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The Colorful Jungle Boho Kids Room

February 6, 2018 by CORINNA HENDERSON

If you asked me last year if I thought my son’s room was going to be the space it is now, I probably would have just cried. The space fell to the wayside for so long that it had started to resemble a storage unit gone bad. There was the failed attempt at refinishing floors and piles on top of piles of things that needed to be dealt with but was hidden instead. But now the room is finished! And feels like we’ve gained actual square footage in our home! Today, im sharing with you my labor of love: The colorful jungle boho kids room reveal.

If you need a refresher on where we started, here’s the first blog post and a flashback:

Final Week Vlog:

The Room Reveal

Since this is my baby, I treated it like so and took many pictures. To make it easy to navigate and understand what exactly I’m throwing your way, I’ve split it into sections with introductions.

The Bunk Bed

The first thing he ever asked for in his room was a bunkbed. He had to have one simply for the novelty of it. He still excitedly talks about how he can have his friends and family sleep over and stay on either bunk. Previously I’ve shared my tips for making the bunkbed a stylist focal point for the room. And now I’m going to show you how it came out!

Resources:

the shibori pillow case, yellow pillow, bedside tables and hardware were provided free of charge for this challenge and the lamps were provided previously for a one room challenge.

Tassel Garland – Target Dollar Spot

Shibor Pillow

Yellow Velvet Pillow

Teal Pillow- Tuesday Morning

Comforter

Sheets

The Top Bunk

I actually really want to nix the top mattress and use plywood and carpet to make it a play area, like a loft. But I haven’t finalized the logistics on that idea yet so we’ve decked it in a fun mix of pillows and a simple elephant tapestry. While he likes the idea of sleeping up here, he’s just not quite ready to make that leap. He’s also a very sprawled out kind of sleeper so a twin would be tight. So he uses it sofa style during the day to hang out and watch videos on.

Resources:

the ceiling light was received through a promotional item from a Lamps Plus sweepstakes campaign. the Anewall tropical leaf mural was provided for this challenge free of charge

Ceiling Light

Tapestry Bed Cover

Purple Suzani Pillows

Dinosaur Pillow

Mini Southwestern Pillow

Navy And White Chevron Pillow- Walmart, discontinued

Moon Pillow – 5 Below

Bird Paradise Mural

The Windows

They’re the first thing you see when you walk into the room so I wanted them to be a beautiful welcome. My son sits at windows often to watch the birds and has a bird feeder outside his window that I wanted him to be able to enjoy from here. My simple formula for boho beautiful windows is a natural material shade + soft patterned or embellished curtains + hanging macrame planters. It seriously looks so good every time!

Resources:

the blinds were provided free of charge a few years ago from Blindster. The pouf and wood stool were provided by Lamps Plus free of charge for this challenge.

Curtain Rod- had on hand

Basket Planter- thrifted

The Dresser

This beat up piece of furniture was a Craigslist find a few years ago. For $20 I had to have it for the hardware alone! Unfortunately it’s not solid wood and it’s starting to fall apart so it’s here, but not for too long. After begging for a bunkbed, my kiddo started begging for a fishtank in his room. Naturally it wound up here and it actually blends in with the other decor pretty well!

Resources:

the rug from RugsUSA, lamp from Lamps Plus and graphic art from SmithHönig were provided free of charge for use in the new year new room refresh challenge. the triangle shelves and woven wall hanging were provided free of charge to share with my instagram followers.

Graphic Art

Woven Wall Hanging

Brass Wall Planters– thrifted

Triangle Shelves

Lamp

Dresser- Craigslist

Rug

The Details

The Doorway

Seriously the squeals of delight every time progress was made from my kiddo were the sweetest of icing on the cake. It’s not quite as jungle as he wants it to be but we will get there in time. We have to be sure the plants we add will fare well with the weird lighting in this room so we will take it slow.

