Sometimes, I get in a nesting mood and I just want to do ALL THE HOME PROJECTS. And my birthday + a few perfectly-timed days off from work = the opportunity to finally make things happen.

Have I told you guys about how my living room ceiling is SUPER high? Well. It is. I have more wall space than I know what to do with in my entire house, but the living room has stressed me out the most. It’s the room that most guests notice first when they walk in the front door, and the room they spend the most time in. And the first wall you see when you walk in the room had a whole bunch of NOTHING on it for months. I hated it. Daniel knew I hated it. But I didn’t know what to do with it. Instead of being inspired by such a lovely blank canvas, I cowered in the corner and whined and threw things like a kid in timeout.

At the end of February, Daniel decided to remedy this problem for my birthday (and also I think he was just tired of me complaining about the bare living room walls). After taking me out to dinner, he took me to the holy grail of home decorating: Hobby Lobby. That’s pretty much the end of the story, however, as we were the idiots who walked in the store 10 minutes before closing time. :( Since I wasn’t able to find anything that night, he sent me back to browse a few days later. I still had no clue what I wanted to do, but Daniel had given me a certain amount of money to spend, and I was determined not to walk out of the store emptyhanded.

I’m not big into cheesy quotes, but something about framed print just spoke to me:

I mean…it’s true! My home, ultimately, is my happy place, but especially my living room. Even though we’ve only lived in our current house for almost five months, the living room has already hosted tons of parties, bible studies, wrestling matches with Fitz (our German Shepherd) and conversations, both serious and silly. I love that place. And don’t even get me started on how beautiful the minimalism and fonts are on the print itself. *perfection*

The “Happy Place” print was really what sparked my idea. My mom had given me these two metal wire window shutter-shaped things, and while I was pretty sure that I liked them, I had no clue what to do with them. The print made me think of them immediately: “Ooh…I could put one on each side, and hang something on top of the metal pieces…hmm. Yes.” I grabbed the print off the shelf, mentally high-fived myself for shopping during a 50% off sale in the prints and photos section, and walked over to look at wreaths.

I had seen a few boxwood wreaths that I really liked, but they were always a little too expensive for me. I’ve always been a pretty creative and crafty person though (thanks, Mom!), and I decided I could make my own wreath for much cheaper. The 8-inch grapevine wreaths ended up being $2.50 apiece, the eucalyptus bunch was about $8, the print was originally $50 but half off, the metal pieces were a gift, and I already had a glue gun at home!

Sorry I didn’t take more pictures during the project itself – the lighting was terrible, and I didn’t have enough hands. *sad music* It really wasn’t difficult; I just hot-glued the eucalyptus on top of the wreath, layering pieces on top of each other for more fullness and weaving the ends into the grapevine.

When the wreaths were finished, I attached them to the metal pieces by looping a piece of twine around the middle metal bar and the back of the wreath and tying a simple knot.

I’m happy with how it turned out!

Earlier this week, I got the chance to complete another DIY project I’d had on my mind for awhile: filling my Anthropologie mugs! My parents and siblings bought me enough Anthropologie monogram mugs to spell out “Hendrickson” a few Christmases ago, and I’ve known exactly what I wanted to put in them ever since.

I found these little beauties for a little over $3 apiece at Walmart, and I couldn’t NOT get them! It became the perfect project for a day off from work.

Oh yeah…I also stopped by the library and checked out two movies (for freeeee because I have a library card!) that Daniel would probably never willingly watch with me. (Spoiler: I had already read the books so I knew what would happen, and I still cried during The Fault in Our Stars.)

I laid everything out on the living room floor and discovered it would be much less of a project than I thought…because the little plastic flowerpots fit PERFECTLY inside the mugs. Go figure! A few were a bit of a tight squeeze, so I just snipped down the back side with a pair of scissors and folded one side of the flowerpot over the other and fitted them snugly inside each mug.

Ahhhhhh I just LOVE IT. I love finishing things that have been on my list for awhile.

While I worked (for all of 10 minutes) and watched the movie, Fitz fiercely and loyally guarded the house/me and stared at the squirrels running around outside. He’s been doing this a lot lately – posting up by our downstairs windows. It’s cute. :)

The finished mugs now sit on top of the piano in the dining room! I’m thinking about changing up the decor on the wall a little bit, but I’m not sure how just yet. The framed sheet music with our names was a Christmas gift from my dad a few years ago, and I definitely want to keep it there. I’m not sure how I feel about the candleholder pieces, but it’s one of those things where you’re poor and newly married, so you put stuff on the walls whether you like it or not because it’s SOMETHING to put on the wall.

After finishing with the mugs, I watched the movie and was thankful that Daniel was not there to make fun of me while I cried.

And also Fitz reeeeeeeally wanted my jelly beans.

I don’t know how you are, but I feel so much more comfortable in my home when I’m able to finish projects like this and I finally see things coming together. It took me a little while to feel at home in our house, but I think I’m truly settling in.

Happy Thursday, y’all!