Saturday, May 11, 2013

No more bulky box spring for master bedroom

Yesterday I went on the hunt for options for lowering our mattress. Wanted it to look more like it does on the Z Galleries website. It has a platform bed look, didn't like how the box spring could be seen over the rail then with our pillow top mattress felt so high.

I hit google and saw some DIY ideas using sheets of thin plywood but didn't want to have to do all that and my husband works a lot so he wouldn't want to have to cut the pieces. Then I hunted for low profile box springs or something similar to what they use on bunk beds, they call them bunk boards which is just plywood with some cloth over it. These options were all $100-$300 for a king size, then I took a trip to Ikea knowing they have tons of platform beds and there it was a king size slated wood mattress support. Small enough for me to load myself would even fit in the trunk of a small car but I had hubby's pick up just in case I went with a larger choice. Ingot home and it fit perfect. Now my bed looks amazing. Snapped a few photos before we left to check into a hotel on the beach.

Going to be enjoying mothers day here beach front, which is amazing. This week I will have tons of DIY projects using spray paint, making pillow covers, decoupage projects and outdoor projects. My creative juices are flowing and my house is getting a lot of color. Can't wait to share my ideas and projects. Stay tuned. Happy mothers day to all the moms out there. Happy decorating and crafting:).

Melissa

Decorating for summer

I have always decorated for every holiday and summer is usually July fourth, but this year I am loving the bright summer colors, felt inspired. Today I took out what I have already then made a trip to Nordstrom's and Homegoods. I got some amazing rugs one large one for my teens room, which matches the new bedding I grabbed her at Nordstroms. I also got two smaller rugs that match but for my kitchen and the sliding door in dining room going to pool.

I still need to get a table runner, or placemats, centerpiece for dining table, a few super bright kitchen towels, and now thinking about doing the guest bathroom in a cute summer beach flip flop theme. I absolutely love the turquoise, bright pink, like green, orange and yellow. These colors make me feel happy. I have been slowly changing up every room in my home and trying to get away from neutral and brown. We are shopping for a large custom sectional, we have a large living room that is narrow but long, we need a selectional to get the most seating out of space. Having two kids and a cat we love leather, also being in hot south Florida it stays cool. I originally wanted a dark brown but now I am open to a lighter brown and nailhead trim is a must lol.

I saw two orange table runners today at Homegoods, one was a chevron pattern the other was a Moroccan trellis look. I am mad now I passed them up because we all know how HomeGoods is, buy it when you see it because it will be gone fast. I went back today to get bright sheets for my daughter's bed, this is hard to find because she has a queen bed with a super deep pillow top mattress, usually the bright fun colors only come in twin or full but yesterday saw purple, pink and lime green by Ralph Lauren. I have a lot of set of Ralph Lauren, I use to buy only that brand for awhile because I loved the soft sateen cotton. When I went back today all they had was green. Went to Marshall's though and grabbed hot pink now I have to go back to my store to scoop up some hot pink king size pillowcases.

Below are some photos of my front door, new rugs, teens new duvet and shams, (pillows are old) then some items I took out of storage bins along with a few new ones. Have some shell napkin rings that I plan on attaching the flip flop wooden pieces from craft store to so I can make cool summer napkin rings. Will post more photos sometime in the next couple weeks:). Super super busy couple weeks ahead of us, hope to have the reveal of our master bedroom which is almost done, just waiting on the amazing Z Galleries bed hubby got me:). It is coming next Wednesday! Yay! I will be busy hanging stuff and organizing to take a ton of photos. Also think I will have a update on guest bath, kitchen and then dining table. Stay posted

Master bedroom is getting closer, almost finished

So excited! I have been posting about my master bedroom for awhile and it is so close to done. I need to hang things, finish some painting projects, make a floral arrangement for tall dresser and do some little things. I am also looking for two rugs, one for hubby's side of bed and one for hall area. I have looked on rugs USA, overstock, joss and main, one kings lane and many other sites, I am so confused. I know I want a trellis, quarter foil or moroccan look to the rugs and want one gray with white the other turquoise or some shade of blue with white or gray. Please let me know if you see anything out there, my budget is not a lot, have a lot of expenses with summer vacation, mother's day and just life lol.

This room makeover has been a challenge I went into this as a update to our old furniture, color change for the walls and wanted to do it for under 2000. This is hard when you have to replace furniture. But I got all the furniture for under my budget, and bedding. I may have gone over a little cause I got the first headboard, then decided to replace it with a grey one since brown didn't go and I wanted to lighten the mood of my room.

