a HOUSE to a HOME in 365 days.

     I'm back!!! Yes, after nearly a year absence, I have returned. Although, I'm getting pretty good at this posting once a year thing. Hopefully, that will change this year since my goal is to make our House into a Home.
     A little back story: Chris and I have lived in our 3 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath town home for over 2 years now. I was going to post pictures of how BARE my house is, but I will spare you. Just take my word for it. There is close to nothing on my walls, no signs that there actually is a family that lives here and it doesn't give a sense of who we are and what the Mantells are all about. So, I've challenged myself to make what we call our house, into what we will hopefully be calling our home, all within in a year.
   I know, I know, most of you are probably thinking its going to take you whole year to hang up a few pictures and make your house feel a little bit homey? And to those of you who are questioning me- Yes, yes it will. I'm the type of girl who takes a whole week to wash, fold and put away laundry. I'm that girl who says..."oh, I'll do that tomorrow, and a week later, its still not done. But I'm desperately trying to change those horrible procrastinating habits that I picked up in my college years.
   Being a fairly new mom, and taking care of a gigantic dog, as well as my hubby this project seems a little daunting. So, in order to make it seem more achievable for me, I've split my house up into 12 sections.  I will attempt to complete 1 section a month and to track my progress and show some of my projects, I will be (hopefully) posting once a month.
    Oh, its already February, you say? It's true. Although, I am already a month behind on my blogging, I am however, caught up on my decorating. Here is how I plan on breaking it down:

January- Hadlee's nursery
February- Dining room
March- Living room

     I chose to do Hadlee's nursery first, because basically I felt like a horrible mom. My baby is almost one and she still had pretty much nothing in her room. Stop judging me, all you awesome 'do-it-all' mommies out there. But I figure better late than never, right? Humor me people.
    One reason I have such a hard time decorating, is because I have such a hard time making decisions. While trying to plan out Hadlee's room I probably changed my mind a million times. I didn't really want it to have a "theme" or anything. But turns out it does. and somehow that theme ended up being owls of all things. I know they are the "in" thing right now, but I just wasn't too sure about it. Also, I wanted her room to be grey, yellow and purple, but it ended up being grey, yellow, and pink. Nothing ever turns out quite like I want, but somehow works.
Without further ado, here are the projects I've done in her room, along with the tutorials I've followed:

Bedding
I didn't go all out and sew all of her bedding.. I got her sheet, quilt and crib squirt at Target (I LOVE Target) and only sewed the bumper. I got all my fabrics and supplies at Joanns and followed this tutorial . I wouldn't call myself a "seasoned sewer" by any means, but this tutorial was simple and easy to follow. My work far from perfect, but throw me a bone for my first attempt at sewing a bumper. :)

I also made these pillows with the leftover fabric I had.

decor
I've had this shelf from when I lived at my parents.. My Grandpa made it, so its sort of sentimental, and they let me take it when I moved out. It's just been sitting around and taking up space, I thought it would make a cute addition to Hadlee's room. I used this tutorial to make it look rustic and distressed.

For the owls I used this paper owl tutorial, but didn't use the oatmeal can. I used cardstock and tape and they turned out fine. I like to keep things easy and simple haha.

I got my inspiration for the frames from one I found at hobby lobby, but it was $25. Lets face it people, I'm cheap. I made this one for about $10. props to me!

I found these two on Pinterest, they didn't have tutorials but it was pretty easy to copy by looking at the picturest.

I wanted to do something with her sonogram pictures and this is what I came up with. So easy and sweet.

Using a little different method than the shelf, I made this plaque using paint, stain, vinyl, a little burlap and a cute saying by winnie the pooh.

I still have plans to make one of these to hold her hair bows and ribbons, but haven't quite gotten around to it. Also, that blank frame will eventually have a picture of Hadlee in it. I decided to wait and put a picture from her 1 year photo shoot, since that will be happening next month. Where did the time go? Also, planning on making curtains, just don't know what print of fabric to use. suggestions are appreciated!!

Well there you have it.  A nursery decorated in about a month. Everything in there looks homemade, but I don't care, and neither does she. Now it actually looks and feels like she lives in there. Which is the point of this whole thing, right?

Tune in next month, as in this month (Feb) to see what I've done to my dining room!