I'm Not Just Eating Bon Bons...

I just wanted to show you guys one of the projects I've been up to since you last heard from me.

I promise I've been busy.

Hubby is at the academy where "you learn to fold your clothes in ridiculously small ways," I am taking my next to last master's class, I have 3 kids and 3 dogs who seem to go different directions at the same time. Blogging has taken a backseat.

Sorry :(

Anyway, this post is about my master bedroom. "I've seen it" you say?

I don't think so. Remember the blues? This room got them too.

My bedding was in sorry, sorry shape. I love toile and red and Hubby really likes blue. I struggled for awhile how to marry our loves without looking all "Americana."

It's not that I'm non-patriotic, I just had visions of 1980's countrified Americana decor. Then I found the fabric. For me it always starts with the fabric.

Then I found the blue. And I think it just took off from there.

I kept a very little bit of the original red toile to make a "napping blanket." I got a simple blue blanket from Wal-mart, sewed the red toile on the front and then put about 9-10 covered buttons on it to keep the two pieces of fabric from shifting too much.

My old dining room table has become a desk. Granted I'm sitting on the bed typing this blog, but the desk looks cute doesn't it?
This chair was the inspiration. It was another auction find, but this one got a little expensive.

I had hubby bidding against this really oddball guy and I just couldn't let him and his oddballness have it. While the bidding was going on he would get really close to the auctioneer and just stare at him while he was deciding if he should bid again or not. Then when he would decide to bid he would make a big deal about bidding-throw his hands in the air and yell really loud. That chair would have been so unhappy at his house.

I put these old closet doors behind the dresser because it is on a really long wall and I needed to break up the wall. I did not want to think about what to do with that big ole wall. I actually like how the white breaks up the blue. Closet doors behind furniture is my new favorite thing.

I used chalk paint on the chest. I'm not completely sold on chalk paint yet. It is easy to use, but I didn't fork out the bucks for the waxes so the polyurethane yellows the paint. Plus I'm not used to the heavily distressed look. Maybe I just need more practice.
I added the monogram to the headboard using contact paper and my Cricut. It was a big ole brown space that just needed a little sumpin.


You know how much I love plates. This is just part of my collection of red transferware. Some plates are hung with nails and some are hung with 3M velcro tabs. It is one of my favorite parts of the room! You know how I am about "views." This is the view from my bed.


This picture is taken before the plate wall was done, but you can see the closet doors and my some other favorite pictures. You can also see the "napping blanket" being put to use by my youngest daughter!

I decided that I would enter my "Americana" bedroom over at the CSI challenge this week. Come on by and see the other red, white and/or blue entries!

Also linking up with Roomspiration:

Month O' Paint Rages On...

I think this is my last installment for the Month O' Paint.

I have been looking for a chandelier for my dining room for awhile. I

didn't want anything fancy.

Just the typical crooked arm with 5-6 lights that I could put little shades on.
Surprisingly, the Lowe's in my town doesn't like that style.

They want me to go with something super fancy and super expensive.

However, they did finally get one in that was just what I was looking for.

It was about $150.

I was willing to buck up and pay that.

That is, until I went to a yard sale one day:

Total country, but it had the bones I was looking for.

Plus I got it for $30!!

I simply taped off all the electrical parts and sprayed it black with a little Oil Rubbed Bronze on top.

After I ripped the red leather trim (yes it was leather strips like shoelaces) off the shades, it is perfect in my dining room!

Seriously. Does it look like a $30 country-fied fixture to you??

Have you noticed that I love the word seriously? I bet if you go back and read all my posts from the past year you could find one in every one.

It just makes me want to break out in "Isn't She Lovely."

Sing with me...

Isn't she lovely. Isn't she wonderful.

Okay, that's all the words I know. Sing amongst yourselves.

A Master Bedroom Sanctuary

Remember me?

Should I reintroduce myself?

Sorry, folks.
Really I am.
I've been quiet for far too long, let's get right down to biz.

I helped my friend Jenny redo her bedroom this summer.
This was a good lesson in collaboration (teacher talk coming out-school does start in 3 days), working on a budget, and working with the needs of a client.

First let me say, shame on me for not taking a before picture.
But, like I said this was a collaborative project.
I provided some ideas, some direction and some encouragement, but Jenny did the manual labor.
Therefore, I was not present for the hard stuff, thus no before picture.

