DIY Black And White Abstract Art

Howdy!  It’s been awhile since I’ve last written!

My oldest child recently turned 12!  It’s impossible to think that 12 years have gone by so quickly.  It seems like only a few short years ago she was a baby and I rocked her to sleep.  I can remember the snow storm we had a few day prior to her birth…and the waiter telling me that my spicy dish would sure send me into labor the day before…and my blood pressure sky-rocketing when I was admitted into the hospital.  Now my little baby has become a honest, truthful and caring young person.  She wears her emotions on her sleeve.   When something’s not right or if she has a QUESTION she is not embarrassed or afraid to ask or tell me what’s on her mind.  I’m pretty sure I don’t want to discourage that! 

Happy Birthday to my sweet beautiful baby young person!  She secretly will always be my baby and I think in her heart she feels the same way!

With all the birthday preparations and celebrations over with, I thought I would share my latest DIY project. 

black & white abstract art

After browsing Pinterest, design magazines and blogs, I have noticed a lot of black and white abstract art out there.  It was art that I shied away from in the past just because I didn’t like it.  The more I saw it the more it started to grow on me.

I thought I would try my hand at it.  I knew I didn’t want anything too big, like pictured above.  Mainly because I still wasn’t completely on board with this type of art yet. 

I was on a hunt to find a small canvas.  Then I remembered I had these.

In my community on Facebook, I am part of a group that you can buy and sell gently used items.  I had planned on selling these….but “Wait a minute” these would do.  These could be my small canvases.  I knew my kiddos didn’t want these hanging in their rooms anymore, so I decided to give these a whirl.

I painted them an off-white instead of a pure white.  I don’t know if I necessarily like the sharp contrast of black and white.  So maybe my post should be titled “black and off-white abstract art” instead. Ha-ha!

 

I didn’t take any during progress pictures…because let’s face it…I redid one the canvas probably 4 times!  No one really needs to see all that mess and my frustrations!  Luckily the first one I was happy with right from the start.  Don’t give up!  Paint over it if you’re not totally happy with it.

And if we’re being totally honest I painted these several months before Christmas.  I didn’t like them!  So I put them away.  I even considered throwing them away!  I know it’s weird…I just have this thing if I’m not liking it I just want it gone.  BUT…..I stuck with it and just recently pulled them back out.

Enough with all of my needs on it being perfect!  Here’s my process I went through.

I took the above “West Elm” picture and focused on smaller aspects of it.  Since these canvases measure 10” square I knew I could only fit a small portion of it.  I even did some quick sketches on paper on how I wanted them to look before I started painting. 

I blended the two areas together around the edges and it created shades of grey.  I rather like the grey.  It lessens the blow of how sharp the contrast is between the black and white for me.  Plus is seems more “artsy” and more like a “real” piece of art.

I wanted to frame it, but the pieces of wood I had did not lay flat against the side and it looked funny.  I didn’t want the edges to stand out in this particular situation so I just painted them black.

Then for my second canvas (the one I just couldn’t get right), I have sitting on one of my book shelves.

This project costs me nothing.  I reused canvases that I already had along with black and off-white paint. 

This project could have easily been done on a piece of heavier paper and then framed.  Or if you or someone you know are handy with power tools you could even cut a 10” square from a 10” board.  And for that matter you could cut any size square or rectangle from what you have available.  The possibilities are endless!

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now.

Christmas Entry Area and Book Shelves

Our little guy had his 6th birthday a couple of days ago!  Doesn’t seem possible that he was born 6 years ago!  My how time flies!  He’s become a super little guy that is filled with excitement, thoughtfulness and a selflessness abundance to want to help.  It’s a crazy good on how much he just wants to help!  I just love him so!  Here’s a picture of him that night.

I have so much to share and very little time to do it in.  Thank goodness my shopping is done!  A few more presents to wrap and this Christmas season will come to an end.  But first let me share my Christmas entry area and book shelves.

I didn’t do a whole lot of rearranging of the shelves from what they looked like here.

I picked up a few more books from my Grandma’s house to fill the empty spaces and added some Christmas sparkle.