We painted our room from a blue shade to grey, we always use Benjamin Moore paint, then added crown molding. We moved the furniture, basically flipped the layout. I purchased two dressers from Craigslist that are 1950-1970's antique French provincial in style, these are usually a cream with gold but I painted them white and added silver paint to the pulls so it would go better with our room. My next adventure was bedside tables, or night stands most people refer to them as:).

I saw a great set at Homegoods and didn't want anything matching. I am against going to the furniture store and buying this perfect matched set. We did that once and after a week I was over it. I have a creative and eclectic side I like things to look put together and look like they go together without matching. Kind of a traveled look or flea market look lol. Makes the space have more character, anyone can walk into a store and buy a set but it looks so generic. I love decorating and like to put my own twist on everything. Plus I love to paint and add my own touches. Back to tables, I love Moroccan and India inspired pieces and saw these silver metal embossed tables with mirrored top and fronts. One had one drawer then a shelf below the other had two drawers, didn't realize how much I loved them till they were sold. Waited months, just when I gave up and went to look for new ones I happened to talk my hubby into looking at Homegoods and there they were. Right when I walked in the door on display front and center! Same two styles:). I had them in the cart so quick. Still these are a favorite of mine next to my French dressers.

My dressers I paid 150-200 for both. They needed some love, but these pieces are made so well, you really can not find furniture made like the older pieces. Dove tail drawers, solid wood and heavy duty bottom inside drawers. I love these pieces. Also antique dressers tend to have these hiding places for your valuables that new pieces don't have, mine has a secret space in a drawer I didn't even know was there till I researched the value of my dresser. My main reason for loving older pieces is of course the quality but also the history. Every piece has a story.

My bed, oh boy this bed:). I started on a small budget. Did not want to pay more then 300. I looked for months, was hoping to get a used one but my husband told me he didn't mind used wood pieces but a headboard or bed no way. Then I scoured the Internet. I have seen every upholstered bed and headboard made, if you are looking for one email me lol. No serious I own 3 and selling one, plus I do interior design as a side job so I have also purchased these beds and headboards for my clients. I have seen ones that were $100 on craigslist, $300-800 online and $1000-7500. One I got for a client was a full upholstered California king custom bed which cost $9,500. Amazing but there are ones just as nice under $2500:).

My first headboard was around $350-400 and I loved it. Had nail head from but it was brass colored, I love silver, then it had tufted button design, nice curve to top and was velvet (micro fiber). I ordered chocolate brown because our room was brown and turquoise, but once we moved furniture, painted new dressers, added the night stands and looked we ended up picking a gorgeous gray to paint the walls. Then this bed and the bedding I picked looked bad. I waited awhile then broke it to hubby, I wanted a grey bed now. He was upset I wasted money on one I no longer wanted but I posted it on Craigslist then started looking for a new one. This time I wanted the bed not just headboard I hope to have this one for awhile. I saw several other bloggers bought, then it was on Joss and Main almost bought it. My hold back was, it was linen, I like velvet look, had no shape was square, I like a little curve, then the tufting looked flat, and wasn't diamond design. For the price I had to keep looking and I did for weeks. I fell in love with one from City Furniture and one from Z Gallerie. Over spring break my hubby told me order the Z Gallerie one. It was over my budget but they had a sale and I had a coupon so got it close to my $1000 budget. It has been on back order but arrived.

Now looking for a new duvet and shams, rugs and a few little things. I should have photos after next weekend. Was going to finish it this weekend but my amazing hubby surprised me and we are going to check into the Marriott on the beach for the weekend shortly. Mother's day gift and I can't wait. Beach, spa, dining and quality time with my family:). Next week I will be shopping for rugs and bedding I doubt I will find what I want that easy but going to look. Want a huge rug but have to wait since I am redoing living room, and patio right now. Budget is not big enough for all I want especially with my taste lol.

The first pictures of bed you will notice how high the mattress looks, this is with our old box springs. This bed is made to look lower and like a platform bed. I went to Ikea last night to purchase the mattress supports for low profile platform beds. I looked online a 2" box spring or board costs $100-$400 ridiculous. I saw some DIY ones where people used plywood sheets and was going to have hubby make one but then remembered how Ikea has all those low beds, went there and they sell a slated mattress support king size for $50. Worked perfect with the already placed support that came with the bed. I only have one photo of the bed lower which I love. Before you could see box spring had to cover with my old bed skirt plus headboard was covered. I want to see as much as I can of this gorgeous headboard:). I will post more photos soon, my hubby has been working 18 hour days and worked over night so he is in bed can't take photos lol.

