read more
Decorating your fireplace mantel can be tricky, and if you’re like me and want a new look for each season/holiday it can get expensive. I have come up with three ways you can style your mantel using the same core anchor pieces, making it easier to switch out the smaller decor from season to season!
Everyday Look
First let’s establish our anchor pieces that will be used throughout all the different looks. My biggest focal point is the larger mirror. I chose this one because it is a perfect piece to use in layering without being distracting. The wood frame and simple design draws your eye in but doesn’t distract from the sign that’s in front of it. The other anchor pieces I have are the vases with tall flowers on each side. This works great to get everything symmetrical, making it ok to keep the mirror and large sign off-center because the vases bring balance to the whole display. Finally, for this everyday look, I added the “home” sign and wood beads as decor. They look great and are easy to switch out!
Spring Look
For my spring look I swapped out my “home” sign for this larger spring sign, and added some wood beads on the vases. I also found these cute glass bottles at the Target dollar spot and put some real touch tulips in each one to give it a spring touch. By keeping the anchor pieces I didn’t have to change a lot but got a whole new look for spring!!
Summer Look
For my summer look I did something a little different than before. I love lots of greenery in the summer so I wanted to show that. I changed the cotton stems I had in the glass vases to some faux seeded eucalyptus, added some faux succulents inside 2 different color mason jars, added a faux boxwood wreath over my mirror, and added some fun vintage candle sticks and candles. Just like before, I kept my anchor pieces the same and incorporated smaller/different decor for a new season and fresh look!!
-Grey Birch Designs-
DIY’s on Monday
Joy In Our Home | Timeless Creations |The Tattered Pew | CityGirlmeetsFarmboy | Life On Kaydeross Creek
Vignettes on Tuesday
anderson + grant | Follow The Yellow Brick Home | White Arrows Home | Worthing Court | Camelot Art Creations
Front Porches on Wednesday
Mantels on Thursday
DIY Beautify | The Painted Hinge | Making It In the Mountains Grey Birch Designs | The Homemaking Momma
Recipes on Friday
read more
The room make-over I did for my twins last month has to be one of my favorite projects so far this year. I didn’t really change a lot of stuff but the room was fully transformed and it looks like a completely different room!!
The first thing we did was paint the walls and add board and batten around the whole room. It was a pretty easy project because we did faux board and batten by just using strips of MDF to make rectangle boxes on the wall. This project made a huge change and really brightened up the room (check out my Instagram highlights to see how we did it)
The next thing we did was paint the top of the wall a pretty light grey. It’s called Icy Avalanche by Olympic It’s one of my absolute favorite light grey colors and it gave this room the clean, classic look I just love!
Finally we changed the bedding to my absolute favorite bedding by Beddy’s
We picked the Modern Grey all cotton Beddy’s sets for both boys and put their Check Mate and Grey Rugby blankets at the foot of the bed. These bedding sets are a game changer for us. My boys easily make their beds in less than 10 minutes everyday without me even asking!! So not only are they cozy, high quality, and super cute, but they make life easier! That’s definitely a mom win in my book and I feel they are completely worth every penny!
As far as the furniture, we kept it all the same and just moved things around. I added in a few pieces of decor that I had in other rooms to freshen it up a little more. All in all it was a project that I’m very happy with and it took us less than a week from start to finish. Now my boys’ room is one of my favorite rooms in the house!
Check out my before and after!!
After Before
One thing I have been thinking would be so fun to add to my youngest sons room is a mural!! I have found some that I absolute love from a company called Photo Wall! They have a HUGE selection, the headset part is narrowing down my favorite ones! Check them out here:
-Grey Birch Designs-
read more
I don’t know about you but when Chip and Jo came out with a line of products at Target I was so excited!!! Since then I have purchase quite a few items from this line and compared prices and quality of the items to some of my other go to places for decor. I decided to put together a round up of my favorite items from the Hearth & Hand collection at Target to share with you all. These are the items I currently have in my home or things I just love and need to have!! Overall I have been really impressed with the items, the price point for the quality is great, the design is amazing (but would you expect anything less from Joanna Gaines, seriously) and the ease of getting it at Target or Target.com makes it even better! With that said here are my favorites!!
Click on the photo to view the items below
read more
Our home was video taped a couple months ago for advertisement purposes and we were luck enough to get a copy of the amazing footage. I’m so excited to release the full tour of our home to you! I hope you enjoy our very first home tour as much as we have!!
Subscribe to our YouTube channel so you won’t miss any of our videos!
-Grey Birch Designs-
read more
There are so many different ways you can make a blanket ladder, and I have made a few different styles myself, but I think this is the most straight forward and easy way I have found!
