Playroom Progress

Hi, friends!!  Man, I just realized I’ve been pretty MIA this week!!  Yikes!  Sorry about that.  I literally cannot believe it’s already Friday!!  Where did the week go??

Well, my week started off pretty hectic.  I had made up my mind Sunday night that I was going to start painting the playroom on Monday (more on that in a minute).  Well, Monday morning the hubs tells me that he would like to invite some coworkers over for dinner on Wednesday night.  No biggie.  I probably shouldn’t have started painting the playroom and focused on cleaning and getting ready for guests on Wednesday, but I had already made up my mind that I was going to paint.  You know how when you decide to do something, it kind of can’t wait (please tell me you guys are like that too)?  Well, I was in full-on playroom project mode and there was no stopping me.  So I spent Monday and Tuesday painting the playroom and Wednesday cleaning and cooking.  Naturally on Thursday, I crashed!  I napped when Em napped which I NEVER do! 

But, it’s FRIDAY and no one can complain about that!  Whoop!

So….back to the playroom (that is what this post is about, right?)

Earlier this month when I was thinking about my home goals for 2012, I knew the playroom was one area I really wanted to tackle.  It’s one of the first rooms people potentially see (depending on if they look left or look right) when they first walk in the front door.  Although this room is usually a disaster thanks to my busy little 15 month old, I would feel better if it were a cute, decorated disaster.  Wouldn’t you feel better??

First things first…..PAINT!  I mean, painting really is the worst.  Some people love it and find it so relaxing.  I can’t stand it.  But I do it because the end result just tickles me pink for months on end.  So I knew I had to paint this room. 

I’ve mentioned before that the playroom and dining room are like one giant room (they are totally open to each other).  So, the paint color I chose for the playroom was close to the same color as the stencil in the dining room.  I say that it’s “close” to the color because when I went to Lowes to get the paint for the playroom, the color match machine was broken.  Not to mention, there were dried up paint drips that ran right over the label that had the numbers of the formula for the paint color.  DOH!  So I took the paint swatch to Home Depot and crossed my fingers.  And I’m happy to say it’s pretty darn close.  It didn’t have to be perfect anyway.  By the way, the paint color is Benjamin Moore’s Crystalline but I had them take a little bit of the blue out.

On Monday as soon as I got Em down for her nap, I set off to paint!

I’m not labeling that last picture as “after” because I still have a lot to do in here.  First off, I need to hide those ugly cords coming from behind the TV.  I guess my method of sticking them to the back of the TV with blue painter’s tape was a major fail (as evidenced by the above picture).  Plan B.  I’d also like to add labels to the black storage bins.  I’m also still thinking about adding some stripes to the curtains in here like the ones in the dining room.  I just LOVE the curtains in the dining room and I think they’d be fun over on this side of the room too!

We hung some rain gutter bookshelves that I just adore!!  It’s another one of those projects that makes me wonder why we didn’t do it sooner!

I made the fabric bunting with some scrap fabric I had in my stash and some white grosgrain ribbon.  Easy peasy and it looks so cute!  I’m really trying to “de-stash” so this was a good little project for that!
See that little wooden desk and chair?  It is a handmade piece that I got that from my aunt and uncle for MY 1st birthday!!  It is such a great piece and is still kickin’ and quite sturdy 29 years later!!  It is sooooo incredibly special to now have this in my daughter’s playroom.  I plan on painting it with some white DIY chalk paint and doing some chalkboard paint on top!  The little tin bucket hanger came from Ikea.  I would like to put some frames above it on that blank wall to hold Emily’s art!  Picture a gallery wall of scribble scrabble. 

So, this room is still a work in progress but I’m excited about the progress I made this week.  The paint is just perfect and it really makes the white trim just pop!  Oh….and I love the way the framed pattern pieces look against the blue paint!

So fun!

So that’s what has been going on in our crazy house this week.  Painting and dinner parties.  Good times.

What have you been up to?  What do you think about the playroom so far?  If you like what you see, won’t you be a dear and “pin it”.  There’s a nifty button at the bottom of this post!  Thanks guys!

