paint chip art

Back in July Jessica Jones of How About Orange posted about using paint chips to make art. There are many versions of paint chip wall art but I liked her geometric triangles the best.

I decided to make one for Michael for Christmas. I grabbed a few paint chips, made a template and started cutting. My triangles looked like they were all the same size but once I started putting them together and found they were not the same size. Close but not exact. It almost looked cool but I knew the imperfections would bug me.

Enter Plan B. I grabbed a 1 1/4" square punch. Punched out a bunch of squares and sliced them in half, corner to corner. Since I only had to make one cut, all the pieces were the exact same size. Whew! The triangles were a different shape then Jessica's but I was okay with that- 'make it your own' and all that. Plus considering the size of the art I was making it was way faster than cutting by hand.

Then came the fun part, making the design. I played around with the triangles until I found a pattern I liked.  I added a second row to check if I liked how the pattern repeated.

Then I prepared my backing paper with some guidelines to keep everything straight. I sprayed the backing paper with spray adhesive and laid out the pattern, keeping the colors completely random.

This part was really quick and it wasn't long before my paper was full!

I put in in a mat and frame I already had and it was done. Michael was really pleased with it and I like that it sort of looks like a mini-quilt.

(uh, just ignore all that crap under the desk. mmm-kay?)

sprucing up the master bath, part two

If you remember last fall I posted about sprucing up the master bath. This is what it looked like after the sprucing:


I did not expect there to be a part two but my General Contractor brother-in-law Jon wanted to get some practice at making concrete counter tops and asked if he could do one for our bathroom. Um, YES, please!

Jon also made concrete counter tops in his master bathroom (his master bathroom is way nicer than mine. I'm a little jealous!). Side note: Jon and Jen are selling their house so if you are local check it out. It's a lovely house.


The new after:


The crappy white counter top with the built in backsplash is gone and a lovely light gray concrete counter top with a glass tile backsplash is in.


I got lucky and found the glass tiles on clearance at Lowes. I spent only $10!! I did the tiling and grouting. It was my first experience with tiling and I am pretty proud of my work! :)

'tis the season to be jolly!

Christmas has finally arrived at the Woodward house! We pulled all the bins of decorations out of the attic on November 29th and it took me until yesterday to finish. 10 days! And I only put out about half our decorations. I am definitely moving slower these days.

View from the front door.

Looking into the dining room.

The only nativity I set up this year. I love the simplicity of having just Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus (my thrifted star is hanging from the ceiling above the nativity).

The dining room.

I am really happy with the yarn trees. They fit perfectly on the new sideboard.

The hutch got a few touches of red and the pennant banner I made last year.

The family room.

I haven't made an evergreen wreath for the mantel yet. It has been unseasonably cold here and I am too wimpy to spend the time needed outside to make the wreath. Hopefully it will warm up a bit and I can get one made.

I will be making new stockings for next Christmas. We will be a family of six (!) by then and Michael and I miss having stockings. They aren't just for kids you know!

I found a place for my (pale) yarn wreath! Michael found this cool red print (you can't see the detail with the wreath on it) in his grandmothers basement years ago. We have always meant to frame it but haven't gotten around to it. I finally did a few weeks ago and then realized it was the perfect spot to set off the wreath. The snow people were made by my grandmother many years ago.

Looking into the kitchen. More of the pennant banner I made last year is strung in the opening and on the windows. Christmas pillows adorn the couch.

I love the glow of the tree at night. A word about ornaments: I have given up on having a "pretty" tree. I let my kids put on whatever they want. Which always ends of being the ornaments they made in school and ones from my childhood but I really like it that way. Our tree won't be winning any design awards but it has character and holds lots of memories.

Only 16 days until Christmas! I have lots still to accomplish. What about you? Are you ready?


UPDATE: I don't want to pretend that I am perfect or that my house is always this pristine! I like a clean and tidy home but I do have three kids. This is what is going on at my house at this very moment (5:32pm):

And really this is pretty mild. More often than not they have all the cushions off the couch and are making a fort with them. Just don't tell my husband... he hates it when they tear apart the couch! :)

before and after: stairs and landing

We are approaching the countdown until baby! Only about six (okay, knowing my body more like eight) weeks left. In preparation for that we have been trying to finish up the million unfinished projects around the house. The biggest one is the stairs and the upstairs landing.

