DIY Shiplap Fireplace

Sometimes I just need a little kick in the pants to get a project done. Or a little bun in the oven. I've wanted to update our fireplace ever since we moved in (two years ago) but it wasn't until this spring when I was in full pregnancy nesting mode that I finally decided "I AM DOING THIS. RIGHT NOW." Naturally the "I" translated to "husband" because we were in the late-pregnancy stage of nesting. And he isn't one to let his round wife balance on a chair with a nail gun. He's a keeper.

And so, with a little help, we managed to check it off my nesting to-do list just in time before our newest guy was born. (you can see my entire living room nesting to-do list here, and how we wrapped the mantle here) One of my favorite details is the faux shiplap we installed above the fireplace.

I love the texture and charm it adds to the living room. I've always dreamed of a casual, cozy space for our family to gather, and I feel like this was a step in the right direction.

Here's a little "before" action. Just drywall painted the same gray as our walls.

Now it's even lighter, brighter, and totally beautiful. And I really need a full-fireplace photo. Not gonna lie, I probably shot close up because the floor was a hot mess. But I don't really remember. Because newborns don't sleep. It's all a blur.

The best part is the whole project only cost about $15 for wood! We also had to buy nails for our nail gun (I lost that price in the newborn-blur). But we saved a few dollars on paint by using the leftover from our cabinets... which doesn't quite match exactly, but that's a problem for another pregnancy.

DIY Travel Map Pinboard

This little project is almost too simple to even mention. But it's also so easy and so fun that I don't want guys to miss it! It's a little framed map pinboard to mark all your travels. It's easy dress it up or down to match your decor by switching out the frame or changing the map style, plus it's a great family keepsake!

We only have a handful of pins so far. My first thought was to only mark the places we'd all been together, as a family of five. But now that already doesn't make sense because we just added a new baby who hasn't been any of these places! So we might as well go back and add everywhere we've been since we were married. Maybe we'll use a different color pin to show how big our family was for each trip.

This map was a great fit for the new adventure gallery in our dining room. You can see it up on the far left above the mountain painting.

Get all the details of our gallery wall, the tutorial for our constellation wall hanging, plans to build our farmhouse table, and see how we upcycled a craigslist chandelier.