WELCOME to The BBL Blog

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Hi! I’m Becca Brown. I’m 37 years old and live in the suburbs of Georgia, with my husband, Michael, our four kids (10, 9, 6, and two), and two dachshunds. I was an elementary school teacher for nine years before becoming a stay at home mom and then foster momma to 14 kiddos so far, over the past five years. Michael and I have had a heart for adoption since we first met and after three difficult pregnancies and a miscarriage, we thought adoption would be our route to a fourth baby. We started on the journey to learn about adoption options, and this ultimately led us to our journey with foster care. We became a certified foster family in 2013 and have fostered 6 kids long term and another 8 kids through respite in that time. We were also blessed with the best surprise ever when we found out we were pregnant with our little Berkeley, and couldn’t imagine this life without her.

We will continue to follow God’s plan in our journey with foster care and hope that this will one day lead to the adoption of another little boy and our family will be complete. If this journey has taught us anything, it has been to never say never and that God’s plans are way bigger than ours!!! Our work through the past five and a half years has become our mission as a family and that mission has led to our family Bible Verse, Luke 1:37 NIV: “For nothing is impossible with God.” This is how we continue and will continue to love every child we meet through foster care.

I started my Instagram account @Beccabrownliving over three years ago, as a creative outlet to share my hobbies and passions. I love DIY and home décor, so I thought it was fun to share my projects and get inspiration from others. What I did not expect was the community to embrace me so openly and for me to find a place of so much support! My followers and the friends I’ve made through Instagram, inspire me daily and I love this aspect of my life! I have met so many unbelievably talented people and have enjoyed opportunities to collaborate with some really cool brands. I feel like my Instagram community has given me the gift of an identity outside of just my family, a voice to my passions and missions, and confidence to be unapologetically, me.

As I’ve grown, so have my passions and I felt a blog would be the best place to “house” all the things I share and experience! I will share healthy lifestyle tips as a coach for The FASTer Way to Fat Loss, my favorite safer beauty products as a consultant with Beautycounter, affordable fashion, and just my every day struggles and wins as a wife, mother, and woman. I am ready to get sharing ALL THE THINGS!!!

I was interviewed by my friend Rachel @Crateandcottage last year and she wanted to know my top three decor tips. So here they are…

My three décor tips are pretty simple:

Buy or make things that you will love in more than one space in your home. That way, if you want to change things up, you can always move or repurpose the décor you have and not keep spending money.
Learn how to “shop” your home. This goes perfectly with number one. You don’t always have to buy new things to decorate your home. Sometimes, moving something you love from one room to another, is the only change you need! I do this all the time. If I get tired of a chair or a the décor on a shelf in one room, I just rearrange it, or move it to a different room and it breathes new life into that space without costing anything.
Less is More! I’ve gone through all kinds of decorating phases, including sticking way too many things on a table to try to make it look just right. Sometimes, just a few key pieces, can make a space look much better!

Shiplap Wallpaper and DIY Hoops

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Every bedroom in our home needs to be painted and since we are a DIY painting family, the task seems quite daunting. I decided back in October to create in accent wall in my daughter’s bedroom to start and then would finish by painting the rest of the room. Then I found out I was pregnant, and well… I was super sick, so the wall was half wallpapered for 7 months.

We finally finished it this past weekend and I was able to create a hanging branch with embroidery hoops to add to the space above her bed.

The wallpaper is the Shiplap NuWallpaper by Wallpops, and I love it! It’s so easy to install and looks great in this space!

I bought the branch at Homegoods and sanded it down to be natural. The Embroidery hoops are from Hobby Lobby. The faux greenery and twine are from Amazon.

Here are the before pics:

DIY: Stenciled Tile Floor

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I had great intentions of writing a blog post about my DIY stenciled laundry room floors immediately after completing the project. But… ya know… life just kept happening. I worked on this project in between taking care of a newborn and three other kids during summer break, so it took a little longer than expected. I can honestly say, these floors are one of my favorite projects thus far! And now that we’ve lived with them for four months, I can honestly tell you’ve they’ve held up really well!

I’m going to break this down and keep it really simple. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. I was inspired by others on Instagram and was able to take their projects and spin it to make my own. Hopefully, this post will help you do the same. The products I used were either recommended by other DIYers and or products I’ve used successfully in the past. Happy Stenciling!

Step 1: Clean the tiles and remove all lint and dirt. I just used Clorox wipes and scrubbed with my hands. Just make sure you get them as clean as possible so you don’t get debris stuck in your paint.

Step 2: Tape off any areas you don’t want to get painted by the roller. I’m super lazy with this, but I recommend taking the extra time to do this well.

Step 3: Prime the floors with the primer of your choice. I thought I bought white primer which is what I was planning on using, but once I opened the can, I realized it was gray. I went with it, and it was fine because I was going to use charcoal gray as my base. If you are planning on using white as your base, make sure to get white primer. I used a roller for this step and a brush around the edges. I only had to use one coat because my primer was dark, but depending on the color of your floor, you might have to do two. I could have gone with the quart instead of the gallon size, but now I have some for the next project.

Step 4: Paint the floors with your base color. I used one coat of Rust-oleum Charcoal Chalkpaint. Let it dry really well before beginning the stencil process.

Step 5: Stencil with your stencil of choice. I used the 12 x 12 Augusta stencil from Cutting Edge Stencil. I also ordered their roller for the stencil part. The stencil comes with great directions for how to use it best, so I recommend following those for this project. I did not use any other stenciling brushes and or tools because I wanted it to have some distressed look to it. I just used rolled the best I could and didn’t worry too much about the bleeds or imperfections. If you want a cleaner look, you will probably need to go back and touch up some areas with actual stencil brushes. I started in the middle of the room and stenciled every other tile so that I could access each one without stepping on the drying paint.

Step 6: Seal the Floors. I used Minwax Polycrylic protective finish with three coats. I just used a regular roller and brush to cover them. After each coat, I waited a day, and then after the third and final coat, I waited 72 hours before putting any real traffic on the floors. I think this was key to allowing the floors time to set. I also chose the Matte finish because I didn’t want a shiny look.

Products I used:

**Four months later and these floors have held up so much better than I’d anticipated! This room gets so much traffic every day because it’s where the kids cubbies with shoes and bags are located. It’s also our laundry room, so with 6 people, it is always being used! Because the tile is so pretty, it motivates me to keep the laundry off the floor.**