Happy Together

A DIY craft blog

A DIY Art Ledge For Our Living Room

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Have you ever had a big empty wall and wanted to fill it but didn’t want to hang a lot on it? I had this dilemma when we first moved in. There was one wall in particular that really felt empty, this one behind the sofa. I really wanted to use things I already had to decorate it, but I was not feeling a gallery wall look. Partly because I had a large row of family pictures on one wall already (again, I already had them and wanted to use them) and partly because I wanted to easily change things out. I was inspired mostly by this diy art ledge by Chris Loves Julia, but I have always loved this concept since seeing how Pottery Barn would style picture frames many years ago. Now that I have grown in my diy skills, I was able to make a much more affordable ledge that worked for my home and budget.

When it came to my diy art ledge, I was in a hurry to make it before we were hosting a Christmas family get together. Setting goals can really help me get things done. I went in my garage and found three pieces of wood I already had that would work. They were two pieces of 1″ x 3″ x 8′ and one piece of 1″ x 2″ x 8′ and all were the inexpensive furring strips that can be found at Home Depot or Lowes.

I wasn’t worried about having a super squared cleaned up look so I just let the wood be. I used the two 2.5″ wide pieces for the back and the bottom part. I connected them using wood screws coming from back side of the back piece into the back side of the bottom piece. Then I used wood glue and my nail gun to secure the front piece in place. After it was all put together I stained it with Minwax Dark Walnut.

To secure it on the wall, I decided where I wanted it and found any studs that it would go over. I made sure to screw into the studs and then any other spot I felt needed to hold it in place. I have had this mixture of sentimental and fun art up for a while and haven’t had an itch to change it up yet. I love when I work over time to wait for things I truly love and then can just be happy with them for a long time. That has been something I have strived for with home decor the past few years.

We also haven’t had a problem with hitting our head on it, being that it’s behind the sofa. I did have to use command strips just recently on the big painting because it wasn’t sitting right and I didn’t want it to fall off. (Those strips are a great way to help secure pieces on a ledge like this!) The only time I have lightly hit the ledge with my head was when I really threw myself into a sitting position making my head go back further then normal hahaha. But honestly, it’s position isn’t a problem and I’m loving having it here.

DIY Built-Ins are Complete!

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It’s getting really close to Christmas and there were two big home projects I really wanted done before then: built-ins in our front room and a finished guest bathroom. Thankfully I was able to get both done before that and I am proud to share the diy built-ins I made. I was a little intimidated to try this at first and really took my time during the whole process to make sure things were going to turn out great. Having this fantastic tutorial from Young House Love was a tremendous help as well. As with any project, every need is different, every house is different, so there were a few things I had to do differently, but overall I did the same things and I couldn’t have done it without their knowledge.

(Wall sconces are here from Home Depot)

When we moved into our home this room was just a plain yellowish room. It had nothing. No ceiling light, built in’s, etc. It’s a 70’s ranch so I guess it would have been a formal living room during it’s beginnings. We didn’t want to get into the business of tearing down walls so we decided to make this our library/music room/guest room. We have a lot of books and plan to get a piano in here soon to accompany other instruments we already have. This is also where we will keep this sofa which has a pull out bed. Since the sofa was staying, I played around with where it fit best and this wall was best suited for it. Once I determined that I knew I wanted built-ins around it.

(Two vintage prints from England we found at an estate sale in Louisiana)
(This is inspired by how Nesting with Grace added lights to a large vase)

I still want to work on my bookshelf styling, but I used only what we had for now and am happy with it. I’m sure one day the mood will strike and I will be inspired to make it a bit more stylish 🙂 The room feels so much more complete now! Now our list for this room is down to: 1. Get a piano 2. Add sliding doors for privacy when guests are here 3. Get ceiling lights installed.

Here is a picture from when I first started working in here. I had already painted the walls (which helped a lot) and here I was making sure the sofa would fit between the two bookshelves. I only had a small space on each side so I had to use upper cabinets for the bottom. Since they are shallow, I did bump them out like Young House Love did. I also added a base to make them higher. It is two layers of 2″x4″ ‘s.

I popped off the baseboards and the crown molding to try to reuse, but only was able to reuse the crown molding. For the trim on the sides, I used my oscillating tool to just cut through right where the bookshelf sides needed to fit.

