Just A Quick Hello and a B & A

Hey ya'll. I'll skip the apologies. I was thinking this morning about how long it has been since I've posted. It's been nine months! Holy cow! I didn't have a baby or anything like that. It's just been hectic and I've been more overwhelmed than usual. This summer I started doing some painting for a friend that has a consignment store and reupholstery/decorating business in town. We started a conversation about how busy he is and he mentioned that he has people that ask him to paint stuff and he is just too backed up to get to it--that is where I came in. I've done work for one of his customers and the rest of the stuff is things he has bought at auctions and just wants to freshen up. My hubby whistles the theme song to "Sanford and Son" just about every time he opens the garage door. It's pretty bad. Aside from doing things for him, here are a couple pieces that I managed to finish this summer. The pictures aren't great because I had to use my cell phone, but maybe you can get an idea. First up is a sweet dresser I did for some friends at church.

I loved the legs on it and she did too. She wanted a "merlot" color so I took a pillow and tried to match it as closely as I could. The first couple coats were way to "Barney" and not enough "wine" so I mixed in some of my "crabby apple" and some black paint and tried to deepen the color a bit. After that I glazed it with a black glaze and I think it turned out lovely. My friends loved it too!

Here is one other piece. In the auction listing, it had two doors that covered up the drawers. Something happened to one of the drawers on the way to the auction house...

I went with Annie Sloan "Aubusson Blue." But I didn't opt for the wax. I still can't get the hang of it. After I painted a couple coats of blue, I put on a coat of polyurethane then I glazed it with Ralph Lauren's "Smoke," and followed with a few more coats of poly. I added some antique looking glass knobs and I love how it turned out. The phone camera does not do the color justice. It is much less royal than it looks...

She is for sale at my friend's store. But I may take her back in coming weeks. We are in HEAVY remodel mode at my house. I'm talking breaking through concrete walls and tearing down ceilings. Just you wait! I'm hoping the results are extraordinary!

Freshened Up Foyer

Once again, never-satisfied-itis has struck. And once again I blame it on a picture:

Maybe yellow doesn't photograph well, or maybe I'm just hard to keep pleased. If you remember, yellow was not the FIRST color the foyer was painted. It started in 2009 as red.

As I tweaked my color scheme from predominately yellow and red to blue and red (you can see changes in the living room and dining room)that yellow began to feel even more and more wrong. Plus looking at that picture above, nothing seemed to come together with that yellow as the background.

I decided to go with the darkest blue from the Wythe Blue swatch that I used on the back of my built ins. I think I did it on a Saturday afternoon all with a paint brush. I just a brush for several reasons. I first was just going to "check" and see if I liked the blue color, but mainly I was just too lazy to drag out a tray and roller.

If you remember, I had practically just installed this vinyl over the mirror

and of course after I FINALLY choose a spot for it, I decide to paint a different color. I just left the vinyl on the wall and painted over it. I peeled the vinyl off and I was planning on repainting it black, but I liked the light color peeking through.

Here is the new improved foyer--let's hope I like they way it looks in these pictures because I'm running out of color choices to paint it!

Hubby has been setting all his "trooper gear" on the dresser in the foyer. That more than kinda drives me crazy. So I hung his hat on my bird hooks--kind of a juxtaposition huh? (I have to admit I am HORRIBLE about leaving stuff all over the place. I walk in the door and things just end up all over the place, but I'm the only one who's allowed to do that-right?)



Yes, Toto had to get into the picture. He thinks everything is all about him.
Well, looking back at these pictures, the foyer is safe...for today at least!

Stripes for Little Man

Here is another reveal from my "Teasers" post. I've shown you "Pops of Green" and the "Orange Yoda."
This is the shot I teased you with:

This is a drop cloth I was bleaching. Because I have a front load washer, I don't think I can bleach it in there so I fill the bathtub, add some bleach and soak it for awhile.

After I bleached it and washed it, I measured the length I wanted and cut it down to size. I spread the cloth out on my bedroom floor and taped off stripes.
I was concerned about keeping the stripes level so I just used a piece of paper that was about the width I wanted the stripes to be and used that to help me mark off the stripes. I put small pieces of tape where I didn't want to paint because I knew it would get confusing once I started painting.

Then I sewed some hems and hung the curtains with simple clips. I love how they turned out!
They are perfect with Orange Soda--I mean Yoda!
Here are some shots of the curtains in Little Man's room:

Orange You Painted Me

This was the shot that I teased you with. I've been working on Little Man's room and I saw this on Pinterest and was inspired.

I finished this just in time for The CSI Project's "Pinterest Week!"

Come by and see other "pin-worthy" projects.
In the meantime...

I found a couple pictures on google and I saved them:

A few weeks ago, Hubby and I wandered around Hobby Lobby and I thought outloud about how I would pull this off--cheaply. We looked at frames, but I wanted it to be HUGE and I couldn't find a frame that was both big enough and not a million dollars.

Then I happened to see some huge canvases on the back wall. I looked at them-they would be about $50. By this time hubby and I had split up (in the store, not IRL). So I went looking for him thinking if that price would be worth it.

