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The wall.

Oh man, this title makes me think of Game of Thrones….and you know how much I like me some GoT! OK, back to what this post is really about……

In our old condo, I had started a bit of a wall collage over our couch. I loved that you could just bring in all sorts of random items, mix ’em all together and have this cool, almost scrapbook type thing on your wall. When we moved into our new home, I knew that I’d def want to do something similar somewhere in the house. Our living room is a funny shape so I didn’t think it’d be appropriate there and I’ve seen many cool ideas on Pinterest for an entry area, but that didn’t feel right either. I finally landed on our hallway/laundry area, which is located smack in the middle of the house. I know, I know….it’s a bit of a weird place to just have your washer and dryer hanging out, but I’ve got plans people, plans.

Wall paper removed, revealing some funky walls.

But until those plans are executed, I thought this wall would be a perfect place for my collage. Like in our other rooms, these walls are wallpapered (yay.) so I began by removing it. Unfortunately, the walls underneath the first section I removed were extremely beat up and rough. No amount of sanding and puttying seemed to do the trick. Bummer. I decided that the rest of the wallpaper was tacked on pretty good so gave all of the walls and wainscoting a few coats of primer in hopes that that would do the trick. I’m toying with the idea of somehow texturizing the messed up wall to help camouflage it, but for now, it is what it is.

I painted the wainscoting with my white semi gloss that I’ve already used all over the house. That darn dark wood ended up taking 3 coats of primer and 3 coats of paint! And lucky me, that wainscoting carries into our kitchen too :-/ I used American White by Ben Moore from the entry and living room for the walls and painting went pretty quick. This paint color showed up super white in the hallway and less grey like it did in the other spaces. I think I’d like to go a bit darker down the road, but this is a good start.

Primed and ready for paint!

Now it was time for the fun part….I gathered up all of my various knick knacks and photos and laid them out on our kitchen floor. I arranged, re-arranged, switched out some photos, arranged some more and I still just wasn’t satisfied. I then realized it was the frame color that was throwing me off more than anything. I didn’t like how there wasn’t enough contrast between the wall color and the white frames. Gawd.

I made an executive decision and snagged my fav framed piece in the house, a Queens of the Stoneage concert poster framed in black and hung it on the wall. Oh myyyyy. So much better! Unfortunately, black frames aren’t in abundance in our house so I had to make a quick trip to the craft store to pick up a few more. For now, I think this will work, but I do plan on adding more fun (and colorful) items to the mix. That or repaint those walls :-/

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She's crafty.

Just a quick update as to the state of my stellar office/craft room. She went from this:

 
To this:
 

So far, so good! It’s amazing what a little paint and some refinished floors will do! I’m currently trying to figure out the best way to organize my crafting supplies. Who knew a gal could obtain 50+ rolls of ribbon in her lifetime :-/

 

The closet in this room is actually pretty deep so I think adding some additional shelving down the road might make sense. I’m also on the hunt for large, dark brown shelves for one of the walls but have recently struck out. A proper desk and chair are also on the list. Sigh. OK, so maybe this room needs more work than I had thought…..
  • Remove wallpaper
  • Paint walls
  • Refinish floors
  • Install large wall shelves
  • Install closet organization system
  • Add new chair and desk
  • Hang art
Are you lucky, like me, to have your own personal office/craft space? What are your keys to organizational success (besides a few trips to The Container Store!)?
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Guest bed redo.

I thought I was going to have all of this time to document our newly cleaned house from our party last weekend, but alas, I totally forgot. Now our house is back to its messy self and there’s no way I can put together a full house update like I was hoping. Womp, womp.

Instead, I will give you to this ‘before’ and ‘after’ pic of our guest bedroom (one of the only rooms that didn’t get partied in). Most of its decor was recycled from either our condo living room or spare bedroom/office so it might look a bit familiar. Pair those items with a fresh coat of Ben Moore paint in Mt. Rainier Grey, and you have yourself a spiffy new room!

I’ve always been a bit torn about forking over the $$$ for Ben Moore paint but I haven’t had good luck with Lowe’s or The Home Depot matching a paint swatch of theirs yet. The color choices at Ben Moore are just so mind blowing…I go to the other home improvement stores and it’s always such a disappointment. I’ve found that our smaller rooms only take 1 gallon of paint so I’ve been able to justify it to myself šŸ™‚ I’d rather pay a few extra bucks for a color I’m obsessed about vs. settling on something that is OK.

I still need to paint the window trim and closet door (not shown) in white, add a light fixture AND eventually add some new flooring, but for now, it’s lookin’ mighty fine! I’m also glad my picture collage found a good home too since it did not work out in the hallway. More on that later…….

  • Paint walls
  • Paint wood trim & closet door white
  • New blinds
  • New light fixture
  • Add art
  • Update flooring
Boring before.

Amazing after!

ļ»æ
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Front porch preview

 

With all of the guests coming over last weekend, I knew I wanted to give our front porch a bit of a holiday update. I’d been pinning away for the past few weeks and had all sorts of ideas in my head. And after painting the front door that bright yellow, I knew it’d be a great base for a fall makeover.

I was all hell bent on making my own fall wreath, but by the time I got home from work, cooked dinner and walked the dog, I was in no mood for crafting. I drug my butt to Michael’s anyways and found this fun feathered thang. Throw in a 40% off coupon and I didn’t feel so bad about not DIYing.

I also picked up two small pumpkins to create those Mr. &Mrs. ones. A few shaky brushstrokes later with black acrylic paint and they were good to go. I had read about printing out templates, spray glueing them to the pumpkins, etc. but I just free handed these babies saving myself probably 5 or 6 steps! I’m not sure how the paint would hold up on an uncovered porch with rain, but they seem fine enough when covered.

The vintage box actually came from our storage shed. I’ve got quite a few cool looking ones – real cobwebs and all! – left by the previous homeowner. Add a few gourds – some spray painted gold – and you’ve got yourself a happenin’ holiday front porch!

How are your garnishing your ghoulish front porch this year? Are you a total DIYer or do you cut a few corners like I do?

 

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Etsy-spree.

Been on an Etsy shopping spree lately…I’ve always loved to window shop on their site, but for some reason I’ve been pullin’ the trigger on way more purchases these days. I keep telling myself that it’s OK since I’m supporting those small, independent businesses šŸ™‚ 

Mr. & Mrs. Mugs from The Printed Surface
Ummmm…how much fun are these? Tots going to use them in our engagement photos. The fiance is a total tea dude – these are just too good to pass up!

Custom Return Address Stamp from Yellowfishpaperie
Now that we are officially back to one home, I thought we’d better step up our addressin’ game and get one of these bad boys. It’ll make it way easier to address those wedding thank you cards šŸ™‚

Everyday I’m Hustling Pillow from Michelle Dwight Designs
Saw this as part of a living room on Pinterest the other month and I’ve been mad about this pillow ever since. A bit steep in price (it doesn’t even include the actual pillow), but oh so much fun! One day, it’s going to be featured in our living room…..

What have been your favorite finds on Etsy lately?

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