Photo Gallery

This spring the entry hall into my house was on the list for rooms to be painted. After it got a fresh new color it was time to put the pictures back on the wall. I made a few changes from what had been there before we painted. I added a few new pictures and I pulled out some old photos and got them framed. I also framed a quote I like and hung a few skeleton keys for a little added interest.

To get everything back on the wall and make sure it looked balanced without making too many holes, I mapped things out first.

I traced each of my frames onto pieces of paper and then started taping them to the wall. This way I could move them around until I liked the way it looked. It was like shuffling pieces of a puzzle to get the right fit. After the paper pieces were lined up just right we started replacing them one by one with the framed photos.

I’m real happy with the way they turned out and I love looking at all the memories.

Powder room Makeover

Here’s the latest addition to the whole house makeover. You might remember that I started re-decorating everything at the beginning of last year. You can go back and check out the living room here and don’t forget the ceiling fan too. Then there is the kitchen here, right down to the magnets. Around here, if it stands still it’s getting painted.

So this spring, I decided that the powder room needed a little freshening up. It was one of the first things I decorated when we moved into this house. I always liked the way it looked with the rag roll treatment on the walls. I just wanted to give it a facelift with a new color.

Rag rolling is a paint treatment that literally rolls the paint on the walls with a rag. It gives the wall a patterned effect that almost looks like some sort of wallpaper.

To rag roll you need:
A plastic container with a lid.
Paint
A rag (I used a piece of old sheet)
Glaze
Latex gloves



Mix equal parts of glaze and paint. I used sample size jars of paint and still have a little bit leftover. A little really goes a long way.

Stir the glaze and the paint together in the plastic container. Get your gloves on and wet the rag with water. Ring out all the excess water and then dip the rag into the paint. Make sure it is covered with paint and then squeeze the extra paint off back into the container.

Now crumple the rag up in a ball. Place it on the wall and then slowly roll it along the wall in random directions. You can go over the same area as you move the rag from section to section. As the rag is rolled it leaves paint behind in its path. Go as light or heavy as you want, just try to be consistent in the room.


Here is the before when it was a sage green. When we moved in I just put the green over the existing beige that covered every wall in the house.

For the re-do I had to cover the green and give the room a new base coat.

This time around I went with two shades of blue. (Go figure)
When using two colors the technique is the same you just do all of one color. After the first coat is dry move on and do the same thing again with the next color.

Now, I couldn’t just paint and change any of the other details….
So I spray painted the Light and turned it from the standard brass in all the houses on my street to a hammered silver.

I also hit the towel rod, the outlet cover and the light switch plate.

I even put a coat of paint on the silver hook to make sure it had the same finish as the rest of the fixtures.

I hung an empty frame from the hook to jazz up that boring mirror.

Even the candle got a new dress. I didn’t think that Yankee candle would make my favorite scent in the color I wanted and the green did go with the new paint color so I cut a placemat and wrapped it around the candle. Vola. It matches!!!!

I have a few ideas for the wall decorations but I might need a little time to get to them. Don’t worry; I’ll be sure to share them with you as soon as I get them done.

Drum Roll Please...

I think there is a part of me that is still in shock that it’s really done. Well, for the most part anyway. The drop cloth is gone, the paint cans are put away and the furniture is no longer sitting in the middle of the room. I have a few details that need finishing to really call it D.O.N.E. I’m building up my nerve now to work on a few paintings for the walls.

I’m more this kind of painter…

Not this kind of painter…

See.

This is what is used to look like…

This is how it looks now.

I removed the dental molding from the fireplace, striped it and then stained it a dark walnut color. I loved it right away. I’m so happy I finally did this. I also removed the brass from the front of the fireplace. Someday there will be tile covering the brick. For now, that is out of my expertise and I’ll need to wait for hubby to get in the mood. (????) That mirror looks different on the mantle now. It looks even better in person too. I few new knick-knacks and it’s a completely different look. See the shelves on right? They look so much better too. I bought a few black bins to put toys in and everything seems so much more clean and neat. Ok, so, I’m still a little afraid to put all my stuff out but I’m getting there.


Remember my stumbling block over what to do with the windows?

Here’s what I came up with for the living room.

