Plank Inspiration {Vertical versus horizontal}

Hello sweet friends!

How was your week? I hope it was a lovely one for each of you! :)

SO...I was wondering...do you remember my "wide plank dilemma" that I wrote about a couple of posts ago? I just couldn't decide between vertical or horizontal to save my life!

Well...

After hauling this home:

And considering this:

I have finally and resolutely decided on this:

I first saw this picture from Southern Living while visiting the beautiful blog, Cappuccino Cottage.

I am crazy obsessed with this style of wider horizontal planks, if you must know! I want to slap these planks up on every available wall surface in our home! ;)

This picture is IT. By "it" I mean, I found the picture that showed me exactly which way I wanted to run the planks and how wide!

Do you ever find it hard to find a picture that screams what you want to do exactly? This one is pretty close.

{I think.} ;)

Now for some other "plank inspiration":

The above picture is not exactly my style, but just look at those gorgeous plank walls!

And some bedrooms that do not have plank walls, but are so pretty nonetheless, I still had to include them here:

And I saved this one for last because it is just that gorgeous! See that sweet gray painted table peeking out of the corner? Simply lovely!

So, it's horizontal all the way for the master bedroom! Which would you choose for your home?

I hope you all have a beautiful weekend! Thank you so much for stopping by!

Blessings,

Jenni

{Photos courtesy of Southern Living, Coastal Living, Country Living, Better Homes and Gardens, and Pottery Barn.}

He is risen!

Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!

Sons of men and angels say: Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens and earth reply: Alleluia!

Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O Death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Dying once He all doth save, Alleluia!
Where thy victory, O grave? Alleluia!



Love's redeeming work is done, Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Death in vain, forbid Him rise, Alleluia!
Christ hath opened Paradise! Alleluia!

{Words by Charles Wesley, 1739.
Public Domain.}


We hope that you had a wonderful and very blessed Easter!

Full steam ahead! {The Master Bedroom}

How are you, my friends?

Glad it's Friday, you say? Oh, me too! :) I hope your weekend is off to a great start!

I have had one of the best weeks in a long, long time. Why? One big reason, and I am not just saying this, is because I was actually blogging this week. I am back into the swing of things, having a blast getting caught up on what you have been up to!

It makes me so happy to blog, both the visiting and the writing to you. I have met so many lovely people, and I don't know what I would do without you! So, thanks to each of you for your friendship and constant encouragement~ I am so grateful! :)

Now, about the current renovations...Well, the paint has barely dried on the bathroom {okay, a bit of an exaggeration} and I am working on the master bedroom now...yes, I am crazy. I know my family must think so! ;)

But with only two months now until summer break starts, it really is full steam ahead on all projects. So it's a crazy race to see how much I can finish before June 20. :) I try to keep it simpler in summer, although of course I have a few projects planned...

The main thing I have been doing is researching this week. And going to Lowe's. A lot of Lowe's. I think they are about ready to set up a cot for me to make it easier. ;)

But this is what I have discovered.

{Country Living}

To get these lovely plank walls would be harder than I thought.

I found that unless you were making your plank boards into tongue and groove with a router and lath strips, you have to put up the boards horizontally. {Otherwise the boards have nothing to nail into. Not a good thing.} I wavered on this, because I do love the way they look horizontal, but part of me was just so set on the boards being vertical...I am kind of wavering back to horizontal again as I write this...

But the vertical planks are gorgeous, too.

{Country Living}

See what I mean?

No matter how you toss the dice, there is just nothing compared to authentic plank walls.

But the problem with this is that in order to hang them vertically, we would have to use a router on both sides of each plank. This means using 3/4 inch thick boards. This also means adjusting every single outlet. We've decided we don't want to have to do that. Although we could do one accent wall, and my husband agrees with this idea...

So now I am wondering if I am doing the right thing by going a different way to achieve this look.

This is the 4' x 8' sheets of wide plank paneling I bought at Lowe's today. They cut them to 4 x 4 foot pieces for me.

It is different from the stuff we ripped out of our kitchen and dining room years ago. It has a "thick" look to it, not a manufactured look, and has a deep V-groove cut between each "plank". I know it will look good when I'm done. But it will look more like "fancy" wide wainscotting than charming plank walls, and I am no longer sure that is what I want. Over the past few weeks, I have gone from wanting the streamlined look to that simple plank walls look.

It kind of looks, or could potentially look, like this:

{Country Living}

{Wouldn't this be the cutest room for a little girl?}

So now that I have six 4 x 8 sheets of this paneling in my garage {Only half of the total amount needed} I am second guessing myself.

Maybe I should just just do one accent wall with planks, either hung vertically or horizontally?

