6.27.2014

Design Inspiration: Stripes


love the striped walls
Happy Friday! Today I'm over at Marty's blog, A Stroll Thru Life showing some of the rooms in our home. Stop on over to see some updated pictures and say hi. Marty has one creative and inspirational blog!

 Also, today I'm sharing my love of stripes. For me stripes are timeless, classic and even patriotic. 
Red White and Blue living room
Sweet boys room!
Why stripes work in any room: Stripes can be neutral and play well with other patterns such as florals, checks, and geometric. They can be also be bold and bright. Stripes on the floor, upholstery, walls or rugs look great.  
Stripes!
mix it up.
What a wow effect: bold stripes on the ceiling!
{décor inspiration | interior designer : nick olsen} by {this is glamorous}, via Flickr
I love this racer stripe down the chair!
diagonal stripes
Laundry Room
               source
A small bold striped rug looks great in this coastal laundry room.
                         rainbow stripe painted floor
                                                                           source
                      Would you be bold to paint your floor in stripes? I would like to give it a try.

 There are so many ways to add stripes to your home. What about you? Do you have stripes in your home?

6.23.2014

Lighten Up (The Staircase, Part I)


Captain's House stairwell-- great contrast.  linen white + dark wood
                                                                      via
Basically, I've been a blogging slacker. I'm still here, but have been a bit busy with our girls who are now out of school for summer. I've been staring at a lot of stair images recently (no pun intended). I knew it was time to lighten things up in our entry. I'm drawn to white stair risers and white trim wood work. To me it looks so classic.
tropical staircase by Mackle Construction
 Our front entry has a great staircase going up and connects to a back stair case that leads to the kitchen. We love it, but are ready for some lightening up and contrast.(Beach towels drying up top give you a clue that we've been at the pool a bit this summer.) 
First, the hubs frog taped the risers for me so that I could get to work. Next up, I sanded the risers.
Once it was sanded and wiped down I put on one coat of Zinzer oil based primer. I let it dry overnight. The oil base primer adheres the best to the wood.
 Off the entry is our dining room where we installed board and batten when we first moved in.  I love how the white looks so clean in here with some architectural detail. This is some good inspiration for the staircase hallway.
 After three coats of white trim paint (semi-gloss) it's looking much brighter.
Next up-  the railings will go black and dramatic. The walls will get some white trim work too. I can't wait to finish the transformation this week. 

6.13.2014

Summer Planning


My girls are now out of school for summer break.  Yea!! The last weeks have been filled with field trips, softball games, field days, and school projects. I love having my girls home for summer and look forward to spending time with them. Every summer, we love to go up to Massachusetts to spend time with cousins and family (these are some pictures from last year). I'll be showing you some of the rooms in our home there that my family and I have worked on over the years- like this one with nautical charts.

The last couple of years I've made a summer schedule for our girls. Daily routines can help things go smoothly in our house. For our reading program we do "Penny a Page." For every page they read they get a penny. My older girls keep track of their book pages and do book reports on the books they read and then they get some cash at the end of the summer- major motivation. They love it! And so do I, since it helps them with their reading and writing skills. 
For the past few summers my friend Elinn and I hold an Art Camp. Last summer we taught drawing, sewing, crafts, and baking. We'll be gearing up for Art Camp again this summer. I held art camp in my house last year and many of the neighbor kids and friends from school came and enjoyed learning new skills.

I'll be showing  you some of the projects we'll be doing for Art Camp this year. We'll be teaching two groups: a younger and older age group. I can't wait! It's good to have some summer plans. What about you? Got any fun plans for the summer?

6.09.2014

DIY: Bar Cart and Gold Leaves Mirror


It's been awhile since the Creating with the Stars competition when I  made the bar cart and gold leaves mirror for the Up- Cycle portion. I had so much fun working with Kate as my blogging mentor for the contest. I had found this side table or shelf at a thrift store and envisioned it to look like a sleek bar cart.
                                                                      BEFORE
I took the table apart in order to prime the whole thing (I used an oil based spray). I took the side paneling off too so that I could get a cleaner look. For the paint, I decided on a Kelly green, SW Espalier at 50% and painted three coats. I bought some casters for the cart so that it would be easy to move it around.
The mirror: I already had a round shaped mirror which needed a bit of an update so it was perfect to transform it into a larger mirror with gold leaves and give it a sun bust look. I started off using aluminum cans but found that using flashing was more economical. Flashing is a roll of aluminium found in hardware stores (inexpensive $8 for a roll) and sturdier than soda can aluminum.
Materials
Flashing
cutters (for metal)
mallet and scraper ( to make dents for the leaves)
spray paint (Rustoleum Gold)
hot glue
Once the leaves were cut I dented them using a wood block as the base, a scraper (to make the vein) and hammer.
                  We've used this cart for several parties now. I love how festive it can look for any occasion.
We've since used this cart for a bridal shower, that I hosted. It came in handy holding all the things that I didn't want on the food table.
Now, it's turned into a cart for our girl's crafts and summer workbooks. I absolutely love this cart and the numerous ways it can be used.



Side tables are found often at thrift shops and I think they look good when they are updated with paint and casters. Mirrors are often expensive but adding some gold leaves to a mirror doesn't take long and gives it a glamorous look.

6.02.2014

Family Room Gallery Wall

It's been staring at me for awhile. You know- a blank wall. Well, not anymore. Our family room feels cozier with family faces and special prints on the wall.
I collected art and prints for awhile until I felt I was ready for a gallery wall. First, I drew out the space. Then on another paper I cut and taped the art I would use- this way it would be easier to move things around on paper. After I was happy with how it looked on paper, I hung up the art- without using any tracing paper or anything. I got this great idea from Lauren Liess who created the most gorgeous gallery wall above her bed using this method.

                                        Here's a BEFORE shot of what this space looked like.
Now, I'm thrilled to have some meaningful pieces up. I enlarged an image of our daughters by taking a CD to Staples and having them print a large 'engineer print'. Engineer prints are genius and it only cost me $3. I framed my print, but a lot of people who use engineer prints mount them (using double sided tape) on foam core. You can get large pieces of foam core at Home Depot and they can cut it to the size you need.  Before you print an enlarged image, make sure it's a quality photo.

Also, most of the engineer prints I've seen are black and white. I don't know how well they would turn out if they were color. The frame I used was given to me by a friend who didn't need it, so I painted it black and put the print of our girls. The sailboat painting was painted by my dear grandmother. The basket is my husband's grandparent's, they got in Africa when they served as Christian missionaries during WWII. The ferns and agates are art projects I've made and then I love the other pictures of our family on the side.

What I love about this space is there is room for a few other small things or art to go up. Gallery walls are a great way to tell stories about things you love and your interests. I'm happy with how this wall shaped out.