Inspiration

 

I get asked a lot where my inspiration to design + decorate comes from. Like most of you, I love looking at pictures on Pinterest to get the majority of my ideas. Recently, within the past year, I feel like my style has evolved. To be honest with you, some of the decisions I made when we first bought our house I wouldn't necessarily make today. The excitement of owning a new home can make you make hasty decisions that you aren't happy with looking back. For me, a major regret would be the paint colors I chose. I LOVE them and chose a lot of colors that were in our families home that I knew I liked on the walls, but now, seeing that my style has evolved, I wouldn't choose them again. Hence why we are repainting after the first of the year... Hubs isn't too happy about that :) But, you live and you learn.

On the other side of that, I believe that Pinterest can also make you feel as though what you have isn't good enough. Granted, I have my whole life planned out on those boards. Future ideas for kids, dream home ideas, recipes, decorating for the holidays, etc. Evan + I's dream is to own tons of land one day with a beautiful farmhouse and animals. But, you have to be happy with where you are. God put you there for a reason. So what, your home doesn't look like the pins you pin on Pinterest? Well, after reading a lot of decorating books, those homes don't look like that either. They are staged for pictures and professionals come in to decorate and then leave you with a mess. If you want to know the behind the scenes of photo shoots for homes, you should read The Nester's book. She talks all about what her rooms actually look like and what they look like when stagers come in for magazines. We all want nice homes, but lets be realistic here. I believe in functionality and beauty.

Recently, a lot of my inspiration has come from Joanna Gaines and her show #fixerupper. I feel like her design style is simple, farmhouse chic. Which is right up my alley, And, to me, its attainable. A lot of the things she uses I have seen at target, home goods, or found similar items at my favorite antique stores. It's not so out of reach compared to other HGTV shows. Another place my inspiration comes from is from my favorite blogs. Before I got started with this blogging adventure, I always followed My Sweet Savannah, The Nester , Dear Lillie, and Liz Marie Blog. I LOVE their style. I still want my living room to look like My Sweet Savannah's. They're just so inspiring. They are moms that made it in this design world. And to me, that's awesome.

Another source of inspiration would be my Mom and Mother-in-Law. My mom's style is very shabby chic and just all around pretty. My mother-in-law has a mixture of rustic, coastal and traditional. And I love each of them equally. I've tried to blend the two in our home with a little touch of my own thrown in there :)

Hope this post could inspire some of you as well...
Until next time.

xoxo,
Ellany

MMS Milk Paint + A Giveaway! :)

We are going to try something we have never done before here at The Crowe's Nest. A GIVEAWAY! I always talk about how I love to repaint furniture, what products I use, and how to do it on my Instagram account. So, I want this to be accessible to all of you.

I recently discovered Miss Mustard Seed, and COULD NOT be more OBSESSED with her products. I ordered a packet of her milk paint, just to try, and quickly fell in love. Don't get me wrong, I still love chalk paint. There is no substitute for that. But, for those of you who love the distressed look, this is the kind of paint for you. I swear to you, it cracks and distresses on it's own. ITS AMAZING. Her paint comes in powder form and you mix it to create the consistency that you want. The powder makes 1 quart and covers approximately 70 sq. feet.

I ordered the color grain sack. I ordered it because "t’s a chameleon color, meaning it looks different depending on what is around it.  Sometimes it looks white, sometimes gray and sometimes more beige." (from the MMS website)

I first tried it out on an old antique tool box I bought on Etsy at the store FoundNMade. I wasn't really sure what to expect and wanted to get a good feel for the consistency and coverage of the paint before I used it on a bigger project. The MMS website has great tutorials and tips on how to use her product as well.

Here are all of my supplies. I also bought her paint mixer.

I mixed it based on their instructions, one part water + one part powder. Mix for 1 minute and let sit for 10 minutes before using. I found it easiest to mix it in a mason jar since the measurements can be found on the side.

Here is my tool box after one coat of paint. I ended up doing two coats total. The coverage was great!

Isn't this awesome?! It chips and distresses itself.

finished product

I had some pretty sweet company while working on this. Love my jackdoodle.

SO,  if you want to try milk paint and are intrigued after reading this post-- here is what you have to do:
[1] FOLLOW me @thecrowesnest_ on Instagram
[2] COMMENT on my Instagram photo with at least 3 friends tagged
[3] REPOST my photo to your Instagram account tagging @thecrowesnest_ + #thecrowesnestgiveaway

...and BOOM! You're entered// winner will be announced Friday November 7th. 

Happy Sunday!

Craft Room

I have been so excited about sharing my craft room with you all for quite a while now! Keep in mind, this room is not finished, but here are some of the small, but sweet details of this room. This is my own little sanctuary where I can blog, create, paint, and most importantly CRAFT all day.

After my grandmother passed away in May, I threw myself into wanting to "finish" our house. It almost helped me cope with the loss to just stay busy and not have to think about it. I have since come to the realization that our house will probably never be "finished" in my mind. As I grow and expand my ever-changing palate in design, my tastes have evolved as well. I figure this process is just getting started, so it's time to s l o w down and take my time to just ENJOY the fun that is decorating.

This room used to be a walk in closet in one of our guest bedrooms. We took the builder-grade wire shelving down to create enough space to do a built-in shelf/desk area.

after my sweet husband installed this for me, we then caulked and added a decorative moulding.

What a pretty little mess :) the decorating process is not always pretty... 

After the desk was finished being caulked and painted.

