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Paint me a picture!
Okay, so last week I posted the pic I bought at our neighborhood yard sale. The plan, paint over the original canvas (pray it wasn’t priceless) and update the frame. I really had no clue how long something like this might take. Honestly, I kind of thought it might take me a while.
Before Saturday morning while Matt was out golfing, I decided to start painting and see what happened. I made a makeshift painting station in the garage. One side has a small ledge a few feet up and a couple inches wide so I tape a sheet to the wall and was able to prop the canvas up on the ledge. From there I just started mixing colors. Originally I wanted to go more grey but my paint turned a little more green so I just ran with it. I started off with my brush just mixing colors on the canvas. (Really I should have put a white layer on first but I knew I didn’t have enough paint for that.) So I just kept going, mixing paint and brushing it on.
During Once I had the whole canvas covered, which didn’t actually take more than 15-20 mins. I stepped back to check out what I had. It wasn’t bad! I liked the color gradients, so I grabbed a palette knife and started building the colors on the canvas. At this point I was just mixing the colors together with the palette knife and swiping it on the canvas. And it looked pretty good. Once the majority was done, I realized I needed to add a little bit of coral, since the bedroom is basically coral and white! 😉 A little red, yellow, pink and white and I had something that resembled coral. I had no clue really where I wanted to add it and decided on a to just put it near the bottom and hope it didn’t look dumb. It turned out pretty good and is really only a small touch of color. After that I was done!
I texted a few people pics of it and they all thought it looked good.
This is upside down. I couldn’t decide which way I was thing to hang it. Later that afternoon I decided I was going to work on the frame. I ran up to my craft room and grabbed some rose gold and off white paint. I used the rose gold to neutralize the brassy yellows currently on the frame. Then I mixed my off white with a bit of titanium white and added water. Lots of water. It was kind of messy but the result was a nice, worn looking frame. (I will say, the titanium white really wasn’t needed.) The last thing I had to do was paint the outer edge of the canvas. In hindsight, I probably should have painted that white first and then taped it off but I didn’t do that. I had to very carefully paint white around the edges of my newly painted canvas. In the end, I ended up with a little more white here and there but I didn’t really mind the way it looked so I just left it. I did go back and try to fix one corner of the canvas I wasn’t super happy with. It was a little flat. I can’t say it helped but it didn’t hurt it either. Just added a little more color and texture.
I let everything dry overnight and Sunday morning Matt helped me reattach the canvas to the frame. Then I got up the nerve to actually sign it. It was really stressful. 😉 But I got my name on the corner and it doesn’t look awful.
Now it’s hanging over the bed in our guest room! I think it turned out really good!
~k
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A Tale of Two Curtains
A week or so ago I decided I wanted curtains for the master bedroom. I’ve known for a while I wanted curtains in our room but I’ve just been kind of at a loss as to what color I should do. Our walls are painted a soft grey and our bedding is a teal-y green and cream.
As you can see the green isn’t a common color and even though the white looks white, it has more cream undertones. Not that I wanted white curtains but I felt it would make it hard to use cream.
I found 2 sets of curtains that I like. One from Walmart and one from Target. I had the Walmart ones shipped to our local store. Then I ran to Target last weekend and found one of the panels that I liked from there. So now I have the Target curtain haphazardly hanging from a clothes hanger on the window. As you can see they are completely different. I love the ones from Walmart and feel they would add a splash of color and some interest to the room but I have no clue if the colors will match or even coordinate. The Target curtains are just a solid grey. These would make the room a bit darker I think, which is okay. I think the color coordinates with the bedding even though they are totally different colors.
Since I have no idea what color I want to use, I don’t want to spend a small fortune on curtains. Let’s face it, curtains can be quite pricey. This also leads to my next dilemma. We have 3 windows side by side but they don’t butt up to one another but they also aren’t spaced out far. I’m talking a 2 to 3″ gap between the molding. So do I do 4 panels or can I get away with 2? {I feel like 4 full panels will overwhelm the windows.} Or can I use 3 panels and cut one in half and do half panels between the windows? At this point I’m not really sure. I ran to Home Goods yesterday and picked up a curtain rod. Then I got a text from Walmart last night saying my curtains were ready for pick up.
I’m going to make Matt hang the rod this weekend. Then I will take pics of both options. Should the Target curtains win I’ll need to place an order for the other panel since I currently only have one.
~k
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Hello my pretty!
