Lamp Switch, and Book Storage!

Process of upgrading our not so Mauve-u-lous bedroom continues.

But even before I painted I had to fix the lamp situation.

We had little tiny lamps on our nightstands, and I was ready for an upgrade. 

It did make me a little sad, when we first moved in we needed lamps so I had my husband run to the store and 'just pick some.'  He actually did a pretty good job, my tastes have just changed.  And they WERE nice nice lamps.....enough about my guilt!  They sold within the day and went to a loving home.

Then one day I was driving in a part of town I wasnt too familiar with and saw a thrift store that I had never noticed before. I went in to check it out and found 2 beautiful brassy lamps with matching shades for....$5 a piece. Hurray!!

I was hoping to do a mercury glass effect on my brassy lamps, but since they were brass and not glass, it was a no go.  Primer and some Krylon Looking Glass Spray just gave them a nice silver sheen.

Oh well, better luck next time.  I still like my lamps and think they are more proportional to the space then the little ones.  Not to mention I recently upgraded with some serious help in the bedding and paint department.

I think to make them have a little more personality I want to add a ribbon trim, but am loving the small upgrade.  They are so chunky and cute!  Who knew you could ever love a pair of $5 lamps so much.

Another little project that took all of 10 minutes to complete was working on making organization in my daughters room.  There is a book and paper art explosion that happens in her room almost daily, and I was so sick of picking that up, or just looking at a massive pile on her desk.

 So, we went to Office Max, found some file holders that mounted to the wall, and spray painted them with the last drops of spray paint leftover from doing her desk.

 I just have to walk by the space as much as possible and stop and stare.  Yes.  Even at file folders.

Tufted Duvet Cover

As part of our master bedroom upgrade, I wanted to try and tackle making my own duvet cover.  After educating myself on what that actually was, I saw this adorable one from Target, and found a few tutorials that made it seem pretty easy to make.

I bought 2 queen flat sheets from Walmart and washed them. (around $11 a piece)
I also purchased a plain white down alternative filled duvet (around $25)

------In hindsight I should have probably purchased a king sheet and a queen, the king to account for length and width lost when doing the ruching----

After washing the sheets, I took one of them and laid it out on the floor, wrong side up.  Using a pattern like this:

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 I pinned the places where the ruchings would be.  Diagonally they measured approximately 10 inches apart.  Then, where the pin is placed, I took the fabric in my hand, twisted it and then sewed about an inch down from the top of the twist.  Go over the end, back and forth.  This makes the pretty swirl pattern on the opposite side, and the more you twist, the deeper or more dramatic the swirl.

I repeated for all the pins I had placed.  There was so much fabric and it was all up in my face, so intimidation set in sounding like, "I have never made anything this massive before, can I handle all this?"  But it went just fine, just took a while.

I took fabric scraps I had lying around and sewed them into strips to attach to the duvet, and to the inside of the duvet cover.  They tie to each other to keep the duvet placed correctly inside the duvet cover. 


SOURCE

THIS tutorial really helped me visualize.  She drew everything out in pictures.

Then placing right sides together I sewed around the entire duvet cover and left a an opening in the top, about 3 feet wide.  I flipped it right side out, stuffed in the duvet, tied it down to each end, and then added Velcro (buttons were way beyond my skill set) to close the opening of the duvet cover.

   And check out what a difference this makes.  So glad I tried it. 

 

 

 

 

Linking up at Suburbs Mama
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                     If Its Not Baroque

 

Sequin Lettering

I have been working on a gallery wall for my little girls room, and it has been really fun.  I still need to get 2 more photos to complete it, but as a side project I found this nice yellow canvas at Goodwill for $5. 

I took it home and handpainted it white, then taped off the corners to add a pop of color.

I printed out her name in cursive on my computer and set the paper over the canvas.  Using a needle I poked holes through where the letters should go.  When I pulled the paper up some of the lines were still hard to see so I traced lightly in pencil.

I had bought sequins by the strand, but ended up cutting the string and piecing them on by one as it was much easier to control the shape of the letters that way.

I put a thin line of craft glue along the letters, and began to place the sequins one by one.

A great tip I figured out about 1/3 of the way through that made this SO much faster was to dab a little glue on the end of a pinning needle (just enough to be tacky) and then pick up each individual sequin with the needle and then place it. 

So now there is a little sparkle going on in her room. 

Also, in my first post about redoing her room I was worried about the furniture---it was my mom's and she didnt want the dresser or bed painted and I wasnt loving the set (sorry mom).  It was mine when I was young...in the 90's...  BUT my sister from college is moving in with my other single sister and needs the furniture....so they are taking this set and I can now be on the lookout for furniture I like!

