Room Re-Do: Part VII {Curtains}

I'd like to finish up our master bedroom redo this spring by adding curtains. Considering I started this a year ago, it's probably about time.

I've found a huge selection of home decor prints at Fabric.com. The swatches below are all part of the Premier Prints line. They are mostly screen printed onto lightweight canvas. Similar to indoor/outdoor fabric so hopefully I won't need blackout lining. The best part is that most of them would cost me about $6/yd which is great since I need about 12 yards.

To refresh your memory, here is the room that inspired the change.

And here is our room (before the silhouettes were added) with fabric choices. Thankfully they offer fabric samples, but to order 12 would be a bit much. Would you help me narrow the choices down?

Part of me feels like yellow would be nice and subtle. I don't think I'd actually put polka dots on my walls, but don't those look fun? I really like the idea of red, but can I still do that buffalo check with the diamond quilt on the bed? Black could be neat too, but would that make the room too dark and lose some of it's cheeriness from the yellow and red? Which ever I choose, I'll also make new Euro shams to match the curtains so there is less khaki in the room. I bought all 3 shams for less than $10 so I don't mind not using them.

I would love to know what you would choose if this were your room.

Room Re-Do: Part VI {Silhouettes}

I've always loved the classic look of silhouettes. Especially when they are of children, and even better yet, a baby. I knew I wanted these over our bed with the new black and yellow color scheme of our bedroom. So I finally got busy yesterday and cut them out.

Update: I've recently turned a different style of photo into a silhouette. See it {here}.
Love how versatile this technique is!



I found oval 10"x12" frames at JoAnn a while back. You can usually find them on sale for 50% off or buy one get one free. Or at the very least use a 40% off coupon (they accept competitors coupons too). I bought a new Exacto knife and 7 sheets of black scrapbook paper. I figured I'd make some mistakes and be thankful for the extra paper. I actually could have gotten away with just 2 sheets. For both the black and the white I bought paper with a mock linen texture to it.



I took pictures of the kiddos earlier, trying to get them all about the same distance away in the photo. Then I copied them into Word and printed them onto regular paper to use for my templates. I later had to print Emily's a tad bigger to be in scale of Allison and Sam.



I determined that I wanted the final faces to all be looking to the left to I traced the back of the pint outs. I knew that later they would be traced to the back of the black paper so any ridges from cutting would end up on the backside. Drawing the outline on the backside also helped to be better able to see just the lines I wanted to cut on. Tape it to a window so you can see through from the front.



My initial first drawing. Lots to clean up and more details to add including eyelashes. You don't really see eyelashes protruding from a sideview, but they add a lot to a silhouette.



Here is where I noticed that the scale of Emily's face was a little smaller than Allison's, so I went back to my Word doc and dragged it a little bigger until it seemed right.



Now to tweak the details. Allison originally had side buns, but I made it look more like one bun in the back and added the little flyaways under it. I also gave a better shape to their bows and to Emily's ponytail. Sam got a bit more definition to his hair so he didn't look so bald. And they all got retro looking collars, perhaps my favorite part of all.



Then I was ready to start tracing the lines with my knife (on top of my cutting mat of course). I didn't tape anything down, I just held the template very tightly with my left hand. I did all of them while kneeling on the floor, which wasn't fun, but it gave me good leverage.

On the right is the photo I cut out and the left is where the silhouette came out of. It was tough to get it to cut through the whole way around even though I pressed so hard my fingers ached (especially after cutting out all three). Just go back over those spots and when it's all detached you'll have a few rough spots to spruce up.



Next I double checked to make sure I liked the overall scale.



Here is all three cut out. It looks like I need to makes Sam's nose a little more round, it's pretty pointy here. And Emily's upper lip got cut a little smaller than it should have. I need to redo hers for sure, but my fingers still ache so that will wait until tomorrow. I would suggest starting with the face so that if you make a mistake you haven't wasted all your time and energy with the rest of the details. I learned that the hard way.



Close up of her mis-cut lip. Sorry Sweetie!



Next I used the glass from the frames to cut the white background paper out. I just swiped the Exacto knife all the way around the glass. That worked pretty slick. Of course you'll have to wash the glass and get all the upc label residue off. Why do they always put stickers where they don't belong?



I used archival double sided tape on the backs to secure them.



Then I laid them all in the frames to see what they would look like. I measured to make sure they were centered correctly. I thought I could eyeball them, but I did have to move one down and another over slightly, so I'm glad I measured.



Perfect, now they are ready for hanging!



I am so in love with these on my yellow walls.



You could really have fun with these and use a patterned paper for the background.
Or how fun to cut the images from a different color?



