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I was feeling burnt out and overwhelmed. Overwhelmed with work, overwhelmed with Gray House projects, overwhelmed with the house being messy from lack of time to clean due to work and Gray House projects. It had been a long week. Brent has not been feeling well and my neck is still really sore from the snake “incident” on Monday.

The snake incident, that is a long story. A decent size black snake tried to come in the house when I opened the back door Monday morning to shake out a rug. He got his head in before I realized what it was. I screamed so loud that I scared the snake and he jumped back. I also recoiled so hard that I jerked my neck out of place. I shook the rug in the process of trying to turn it into a shield and doused the snake with the excess cat litter inside the rug. The snake apparently didn’t like cat litter or the sound of my shriek and retreated to the hole between our house and the concrete patio. Then he popped back out and just stared at me. I have a sensitive neck so whenever I violently give myself whiplash, as in this case, I tend to be really sore for quite awhile. I plan on suing this snake for the emotional stress associated with my sore neck.

Okay, I guess it wasn’t that long of a story.

Needless to say it had been a long week and all I wanted to do was lay on the couch. I was in one of those frustrated moods where I didn’t want to say anything or do anything. Usually when either Brent or I are feeling overwhelmed we will go for a walk to our neighborhood park for a change of scenery and to have uninterrupted conversation. I was reluctant but he managed to pull me off the couch (literally) and we started our walk.

The neighborhood park is about eight houses down from our house and sits at the end of our street. It is a large, gorgeous park that has a playground and a beautiful lake view with a dock for fishing. There are a plethora of trees and small rolling green hills. It is never crowded. Every time we go to the park we maybe run into one or two people at most.

This is probably because it is gated. There are two entrances, one in our neighborhood and one in the neighborhood next to ours. When we moved in we had to show proof of our residence so we could get a key fob to open the magnetized gate. All of our neighbors warned us to not sneak in or lose your key fob because otherwise you would get stuck in there. Once you go in you can only get out using the key. We never had any problem getting in or out of the park, until last night.

Our favorite way to unwind is to walk down to this bench that faces the water where we sit and talk. Sometimes we vent our frustrations; sometimes we brainstorm ideas for projects. As we sat and talked I felt my mood starting to lighten. It felt good to talk through all of the things that were causing us stress this week. I guess the conversation was really helping because we lost track of time. It was just the two of us in this giant, beautiful park at dusk talking about life. The night was starting to turn around.

After we were pretty much all talked out, we walked back towards the gate to go home. It was still fairly light out so it didn’t even dawn on us to look and see what time it was. As we got to the gate Brent held the key up to it. It flashed red. He did it again. It flashed red again. He pushed on the gate but it wouldn’t budge. “Ut oh.” He said. We looked at each other in shock. The gate is magnetized but the force is stronger than we could push. Finally, I looked at my watch. It said 8:30. “It’s after 8.” I said. “That sign on the outside of the gate says the park gate will be locked at 8PM. You don’t think they actually meant that, do you?”

I have passed that sign numerous times but I always thought it was more of a suggestion. As in, “Hey, better not be in the park after dark it might not be safe”. I didn’t think it actually meant the gate would stop working at exactly 8PM, especially if you are trying to get OUT.

We walked up and down the fence trying to look for a place we could squeeze through or bend or climb over. Thanks HOA for charging us a ridiculous amount of money to build a sturdy gate that we can’t escape from. It was at this point that we were stumped. Hmmm…we were stuck in our own neighborhood park. Now I know how caged animals feel. We were just staring through the bars longing to be on the other side.

It didn’t matter if anyone else came along; the gate wasn’t going to open. It was starting to look like we were going to be doing some impromptu overnight camping in our neighborhood park. I guess we could have used the one cell phone we had to call my dad to come bring his ladder or something but we were using our last 3% of battery to Instagram in real time our crisis. We obviously have priorities.

