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hey there! I'm monica 

I pride myself on making amazing style and design accessible for everyone, regardless of location, budget, or ability! My design philosophy is rooted in authenticity + attainability - If I can do it, you can too! My work has been featured in countless publications, but I take the most pride in homeowners that have been personally inspired by my DIY ideas and have tried something in their own homes!

learn more about ME + MY BIZ

 What a bittersweet day… we’re so excited that our fourth episode airs today, but we’re also bummed that our crazy Nate Show journey is coming to an end.  It has been such an amazing ride! If you’ve missed any of our episodes, you can check out some clips here.
Since we spent a good amount of time in the studio this year, we really had a lot of work to do behind the scenes.

collage 1

Haha! Kidding! We totally snuck these pictures in the control room when we were waiting for our mics.  Yup, we’re dorks.  Want to know the funniest thing ever?  When we were taking these, there was another woman waiting to go on for her segment.  We didn’t know until she was on that it was Christiane Lemieux, the founder of Dwell Studios! We LOVE Dwell! Can you imagine us taking these pictures while she was watching.  OMW we’re Dorks!
Thrift a $250 room that looks like a Million bucks!
This time Nate gave us a seriously tough challenge.  $250 to design an entire room including furniture is insane! We never could have done it without an awesome thrift store.  Liberty Thrift is a personal favorite and they have 5 locations in PA.  We love the mission behind Liberty and it makes shopping there even better! They’re our newest blog sponsor, so if you’re in the area, go and check out one of their stores!
Since you’ll get to see the finished product on the show, we’re going to highlight just a few of our favorite projects this week.  We don’t have a ton of process pictures, because it was about 19 degrees in our work area and we were so tight on time, but we’ll try and give you the main gist.
Here’s all the furniture pre-DIY… oh man it was in rough shape!

DSC_0432

Our very favorite piece in the room was the Navy buffet.  Something we love to do is to look at a piece of furniture and think of what we could turn it into.  The minute I saw this dresser, I envisioned it as a fabulous buffet! When you’re working with thrifted pieces, don’t be afraid to try something a wee bit daring, the worst thing you can do is ruin it and have to head back to the thrift store to try again!
Here’s the pretty darn dramatic before and after…

dresser b a

We don’t have process pics, but we do have some process video outtakes! WARNING:  These are totally unedited and really goofy, but we’re all about keeping it Real and this lets you see just how the navy beauty came to be!
Step 1- The Game Plan!
Step 2- TV makes it seem easy!
Step 3- To Mold or not to Mold?
Step 4- Oops Still looks like a Dresser!
So you’re getting the idea right?  Good, because we don’t have any more process shots! This picture shows all the changes we made.  Isn’t she pretty?  We both were sooo thrilled with her makeover!

Now, when you go thrifting you can look at the rows and rows of dressers in a whole new light! And now, here’s the cheesy End of the Night recap from day 2!
Tomorrow Jess is going to show you how two DIYers that have never upholstered a thing in their lives, decided to tackle a chair for Nate! We’re crazy!
We hope you had fun watching our final episode, 
let us know what you thought of the room!


jess&Monica

*** If you’re wondering about the amazing stencil we used for our wall art, you can get it here.  We love Royal Design Studios and their stencils are by far the best! ***

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Linking up to : TT&J, Sundae Scoop, Sunday Showcase, Saturday Night Special, Show & Tell Saturday,

The comments +

  1. so fun! love the dresser makeover, can’t wait to see the rest!

  2. Becca says:

    I’m watching you gys on TV right now! You girls are so, so cute! The room looks so A-MazinG!!
    xo,Becca

  3. KatieD says:

    Amazing job, ladies! You’ve got some mad skills! Thanks so much for sharing! LOVE the dresser!

  4. Punky says:

    Heee-heee, loved all the cheesy videos!!! You did so great on the show, and I loved every single piece you transformed! I was never too much into thrifting, but after the show I’m excited to try!!! Thanks for the inspiration!

  5. Susan M. says:

    Loved the recycledd dresser! I’ve been looking for a new TV console but don’t want to spend $1,000.00. I’m heading to the Habitat for Humanity Restore to find a dresser and make one too!

  6. Debbie Green says:

    That dresser looks like it was part of the same line I had in my childhood room. I had 2 single dressers and a desk in that style. Still have the dressers hanging around in the basement and in my son’s closet- been thinking about making them over! Thanks for posting. I too am sad the Nate show will not be continuing 🙁

  7. Anonymous says:

    Love it! What color is that?

  8. Ben Heather says:

    looks great but only problem is that you have created a weak spot by cutting out the support in the centre. you can see how it is alrady drooping down in the middle. not so pleasant to they eye

    but yes it does look really good, i really like the idea

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