girls’ bedroom art

I was doing some wishful thinking on art. 

I love art!  I once wanted to be known as an artist.  All I wanted to do was paint.

I still do but I want to do more.  I want to design plus paint. 

Gosh there just isn’t enough hours in the day to do it all.  And if you’re a painter you need a lot.  So I guess that’s why I’ve never made it as a painter.  I just don’t have the hours to succeed in it.

I’ll do some occasional paintings here and there but nothing full time. 

I created a design board on art pieces for the girls’ bedroom.  My collection is sophisticated with feminine details.  This collection is not too little girlish which is something I’m all about in redesigning their room.  Mind you…..nothing has taken place in the redesign of their space.  Simply just wishful thinking on my part.

1. janethillstudio / 2. ParisPlus / 3. rebeccaplotnick / 4. LeighViner / 5. HeidiCarlsenRogers / 6. janethillstudio

I want to create a gallery wall that has some photographs, some fine art giclee prints and some abstract drawings to counterbalance more of the traditional feel the room will have.

I love all of pieces together.  Each one brings a different story, a different color and just a different way at looking at something ordinary.

As far as picture frames, I envision a mix of warmer woods that will tie into the dresser/nightstand that will separate their beds.  Plus gold frames in various widths that will tie in with the accents found throughout the room.

I you missed my earlier post of the color scheme for the girls’ bedroom you can find it here.  My “jumping off” fabric is this found here.

Hope you enjoyed my wishful thinking.  It sure was fun and maybe some day it will happen!

Thanks for stopping!

Bye for now.

update progress on my book shelves

My book shelves are about half way through to completion.  My handy husband thinks you need to sand down to bare wood for them to be painted.  And I don’t know!  I sure don’t want someone's fingernail to swipe away the paint to the wood vanish underneath.  But I just saw on another blog she used “Liquid Sander” to prep the wood instead of sanding.  Urghhh!  I guess we’ll look into that on the next project seeing that all but a couple of shelves need to be sanded.

Disclaimer alert….My dear handy husband has done probably 95% of the work.  I am not claiming responsibility for any of what has been done some far.  I’ve done like a SHELF and that’s it!  I really had higher hopes for myself in sanding these and I even proclaimed that he didn’t need to worry about them I was going to do it.  Well it really didn’t happen that way.  I can not stand sanding!  It’s sooooo boring!

Here the book shelves sit in our garage.

I also wanted to show you that it’s been a whole family kind of thing to do after dinner on many nights.

Little man is seriously at work, deep in his thoughts while sanding.

Handy husband is busy at striping the wood.

And the girls are sitting close by reading and listening to music.  So I guess it’s not totally a family helping thing, but we are all out there together in the garage enjoying each other’s company.  Isn’t that what’s most important?

I haven’t picked a specific color yet, but I do know I want them to be ivory.  As far as the back of the book shelves I want it to be a black or a very dark grey or even a dark brown (which I know we have some left over from a earlier project).  I thought about wall papering it, but no.  It would cost more and I probably would get tired of it faster than just plain old paint.

As the weekend approaches we my handy husband will probably finish the sanding and I will finalize a color (that’s my job!). 

I’ll keep you posted!  Have a super weekend!

Thanks for stopping!

Bye for now.

a gold mirror (my second Craig’s list purchase)

I wanted to share with you my “second” Craig’s list purchase. 

If you missed my first you can read about it here.

I wanted to find an oval mirror preferably gold with some scrolling details to it.  It needed to be some what of a good size to hang in my daughters’ room above their dresser.

I’ve looked and looked and just couldn’t find anything in my price range online. 

As I have stated before, I’m constantly looking at Craig’s list.  And one day I find the mirror I’ve been searching for!  I contact the person through email and no answer.  Well I see it still listed several days later and email again.  Still no answer.  I probably emailed 10 times.  I thought maybe there was a glitch in their email and they didn’t get it.  I was noticing the item kept on getting renewed plus more items were being added by this person.  (I only knew this because the person was selling only mirrors and the reflection in the mirror was the same for each listing).

Then one day I noticed one of the other mirrors had just been renewed.  I quickly jumped on the computer and emailed them.  BOOM!  I got a reply!  The mirror was still available!  After     all      this      time!

A few days later I picked up the mirror.  I probably was at this person’s house for a whole total of 2 minutes.  I saw it, took out my money and I was out the door loading it into my car.

I know all of you are waiting on the edge of your seats, dying to see my mirror!

