My Son’s Room (take two) + Humble pie

My poor son.

He is only 3 1/2 years old and is already discovering how crazy his Mama is.

He has been begging me to paint his room orange for the past month now and I just have not had the courage to do so. I have more courage painting a room black rather than a bright bold color. I wonder what that says about me.  Anyhoo, instead I picked quite possibly the darkest green color out there to paint his room. I also used this color recently on an accent wall in our kitchen area and love it!

Mind you, I already wallpapered an accent wall in his room with this faux wood plank wallpaper so it was already feeling a bit cozy in there (aka, dark!).

I convinced myself that it would look amazing and I would lighten up the space with white curtains, white rug and other light colored accents.  All this time my husband kept saying, “I think his room might look better in a bright color.  I’m just saying.”  So did any of this sway me from turning his room into a cavernous space?

Uh, no.

You see I suffer from “I’m-a-rebel-and-don’t-listen-to-anybody-else-because-I’ve-convinced-myself-that-I’m-right syndrome.   This syndrome is not pretty and always ends with an “I told you so.”

Guess what?

I’m now in the process of painting his room orange.  Humble pie is so yummy don’t you think?

I worked up some courage after a quick power walk around my neighborhood and returned home to start all over.

(view from my neighborhood walking trail)

While hanging my head in shame (not really, I actually do LOVE to paint) I brought out the heavy duty Kilz primer and accepted defeat.

All he kept asking me was, “Are you gonna paint it orange NOW MAMA?!?”  Telling a three year old to be patient is so much fun.

So I took a 20 minute break to play catch with a t-shirt

and baseball with my paint roller extender thingy

(yes the kid does have actual toys, I was just too lazy to run downstairs to get a real ball)

After one hour the primer was dry enough so I could start painting the orange accent wall.  This color is so bright the lady at the paint store said, “You’re one brave woman.”  If that doesn’t send chills up your spine I don’t know what will.

Craving Mac ‘n cheese?  I was and it’s what I’ve made for lunch the past two days.

All I kept thinking as I stood back wanting to hate the bright bold color was, “I hate it when I’m wrong.”

DIY Lucite Tray (with lucite handles)

I recently saw this brilliant idea on Dwellings by Devore and was so amazed!  It’s not only easy (15 minutes max!), but very inexpensive and…GORGEOUS!  All you need is an acrylic shadow box, handles (I have had a pack of lucite ones from IKEA for quite some time) and a screwdriver!

To get started, I made a quick trip to Michael’s this afternoon and purchased this acrylic shadow box for $8.99.  The one I used for this project measured 11″ x 14″.

I have had these acrylic handles for several months now and have been waiting to use them on just the right project.  And here we are!  (You cannot beat the price of these…$2.99 for a 6-pack!)

The next step is to accurately measure eyeball where you want the handles.

Make two small dots with a marker where you will be drilling.

Drill, baby, drill!

The screws that came with the handles were way too long and therefore the handle was not secure at.all. I rummaged through my ever-expanding pile of screws and finally found the perfect ones.  Sorry, but I do not know the dimensions but can if you’re stuck.

Attach your handles and you’re done!  Isn’t this so cool?  I just love it!

Like the tutorial on Dwellings by Devore I wanted a print to cover the bottom.  So then I rummaged through my ever-expanding pile of fabrics and cut a piece of b+w chevron to size and put it in the bottom of the tray.

I could have put this tray just about anywhere in the house.  I decided to give it to my boy, as he is not too happy with Mama right now for painting his room a v.e.r.y. dark color.   We are going to paint it a light color again with one wall orange.  Stay tuned for that!

For a total of $12 I was able to make a one-of-a-kind tray that suits our modern taste perfectly.

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Upcycling Spaghetti Jars

I have seen this idea on Pinterest and know there are a ton of tutorials out there so I will keep the chit chat to a minimum today.

I love nothing more than taking something doomed for the trash heap and turning it into something useful and pretty (I think).  It’s such a feeling of satisfaction.