For the top of the bookshelves I continued to build it the same as in the Young House Love tutorial.

The difference came for the in-between shelving. My thought process was how to make it as secure as possible which means screwing into wall studs as often as possible. I created a “box” with a wood centered divider piece first. Then I used ladders to help hold it up in place and I screwed in 1″x4″ boards (into studs) underneath the top to hold it into place (you can see they are the white primed pieces of wood). From there I could screw the sides into the sides of the tall bookshelves. After that I also added wood pieces to the inside bottom and screwed those into wall studs. Then I could screw from underneath the shelf into those. Needless to say, this thing is rock solid. It was really difficult to do by myself (can we say big and heavy???), so I would recommend a helper for this part hahaha. But where there is a will there is a way!

Once all of that was done I was able to trim it all out, caulk, and paint it. For me, it ended up not being as difficult as I thought it would. I learned a lot and feel really confident to take on this type of project again. The biggest thing for me was making sure it was super secure and I did that and more.

It feels classy in here now and the diy built-ins feel like they were always meant to be there.

Entryway Update: Before and After

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These past few months have been full of home projects and at times it has been a little overwhelming. I am no stranger to all of this, so I knew it would take time, but that still doesn’t mean I wish it could go faster (and easier!) at times. Looking back over these entryway update photos helps me realize I really have done a lot and it will all get there before I know it.

This is what our entryway looked like before we moved in. Not horrible, but very plain and really lived in. All the trim and doors were beat up and needed repainting (still need to repaint the doors though hahaha), there were remnants from wallpaper still from a previous removal attempt, and all the outlets/switches were almond colored and really dirty. The previous owner had put in new light fixtures, but they still felt kind of outdated and dark.

As you can see above, I started in the dining room and worked my way to the entryway. I scraped off wallpaper goo, replaced light switches, and then added faux board and batten wainscoting using 1×4’s. I had really wanted to add some wallpaper, but my husband was not on board with that at all so I stuck with paint. The blue color is Valspar Northern Sky (5001-3B) and I used Behr Ultra Pure White on the trim. It works out for now because there would have been so many interesting cuts to make if I did install wallpaper. But, I would love to try it one day. You know, the stick and peel wallpaper that can come back off easily.

I took a while to decide upon a light fixture. At first I was determined to find a vintage style with crystals, but then I decided upon a flush mount style and came upon this pretty light. It is sold on a few different sites, so I looked around and found the best price on Wayfair at the time. This can change, so always look around and find the best deal when buying light fixtures. I love love love the shadows that it casts when the light is on. I feel that adds to the character of this little area even more.

It’s nice to have the first room people see pretty much done. My last two items for here are to paint the doors, like I said before, and then at some point we are getting the floors redone. They are wood and have just taken a lot of abuse over the years and it’s time they got some love too.

Mother’s Day Brunch

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This past Mother’s Day weekend marked a whole year of us living back here in Virginia and it was a pleasure to spend it with our moms. One of the events we had originally planned on was meeting at the beach for lunch on Sunday, but sadly rain was in the forecast. We made a last minute change and decided to just go ahead and host a Mother’s Day brunch at our home. I was inspired and went out early Sunday morning to grab some fresh flowers and greenery and set up a nice spread to celebrate the moms in our family. Paper plates and plastic champagne flutes never looked so nice (in my humble opinion hahaha).

I decided not to get stressed about all the details and just use simple things and what we had and also not to worry about all the unfinished projects around the house. We got this home to be able to do life in it, messy/unfinished or what ever, so we continue to do life even in the midst of it all. I knew a great centerpiece would really make for the tablescape, so I started by layering greenery on the bottom and then added some beautiful peonies on top. I printed out black and white photos of the moms with their kids and placed them on brown cardstock. Then I spread them out among the greenery. As I said before, I have no fancy glassware or plain plates, so those were just simple paper plates and plastic cups. I did have gold eating utensils, although I found I am missing two spoons from my set! I think they must have gotten misplaced during the move. I got them from Target, where you can just buy one at a time, so they will be easy to replace.

