A Living Room I Love Living In!

And finally, the "accent" wall had to go. I, unfortunately, picked such a light blue color that it was washed out during the day. So, I decided to go bold. I actually picked the *middle* color on the paint chip. (Gasp!)

Oh, and here's the link to the original Living Room when we moved in: LINK

Even though the husband was convinced that "Courtyard Shadow" was gray, I knew he would love it once out living room was one solid color. And I was right!

Oh! And because my MIL was as sick of seeing all the TV wires as I was, she came to the door with this!

The first thing my cat had to do was make a little garden apartment for himself on the bottom shelf.

See my record player and lamp that came with the house? Well, I'm just glad I finally found a paint color that made me not mind the husband's favorite lamp so much.

Oh! And remember the hooks I made months ago? Well I finally hung it on the wall! And, get this, I hung keys on it!

Let The Painting Begin!

Just taking a break from what will now be referred to as Crazy Painting Week. But wanted to update to let you know there's a big post coming. My Facebook statuses (stati?) for the past few days have been:

"Had to cancel my sword-swallowing performance for this afternoon, as well as my fire-breathing rehearsal this evening. (Ticket money will be reimbursed.) Damn, this baby sure is picky about its in-utero activities! Guess I'm painting all day again!"

"'No, I don't think nesting is real...by the way, I'm repainting, um, everything.'"

Throwing Our Coats on the Furniture is Getting Boring

I received these coat hooks from Lenny's Nana last year and they just sat in my hall closet, feeling sad and lonely. Our coats were usually flung on the chair facing the front door.

After a few coats of spray paint...

And some Mod Podge and Paper...

Can't wait to hang them up!

When the husband saw them last night, he said "Oh! These came out so nice! I love squares!"

Oh dear...

He loves squares, and I love circles. Should I be worried? Are we incompatible?

Circle Table

About a year ago, Lenny and I found a $30 corner desk at Christmas Tree Shop. It was  a stain of wood we normally wouldn't buy, but for the price, we figured we'd make an exception. After using it as a TV stand, I rearranged the furniture one night and it became our entrance table. The space underneath is perfect for our shoes and bags to keep out of the way, and it's normally cluttered with mail on a weekly basis now.

Well, in between waiting for something to dry during my Crazy Craft Weekend (as it has now come to be known), I got creative with the Martha Stewart Circle Cutter. Oh, I love that thing, I really do. I used the blade I had been using all weekend, as I figured it was probably starting to get dull anyway and would have to be replaced.

I started making circles on the table itself.

After making the circles, I dabbed a little light blue paint on a paper towel and rubbed it around the circles, then wiped the excess off with a clean paper towel.

 

And I was left with blue circles all over the table!

 

I wiped any paint stains on the table with Orange Glow wood cleaner, which seemed to do the trick to get rid of the blue paint outside the circles, leaving the paint inside intact.

 

I decided I needed more circles, so I repeated the process and ended up with having a table we were "just OK with" to having such a great accent piece.

  

  

(Don't mind the mess around the table; quickly following my Crazy Crafting Weekend  was a huge clean before my husband got home from National Guard. I swear, our house isn't normally in shambles to this point.)

Don't Even Get Me Started on Throw Pillows...

Could someone please explain to me why decorative pillows cost so much? I don't agree with spending more than $6 on a throw pillow, I don't care how well it accents the decor.

I decided to take matters into my own hands. While at the craft store, I purchased some fabric discards that had the blue and brown circles I loved. (About $5 for a bundle of four 12"x18".)

Once I layed out the fabric against the pillow, though, I realized it was a little too short. So I decided to have a flashback to my 8th grade home ec class and make a patchwork pillow.

 

Using some coordinating fabric ($2  sheets from Wal-Mart, no joke!), I began cutting. Of course, the cat had to investigate.

 

(Yes, that is the WWE Encyclopedia, which makes an excellent weight when cutting fabric.)

I was kind of worn out after crafting all weekend, I didn't feel like making exact measurements and, instead, folding pieces of fabric into right angles to make squares.

 

After sewing a row together, I sewed the original fabric with the brown strip, using an iron to flatten out the inner seams.

Following that, I sewed my strip of sewn together squares to the top to add even more length, figuring I would cut it later.

After putting together a make-shift backing out of more brown sheets, I inserted the original pillow inside and squished around the stuffing to even it out. I was very pleased with the result, as I didn't want it to look too patchwork-y, and I loved the geometric aspect of how the squares and stripes turned out.

Covered Lightswitches

After setting the pictures, my tray still wasn't dry yet. So, I killed even more time by putting fabric over my boring light switches.

I had some leftover fabric from a shirt I made, which happened to go with my circle motif. I cut the fabric around the outline of the light switch, leaving some excess to fold over.

I mixed some Mod Podge and water and coated both sides of the fabric before laying it on the switch.

I went over the front with a scraper to get rid of any air bubbles.

Than I did the same with the back, adding a little more glue.

I cut squares out of the corners so there wouldn't be a lot of excess, then clamped the sides so they would dry easily to the back.

When the Mod Podge was somewhat dry, I used an Xacto Knife to cut Xs into the holes for the screws and the switch, then folded them in, added more Mod Podge, scraped them down, and used a bottle of glue to hold the pieces down flat.

Before putting the plates on, I painted the switches themselves a dark shade of blue with some acrylic paint to coordinate.

While I was waiting for everything to dry, I had a glass of wine. (This is a very important step!)

Finally, I put the switch plates back on and stood back to marvel at my work.

Circle Tray

For years, I've had a thing for circles as a favorite pattern. I'm naturally drawn to them. I decided I would love a room with a circle motif. Well, I didn't really come up with the idea out of nowhere. My mother-in-law and I went to look at furniture one day and I found the perfect couch, which came in a set with a chair with brown and tan circles, with some hints of blue. At first site, I thought it was too much detail...but I had been safe and plain in my major purchases, thinking a blank canvas would be best. I took a chance and got the circle chair.

Needless to say, I love the chair and it became my inspiration for a circle decor, somewhat modern, but with a retro vibe enough to go with the 1928 molding. But, once I started on the circle motif, I couldn't stop. I did little things here and there, like stenciling a lamp shade and painting a table with circles (but, as soon as I had to clean it, the circles came right off). But, this weekend, I went circle-nuts.

I bought a wooden tray at the craft shop I wanted for my coffee table.

First, I painted it a blue my husband thought he hated (then it dried and he "didn't mind it as much").

(Yeah, I painted my initials into the first coat...)

After the second coat, I cut scrapbooking paper into strips and circles and used Mod Podge to decoupage it to the tray.

With a glue gun and some spare ribbon, I wrapped the handles, just to add that finishing touch.

More weekend circle fun to come!