Bird Plates -- Finally Finished

So, remember when I wrote this post, oh a heck of a long time ago? Well, I've finally finished the plates and they look fantastic! I cannot wait to mount them on my kitchen wall near my dining area.

I covered the front with paper and masked it off around the rim.

We spray painted three coats of Krylon in White. When that was done, we sealed it with gloss Poly. Since the back is where the paint is, I don't mind the super shine.

After a good dose of dry time, we pulled the masking tape + paper off and got this.

I'm in love with them. Literally, in love.

From top left clockwise: Yellow-Billed Magpie, House Sparrow, American Kestrel, American Crow. Love these birds.

Living Room Face-Lift

Here's the face-lift. You can click the pictures to view them bigger. We decided to move around the furniture so it's a mess right now.












Living Room Still To Do:

- Hem the bottom of the curtains so they're at floor, but not piled up -- eww.
- Finish tie-back for the blinds
- Repair the water damage on the wall under the AC unit (go bad landlord!)
- Move the boxes to the left of the media cabinet to storage
- Put new slipcovers on the sofas (when they get here -- agh!)
- Stain the furniture a nearly black color
- Acquire a coffee table (stain to match other stained furniture)
- Add pillowcases to the throw pillows
- Acquire four more throw pillows
- Organize the media bookcase (thinking to buy some of these and store all of our dvd cases in storage -- cutting down on so much shelf space!)
- Make cloth "curtain" for the media bookcase
- Acquire some sort of decorative element for the lamp shelving
- Build onto entertainment center (as seen here)
- Build entry storage case (as seen here)

Curtains

Instead of just having inspiration pictures and a color in mind, I now know where I'm buying my curtains. Originally, I intended to make my own but before going into the world of buying fabrics and supplies, I decided to look at my already-made options.

 I found some! The curtains I found are big: 57" wide x 98" long each panel. They come with tie-backs and hemming tape to hem to a length you want. They are IKEA curtains being sold on ebay and after shipping + their overpriced starting price, I was looking at $45 more for the four panels than I would pay by just buying from my local IKEA. They're in stock at my local IKEA. Consider me sold. You can find them here.

We also planned to buy wooden dowels, and wooden round knobs to make our own curtain rod, but when I saw the price of all the components put together from Lowes & Home Depot, I scrapped that in lieu of these little pretties. I'm not crazy in love with the finials, but B sure is and that's enough for me.

We plan to let them free hang like our inspiration picture here. I'll use the tie-backs to make the tie-back for my fully opened blinds. I hate having the window open and hearing the blinds slap each other around. We're going to add a small hook in each window and tie-back the blinds.

We're going to IKEA today to pick them up. To say I'm excited might be an understatement. Between the curtains and the slipcovers, I think our living room will look like a very different monster.

Making My Home Over

I've officially ordered my slipcovers! I'm very excited and crossing my fingers that they work well. You can see where I posted about them here and order some yourself here or here.

Total for the two slipcovers: $105.88. Normally, I'd balk at a price like that, but given $300.00 to work with and the serious need to cover the mismatched sofas I've inherited, I was happy to put it out there.

My new balance was $194.12.

I knew I wanted to get a second bathroom rug. Our bathroom is a nightmare of epic proportions in size. It makes me feel like there's too much dead space.

A second rug kind of killed that extra bare floor, which I'm pleased with. Plus the Canopy brand rugs are so soft on the toes! I definitely don't mind having a little more to make toe-love to.

The rug put me out $12.87 and the odd trip to Wal-Mart. Since our trip to Washington last month, B and I have gone out of our way to not shop at Wal-Mart. We watched a documentary about it and felt sick. BUT, I wanted a second rug and already had one.

I'd rather trash the first rug then go mis-matched, so we made a special exception with the understanding that it would be forgone from then on.

New Balance: $181.25. I've got the curtains in the works but to save on a huge blog post, I'll save that for another one!

Slipcover Love

So I've been scouring the internet and stores for a month now, looking for the perfect slipcover. I want a fabric that will wash easy and is stain resistant for what I would hope are obvious reasons. Another big factor in turning my nose up to twill, duckcloth, and cotton slipcovers is: I want white. I've heard the former fabrics stain easy and are hard to clean. No go!