I am linking up to many of these great parties:

M: DIY Showoff Project Parade, Metamorphosis Monday, Made by You Mondays, Just Something I Whipped Up, Today’s Creative Blog, Making Monday Marvelous, Polly Want A Crafter T: Get Your Craft On, Tip Junkie, Home Stories A to Z, Homework W: Passionately Artistic, Twin Dragonfly Designs, Creative Spark @ Clean & Scentsible, Not Just A Housewife Th: 36th Avenue, Just A Girl, Gluesticks, House of Hepworths, Every Creative Endeavor F: Sassy Sites, I’m Lovin’ It, Remodelaholic’s Anonymous, Frugal Friday, Friday Fun Finds, Feature Yourself Friday, Pity Party, Weekend Wrap-Up, Weekend Bloggy Reading S:  I Heart Naptime, Be Different, Act Normal, A Little Lovely,  Su:  Under The Table & Dreaming, Remodelaholic, Homemaker On A Dime

 

Thanks for reading! 

Don’t forget to follow along on Facebook & Twitter!

Dining Room {Progress} Pt. 2

I am so excited today!!!  We made some really great progress on the dining room this weekend!!  I am so happy with how it turned out. 
In my last dining room post, I showed you our painted dining room. 
We went with Benjamin Moore’s Tranquility, but I had it color matched at Lowe’s and had them take out 2 drops of blue in order to have it more of a gray color.
We only painted halfway because we were going to install chair rail and eventually do some faux wainscoting below (like how Emily - aka Décor Chick - did here).
One detail that I was keeping secret from you guys was that we also were going to stencil a feature wall!!  And that is exactly what we did this weekend!  Of course, if you follow me on Facebook and/or Twitter then you already had the 411 on this!

I LOVE it!!  It looks so good and has really transformed this room into an elegant, yet casual space.  Exactly what I wanted!
After much debate (and going back and forth about 501 times), I finally decided on the Zamira Allover stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils.
Have you heard of Cutting Edge Stencils and all of their yummy designs??  I’m telling you…..I had the hardest time deciding on a stencil.  They have so many gorgeous designs to choose from.  But, after seeing a few of the Zamira’s in action, I knew it was the one!  What sold me on this design was Jen’s beautiful wall that she and her hubby just recently completed!
I was so nervous about stenciling this wall because I have never really stenciled before!!  I felt like I was diving in with both feet, both hands, both ears, and everything else.  But there was no looking back!  I just went for it!  What really helped me were the how-to videos that Cutting Edge Stencils provided!  They have a YouTube channel and I watched just about all the videos…..TWICE!  This one was a huge help:

The hubs and I started at about 10am and worked on it off and on throughout the day.  We obviously took breaks for lunch, to play with Emily, for dinner, and to get Emily to bed (you know….bottle, bath, book, etc.).  We finished up around 9 or 10 after we got her down.  So it really didn’t take as long as I thought it would.  I figured we’d be working on it for a few days.  I didn’t expect to finish in one day (especially working on it as sporadically as we did).
I would say we followed the instructions to a “t”. 
We started at a place that allowed us to do an uninterrupted pattern (so we had a base to work left and right from).

I was a little tape happy (I used more than the recommended 4-6 pieces), but it made me feel better about the stencil laying flat against the wall.


One done……367 more to go (that obviously is a sarcastic guess at how many patterns we had left to complete.  It felt like a lot after we got that first one done).
I couldn’t have done it without this guy!

The hardest part was definitely the corners.  It was tricky to get the stencil to bend just right on our walls so we could get in the corners real good.  But it worked out just fine!

In other dining room makeover news, I also painted stripes on the curtains!  They look SO MUCH BETTER!  Especially with the new wall color!  They started off the tan color.  They were just plain jane curtains from Ikea.  I just took regular acrylic paint (and lots of it), mixed it with fabric medium per the instructions, and went to town with my stripes.  It was much more time consuming than I expected, and required much more paint than I expected.  But I am super happy with how they turned out!!!  I just love them!


We also got the chair rail put up! 
So this room is coming along nicely!  OH – I almost forgot!!  I also sewed a cover for the buffet.  Remember how I didn’t really know what to do with it?  It was another piece of dark furniture in the room, but it didn’t match the table and the cabinet.

So now it has a pretty linen-esque cover on it!  Woohoo!  I just need to finish decorating the buffet and re-set my table for Christmas!

Next up is the faux wainscoting at the bottom but that will definitely be after Christmas!
So what do you think?  Do you like the stenciled wall? 
Do you want in on a fabulous Cutting Edge stencil for yourself?  Check back later today because I have teamed up with Cutting Edge Stencils and will have a great giveaway!!  So be sure to come back! 

Disclaimer:  I was sent the Zamira Allover Stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils to review.  All of the above content and opinions are 100% mine.

