WOW, it has been a while since I did a blog post - I'd love to tell you I will get better at blogging, but let's be honest - I probably won't! :)
The 2017 Spring Parade of Homes has just finished up, I still can't believe that other than a quick Facebook video I haven't shared much of the home with you. So tonight is the night!
I absolutely love how this home turned out.
The design of this home was different than a lot of the homes I work on, it had a little bit of a Frank Lloyd Wright feel - which is really cool, but also impossible to live up to. I had to do my best to take inspiration from the house itself but also keep my personal style. During construction, the home sold - the homeowners were so much fun to work with and embraced where I was going with my design - we made a few changes to fit their style. I am so happy with how it all turned out. The light wood is refreshing to see and I really hope we start seeing more and more people staining wood instead of just painting it = sometimes wood just needs to be wood! :)
I hope that you enjoy the house tour!
Thanks for stopping by!
Megan

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Does it have you seeing Green?
Green is one of my favorite colors - I think it's from my red hair. :)
Green is a great color for decorating because it can go from a neutral to bright (and sometimes overwhelming), soothing to energizing. Greens have been named (by a few different places) as 2017's color of the year!
I compiled my list of my favorite greens!

**Every screen is going to show colors a bit different! Before buying a bunch of paint, try out a sample in your home to see just how it will look once it is on your walls.**

Just in case I have not convinced that green is the BEST: here is some great inspiration!

Ready to try something new? How about some GREEN?
Thanks for stopping by!
Megan

I am getting excited about this year's Spring Parade of Homes!
Are you going? I love checking out all of the homes!
As I think forward to what I am going to do in RDI Homes' house this year, I thought it would be fun to look back on some of the older parade homes I have worked on!

This home is from the spring of 2012.
I have NO idea why I don't have more pictures of it - that bums me out a bit.
Talsma Furniture provided all of the furniture and accessories.

This home is from the fall of 2012.
Talsma Furniture provided all of the furniture and accessories for this home.

This home is from the spring of 2013!
Talsma Furniture provided the furniture (except the dining table - that came from Fence Row Furniture) and accessories.

This home is from the fall of 2013.
Talsma Furniture provided all of the furniture and accessories.

This home is from the spring of 2014.
I got the furniture and accessories from everywhere - this home was going to be a model, instead of renting the furnishings like normal, we bought it.
(Of course the home ended up selling before the Parade of Homes was finished, thankfully the new owners loved what I bought!) ;)

This home is from the spring of 2015.
The furniture and accessories were provided by Klingman's.

This home is from the spring of 2016.
The furniture and accessories were provided by Klingman's.

WOW!! That was a lot! Maybe I should have broken this up into 2 posts?!?
Oh well, I found all of the pictures that I could (apparently, I am not always so good at saving and organizing pictures!). It has been fun for me to look back on my work and realize how far I have come - have you noticed that the pictures got better as the years went? HAHA, (it could be because some of them were from actual photographers, but what can ya do?)
I hope you had fun looking back too! Did you see any of these houses in person during the past Parade of Homes?  Let me know which house is your favorite!
Follow me on Facebook and Instagram (@Meg.Jels.Designs) to see how this year's parade house is coming!
Thanks for stopping by!
Megan

I had another home that just finished up. I worked on this home for RDI Homes, llc. Not in the pictures is a main floor master bedroom, main floor flex room and 2 lower level bedrooms.
Take a look!
Thanks for stopping by!
Megan

Have you noticed the new trend?
House plants!
Everyone loves to bring nature inside. Adding natural elemants warms up a space and makes a home more welcoming. It also adds green - and I've heard from a few different places that GREEN will be the color for 2017... (Green is one of my favorite colors, so I think green could be the color EVERY year!) :)
I love seeing house plants again. Plants help to purifier the air. Being stuck inside so much in the winter, cleaner air inside can't be a bad thing at all! 
Have you also heard of HYGGE? (I have to admit - I don't even know how to pronounce it - lol!) It is all about being cozy in the winter, and bringing the nature in. Ya' think house plants and hygge go hand in hand?
With my distaste for winter, I'm going to hold on to both of these trends and get myself set up for a happier, healthier 2017!
Happy New Year to you!
Please enjoy the inspiration below!
Have you noticed these trends? Or other trends? What are you excited about for 2017?
Thanks for stopping by!
Megan

theplantroom.com.au/

http://imacolo.com/green-living-room/awesome-green-living-room-on-living-room-with-green-rooms-in-2016-1/ 

littlevillagemag.com

stbartsau.wordpress.com/category/home/ 

imacolo.com/green-living-room/awesome-green-living-room-on-living-room-with-green-rooms-in-2016-1/

c21excellencerealty.com/hygge-home-stage-cozy-house/

^ My plans for tonight! :) This rainy, cold, windy winter day, is really dragging me down! Getting cozy by the fire will definitely turn that around! I can already taste the hot chocolate!^

I love to change things in my house, but let's be honest, you cannot do expensive changes too often; sometimes small changes is just what a room needs to help bring it back to life.