This is such an easy project and takes all of one hour (50 minutes of that is from a cycle in the dishwasher).

To start, I grabbed an empty spaghetti jar, washed it then removed the label.  This is the hardest part of this project, as those &*%#$ labels are glued onto the jar with super-human adhesive.

See what I mean?  You will have some goo left on your jar so grab your Goo Gone, squeeze some on a paper towel and be amazed.  (I do not know what is in this stuff, nor do I really want to, but it’s the greatest invention!)

Five minutes later and I had a sparkly clean jar!

Next I spray painted the lid with black spray paint.

Then I drilled a hole in the center of the lid and inserted a small screw.

For the “handle” I used my son’s old dresser knobs and also gave them a quick squirt of black paint.  They came with his IKEA Hemnes dresser and I recently replaced them.

Now you simply attach the knob to the jar and you should have this

Now just put it all together and here you have your upcycled spaghetti jar

To fancy mine up a little I added some jute rope and a chalkboard label I purchased from Hobby Lobby.

(No, I didn’t spell coffee wrong, I’m married to a German!) 🙂

I also attempted to create a mercury glass look on one jar using Looking Glass spray paint+black spray paint.  Tutorial coming soon!

I love how they turned out and especially love upcycling “trash.”

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Closet Door Makeover | using black tape

I think I officially have a problem…I’m running around my house lately with at least 3 different colors of duck tape in hand wondering what I can slap it on.   It has quickly become an addiction much like my addiction to contact paper because it’s my favorite way to update something; it’s quick. easy. temporary.  In case you’re new here, these are a few things I’ve updated with duck tape recently:

I stuck bright orange duck tape to the front of each drawer knob for a punch of color+funkiness in my son’s room.

I added “racing stripes” to my son’s IKEA boxes using red+white duck tape.

I’m back in my son’s room again for this latest idea.  My inspiration came from this amazing image I came across:

{via}

Her IKEA makeover was right up my alley (she used black electrical tape to create the stripes you see)!  While we are on the subject of IKEA I recently spotted these lovelies and only wished they were sold online:

I’m clearly a linear person, huh?  Obviously I was motivated to re create this look and what better place than my son’s closet doors!  To me, they are just another canvas to “paint.”  Not literally of course.  So I grabbed my black electrical tape and went to town on his closet.

There was NO measuring involved, just eyeballing and using the ridges of the raised panels as my guide.  For the first line I simply ran a strip of tape along the edge of the raised panel.  Electrical tape is perfect for this, as it’s a little “stretchy” and gives you a nice straight line.

You can see I first started this little makeover with a horizontal strip of tape at the top of the door.  I ran two strips of tape along the top and both sides of the door for a nice graphic look.  Don’t ask me why, but I decided to put one piece of tape along the bottom of the door.  I guess I don’t like things too perfect.  🙂

Thirty minutes later and I was done!  I will finish the other door tomorrow.  Oh who am I kidding…I’ll probably finish it sometime next week.  Have a great day!

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My DIY Sanity Break!

The title of this post will be self explanatory in just a moment…stay with me!

So today started off like any other day…

rise and shine at 6:30,

stumble to kitchen,

guzzle down 1st cup of coffee,

check emails,

get kids’ lunches made,

make kids b’fast,

guzzle down 2nd cup of coffee,

then RUSH to get kids out of the house in time for school!

All was normal until I dropped my daughter off at school this morning then this happened…

My VW van decided to go and die on me!  Twice while I was in the drop off lane in front of my daughter’s school!  Thankfully no one yelled at me or whaled on their horns.

Of course I had to then bring my son to school…and I was snack Mom today!!

So to say it was a bit of a stressful day is an understatement.  Know what I do when I get stressed?  I do DIY PROJECTS!

So when I finally got the kids home from school safe and sound I slipped into the garage (aka, my Mom Cave) for 15 minutes to create this:

A key holder that I made out of a scrap piece of wood, fabric, screw hooks, and some yellow nylon string.  I had all of these materials laying around our garage and I whipped this thing together in 15 minutes.  Just enough time to get the day’s stress out.

