water color gallery wall

Have you heard of Waterlogue? It's been all over the blog world recently so you probably have, but if not, you really need to check it out! It's an app that turns any picture into a water color, and I'm kind of obsessed with it. For $2.99 plus the cost of printing, you get a personal piece of art!

I used Waterlogue and the Shutterfly app to create this wall in my living room:

These are all pictures I've taken on various trips. Kauai, Cancun, Paris, London, Ireland, and Venice are all represented. I love that I took each of them, and now they're such a cool part of  my living room. This wall is the first thing you see when you walk in the front door, and it makes me so happy every time I see it.

For the past 7 years, that wall has looked like this:

I liked the mirror and sconces, but it was time for a change.

I love the bright white frames and the addition of more color in the room. I'm trying to get away from having a specific color for each room (it was purple in this one, and I'm slowly getting away from every accessory being purple), and this has made a big difference.

I ordered 4x4 prints from Shutterfly for $.15 each, and these frames were $1 each at Michaels!

They're the unfinished ones that you can paint however you want. I spray painted mine white, but you could do any color, or a variety of colors, to coordinate with your home.

I love how the white frames make the colors in the pictures really stand out. This church in Ireland is one of my favorites!

This is my very favorite of all the pictures I've used Waterlogue on though.

It's a beach in Kauai, and I love everything about the way it looks as a water color. So I ordered an 8x10 print of this one, and (for now) it's sitting on the table next to the couch.

If you haven't tried Waterlogue yet, what are you waiting for?! It's so fun to see your pictures transform into water colors, and I love using pictures I've taken in my travels to create amazing and unique decor in my home. It's the only app I've ever paid for, and it's so worth it. I'm so excited about this new wall!

I've made a few other changes in my living room lately as the weather has started to warm up. I'm not sure I love this mantel, but what I do love about it is the addition of the flowers and grass in the vase (from Kauai!):

I've never been a big fan of fake plants before because I always thought they looked too...well, fake. You really can find some that are pretty real looking now though, and I'm loving the feeling of bringing nature and spring inside (I also love Ellen :) ).

This is what that wall looked like last spring:

The mantel decor is more simple now, and in December I added the shelf above the TV. It's a beautiful slab of wood with the bark still on the edges, and I just sealed it with polyurethane to keep the natural look.

Between the mantel, the shelf, and the vase next to the TV, I've added a lot of green plants and it gives the room such a happy, springy feeling. 

I've got one other change in this room coming up soon! It involves the mirror that used to be above the couch...

updated spring mantel

Last week when I showed you my spring mantel I told you I was working on something to replace the Happy Easter. It works since Easter is coming up, but I wanted something that could stay out past Easter for all of spring. Here's what it looked like before

The things I've done with buttons are some of my most popular posts and the ones that get pinned the most (you can see them here, here, and here), so since you guys like them I thought I would do another one.

I painted the frame white and cut some cute polka dot paper to fit, then using buttons I had in my stash I made some cute little flowers. Since I knew I wanted it to hang on that hook stand, I glued some sparkly pink ribbon to the back of the frame.

I'm still loving my spring vases and those bright and cheerful flowers

Here's my updated spring mantel now

And my invitation for the weather outside to join my bright and happy mantel worked! We have had amazing 70 degree weather the past few days, and even though I know we will most likely still have some cold days before winter is really over, I'm loving it while it's here!

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spring mantel

I drink these in the morning

I always just threw the bottles away after I was done, but one day I looked at it and realized the shape was kind of cute. I took the plastic label off to see what it looked like underneath and was pleasantly surprised to find that it's not glued or attached to the bottle in any way. It's just kind of shrink wrapped on. I knew right away what I wanted to do with the bottles, so I started saving them. All I had to do was take the plastic wrap off and wash them out.

I used them as vases for these bright and cheery spring daisies. I bought a package of wooden letters, painted them Robbins Egg Blue, and glued them on. Easy as that!

I had originally planned to wrap yarn around the bottles, but after playing around with it for awhile I decided I liked the clean and bright look of the plain white better.

I knew my flower platter would be the perfect addition to my mantel, and I'm working on a little something to replace the Happy Easter that I think will work a little bit better. I'll show you that soon.

This mantel is my invitation for the snow from this weekend to melt so the weather outside will match the bright cheerfulness I have inside!