But I really love the classic look for this spot. They are just what this wall needed.

Do you think I hung them too high? I didn't have the luxury of someone else to hold them up so I could see them from far away.



See the rest of our room re-do here
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV

Room Re-do: Part V {From Frame to Jewelry Holder Tutorial}

I've had my eye on this frame at IKEA for a while now.

And thanks to a gift card from a sweet friend, I was finally able to bring her home and...

...turn her into a jewelry holder.

Isn't she purdy?

I'll show you what I did. It was easy-peasy.

Find a frame you love and fabric that compliments your room.

Now get yourself to Home Depot (or Lowes, I'm not picky) and buy the smallest package you can find of the smallest size chicken wire. It will be in the lawn and garden center, outside. This roll was about $5. Pick up some "S" hooks too. I only bought 1 pkg...I should have bought two. If you don't already own one, buy a tin snips too. Or borrow one from your neighbor.

Roll out the chicken wire (ahem...poultry netting) and try to flatten it the best you can. This is no easy task and I didn't try really hard, so mine is still kind of lumpy. But that's OK, it allows you some space to hang the "S" hooks. If it was super flat, it would be too hard to attach anything to it, since you need a little space behind it.

Next use a tin snips to cut the wire to fit the back of your frame. My frame is actually a hollow plastic so I couldn't staple the wire to the frame, but if you can, I think you should. I just had to lay the wire down in there and hope that the fabric piece holds it well enough. Guess what? It does! Whew! *wipes brow*

Next I laid the cardboard backing that came with my frame, down onto my freshly ironed fabric. Once I had it centered just so, I pulled it taut around to the back and secured with packing tape. Nothing fancy here.

And if I hadn't stepped on the glass insert (oops!) I would have put that behind the fabric for more stability and safe keeping. Good thing this won't be used as an actual picture frame. So instead, I just placed the paper that was immediately under the glass, over the back of the fabric panel and bent all the tabs back down.

Next I placed the little "S" hooks I bought, onto the wire, and hung my necklaces and bracelets. Then I hung her on the wall and stood back to admire my work. This took about 10 minutes, start to finish. The admiring...a little longer.

Just wait, close-ups are coming. But first, doesn't she have a nice presence on the wall?

Do you see the little "S" hooks? I still need to ask David to squeeze them closed a bit.
I tried, but my brute strength is...well, non-existent.
Do you see the little gold hook that the floral bracelet is hanging from?
It's a regular old picture hanger, I might actually like it better than the "S" hooks, but the color, not so much.

Earrings just get hung on the wire and sparkly barrettes are clipped right on to it.
A girl can never have enough sparkly barrettes, right?

Maybe walking past these every day will remind me to get gussied up a little more often.

Or not.

See the rest of our room re-do here
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV

Room Re-do: Part IV {Hello Gorgeous}

From this...

To this...



(I still need to swap out the air return cover for a new white one.)

David loves that he can see all of his 6'1" in the mirror.
No more ducking is a good thing. And I am thrilled that the intercom is gone.

Thanks Mom and Dad for the perfect Christmas gift!

*I'll admit that I've been hiding from the news channels/web-sites lately, especially when my children are awake (we haven't told them about it). I can't bare to see any more photos or hear more stories about the devastation in Haiti. The shear numbers are just unfathomable. And now another earthquake. I often feel paralyzed with fear and anxious for all involved.

So forgive me if my posting about light and happy things seems out of place. I need to focus on the good news out there while still praying that God would be in control of the helpless. I'm trying to keep my own mind off of things so I can sleep at night and be able to function and care for my family during the day.

My hope is that maybe you too need a mental break too and this will be a place to find it.

Room Re-do: Part III {What a difference a day makes}

Eight hours later, exactly 2 gallons of Behr Pismo Dunes 340C-3 (not a drop left) and our room feels all warm and glowy. It's perfect, we LOVE it! Thank you so much Sara for the help and the fellowship. Love you lots and lots!

Next up, silhouettes of the kids, picking up that black mirror and choosing curtains (white I think?).

I went to JoAnn on Sunday to buy the oval frames and found the perfect ironing board cover. I love it when you happen upon something you didn't know you needed, in a place you wouldn't expect. You just have to buy it, don't you? David likes it too since he reminded me that the ironing board seems to be a permanent fixture in the room. I think he was being facetious, maybe. ;)

I should probably pick up more of these photo boxes I found there too. I'm thinking it would be nice to free up some of the drawer space in my closet of all those sewing supplies like thread and ric rac, of which I have tons.