Our options were limited so I started climbing the fence at the point where it opens for cars to enter because there was a place to put your feet. But even that part was pretty high with nowhere to put your feet back on the other side. We debated which one of us was going to go over first but jumping from that high onto concrete was starting to freak me out. I could foresee a sprained ankle in my future. Remember I am the girl who hurt her neck at the SIGHT of a snake.

Then I had an idea. We could jump the gate at the other neighborhood entrance and walk all the way back around to our street. That gate was much shorter. It was a more realistic gate jump. So we get to the gate and get over it no problem. By the time we get into this other neighborhood the sun is setting and it is getting dark out.

We start walking down the unfamiliar street and we saw a deer. Then another deer and another deer, they were just lounging in front yards. As we get further down the road we saw a herd of almost 30 deer. We walked right into the group. They were on all sides of us. It was bizarre. They just stood there starting at us until they got spooked when a tiny dachshund started chasing and barking at us. By this point all we could do was laugh. This night was turning into one for the books for sure. After walking in the dark for some time we finally came to the end of the street.

It was dark and I didn’t have my glasses on so I couldn’t see what was up ahead. “Ut oh.” Brent said with a laugh. “What now!?” I asked. There was another gate. As we got closer we could see that this in fact was a gated community and this gate was much higher then the first gate.

We saw headlights coming towards us signaling that a car was coming through the gate. “Run!” I yelled. And we took off sprinting down the middle of the road to see if we could make it through the gate which was now closing. Remember we were not feeling in top shape this week so if this were Jurassic World the dinosaur would have eaten us. It closed right as we were approaching it. We were still trapped.

Now I know why the deer had made themselves at home and didn’t seem in any big hurry. They entered this neighborhood and now they can never get out. I knew the feeling. We were being held captive in our own suburban community.

We contemplated on what to do. Should we walk all the way back and attempt jumping over our gate again? Nah, we are too tired for that. So we just waited by the gate of the entrance to this neighborhood in the dark hoping someone would be leaving or coming home late. By now it was about 9:00pm. We walked to the park around 7pm. I never thought I would be trapped in a gated community. I guess I never realized that you could only leave if you had a car.

Luckily, after about 15 minutes a car pulled up to the gate to leave and we snuck out behind it. Then we walked down the street until we found a back entrance to our neighborhood and walked all the way through it until we got back to our house.

That was the longest walk to our park ever. EVER. By the end of the night we were laughing and our moods had brightened considerably and we rewarded ourselves for our great escape with a chai tea latte.

I learned several important lessons last night.
1 – Pay more attention to signs. Apparently they actually mean what they say.
2 – Loosing track of time is romantic unless it means you might end up sleeping in a park.
3 – You don’t always have to travel far for an adventure.
4 – An unexpected adventure with your best friend will make any day better.

Happy 4th of July weekend! Who is ready to see some fireworks? Speaking of fireworks, have you ever found it difficult to time the perfect photo op in front of fireworks?

Brent and I had an entertaining and silly time tonight creating an excellent and easy solution, a fireworks video photo booth! This would be a great addition to any 4th of July party. It creates a patriotic atmosphere, you never have to worry about missing that perfect pose in front of the fireworks and you don’t even have to leave your backyard!

Instead of having a static photo backdrop we created a video backdrop. We used a laptop with a fireworks video playing, a projector and a white piece of fabric. Our backyard has these huge trees so we took advantage of them and strung the white fabric between two trees and then placed the projector playing the video behind the sheet so it rear projected the laptop screen onto the fabric. We had all these items on hand so this was a very inexpensive project but we think it is unique and will bring lots of enjoyment to a party.

A video posted by Gray House Studio (@grayhousestudio) on Jul 3, 2015 at 7:39am PDT

The fun thing about the video backdrop is you can take static photos or quick little Instagram videos with the fireworks going off behind you and nobody would ever know the difference. At the end of the night if you are too tired to leave your house to go to a fireworks show, just pull your lawn chair up and oooh and ahhh over this prerecorded fireworks display. It all pretty much looks the same anyway.

