Home Girl Decor

Gnats, Fruit Flies, Be Gone!

2014-06-03T12:17:00.000-04:00

If you compost or garden, you most certainly will have a gnat or fruit fly problem at some point. Well, the other day, I opened the lid to the compost can in our kitchen (which was full and should have been dumped in the compost pile much sooner), and HUNDREDS of fruit flies flew out and invaded our home.    They were all over the fresh fruit and vegetables I keep out on the counter and they were getting on the food in the refrigerator (bla, gross). A bunch of them even invaded our master bathroom which seems strange to me since it’s in another part of the house away from the kitchen. They seem to love the big mirror in there, leaving dirty spots all over it. (Grrrrr!) We battled these pesky things for days! Finally, after being attacked in my own bathroom while minding my own business if you know what I mean, I declared war on these tiny little beasts!   So I tried this little trick.

Pour apple cider vinegar and a little dish soap in a bowl……..

…..and wait. Yep, it’s that simple!

Twenty minutes later, I went back to check my trap. Lo and behold, it worked!

No harsh chemicals, no messy clean-up, and best of all, NO MORE FRUIT FLIES!    Hahahahahaha! (Evil Laugh)

Now, maybe I'm the last one on Earth to learn this simple trick, but just in case there is anyone else out there who has not been privy to such information, you are now in the know.

That’s my Home Girl tip of the day.   Thanks for stopping by, Homies!

White Pottery Collection

2014-05-17T12:24:00.000-04:00

I’ve collected white pottery, mostly vintage pieces, over the years and displayed it throughout our home, using it in many different ways,

for potted plants,





or as a vase,

to hold stuff like kitchen utensils,



and wine utensils, ........just to name a few.

The pottery was also used to add white accents into the décor.  I liked the idea of unifying our kitchen/family room, dining room and formal living room with white pottery accents scattered throughout as the rooms are all somewhat open to each other.

But during my recent and ongoing effort to de-clutter and re-paint our house (including ceilings, ugh), I decided to redesign a cluttered built-in shelving unit in our formal living room. The built-in previously housed our CD collection (that we rarely ever use anymore thanks to I-Tunes), some pretty boxes (all empty), various mismatched picture frames that I couldn’t fit in any other part of the house, a couple of statues and a few family games.

It seemed like a good idea at the time to put all that stuff there 5 or 6 years ago, and of course it was neatly staged.  Since we have two larger built-in shelves in our office that hold all of our books and collectibles from traveling, and plenty of dish storage with a buffet and china cabinet in the dining room, I really didn’t have a better use for these shelves when we moved in. So, I just put stuff there to fill it up space. But after really looking at each thing on the shelf during this de-clutter process, I realized that the cabinet looked like a bunch of shelves of all the stuff that I didn’t know where else to put. So, I picked out only the things I love and can use, and got rid of the rest.

I decided to display all the white pottery that had been put in a pile after being de-cluttered from other rooms.   Suddenly, the built-in had a purpose!    A darker paint color was chosen for the back of the built-in, to contrast the color of the pottery. And my white pottery which previously had been scattered throughout the house transformed into a beautiful collection!   I just really love the simplicity, utility, versatility, unity and serenity of it displayed together in one space.

And the best part is that I thought I didn’t have any more room for white pottery. Now that I have a place specifically for my collection, I realize I DO have space for a few more pieces!! (wink)

Any other pottery collectors out there? I’d love to see pics!!!

Home Girl

BEFORE AND AFTER - Mid Century Modern Highboy Chest With Pull-Out Table/Server - View of Manhattan Nightscape

2014-02-10T17:30:00.000-05:00

It was love at first sight when I first saw it! I “heart” the pull-out writing table and the small upper cabinet since they lend to such versatility. And of course the three different kinds of vintage brass hardware this baby boasts almost makes me drool a little.

I had been looking for a flat fronted piece to decoupage ever since I purchased five really cool giant size posters on eBay a while back.

I patched up the holes and chunks where the wood veneer was missing, and after a good sanding down, I brought it inside since the shop was too cold for me to work.

I wanted to use chalk paint on this piece but I really wanted to paint it black.    The Annie Sloan line which I had been using on other projects does not include black. Charcoal gray is the darkest they carry. But then I stumbled upon the CeCe Caldwell chalk paint brand and they do make black! Hurray!

Oops, I should have had the Cece’s paint can turned around in the photo above but looks like I might have been distracted by the T.V. - one of the hazards of working in the family room.   When using chalk paint, I like to dip the tip of my brush in a jar filled with bottled water (tap water can cause discolorations), and then tap the brush on the side of the jar to get most of the water off before dipping my brush into the chalk paint. I like a smoother finish and the water helps to achieve this look.

Before the waxing process, the chalk paint looks really dry.

This is a distressed piece and I wanted a little of the wood to show through when I sanded, so I only used one coat of chalk paint.

After priming and lightly sanding the drawer and cabinet fronts, it was time to lay out my decoupage design. It is very important NOT to skip the priming step if the wood is raw or unpainted, or if you have used wood filler. I have skipped the priming step before on an old wooden dresser that had never been painted, and bubbles eventually popped up under my decoupage!

This is a giant size poster of Manhattan, showing the Brooklyn Bridge and the Twin Towers in the background. I met up with my husband on Valentine’s Day last year (2013), while he was in New York for a training seminar. We had such a wonderful time and I loved the big city, so when I saw this giant poster, I knew I wanted to put it on a piece of furniture. Wouldn’t it be nice to look at that view all the time, huh?

I measured the chest and poster so that I could center the poster and decide which parts to remove. Using a large metal square and a sharp blade, I cut the pieces (cutting atop a board so as not to ruin my kitchen island) to fit my drawer and cabinet fronts and then attached them to the chest using mod podge.

I have a couple of very professional tools to get all the bubbles out…………..an old Dave & Buster’s card or an AARP card just for spite (why did they send that to me!!!!!), but any old plastic card will work. I do have a squeegee which you are supposed to use for this step, but I really like using a plastic card better. After all the air bubbles are out, I paint over the entire papered surface with a couple of coats of mod podge, letting dry and lightly sanding between coats. With this piece, since I was distressing the painted part, I also distressed the poster as well, roughing up the edges and a few other spots to make it look like it was finished this way ages ago.

After the mod podge was dry, I lightly sanded the entire piece and gave the front a couple of coats of Polycrylic for extra protection. I used CeCe Caldwell’s wax to seal the painted portion of the chest, but after this project was completed, I have since used Polycrylic to seal chalk paint as well. The polycrylic offers more protection to the finish than wax, but the wax finish has more of an “old world” look.   Without sealing the chalk paint, it will appear very dull and will just wipe off with a wet rag.

The hardware cleaned up nicely with an SOS pad and was reinstalled once the Polycrylic was completely dry.

The pull-out shelf can be used as a writing table or even as a serving table, and the small cabinet can be used for desk storage or maybe even barware? What a very versatile piece!

Now available for sale at: The Pink Hippo, 15 N. Broadway, Lebanon, OH 45036, Phone: (513) 836-3738. ***************SOLD*******************

BEFORE AND AFTER – French Provincial Dresser

2014-02-03T01:04:00.003-05:00

Hey Homies!!!! It's been a while. I've been so busy refinishing furniture and trying to build my business that I haven't blogged in a while. I've got lots of BEFORE AND AFTER pictures to show you, and I'll start with a cute little French Provincial style dresser. This Craigslist purchase had great curvy lines and of course I loved the vintage hardware since I'm a vintage hardware freak. I bought it from a college student who I believe said he had inherited it from his aunt.   This was the Craigslist photo.

Needless to say, it had been around the block a few times and was pretty scratched up. The wood on the frame of the dresser didn't appear to be anything special to me, but I love how you can see the movement in the wood grain on the drawer fronts.


The drawers were in pretty good condition with the exception of a couple of deep gouges on one of the top drawers. They were deep enough that I decided to fill them in with wood putty. After a light sanding, I rubbed all the drawers down with a couple of coats of Dark Walnut Danish Oil to show off that pretty wood veneer.

I gave the frame several coats of satin ultra white with a lightly distressed finish.

And then decided to give a headboard I had in storage the same two-toned treatment, making a set of the two mismatched pieces.

I liked the idea of mixing the styles of a modern two-toned treatment to a French Provincial style piece.......ending with a Contemporary French Provincial style. All of the sudden, it had a new life!

And I love the shape of that hardware! You just can't find that everyday!!!! I got it all shined up and I liked it, but I didn't LOVE it once I put the hardware back on.

But I LOVE the hardware painted white!!!!!!

It just POPS on those glossy Dark Walnut stained drawer fronts!

Isn't it cute???   On to the next rescue! ************SOLD!**********************

Weeping Willow Tree

2013-06-08T13:48:00.000-04:00

Can you believe this tree was a mere stick just a few months ago?

One thing I did not like about our house when we bought it is that it did not have enough trees. The perfect setting for me is in the middle of the woods. Yes, I’m a tree hugger! My husband promised he would plant trees for me if we bought this place, and he did plant a few, but they can be costly and other things always seem to take priority over the budget. And then they take so long to GROW! Patience is NOT my virtue.

So last Fall, when my parents were selling the farm in Tennessee, Papaw cut a few branches about 2 ft. long off their big willow tree and gave them to me to plant in our yard. When I got back to Ohio, I stuck them in a bucket of water until roots started sprouting at the bottom to help them survive once planted. We dug holes, stuck them in the ground and watered them really good until Winter came. I wasn't sure if they would survive but 3 out of 4 did! I planted willow cuttings from the same big tree at our previous house in Kentucky but it was much easier because there was a creek running through the front yard. I didn’t soak the branches to get the roots started or even dig a hole. All I did was push the willow branches into the mud near the creek and they grew like crazy. Easy Peasy!

I’m somewhat of a sensitive ole gal and I think it’s kind of sweet that these trees are babies of the big old weeping willow tree in the front yard of the place that I called home for most of my life. I like the idea that a little bit of the old farm is here with me in my suburban Ohio yard. And you can't beat the price!

I’m amazed at how much this tree has grown so far this spring! I wonder what other trees I could start from a cutting?

Peace!

Three Sisters Garden 2013

2013-05-24T15:53:00.000-04:00

Hey Hey Homies! Spring finally came and I've been busy outside getting my little garden ready for the growing season! Hopefully, those darned ole stink bugs won't return this year and ruin everything again!

And my better half finished up the new potting area on the back of our garden shed and I LOVE it!

The deck and potting table were built with salvaged wood from the deck we replaced on our house a couple of years ago. I was so happy that we found a way to use it instead of scrapping it. The potting shed sits adjacent the garden, and I love to sit on the porch swing when I need a break from digging or weeding and admire my hard work. I’ve also discovered it’s a great place for bird watching!

From the porch swing, I’ve had a fantastic view of two bird families this Spring (one in the birdhouse Thomas and Konnor built, and one in the nest above the birdhouse).

The tree is just feet from my swing and I’ve really enjoyed watching them build their nests and feed their babies. From the swing, I can also watch the busy occupants of our bluebird house in another part of the yard. And now the hummingbirds have returned as well. The birds love all the worms in the garden and the hummingbirds love the flowers.

So, about the garden…….have you ever heard of The Three Sisters?

A couple of years ago, I put a teepee in my garden for growing green beans. It has been a fun little project for the kids. They liked to get inside the teepee and they have eaten lots of organic green beans.

At that time I made the teepee for the green beans, my friend Becky told me about The Three Sisters gardening, a companion planting technique used by Native Americans. The Three Sisters (corn, pole beans, and squash or pumpkin) all benefit from each other and help each other thrive until harvest (beans provide nitrogen, corn provides stalk to climb, squash provides shade and mulch), and together the three provide a balanced diet for the human body. What a neat concept, huh? Working together.......benefiting from one another........helping each other thrive. If only we could figure out to make this work for the human race. As I read more about the history of The Three Sisters, I knew I wanted to give it a try some day.

And that day came last week! Instead of growing the corn in a patch though, since my designated garden space is limited and somewhat decorative with flowers mixed in, I thought about growing the corn in a circular shape around the wooden teepee frame, and somehow tie it to the teepee as it grows or maybe tie it together at the top when it gets tall. I have never grown corn so I'm not sure if that is even possible. And if the corn is formed into a teepee, how will the squash that I had planned to plant in the center of the teepee get enough sun? Hmmm, maybe this corn-teepee thing isn't such a good idea after all.

I decided that the door (opening) to the teepee is positioned so that the squash should get adequate sun and it will take some time before the corn is that tall anyway. No guts, no glory! So I planted the corn in a semi-circle mound around the bottom of my wooden teepee frame. As soon as the corn sprouts, I'll plant the beans and squash.

When I was young, my Mom used to buy paper bags full of fresh corn and we would shuck it, clean it, cut it off the stalk, and fry it up with bacon grease. We filled the freezer with baggies of "fresh fried corn" and enjoyed them all winter. Mom's fried corn was always one of my favorites! That was back before we knew how unhealthy it was to cook everything in bacon grease! Believe it or not, my mom even fried our apples in bacon grease! And they were/are the best!

As we expand our garden, it might be nice to have a real corn patch to fill the freezer, and maybe even a bigger Three Sisters Garden. But for now, it will just be fun to see how this little experiment turns out.

Stay tuned.........

Flower Mobile for Baby Girl’s Room

2012-09-20T23:56:00.001-04:00

Hey, Hey, Hey Homies! I’ve been meaning to share with you a cute little project I did a while back for my great niece, Harper Isabella. My lovely niece, Harper’s mommy Hannah, put together such a sweet room for Harper. Hannah shares my love of decorating, painting and crafting, and it was so exciting for me to get to visit Harper’s bedroom to see the final reveal. And let me just say THAT BEDDING ROCKS! I think it’s one of the prettiest baby bedding sets I have ever seen.

The beddeing is by Pottery Barn and it's called Wildflower. Isn’t it just the cutest? I love the coordinating flower prints as well.

Harper’s room is absolutely precious and I think Hannah did a fantastic job! Harper’s changing table has cute, bright, colorful art hanging above it which is a great "distraction" piece. I think every changing table needs something hanging above it to act as a distraction, or to keep the baby busy, while they are getting their diaper changed, but I do think the distraction tactic works better with a moving object.

For example, when I designed my son’s nursery way back when, two of his walls were log, and I painted the other two yellow. I painted the ceiling blue with clouds, and he had blue, red, green, yellow plaid bedding. I called it the lumberjack room. In the lumberjack room, I hung several beanie baby birds from the ceiling using fishing line and thumb tacks, specifically targeting the changing table with a bright red cardinal. Now, I was just trying to design a cute nursery, but I noticed that every time I changedmy son's diaper, he was fixated on that bird. I would reach up and tap it, and he loved to watch the birdie fly back and forth. I also noticed that, when I changed his diaper somewhere else, he would not keep still. That’s when I came to the conclusion that every changing table needs a “distraction” hanging over it, whether it be a mobile or some other moving object. So I decided to make a hanging mobile as a sort of a “Welcome to the World” gift to Harper, but I didn’t really have a plan of how I was going to make it.