Monograms, Monograms, everywhere.

 I plan on painting a chalkboard wall on the other side of this room and changing out the light fixture. Also not pictured is a storage system on other wall from Ikea to store all my misc. craft necessities. Hope you enjoyed!

Product Sources:

Black and White Geometric Rug: Home Goods

Wire Birdcage with hooks: Home Goods

"C" Mug: Anthropologie

Notepad: Emily Ley {similar here}

Faux Flowers: Hobby Lobby

Canvases: Shutterfly

Wrapping Paper holder: Target, Threshold -- discontinues

Sea glass Lamp + lamp shade: Target {similar}

Chair: Local thrift store

Charleston Inspiration

Last month, Evan and I took a mini-vacay to Charleston. It was a much needed getaway for the two of us. I couldn't help but become inspired by all of the low country style that Charleston wears so well.

the canopy of gorgeous oaks at the battery

Here are a few pictures that I found inspirational and wanted to share with all of you.

I absolutely loved this window box. I plan to use it as inspiration for my window box next spring. It looks like it includes caladium, vinca, spike, and something similar to sweet potato vine. Always go with the filler, thriller, spiller method for a perfect container garden or window box.

loved this rusted corrugated wall art that we saw in Folly Beach

Those shell chandeliers and wooden beams though... love!

Colorful office buildings on King Street

square subway tile with natural gray grout and chalkboard art... speaking right to my heart.

Love the carrara marble, metal industrial table bases and bar stools with the pendant lighting.

Chevron wall art and artwork hung by magnetic clips

Garden + Gun headquarters... of course our favorite magazine is published in Charleston

open shelving, clear glass canisters

Eating outside at HUSK. I love big southern white houses and black shutters. A timeless look

.

Evan + I can not wait to go back! The dining, decor, and beaches were all PERFECT. Every single night we ate some of the most amazing food we've ever had. If you're in the market to go to Charleston make sure you check out these restaurants that we loved: HUSK, High Cotton, Caviar and Bananas, Taco Boy, Pearlz, and Amen Street Tavern just to name a few!

Evan and I at Sullivan's Island

Until next time :)

Currently Loving

Today I'll be sharing a few things that I am currently LOVING. I hope to get into this routine of sharing these every Friday, but no promises. I am a full time working lady, doing the best I can :) Enjoy!

1. These pillows from ParisChicBoutique on Etsy-- I recently purchased this antler pillow. Don't know where it's going yet, but we all know I have a small antler obsession. She also has loads of cute personalized gifts from pillows, candles, etc. Check her out!

 

2.  Shumacher Betwixt fabric and pillows from Spark Modern on Etsy. Pretty much loving this fabric. This pillow is currently in my shopping cart on Etsy. Does anyone else ever do that? Just shop and put a bunch of stuff in your cart, and pretend like your buying it, but not buy it? Maybe it's just me... I plan to buy this but, we just put wood floors down in our living room, so this might have to wait :) Just dreaming... but, if you do buy it, you can get free shipping with the code FREESHIPPING thanks to my favorite blog, My Sweet Savannah.

3.  I recently stumbled upon my NEW FAVORITE website, Decor Steals. Seriously don't know what I did before this site. They only release one item per day, but I have seen things on there for way cheaper than other websites. You can get really good deals on the farmhouse-y, shabby pieces, that I LOVE. I've gotten a metal deer head, cotton boll wreath, and this vintage card holder that I plan on using for Christmas. It's worth checking out. Also, check out their sister site, the Antique Farmhouse.

4. Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree. This seems to be all the rage in pictures/magazines lately. I bought a small one off of amazon. Who knew you could buy trees online? Well, you can. And I did. These plants are native to the tropics and they thrive in warm and wet conditions. Makes it a bit challenging to keep alive here in Georgia, but apparently they do well indoors and with indirect light. So far so good with mine... just praying my black thumb doesn't take it's toll on this too. I have issues with keeping things watered. But, they are SO pretty! Mine is not nearly this big, but maybe one day it will be :) Also loving this ombre weaved basket.

photo courtesy of Hi Sugarplum!

 5. I recently have been trying to invest in bigger pieces for our house. I am so bad at going into my favorite stores (homegoods, hobby lobby, Tuesday morning, target... the list goes on... ha) and buying little decor pieces (candles, candle holders, trays, canisters, flowers) and wasting money on things that I will probably give away instead of holding back to buy the bigger items that I really want. So, since I have been better about doing that, I was able to buy this lamp and chandelier that I was obsessing over on HGTV's Fixer Upper. Are we not all obsessed with Chip and Joanna Gaines? I either want to be her, or be her BFF. It's become a joke lately with my mom, dad, and husband, that they all say "What would JoJo do?" and I really try to embody that while shopping for home decor. The other day my mom said, "JoJo would love it!" BEST COMPLIMENT EVER. So if anyone wants to fly me out to Waco, TX. to meet her, I won't turn you down. 

What we were talking about? Yes, my new chandelier and lamp. I bought these from her online store, Magnolia Market. They have really made the space in our living room just stand out. The chandelier is available, but the Lucille lamp looks to be out of stock right now. More details on how I use these two items coming soon, I PROMISE! Our living room is in the process of getting a huge overhaul and I can't wait to share the results! 

photo courtesy of Magnolia Market

photo courtesy of Magnolia Market

Happy Friday! Have a wonderful weekend watching football and enjoying your loved ones. xoxo