Gallery Walls

Gallery walls are everywhere right now and thankfully don't look so much like Grandma's house.  I have a mini gallery wall in my bedroom.

I think the most important thing is to use pictures and things that are special to you.  I love my New York drawing.  I bought it from a street artist the first time I went to NYC on the Brooklyn Bridge and the framed scarf is painted silk a friend from Thailand sent me.  The pictures are from different times ranging from high school to now and they are all of great days that I'll never forget.  The pillow is completely random, I thought it was funny bought it and then had no idea what to do with it so there it sits.

 

Now that I have done my mini wall I think I'm ready for the big leagues and a full out gallery wall. 

I was planning to do our hallway, but I am digging these that help camouflage the TV now.

via Little Green Notebook

 

Via Brooklyn Limestone

via Brooklyn Limestone

 

 

I really like both, but I think I prefer the looser look and a mix of frames.  I think that will be more difficult though.  It's one of those things that looks effortless and like you just flung them up on the wall, but actually takes a lot of thought and planning to look good. 

 

I like the mix of modern and traditional here.

via

 

I love this one it looks really home-y and I think the white mats give your eye a place to rest.

Pottery Barn

 

Love how they mixed in different elements like the necklace here.

via

 

I can't wait to get started on mine.  Erin and I have very few pictures up in our house.  Mainly because we took out all the walls and there is no where to hang them!  Adding some pictures will really help make our house feel more like home.

Ginger Jar Lamps

By now you all know that I am cheap frugal.  So when these ginger jar lamps were left when we moved in I had to at least try to make them work.

As you can see, they were mismatched so I spray painted the cream one white and then sprayed it with a coat of clear lacquer.  They have gradually evolved over time from mismatched bases they graduated to matching white shades. 

 

But is was definitely waaay to much white and kinda blah.   So I dip dyed them grey
to get a softer tone.

 

They stayed like this for a while until I decided they still needed a little more oomph and added a burgundy ribbon trim.

I love the way they are now and the best part is they two of them cost less than $25 bucks!

Pillow Tutorial

I finally put together a tutorial of the pillows I showed you a few weeks ago.  They are so simple to make.  I looked for the perfect floral FOR. E. VER. and finally gave up the search.  The colors I wanted were impossible to find or the pattern looked like Grandma's couch.  I found a fuschia and burgandy pattern that I liked.

I had a 18 inch pillow insert.  I don't like for the pillow case to be loose so I cut my fabric 1 inch smaller than the form.  So for an 18 inch pillow form I cut two 17 in squares of fabric. 

The most important step is to iron everything.  I ironed the two squares and then ironed a half inch seam on one side of each.

 

Put together the right sides and the ironed seams together

 

Sew a half inch seam on each side except for the one with the ironed seam.

 

Clip the corners so it will be neat when you invert it.

Sorry for the terrible picture.

Flip the pillow case inside out.  I use a pen or pencil to push the corners out and then put in the pillow form.
Pin together the bottom and sew, this time I used a 1/4 inch seam.

And you are done!

 

 

Once you get the hang of it, it only takes a few minutes to whip one up.

Nate Berkus for Target

 I think everyone loves Nate Berkus; he has such great style. His new line for Target has been all over the internet. Times like this make me so sad we don't have a Target

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I loooove this lamp.  It's modern and funky, but not to stark.

 

 

I really kinda like this rams head too. 

It reminds me of this table I have had pinned forever.

 

It's a little random, but I love it.  I saw the Nate Berkus rams head and wondered if I could DIY it, but his are tiny.

 

 

I am strangely drawn to this lacquered tortoise shell.

 

 

 

The real deal seems to be everywhere these days



 

 

Antique Settee

This settee was at a thrift store in town.  It is not in good shape (there was actually a sign on it that said not to sit), but I think it will be perfect for our dining room.  Minus the old floral fabric of course.  My plan is to strip it, reupholster and possibly add brass casters.

I actually wouldn't hate the old floral pattern if it didn't smell like an old lady and have a million years of dust on it.  Notice it has been relegated to the garage until it's done.  Do you think I've lost my mind or can you see it?

