room makeovers Archives

Preppy Blue Laundry Room

September 16, 2021 By Taylor Leave a Comment

It’s finally here… The Laundry Room Reveal! I wasn’t sure that calling it The Horse Laundry Room had a great ring to it but I settled on the Preppy Blue Laundry Room ;) When we moved into this house, the Laundry Room was downstairs in between the kitchen and garage, great place right? But big problem… this foodie family of five bought a house without a pantry haha! So when we put an offer on the house that was a big question mark. But I had faith that we could move the laundry area somewhere else and install a pantry where the laundry room was.

Here is the previous laundry room downstairs when we moved in. Some points of interest might be the overhead box light, the paint color itself and the fact that the door opens right in to where the washing machine is supposed to go. Im standing in the kitchen for this picture so this felt like an obvious pantry (more pics on that later!)

The next question was where to move the laundry room. Part of the (list of) reasons we moved was a lack of storage and this house has a ton! We have so many closets and each closet is so much bigger than the one we moved from. There was a huge 11′ x 10′ storage area off of the playroom upstairs and although my no storage soul LOVED it… we really have tons of closet space now! I just hoped this could be the spot. Meet the giant closet…

We had our contractor out and guess what!?… this could be the place! I started working on the design for our kitchen before this room (although we did start the laundry room first so the pantry would be in place) and I narrowed it down to green or cornflower blue for the kitchen. I decided the kitchen needed to be green but I couldn’t stop thinking about the blue. Blue makes sense in a laundry room right? Blue > water > washing > clean. Done.

I knew I wanted blue cabinets, gold hardware and white countertops. A buffalo check floor seemed perfect since I have always wanted one somewhere; so… all that was left was the wallpaper. I searched for something that would go with the floor and the blue and then I found THE wallpaper that made the whole room. We had already bought the paint and it somehow it magically was a perfect match… a true design miracle. Got it narrowed it down to these 4 blue colors (all Sherwin Williams) and settled on Regale Blue.

Then it was time to start… we have remodeled two kitchens, a pantry and now, this room and we always do the demo ourselves. 1. it saves a few thousand dollars (which means more wallpaper for me haha) and 2. it’s actually super fun haha! This time the kids got to help… a family affair. We removed the shelves, baseboards and carpet. The very next day the plumber came to add a water and gas line. Then was the electrician who added 4 canned lights vs the little single bulb in the middle of the room. He also added several plugs where the countertop was going and the correct type of plugs for the washer and dryer. Lastly the sheetrock crew came and patched everything up.

Next, the carpenters did their thing! They made a ton of progress everyday and honestly it went faster than I thought it would! Our contractor goes piece by piece and section by section and asks what kind of spacing we want which is amazing! Start to finish the crew took 6 weeks to do the entire laundry room!

For the flooring, I knew I wanted the buffalo check/plaid look and I couldn’t find actual tile that had a graphic pattern for that so we created one. I quickly realized that in order to create a pattern you must have the exact same tiles from the exact same brand. I was finding white, grey and black easily but they were different thicknesses, different finishes (some more matte, some more shiny) and different sizes. So, I walked in to a local flooring store that was brand new at the time and explained what I was trying to do… they opened a design book and flipped right to a page where they have white, grey and black tiles all in the same brand, size, texture and thickness!!

When you make your own buffalo check pattern its essentially a row of black and grey then a row of white and grey. So, you need to find your total area then your ratio will be 50% grey, 25% white and 25% black. The flooring crew laid it all out and then we went with a grey grout. I LOVE the way it turned out!

For the countertops… I knew I wanted to use this quartz.. this one was a runner up option for the kitchen in our last house and I just love it! The countertops are kind of hard to photograph but they are so sparkly and pretty!

After they were done it was time for the best part… the wallpaper! I can’t believe how much the blues matched and how much to tied the room together! This is probably my current favorite room in the house! If you have to do laundry daily you might as well feel happy about it right!? Horses to the rescue. I have to say one of my favorite parts is the multi basket shelf situation… I saw an inso pic on Pinterest and that was my one must have in here! The whole system runs so smoothly and is much improved from my old way (a volcano of laundry about to erupt on “the chair”).

