Spring 2013 Pinterest Challenge: DIY Roman Shade

Since we finished the master bathroom about six months ago, I've been wanting to replace our crap-ola miniblinds with a Roman shade.  The trouble is that I could never make up my mind on a fabric.  Mr. GI finally guilted me into finishing it, so I looked in earnest last weekend for the perfect fabric -- and I found it on sale at JoAnn's:  Robert Allen's Baja Damask Greystone.  It was marked down to $10/yard (originally $20/yard), and I'm glad I swiped it up because it's no longer available online.  (They also have a beautiful blue version of the same pattern).  To spoil the ending, here is the finished product in our bathroom.

Spring Decor

It's good to be back!  I'm thankfully on the other side of the spring semester, with a few weeks off before I start classes over the summer.  While I have a little time sans school, it'll be a great time to catch up on the ol' blog.  Although we're not too far from summer, I thought I'd share our spring decor.  Mr. Great Indoors and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary this April, so I try to bring our wedding colors into our decor in the spring:  lavender, blue, and green.  What a beautiful cake we had.  (Photography by Tommy Blaylock of Accomplished Productions, cake by our wedding venue.)

YHL in the ATL {Young House Love Book Signing}

Last week I had the chance to meet the folks behind the first blog I ever fell in love with-- Sherry and John from Young House Love.  They wrote a book that was published last November, and it included tons of projects that were kept "secret" from the blog so the projects would be new and fresh.  Since their book tour didn't originally include Georgia, I figured I probably wouldn't have a chance for them to sign it.  Lucky for us Georgians, they tacked on a few extra stops and made Atlanta their book tour finale!

My friend M (also a YHL reader and proud book owner) signed us up for the Atlanta book signing as soon as it was announced.  I was so glad to have a buddy to dork out wait with!

Bathroom Humor {DIY Wooden Sign}

I'd been brainstorming on something to make for the space on our master bathroom wall just above the toilet.  I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do until I saw this photo on Young House Love with a long, skinny canvas.  Then I got to thinking that something long and skinny would suit that space just fine.  Read on for how I made it.

Another Guest Bathroom: Complete!

A few months ago, I introduced you to my friend E's guest bathroom.  She had been renting a home for the past two years with a roommate and now has the place to herself.  We worked together to make a plan for her guest bathroom.  Here's how it turned out!

The 12th of July

...or, if I had posted this when I intended, the 4th of July!  I thought I'd share our Independence Day decorations in case you're looking for future inspiration.  I actually plan to keep these up for most of the summer since I'm enjoying them so much.  The only money I spent on any of this decor was $2.50 for the little flags (which we intended to take to our local fireworks but forgot at home!).  Other than that, I didn't spend a dime on this project.  I just walked around the house collecting anything that fit the look I was going for.  In this case:  red, white, and blue.

First up, our cookout table setting.  We had a few folks over to eat brats (totally un-American, I know), corn on the cob, and apple pie (definitely American), among other tasty things. 

Summer Pinterest Challenge: $5 DIY Vintage Sign

It's that time again!  The fearless ladies (and fellas) behind Young House Love, Bower Power, Centsational Girl, and Ten June announced this summer's Pinterest Challenge last week. I made some window art last summer, framed paint chip art last fall, and the always fabulous redneck Mason jar chandelier this winter, when Sherry and Katie were nice enough to ask me to host!  So I was definitely on board with a challenge this go 'round!

Our Redneck Chandelier and Barn Light Electric

We're still loving the redneck Mason jar chandelier we made for the Winter Pinterest Challenge a few months ago, and I figured I'd give an update about how it's holding up.

Guest Bathroom: Closing the Curtain

We're in the final stretch of the guest bathroom right now, so we're at the point where I need to be making up my mind about the finishing touches.  Artwork, shower curtain, and the fluffy stuff that Mr. GI doesn't have to do I get to play with.  I had been thinking about bringing in a burlap shower curtain into the guest bathroom, for two reasons:  first, it introduces a neat texture into the room where just about everything is painted (vanity, crates) or ceramic-ish (toilet, tub); second, burlap is dirt cheap.  Think under $3/yard from Wal-Mart cheap.

