The Sparrow Painting

In taking time to be creative, and listening to the Holy Spirit, I find peace and artistry can come together. This is my first acrylic painting of a bird ever, and I was happy to give it to one of my very best friends and sister in the Lord. I was inspired by her favorite hymn "His Eye Is On The Sparrow", and Matthew 10:29-31 "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows"

For all those in need of peace today, I pray you find it. Thank you for visiting today.

Living Room Reveal: 2014

Vintage Brass, Ivory, Driftwood Gray, and repeating circular elements were all part of the things I wanted in this room. The first inspiration piece that I fell in love with was this fabric from Braemore...

It is called Gorgeous Pearl, and I saw it on Centsational Girl's Blog. 

Once I got the fabric in, I carried it and the paint samples around to pick the furniture, and I might have even taken the whole roll into West Elm to see if it coordinated with the jute boucle rug (Platinum). Oh Yes, it did!!  Hopefully it will arrive SOON!

I made two pillows and parts of five window treatments with the four yards of  inspiration fabric.

You can see three of the new window treatments here, and I restyled the bookcase by painting existing items either Gloss White or Gold by Rustoleum. The sofa is the exact color of Benjamin Moore's Gray Owl, LOVE that warm gray!

Have two of these driftwood spheres from West Elm.

Here is my Design Notebook (Fancy I know!) Hubby thought it was funny that I made and cut out the furniture and rugs to scale,  but it helped me get a whole new layout and purchase the right size pieces. Just like the old days in Design School, man do I miss those classes!!

SOURCES: Furniture(Macy's)

                    Lamps: (Target)

                    PAint: Sherwin Williams(Paper Lantern), Trading Post Tan (No longer available, but they                          still have the formula in the computer)

                    Fabric: Braemore(Gorgeous Pearl)

                    Accessories:West Elm (Driftwood Spheres) , books(Design School), 

                    Pillows: Ivory(Pier One), White (Target)

                    RUG: on its way!! West Elm

                    Mirror,Brass end table: Homegoods

Next week I will give a Tutorial on my Custom Color Blocked 11 Foot Long Curtains, and if I can do it, you can too!! FOR $44!  I installed them on my own as well......

Look for the tutorial for these next week!! Thanks DIY peeps!!

I am linking up with Tater Tots and Jello Link Party Palooza !

Gray Paint: A Quick Laundry Room Makeover

Hi Everyone! Welcome to my quick makeover using Lowe's Olympic One Paint in the color Secret Passage! This color matches my hall bath, and I LOVE that it also covered the red paint in here in one coat. AWESOME! I added some Macbeth Contact Paper, and Homegoods baskets for clean clothes. One of my favorite things in the room is......

This free download from "Howdy Honey".  I simply Painted a frame on hand, added gray washi tape and some scrapbook paper and tada! All the colors in the room are on here, and it was free. SMILE.

My other fav in this room are the two totes from the etsy shop Molly and Lucy . Can you say " Hello chevron beauties, I must have you"? I know I did.

The Macbeth Contact paper from amazon totally matches the chevron totes, and it looks like I planned it that way:)

It looks bigger in here! IT could be that I cleaned out all items that don't have to do with laundry, or cleaning. Like why did I have extension cords, dog leashes, etc,etc.  You might have to shield your eyes for the before and after, seriously this hurt my eyes:)

Uh, yikes! That's embarrassing, but just keeping it real. Thank you so much for joining me on this makeover my whole downstairs journey:) Here is a sneak peek of what room is next......

Join me next week for my Formal Living Room reveal!!!!

Gray Table Redo: $3 DIY Chalk Paint

Easy, and quick! My fav kind of DIY project. And it only cost $3! So here is what you do:

Get a paint sample from your fav home improvement store. Mine is from Lowe's , the Olympic One brand for $2.98. I chose the Flagstone color, bonus it matches the Popcorn Bar I featured last week!!
Cut the paint to 50% by adding one part paint to one part Gesso. I emptied this whole paint sample into a Gladware container, and then filled the empty sample bottle with gesso so I got a 1 to 1 ratio.

Paint on two coats and let dry. Then sand to distress with fine grit sandpaper.

