creature comforts

Now that the harsh Chicago winter is over I'm ready to break out of my winter hibernation mode and share some of my crafts from the last few months. This is a creature that I made for my adorable nephew Anson's baby shower. I used flannel and felt to make him extra soft and decided to skip the button eyes just in case they fell victim to baby's strong grip or the family dog's teeth.

My friend Nicole has an another baby girl on the way this summer so I'm starting to plan my next baby friendly creature for her debut in July.

oh, baby

It's official as of 11pm last night I have a new nephew! In honor of Anson, here are some adorable and unique nursery designs.

Images from: oh dee doh and design sponge

head bored?

At some point I'd like to add some more flair to my bedroom decor by adding a headboard of some kind.

paint: save space and money by painting or stenciling a design onto inexpensive plywood or directly onto your wall.























art: buy or make a large scale piece above your bed (just make sure it's attached firmly to the wall!). Below Polaroids are tacked up in a heart shape, found objects are assembled into art, and a mirror frame is used to frame out a free form collage.
























fabric: drape it, add grommets and hang directly on the wall, upholster an old headboard or piece of wood, stretch fabric over canvas stretcher bars.

bland bath

My cozy ranch is a lovely blank canvas just waiting for my next diy whim. Next up might be the bathroom. It's your standard small bath with medium brown cabinetry, light tan walls, Hollywood style light fixture above a large wall mirror, tan ceramic floor tile, and yellow tile in the bath surround. The yellow tile is a little quirky, but after living with it for a few months I've actually come to like it in way; it's a happy and warm color to be surrounded by during my sleepy morning shower.

Overtime here are some things I'd like to change/add to the bathroom:
replace white plastic toilet paper roll holder and hand towel holder
change light fixture
paint cabinetry white
recaulk around the tub
add some excitement to the walls with bright color or possibly a hand painted pattern

The painting part sounds the most fun and creative, so I started searching for advice and inspiration. I'm thinking of creating a mod vine design that stretches from floor to 3/4 up the wall. I love the color combo of yellow, white, and gray and this is the perfect room to use it in since I already have the yellow tile to work around.

Images from: Design Sponge and Casa Sugar

Proud of Papa

Both of my parents have been great models of what an artist is. Recently my dad has been making art and jewelry using wood. His love of nature, architecture, African art, and modern design come through strongly in his newest work. I'm the proud owner of several jewelry pieces; if you want one too check out his Etsy page:
Woodarts

diy kitchen results

The kitchen is done for now and we're really pleased with the lighter, cleaner, and more colorful outcome. It is definitely better than the brown on brown look of 1981 that we dubbed "burnt toast". After much deliberation we decided to go for a quick and inexpensive back splash update and actually painted our horrible brown flowered tile a retro teal color, that I absoltely love. I had my doubts this process would work, but the results are fantastic for just $15 and a few hours of work. The finish is shiny and solid; you cannot damage it by scratching or cleaning it.

What we did:

Cabinetry: Removed cabinet doors and drawers, removed hardware, removed cup hooks (the old owners loved them and used up to 9 per cabinet door--what an eyesore and a pain to remove--thanks Josh!), filled holes with wood putty, cleaned and sanded everything, 2 coats of kilz primer, and 2+ coats of "snowstorm" white latex paint, attached new hardware and hinges (from home depot).

resource: this old house article

Back splash: Deep cleaned, removed light switch plates, sanded tile surface and then wiped it clean, 3 coats of kilz primer, 2 coats of "tropical breeze" oil paint, 1 coat of oil based polyureathane for shine.

resource: diy article

All in all this took 2 full weekends to complete; twice as long as I expected, but all in all not too tedious or difficult.