Guest Room Reveal

Okay, this might actually be one of my favorite before and afters yet! If you remember, we started out with a room that was tiny, dingy and just all around not inviting to guests.

So, we sold all the furniture, painted [Valspar Frappe], changed the light to a ceiling fan [the same one we got from Walmart for the man cave, buy it here] and added in furniture and accessories, and here we are now...

I am in looooveeee. All I want to do is sit down in my pretty faux leather chair and stare at it all day! Our first guests to try it out will be here tomorrow [finished just in time] and I cant wait to see what they have to say about it.

xoxo,
Jackie

DIY Faux cowhide rug

I reallllyyyyy wanted a cowhide rug for the guest room, but after searching high and low all I found were hides that were way outside my budget [$100]. I even searched for fake cowhides which were either still high priced or were way too small. I was starting to feel like maybe I should find something else instead when alas I stumbled upon this post from Hometalk about how to DIY a cowhide rug for less than $50! I was sold.

Immediately I went to Fabric.com and searched "cow" . It came up with a bunch of options, all of which looked awesome.

After a little back and forth I decided on this one as I think it is more the color/style I had originally planned on.

I followed the instructions and ordered 2.5 yards. Now, the post says you can make it under $50 but my fabric came to just over that at $52.37 so maybe you cant make it under $50 but you can definitely make it for around $50. Same difference to me. Moving on, I literally just followed teh tutorial by folding the fabric in half...

drew on the shape I wanted....

cut the shape out...

unfolded the fabric and did a heat seal around the edges to keep it from fraying...

and voila!

This project took less than half and hour and only cost me a fraction of the cost for real one, win-win for me. To see it in action check out the guest room reveal... coming up next!

xoxo,
Jackie

About me

Hi there, and welcome to my blog! 

I'm so happy you're stopping by! 

This is me, Jacqui and my pack of crazy dogs

Salem, Stryker and Margot.

  

We moved from Colorado Springs to Pueblo and bought our first home in 2017 

and spent three and a half years changing everything I could get my hands on. 

In 2020 we decided to move back to Colorado Springs and build our dream home. 

We closed in August 2020 and immediately started making her our own. 

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When it comes to describing my decorating style 

I lean towards transitional design 

In other words:

traditional and modern with mixed metals, oak wood and creamy whites.

That's me in a nutshell. 

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Now that you know me a little better

kick off your shoes, put up your feet and poke around the blog a bit. 

Don't forget to check out the Tour tab to see the house in full. 

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xoxo,

Jacqui

How to find free art to print yourself

Fining affordable art is hard, I have been searching for a couple weeks now to find a print of cattle that wouldn't cost me $80, then I stumbled upon this, which states that, as long as the photo is listed as "labeled for reuse" or "labeled for reuse with modification" you can print that photo without copyright infringement. I thought, no way there's going to be any free images that I want, but I was totally wrong! Not only did I find the exact style of photo I was hoping for but I was able to also choose a quality of photo that could be printed in a very large size ! Let me show you how I did it.

1. Go to google.com [I am using google chrome for this]  search for your image, I searched "cattle", then click images

2. click on search tools 

3. go to size> larger than> 4MP

4. go to usage rights>labeled for reuse or labeled for reuse with modification [choose this if you plan to edit the photo in ANY way, I planned to turn it black and white so this was the option I chose 

5. find the photo you want, right click and save as. Its literally so easy! After you have your art saved you can print any where prints are made, I use walgreens.com because its easy to upload the photos and pick them up later when I have time.  

I'm sure many people already knew this but I just figured it out and I'll definitely be using it in the future! Stay tuned because next week I have a really great money saving tutorial for you and you wont want to miss it! Til next time! 

xoxo,

Jackie

*Disclaimer, if you use any photo that is not labeled for reuse you are stealing someone else's art and you are responsible for any repercussions. If you plan to sell the art you need to look up the rules for your area. I am not responsible for any damages created by using this method.*

Christmas Home Tour

Yup. Its November 10 and I have had my Christmas stuff up for 2 days now. No shame here. After last year I realized that putting up my holiday decor on November 26 and taking it down January 1 meant I only got to enjoy it for a little over one month! I have spent money and time getting these items and putting them up and by God I'm going to enjoy them as long as possible!

Guest Room:Buying Update

So, like I talked about in my last post, I am working on the guest bedroom now. So far, all I have done is sell all the old furniture, with the exception of the bed, and purchase a bunch of stuff to complete the room, so, that's what today's post will be about: What I've purchased so far, how much I've spent and where I shopped. Lets get to it!

The first purchase I made was these nightstands I got off Craigslist. They are vintage children's desks. They got painted over in chalkboard paint so they are in desperate need of a makeover and I have a great plan for them, but that's a post for another time! I picked them up for just $20 each.

Then I snagged a chair and a dresser, both from Target, both on sale..

Dresser: $94.99
Chair: $89.98

After that, I perused Target for other items but the bill was quite high and I knew I could get it down by shopping elsewhere, so I checked out Walmart, and here's what I got...

2 task lamps: $14.98 each 2 for $29.94
bed skirt : $8.97
2 buffalo check curtain panels: $12.49 each 2 for $24.98
goose neck floor lamp : $39.99

*It might seem like I am skimping here but I already have a few of these items in my home and I can tell you the lamps and the bed skirt are great quality and I am very pleased with them*

The last place I shopped was Primitives by Kathy. I have talked about her shop in a "favorites" post about a month go and I was eyeing this cute pillow. I knew it'd be perfect in the room and since I saved so much on the other purchases, I decided to go for it on this one and picked it up. It was originally $33.70 but with a coupon for 30% off  [code: 30ANY] I got it for just $23.34.

The only other things I need to get are a cow hide rug, pillows, a comforter, sheets, and couple decorative items then I'll just have to make the headboard and finish the nightstands. Oh, and buy a bed. That's probably going to be the hardest part. Stay with me, there's lots more to see!

xoxo,
Jackie

Guest Room: The story and the plan

By now you have seen pretty much every room in this house with the exception of one room: the guest room. The reason we havent ever shown it is because basically its not "ours". Let me explain. We rent from a friend of Zacks, he lives in another city a few hours away but has a job that brings him here about once a month. Before we moved in here we agreed that we would pay a much cheaper rent IF we let him stay with us one weekend a month. Sold. It was a great compromise. So, when he moved out originally he left his bed and a few odds and ends items in the room with the plan to take them with him eventually. That was over a year ago. Now, he hardly comes down anymore, we probably see him once every 3 months and it felt a little weird to have this room that wasnt being used and was just a closed door at the top of the stairs.

Its one of those things that just bugs me so badly that I have to do something about it so I called him and said, "Hey, what do you think about me doing a makeover on your room?" he told me to go for it, but not to make it for him but rather a guest room for anyone staying over [like my friends/family who stay here to watch my dogs when I go out of town]. I was thrilled. Immediately I created a mood board of my vision.

Then, we sold all the furniture that was in the room so we could start over with a clean palette and I started buying some of the items off my board. Most of it will be arriving next week so I need to get started with the painting. We will definitely have this one done within the next few weeks because we have some guests coming at the end of the month so just stay tuned! 

xoxo,

Jackie