Sometimes just a walk though Hobby Lobby (or as I like to call it, "The Hob") can be so inspiring! Actually, I think I get inspired EVERY time I walk through The Hob!

I didn’t really know what I was looking for the day I went to get materials to make this hanging mobile. I have tried in the past to make mobiles similar to the examples below, the kind where objects must be balanced so the mobile hangs properly .....................

..............................and let me tell you, it ain’t easy!

For Harper’s room, I knew I wanted to use her beautiful bedding as inspiration. I thought about maybe covering some wooden rods with ribbon and then attaching flowers to them somehow so that they hang down as if they were falling, or maybe getting a tree branch, painting it a color complimentary to the room and hanging flowers or maybe leaves from it (and maybe even attaching a cute little birdie as if it’s sitting on the branch), but I knew that balancing the hanging objects would be a challenge. So, not knowing what I really wanted, I just decided to look around with an open mind.

After looking at every silk flower The Hob had to offer, I just wasn’t feeling it. One thing that did catch my eye though were these 6 foot long strands of gem garland I found hanging in the Wedding and Floral Department. They were so sparkly and pretty, but a little on the expensive side at $10 per strand. I thought about how to cut and modify the long strands, but still not having a definitive plan, I kept looking.

Then, low and behold, there it was! (The clouds parted, the sun shone down, and the angels started singing...................Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh.) I so love it when that happens.

http://shop.hobbylobby.com/products/small-hot-pink-metal-flower-decor-736769/

The intended purpose for the metal flower was as wall décor, which is evident by the convenient little nail/screw hole visible in the photo above. But I thought it would coordinate perfectly with the Wildflower bedding and decided it would make the perfect base for Harper’s mobile. By using the flower as a base, I wouldn’t have to worry about balance. A hanging mobile doesn't have to be the balancing kind, it just has to have movement.

After finding the metal flower, I went to the bead department to see if I could find a cheaper solution than buying those long strands that I talked about earlier, and I found a much more cost effective solution .

http://shop.hobbylobby.com/products/multi-shape-and-color-acrylic-stone-mix-945378/

And each acrylic stone even has a shiny silver back which sparkles like crazy when the light hits it……..MORE BLING FOR YOUR BUCK! Can you see the reflections of sparkle on the ceiling and wall in the photo below?

The large package of beads included a nice assortment of colors and shapes, including lots of flowers - which was perfect for this project. I decided to make one strand of beads to hang on the tip of each metal flower pedal – 24 pedals total. I made the strands in the center of the flower longer, used shorter strands in the next row out, and even shorter strands along the outer edge, just to make it a little more interesting and cascading.

TIP #1: This project can become very frustrating if the strands get tangled, and they DO get tangled very easily. To prevent this from happening while I was working, I hung the metal flower from the ceiling of my studio, and then hung each strand to a pedal. I hung the metal flower by attaching a chain to the back (or in this case the top), then I hid the chain with ribbons. I noticed the letters over Harper’s bed were hanging with adorable polka dot ribbon, so found similar ribbon to use on this project to give the décor a cohesive look.

TIP #2: When moving, transporting or packing this mobile, I would suggest wrapping each strand with a strip of tissue paper and using a piece of tape to keep the paper affixed, just as if it were a chandelier with hanging crystals. I learned this the hard way and trust me, you don’t want to have to spend hours getting one of these babies untangled.

TIP #3: Consider the height of the ceilings and the length of the mobile. In this case, I didn’t want the mobile to be too low that it hit Hannah in the head when she was changing a diaper.

This is the view that baby Harper will see when she’s looking up at it. I think the view from under this mobile looks like a beautiful kaleidoscope.

Well, that’s all for today folks. I hope you like my flower mobile idea. Remember, HomeGirl thinks every diaper changing table needs a “distraction” hanging above it.

If you like this mobile idea, please feel free to share it with your friends. I will be taking orders for similar hanging mobiles. And while you're here, don't forget to check out the "FIND US AT" section in the right column and LET'S GET CONNECTED! Thanks so much for your support!!!

Hope to see you back here soon,
HomeGirl

Starburst Tinkertoy Clock

2012-09-19T00:58:00.001-04:00

It’s about that “TIME” again, Homies! “TIME” to “TINKER” on another project. Get it? Too corny? Oh well, I do love corn. hehe

About 13 or 14 years ago, I bought this plain, pine clock at IKEA. It matched perfectly with the pine furniture that we purchased at the same time, and it hung in the loft of our log cabin. But since then, it has served us well hanging in five additional homes, the most recent spot being over our daughter’s bedroom door for the last few years. The diva now has other means of telling time and it didn't really match the room anyway, so the clock didn’t make the cut in her room remodel and was discarded to the “miscellaneous decor” box in the storage room.

The inspiration for this clock came from a project that I’ve been working on.......a retro kitchen/dining room…..which I'm designing to be sold. Last year, I picked up this awesome retro china hutch, and was looking for a dining set that I could marry it with, when I stumbled upon a great deal on a table and chair set that needed some work. The table and chairs weren’t really from the same era as the china hutch, and aren’t even the same style, but since the table needed refinishing, my plan was to stain the top the same dark maple as the hutch, paint the table base and chairs to coordinate, and recover the chair cushions in some retro-looking fabric to give the entire room a cohesive retro/mid-century look. I LOVE mixing up styles, eras, and colors that aren’t really supposed to go together, and making them look great together. After staining the table top though, I’m not sure if it will end up with the retro hutch now because I found another retro dining set that will probably work better - yet another project.

Anywho, before doing anything to the table, I decided to first start looking for the chair fabric for inspiration. I wanted something with a cool, retro vibe like the hutch, and my plan was to choose the paint colors for the chairs and table base by pulling colors from the fabric. I decided on this awesome outdoor fabric that I found at JoAnn Fabrics. SCORE!

Nice and retro-looking, huh?

Don’t they look cute together?

Okay, back to the clock.......I’ve been seeing lots of starburst mirrors/wall décor lately. Bloggers are making them in blogland, designers are making them on HGTV, and they're all over the stores. They all have a round center and have something extending from them in a starburst pattern. I started thinking that the circles in the fabric looked like starbursts too. So when I happened across this old clock again the other day, the round shape of it gave me the idea of making a starburst clock to go with the table and chairs. Lots of people like to have clocks in their kitchen, right?

Also, not too long ago, I was cleaning up the old yard sale Tinkertoys that someone got out and didn’t put away. And when I was picking them up, I thought about the colors being very retro. The colors reminded me of the colors in my Mom’s green mushroom kitchen in the 70’s. We had this groovy mushroom wallpaper! LOL So when I thought about turning the clock into a starburst, to coincide with the chair fabric, I immediately thought of those old Tinkertoys. Don’t the colors match perfectly?

So, the first thing I did to the clock was stain it with dark walnut stain to match the tabletop. I also stained the unpainted Tinkertoy rounds. Then, I used a Sharpie to mark where I wanted to drill holes.

Next, I found the right size drill bit by inserting bits into a Tinkertoy hole until I found the right size bit.

Fits like a glove!

I clamped the clock to a saw table to keep it steady so that I could drill the holes without the clock moving. The plastic thing that goes on the clamp to keep it from making round indentations in the wood when the clamp is tightened is missing, so I just use whatever is handy to protect the wood. In this case, it was a brochure on Installing Crown Mouldings and Trim. Yes, another ongoing project!

The round edges of the clock certainly didn’t make drilling holes any easier. It was a bit challenging (no pun intended that time, I swear) getting the holes started because the drill bit kept sliding down the rounded edge. Once the holes were started though, drilling the holes straight was the other challenge. Whatever angle the holes are drilled is the angle the rods will stand, and obviously I wanted them all to be at a similar angle.

TIP: When drilling holes like this (which are more than half the thickness of the wood), it’s best to start drilling the holes with a much smaller drill bit and slowly working your way up to the bigger drill bits, to keep the wood from splitting. I tried to rush a few of these holes by just using the larger bit, and experienced splitting. I ended up using four different bits on each of these holes to slowly work my way up to making the holes the right size.

To complete the project, I simply inserted the Tinkertoy rods in a random pattern I liked……..

…….and since a couple of the holes weren’t perfect, which was allowing the rods to shift, I decided to glue the rods into the holes.

This was a fun, easy project and I love that the tired, plain, discarded clock has been reinvented into something cool and one-of-a-kind! This unique clock will definitely be a conversation starter for whomever decides to hang it on their wall.

Have YOU made any starbursts lately? Let me know what you think about this one, Homies!

And once again, thank you for your “time.” (sorry, couldn’t resist :-)

Peace,
HomeGirl

Hot Pink Contemporary Pendant Chandelier

2012-08-13T01:09:00.001-04:00

Greetings from the Home Girl!

Walking through “The Hob”(Hobby Lobby) a while back, I ~~got sidetracked by~~ noticed these interesting pink painted metal ring spheres and decided I could turn them into pendant lights. I’m currently remodeling my little diva’s room, taking it from a pastel pink little princess room to a hot pink big girl glamour room, and wanted to use pendant lighting, as opposed to lamp lighting, in an effort to reduce the amount of “stuff” sitting around on the furniture tops. So, we needed two pendant lights - one for over the nightstand and one for over the closet/mirror area. The other lighting in the room is a blingy chandelier and mini ceiling fan that I put together here: Mini Ceiling Fan/Chandelier. Since the main ceiling light has crystally bling, the diva and I thought the pendant lights should be a little blingy too. After all, they are the jewelry of the room.

Before we move on, let me just say, this room is in a bit of a state-of-disrepair due to the holdup on the crown molding and canopy surround, but try to imagine lots of white wedding veil fabric flowing from ceiling to floor, encircling the entire bed and flanking the windows, and topped off with a 25 feet of valance made with a beautiful pale pink and white damask fabric. Can you see it yet? This room will be all about the fabrics….whenever I can ever get them all sewn and installed.

Now, back to the lights, what I really loved about these metal ring spheres is that the rings mimic the pattern on the custom window shades that I made for this room.

I thought it would be a great way to repeat the circles in the room to add conformity……. circle conformity. And when the light is turned on...........

...............look at the cool effect the rings make on the wall............

.................................and on the ceiling!

I’m having lots of trouble photographing the exact color of this room. The color either shows up too intense, or too dark, or too red, or too light, or too bright. Hopefully, I’ll get that worked out before I complete the room so I can make better photographs of the finished product.

Do the long crystal strands in the center look like legs and the other strands of shorter crystals look like arms? Making the metal ring sphere look like a head? I wanted to change this up a bit but the diva likes them just the way the are so I guess we will stick with this “pendant light people” version for now.

Pretty blingy?

Groovy Circles! Who needs a disco ball when you have one (or two) of these babies?

So……in case you’re wondering how to turn an object into a pendant light, it’s really easy.

You start with a light kit. In this case, I bought two swag pendant light kits at Home Depot.

After threading the cord through the swag chain, and then through the swag hook ring, I inserted the cord through a center hole in the sphere.

I used a large washer as a spacer to keep the small hook ring from falling through the hole where the wire enters the sphere.

Next, this little doohickey (below) slides onto the wire. The threads on that rod (below) will screw into the bottom of the hook ring (above), which is how the light socket attaches to this sphere that I’m using as a shade/globe.

Once the wires are attached, screws tightened, and the socket is screwed into the doohickey above…………

It’s ready for a light bulb! Wasn't that simple?

It looks stylish and sleek just the way it is, without adding any bling. But for this glamour room, we needed bling!!!

After ceiling hooks were installed in the bedroom, the pendant lights were put into place so that the location of the switches could be determined. These switches are also simple to install by simply following the package directions.

Lots of bling, a few feather boas and swag light kits have transformed these metal ring spheres into unique one-of-a-kind pendant chandeliers.

I’ve also been working on building a few grown-up versions of this type of pendant lighting to sell, by using an interesting collection of a certain vintage object I discovered in a thrift store. I’m thinking custom lighting is way cool! It’s easy to walk into a few stores and buy all the things you need to design, decorate or style an awesome space. But I really enjoy a room more though when it has that custom, created, individual, one-of-a-kind feel, and these cute little pendant lights certainly reflect (a little bit of pun intended) that element.

Peace out, Homies! And once again, thanks for stopping by! You really “light” up my life. hehe Really, though, you do!!!

Master Bathroom Chevron ZigZag Wall

2012-08-10T01:04:00.000-04:00

Hey Homies! I’ve been busy in the master bathroom this week. As usual, I was just minding my own business when an idea popped into my head. It all started when the fantabulous Designer, David Bromstad sent me this wonderful print "Daydream" (hanging above). I was so excited to win it in at one of his recent Twitter parties, for the Before/After photos I submitted for this Tween Spy Room remodel!!! So, when I finally received the print, I giddily wandered around the house trying to find just the right spot to hang it - which WAS a challenge by the way because the walls around here seem to be full! There are a few empty spots in the basement, but the kids spend more time down there than I do and I wanted my “Daydream” to hang some place where I could enjoy it often. This is MY "Daydream"! Then it hit me!

I guess I should back up to the before picture. Four years ago, we started with this……..

I initially removed all of the wooden wall fixtures, painted the dingy ceiling bright white, and painted the walls AND oak vanity a dark gray color, the same gray color found in other parts of the house and in the fabric used in the adjoining master bedroom.

Paint alone really gave this room a nice updated feel. But I’ve always wanted to add some drama to the back wall of the master bathroom………some color, pattern, stripes, colorful art …………something.

I do love the gray walls, but the artwork that I chose to hang in the bathroom was definitely lacking in color. I did bring color into the room with towels, candles, etc., but this wall needed more color. The attached master bedroom has a feature wall with a series of gold, white, silver, black and tan stripes which I was considering repeating behind the artwork in the master bathroom to bring some color to the wall and to also highlight the art. But I first wanted to figure out the towel storage cabinet solution before spending too much time on adding color to the wall. At least the plain gray paint was clean, updated and modern – a fresh, clean slate.

But…..… this bathroom has been in this fresh clean slate for the last four years so now it's old again! We’ve been trying to decide if we should do (a) a BIG remodel to expand the bathroom to include the adjacent sitting room which would change the entire layout of the bathroom, or (b) a MEDIUM remodel which would include a new double vanity, tile floor, tile shower, and a new tub, but keeping the existing layout, or (c) just a SMALL remodel which would basically include paint, new plumbing and lighting fixtures, and maybe a new vanity. I think we can be happy with the third option for a while, keeping the white tile, changing out the fixtures and eventually getting a new vanity.

So when it hit me, when I thought the David Bromstad print would be just the thing to take this room up a notch, to compliment the print I also thought of a special piece of furniture that I accidently stumbled upon, and fell in love with, recently. I found this beauty in someone’s garage a few weeks back. I went there to buy ONE little antique marble top plant stand table for $15, and left with my mini-van packed full of treasures for $75! This cabinet is HEAVY solid wood and the gentleman I bought it from said it belonged to his mother for a long time. I love how the lines of the legs on the side sort of jut out….sort of like my hips. hehe The paint was a little chipped up around the legs, but most of the spots on the door were from something being splattered on it that was easily wiped off. But what I REALLY fell in love with was that HARDWARE! I’m a sucker for cool vintage hardware, FOR SURE!

