Thursday, May 31, 2012

Mirror collage art

Our entry way-mirror was looking a little dated and sad after hanging up with the same photos from our wedding reception back in '03. Wow, can't believe it's almost been 9 years! 


And since it was coming down off the wall for our gray and white striped makeover seen here, I thought I would change it up a bit. I thought about maybe painting the whole thing, but it's such a classic black that I didn't want to risk ruining it. BTW, the mirror collage shelf is from Pottery Barn. Not sure if you can still buy one of these. It really has come in handy over the years since our entry way is so narrow. Too narrow for a table of any sort.

I thought it would be cute to print out the letters to spell the word "LOVE" and then frame each letter in the four openings.  I simply used Microsoft Word to print out yellow letters. The font is called Bodoni MT Condensed.


Once I printed out each letter, I traced a rectangle around each letter using a 4" x 6" photograph as my guide.  Then I used my gold writing pen to trace the letters.


I added some shadowing using stripes to the upper portion of the letters.


Then I replaced each photograph with my new letter art.


Here is a view looking down our hallway.


Here is a close-up of the letter "L."


I love the way it turned out. Looks more modern than traditional wedding photos. I found the cute little white ceramic for $1 at TJ Maxx.  It's a scented sachet holder so our entry-way smells of Lavender when you walk through. We want all of our visitors to feel relaxed upon entering. LOL.


We are loving our new entry way mirror. Feels so much cleaner and tiny now. I also removed all the "stuff" that seemed to be piling up on it.



Now I just need to find curtains for our window and our entry way will be done (for now.)

xo
Cathleen

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Gray Stripes on the wall

One of my posts last week showed some inspiration photos for Gray stripes on the wall. I jumped right on the idea because I loved it so much. I decided to paint them in my entry way/hallways because the walls were already white, so adding gray stripes would be the way to go. Here is my entry way as it looked before the stripes went up.


Here is the view looking at the collage wall in the entry way.


And another wall that will get stripes.


To get even and straight stripes on the wall I used a level and a pencil to evenly space my lines and draw them straight.  I marked 9.25" down from the ceiling to start and measured down the wall by this distance for all the stripes. I made sure each one was level before drawing my lines. If you wanted to get really creative, you could measure the total wall height and then divide up your stripes so you'd have an equal number of gray and white stripes.


Next I used painter's tape to outline everywhere I would paint.



Here's a tip. To make sure your paint doesn't run under the painter's tape, start painting in the middle of your section until most of the paint is off the brush then "dry brush" around the tape edges. Dry brushing means there is so little paint on your brush that nothing can bleed through the tape. This is a wall stenciling technique as well. This really ensures nice crisp lines.


I had to use two coats of paint to get the coverage I required. I immediately pulled off the tape after the second coat to reveal this.
AFTER


I hung all the pictures back up and it's a nice surprise that the black hooks ended up in the white section making them "pop" more.


Here is what you see when you walk into our house.


This is standing in the living room looking down the hallway toward the front door.


This is a view from the kitchen. Some day we'll replace the boob light on the ceiling!


This is our hallway to the bedrooms but looking towards the front entrance.


I took down the black and white Damask curtains that hung in our front windows, because frankly they clashed with the walls.


I loving how the walls turned out. And another boob light to replace and curtains to pick out. The two sheers just aren't cutting it.


Here's a look over our dining room where we eat. I love that the gray stripes go with the stenciled wall, the gray light fixture, and the gray chairs.


These are my birthday roses. Pink and Gray =wonderful.





Here's one more BEFORE SHOT for you:


And the AFTER:


Have you tried stripes on your wall? It's super easy, but tedious. The results are awesome though.

xo
Cathleen

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Sheer pink nursery curtains

I was so inspired by these ruffled curtains by Urbanoutters.com that I wanted to try making some myself for my daughter's bedroom.  Aren't they simply adorable? I love the color.
I found sheer pink fabric from Joann's fabrics and with my 50% off coupon it came to $2 a yard. I ended up buying 8 yards of fabric. $16 for 2 curtain panels was a great savings compared to the $158 price tag at Urban Outfitters.  Sewing the edges is pretty straightforward. For two panels, I cut out 87" allowing 1 1/2" inches on top and bottom for the hem. 

First off, I made a zig zag stitch around all the edges to keep the curtain from fraying. 


Then I got to work making my hem lines. The next step was to make the ruffles. Unfortunately when I began to calculate the amount of fabric I would need, I didn't have enough.  This step seems very time consuming, so for now, I just hung them up and will wait on the ruffles.  I hope I can get to them soon!


