Time for another stencil vote! ||Boys' room tweaking||

Hi friends! It's so good to be stopping by here with you; with just over a week until school starts for our oldest, the twins,  I admit I haven't had much desire to do anything else but spend time with them doing what they enjoy! But I really need your advice and am hoping you'll help me out with something!

This is our boys' shared room. They are currently 5 and 4 years old and while they adore each other and playing together, it's also been difficult under our roof to find any time alone. With all the toys and games currently in our basement, that's been the natural play place. My husband and I thought if we bunked the boys' beds that would create a lot of space in their room, opening it up to bring toys and create a second play space. 

Last weekend my husband and brother, Caleb, (Cate's husband), bunked the beds, and oh my word, is there a lot of space for play!!! I have been praying that this change would be a blessing to our boys, particularly our son who desires time alone here and there. So we want to make it a really fun room! We're currently designing and building a piece for which to keep toys in this room without taking up a large footprint, and other than that we will not be adding more furniture and decor. We want it to be simple and open and a space where a boy can spread out and let his imagination run wild. 

The right side of the room is where the beds are bunked, so we've got this long wall that you see when entering the room where I want to add a fun pattern!

I've rounded up the following 4 stencils from my favorite site, Cutting Edge Stencils. 
Stencil 1: Birch forest
Stencil 2: Fir trees
Stencil 3: Navajo tribal
Stencil 4: Drifting arrows

There really isn't a 'theme' or style that we're trying to attempt here; just a fun, layed back room with open floor space. The beds are a warm wood tone and we're leaning towards using light, raw, unstained wood for their toy storage. I'm also thinking of using a navy and white or rust and white combo for the stenciled wall. 

Okay, guys. I need help here. Go with your gut and leave your vote below in a comment! 

Thank you so much for stopping by!


A Picture's Worth a Thousand... Bucks? ||Part 2||

Welcome back!  I am so happy that you returned to hear how my staging adventure turned out from yesterday's post...  Bet you couldn't sleep last night because you were wondering how my design conundrum was going to turn out.  But really, I hope you actually slept like a log.  Ok so quick recap.  

 Fell in love with this bench:

 
 

Source: Zen Home

Cried a little when I saw the price... decided to make one of my own:

Got excited to sell it at Sweet Clover Barn [You're Invited!]

Tried staging outside:

Photos or editing weren't selling the bench... gave up on photoshoot al fresco.

Ok you caught up?  So in all that hullabaloo I'll admit I threw myself a pity party.  I was so frustrated that I didn't have any of my things to create a vignette for the mid-century/modern/rustic/eclectic customer!  But after reading all the great advice on Instagram and Facebook, I was resolved to creatively use some of my surrounding traditional décor to make a modern bench shine.  I did some digging around in the basement that Caleb and I are squatting in and found a quirky lamp table that could pass as mid-century.  It was like a light bulb went off [pun absolutely intended].  I grabbed some hardcover books, some shoes, and a hat, slapped some paint on one of my blank canvases, and got this:

 
 

BOOM!  This is exactly what I was going for!  That lamp table and easy DIY art piece completed the vignette I just couldn't get outside.

 
 

Even though the lighting in the basement isn't all that great and made the pictures a little grainy, the walls came off as more cream than butter yellow [how does paint do that?!?] which I count as a win!

 
 

The modern chrome makes for a beautiful contrast against the rustic Guernsey print don't you think?  [Guernsey meaning a brown-and-white-spotted cow.]  And the quirky lamp table and art help sell the eclectic story of a fun entryway bench or upholstered table.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Thank you so much for all your support and encouragement while I tried to work through this one.   This was an incredible lesson in stretching my style mutt muscles and working with limiting factors.  If any of you are also living outside of your usual decor element or trying to take photos to help sell your pieces, I hope my struggle encourages you to not feel trapped by your circumstances.  Keep pushing until you are happy with what you see.  

This bench will be for sale at Sweet Clover Barn in Frederick, MD this weekend Aug 21-23 10am to 5pm!  If you are a savvy local mid-century/modern/rustic/eclectic shopper in the market for a bench that looks $1,000 bucks but won't cost you that much... then I hope to see you there!