I didn’t like the fact that I put this cabinet in storage and was in the process of trying to figure out how to “coolify” it and resell it. Then, I decided I didn’t really want to “coolify” it because it was already so cool to me and I wanted to take it out of storage and bring it home with me. But just like every cute little puppy that doesn’t have a home, I can’t bring them all home with me and put them in my house…..unless I find the perfect use and perfect spot for them, right? So, BAM! I would hang my beloved David Bromstad print, above my beloved vintage newly-designated towel cabinet (that I would now get to keep and not have to resell),which would now sit beside my beloved bathtub, which is under my beloved bubble light fixture. Oh yeah, the bubble light fixture! I almost forgot!

This was a Valentine’s gift from my sweet husband earlier this year. I hated staring up at the ugly can light over our tub when I was bathing and always dreamed of a pretty little chandelier hanging there one day. When I saw this cute and reasonably priced fixture on Overstock.com Bubble Chandelier, I just thought it would be very beautiful and playful hanging over our tub. It immediately jumped on to the wish list around the same time my husband just happened to be looking for a gift to buy for me. Funny how that happens sometimes, huh? (**evil laugh**) It IS much nicer to look at than that old can light, indeed! AND he even installed it on a dimmer so it makes a beautiful night light as well. Oh yes, he is good.

Instead of refinishing my new old towel cabinet for the next week or two, I cleaned the cabinet inside and out, polished the brass hardware, used a black paint pen to touch up the chipped legs, shined the entire cabinet with a finishing paste wax, and lined the shelves with contact paper.

And it was good as new! Almost! Actually, it’s still a little bit beat up and scratched. But just by covering the scraped legs with black touch-up paint, and by waxing the entire piece, it was transformed into a much nicer looking piece…..without refinishing. I actually prefer this piece with a few dents and dings. Then I don’t have to be so careful about not messing up the new paint job, which would probably be the case if I refinished it. I ended up becoming so fond of this piece that it has steered me into a “mismatched”or “not-so-matchy-matchy” direction for the vanity/sinks when that day comes. But for now, the good news is that the towel basket is finally gone, and that we have a new, cool, vintage, real grown-up piece of furniture for towel storage.

So after committing to utilizing this cool vintage low storage piece for towels instead of using a tall cabinet that coordinated with a double sink vanity cabinet, I decided to hang my new artwork (which was also lacking color by the way so the wall would still need more color) over it as sort of an inspiration for me to work on myself more. I have a tenancy sometimes to care more about what a wall looks like than what I look like, and I actually have to remind myself to wear a little mascara and blow dry my hair every once in a while. So this beautiful print will now serve as my inspiration to glam it up more often.

This is certainly a big improvement over the old look, but, just as before, it was STILL a little boring looking to me. Since the towel storage situation was finally sorted out, I was okay with finally spending the time to paint the wall with a fun design and a little more color. Chevron patterns are really big in design lately, and I’ve been wanting to paint a chevron wall so bad, so I decided to add a little zigzag funk to all these pieces of collected love I used in this room……....the bubble chandelier, the David Bromstad “Daydream” print, and that awesome vintage cabinet. Painting a harlequin pattern on the wall was another idea I had because of the shape of the handles on the retro cabinet, but that seemed a little more feminine than what I had in mind. I’ve really been trying to keep my husband in mind more when designing our spaces because I tend to think too girly sometimes if I’m not concentrating on him. So, the chevron pattern seemed a lot more masculine to me, like Charlie Brown's shirt. hehe

When painting a design onto a wall, I always start with a sketch to get the scale in perspective. I don’t have any fancy software that does this for me, but I always just sketch on simple graph paper using one box equals one foot as a scale. Here’s my simple sketch for the chevron pattern bathroom wall.

When painting a pattern, I do find it important to sketch it out and also to make a notation of the part that will be painted - in this case the “yellow” part (above) is the part to be painted. When the design becomes more complicated, it’s helpful to place a piece of tape on the areas that DO NOT get paint.

This was an easy pattern to tape out using a measuring tape, a four foot level, and by following the measurements of the sketch.

Yellow or gold was the obvious color choice for the zigzags because similar tones were used as an accent color in the master bedroom with yellow wingback chairs flanking the bed, gold vases on the dresser, and the color yellow scattered in the art and fabric. I didn’t use the exact golden yellow paint in the bathroom as was used on the stripes in the master bedroom because I was almost out of that paint, but what I did use was a similar color that I picked up a couple of years ago from the “oops” pile at a home improvement store for literally just a couple of bucks. It is a Ralph Lauren “matte” mis-mixed color that I initially bought to use on the office ceiling. I decided to change the office wall color to gold instead of the ceiling, but I didn’t want to use the “matte” paint on the walls in the office so it has been sitting unused ever since. So the texture of the chevron pattern wall in this master bathroom will be a mixture of both a semi-gloss finish for the gray and a matte finish for the gold zigzags.

Looking nice, huh?

So after four years, that wall finally got it’s color on! YES! Don’t the zigzags go well with that awesome vintage hardware? And I think that the golden yellow color of the zigzag also helps the brass hardware on that cabinet to fit in with the rest of the chrome hardware going into the bathroom.

The yellow gold color on the bathroom’s back wall also really warms that room and lures you into the bathroom from the sitting area, a/k/a the “waiting room”, located in the master bedroom, just outside the master bathroom.

The sitting area outside the bathroom is the part of the master bedroom that we were considering renovating and expanding into a new and improved master bathroom. But for now, it’s just a nice place to sit and read, or a comfy place to sit and look out the window into the back yard………………….

……or merely just a nice place to sit and peer at the beautiful new bathroom wall.

This Home Girl LOVES it!

Thanks for stopping by Homies! I hope you like the new look as much as I do!

Spy Silhouette and White Board Project

2012-07-26T01:09:00.001-04:00

Hey there, Homies! Welcome back!! I want to share with you a couple of projects that I completed over the last couple of weeks, the first of which I’m actually concerned about sharing. In the wake of the recent senseless movie theatre massacre, I’m hesitant to promote this silhouette of my son holding a gun. This project has been in the works for several weeks and my son is very proud of it. He has also been very excited about the idea of me sharing it with you because it is oh-so-spy-like. It is also a perfect addition to his spy room seen here: Tween Spy Room - my first ever blog posting. I decided that, rather than explain to him about the tragedy and fill his mind with such disturbing news, we would go ahead with this post as planned. I hope no one finds it offensive or insensitive. It is certainly not meant as such.

The idea of a spy silhouette came to me when I was creating this spy-themed room. But with the deadline of the spy themed birthday party quickly approaching, which was when he would reveal his new room to his friends, a few of the remaining projects got put on hold (and then forgotten about) until after the party. The spy room was already really cool without the last little projects completed, so I guess they ended up at the bottom of the priority list. I like to do things in stages anyway so I can ponder different ideas before making a final decision. At least that’s what I tell my husband when he kids me about not completing the last 5% of projects.

Of course, the silhouette idea is not a new idea. I remember my mom and grandmother having silhouettes of my brothers and sister hanging on their walls. My siblings are all close in age, and their silhouettes were done at the same time, before I was born. Don’t worry, I was not intentionally left out of the silhouette thing. It’s all good! I think silhouettes are just lovely, classic, traditional, and a great family heirloom. And it’s AMAZING how much the profiles look like their subjects! Over the years, I have also seen a lot of black wooden lawn silhouettes of animals, people, etc. - you know the ones - and they always make me smile. So, I decided to try my hand at a silhouette cut-out of my little spy using 1/8 inch plywood (because I had a nice scrap of that in my scrap pile) - sort of like a lawn silhouette for inside the house! I guess when my son grows out of the spy theme, I can always stand that guy out in the yard to ward off intruders! LOL

To make this guy, I started by taping a large piece of craft paper to the wall where I wanted the silhouette to hang. In this case, I wanted the silhouette to be facing the doorway and/or hallway, as if he were guarding the door. What a messy magnet board hiding behind the door!!!

Next, I had my little spy-in-training stand in front of the paper.

After the shades were closed and the lights turned off, I positioned a flashlight to make the shadow fit onto the craft paper. I ended up having my son stand on a stool because, with the angle of the flashlight, only half of his legs were showing in the shadow and we wanted him to appear taller. My son wore one of his fedoras (Yes, he has more than one. He’s so cool!) and held his cap gun for this spy silhouette. Although he’s wearing shorts, when I traced the silhouette, I made him appear to be wearing a trench coat.

After the shadow was centered on the craft paper, I took a pencil and outlined the shadow. Getting this boy to stand still was definitely the hardest part! I finally had to put my hand on his shoulders to hold him still while I traced.

It wasn’t a perfect trace, so I just sketched in the parts that didn’t quite line up. If you don’t know this little guy, I can tell you that it is a perfect profile of his face. I was amazed at how much it looked like him! So cool!

Next, I cut out the silhouette and placed it on the plywood, being careful to avoid knots and splits on the front and back of the plywood that might interfere with the jigsaw cuts.

When I got the silhouette placed where I wanted it, I used a few pieces of tape to keep it from moving around, and simply traced it onto the plywood with a pencil.

It just so happens that there was an outlet located in the spot we chose for the spy to stand (of course). I traced over the outlet at the same time that I traced the silhouette just to get an idea of where it was, but my tracing lines weren’t perfect. So I measured the distance of the outlet from the top of the baseboard, and measured the height and width of the outlet. It’s nice to take photos so I don’t have to write down the measurements. If I don’t do one of the two, I forget EVERYTHING by the time I make it back out to the garage.

Using a square tool against the side of the plywood to make sure the spy was standing straight and level, I drew the bottom of the silhouette which will sit atop the baseboard.

Then I slid the square tool up the plywood just a bit to mark the bottom of the outlet, and then marked the top of the outlet. As you can see below, my original line from tracing was not straight.

The next part stumped me for a minute. I wanted to make sure the vertical lines of the outlet were straight and square. Initially, I just held the square in place, but since one side of the square tool has a lip to hang over the side of a board, it didn’t sit flat onto the plywood and I was concerned the outlet hole would look like it was leaning. Then I remembered we had another flat square tool (without the lip) and came up with this idea!

I kept the first square in place, aligned against the edge of the plywood, which I used to give me horizontal straight lines. To get the vertical straight lines, I used the other flat square to lay flat against the first square. I could have just used the flat square and eyeballed it, but this way was sure to give perfect 90 degree corners.

After I had everything traced in pencil, I outlined it again with a Sharpie. When cutting things out of wood, sometimes pencil marks become hard to see, especially when covered in saw dust. Since this piece was going to be painted, the Sharpie marks were not an issue and made cutting much easier.

Isn’t he cute?

I used a jigsaw to cut out the silhouette. I learned the basics of using a jigsaw in a woodworking class I took once. The main thing you need to know is that it cuts pretty much just in a straight line. But you can cut slight curves if the curve is gradual.

Otherwise, you have to cut in sections. In the photo below, when I got to the curve of the hand, I had to stop and come in from another angle.

Some of the smaller areas that are hard to reach with the saw blade can be cut by simply making several small cuts perpendicular to the line you are trying to cut, instead of ON the line, until the piece is gone. (Below). I hope that makes sense. Any rough areas can be sanded down.

At the end, some areas were impossible to cut because the jigsaw was bouncing the board so much that the jigsaw wouldn’t catch the wood and cut. And the only place to hold the board steady enough for the blade to catch and start cutting was just too close to the jigsaw for me and I didn’t want to lose any fingers. Drilling holes in the plywood allowed me a better, steadier place to start my cuts.

That’s also how you start cutting out in the middle of a board, as opposed to starting at the edge, like when cutting out for the outlet hole below.

O.M.G.! It looks just like him!

My little spy LOVES his spy shadow! Let's not even talk about the hair, please.

Using various sanding tools, I sanded out the rough edges.

After a couple of coats of black paint, it was ready to hang.

I drilled pilot holes in the silhouette so that the plywood wouldn’t split when I screwed it into the wall. Also, I used my stud finder to determine where the studs were, which determined where the screws holes needed to be.

So now this spy shadow guards the door to the spy room. I love how it turned out! Now I'm thinking of some other cool things to cut out of plywood. Just think of all the possibilities!!

The thing I like best about this spy shadow is that it reminded me of something that I hadn’t thought about in 10 years, and probably would have never thought about again if I had not worked on this project. It was the day my son first saw his shadow when he was a toddler. We were playing in the driveway and he looked up and saw his own shadow on the garage door. He tried to walk away from it but it followed him and he got so scared and started crying. Of course, I thought it was so funny, and thought he was so cute, and I tried to explain to him about shadows. I made my shadow appear on the garage door too, and we jumped up and down and made our shadows do silly things. After that, he liked shadows. At bedtime, we learned to make shadows on the wall using our fingers and a flashlight. I forgot all about that until now. Sweet memories.

Before I go, I’d like to highlight one other project in this room that was put on hold and that I can now mark off the list…..…….the white board.

The white board idea was intended to camouflage the secret door to the weapon cache, making it look like “just a white board".

I bought the white board kit when we modified the bed, at the beginning of the remodel, but it just didn’t get done. I simply removed the door from the hinges so that I could lay it flat, taped off the area that I wanted to be a white board, mixed the product, and rolled it on. This product has a pretty long dry time so I did give it about a month to dry, just to make sure it was cured. We had some rainy weather which increases the cure time, and since that paint is quite smelly, I left it out in the damp garage to cure. Then I simply used Velcro to attach the white board markers to the left side of the door – SO NO ONE WOULD GET CONFUSED AND USE THE WRONG MARKER!

For some reason, the little notes I keep leaving on this board keep getting erased. I guess they're not very spy-like notes.

The last thing I have planned for this room is a storage/file cabinet for under the desk. I’m on the lookout, I just haven’t found the perfect thing yet, in the perfect size, at the perfect price.

Thanks for reading! I hope you like the way these little projects turned out as much as this Home Girl does. Mission Accomplished!

Kids Bathroom Remodel

2012-07-20T17:42:00.001-04:00

We knew when we moved into our current house that the children’s bathroom would have to go bye-bye. It was pretty bad. Unfortunately, I did not take very good pictures of how bad it was, but it was bad. The only pictures I do have are from our first visit to the house. The bathroom was in desperate need of updating, and the grime in here was just disgusting.

The shower doors kept falling off (twice ON the kids WHILE they were bathing). And there was so much black gunk on the shower door and I could not find a product capable of removing it.

The bathroom was outfitted with a lovely (not) shell sink and the walls had a coordinating shell stencil. The vanity was stained oak along with the t.p. holder, cup and toothbrush holders and towel bar. Then, there was a nice non-matching white storage shelf attached to the wall above the toilet. I actually kept that white storage shelf and I’m planning on modifying it and using it in another way. But that’s a whole other project. Maybe this bathroom was cool at one time, but then again, maybe not.

