much work. I started with an old, dark, reddish-brown dresser and what I have now is a gorgeous honey colored piece and I am drooling over how it turned out. I … Continue reading DRESSERS AND COMPROMISES : ONE ROOM CHALLENGE WEEK 4
I cannot believe that the One Room Challenge is almost halfway over!!! I'm starting to realize just how much I still need to do in the next 3 weeks in here. Send caffeine and vibes for long baby naps! This week I added the dreamiest board and batten as an accent wall in our master … Continue reading MOODY BOARD AND BATTEN : ONE ROOM CHALLENGE WEEK 3
When I decided to tackle my master bedroom, I knew that our bed would have to go. I listed it on Facebook Marketplace and we were shocked when less than 24 hours later, it was on its way to another home. I did not expect it to sell that quickly! But I probably should have, … Continue reading DIY WINGBACK HEADBOARD : ONE ROOM CHALLENGE WEEK 2
Are you following me on Instagram? If not, you should. Just scroll down on this page a little bit farther and look on the righthand side. See that "Follow Me" widget? Click that and follow me! During this challenge I'm going to be sharing a ton of behind the scenes content through my Instagram stories, … Continue reading ONE ROOM CHALLENGE WEEK 1
I am such a fall person. And a winter person. Okay, maybe I'm just a cold weather person. Growing up I always thought that summer was my favorite season, but I am starting to wonder if the seasonal dynamics of northern Michigan (long winters & short summers) persuaded me to sit at the "summer is … Continue reading 6 FALL DECOR TIPS
If I had to choose one word to describe what I want my home to embody, it would be love. But if I got to choose a second word, I would definitely choose cozy. Cozy encompasses all of the feelings that I want our home to have - comfort, warmth, togetherness... just writing that makes … Continue reading OUR COZY SHIPLAP FIREPLACE
With Love, Mercedes 