when your home is your canvas
…the old brass octopus…
Notice the burned out bulbs that I never replaced because this thing is so hideous.
…and say hello to my brand new chandelier!
Sort of…
Sigh. Assembly required.
I suppose it’s for the best, since I plan to spray paint it. But still. What a let down! I wanted to open the box and voila! Oh well. Spray painting pics coming soon!
Here are a couple of paint colors that I’m considering for my bedroom…
Why yes, I am feeling a little bold, now that you mention it!
But not just bold…neutral. Gray is the new neutral. At least in my world.
Originally I was leaning toward a standard taupey beige. But then I saw this and this and caught the gray bug. My master bedroom is light and airy, with 2 large windows and a vaulted ceiling, so it could handle a dark color without becoming a depressing cave. Plus I have these lovely tile floors in my master bathroom with lots of gray and blue, so it will all tie together beautifully…
Gotta love my leopard slippers! No animals were harmed in the making of my slippers.
Right now I’m leaning toward #1 and #3…
#4 is way too dark, and #2 and #5 are too muddy with too much yellow.
1 = Glidden Seal Gray
2 = Martha Stewart Living Zinc
3 = Behr Pewter Ring
4 = Martha Stewart Living Magnetite
5 = Behr Suede Gray
I may still try on some other paint chips for size, plus who knows when I’ll get to this painting project, since I do have 14-foot ceilings and a case of acrophobia (fear of heights) and an empty wallet (no money to hire a less fearful painter-type).
What do you think? Would you go this bold and dark in your bedroom?
Who doesn’t go impulse shopping for chandeliers on the internet in the middle of the night?
I sure do!
Last Thursday evening, I set out to do some updates to my blog. Amazingly enough, I somehow ended up at HomeDepot.com. Strange how those things happen.
Ultimately my e-wanderings took me to the chandelier page where I came upon this beauty…
How breathtaking! It’s perfect for my living/dining room! It’s the Progress Lighting Berkley Collection Oxford Silver 3-light Chandelier. Better yet, it was on sale for $50, plus free shipping. And the sale was ending at midnight.
It was late, my resolve burned out at least 3 hours earlier, and I had my debit card by my side. A perfect storm. The recipe for an impulsive chandelier purchase!
SOLD!
I decided that I would paint it a metallic champagne to match the living/dining room. Nothing more to say, right?
Wrong.
On Friday Ijust had to share my amazing find with a friend at work. So I pulled up the webpage and I was shocked to see that the chandelier was no longer on sale for $50, but had gone down to $35.96!
ACK!
I promptly called HomeDepot.com’s customer service and they were happy to give me an adjustment to the new sale price! I was now down to Craigslist prices! Woo hoo!
Now I’m just waiting to receive it. The champagne metallic spray paint has already been purchased. I am project ready! I’ll share the details as soon as I have chandelier in hand.
I cannot tell a lie.
I cheated.
What did I do?
I hired someone to paint my bathroom.
True confessions of a DIYer.
Facts are that there was a teenage hair dye explosion a while back and there’s a graduation party coming up in about 3 weeks, and I couldn’t live with the stress that someone might want to venture to the upstairs bathroom for a little privacy.
Here’s the good news…he did a fabulous job at a price that was budget-friendly…so much so that I’ll probably cheat again.
Pictures coming soon. I’ll even keep it real and show before pics of the hair dye explosion and the gas station level of cleanliness in the bathroom.
In the meantime, think spa-like. Think Fresh Aire. Think tranquil pond.
Over at Nesting Place, the Nester came up with a brilliant idea – house goals!
Given that I work full time and procrastinate, leaving me with limited time and energy, I thought that house goals would be perfect for me.
So here are my 2001 house goals…
As you can see, it’s an expansive list. I probably could have listed 3 or 4 times the number of projects, but in the spirit of keeping it real, I decided to stick with 12, so that I could reasonably do 1 project per month.
Here’s a little more detail around the projects…
1. Repaint the stairway wall
So, the stairwell wall has already been painted, but it still needs another coat. And apparently it’s taken me a while.
Last year at work, we had a holiday white elephant exchange and do you know what I got? Paint! Two gallons of slate gray paint! The exact color that I was planning on painting the stairwell wall already. Every now and then, fate sends a little gift of home decor love. Now I’ve got to get on the stick and finish the job.
2. Paint the kids’ bathroom– COMPLETE!
No photos of this madness. All I have to say is this about that…teenage hair dye explosion. Walls, door trim, baseboard. Splattered with dark brown hair dye.
Needless to say, all future hair dyeing has been banned.
I thought that I might get this project done when I was on vacation over the holidays, but it just didn’t happen. However, paint has been purchased, so it can happen any time inspiration strikes.
3. Add curtains to the master bathroom – COMPLETE!
I just can’t seem to get past the creepy feeling that people can look into the cracks between the blinds. So curtains are in order. Just need to find the right ones.