I used clips to hang the panels, although when I get the ruffles made, I will probably put the curtain rod through the opening that I created at the top of the panel.


I think they really pop against the blue walls.  Notice I have the crib turned around.  You gotta do what you gotta do when your baby climbs out!  The back is actually higher than the front so this is a temporary solution until we feel she's ready for a toddler bed.  I can't wait to get started on the ruffles, although it's going to be tedious and I think I'll need a rotary cutter and rotary cutting mat to make even strips.


xo
Cathleen

Friday, May 25, 2012

Modern Light Bulbs

I couldn't help myself. When I saw modern LED light bulbs at Lowes on sale for $9.99 each I jumped. They are supposed to last for 25 years! What? I could be 59 years old before I change a light bulb in this fixture. So worth the $9.99 price tag! This is the fixture where I decided to use them. This is a before picture.


Another before shot, so you can get a good look at it.  What I want to do is take the whole thing down and paint it and get some clear seeded glass shades, but this step will have to wait.


For now, I just removed the alabaster shades and let the bulbs be the show for now. They are uber cool in my opinion.


Look at the base. Such a cool design. I can't decide if I want to cover them with shades or just leave them exposed like this.


The bulbs give off a soft white light and really illuminate the room.  I hope to give you another post soon on the complete light fixture makeover, so stay tuned!


xo
Cathleen
p.s. Happy Memorial weekend!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Vegetarian pizza

Home Made Vegetarian Pizza with Zucchini, black olives, onions, mozzarella and tomato sauce.  


I used the bread maker to make the dough. Here is the recipe:


Directions:

  1. 1
    Add ingredients to pan in order listed, set bread machine on"dough" and walk away.
  2. 2
    After the cycle is completed, lightly coat dough ball in flour and roll or slap out to desired size.
  3. 3
    Top with desired sauce, cheeses and/or veggies and bake at 450° until cheese is golden brown.
  4. 4
    Will make a 9-10" pizza of average thickness, or a 13-14" thin crust pizza.
  5. 5
    For best results, bake on a preheated baking stone sprinkled with corn meal.
  6. 6
    Notes: You may substitute beer for all or part of the water. I've used 3/4 cup flat beer and 1/4 water with excellent results. A teaspoon of semolina may be added as well -- it provides a nice crunchiness to the dough when baked. Corn meal can be substituted for the semolina (and likewise, semolina can be used to dust the pizza peel and/or baking stone).


Read more: http://low-cholesterol.food.com/recipe/easy-pizza-dough-for-bread-machine-60816#ixzz1vSjigTC2


xo
Cathleen

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Hutch curtain

It's time for a little craft room bidness/organization/sewing things just for fun.  You see this old hutch stock full of craft items?


It's great and I love all the storage, but something made me want to conceal some of it.  All the visual clutter was sort of getting to me.   There's a little spot underneath the top overhang where I decided to add a little tension rod to hang a curtain. It was a great option that wouldn't require me to damage the original piece of furniture. This hutch was actually built by my grandfather and stained and sealed by my Grandmother.  Crazy huh?  I'm so lucky to have it in my house.


A while back I found this very modern but retro fabric remnant at Joann's Fabric for just $4.  It was a whole yard for 50% off.  The bottom fabric is leftover from the beanbag project. The yard of modern floral fabric just shy of not covering what I needed it to cover, so I sewed this gray and white fabric to fit around the tension rod.


When sewing anything, you always need your iron.  Here I am ironing down the edges to create my hem.


Then I ironed down the part that would be sewed together to make the rod loop.


More hem ironing going on.


Then I got busy sewing the seams/hem down.  This is pretty easy and anyone could do it.


And ta-da! A new "cafe style" curtain to provide some hidden storage in the hutch.  This fabric really looks orange and I'm just not sure if I am 100% sold on it.  But for now I'll keep it.  As I mentioned it was only $4 and it was fairly straightforward to make.


I like keeping them a little opened up, so you can still see the pretty Mason jars peeking through and all that wonderful ribbon.



I added the vintage style clock above the hutch, instead all all that clutter that was there before.  The round clock softens up the sharp lines of the hutch and the retro feels goes great with this throw-back retro fabric.


Here's a cute little close up for you so you can see the print better.


It's looking a lot more organized in here already.


I like the happy accident of the red berries in the print matching the red crayon/marker tin cans in the window seal. I love when things just happen like that.


Can you tell I'm having so much fun sewing things for my home now? It's such a great feeling to make custom things for pretty darn cheap.

xo
Cathleen

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