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!

Beautiful Front Porch

While waiting for paint to dry, the urge to paint (and inhale paint fumes, apparently) was hard to suppress. I saved this nightstand from my in-laws' curb about a year ago. Finally, I decided to use it outside. But, first, I had to paint it.

I needed to fix the back that was falling off. I have to say, that box of 400 Finishing Nails I bought just keep coming in handy!

After a light sanding, I began with the four coats of white matte spray paint.

When it was finished, I was so excited to put it on my porch with my adorable Christmas Tree Shop lantern on top.

I ended up loving the lantern so much, I bought bigger ones to hang from the planters' hooks--since my thumb is officially black and I've concluded I cannot care for a plant...at all.

The Bathroom Is Finished!

Welcome to the crazy week that started with a few paint chips and excess energy.

A few weeks ago, I decided my first floor needed to be finished. I wanted to have a first floor that was done. DONE...as in no more "I'll get around to it."

What started it was the need to paint the bathroom, finally.

After my husband finished with the Wainscoting a few weeks ago, we decided on a color. And, I swear, it's the happiest shade of blue (almost a teal), actually.

Oh, and here's the BEFORE pictures.

And now, may I present my bathroom!

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.'"

Baby Steps

I feel like I've lost almost a week of my life to this flu. I watched TV the entire time I was sick. Actually, scratch that, I woke up, put on something I'd want to watch, fall asleep after five minutes and repeat the process every four or five hours. I'm finally feeling better and I'm trying to catch up on lost time today. So I actually ventured out of the house and went (where else?) the craft store and the dollar store.

First, I had seen these made on a few Web sites now, but I loved the idea (and the frugality of it), I had to make my own. I didn't take pictures of the steps, but I will tell you it involved a candle stick holder, a little hurricane vase, some glass frosting spray paint and a hot glue gun. Then I added a ribbon and stuck a candle in it for instant Christmas decorations!

Where I Got The Idea

And Here

And my other project is in the dryer as we speak: a stamped-print shirt. Oh, how freakin' cute is this?

My friend, who watched me haphazardly place the stamps said, "You know you just put owls on your boobs, right?" Some quick thinking and I answered her with "Well, they're called 'hooters' for a reason, right?" Then I realized how perverted my shirt was. Oh well, it was just the prototype to see how I liked the look.

But look at how cute these owls are! I love this stamp.

The instructions on setting the paint are below.

LINK

"I Can Make That!"

So, even though Apartment Therapy did not hire me as a blogger, I can't hold it against them. I'm sure there were TONS of applicants. But, I still maintain that a lot of the stuff they push on their Web site could be handmade, rather than purchased. With that said, I exclaimed the weekly "I can make that!" when seeing this.

Apartment Therapy LINK

Bank/Keyholder LINK

I am determined to create something with this in mind. Actually, when I was at Jo-Ann's yesterday (yeah, it was pay day, where else would I be?), I saw something I may be able to work with. But, sorry, $32 for this? I love it and all, but $32?

I Passed! I Passed!

OK, um, maybe not "passed", per say. But I did take a quiz and I pretty much got what I think I deserved. And, by quiz, I mean this gem from HomeGoods (ahh, my splurge store-because I trick myself into buying more because of the good deals) and Deborah Neddleman founding editor-in-chief of the late (great) magazine, Domino.

But, here were my results on what type of decorator I am:

Emily, you are an EARTHY CASUAL

You're interested in creating a welcoming home where people feel comfortable and happiness flourishes. You appreciate the warmth and individuality of natural materials and handcrafted things and are inspired by colors and forms from nature. You love mixing up different textures and are sensitive to the tactile qualities of objects. Your style is grounded and solid, not flighty or frilly. And you are never taken in by the trend of the moment.

You value creativity. You are stylish and fun loving, and can be an inspiration to others. You have a natural sense of drama, and you know you have to be willing to take risks—whether with colors, finishes, furniture choices, or ideas—for your home to stand out. Your home can be happy and lively and the place all of your friends want to be.

As I read it, I wasn't saying "duh" as much as I was saying "thank you! Finally someone gets it!"

Oh, and here's the color pallet suggested for my home.