Supplies list
- Miter Saw
- Finish Nail gun
- Nails
- Wood dowels (you will need 2 or 3 depending on how many slats you want)
- 1″x 2″ pine board (these are for the sides so you will need 2 of these)
- Wood Glue
Step 1
First thing you are going to want to decide is how tall you want your ladder and about how many slats you want to have. I made mine 90″ tall and cut my dowels to 11 3/4″ I wanted a thinner look with more slates so that’s why I picked those measurements. Once everything is cut lay out your pieces and decide how far apart you want the spacing to be, mine are 7″ apart. Then mark the side pieces so you know where to attach each dowel.
Step 2
Now to assemble it you will want to put a dab on wood glue on one end of the dowel, line it up with the mark you made on the side piece and carefully fire a nail into the wood. Attach each dowel to the piece of wood you are using for the sides of the ladder then repeating the steps until all your dowels are attached to one side. Once that’s done you can turn it on its side and attach the other piece of wood with the same steps!
Step 3
Sometimes you ladder can be slightly bent after its assembled and that is completely normal due to the face that the wood isn’t perfectly straight most of the time. To fix this problem lay your assembled ladder on a flat surface and put some heavy objects on the top and the bottom and leave them there until your ladder is dry, I let mine sit overnight. Once the glue is dry its will stay in it’s new straight position. Now you can paint or stain it whatever color you like!
Hope you enjoyed this super easy and quick DIY Ladder!
-Grey Birch Designs-
read more
One of my favorite things in the world is shiplap walls!! I love the look and the impact they make in a space. They are also an inexpensive update you can do yourself to give your room a high end look! We have put shiplap in a few of our rooms and I get asked questions about them all the time, so here is my step by step tutorial on how to shiplap a wall.
Supply List:
- Plywood (standard 4’x8′ sheets)
- White paint (or whatever color you want to paint your shiplap)
- Paint supplies (Paint Roller, Paint Brush, Paint Tray)
- Nail gun with 18 gauge brad nails or hammer and finish nails
- Stud Finder
- Level
- Pencil
- Miter Saw
Step 1:
The first thing you will want to do is measure your wall to figure out how much plywood you will need to buy. For our wall we used 4 sheets of plywood and ripped (cut) them into 7 3/4″ strips at Home Depot. This size got us the most use out of the sheets of plywood with very little left over scraps. This is the type of plywood we used for our living room wall but there are a variety of types/thicknesses to choose from.
*TIP: If you buy your plywood at Home Depot they will rip your boards for free. If you are at Lowes they charge .25c a cut, and that can add up when doing a project like this!
If the wood you are using is rough you will want to sand the boards before you put them up on your wall. If they are smooth you can skip this step!
Step 2:
Once your boards are relatively smooth it’s time to get them up on your wall. Start by marking your wall studs. Use a stud finder to locate each stud at the top and bottom of the wall. Draw a vertical line down the wall in pencil to mark where each stud runs down the wall. You must nail the wood to the studs – drywall alone is not strong enough.
Step 3:
For this style of shiplap we wanted the breaks in the horizontal pieces to look random, so you are going to want to cut some of your boards at different lengths. Start working in the top corner and work your way across and down. To get the spacing the same we used a couple nickels and placed then in between each row. Once each board was nailed we removed the nickels and repeated this step all the way down the wall.
*Tip: You are going to want to cut your boards around any vents or switch plates on your wall so that when you put them back on you will have a nice clean look.
Step 4:
Now that your shiplap is all up it’s time to paint! I always recommend getting a satin finish in your paint so that it can be cleaned. If you want a more glossy look you can always go with a semi gloss or gloss. We used a satin finish on our shiplap wall.
That’s it!! Let your paint dry for 24 hours before you put anything back up on your wall and enjoy!
-Grey Birch Designs-
read more
How to Paint a Door
I have heard many concerns about painting doors, but I have a few tips to help you get that perfect streak-free finish!
1. Lets talk paint
The most important part of any painting job is to make sure you have the right paint and supplies. I always suggest a paint+primer. This will give you the best coverage, and because the primer is already mixed in with the paint it also saves you a step, and who doesn’t love that!! Since doors are excellent dirty finger magnets, you want to make sure you can easily clean them. I use a satin finish on all my walls and doors. I find it’s much easier to clean than a flat finish but not as flashy as a semi gloss or gloss.
2. Supplies
For this job you will need a paint brush and a small paint roller. These items are my products of choice when I paint doors for a couple reasons. The angled brush really helps you get into those detailed areas of the door that your roller just can’t reach, and since it’s cut at an angle it gives you better control then a flat cut brush. The rollers should be low pile or foam, and small since the area you’re working with is not a large space.