So without further ado…..

I love it!  It’s exactly what I envisioned for their room.  I wanted accents of gold and this mirror will definitely deliver.

Now for the rest of the family…..

My handy husband WAS NOT jumping for joy when I pulled up and neither were my kids, especially the ones that will be looking into this mirror everyday.

But I reminded them to wait-and-see the whole picture after the room is completed before they disregard a design element.

That being said I’m still very excited in putting their room together even though not everyone is on board.  I thought I would show you my “start” to their bedroom.  It’s going to be a VERY slow process and hopefully it will be worth the wait.

Thanks for stopping!

Bye for now.

girls’ bedroom inspiration

Today I was playing around with my newly downloaded trial version of Photoshop Elements 11.
 

It’s pretty cool! 
 

I was looking for a program that I could easily understand and work with.  I just did this design board in a short amount of time.  This program is basic but has all the features I wanted.  I put this together with proposed fabrics and rug for my girls’ bedroom.

 

In my “redesigning our house finishes over for my interior design portfolio” this is the look I want for my girls’ bedroom.  I classify it as “Vintage Glamour”.  It’s definitely going to be more of a classy and grown up room but yet it won’t look too old and stuffy.

I fell in love with the floral fabric!  It will compliment the existing pieces that will remain in their room.  That fabric is a keeper and is my jumping off point.  You can pull so many different shades of pinks, purples, grays, browns and a touch of orange, which one sister is very partial to! 
 

The upholstered headboard could easily be a DIY project instead of paying hundreds of dollars.
 

I have always liked the layout of two twin beds side-by-side with a small chest in between.  There is just something about this layout that creates an atmosphere for quiet private sisterly talks.  I guess it’s something that I wished my sister and I had.  We had our own room but I do remember asking if we could remove the wall between our bedrooms so that we could share one space. 
 

Here are a few pictures of what I am thinking about.  You can find all of these and others by following me on Pinterest.  I’m constantly looking for new inspiration.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping!
 

Bye for now.

my first craigslist purchase

I’m always searching Craigslist to see what I can see. 

Is there something for sale that could be cool possibly after a little bit of paint. 

I came across some book shelves. 

They looked old which I liked.

They had storage at the bottom of the shelves which I liked.

And they had some character which was most appealing to me.

The description was VERY vague.  There were no dimensions in the listing.  Plus there were 2 listings of the same thing.  The description said, “sold as set your choice”.  So it makes one wonder does the person have 4 book shelves or was it simply just a mistake.

So I called.

The gentleman said he indeed had 4.  The book shelves he had left were the ones with the door.  Yippee!  Those are the ones I wanted in the first place!  I didn’t know what I would do with the shelves that had the desk unit. 

I also asked if he had dimensions and if they were laminate or wood.  He was not at the location so he didn’t know.  OK.  The back looked laminate, I can do something with that.  I’ve painted laminate before and it was just fine.  I just didn’t want the sides and tops to be laminate.  Also it looked @ 36” wide but I couldn’t tell with the depth.

We made arrangements.  His location was close to my husband’s work.  Perfect!  My husband has a truck and he went there after work. 

He pulls up and he sees the book shelves in the picture I showed him the night before.  Apparently the gentleman had 4 but the ones in this picture were the ones he was classifying as the ones with the door.  So they weren’t the same.  Do I like the desk unit?  Could it be something I could take out?  Hmmmmm

My husband also thought they had a lot of laminate on them.  Hmmmmm  Should I go for it?  They were cheap!  The gentleman owns storage units and after someone vacates they have x number of days to get their stuff out.  He was selling bits and pieces of a lot of different stuff.  He just wanted the stuff gone so he can rent out the unit again.

So I decided to go for it.  (You could probably guess that from the blog title).

After my husband got them home, my first thought was they were DEEP!  They measure 18” and I’m not crazy about it!  I want to explore if there is anything I can do about that.  The desk door does not look like you can take it off, which I’m not trilled about.  But maybe it could be our computer desk area.  Not what I had in mind for them.  I’m also not trilled about the handles.  They look to bedishy.  At least that's an easy fix.

On the plus side, the book shelves are all wood veneer except for the back!  The back is just stapled on and can be easily taken off.  I was thinking painting it a different color or doing some strips or chevron pattern OR I was even thinking of wallpapering it.  In any of those cases it wouldn’t matter what the surface was.

So I’m happy!  My first Craigslist purchase was a success!

