A little late to catch this trend

It is a little late in the game but I am just now catching on to this trend...of vinyl wall art and quotes.

I made a stop at Meijer's which is a local grocery plus store (they have clothing, home goods and a nursery in addition to the grocery). As I was meandering up and down the aisles I happened across a clearance section and found this vinyl wall quote for $4.99. SCORE!! 

It was so cute, I had to buy it!

The process for applying the quote was very simple. (I think the most difficult aspect was finding the perfect spot to place it!). I don't actually have much wall space in my kitchen. I decided the space between the refrigerator and kitchen door seemed to be the best spot. The decal came in 4 sections. I used scotch tape to hold the beginning of the quote in places and used the embossing tool to rub the vinyl on the wall. When I was certain it was in place I peel back a corner to check. Once I was certain it was okay, I used a very hot and barely damp soft cloth to rub over the vinyl release sheet then peeled it back slowly, in taut but smooth motion. I repeated the process for the remaining 3 sections of the quote. I eyeballed the placement, as to what appealed to me visually. 

I think it turned out rather well!

My daughter decided she liked it and also bought a kit.  It always makes me smile when I go to the kitchen and see it. A nice statement for under $5 and and 15 minutes of my time. If only everything else were so inexpensive and easy to do.

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$32 bathroom spruce up

I have been complaining about the downstairs bathroom for quite some time. It is still on the list to remodel but as life goes, things happen and priorities shift. Soooo...I put on "my creative, let's thinks outside the box and make this work on the cheap" hat. I couldn't change the the walls right now, but I did make a few inexpensive changes.

BEFORE

AFTER--btw I know the toe kick isn't painted. that is going get wrapped with baseboard. i didn't want to lay on the floor to paint it :)

I removed the rusty old medicine cabinet. The previous owners notched the window frame so the medicine cabinet would fit. I have installed a less obtrusive mirror. The mirror was stashed in the garage and just needed cleaned up a bit.

Since I lost some storage I bought a small plastic drawer system ($14) that fit neatly under the colorful metal table which I already had as part of a nesting trio of tables. I am debating about skirting this table with fabric in the same color scheme as the shower and window curtains (using industrial velcro) to make it easy to remove for cleaning.

We installed sheet vinyl remnants that were pieced together, which were free from my sister! It is not an exact match to my kitchen vinyl floor but it is the same color even if the blocks are bigger than the kitchen vinyl. I still have a 4ft by 5ft piece we can use for patching if needed.  We had the adhesive leftover from installing our kitchen sheet vinyl. There are a few minor imperfections from piecing the the vinyl and a few less than perfect cuts on my part. I truly don't mind because it is leaps and bounds better than what we had. Since the flooring was free, it is temporary until we gut this room. I spent $5 on aluminum threshold to cover the sheet vinyl seem between the kitchen and bathroom. (I still need to paint the door and trim white)

I also painted the the old sink vanity. I used a brush technique to make it look aged/ worn. It turned out pretty nice. I still may go back and hit it with a little sandpaper to mimic worn areas due to constant use (corners and by the handles).  The old hardware was rusty and a little gross but I just hit it with a wire brush to knock the worst of the rust, wiped it down and reinstalled. It goes with the whole aged patina thing.

Here's a helpful hint. When painting flat surface items and if there is a side edge which also requires painting, do NOT paint the edge when lying directly on newspaper. ASK ME HOW I KNOW THIS! I tried to move the cabinet doors after priming and the newspaper came with the doors. DOH! Once I scraped of the newspaper--which looked like a preschool art project--I placed the cabinets on bamboo skewers. That was kind of cool with the rolling action that went along with it, haha. I finally used another bamboo skewer stuck in the cabinet pull hole to hold it in place while painting and I didn't need to touch a wet edge. Ingenuity at it's finest.

I had a 1 yard remnant of fabric and sewed a new curtain panel. Surprisingly the colors are an exact match to my existing shower curtain. I fashioned the tie back from ribbon remnant. This swag also hides the notched out frame.

This a dual purpose bathroom and laundry room.  The water lines and drain are awkwardly placed and visible. I spent $13 at Lowes for melamine laminated shelving. I simply drilled pilot holes, screwed the pieces together and made a 3 sided box to cover the water lines and drain. It makes a great plant stand!  If we need to access the water valves or drain, we can simply move the box frame.

