Working on my To Do List - Yellow Paint!

Last month my birthday inspired a big to do list, my 30 while I'm 30.  This week I crossed a few things off that list!  We finally purchased a big piece of furniture for our living room.  I had less than one week from the time we bought it to the delivery date.  I made some quick decisions and painted.

Before the project started the wall didn't look very inviting in our living room.

I couldn't decide between yellow or purple for the color in this room.  I went to Lowe's and found the perfect shade of yellow - Valspar's Saltillo.

I woke up early to move the furniture and tape the wall before my little assistant was awake.  I had one full coat of paint on the wall before she stumbled into the living room and said, "you're painting with out me?"  The wall was finished and dry by the end of the day.  It looks so pretty with our new furniture!

While we had the paint out I decided to tackle another thing on my list - paint the bench.  We purchased it from Razmataz years ago.  Originally it was in a sitting room but has been in almost every room of our home at some point.  Most recently it was against the wall in the living room.

I used the same paint to give the bench some color.  Initially I thought I would completely cover the bench with paint but after only one coat it looked perfect.

Next in line on the list is making curtains, pillows, and a padded seat for the bench.  I can't wait!

 

Heather's Kitchen Facelift

I was absolutely thrilled about the kitchen space in our new home when we moved in last year!  Although everything was new and pretty, I really wanted to add some bright colors.  I was not set on a color scheme until I remembered that I had a full gallon of Dr. Seuss red that I bought last summer and never used.  I had originally planned on painting some stripes in my daughter's play room but decided against it when I realized all the touch up work necessary on textured walls.  The paint just sat in the closet until last week.  I remembered the paint looking more red when I purchased it and was slightly shocked when the first part of my kitchen makeover ended up with an orange island!  A couple of days looking at the orange and I decided I love it!
I made a few more changes with the same orange color.  I had a tall wood vase that looks so much prettier painted orange.  It didn't move from its original location above the cabinets.  I used orange Martha Stewart glitter to add our initial to a tray that I mod podged with newspaper.  I set it above the cabinets next to an old bottle holding a fake flower.  Pretty!

The dining area looks much better now too!  The play kitchen and cardboard refrigerator were definitely cluttering up the space.  Positioning the table differently made the room look so much bigger.  I moved the Venice picture into our living room and traded it for a fun print I found at IKEA (scroll down for a close up).  I made a window valance with just enough orange to pull it all together.

I love the orange bike in this picture!!!!!!!!

The curtains were a quick project made with fabric I found at Wal-mart!  I looked a few different places for something grey but couldn't find any reasonably priced fabric.  Surprisingly I found the perfect fabric at Wal-mart for only $1.50/yard.  Great bargain!  I really like how the ruffle turned out too!

My husband's grandfather made this stained glass light fixture.  We had it hanging in our previous home but had yet to swap it with the original in our new home.  The chain needs to be a little longer but this works for now.  Such a pretty light and it matches perfectly with the new colors in the kitchen!

Our refrigerator door is not magnetic so I found myself always struggling with where to put things (mail, pictures, notes, invitations, etc.).  I used a broken picture frame and transformed it into a great space for everything I would normally have hanging on the refrigerator (clutter!).  I blurred out all our personal information so the pictures might look a little strange.  I took advantage of a small space across from our pantry that was previously being used to park toys.  It now houses our garbage can, the play kitchen, and my new memo board.

Just an FYI on the original print in the frame - my middle brother bought the framed print for my husband almost 10 years ago.  It was hanging on the wall in my husband's first house for a couple of years.  When we had the house for sale a realtor called and scheduled an appointment to see the house with their clients.  We were surprised because a man and a little boy rang our doorbell at the appointment time but they did not have a realtor with them.  We had a difficult time communicating because the man did not speak English.  The little boy acted as an interpreter.  The only words the man ever spoke directly to us was, "oh Scarface," as he looked at the picture hanging on the wall.  They left and our door bell rang a second time.  It was the realtor and her clients with the scheduled appointment.  They were running late.  The man and little boy stopped by because they just happened to see our for sale sign in the yard.  The next day that man offered more than the our asking price and bought our house!  We have always credited the Scarface picture for selling our house.  I was really bummed about the glass breaking but am happy I was able to turn our good luck frame into something else we can use!  The backing on the memo board is simply the back of the Scarface print (I painted it with the same orange paint used on the island).