I will link all the sources below an as usual email or DM me for any questions!

Sources:

Paint Color – Regale Blue Sherwin Williams
Tile – Casablanca by Roca Tile (Ordered through iTile TX) in 8″ solid
Countertops – Silestone Quartz in Stellar Snow
Wallpaper – Katie Kime Horse & Tassel
Hardware (Knobs)- Amazon
Hardware (Pulls) – Amazon
Big Steele Laundry Basket – The Container Store
Small Stackable Laundry Baskets – The Container Store
Doorknob – Amazon

Dining Room Reveal (with Photowall!)

January 10, 2021 By Taylor Leave a Comment

I’m so excited to share the first room in our new home that is complete(ish); welcome to the Dining Room Reveal! If you have been following along on my Instagram account (@taylormadecreates) then you know this past summer we bought a house straight out of 1990 and have been working hard to make it our own! My plan of attack was to tackle the easy rooms first that didn’t need as much help, so we started with the kids rooms, Craft Room and Dining Room. I knew I wanted wallpaper in this room so I was super excited when Photowall reached out to me for a partnership! (And it’s your lucky day because I have a coupon code to share at the end of the post!!!)

Dining Room Reveal with Black Floral Moody Wallpaper

It’s no secret how much I love wallpaper and at first glance I knew I was going to love Photowall because they have prints that I have never seen and designs that are super unique (which is also something I love). A lot of the wallpaper companies carry the same lines and designs but these were different (in a good way) so I was in! I was looking for something a little more formal and maybe even a tad moody in here. When we looked at the house I loved the molding treatment on the bottom half of the wall but everything else was pretty dated so I just had to spruce it up. Here is a “before” picture the day we looked at the house:

When we moved in we had the bottom half of the wall painted solid white… painting the molding the same color as the wall it is on makes it a little more modern in my opinion so we started there then I headed to Photowall to pick out the wallpaper for the top half of the wall. This room has 3 full walls then the 4th wall is just a few feet as it’s open to the entryway. We wanted to wallpaper all 4 walls and the way Photowall prints their wallpaper it made it perfect for this room… more on that later!

I spent a few days looking for the perfect wallpaper then I narrowed it down to three. Botanical Morning (left), Budgies Offwhite (Center) and Stunner Peachy (right). I loved all of them and honestly the two I didn’t choose felt a little more “me” but I wanted to choose something different and the black background with florals checked all the boxes! The flowers are a little unexpected the way they are all laid out and y’all know I love unexpected! The second picture down below is the wallpaper on the actual wall so it’s even better and more vibrant in person!

They always offer free shipping and it was super fast… but now to the best part! Photowall prints their wallpaper like no company I’ve ever worked with… when you choose your wallpaper you type in your wall’s width and height, so in my case I had the same height for all 4 walls (above molding to ceiling) but then I added the width of the 4 walls together. They then print it panel by panel, so for example we had 28 panels, which were all already the correct size! This is so smart because you don’t have to worry about measuring and accounting for the drop on the pattern or account for any waste. Each panel is clearly marked for you and you can just cut where the cut line is and line each panel up next to each other, one after another. Here is a picture of the top of a panel that is marked.

I had a few rooms that needed wallpapering so we hired an installer but the instructions and the way the panels are printed made it seem like I totally could have done it haha!

I really love the way it turned out! It’s a tad dramatic and still fun and eclectic and so perfect for the space. Speaking of perfect for the space… I’m very obsessed with the light fixture! I will link everything at the bottom of this post :)

And for making it to the bottom of the post you get a reward!!! I have a coupon code for 25% off any wallpaper, mural or print at Photowall! You can even print your own photo or artwork so the possibilities are endless! The discount code is taylormadecreates2021 and if valid on everything for 30 days! Special Thanks to Photowall for partnering with me on the Dining Room! Let me know if you have any questions (or need helping picking out your wallpaper ;)

Wallpaper: Botanical Morning from Photowall

Table: World Market

Rug: Amazon

Light: Lobster Plus

Candle Holder and Candles: DIY Inspired by Sugar and Cloth and Candles are from Amazon

Shiplap Wall Tutorial

January 13, 2019 By Taylor Leave a Comment

First post of 2019! I finally got around to organizing my shiplap photos to share our Shiplap Wall Tutorial! You all probably have a shiplap wall in your house at this point haha, but for those who don’t, This is for you :) This treatment is so pretty and looks so put together but it’s actually really easy!