Image here

Wrapping up the Winter Pinterest Challenge

Or, as I almost typed 233463847 times in the past few weeks, the Winterest Pinterest Challenge.  Maybe next time Katie and Sherry host the Winter Pinterest Challenge, they could rename it that.

I intended this post to come much earlier, but I was actually on vacation in Florida with the hubs when the Challenge went up, then went straight back to work.  So I've been sneaking in as much time as possible over the last week and a half to look over all your fabulous Pinterest crafts.  Let me tell you, I'm amazed at your talent, determination, and all-around creativity!  In case some of you haven't had a chance to read through all of the projects, I've plucked out a few of my favorites. 

Winter Pinterest Challenge: Mason Jar Chandelier

If you're coming over from Young House Love, Bower Power, or Hi Sugarplum, welcome!  Take a look around The Great Indoors.  I'd suggest starting by taking the House Tour or looking at the Project Archives.

I seriously did a big ol' happy dance when I got an invitation from Katie last week to participate in the winter edition of the Pinterest Challenge.  I started reading Young House Love back when it was This Young House about three years ago now, and then got caught up in the bacon-stravaganza at Bower Power not too much later.  So it kind of feels like these girls are family!  And I'm glad to get to know Cassie at Hi Sugarplum, too!

When I got on board with this challenge, I considered several different pins, like this fun stickered canvas inspired by Kate Spade, or a super easy pillow cover, or even starting in on my guest bathroom remake with a printed (shower) curtain.  But the one that really got me was this Mason jar chandelier on Style Me Pretty (see the pinned page here and the original post here with lots more inspiration; photography by Tanja Lippert Photography).

Announcing the Winter Pinterest Challenge!

I am honored (and frankly a little surprised!) to be amongst the great bloggers heading up the Winter Pinterest Challenge.  That's right-- Katie at Bower Power and Sherry at Young House Love are back at it again, and Cassie of Hi Sugarplum and I have been invited to join in on the fun.  And yes, it's totally less than two weeks until spring (and we've been having spring-like temps in Georgia for the past month), but you should know by know that this crew follows its own set of rules.

The idea of the Pinterest Challenge is that Katie and Sherry realized they had pinned all sorts of great ideas on their Pinterest boards that they should just do.  Sort of like an early Dude, Get On That Already challenge, except with Pinterest.  So they decided to team up once a season to create one project based on a pin.  You might remember the last few challenges I participated in, including summer's guest bedroom crayon wax paper artwork (and summery recipes for extra credit) and fall's framed paint chip art.

This time around we're putting out the challenge for all of you crafty folks to post your own projects by next Wednesday, March 14.  You don't have to do something too huge or time-intensive to participate (my past projects have been completely freeeee and only took a tiny bit of elbow grease each time), but please share if you create something!  You're welcome to use the Pinterest challenge banner in your own blog post, and make sure to link up to the hosts in your post, too.

P.S.  You can follow me on Pinterest here, and follow Katie, Sherry, and Cassie, too!  Come on-- you know you want to continue the vicious cycle.  If you still haven't heard of Pinterest, check out their About page and request to join the madness ASAP.  And in the interest of full disclosure, Pinterest doesn't endorse this challenge.

A Merry Little Christmas, Part II

I showed you last week how we decked the front halls, so here's a little bit of the Christmas we have spread throughout the house.  I don't go too crazy (I hear there are some people who put a Christmas tree in every room!), but I like to have little reminders of the holidays no matter which room I'm in.

I love this sparkly golden tree sitting on our bar.

