What? You thought this was a quilting blog? Hmmm...
In the last month, I have been a painting, DIY-ing, makeover-obsessed maniac. I am running out of steam. The idea was to be creative. And
cheap frugal. Mostly it was an exercise in redoing--what we already had--and reusing--moving things to different parts of the house, with a few purchases here and there.
So let's do a quick recap with some before and after photos:
Our entryway. I love that curved cabinet for so long. But the entry needed updating. I saw a picture in a magazine that had a butcher block shelf on some cool brackets. I located the exact brackets but to save money, I purchased a stairstep riser from Lowe's for $9.99 and had them cut it in half and then I stained it. Mark did the installation. Purchased a new vase, moved the candle, "W" and some wheat from another room. And voila.
Our two kitchen chairs originally came from Target. Cheap--like under $50 for two of them. They came upholstered with muslin, so years ago I stapled on the red fabric. A month ago I got a yard of cool fabric from Hancocks (on sale, of course) and was able to redo both chairs. I like that they are not matchy-matchy.
Charlotte has used this little outdoor chair for years. It was yucky. I recovered it with Anna Maria Horner home dec fabric. But it's only held together with heavy-duty velcro. So now her little brother uses it instead. (I have plans for a cool little rocking chair for her...but not this month. I'm tired of painting.)
And my father did an amazing job of recovering this chair (with more on-sale fabric from Hancocks).
I love my family photos. But I was kind of tired of the mismatched sizes. I got an idea from watching "Major Crimes" (one of my favorite shows) so I pared down the number of photos and got some square frames (on sale) from Target. One photo of each grandchild, one of my parents, and one of the whole family together (after painting the whole hallway first).
The clock is from trash pick-up days quite a few years ago. With a major "oops" on the first DIY try (cantaloupe paint and ginormous numbers--what was I thinking??), I'm pretty happy with the green frame and chalkboard paint.
The kitchen ceiling was painted blue (Valspar Sea Air).
I made "modern art" for the family room--a canvas from Joann's 50% off plus some bottles of paint at 59 cents each. Big bang for little bucks.
Major redo of the master bedroom.I have enjoyed the "red licorice" wall and the red and white quilt, but the room seemed crowded with furniture and I was ready for a more calm, spa-like feeling.
This was my inspiration photo:
Thanks to Kilz latex primer, covering the red wall was easy-peasy. Then I painted the entire room the same color as my sewing room, entry, dining room, hallway. Yes, I really love Valspar Oatlands Subtle Taupe, which is really a warm grey.
After painting the room, projects involved rearranging furniture (free).
Then I painted the headboard with Annie Sloan paint (this is amazing paint--a little pricey but you don't have to do any prep. Seriously. No sanding, priming, nothing!). Mark hung the headboard upside down in the garage by cup hooks and ropes, which made it so much easier to paint! And I felt no guilt painting Ethan Allen solid maple.
I used the same Annie Sloan paint on a little bench, and spray painted a mirror frame (with spray paint formulated to cover any surface).
Painted just the fronts of the drawers (inspired by a picture in Better Homes & Gardens from July 2011).
New bedspread, matching (inexpensive--from Walmart's) nightstands, matching lamps with black grosgrain ribbon hot-glued on. Ta-da!
(This the quilt that was pattern tested by me for Allison of Cluck Cluck Sew and then she quilted it and sent it back to me!)
There was this little log in the garage and I think I saw this idea somewhere--maybe on Pinterest. Anyway...I painted a little heart on it and put it next to our re-framed wedding invitation.
1980s valance: gone!
Master bathroom: painted the same color as the kitchen ceiling. Bonus: I had
just enough paint to finish the bathroom. (I'm not sure whether to add a valance to the window or not...)
Spray paint rocks--the red is gone. It is now a classy black.
So that's about it. The best part was when Levi walked through the house the other day and said, "Grandma, you have a new house!" Yes, it kind of feels that way.
But I'm not quite done with before and after.
I seriously thought this tooth was
never going to come out. She could even twist it sideways. Is it just me, or are 6-year-olds missing their two front teeth extremely adorable??
Um....so Mark lost his tooth during a football game when he was younger. Don't worry--he has a replacement. But it's on a removable plate. Dentists always want to give him a permanent tooth implant. But he has too much fun taking it out--and freaking out his grandchildren. Although they are kinda used to it by now...
My favorite cousin's son got married (in Portland a couple of weeks ago) and they had a local wedding reception here last weekend. Fun!
Back row: Terry and Cathy (my cousin)--parents of the groom, Travis and Shannon (bride and groom), Tim and Rachel (their other son--and Rachel has a cool cooking show), me and Mark.
Front row: My aunt and my parents.
Our grandchildren have amazing eyelashes.
So really. This
is basically a quilting blog. It just hasn't seemed that way lately. Because with all the DIY-ing and painting, I have had no time to sew. Although that hasn't stopped me from buying a little fabric.
Ah...
that's better... And now we will return to our regularly scheduled programming.