 One of the most frequent requests we get when decorating a living room is help with styling built-ins. 📚
And trust us, we get it. 💯 Because as beautiful as they are, it can be a legit struggle to fill in those large empty spaces with pieces that are both meaningful and cohesive! 🤷🏻♀️ While there’s no exact science to styling shelves- a dozen different stylists will come up with a dozen different looks, all of which will be beautiful in their own way- there ARE a few basic techniques that can help make the process a whole lot easier, and create that calm, cohesive, finished look you’re searching for. 💫 So to that end, here are a few fun tips that we incorporated in our most recent project that can have you styling your shelves like a pro in no time! ✨ First, start with a clean slate by pulling everything you currently have off the shelves. Next, “shop” the rest of your home, gathering as many items as you can find that are of similar colors, tones, and styles, but varying heights and materials. Be sure to include several pieces of greenery - this will go a long way toward softening the overall look. 🪴🌿 Then- and this is a very important step- if you see that have items gathered that you absolutely know that you know that you KNOW 😉 that they just don’t “go” with the new look you’re going for but you think maybe you can make them work somehow, hear us when we say Get. Rid. Of. Them. Donate them. Sell them. Bury them in the backyard. Whatever you need to do. 🙈💁🏻♀️😂 But do NOT try to convince yourself that somehow it’s going to work. Because all that’s going to do is lead to a lot of frustration and the “after” feeling a lot like your “before” despite all of your time and effort. 🙅🏻♀️ And we don’t want you to have to go through that. So just trust us on this. 😉😘 Once all that’s done, mentally “separate” each shelf into 2-3 sections, depending on the width, and place a taller object in each section. ⚱️ Fill in with smaller objects, varying your shapes, colors and textures with each grouping, keeping in mind that groups of 2, 3 or 5 pieces typically work best. 📿 Stagger your pieces so that similar colors and shapes are subtly woven throughout the shelves rather than concentrated in small areas. When styling two sets of shelves flanking a central focal point, keep the two sides similar but not the same. The end result should have them feeling more like “cousins” than “twins.” 💝💖 As you work, stop and step back frequently to see how it’s all coming together. Bring a second person in to look while you place items, or vice versa. Take pictures if you need to. Keep tweaking until it “feels right” to you. This is YOUR home- the goal is for you to love where you live! 🤗 Once all of your current decor pieces have a home, you may find that you have more than enough decor and don’t need to purchase anything new- which is exactly what happened with the shelves pictured here! 🙌🏼 If you see that you do need more decor, now you’ll have a much better idea of what needs to go where, allowing you to save both time and money by only having to shop for specific items! 💃🏻 If reading this inspired you to employ these shelf-styling tips in your own home please post pics and tag us- we would LOVE to see your work! 🤩 And if reading this instead just confirmed that you’d rather do just about anything else than decorate a shelf 🙅🏻♀️😉😂, we can take care of that for you! 💕
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 Hey hey everyone! It’s now the first week of April 2020, which means around here we just finished our third week of school being canceled indefinitely and our second week of being under a stay-at-home order due to COVID19. What strange times we’re living in right now, and yet, for the foreseeable future, this is our new normal! While we’re deeply concerned for, and praying for, all of the sick and their families, along with all of the healthcare workers on the frontlines, all those whose livelihoods have been negatively impacted by this virus, all of the leaders faced with incredibly difficult decisions during this unprecedented time, and our city, state, nation and the world as a whole, we’re also thankful for this chance to slow down and enjoy more time at home with our families. And now that we’re all spending more time at home while the weather is getting warmer, if you’re anything like us, you (or your spouse 😉) are probably looking around your home and thinking of all kinds of projects that need doing! If one of those projects involves needing to create some privacy from your neighbors or blocking an unsightly view🙈, then we have JUST what you need! This 4’ tall, approx 56” x 56” DIY privacy wall with built-in planter that we recently designed and crafted for one of our commercial client’s new officer entrance is a super stylish and affordable way to create the privacy you’re looking for!  Starting with this space ⬆️ we needed to come up with something to block the view of the a/c unit and trash cans and help define this door as the entrance to a business.  Pictured above is the original concept as designed by the talented men of Gathered Nest (aka our handy husbands 😉). With just a few tweaks along the way- and a whole lot of technical steps that it turns out weren’t captured in photos because SOMEONE 🙋🏻♀️ doesn’t know what they’re doing 🤷🏻♀️💁🏻♀️)- this project came to life beginning with the following list of supplies:
 Now for the step-by-step process as detailed by someone who actually built the wall. 🧔🏻🧔  Aka, not 💁🏻♀️💁🏻♀️🙈😂  “To begin building the wall of the privacy wall portion of the project, take the 4”x4”x12’ treated post and cut it into 3 equal length pieces. These will be the posts at either end and the corner of the wall. Next, using the table saw, you will need to rip 4 of the fence pickets into 3, equal width strips. Following that, also using the table saw, rip the 8’ treated 2x4’s into equal widths. Finally, cut 3 of the pieces of 2x4 that you just ripped to approximately 46” or about 2” shorter than the 4x4 posts. To begin constructing the privacy wall, attach 1 each, of the 46” pieces to 1 each of the 4x4 post using the 2-1/2” pocket hole screws. (Helpful tip: you may need to drill a small pilot hole in these pieces to prevent splitting the wood) Be sure to make the edges flush to one side. For the post that will make up the corner of the wall, attach 2 of the 46” pieces to the third piece of 4x4 post. These two pieces should be attached to opposing corners so that the wall will form a 90* angle. You’re now ready to start attaching the fence pickets. Depending on the desired length of your finished wall, you will need to cut the fence pickets to length. Be sure to subtract 7” from your final length to account for the 3.5” actual width of each post. (Example: 48” wall - (2) 3.5” posts = 41” cut length fence pickets) Next, lay the corner post and 1 end post on the ground or a flat surface with the 2x4 strips facing each other. Beginning at the top of the 46” strip of 2x4 attach 1 of the full width fence picket between the strips using the 1-5/8” deck screws. Again, it would be helpful to pre-drill a small pilot hole. Alternating between a full width fence picket, and one of the ripped fence pickets, evenly spaced, continue working down the wall until it’s completely full. It may be necessary to rip another fence picket for the bottom as it may not space out equal to a full width picket depending on the height of your wall. Stand up the wall you just assembled, and begin attaching the fence pickets between the corner post and the third post, forming a 90* wall. Follow the same method of alternating wide and thin pickets until both sides of the wall are complete. Attach 2 more of the 46”, 2x4 strips to backside center of each wall. These will help stabilize and strengthen the walls. Once your walls are complete, it’s time to start building a frame to support the planters. Using the remaining pieces of 2x4 begin building two rectangular frames which will hold the planters at 3 equal spaces. These can be easily built with the pocket hole jig and 2-1/2” pocket hole screws. If you don’t have a pocket hole jig, regular 2-1/2” deck screws will work. These rectangle shaped frames will be screwed to one side of the wall. 1 at a height high enough to support the planters and one at the bottom of the wall. Next, cut supports to fit between the two frames giving them vertical support. Finally, cut some more supports that will go across the middle of the upper rectangular frame, spaced so that the planters will fit between these supports and rest on the planter’s top lip. Now, using the rest of the fence pickets, cover the box you just made following the same pattern you used on the walls. How you decide to cover the top of the box is up to you. You can completely cover it, or continue the same spacing pattern as the wall. Finally, using the jig saw, cut out the pieces of the pickets where the planters will go allowing them to drop in to their resting place. The assembly of the planter privacy wall is now complete. To finish, sand the wall to remove any loose fibers of wood and paint the color of your choice.” AND DONE!! 🙌🏼 (Thanks Casey!) See?? Easy, peasy! We girls barely even broke a sweat! 💃🏻😉😂 Ok, so it may require a litttttttle bit of sweat, BUT we promise you can do it! And when you do we want to see! So be sure to tag us @gatherednest in your pics!! ✅ Happy building! 🛠 💕 K & C     Hey y’all, and welcome back! Before we begin this super fun DIY tutorial, we just have to say that we have been absolutely overwhelmed by all of the love y‘all showed us on our last blog post! Y’all are truly the BEST, and we LOVED getting to take y’all behind the scenes of Gathered Nest last month! If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, take a minute to do so! We promise it’ll be worth your time! ;) Speaking of love. Y’all. We are legit head over heels in love with this super simple, super fun, inexpensive, practical, stylish, functional, basically alllllll-the-things DIY lighting project that allows you to install lighting WITHOUT it having to be wired in! Which basically means you can now add lighting almost anywhere in your home, AND it’s insanely easy to boot!! Say what?!? But first a little background before we jump in with the step-by-step how-to! This DIY is part of a complete, multi-phase, commercial office design for a new start-up that we can’t wait to share once it’s completed! The first phase has us focusing on our client’s desk and workspace alcove as pictured below.  Because our client has such a fun, bold personality, we knew that we needed to add a fun, bold look to this space! That resulted in a separate DIY project involving this super fun, super bold black-and-white geometric print removable wallpaper by Property Brothers, available at Lowe’s! Y’all. For real. How fun is that?!?  While the large windows in this space provide ample natural light to filter in during the day, we wanted to provide additional layers of ambient lighting for our client. Since there’s currently no additional wiring for lighting in this space, we had to get creative, which is where our DIY lighting hack comes in to play! We first saw something similar posted a few months ago by @our.blessed.nest and couldn’t wait to try it out ourselves! During the initial consult for this project, we both knew almost immediately that this was the PERFECT space for it, and now we’re so excited to get to share this idea with all of YOU!! For this project you’ll need the following materials: Wall light(s) Remote Controlled Puck Light(s) Heavy gauge floral wire Light Bulb Socket Adapter(s) Scissors Drill We started by purchasing a pack of three (3) vintage industrial wall lights and a set of six (6) wireless LED puck lights WITH REMOTE from Amazon. *The remote part is important for this project* Below is what we purchased, although any similar wall light will work! But seriously, how can you not love these lights right here?!? Black and gold are definitely having a moment in the decor world right now, and we are here.for.it. #swoon   Next we used our drill to install the three wall lights according to the instructions and hardware that came with them. And by “we”, we mean Neil. Because, well, let’s be honest. ANY time our guys offer their help we HAPPILY take them up on it! Have we mentioned they’re the best?? ;)   Once the light fixtures were installed (see above) it was time to add the lighting itself. We started by taking the battery covers off the puck lights in order to access two small holes on the cover. We then took heavy gauge floral wire and strung it through the holes as shown below. This floral wire is going to be used to help hold the puck light in place, so make sure to leave ample length on the ends of the wire.  