Fiddle dee dee

Yet again…I’m late on the trend train. Like, the train is in the next station late. Per usual for me. I’m not very trendy anyway, and on the rare times when I do get on with one I’m super late and usually on it’s way out.

I know you want to be cool like me. :)

One trend that I admired and never jumped on till this year was the fiddle leaf one. Funny that a plant can become a trend, right? But these plants with the beautiful large leaves are still everywhere:

I’ve noticed they come in two different forms – the more squatty version like this one that has much larger leaves:

And others have much smaller leaves but are taller and branch out into more of a tree shape. That one above was an IKEA find a few weeks ago and he was not in the best shape. Most of the leaves have some kind of damage but he’s doing much better so far.

The IKEA one was a super great price of only $13. I’ve never seen them for that low anywhere else, especially for the size. I got this one for our master bedroom last winter for a lot more than $13. ;) It is taller though:

This was my first fiddle leaf and I immediately started killing it. Like, right away. It’s leaves were dropping like flies and it was NOT happy in it’s new home.

So I started doing some pretty ingenious things to keep it alive…like watering it and making sure it had enough light. ;) Seriously, I think the key to these plants is LOTS of light. I’ve read they don’t like direct sun but mine looooove it.

As soon as I got this guy into the sun every morning he started doing great. Not before half of the leaves fell off though. Whomp. And now I water them about once a week – not a soak, just a good watering. Water and sun…who would have thunk it.

I’m not a clean freak by any stretch of the imagination but the leaves on this guy were grossing me out:

You can see the new leaves are bright and shiny. The old ones were filthy. I swear to you the rest of my house does not look like those leaves – I’m not sure what I did in the room that made them so dirty. Maybe because that window is open so much? I don’t know – the newer leaves that are about eight months old barely had any dust on them.

No idea but I finally decided to clean them up – I took a wet rag and wiped every. single. leaf.:

For real, I stood there and couldn’t believe I was dusting my plant leaves. Do most people do that? I don’t even know. I guess I’ve never had plants with leaves big enough to actually accumulate anything before.

I recently heard about a little trick to shine up the leaves and make them look brand new again. It sounded a little wacky to me but it worked – I just took a teensy dab of mayonnaise and wiped the leaves down:

I did this very gently by the way – the older leaves are nice and thick but I didn’t want to do any damage.

I have to admit it worked really well – the older leaves now match the glossier (more glossy?) new leaves:

Fiddle is looking pretty awesome I must say:

Excuse the cat butt.

Side note: I love green and gray together.

You can see from the older pic above that the tree lost a TON of leaves. But you should have seen it before I figured out how to bring it back. :) It has grown quite a bit since then – both out and up.

I LOVE these plants now – I’m completely hooked. If I can find more at IKEA I’d like to get one more. Their big beautiful leaves are lovely:

A few of you have asked about the cats with this plant. I waffled back and forth about getting one because I read conflicting reports over the years. But I’ve found the cats don’t touch these plants. Our palms they chomp on like food but they’ve never shown any interest in these at all. Also, when the fiddle leaf is healthy it doesn’t seem to shed leaves…this one hasn’t lost one leaf since I brought it back to life.

Have you jumped on the fig train? Are you a plant person in general or no? I LOVE them and love having plants scattered throughout the house – they give it life! I’ve blogged about plants that are safe to have around cats (and easy to grow!) here and here. I think the key to most plants is the light – pay attention to what their needs are in that area and you’ll be good. Most of our plants I water every two weeks or so and they do wonderfully.

Family room details and sources

Hello there! If you haven't seen all the inspiration at this month’s before and after link up, go check it out here. So many great projects already!

I’m back today with a few more photos and details about the family room renovation I shared last week. If you are just joining us on this project the back story is that we took down a wall between my office and our family room to open up the space. My office was a small room – ten by ten – but it made a HUGE difference!

Because I had installed board and batten on the walls of my office years ago, I realized I was going to have to keep going with that around the room. It was going to be too big of a pain to take down all the boards and repair all the drywall. I had been wanting to add some kind of wall treatment in the family room anyway, so it worked out well:

I think the room strikes a nice balance – I feel like it’s a little more sophisticated than before but still warm and cozy. The board and batten really helps keep it from getting too stuffy.

I get asked about that mirror all the time – I KNOW. It’s a beauty. It was from HomeGoods a couple years ago and there’s no identification on it. I so wish I could help source it!