Step One:
Pick your inspiration. Never start with a color. You are locked in and it is hard to find fabric to match a certain color. Pick your fabric first.
Jenny found this awesome duvet cover at Target.com:
She knew she wanted black, white and some other color.
She wasn't committed to the "other color."
I encouraged this because then she could use the accent color on pillows and some accessories and if she got tired of it it would not be a big investment to change that accent color.

We kicked around some ideas for accent color. Red was one choice but then I suggested a
robin's egg blue.
That was the keeper.

Step Two:
Find the accent color. For me this was going to be fabric again. I was looking for something that had black and robin's egg blue in it. Not happening. Apparently that combination is not hot enough yet (brown and robins egg is all over the place). But at a favorite fabric store a few towns away I found this on a remnant rack (for $3/yard):
We had the color scheme. I knew we would need some more accent fabrics, but I could find those later.

Step Three:
Architectural Additions
This isn't necessary in every redo, but they had a beautiful bay window that was terribly misused. Perfect opportunity for a window seat. Her husband built one. He did a great job and it made a HUGE difference in that room. Here is the window seat:


Step Four:
Paint. The general choice was easy.
Jenny wanted grey.
omething that would be neutral and go with whatever accent fabric she liked.
The exact color choice...not so easy.
They had color patches painted all over that room.
It is so weird how something that looks perfect on the chip will actually look pink (or some other odd color) in the room.
Anyway, after many tries, they finally found one they loved and went for it.

I also need to mention here that she had a vinyl piece above her window. She was sad about losing it.
I suggested just leave it up, paint over it, then peel it off.
If it looked bad just paint over it again and replace it later.
It did not look bad.
It worked great:

Step Five:
Accent Furniture
Jenny already had the main pieces in the bedroom. BUT it was all 1970's brown wood. Super heavy and well made, it just needed some paint love. She undertook the job of painting it all black and it looks great!
She also wanted a trunk or bench for the foot of her bed.
I found one at an auction for $20.
had her take the fabric and get it color matched for paint.
She painted the trunk and her side table the robin's egg blue and with a little glaze viola!

She also had an amazing rocking chair.
I have never noticed it before, but when she brought it into the bedroom
I really wanted to steal it.
She made a slipcover for the seat
(that is another step to be discussed later) and here is that accent piece:
I know, you would have totally tried to steal it too.
I still might.

Step Six:
Windows
Jenny has that beautiful bay window, but man are those things tricky to dress.
We used muslin for curtains and they look fab.
Really, it looks like linen.
What is interesting is how they are hung.
She didn't want a rod all the way across and I wanted to soften the corners of the window.
I suggested using a PVC elbow and making a curtain rod that would follow that corner.
Her husband used the elbow, but then he took a cafe rod and cut it and glued the rod into the elbow and added the finials.
It worked so well:
Step Seven:
Accent Fabrics and accessories
The accent fabrics were such a stinking steal.
I found some at Hancocks that were perfect, but they were going to be about $20-$30 per yard. Jenny was willing to live with it, we were just going to use it in small doses.
However, we took a trip to Hancocks and lo and behold we found one fabric on the cut table (for $7/yd) and we found 2 other fabrics for the same price that we liked even BETTER than the expensive stuff!
I had talked to her about the pillows and showed her some pictures of some of the ideas I had.
I had planned to do all the sewing, but she called one day and asked to borrow my sewing machine.
She has never sewed, but she learned as she went and ended up making all the pillows, the curtain and the slipcover for the chair.

Finally the fun stuff.
The stuff!
She did not buy much for this room. I think some white pitchers, a memo board, a small mirror and a lamp.
The rest of the stuff was hers.

Before I accessorize anyone's space I ask them what is important to them.
We talked about some options for above the bed.
Because the headboard is swirly iron, something iron or something just rectangular just didn't seem to work.
She knows I am a plate fanatic and I think she was just humoring me at first, but she let me play with the idea.
All the plates are hers.
The floral ones are Lamoge (or however you spell that fancy French name) and the white ones are her wedding china.

I have already shown you many of the pictures of her room.
Here are a few more, enjoy:
Thanks for visiting. I promise I have other things to share! Maybe it won't take me two weeks this time around!

T is for Tour

For the last post of "T" week I am going to give you all a tour of my kids' rooms.

If you haven't figured it out I have three kids, 2 girls and 1 boy. They are 9, 7, and 5.
Some days it feels like I have about 10, I have no idea how that chick on 19 kids and counting does it and keeps smiling. I think she is on medication, but she is probably just a whole lot more of a woman than I am!!