4. Clean up my office
This seems as if it should be a simple enough project, but it’s my combination office, craft room, and general lounging area. And it’s been neglected for quite some time. Lots of filing and decisions to be made about what stays and what goes.
5. Scour my teenage daughter’s room after she goes off to college
The same teenage daughter who experienced the hair dye explosion has a room that could potentially be condemned by the health department. And honestly, I’ve given up on getting her to keep it consistently clean. Every now and then she has a flare-up of cleaning, but it gets out of hand more often than not.
So, when she goes off to school, I’ll be in there in my hazmat suit, ready to sanitize.
6. Add drop cloth curtains to the family room windows – COMPLETE!
I’m planning to join the Internet Bloggers Drop Cloth Revolution (IBDCR) and make curtains out of drop cloths. ‘Nuff said.
7. Get that damn satellite dish off the roof
So, I happen to have a satellite dish dangling from my roof by a thread. No, we don’t still use the satellite. And yes, I’ve become that neighbor.
But who can I hire to get that damn thing off the roof? I just don’t know who does that kind of thing.
8. Buy a dishwasher
Although my house is only 4 1/2 years old, the dishwasher is no longer working. I’ve already spent a small fortune to get the problem diagnosed, but it’s still not fixed. It could be fixed, but the dishwasher repair guy told me that it’s a design flaw, and would likely be broken again within a year. So I opted to not fix it and put the money toward a new dishwasher. In the meantime, I’m using a $2.99 solution…a dishpan, and frankly, not doing such a great job of keeping up with the dishes.
9. Tile the kitchen back splash
OK, what I’d really like to do is an extreme kitchen makeover, because the layout of my kitchen is really dumb. But since I don’t have an extra $10-20k hanging around, I’ve got to make due with what I have. So I’ll at least add some cosmetic changes, the first being tiling the back splash with those cool & funky little glass tiles.
10. Paint at least 1 kitchen wall
Most people probably wouldn’t stop at just 1 kitchen wall, but with an open-concept floor plan, the walls go on forever, without a logical stopping point. So I’ll start with a goal of 1 wall, and figure out where to go from there.
11. For the love of all things holy, DECLUTTER!
Well, there’s probably not a whole lot more that needs to be said about this issue. I’ve been leaning more toward minimizing than maximizing, and I am going to continue to follow that trend, little by little, throughout the year.
Those are my true confession house goals 2011 edition…what are your 2011 house goals?
Do you have a project that was just your favorite ever? I’m sure most of us creative types do.
That’s the question that Donna over at Funky Junk Interiors was asking this weekend.
And even though this may not have been my best design ever, or my hippest project ever, it certainly stands out as my favorite. And the one that helped sell my previous house.
The fish bathroom.
Yes, that’s right, the fish bathroom. I painted the kids’ bathroom in a light sea foam green, then started painting all manner of sea creatures.
What I loved about this project were the flat, two-dimensional sea creatures, who were embellished with three-dimensional elements, like buttons for the suction cups on the legs of an octopus and false eyelashes on the mermaid. Perfect for touching, and we all know little kids love to touch texture.
Heck, adults like to have some fishy fun, too! When we decided to move from California to Ohio, our wonderful realtor told us to leave the fish bathroom as it was, because surely some parents with young kids would love it in our neighborhood of starter homes. This was true, however, it was a middle-aged gentleman and his wife who bought our home, and one of the reasons was that he loved the fish bathroom!
So here goes…my favorite project ever…the fish bathroom…
There was a whale hiding behind the door…
Topped by an octopus with buttons for suction cups…
A mermaid & “real” jewels spilling out of a treasure chest…
A scary shark…
A swimming bear (inspired by a swimming bear on a pair of my then-toddler son’s pajamas)…
And two of his tub toys made into the mix as well…
And many other crazy undersea creatures, like leopard fish…
Plus big goldfish & little goldfish…
And even a sign outside the bathroom door…enter at your own risk!
Oh how I loved that project! Best. project. ever.
In fact, I loved that entire house. It was our home for 10 years, and a lot of life was lived there. It was a special place, and I miss it. Perhaps I’ll dig back through my photo archives and share more of the funky designs that lived there.
Recently, a dear friend who lives in New York came to visit me in Ohio.
After his visit, because I have a collection of masks like this…
And this…
He sent me these…
He suggested that I frame them, which I thought was a wonderful idea. So I purchased this framed painting from a second hand store…
I paid $7.50 for it, which is more than I usually pay for something like this. Free is usually more my price range, but I was motivated and had an idea of exactly what I wanted to do, and this was the perfect frame. And although the painting was cute in a kitschy kind of way and very tempting to keep, I popped the painting out of the frame and began prepping to paint the frame.
So, it went from this…
To this, which resembles something from a bloody horror flick…
To this, which turned out to be cute & funky, adding a pop of color & fun to a classic office…
A close up of the detail on the frame…
What room in your home could use a shot of color & fun?