I hope you’ve enjoyed following along with this year’s challenge! A lot went into this room but nothing that’s going to cost you a fortune to replicate nor are there any special skill DIYs to tackle. If youve got a little one in your life with a flair for color and plants, I hope this transformation gives you ideas for making their room magical ????

Now I’m going to pass you off to the wonderful ladies who participated in this challenge and are revealing their spaces, too. And if you refreshed anything this mobth, make sure you take the opportunity to link up the finished project in the link up below!

Casa Watkins Living // A Designer At Home // Seeking Lavender Lane // Domicile 37 // Iris Nacole // Pocketful Of Posies // Monica Wants It // Up To Date Interiors // This Is Our Bliss // Vintage Romance Style

Boho Napkin Rings and Chana Masala Recipe

February 5, 2018 by CORINNA HENDERSON

Chana Masala dinner with DIY henna inspired napkin rings.

Do we want to talk about it? I know Valentine’s day can be a strong love it or leave it for most but there’s no need to make it a big fuss. The gals behind The Global Style have you covered from breakfast to dessert with a combination of DIYs and recipes to inspire your own displays of affection. Today, I’m sharing up a henna inspired napkin ring DIY and my own chana masala recipe that’s sure to hit the spot!

Henna Inspired Valentine's day themed napkin rings. — Henna Inspired Valentine’s day themed napkin rings.

Boho Henna Inspired Napkin Rings Tutorial

Create a special handmade piece for your romantic Bohemian table setting this Valentine’s day with these painted napkin rings. Using paint pens makes this craft an easy and relatively mess free one!

1. Prepare the napkin rings by making sure they are clean.

2. Prime the paint pens by shaking and pressing them until the tip is saturated with ink.

3. Using a pencil, draw 4 tick marks equal distance around the base of the ring.

4. Draw 4 more ticks on the other end rotated so that they are halfway between the marks on the other end.

5. With the pink pen, use the tick marks as a guide to create a petal shape.

6. Then create a skinnier petal shape by following the same shape.

7. Using the white pen, draw dots between the two layers of petal shapes.

Mix pretty hand painted napkin rings with colorful cloth napkins.

Simple and pretty boho table setting with DIY painted napkin ring. — Simple and pretty boho table with DIY painted napkin ring.

This gives you a basic, but very pretty design that adds a little feminine touch to your table setting. You can change the colors to suit your style. Feeling especially steady handed and creative? Why not try free handing?

All that crafting make you hungry?

Boho setting for Valentine's day Chana Masala dinner. — Boho setting for Valentine’s day Chana Masala dinner.

Valentine’s Day Dinner Chana Masala Recipe

This one pan (plus a rice cooker) dish is hearty, flavorful, naturally vegan and reheats deliciously. Buy shelf stable cans and frozen goods to keep on hand to make this a pantry staple meal. Tip: try adding potatoes and carrots!

Ingredients:

Makes 6 servings

1 cup basmati rice

2 cups water

1/2 white onion diced

1 clove garlic minced

1 tablespoon cooking oil

2 tablespoons curry powder

1/2 15 ounce can coconut milk

1 15 ounce diced tomatoes

1 8 ounce can tomato sauce

2 cans garbanzo beans

Salt and pepper to taste

2 cups frozen broccoli

1. Add 2 cups water to 1 cup basmati rice in a rice cooker or cook according to package instructions.

2. Heat pan over low-medium heat. Add cooking oil and curry powder. Let heat until fragrant.

3. Add onions and garlic to pan and cook until translucent.

4. Toss garbanzo beans with salt and pepper and add to pan.

5. Reduce heat to low and add coconut milk, tomato sauce and diced tomatoes.

6. Mix until liquids are fully incorporated.

7. Bring heat back up to low-medium and add broccoli.

8. Simmer for 30-40 minutes until sauce as thickened to hold mixture together without thinning out immediately.

9. Serve warm over basmati rice.

10. Enjoy!

Romantic Bohemian chana masala dinner for fresh flowers and libations.

