Aged To Perfection

Happy Memorial weekend everyone!  I am so glad to have 3 days off so I can enjoy some time with my guys.  The forecast is looking pretty gloomy, so no spray painting on the agenda.  But I do have a lot of other little things getting done.  Isn't it funny how all the little things add up to bigger things.  If that makes any sense?!  LOL

I love this most recent project so I'm pretty excited to show you.  I picked up this really cool wall hanging that has an ornate carved detail to it.  When I spotted it at the thrift store I knew I had to just grab it right then.  The thing didn't even fit in my cart because it's so big, but I made it work just to get it up to the register.  It had a small hairline crack in it so I asked them if they would take $10 for it rather than the original $15 tag it had.  They said yes!

While I was working on my kitchen hutch project, I decided to put the same dark walnut stain on this as I was using on the hutch.  So I applied a liberal amount of the stain and let it sit on for a couple minutes.  Then I wiped off some of it using an old t-shirt.

 

I wasn't totally happy with how it looked...  so I put some black glaze over the top of the stain using a paint brush to work it onto the surface.  So much better!

 

  

I was a little worried about using glaze over the top of the stain, but it worked out really well!  I just love it :) 

Link back to a party here!

Nifty Nurseries - Part 3 - Girls Rock!

To end the Nifty Nursery series I am featuring a room I did for my brother Matt and his wife Jamie.  They were expecting a baby girl and she decided to come a little early.  Well a LOT early actually!  Much to their dismay they didn't have a thing done on the baby's room.  So while Jamie was rushed to the hospital and told she'd be staying for a week or two, my brother was juggling his full time job, their other 2 kids, and trying to get the house in order for a new preemie baby.  Now I know that it's most parents dream of designing their baby's nursery.  That's the one room in the house where you can go crazy on colors and themes.  So I didn't want to overstep my boundaries, but I offered to help out and they said YES!  I was so excited!  Mostly because I dreamt of having a baby girl to do something totally cute and dolly for her room.  But I had a boy... and while that was fun, a girly girl just wants to do a girly girl room, right?

Anyway, I always start my design theme around one object that will be going in the room.... and she just happened to already have the bedding picked out.  Isn't it soooo cute?

I instantly knew what I wanted to do... but again, I didn't want to overstep my boundaries and this wasn't my room anyway.  So I asked her what she had in mind and she gave me some ideas of colors that she liked.... but said she trusted my judgement and to do whatever I wanted.  SWEET!  I had to ask her like 50 times if she was sure about it and each time the answer was yes.  So okay then.  Let's do some shopping!  I knew she liked contemporary design... and that was reflected in the bedding.  So going off of that here's what I came up with.

I wanted to use some fun bright colors, but didn't want it to be overwhelming.  She mentioned she liked a silvery gray color she saw in a photo, so I thought that would pair nicely with a deep apple red that was in the bedding.  To break up the wall a bit, I picked out a dark slate gray paint to go on the trim and wainscot.  I also lucked out and got these curtains that matched perfectly!

I got the idea for this feature wall from my own son's nursery (click here to see Boy's Rock version).  But I wanted to mimic the floral pattern in her bedding so we used stencils to create this look.  There weren't many pre-made stencils that I really liked.  So I searched online and found a few templates and made my own.  It was kind of tedious work, but well worth it.  You can buy blank stenciling paper and then you just trace out the design you want and use an exacto knife to cut them out.

You wouldn't even know that some of these accessories came from the thrift store.  Luckily she doesn't mind great second hand finds!

I found this awesome print on our local classifieds for $5!  I thought it fit perfectly with our contemporary look and had that bright green to give a pop of color on this wall. 

I could have died when I saw this lamp!  It was probably the most expensive thing I found for the room, but I called her right away and made sure she was cool with it.  Isn't it so cute? 

My brother used his handy skills to make these letters for her name.  Then Jamie used the stencils from the feature wall to doll them up.  Love it!



So at least I got one chance in life to do a girly girl room.  Not sure if that'll ever happen again, but you just never know! :)

I was Born To Party!  Click here to link back to a link up party!

Nifty Nurseries - Part 2 - Boys Rock!

Happy Valentine's Day! Here's part 2 of Carter's nursery. I am posting this today instead of actually working on any of my other projects right now because I was super... or stuper woman yesterday and pulled the muscles in my right shoulder doing a crap load of yard work. So I'm trying to rest up in order to paint some really cute mirrors I got at the thrift store for the next post.

Anyway, as I said in part 1, I wasn't just nesting, I was obsessing! At this stage of the game I was 8 months pregnant and on a ladder. I know, I know! My husband got after me and said it could wait, but I knew it couldn't. So onto some more painting.

In keeping with the bedding theme, I wanted to do something cute on the opposite wall of the crib where the squares are. So I grabbed a bunch of different sized circle objects and just started tracing them on the wall. Then using the coordinating paint colors I just randomly painted each one. Sounds easy right? Well it was, but having a beach ball for a belly made it a little more challenging... but here's how it turned out.

My sister-in-law thought they looked like stickers! And I had a few people ask if they were vinyl, but that would have cost too much. I call this look sophisticated whimsy.

I know that most nurseries should have bright colors and all, but I wanted this room to grow with him and be something he could transition into as a young man (I hope!). So to add some color I popped in some red accents here and there. I found this cute old bucket to hold supplies and some red star canisters and it kind of spinned off from there.