^^^ Having patriotic props on hand is a must.

Here was our set up. In order to see the projection it must be dark out which can cause the subjects posing in front of the backdrop to be only silhouettes so our solution was to add two lights in front of the fabric. We covered the lights with colored plastic so they wouldn’t be too bright and wash out everything and would also add a nice color effect. We placed cardboard on the side of the light facing towards the projection so it would block the light from shining on the fabric.

*In the effort for full disclosure, this was our first attempt at creating a photo booth with a video backdrop (at night none the less) and we needed to practice getting the set-up right. So here we are, just the two of us, on the 2nd of July in our backyard at 10:00 at night posing in front of our fake fireworks and having way too much fun with it. I’m 99.9% positive our neighbors think we are crazy.

But we are super excited to use our fireworks photo booth for real at our 4th of July party this weekend!

By now I am sure you have seen our reading nook, industrial library shelves and coffee bar projects that we have completed within the last year. What do all these projects have in common? They were all built in spaces of our home that got little to no use prior and they are our favorite projects to date.

One of our favorite challenges is to take spaces in our home that are blank and bare because either we had no furniture to put in them or decided against using them for their intended purpose (we’re rebels like that) and transforming them into places that not only make us happy but also function so we get the most use of them.

There are several things we consider when we start projects in empty areas of our home and we thought we would share them with you in a new series we are calling Tips for Turning Unused Spaces into Unique Settings. Over the next several weeks we will share suggestions on how to approach tackling those boring spaces in your home that get no attention and making them into an area that defines your style and makes your home one of a kind. First up we talk about dreaming big.

Our first tip for turning unused spaces into unique settings is to dream big. The fun thing about being a homeowner is you don’t have to limit your ideas for a room or a space to what a house should have or how a house should look. The visualizing part is exciting because it can get as grand and detailed as you can imagine.

While it is important to dream big for creativity sake, we feel it is equally essential to have a narrow focus when it comes to choosing which projects to complete. What we mean by this is to choose a specific area in a room, really put thought into what would make you the most happy to see in that spot and then focus all your creative attention on just that one area for the time being. It’s not necessary to makeover the entire room all in one shot. Having a narrow focus helps to guarantee that you won’t feel as overwhelmed and that projects will get completed quicker.

Unless you have a huge budget to spend on house renovations or no budget at all, your home will be a work in progress and that is okay! If you can only do one project a month or every two months but you absolutely love the projects you have done so far and get a lot of use out of those spaces, it is worth it. Taking your time and only purchasing or building items that your truly love and fit with your overall style will pay off in the end to have a home that is truly unique to you. You will also be creating areas you adore rather than having unused spaces just filled with stuff.

In our home we wanted to makeover our breakfast nook because it was bare and uninviting which led to the space not getting a lot of use unless we had company. An idea we had been kicking around was to add a coffee bar to our kitchen and the long blank wall in the breakfast nook was the perfect place. We started the process of dreaming big and rather than just build a standard coffee bar we ended up coming up with the idea to transform this unused little area into our own coffee shop. This idea may be a little out of the ordinary but it made us really excited.

Because we set budgets for our home renovation projects we knew we had to have a very precise scope for this project. We couldn’t afford to fully makeover the entire nook or the kitchen at one time. The floors are going to have to remain tan tile and the cabinets in the kitchen are still going to be white for a while longer.

It is going to look a bit mismatched in our kitchen area for now but as long we design our new projects with the same overall style, which in our case is a blend of industrial, rustic and eclectic, the house will slowly transform into a style that truly fits us. Having instant gratification and unlimited money would be amazing, but for most of us that doesn’t exist so for the time being we just focused all our attention on making our coffee bar wall look exactly like we wanted, like a counter you would see in an actual coffee shop.