So my problem is this: I want white slipcovers. My couches clash. They are ugly and they don't go with the room colors (or each other) at all. They absolutely must be covered, probably more so than anything else in my house. I have $300 to decorate with. I cannot find a microfiber or microsuede slipcover in white for less than $180 -- a piece. I need two. No can do.

Yesterday, I stumbled on these.

On my screen, they don't look "off white" as described. I think they look light tan. My cousin says they're "off-white" on her screen. My friend says they're "cream" on his. Okay then. Two votes against me. I'll give them a shot. I figure if worst comes to worst, there will be black/white/navy blue pillows on them and that will work okay with light tan color-wise.

They're on ebay, for under $50 a piece, which is within my budget. I'm not a fan of the ties hanging out on the side/front, but frankly -- for what I'm getting:

- microsuede (stain resistant + easy clean)
- fitted covers
- "white"
- under $50 each

I'll take it. After shipping, tax, and purchase, I'd spend $105.06 on these puppies. And be left with $194.94 for decorating. I think I'm going to ask that lumber not come from my decorating fund, in exchange for purchasing the staining supplies instead. That will free up a bit to get a few more things. Curtains are another big one to me, as well as a second bathroom rug.

The seller has 3 of each and I'm hoping there is still some when I'm given my fun money next week. Cross your fingers for me! I can't wait to order them and get the first major thing done in my public room.

Summer Family Pictures

So, it's that time again. We're having our Summer Family pictures taken the first week of June, which means I'm scrambling (quite excitedly) about to find the perfect outfits. We're planning a casual look at a top secret location -- perhaps a sandy one.

Here's what I've got rolling so far for outfits. Everyone will be wearing flip flops!

We'll start with the boys! Smallest first.

Cole's outfit:

This puppy is at Kohl's. You can find it here. It's the perfect color to me and I love the casual but dressy look the polo gives.

His shorts are a pair we own, but I can't find an exact picture of. So this is the "similar" look and you can find that here.

Cole will be sporting these flip flops from Payless. He adores them! His toddler style has the around-ankle strap, but the shoe is the same. You can find it here.

Brandon's Outfit:

I think I might have a polo problem. Adore this. Find it here.

The shorts will be these. Also love them! Like big time love. Find them here.

B will be wearing some flip flops we bought at Kohl's about three years ago. They look similar to this pair. You can find the similar pair here.

Val's Outfit:

To say I love this shirt is an understatement. I triple dog effing pink puffy heart this shirt. It's gorgeous! And could it tie into Cole's shoes any better? Methinks not. Find it here.

I have a very old pair of khaki colored capri pants. They're loose-fitting, have drawstrings on the bottom (calf area), and I can't find anything that looks quite like them. I desperately like this similar pair I found and am thinking about begging B for them, since they'd be a splurge. But the old pair has been mine since as early as 2005, so I think a new pair is okay, right? Find this similar pair here.

I have some cute white flip flops that scream beachy to me, but they're scuffed up and getting quite ugly to look at so I'm really thinking about getting a new pair. This pair is almost exactly identical to the pair I bought last season, except the flower was individual petals, rather than the cheap full piece of plastic they have now. You can find this version here.

I really like the simplicity of this pair here. Maybe I'll beg for these for the photos!

Decisions, decisions! That's all the eye candy for now. I adore our photographer. Cannot wait to see what we get back this time. :)

Bonus: I get to knock off another task on the 101 Challenge

Living Room Mock-Ups

So, there's a major amount of things I want to do in the living room. Here's just a taste of that.

We'll start with my windows. I hate the blinds. Hate. But they're incredibly useful and we can't modify them. So here's the plan. I want to put up curtains that will hide them, but remain perma-in place. Here's my mock-up of that.

The curtains will also hide the ugly AC cord for the most part and we can pin it back behind them. Curtain colors: Gray! I'm thinking a medium gray tone and I'll probably make my own curtains since I'm on a serious budget.

Beyond that, I want to make some simple tie-backs to pull the blinds together when they're open which will serve two purposes: 1) hiding them better, 2) not allowing them to shake and slap during breezes.