We have 10 foot ceilings and this wall is about 16.5′ wide so that is the area we are working with here. We went to Home Depot and got the super thin 3/16th” plywood (which my husband said is sometimes called paneling). We did the math and with our area we purchased 6 sheets and that worked out perfectly for us. A sheet of plywood is 8′ x 4′ so, we had it cut into 8″ strips (longways) because that way you don’t have any waste and you get 6 long boards out of one sheet. Don’t forget that hardware stores will cut your boards for you! We could have done it at home very but it’s free and why not just have it done before you even get home, right?! We found a super nice Home Depot employee and on their fancy machine it took him 10 minutes!

So, like I said with our 6 sheets of plywood that we had cut into 8″ strips that left us with 36 boards. You will have to do the math depending on your wall size but it should be pretty easy to figure out… each board ends up measuring 96″ x 8″. We started our boards at the top because if we had to cut anything to fit later on in the project it would be the part that is hidden by the couch. We used a nail gun and used two nails on the right, two in the center of the board and two on the left side.

I wanted it to look a random but that also took a little planning. I wanted to make sure that no seams ended up right over each other but also not “perfectly” bricked either.

Please excuse the terrible, badly lit cell phone pictures on this project. We had to work on this after Bryan got home from work and after the kids were fed and bathed. Get it in where you can fit it in right? Here are a few pictures I shared on Instagram stories. We used the “nickel method”. When we started a new board we each held up a nickel on both ends of the board then butted the new board up against the nickels. We did that on the horizontal gaps but not the vertical gaps.

Once we got going, we got into a grove and it came together quickly! We did have that corner angle and two electrical outlets that we had to cut around.

Then it was time to paint. I don’t love painting but painting one wall is doable for me haha! We had to stop for a few days in between for kids activities and Bryan actually loved the raw wood, I on the other hand could not wait to paint it white! I used Sherwin Williams Pure White.

These boards were super thirsty so I had to do 3ish coats.

Because of the “nickel” gap in between the boards the paint started filling in the spaces in some spots. I used business cards to go between each space and clean the paint up.

Finally after 3+ coats it started coming together! Before the shiplap was installed I always has a gallery wall over the couch but wood isn’t nearly as forgiving with holes like sheetrock is and I move pictures around a lot. So, I decided we needed some picture rails over the couch so we could move things around easier.

I drew the rails out and this is what Bryan came up with. We used 1″x4″ boards which are 8 feet long. He stripped down a little ledge into a 1″x1″ for the front of the rails. It looks like 2 rails but there are actually 4 rails that are just hung right next to each other. Again, our wall is a little over 16 feet wide so the two 8 feet rails fit almost just right. There is about two inches on each side of the rails.

Overall I LOVE how it turned out! It took a few days but the work was easy once we got going. It actually makes the room look so much bigger too, maybe with the help of the picture rails. We have a pretty small living room (or cozy as I like to call it :) so we have to utilize all the space.

Let me know if I left anything out or if you have any other questions about doing a Shiplap Wall. I will link sources down at the bottom :)

Sources:

Couch – Ashley Furniture – Loric Smoke Sectional

Rug – Rugs USA

End table – Tutorial HERE

Small Lamp – Target

Floor Lamp – World Market

Big watercolor art – Emily Jeffords for Minted

Letteroard – Letterfolk

You are loved sign – Bonnie Christine

Rainbow wall hanging – my mom made it and its so beautiful!

