Week 28 Project

Dining room wall before:

Dining room wall after:

Its really hard to take a pic of a gallery wall without glare...

 

Looks like you get a glimpse of the Christmas decor too!

I've been looking at "gallery walls" for months and months.

My wall needed more.

 

I had the basic idea before but it just wasn't substantial enough for the size of the wall. I also have been in the mood to simplify. I know, kind of opposing ideas, but hear me out.
I have picture frames of friends and family all over the house. I have a hard time once I decided a picture is frame worthy, to ever switch out the picture. And so the frames just kept adding up and spreading throughout the house. There was a picture frame on every surface in the house. It was like a scavenger hunt. Your eye never had anywhere to rest. Soooo, I wrangled them all up and filled out that wall. I used some art too, just to make it more eclectic. (Which is one of my favorite things and words. My high school portfolio was even titled The Eclectic Ladybug) I think it fills the wall nicely. I also like that it "simplifies" the rest of the house; no longer is the rest of the house hoarding picture frames. Now just this one wall gets to hoard!

Gallery Wall Done.

Week 27 Project

I took Cy up to Columbus is visit Robert at OSU this weekend.

I'm actually standing two stairs higher than they are in this pic. How unfair!

I sent Mary a text to let her know we were coming up and see if they could find some time for the Overbeck kids. We booked some Ionno time on Sunday and in her reply message she requested a necklace board like the one I have in my room for Ri!

Before we left to go buy supplies, I noticed that Ri had changed into her shirt  that I made earlier this year! I don't know if she wears it often, but I love that she was rockin' it on Sunday!

This was a super easy project since I had done it before.
Ri picked out the spray paint; pink, of course!
We did make one modification, due to Maria's father. My board used push pins. It works for me, but I'm not in grade school with a five year old brother. The idea of them falling out and being on the floor where the family often walks barefoot, didn't sit well with Jon. I thought about it and while I won't say he was right (if you know Jon, you'd know why), but I will say he wasn't wrong... We used 3M Command hooks. They were a great option now that the come with clear adhesive. We even used them to hang the board and the "GirlsRock" sign. No nail holes! I've used Command products to hang a lot of items in my house, especially now that I have ancient plaster walls. And no, 3M isn't paying for this post, although that would be awesome... 

Maria handed me her necklaces and directed where they should be hung one by one.

So easy, so fun.

Love spending time with the Ionnos!!!

Ri's necklace board, Done!

A Day with the brothers and the Ionnos!

Week 26 Project

Yet another trip to Valley Thrift with Cy lead to the following conversation:

"Laura, I need some shorts"
"What kind of shorts?"
"Khaki, like dressy, but not like uniform shorts"
"Um, yeah, most of those that would fit you, will look like cargo shorts"
"Yeah or they'll be way too short on me"
"Suck. You know we could always buy a pair of pants that fit your waist and then adjust the length"
"Yeah, cool"

Wait, did I say "We"?!?,  what was I thinking?

So "We" bought some pants. I don't have a before shot of Cy wearing them. I soooo wish I did. They would have hit him maybe four inches above his ankle with a super awesome taper. Dang.

(Side Note: Cy is 6'4" and really skinny, I think he has like a 34" waist)

I cut them off.

I hemmed them up, and promptly delivered them two month later...in September...

Pants turned shorts, Done.

Week 25 Project

A simple "inherited" chair
Fabric already in the stash
Left over spray paint (and a trip to the store for an extra can)

Before and After!

Bedroom Chair Makeover, Done!



Week 24 Project

My brother Cy is the artist in the family. His strengths include drawing and painting. My drawing skills peaked in 3rd grade. So, I solicited his skills in drawing some patterns for me.






Simple shapes, but I wouldn't have been able to do them. (Couldn't find the right light, sorry for the bad pic)





I used some of my fabric stash and created some cute little 2D stuffed animals. I love their cuddle factor! I have a nice button collection, but since I'm making these for little bitty people I didn't want their to be a chocking hazard.



Stuffed animals friends, Done!

Week 23 Project

I often get lost in google image searches. It's bad. I won't even remember what I began searching for and then I'll notice its two hours later. But, I gotta tell ya, I find some pretty cool stuff.
I will not be sharing the inspiration photo for this project. Mine turned out nothing like the photo I saw and I originally thought I'd chuck the whole thing. I hated it compared to the original. However, the thing has been in my living room for over a month now, and its starting to grow on me.


As is becoming usually, I started this project with a trip to Vally Thrift.This odd little lamp came home with me.


 Then I picked up 1500 zip ties, floral wire and two cans of spray paint from the local home improvement warehouse. I can home and tore up the lamp shade and started constructing a "birdcage".

Lots of time spray painting and zip-tieing and this little spot in the living room went from looking like this...


 to this.

Here's a close- up of the shade when its on.

And here's what it looks like when the lamp is off. I had originally put the zip-tie shade on the lamp that was in the corner, but the shinny-newness of it didn't jiv well with the retro-y shade. So I pulled an old lamp table up out of the basement and it works soooo much better.

Zip-tie lamp shade, Done.

Week 22 Project

This is my TV.

 Its probably my least favorite corner of the house. I have two ginormous trees next to the house. They provide wonderful shade and keep the house nice and cool. However, they also have a tenancy to make the interior of the house kind of dark. When I moved in, I  painted the yellow walls this lovely grey and soon realized a lighter grey would have been a better choice, but I love the color and am pretty much over the idea of painting any more walls for a while.
The combination of the shaded house, darkish walls and black TV on black TV stand created a bit of a black whole in that corner (I took this pic with all the lights turned on, on one of the sunniest days of the week) 

The tuesday before last I made up my mind to do something about this dark issue of mine...

Last Saturday I had a date with my youngest brother, Cy, to go to the Cincinnati Art Meuseum.We had a lot of fun at the art museum in Denver when we went out to visit my sister and so it was time to explore a little closer to home. The art museum was really cool and really cheap (free!) We made a pit stop on the way home at Valley Thrift. I've mentioned Valley Thrift before and this probably won't be the last time you hear about it.  Cy is a huge thrift-er and loves finding unique items there and apparently high school-ers are into that kinda thing these days (geez, that makes me sound old) He managed to find a pair of khakis (that I'll turn into shorts for him) a Reds t-shirt, and  a cor-dory shirt(that you'll just have to see a picture of some time).

I planned on buying a fabulous pair of jeans without trying them on, like my friend Mindy, but no such luck for this chick. I walked in the door and found something I immediately knew I was taking home.  I wasn't sure it would fit in my car and I wasn't sure I wanted to spend $25 at the thrift store on one item. I had them hold it for me in the back and then, then, I saw something that bumped that 1st beauty right outta the running!

Yep, I bought an old console radio. The price tag almost stopped me, but Cy convinced me that the detail work was worth the price.

This British beauty (seriously, it was manufactured in England) was equiped for 8-tracks, records, AM and FM radio! Now, I've never seen an 8-track so I don't know if that part still works, but the radio works! The sound was actually pretty good. Too bad my TV will be on top and I won't be playing her.

Since I spent sooooo much on the actual radio, I wanted to see if I could do the rest without spending much. I did end up buying an extra can of white spray paint. I didn't have enough on hand and the idea of priming all the detail work by hand sounded like a pain. With a little leftover wall and Yellow Dresser paint, the project was complete! I should have sanded but didn't and I'm hoping since this won't be a piece that is "used" ( setting cups or books or plates on) it won't be too much of a problem for me. The TV is on top and that where it will stay.

Old radio turned into "new" TV stand, Done!