One thing about board and batten, or really any wall treatment – is that it’s hard to figure out what to put above it. It’s harder than a normal wall because of the height. I went back and forth with a bunch of ideas in that corner above. The mirror used to hang above the old fireplace and I really wanted to keep it in here but it looked weird above the trim. So I went half way and had to rig it up – I put an anchor in the wall (no need if you have a stud) and cut a couple blocks of wood the same thickness as the trim around the top of the batten:

I used a really long screw to anchor those into the wall, then a smaller screw to hang the mirror. So far so good! Hope that makes sense to those of you who asked about that!

The other wall is a very small gallery of the Bub’s artwork that I took from my old office:

Those are just Goodwill frames – I had a bunch of them painted white in the office. I wanted some balance with the black dresser so I sprayed those black and I love how it all turned out!

I really wanted to complete the room and not have much left on my to do list down the road. So I went ahead ripped out the old window sills and added the new trim all around on the two windows in the corner:

I shared a step-by-step tutorial on how to do this here.

It’s a subtle difference but you can see how the window sills looked before here:

Love that you can see the passage of time by the leaves on the trees. ;)

The boards never butted up to them well and I just love the look of the thicker trim at the top and bottom! Four windows down in this house…a LOT more to go. :)

I did the same trim on the doors in the room:

Love those sconces – they are from Target! I bought one for our master bedroom earlier this year then got another one thinking I would use them on the fireplace. I had to go searching for that second one – I don’t think they are in the stores anymore but I did find them online.

I had the second one ready to return and then realized they would look great on those little walls. The candles are fake ones on timers. :)

Speaking of the fireplace, it’s my pride and joy:

It was a long process to get this baby to completion. The guys who helped with the construction part of the reno helped to make my dream set up a reality. I did all the finishing work including the trim work and color, tiling the surround with the herringbone tile, planking the wall above (for $13!) and then finishing out the cabinets on the sides for storage and electronics:

Those babies are good old inexpensive kitchen cabinets you can get from most big hardware stores. We tweaked (I almost wrote twerked) them to make them to allow for air circulation for the electronics. And yes, the remotes work through the metal screens!

I got a lot of questions about the étagère in this photo:

I got that from Joss and Main earlier this year – it was one of my only purchases from there and I am really pleased with it. It’s called the Brookfield Étagère and I got it for $40 with some credit I had there – awesome!! I plan to share more about it when I’m able to finish up the wall behind it with the board and batten – still waiting on the new back door to get finished up before I can complete that part of the room. It’s technically the kitchen now anyway. ;)

The spool chair came from HomeGoods and I can’t find any brand name of any kind on that either:

I have seen others on Instagram finding the same chairs so I know there’s more out there. It is SO comfy and so beautiful – I think it’s my favorite piece of furniture in our house right now.

I forgot that I did get a couple other small pieces for this room as well – many asked about the side table and that is from World Market:

It’s their large laptop table and it’s the hardest working piece we have in here – I use it as my desk during the week. I worried that I would miss my big desk and I have to tell you, I don’t one bit! It’s actually quite nice to be able to put it “away” for the evening.

The foyer table that used to be our sofa table that is now our hall table (whew) is the Everett foyer table from World Market:

I’ve told you of my love for that store before – they have some beautiful and unique pieces and that table is another favorite in our home. Love it. I think those green lamps are asked about more than anything in our house (other than the mirror above) and they are from…just guess…HomeGoods again. ;) It’s a sickness. I found those years ago though and haven’t seen them since.

The large mirror was a DIY project I shared here. It got the same gray color as the fireplace and built ins across the room.

I did get one other item for this space that I forgot about – the $20 coffee table that I made over months back:

It underwent quite the transformation and I LOVE how it turned out. I had issues with the wax and have been meaning to sand it down and fix it – but I’ve been too busy with other stuff. So I’m pretty sure it’s just going to stay like that forever. Adds character. ;)

Whew!! I can’t tell you how good it feels to have this space completed! Again I so appreciate all your kind comments about this room. We are thrilled with it! Hope I answered any questions you had – let me know if there are any I missed.

Family room reveal!

OK. I’m done. I can’t even believe it!! The family room expansion/renovation is DONE. GoodNESS, I worked my butt off on this room! I will go into a bigger background recap later, but long story short is that we wanted to add on to the back of our house, decided against it when we got the quotes (choke) and then decided to knock down a wall instead.

