1/25/11

Painting Project 3

I'm sorry, but for the life of me, I can't seem to find the before shots of this lamp. I have looked EVERYWHERE, but if you use your imagination,  think of a really plain and simple solid white lamp base, and solid white lamp shade. That is what it looked like, and it was a total of about $5 for the both of them from the Goodwill.
 I wanted to change it (of course) so I used craft paint, and just hand painted some branched and leaves that match the mural branches and leaves.
Then I painted the base blue to match the shelf and throw in some more accents of blue. I am pleased with the way it turned out, and it is always nice to have things look like they go together!
~Elisa~

1/22/11

Painting Project 2 (The Mural wall)

I have always wanted a Big Mural on the wall in my babies room, but it has taken me to my third child to get gutsy enough to do it! I have always loved the way it looks in other nursery designs I have seen online, in person, and in many boutiques. My only problem was that I know I wanted a tree, but I also knew I didn't want a tree like every other tree mural I see. White, with lots of branches, and almost looks like cherry blossoms on it. I Love that design and how it looks, but too many people have it, and I kind of like to be dirrerent and original when i can. So... here is what i came up with. I tried my first ree hand design in my girls room  a few months back. I really had a lot of fun, so I decided to do it again. If you have ever painted anything free hand, you'll know that you just kind of get lost in it as you are creating it, and then hope it turns out as you saw it in your head. But is really is just so fun! When i show after pictures of the nursery all finished, I will dig through my old photos and find a picture of what the office once looked like, when the wall was dark green. When I turned it into my craft room, I used the navy blue with white shelves, and loved the way it looked when it was clean, and before it kind of became the storage room of stuff that needs dejunked/ craft room. So, to start this mural wall, I first had to patch the holes of where the shelves where hung. Then I added a fresh coat of blue to most of the wall. (Sorry, no pictures for any of those.)
 After the wall was prepped, I took a smaller paint brush and drew the design I wanted in primer. Then I filled it all in with a larger paint brush.
 Then I went over the primer in the same color paint the ceiling is. I didn't want to paint the ceiling green like the rest of the room, so i decided to make the tree the same color as the celing instead of white so it would blend in. Also, I like that the beige isn't as bright as the white was.
 Then onto the details. I really had no clue what I was doing when I painted the owl,  and now that it is done, I would have done it a little different, but I still like him, and according to my oldest, he is sitting on the branch so no one will take his babies that are in the hole in the tree. Also, he has a name. She named him Who-ha. Not sure where she got it, but it works! It is also hard to see in the picture but the owl is sleeping, so his eyes are closed. and he has eyelashes so you can tell.
 After the owl, I added the leaves. They are the same color green as the other walls in the room. I decided to leave my saying I had up in my craft room, "Do something creative every day" Because it fits well with the mural.Oh, and the owl, and the whole were done with the little $1 bottle of craft paint you can find at walmart or joannes. You don't have to buy a whole can of paint to do the small details. But if you do have a variety of paint leftover from other projects it works well to! That is what I did with the tree!
This picture, if you look closely to the right, you can see the walls that are green. I am no pro at this, and I don't expect anyone to think its that grand, and please keep in mind, I am a beginner, and this was my first big project. But i did have alot of fun doing it, and want to encourage anyone out there to try it if they have been thinking about it. Besides, it's only paint. If you hate it, you can paint right over it, and no one would ever know!
~Elisa~

Painting Project 1

The first painting project was this little bookshelf. It will be where the lamp ends up. along with storybooks, etc. next to the rocker. If you look at the post below, you can barely see it hidden in the messy closet. But it is on the right hand side, and you can kind of see the light oak color it was. Now, its BLUE! I have waited so long to use blue. Honestly, I swore my first one was boy, and was against pink. So my oldests nursery was red/green/yellow garden theme. I loved it and it was cute, but no pink! But when you have little girls who form opinions of their own and decide that their absolute favorite color in the whole wide world is pink, you can't help but incorporate it into their room a little. And the youngest, she just Loves pink so much because her older sister does. So we have plenty of pink around (even though there still isn't tons in their room, they definately have accents of it!). Anyways, enough rambling, we are excited for some blue!

~Elisa~

1/21/11

The Nursery before shots.


Here is a picture you can start thinking of what the after might look like. It can't look much worse! This has been my craft room(sorry so messy!), that will now become my nursery. The closet is beng turned into a craft closet, the walls and furniture are getting a makeover, and the room will look almost completely different. While I am still working on it, and need to get one more picture of the mural I just painted (post to follow soon), this can keep you wondering!

~Elisa~

1/19/11

I'm Back!


Ok, sorry for such a LONG break from my blog. I just have had no motivation to get anything other than taking care of my family and chores done. I know, LAME. But,along with pregnancy comes that shortage of energy. We are moving right along though now. We are about 18 weeks along and just found our we are having a BOY!! We are soo excited since we already have 2 darling girls. And along with the boy,comes lots of ideas for projects, since I only have girl things! And I get to redo a whole room!!!!! So, here is the first of one of my many projects going on at once. We needed a new rocker for the baby's room, but I didn't want to spend much. So i found this rocker on craigslist for $10. Then I bought 2 cans of spray paint to give it a fresh look, and feel a little more clean. Then I recovered it with some fabric I had laying around. Actually it was a duvet cover from Ikea that I LOVED, but my husband wasn't much of a fan. So, I have been keeping it to use for something... and this worked perfect. It has the same colors I will be using in the baby's room, but because it is my chair, I think it is ok to have some flowers.  The back pad  was basically falling down, and all bent up. So I made a big suport piece that follows the curve of the chair,and glued the cushion to it, and then put the cover on. It is much more sturdy now, and comfy! The backing I had was leftover from other projects. So... the grand toal was $10 for the chair + $6.48 for the paint = $16.48.
~Elisa~