Kid’s Animal Room

October 24, 2018 By Taylor 3 Comments

You guys… this animal might be my favorite room makeover yet! If you remember a few months ago (on Instagram) I mentioned I was going to split the boys apart this school year. They are very close but I wanted them to have their own space and we had the room. Their previous room (HERE) is now just my oldest son’s room and my middle got to move into his own room. His one request… “I want an animal room.” He is 7 which is still little but I didn’t want it to look to juvenile or like a nursery. This room is an actual bedroom but up until now we had been using it as the playroom (link is HERE if you want to check that out!). I had already painted the chalkboard wall a few years ago but being the only wall that the bed would fit on, I didn’t like the idea of chalkdust on the bedding all the time. Neat freak problems. That and the idea of painting over the chalkboard didn’t sound fun so that is how the animal “wallpaper” idea came to life :)

We have a local vinyl store in the area so I went and got 2 sheets of every single color they carried which ended up being around 30 different colors, so 60ish 12×12″ sheets. Then, in my Silhouette software I created 6 different pages of animal silhouettes. I just google searched random animals and used the trace feature until the page was full. I did that until I had 6 pages of different types of animals in different sizes. I had the kids help me think of both common and obscure animals. Then, making sure we didn’t have two colors of the same animal sheet, I fed them all through and cut them out making approximately seven billion stickers… kidding. But there were A LOT! Fun Fact: because I only had 2 sheets of each color and made sure not to cut the same page in the same color… no two animals on the wall are alike!

When I started placing the animals on the wall I made sure to spread out the big animals so I started with those and filled in with little animals as I went. I also ended up cutting some of the vinyl stickers in half on the edges of the walls and door (both horizontally and vertically) to make it look more wallpaper-like. Once I finished the big animals that needed 2 hands the kids pitched in and helped. Who doesn’t want to spend a Friday night applying 800 stickers to a wall am I right haha?? But honestly it was very easy and I absolutely LOVE how it turned out… and I love that it was all under $30!

I knew the wall would be the bright focal point of the room so I didn’t want to go too crazy with the accessories, I tried to stay as neutral as I could :). I DIYed the “mexican pancho” pillows from an old costume we had lying around and I found the Otami pillow on amazon. I will link all sources at the bottom of this post.

I’m really in love with this bed too! It has a vintage feel but it’s brand new (from Walmart of all places). It was super affordable but it’s very sturdy and seems really well built… I highly recommend it!

This room has a funny layout because of where the bathroom door is on the wall so I was left with one more skinny area and a huge open wall. Besides animals my son’s other loves are legos and art. He is very creative so I thought a long skinny desk with a pegboard wall would be a great use of space.

My father in law cut, sanded and finished the wooden top piece of the desk for us. Then I just got two little end cabinets and the board is just siting on top of them. He also framed out the pegboard and painted it white for us. I got most of the pegboard accessories from Amazon and Ikea. The desk is a huge hit, in fact all three kids love it and they are often all in there coloring or drawing together! I should have bought 3 stools instead of 2 haha.

I needed something on the left of the pegboard wall so I drew my son’s favorite animals (inspired by some prints I had seen on instagram) on my iPad Pro, sent them to a local print shop and had them printed in poster size.

The last little area was all I had left for a small dresser so I was so happy to find one that fit the dimensions I needed! I’m telling you, this room design is weird. It had to be shallow enough to fit behind the closet door but short enough to fit under the window sill… tough job! I also left the Ikea book rails up from the playroom days because I still love them!

I found this rug at Target and although it’s a little grown up for a boy’s room I thought it went really well in here. One good thing is it camouflages stains well haha!

Of everything I spent time on in this room, these lights right here are my son’s favorite part of the room! We leave them plugged in but they have a remote, so you can dim them or turn on timers etc! They really are so pretty… I guess the saying is right, it is the little things. Speaking of… I love his personal touch that he left on the door :)

Needless to say, he is LOVING his new room. I secretly think it’s the coziest room in the house (honestly this “cheap” foam mattress we got him is heaven). I will link all the sources below but let me know if you have any questions about where I found something :)