Then I saw IT.

A even huger piece of foam core-for $10!! That was the winner!

Next step was to go to school so I could blow the picture up on my projector. I couldn't get it big enough with the projector so I printed out the picture and used an opaque projector. (Yes, that is so very old school, but they are still the bomb!) It cracks me up the "young whipper snappers" have no idea what an opaque projector is! This worked wonderfully!

I used my "Laker" director's chair to prop the board up to the right height and traced around the design with pencil. I wasn't sure which picture I liked better so I did what any

"never satisfied" girl would do.

I traced Yoda on one side and Darth on the other.
I took a pillow case to Lowe's and picked out two paint colors. I had visions of painting the silhouette orange. I propped it up on the fireplace and got to work. Of course hubby had to make some comments about how orange paint would look on the carpet, but I didn't drip any.

Here is the finished product in Little Man's room. I just used 3M velcro strips to hold it up. I won't lie, the paint made the board bow a little bit, but I just put more strips to hold it to the wall.

What about Darth you ask?

I painted him gray. He is on the back. I let Little Man pick his favorite side and he chose Yoda. Later on, maybe we can switch sides and show Darth off!

I'm also going to join up at Savvy Southern Style for her weekly "Wow Us Wednesday". It's been awhile before I've actually done anything "Wow worthy," but I'm pretty please with orange Yoda!
I'm also joining over at Addicted 2 Decorating-cause frankly I am!
Finally, I'm at Tater Tots and Jello for the Weekend Wrap Up party! I'm a party hopping girl!

Pops of Green

In true, never satisfied fashion, I looked around my newly painted living room and it seemed so...I don't know red and blue. I have tons of red accessories that I love, but I don't know if you can say that I have "pops of red" when most of the square footage in my living room is covered by the red couch and chair.


It started with a lamp. A $3 auction lamp that I didn't want to paint "just" ORB.

I wanted a pop of something. Red wasn't an option. I thought about a dark blue, but I just couldn't find the color I wanted. Then I remembered the leafy green spray paint I had in the garage and the pops of green idea was born.

I've tried not to go overboard. We'll see how that works out for me.

At any rate, here are some shots of my poppin' living room.

This was red, but a shot of leafy green allowed it to participate in the popping party!

This shot you can see my new chair I got for Christmas (from Target).

I love it!

You can also see the green fern stand that I WANT my family to use as a small side table (enough for a drink or the remote) but my kids seem to think it is a "stand and spin." (Like the old school "Sit and Spin" but you stand up and spin around and around on it while you are asking me a question or blankly staring at the TV. You continue spinning until I say "Please stop doing that." And think "for the thousandth time.")

I've been looking for some fabric with blue and green in it. I've bought 2 different toiles, but I wasn't sure about it. Then on yet ANOTHER trip to Hancock's, I found this on the "cut" table--where I get probably 90% of my pillow and curtain fabric--and I fell in love with it. It is a medium scale design that doesn't compete with the other fabrics or colors going on in the room. I recovered a gigantic red pillow that came with the chair and a pillow from Little Man's room. I see these being fireside/floor pillows.

And here is a full shot of the living room.

Hubby hates all those pillows.

He says "How many pillows do we REALLY need on the couch?"

Just you wait Henry Higgins, I'm going to cover that couch in pillows.
I think it is a man thing. He throws all the pillows on the floor, Little Man throws all the pillows on the floor, even Toto-the male dog- shoves all the pillows to the floor. What's that about? Anyone else have a similar problem??
Finally, the last pop of green that I just acquired last night:

They called them fishing floats. They are HUGE! I think at least 12 inches in diameter. I don't know what I'm going to do with them yet. Maybe on the island? One in the built-ins? On the dining room table (that room needs some green too). I'm not sure yet, but they were just too cool to let slip away. And $20 each was a pretty good deal-at least I think so!

Come back early next week and see what that orange blob was about in my "Teasers" post!

I know that spring is just around the corner. Actually I don't know if winter has even managed to settle in at all this year. Nonetheless, I did manage to do a winter mantle. Here are some quick shots. I got the sign at a store in a nearby town. I saw that Antique Market House was selling one just like it for a little more money than I paid. I just loved it and I may end up leaving it on my mantle all year long.

Pretty simple, but I like how it turned out. I got that big smowflake last year for like, $8 I think.

Don't forget I'll be posting one of the projects from my last post. Make sure you check back later this week! I think it is definately "pin worthy!"

Teasers

I have about 12 different projects going on right now and none of them are completed enough to show all the details. And I can't even fake it by shoving all the unsightly stuff out of camera view. You will just have to wait a little bit longer. But to get your creative minds working here are some sneak peaks at all I have going on.

These pictures represent about 6 individual posts. Plus I have about 2 additional posts from things that have been going on today. Just to give you a hint, with 3 kids I can't work in just one room. The other punks always want to butt their heads in and come with ideas for their own rooms.

I'll have the big post for the first picture later this week. Let's just say Pinterest was my inspiration and it turned out better than I thought it would! (Is that enough of a teaser to bring you back?) BTW how has Pinterest inspired you?