DIY Modern Beaded Light Pull

Every day, multiple times a day, I open Emerson's nursery closet to grab an outfit, shoes, or blankets. And each time, for over a YEAR, I would reach up to pull the cord for the closet light and feel a tinge of frustration trying to grab the pathetic string hanging from the bulb. I lived with that feeling for over a year now, sighing and just moving on. But this week, something changed. I was overcome with an organizing bug like never before. I've been tackling every house project on my mental wish list and feeling so great about it. Rich even asked if I could be pregnant (let's be clear, I'm not) because I was nesting so hard.

So anyways, this is one of those DIYs that no visitor in your house will ever notice, but that you (do this for YOU) will benefit from and LOVE on a daily basis. This will take, in all seriousness, about 2 minutes to make. I made three of them for my upstairs closets in less than 10 minutes and the "installation" took about 10 minutes as well.

Here's how to make this DIY Modern Beaded Light Pull...

DIY Modern Wood Cabinet Pulls

When we renovated our kitchen a few years ago, we DIY'ed these brass cabinet pulls and we LOVED (still do love) them. They have held up so beautifully over the years and withstood tough handling. That said, as soon as Emerson started walking, I got really freaked out about the combination of the sharp edges of the brass hardware and our toddler's lack of walking skills. Every time she teetered in the kitchen, we would lunge to make sure her head didn't hit the hardware.

To bring peace of mind, I set out to find a really inexpensive solution to replace and baby-proof the hardware of our cabinets. I'm always a fan of light wood on white cabinets and one of my all-time favorite kitchens uses oversized wood knobs in the best way ever, so I used this as an opportunity to switch up the style a bit. Despite having no plan, I really dig the way they turned out. I think they have a cool Japanese modern feel and are so much safer for little ones than the brass hardware.

Click through to see the full DIY and directions below!

DIY Modern IKEA Tarva Hack

When I revealed Emerson's nursery a few months back, everyone kept asking how we DIY'ed the IKEA Tarva dresser in her room. So I'm finally getting around to laying out the step-by-step of how we did it!

The thing I really love about the Tarva is that it comes unfinished and is designed to be customized and jazzed up. I've seen several really awesome and inspired creations using the Tarva and I love that IKEA is creating products specifically for people who love customizing furniture.

See the full DIY after the jump!

DIY White Woodland Christmas

Last Christmas, our living room walls were dark paneled wood. I tried my best to decorate for the holiday and lighten up the mood in the room, but I just couldn't get over how dark and cavernous the dark wood panels made everything feel. It was right after the holiday that we decided to paint the paneling white. And this year, I couldn't wait to decorate our space. Everything came together quite nicely and I went with a white woodland theme. Some of my favorite details include our tiny gingerbread woodland animals on the mantel, cinnamon scented pinecones in the tablescape, and the amazing DIY customizable wall plate from adorne by Legrand on our wall.

To create our tablescape, I used live garland from Trader Joes (cut down to about 5-6 feet), cinnamon scented pinecones from our local grocery store, clementines for color, and a mixture of candlesticks and ivory candles.

 

To create the mantel display, I used more of the live garland as a swag and made a gingerbread woodland forest with IKEA DRÖMMAR and Vinter cookie cutters. 

This is the custom wall plate from adorne by Legrand that I decorated using metallic cardstock, boxwood twine, a tiny plastic deer head, and thin red ribbon. It's the perfect addition to our decorations and provides a lot of visual interest to an otherwise empty wall. The coolest thing about it was how easy it was to decorate. Almost all the DIYs I tackle end up taking more time than I anticipate, but designing this wall plate took about a half hour start to finish. Decorating the plate (not the electrical set-up, clearly) would be a great project to do with kids. 

Click through to see the full DIY and more details! 

DIY Felt Stockings with Tassels & Poms

When I was a child, decorating for Christmas was a sport. My Grandma (on my dad's side) and my mom would go ALL OUT and transformed both of their homes into seriously magical worlds. My Grandma chose a theme each year and would buy all new decorations to match. One year was a gilded gold with a white tree and my 12-year-old self thought I had walked into Buckingham Palace. My mom's place is always on point, as well. She has serious decorating chops all year round, but Christmas is when she really shines. I always try to sucker her into helping me decorate my place around the holidays. And now that we have Emerson, I'm so looking forward to the magic of holiday decor.

One of my favorite decorating moments was when the Christmas stockings went up on the mantle. They would hang there in eager anticipation waiting to be filled and all throughout December I would check mine to see if anything had arrived early.