^Before^ It was pretty, simple and clean. There was no reason to change it except that I like change! ;)

^After^ I love the look this barn wood adds! Adding the barn wood definately fits with our personalities more! This project actually cost us NOTHING (besides some sandpaper or a lot of sandpaper). A barn in a near by town was being taken down and we were lucky enough to be able to grab some of the wood! After a lot of sanding, the wood was clean and smooth enough to hang on the wall. We pulled the trim off and hung the trim over the new barn wood. Re-caulked and painted the trim and were done!

^Before^ I visited my parents at their new cottage up north this summer. Every single thing on this house was the same color: windows, doors, shutters, siding. It was driving me a bit nuts, so I talked my mom into surprising my dad one day!

^After^ Don't mind the cut trees, they had started some tree work when I took this picture. The blue shutters adds a great and MUCH needed pop of color. It ties in with the awning over the deck. My dad loved what I did so much that he added shutters on the second floor windows as well. I am not sure how much he spent on the wood for those, but to do 12 shutters we used less than 1 quart of paint (less than $15).

^Before^ I love my kitchen, but it just looks unfinished without the backsplash - let's be honest: it was unfinished. (sorry about the not so good picture)

^After^ I love my kitchen even more! :) This was a fairly big project. It took us about 2 days to do it. And was about $1000.00. :( But it was so worth it - I love how it turned out! If you haven't tiled, try to find some one to help you that has, before just diving in. A backsplash isn't super difficult (depending on your tile) but it is expensive to mess up on.

^Before^ This was the first room that I "finished" when we moved into our house. I like how it turned out, but 2 years later, It was time for some updating...

^After^ I am not finished with his room, but I love how his wall turned out!! 2 rolls of tape, about 4 hours of taping & measuring and a gallon of paint later it was finished! I bought a gallon of paint but really only needed half or less of it. Total cost: $60.

I hope that these updates have inspired you to try something new at your home.
Need help figuring out some updates for your home? Give me a call today!
Thanks for stopping by!
Megan

I know, it's Christmas time and this is NOT a Christmas post = confession time: I have not finished my Christmas decorating yet :/ oops! Hopefully before Christmas I will have my Christmas house tour, but today enjoy this finished house! I'm so excited for this couple, they are so great and their home reflects them perfectly!
This home was built by RDI Homes, LLC ( www.homesatrdi.com ). The pictures were taken by myself and Plan-O-Matic.
Click on each picture to make it larger!
Thanks for stopping by!
Megan

Ready or not - Christmas is coming!! Actually Christmas is almost here!
I have been thinking about this project for years (seriously - I think it's been about 5 years) and I finally decided to do it! I am so glad that I did! My kid are excited to start counting down to Christmas!
It is actually pretty easy, I made an easy triangle pattern for you to use when cutting (click there>) : triangle.pdf 

I cut out 50 Triangles (TIP: fold the fabric in half and cut 2 at a time) ;)

With the "pretty sides' of 2 triangles touching, I sewed down 1 side using a 1/4 inch seam.

I then attached my Santa Hat Fur Trim! (I bought 10 yards - it already comes about 2 inches wide), I decided to save a little time and not cut the fur, I just sewed the hats on it like a chain leaving enough room to cut the fur and sew it together (I would guess about 3 inches between each hat). Sew slowly and try to "comb" the fur out of the way, it can get wound up on your machine's presser foot. Sew as close to the fur as you can, make sure you are sewing the fur and hat fabric together. There is nothing worse than finding out you just barely missed the back piece of fabric!

Cut the fur trim and then take the 2 triangles with the "pretty sides' touching sew down the other side, over the fur too.

Turn each hat right side out! I attached a string loop to hold my Santa hats, but it would be cute to leave that part out and use a decorative clothes pin too.

This step is important! Enlist your awesome neighbor girl to help you make number tags, attach them to the hats and come up with 25 "to do's" for the kids to pick each day (I put candy in the hats too).