I am linking up to many of these great parties:

M: DIY Showoff Project Parade, Metamorphosis Monday, Made by You Mondays, Just Something I Whipped Up, Today’s Creative Blog, Making Monday Marvelous, Polly Want A Crafter T: Get Your Craft On, Tip Junkie, Home Stories A to Z, Homework W: Passionately Artistic, Twin Dragonfly Designs, Creative Spark @ Clean & Scentsible, Not Just A Housewife Th: 36th Avenue, Just A Girl, Gluesticks, House of Hepworths, Every Creative Endeavor F: Sassy Sites, I’m Lovin’ It, Remodelaholic’s Anonymous, Frugal Friday, Friday Fun Finds, Feature Yourself Friday, Pity Party, Weekend Wrap-Up, Weekend Bloggy Reading S:  I Heart Naptime, Be Different, Act Normal, A Little Lovely,  Su:  Under The Table & Dreaming, Remodelaholic, Homemaker On A Dime

Thanks for reading! 

Don’t forget to follow along on Facebook & Twitter!

Dining Room {Progress}

Hi Friends!  Happy Monday!
For those of you that follow me on Facebook or Twitter, then you already know that the hubs & I started a little makeover on our dining room this weekend!  Bless his heart, he came back from Las Vegas sick as a dog and I put him right to work!  Hehe.  Bless his heart.
We decided to paint {more on that later} and put up a chair rail in the dining area.  We’d like to also eventually paint the playroom, but you know us and our projects.  They take a while.  So the playroom will come after Christmas. 
We started yesterday with painting one wall.  The hubs rolled and I used that nifty little edger tool from Sure-Line to do the ceiling and around the door frame, etc.

I decided to go with Benjamin Moore’s “Tranquility”.  But I tweaked it a bit.  I took it to Lowe’s to be color matched and I had them take out 2 drops of blue, just like Kate did.  I wanted the color to be more gray and a little less blue to flow with the paint colors in the family room, breakfast nook, & kitchen.  I must say…..I LOVE IT!!!  I mean, I kinda felt like the paint color master when Scott started rolling it on.  I felt “victory”, ya know?   Lame, I know.  But I’m always so afraid of paint color.  I don’t know why.  I know what colors I like but they always look a tad different when you roll them on the wall and you’ve got a hugenormous wall with paint on it. 
Anywho….
We’re not done painting yet, but I did just finish up another wall while the babe was napping.

And in the spirit of “keepin’ it real, dawg” here is the current state of my dining room:

Oh Lordy!  Hopefully we’ll have it all finished and put back together by week’s end.  And yes, we are going to paint the wall on the right side of the room.  Just haven’t gotten to it yet.
Ok…let me ask you all a question.  I’m not 100% in love with all the dark furniture anymore.  There are so many things I want to do different in this room, but on a ridiculously tight budget (and by tight I mean $0)!  One of the things I want to do is paint that little buffet you see against the wall.

Here’s the problem…..it’s a piece that I inherited.  It is a hand-me-down from my mother-in-law.  I love the piece!  It provides great storage for some serving pieces and linens.  But, it doesn’t exactly match my table and china cabinet.  It’s also ONE MORE dark piece of furniture in that room.  I need something light against that wall to brighten it up.  I really don’t want to paint it because I want to preserve the originality of the piece.  Should I sew a cover for it?  Like a white or ivory slip cover of sorts that goes to the ground with ruffles or pleats at the bottom?  But then I’ll have issues accessing the drawers.  Although, I don’t go in those drawers often.  Argh!  I’m just not sure what to do.  HELP!
I also want to sew some slipcovers for those zebra chairs.  They’re cute, but just not the look I’m going for in here.  I also want to switch out that chandelier to something a little “lighter”  Maybe a burlap drum shade?  We’ll see. 
Well, wish me luck tonight as I try to finish the painting part of this project up.  For now,  I’m off to scour Pinterest for art ideas for above the buffet!
Thanks for stopping by!

Monogrammed Pumpkin {“Pin”spiration}

My “Fall and Halloween” board on Pinterest is filled to the brim with so many gorgeous and inspiring ideas!  Although I would LOVE to duplicate them all, I don’t have the time, money, and quite frankly….the motivation!  I need quick and easy these days {with a grumpy and teething 10 month old and all}.

I have seen several cute pumpkin makeovers on Pinterest!  Take a look at these beauties:

{Source:  Pinterest/BHG}

 

{Source:  Pinterest/Blog}

 

{Source:  Pinterest/Tatertots & Jello via Restyled Home}

 

{Source:  Pinterest/BHG}

I love ‘em all!  So I wanted to make my own!  I really love the simplicity and stylishness of the nailhead pumpkins!  And I love monograms! 

So I made a monogrammed nailhead pumpkin!