Overall I feel pretty pleased with the outcome. It freshened up the look of the room, at minimal cost

Lightening and Brightening My Dining Room (In Progress)

I posted a poll on MCLF facebook page

What is the worst thing about painting?
a) The cost of paint
b) Picking a color
c) The prep work
d) Waiting for the paint to dry
e) Clean up
f) Not wanting to hang things on freshly painted walls
g) All of the above

I should have added another choice--all the aches and pains from climbing up and down ladder or handling a 5 gallon bucket of paint.

I used the leftover paint from my kitchen. So the cost and color choice were non-issues. I have an intense dislike of the prep work--mostly because I am climbing up/ down the ladder and trying to tape a straight line when every surface  in this house is anything but straight. The waiting for the paint to dry is me being impatient to apply the 2nd coat. Clean up usually falls to the hubbs, ha! And I have to admit I will hesitate before hanging things on freshly painted walls.

After the kitchen renovation, all the other rooms look... kinda cruddy. So it was time to roll up our collective sleeves and get busy.

GOODBYE moody Smoked Oyster walls, HELLO Straw Basket (even though it looks off white in this picture it is a creamy pale yellow).

I hated the paneling when we moved it. I hate painting it with almost the same fervor. 

A little sneaky peaky. It looks so nice--light and bright. Better to showcase some of my decorative pieces. This is my Ray Eyerly print that I won from an online auction a few years ago. I wish it wee an original...cha-ching!  I gave it a little more prominence by  by adding the barn stars. I fell in love with this print at first sight and I still love it. Ignore the ugly old wall thermostat.That is on the list of projects to move and replace.

Ignore the cat bowl and food dispenser. I had to temporarily relocate it out of the dogs greedy little paws. No window treatment? No problem! Just use the biggest canvas in your possession to cover  the window, ha! Actually, I don't mind covering this window because it has a view of the carport and the dogs bark less now that they can't see out of it. I consider it a win! I know none of my decorative pieces match, but they make me happy. There is no chance a designer would ever come to my house and proclaim my house perfectly designed. HA! That is ok because I decorate for me.

New curtains to cover up the can-tastic closet. The old curtains were mutilated by a certain brown and black dog named Frazzle.  Don't be fooled by his innocent appearance!

The Guilty Party

95 inch Curtain panels-IKEA

 I had to stand on the top of the paint ladder when I hung these curtains. I hate heights! My arms and shoulders were burning by the time installed the hardware, fitted the curtain rods and wrangled the curtains onto the rods. But it looks nice and softens all the hard angles of the room.

Ikea

Project List

• Floor repair- should we level or or build a platform? 
• Finish flooring  
• Install trim work
• Install molding 
• Install new window--personally I would like to eliminate the window since it opens to the carport. That would require re-doing the whole wall-frame, insulate, sheet rock or paneling, repaint and not to mention the exterior work.
• Purchase and install a new exterior door--unless I could have my porch conversion!
• Update the outlets
• Move the thermostat and replace with programmable thermostat,
• Install new light fixture, 
• Build and install closet doors  
• Clean, organize and reconfigure the storage closet--In progress  
• Dresser project
• paint EVERYTHING--In progress 

Until we can determine the scope of our project, refreshing the room with paint was a quick and easy fix. I hope to enjoy it for a while, before it too becomes a construction zone. Given our list of priorities, this project won't happen until Spring 2016. 

A 45 minute inspired project

As promised in my Friday post I am working on projects during my break between semesters. One of several things I worked on was my inspiration board. I mean a real life inspiration board as opposed to to my Pinterest boards. 

Take one plain (ugly) cork board and with a little wave of jazz hands yeah you get a not so plain (maybe kinda nice looking) pin board. You see what I did there, eh eh? Pin board sounds soooo much more fancy than cork board.

I very carefully popped the cork board out from the frame. 

I did a quick sand and tack off of the frame before hitting it with several very light sprays of hammered metallic brown paint (allowing to dry between sprays)

Next I raided my hoard stash of fabric for some material to cover the pin board which I did a rough cut to fit the dimensions of the board (12x24 inches) by adding about an inch to each edge. After cutting I ironed the fabric smooth.

I flipped the pin board over and placed the "good side" of the cork to the wrong side of the fabric. I pulled the fabric smooth and taut while reinserting the  pin board in the frame. once pin board was reinserted, I smoothed any wrinkles and ran a bead of hot glue on the back side of the board to hold the fabric in place.