My Christmas Advent Calendar To Do List:
(I did look at my actual calendar to determine how much time we would have to do our "to-do")
1.Do something nice for some one today
2. Listen to Christmas music
3. Get a Christmas Tree
4. Make an Ornament
5. Read the Christmas story
6. Write letters to Santa
7. Make paper snowflakes
8. Attend a Christmas Concrete  (My son's school concrete!)
9. Ice Skating
10. Visit Santa
11. Make Christmas Cookies
12. Color a Christmas picture or write a note to a family member
13. Go for a Winter Walk
14. Drop off cookies to the Police Station and Fire Department
15. Read a Christmas Story
16. Surprise a friend with a treat
17. Christmas at the Farm  (my family's big Christmas party)
18. Go Ice Skating
19. Watch a Christmas movie
20. Look at Christmas Lights
21. Dinner by Candle light (apparently this day is the longest night of the year)
22. Leave a treat and note for the garbage man
23. Make Reindeer Food to leave for Santa
24. Sleepover in the playroom
25. Merry Christmas

I hope that your Christmas season is filled with lots of love and magic! Do try to slow down and enjoy each day for what it is (yeah, sometimes it is a busy crazy mess, but that's ok).
Check me out at  www.instagram.com/meg.jels.designs/ or on www.facebook.com/meganjelsemadesigns/ to see how we actually do with our Christmas Advent Calendar "To-Dos".  :-)
Have a blessed Christmas season!
Check back late for a tour of my "Christmas" house! (as you can see from my list - we don't even have a tree yet)
Thanks for stopping by!
Megan

A home is so important to me, maybe it is because I have lived in 13 "houses"  thru out my life. My mom always made our houses feel like home. It is important that when I am working on any house I actually make that house a home! I am so thankful that I actually get to do this for a living! I love what I do!

I am so thankful for each of my clients! I love that during the process of building a home or remodeling I get to be a part of my clients' lives. I get to know them personally which makes it a joy to see the whole process come together and to truly see their personalities shine in their home. Thank you for trusting me with your homes!

I am also thankful to all of you for reading my blog! Writing is not my thing - the whole idea of a blog was overwhelming for me - but in the end, this has been such a fun way for me to share with you what I love! Thank you for looking and reading!

This Thanksgiving, I pray that you are thankful for your home. I hope your home is perfectly you - welcoming your friends & families and restful for you to relax in-between the busy holiday gatherings.
If you aren't so thankful for your home or it doesn't feel like home - make your home what you want it - don't worry about trends or what your neighbor has.
If you need some help making your home perfectly you - give me a call today! I would be honored to be welcomed into your home to finish it for your family!

Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanks for stopping by!
Megan 

Styling shelves can be hard. It is hard to decide what you want on it and how to make it all look good together.

Lets start...
Step 1: Clear your shelves. Starting with a blank slate is the easier than trying to add to already full or almost full shelves. 

Step 2: Do you need to store toys on your shelves? If you do, decide how you want them stored, hidden or in plain sight. Once you have decided how you want them stored, decide which shelf or shelves you want them on. For this, lets say we want the toys hidden and on the bottom shelf. Pick out  the basket(s) or bin(s) that will fit the shelf - measure height, depth and width (nothing is worse then falling in love with a basket, only to have it NOT fit).  I decided to keep the bottom left shelf open for the toys.

Step 3: What else needs to be on the shelves? In this case, we need the radio, speakers, dvd player, cable box and some books. I like to spread them all out and then fill in with the "pretty" things. Some of the electrical equipment has spots that it just needs to go on. If you have adjustable shelves, adjust them to fit these items accordingly.

Sort your books, in whatever way makes you happy. In this case, I sorted them by color, I got lucky because some of the red & orange books were also some of the tallest books. As you start to put your books away, you can add interest by stacking some with the spines vertical and some with the spines horizontal. You get a cleaner look by placing them tallest to shortest.

Step 4: You are getting close! Now is the time to start styling your shelves. Add in picture frames of friends and family. You get a more interesting look by doing different frames. To keep it clean, use matching frames. Fill in "holes" with collected items or mementos. Remember to layer your items, short and tall, some in the back and some more forward. Big items with little items. Use a stack of books to prop up a little item. If you are using your accessories to add color to your room, be sure to "sprinkle" the color thru out your shelves. You don't want all of the color in one area. As you place things, keep in mind that odd numbers are more pleasing to the eye.

Step 5: Sit back and enjoy your newly styled shelves!

*Don't forget to have fun. Your home should show off your personality, if something doesn't feel or look right to you, change it. :) As with most things there are a ton of correct ways to achieve the same result, so do what works for you.*

Hopefully this helps you get started! Still stuck? Give me a call, I'd love to help you out!
Thanks for stopping by!
Megan