And just when I thought it couldn't get any better around here...the girls both slept through the night and stayed in bed until 7:00 this morning. I think this is the first time they've done that since moving from a crib to a bed, over a year ago. There was no waking up to use our bathroom at 2am (and asking me to wipe her bottom) or getting out of bed for the day, at 5am. I'm so well rested I could cry. We started a new reward system last night. They each earn a sticker for staying in bed until they see the 7 on their clock. After they each get 10 stickers we will take them to the toy store to pick out a new princess dress to wear to the Princess Ball in January. I am beyond excited that it worked. Somebody pinch me!

Room Re-do: Part II {Before}

Here is our room before the big paint job tomorrow. I decorated it from my Eddie Bauer Home Store days back in 1997. I was all about country cottage back then and couldn't wait to get this bedding. I actually found the duvet cover at one of their warehouse sales. It was a King that I cut down to a Queen. Possibly my first sewing project ever, without the help of Mom.

*The duvet and the curtains really are the same color, the flash just makes the bed look lighter. Not that it matters, because this stuff is outa here.

I love the little nightstand/shelf on my side. This was a Christmas gift from my parents, from Pottery Barn, years ago. I still love it, so it's staying right there. The mirror (also PB and a gift the same year) will be moving to another spot. I'm not sure where yet, but I'm tired of it always being crooked and adorned with the littles fingerprints.

Instead, I will hang three, black oval frames with silhouettes of the kids. I hope to make them next week-end. I might use scrapbook paper as their backdrop instead of just the traditional white. They have the potential for being my favorite part of the re-do.

Oh and those lamps are going. I'll be looking for a black base with white oval or cylinder shades today.

Here is one of the sets of ugly closet doors. I can't wait to replace them with raised panel white doors soon. The woodwork in our house, unfortunately, has an orangey tone to it. So not pretty.

I'd also love to replace the ceiling fan with something else too. But have no idea what. Maybe a chandelier? We never use the fan, but when we replaced it for some reason we thought we had to replace it with another fan. It's not terrible and believe me it's a whole lot better than what was there before. We might just keep it, for the sake of not spending money.

Working my way around the room, here is another eye soar. The intercom system that has no business being in a house of this size. Honestly, you can hear everybody, everywhere, all the time.

We've thought about replacing it with a new white system. But that's about $1,000. Not happening! I think we'll just remove it and patch the holes. But for now, this mirror (on my Christmas list...hehe) should cover it perfectly.

This room is filled with all sorts of crazy angles, but the one next to the door to the bathroom is a nice spot for the desk and shelf I have there. The shelf is hung too high now (it was over a tall dresser earlier) so I'll lower it and then paint both pieces red, in the spring. I think drawer pulls like this would be fun. And I'd love to paint the black chair white with largish red polka dots. How cute would that be, eh? And the red will be fun against warm yellow walls.

Yes, we chose YELLOW!!! Thanks everyone for your help! We decided that aqua would be too close to what we've already got and wouldn't feel like enough of a change. And khaki was just too much brown. You did notice that second pair of closet doors, didn't you? TOO MUCH BROWN! And not a good brown.

Speaking of strange angles, here is the one that causes us the most trouble. Why in the world did they not just extend the closet all the way to the front wall, or cut it off straight so you could put a built in desk there with a window over it. The closet is on the Southside of the house and the only windows we have on that side are over the kitchen sink and the washer/dryer.

This whole room is pretty strange if you ask me. There is only one place to put the bed and a King size would never fit in there. But the room is quite large. The people that built it didn't have children, nor did they plan to, so they took what would usually be 2 rooms and made it one big room. I would have preferred the 2nd bedroom, personally. Oh well...

Here is where my sewing desk is currently. We will be bringing up my long white dresser and putting it back in front of the window. The black desk will sit at the foot of the bed, in place of the cedar chest (that's going in Sam's room). I'll store my machines in the closet and just pull them out when needed. I like the idea of painting my dresser black (thanks for the idea Jessica!), but then what should I do about the black desk? Maybe I'll just repaint it black to freshen it up and put drawer pulls to match the white desk, on it. Or maybe I'll like the gold pulls again after the walls are yellow?

And back around to the beginning...

Can't wait for tomorrow! Now to take everything off the walls and patch holes. I love to paint and I'm a really swell cutter-inner if you ask me. Sara and I spent three nights, just before Thanksgiving, painting her sisters new house, until 2 in the morning and it was a lot of fun.

Room Re-do: Part I {help me pick a paint color}

Our bedroom has been needing a re-do for a while now. We've had the same look for 11 years and I'm ready to change things up. I'll post before photos as soon as I clean it up (no one wants to see piles of laundry and wrapping paper, do they?).

