Project Office

Here's our next project...

This pile of furniture is about to become our new desk.  We bought it on Craigslist and I was thrilled to find it because I have a very specific vision!  The first step is some white paint, which sounds so simple, but I have a feeling we're going to hate painting when we're done with this!

Warning: Unattractive room pictures below...

Here's our office as it looks now.  It's not that bad, but definitely isn't functional.  There's absolutely no storage and hardly any work space.  It's also the first room you see when you walk into the house, so it needs a little love.

  

I'm so excited to finally have a place to put paperwork, desk supplies, and my computer!  My husband is set on getting all of the furniture primed today, so off I go... 

Chalkboard Engagement Party Art

About a month ago I discovered Dana Tanamachi. If you haven't heard of her, click on the link now!  She does absolutely amazing things with chalk.  Unlike many of my projects, when I saw her work I didn't immediately think, "I can do that!" but I did think "If I can make something that looks even a quarter as good as what she does, I'll be happy." :)

My dearest friend (since we were five!) is getting married this year and we had a little engagement get together this weekend.  I was in charge of decor, so I decided to use my newfound inspiration to create a piece of art.  I took this quote right from one of Dana's pieces, but I designed it differently using a combination of her techniques.

I started with a 2'x3' piece of mdf (from the same board I bought for my dog stencil art) that I painted with chalkboard paint.  I cut out a stencil for the border using tag board so I didn't have to go crazy trying to freehand it!  I sketched the whole thing out beforehand, so I used that as a guide for the writing.  The writing was tricky, not just the spacing and sizing of letters, but the actual process, because I was trying not to erase things as I worked.  Therefore, I was perched on my kitchen island, hovering over the board in some pretty precarious positions!  Great ab workout though!

I think I might be in a chalk art phase now!  Such an inexpensive way to make a big impact!

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Teagan's Travels

   

Chronicles of a Big Girl Room: Pottery Barn Kids Inspired Art

I love the Pottery Barn Kids catalog.  I like to pore over each page in search of inspiration for my girls' rooms and playroom.  Occasionally I'll buy things, but there are times I think, "I can do that!"  Have you seen these $199 lovelies?

(via)

Since Camille's room is dress (princess if you ask her) themed, I immediately wanted to create a piece of art that reflected that.  Enter Photoshop Elements! 

This is the one that's hanging in her room right now, but I also ordered one in lighter colors.  We'll see which one makes the final cut after more elements of her room are in place!

To create this, I opened a 16x20 file in Elements.  I played around with fonts and colors for awhile until I had the text the way I liked it.  I wanted a cute dress as the graphic, but was having a hard time finding one I liked for free, so I ended up buying some digital clip art from this etsy shop.  I had it printed at Costco- 16x20 prints are $5.99!  The frame was tricky.  I wanted to buy it at Target because they were having a sale.  Unfortunately, the 16x20 frames only came in black.  Nothing a little spray paint can't fix! 

I love how it turned out, but more importantly, Camille loves it too!  She thinks her room is actually going to be a boutique though... we'll have to discuss the concept a little more. :) 

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Big Clipboard to Chalkboard

Here's a little before and after of the big clipboard on my mantel.  It started as a well loved artist's clipboard from Goodwill.  There were actually two of them when I bought it and now I'm mad that I didn't buy them both!  At the time I had no idea what I was going to do with the first one though, so it seemed silly to have two.  It was in the garage for awhile being used as a dust pan, so you can see that it's come a long way.

 

The makeover consisted of a good scrubbing and a few coats of chalkboard paint. Pretty simple! I love that I can use it for chalk art, or to display photos, kid art or other fun decor.  

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Not a Spring Mantel

I've always been so envious of other people's nicely decorated mantels.  Up until now we've always had a tv on top of our mantel, therefore no space to decorate!  I was actually still bummed when we moved and once again put our tv on the mantel, until I realized there are two mantels in this house!  I finally got around to decorating the one in the basement, although it's not necessarily springy.  I'm just excited to have it look fairly nice and put together, so we'll see if I get around to changing it up!

Here's the info on each element (I've been looking for an excuse to do this!):

1. Birch tree painting by me.  It's been hanging out in the garage waiting for a home.  2. Old clipboard from Goodwill painted with chalkboard paint and decorated.  I love that I can change it anytime! 3. Wood pedestal from Southern Living at Home.  4. Jute Sphere borrowed from my upstairs display (I need to make a few more!). 5. Skeleton key made using techniques from my Button Initials and my Aluminum Foil Letters. 6. Clock from wuslu.com.  7. Sticks in a metal bucket/vase also from wuslu.com.  It was originally black, but I painted it with some Old White ASCP.

I think that now that I've actually decorated a mantel, I might be able to change it up once in awhile.  I do love the look of seasonal decor!







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