The last little project for the kitchen was transforming my canisters from black into something bright.  I used the same fabric on the curtains so it all matches. 

I have a few tutorials to go along with this post but you won't see them for a little while.  We have a fun and busy couple of weeks coming up!

I'm linking this post here.

 

The Ocean Wall

I was very excited to move into our new home last year because I had so many fun project ideas.  I only had a few things I really wanted to accomplish before we actually moved in - paint both my daughter's new bedroom and playroom.  I knew it would be a disaster to try and paint with her already sleeping in the room.  At the time she really liked Nemo so there was no difficulty in choosing a theme for her decor.  She is now obsessed with Disney Princesses so her room is slowly evolving to an underwater princess disaster.  Of course I wished it all would match but I've let go of trying to keep it all one theme.

Before moving in I used painters tape to draw a water line on two walls.  I used two sets of decals to decorate the water (an ocean themed set from Target and a Nemo set from Lowe's).  I used my Cricut and blue vinyl to make a Bruce quote for the wall.  My daughter's purple hamper got an upgrade with two little fish buttons.  She has a purple dresser with Nemo drawer pulls and a lamp with a redecorated Nemo shade but they aren't in her room because she climbs on everything and can't be trusted with any furniture. 

Step inside for a tour -

The wall opposite the water wall doesn't have too much more than my daughter's name.  For this project, I painted nine 8" x 10" canvases then used Mod Podge to add paper letters.  I used leftover bubbles from the ocean decals to make the art coordinate with the other walls.  I love how this turned out! 

This wall also houses a clock and the moon.  Yes, the moon.  Since our Florida trip with premium Super Moon views, my daughter has talked about the moon everyday.  I found a moon lamp at Walgreens (of all places) around Easter time.  It was the perfect gift for my daughter's basket!  It looks so neat lit up in the dark room! 

The room has looked pretty much the same since we moved in (except for the princess bedding and the moon light).

Let me branch off and tell you a little story.  While in college I purchased a giant  Hawaiian sunset wall mural from Urban Outfitters.  I thought it would be awesome in my living room.  Remember I was only 20 years old at the time!  Thankfully I never got around to ruining any apartment wall with the mural.  For years I've thought about selling the mural in yard sales or giving it away.  I just couldn't bring myself to actually parting with it.  I came across it last week and decided it would be fun in my daughter's Nemo room.

One quick trip to Lowe's for wall paper paste and about an hour later my daughter has a beautiful ocean wall to help her get to sleep at night.  Unfortunately last night, while protesting bedtime, she was screaming, "get that beautiful sunset off my wall!"  Silly me, I thought a two year old would appreciate the years I've been toting that thing around to finally pull it out of the box for her room!

Regardless, I like it and am super happy it was never the main focus of my living room! 

 

Fun Find Friday - Photography Letter Art

Today's Fun Find Friday came from my own home!

Can you believe I didn't have this incredibly awesome photography wall art hanging on my wall before today?

We are really big Disney fans and visit Disneyland every chance we get. I grew up in Arizona and loved summer vacations to Disneyland with my family. My husband grew up mostly in Florida and spent a lot of time in Disney World. Together we have really enjoyed making Disneyland a part of our family memories. Our two year old daughter is one lucky little girl...she has already been to Disneyland 15 times! We have friends that also spend a lot of time in Disneyland. We've lived in separate states for almost two years so we planned to meet them for a Disneyland vacation last January. Their oldest son is just a little older than my daughter. He brought her a present to celebrate our time spent together because we rarely see them (kudos to his mommy for putting this AWESOME gift together). The little boy's grandfather took pictures of letters in Disneyland and saved them to make gifts. Lucky us...we were given framed art with my daughter's name. The back of the frame has the Disneyland location of each letter. It took me forever to get it hung because I was looking for the perfect place to hang it in our home. We just moved into this house last November and I had a lot of things waiting for a perfect place on the wall. Sadly this art was added to the "find a place to hang these things" pile in the guest bedroom closet. I finally hung most of our Disney stuff in our hall. The corner is directly outside my office...it's the perfect place for things that make me smile!