I'm hoping the dark color in the upper left is a chocolate brown, rather than a black because, OK here it is, I'm afraid to work with black. Like, petrified of black furniture looking too cold and dark and intimidating. And, funnily enough, some of my favorite pieces in other home blogs I've seen are black! But, no, I can't commit. Maybe black furniture is like that guy who you think is out of your league in high school, and you work yourself up so much about him you never even attempt to talk to him. Then, one day, you find out he's a nice guy. A swell guy. A guy you can be friends with. And somehow the fear of talking to him goes away instantly. (Don't really know where that analogy came from, but it makes sense to me.)

Once again, here's the LINK.

One More Thing

Oh! And the last Halloween decoration I added were these little pumpkins.

And, with the addition of puff paint, I added some 3D designs.

After they dried, I spray painted them.

And, of course, I forgot to take a picture of the finished pumpkins. But, they were lovely. Because they were live pumpkins, I had to throw them away.

The Party

So, somehow I started a tradition of throwing a Halloween party. I've done it three years now. But this year, I was so happy to be able to show off my decorations! As you've seen most of them, I wanted to show some final pictures, now that most are packed away for next year.

And this is my husband, who dressed as his inner child (really, an excuse to wear his footie pajamas I got him last year).

Stone Candlestick Holders

I love the look the stone spray paint offers. LOVE IT! My husband now gets mad when I use it because he enjoys it so much, he thinks it's his to use. But I used it anyway.

On my trip to the dollar store this week, I bought regular glass candlestick holders.

I don't think I would have looked twice at them, but I began scouring the store for stuff to use the spray paint on because I still had a lot of it. When I came across these, I knew they'd be perfect.

And, in my humble opinion, I believe I was right.

The candles are actually red, but spray painted black so when they burn, they'll have a bleeding effect. Oh, I can't wait until Saturday!

Christmas Decorations for Halloween

Last week when I went to the dollar store, they were still stockpiled with Halloween goodies. When I went this week, however, Christmas had arrived, leaving only a few sad shelves of paper plates with pumpkins and ghosts on them.

Ha! Like that would stop me!

Found some cute birds that would go on a Christmas tree.

Sorry, but birds do not represent Christmas to me. They are dirty creatures. Dirty, I tell you! And, one of them stole my bagel once while I was walking down the boardwalk in Atlantic City. Flew right by my head to do so. OK, maybe not any bird that looks like the ones pictured...but my dislike for any member of the bagel snatcher's species are not nice!

See? Even Beth and Buster know of their evil!

Anyway, I'm on a spray painting kick lately. So, what did I do? I brought the evil out in these birds!

Even the feathered tail looked even more evil with the weird spray paint effect.

I used some magenta nail polish on their eyes to really bring out the evil and my chandelier is now evil-ized!

Oh, my Halloween dining room is really turning out to be great!

Oh! I Keep Forgetting!

I ran out of spray paint, but I finished one of the end tables I bought a few weeks ago. And I love it. I'll love it even more when its mate is done.

I almost hate to admit it, but at the same time I have a love/hate relationship with her. The paper is from a Martha Stewart collection I found on clearance at Wal-Mart.

You can see a little hint of it in the staging of my photography project.

Oh, and I absolutely love those specialty scissors!

Point and Shoot. I Can Do That!

I consider myself a less-than-amateur photographer. At the same time, I consider myself a professional picture taker. I took one photography class in high school and I don't really remember a lot from it, other than the smell of the darkroom chemicals, which I came to appreciate. But when I do take photos, I'll catch them at an awkward angle, or I'll haphazardly find some good uses of light. Most of these accidents occur when I'm trying to balance a drink in one hand, and take the picture with the other.

I decided to stage some fun shots around an old book of poetry, including Poe's "The Raven", I found at the library, and spice them up for Halloween.

The wine with the funky label I happened to find the week before. And I used the leftover fabric from Lenny's cape as a backdrop.

After taking the pictures, I cropped and edited them with the photo software on the Costco Web site, where I then ordered the prints.

Here's what the full staging area looks like. Scotch tape holding the fabric up, and a corner of it tied to a chair. Oh, how classy.

I used scrapbooking scissors to cut the edges of some scrapbooking paper and black mat, then some spray adhesive to get the layered look.

I found some tea light holders at Ocean State Job Lot for $1 each. They used to have stained glass decorations on the back, but most of them had been stolen. It was a perfect holder for the pictures, especially since I knew I would be using battery-operated tea lights, so there would be no fear of fire.

(Ahh, look at that crafting mess all over my dining room. That only means one thing: It was a successful craft weekend.)