I twisted regular garland with a lighted garland to give it more thickness.  Then I clustered ornaments and tied them to the garland.  I didn’t have enough to span the distance of the book shelves so I just draped it over one side. 

It you remember my DIY vase I didn’t have much luck using gold leaf.  Well I did some research and decided to give it another try.  I did paint it gold first then applied the gold leaf.  Which in some areas the gold leaf rubbed off completely and just the gold paint is showing.  I can’t even tell those areas so I decided to keep it.  Plus it’s somewhat covered in the book shelf so no one will ever completely see those areas.

My small entry tree has now become this fun whimsical kids’ tree.  It has all my Hallmark ornaments from when I was a child plus our children’s collections.  It’s fun with it’s oversized bulbs, snowflakes and curly red glittered wires coming out of it.

On to the other side of the room, we repainted our cabinet in a fresh coat of black paint.  Placed above it is a Pier 1 mirror I got for my birthday a couple of months ago.  I spray painted some curly branches and applied white glitter to a few of them and placed them into a glass candle holder.  I hung a collection of ornaments from the branches.

I wanted a simple holiday wreath to hang over the mirror.  I made this one from greenery picks that were bent and then wired together into the shape of a wreath. 

Again for the holiday season, I used my vanity tray from my bedroom and placed a bowl up top with a few sparkly ornaments within.

In the past I’ve had wreaths for my front door that have been made by me.  Made by me in the fact they took hours and hours to make.  This one was also made by me but it’s simple; it only took an afternoon!  I combined 2 existing wreaths.  Cutting greenery from one and hot gluing it onto the other.  It made a full wreath that is close to 22” in diameter.  I originally had planned on adding some pinecones and ornaments but I rather liked it in it’s simple base form.  I tied some gold trimmed red ribbon into a bow and hung it from the top of the door.

I’ll be back soon to share my little guy’s bedroom all decked out for a woodsy Christmas.  I think someday I’ll have to stop calling him my little guy or maybe not.  He will always be my little guy no matter what age he turns!

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now.

Styled book shelves reveal

Our book shelves are finished and completed styled! 

You can read about my first craigslist purchase and the installation of these book shelves.

I love how they look in our entry area and I am totally satisfied!  It definitely adds warmth and completes this small and awkward entry area.

I am finally at a point where I can say I am done!  I like each and ever shelf and the story it tells. 

First off…..I have to admit I was scared!  Scared of buying a ton of new items to fill each shelf.  Really scared that because the shelves were so deep it was going to take A LOT OF STUFF!  Buying new things WAS NOT an option.  I had to make due with what I had and to “shop my house”.

To contradict on what I just said, I did buy 3 new picture frames with birthday money and a gift card to Hobby Lobby.  So I guess it’s not really money out of my pocket.  My favorite item on both of the shelves has to be my newly purchased gold and silver mirrored picture frame.  It sparkles every time I walk by and reflects light from almost every angle.  That one piece started my so called “theme” of using gold and silver through out the book shelves.  I’ve done a mix of both and I really like how it’s looking.  I bought it at Hobby Lobby in their Christmas display area, but I think I will end of using it all year round.

I have used treasured family heirlooms that are special to me in some areas….

and special items that are mine in other areas. 

It might be weird but I think I have a candle stick obsession!  I have several:  wood, brass, silver, glass and even rattan.  If I’m out shopping it’s one of the things I look at the most and I think that I need.  When in actuality have I several of the same kind at home.  I want to see how it would look if I burn down some candles to put in the candle sticks.

Favorite photos of my kiddos and marble-looking paper in all the right colors fill picture frames.  Right now the family photos are of fall scenes and I’m thinking I will switch them out as the seasons go.  Trinket boxes and flowers fill other spaces and color coordinating books laying flat or standing up fill other areas.

The item I’m most surprised at myself for including has to be my Dad’s deer antlers.  I never thought I would EVER EVER have antlers displayed in my house.  About a year ago I started noticing antlers hung in interiors of homes that were not log cabins or homes that had hunting memorabilia.  They were just hung for their beauty and for their sculptural nature. 