Here is the bedding I've already purchased. I found the checkered quilt for $20 and the striped euro pillow shams were $2/ea. They were the only pieces left in the stores, as this collection was on clearance (at way better prices than on-line). Then I found a 20% coupon to use (by googling "JC Penny coupon" Do you do that too?) and bought the rest of it. I love this set! It's so me and David said he would like anything I like, so it's him too. ;)

I had a difficult time choosing between this set and a more trendy aqua and brown set that looks more modern. So glad I went with this one even though overall it was more spendy. It just fits my house better. We have mostly, red, black and khaki in our house with splashes of green and yellow here and there (except the girls room of course) so this will fit right in.

So, I'm thinking that I've got a few options for wall color. Khaki, yellow or aqua.

We currently have the perfect shade of khaki (Urban Putty by Sherwin Williams) in our living room, hall, stairs and playroom. I think it would look great in our room too but not sure I'm ready to paint another room the same color. If I do, I'll go either a shade darker, or a shade lighter and I'd for sure need to paint my dresser red. I think. Or should it be black? Maybe aqua? Jona has the same dresser/mirror combo we have (I've got a nightstand too), and I love how she's painted hers turquoise. Aqua and red are my favorite combo by the way.

Here is my inspiration for yellow. Just imagine the khaki on the bed and the yellow on the walls instead. At least it shows me that the 2 colors can be in the same room and look good. Maybe we can paint the bedroom to match the yellow I've already got in the adjoining bathroom (it's very similar to the coverlet shown here). At least I have some of that left, so I can paint a test wall.

Photo from Midwest Living
(my most favoritist magazine ever, well only since ME's Home Companion is out of print).

Just saw this room with the yellow actually on the walls. This one is really speaking to me! You can see more of this room here. That little red table is so darn cute!

Here is my inspiration for aqua walls. It's from Domino, but blogged about here. This room doesn't have any khaki in it, but a lot of white instead. Most every room I ever like, has white woodwork. I so need a house with white woodwork. But alas, we've got 1980's oak. Maybe it can still work though. I plan on buying plain white curtains and adding red pom-pom fringe to the inside edges. And we will eventually replace the ugly brown oak double width folding closet doors (of which there are 2 sets). So there will be 2 windows and 2 closets that will be white and then a short wall with a black chunky framed full length mirror on it. I'm hoping there will be enough white to warrant the aqua paint. What do you think?

I've also got a long dresser and a desk that I will be painting as well. So depending on the wall color those pieces could end up either red, aqua, black or white. Way too many decisions for a Tuesday morning.

I would love for you to chime in and give your opinion on what paint color you think would be best for the walls. My best friend, Sara, comes into town this week and it was her idea to paint the room together, next Monday (one more reason why I love this girl!).

The walls are currently a darkish sage green, that has been the wrong color since day one. But at the time, anything was better than the primer they had on the walls. We even lived in this room with trashed pink carpet, with white paintbrush and roller marks on it, from the previous owners fab paint job. I shudder to think exactly how long we tried to ignore it. Maybe 4 years? We also lived with their torn blackout roller shades for over a year. Yikes!

Oh, did I ever tell you that we bought a fixer-upper? The house had been a rental. It was left abandoned. In July. With cats in it. We didn't get our hands on it until Halloween and have been working on it (or planning on work) ever since. That was 10 years ago. We're exhausted. We've redone every surface in this house, including the walls, floors, lighting, roof, furnace, air conditioner, every appliance (some twice now), windows and garage door and we still aren't done (we need to build out a linen closet downstairs and re-tile the kids bathtub/shower). In trying to get the house sellable again, the previous owners had even painted over a wallpaper border at the top of our vaulted ceiling (that extends over the stairs) too. David risked his life getting up there scraping and spackling. Hopefully there are no more vaulted ceilings in our future, or wallpaper. Oh, and how about the wallpaper that was put directly over sheetrock? No primer! I spackled and sanded the dining room wall at least a dozen times and still had to hang a giant mirror there to cover most of it up.

I could go on and on, but I'll just say that sometimes a "good deal" isn't really. We are pretty housepoor now because of all the money we ended up putting into it. I want my next house to be move-in ready (just paint needed) and brand spankin' new would be a HUGE bonus. Although we did come away with lots of new skills like tiling, roofing, and electrical know-how, it still wasn't worth it. If anyone needs to borrow a wet saw, we have one! We found that it's hard to do things on the cheap (like for a flip house), when you actually live there. Anyone need a smallish house with gorgeous Pella windows, granite counter and half stainless appliances? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Please leave a comment about paint color and help a girl out. Meanwhile I need to go rescue some socks out of the girls water cups...on my wood coffee table no less. Don't ask...