We have a lot of great Disney related art but today I decided this area is reserved for special gifts and fun stuff we've taken home from our many Disneyland visits.

My mother-in-law used her glass kiln to make a cute Mickey and Minnie picture. She gave it to us for Christmas quite a few years ago.

My grandmother's neighbor carves wood sculptures. She asked him to make us something Disney related for a recent anniversary gift. Cute and very thoughtful. The silhouette to the right is my husband and I...we had it made during one of our very first Disneyland trips together.

My in laws gave me Disney stock for my college graduation gift. For obvious reasons I blacked out my name and address.

Lastly, I hung a picture of my husband and I on Space Mountain. Do you know how many times you have to ride Space Mountain to get the perfect kiss picture? A lot!!!

Just for fun I'd thought I share a picture of a 2009 Christmas gift I gave my husband. I framed all our caricatures together - his from 1978, mine from 1984, and our daughter's from 2009. I love that our parents were able to find these!! Sorry for the bad picture...this was taken when I gave it to my husband. It is now in his office.

I really did plan on making something fun today but grocery shopping, organizing, hanging pictures, and cleaning is where I spent my day instead. Earlier this week I saw a GREAT idea at Lolly Jane Boutique. She made an interchangeable felt necklace. I had big plans to have this made before today's post.

To see the complete tutorial, go here. I never make anything for myself because I have a very difficult time picking one thing to make. I don't want to spend the time to limit myself to a necklace that will only match one color scheme. This interchangeable necklace is the perfect solution! I really really hope I set aside to make myself one of these before Creative Estates next week! Is that really less than one week away?? I still need to find myself some super duper awesome outfits, make business cards, color my hair, and give myself a really big pep talk to bolster up my confidence to be able to stand next to incredibly talented woman I follow everyday! Oh wait, did I just share my personal "to do" list with you? Oops. Seriously though, I'm really really excited about Creative Estates!

 

Chalkboard gallery wall

Chalkboard walls are everywhere right now. Everywhere. I've seen them in playrooms, bedrooms, dining rooms, and offices. I've seen them used as coloring walls, idea boards, calendars, and serving many other purposes. I've had a small jar of chalkboard paint for about a month because I bought it on sale. I have been looking at it everyday thinking I needed to finally paint something. I had a very difficult time deciding which wall to paint. It was silly to waste so much time thinking about something I could easily paint over if I didn't like it (well, maybe not easily but it's not permanent!). I made a decision and I painted!

There is a small space between the closet and door in my craft room. Looked perfect for a chalkboard!

I didn't measure because I am impatient and figured everything was probably measured when the house was built. I am aware this isn't always the case! I lined up my painters tape against the trim around the two doors and then just eyeballed the tape on the bottom and top (RISKY!).

I painted three coats of paint with one hour between each application. I also turned on this room's fan and opened the window for the breeze to help the wall dry quicker.

I was very happy to see the wall when I removed the tape. Even though painters tape has never let me down, I'm always terrified to remove the tape after I've painted. Some weird fear has me envisioning paint everywhere and the tape laughing wildly as it peels off the wall. Strange, I'm aware.

Only a few places need touch up paint due to our textured walls.

I decided this wall was perfect for me to glance over and smile so I put pictures that make me happy.

Silly chalk frames are drawn around each picture.



I am excited to use some frame templates to draw pretty chalk frames for a gallery wall. The best part about this wall is I can change it everyday if I want!