Guest Bedroom Curtains...

I am ready to call the first guest bedroom DONE.  Or at least as done as I care to make it.  We have much bigger plans to update rooms this summer that are actually seen on a daily basis (as opposed to an upstairs bedroom), so I'm not going overboard in the rooms upstairs.  I'd like them to look nice and comfortable for guests, but I'm not really into overdecorating a space that is rarely used by the three of us that call this house home.

Here we go...

So every bit of the room is the same as it was in this post (other than the curtains).

I really like how the different fabrics play off of each other (and the way that the colors are repeated in the painting above the bed and in the lamps on the dresser).

Here is a close-up shot of the fabric for the curtains.  It is that same Dwell Studio bird fabric that I love, but in a rich, cobalt-ish blue.  Doesn't it just pop on the soft gray walls?

I'm also really glad we went with the larger white IKEA Hemnes dresser this time.  It balances the size of the bed really well, and it lightens the room.

As you can see, we don't have any nightstands in here, but with the larger dresser holding two lamps, I'm kind of okay with that.  Sometimes I tend to make rooms too busy when I add in smaller furniture.  It makes the room feel more open and spacious without all of the little furniture.

A close-up of the rod.  I'm slowly trying to buy into metal rods.  Lowes and Home Depot are slowly discontinuing all of the black wooden rods I used to buy, so they forced my hand.  I have to say, they are cheaper!

A better shot of the bedding and artwork.  I found the white chevron coverlet at TJ Maxx and my mom made the pillows and the throw.

So there you have it.  Our third completed room!  Between this room, the dining room, and the screened porch, we are really making progress-ha!  One day at a time, right?

Just for fun, I thought I'd show you the view from this guest bedroom out into the landing.  We moved the zebra painting up here (love how it fills up this wall).  He's big and bold, but I love him.

So, from here I am moving into the recently de-stickered guest bedroom (you can see the doorway to this room to the right of the zebra).  I have some wall-patching, priming, and painting to do, as well as some curtain hemming/hanging to share.  After that room is completed, I really am calling it quits upstairs--promise.  Updates to come!

The oldest craft in the book...

I made something that everyone has likely seen or made before.  But that's okay.  It was a man-friendly craft, so I thought I would share it.  I made this a couple of months ago when it was actually cold outside, in case you were wondering.

My mom and I found an Alabama fleece on sale while fabric shopping one day.  As soon as we spotted it, I knew I should do something with it.  I decided to make one of those hand-knotted fleece blankets (typically referred to as tie blankets).  My mom had made me one several years ago, so I thought Andy needed one of his own.  The other kicker?  You don't actually have to know how to sew!

The Bama fleece was a bit pricey, so I decided to back the blanket in a solid black fleece (as you can see in the picture).

First, I cut off the extra white border that came along one edge of the Bama fleece, and I trimmed the black fleece to match the length and width.  I laid them on top of each other (with the sides I wanted to show facing out).  I also pinned around the blanket to keep the pieces from sliding around too much.

Then I cut a 3 in. square out of cardboard I had around the house.  

I used this to cut squares out of each corner of the blanket.

All of the corners are cut off...

Then I proceeded to cut strips approximately 3/4-1 inch wide, one after another.  I cut up toward the middle of the blanket maybe a scissors length (around the same length as the square cut out on the end).  You cut these tabs all around the entire blanket.  When I finished the cuts, I began tying the two tabs (including the Bama fleece/black fleece) in knots all around the blanket.  I double knotted them, but not too tightly (the blanket will start to bunch up on you if it's too tight).  This part I found to be very mind-numbing and slightly therapeutic. :)

And in no time at all, I had a throw blanket for the hubs.

Just look at how happy he is.  

As you can see, it could have been a little longer, but it's more of a lap blanket and that works for him.  Clearly.  He's fake sleeping like a champ!

So there you have it.  The easiest way to make a blanket for someone special!

Gold Framed Chalkboard

I'm sure you don't remember this, but I purchased a green framed chalkboard a while back at the flea market in Nashville.  I always had planned to paint the frame, but it never quite happened.  At first, I thought I would go for a color (maybe red or yellow), but the more I spotted gold framed chalkboards, the more I thought that was what I needed to do.  After reading this post, I decided this was definitely the look I wanted and I needed to get it done.  

Here is the chalkboard that I started with...

I used a combination of Rub'n Buff and spray paint...

Mostly spray paint for the all-over color, and then I used the Rub'n Buff to age it a bit.

Here is the finished product!

Only wished I had done it sooner.

A close-up so that you can see some of the "aging" that I added.  It doesn't look quite so severe in real life--I hate how the camera flashes things out!

All in all, a cheap, fairly quick fix.  I like it!

Painting the Interior Panel of a Front Door...AGAIN

Hello All!

I know, I know.  It's been a while.  Things have been busy, busy around here closing out another school year.  So glad that summer has finally arrived!  I wasted so much of my summer last year worrying about whether or not Andy would get hired for the position here in GA, finding out he did get the job and scrambling to move, and a lot of other worrying thrown in there about saying goodbye to family and friends, finding a teaching job, etc..  This summer my plan is to relax, get my brain back in gear for teaching in the upper grades again (4th grade to be exact!), and to fix up some things around the house that moving over a weekend in January (and going right back to school) didn't allow me time for.

One of the things I wanted to tackle early on was actually something I had done in our last house (one of the few things I was able to do in only a year living there!).  I decided to paint the interior side of our front door.  Luckily, enough time had passed for me to forget how awful this project really is--but I stuck through it and got it done.

The door that I started with...