Linking Up @ Kammys Korner
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                        If Its Not Baroque

Faux Roman Shade

Since deciding to update sissy's bedroom, the quickest fix on the list besides paint, was to make her a shade for her window.

After googling a few different ways to do this, I started one way and then changed my mind halfway through it.  So here it goes:

First I picked Annie Selke fabric, Raspberry Fields.  Didn't even know there was such a thing as "designer" fabric and even on sale one yard was $30, but I really loved it.  So I tried not to sweat too much as I attempted to make this shade and get my $$ worth.

First I cut the fabric to the width of the window (with an inch seam allowance on each side) and lined it with a piece of scrap pink material.  I laid it out the way it was going to be at the end (meaning I didn't do anything like sew right sides together and then turn inside out) 

 

Just sew a big square as neatly as possible.  I trimmed the corners too so that its not as bulky when you have to fold the corners to make it neat.

I was just going to leave the shade hanging as one large panel and call it a day, but it blocked out too much light, so I decided to try a faux roman shade design instead.  All I did was lay the shade on the floor, and roll a few pieces under until I thought it looked even.

Then I pinned the heck out of it!  I decided against sewing it that way since I am not a very experienced seamstress, and didn't want to mess it up.  The curtain is high enough and my daughter most likely wont mess with it.

Isn't she pretty??   On a side note I have issues with curtain rods, and one too many attempts at drilling for the brackets and finding things like metal trim around the windows, then having dry wall chip off continuously has ruined me from trying to attempt that time and time again. 

 

So I literally just nailed the fabric to the wall. Much easier to fill and hide later on.

A little before and after.   I actually did end up keeping the gross plastic blinds, they are just hidden up under the shade.  When we want to be pretty they will remain there; when we want to be functional we will pull them down:)

 Now I wont lie, this took 2 hours to do  being my first try.  But the result is good, so it was worth the time to me!


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White Dresser

It's a blessing and a curse to have the Craigslist app on my phone....when I have a few moments I like to get on there and just search for cool stuff that's for sale, even if we don't need anything at the moment.  So it's all harmless fun until I see something that we don't technically need we didn't know we needed.

But the other day I spotted a dresser for sale....and I wanted it!  Here's why:

We needed a media stand a few months ago, and I was impatient. Here is the post on that. I still purchased what worked for the living room, but I can't say I was in love with it.  

Now, it is cute, and totally functional. The drawers glide like a dream and it has loads of storage.  I have always wanted to switch the knobs out though, and being as this was the first furniture piece I painted there are some things I would have changed about the process.

1.  There was a LOT of space to cover, and I had chosen spray paint and primer to get the job done....well with a piece this size I should have just used a brush and a half gallon of paint.  We had to do the inside, the shutters, the top, and the drawers....it didn't turn out to be so inexpensive when you have to have that many cans of spray paint.  And in the end we got frustrated and painted it with a brush and leftover white trim paint sitting in the garage.




The inner spaces that were hard to reach and required lots of spray paint.....not good.

2. The top is a little rough because the wood patterned decal was peeling off and we had to remove it.  No amount of sanding seemed to help much.  So next time, get one that is not so damaged.



3. It was a little plain jane.  So I am going to try and fix up her paint job, and re-sell her.  It does make me feel a little sad, like we are abandoning our first little piece:(

So I went ahead and bought the new dresser:

Things that made it great:
1. Way less area to cover in paint.  Only drawers and 2 sides.  Having to paint the interior of anything is tricky, and with our other dresser it was a lot.... I considered painting with a brush, but actually still went with spray paint and spray primer on this one due to the size it was much nicer.  Only needed 2 cans of each since we didn't have to spray the inside of the dresser at all.

2. It had an awesome surface.  I am loving 2-tone furniture, and I left the top of the dresser in its natural wood state.  That way it wont get scratched, and it was in perfect condition anyway!  And the detailing on the front drawers is b-e-a utiful.

3. With my other dresser, I painted it to perfection and was a little dismayed to see chipping around the  most trafficked areas despite my best primer and sealer efforts.  So on this one I distressed it. 

**Note to self; distressing hides any flaws and conceals new chips and scuffs we will make.   That's my kind of furniture**

 

Now I know these are all over the web, but it was my 2nd try and I am so excited I improved and I had to share!

A little before and after!

And here we decided to use it as our media stand.  Our house isn't big enough to have this buffet in the dining room, so we just put the extra drawer under a bed upstairs for storage and if we move to a new house in the future we can move this little beauty around to fit our needs. 

Linking Up at Kammys Korner

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If It's Not Baroque



No so Mauve-ulous Bedroom

We were so excited to purchase our own home 6 years ago...and back then in the good ol days, there was no Pinterest, I was young and uneducated in furnishing a home, and I saw a magazine picture by chance of a bedroom that I thought looked awesome.  So I did exactly what was in the picture to my very own bedroom.