Next we took the 3m sticky tape circle that came with each puck light and cut it to fit between the two holes that held our wire *This allows for a second layer of security to make sure the puck light stays attached inside the light fixture. We then reattached the battery cover to the light as shown below.  We then peeled off the backing of the 3m tape and firmly attached a SOCKET ADAPTER to the puck light itself. *NOT a spRocket adapter like I kept calling it in our Stories. Hey, what can we say- we’re learning! ;) The SOCKET ;) adapter came from Lowe’s, and is what is used to screw the puck light into the fixture itself. The flat side of it fits perfectly onto the tape on our puck light, and it will feel like it’s attached solidly. HOWEVER. We learned the hard way that the tape itself is NOT enough to hold the puck light to the socket adapter. Which is why we have the floral wire. Once you have the socket adapter stuck to the puck light with the tape, take the ends of the floral wire and wrap them tightly around the base of the socket adapter. Twist them together, tie them together, however you want to do it. This part is a little bit of trial and error. Just make sure the floral wire secures the puck light to the socket adapter, and tuck the ends in. We promise it’s not as hard as it sounds! ;)  Once that’s done, simply screw the socket adapter into the light fixture where a light bulb would normally go, and Voila! That’s it! You now have a working remote-controlled light where there was previously no light AND no wiring for lighting!  Y’all!! How awesome is that?!?  We seriously love this so much that we’re already thinking of alllllll the places we can use these in our own houses!  What about y’all??? Anyone else thinking you might want to try out this DIY project for yourself?? We’d love to hear your thoughts! Let us know in the comments! Until next time, Kay and Christy 💕 p.s. If watching a video tutorial is more your thing, check out our DIY highlight over on IG @gatherednesthome and give is a follow if you haven’t already!  Kay Holland (L), Christy Wreyford (R) Hey y’all, welcome to Gathered Nest! We’re so glad you’re here! Thanks to our incredible clients AND to all of you for the overwhelming love and support you’ve shown us over the past 9 months, Christy and I have had an absolute blast and are so excited about what 2020 has in store! Before we share our future plans, though, we want to share a little more about our past and how we ended up here as Gathered Nest! Because trust us- once you hear our story, you’ll know EXACTLY why we have said, and will continue to say, that our story is one ONLY the Lord could orchestrate! Christy and I first officially met approximately 10 years ago, after our family moved from Dallas back home to the Shreveport area. Our husbands grew up together at Summer Grove Baptist Church and immediately reconnected once we moved back to town. Within a year or so, both of our families ended up together at Ellerbe Baptist Church, where we’ve been serving together ever since. Now. While everything in that last paragraph is 100% accurate and certainly seems to explain how we met, it’s pretty boring, right? And DEFINITELY not worthy of some long blog post, right?? Right. But hang on, because there’s actually just a little bit more to it than that. So here’s where it gets fun. Y’all ready? Although Christy and I never officially met until we moved back home, I’d seen her at the wedding of my ex-boyfriend that my husband and I attended together. My ex-boyfriend who is now her husband. Her husband who is one of my husband’s best friends. And my husband who I said yes to for a blind date only because I knew enough about him from Neil- Christy’s husband- to know that Casey- my husband- was a good guy. Did y’all follow all of that?? Because we seriously couldn’t make this up if we tried! ;) So now here we all are, going to church together, raising our kids together, vacationing together, our guys hunting together, and us girls having more Girls Nights Out (GNO) than we can even count! In fact, it was during a GNO that the idea of Gathered Nest was born! While both of our backgrounds are in the medical field, Christy and I both love to decorate on a budget and have spent the past few years sharing what we’ve done in our own homes via social media! In doing so, many of you kindly and graciously encouraged us individually in our talents, and the Lord used that to plant a seed in our minds that began to grow! That seed was watered during a conversation with some of our closest girlfriends while driving around together on a Christmas light scavenger hunt. What started as us discussing our love of decorating for Christmas turned into, “Hey, you know what might be fun?”, which turned into, “Hey, I think that really WOULD be fun!”, which turned into, “Hey, we’re doing it!” And thanks to the Lord’s continued leading, the support of our husbands, and lots of fun and unexpected opportunities along the way, here we are 9 months later! Continuing to decorate for THE BEST clients EVER, starting this blog, annnnnnd keeping a few secrets along the way! So stay tuned, check back often, and make sure you’re following us on FB and IG in the meantime! Kay and Christy 💕 Matthew 18:20  Neil Wreyford, Christy Wreyford, Kay Holland, Casey Holland |
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