becauseiliketodecorate...

Compassion or Selfishness?

becauseiliketodecorate — Thu, 23 May 2013 22:23:04 +0000

I’ve been thinking about how I would jump in and start blogging again. Where do I start? How do I plan out my posts? Where to begin? … It’s been such a long time.

After this week’s tornado tragedy in Oklahoma, I got to thinking. I felt that I wanted to share my thoughts with you, so this is where I will start.

“The Most Important Things in Life Aren’t Things” ~ from Moore, OK debris. Image links to Pinterest source.

I don’t know anyone in Moore, OK. I used to live in the Tulsa area, so I do know a lot of people close to the action. Since the devastation is close to an area where I used to live, and I know people who know people affected, I couldn’t help but look at my children and think, “what if…?” Then it dawned on me – how selfish!

Moore, OK – May 2013. Photo links to source.

(Let me fill you in on my thought process here).

Are we selfish even amidst our compassion for others? Do we only care or give it a second thought if it’s our family, our state, or our country? Tragedy happens every day. Yet, are we only bothered if it’s highly publicized? Or, like me, do you find that you only empathize if it’s close to home?

And then I’m reminded of our own depravity as human beings. That right in the middle of our compassion and empathy for others, our sin nature shines bright, and selfishness ensues. We still only think of ourselves. My Feelings. My loved ones. Me. Me. Me.

It’s always a good thing to be reminded of our need for a savior. Thank you, Lord, for Your grace. Strip me of all selfishness, I pray. Help me to have compassion for those I cannot see — a true compassion that’s without selfishness or pride. Amen.
Lots of love,
Mary

Kitchen Makeover 1.2 – Painting the Cabinets

becauseiliketodecorate — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 08:28:27 +0000

Well Hello there! Let me say a belated Merry Christmas to you and Happy New Year! I’m feeling so much better now and almost out of the woods. Still ridiculously tired… but that comes with the pregnancy territory.

Continuing with my Kitchen Makeover series, I have a few more tips and lessons learned to share with you regarding the cabinet painting process. To view the first two posts of this series click, 1. Kitchen Reveal, and, 2. Kitchen Makeover 1.1.

Using a Paint Sprayer:
Click here for a link to the spray gun that I purchased by recommendation of the employees at my local hardware store. They said it was the best one they had on the lower end scale and considering that I’m not a professional house painter and only need the gun for my home DIY projects, I was told that I didn’t need anything more heavy duty than this. You’ll need to practice on cardboard or scrap wood before going for your cabinets. It takes a little bit to get used to the gun and make the right adjustments. The only downside that I found to this sprayer was that it needed to be cleaned out very frequently or the paint starts to clump a little bit. Not sure if this is a common problem with other sprayers, but it’s an issue that I ran into. Other than that, it did a fine job.

Caulking:
One of the most important tips that I will give you for this project is to CAULK YOUR SEAMS/CRACKS! It seems like such a little thing to mention, but I’m telling you it makes such a huge difference. Caulking properly will give your cabinets the finished and more high-end look opposed to a cheep job. After you paint that first coat, you will notice every seem and crack will start to show. I would recommend that you get a paintable, kitchen/bath caulk and fill every seem, including where the cabinet meets the wall.

Hardware:
Sometimes just adding hardware alone can update your kitchen to a more polished complete look. And you don’t have to spend a lot to get the WOW factor! I found my hardware at Ikea (link here) for a fraction of the cost that I would have spend at my local hardware store. Even if price wasn’t an option, I think the look of the Ikea hardware was the best choice. Since I was working with existing cabinetry that didn’t reflect the modern styling that I prefer, I chose a very contemporary long and squared-off hardware handle. This added a modern effect and enabled me to almost camouflage the traditional shape of the cabinets. The stainless steel on the hardware complemented the existing appliances and the contemporary backsplash.

In my last post of this series, you may remember my little rant about the irritating “paint dust” that comes with the use of a spray gun. Since that post, a more experienced friend of mine told me a tip to solve that problem. It sounds like common sense to me now, but sometimes we need be told the answers! Basically, tape your clear plastic drop cloth to the ceiling and drape down to create a “wall” border around your work area… thus no paint dust escaping to the rest of your home. Why didn’t I think of that? Genius I tell you!