My book shelves may be deep but the height of the shelves itself was not big enough for me to prop the antlers up.  I had to lay them flat.  I’m actually preferring it anyways.  Yes, they are backwards as my husband pointed out but they just didn’t work with them turned around.

Finished!

I’ll tweak things from time to time and as the seasons go.  I can’t wait for Christmas time and infuse seasonal and wintery items.

Of course I still have my kiddos silhouettes.  They had to be moved a bit from the increase of the book shelves' depth.  If you are interested in making your own you can find my tutorial here.

Onto the other side of the room, the black cabinet is finished with my mirror hung above.  BUT….I’m not totaled satisfied with it.  I mean everything is all nice and fine and I don’t want to change anything but it just seems sort of wimpy sitting up against the wall.  I’ve thought about adding some pictures on both sides of the mirror to add more presence on the wall.  Possibly adding a stool to one side and maybe an umbrella canister or a coat rack for the other.  I don’t know…have to see what I come across and what I can find.

Until then please take away one lesson from this post.  Use what you have!  I pulled things left and right from different rooms of the house switching things around seeing if it would work.  I pulled things from our bedroom, my daughters’ bedroom, boxes in the basement and even grandma’s house.  See what will work.  Change an item by painting it or using it in a different way.  If you tackle a project like this and before you buy a ton of new things, “shop your house”!   

Thanks for stopping!

Bye for now.

Linking to these parties:  Romantic Home, The Charm of Home, Jennifer Rizzo, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, The Shabby Nest, French Country Cottage, Tatertots and Jello, Under the Table and Dreaming, Lamberts Lately, Living Well Spending Less, Finding Fabulous

book shelves are finished

Yes you read it right.  After several months our book shelves are finished and installed in our house!

I couldn’t be more pleased with them!

You can read my post on when I purchased these shelves and progress we made.

I had some debates with myself over color, but in the end I went with our wall color (which I couldn’t tell you the name without looking) and painted the back a dark brown.  All of which we had!

I didn’t want to paint them a darker color because they are SO big they would have stuck out like a sore thumb.  And I didn’t want to paint them white or an off-white mainly because everything in our house is this color or a shade darker or lighter.  To be honest with you I actually got a quart of an off-white and we sprayed one side in the color and it just looked “beachy”.  It definitely was not the look I was after.

I decided to go with a dark color for the back mainly because it’s SO deep.  I’m hoping the color will trick the eye into thinking the shelves are narrower than they really are.  I don’t know if it’s really working but I like the two-tone look of them!

I thought I would show you a little of our progress…this was Saturday painting.  I guess I didn’t get a picture of Friday night priming.

Sunday morning we carried them in.  Believe me they were HEAVY and yes I helped! 

We talked about the placement of the book shelves on the wall over and over again.  This was only going to be done one time!  We cut into the backs for plug-ins and pass-through for cords.  I wanted these babies to be tight against the wall.  We even had to cut holes between them on the outer sides.  Yikes!  Unfortunately these shelves will always have to be in this configuration.  Hopefully I won’t regret that in the future!

Here’s one last picture of the desk part of it folded down.  I think I’m most in love with this part!  The computer can be shut away when not in use and guests don’t have to see it when they visit.  In the shelves with the doors and I have our computer headquarters nicely tucked away behind closed doors.  I have yet to bring a cable and phone line up for our modem and router but that’s where it’s all going to be stored.

So what’s next…styling!  My fun part! 

I’ve got some things in place but I’ll wait to show you the shelves once everything is finished. 

I’m waiting on a few things…deer antlers for one shelf and possibly some old encyclopedias for another.  Yes you read that right again!  I’m so excited that my Dear-old-Dad has agreed to give me a set of antlers!  I know it might sound a little icky.  I thought it was probably a year ago but it’s grown on me and I want to embrace the trend!

Here’s a sneak peak at one of the shelves I worked on Sunday night.

I dug out all of my senior year’s college text books from a box in the basement.  I can remember keeping them thinking I would use them for a reference as I started my professional career.  Well…I can tell you they have NEVER been opened since that last day of class!  Now they are out-of-date and I guess will just look pretty sitting on my shelves!

Thanks for stopping!

Bye for now.

Linking to these parties:  Miss Mustard Seed