The Rainbow Room

The Rainbow Room is a Rainbow Room no more. Praise be to God.

It was a sad room in desperate need of uniform color.

We finally settled on a color. Now, we call it The Beach Room. I present you, Fleeting Green by Sherwin Williams.

Our cute ceiling light that Jonathan installed a few months back:

At one point, we had four paint samples up on the walls:

Can I just brag on myself and say that I did this? Every grueling moment. The prepping, the taping, the first coat and second. The only reason it got done was because my parents were in town to preoccupy Nora so Mommy could have a productive weekend. It was time to give that room some overdue TLC.

We're so glad it's done! We've lived in this house for almost four years and it's the first room we've really made our own (not counting paying a crew to help redo Nora's room to our liking). The Beach Room is just lacking some artwork and a beachy side table and lamp.

One room down....(my aching muscles don't want to even know how many rooms are left).

Go Bold or Go Home???

I may be having a case of buyer's remorse. I may just be panicking because I don't do color. I mean, I grew up in a white-walled home. I have OCD, too, so things have to be perfect, which sometimes means I just never try something at all because I could mess it up. <breathing into a paper bag>

Let me start from the beginning and explain what I've done and how I need your help.

Jonathan and I finally finished our sea fan frame. You know the beauty constructed using reclaimed wood from downtown Newnan and a dried coral from Etsy:

I am in love with it. We are displaying it proudly in our foyer.

However, the more I looked at this picture, the more I was bothered by the hideously boring walls that we've been vowing to paint since we moved in 3.5 years ago. So, today, I decided it was finally time to put color to my mudroom walls to make the room worthy of my new oceanic wall decor (and the awesome coat rack my dad built me).

I decided to try navy since my friend Lezlee helped me narrow the color field while she was visiting last week (she is a VERY talented artist, after all, and she DID select the beautiful green that is in Nora's nursery).

So, I took several deep breaths and started painting (which, if you have OCD, too, you know that means I've now committed myself to finishing this project SOON because I can't stand to leave things undone). Surprisingly, Jonathan and I loved it. Here, take a gander:

And then it started to dry and darken. Suddenly my "goboldorgohome" hashtag on Instagram was looking more like #goboldorgohome???? 

And then the sun began to set and it darkened some more. And now I worry that we just ventured from the land of trendy sunroom to college frat backroom where the PJ is kept.

See!? Can you tell the difference:

Normally I don't ask for these, but I want OPINIONS! Help me. I'm way on the fence with this one. I either need to be encouraged to embrace color, or to retreat to the safety and comfort of a slate blue or seafoam green.

Help a sister out.

Quick Project Update

I bought my first official tool toward my goal of woodworking on my own more. You guessed it…it was a biscuit joiner. As luck would have it, I found a used one at the Habitat resale store for cheap.

I now have two frames in production. Here is the second one, which needs painting:

Jonathan is finally excited about what I'm doing and is on board with helping me. My dried sea fan arrived and I couldn't be happier with it. I'm ordering a few more, in fact.

I got glass put in the first frame I constructed. Now I just need to build a shadow box for the coral to finish it. I can't wait to post a picture of the finished product! I'm researching the best way to sell these since this is uncharted territory for me. Message me if you have any suggestions!

Biscuit Joiner Reunion!

My parents finally came for a visit this weekend! You know what that means...

I put my dad to work. But first I let him get some quality snuggles with the gal who ran around behind him all weekend saying "Papa."

I'm super sad to realize no one got a picture of Meme with her Nora :-( That just means we need to get together again soon.

Here is the frame I made (with help!) all properly joined.

Here are the biscuits:

Here's my dad marking the boards so we could line up the cuts.

Biscuit joiner in action:

Here are what the ends look like before we added wood glue:

We didn't have clamps so we cinched the boards together with--you guessed it--duct tape.

Still waiting for the coral to arrive. When it does, you will see the next phase of this project.

Dried Coral & Wooden Spools

Today was a loooong Monday. The highlight of my day was my email confirmation that the black sea fan I ordered on Etsy this weekend had shipped.

Picture it:

+

My homemade frame

Well, if you can't picture it, you simply must wait for the finished piece!!! Eeeee! I got inspired at Scott's Antique Mart this past weekend. 

Speaking of Scott's, they had some awesome (albeit mostly overpriced) stuff! And picking through the boneyard outside for parts was FABULOUS. Rick, my father-in-law, even bought me these wooden spools. I'm still trying to decide just how I'm going to use them.

Bookends? Wine rack? Coat rack?? If you have any ideas, do share! I have a much bigger project lined up involving MUCH bigger spools...

My parents are coming up this weekend and my dad is bringing his biscuit joiner. I will finally get to make my frames from repurposed barn wood. And Jonathan and I may con my dad into some home repairs while he's here. Yipee!

Have a great week everyone. And stay off the icy roads (boo, hiss!).

Picture Perfect

It. Is. Cold.

Since I'm confined to the indoors on this chilly winter day, I decided to repurpose an old picture frame that I've had around my house for years. All I added was bronze-colored, jewelry wire.

Only problem is that I can't decide which way to utilize it in my home??

or

What do you think? I'm leaning towards using it as a picture frame. If so, I guess it wasn't exactly "repurposed" after all :-)

Y'all stay warm out there!

Glad Tidings

The Melville home is where it's at during the Christmas season.

I didn't launch my blog until after last Christmas, which was my first as Mrs. Melville, but we went ALL out!

Most of this year's decor is a recreation. Here are some pictures of our home this season:

(J is the present-wrapper in our home!)

By the way, I married the King of Christmas. Jonathan got this love of Christmas naturally from his mother and his late grandfather. Here are some pictures from his parents' house this Christmas:

(This is a 9-foot tree! There is not a spare centimeter for another ornament, either.)

(J's lil sis, Honey)

Here is the Christmas card we mailed this year (in case we didn't have enough money to get you one!):

(Still a little sad we didn't have time to take a funny pic in ugly Christmas sweaters with our fur child, Chloe)

Hope no matter your plans, you have a VERY merry Christmas and a happy New Year! :-)

It's a Celebration!

Happy b-day to my BFF Amy!

I drove 1 million miles this weekend to and around Columbia, SC, for Amy — and it was so worth it! Luckily I had a riding buddy, my other BFF, Lezlee :-) (Actually, when we're together it's Lizlee)

We all had a weekend packed with excitement. On Saturday evening we grilled and then attended Brew at the Zoo at Riverbanks Zoo in Cola. Then, on Sunday, Amy had her first wedding shower — she's getting married EXACTLY 2 months from today! Lezlee and I get to be bridesmaids in her wedding. Ain't we special...

(LtoR: Amy, me, Lezlee, and Amy's sister, Jenny...this was the only minute of the event that it wasn't pouring—rain that is!)

(The rest of the night we looked like this!)

(Love my Amy—and her awesome dress)

(Amy and her sweet mom)

(Lezlee fashioned a bouquet out of ribbons)

(My girls being goofy...hehe)

(Can you spot Amy in her sea of gifts?)

(Yay, presents!)

(The pink food room)

(Amy cutting her cake)

Here's some of the decor:

(Loved this cake server!)

I'm really looking forward to Amy's bachelorette weekend in the mountains in less than a month! She better get ready b/c Lezlee and I have some fun surprises in store ;-)