So here’s where it gets good. I still snicker just thinking about it. My husband had to go out of town on business and was going to be gone for a couple of days. Sooooooooo.........can you tell where I’m going with this? One early morning I was sipping my delicious coffee, staring at the ugly bathroom, and started wondering how long it might take for me to demo this nasty, little room. Hmmmm? I checked the time and thought how nice it would be if I could rip out the bathroom before the trash pick-up that day, which only gave me a couple of hours. Then there would be no turning back if it all got taken to the dump before my husband got home. Sneaky, huh? Should I dare? Of course!!!! To make matters even more interesting, we were having house guests visiting within a couple of weeks, who would be using this bathroom. I wanted them to have a nice, new, updated bathroom to use. The race was on!

I quickly turned off the water under the sink and disconnected the pipes from the wall. I scored the wall around the cabinet (where someone had painted the side - only the side - of the cabinet to match the walls (why do this?) with several coats of paint) an around the vanity top with a razor blade, and with a little muscle, I was able to pull the cabinet away from the wall. I quickly carried it down to the end of the driveway, giddy at the fact that there would be no possible way to turn back if the trash collector took it all away. Next came those shower doors. After lifting the doors off the track (pretty easy since they kept falling off anyway), I removed the screws used to attach the frame to the wall, scored the caulk around the metal frame with my blade, and was able to pry it off pretty easily without damaging the tile. Once the shower doors were removed, the shower tiles did have a few open screw holes in them but I filled them with white bathroom caulk. The holes are now barely noticeable. They are way more visible in the photograph above than when actually standing in the bathroom. And as my grandmother would say, “Nobody would notice on a galloping horse.”

There was also a medicine cabinet on the side wall beside the sink that had seen better days. Yucky stuff! I wanted the new medicine cabinet to be over the sink, not beside it, so the old one had to go. After unscrewing a few screws, it came right out! It used to be where the print below (with the starfish) is hanging above the hand towel. The new medicine cabinet that matched the new vanity ended up not working out because it stuck out too far from the wall, blocking the light from the new light fixture. In retrospect, maybe I should have just found a different light fixture, but the quality of the new medicine cabinet was not that great, and I couldn't find anything to replace it that was in stock, so I just went with Plan B - kept the light and ended up using a plain, beveled mirror instead of a medicine cabinet.

I do plan on adding a little glass shelf above the sink one of these days, after I install the tile backsplash that I’m planning to put behind the sink, or maybe even a mirror with a built-in shelf. But for now, the cabinet under the sink holds the few toiletries that the kids use - toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwash, and a brush. I also painted some hanging storage cubes black and hung them over the toilet (shown in first photograph) for additional storage.

The old bathroom also had a lovely (not) beat up vinyl floor. After removing all of the old baseboards, the floor came up easily. It was not glued so it was just a matter of lifting it up. I did have to cut the vinyl floor around the toilet because the toilet was sitting on it and I decided to wait for my husband for the lifting of the toilet part.

Mission accomplished! I got all of the old bathroom stacked up at the end of the driveway just in time for the pick-up. And they took it all! No turning back now!!!! The look on my husband’s face when he came home to an empty shell (no pun intended) of a bathroom was PRICELESS!

The next part became a little more difficult. Behind the door to the bathroom was this tiny, skinny door to the linen closet (not pictured but I’m sure you’ve seen them). It was very hard to access, having to close the bathroom door first, then squeeze into this skinny door to reach a towel. The door knobs would bang each other and it was really awkward in such a tiny space, not to mention that you couldn’t see anything in the closet because it was so dark. When standing in the doorway of the closet, the light from over the sink would be blocked by my body. I removed the door and door frame, and those wire shelves that I’ve grown to despise over the years, but the walls around the closet door had been built out with 2x4’s to hold the door frame, and they weren’t as easy to remove as everything else. I decided that I needed my husband’s help with that part as well. I cannot believe I forgot to take photos of the demoed bathroom! It looked like a bomb went off in there!

After the demo, we had to patch the drywall where the doorframe had been, and lining that drywall patch up to the existing linen closet wall wasn’t as easy as I initially thought. But it eventually worked out with a couple of filler boards and a ~~little~~ lot of drywall mud. We also had to patch the wall where the medicine cabinet was, which was a piece of cake after the linen closet ordeal.

After the walls were patched, I tiled the floor with this beautiful 18x18 travertine tile below.

It’s kind of a funny story……well, it’s funny now. We didn’t find it AT ALL amusing at the time. After laying out all of the tiles to get a good look at them and their color variations (travertine is a natural stone so each tile is different), I decided to make this checker board pattern. I measured and drew a grid of the floor and tile pattern, positioned each tile for my pattern, numbered them on my drawing, then labeled each tile with it’s corresponding number with a piece of painter’s tape. Then, we rented a big tile cutting wet saw, removed all the tiles that needed cutting (there were only about 4 tiles that didn’t need a cut), made the first cut and then a storm came and knocked out our electricity for 8 days!!!! Eight WHOLE days!!!!! Our house guests ended up coming the next weekend anyway for their scheduled visit, and even though we had no power, we still had a nice time together…..with candles, flashlights, coolers and the grill. Luckily the temperature outside was perfect for an 8 day power outage!

When renting tools, it can be pretty costly for the bigger ones. So, we were trying to be smart and thrifty about it and have everything ready for the saw so that we could return it quickly to keep the cost down. Even though the tool rental store regained their electricity way before we did, they let us keep the saw until our power was restored. In an effort to return the saw as quickly as possible, we decided to cut all the tiles first and dry fit them into the bathroom. This is not the typical or recommended way to do it because you can run into the problem of laying the tiles back down with thin set, and then being a tad bit off and the outer tiles not fitting. Keeping this in mind, I was very careful to start the center tile on the lines that I had drawn onto the cement backer board and was very careful to use spacers between the tiles. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, before tiling, we screwed 1/8 inch cement board down to the plywood subfloor. Some people say you don’t really have to do this, but this IS a bathroom, and my kids DO get water on the floor, and I’m pretty sure water would have eventually seeped through the stone and grout and rotted the subfloor. Plus, it helps the stability of the floor, minimizing movement of the tile and grout, therefore minimizing the chance of cracks in the tile or grout. It’s an easy inexpensive step than can save you time and money in the long run.

It took me an entire day just to lay that tile, and let me tell you, that’s some heavy stuff to lay! My arms and shoulders (and the rest of my body for that matter) were definitely feeling it for a couple of days. My husband came home from work looking all handsome and clean in his dress clothes, just as I was laying the last tile. I was worn out, filthy, sweaty and my hair was a mess, and the first words out of his mouth were “Those tiles aren’t lining up right!” GRRRRRR! Let me just say, it’s a good thing I couldn’t lift my arms anymore that day! As you can see in the photo above, there is one measly place that didn’t line up perfectly. But I have seen much worse jobs from professionals. And did I mention that the quote just to LAY this particular tile (I already had all of the materials) in this teeny, tiny bathroom was $800!!!!! Just to lay it!!!! The place that didn’t line up perfectly is in front of the toilet, which is under the fishy rug, and I bet you didn’t even notice in the first floor picture. Did you? Anyway, nobody will notice on a galloping horse…….. and I saved $800.

After the floor was down, we installed the upgraded baseboard below. Before installing it, I painted it glossy ultra white, along with the bathroom door. The ceiling got bright white ceiling paint.

And I picked up this Euro-style vanity/sink below at Home Depot for a very reasonable price.

And the kids just LOVED this faucet!

I also found the light fixture on the clearance table at Lowe’s for just a few bucks, and installed it myself. It's nothing special, but it's better than the Broadway make-up lights that were there before.

The hubby installed lighting over the linen closet………………………………….

…………………………and lighting over the tub.

The lighting over the tub was really important because, after hanging the home-made shower curtain below, there was not much light in the shower. I fell in love with this outdoor fabric when I saw it a few years ago in a fabric store in Louisville, KY, so I decided to make a shower curtain out of it.

The reason I wanted the shower curtain really high was to make the room appear taller and larger, but you just can’t find shower curtains that long. It’s also hard to find shower liners that long, so when I see them, I usually buy two or three so I can change them out when they start getting yucky.

So, to make the shower curtain, I measured out the length that I wanted, pinned the fabric in place, and hand stitched it using red thread while watching t.v. one night. I then added grommets for hanging it by using a simple grommet kit. I love how it turned out!!! I took the shade of lime green paint on the walls from the shower curtain. It’s hard to photograph this color with my camera. In some of the photos, the color shows up much brighter than it really is.

My husband also built these floating shelves that I designed for linen closet. The way I photographed it, the shelves look crooked, but they ARE level. Yep, he’s a handy man to have around, when he has the time. I try not to keep him too busy on the weekends, because he works so hard during the week at his hectic job. And the paint is not THAT green! Holy Cow, I can hardly look at that photo! It literally makes my eyes water!

I found this European-style towel holder below at IKEA, which I think goes well with the Euro-style sink. The toilet paper holder and hand towel hook are from the same line as the towel holder.

The last little detail in this room is the art work. (OMG, I just noticed my reflection in the pic below! Maybe I need a photography class!!)

These framed fishy prints are actually photographs of the walls in our children’s previous bathroom.

I e-mailed them to my brother and he printed them for me with his fancy, schmancy printer.

These art pieces are very sentimental to our children because they didn’t really want to move to our current house when we were relocated here for my husband’s job. We had only been in our previous house for exactly two years, and moving to THAT house had been a difficult move for the kids as well. Prior to our previous house, we had been living in Sweden in our previous, previous house, and we uprooted our little family to move back to the USA just in time for our son to start kindergarten. He had to get used to everyone speaking English, because all of his other friends spoke Swedish, and it was just a big transition for him all together. Our daughter was 1 1/2 when we moved back to The States, and was REALLY confused with the whole language thing, hearing me speak English, my son and his friends speaking Swedish, and my husband speaking Danish to our Danish friends who were living in Sweden at the time, and I was afraid she was never going to talk! No worries. She eventually did.

In an effort to make our new home in the US a place that the kids would love, I concentrated first on giving them really cool bedrooms. So, after painting my son’s room one day to look like a castle, I went to put my paint cans and brushes back in the unfinished bathroom that was located between the kids’ bedrooms. I was using the unfinished bathroom to store supplies at the time. For some reason, I took my paint brush and wiped the excess paint onto the unfinished wall of the bathroom before rinsing my paintbrush. The place where I wiped my paint brush sort of looked like a fish, and an idea was born. The kids and I spent the next few months painting the walls of this unfinished bathroom, little by little, and we eventually added the flooring, baseboard, sink and toilet. All of the fish that I painted were imaginary, and my son painted a few that he just thought up too. We didn’t look at any photographs of fish, we just painted. And then I ended up buying a sea-themed stencil for the kids use to paint some smaller schools of fish, to fill in some of the bare areas. This bathroom ended up being the kids’ pride and joy! So when we relocated AGAIN, they wanted their fishy bathroom in the new house too! ARG! As fun as it was the first time, I wasn’t ready for it again. There can be only ONE fishy bathroom! This is what their old bathroom looked like!

Luckily, I took lots of photographs of the previous house before we left so we could look back at them one day….....…and laugh!

Crazy, I know!

But they LOVED it!

They weren't yet tall enough to see themselves in the mirror above the sink, so we had to improvise with a port hole mirror that I spray painted silver to match the fixtures. Also, the two hand towel hooks (each child had their own towel) were held by the eight-clawed crab in the top left corner above. That room was hilarious! You couldn’t help but smile when you were in there!!

I’m sure the new owners had a few choice words for me when they were trying to paint over it. No smiles there, I’m sure!

So, that’s why the fishy prints in their current bathroom are so sentimental to them. I didn't tell them my plan of printing and framing the photographs and just surprised them one day. Luckily, the prints of the old bathroom were enough to make them love the new bathroom too.

I haven’t been as adventurous with our master bath yet, because what I really want to do in there will cost a fortune. It’s amazing though at what just a gallon of paint did for that room. And I do have a little something-something exciting going on in the master bath that I can't wait to show you soon. But that’s another story.

Well homies, as always, thanks for reading. Maybe you’ll be inspired to rip out your old, outdated bathroom one day too! Just do it!!!!

Accents From Nature

2012-07-17T19:12:00.002-04:00

Hey Homies!

After this post, you may be tempted to call me Mother Nature, instead of Home Girl. Ewww, nevermind, that makes me sound old. I'll think I'll just stick with Home Girl!

It’s no secret that I’m ~~a tightwad~~ thrifty. And I’m also a nature girl. Throughout my home, I tend to bring in nature inspired designs…..like painting trees around our fireplace, or leaves in our bay window, or even in the fabric that I gravitate toward. Photos of these will eventually show up in later blog posts. I also like to have at least one plant in every room. A REAL plant, no fakies, no silk, no plastic, just the real McCoy! So it’s no surprise that I also like to use items that I’ve found in nature as accents. Not only are they beautiful, but they’re FREE!

I’m also a sentimental old gal, and I tend to collect nature things from each vacation we go on, from each city we live in, or maybe just from a hike. They all have meaning and memories for me. For example, we visited Alaska a couple of years ago and I was searching for a souvenir. Wouldn’t you know that I found the perfect rock to take home while we were climbing the Byron Glacier? Even though that hike kicked our butts (while being empty handed), my sweet husband STILL carried that rock for the rest of the hike and back to the car for me. When I look at that rock today, it literally almost takes me back to being on that glacier! Yes, for some reason, I LOVE rocks. Why did I not photograph my Alaska rock for this post since I’m making reference to it?

This vignette on my tub is a collection found on the beach during a recent trip to the Bahamas. The conch shell is especially sentimental to me. My husband went for a jog along the beach, saw this conch shell, picked it up knowing that I would love it, and then had to finish his run carrying the thing. It’s dirty (although I did clean it a bit), beat up and has a couple of holes in it, and it’s not shiny and clean like one you would buy at the store. It has the Bahamas stuck all over it! And I LOVE it!

Doesn’t it make the perfect planter for this mini orchid?

My children found some of the other shells for me. And I found that webby stick thing.

Check out the fossil! Isn’t that cool!!!!

And that one too!

I swear that white rock or shell above looks like a man’s face, and it looks like he’s sniffing that wooden thingy under his nose. Huh? Can you see it? Or maybe I'm just spending too much time in the bathtub.

Speaking of faces and rocks, this brings me to another memorable vaca. My husband is from Denmark and while spending the day on a beach there with his family, we collectively found a wonderful group of rocks. I’ve handed down this love of collecting nature to my children and wouldn’t you know that my mother-in-law has it too! I keep the rocks from that trip in this large pewter plate which sits on a very old wooden truck. Both items (trunk and plate) belonged to my husband’s grandfather. We acquired them when he passed away. The pewter plate sat on this same trunk just inside his entry door and he would empty his pockets of keys, etc. when he came in the door and put them in the plate.

I thought it was fitting to keep the plate sitting on the trunk just as he had it, and eventually ended up putting the collection of Danish beach rocks in the plate.

An orchid eventually made it’s way there too.

