Inspiration: Home Improvement

My inspiration can come from many different places. Much of the time it comes from my family. Sometimes it comes from an idea that pops in my head or a picture I find in a magazine or online. And an idea is really all it takes to start a project around here.

We've had a LOT going on this last week, so let me fill you in on the latest happenings and newest projects around here and maybe you'll find some inspiration too. :)

On a side note...You may or may not know we have been in the market for a family-sized vehicle. As much as I love my Toyota RAV4, it is getting a little crowded for our family, and wouldn't be suitable for the 4-5,000 mile trip we are taking this summer (more on that later!) Unless, of course, we strapped the kids to the top so we could fit all our camping supplies in the backseat. ;) To make a long car story short, we bought a "new to us" Honda Pilot on Saturday! Plus, the private dealer we bought it from loved our RAV4 and allowed us to use it as a trade-in. Sweet!
My parents had the kids overnight on Friday, so Brad and I went out for appetizers and desserts. Then, Saturday morning, took advantage of the beautiful weather (and no kids) and took the kayaks out for a spin. The water was perfect. Inspirational even.

We've owned our house for about three years now. It's a very old house with a lot of history. There are things about it I love, and things about it I don't care for, but we have enjoyed doing little things to make it our own. I love to decorate (and redecorate) and I love home improvement, so I am always looking for ways to make my house more lovely to us. Since we live in a waterfront community with a view of the water, I finally decided that I want the style/colors in our home to be inspired by that - fresh, calming, beachy (without being nautical red, white, and blue).

Our kitchen, which we remodeled in January, has the sunny/sandy colors, and so I am now in the middle of working from there onto the dining room. You can see in the picture (to the right) if you look closely that the walls have vertical indentations from the wood paneling under the paint, so my goal was to find a way to hide that without completely tearing out the walls. After a ton of searching and thinking, I've decided that we are going to build a decorative wainscot paneling on the lower half of the wall similar the picture on the left.

The top half of the wall I am covering with Behr sand texture paint with a knockdown finish (distressed look), and will paint it. I'm about halfway done with that already.

Now if I could just decide on a color...

What's the next project after the dining room? I'm so glad you asked. :) I finally found the perfect idea of how to take a fireplace I'm not so fond of and turn it into a focal point in the living room! The Lettered Cottage had this great idea for building a casing around an existing fireplace and it will work perfectly for ours! I'm pretty excited about this!

I am also totally using this idea to create a reading nook in our bedroom (once I get to that point of course).
I think I'm in love. :)

And I must have this print to hang in my reading nook from this talented photographer.

I've also almost got Naomi's room finished! I found another inspirational idea on nannygoat and made these frames that are perfect for the blank space above her dollhouse bookcase. (I still have to choose and order some photos for them).

I got a little carried away with the idea of this and did 2 more frames for her dresser and her name letters to match. It's so easy and so fun!

And her mirror is in the works...(I'll probably do a Try This At Home post on this when it's finished).
I will post pictures of her finished room very soon! I'm really happy with how it turned out.

So this is where my inspiration has led me this week. Where will it lead you?