You can serve this dish with naan and fresh fruit for a multi course meal or keep it simple with the one dish. Make sure to make the extra because your partner will want some for later!

the-global-styler-header

Don’t miss the other meals of the day!

Stephanie from Casa Watkins Living is sharing cinnamon sugar croissants and wine glass centerpiece for breakfast.

Kathy from Up To Date Interiors is sharing tribal inspired LOVE table decor for Lunch.

I’m sharing henna inspired napkin rings and my Chana Masala Recipe. Save this post to Facebook or Pinterest to have it for later!

Jessica from House Homemade is sharing arrow decorations and dipped Oreos for dessert!

Feeling Inspired? Save this post to reference later (and I bet your friends will love this, too!)

Making the bunk bed a focal point

January 30, 2018 by CORINNA HENDERSON

Dog and Cat on boho style bunkbed
Bunk beds aren’t really the most aesthetically pleasing piece of furniture. Try as you may, even the most designer of bunk beds still feel like a bulky, unattractive piece of furniture. If you’re going to have one, I think ought to treat it as if it were a daybed. Here’s how I’ve made a bunk bed the focal point of my kids room makeover:

Center it
Flank with matching nightstands
Use swing arm lighting for task lighting
Dress the pillows like a sofa
Choose bedding with high style
Accent the wall behind it

I think the number one thing you should do when working with a bunk bed or daybed it to center it on a wall. It makes it feel much less bulky and awkward. Even on a wall as small in a room as small as this one, it opens up the space more when the air around the bed drifts away from it on both sides. Especially with white walls and ceilings the illusion is greater.

Bringing in matching nightstands makes things feel less cluttered and adds balance. It also draws the eye down the the bottom level of the bunk bed, adding to the cozy sofa look.

I like swing arm lights for the bottom bunk because you can swing them in under the top bunk and it creates a cave-like reading nook. They can be swung out from the sleeping area at night but swung into it for task lighting.

Instead of making the furniture feel lopsided with a visually heavy left or right side, to for balance by dressing the bed like a sofa. Line up the pillows along the long side against the wall. When you line up the pillows at a “head” of the bed, it makes one side appear visually heavy. Definitely don’t want that with an already large piece of Furniture.

Textiles are already a huge part of a bedroom design and with a bunk bed, you want to really outshine the aesthetic of the furniture itself with bedding that really brings the theme of the style out loud. Boho is our aesthetic so we went with a very colorful and bright comforter set with a bohemian Asian and Indian inspired design.

And then to really draw the eye into this part of the space, I put up the Anewall bird paradise peel and stick wall mural as a soft jungalicious backdrop. You could use a mural or paint/stencil a design or color.

Curious how this past week went? Here’s the blog. I did get a new phone mid vlog clips so the quality may go off. Let me know if you like the beginning footage (Samsung s7 edge) or the end (iPhone 8 plus) better!

The reveal for this space is coming next Tuesday for me. With all the snow, shipping delays just threw everything off schedule so we are taking just 1 more week to play catch up on remaining painting, plant hanging, dresser decorating and wall art hanging.

New Year New Room Challenge 2018

Be sure to link up your own room refreshes below! Need an extra week like some of us? We will have this link up next week too! Stay tuned for more room reveals next week!

Please remember to ONLY link up posts related to the New Year, New Room Refresh Challenge below.

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February #showmeyourboho Photo A Day Challenge

January 26, 2018 by CORINNA HENDERSON

Greetings! Are you having fun with the bohemian prompt inspired January photo a day challenge? Let’s keep going for the rest of the year! I’ve curated prompts for the month of February and I hope you enjoy them.

This time the #showmeyourboho official account, @showmeyourboho, will announce the theme each morning to make it easy keeping up with the prompts. You can turn on notification for that account to get the update and that way you can plan your photo, choose from photos you already have on hand or just skip if you’re not feeling inspired by the theme. Then, later that day I’ll choose a photo from someone playing along to repost and share the insta love on.