Many of those Danish beach rocks have faces too, just like the Bahamian man! Don’t believe me? Take a lookey!

Can you see the faces in the rocks above? No? Here are a few close-ups below.

Here’s the Pokémon rock. Or I guess it’s actually Pikachu from Pokémon. Huh? Do you see it now?

Or maybe you can see the old man sticking his tongue out?

This one is the opera singer’s happy friend. I guess I didn’t get a close up of the opera singer. She’s in the middle of the group shot above.

And this is poor Mr. Sad Face. He must have lost his best rock friend.

Sorry, my imagination tends to run wild sometimes. I’ve been told that I might have spent too much time alone as a kid.

Okay, so here’s a few more things we found that day………

Heart rocks = LOVE!

Oops, this little guy was turned over the wrong way in the other photo. Here’s a better shot. My kids have given me several heart rocks over the years. If you’re ever creek walking, look down! They are plentiful!

Isn’t penguin guy adorable?

My son SWEARS this is an actual shark tooth from a gigantic shark! We almost got into an argument about it and then I decided just to let him win that one. There’s no harm in letting him think it’s a gigantic shark tooth, right? Pick your battles!

This appears to be some sort of knee or hip joint….possibly from someone lost at sea? Poor soul. (sad face)

Just look at the variation in color of these rocks we found at that Danish beach!!! B.eau.ti.ful!!!! Great assortment!

Okay, almost done with rock talk..........

Lastly, I’d like to show you my beloved holy rocks. Yes, holy! HOLY ROCKS!

Each of them has a hole all the way through it. My kids thought it would be a great idea for me to make a necklace with them. But that’s not the kind of rock I like to wear! (hint hint) I prefer the not-so-heavy ones that are clear and sparkly! BLING BLING

I did use one at the end of our dinner bell ringer though!

I also had a large Danish holy rock seen above that I used outside as a candle holder until someone broke it in half. GRRRRRR! Don’t mess with my rocks, people! Actually, the dog broke it. This pile of rocks is a collection from Denmark, Sweden, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio and Maryland. I like to use them in our landscaping.

Like this one from the little farmette we had in Tennessee. I found it one day hiking through our 5 acres. Actually, only 2 1/2 acres were wooded so it was a short hike. But I made a trail and it was a special place I liked to hike to with my son (our daughter wasn’t yet born), to go see the rock. He was only 2 - 3 at the time and he enjoyed our little adventure. So when we moved to Sweden, I took it with me as a reminder of our little farmette. I loved that place.

Isn’t it cool!!!!

I do have a girly side, and I love this pink quartz rock I found on our property when we lived in Maryland.

This one was from our Maryland property too! It’s rather large, and I think it’s beautiful. The best part is that they remind me of where I’ve been.

The other best part is that they didn’t cost anything. Okay, enough about the rocks!!!

Would you be surprised if I told you that I like sticks too? LOL

One afternoon, I was walking home from a friend’s house and noticed this fallen branch lying on the sidewalk.   I immediately knew what I wanted to do with it. Since there were lots of houses around, and potential ~~witnesses~~ people peeking out their windows, and since I had a pretty good way still to walk and would look like an idiot dragging this tree branch home, I decided to leave it. When my husband got home, I asked if he would help me get the branch. We agreed to wait until dark so nobody would see us. (hehehe, we were sneaky)

The branch had beautiful moss and bark that I didn’t want to cover up, but after painting the teal dresser seen here http://home-girl-decor.blogspot.com/2012/02/command-central.html, I really wanted to bring the same pop of color to the other side of the room. So, I decided to color wash it. I mixed a little bit of teal paint with water in a spray bottle and simply sprayed the branch several times.

Color-washing allowed the beautiful texture of the bark to show through.

Screwing the branch to a block of wood helped it stand. I call it my tree sculpture. The color doesn't really show up in the photograph though.

For a little extra mood lighting, I added a couple of strands of tiny lights. They almost look like little branches. It’s really cozy at night. I think it’s neat to lay on the sofa and look up! Fiber optic lighting on this thing would be sooooo cool!

And this little jewel, a hummingbird nest, was sitting on our sidewalk one morning. It must have blown out of a tree during the storm we had the night before. I love my hummingbirds so this was a special treat for me to find. It’s so tiny and cute!!!! It got a new home in the tree sculpture.

The tree sculpture did lose a few branches when I squeezed it through the back door so I decided to bring a little more of the teal color to another high, bare spot on top of a shelf in this large family room/kitchen combo.

I found the short wooden branch with holes, seen center here, while hiking a creek near our house with my family one winter day. I thought it was beautiful but I have no idea what kind of tree or plant it came from. Then, another day, I was at a thrift store and saw a bundle of three more of them for 99 cents!   SOLD!

I found those other interesting looking dried pods laying in my parent’s yard.

So one day I threw it all together! I think it makes a nice, natural, colorful, FREE arrangement. Well, free except for the 99 cents.   Also, I found that antique USA pottery piece at an antique store for just a few dollars.

I just get so excited about accents from nature and could go on and on. But I’m almost done, I promise!!!

I wanted to also share the center piece of our kitchen table. They are cypress stumps from Florida. I bought them from a yard sale about a mile down the road one day and the older couple selling them told me that the husband waded into the water to cut the stumps that were sticking out. They then boiled and shellacked them. I LOVED them and was happy to give them the entire $1 to bring them home. This photo only shows their beautiful shape, but the warm color of this wood is a perfect match to fireplace surround on the other side of the room. There is another, better photo of them in the link to the teal dresser above.

My final “Accents From Nature” tip today is for your flowerpots. You don’t always have to buy a plant to fill your planters. For example, these three planters below were filled with beautiful wild violets.

Unfortunately, I did not photograph them when they were blooming, but they were full of tiny, purple flowers. They pop up in my lawn and garden and instead of killing them, I like to dig them up and save them. They are hardy…..and FREE!!

Also, they remind me of my maternal grandmother. At her retirement home apartment, she didn’t have a lawn, but she did have a little flower bed outside her door that she filled with wild violets. I told you, I’m a sentimental old gal.

Nothing is more beautiful than nature!!!! The next time you're out and about, look down! Even if you're not a nature girl, you'd be surprised how special a piece of nature can look spray painted silver or gold, or whatever other color you might need to add to your space.

Nature ROCKS! (Get it?) hehe

Peace out........ from your Home Girl! Thanks for stopping by!!!!

Moody Blue Vintage Modern Bedroom – FOR SALE

2012-06-28T16:35:00.001-04:00

I recently put together this entire room using thrift store, yard sale, craigslist, and clearance/sale items from popular retailers, along with several art pieces by yours truly. Even using a “Design on a Dime” budget, this room is full of style and I think it turned out swell!!! I really love to take old items that have been damaged and/or discarded, and give them a new life. Here’s how it all came together……..

This Moody Blue Vintage Modern Bedroom was actually set up in a recently purchased home, and the new homeowner let me use the room to set up and photograph what this room could look like in YOUR home, in exchange for me painting the room. The taupe color was chosen by the homeowner, but I think it works as a beautiful neutral backdrop to show off the furnishings. The paint color could even go darker, giving more contrast to the white furniture, art and accessories. Gray toned walls might be another option as the background for these furnishings.

This is what the room looked like before I started. After removing the dated border, filling and sanding holes, and applying a fresh coat of paint on the walls and trim, it looked good as new.

This beautiful mid-century dresser is where the whole room started. Although this dresser is missing all identifying labels, I saw an overpriced (or I would have bought it) matching chest of drawers on craigslist that still had the label, identifying it as being from United Furniture. After carrying this piece down four flights of stairs with the help of it’s previous owner, while my husband and kids waited in the van, me and my ovaries believe it to be solid, heavy, oak.

When I got it, it looked like this.

It was in pretty good shape, but the legs were really loose and it was a little beat up. A not-very-successful-repair had been attempted – notice the screws. **cringe**

So I took it apart…….

Re-glued, re-screwed, sanded, primed, sanded, painted, sanded, painted, sanded, painted, sanded, painted……. well, you get the idea.

It has several coats of gloss white paint to give it that updated modern edge, and also has a high gloss protective clear topcoat. Isn’t it a beaut!?! Hopefully, someone will buy it sooner rather than later because I’m really wanting to keep this baby!!! If only I had the room for it!

The original brass??? hardware ROCKS.MY.WORLD!!! It didn’t really stand out before the dresser was painted, but it certainly does now.

The dresser measures a whopping 64”long, 30”tall, and 19”deep. Loads of storage! By the way, have you priced new, quality, 9 drawer dressers these days? **Gulp** Ex.pen.sive!

The drawers have dove-tailed joints and all work properly. For a little fancy, schmancy touch, the drawers have been lined in this darling removable polka dot paper.

Now, on to the headboard. The beautiful lines of this headboard, which I found hiding behind a bunch of junk in a thrift store, caught my eye one day. It’s a good, solid piece, but has no markings to identify the brand.

It needed some minor repairs, but with wood glue, clamps and paint, it was good as new.

This headboard has two sets of holes to attach a bedframe to. One set is 74” apart and the other set is 78” apart, to accommodate a king size bed. However, the legs of this headboard were built wide enough to accommodate a queen size bed frame. It's just a matter of drilling the holes.

The mattress used in these photographs is actually a smaller "full" size, because that’s what I had available to use for photographing. ****NOTE: THIS ROOM DOES NOT COME WITH A BEDFRAME AND MATTRESS.****

Did you happen to notice the bedding? The bedding has not been previously used, except for the white dust ruffle and white sheer curtains (not shown). The fabulous queen/full duvet cover is from IKEA. When I saw it, the curves immediately reminded me of the headboard. See how well they go together now that I pointed it out? PERFECT MATCH!

The queen size sheets are a teal blue color with small white circles and are from Target, along with the blue throw blanket at the end of the bed. The pillows were found at Home Goods. I love how the orange compliments the blue and also how the fluffy blue pillows match the fluffy lamp shades.

I can’t wait to tell you about the lamp shades!!!!

But let’s finish the furniture first.

I absolutely fell in love with these fiberglass indoor/outdoor blue drum tables by Peter Pepper Products that I used as nightstands. Oh so MOD! They were a craigslist find and they were designed and custom color matched (almost a peacock blue) by an Interior Designer for a living room in the early 70’s. They do have some light scratches on the top, but have been waxed and buffed to a beautiful shine. They measure 24” in diameter and 15" high, with a square edge. PPP actually still makes these drum tables, although I did not see the exact dimensions on the price chart. From my best estimate using the 24” diameter dimensions they do show on the chart, these drum tables new today would be approximately $700/each, plus shipping. Check out the link to their pricing guide below. What a great find!!!! I want to keep these babies too!!!

http://docs.peterpepper.com/pdf/2011prl/2011PeterPepper-s4.pdf

The last piece of furniture that comes with this room is that awesome tufted, furry, faux cowhide upholstered bench.

This piece originally came from Ashley Furniture and was originally covered in ripped up patchwork fake leather. I removed the damaged leather and reupholstered it with the furry, faux cow hide fabric, using the original black leather covered buttons for the tufting. RAD! The black legs and frame add a nice contrast to the other white furniture.

I painted this abstract piece specifically for this room. I think the colors, shape, and style go perfectly with the rest of the vibe that’s going on up in here.

Here it is enlarged, but unfortunately, it does not photograph well. The colors of the room were used with varying shades of blue, with a bit of orange and gold. Shimmery silver metallic was also used as an accent on this piece. This is a very vibrant painting in person!

The small painting on the dresser was made with a straw blowing technique…..so much fun!! It mimics the cow hide and brings in the complimentary orange color.

As for accessories, the bronze lamps on each side of the bed came from IKEA. The shape of them works perfectly with the other curves in the room and the color goes so well with the dresser hardware. I vamped up the lamp shades with coffee filters and my glue gun. I have similar lamp shades in my own home and always get so many compliments on them. They really are beautiful and make you just want to touch them. AND they go so well with the fluffy teal pillows!!!

Having the lamps on gives the lamp shades a wonderful effect, especially at night.

This vase is so lovely with the dots. And it even has a sticker noting that it does hold water. I tested it with these daylilies for a week, and no water seeped through the ceramic. It is so sculptural though that it even looks great empty. It was a Target find.

The planter and the brass bird are thrift store finds that I thought to be appropriate for this room.

And I just had to have these little Home Goods painted birdie plates resting on each nightstand! I have placed scented candles on them so you can barely see the birdie, but I think they are so sweet.

The rest of the accessories on this side of the room are from various popular retailers (rug, picture frame, large orange vase, orange candle holder and candle, blue glass plate and graphic lampshade).

The lamp base was a thrift store find and goes so well with the white vase holding the orange day lilies. Don’t you think?

I love to bring a bit of nature inside and I also love me some bling. This tree sculpture I made combines the two. I color-washed (little paint and lots of water) with a spray bottle and then hung these round glass crystal balls from the branches. Does this branch remind you of the one on the cute little birdie plate?

The last thing in this room is the oval mirror over the dresser. Since curvy and round was the theme here, the oval mirror was paired with the dresser to offset it’s straight lines. It was painted with a glossy teal finish with orange dot accents.

I had so much fun putting this one-of-a kind vintage modern room together!!!! It is full of personality, style, color, texture and fun! You can be assured you will never walk into someone else’s house and find they have the exact same bedroom furniture as you or someone else you know.

This entire uniquely designed room can be delivered and installed in your home, within a 50 mile radius of Morrow, Ohio, by your Home Girl, for $2,000. Additional fees will be applied to other areas. Now that’s Design on a Dime!

TO RECAP, THIS ROOM INCLUDES:

painted walls
king/queen headboard
(2) vintage fiberglass indoor/outdoor drum tables
upholstered bench
9 drawer mid-century dresser with removable paper-lined drawers
(2) bronze colored lamps with custom hand crafted lamp shades
(1) white lamp with teal/white graphic lampshade
large 41” x 41” custom acrylic abstract painting on wood
small 12” x 12”custom acrylic abstract painting on canvas
queen size duvet cover
queen size sheet set
four coordinating throw pillows
blanket
queen size white bed skirt – gently used
(4) white sheer curtain panels – gently used
rug measuring 3.5’ x 5.5’
white, round vase
large orange vase
(2) small white birdie plates with (2) orange scented candles
stylish orange candle holder with round white candle
brown/bronze colored planter with plant
brass bird figurine
shattered glass plate
picture frame
color-washed tree sculpture with glass crystal balls

If you would like to purchase this room, or have any questions about this room, send me a message at andrea@homegirldecor.com. If you like this room, but purchasing it is not an option for you, help me sell it and help support this small business! Share it on your Facebook page, Pin It, or E-Mail it.

Also, Home Girl Decor’s Facebook page can be found at www.facebook.com/HomeGirlDecor, or by clicking on the convenient Facebook button located on this page. Head on over and give us a “Like”!

You will also find Twitter and Pinterest buttons for your convenience. Let's hook up!!!
And as always, thanks for reading!

Don’t be afraid to mix and match ceiling fans and light kits!!!