To start I grabbed the ugliest piece of scrap wood I had and wrapped it in this b+w chevron fabric:

After 35 staples and some hot glue on each end I then cut a tiny hole where I wanted to attach the hooks.

I wanted to add a little something extra so I grabbed some bright yellow nylon string I had in my stash.  (Don’t ask me why I even have this!)  I placed a dot of hot glue at the bottom of the hook and secured some string so it would hold.  Then I wrapped the hook and used another dot of glue at the end to hold the string in place.

To attach it to the wall I simply used some more string and stapled it onto the back.

There you have it…my 15 minute DIY Sanity Break!  It always feels good to relieve stress in such a productive way!

I think it’s a great addition to our chalkboard gallery wall and goes great with my bright yellow door:

I screwed this into the wall and hot glued a turquoise crystal (from my daughter’s art kit) to the screw to make it pretty.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings!  Have a great day.

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Changing My Son’s Room (yes, already!)

Even though I recently finished my son’s room, it just never felt right.  First off his room faces East so he just gets the morning sun through his one and only window.  Secondly, I used dark accessories – dark curtains, dark bedspread, etc and not to mention I wallpapered an accent wall with wood plank wallpaper.  Third, I think he wasn’t even inspired being in there!  Even though he’s very young (3 1/2), I think he knows what he likes and doesn’t when it comes to how his room looks.

I was flipping through a Land of Nod catalog recently and found this picture

I was immediately smitten, especially with the colors in the wall mural.  I am planning on interpreting this mural into his room.  Since I am not a fan of white walls I am planning on painting his room the same color I used on our kitchen accent wall:

This color has become my new favorite.  I love that it reads blue, green and gray!   I know it’s dark, but I am planning on using lots of white accessories to keep it from feeling like a cave.  I took his “MacGyver” drapes down and replaced them with simple white ones from IKEA.

FROM THIS

TO THIS

I’m planning on keeping his dresser the way it is, but I added a funky orange accent to it this weekend (again, pulling colors from my inspiration).  Just to recap, this is what his dresser looked like recently.

I got out my bright orange duck tape and a sharp utility knife and did a 10 minute facelift on it.

I know it’s a bit crazy and not for everybody, but I think I can get away with some funkiness in a little boy’s room don’t you?   I think I will add some more orange in his room; I’m just not sure how or where yet (accent pillows? adding an orange band on the bottom of his drapes?).   Looks like I’ll be busy this weekend as well.

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DIY Rope Knot Doorstop (Ballard knock-off)

Whew!  What a busy (DIY) weekend I had!  How was yours? I don’t know where my burst of energy and motivation came from (when I get like this I just go with it!), but I managed to squeak out a few new DIY projects (stay tuned!) as well as tweak some things in several rooms around the house.

One project I’ve been conjuring up in my mind is how to make a door stop for the door that leads to the garage (without spending one penny!)

This door is especially frustrating when I have my arms full of groceries, a sleepy child, backpacks, sports equipment, or all the above!  This door needs to be propped open as it shuts automatically.  This is what we have been using for the past year…

Yup, our poor hand vac!  I am not sponsored in any way for saying this, but Electrolux sure makes a tough product!  This thing has been kicked, dragged and used at least 25 times a day as our door stop and still looks new!  Just sayin.

As I was watching the kids play in our back yard on Friday afternoon I had one of those light bulb moments.  See, our back yard is very sloped and an occasional large rock will slide its way down into our yard.  That’s when I realized that I could use one as a door stop!  I have always loved the rope knot doorstop from Ballard Designs especially because it has a handle, and I just knew I could replicate the look…for FREE!  (I can’t justify spending $49 on a door stop!)

Ballard Designs

So I grabbed a rock, some rope I had on hand from a previous project, Gorilla Glue and went for it!