Now I cant say the mauve/brownish red was soooo awful....I mean I am definitely over it now, but I do like my bedrooms to be a little darker, and it was 2006 ish so red and browns were in...right?????.....I think my biggest mistake was painting the trim and accent walls light pink.....yes....PINK!!!!  WHYYYYYY

I even had a friend come over recently and I was complaining about the color and she said "OMG who would have ever painted a bedroom this way?  Those previous owners were crazy!"   I didn't have the guts to tell her it was indeed by my own hand that our bedroom had reached this state.  Hahaha.  The shame.

(Oh and I painted my master bathroom the same...my husband has lived in a pink and mauve bathroom for years....he was so nice to me)

So I wanted to try out a really dark grey as seen here in example by Dear Lillie. 

Source of Beauty

Gorgeous!!!  So sophisticated.  BUT.....all of OUR bedroom furniture is very dark wood, and I think you need lighter furniture to be able to pull off some dark walls.

As I am not ready to purchase or DIY some new furniture yet, we went the other way and I chose a light crisp blue called Glass Slipper by Benjamin Moore.  I like it much better than the mauve.  But its very bright.  And I always doubt after I paint.

Case in point:
* As soon as I painted I saw a little sentence on a decor blog that said something like "never paint a bedroom blue....it makes it seem cold."  And I dont think the fact that it was snowing here and 23 degrees outside helped much. 
*Then my husband starts calling it the Alaska bedroom, because the paint is now so light it doesn't get quite as dark as it used to and it feels like the sun never sets....

But then I saw this lovely picture and I felt peace.  Hers looks AWESOME in blue!


Source

(its kind of crAZy how similar our bedrooms are...the carpet, the slanted accent wall, placement of furniture. Can I just pretend thats my "after" picture? ha!) 

And in the end, its fun to change things up, and its just paint! 

Chaos!!!

(Note to self....never.....painting.....trim.....again......Keep it white and classy)  I seriously think I painted this room about 4 times....2 coats of primer, one of paint, and multiple coats for the trim.  It .....was..... rough.   The paint job that never ends.

So with our blue I am doing greys, whites, and either yellow or a very light green.  This is the hardest part for me, pulling everything together.  Here is my little mood board, and it changes often, so as time goes on, we will see how it evolves. 

My plans include:
DIY Mercury Glass Lamps
DIY Duvet Cover (finally educated myself on what that actually IS)
Accent pillows and sheets
Curtains
Create SOMETHING for that plant shelf....pretty storage?  Get my stencil on?
Statement art pieces for wall behind headboard
Accessorize Nightstands


Baby steps!  This room is needing lots of TLC. 

 

Sissys Room

This room is going to require some work.  I know what I want it to look like but getting there is going to require some work.

Here it was:

I love stripes.  Check me out being trendy before the trend!  Too bad I am not really feeling the purple now.  It was nice for her nursery, when the colors were purples, and light pinks and greens and yellows (color scheme of the quilt on her bed) 



PURPLE EXPLOSION

But now I think we have both grown up and are ready for a more sophisticated but still fun look.  After we took her crib down (4 years ago...)  I added my hot pink comforter from my dorm room in college, and the desk. Her favorite color is blue, so we are going to try and work with that also.

 I think the brighter, vibrant colors match her personality best. Check out these inspiration pics below:



source

One of my aunts once told me,"Keep the walls neutral and let your furnishings do the talking. Its much easier to change that way."  Did I listen the first time I painted this house?

 Of course not.

And thats why I have repainted every room in this house except for 2, and the rooms we kept were painted in a tan neutral, and a soft light blue.  Lesson learned.

So this is the last room I feel I need to repaint at this point, and luckily it was the smallest. 

I chose a neutral color, with undertones of pink.  So we can get Ca-Razy with some color in the bedding and accessories.




Small peek:  Side by side comparison to white door. 

This is a swatch of the fabric I want to buy to make a lined roman shade. 



Annie Selke Raspberry Fields

Wish me luck on that one. 

Things to do:

Figure out the furniture situation; buy used or paint the current stuff? (its tricky....the bed and dresser are my moms...and I don't think she wants me to do anything to them.....the bed frame I can live with, the dresser, not so much)
Finish pink desk to replace plastic vanity set
Find large cute cushion ottoman for desk seating (with some storage for the zoo of stuffed animals?)
Bedding: Replace with cute blue quilt on sale for $30
Make accent pillow(s)
Paint walls
DIY roman shade
Accessorize surfaces
Make a photo collage wall
Find cute and affordable rug

And that's the plan!