Now that my cabinets are painted, I absolutely love them and I’m so so happy that I did it… despite all the hard work! Your wondering now if you should tackle this project yourself or hire a professional? I guess it depends on who you are. I am not a perfectionist, so this was a “good enough” result for me. The finish is smooth and it looks good both from a distance and close-up. But if you start to really look and inspect the paint job, you will find imperfections (which is okay for me). If your a type-A personality, you may want to hire a professional. I seriously got to the point where I just wanted it done and didn’t want to spend another dime on paint. Next up in this series, I’ll be sharing the details of backsplash installation!
Lots of love,
Mary

I Make People.

becauseiliketodecorate — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 04:54:41 +0000

This week my pregnancy has finally caught up with me… I’m so T.I.R.E.D! Not to mention emotional stuff and the fact that I think I may be coming down with something (fingers crossed that my body is just tired and its not a cold)! Feeling yuck, so I’m just going to go sit on the couch now… just being honest with you my friends! It’s time to rest and take care of baby boy.

Source: anaturalhomebirth.wordpress.com via Karen on Pinterest

I’ve got a lot of things in the works, but as I’ve found myself now in the 3rd trimester, I’m taking the advice that has been given to me from many of my friends and family… SLOW DOWN! “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and neither will my business.
Lots of love,
Mary

Interior Design – Are you stuck?

becauseiliketodecorate — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 06:55:06 +0000

Since I started this blog, a little over a year ago, I’ve gotten numerous inquiries and requests regarding interior design services. I’ve had to turn folks down because I just haven’t had the time to offer a complete service through execution. After some thought, I’ve decided that what I can do is offer a consultation service.

source: http://www.hgtv.com/designers-portfolio/room/transitional/living-rooms/2337/index.html#/id-7832/room-living-rooms/designer-4294964450

Would you like your home to look like the photos you see in a magazine? Where the lighting is perfect, the colors flow, and the furniture placement just seems to work? But you don’t know where to start, right?

Or maybe you’d like to work with what you have, on a minimal budget, but you need a little help with furniture placement, color selection, etc.

I have two package options available:

Design Consultation Package A – $100
A one hour consultation in your home answering questions, helping with color selection, etc. This package is available to customize to your needs. This could be design advice for one room or tips through your entire home. We can move furniture and work with what you already have in your home, or I can assist and answer questions regarding a complete design plan including color selection, furniture, lighting, drapery, etc.

Design Consultation Package B – $175
A one hour consultation in your home with complete design plan portfolio for one room. During this service we will sit down and first identify your ideal design style, wants, and needs for the specific room that you choose. We will talk about a complete plan from floor to ceiling including everything from paint selection, fabric options, window coverings, furniture choice and placement, rugs, lighting, etc. Within one week of your consultation, I will provide you with a portfolio complete with floorplan, paint color samples and photos so that you have everything you need to execute your design.

If you’re interested in one of these consultation packages, send me an email (link on sidebar), and I will be happy to schedule an appointment time or answer any questions you may have. I’m located in the East Valley of the Metro Phoenix area, and am unable to travel outside of this general location. Services are available in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, and Queen Creek. Please inquire if you have any questions at all!
Lots of love,
Mary

Kitchen Makeover 1.1 – Painting the Cabinets

becauseiliketodecorate — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 07:43:02 +0000

This is kind of a funny story… you see I had thought that this was going to be a Saturday project. Bahahahahahahhahaha! Yeah, a few weeks ago I wasn’t laughing so much, more like crying! Just being honest with ya’ll! But am I glad that I did it? YES! If your thinking of painting your kitchen cabinets, just know that it is a big job. There are so many different tutorials out there and so many different ways to do it, how do you know where to start? Well, I’m going to share my experience with you complete with all the mistakes and successes. Feel free to comment or email me if you have any specific questions that haven’t been covered.

Last week I revealed my before and after photos of the complete kitchen makeover. To read the entire article and view additional photos, click here.

Before:

After:

After viewing and considering many online tutorials, I decided to use one that I found on Pinterest detailing instructions from a professional cabinet maker. This tutorial was posted by allthingsthrifty.com. Click on the below photo for the Pinterest link which links back to the specific cabinet tutorial.