The door entry is awful. I hate the way the coat rack looks, even trimmed to just seasonal coats. And I really don't like the chaos that is all the shoes, plus we have nowhere real nice to put our wallets/keys, ect. I edited right over my entry picture (ooops!) so I can't show off the ugly.

But we plan to buy lumber and build something like this.

I have a silver leaf tray for collecting keys/wallets that could sit on top. Shoes could be on the shelves, jackets in baskets on the upper shelves. I'd likely make some sort of cloth cover-up (like a furniture curtain) to hide the sloppy shoes! In addition, this furniture would allow us to set a lamp on the top and have doorway lighting.

The last thing we'll talk about right now. My ugly TV center.

Excuse the toddler fingerprints. We have a swivel TV stand. I want to add knobs to the cabinets. And I want to build an entertainment center around this thing! We're going to leave space on either side of the TV so that the stand can still swivel. Paint the cabinet + portion we build, black. Backing will likely be black as well, but I've made my mock-up in shades of gray so you can see the various parts.

The top is potential crown molding. The light gray is "backing", the black is the frame. And the dark gray is solid cabinets. Silver rounds are handles, although we have no idea what hardware we want. I think this could be relatively easy but make a big impact on the living room!

Future Living Room Discussions:

Media Center (DVD/Gaming Storage + Cover-up)
Furniture Rehaul (Painting)
Sofa Covers
Wall Art

Imagination

You need one to visualize with me.

Here's the wall I'll put the canvases on. The picture is crooked so the copy and pasted art is going to be crooked since they're straight. I used the two panels that are my inspiration, but remember that one will be with a black backing and white branches!

It will be so nice to get little cluttery things put away in our home so that it's looking more and more pretty. I'm excited to work on these canvases and attempt my replication. We'll see how well that works out in action. :)

Once again, the full set of 4 paintings can be found and purchased here.

Gallery Hallway - In Progress

I've started to make some headway on the gallery hallway. I anticipated wanting a clean, organized look but decided that chaos would better fit our lifestyle.

First, a look at my teeny between doorway wall, which is clean and organized. Pictures of Cole with his dad.

Then a look at the taping off. I used painter's tape to mark my highest and lowest point (based on the daddy-son mini gallery I've got up already).

Then I just started tacking them wherever I saw fit. I started with a pattern in my head and quickly abandoned that when I saw just how many random frames I had on hand to work with.

There are still gaps and I've yet to decide what to put in them, likely more funky frames.

And of course, you can see some frames don't even have pictures in them quite yet! But I think having this picture hallway is such a vast improvement to the bare walls that were there before.

I like it. Now to finish filling up this side and start on the opposite wall!

Lots of New Juice

Well, really, just lots of new ideas to toss around. I'll apologize in advance for the sloppy home photos. I seriously took them before straightening up, because I had a napping baby and free time to shoot! We'll work on the dining area today. There's a lot to talk about!

I have wood toned furniture throughout the house. I'm not a fan of it, unless it's dark. I want it dark or not at all! In the bedrooms, I prefer white furniture. Anyhow, we're debating between staining the table & chairs a dark wood stain, painting them black or white. We're leaning towards going black currently -- but we'll see how we feel in the near future (read: crunch time).

I also want to reupholster the chair cushions. The fabric is old, worn, and frankly - ugly. It would be my first reupholster job and I'm nervous, but excited. Here's what I'd love to do for seating -- a checkered pattern!

It would really tie into my live-laugh-love words above the sink, while giving a fun dimension to the kitchen.

Back to the kitchen. See that big, empty wall over the table. We need to fill it up! For Mother's day, I got a blank canvas (very thoughtful, right?). I just need to find two to match on either side and then I get to make my own art for over the table. I'm thinking blue, black, and white (but a lighter blue instead of the navy like my tablecloth). And I'm thinking of a tree. Here's the way we want the canvases to look placed next to each other.

I adore the little birdies and the whimsical feel of this art, but I'm sure I won't go quite like that. Artist found here.

I didn't take a picture (like a slacker) -- but I have an ugly heater vent in my kitchen -- much like the one you can see in the picture of my hallway a few posts back! There's empty space on either side that looks so lonely so I got two tall and thin canvases to create something for either side. I love this art, which I saw on etsy (sadly out of my willing-to-pay-budget) and want to replicate it, to an extent.