First I made the “handle” then started wrapping my rock over and over again.  I kept rotating it a bit while wrapping the rock so it wouldn’t be “lumpy” on one side.  You need to keep pressure on the rope while wrapping the rock.

Halfway through, I needed to play a game of freeze tag so I grabbed a clamp to hold everything in place.

I used a little Gorilla Glue wherever I saw the rope fraying or lifting away from the rock and clamped it.  This project was fun and only took 20 minutes!  The best part is, it was FREE!  I love that (and so the husband).

I know it’s not identical to the real thing, but that doesn’t bother me one bit.  It serves its purpose just fine and I didn’t spend one penny!

Using Contact Paper on Our Kitchen Island

Have I ever told you that I am not the biggest fan of BROWN? (Except the UPS truck…LOVE THAT!!!) I enjoy touches of it, especially when it’s in a natural and organic state:

Driftwood wreath I bought at Home Goods.

Kukui Nut necklace & driftwood (free from our local beach)

Shoe form my Mom mailed to me recently.

I love these accents of brown because they add warmth to a room.  I draw the line at entire rooms of brown though.  So what does a woman with a lack of love for the brown have??

Ladies and gentlemen I introduce you to the world’s brownest kitchen….

Yup, brown tile, brown cabinets, brown granite, brown bar stools (still working on the husband to let me paint them).  Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love our kitchen and it’s what sold me on the house.  BUT…the amount of brown has finally gotten to me.  I tried convincing my husband to let me paint the island white, but he is not going to budge.  See, I am married to a wood purist.  He does not believe in painting wood. at. all.  So what is a girl to do?

You got that right…pull out the contact paper again!!!  You can click here for a recent post I did about my many uses with my stash of contact paper.

I taped some samples of my favorites to the island.

Pure white.  Nice, clean, but a bit too glossy for me and the wrinkles show way too much. Next.

Diamond pattern.  Funky, but gave me a headache after looking at it for more than 2 minutes. Next.

Zebra pattern.  Ummmm…way too funky!  Next.

Faux grasscloth.  Timeless, nice texture.  DONE!!   One problem…this is the ONLY paper that is non-adhesive!  Argghhh!!!  So, I used what double-sided tape I had on-hand and put up one piece.  Tomorrow I will install the rest.

I like it!  It definitely breaks up the dark brown and brightens up the island a bit.  I have to go buy some more double-sided tape as well as some more of this shelf paper tomorrow (they sell it at Walmart by the way).   Stay tuned for the final reveal.

PS- I love it when I can implement my ideas while not driving the husband crazy!  🙂

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Adding a DARK accent wall

I have always been drawn to dramatic, dark paint colors. They always make me feel warm and cozy.

{via}

{via}

For some strange reason I have an easier time painting a wall black vs. white!  While my daughter was at school today I got some crazy motivation to paint our wall in the kitchen area this color.

This is a Behr primer-in-one, no VOC paint.  I’m sorry, but I do not have the color name.  Here’s the story behind that….about a month ago I wanted to use this paint on our master bedroom.  As soon as I grabbed it off the shelf in our garage, it slipped out of my hands, crashed to the floor, and spilled all over the place.  The can was dented and there was no way I could get the lid back on, so I had to throw it away.  Long story even longer….I don’t know the name.  🙂

I LOVE this color because it’s one of those that keeps you guessing…is it blue, green, gray?  It’s all of the above!

As soon as I painted around the baseboards, ceiling (I hate that part!) I started to freak out a little.  My main thought was, “Oh boy, the hubs is NOT going to like this!”  But having my son around helped calm my fears as he kept saying, “I like it Mama!”

About an hour later, it was all done and I was a little doubtful whether I liked it or not.  It is VERY dark. I added some white drapes to tone it down a bit…

and absolutely LOVE it!  We have had these drapes forever and they are from IKEA.  I sewed some black grosgrain ribbon on the sides for a modern look.  (sorry about the lousy quality of the pics…it’s never good shooting pictures against direct sunlight).