Days 3, 10, 17 and 24 are designed as days that you can repost someone else to share the insta love on. If that’s not your jam- don’t feel forced. You can interpret the theme in another way if you want.

January was the launch of daily support threads in our Bohemian Interiors Facebook group. If you’re playing along with the challenge, we welcome you to grab the link for your post and leave it in a comment on our dedicated threads. The tribe will love on your post and you have the chance to love on theirs, too. We also welcome you to bring your questions and ideas to the group. Don’t be afraid to start a conversation!

In the past, I’ve given you ideas on what to post in the blog post announcement for the upcoming theme. I want to leave a bit more creativity in your hands this time so I’ll refrain from explaining why I chose each theme and I’ll just let you read it as you will.

I’ve got to admit, this has been quite the challenge for me! I started out taking photos a day in advance. But I fell behind one day and even missed taking a photo until I’d lost daylight and ended up with a photo I wasn’t thrilled with. But, it’s a good exercise in being realistic. I find myself taking Instagram too seriously sometimes and I miss out on the fun of it when I do that. Let’s have fun this February, okay?

Assembling a bunk bed and painting baseboards

January 23, 2018 by CORINNA HENDERSON

Greetings! It’s our last update week with the reveal being next Tuesday. Uhhhhh… I’m totally not ready! This past week has been spent painting baseboards and assembling the bunkbed. Let’s roll into the vlog…

So there’s still so much that needs to be done. And still so much that needs to be delivered!

We are waiting on the outlet covers and switchplates, rug, bedding and a few accessories. In the days between, I’ll be wrapping up the baseboard painting, picking up curtains, dragging the dresser into the room, hanging art and hanging the anewall mural that arrived yesterday.

Anewall is an art and wallpaper company that offers their wallpaper in 3 different options, one of them being peel and stick! I’ve been wanting to try peel and stick after the tough time I had with traditional wallpaper. They have this really pretty bird paradise mural that I think will work well with the room now and as he grows older and/or changes rooms and this becomes an office or guest room. They’ve provided me with the mural free of charge for this challenge.

Are any of us going to have our rooms finished for the reveal next week? Check out the bloggers below to find out!

Casa Watkins Living // A Designer At Home // Seeking Lavender Lane // Domicile 37 // Iris Nacole // Pocketful of Posies // Monica Wants It // Up To Date Interiors // This Is Our Bliss // Vintage Romance Style

Here’s your chance to share your progress in refreshing a space!

(Please make sure you only link up posts related to the New Year New Room Refresh Challenge)

Good enough is Good enough…

January 16, 2018 by CORINNA HENDERSON

That title is for myself more than it is for you, but if you’re struggling with it too, good enough is good enough love.

After sanding floors every day for just over a week straight, I am finally at a point where good enough is good enough and I am moving on to sealing them. That means my progress picture looks about the same as last week so I’ll spare you the repetition and let this be the segue into the vlog style update video that I did…

We are at the halfway point of this refresh challenge and I’m kind of in a dangerous spot right now. Work always ends up taking longer than it seems like it’s going to. So any confidence I have in saying, “the rest of this will be easy,” is backed by the guarantee that it probably won’t be easy. I do still have to put a bunkbed together. And it’s the single most important piece of this room to the 5 year old who will use and enjoy this space (only beaten at first by a smidgeon by the toad terrarium and fish tank).

~~Week 1~~

~~Week 2:~~ Still finishing the floors.

Week 3: Wrapping up the floor refinishing, bringing in and assembling furniture.

Week 4: Hanging wall decor and light fixtures. Make the bed. Hang and pot plants. Put all of the toys and clothes in their place.

Week 5: Reveal!

But I do have access to amazing sponsors as a featured blogger of Stephanie’s New Year New Room Refresh Challenge. Stephanie is the blogger behind Casa Watkins Living. And simply introducing her as a blogger undervalues what exactly she does by a landslide so let me also include that she is an amazing interiors photographer, impressive photo editor, creative mastermind of DIY projects, talented designer and there really are so many more admiring things she does just at this blogging gig but to sum it up, she’s an inspiration and I thank her for letting me partake in this baby of hers.

