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.

making a splash

Back splash options:
Stainless steel: check out an inexpensive version of this idea at Ikea
Glass plate: GlassKote is the only place I've found that carries this product
Metal tiles: American Tin Ceiling Co.
Beadboard: Any old Hardware store

I'm leaning towards painted beadboard in a fun color like red, chocolate brown, charcoal gray, or a teal. My cabinets are white (or they will be... :) and my appliances are also white with black details.

simply fab

I'm on the hunt for fabric to make curtains for my living room. The color scheme in the room is neutral (tan and chocolate brown) and red with small touches of turquoise; the room is also open to the dining room and kitchen (kitchen will be white and silver). After striking out at the local fabric stores I've stumbled onto some great online stores.

The above fabric are my favorite finds so far for curtains. They are from Pink Chalk Fabrics .

Midwest Modern Collection, Garden maze in mustard--by Amy Butler

Ginseng Collection in Rust by Joel Dewberry

Other online stores to check out:

Modern Fabrics

Trendy Fabrics -- check out the good prices on Amy Butler

Purl Soho

I should say that I have not purchased anything from any of these stores, so I can't vouch for service or shipping times.

Happy crafting!