One of the best parts was all the yummy food. I enjoyed putting together a brunch spread. We had egg, cheese, and ham croissants, mimosas, donuts, french toast sticks with syrup, an egg casserole from my sister in law, and then I made these two really delicious desserts. The above one was the indulgent one. It’s the strawberry cream cheese coffeecake from oh My Goodness Chocolate Desserts. We had been strawberry picking previously that week and I wanted to find a dessert to use them in. This was the one I decided upon. I had never made it before so I was a little nervous, but it turned out great! It was all gone by the end of the day.

I also wanted to make a healthier “dessert” choice, so I was excited to try this healthy fruit pizza from Life Made Sweeter. I used almond flour instead of Oat Flour and it turned out great! It’s very filling and all the flavors go oh so well together. This went real quick too and my daughter requested another one yesterday. I baked the base and then let her decorate it however she wanted. It’s great to keep in the fridge for breakfast and snacks and looks real pretty too.

I had a busy week making some presents too and was able to finish two items for my mom. I made her this “perfect grandma” shirt using the free svg from Love SVG because that is what she is. Not in the sense that she “is” literally perfect, because no one is, but that she’s the perfect grandma for my girls. I also made her a bead bar necklace which I plan to get the tutorial up for soon. I was so shocked at how easy it was to make. I don’t have many jewelry making skills, so if I can do it, you can too!

Fireplace Makeover

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I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel on some of our new home projects. It’s been a patience growing time for sure but it’s worth it now seeing things starting to come together. One of the very first projects I took on was this fireplace makeover. I wanted an instant gratification project to get me motivated and this fireplace makeover totally was that. The two main things I did was paint the mantle (we plan to have hardwood floors in here and with the wood beams and windows we were feeling like there was a lot of wood) and then add a white mortar to brighten up the brick. I love brick, well pretty brick, and I liked the color of the actual brick just not the yellowish tan mortar that was used on it.






Before beginning, I vacuumed the brick and wiped down the mantle. I prepped the mantle with a light sanding and did another wipe down with a deglosser. Then I taped it off so I wouldn’t get paint on the bricks. I painted it with Behr Ultra Pure White in interior semi-gloss enamel. It was straight off the shelf, but I always have them shake it up for me at the store. For a piece like this, I paint an area of it with a brush and then go over what I can with a roller so it looks nice and smooth.


It took me three coats to get the coverage I wanted. Now, I think two coats would have been okay, but I’m picky and really wanted it fully covered. I also did two coats of matte polycrylic on the top shelf to protect it from all the things that would be placed on it.


For the mortar I found this at Lowes. It was the only white mortar that wasn’t in a giant bag. I could have tried somewhere else, but I just bought it and gave it a try. I used a plastic bucket and mixed up a little bit at a time with water. This allowed me to work in small sections without it all drying up in the bucket. Oh, and as always, I went for a peanut butter consistency of the mixture before applying.


I used a small plastic spatula to put the mortar on the cracks. I thought about using a grout bag and piping in on the lines like I have done on brick backsplashes, but this was such a large area I felt this would be easier.


This method worked well and let me be a bit creative with the placement and such.


As you can see, it looks kind of messy and lumpy after first applied.


Once I had done a small area I went over the mortar with a damp sponge. I tried just dabbing it with the sponge and then I tried gently wiping over it. I ended up preferring how it looked when I gently wiped it. I was able to finish this mortar part in about four hours and that included going to pick up my kids from school. It went a lot faster than I thought it would for sure. I have done quite a few backsplashes and other similar projects so I felt really confident in what I was doing and with the material I was working with.


It brightened up the room so much and we are all so happy with it. I also like that if I wanted to add more mortar later for a german schmear look or even paint the brick I can still do that. We have had about 8 fires since I finished this and so far it’s holding up really well. I’m aware that I might have to freshen it up periodically, but I’m okay with that. That’s part of having a real fire no matter what the brick/mortar is. After I did the fireplace I painted all the trim and walls and have decorated some. We even changed out that old ceiling fan last weekend, after I took these pictures of course lol. So the last two big items is to figure out that track lighting situation above the fireplace (we are considering can lighting so it doesn’t compete with the main light) and then to get the flooring changed. My girls are loving the carpet for now though. They think it’s so soft!  And I’m glad they are enjoying the comfort of it 😉