3. The Process
Before you start painting you should remove the door handles. Most handles have two screws on the inside of the door that are easily removed. I do not recommend removing the hinges as you can easily strip the wood out of the screw holes in the door. Start with your brush and trim all the tight edges where your roller won’t fit. You will generally need to do two coats on all these areas because the coverage with a brush is not as good as a roller. You also want to do this step first to avoid any brush strokes in your paint after it’s dry. I usually wait about 20-30 minutes between coats.
Once you are done with this step it’s time to get out that roller and finish up your door! Put a generous amount of paint on your roller and cover your door with thick even strokes. Work the roller in one direction (usually up and down), and watch out for obvious overlap or drip marks. After you’re finished, give your door the once over and check for thin areas. While your paint is wet it may look patchy, but this will disappear when it dries.
Once your door has dried overnight you can put your hardware back on and enjoy your beautiful painted door! Happy painting!!
-Grey Birch Designs-
read more
Welcome to my little 2017 Christmas Home Tour!! I had so much fun decorating our home this year I thought I would share it with you all, hope you enjoy it as much as I did decorating it!
Our fireplace mantel is one of my favorite and first things I decorate when changing from season to season. This year I used this faux hanging greenery, concrete trees, small flocked Christmas trees, and a couple faux pine trees in tin cans to dress it up. I added small white lights in my rosemary trees and along the top of the hanging greenery. I set them on timers (best idea EVER) so each night they turn on and I don’t have to do anything!
I’m absolutely in love with our stockings. I had been wanting something neutral but with great texture and was so excited when I found these at Target last year. The metal letters are the first letter of each kid’s name (except the M and D for mom and dad) I laced them up with some jute and hung them on each stocking, brown for the boys and white for the girls!
I kept our kitchen fairly simple since it flows into all the other room and there is a lot more going on in the other rooms. The tall 3 tiered tray is another piece that is so fun and easy to change out with the seasons. I found mine on Amazon but have seen them on other online farmhouse decor shops.
I dressed my tray up with some wire reindeer I have had for years and years, and cinnamon pinions (that smell like heaven, seriously!). I filled my little olive buckets with some gold and silver ornaments from the dollar store and made a little wreath around the bottom from the left over fresh garland I used on our banister. Cute and very budget friendly!
The sunroom off our kitchen is one of the most used spaced in our home. We eat all our meals here and lots of family games nights. I tried to keep it functional but still have some Christmas cheer. I added some stems of faux frosted white berries to the cotton stems I already had in my centerpiece. I also set up the 6′ faux flocked trees I found at Walmart for only $30 each!! I took the bases off and stuck them in some cute metal buckets and placed them in each corner to balance out the room.
Off to the side of our sunroom on the bar top I put this cute little vignette with metal reindeer and some bottle brush trees that I’m in love with this year!! The white sparkly ones are my absolute favorite!
The center piece in our formal dinning room was one of the last things I put together. I had all these left over decorations that I love but didn’t have a spot for, so I decided to throw it all together and see what I could come up with. I was so happy with how it turned out that this just may be my go to center piece each year!
I just recently changed up our entry way. I turned this old entertainment cabinet into a cute entryway table by removing the doors in the middle, and changing up the shelves. On top I layered 2 different size mirrors with matching lamps flanking each side. The mason jars were an easy DIY project, (just white paint and sand paper) and then I filled them with my favorite cotton stems! For the Christmas season I added this faux pine garland and pinecones.
In the corner I have an antique, chippy stool with my wood cubbies on top. I filled the cubbies with more of those dollar store ornaments and some little trees. On top is my favorite sign, “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause”. This is the first year my two oldest kids understand the meaning of this sign. In the past they would tell me not to kiss Santa and only to kiss Daddy, haha!! Finally to finish up this space – underneath the stool is an antique crate I found that is perfect to hold my Merry Christmas pillow from a local craft show I went to this year.
This year I decided to use fresh garland from Costco and I LOVE it!! They are so long, I got 2 and it was enough to do my whole railing, the wreath around my tray on our kitchen island, and over our front door!! Such a great value and smells amazing! To make it feel a little fuller I added some faux frosted eucalyptus and small pinecones to the garland, then I tied bows with this adorable ribbon from the Hearth and Home collection at Target.
Finally our tree!! I played around with it for weeks until I was happy, and I have to say I’m so in love with it. It is filled with so many rusty, sparkley, chippy wood and galvanized metal yumminess that it makes my little farmhouse loving heart happy!
Thanks for looking at my Christmastmas home tour, I hope you enjoyed it and found some inspirations for your own home this holiday season!
-Grey Birch Designs-