That wall was the one between the family room and my office, the one with the corner fireplace and the wall to the left:

Our original expansion plans were just to move out from that window wall and make the back part of the house more of a sunroom to extend the family room. We were never going to touch that office wall because I really wanted to keep my office. Turns out I don’t even miss, not at all. Isn’t that funny? It was a BEAUTIFUL room but no one ever saw it anyway! Except you guys, ha!

When my mind started working and the thought that taking down this wall might work, I sent this “real life” shot from my phone to two realtor friends to see what they thought. This really shows you a better angle:

The area to the left is our walk way from the mud room and garage and is where we had the TV. We reconfigured the space like this years back and it did help – but I didn’t like the corner fireplace and didn’t like that the room had different focal points.

It’s funny because I look at that photo and we had a much wider space when it was like that. But now, it’s SO MUCH BETTER because the family room is bigger and the kitchen doubled in size as well.

The space is long and skinny – we didn’t get any additional width to the room at all. In fact it’s skinnier now because everything is situated towards the back of the house. But we absolutely positively love it:

From the day we took down the wall we both said – it was supposed to be like this from the start. Actually every single change we’ve made in this whole great room (moving the kitchen table, switching out the doors, all of it) we’ve said the same every time. It should have been like this all along.

Taking down that wall brought in an insane amount of natural light – we gained two windows from the office. We also added six new overhead lights to the space:

The focal point of the room is now the grand fireplace and built ins:

We had to built it into the room to accommodate the size of the gas insert – we dealt with that by building out the entire thing and adding storage for electronics and all kinds of other stuff.

I went dramatic and gray with the whole thing and I adore it:

I am debating moving the rug down so it’s centered on the fireplace. I like how the sectional sits on it now though – if I move it the sectional will sit half on and half off.

To get an idea of how this renovation opened up the space – the old wall went right down the middle of the new fireplace. Because of the angle of the old fireplace we had about two feet, then windows. There was nowhere else to put furniture but right in front of that double window.

I can’t believe that our family room used to go that far into the kitchen! It actually went almost to the right side of that étagère:

Crazy! The final frontier in this renovation is the double doors that will take the place of that window – it was supposed to happen last week but we had a hiccup. :) More on that soon! (And those drapes will be replaced with some that match the other side of the room soon. These are up for privacy now.)

There are little things we noticed right away when we started this process. First, the animals LOVE IT. They are in this space way more than before. It’s weird. Secondly, we love that there’s one focal point in the space. I used to hate TVs over fireplaces but I’m actually falling in love with the look (and I really disliked it!). There’s no competition for your attention, it’s clean and makes the space feel even bigger. Finally, our view in here is SO much better.

I love love LOVE to sit down on this sofa during the day:

Everything is oriented to the outside. Before our view from the sofa was the front door and the TV. Now’s all the light and the trees and our pretty deck and patio. I absolutely LOVE that. It’s completely changed how this room feels.

We have more seating in the room now too – the chair to the right is my new “office.” It’s a super cozy spot! The newly painted dresser and the built in to the left of the TV hold my office supplies:

We get so much light in here now it’s hard to get good shots! I’ll take that problem any day. The natural light is why I knew the space could take the darker pieces. I love how they add some drama.

I have a lot of favorite spots in this space and this is one of them. That spool chair was the only furniture purchase for this room and I ADORE it:

I looked for months for the perfect chair and found it a few weeks ago at HomeGoods. It is spectacular. :)

See? Spectacular. And incredibly comfy too!

I moved what used to be used as a sofa table to the wall where the TV was before:

Since the sectional is floating in the middle of the room the dresser I had on this wall felt too deep. This table is perfect since it’s nice and skinny.

The big mirror was a happy accident – I leaned it up there to see how it felt and it makes the room feel even brighter – when I’ve taken it down to paint behind it there’s a noticeable difference in the room:

I thought this walkway would feel tight but it’s actually perfect:

Before the walkway was right in front of the TV and again – this just feels “right.” I told you we keep saying that! It’s how it always should have been. :)

And finally, this is my view as I sit and write:

That view will look even better when the kitchen renovation starts…next year…a long time from now…cause Mama needs a break. :)

I still want to share more details and photos of the space, some before and afters and all of the sources as well – I will share those very, very soon!

For now I think I’ll join him:

If you have any questions about anything let me know and I’ll be sure to address it!

THANK YOU for coming along for the ride! I don’t think I’ve ever worked harder on a space but not sure I’ve ever been prouder of a space either. :)

Fun Ikea finds

Hey there all! I was hoping to share a big DIY project with you today but the painting is taking for.EVER so it will have to wait till next week. I always way overestimate what I can accomplish in just a couple days time.