The other day I was at Carolina pottery when I stumbled across this adorable vase. It was pink, had flowers, and well, it was cheap! I was surprised when I saw the price tag read $7.99. Score! For that price I knew I couldn’t not get it. As I looked closer I noticed one of the side flowers was a little chipped. I figured that would get me at least 10% off. Watch out with my .79 savings. 🙂
For now I’ve decided the vase will live on our chest of drawers. I don’t know if this is where it will stay since I still haven’t figure out exactly what I want to do on the chest of drawers but it does look purdy! I love the pink against the grey wall. And I think a little pop of pink with the teal quilt will be nice. Maybe I’ll have to look for a decorative pillow for the bed now. Shhh don’t tell Matt. 😉
~ k
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I am currently dreaming….
of a new bed. Hehe! For a while now I’ve wanted new bedroom furniture but after paying for carpet I don’t think buying a full set is in the cards. However, I think I’ve convinced Matt to buy a new bed. He really wants a King size bed and I really want a Tempurpedic mattress (not a real one because those things are $$$$ but a nice fake one from Ikea would do.)
Currently I have my eye on a bed from West Elm. They are opening a new store in the Southpoint Mall in Durham next week I think. This will be great because we can check it out and make sure it’s what I want, but I think it is. I’ve been coming back to fabric headboards. It just seems like they are in style and a little more versatile. We will get a dark base and then when the time comes we can buy the rest of the furniture. My only complaint is I don’t really like any of the coordinating furniture from West Elm so this means, when the time comes, we will have to find something else that matches. I think we will be okay though.
I really do like this look. I also like how low to the floor the base is. This will keep the kiddos from getting under the bed. But it also eliminates any sort of under bed storage. We desperately need more storage in our bedroom for sure. Oh well, that’s why we need new furniture. 🙂
~k
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It’s like a new room
Only it’s not. Over the weekend Matt and I FINALLY painted our bedroom! WOOO HOOO! This was the last “room” that needed to be painted before new carpet. We started Sunday afternoon with the expectation it would take us 2 days. I mean we even went to Lowe’s and bought a ladder.
Anyway once we got started, the paint flew on the walls and before we knew it we already had the 2 larger walls done. Two coats done. At this point I think it was probably only about 3pm and we didn’t start till after 1. With that we moved the furniture around again and started on the other 2 walls. Matt taped and I started painting the trim. You see, we’ve figured out the secret to nice lines, is a thin coat of white (or your base paint) on the moldings. Give it a few minutes, or half an hour, and begin painting. Before we knew it we were done with the whole room and it wasn’t even time for dinner. We’ve definitely gotten better and quicker. 😉
By 7pm the room was back to normal, all the paint stuff was put away and Matt was grilling dinner. We couldn’t believe just how quickly the painting had gone. But man was it nice to know we would have Monday free.
*You can’t really see the color but it’s the same as our spare room, which apparently I never blogged. 😉
As we were putting the room back in order I made Matt put our “ugly” chest up against the wall a different way which puts it behind the door and man oh man does the room feel different for me. You see the “ugly” chest had been pushed up against my bedside table for forever! When I moved in we ended up putting all my furniture in our guest room. That left Matt’s room with a bed, one bedside table, ugly chest and a TV stand and TV. Of course I hated this arrangement so we bought some bedside tables from Walmart and my mom gave us my old bedroom set, like from when I was a kid. Now our bedroom has a light colored bed and ugly chest along with black chest of drawers, dresser and beside tables. This is really not ideal and we will be getting new furniture shortly after we get new carpet.
I also decided it was time to change out the prints above the bed. You can see the originals here. I have to say this is one of the cheapest and easiest projects I’ve done. For the cost of 4 frames and couple of pieces of scrapbook paper you can make art. And then change it should you paint the room, move to a different place, relocate the pics. Whatever! It’s simple.
So that is kind of what we did over the holiday weekend. We actually got a lot done. 🙂
~k
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Let there be light!
Matt and I were very busy over the weekend. On Saturday we drove to VA Beach for the day to see my friend Brandi and her new baby, Brooklyn. Brooklyn was an absolute doll. There is nothing sweeter then a baby sleeping in your arms making little baby coos.
