Here are a few shots of our kitchen. We love the open layout, island, huge pantry, and newer cabinets. But the fruit wall paper, not so much.

To remove the wall paper I used fabric softener (cheap bottle from Aldi) and hot water mixture in a spray bottle and a metal scraper.

First I had to pick off the top layer of the wallpaper. Sometimes it came off in big pieces and other times very tiny pieces. Then I sprayed around the ripped edges with the softener water mixture and let it soak in for a few minutes. Most of the time it scraped right off. My oldest son liked to help scrape…he thought it was fun!

Thankfully the drywall was not damaged at all from removing the wall paper. We worked on it in small sections and after a few weeks it was time to think about paint!

If you missed the post on Part 1 of this project, CLICK HERE.

After I decided how I wanted my numbers to be laid out, I printed it out and slipped inside a plastic page protector. Using a black marker I carefully colored in all the numbers. My goal was then to project it on the wall to trace on my canvas.

My hubby brought a box home from work, I cut a hole on one end and taped the page protector over top. Than I took the shade off a lamp and put the box over it hoping it would project the numbers on my canvas  hanging on the wall.

But….it was a FAIL! By the time the numbers were projected on the wall, they were so fuzzy I could not even begin to figure out what was what. So it was on to Plan B. After some thinking I remembered way back to when I was in jr high, I did a few projects for art class using a graphing system to blow up an image. So I drew a 5×5 graph over my numbers:

I duplicated the graph on the canvas by wrapping the yarn around to the back and securing it with tape.

From there I eyeballed each box and lightly drew the numbers with a pencil. I thought this part was going to take me forever but once I got started it was really very simple and quick. Which made up for the projector fail :)

I removed the yarn pieces and cracked open my can of paint! I used the white paint I had left over from painting our trim in the family room but craft paint would work too.

And here is the finished result!

I just love how this turned out and it looks great on the wall! My 4 year old likes to point out all the numbers so I think it has his approval :)

Now that all the painting is done in our family room it was time to think about some art! I have been keeping my eyes peeled for something inspiring. Of course Pinterest is a great place to start and I saw this:

After reading  little inspiration’s tutorial I knew it was perfect! Of course I did put a spin on it to make it my own and fit the room. I decided that I liked the black background of the original Pottery Barn artwork for contrast on my light gray walls.

I already had two square canvas in my basement that would be perfect in my wall spot! (or should it be on my wall spot? anyway..) So I gathered up the other supplies I needed and got right on it…

To texture my canvas I used craft glue to paste on some sheets of newspaper. I purposely left lots of wrinkles for a really textured look.

When the canvas was dry I painted the top and sides with some acrylic craft paint. I was running low on black so mixed in a little gray to make sure I could get the project done.

I love all the texture and wrinkles…..lots and lots of wrinkles

After they were dry I hung them on the wall while I figured out how to place my numbers and get them on the canvas.

I wanted my numbers to cross over the “crack” where the two canvas hung over one another. I did not have a fancy computer program to work with so I designed my numbers in Word. First I created two square text boxes (shaded blue) to represent the canvas. Than I created several text boxes each with a number inside 1-9. I used font “Century Schoolbook” in all different sizes. I rotated some of the boxes and moved them around until I had a look I liked.

I will be back with the remainder of this art project, including the bump I hit along the way :/ Has anyone been doing any art lately? Or any completing any of their Pinterest Pins?

****Update**** to see the finish project CLICK HERE

Click here for video:  Boys Surprize Swing Set

Here is a pic of the swing set (minus the slide because we don’t want it to crack in the cold weather). This is the boys first swing set and they have been bundling up everyday to play on it!

During October we had an usually warm week here in West Michigan. My hubby and I took the opportunity to do some last minute yard work in our T-shirts. To start with there were were 5 bush stumps in the front of our house. And a MONSTER one on the corner. Mostly the hubby did this project and I took pictures :)

First he hooked the chain up to the back of our Trailblazer and around the stump:

Here he is chopping all the roots around the stump with an ax:

Five stumps later we had this:

Then it was on to the MONSTER on the corner….

He spent a few hours on this one

PUUUUUULLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

And it is out! No more stumps over here!

Now that we had our family room painted, it was time to furniture shop! I was looking for a couch that was a dark color and stand up to kid abuse but would not cost me a small fortune. So I started stalking Craigslist. Everyday I scanned through MANY listing of couches searching and searching. After a few weeks I found this!

The previous owners had it for only 6 months, had decided to redecorate their living room and it would no longer match. I found the sofa still for sale online at a local furniture store priced twice as much as they were asking for it! Hooray! The fabric durable and a dark gray/black herringbone pattern that will stand up to the kids. And the pillows were included :)

Next to the couch is the $12.99 thrift store table I re-did. You can read about that project here.

Earlier this week I was trying to get a picture of my 2 year old wearing one of my towel bibs. Anyone who has ever met a 2 year knows that this was not going to be quick & easy. I bribed him to sit on the chair with a blue sucker. These shots are quite humorous so I thought I would share….

And very excited each day it gets closer. Last year I took custom orders for hats, and that worked very well. This year I put together a picture book and order forms for all my items, this should keep me organized and show off my work for lots of orders! Some of the new items I have this year are flowered headbands and cowls. These are SO popular on Pinterest ect. and I had a few requests last year for them but had not given them a try. Now I am ready!

I also will have 50+ crocheted hats there ready to purchase:

Last year I sold every single towel bib I had, so I stocked up with LOTS of those:

And I also have some ribbon tag blankets in two different sizes. These are made out of soft fabric with cut ribbons sewed around the edges. My boys LOVED these and my 2 year old still sleeps with his every night :)

Feeling ready and so excited for the big day! Then I am ready to work on the house again…there is some fruit wallpaper that needs to be gone.

I used a hat that already fit my son for a template and cut around it leaving a little room for seam allowance:

I used my serger to sew around the edge:

Super quick & easy!

And here is the final result:

Here is a shot of my son wearing it with his trick or treat custom. The best part of this project was when we were walking around our neighborhood with the kids trick or treating and my husband says “Hey…is that my sweater!?!”

….and so is our paneling! But first a reminder on what we started with:

And now we are looking like this!

What an improvement from the darkness before! The difference is Absolutely Amazing!

We started with frog taping the trim and painting the paneling with Silvery Moon.  It really did not take us that long, my hubby rolled and I used a small angled brush to cut in. Four hours later we did it all over again for the second coat. Then we frog taped some more to protect the gray and did two coats of Olympic One Semi-Gloss True White Paint and Primer in One on the trim.

You know what they say, paint makes the biggest impact on a room. And that is diffidently true in this case! But we were not going to stop there. The brown plugs had to go:

My hubby updated them all to these clean, crisp, white tamper resistant plugs and also put in white register covers.

And this is where we are at with The List. Getting some items crossed off but as you can see, it is a little longer….

• Paint Ceiling Behr Premium Plus Flat Interior Paint
• Gray Wash Beams  Shaker Gray by Benjamin Moore color matched to Olympic No-VOC Paint in Satin
• Prime Paneling Kilz White Oil Based Primer
• Paint Silvery Moon by Benjamin Moore color matched to Olympic No-VOC Paint in Satin – 2 coats
• Paint Trim Olyimpic One Semi Gloss True White Paint and Primer in One - 2 Coats
• Upgrade Plugs and Light Switch
• Fix Trim/Molding Around Door
• Add Spotlights Above Fireplace
• Add Built Ins Around Fireplace

Next up is fixing the trim/molding around the doorway.

Let’s take a closer look shall we?

Can you say Hot.Mess. ??