A couple weeks back I took the Bub on a mini-excursion to Cincinnati for the day. Our plan was to visit Kings Island and then I realized we could also make a stop at Ikea. Boom -- one for me, one for him. I’m all about compromise. (Even though I think amusement parts are the bomb and the kiddo loves IKEA too.)

Our closest Ikea and is two hours away so I only make it over there once or twice a year. When I do it’s pretty momentous and I have to snap pictures the whole way through. :)

I don’t think I’ve ever been there for Christmas decor and I was SO excited to see what they had in the store. I almost grabbed the cross-stitch pillow on the left for the basement but we already have so many dang pillows down there:

I have to go back to return some stuff so that one may just make it in the cart next time.

They had at least four pillow designs that would work for Christmas:

So cozy and an easy way to add some holiday color! Don’t forget to check out their super cheap feather pillow inserts too!

I always love looking at their fabrics and I fell in love with a few this trip. I thought this log fabric would look SO cool as a runner down a table for Thanksgiving or Christmas:

Or just a funky pillow for the winter – I thought it was different.

The blue botany fabric was really lovely, although I still can’t get there with the bugs on my fabrics. I’m trying:

It’s a beautiful navy blue and so striking. Loved it. The gingham check is a classic any time of year!

This may not be new but I’ve never seen in before – they have Christmas tree fabric. It’s just a print of a tree and I love what they did with it:

My boy took this photo, sorry about the blur. :) They hung tassels and ornaments from the fabric. I just thought that was fun! How perfect for an small apartment space or a kid’s room.

They had some beautiful rugs I hadn’t seen before. These jewel toned/wash rugs are all the rage right now and this one was gorgeous in person:

I should have pulled it out to take the picture but we were hurrying to get to the park. ;)

This one was pretty in person too – it’s actually got more color to it than it looks, it’s just muted:

Here’s a few other items that caught my eye as we walked through:

The Kallax comes in a new mint green color – so fun for a playroom or nursery!:

This cabinet made my heart skip a beat – I am obsessed with gray as you’ve probably noticed lately and this was a beautiful piece:

It’s called the Liatorp -- it was seven feet tall and $500. It would be gorgeous in a kitchen or dining room! Or even full of baskets and towels in a bathroom. Loved it.

This table was more modern than I would pick for my home but I thought the lines were beautiful:

Loved the wishbone chairs too! And $600 was crazy good because it was SO long.

This kitchen island with the butcher block top caught my eye:

Loved the industrial stainless steel shelves combined with the wood top. I’m falling in love with shelves in the kitchen – it seems much easier to grab items that you need daily.

This dresser was new to me – you stack the pieces to make your own customized unit:

It would be SO cute in a kid’s room – each drawer painted a different color? Or an ombre effect with darker on top and lighter as you go up? So many fun possibilities. I couldn’t find a name for this one so took a pic of the tag:

Their lighting section is always one of my favorites. These industrial floor lamps were so cool!:

I LOVE Ikea plates – we’ve had some for years now and they hold up incredibly well. The only time we’ve have them break is when the crazy cat knocks them off a surface. Other than that they stay nick and scratch-free. I thought these designs were super cute and you could easily mix and match them:

Very Anthopologie-esque. :)

What did I get this trip? Well I’m glad you asked! Lots of little things – some Christmas stuff including this polka-dot fabric and twine:

I think they have the fabric year round but it will be extra cute for Christmas. 

I FINALLY found a fiddle leaf there – I’ve looked every trip for years! The price was ridiculously good – only $13. I should have gotten two:

If you have a fiddle leaf from anywhere else you know that’s a GREAT price! This is my second and I love them and their full, pretty leaves. I’ve heard mixed info on cats and these plants -- they are a ficus and I’ve had another ficus for years without issue. That and the fiddle leafs are literally the ONLY plants our cats don’t mess with. They eat the rest. :)

I couldn’t resist this big chunky cable knit throw:

I have a major problem with collecting blankets. And magazines. I can’t pass a good one up.

I picked up one of these bookcase lights to go over the étagère in the kitchen, thinking I’d only want one:

But now I want two and I grabbed the wrong power cord for them. So now I get to drive back! Not necessarily a bad thing cause Ikea is a fun trip for sure:

Do you love Ikea too? I don’t have many of their furniture pieces in our home but I’ve heard good things. Most everything we have from there has held up great and is priced incredibly well! This store is just FUN. If you go make sure to give yourself enough time to eat some meatballs and walk around to take everything in. :)