Anyway, I'll start with daughter #1's room, the 9 year old.

This is the view as soon as you walk in the door. She has my old bedroom furniture that I painted white. Here are some elements in her room:

Bench at the end of the bed. I painted it then wiped glaze over it.
It is upholstered in green cheetah looking print.

A #1 has what is considered the "master bedroom" so she has 2 closets.
The doors on one of the closets would NEVER stay closed so I took the doors off and put up these sheets. This works great because she, her sister and friends use it for their dressing room when they play.

Finally this is her bed wall. You can find step by step how I created the "Ode to A's" here. Yes, I do require my kids make their beds everyday.
I read once that if you could do one thing and 80% of your room would be clean would you?
That one thing is make up your bed.
I never used to make my bed until I was well into my 20's and now I cannot go without making it up. Drives me crazy.


On to daughter #2 (or A #2). This is the 7 year old's room:

This is what you see when you first walk in the door.
Yeah, major Pinky Tuscadaro going on.
Those polka dots on her wall are white, pink and silver. The silver looks a little brown in these, but it really is silver.

There is her printer's tray and the dollhouse hand made by her grandfather.

This is the view from the other side of the room. I use the chiffarobe (anyone else use that word?) for the girls dress up stuff.
Please don't ask me to open the door.
All the things are just shoved in the bottom. It's just plain scary.

Finally here is little man's room. You have already seen some of it here.
This is how it looks when you walk in the door.
The tape is where I had a Star Wars puzzle hung up. It fell off. I haven't fixed it yet.
This is about as far as I can take the Star Wars theme. A few pictures. maybe a Yoda pillow.
No comforter, curtains, etc for me.
Sorry about the blurry picture, but I wanted to include the lockers. Oh and that is Star Wars sheets, I try to keep is subtle without being the decorating Nazi.
Finally, I can't show you Little Man's room without including the mighty warrior scripture. You can read more about it on the link above.

There are the kiddos' rooms. They aren't magazine perfect like I would want them, but I also need to remember they are getting old enough to put their own marks on their spaces.
I try to overlook the posters, pictures and random things they love.
As long as they make their beds and not write on the walls I'm good...for the most part.

Thanks for stopping by,

The Decorating Nazi, ooops, I mean

S is for Sink to Shelf

We're getting there.

Slow and steady wins the race.
I know what I am going to do about "U" and "W" and I even have an idea for "X" it's the other letters I am not so sure about.
But that is another week.
Right now I just have to worry about "S."

Decorating A-Z has been fun for me, I hope you guys have enjoyed it too.

This week I am going back to see Truvy and tell you about a small detail in her
beauty shop.
In case you forgot, my master bedroom used to be a beauty shop, complete with a hair washing sink.

This is along the wall as you enter the bedroom. I lived with it like this for a few months. Then I decided to make do with what I had until I could REALLY do it like I want to. If you want to see the full transformation of the bedroom, you can find it here.

This post is just about the sink.
The sink, the whole sink and nothing but the sink.
You saw the before.
This is me trying to live with it. I painted the cabinets and countertop black.
I reused a sink skirt that I made for my old house.
It was like putting a pig in a silk hat, or however that saying goes.

We had a plumber come and cut the pipes off and he took the sink off the wall. I was scared for him to cut the pipes all the way back to the wall, because frankly he scared with me all his talk of "water from the upstairs coming out these pipes."
I had visions of ruined carpet and a big mess.
You all know me well enough by now.
I'm impatient.
I just wanted a cosmetic fix.
I wasn't prepared for the commitment of the full on renovation.
So we were left with the pipes sticking pretty far out of the wall.

However, hubby started by putting a shelf on the bottom and then another one right on top of the pipes. To finish off the ends and make it look a little more professional, I had him put some trim molding along the fronts of the shelves.
He used the same trim along the countertop too which made it seem alot more like furniture. The thickness of the trim also helped block the view of the pipes.

Then I just painted everything black. I even painted the tips of the cut off valves on the pipes that were sl-i-gh-t-ly showing on the bottom
(I know you saw them. Don't try to lie to me!)
Now you never even notice them.

The next to last step was to rough up the edges a little and make it really look like a piece of furniture that I WANTED instead of something I was just
"making do" with.

The final step was to cute-ify it, but let's take one more look at Truvy's before:

and the much, much better after:

I'm joining in with the CSI Challenge for "molding." Come on over and see some neat ideas!!