Medicine Cabinet

Sorry for the lapse in posting; the computer had to be fixed.  I love the way the bathroom has turned out so far.  I especially love the pedestal sink.  It is such a tiny room and this opens up the space.

But now, I'm at a stand still.  I have now painted my medicine cabinet three times and none of them were right.  It was dark grey first, then a copper penny color.  It was supposed to be metallic, but it wasn't at all and just looked wonky.  Then I decided to try the same color white as the trim.  At this point the paint was way to thick and streaky.  So THEN I sanded and distressed it.

The distressed look is the best so far, but I am still not in love.  I really like this wood framed mirror; I am brainstorming ways to make this work.

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What do you think?

Bedroom before

I got a little ahead of myself and forgot to show you what I was starting with in my room.  Don't you love that hunting border and the yucky floors.  It was far from pretty.

Ick.  Can't wait to share the after.   I have about five million projects to finish from now until then.

Bedroom Inspiration

 

I showed you all my wall color yesterday.  It's an electric blue, I think the name of it was actually called Swimming Pool.  To be honest, I really just had no idea what other color to use that would work with my painting.  I already had a white duvet and made white curtains, then I had white tables and lamps.  I liked the brightness but it was too stark.  I remembered seeing this interior a while ago and decided to use it as my inspiration.  It's warm and grown up while still being fun.

 

 

via

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It's my own little Disney dream room :)  Bright and funky.

Side tables

I got a pair of these side tables a while ago at a great thrift sale.  I bought so much stuff it will take me forever to redo it all!  These were nothing special when I bought them and a little dated, but I liked the classic shape.

I removed the hardware, sanded them and spray painted them white for my bedroom. 

 

As you can tell, I went with a bright color in my room.  My room was actually one of the first ones I painted.  Erin was insisting everything be beige at the time so I went with an electric blue in my room.  Ahh sisterly love :)   I think the classic style of the table keeps it from getting to teeny bopper. 

 

Linked to Saturday Nite Special http://www.funkyjunkinteriors.net/

 

Shower curtain

You got a sneak preview of my shower curtain last week.  It was supposed to be a simple project, but it ended up taking forever. 

I found little fleur de lis clips on clearance at Hobby Lobby and wanted to use them.  I thought they would look best with a butterfly pleat curtain and here is where the trouble begins.  I looked everywhere for butterfly pleat tape to no avail.  You can find it online, but I really didn't want to wait for it.  I did find a regular pleat tape at Hancock's though (on clearance for 10 cents a yard!) so I decided to try and make it work. 

I measured out the length and width of my fabric and sewed the pleat tape across the top following the directions.  Here's where I threw out the pinch pleat directions.  I really only used it to help me get neat and even pleats.  I gathered five pleats and stitched them together then I skipped the next four and left them flat.  So I had to hand stitch each pleat which took for-e-ver at least all my favorite shows are on!

 This room is so tiny it's impossible to photograph.  I decided to paint the walls a cognac color called Georgian Leather.  It's not quite as pumpkin-y as it looks in the pictures.  My imperial trellis plan failed so I pulled the cognac color from the details in the rug.  Although I must admit I've been considering giving the trellis another go... I'm a glutton for punishment.

 

The full length view. 

 

 

Artsy

I love having original art in our home, I try to buy pieces I love if I can afford it.  It's not always an option for me though.  I wanted something huge for my bedroom in the apartment to serve as the headboard.

I bought the biggest canvas Hobby Lobby had and got to work.  I didn't even get to hang it on the wall though; we bought our house pretty much as soon as I finished it.

 

I decided to use it as the basis for my bedroom.  I'm thinking the walls are going to be swimming pool blue.  It will probably take a few testers to get that color right :)

 

The painting is no where close to perfect, but I really like it.  All my art projects are not such a success though.  This Georgia O'keefe inspired one didn't turn out so hot.

 

Last week

Things have been crazy around here lately.  My level of busy-ness has reached new heights.  Here's just a few of the things I had going on last week.  Believe me there was much much more, that didn't get photographed.

 

I was so grateful to be off today, perk's of working at a bank :).