2012-05-31T21:31:00.000-04:00

After

Before

Hey Homies!

It’s pretty obvious by looking at the photo above that this antiqued yellowish chandelier does not go with this modern gloss white ceiling fan. Or does it? Hmmmmm?

I ran into a design dilemma recently. Yes, another one! The dilemma started because I needed a ceiling fan in an upper story bedroom to help with circulation, but a chandelier was the perfect fixture to bring in the bling that this room needed. Now, ceiling fan chandeliers are not a new thing, but the dilemma was that I needed a “mini” ceiling fan, with “mini” blades, and I couldn’t find a “mini” ceiling fan/chandelier.

So here’s what I did. I bought this white Monte Carlo 20” mini ceiling fan . Check out the little 7 inch blades. Aren't they cute!?!

http://www.amazon.com/Monte-Carlo-4MC20WH-20-Inch-4-Blade/dp/accessories/B0036VWK08

But instead of buying the light kit that comes with it, I found this Pretty In Pink universal light kit. It did say “universal,” so I crossed my fingers and ordered it.

http://www.lampsplus.com/products/pretty-in-pink-pull-chain-ceiling-fan-light-kit__53567.html

When I got everything unpacked, I knew that the color of the chandelier would not work. It was much more yellow than it looked in the picture on line.

It was nothing that a little spray paint couldn’t fix though.

When painting lamps or light fixtures, I always use painter’s tape to cover the sticker that lists the maximum size bulb that can be used in the fixture, since it can be dangerous to use the wrong light bulbs. I remember at our last house, the light over the tub would always blink on and off and we thought that, either there was a short in it, or we had a ghost. It turns out that the previous owner had used a higher wattage bulb than was suggested. Once we put in the correct bulb, we never had another problem with it. So much for the ghost theory. LOL

A good way to paint a chandelier is to hang it. I happen to have a tree that works great for this purpose.

Okay, back to the ceiling fan. After removing the old fixture, painting the ceiling (your eyes are not deceiving you, the ceiling is purple, but not that purple), and adding the medallion, the mini fan was a breeze (pun intended, hehe) to install. Well, there was this one little problem I just remembered but I think it was the medallion’s fault. After connecting the wires, I didn’t have enough strength to push the fan up into the bracket and turn the housing to lock it into place. Luckily, as always, hubby came to the rescue. Thanks, muscle man! xoxo I think the additional thickness of the medallion was what made it so tight and hard to turn.

The universal light kit was a cinch to install. Both the fan and light kit came with easy-to-follow instructions. As with most chandeliers, the hardest part was putting on all of the ornament. I will say the illustration for the ornaments was not as good as it should have been, and I ended up having to study a few photos on the Internet to figure it out.

Pretty cute, huh? Who’d a thunk it?

This mini fan chandelier is the perfect combination of all of the other elements going into this room, marrying modern with antique.

Are you wondering why I needed the “mini” blades since there appears to be plenty-o-room for a regular sized fan? Well, it’s a surprise! And I’m so excited about it!!!! And can’t wait to show you soon!!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by Homies!

Closet + Organizer = LOVE

2012-05-30T21:53:00.000-04:00

Hey Homies, it’s been a while! I’ve been busy and I wanted to take a minute to share one of the many projects I’ve been working on lately.

Do you hate your closet? Well, hate no more……it’s an easy fix!!!

One of the first projects of this room remodel had to be the closet. The closet was previously outfitted with one measly wire shelf. Yes, ONE! And wire shelves really, really bug me in general. Have you ever seen the movie Mommy Dearest? Just kidding, I’m not that bad. :-)

The main problem with this particular wire shelf was that the hangers cannot slide all the way across the bar because of those pesky dividers, making hanging clothes, or even just looking through the clothes to find something to wear, a chore. Another problem was that there was so much wasted space in the top of the closet. That’s valuable real estate, baby! Lastly, one shelf was just not enough space to hang all of the clothes that need to go into this closet. This is what the closet looked like AFTER we went through it and picked out the stuff that no longer fit!

This bedroom was painted a light pink four years ago, which was perfect for a 3 year old. The new design, however, for the now much older 7 year old calls for “Hot” pink walls, per the diva. I did try to sway said diva from hot pink, but her mind was made up. In the end, I really wanted to give her what SHE wanted. It IS her room after all. So, I figured out a way to calm the room down AND give her the hot pink she wanted, and I can’t wait to show it off at a later date. So, don’t freak out when you see the hot pink. Trust me, it will look great! I hope!!! :-)

Soooooooooooo, since I had to paint the closet anyway, and since I did not want to paint AROUND the wire shelf (although I’ll admit that I have cheated and done that before, like when I painted it light pink, but I was in a time crunch), it was the perfect time to get rid of that wire shelf and maximize the storage. At least that was the excuse I used.

I shopped around for closet organizers and decided to go with Lowe’s Allen + Roth line seen here:

http://www.lowes.com/SearchCatalogDisplay?Ntt=allen+roth+closet&storeId=10151&N=0&langId=-1&catalogId=10051&rpp=32

I was originally going with another cheaper option, but after reading some not-so-flattering reviews, I decided to bite the bullet and go with the solid wood (MDF) stuff instead. There goes the budget!! GRRRRRR!!! I’m confident it will save money and time in the long run though.

So after spackle.........................

......................................and paint

……installing the new closet was a breeze!!!

Before the closet went in, the old baseboard was removed. This allowed the closet tower to sit flush against the wall. Once the closet was installed, the beautiful new 5 inch baseboard was installed.

The original plan was to use this closet tower for some of the toys previously stored in the bottom of the closet. Then, I came up with another solution for the toys which I will reveal in a later post. This shelving unit ended up being filled with jewelry, purses, hair accessories, and additional clothing from a dresser in the room, which opened up much needed storage in other parts of the room. It just made more sense to have all the clothing and accessories together, and all the toys together.

The closet tower does come unassembled, but with very easy-to-follow instructions. The two drawers were an additional cost and also had to be assembled. The bars can mount directly to the tower since the sides are solid and thick, but I wanted to utilize the space above the tower with a third clothing rod. So, once the tower was in place, I screwed an 8’ melamine board to the right side of the tower. The melamine board goes all the way to the ceiling of the closet, giving me a surface to screw the top rod to.

Since there was not a stud in the side wall on the right to attach the bars to, instead of using wall anchors, I decided to cut some scrap wood, paint it bright white to match the tower and all the other trim in the room (looks pink in photo), and attach the the bars to the wood for a stronger hold. Chin-ups anyone?

Previously, the closet had 59 inches of wire shelf to hang clothing on. Each of these rods is 35 inches long (I had to cut them to size), so the new closet now has 105 inches of rod to hang clothing on, almost DOUBLE the hanging space. Since the top bar is hard to reach, it is used to store seasonal clothing.

In case you’re wondering, there are standards for closet rod heights. Obviously, adult clothing is longer than children’s clothing, so this needs to be taken into consideration when designing a closet. I did push the limits just a tad on this closet, since it is a child’s room, in order to get the third rod in at the top.

The little diva LOVES her new closet and it is now a pleasure to put away the clean laundry since there is so much room! The only problem is that now she thinks we need to go shopping to fill the closet up again!!!!

Since I did go with the more expensive option, this project ended up costing just over $350. The tower alone was $199 and the drawers were $50 each.

If you’ve been thinking about upgrading your closet, I hope this inspires you to do so! :-)

Antique Map Dresser

2012-03-29T16:19:00.002-04:00

A while back, I stumbled upon this old dresser in a barn. I had actually gone to see some other furniture for sale which needed a LOT of work - the kind of work I just wasn’t sure that I wanted to take on. I was about to back out of the deal and then the seller showed me this old piece, hoping I would take it as well. After closer inspection, it turned out to be the only piece I really wanted so the seller offered me a “package deal,” and I ended up with the whole shebang.

Here’s background on the dresser: http://home-girl-decor.blogspot.com/2012/03/true-antique-or-not.html. It’s ooooold!

Since I’m pretty sure the dresser had already been refinished at some point thereby decreasing it’s value, I decided to put my own spin on it and came up with this great idea! I had been wanting to decoupage a piece of furniture for some time, but was waiting to find the right piece. When I saw this old piece and saw the flat front (perfect for decoupage), I immediately thought of decoupaging an old antique map to the front.

The hardest part of this whole project was finding just the right map! I knew what I wanted, and was determined to find it. Not only was the look of the map important to me (antique world map), but the size was as well. I found a couple that I liked the look of, but they were either too big or too small. And when I finally found just the right thing, it was way too expensive. I kept searching though and finally found a wholesale company in Canada that sold EXACTLY what I was looking for, and I got it without the 50% mark-up of a retailer!! YEAH, BABY! It was still more than I had planned on spending, but it was perfect!!! I loved the coloring of this map, I loved the big center globe, and I love how the top and bottom knobs fit perfectly into the four corner globes.

So I started by sanding the dresser down.

I wanted to give this piece a darker, richer color than before. I chose Dark Walnut Danish Oil for this project, instead of a typical stain. I was introduced to this product by my Danish in-laws and I think it’s great. This oil soaks into the wood, instead of sitting on the surface so it doesn’t chip off if it gets nicked. It does have to be re-coated from time to time as the wood dries out, but I like the more primitive look of this finish – especially for this particular piece.

I used rubber gloves and a soft rag to apply this oil and just rubbed it in. You can see on the bottom part of the leg in the photo above how dark just one coat was, but I did end up giving it three coats because the wood was so dry that it kept soaking it up.

I had to make some minor repairs – chipping out the old putty over the nail heads because it wouldn’t take stain or the Danish Oil, and replacing it with dark walnut wood putty. Also, three of the glides were missing and I just happened to have a strip of wood that was just the right size, which left over from a woodworking class that I took once. I had just enough to cut the three strips I needed and screwed them into place.

When I received the map, it had a border on it that I didn’t want so I removed it.

I then laid the map on the front of the dresser and taped it into place with painters tape. I made tiny marks with my blade on each side of the map, at the top and bottom of each drawer, so I would know where to cut.

Since my straight edge square wasn’t long enough, I used a long piece of scrap molding to line up the marks I had made, and also as a cutting guide.

After cutting all the pieces, I laid it out and realized each piece needed to be slightly trimmed to to allow for the spaces between the drawers.

Using this wonderful product, I glued each piece into place.

I also painted the Mod Podge on the top of the map to seal it. This particular Mod Podge is a sealer too, but there are many types available for all sorts of projects. I used three coats for this project.

NOTE: I did not apply the Mod Podge with the drawers inside the dresser as shown in the photo below. Otherwise, the drawers would get glued shut!!!! I removed them for the applications so that I could wipe off the excess around the sides of the drawers with a wet rag as I went. When the final coat was almost dry, I got so anxious to see what it looked like that I had to put the drawers in before it was dry. But I removed them again after taking the photo until they were completely dry.

This dresser did not come with knobs, but I had some antique wooden knobs left over from another dresser that was missing a few knobs when I got it. I used Dark Walnut Danish Oil on the knobs as well and they match perfectly!!!!

Although I did not refinish this dresser for my own use, after it was completed, I realized it would look perfect in our office which is filled with maps, globes, family antiques (guns, chandelier, desk, chairs) and many other souvenirs from our travels around the World! Somehow I got emotionally attached to this neat little old dresser so, for now, it will live in our office. :-)

I'm already on the hunt for my next decapouge project!!!

Candeliers

2012-03-20T12:35:00.000-04:00

The other day I was treasure hunting at a couple of my favorite places, Goodwill and St. Vincent DePaul Thrift Store, when I had this idea. I’m always seeing old metal candle holders that are missing their candles. As a frequent shopper to these establishments, I found myself noticing the same metal pieces laying on the shelf, visit after visit. Obviously, at one time, these candle holders had some sort of glass insert to hold a tea light or candle, but along the way had been separated. So, in an attempt to help one find its mate so that it might be sold some day (like I had nothing better to do), I picked up one of these metal forms and began the search – to no avail.

Then it hit me!

Over the years, I’ve been de-cluttering my sitting around stuff - which was probably exactly how these candle holders ended up at a second hand store. (I’m sure my minimalist husband is laughing reading this statement, but it IS true! I DO de-clutter.) I declare that I de-clutter! So, these candle holders that “sit around” weren’t appealing to me since I’m trying to limit the sitting around stuff. But I started thinking about the candle holders that are hanging in my dining room windows which I love. I got them when we lived in Europe and I noticed a lot of European families hung candles in or near their windows, or had them sitting in their windowsill. Maybe this is because of the lack of daylight in the winter, and the candles help to bring a little bit of light in and mimic the sun. But they also look cozy and romantic at night. At any rate, when I turned the candle holders upside down, all of the sudden I envisioned a candelier. I’m not sure if that’s a real word since spell check wants to replace it, but if it’s not, I think it should be. When turned upside down, the legs of the candle holders made a perfect place to attach chain for hanging them. There is also an abundance of glassware at these second hand stores so after digging around a bit, I found several random pieces that weren’t necessarily candle holders, but that fit perfectly into the metal frames. Some of the glassware pieces are even crystal which I think will be really sparkly with a candle in them. After bringing them home and adding some bling, I think they look sweet and I really love that they have a new use. And they aren’t just sitting around anymore destined for a landfill. These are just a couple of examples of my candeliers! I think they would be great hanging indoors, but they would really cool in an outdoor space as well.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Sexy Bench

2012-03-15T20:49:00.001-04:00

I made this bench to sell, but I ended up loving it so much that I decided to keep it. I tend to love things more that are unique and one-of-a-kind, like this.

Believe it or not, I found this little diamond in the rough at one of my favorite little hot spots for $3.00! Yes, $3.00! When I found it though, it looked like this. This coffee table from the Triune Collection by Drexel (before Drexel Heritage) was a nice one in it’s day, which was in the early 1960's. But it certainly had some wear.

It was missing a few trim pieces, 7 to be exact.

And I think somebody might have thought this was a delicious bone at some point?

When I initially saw it though, I didn’t see a coffee table, I saw a very long, firm bench! When benches (and chairs, etc.) are made, they are usually made by attaching straps across a frame. This works just fine for a typical bench or chair, but if you constantly use it to stand on to change a light bulb or to dust the ceiling fan, or maybe if your ~~wild kids~~ lovely children jump on it, the fabric will eventually rip from being pushed down further than it would from it’s intended purpose – sitting. I figured this out the hard way. So when I saw this table, I thought it would make a solid, indestructible bench.

Since I hate throwing stuff away that might have a use one day, I already had some trim that was just the right size, or close enough anyway. Like my grandmother use to say, “Nobody would notice on a galloping horse!” I knew that it was going to be painted so it didn’t matter what type of wood I used. I removed a piece of trim to use as a template, and cut 7 trim pieces with mitered corners. Applying wood glue first, I attached the trim pieces with the handy dandy staple gun, but with baby nails instead of staples.

Before painting, I taped off the burl wood overlay with painter’s tape. I thought it was too pretty to paint over, and thought it might give a great contrast to the piece. When this piece was originally made, the burl overlay was a nice part of the design, and I didn’t want to destroy that.