 

I reinstalled the wall hanging hardware, added 1/2 inch clear bumpers so as to not to scratch the wall and added a few inspirational pictures/ motivational quotes. Now when I sit at my desk, although I may not have a direct window view, I have an inspired view. Oh and I used orphaned earrings as my pins, which makes it funky and blingy!

The quotes are:

"Success is a journey, not a destination"-Ben Sweetland (author of  several self help and motivational books)

"Striving for success without hard work, is like trying to harvest where you haven't planted"-David Bly (Minnesotan Democrat and Farm Labor Party)

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams"-Henry David Thoreau (an abridged quote from hs conclusion in Walden. One of the most renowned  (and still modernly relevant) Transcendental philosophies to be published. 

"If  you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need" -Marcus Tullus Cicero (An ancient Roman philosopher)

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams"- Eleanor Roosevelt

I hope you find this as inspirational as I do!

A 15 minute blingy project

I have been working on my nest aka my living room. I spent 4 hours the other night de-crappifying the room, re-organizing and moving some furniture around. Now it needed a little more personality, so I dug through my stash of decorating stuff.

What do you do with a cute little hand painted thrift store canvas this is a little rough around the edges and there is no money in the budget to pay for a frame?

Well the 1st thing I did was add a little scotch tape around the edges to stop the fraying because I was afraid using clear nail polish or superglue would hurt the painting.

Don't worry I am not rednecktifying this...

I dug through my stash of crap crafting stuff and brought out the leftover nail head trim.

Once I tapped all the nails into place it was ready to hang on the wall.

I wasn't kidding when I said 15 minutes. It took me longer to schlep upstairs, pull my craft junk out of the totes and write this post than it did to complete the trim work.

Personally I like it and it gives it some dimension. Not so much  as oomph as a little nudge, kinda like, "Hey there. I got a little sparkle, wink-wink."  Not to mention it was cheap because I already had the supplies. Even better...

Look for Less #1

Welcome to my very first Look for Less. I am going to recreate a look found in some of the popular catalogs, magazines and websites but on a budget. As for now I plan this to be a monthly feature.

Here are the inspirations. SO MANY CHOICES!!

Chrome 

http://www.laylagrayce.com $526

Hammered Nickle

www.thedesignerinsider.com $399

Brushed Aluminum

https://www.brocadehome.com $299

Polished Aluminum

http://www.zgallerie.com, $100

Hammered Copper

http://www.finecraftsimports.com $499 

Antique Mahogany, Bronze and Marble

http://newel.com, $18,500

Hammered metal Cocktail table

http://www.valuecitynj.com/Item.aspx?ItemID=1439566418&ItemNum=45205, no price specified

BEFORE

And here is my sad little table. Looking more than a tad worn. 

So which way did I decide to go on my sad little table.  Chrome? Hammered Nickle? Brushed aluminum? Polished Aluminum? Hammered Copper? Antiquey Wood and Bronze?

X The chrome table won't work because the shape is completely different, not to mention the finish will be difficult for me to recreate since it is mirror like.
? The hammered nickle  table is a contender. The circular shape and overall height  works . The base is different but the finish could be re-created
X The brushed aluminum table won't work even though they are both circular tables the overall profile is to dissimilar. However, I think the finish could be re-created.
X The polished aluminum is also eliminated. The lines are comparable but the finish is to mirror like for me to recreate.
? The hammered copper  table is a contender. The circular shape and overall height  works . The profile is dissimilar but the finish could be re-created
? The antiquey  table is a very strong contender. The circular shape and overall height  works. The lines are very similar.. The marble look can be created  with faux paint, the bronze finish can be replicated and the detailing can be mimicked with decorative trim work.
? The hammered metal cocktail table is a contender. The circular shape works. The height, profile and base are  dissimilar but the finish could be re-created

You would think the antiquey table wins but it looks a little to heavy and staid. So pick again. Here's a clue...

AFTER
Yep I went for a hammered metal finish with a twist. Soooooo (drum roll please)....

I think the nailhead trim gives it some oomph!

You can really see the texture here.

Wanna see how I did this? Check my blog on Tuesday (Feb 28th)  and I will give you the details including cost.  CLICK HERE

How did it turn out? Is it a hit or miss?


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