I finally have a pretty front door! After a good scrub and some embellishment that is. Who paints a front door with flat paint? Landlords that's who! Anyway,it's not poopy brown so I am happy!
This is my "make do or do without" door decor. With all the things we need for the new place, I decided no new Christmas decorations. At first I planned to use my ice skates, but they just looked really blah against the white. When I saw Pink Postcard's bike basket door decor, I knew just what to do.
Everything except the greens came from my stash.The greens were scattered cast offs at the tree lot down the street. (There are Christmas tree lots about two blocks away in both directions. It's so Christmas in the city over here. Love the neighborhood.)
The box thing got a fresh papering. Note to self: learn to get bolder. All this stark white paint washes colors out.
My first aha moment was when I realized I could hot glue candy canes to chopsticks to give them some height. My second aha moment was when I realized that I could tie the bow to a stick and stick it in there too. I only wish I had thought to hot glue the candy canes to real pine bough sticks. They would have blended in better.
It's late and dark, but I had to join in with the Shanty Sister's "Made it Without My Hubby" party.
I made two more PB knock off photo ledges.
Whew it is dark! Maybe tomorrow I will have time to swap out these dimly lit pictures for something better.
Again the directions came from Ana White's amazing site of DIY woodworking plans. We have very little wall space for displaying art or photos in the new place. Too many closets and windows. What a happy problem! These simple ledges will make it easy and fun to enjoy all our little photos and tchotchkes. They fit this hallway space perfectly and just stick out a teeny bit past the doorway molding.
Right now they are decorated for Christmas. But, since we haven't figured out where we are going to store our pictures when not in rotation, I decided to play around and stage some other seasonal displays. Maybe a few good luck symbols the New Year. Still love my framed engagement day calendar page.
Perhaps I will do something like this for our anniversary in July. Some wedding pictures, our invitation, and our cake topper salt and pepper shakers.
I still have a couple more ledges to make since Cliff has ordered up a set for his office.
Off to Shanty 2 Chic to check out the other projects!
Last year I set up this little candy bar for my family. We loved it. I loved it. Probably too much. I should own stock in Trader Joes because of Candy Cane Joe Joes alone.
Anyway, this year I have been part of a walking club at work. I get to work by 6:30 to walk the "track" with my colleagues before school. I bet we are up to two miles a morning now. As early as it is, I do feel more energetic and prepared for the stresses of the day when we walk. Also, I got myself some fake Sketchers Shape Ups. (Mine are the LA Gear "Walk N Tones" and I got them for about $26 at Broadway Shoes.) They work! I definitely feel the "burn" after a good walk. At first I could only wear them for a few hours, but now I wear them all day and love them.
Needless to say, I don't want to sabotage all my walking efforts with an adorable, deliciously fun, hard to refuse candy bar in my very own home. So, this year I stocked my pretty jars with beads, ornaments and stale peppermints from last year. Eye candy, that's what you get at my home this year.
Nothing gets my creative juices going like a craft contest. This week's contest at Poppies at Play is for signs or wreaths.
A few years ago I started having friends over for a little post Christmas celebration. I made a big pot of wassail. It made our little apartment smell so good and inviting. Back in NJ wassail was a staple at the annual Christmas party, but none of my CA friends had ever heard of it. Everyone loved it. Our friend Chad declared the wassail to be "Christmas in a cup!" The name has stuck and now I get requests for "Christmas in a cup."
This sign kind of evolved as I went along. I had many larger designs, but when I unpacked a box of crafty bits and bobs and found this $ store plaque, I knew small and sweet was the way to go. I printed out the text and the cup image (from a Google search) and simply transferred it to the wooden oval by tracing hard on the paper with a ball point pen. Then I painted in the indented letters and design with a teeny tiny brush and my Americana Craft Paints.
I used some crackle finish and some Antiquing Medium.
I toyed with a variety of ribbon hangers or wooden stands, but ended up taping a magnet to the back and calling it "good." Love that Gorilla Tape!
It definitely looks homemade. (Alas, I didn't win a Silhouette Machine.)
Still, I love it. It reminds me of good times with good friends. I can hardly wait for my friends to come over and see it.
In the meantime, my new sign can hang out on the fridge.
Be sure to head over to Poppies at Play to see all the other wreaths and signs. Happy Friday!
This is the first of potentially three curtains I could make for the kitchen. I went to Michael Levine's downtown in search of just the right curtain fabric. After hours of wandering around with my paint chip, I found dozens that were good; but narrowed it down to three I really liked. (And a few I might get at another time.) This one was Cliff's favorite. It's called "Caitlin Blooms" by Alexander Henry
( This is totally off topic, but I see the floor mat in the picture and want to mention that it is a totally cushy knock off of those gel chef mats. I got it at Home Depot for a song and it feels so good! Now back to regularly scheduled programing.)
I made up the faux Roman shade as I went along. Basically, I made a big rectangle with a lining. Next I folded the fabric while lying on the floor to look like a Roman shade and pinned everything in place. Then I top stitched across the curtain to secure the folds. I am sure those directions are about as clear as mud.
Anyway, I am not totally in love. I like the scale and print. I like that it injects bright colors into the room. But I miss having red.
Just for fun I pinned up the other fabrics for you to see and weigh in on.
First up is the red print I brought home. It is called "Panache" by Sanae for Moda.
It is the right scale, has red, white, brown and blue, which I really like. Alas, I have to agree with Cliff, the red is just too dark next to the brown. I have been thinking of adding a very tailored white edge all the way around the edge to make it pop more from the wall. If I do that, I might stretch and actually make a real working Roman shade.
The last fabric I brought home is so pretty in person. It has all the right colors and a nice light background.