Isn’t this burl wood pretty?

I gave the frame a couple of coats of glossy black paint to give it a modern vibe. And I painted the brass feet with a few coats of silver as well.

Then I painted the burl wood overlay with some stain to darken it up and make it shine again.

On to the cushion. I thought about using 2” foam, or even doubling it up to get 4”, but then I decided to go all out and go for the really comfy, luxurious 4” foam since it was on sale. Oh, I was in heaven just thinking about it! So there I was at JoAnn Fabrics, in line to pay for my comfy, luxurious foam, when I almost had a heart attack right there at the register. The foam was $150!!!!! Yes, that’s right, $150! Now I know that foam is expensive, which is why I carefully weighed all of my options first. But when I saw this big SALE sign, I misread it. Luckily, the nice ladies at JoAnn’s helped me out, as usual! Using my JoAnn App for I-phone, the cashier quickly helped me use a 50% off foam coupon! I didn’t use all of that foam for this project, and will hopefully be able to make two more stools with the scraps.

Nice looking foam, huh? Sometimes it’s the small things………

I covered the table top with spray glue and set the foam in place, having already cut the foam to size, and then covered the foam with a layer of batting. After the glue was dry and the foam was attached, I turned it over on top of the fabric that I used to cover the bench, and stapled it on.

TIP: When stapling fabric to the back of a surface of a chair, bench, etc., draw a line on the surface you will be stapling to, to use as a guide when stapling. In this case, before removing the top from the table frame, I used a pencil to trace around the inside of the frame underneath, so that I would know how far in to staple. I hate it when you turn a bench or chair over that someone has recovered and you can see all the rough edges of the fabric hanging out. It just looks like sloppy work to me. Of course no one would ever know unless they flipped the piece over to look at it, but I always look. Doesn’t this look like a neat job?

The fabric I used for this bench is faux mink fur. And it is OH-SO-SOFT! And I think this is what makes this bench look sexy to me. It just feels luxurious. This bench is actually more comfortable than our bed!

I ended up placing this bench at the foot of our king size bed just to see what it would look like. The other bench that was there looked okay, but after replacing it with this one, the size of this just fits better with a king bed because it's almost two feet longer than the other bench. It’s funny that I never realized the other bench was too short until I made the sexy bench.

I used the same stain on the burl overlay as I did on this recent headboard project: http://home-girl-decor.blogspot.com/2012/03/backlit-headboard.html. You can barely see the headboard in the photo below, but don’t they look good together?

The final touch on this project was supposed to be some shiny silver upholstery tacks along the edge of the fabric, to go along with the silver feet at the bottom. But after nailing in the first tack, I realized it was a waste of time because the tack became lost in the fur and barely visible.

Thanks for checking out my sexy bench, homies! Do you like it as much as I do?

Backlit Headboard

2012-03-08T18:11:00.001-05:00

I finally got around to designing and building a headboard for our master bedroom a few months back. I LOVE how it turned out so I thought I would share how I constructed it. For two or three years, I had this fabric attached to the wall above the bed with pushpins, so it was very exciting to finally have a REAL headboard. I feel like we’re actually grown ups now! Nah, just kidding!!

Lights off.

Lights on! Romantic, huh?

One advantage to having the fabric hanging on the wall with pushpins for so long was that, although I liked the fabric very much, I realized that this side of the room needed more wood to balance the dresser and chest of drawers that are on opposite walls from the bed. The only wood on this side of the room was from the small nightstands – which wasn’t enough to balance the other large wood pieces. Since the other furniture in the room is very straight-lined, I decided that a wooden frame around the headboard, with very straight lines, was the answer!!!

I found this fabric at IKEA. I love Scandinavian fabrics for their whimsical, colorful, and modern characteristics. Also, the fact that I’m married to a Dane, and that we used to live in Sweden, probably have something to do with my affinity for these types of fabrics. At any rate, I knew that I wanted the fabric to make the statement in this room, not the paint. For this reason, I chose to paint the walls (most of them anyway) a neutral sandy color, and also chose a sandy color carpet. There is a lot-o-fabric up in here. This room has four windows, all of which are also covered in this same fabric. By the way, this fabric is still available at IKEA for only $7.99/yard. It’s called “Patricia” and you can’t beat the price!!

Check it out: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80175147/

I initially wanted the height of the headboard to be taller than the windows, about a foot taller than it is now. But after measuring and sketching, I realized the fabric wasn’t wide enough so I decided to bring the height of the headboard down to the same height as the windows because I didn’t want to have a seam in the fabric. And when we were carrying this massive thing up the winding staircase, I was so very happy the plan got altered because I’m pretty sure that, if the headboard was 1/2 inch taller, we would not have been able to bring it up the stairs! Whew! Disaster averted once again!

Now, typically, to make a headboard, I would stretch the fabric around to the back of the plywood and just staple it, but since I wanted a frame around the headboard so I came up with this idea. I cut the foam about four inches smaller than the plywood so that I would have adequate wood to attach the frame to. Instead of stretching the fabric around to the back of the plywood, I stapled it to plywood just under the foam. Once I trimmed the excess fabric away, I was able to attach the boards directly to the plywood, allowing the boards to have a four inch overhang - so that I would have room to conceal the rope lighting.

I chose poplar wood for this project. It’s not the best wood for woodworking, but after pricing out some of the other hardwoods, poplar all of the sudden seemed beautiful to me. I think it was the cheapest! I fell in love with the piece that I used on the top of the headboard and decided that, once it was all stained, it would look B-beautiful. Don’t ya think? And a coat of Minwax Paste Finishing Wax really made it shine.

I LOVE THIS STUFF!

Ain’t it purty?

Once the frame was attached to the plywood, my trusty assistant and I flipped it over to attach the 2x4’s. I wanted the headboard to be a couple of inches off of the wall to make a channel for rope lighting. I thought it would look cool at night – as if it were glowing. And, it does! The 2x4’s also give support and keep the headboard from be so flimsy. So here’s how we did it.

We attached 2x4’s to the plywood and frame legs. As you can see in the photo above, we had to use a filler piece of plywood behind the 2x4s at the bottom of the legs. NOTE: The 2x4’s don’t go all the way to the bottom of the leg – allowing room for the floor trim once the headboard is installed. Of course, I could have just designed the headboard without the legs, but I wanted this headboard to have legs to cover the space between the bed and nightstands, to hide the lamp cords, alarm clock cords and extension cord which were visible before. Then I painted the 2x4’s black so they would visibly disappear.

At the top of the headboard, we attached a 2x4 that we ripped at an angle, making a two-piece cleat hanging system. This allows for the headboard to be attached to the wall, without making holes in the front of the wood. We attached the first cleat to the top of the headboard…………….

………and the second cleat to the wall. So the headboard is actually just hanging from the cleat, and is just barely touching the floor. Getting the height of the cleat right can be a little bit tricky because, when measuring from the floor up, you must take into consideration that the headboard is heavy and therefore sinks down into the carpet and padding a bit. We made this mistake and the cleat did not fit tight, allowing the headboard to wobble a bit. So we just raised the cleat on the wall about 1/4 inch and it was perfect.

Once the headboard was attached to the wall, I added the rope lighting. It sits about 4 inches behind the frame so you can’t see it unless you place your cheek to the wall. Here's a side view of the headboard. The rope lighting really should have been attached to the headboard before we put it up because it comes with hooks to attach it with. Since the headboard is already installed, I can’t get the hammer in that little space to nail the hooks in. So for now, the rope lighting is just hanging there, which works just fine.

Pretty simple construction. And I’m pretty sure nobody else has a headboard that looks like this!

So, what do you think? You like?

A True Antique? Or Not?

2012-03-03T13:06:00.000-05:00

Really fancy, schmancy antique dealers determine a piece to be antique if it’s 150 years old. But some antique dealers use the 50 year mark to label antiques. And I’ve also heard 100 years is the magic number. Hmm, can’t we just get together and decide what it’s going to be, people?

I happened upon this dresser last week by mistake and I am giddy with excitement! At first glance, it just looks like a plain, old dresser. Nothing special. I discovered it in someone’s barn in rural Morrow, OH. A craigslist ad listed a dresser/chest of drawer/mirror that needed work for only $30, but a picture was not listed so I didn’t waste another second on the ad. The next day, however, I decided to take another look at the ad because for some reason I had been thinking about it all night. If I think about something all night, I think that means I'm supposed to buy it. My husband disagrees with this theory. To my surprise, pictures had been uploaded to the ad and the pieces looked like something I could maybe work with. I was warned they needed quite a bit of work but decided to take a quick look since they were nearby.

The pieces DO need lots of work, for sure!!! But while I was looking at the pieces, and hem-hawing around as to whether or not I wanted to take on the job of making them pretty again, the gentleman selling the pieces said he had another dresser that I could have too, if interested. I did a quick inspection and here’s what I found.

First, I noticed the dove-tailed drawers. These are hand-cut dovetailed joints. You can tell this because they are not perfectly even, the sizes are different and they are not perfectly spaced. Now, I’m not an expert, but I believe we started using machine cut dovetails around the 1880’s, so I’m just assuming this piece pre-dated that time. But again, I’m certainly not an expert!

The next think I looked at was the wood. I’m terrible at determining wood type, so I have no idea about this wood. But what I did look at was the rough wood on the back. The cut lines in this rough wood are straight, not circular, which supposedly means it was cut before 1860. Circular saws weren’t used until then – which made round cut marks. I don’t know this for sure, but that’s what I heard.

The top board on the back was overlapping the bottom panel so, once I got it home, I gently removed the nails for a quick repair, repositioned the board, and re-nailed the top panel.

Repair complete! It took about 2 minutes, tops!

So, this is the most exciting part of the whole dresser! The square nails!!!!!!!! I noticed them in when I was looking at the piece back at the barn, and when I removed that panel on the back to repair it, I got a closer inspection of the nails. Now, supposedly, these nails were used until the late 1800’s / early 1900’s. Here’s a pretty good picture of one. Notice how the entire shaft is squared. The head is also very thin along the edges. I can’t tell if this is really a hand made nail or not but an expert certainly could. And the entire dresser is put together with these nails. Some of the wood filler covering the nails is gone, making the nails visible. Now, just so nobody gets confused here, the old nail I’m talking about is that long metal thingy, not the dried up ugly looking one holding the long metal thingy. Looks like somebody could use a manicure! Badly!!!!

Lastly, I love how this dresser has rounded corners. When I see this, it makes me think somebody took the extra time to do this. It’s much easier to give it regular old squared off corners. And the top is rounded to match. AND the legs are cute too!

After researching this dresser a little, it may be that it should have just been cleaned up and left alone. BUT, there are no knobs with it and I could see signs of green paint so I believe this dresser was refinished before. Also, I have a great plan for it so I decided to sand it down and go for it. I hope it wasn’t a mistake, but I think it will love it’s new makeover.

So, how much would you pay for this dresser? I bought this dresser and the antique dresser/chest of drawers/mirror that I originally called about for only $25. That's what I'm talking about! Yeah, baby! (Those of you who know me know that I was just talking in my Austin Powers voice again.) Pretty good deal, huh?

By the way, if you have any input about dating this dresser, type of wood, etc., I would love to hear about it!!! Please leave me a comment.

Thanks!!!

Check out this Ceiling Fan!

2012-03-02T10:58:00.003-05:00

Hey Homies! Isn’t it cute!?!? I was walking through Lowe’s yesterday and this little beauty caught my eye. Now, I know that there are a LOT of designers out there that dislike ceiling fans and want to rip them out of every home they can get their hands on. But let’s be realistic, they aren’t just there for looks. They do actually perform a function that many people want or need in their space. I will however admit that, if I see one hanging over a dining room or kitchen table, I have to hold myself back from ripping it out of the ceiling with my bare hands.

The look of this fan just might appeal to those who typically don’t like the look of ceiling fans since the blades aren’t as visible, and it’s not screaming “Hello, I’m a ceiling fan!” But the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw it was that it appeared to be so much safer than typical ceiling fans. I know, I know, how can a ceiling fan be UNSAFE.

Well, let me tell you, with so many people using loft beds these days, a ceiling fan CAN be a potential hazard. Loft beds are typically used in smaller spaces, allowing the space under the bed to be utilized for a desk area, sofa area, play area, etc. But if you think about it, when you put a loft bed in a small room that has a ceiling fan, you can literally reach out (even accidentally) and touch the fan which can be very dangerous – even for adults. I know this for a fact! LOL! If you check out my Tween Spy Room post, you can see that I came up with another solution to prevent any decapitations or amputations – the "bullet proof shield." This solution worked in the spy room, but it certainly wouldn’t work in most room designs. This fan, however, I think would be the perfect solution for small rooms with loft beds, that pose a potential hazard from fan blades.

Another space that I thought might be perfect for one of these babies is in a basement – particularly if the ceilings are low. Most basements probably don’t have a need for a ceiling fan since they typically stay cool, but ours does because it has a pellet stove that we use quite often to heat the basement in the winter. The pellet stove is on an outside wall though, for venting reasons, so the ceiling fan nearby helps to distribute the heat throughout the entire basement. Although my plan was to replace the ugly, plain, white fan that is currently in our basement with a fan that had more of an oil rubbed bronze finish, I’m going to consider this particular brushed nickel fan for a while to see if it will work with the design. But not for too long! It has happened more than once that I had to think about a product for a while before purchasing, only to go back and learn that it had been discontinued and I had to go back to Square One!

If only this ceiling fan had been in my first house back in 1992. My little hand-fed, white parakeet met her demise by the ceiling fan when she escaped from her cage while I was at work one day. Poor Snowball! It’s a little humorous now, but back then it crushed me (no pun intended).

The fan is by Allen & Roth and is called Dexter, Item #331102. It’s a little costly in my book at $299, but unique enough that I would pay the price. Here is the link if interested:

http://www.lowes.com/pd_331102-88854-LP8076BNT_0__?productld=3438010#BVRWidgetID

Command Central

2012-02-29T17:04:00.000-05:00

I can’t think of one person who doesn’t have a clutter problem. And it usually starts just inside the door. It can be the back door, front door, side door – whichever door is most often used to enter the house. At our house, we usually enter through the mudroom door, which is off of the garage door, into the family room/kitchen combo. I can’t tell you how bad it got under my skin that, when my family came home, they would pile their JUNK on the kitchen island! Actually, I’m kind of getting angry about it again just writing this blog! Ha! Sooooo, when I wanted to use the island to prepare something or actually eat there, I had to move everyone’s “junk” to another spot, only to find the island piled up again within hours…..something like this:

Grrrrr! But in all fairness, there was just really nowhere else to put things down when you came in the door. And if you have kids in school, you know that they come home with lots of papers. And if they have extra-curricular activities like scouts or art class, this mean MORE papers. I felt like I was about to drown in papers! That island was always covered in PAPERS!!!! When the builder put this kitchen in, they/he/it really overlooked an opportunity to maximize the usefulness of this space. I’ve seen many a kitchen with a little built-in desk area using the same cabinetry as is in their kitchen, which would have been a great idea for this space. But maybe it just wasn’t in the budget. At any rate, when I first looked at this vacant house, I thought the wall next to the garage door was just wasted space. You can see part of the door to the mud room on the left side of the photograph below. See that empty wall space? Shouldn’t SOMETHING be there? It would be a great place for a china hutch, I thought. But with the formal dining room just around the corner, I decided that wouldn’t make much sense at all. Then, after living here a while, I decided what this space really needed was a “Command Central.” This is a space the whole family uses. We have a family "written" (my husband thinks this is ridiculous with all the technology we have in the house) calendar so that we all know who's doing what that day which is easily accessible as we're walking out the door. It's also where we charge our phones. The kids each have a drawer for school work. The dog and cats have a drawer for meds and treats, there's a drawer for construction paper and color books, which leaves a couple of miscellaneous drawers. By the way, the photo below was taken during a house hunting trip to Cincinnati, before our relocation here almost four years ago. The kitchen looks nothing like this now. The cabinets are the same unfortunately (not in the budget yet), but that’s about it.