I sanded the door down all over (to hopefully help the paint to adhere better).  I was also afraid I was working with oil-based paint on the door (which I was), so the sanding step was intended to help with that.

Then came the awesomely fun job of taping off each pane.

This is the paint that I used.  It's supposed to hold up well on doors, and I was told it would adhere better (in case I was working with oil-based paint--which I was).  I am mentioning the oil-based paint again because this project was nearly impossible because my paint was not sticking well.  It was streaking, and I would brush on a second coat on only to have the first coat come back off in places.  The sections of the door that I sanded well (the flat panels) took the paint MUCH better than the little places between the panes (I had not sanded so well there).  After many more coats than I care to remember, and a day or two between coats to dry, it's done.

The color is Urbane Bronze by Sherwin Williams.  Although it looks black in the pictures, it is more of a deep gunmetal gray.  The following pictures are the washed out, flashed out pictures so that you can see the door better.  Hand up if you still need to learn how to use your camera!

Well, I can say that although very frustrating to complete, this project instantly made the house feel more like home.  I'd like to eventually do the same paint job to the two sets of french doors off of the back of the house (and maybe the door to the garage while I'm at it), but again, I will need to wait long enough to forget how not-fun this project really is!

Updates...

One of the other guest bedrooms (that is not really talked about often) had a bit of a theme going on when we moved in.  I'm not one for themes (no, not even in my kindergarten classroom), so to see an entire constellation on the ceiling of this bedroom was a bit sickening.  Not to mention the random foam stickers around the room on the doors and drywall (again contributing to the solar system theme).  And then there were the stickers all over the window in this room (an assortment ranging from a Falcons sticker to a USPS sticker).

I was really dreading doing anything about the sticker situation because I feared the worst.  A gooey mess, the stickers taking the paint along with them, etc.  Nevertheless, I was tired of explaining to guests that the stickers were just an added bonus when we bought the house (and not something we had done ourselves).

So, I took an afternoon during Spring Break and tackled the stickers armed with Goo Gone spray and a putty knife...

An example of the foam stickers--hands down, the worst of all of the stickers.  Parents beware--do NOT let your children put these on anything in your home!

The ceiling stars ended up being papery stickers, and other than a couple, came off rather easily.

I ended up counting, and I think there were around 59 stars on the ceiling.  Super fun.

Here is the cleaned up version of this room...

The clean window...much better!

The clean door...other than a yellowed shadow of a moon and star, we are good to go.

No more starred ceiling!

So, as you can see in this picture, we still have some drywall work to do and I need to paint.  But at least this room isn't a complete embarrassment anymore.

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We also updated a light fixture in the powder room on the first floor.  Here is what we started with...

I had changed out the mirror when we moved in.  There was a builder-grade, oval mirror here before.  I've used this same mirror in 3 different homes now!

The light looked a little cheap and outdated, so I started looking for a reasonably priced replacement that looked a bit more contemporary.

One last shot of the old fixture...

And I finally decided on this one...

A little more farmhouse/mission feel to this one.  I also liked the rubbed bronze finish.

It's really hard to photograph with the light on, but the half bath has no window or other lighting, so it has to be photographed with the light on.  It's a real pickle, I tell you.

I really like the new look, and for 50 bucks shipped, I think we did okay.  Handy Andy had this puppy up in no time, so he wasn't hating the change either!

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We recently took a night to go into Atlanta to visit the Fox Theatre for the first time.  It totally lives up to its reputation.  You honestly feel like you've been transported back in time when you walk in the door.  I will definitely be back!

We saw Mary Poppins and it was really cute.  Andy didn't hate it, which was a plus.  The music brought me right back to my childhood--how many times did we watch that tape, Mom?

It's always nice to get out without the kid and see the town. :)

It truly is amazing...

So, as is fairly typical for me, I painted a room during my week off.  Here is the guest bedroom prior to the new paint...

The lighting isn't great, but you get the picture.  The paint color was original to the house (and most of the house is the very same color).  So, the paint wasn't in terrible condition, but it was a flat finish and six years old (and not doing anything for the decor in the room).  I pulled a gray from the new fabric that will be going on the windows in here, and went a bit lighter to get the wall color.  I went with Sherwin Williams "Amazing Gray,"  and it is officially amazing!

The IKEA dresser was assembled by Andy.  The directions are never the best, but he did a great job!

This bedroom is very much the same set up from the last house, but I like the wall color much better.  Much less blue--more gray.  

Other than the dresser, the only thing I purchased for the room is the new coverlet.  It's a subtle chevron design and super soft--thank you, TJ Maxx!

In case anyone wonders, I used SW's Cashmere paint.  Do NOT let me buy any other paint if I can help it!  It goes on like butter.  It makes trimming out so much easier--the paint literally glides off the brush where it needs to go (I am not the best trimmer, so this is huge!).

You may or may not recognize the yellow lamps from our previous dining room.  I like them a lot better in this room.

Again, not sure if the pictures do the change justice, but it completely changed the feel of the room.  The moldings look whiter and the carpet looks cleaner...funny how wall paint can do that.  I cannot wait to get the curtains up in here--it will be such a fun pop of color!  A taste of the fabric for the curtains...

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As I told Andy last night, it's the finished product that keeps me coming back for more paint.  It immediately makes a room feel more like us, and it goes a long way to making a room feel fresh and clean.  However, this was the easier bedroom to begin the painting saga with.  Meet Van Gogh's Starry Night...

Oh, wait.  That's the other guest bedroom.  And the stickers are also on the doors and the windows!  So before any painting can even begin in this room, Goo-Gone and I have to become close friends. :( 

We'll see how far I get with that today...