Coming up in the next Nifty Nursery series I'll show you a girls room I helped with for my brother and his wife. It is so cute!

Nifty Nurseries - Part 1 - Boys Rock!

When I found out I was pregnant I was so excited to do the nursery (like what parent isn't?). I'm pretty sure I had the bedding picked out before we even knew the sex of the baby. So when the ultra sound showed we were having a boy, it was on... time to get crackin'! Part of my inspiration came from the picture from the website where I purchased the bedding. But they had all kinds of things hung on the wall above the crib... and being a first time mom-to-be, I was all paranoid that he would pull something down on his new little head and ruin him. So I had to come up with a way to highlight the crib wall without jeopardizing the health and well-being of my son.... and to save a little bit of money since the bedding was expensive. What better way than with PAINT! Okay, so I went a little crazy and brought home like 200 paint samples - No Joke! Originally I was only going to do 4 squares which was featured on the website from where I purchased the bedding, but the wall is really long and why stop there, right? So I picked 6 coordinating paint colors and did 6 squares.... here's how it turned out.



(bedding)

Good, but why stop there? It just needed a little something else. (Although I think this would look great in a master bedroom in lieu of a headboard, with some cool frames or photos in each square). But anyway, so taking a que from the bedding (see pic above), I decided on some more squares. (I don't have a photo of this part of it.... but just wait!). Well that looked good too, but why stop there? Call this my NESTING phase... or OBSESSION! So more squares it is. Here's the final product.

Now you may be wondering how I accomplished this.... especially since I was HUGE! All you need is a measuring tape or long ruler, pencil, level, painters tape and trowel, and your coordinating paint colors.

Measure the wall and mark center. Determine how high you want the top row to start (depending on your ceiling height). In this case I came down a few inches from the ceiling. Each of my original large squares are 24" x 24" and I simply mapped them out measuring each one and marking with the pencil (using the level to trace the lines)... starting at the center and working out. Once you have the outline drawn on the wall you need to tape it off. Start by taping off the outer edges. Use your trowel (or fingernail) and run it along the tape. The heat generated by the friction will adhere the tape to the wall and give you a nice clean line with minimal touchups required. NOTE!: If you have freshly painted walls before doing this... let them dry for at least a couple of days before taping. Otherwise the paint will pull up when you take the tape off. Trust me, I've done it and it's a big fat mess you don't want to deal with!

Okay, so next you will have to do this part in sections. I started with the upper 2 corner squares. When you put the tape on, you have to put it on the outter edges, so you can only paint 2 at a time because you want a perfect 24" x 24" - make sense? Once you've painted them remove the tape and let completely dry... again you want to avoid the tacky paint syndrome for the next steps. This part was hard for me because I just wanted to get it done, like now... but trust me, just walk away and work on something else.

Next do the bottom 2 corner squares. Same deal people... remove tape, let dry and walk away.

Then the top middle... dry, dry, dry. And finally the bottle middle.

So you could totally leave this as-is. But like I said, why stop there? So now comes the easier part. I actually used a spare piece of wood that was a perfect 12" x 12" as a template to trace the inner square. But if you don't have anything like that... you can get your trusty measuring tape and map it out. This time when taping the inner part of the square, cut the tape down to form a perfect line. Switch up the colors a bit and paint!

Lastly!... the tiny little inner square is a 3" x 3". Measure, tape, paint and then have a much needed cocktail after all of that!... Unless you're prego then you might want to rethink that.... or get your doctors permission, haha!

Okay, so part 2 of this segment I think you'll really like. It does involve painting, but no tape is required! I will post that soon :)

I was born to party!  Click here to link back to the link-up party.  Thanks for stopping by! :)

Faux Painting 101

As promised here are the instructions for creating this look yourself. FYI: Your walls don't need to be in perfect condition for this technique, if there are a few dents and dings it will only enhance the aged look you're going for. However, I would spackle any holes and sand down. Also, start off with primed walls.... I can't express how important this is for any painting project. Nowadays they make primer/paint in one (which I have not used yet, surprisingly enough!) but I use Kilz interior water based primer.

Once your walls are primed, apply the base coat and let completely dry.... and if you're like me and want a perfect application, do 2 coats of your base color. I used Valspar interior satin in Pale Sunlight. It kinda looks like banana cream pie at first so don't be too alarmed! LOL!

Next I used Valspar Decorative Glaze in Taupe. Using an old brush dab just a small amount on the very tips (do not saturate your brush), then starting in small sections of the wall apply the glaze using an X pattern and criss/cross your brush over and over. Once you've done this allow the glaze to dry a bit and also wipe your brush dry then go over that section again working the glaze into the wall until it's almost dry. Then repeat this process, lightly overlapping on the edges where you ended the previous section. This will give you the veins and dimension for this look, but don't reapply completely over the previous section or it will totally change the appearance. Make sense?

Okay lastly, once you're done with the glazing process you can apply a polyurathane to protect the walls. I did not do this... I like the rustic look. But please note, if you leave them as is, you have to be careful when cleaning. Avoid scrubbing or harsh abrasives because they will remove the glaze and touchup can be a little tricky. I just use a damp sponge and lightly wipe down.

And to compliment the "old world" look in my living room, I painted each side of my fireplace with Behr interior satin in Mayan Red. Now as for the fireplace itself... I'd like to get rid of that completely... but that'll have to wait until another day! LOL! Finally, enjoy the fruits of your labor and all the compliments you'll get from friends, family and neighbors!