I thought about ordering a vinyl decal with our initials on it. Again, back to that zero dollar rule I decided against it. I decided to take a non-traditional route. Instead of M & B why not You & Me? I’ve seen paintings and prints with that sentiment and I thought it was really cute and kind of romantic. Perfect for the master bedroom.

I bought textured cardstock from Michael’s for 39 cents each (on sale!) and got to work.

I just typed up You and Me using a handwriting font that I found at Fonts for Peas. I wanted it to look like I had painted it or free handed the words-since I have zero talent in that department this font fit the bill. After messing around with the font I found I liked the heart wingding more than the plus sign or an ampersand so I went with it. I printed it out on plain paper, cut it out on the cardstock and glued it to my background paper.

That’s it! Just hang up your handmade art and enjoy. I think it would be fun to switch out the background paper for different seasons or holidays. Pink or Red for Valentine’s Day, Green or Yellow for Spring, etc.

Just since I’m sure you’re all dying to know. Matt is “you” and I’m “me.” I didn’t plan it that way but those were already our respective sides of the bed. If you want to tackle this project yourself, I’ve whipped up a template using this font. Open it here.

Pretty bare huh? Once I finished up the project I couldn’t believe that we had stalled so long on getting these up. It was easy peasy.

I got our handy-dandy drill bits out and found one that would work for the project.

I carefully, marked and pre-drilled for the screws. Then upon installing the fixture realized I had marked the wrong hole. Oops. More holes we’ll be spackling when we leave.

I drilled the correct holes and up went the fixture backing. Those protruding screws are what hold the actual light fixture to the wall.

Checking for level before making the fixture permanent. Can I get props for getting a level out and photographing this project solo?

Now the lamps are up! We still needed shades. Our old ones bit the dust and I was on the hunt for something a little less rustic.

I had been dreaming about these lampshades for awhile now. You may remember them from my wishlist on the sidebar.

I thought they would be the perfect addition to our new beach themed home. Matt said H to the no on $40 lampshades and I reluctantly had to agree with him. Plus, I thought they might be a little over the top. Enter Lamps Plus. I found these beauties for $16.

They’re linen so I think they still give the room the airy feel we’re going for with out looking too beach themed.

We’re loving the texture of these shades. The fact that we got two shades (shipping included!) for less than the price of the original shade is icing on the cake.

So, have you completed any projects that you’ve been putting off? Maybe you found some new light fixtures that are lighting up your life. Do tell.

I love to read and we both had a ton of books that needed a home. We decided to add built in shelves. This was really inexpensive and relatively easy. I say that because I was mainly the photographer and the painter. Doug (the handyman extraordinaire) and Matt handle the demo and rebuild. But in all honesty, they framed out the shelves and the actual shelves are pre-cut and sized from Menards.

Here they are cutting out the wall to make way for the shelves

All framed up!

All painted up and ready for accessories. FYI-this is before we installed new floors.

After- A new reading corner. I added our books and the baskets are a perfect place to stash magazines and other what nots. The pew was an addition from Matt’s Aunt Pam and Uncle Bart. They were downsizing and gifted it to us. I stripped all 372 layers of paint on it and stained it to match our other furniture. I love it!

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