Enjoy and any questions please comment below or email me at dlitefulcreations@ymail.com. Thank you and enjoy:).

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

My Z Gallerie surprise

I was surprised today to get a package, inside was a set of gorgeous Z Gallerie curtains I have looked at before and even considered the bedding. I love the aqua and the gray. I opened the box to a thank you card, 10%off coupon, some cute white tie backs for the curtains, two pillow covers in awesome bright summer yellow and orange, then a set of silver nail head trim coasters from Z Gallerie. I was beyond psyched because I have been looking for curtains and every pair I like are so expensive. I had a gorgeous real silk gold pair I got awhile ago when I got the Ralph Lauren bohemian bedding, but since I changed my entire color scheme. I am getting away from the safe neutral brown and tans now, exploring colors that make me smile and feel happy.

At first I was not sure how I would like these dark gray, pretty much black and white curtains. My room is gray with white moulding, then white bedding with gray trim, then my accent colors are pink, aqua and turquoise. I have a duvet I like but still looking for a hotel looking or Moroccan feeling pattern nothing to bold cause I change my mind a lot. Lol.

I finished up my crafts I had started and then had to hang these curtains. At first I considered returning them but since they were free I felt bad and wanted to see how they looked. The note inside said they thought they would look bold and break up all the gray with white. I hung them and wow! They are amazing quality:). They actually hang well, weren't all wrinkled out of the package, plus they met in the middle with just four panels, usually it takes six, three on each side. They are 96" long which I like because I like the billow effect on the floor plus like them to start right below the molding to make the window look taller since all we have is the sliding door in our room. I still need to play with them more but I love how I got the two white tie backs also, those are a must to make them look nice. I hate verticals but with sliding door they are the best and most energy efficient, you get more privacy especially in a bedroom. Curtains alone look weird to me but after living in south Florida this long verticals have grown on me lol.

I wanted to do a valance at the top or cornice but now I don't know because these make such a statement. If I already didn't have my accent pillows I may have gone with a white duvet with black stripe. I do like the gray or turquoise trim though and I love the matching bedding from Z Gallerie in gray or aqua lol. These curtains retailed for $59.95 a panel at the store. The tie backs were 8.99 and the coasters were $19.95. I almost bought a little tray in white and teal chevron at TJ Maxx over the weekend to set on the corner of bed when made, to have my tea, books and some silk flowers but hubby would kill me lol. He hates how I set up our house like a model home. I have dining table set up for dinner lol and bathroom looks like someone is getting ready to shower always with a rolled towel out and loofah. I always have been this way because I am so into interior design.

Yesterday we came home to a hot house after a long, fun, family day at the beach. About an hour after we got home there was a boom then loud whistle seems our air compressor I've heated and the plug blew off:(. Thank God for large windows and living on the lake because the guy came today and looks like Wednesday the part will come. No AC for now:(. I don't mind love having windows open, I have been dusting, painting and doing some late spring cleaning. I clean all the time but when the windows are open it is great all the dust gets out plus everything gets aired out, which here in Florida doesn't happen often.

Hope you enjoy the photos below of some more of my spring decor, some peaks into my master bedroom renovation and also my curtains. I have a lot to do still. Got to get a few things this week to finish my summer decor, rugs, pillow covers, decorative accessories and just finish setting up how I want, for now it is kind of just set up as good as I can with what I already had. I have fabric for pillows and some dye to get brighter colors in, paint for a couple accent walls, and decided to do the girls/guest bath in a summer beach theme for a few months. Going to box up an store the Paris diva themed stuff till August. Can't help myself lol. Also painting there bathroom and my hallway finally. Watch for a great stencil wall, and stripes:). I have been feeling great and been in an amazing mood which inspires me with design. I finished a couple projects for clients that I need to get photos up on my business blog page and fb page also. Going to be a fun and creative summer, can't wait to share with all my readers new and old. Plus my master bedroom will be finished this weekend I hope, maybe a few small details I will have to fine tune but can't wait to hang my art and mirrors:). Best of all my new bed. Have a great mid week and would love to hear what you think of my curtains.

Melissa

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Happy Cinco De Mayo

We spent this amazing day at the beach. Life is good and living in Florida is amazing, not sure I would trade it got anything yet, maybe in five years.

Have a happy and safe Cinco De Mayo.