DIY Stenciled Wall

Hello everyone. Today we will be discussing how to stencil any wall in your house. Our bedroom walls are a beige color. At first I was in love with the neutral look of the bedroom,  that lasted about a week, and then I was bored with all the neutrals. I am just not a neutral girl. Danny was not going for the lets paint the whole bedroom a different color approach, so I had to get creative. I love the look of a Moroccan style in everything really. The colors, the fabrics and those beautiful light fixtures.

Look at these amazing light fixtures.

The top one is from Ballard Designs and the other from Moroccan Designs.

Lets take a moment to swoon..... 

Let's get back to the point before I go off into my bohemian gypsy dream world.  I went onto google images and started looking at moroccan prints. When I finally picked one that I loved, I printed the image out and cut it onto a piece of cardboard. Cardboard is best because it's sturdy and everyone has a cardboard box laying around somewhere. The next step is really the most time consuming. Now you have to trace your shape onto the wall. I first traced the stencil with a pencil. Then when I finished the whole wall, I went over it with paint. We choose a bright aqua as our paint color. It was one of the options I wanted to paint our bedroom at first, but decided against it because it was pretty loud, so we already had the paint color.  Because we already had the paint, this whole project was absolutely free. It took us two days to finish the project. We did take lots of breaks.



                                            Here are some pictures.

Callaghan Wedding

Happy Friday Small House Lovers. Today we will be sharing our Big Ole Callaghan Wedding.
Aren't weddings just the best. It's a day filled with Family, Love, Food and lots of Dancing.
When we first got engaged we had the same picture in our heads of what we wanted our wedding to be like. We wanted to share it with our family and close friends. Danny and I come from big families where food means love. Sitting around a big table filled with family, laughter, sharing stories and love. We wanted this! Oh and we wanted Dancing! Luckily we have a fantastic family who loves to dance and have a good time, so that was guaranteed.
Here are some of the pictures of the Callaghan Wedding.

All of the boutonnieres and bouquets were all done by my fabulous in-laws.
Our wedding party

Our ceremony was done in both spanish and english. After the ceremony the party started.

Thats Danny jumping and singing his heart out. An hour before the end of the wedding, tables of endless desserts came out for the guest. The look on our guests faces when the dessert tables came out made my little heart flutter. It was a night filled with surprises and love. Some of the delicious options.

The wedding favors included 3 mini cupcakes in assorted flavors (Peanut Butter & Jelly, Cinnamon and Chocolate chip pancake). The day went by so fast for Danny and I. It was everything we ever wanted and more. I hope you enjoyed the Callaghan Wedding.

Front Door & White-Washed Bricks

Hey Small House Lovers welcome back. I hope you have a cup of joe and a comfy seat, because today I will be sharing our first DIY projects. This is how we White-washed our front porch and painted our front door. This whole project cost us a total of 25 buckaroos.

                                        Before picture of the bricks and front door.

                                             That's Milo and Sassy.

Well as you can see the bricks needed some serious DIY loving. The door was just a maple wood color before we painted it. First we power washed the bricks to make sure to get all the build up off. We already owned the power washer, but you can always rent one at Home Depot. Then we got to painting. The white-washing solution was 1/2 white exterior paint and 1/2 water. You want to get a milk consistency. I first applied the paint with my paint brush and then went over with an old rag to wipe off any excess paint. This project took me almost an hour.

                                            After.  White-washing is so beautiful.

Now lets talk about painting that boring door. At first I wasn't sure what color I wanted the front door.
Bright Red? Turquoise? Yellow? So many colors not enough door! Anyone who knows us, knows we love colors. Well at the end I played it safe with a Latex Black Paint! At first I felt like a sell out for picking the little black door, but once it was done I was in love. When painting the front door I had to make sure it was perfect weather, not to humid & not to hot. I didn't remove our door even though the instructions advised for it. I just left the door open just a bit so it would't get stuck! I applied 2 coats to get the perfect cover.

The bottom white strip was tape. Once it dried it peeled right off. Isn't the black just gorgeous and so shiny. The best part about picking the little black door is that I can add endless amount of colorful decor options: Pillows, Cushions,  Flower Pots the list is endless.


List of items you will need:

1. Old Rag 
2. 2 Paint Brushes (2 dollars each)
3. White exterior paint ($10)
4. Black Latex Paint ($10)

Small House Transformation

When we first saw our little house Danny and I knew it needed a lot of loving to become our first home. It seemed the people who lived in the house before us didn't have much of a green thumb and had't done much work on the house in years. 

You see we weren't lying. But we fell in love with the neighborhood and we loved how freaking cute the house was. Well I guess I thought it was freaking cute. Unfortunately some of the work was so extensive that it needed to be done by professionals. We were also planning a wedding so we couldn't of done it on our own and in time for the big move in day. So they got to working while we got to painting and planting. Eekk look at that big AC unit poking through the siding; that was the first thing to go. It was such an eye sore, I even did a little happy dance when it was removed. We also had the windows made a bit smaller so they all seemed like they belonged to the same house. 

After a little painting, planting and decor our Small House Loving was now alive. Oh and how cute are those red adirondack chairs from home depot! What was once the eye sore of the block we are now proud to call our home. 

Meet The Callaghan's

Hello there. My name is Vanessa and my husband is Danny, we live in the New York area. 

We bought our first house 2 1/2 years ago around the same time we got married.  After looking at some houses we were in house love with ours. It wasn't the biggest or the prettiest but we could see its potential. When we aren't doing some DIY project, we are with our animal children at the park or wine drinking with good friends and family. We love traveling and collecting cool things from our travels for our house. We hope to share our many adventures of home decor, love, thrifting and anything lovely. So welcome, grab a cup of coffee, get comfy and enjoy our blog.