Back to the sponsors…

This year, we could work with these brands to help make our refresh dreams a reality:

I am not confident I can teach myself to paint furniture, but I have seen the Velvet Finishes paint swatches and those colors are gorgeous enough to make me consider it! But after all the sanding, I don’t think I can squeeze in a painted piece of furniture, too. My favorite colors are exotic, boheme, tranquil and baroque if you’re looking to paint a piece though! They’re gorgeous and very boho. Check out all of the colors in the colour gallery.

Along those same lines, I am not up to the task of wallpaper even just a single wall. Wallpaper Boulevard has basically every wallpaper available in all of existence. That’s hyperbole, especially as I am a wallpaper novice and have no idea of the accuracy of that statement. But, the selection is absolutely massive. The kiddo asked for a jungle theme. If I had the funds to pay someone else to do the wallpaper, I would have chosen either the alfresco green palm leaf or the tangle wallpaper.

I’ve slowly been working my way through the house to change out the switchplates and outlet covers to nicer ones in a black finish. I prefer the look of accenting the hardware instead of making it disappear into the wall color. This room hasn’t been done yet, so I’ve chosen the architectural wall plates in flat black to compliment the look I have going in the rest of the house. I also picked out a single knob, this one, to bump up the aesthetic of a little side table I’ve picked out. You can check out the liberty hardware line at most retailers including Home Depot and Amazon, but the store locator can help you pinpoint a location, too!

A company I was introduced to through this challenge is SmithHonig and they are a mecca for really unique boho eclectic decor. I found the framed moroccan knot on canvas art piece especially beautiful with all the different colors to pull into a room. Their one of a kind pillows, like this velvet ikat lumbar, are a global junkie’s paradise. And we are smitten with this yellow velvet pillow with colorful tassels. He never says that his favorite color is yellow, but my kid has been drawn to it since the day he was born!

RugsUSA needs little to no introduction as their rug selection is massive and they always have loads of options to choose from no matter where your aesthetic lies. We’ve chose the Nomadic Revival (I just love that name so much!) and it’s primary color appears to be a pretty teal/navy but has lots of really fun color pops to pull from. Since the floor space will be small what with a gigantic bunk bed entering the space, we only needed a small rug but I took that opportunity to make it a big impact.

I really enjoy the variety that Lamps Plus offers. Their lighting selection is massive with styles and finishes for days. I’m going with bronze and brass as the accent metallics in this space. The ceiling light is the burlap drum shade and it’s super attractive yet hardcore budget friendly. The second one that comes in the set is on hold to go into the spare bedroom when I clear out enough floor space to get it up. For light from the beds, I’m going to use the Hobson bronze and brass plug in sconces. One for each bunk to swing in when needed but swinge out to make room for getting cozy under the covers. I am smitten with this really cool brushed brass accent lamp and I think it’ll be the perfect pop of masculinity for the space on the dresser. Revisiting that little side table I mentioned earlier, I think this will be perfect for holding a few bedtime stories and a glass of water without taking up too much more floor space. Since a lot of play happens on the floor, I thought this linen pouf could be a durable and gorgeous choice. And remember how he mentioned he wants lots of plants? Well, I found the perfect plant stand in a bright natural wood finish and carved details for a bit of sophistication.

Even though some of the items coming into the space have been provided to us, I still carefully choose each piece to make sure it will not only be perfect for this room in this moment of time, but that it will be something we can use as he grows and/or elsewhere in the house. It’s just one way to be a little less wasteful. All of these stores have items that are beautiful and versatile and I think those are important features to look at when shopping for home goods.

Alright, that’s enough jibber jabber out of me. I hope you enjoyed the quick video update. Please make sure you 1. take the time to visit the other featured bloggers because the inspo is fire and 2. link up progress you’ve been making on a space you’re working on in the widget below!