Painting can be found here.

I want to do one black backing, one white, but probably replicate the branch styles in panel #2 & panel #4. More on that as it actually happens.

I have a lot more ideas for the kitchen, but I'll save them for when I actually get some fruition going on in regards to them! It felt like time to check in. I'm getting so much closer to my decorating money and so excited about it. Time to let the wheels spin and make it happen.

PS. Our new tape measure and level arrived today! I'm sure I'll do something with my gallery wall tomorrow. :)

House To-Dos and Future Pretties!

I've been working on a to-do list for the house. There's so much I want to do decoratively! B has said that after this job he's starting tomorrow, I can have $300 to use as I see fit on the house. To say I'm excited would be an understatement. I'm usually okay to spend a little here and there for things for the house (I love thrifting and craigslist!), but to have that much money to work with? Yes please! I realize that from a decorative stand-point, $300 won't go very far, but I can stretch it if I shop sales and deals.

So, here's my to-do list on our house.

Living Room

Paint Furniture (Black/Dark stain)
Build TV Center
Make Cover for Movie Bookcase
Make Throw Pillows for Couches
Get Paper for Clock
“Last Name” Wall Art
Buy Compact Holders for DVDs
Get Shoe Rack/Shelving
Get New Lamp
Get Sofa Covers (White)

Bathroom

Get something covered for Cole’s bath toys (Small Cabinet?)
Get a second rug
Get alternate soap dispenser

Dining Area

Plate Display Rack
Get canvases to paint
Paint Canvases for over table art
Finish Bird Plates
Get new table + chairs

Kitchen

Organize counters (black storage + bread box)
Put away excess stuff
Get sponge/under counter organization
Alternate soap dispenser

Hallway

Get first aid organization
Cut newspapers and finish layout
Fill frames
Hang frames

Cole’s Room

Finish Cole’s Nightstand + Knob
Finish Cole’s Dresser
Get new knobs for dresser
Get Bookcase
Get Toy Organization

Master Bedroom

Get a desk
Get organization for Crafting supplies (possibly around the desk)
Organize scrapbooking cabinet
Paint Furniture (White!)
Get Wall Art
Make Bed
Get Bedding

I'd like to focus the $300 on things that will stretch far and in the most public areas -- my kitchen, hallway, bathroom, dining area, and living room. B wants to start having game nights and the like over here and while I support that 100%, I really, really want a pretty house for that sort of business.

As it stands now, I'm planning to use the money to buy the painting supplies needed (White for bedroom, black/dark stain for living room furniture). I'll also invest in some sort of shelving for by the front door where we keep our shoes (and use a fabric cover to hide that ugliness!). The most expensive thing I'm planning to use the money on -- as a single item -- is slipcovers. I desperately want my sofas to match!

We inherited a red floral print couch and an olive green one. They're both ugly and I want them to match. I've been using an olive green blanket to cover the red floral couch, but it has to be put back on multiple times daily thanks to the critters and toddler. I can't wait to have something tight fitted to the couch!

I'm sure my $300 will go much further than the things I've listed. I just haven't set anything in stone quite yet. :)

Ideas, Ideas, Ideas

Our hallway is too narrow to put any sort of table in it -- short of a full blown six inches wide table --, and feels so bare to me. So I'm working on making it a gallery hallway. It will look similar to this:

I'm going to be using a method similar to Young House Love for hanging them up. You can view how they did it here. I've cut out papers in the frame sizes. I just need to lay out my frames in a style I like and work from there. We need to pick up a measuring tape and perhaps a level and we're set to go green on it. Our difference is light gray walls (white crown molding + baseboard) and black frames.

I want some sort of desk for studying in our bedroom. Something I can spread out schoolwork on and have space to work. But I also want it to be able to double as a craft space, which is to say, I want to be able to fit storage underneath it somehow and a sewing machine on it when need be plus room to cut fabrics or whatever my need be. Here's a couple tables I saw online.
But at $190+, they're a bit out of my decorating the house budget for the time being. :(

I am thinking about making a simple Ana White style table like so. I love the simplicity of this. Pictured below.