One up-side: If I decide not to use the sheets of wide plank I already bought, I can use them in my girls' room, which is the next room on my list to redo.

What do you think? Any opinions? Oh, please save me from myself! ;)

And before I close, I just want to say a big huge thank you to Michelle from Emerald Cove, who has been so sweet about answering my questions regarding plank walls. Have you seen the plank wall she just did above her fireplace? If not, you are missing out! It is simply beautiful. You can see it right here. {And thanks again Michelle, for all of your help!}

So...I hope your weekend is wonderful, and thank you so much for stopping by and for listening to me go on and on. And on.

Much love,

Jenni

Wrapping up one project...

...and preparing for another.

First though, how are you doing? I hope you had a wonderful weekend! :)

Well, I must confess...now that I am at the tail end of the master bathroom makeover, I have been planning my next big home adventure.

The master bedroom.

The final frontier.

Well, sort of...I guess we do have quite a bit more to do on this old house... ;)

It is true that I have not shown you "after" pictures of the bathroom yet. The reason for this is because although the white vintage mirror is now up, and the new faucet installed, I am (still) waiting for a day warm enough to spray paint the towel bars. We haven't replaced the new fan yet, either, but that will be in the next couple of weeks. However, even though we are still finishing the last few things, the bathroom looks night and day from how it did.

And so although I am waiting to show you whole room after shots of the room, here is a little picture of the "new" mirror:

{see that square hole in the bead board ceiling? still waiting for a new fan...}

It has a really pretty design on the edges but you can't see that well in the picture...I should have taken an up-close picture!

{I can tell you I am not liking that door with that stain, however...somehow it isn't working with the whites and grays in this room!}

Here are a couple of pictures of the new faucet we installed:

I say "we" because I really and truly learned how to install a faucet! I am going to tackle the next bath faucet on my own...I'm so excited to learn how to do these things! I want to have the knowledge to up and change things when I get the fancy to do so! ;)

Oh, and a truly cool thing about this faucet is that you can move the spout over to the side, if necessary. Now, I haven't needed to do this {yet} but I'm just saying... ;)

And here's the bead board ceiling again, taken before we hung the mirror: :)

So, it really is all coming together...Now here is a most serious question for you: would you mind too much if I showed you the plans for our master bedroom?

I hope you don't because I'm dying to tell you what I have up my sleeve! ;)

A week ago, we ordered this:

{Lumber Liquidators}

Eighty of these 5" wide x 6' long planks to be precise. Hopefully these will transform our presently popcorn ridden ceiling into something beautiful. {fingers crossed.}

I'm going for the same look as the bead board ceiling in our bath, only it will be with the wide planks instead, like this:

{Home Depot}

And then for the walls...I am going to install wide plank (about 3 inches wide) paneling, higher than chair rail height, to create a look somewhat like this:

{Better Homes and Gardens}

This is a little higher than I am going to go with my boards, because it will be more economical. Plus I want a tinge more wall space above. But it gives you the idea. What I love about it is how it creates the visual effect of taller ceilings.

{Better Homes and Gardens}

Isn't this bedroom gorgeous? I love the paneled walls. {love}

I will be using the same soft gray I painted on the bath walls above the paneling...which just happen to match this sweet comforter set I found at Target a couple of weeks ago:

And since it is still in the bag, here is what it will look like:

{just minus the pink}

{Images courtesy of Target}

What do you think of these plans? I can't wait to get started, and pinky swear to keep you posted along the way as I work on the room!

And before I close, here are two more dreamy inspiration pictures for you:

There is just something about these soft neutrals paired with the darker wood that makes my heart skip a beat. That, and the old trunks at the foot of the beds...

{Images courtesy of Country Living}

Well, thank you so much for listening to me ramble on so about this! I so much appreciate you taking the time to stop by!

Hoping you have a beautiful Monday!

Much love,

Jenni

{Update}: Do not laugh

Lets just say my decorating idea for the interesting wreath, I brought home the other day, didn't exactly end up looking the way I envisioned.

Neither did the photos.  

{moan}

 So should I just smash the darn thing?

I already removed 50% of the green zits aka sequins,
hoping that would improve the over all look of the wreath.

It helped a little.

I tried bows.

That was a no go.

{Update} I smashed the darn thing!

On the bright side however, I did find a cleaver way to use old jean pockets.
I also threw the jean pockets in the garbage.

Oh well, you win some, you lose some...

Belle

In need of inspiration?

I happened to find this blog today through a friend and am so glad I did.  Have you by chance been looking for a fancy way to decorate your bathroom?  Look no further.  Check out this post from the blog, "Make it and love it"  I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Belle