Close up of the distressing. then I waxed it with soft paste furniture wax.

It really makes this corner look bigger and brighter, and it's amazing what a lighter color will do!! Thank you for visiting today!

Before and After Niche Makeover With Gray Paint: The Popcorn Bar

The before shot shows how we used this area as a pet food storage/ bookcase / display area.

Now it is a useful Popcorn/ Movie Bar! I used Olympic One paint from Lowe's in Flagstone (insert I am so excited that this paint really did cover that dark red in just ONE COAT face!!!), and Martha Stewart Metallic Paint from Home Depot in Polished Silver. It is definitely a cleaner and brighter space now. So here's the details:

These are my vintage cameras from a trip to the antique store this summer with my kids, Mom, and sister! Great memories! The map in the background came out of the back of my Target planner that I finished using for 2013. Hello free artwork!

These are Martha Stewart Chalk Board Labels from Office Depot.

I made these labels by printing a Word document, then stamping the circle with a Papertrey Ink stamp and Hero Arts Soft Granite ink. The font is Futura Italic. I punched out around the stamped image with a coordinating size circle punch, and adhered them with my handy Scotch ATG gun.

After brainstorming about how to make this area more useful, I realized I could make a DIY chalkboard sign for listing movies we Need to watch and return, and also list the movies we want to order next. Now we have a place to write it down besides our phones,  and the basket on the above shelf holds the Netflix Movies we need to watch first. The frame is from Michael's and 10"x13" was on sale half off, so six bucks!! Whoo hoo!

Here is a final look back at the transformation. Me, the kids, and hubs all love it, and it will be useful for the daughter's high school class, and the son's college buddies. Thank you for checking out my redo!!

I am linking up to the "Link Party Palooza" at Tater Tots and Jello, one of my fav DIY, creative, and decorating blogs!! Go check out their awesomeness!

Linking up at Domestically Speaking, Remodelaholic, Six Sisters Stuff, Chic on a Shoestring, DIYShowoff , Mommy on Demand

Gray Bathroom Redo for $50!

Paint: Olympic One in Secret Passage= $26
Towels: Target = $14
Soap Dispenser: Target= $10
 The rest of the artwork and decor I repurposed, and painted, or had up in my craft room for a "someday" project:)

Side by side the room definitely looks larger without the border at the top, and without the plants. A visitor even asked if I got a bigger mirror! Whoopwhoop!!   

Already had the shell, perfume bottle, and antique Kraft Cheese Mold.

The gold framed print is about 20 years old, from our first house, and I printed the shell onto white card stock(an image from the Graphic's Fairy) to cover the old artwork. Used a silver metallic sharpie marker to cover the black mat around the shell print. The bottom left small canvas, i just gessoed over and painted the ombre gray, then hot glued found shell over it. Scrapbook paper and chipboard letters in the Michael's plain wood frame, and my fav part of this room now is...................

This photo tray I got a Hobby Lobby a couple of years ago, and now it tells the story of our beach family vacations over the last 20 years. We didn't take a family vacation for ten whole years when the kids were young, from 1995-2005, but we are making up for that now.

The circular vine item (above left) is a metal plate for holding candles, I repurposed and spray painted high gloss white(Krylon) , then hot glued a Tim Holtz photo clip on and used an Instagram photo and transparency I had on hand.   Thanks for visiting today! I am off to recover from the 17 hour days of this redo. Feeling so sick, but enjoying my new powder room!

Using the Project Life Heritage Edition to Easily Decorate the Thanksgiving Table

I Love the neutral color scheme of the Project Life Heritage Edition, and thought burlap, black and white would create a pleasing modern rustic look.

Here is a wide-angle view of the whole table. I found the bundled wheat on Pinterest and gave it a try, and five hours later... tada! Thanksgiving centerpiece, thank you Pinterest!

I love how easy this was to print on, and how this color scheme from the Heritage Kit is so easy to work with. Seriously!! This goes with everything people:)

I am so excited about using the 3x4 journaling cards, from the Heritage kit, for guests to write what they are thankful for this year. Place card, decor and thanksgiving week journaling all in one... Yes, please!! Thank you for visiting my little blog today!