Posts Tagged ‘decor’

Easy DIY Holiday Banner Tutorial

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I whine and complain all the time about not having any holiday decorations. It’s all my fault for not having anything when the holiday seasons roll around. All my fault. I’m crafty, right? Why can’t I take a few minutes and make something?

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A few weeks ago I organized all of my holiday gear in boxes (a first!) so now it’s time to invest in some fun decor to fill those boxes.

Today I’m sharing with you an updated tutorial from days of yore and a way to jazz it up for the holidays.

Styrofoam Prints DIY

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Supplies

  • pencil
  • styrofoam sheets (or plates with the edges cut off)
  • craft paint or block printing ink (water soluble is best)
  • acrylic plate
  • brayer
  • bone folder

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Decor Fail: Orange Doorway

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Just keeping things real around here this week. We are now proud owners of the most boring door on the block.

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Just after Chris left for Phoenix with the kiddos, I set off to do some much-wanted home improvements. I planned to paint the entire basement (didn’t quite happen) and paint the front door a new cheery color. Our previously blue door was alright, but fading. And not really my color. I wanted to do something different. Orange!

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I wanted a pumpkin spice color (like in our master bedroom). But I ran into a few problems.

  • I was painting over the blue door with a complimentary color
  • I happened to purchase the worst (they boasted to be the best) semi-transparent paint
  • What I thought was going to be pumpkin spice orange, ended up being construction cone orange

Yes. The paint glowed. Like a hot flare in the middle of an ocean of bandaid tan.

I realized this issue halfway through layer number two, at 5:30pm Saturday night. F-A-I-L. I had originally bought the paint from a local paint shop, but since it was after hours I booked it to the nearest Home Depot to see if the “inferior” Behr could remedy the problem before Sunday Morning. It did all right, that Behr Ultra covered up my day-glo door in about a layer and a half.

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Behr Ultra: 1, Kwal Ambassador: 0

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Halloween came a little early around our house.

Zero Budget Project: Penelope’s Studio

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For Penelope’s birthday, Chris and I wanted to give her something that would make her squeal. She is obsessed with her art supplies and crafting. Most days it’s all over the kitchen table, pantry, floor, counter tops and couch. She just spreads her artistic love all through the house.

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It’s great, but I want to channel it somewhere that I can close the doors and ignore it. I also wanted the space (and flooring) to be utterly indestructible to her glues and glitters. She thinks my studio is so cool, I wanted to give her one of her own.

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The downstairs toy room was out (too much soft carpet down there). My studio was definitely out!

We have this utility closet that we don’t really use that efficiently upstairs just next to my studio. It has washer and dryer hookups, but we have a laundry room downstairs instead. We had a few random boxes and things (above) that could be easily organized elsewhere, so I made this space Penelope’s.

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It’s the perfect size for her and the tile floors allow for easy clean up. As far as the cost and logistics of making this space hers, here was the breakdown:

  • tables: $50, Ikea
  • chairs: already on hand
  • shelving and brackets: $16, Ikea
  • containers: already on hand (Pink: $5, Michael’s | black: $3.99, Ikea)
  • frame for her sign: $5, Ikea
  • flat art storage: already on hand
  • filing cabinet: already on hand
  • magnets: gift from LivyLove

Total:$80

Of course, while I was at Ikea, I wandered through their art supplies and picked up about $40 worth of supplies for her as well. Who knew Ikea had such awesome art supplies for kids?

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The top shelf is still a dedicated space for the drill, light bulbs batteries and misc cleaning supplies. I’m thinking the above space needs an overhaul as well.

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With the open containers, Penelope can move them and clean up easily. And she’s pretty good about keeping things clean. So far.

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I finally found a use for those tins I bought on impulse by way back. This one holds chalk, the other holds her glitter pens.

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My mother-in-law sent Penelope a bunch of sweet supplies for her birthday like floral fabric tape, pebble crayons, twig pencils and loads of paper. What a nice grandma. Now she can use these in her own way and not worry about me nagging to clean up.

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The metal cabinet is perfect for displaying her favorite pieces before storing or framing them.

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It’s really a great space for her. She can do whatever she wants in that space and I can close the doors at the end of the day and ignore it all!

Did you have a creative space just for you growing up? Will you or have you done this for your own kids?

Forts by Penelope

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No recipe today. I didn’t make any interesting food over the weekend.

Penelope is obsessed with dogs. She asks every neighbor with a canine if she can babysit their dog. This weekend she built a little house for one.

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We have this deal that she’ll get a dog when she’s 12 years old. And every day she looks at me, stretches tall and says, “I’m bigger now. Can I have a doggy?”

We have these floor mats. She insisted on building a fort out of those mats for her new dog. You wouldn’t believe how hard she cried when Felix pushed it apart.

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We got these mats in California for free from a neighbor. I recovered only three of them and lost interest/energy. I didn’t even recover them so the covers could be washed. So I’m scheming on recovering them. I think I’m more patient and better at sewing now. I just need to find the right print/fabric that will go with our house.

Which reminds me . . . I’m heading to LA at the end of the month! I’m going with my friend Mim and a bunch of other sewing bloggers to hit up the fabric district. I can’t wait! I hope to find some great yardage for these mats there.

Do you have half-finished projects lying around your house that have aged so poorly you have to just start over again? This is just one of many around my house.

Inexpensive Minimal Gallery Wall

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I’ve got another installment of the great Zero Budget Project. I don’t know why I’ve been dragging my feet on styling our bedroom. It’s not like it took that long or wasn’t fun to do. I guess I just needed to channel the right creativity.

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I walked past these ribba frames while on a routine run to Ikea. They were $1.99 – and that spurred an idea. What if I did an entire wall out of these awesome cheap frames? I think the best part about these frames is that they’re an inch and a quarter deep. They don’t look as cheap as they are. So for just over $20 I was able to decorate this wall. Easy peasy.

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It took a measuring tape, a level and a pencil. I measured out the width of the wall and graphed out where each piece should lie. It worked out to 10 inches apart. I went through old artwork and cropped down the pieces that would work (really only taking the pieces I liked that were just about 5×7). I had a few holes in my 11 piece series so I looked through Penelope’s stash and made a few new pieces as well.

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Curating, prepping, cleaning, painting and hanging artwork took a few hours. All the while Chris was MIA, it was fun to reveal the newly cleaned and decorated space to him. Making him excited about our space really makes my efforts worth it.

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The ribba frames come with these pre-cut mats, I didn’t use any of them for the artwork on display so I sandwiched an engagement photo of ours in between two of them using a flower frog (from Gather & Hunt).

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I didn’t go with any specific style or color theme with this gallery, and I like it that way. I went with pieces that I liked and tried to arrange them in a way that would make them balanced.

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I believe I made 5 pieces specifically for this gallery, it was a much-needed exercise to bust out the watercolors. Details on each painting after the jump.

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