Saturday the in-laws drove up to get Matt’s aunt and grandmother. They flew in from London for vacation. After lunch Matt and I headed to Target to grab a few things. As we were browsing we came across some cute solar powered lights for the walkway. Now we don’t really need little lights to line the sidewalk because we keep our porch lights on but they were just too cute to pass up and at $5.00 each I thought they were a steal. When we got home we immediately put them in the ground and “ahhhhhhhhhh” they look awesome! You can’t see them from the street really but I know they are there.
~k
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Dinner for 6?
I think so, now. Matt and I have invited his parents and another couple to our house for Thanksgiving this year. After the couple accepted I went into freak out mode because I only had 4 matching placemats. I made Matt run to Crate and Barrel during lunch a few weeks ago in search of more. I had a back up place should he not find anymore and I’m glad I did. I decided to mix and match colors so I bought 4 additional placemats in Orange from World Market. Remarkably they look very similar to the ones from C&B. {I found these while I was on the mad hunt for a centerpiece.}
Last week Matt and I are in the grocery store talking about Thanksgiving and he goes, “You know what we don’t have 6 of”? Hmmm, we have enough silverware, placemats are good, I have enough plates….oh……”we don’t have 6 chairs.” Dammit. This lead to the great chair hunt. I looked online and in a few stores. I just couldn’t seem to find exactly what I was looking for. Then one night I decided to look at Overstock.com. Lo and behold I found a pair of great looking chairs and they weren’t too expensive. Plus the color looked very similar to the sofa and love seat. I ordered them and waited.
Last night our chairs were delivered. Whoop whoop! After we got home from the eye doctor we put together our new chairs. I must say I was pleasantly surprised at how nice the chairs look and feel. It didn’t take us very long to put them together either. I am really diggin’ the new chairs. I think they add a nice contrast to the table. Shh, don’t tell Matt but it kind of makes me want to get 2 more. 😉
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Thanksgiving table
My new obsession with Pinterest has fueled my desire to decorate the house. For the past few days I’ve been trying to decide how to decorate the table for Thanksgiving. We will be hosting Matt’s parents and maybe another couple. This means I want to do something great for our Thanksgiving table. I ran to Carolina Pottery yesterday and found a really great bowl but it was too large, not really the right color and well, too pricey.
At lunch today I ran to World Market and wouldn’t you know they had the SAME platter only smaller, in the right color and the price was a hell of a lot better. You know I bought it and the rest of my table will work with said platter. The only problem is, now that the table is set I think it needs more. MORE I say! The table looks nice but “too clean” if that makes sense. I guess I will be making a few more trips to Carolina Pottery, Michaels, etc. before the holiday.
I have pics but I don’t think I will post them yet 😉
~k
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I like owls
For some weird reason, lately I am really digging owls. Hence the new blog header. 🙂 Today I was browsing Etsy and I found some cute owl prints. They are printed on old dictionary paper. I think I’m in love. I have no idea where I would put them but they are just so cute.
I really need to get back in the swing of decorating. I’ve said it numerous times but I really need to start making Matt’s house feel like “our” house. We have different tastes though so I have try to incorporate more modern ideas in with my traditional style. My problem is I love so many different styles its hard for me to choose just one. Oh well, I just need to keep looking and working on it.
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I’ve been shopping
Today at lunch I went to one of my fave lunch time spots, yep Carolina Pottery. I actually only set out to buy my big vase, you may remember this post, and to get an NC State blanket for the new car. I decided I had put off my new vase long enough and Matt and I wanted a blanket to keep in the car for tailgating. Not that I think we will do a lot of sitting in the back but if we do we’d like it to not get scratched up.
Anyway, I got my vase and while I was looking around I noticed a few candle sticks. For $14.99 I figured this was a good deal and would get me on my way to getting the fireplace finished. So I added those to my cart. Then I had to walk past all of the Halloween stuff on my way to the NC State stuff. This made me think I might need something for the door. I found a cute fall wreath so that also got added to the cart. The only thing that didn’t get added to my cart was our blanket. For some reason they didn’t have any. They had tons of random stuff so I was kind of surprised they didn’t have a blanket. Oh well. We still have another week or so before the car is here.
Speaking of the car – it is on a boat!
Now I’m sure you are dying to see all my goodies. Well you are in luck. 😉
I’m not sure about the pics in the middle but I’m just going to leave it for now. Also I think the kitty condo is going to move upstairs. Julio rarely sits in so I think that might be a better place for it.
Don’t you love the vase?
From a distance. Notice my little friend is alive and well. 🙂
A close up. You can’t really tell but the ribbon is orange with green dots.
~k