So this year, I wanted to make personalized stockings for Emerson, Rich and I. Inspired by the ever-lovely Anthropologie stockings, I decided to go with a yarn tassel and pom-pom look on wool felt. Not only are the results pretty darn cute, but it was much more affordable than anything store-bought.

Click through to see the full DIY after the jump!

Nursery Update: DIY Pom Pom Garland

Emerson's nursery is easily my favorite room in our house. The sun streams in her windows the entire day and each time I walk in, or walk by, I am struck with how much this space feels like hers. It's ethereal, warm, modern and so lively.

I originally had this round wooden shelf above her changing pad. And even though I loved it in this spot, E's little hands quickly started grabbing for it and pulling the tiny wooden animals down. I realized I needed something out of reach, while still visually interesting for this curious little kitten. So I made this colorful pom garland out of some yarn I had laying around. I also added a tiny circle mirror next to her changing pad, because she would always turn her head and stare at a blank wall, and I wanted to be able to make silly faces and engage with her more.

DIY Pom Pom Garland

• 5-6 balls of yarn
• Fork
• Scissors
• Clear removable hooks

I used this fork method to make 20 pom poms. After they were complete, I cut 20 4-5" pieces of ivory yarn and attached it to the top of all the poms. Then, I knotted the ivory yarn to a (48") piece of ivory yarn. I attached it to the wall using these clear plastic removable hooks.

Nursery Sources:

DIY Changing Pad Cover
IKEA Shelf 
DIY Wooden Blocks
Vintage YoYo Harlequin Clown Doll
Natural Rattle and Teether
Baby Animal Prints by Sharon Montrose
*Let me know in the comments if you have any questions about E's nursery that I haven't answered!

DIY Tea Dyed Onesie

Babies grow out of everything SO quickly. I just reluctantly put away all of Emerson's 0-3 month summer clothes and was so sad to see a physical representation of time passing.

One staple of E's wardrobe has been these white onesies. I'll buy a pack of them on Amazon and in the warm weather, let her wear them around the house. In the colder season, I layer them underneath her outfits for extra warmth. They're so inexpensive that I don't mind them getting trashed with spit up or blow outs. In fact, one time, her blow out was so bad that I literally just cut the onesie off her body and threw it in the trash to avoid major clean up.

As I bought onesies for winter, I had the urge to spruce them up a bit. And when I saw this DIY via Moonologie, I knew it was the perfect organic fix.

Click to see the DIY after the jump! 

7 DIY Wood Projects I Love

Summer is almost coming to an end (gah- how is that possible?!) which means the end of lengthy-lit days with warm sunshine. Summer days are so perfect for doing DIY projects- you can paint, stain, glue, or sand wooden projects outside and let them dry under the hot sun.

So get out there and make something awesome that you can admire when you're hibernating indoors this winter. Here are 7 project suggestions (and a few of my favorite past DIYs) if you're wondering where to start.

01. Wooden Bead Pendant Light
02. Colorful Cube Organization
03. Modern Computer Monitor Stand
04. Modern IKEA Hack Vanity
05. Circle Wood Shelf
06. Wooden Key Holder
07. Reclaimed Wood Dining Table

THE KITCHEN- An Update

As anyone who has ever done a DIY project knows, the devil is in the details. And after renovating our kitchen last year, we knew we had a few really important details to tackle before we could mark off this project as complete.

Some of those details were our light switches and outlets. Our house is over 80 years old, and had some seriously outdated looks going on that took away from the beauty of our new white subway tile, butcher block countertops, and freshly painted white walls. So when Legrand reached out and graciously hooked us up with new outlets and plates from their adorne collection, we jumped at the opportunity. And we couldn't believe the difference it made in the overall look and functionality of our kitchen space. 

That USB outlet above is a small but MIGHTY improvement. Doesn't it always seem like your iPad hits 1% battery life when you get to the most important detail of any recipe? (I know, that is the ultimate first world problem.) But now I can keep my iPad or phone plugged in as I cook and bake. 

On the white subway tiled backsplashes, we have Mirror White wall plates. They look so seamless and really make the pattern and grout pop. I was worried it wouldn't match perfectly, but it does and looks SO GOOD.

The beauty below is the Wave Switch. You literally just wave your hand in front of it to turn the light on and off. Right after installing it, I stood there for a good 10 minutes just waving the light on and off for the fun of it.  And everyone who comes by is obsessed with it, as well. It's our new party trick.

Having it right next to the sink and area where I do food prep is so key. My hands can be all wet, grimy, and covered in flour and the switch stays beautiful and crumb-free. 

The light switch you see in the photo below is the Whisper Dimmer with a French Oak wall plate. Oh boy, is that plate stunning or what? The light wood looks so good with our butcher block and warm wood accents. Instead of falling into the background, the light switch is an artful accent and another opportunity to reinforce the modern aesthetic we've come to love. 