Source: allthingsthrifty.com via Mary - on Pinterest

This tutorial is very detailed and extremely helpful! Things you should know that I didn’t expect:

1. The paint that is suggested (pre-catalyzed lacquer) was not easy to find. At least in my area, none of the local hardware stored carried this product. I had to drive 30+min to one of the larger Dunn-Edwards Paint Supply stores to find it. And be prepared because it is expensive – about $75 per gallon for the tinted lacquer and about $50 per gallon for the clear lacquer!

2. Prep-work takes longer than the actual painting process! I kind of knew this going in, but wasn’t expecting how much longer the prep-work would actually take. Remember, I thought this was going to be done in just one Saturday? Well, two days into the project, I was finally done with all the prep-work and ready to paint.

3. I totally underestimated the size of my kitchen. In addition to what’s pictured in my before/after photos, there is also a desk nook space and double sided butlers nook in the kitchen hallway area. Also, I decided to paint under the island the same white color in addition to all the interiors of the cabinets. Lets just say I went through way way too many gallons of paint. That was unexpected in both the budget and time spent category.

4. When using a paint sprayer, be prepared for the “paint dust” that gets EVERYWHERE! I was not ready for this. The kitchen area was well taped off and drop cloths covered every exposed area of the floor. Sounds good right? Nope! When painting, even with all the windows open, dust covered every exposed inch of the downstairs level of our home. This meant that I had to deep clean everything after the project was complete. And since this project took way longer than expected, it was a bit of an inconvenience during that period, to say the least. Not to worry, this “dust” doesn’t stick like paint — it’s just a little irritating.

So why did I choose this process over all the other tutorials out there? Well, I wanted to do it right! There probably are quicker ways to paint your cabinets, but I was going for the professional look. I’ve seen painted cabinets where you can tell that someone picked up a brush and painted them themselves, but I didn’t want my cabinets to look cheap or hand-done. Also, since I was going for a modern clean styling, it made the process a bit more difficult because it had to look “perfect”. Normally, when I paint vintage furniture pieces, I work with the imperfections and bring out the beauty of each piece with distressing techniques, etc. This was totally different in that the style I was going for did not allow for distressing so the imperfections had to be hidden and not revealed. Does that make sense? If you want more of the shabby or antiqued look on your kitchen cabinets, the process should be a lot easier than whats detailed here and you may be able to get away with a different/less-expensive paint to achieve the look you desire.

This post is getting to be a bit long and I don’t want to overwhelm you. I’ll share more tips with you on another day. I understand that I’ve been sharing a lot of the “negatives” with you thus far and I absolutely don’t want to discourage you from this process, but rather inform you so that you know what your getting into and can be more prepared than I was. I will leave you with this: I LOVE MY KITCHEN! And yes, I would do it again!
Lots of love,
Mary

Floe – A Vintage Transitional Dresser

becauseiliketodecorate — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 04:35:20 +0000

Hello Friends! Two nights ago I was up late and had the urge to paint something… I think I was up till like 1am, which is so not normal for me. Once I got started, I just couldn’t stop until it was complete. I’m so glad I finished! Not to get all artsy on everyone, but I didn’t have to think about how I was going to paint this dresser — It just sort of came to me! Introducing Floe:

I was going to stop naming my furniture pieces, but what fun is that? She just looks like a Floe to me. This mid-century modern dresser has really good bones and the classic modern straight-line shape. Check her out before:

Please try to ignore the surroundings (my pile of thrift store finds from the day). Yes, that owl is ugly now, but just wait till I’m done with him!

I used one coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in the color Provence, distressed, and applied a heavy coat of dark wax. Generally, I’m told that you’re only supposed to apply dark wax after you have applied a base coat of clear wax. Well, sometimes I like to break the rules! And I don’t think that art should have any rules right? You just have to play with it and experiment with different colors. I’ve tried this with a white before and it turned out terribly wrong. This time – A big win!

I only used one base coat because I wanted a lot of the wood undertones to show and I planned on distressing a lot! Since this piece has such straight simple lines, I decided to stencil a design onto the front and leave off the hardware (notice the handle grooves under each drawer). This adds just enough interest and maintains the modern styling since the stencil print is so large.