I found some sheers that matched the wall color perfectly and I hemmed them just to touch the window seal. I wanted the living room window and the sliding door (just a few feet apart) to have the same fabric but different styles to the window treatments. At first I planed to buy the fabric and make them but that was going to be waaaaay too expensive, once I founds the fabric I liked. So, I found curtain panels and altered them to look the way I vision in my head. For the living room, all I really needed to do was cut and hem the panels. They already had grommets on the top. Wait until you see what I did to them for the sliding door. Awe. You’ll have to wait for another post to see that. (Oh, and I added some must have roll down shades for that killer sun shine)

Here’s a shot of the pillows I made to pull the room together.

From left to right; I used a brown and blue brocade but depending on how the light hits it you can see some silver. The next one looks like leather. I got that fabric months ago to make a purse but used half of it here. I’m sure the rest will some day turn into t a purse. The next one was fun. I just painted some birds on using stencils I made. There’s a momma bird a papa bird and three little baby birds. Just like my family. That little blue one I got on sale for 50% off. I made the last one from a tablecloth. It was the perfect color and I liked it. I used some for a runner that is on a sofa table just above this love seat. The rest I used for 2 pillows.

I’ll show you more soon.

Yep, magnets too

I told you, if it stands still, it gets painted.

When we first moved into this house, we put gray countertops in and added tin to the cabinets doors to alter their look. I also painted a faux tile backsplash in shades of gray. To help pull thing together I made these refrigerator magnets.

I bought a package of wood disks and a package of magnets from the craft store. I used hot glue to attach the magnets to the backs of the wood disks and then I painted the fronts to coordinate with the kitchen. I used the same paint from the tile backsplash. I had some stamps that I used to embellish the tile so I used the same ones for the magnets.

Here's what they used to look like.

For the makeover, I used some leftover wall paint and the same stamps.

Paint the base color first. Then put a few drops of paint on a paper plate and smooth it out with a brayer. (It’s like a rolling pin for paint) Then push your stamp into the paint and onto the magnet.

This re-do project took me about 15 minutes. It’s just one more detail to help me pull everything together.

What do you use to accent your rooms?

I'm working on pillows next...

What's taking so long???

As many of you know, I started this year with a huge redecorating project. The total plan includes the living room kitchen area, the dinning room and the master bedroom/bathroom. The first project is by far the biggest. The living room kitchen area. It’s the biggest space wise and it includes the most projects.

The project list:
Paint entertainment unit
Paint bookshelves
Strip and re-stain fireplace mantle
Removes dental molding from fireplace
Paint all baseboards and molding in both rooms
Prep all walls for paining
Paint focal wall
Paint recessed wall in living room
Paint all remaining walls
(Yep, three different colors… that’s just how I am)
Update ceiling fan
Attach wainscoting the ends of all kitchen cabinets
Attach wainscoting to three sides of kitchen island
Paint all lower cabinets one color
Paint all upper cabinets a different color
(Did I mention I like color?)
Demo useless built-in kitchen desk
Replace broken molding
Make new window treatments for three different windows
Make new pillows for couch

Ok, now that is some list, right? In the mean time I’m also maintaining (sort of) the rest of the house and trying to keep up with cooking meals, doing the laundry, grocery shopping and taking care of the three little monkeys that rule this house.

What they don’t show you on those home makeover shows is how all the other stuff is getting done or the 30 some people that they having doing the work. For the most part, I have done the lion’s share of jobs on this project. I occasionally get the hubby to help with things I can’t physically manage or he’ll take over with the kids after work so I can focus on a project or two.

None of these projects came without some sort of hurdle. Almost everything had some hidden problem that changed the time line or the budget or both. For example: The paint I used on the entertainment unit and the bookshelves takes 4 weeks to cure. The bookshelves have NOT yet fully cured after 9 weeks and will need to get a polyurethane sealant before the can be reassembled and used. The one wall in my living room had a geometric pattern painted on it that required several coats of painting, sanding, spackling and painting some more. Now that the cabinets are being painted they will also need to have hardware put on them for easier use. (I never had pulls or handles before and didn’t plan for them until I saw how challenging it would be to open without them. The paint just changed the way things worked slightly.)