Showing off this project at Funky Junk Interiors…
One afternoon, I got the inspiration to paint another quick & easy chalkboard project. (To be honest, I was procrastinating about some less inspiring household projects when I had this brainstorm.)
My last chalkboard project was my kitchen pantry cabinet doors.
I decided to add a splash of blackboard next to my kitchen sliding door. This would create a visual barrier between the eating area and our family room, as well as highlight the cute beaded dog leash hanger we have, and anchor it to the floor, rather than it looking as if it’s floating in space.
Here’s the “Before” photo…
A bland, white wall crying out for color!
This project only took a couple hours from inspiration to completion, since I had all of the things I needed already on hand, including leftover chalkboard paint from my last project.
So I taped off the wall using a level to ensure it was even…
…quickly spackled & sanded a couple of spots, then gave it four coats of blackboard paint.
Voila! The finished product…
A welcome contrast to our stark, builder-white walls.
Why not give it a try at your house? Everyone needs a chalkboard!
Showing off at the Whisperwood Cottage Chalk Talk Link Party…
After reading my blog entry about Message Central, my mother commented, “The cabinets look really cute, but you know me, I couldn’t handle the chalkdust.”
As they say, Mother knows best!
After only one day of 2 kids drawing all day on the new chalkboards, I couldn’t handle the chalkdust either. Fortunately, my sister, who is an elementary school teacher, informed me that I could purchase dustless chalk. Hallelujah!
You can order dustless chalk online at Discount School Supply for mere pennies. It comes in white & vivid colors. A worthwhile investment to accompany any chalkboard!
Proper accessories are always important, even for a chalkboard!
I finally gave up on trying to find the perfect blackboard tiles & decided to paint our pantry cabinets with magnetic paint, followed by chalkboard paint, hoping with each stroke of the roller that we don’t sell the house before I do an extreme kitchen makeover (i.e., a major kitchen remodel to make the kitchen actually work sensibly!)
Let me walk you through the process of creating Message Central on our pantry doors.
First, I taped off the area around the inset…
Then I wisely laid down a drop cloth. Since it was such a small job, I actually considered not using a drop cloth, but fortunately I didn’t go with that line of thought, because here’s how the drop cloth looked after some painting…
Yikes! That would not have been good for the hardwood floor!
Finally the prep work was complete and I broke open the magnetic paint. Actually, it was a magnetic primer, black & very thick, since it actually has iron filings in the paint.
Perhaps I have pica, but when I stirred the magnetic primer, I wanted to taste it so badly! It looked so thick & delicious, like brownie mix!
I resisted the temptation to taste the paint, and proceeded to use it as intended.
The magnetic primer was not the easiest paint to work with. The directions indicated that it is normal for the paint to have a watery layer at the surface, which it did, and that didn’t make life easy.
Magnetic primer has a texture, because of the iron filings, so it’s essential to roller it on very evenly.
I used three coats of magnetic paint, as indicated by the manufacturer. Each “coat” actually consisted of going over the area twice, then letting that layer dry for 30 minutes. It took about 30 minutes to complete one coat on all of the doors, so the project moved along rather quickly, taking only about two hours from prep to completion of the magnetic primer layer.
Here’s how the doors looked after the magnetic primer was completed…
As you can see even in the photo, the magnetic primer has lots of texture.
The primer needs to dry for 4 hours prior to painting, but because I got a late start, I waited overnight.
The next morning, I started with the chalkboard paint. This paint was easier to use than the magnetic, but still not a walk in the park, since the roller marks were very obvious.
The chalkboard paint took 4 carefully applied coats, again with each coat consisting of two thin applications, being very mindful of the roller marks.
Because of the small area being covered, this part of the project was also very quick, about 3 hours, including a leisurely coffee break and clean-up time.
Here’s the final product, looking terrific!
I really love how it turned out – it gives our brand new kitchen a vintage schoolhouse charm! And the kids can hardly wait to start using chalk on it, but it should “cure” for 24 hours, and then be “conditioned” by rubbing the side of a piece of chalk over the entire surface, then wiping with a barely damp sponge. Make it easy on yourself & use a chunky piece of sidewalk chalk to make the conditioning move along faster.
Because of the magnetic primer, the chalkboard has more texture than I would have preferred – it has almost a vinyl appeal. But, I really need the magnetic aspect, allowing me to post this & that paper on Message Central, so I’ll make do with the texture.
I’m not much of a long project type, and this one was quick, easy, and rewarding! I’m ready to start magnetizing & chalkboarding more surfaces throughout the house!
How about you? How did you use magnetic & chalkboard paint? Send your project photos & story to me at andrea@homagestyle.com. Maybe we’ll post your project here!
Showing off at the Whisperwood Cottage Chalk Talk Link Party…