I got the pumpkin at Walmart for $4.  It’s fake and kinda foamy-ish {yeah, I make up my own words.  It’s my blog.  I can do that!}.  I also got the pack of nail heads there for 88 cents.  I already had the spray paint on hand.

The pumpkin started out orange {obviously}.  I don’t have a before picture.  Horrible blogger.  Sorry.

I taped off the stem and took it outside and spray painted it using Krylon’s Satin Nickel.  I then printed a large W {for our last name} off the computer.  I held it up on the pumpkin where I wanted it and started inserting the nail heads.

My original idea was to put all the nail heads in, then just rip the paper off {thinking that the nail heads would stay in place}.  Well, that didn’t happen.  The nail heads popped out.  That was ok though.  I just put them right back in.  It was easy since the holes were already marked in the pumpkin.

I love it!  Simple, quick, cute, elegant.  I love that it isn’t bright orange and doesn’t scream PUMPKIN & FALL {although there is nothing wrong with that and I have some plans for some orange pumpkins}!

This took me all of about 15 minutes!  Even better!

Have you found any Fall and/or Halloween inspiration on Pinterest?  Are you just “pinning” or are you going to actually tackle some of those projects? 

 

Have a great Friday!

 

I am linking up to many of these great parties:

M: DIY Showoff Project Parade, Metamorphosis Monday, Made by You Mondays, Just Something I Whipped Up, Today’s Creative Blog, Making Monday Marvelous

T: Get Your Craft On, Tip Junkie, Home Stories A to Z

W: Passionately Artistic, Twin Dragonfly Designs, Creative Spark @ Clean & Scentsible

Th: Just A Girl, Gluesticks, House of Hepworths

F: Sassy Sites, I’m Lovin’ It, Remodelaholic’s Anonymous, Frugal Friday, Friday Fun Finds, Feature Yourself Friday, Pity Party, Weekend Wrap-Up, Weekend Bloggy Reading

S:  I Heart Naptime, Be Different, Act Normal, A Little Lovely,

Su:  Under The Table & Dreaming, Remodelaholic

Other:  Fall Frenzy

Mirror Makeover

Hey guys!  We have been kind of “blah” around our house lately.  I haven’t been feeling well and I don’t think Emily has either.  She’s teething and has a runny nose so her naps have been wacky.  Which of course makes us all wacky!!

But I did want to take a few minutes to share with you guys a little somethin’ somethin’ I’ve been working on.

Scott’s parents sold their home in NY.  There was a ton of antique, really nice furniture in that home and his parents were generous to give some of the pieces to us.  More on that in another post.

Anyway, one of the pieces that his parents sent down to us was this gigantic vintage mirror!  It was gorgeous!

Please don’t look at my disgusting thunder thighs!  Just look at the mirror, mmmkay?

The only problem with this mirror was the color.  It’s such a gorgeous piece but the gold color just wouldn’t go with anything in our home.

So I decided to paint it!

I went to Hobby Lobby looking for just the right product for this job and I think I found it!

This stuff was awesome and worked great. 

I didn’t even tape the mirror off.  I just got busy painting using small brushes!

And here’s how she turned out:

Of course since I didn’t tape off the mirror or cover it with paper, there were some smudges on the mirror, but they came off easily with a smaller brush.  I could have also used a Q-Tip or something like that.  It came right off.

I decided to put her above our mantle in the playroom.  I figure I can hang a wreath or mossy monogram from it or something like that.  It’ll be super fun to decorate for Halloween as well!

 

The mirror looks like it’s just leaning against the wall, but it’s actually up there with a hook as well.  That way if something weird were to happen that would possibly tip the mirror over, it will get caught on the hook by the wire that runs across the back of it.  Safety first, people!

What do you think?  Do you like the silver or the gold color better?

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great Thursday!!

Amy

I am linking up to many of these great parties:

M: DIY Showoff Project Parade, Metamorphosis Monday, Made by You Mondays, Just Something I Whipped Up, Today’s Creative Blog, Making Monday Marvelous

T: Get Your Craft On, Tip Junkie, Home Stories A to Z

W: Passionately Artistic, Twin Dragonfly Designs, Creative Spark @ Clean & Scentsible

Th: Just A Girl, Gluesticks, House of Hepworths

F: Sassy Sites, I’m Lovin’ It, Remodelaholic’s Anonymous, Frugal Friday, Friday Fun Finds, Feature Yourself Friday

S:  I Heart Naptime, Weekend Wrap-Up, Be Different, Act Normal, A Little Lovely

Su:  Under The Table & Dreaming, Remodelaholic