Command Central first got it’s start as a baker’s rack – quick, easy solution that I got as sort of a package deal when I bought the table that I’m now using in my studio. I don’t really like backer’s racks in general though because everything is exposed and ends up looking junky and dusty. No offense to anyone that has one! That’s just me!!! Now, if you have a bunch of pies or cakes to load on that baker’s rack, that’s just fine with me. Actually, now that I think about it, the baker's rack that we had was really a wine rack. But we have our wine in another room so we didn't need to utilize it in that way. Plus, I would never leave my wine glasses hanging on that rack to get all dusty and dirty. Too many people have baker’s racks to hold their junk because they are inexpensive and easy to install. To me, most of the time, they just look…..junky. But at least the junk was off the island, right? Not really, but it was a start.

It wasn’t until I was working on the bay window that Command Central really starting taking shape in my head. After removing the white “bathroom” tile from the kitchen backsplash months earlier, and re-tiling it with slate mosaic, I ended up having to paint the area above the kitchen cabinets gray to offset the slate. You know how one project always leads to another? Right? It just didn’t look right being the lighter color up there. I initially stopped the gray paint where the bay window started – having it only above the cabinets. But this didn’t look right to me either. The bay window really needed to blend in with, and be a part of, the kitchen – especially to visually separate it from the family room. Welp, while playing with painter’s tape and scissors one day when I was on the phone, for some reason I cut out a couple of little leaves. Then it dawned on me to attach them to the bay window, paint the bay window with the gray paint, remove the tape leaves, and voila! Nature is a big influence in my personal design style so I thought this idea to be brilliant - for our home anyway. Although it’s not everyone’s design style, it shows that the possibilities are endless with paint, tape and scissors. With me being an artist and all, I could have very well just painted these leaves if I wanted. But really, ANYONE could do this! I thought this project was a lot of fun AND I’ve never seen it in anyone else’s house!!!

I knew that I wanted closed storage for Command Central, but I also needed a way to display papers that we needed to keep out on a daily basis. I thought a dresser might be the best option for storage. Before searching for a dresser though, I measured the wall to determine how wide the dresser could be without impeding the flow of traffic. I also wanted the dresser to be roughly the same size as the space between the alarm panel and the thermostat so that I could trim out the area with some nice molding to define the area as one big unit. I was also trying to bring a mid-century modern spin into the space and, what do you know, there it was, on Craigslist, a mid-century modern, sturdy, little dresser by Bassett Furniture. Just what I was looking for, for only $20! Okay, actually, it was $30 and I talked him down to $20. I know, I know, I’m so bad! It’s almost like stealing, isn’t it? I get this trait from my mother. Since the bay window is directly across the room from Command Central, I wanted it to visually take up just as much height on the wall as the bay window - so as to balance the room. I also wanted to mimic the cornice that I built over the bay window so I raided my stash of paintings that did not yet have a home and found this abstract that I did once on a scrap piece of thin wood panel. It was the perfect shape to mimic the cornice!

I did modify the top left corner of the painting a bit to bring some of the greenish color found in the countertops, cornice and the base of the island to this side of the room. And I already had the “K” too that was taking up space on a bookshelf because I could never decide where to hang it. I finally found the prefect place for my “K.” YAY!

I cleaned and oiled the dresser, sprayed the brass hardware to match the stainless steel in the room, and we lived with it like this for a while – although from the beginning I wanted to paint it a bright color. There is just so much wood in this room (kitchen cabinets, wood floor, wood doors and trim, and a huge 10 foot floor-to-ceiling wood fire place surround) that I thought a pop of color was needed. So one day I took a leap of faith. After all, what did I have to lose? $20?

I gave the dresser a good sanding and then decided to use glossy teal (looks like baby blue on my computer screen but it IS teal) spray paint to give it that modern look. I know a lot of people paint furniture, and everyone has their preferences. MY preference is usually spray. I think you get a more professional finish. I DO NOT like brush strokes and I find that when I use a roller, it leaves a bumpy finish which I don’t like either. And if you have a sprayer, you don’t even have to be limited to ONLY the colors available in spray paint cans. Now, I see updated, painted furniture in antique malls, etc. all the time that have visible brush strokes or a bumpy roller finish, and people still buy the stuff like crazy. It’s just not my preference. The bad part about spraying though is that I can’t do it inside my house, and the temperature has to be above 50 degrees in the garage to get a good smooth finish, so I’m limited as to when I can refinish furniture with spray paint.

Isn’t it cute? It would look great against an orange wall since they are complimentary colors. In this space though, there are a lot of orange tones in the wood so I think it’s the perfect color for this space.

Please let me know what you think about my Command Central! Do you need a Command Central too?

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Damask Patterned Wall Mural

2012-02-28T22:27:00.000-05:00

So I had this crazy idea a couple of weeks ago…..a damask patterned wall mural. Although there are still several projects to be completed in this room (cornices, draperies, silver leafing of mirror frame, crown molding, new carpet, upholster piano bench, and dressing up the lamp shades), I thought I might go ahead and show how I painted this damask pattern. I’m still not in love with the design (I think it needs to be chunkier), but I do like the formality it adds to this room. I might modify it some day but my arms are in NO HURRY. They were sore for a week from all the stippling!

This is a photo of our formal living room, although WE call it the “piano room.” Go figure. When I painted this wall blue three years ago, I also planned on painting ?something? behind the chairs, going up the wall. I did eventually end up hanging a pair of paintings I made to hang over each chair, but I ended up not really liking the paintings in that space so down they came. Lately though, I’ve been seeing lots of large scale, shimmery metallic, deliciously beautiful, very formal, damask patterned wallpaper in some really cool modern spaces so I thought I might give it a try on the blue piano wall. Now, we are not very “formal” people, but we do like to get gussied up every now and again, get out the good china, and eat in our dining room. And since our dining room and piano room are one big room, separated only by the open two-story foyer which is planked by four columns (two seen in mirror reflection), I wanted this entire space to feel more formal than the rest of the home. So, that’s where the damask pattern idea came from.

After taking some measurements (knowing that I wanted a large scale pattern), and sketching it out (I like to sketch all of my ideas first on graph paper), I decided what size to make the diamond. I then used a huge piece of cardboard to make a prototype. Luckily, we Santa brought the kids a basketball goal for Christmas - which just happened to come in a very large box. I decided to use three different stencils to design this pattern. I used one stencil for the fleur de lis in the center, one for the swirly vines (that’s the part I wish was chunkier), and one for the flowers (which are supposed to sort of look like the hanging lamp shades). I did buy two of the swirly vines to save me some time. But in hindsight, I should have bought two more, and a few more of the flower stencils as well to save even more time. Stencils aren’t cheap though so now that I’m done, and now that my arm is back to normal, I’m glad I saved the money since I’m not sure when I will use these stencils again. By the way, this project took me 5 days to complete which was about 3 days too long for me.

I started by taping my prototype to the center of the top of the wall. One might think “Hmmmm, wonder why she didn’t take that mirror down first?” Well, that’s because it’s screwed to the wall and I’m NOT taking that thing down any time soon. Normally, that would drive me nuts knowing that the wall is not painted behind the mirror but it was too hard to get up there and the wall will need some repairing anyway ~~when~~ if I ever take it down (ruining the paint job). So let’s just say it’s our little secret. Okay? On a side note, I bought that “bathroom” mirror at a neighbor’s yard sale for $5, attached it to the wall with a mirror rail, had my ~~husband~~ assistant cut molding to frame it (routing out the bottom molding to allow for the rail), screwed it to the wall, and then painted it. It still needs some silver leafing because it’s too dark and dull, but it was an inexpensive way to get a huge mirror. I DID, however, move the piano out from the wall, all by myself I might add, and continued the mural behind the piano just in case.....

It took some time to figure out this next step out, but once I did, the project quickly went from “think phase” to “paint phase.” I used the piece of cardboard from which I cut the diamond prototype to figure out exactly where the next diamond should go. So, that piece of cardboard that I had actually already discarded was key because I could easily determine where my next diamond should be placed, and attach my stencils within the cut-out area.

After painting a few of the stencils along the top of the wall, I decided to tape out the remaining diamonds using the prototype for spacing. My plan was to do this in the beginning, but with the wall being blank, it was just too difficult for me to figure out until I started seeing the pattern. At that point, it was smooth sailing…..just very time consuming. Oh, did I mention that I was up and down the ladder about 4900 times? So not only were my arms so very sore from all the dabbing with my stencil brush, my legs ~~and butt~~ were also sore. I’m a pretty active person and I was surprised what a toll this took on my body. It was a bigger job than I had anticipated.

TIP: Don’t let the paint build up too much on the front side of the stencils. It will build up in the holes of the stencil and if you have small holes as were the flower stencil, it will eventually cover them completely not allowing any paint through. So be sure to wipe both sides of the stencil off before reattaching to the wall – especially if you’ll be using the stencil a lot.

After the stenciling was complete, I added a little detail that you just can’t get with a stenciling alone. I tried several different variations on the prototype before making my final decision on how to detail the wall mural. I ended up using a black paint pen to give the white flowers a little more definition. And finally, the last step was using a silver leaf pen to outline the fleur de lis and also to add a little shimmer to the flowers. I tried to show this in the photos, but it just shows up so much better in person.

Like I so often do, I forgot to take a “Before” photo, but the photo below does show the plain blue wall before the mural. I guess technically it is a “Before” picture but it would have been nice to get the shot standing in the same place as I was standing for the “After” picture.

Before

After

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Guest Room - Modern Lattice Wall

2012-01-17T08:21:00.000-05:00

This is our guest room, also known as the catch-all room. It is filled with an assortment of furniture and decor that has been replaced in other parts of the house and ended up here. The feeling I want for this room is a neutral room that anyone would feel at home in, regardless of gender. Also, I love old stuff (antiques, linens, art, glassware, etc.), but I tend to like more of a modern decor for my home. So, although our house has a bit of a modern edge to it (except for the guest room), I love to mix in the old stuff too. Also, I'm very sentimental so some things are just hard for me to get rid of and I need a place to put these treasures. The room is comfortable and certainly adequate for a guest, but it's not complete so I won't show the entire room yet. But what I DO want to show is this wall detail that I'm calling "Modern Lattice". I know, it's a little crazy, but I'm thinking it's funkitastic! Yeah, Baby! (in my best Austin Powers voice).

This is what the room used to look like......BORING. I started by painting the room a chocolate brown, which was a HUGE improvement over the Spongebob theme that used to adorn the walls. (Sorry Spongebob Squarepants). Don't get me wrong, I love me some Spongebob, and I'm sure the previous owner got lots of enjoyment from the room, at least I hope so. But it had to go! See that flea market mirror over the bed? I've had that thing for so long that I can't even remember how I ended up with it but it was originally brown. I've seen a gazillion of these things over the years. I think it must be one of those Home Interior items from the 70's. Anywho, I sprayed it white and have used it in several places over the years. Believe it or not, that was the inspiration for this modern lattice wall. Although the mirror frame is plastic, it's made to look like cane webbing. Never really liking this room, one day I wondered what it would look like to sort of magnify that cane webbing onto the wall in a modern way, in an attempt to marry the old and new.

My initial thought was to paint this idea on the wall since I tend to paint anything that's not moving, but after mulling it over in my head and with the hubbie, and over, and over again, it turned into a 3-D project which is so much better than just paint. And, it can be taken down very easily since it's put up with a nail gun instead of adhesive, with minimal damage to the wall. I measured and sketched it out taking the placement of the bed, mirror and ceiling fan into consideration. I wanted the center verticle board to be lined up with the ceiling fan and I wanted a horizontal board to be centered behind the old mirror because I knew I wanted to hang the old mirror back (perfect mix of old and new which is what I like). Then I measured out how far apart the boards might need to be to look right with the wooden rounds that I wanted to attach to the boards. I then calculated the material I would need. I decided to paint the boards and wooden rounds before installing them - which was definitely the way to go.

There's the hubby working hard (not really because this was such an easy peasy job). We started by installing the center verticle board first. You will notice that the verticle boards don't go all the way down to the trim. This is because we will eventually be replacing the 3 inch trim with 5 inch trim. I decided that we won't do crown molding around the ceiling because I've raised the window treatments so high that I don't think it would look right, unless of course I lowered them again. But I like them high and I thought with this "modern lattice," the room wouldn't need crown molding. After installing the center verticle board, based off my drawing, we measured and cut the horizontal boards which made spacing the remaining horizontal boards a cinch. The level was essential in this project, and the nail gun was a big plus. We literally threw this up in no time! Literally!!!

Next came the wooden rounds. I chose the 8 inch rounds which also determined the board size which I think are 3 inches wide. There were several options when laying this project out (wider boards, thinner boards, bigger rounds, smaller rounds, placing boards closer together or further apart, etc.). I had to check to see what size mirrors and wood rounds I could find because I knew I wanted the mirrors to be smaller than the rounds so the mirrors would appear to be framed like the old mirror on the wall.

So once I found the mirrors and rounds, after driving all over the creation to get enough of them, from three different suppliers and seven different locations (grrrrr), I decided the 3 inch boards would look the best. We used the nail gun to attach the rounds, nailing towards the center so the mirrors would cover the nail holes. Then, I applied the mirrors with mirror adhesive. When attaching mirrors, always be sure to use adhesive for mirrors because it is specially formulated not to desilver electro-copper plated mirrors. I used painter's tape to secure the mirrors until the adhesive dried. It takes 2 or 3 days to completely dry!!! That was the most time consuming part of this entire project, watching the liquid nails dry! Nail biting, I know!

I think this project, or a variation, would look so cool in a living room as a feature wall behind a sofa, or maybe even in a foyer. Instead of mirrors and rounds, frames of similar objects like botanicals or maybe even black and white photographs might also look cool. And I'll have to say, it looked pretty cool before the rounds and mirrors were even added for that Home Girl that may not be as adventurous as myself, but that might be dying to step out of her comfort zone.

I hope you like my "Modern Lattice" wall detail. Please let me know what you think about it. :-)

And thanks for checking out my blog!!!!