Things to Keep in Mind:

1. Dream BIG!
2. Visualize how you would like a space in your home to look rather than settling for what “should” be in a certain room.
3. Have a precise scope and narrow focus when choosing to design unused areas.
4. You don’t have to makeover an entire room all at one time.
5. It’s okay for your home to be a work in progress.
6. Only purchase or build items that you truly love and contribute to your overall style.

Dreaming big is just one piece of the puzzle. Next we will talk about the importance of determining why a space is going unused and how to create an area that solves that problem.

Have you been dreaming big about a space in your home? We would love to hear your ideas! Share them with us in the comment section below.

Have you ever had an idea and then that idea grew and grew in scale until all of a sudden you are planning on building a small coffee shop in your breakfast nook? No? Maybe that’s just us. There were two small problems we were facing in our kitchen/eating area that led us to start brainstorming a new and interesting idea for the space. We eventually came up with a solution that we are really exited about and can’t wait to get started working on, our cozy & eclectic café inspired breakfast nook makeover.

Problem #1: Unused Breakfast Nook
We really love to make unique choices when it comes to unused spaces in our home. And yes I am kind of embarrassed to admit that the breakfast nook is an unused area in our home and it’s not because we eat in our dining room because we turned that room into our library. No, it is because most nights we eat on the couch. (We don’t have kids yet to have to set an example of proper table manners at home.) The only time we ever sit in this area to eat is if we have company. The space is pretty empty at the moment and the seating is uncomfortable. It’s not a place we like to spend our time.

Problem #2: Not Enough Space for Coffee Supplies in Kitchen
We realized that the small area in the kitchen that we originally designated for our coffee machine and supplies was suddenly not big enough. We have slowly acquired a cappuccino machine, more mugs and our coffee syrup inventory is getting a little out of hand. (They just make so many delicious flavors!) There are a lot of coffee bar ideas floating around out there and they are beautifully styled. We thought a separate coffee bar could be a great plan.

But then we started thinking, instead of just building an extra cabinet for our coffee supplies, let’t go bigger! Why not transform the entire breakfast nook space into our very own small private cafe, one that is cozy and eclectic and a place where we would enjoy sitting and drinking our coffee weekend mornings or having dinner dates every night together.

After many hours spent on the internet looking at photos of the interior design elements featured in coffee shops (talk about eye candy) we finally narrowed down our ideas to ones that fit our style the best and would match the overall look we are going for in our home. We are even incorporating the same style of wood planks that are on the wall in our reading nook on the coffee bar. We created the mood board above to help set the tone, display our inspiration and collect some of the potential pieces we are interested into incorporating in the space.

I can’t even express in words how pumped I am about the future of this space. It seems to be our craziest idea yet but that is what I thought about the reading nook and the library shelves and now those are my favorite place and statement piece in our home. I can’t wait to decorate with all the bottles and jars I have already been collecting that will contribute to making this space “us”.

Be sure to check back often to follow along with our progress in this room. We have several projects we will be sharing that are part of the breakfast nook makeover over the next several weeks. This one is going to be a blast.

*We created our breakfast nook mood board with photos of coffee shops, as well as products we liked from ATGStores.com and home inspiration photos from Porch.com as part of the Maker Mood Board Contest with Porch & ATGStores.com. If you would like to participate and create your own Mood Board to enter, click here to learn more. Don’t forget to share yours on Instagram and Twitter with the #MMBC!

We nominate the following bloggers to submit their own mood board: Just Judy / Designer Trapped in a Lawyer’s Body / Modish & Main / Fifty Two Weekends of DIY / Fifty Two Weekends of DIY / NewlyWoodwards.com

Sources For Images Above:
PENDANT LIGHT | COFFEE MUG | DINING ROOM | WOOD PANEL COUNTER | WOOD DISPLAY CASE | BLUE RUG | DINING TABLE | COFFEE SIGN | SILK ALOE PLANT | ECLECTIC KITCHEN | COFFEE PRINT

UPDATE: We have completed our coffee bar in our breakfast nook based on this mood board. Check out the finished project: https://grayhousestudio.com/diy-coffee-bar/.