Another time line set back was being out of town for two weekends and the hubby went away for one weekend. Then we had a week of school cancellations due to snow and then another week of two-hour delays. Then there is the issue of space. To paint the doors and drawer fronts, they need to come off of the facing and then I need a place to set them while they dry and wait for another coat of paint. That place is the dinning room table. This is also my sewing table. So if I’m working on a curtain that means no painting gets done and visa-versa.

So where am I now… I’d say that about 75 to 80 % of the space has been worked on however each project is only about 90 % finished. For example: The kitchen curtains have been made and are hanging but they need to come back down and get the final hem put in the bottom. Two of the new curtain rods are up but they still have shrink-wrap on them and they need to be cut to length and get the finials attached.

Thank you all for waiting so long for me to get done. I hope that by Easter I can give you the full before and after of everything but for now here are a few teaser photos.

The Blue...

The Brown....

The new wood...

The kitchen island...

The upper cabinets...

I hope that will hold you over for a while. You'll just have to wait to see how it all works together.

Mirror, mirror

I wasn’t kidding when I said everything that stood still was getting painted. Remember this mirror from my mantle?



It needed updated to fit in with the rest of the changes around here. This was a fun, easy, can-do-no-wrong project. Hubby brought this mirror home for me on one of his trips to Sam’s club shortly after we moved in this house. It came with two matching picture frames that I think I sold at a yard sale. I liked the mirror for the mantle and it had a home there for several years now. What made this project so easy to update was the texture on the frame. It was the perfect pallet for adding color. The pattern has a lot of recessed areas to catch paint and raised areas that catch other colors.

Originally it was sort of a brass tone or an antiqued gold. To fit in with the new color scheme, I added blue, green and brown. First, it got a coat of primer then the fun began. This was a no-fear project because if I didn’t like the look, I just added more paint until it felt right. Step one was to fill in the recessed areas with blue from one of my wall colors. Some of the smaller recessed areas got a touch of green. (I plan to use that color as an accent color in the room). Then I covered the frame in brown paint (another wall color). I added paint and then wiped it off until there was just enough of each color to give the “look” I was hopping for. Now, these were the colors from the room but it felt like it was missing something. I mixed some craft paint together to get a combination of silver and black. I dry-brushed this on in random spots to give added depth to the frame. (That's my son's foot...he had to be a part of Mama's picture).

After I felt like I had enough color on then I put a coat of clear finish on the frame to give it a shine. Ta Da! A new mirror for my mantle. I can’t wait to put it in place.

BTW- the pictures don't do it justice. It looks much better in person.

Let it begin

Well, so far so good. I’m off to a good start but we’ll see how things go as the years progresses. It started with the purging bug. No, I’m not sick again. It’s a new year, out with the old and in with the new. As the Christmas decorations were coming down and getting packed away, I weeded out the storage bins. I cleaned off the bookshelves and got things ready for my decorating project.

Here’s what the main wall in my living room looked like before the Fall and then Christmas decorations went up. The TV cabinet and the bookshelves were purchased through a catalog to match the maple color of the fireplace. Yeah, right. They were such a hassle to lift and assemble; I didn’t dare tell the hubby I didn’t like them. They just didn’t match right, not to mention that I didn’t really care for the wood tone on the fireplace to start. And that is all just the beginning of the list of reasons that have lead up to my re-decorating goals.

They say that a woman’s home is an extension of who she is. If so then I am chaos. The hubby and I each had a full house hold when we came together. For two years, more than half of our stuff stayed in boxes in the storage area of our NJ apartment. Once we moved into this house, it was not always easy to find space for things. We each had a set of dishes and silverware. We kept those and it works out good when we have a party or a big family meal. His was white and mine was black. They mix and match well with each other (like us I guess). See those two vases on the mantle… one was his and one was mine. (Isn’t that funny, they’re identical). Anyway, when it came to the furniture it got a little harder to make it all fit and make it work. I’ve moved stuff around and tried things in different rooms but I never got that “Aahhhh, I’m home” feeling. When I go to my friends’ houses and I feel that relaxation come over me, I know that I need to work on a plan for my house.

I’ve been working on some ideas for a few months now. It’s time to get started. This is just a tease; you’ll have to be patient to see the end result.

Do you see all those blue swatches??? Go figure. Hmmm, what color will it be????



Have you started your goals???