Now they sit in my garage waiting for me to decide where to put them and what exactly to do with them.  I’ll keep you posted.

Stay tuned…..

kick start this old blog

 I once again feel the need to kick start this old blog!

 

Seeing that I haven't written since October 2012 and it's now mid-summer 2013 I have a lot of catching up to do.

 

A "Lego" themed birthday party right before Christmas for my youngest.

 

 

Enjoying a "white" Christmas at home.

 

 

Hosting a glorious celebration at Easter with family and extended family.

 

A wonderful Florida vacation in the month of June.

 

At that brings us to today....enjoying a sweet treat on a hot summer afternoon.

 

 

And let's not forgot all the chorus and violin concerts, gymnastic practices, ballet recitals, swim lessons and homework, homework, and more homework.  To say the least it's been busy!

 

I still am doing daycare during the day, but I am feeling the need to restart this blog. 

 

I HAVE a degree in interior design.  I went to college for 5 YEARS!  I've asked myself recently, "Why I am not using it!"  So in the middle of our life, I would like to redo bits and pieces of our home. 

 

I found a wonderful group on FB in my community that you can sell items.  I'm sure every community has something like this, or you can use Craigslist.  I've already sold 2 items in the last 3 days and plan to sell more.  My hope is to sell and then buy.  So yes it's going to take me sometime, but I'm in no hurry.

 

That's where the restarting comes in.....I want to document the whole process on this blog.  My long term goal is that this can be a new venture for me as a designer.  I don't know!!!  It's a ways away, but I guess I have to start somewhere.  And let me tell you that I was pretty pumped from my first 2 sales!

 

Wish me luck!

 

Thanks for stopping.

 

Bye for now!

 

fall entry way

  I thought I would start today by showing my fall entry. 

 

Right when you walk in is my famous Pottery Barn chair.  As I have blogged about it before, my husband and I were not in totally agreement about.  Or it's been so long since I've purchased the chair I might have the story wrong.  I think I told him I was buying a chair and he said fine.  OK.  Once it is in our home he couldn't believe I spent money on it as it is not even an ounce bit comfortable.

Yes I have to admit that, but I sure looks great!

 

Next to it is our computer desk that we refinished red a couple of years ago.  Today, I am rethinking the red or should a dare say I've been thinking about it for awhile now.  Don't tell my husband!  He did all the work, he sanded, stained and lacquered.  All I did was distress it with a little black paint and ordered the knobs.  I didn't even put those on. 

 

 

I love the look of curly branches!  I have kept them all spring and summer season basically naked with nothing at the base.  For fall I decided to add some fall orange flowers with beads and brown feathers.  It creates more interest at the base.

 

I see metallic pumpkins everywhere this year and I bought a small one from Hobby Lobby.  The pumpkin picks up the orangey color of the flowers in the branches.

 

I have had my book page wreath displayed here for the longest time, you can see it here.  As I was browsing Pinterst one day looking for a new wreath, either to make or buy, I came across this one at save-on-crafts.com.  It had all the colors I wanted to incorporate and it was just the right size.  Plus the colors I thought could carry into the winter season after the holidays.  I contemplated on buying feathers and making it myself.  But once I looked at prices for feathers it would have been too costly.

 

On the other side of the entry is my gallery wall.  I do change out photos according to the seasons. 

 

One might think it's a bit nutty but I usually coordinate the photos to the season. 

 

The ones I have up now are from my kiddos at the pumpkin patch last year.  We are going to go in October and I'll take a gazillion pictures of them doing all sorts of pumpkin patch activities.  Whether or not I put those up I don't know, but at least I have fall photos up now. 

 

I always try to include some art work, and it's usually simple stuff that I do.  Like this one of the leaves.  I just double-sided taped these leaves onto white paper and stuck it under a mat.  I also did it here on my fall mantel.

 

 

I also included pictures of pumpkins that are ironed onto fabric and then stapled onto a canvas.  These are the first I did a couple of years ago.  Now, instead of stapling them onto canvas, I use a piece of wood.  The wood is free.  We have wood lying around in our garage and my husband has a fancy table saw that he can use to cut me whatever size I want.  If I want to hang it I simply hammer on a wall hanger. 

 

I just did a search on Etsy to see if these images are still available and I did find the smaller pumpkin here. 

We hope to go to the pumpkin patch this Saturday.  We are all looking forward to it. 

I just saw the weather forecast and it's suppose to rain.  Boo! 

Thanks for stopping.

Bye for now!