A Merry Little Christmas, Part I

I should admit at the outset that I. LOVE. CHRISTMAS.  The stretch between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day is by far my favorite time of year because just about everyone gets on board with the holiday spirit.  Decorations pop up everywhere, whether it's snowflakes, Santas, nativity scenes, or menorahs.  I seriously can't get enough of it.  There are plenty of other holidays in the year (Mr. Great Indoors' favorite is Halloween), but there's no other time of the year as unified as this one. There's a happy vibe around, perfect strangers greeting each other with "Happy Holidays," and holiday music on the radio.  How can you NOT love that?!  (However, I am of the opinion that the Christmas season doesn't officially start until Santa comes through the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.... so it irritates me a little bit when I walk into a store BEFORE HALLOWEEN and hear Christmas music.  But to each his own.)

All that said, it shouldn't be surprising that at the first chance I got I slapped up our Christmas decorations.  Mr. GI and I got back from Thanksgiving on Saturday afternoon, and by the time it got dark I was hauling our red and green totes out of the attic.  Accompanied by "It's a Wonderful Life" on the TV (does anybody else miss that movie coming on directly after the T-Day parade?  silly dog show...), I had 98% of the decorations up by the time Mr. Great Indoors came out of hiding by bedtime.  Here's a peek at Christmas in the Great Indoors this year!

DIY Week: The Goldilocks Bags

I'm sure you all have at least one camp chair.  And I'm sure each of those camp chairs has a POS bag that ripped the first time you put the chair back in it.  Here's how ours looked at the beginning of this project, including one huge rip at the bottom of one of the bags.

DIY Week: Fall Bunting

I was itching to make something festive that would last the entire fall season.  I've seen so many fun buntings around the interwebs recently.  The one that got my attention first, of course, was from Young House Love's bunting for Clara's first birthday.  (Hilarious post title, by the way, and one of my favorite "okay, we're human, too" posts from YHL.)

My only stipulation for this craft was that I couldn't spend a dime on it.  I knew I wanted it to be fall-colored, so I set out in search of fall colored fabrics already in the house.  I ended up with a t-shirt of mine (purple), two old t-shirts of Mr. Great Indoor's (tan and orange), and a few pieces of fabric my mom gave me a while ago (red and yellow).  And the strip at the top was canvas used for the camp bags I'm posting about tomorrow.  Forgive the flash, but it was the only way to capture the true-to-life colors of the fabrics.

DIY Week and Pinterest Challenge: Paint Chip Art

If you're stopping by from Bower Power or Young House Love, welcome!  Take a look around The Great Indoors.  We're in the midst of DIY week!

It's that time again!  Thanks to Katie and Sherry, this season's Pinterest Challenge kicked me into gear and got me to finally publish all of my DIY week posts (some of those projects have been in the hopper for a while... oops).  If you still haven't heard of Pinterest, here's my last Pinterest Challenge post to fill you in.  Follow me with that cute red button at the top of the page!  (Or just click here, although the button is more fun...)

This time around, I decided to finally do something about the paint chip ideas I'd had stirring in my head.  (No pun intended...)  I've included both the original source and my pins for each of the ideas I considered, just in case you want to do some research and/or pinning of your own!

DIY Week: Spookifying Our House

I don't go all out for Halloween, mostly because I'd rather decorate for a season rather than one day.  But I wanted to introduce a little of the day into our house.  So I let out some bats in our living room.  

First I grabbed some black construction paper and white chalk.  I got some rough inspiration from Google images and sketched away.

Decorating for Fall

At the beginning of each season, I shake things up around our house. Most of our decor stays the same from season to season (like the bookcase in our living room or the set-up in our bedroom), but I love switching our bookshelves and the entryway chalkboard. I try to do things a little differently every season, which is tough when I'm working on limited funds.  It forces me to be creative, that's for sure!

Here's the bookshelves on our living room wall (to the left of the kitchen).

DIY Plastic Bag Organizers

As you saw in my last post about organizing the skeletons in our closets, I DIY'd plastic bag organizers to hold all of our plastic grocery bags.  Here's a refresher of what that grocery bag situation looked like before.  Yuck.