It's a bird!

 Inspiration:

Let's take a closer look:

 Wall art:

Canvas Makeover

See that big, red painting above the couch? Well... I never loved it when we inherited it. But, it worked in our family room for the time being. And then I created this to go above the couch:

So I was contemplating putting that big, red painting in the D.I. trailer because odds are, we wouldn't be able to sell it for $10 on Craigslist if we wanted to. And then my mom said that I could just paint over it. Genius! 

...and then I got overwhelmed because, let's face it, it's a really big canvas. I decided on a stencil pattern. Can't go wrong with that, eh?

I told Max that I would be retouching that painting for a long time! You notice all the "lighter" and "darker" spots on the canvas in the daylight. Otherwise, simple and easy. I can't believe some people do this on entire walls, that's a LOT of tracing and painting... did I mention that's a lot of tracing and painting?

Art

It's only the beginning.

Bistro Challenge: Check!

BEGINNING:

MIDDLE:

 The paint color is a light grey.

END:

 Can you see the detailed glazing?

The cushions are brighter than they appear here in the evening. The color scheme works, trust me!

I finished before this weekend like I wanted! And I'm happy with it!

The boards are still crooked which is why I decided to glaze it and bring out the nooks and crannies of the table and seats.  Bring out the perfection in it's imperfections kind of thing. Story: I was asking an associate at Lowe's about glazing products and he responded, "Not to be rude or anything, but that's going out of style." I couldn't believe he was saying that. Who thinks of saying that?! I said, nicely, that it actually STILL is a great technique, especially for beaten up, hand-me-down furniture. I didn't really take his opinion seriously... Neither should you.

The cushions are from World Market. Super cute and cheap!!! I love accessories. They make it so nice. The candle bird cage is from Pier 1 on clearance. It sets such a nice atmosphere in the evening. And I LOVE candles...remember I told you that? 


And the lovely white and red petunia flower box! I LOVE them. I cant wait for them to bloom and grow. It softens the balcony and contributes to the mood of the setting. I love projects!

Bistro Challenge

 I roamed around quite a bit yesterday searching for an inexpensive table and chairs for our balcony. I've wanted to make it a nice sitting area so we could enjoy it more! Well, everything I liked was too expensive and everything cheap, I didn't like.

My brother and sister in-laws had this little Bistro set sitting outside in their backyard:

As you can see, it's seen better days. It sat all winter long out in that backyard and has paint chipping, loose boards, caving seat boards, and it even had a wasps nest under one of the seats. I'm happy they were going to throw it out because I was more than willing to take it off their hands!

So this is my challenge. To restore this Bistro set to its formal "cuteness" only cuter because it won't be black anymore... I'm hoping I can get it done before this weekend when all of my Getz family gets in town!

Resourceful

We were given some framed art that I could have cared less for. We planned on selling these, along with other items at the Broadstone Garage sales, but that didn't happen. Today, I decided I could make some use of those framed art pieces since they were just sitting in our apartment.

I had to rip the backing off, it was all glued on and stapled pretty good.

This was the original artwork. Do you get why I could have cared less? 

 The original artwork was glued onto the matting really well, so I took out my white acrylic paint (finally putting a use to it!), and painted around the border so that the new "artwork" would cover up the rest.

Tah-dah!

The artwork I used was actually old scrapbook paper I had, also collecting dust amongst other things, ha. I think it turned out pretty good, plus we now have something to go above the bed until we get really rich and can actually get something nice above it (insert sarcasm). The good thing is, I can switch out that paper for other scrapbook paper from Michaels. NICE! A free project that has versatility! AWE-some.

Painting the Dresser

Max and I inherited a dresser. An ugly one. So this afternoon, a spur moment decision came to me...I'm going to paint it! Yes, clothes are thrown everywhere in the room. Hopefully, Max won't feel so overwhelmed after coming home from a long day at work.... BUT, it will be better in the end.

You see, because the dresser was kind of an eye sore, I moved it into our walk-in closet. At the time I thought it was a genius idea. All the clothes stay in the closet domain instead of out in the main room, right? Brilliant concept. I hate when the drawers are not shut all the way due to the clothes sticking out of them, which made the main room always look so sloppy...at least in the closet it was hidden. It was a good idea... for awhile.

But now the closet is smaller and the clothes keep falling to the floor (albeit they are mostly mine). Max's closet space got super squished since all our clothes hung on the same rod (you know, since the dresser was in there and all). Worst yet, when we are BOTH in their trying to get into the dresser or pick clothes off hangers or even get to the hampers, it gets cramped and we're knockin' elbows!

Like I said, it will be better in the end. Max will get his own rod again and more space for all his dress shirts. I can store many of my art/craft supplies in the closet with the dresser gone and the room will get a new look because I'm sure I'll be rearranging at least a little bit.

Off to Home Depot for another can of paint!