Polka-Dots Make Me Happy!

Sorry I went MIA!  I didn’t mean to be gone so long but you know how that goes.

Continuing with my mini home makeover, I’m tackling all the things in my house that I have painted black.   After we moved into this house in 2007, if something sat still long enough, it got painted black.  Looking around my house now, I’m determined to brighten things up!

If you love polka dots (who doesn’t) and lots of color you will love the dresser in my entry now!

 

You can also see in the after picture my new wall color by Valspar which is Gray Silt.  I love it!  Ok I will be back soon with more progress!

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Light and Bright

Ok so I went with Valspar Gray Silt. (top left in the post below)  I had narrowed it down to the Gray Silt or the color-match for Analytical Gray and decided on the Gray Silt so I bought the paint and brought it home.  After it got dark that night I kept looking at the samples on the wall and thinking I made the wrong decision because at night the Gray Silt looked really dark and prison like.    Not good!

When you get paint mixed it says on the label non-refundable so I was thinking maybe I should mix some white with it to maybe lighten it up but that would probably end in disaster if I ran out of paint and needed more.  So I just went with it and got to work, if I hated it I could always paint over it.
Turns out…I LOVE it!!!  I’m finishing it up now and I will be back tomorrow with some pictures for you.  I also may or may not have been drinking the chevron loving kool-aid!   Aqua chevron curtains…yes please!

Front Door and Feeling Gray

I painted my front door “Pottery Glaze” from Valspar and now I’m thinking about distressing it but not sure yet.  I guess I will give it a few weeks and see if I still want to.

I’m also trying to pick a lighter gray for my living/dining/hall area.

The bottom three pretty much look to be the same color.  I’m kind of thinking either one of the top ones or the first bottom one on the left.  The top left one is Valspar Gray Silt and the right is Valspar Smoked Oyster.  The bottom left one is a Lowe’s color match for Sherwin Williams Analytical Gray.

Pottery Barn Copycat!

I have been on the hunt to replace these

two light fixtures in my kitchen since we moved in 3 years ago.

When I spotted this chandelier at Pottery Barn I wanted it!!!  But I had a problem…I needed 2 and they were $199 each!  So I decided I would try to replicate the chandy myself.  Here is what I started with.  They were majorly ugly but the price was right at $5 each at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore.

Sorry the picture is sideways I tried to fix it but it wouldn’t save.  GRR!

Anyways……I started by removing that star thing and then I went to my trusty old best friend, spray paint.

For the vine type things I just used green floral wire and spray painted it also.

After both were dry I just twisted the floral wire onto the chandy like so.

Then for the buds I attached clear beads to the wire.

Now drum roll please………………

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Here is the finished product!

Some before and afters.

I recently made a trip to Hobby Lobby and found these decorative items on clearance.  Originally the big ones were $29.99 which I got them for $3.00 and the small one was originally $14.99 and I got it for $1.90.  Sorry my pictures aren’t that great they are from my Blackberry because I still can’t find my digital camera!
Here is the before:

And the after:

Front door before:

And after:

This last picture I only have an after:

Scary stuff! This pretty much sums up my last month.  Nothing but bad luck!  On the bright side my insurance will cover it all but my deductible and my car wasn’t totaled.

Testing…1….2…

It has been so long since I have been here I almost forgot how to blog!  So much has happened since I have been gone.  Some sad times, some happy times, times that I have grown, times I wish I could relive.  I have lots to share but it isn’t the right time yet.

Since we bought our home a year ago I have struggled with the dining/living room area.  It is one big room but on the dining room part there is white waynes coating to chair rail height.  The kitchen overlooks the dining room so that has to flow well also.

First of all lets start with my birthday present from the hubby!  A new patio set!

Ok here is looking from the kitchen in to the living room.

View from in the living room toward the kitchen.

Up close of side table.

Here is a centerpiece I put together for the coffee table.

Here is the view from the dining room area.

And here is a canvas I am painting for the dining room area. I still have to add a few more vines and I’m going to frame it in a black frame.

Hope to be back sooner rather than later.  I’ve missed you guys!

Sleeping under the Stars

It is finally done! I had to buckle down before Christmas and get the bed painted. I love the way it has turned out.

Here is an owl collage I made using black and white paper. Very simple. Total cost was just the price of the frame. I had all the paper.

I found black and white damask wrapping paper at Hallmark and covered a stretch canvas. The wrapping paper is actually velvety on the black parts.

Ladybug likes to be the center of attention.

I work well under pressure.

Really I do.

I am not showing you the before picture!

Because frankly my kitchen was 4 different colors. It was pure embarrassment!

When we moved in the kitchen was a sage green. Well I have fiestaware and I didn’t really think the sage went very well with it. So I painted it a pea/lime green. Decided that was a bit too green and thought I wanted a warmer color. Then came the Texas Longhorn orange. O did I mention in all of this that I never finished the entire kitchen while painting. So seriously all the colors were showing in different spots.

It was really, really, embarrassing.

Then this brings us to last night. I have had a gallon of “pottery glaze” paint for about a month now just waiting to have a kitchen all one color. We have company coming to see our new house for the first time so I knew that I had to get the kitchen one color at least.

Christmas is what…A WEEK AWAY? OMGoodness panic mode!

I started painting last night around 7 p.m. and like a champ I hung in there and got the job done!

Time to sit back and admire it now….well or finish other tasks that have been waiting even longer to be finished. It is a never ending process when you live with and OCD project started like me.

So lets just relax at work today and admire my new kitchen.

Now I need to fix the part of the little balls that didn’t get caught in the stitching!

I tell ya there is always something.

I will have some more pictures when I find some art for the kitchen. My theme is really coffee, brown and teal. The pears will go as soon as I have more coffee things.

WIP

I still need to finish up painting on details.

What am I doing?

Well the answer to that questions is sitting here on my butt avoiding the things I should be doing!  Like boxing up all this crap piled around me or maybe finishing home projects to get ready for the open house THIS SUNDAY!  Thats right two days away!  I’m just sitting here reading blogs and whatever else I can do to avoid the things that need to be done.  But I’m just so unmotivated.  Big news though we bought a new house!  I’m so excited!  It has a pool that is all I care about.  It could be a cardboard box next to a pool and I would be set!  But it’s not that either it is really nice.  I can’t wait to move in.  As of now we are closing on June 1.  But if we get a contract on the house we live in right now it might end up being a week after that.  I forgot to take a picture of the outside of the house. 😦  But here are a few of the inside.  Also I need some suggestions…Do you see that sage green color in the kitchen?  Well I have fiestaware and the sage green is too “countryish” for my fiesta.  So what do you think would look the best….red, light tealish blue, or a pear/appleish green?  Or any other color that you think of?  Also I’m leaving the living room that khaki color so what one would look best with that too.

Let me know what color you think!  O and the fabric that I want to make my curtain out of for the kitchen is this.

Sorry the picture is so blurry.