Happy Monday

Happy Monday!  Hope a good weekend was had by all.  Just wanted to pop in and show a sneak peak of  a new project I am starting.  My room needs an update something terrible, and I found myself a little inspiration with these fabrics.

They are going on these chairs, which are going to get painted. Sorry to my dear friend who is against painting them,  but what is a girl to do who loves to paint and is not afraid to paint just about anything.  OK, there are a couple of things in my house that are safe...one being the piano...nope, won't paint that.  Anyways, I digress. I am adding the fabric to the chairs and adding more softer, neutral colors to the walls. Can't wait to show some more of my progress!

Frame it up with base molding

Do you remember this project from a couple of posts back?  How it started like this...

And we were working on this!  Well, I finally finished the project and I love the results.

I knew when I finished the picture it needed something extra, so off to my favorite store (Lowes) we went.  I decided on using base molding for the frame. I liked the chunkiness of the molding. "We"  (meaning Jeff) routered the inside to fit the picture and mitered the corners together.  Impressive building words I just used right.  Jeff is probably  laughing his head off now...hope I spelled them right.  I sprayed the frame black and "we" attached it together.  I displayed it in my entry above my closet.  I love the way it looks up there!

A little bit of bead board

 Yes, another post from me today.  I have to admit, I am going a little crazy showing my molding ideas for the CSI project today.  I love using bead board to add dimension and texture to walls.  I love white crisp boards against a nice color paint.  For my family room I decided to add some bead board on the bottom of dark gray paint to add a nice contrast. For a twist, we laid the boards vertically give it a more modern look.  I love that it is different than traditional bead board, and it adds a nice touch to the room.

mirror mirror on the wall

Today I am linking up with the CSI project and showing off my frame project.
My girls have a jack-and-jill bathroom between their rooms. They chose the color purple to be painted in there. I was not in love with the color, so I tried to come up with some ways to make it better. They had a long mirror above their sinks that was not framed. I drew out the pattern I wanted on some wood and my husband cut it out for me. We also drew some over-sized flowers to go on it, and I painted them with all different pastel colors and dotted them with the back of a push pin. I also painted poka dots all over the frame to add whimsy and color. I found some wooden letters at the craft store that spelled out their names, and painted them to match the mirror so each girl knew which sink was hers. It was a very easy and inexpensive way to add some life and personality into that room.

Craft room wrap up

I am happy to report that I am finally finished with my craft room.  No more craft room posts after this one. Yea! I used Saturday to finish hanging pictures and making my window treatment.  The whole room was done on a budget using a lot of what I already had.

I had a whole blank wall that needed something on it.  I bought some two dollar frames and spray painted them turquoise and gray, and added a framed doily my great grandma made to fill that wall.  Just spraying some inexpensive frames give them a more custom look.

I took the left over fabric I used on my sewing chair and used it for my window treatments.  I added a little ribbon and bling...and in my hubby's words, made it look girly.  Doesn't he know by now...he married a girly girl.

Um..yea, that's the treadmill...I have to share the room with that.  A constant reminder that while I am hot gluing, I should be exercising instead.  Anyhow...here is the room finished. I used an old sofa table, painted it gray and it became my paper table that now holds my cricut. I bought some shelves from Ikea and filled them with all my fun crafting treasures.  A glass container to hold buttons, my fun turquoise box to hold my hot glue guns, tool boxes to hold my crafting paints, and magazine holders for all my inspiration.

I have had this shelf since I was married. It was white and stored my dishes in my small apartment. I stenciled some red checks, and letters on the side, added some chicken wire on the front, and it became my craft cabinet. I bought some cute containers to store my stamps, scissors, and sewing supplies, and it has become a great place to store my crafting supplies.

Here is a pic of the whole room. It was a fun project, on that I am glad I finished.  I love having a space all to myself to be creative, and it was fun to have something to do and think about in the cold month of January.

Groovy

Today is groovy man. The kids got to dress up as hippies for school. This was what they came up with.  I have to admit that I don't have a lot of hippie costumes, but I think they did OK.  I spent the day spray painting my mirror, and painting a chair.  I went turquoise with the mirror and I think I really like it.

Do you remember the chairs I had Landon put together. Well, I got one painted for my craft room.

It started as this...and ended up as this.

I painted the chair onion peel and stenciled a gray checked pattern.  I took my fleur de lis pattern and used some tuquoise paint to stencil that pattern on the top.

I also got my other chair's cushion re-covered in some different fabric.  Thumb tacs and a screw driver, and I had that done in about an hour.

My room is almost done, and I'm excited for the weekend.  Happy Friday!