And there's that beautiful French Oak plate again! On the back wall, we have two paddle switches and a nightlight. The whole set looks so perfect with our Bamboo blinds and natural modern decor.

Click through to see the "before and after" shots!

DIY IKEA Hack Modern Wall Shelf

Our bathroom renovation started right before Emerson was born and our pre-baby goal was to have a bathtub installed and the shower tiling complete. Rich finished both of them in a few weekends (at almost 8 months pregnant I was zero help) and then we took a break for awhile.

Now fast forward a few months and baby Emmi LOVES bath-time and we spend a ton of time in this bathroom. So I wanted to get a few things on the walls to make the space feel a little more finished. IKEA to the rescue. This DIY is SO simple and only takes a few minutes total to complete- which is my kinda DIY project as of late.

See the DIY and instructions after the jump! 

DIY Modern Wood Keyholder

When I'm running out of the house, my last thoughts are usually, "Where are my keys?" and/or "Where the heck is my cell phone?" I'm always wishing I had a designated place for this stuff instead of frantically retracing my steps. I'm not sure how to keep better track of my phone (anyone have tips for this?) but I knew the key problem could be solved with an entryway key holder. Now I just need to train myself to actually hang my keys there. 

Anyways, I have been OBSESSED with Boila's CatchMe keyholder for quite some time, but it can only be purchased in-store. And while I'd love any excuse to travel to Sweden or Denmark, it's just not in the cards right now. So Rich and I took on the task of making one. See the full DIY tutorial after the jump!

Here's what you'll need:

Unfinished Stair Tread 

Unfinished wood craft balls (I used 3 1 1/2" balls and 3 1")

Suede leather craft lace (I used the color Toast)

Two keyhole fasteners

Key chains

To begin, cut the stair tread down to 9 5/8" X 1 1/2", keeping the rounded wood edge. 

Acai Protein Bowl

One of the biggest challenges I've faced with new mamahood has been trying to find a balance between meeting the all-consuming needs of a baby with taking time to care for myself and my body. Taking a long shower or spending an hour preparing a healthy meal are straight up luxuries that I took for granted in my life before baby. I now consider a successful shower one in which I can rinse the shampoo from my hair before jumping out to pop a pacifier back into a crying babe's mouth. And a healthy meal now looks like microwaveable frozen vegetables and a whole avocado.

This is why I've been into smoothies in a big way lately. I'll just throw a bunch of superfoods into our Vitamix and then sip away. To switch it up a little bit, I tried an Acai bowl, which consists of a smoothie base with nutrient powerhouses like fresh fruit and chia, sunflower and hemp seeds sprinkled on top.

Acai Protein Power Bowl

Smoothie Base Recipe:

1 frozen acai berry pack or 1 Tbsp. acai powder
1 cup frozen fruit (I used a combination of organic strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries)
1/2 cup greek yogurt or cottage cheese
1 scoop protein powder (I used PlantFusion Chocolate)
1.5 cup milk (I used Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk)
Handful of ice

Toppings:

1/4 cup fresh fruit (I used kiwi and blueberries)
1 Tbsp. Chia seeds
1 Tbsp. Hemp hearts
1 Tbsp. Sunflower seeds
1 Tbsp. Desiccated Coconut
Handful of Dried fruit or Granola

Begin by adding the frozen fruit, acai powder or frozen acai, cottage cheese or yogurt, protein powder, and almond milk into a blender and blend until smooth. Add ice cubes and use your blender tamper/stick to force the mixture around the blender as it thickens. After all ice is blended it should be smooth but have a thick consistency. Remove smoothie from blender into bowl, sprinkle desired toppings (the ones listed above are nutritional powerhouse superfoods).

Emerson's Nursery Tour

I am so very excited to share Emerson's nursery. This room was months in the making and quickly became my favorite room in our house. It was so fun creating a space with a little one in mind and I LOVED experimenting with playful feminine accents and colors while still maintaining the peaceful and minimal aesthetic we have come to love. We splurged on a few items, but this room is filled with DIY projects that started with, "Oh I LOVE that shelf...but it's $400... Rich, we can make that, right?" 

In addition to all the DIYs, many items were given to us by generous friends and family. The Steiff Animals were lent from Rich's mom, who played with them when she was a child. And my sister-in-law Chelle made these adorable moccasins for Emmi and gifted them to us for our baby shower. I can't wait until her little feet fit into them. Until then, they hold a special place on her bookshelf. 

See our entire nursery reveal and sources after the jump!