I used a paint I already had in the garage (A custom mix in the navy family), and offset the pattern slightly. The stencil is from Royal Design Studio and titled “Large Fabric Damask”. It can be purchased here.

After painting the stencil design, it was then distressed again, finished with Annie Sloan Dark Wax, then AS Clear Wax. Floe is a feminine, beautiful, classy, vintage masterpiece and I love her!

I’ve posted this piece on craigslist here.
Lots of love,
Mary

linked up here:

DIY Custom Rustic Signage

becauseiliketodecorate — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 06:55:33 +0000

This past summer, I was given the honor of preparing a very special surprise gift for my Auntie Margie during her wedding vow renewal ceremony! Auntie Margie is so very special to me! She has been battling stage four breast cancer and is the picture of the Lord’s strength and grace throughout this trial in her life. She is such an example to me! You could imagine my excitement when the church asked me to prepare a special gift using one of her favorite passages “I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth” Psalm 34:1

I used 8″ wide lightweight boards from the hardware store and mounted them on 1′x4′ horizontal boards. Using a wood stain that I had on hand, each board was stained, waxed, and accented with watered down blue & green paints to create subtle color and texture.

The lettering design was created in Adobe Illustrator, printed, traced, and hand painted with a fine brush. Warning: This takes a very long time! If I had the tools, I would create a stencil and speed the process up quite a bit. But it was totally worth it for this project and I’d do it again in a heartbeat!

I love the final result so much, that I totally want to make one for my own home! I keep checking craigslist for a vinyl cutter at a good price… the search continues.

It looks just fabulous on her mantle! And don’t you just love her Christmas decor?
Lots of love,
Mary

HGTV… What?

becauseiliketodecorate — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 04:52:44 +0000

It’s been one of those unexpected emotional days and as much as I try and fool myself that it’s the pregnancy, lets all be honest here! To top it off, as I sit down at my computer this evening, I find that I don’t like any of the photos I took over the last couple days. I must redo them tomorrow. In any case, It dawned on me that I didn’t share with you some ridiculously exciting news! A couple months ago, the HGTV blog, yes I said the HGTV BLOG featured one of my custom painted desks! I know huh?!?! You can view the article here.

The famous piece, was named Wentworth because of his obvious “cool” factor. Click on the photo to view the original tutorial post.

The funny thing is that I didn’t even know about the HGTV post until many weeks later and was in complete shock! Remembering Wentworth inspires me to paint stripes again….Hmmmm…
Lots of love,
Mary

Be still my heart…

becauseiliketodecorate — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 05:57:59 +0000

I nearly died today when I saw this project in my inbox! It’s pure genius and just my style! The fab ladies over at East Coast Creative posted a tutorial for a DIY Wood Slice Wreath. I’m so excited about it, that I decided to push back the post I had scheduled for this evening and share this excitement with you – my friends.

Source: eastcoastcreativeblog.com via Mary - on Pinterest

My only dilemma is that I don’t have a chainsaw, nor a tree trunk, nor someone to slice the wood for me…

Lots of love,
Mary

Homemade Laundry Detergent – Success!

becauseiliketodecorate — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 06:30:41 +0000

I did it! Do you remember my massive failed attempt at homemade laundry detergent? It was earlier this year and I basically tried to alter the recipe because I was impatient and couldn’t find all the ingredients at the grocery store. Yeah, don’t do what I did. If you want to read all about my failed attempt and maybe get a good laugh in the process, click here. Anyway, this time I followed the recipe exactly as posted and it worked!

Source: etsy.com via Linda on Pinterest

The recipe I used is from the Dugger Family website and can be found here. Do Not, I repeat, DO NOT try to substitute Super Washing Soda for anything else. It won’t work! After a bit of searching, I was able to find this product at our local Wal-Mart. If all else fails, I know you can purchase it online.

I’ve been using this detergent for a few months now and I absolutely love it! The consistency takes a little bit of getting used to, but the mixture does gel as promised. It cleans well and the real bonus is that it’s practically free it’s so cheap! I still purchase fabric softener because I’m not willing to sacrifice that yummy fresh laundry smell. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!” I’m now a believer and don’t think I’ll ever go back to spending money on laundry detergent!
Lots of love,
Mary