But as you can see, when it's on the wall, the print is just lost against the bold brown. I wish I could enlarge this very print. That would be *perfect*. No worries, I am sure I can come up with lots of great things to make from the extra fabric.
Just for fun, I thought I'd share this curtain rod hack. I had this tiny rod that matched the hinges on our cabinets perfectly, but it was too short. So I took some bamboo garden stakes I had and some Gorilla Tape and jerry rigged a longer rod.
Who wants to buy a new curtain rod at Christmas time? Make do, I say!
Thanks for all the kitchen kindness! It's been really rewarding reading the comments. Since you know, the cupboards aren't exactly speaking up to say thanks. And they really should! It was a huge job! But the one who owes me big time is Mr. Lincoln- the bizarre stove pipe. He was a hot mess.
Before: The Challenges
1. Big metal stove pipe that makes me think of Ma Ingles or Abe Lincoln.
2. Does anyone know what the weird plastic cups hanging off my range hood were for? I have this fear that they are grease catchers or something and one day I am going to regret taking them off. Seriously.
3.Duct tape. I love duct tape. I even used Gorilla brand duct tape on my headboard. Still, duct tape is like a good bra, it needs to work behind the scenes. I don't know the root problem, but I am going to trust that the duct tape is doing it's job and leave it alone.
Middle: It's already looking better.
While painting up here I noticed that it looked like there may have been a cupboard up here to conceal the pipe. Perhaps it was cut out to fix the pipe or something. Or maybe the cupboard was destroyed to make room for the pipe. I find it kind of creepy.
Getting Better: Can you see what I did?
I went and got a $3 piece of molding from Home Depot. I had them cut it to the exact measurement. The cupboard wasn't cut evenly so it turned out to be such a tight fit I didn't even need to screw or glue it in place. I used some wood filler to fill in the gaps and cracks and painted it up.
Now for the fun stuff. That spot right above the stove is the only wall space to decorate in the whole kitchen. I had several choices for art, but couldn't choose just one. Ana White $10 Ledge to the rescue!
Now I can change out pictures, salt and pepper shakers and so on. The folks at Home Depot cut the wood for me, then all I did was screw it together, paint and screw it into the wall. Truly a very easy project. I have the wood in my trunk to make three more this weekend.
Ah, so much better!
Future plan: Spray paint the top "control panel" where the clock an and timer are. It will have to wait until summer, but the scratches (mostly concealed by my teapot) are bringing down my high rent makeover!
Just one more kitchen post tomorrow and then I'll let it rest. Promise.
Way back when I painted this coffee table the people who represent Dutch Boy Paint contacted me and asked me if I would be interested in reviewing the Refresh line. Sure. The only problem is that at my other apartment I couldn't paint. I had a big plan to give the paint to my friend who just bought a condo. I'm so proud of her and all of her achievements. She is a remarkable person and I would love to help her paint. Of course, the you know what happens to the best laid plans. Life is just so daily! Whew!
Anyway, who knew I would soon be in a new place where I could paint?!
Paint I did. Like I said yesterday the brown and white scheme was inspired by my favorite striped shirt. I loved the "Beach House Brown" when I painted Michelle's coffee table and knew pretty much from the first moment I saw that kitchen I wanted to go with that color.
Here's the funny thing, it's not on the Dutch Boy web site at all. Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH) has it as part of their "California Collection." Maybe it's a special deal with OSH?
Enough about colors. All paint comes in colors!
Moving on to the really important thing: No VOC! The Refresh line has all sorts of features that make it "green." This is important to me because Cliff suffers from migraines and they had been especially bad right after the move. We suspect it may have been that the whole place was just freshly painted. I was a bit concerned to start painting, but the smell didn't bother him at all. Frankly, I couldn't smell anything. You can read more about the environmental advantages of Refresh here.
Now, I have to be honest. I am not all that brand loyal. Oh sure, I prefer Crest and Tide, but if Colgate or Era are on sale...well, I'll cross that aisle to save a nickle. There is a reason however, that I will be loyal to Dutch Boy and it's not the paint. It's the can!
I am pretty sure a woman designed this can because it is so smart. First off it's recyclable, light weight plastic. It has a built in handle similar to a gallon of milk. No more skinny wire handle cutting into your hand.
It has a pour spout! Thank you! It's so much neater than a regular can. And the last feature that I love about the can is that it has a screw on lid. Again, thank you! I ended up using leftover paint for the cupboards and by the end of the week that pry off/ hammer on lid was a gunky, inefficient and annoying mess. Painting is enough of a chore without adding the can mess to the whole ordeal. The Dutch Boy can? Jug? It is the best!
Now, on to coverage. I was painting dark chocolate brown over stark white. I thought for sure it would take primer and a couple of coats to get an even finish. My father in law once painted my sister-in-law's dining room 5 times to get a deep red finish. And that was with tinted primer first. With that in mind, I was a bit nervous. Also, I have that rough "knock down" finish on the walls.
I used that satin finish and the paint went on like a dream. It was smooth and very easy to get even coverage. The guy at OSH told me I could skip primer. I did two coats of Refresh and it is flawless.
I used a paint brush to cut in sometimes. I used this really cool edge tool with little wheels to scoot along the edge of the ceiling, and I also used a roller. With each tool I was able to get a nice even coverage even on the goofy Little House on the Prairie chimney.
My kitchen isn't huge and has a good amount of cupboards, so I used about 1/4 gallon. Most likely I could have bought the tester size, but like I said, I was sure I would need to do three or more coats. Clean up was easy. Really, I have nothing but good things to say about Refresh Paint. Way to go Dutch Boy!
Now when I finally get around to helping Michelle paint her condo with her Dutch Boy Refresh paint, I will be a real painting pro and Dutch Boy will get two reviews-everybody wins!