To finish off the look, I grabbed some thick rope I had laying around in the garage.

The best part of this color is my hubs likes it too!  Whew!

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Hula Hoop Orb Chandelier

If you follow this blog then you are well aware of the ongoing battle I’m waging with our dining room chandelier.  I think this latest change now makes #5 (and counting!).  I  wish I could say that this is it, but I know myself too well.

So this idea came about after I made this decorative orb out of hula hoops.  It stayed for about 2 weeks in our living room as just a simple, funky art piece.  You can read my tutorial here.

One day I just decided that I didn’t like it just laying there and every person who entered the house asking me, “What is that thing supposed to be?”  So I decided to wrap it around our existing (builder-grade) chandelier because…well, just because!  🙂

Just to refresh, this is the way our chandelier looked most recently (just a poor naked thing)…

After removing the zip ties from the top of the orb, I simply slid it around the chandelier and secured it to the chain so it wouldn’t plop on anyone’s head during a dinner party.  After 2 minutes of adjusting the hula hoops so it didn’t look like an Easter egg, here is what it looks like now:

Pretty funky, huh?  I think I like it.  But haven’t I said that about every change to this chandelier?  🙂  All kidding aside, I do like this look and I have to agree with what my husband said today, “Honey, can you please move on to a different room now?”

I had to touch up a few spots where the gold spray paint rubbed off while I was wrapping it around the chandelier chain.  Normally I would have said a few colorful words, but I found these amazing oil-based paint pens at (of all places) TARGET!  These little pens have changed my life and they come in handy at times like this. I also used them to draw the designs on my Ballard Designs knock off mirrors.

I also ran my gold paint pen along the edges of the “arms” on the chandelier to add some gold accents.  If my paint job got a bit sloppy I simply touched up with the black paint pen.

And there you have it!  Turn almost any light fixture into a funky orb chandelier using hula hoops, gold spray paint, and a few zip ties!

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Create a Silhouette Portrait in 10 Minutes!

I have always loved the simplicity of silhouette portraits.  Whether young or old, a person’s essence is captured in time in a very simple, elegant way.  (And not to mention, this project is stinkin’ EASY!!)

I wanted to create one for my kids while they are still young (6 &3 years old).  Knowing my kids would not sit still for an hour for me to sketch their little profiles, I came up with a 10 minute way to create a silhouette portrait!  BOOM!

All you need for this project are the following:

Camera (I used my cell phone camera)

Printer

Pencil

Scissors

Card Stock Paper (scrap booking paper works great!)

Double-Sided Tape -or- Glue Stick

Old Frame  (or new!)

FIRST:

Snap a picture of your child’s profile.  I found that sitting my kids in front of a bright window and taking off the flash helped define their profile features the best.

SECOND:

Print out your images.  I’m sure there’s a way to print from your phone, but instead I emailed myself these pictures then printed them out on our inkjet.

THIRD:

Cut out your child’s (or whoever’s) face.  I used our hair cutting scissors as they gave me the best results.

FOURTH:

Grab a piece of card stock or scrap booking paper and trace the profile onto it.

FIFTH:

Now simply cut out the profile on this card stock.  I used what I had on hand and used a linen colored paper.  I think these would also look awesome in a turquoise, hot pink, lime green, or a patterned paper. (I’m still diggin anything chevron).

SIXTH:

Now that you have the spitting image of your child’s profile in your hands, grab a frame!  I had 2 identical frames from Costco in each of my kids’ rooms.   Either use double-side tape or glue stick to adhere this to another piece of cardstock.  I simply glued these cut outs to the black mat that was already in the frame. You definitely want to use a contrasting color so the profile pops out.

SEVENTH:

I hand wrote the month and year I made these on the very bottom of the piece.  It’s barely noticeable, but I like it that way.

From start (snapping a picture of their profiles) to finish (nailing the completed project onto the wall) took all of 10 minutes!

I know, right??!??!  I just love these.  You can even do this with a beloved pet, grandparent, anyone!!