Window window on the wall

We had a great weekend this past weekend.  I was able to finish a few projects, and go to a fun Jon Schmidt concert.  Love his music!  I love that my kids liked it too.  Maybe it might motivate them to practice the piano more...you think. ha ha  I got my bulletin board done for my craft room, and it turned out great...just like I envisioned it in my head.  Love it when a project turns out like that.  I took my old window.

Took out the screen and added chicken wire and some fabric.

And with a few staples and thumb tacs...I ended up with this!

Just need some clothes hangers and some inspiring pictures to hang from it.  I am working on my window treatments next. This room is taking forever, and each time I add something, I decide I need to change something else.  I am excited to finish, and see how it turns out.
I also finished my spray painting project, and put them on my shelf. Remember these?

They turned into these and now have a home on my new shelf.  I am still arranging, and don't love what I've done yet.  I am still looking for some cool old picture frames to add to it. 

All in all, it was a really great weekend, hopefully I can finish a few more things this week. Happy Monday!

Some Before and After

Time flies, and I am finally getting around to the before and after pictures of my latest project.  We are finished, Yea, and I love how it turned out.  I can't believe that the before and after are the same room.  Here is the family room before I re-did it.

Here it is now...new color, carpet, and furnitures. Way fun project, but I am relieved it is done. Now on to Christmas!

The power of paint

Over the past few weeks I have been working on a pretty big project.  We got new carpet for our home, so in true Erin style I began a total re- model.  Well, a total re-paint.  I never loved how I did the basement family room before, so I decided it would be a great time to paint before the new carpet went in.  I decided to go totally different than my usual color and style.  I wanted to try some gray.  This little baby was my inspiration.  Once I saw it, I had to have it.

This chair screams total inspiration!  I decided to take the gray from the letters and put it on the walls.  I put v board on the bottom of the walls and painted it white.  Instead of hanging it vertical, we decided to hang it with the lines laying horisontal.  I love it...unusual and way fun!

I painted the rest of the basement a lighter blue gray and the ceiling the same light color.  I love playing with ceilings and treating them like walls.  It gives the room a great pop of unexpected color. I like the way the entertainment center still goes in the room.  It is still one of my favorite pieces Jeff made.  I found some lighter accessories to go in it, and sprayed a lot of my old accessories cream. I love spray paint!
Well,  Here is the room so far. Can't wait to show more projects and the completed project!

Project time!

I am excited to say that my lack of blogging has been the result of some projects I have going on around here.  We are in the process of getting new carpet in our house. So of course before the carpet goes in, I better make sure I have the right colors on the walls.  It just so happens that I wanted to change the look of the family room in my basement.  We are still in the process of finishing, but it looks a lot different that it did before. I love it! Here is a picture with my favorite little helper of the before.  The after will be coming soon!

In the Kitchen

I was recently organizing my photos into a new program, and I couldn't help looking at the pictures I've taken since I've moved into the house five and a half years ago.  I still remember the sound of the steamer getting off all the blue wallpaper that was around my main level of the home.  I never want to hear that sound again! I painted the cabinets the first time, then did a whole gut job for the final project.  I love my kitchen and I love to cook. The perfect combo!
I have recently discovered the perfect delicious, easy fall desert.  Buy some pumpkin icecream and either make...or buy at costco some soft gingersnap cookies.  You could make icecream sandwiches with them, or I just like to dip my cookies in the icecream.  I thought I would share the perfect recipe for my soft gingersnaps.

1 cube softened butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
cream together
then add
2 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
Mix together, roll in balls, then roll in granulated sugar. Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.

Say it with a Letter

For weeks I have been buried under this pile of box tops.  I have clipped and counted over 3,000 so far.  Yea for the school....a little time consuming for me.  So at last I am done and they are submitted.  To celebrate, I decided that I needed to do a little something fun for my house.  I had this gold letter T lying around I had bought at the Hobby Lobby for a while.  I wanted to paint it, and had seen way cute wreaths with letters on them on other blogs.  I had to do this...so I sprayed the T black and hung it on the wreath I have on the old door in my family room.  I love the way it adds interest to the wreath, and it was a fun fast afternoon of fun!

Pumkins and porches...two of my favorite things

I have made some more changes to the porch this week.  I love fall. I add a touch of fall everywhere I can.  The kids got to pick their pumkins, and I love putting them out on the porch.  All the flowers are dying, so they add the color that is missing.  I took down my hanging pots and replaced them with my lanterns.  I love having them up in the winter.  They add just that pop I need on my front porch.  I put out some Halloween things as well....the kids had so much fun helping.  I'll post some of those pictures later.  Have a great weekend!