When we bought the house there was a really ugly narrow carpet runner that we immediately removed... and then didn't touch the stairs for the next five+ years. We were distracted with other projects (laying reclaimed wood floors, renovating the kitchen and having babies to name a few) and we were completely unsure of what we wanted to do with the stairs.

Carpet was out because I like the look of wood and sweeping is much easier than dragging a vacuum up and down the stairs. Originally I wanted to wallpaper the risers like this but I couldn't ever get my husband on board. Plus it is more bold than what we usually choose. I was afraid after the expense of the paper and the time of cutting and pasting I would get bored with the look.

So we finally decided to go with a classic look. Dark brown treads and bright white risers.



I am so happy with how crisp and clean the stairs look, especially when compared to the dingy before.


Upstairs the (tiny) landing was more of the same- dingy, beige and more dingy. For some reason I will never understand all the doors, windows and trim in the house were painted a yellow-y beige. I like bright white trim. It feels clean and fresh.


Next up is new carpet. Unfortunately that is not something we can DIY so it may be a while before get that done. Hopefully in the next six months. The wall color is the same as our main living space - Gray Palisades by Valspar. I love this color!


That skinny door straight ahead is a linen closet and the bi-fold door to the left is our laundry closet.


Michael painted the stairs since we used oil based paint. He also removed the popcorn and painted the ceiling because I am a wimp. I painted everything else- the walls, the doors, the trim and I replaced the door knobs. A lot of hours went into this but it was worth it. I am so glad we finally have it done!

halloween decor 2010

At this very moment: I am curled up in bed with a nasty head cold. Not ideal timing. My baby turns two this Friday, I have hardly even started the costumes and there is lots of church stuff to attend/prepare for this week and weekend.

Last weekend was great though. I felt good and got much accomplished and I finally finished putting up the Halloween decorations. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays to decorate for. I think it is because I love the color orange!


Many of the same elements from last year. (Side note: One of the things I love about blogging is having a record. I don't remember exactly what my house looked one year ago. I love being able to see the subtle changes from year to year. I wouldn't have that if it weren't for this blog!)


The mantle. My Halloween tree is now three years old. A lot of the branches have been broken in storage. This might be it's last year. :(


New this year: BATS! These would be so easy to make yourself but I went the lazy route this year and let Martha take care of the cutting for me. Isn't she a dear?


The bats lend just the right amount of creepy to the room.


The dining room got just a touch of Halloween too. My favorite part is the pom-pom and pipe cleaner spiders hanging in the windows.

Only 11 days until Halloween! Are you ready?

thrifty finds: good, better, best edition

GOOD: Michael spotted this bench in our neighbors trash. It is sturdy and in great condition. It's a little country but after I paint it it is going to look fantastic!



BETTER: We scored this small (only 73 keys) and simple piano for $100. It is the perfect size for our little house. Now the kids can take piano lessons (what is a good age to start that??). Ezra, my two year old, is already driving me nuts opening and closing the top and pounding on the keys. I have to keep reminding myself "I wanted a piano"!



BEST: Two Herman Miller fiberglass shell chairs in the awesomest orange color- $4.99/each!! I never thought I would find something so cool and valuable (these go for hundreds of dollars on ebay) sadly, I don't get bragging rights for this find. I had a ton of big heavy stuff to drop off at Goodwill and needed Michael's help to load/unload it. As we were unloading Michael spotted these chairs in the backroom. If you are a thrifter you know they won't sell or even answer questions about items in the back room. I staked out the store for the rest of the evening and snatched them up the second they were brought onto the floor.

sprucing up the master bath

I pretty much hate my "master bathroom". I say master bathroom in quotations because while it is technically the master bathroom it is also connected to the rest of the house for use as a powder room.

Other grievances against the bathroom:
-It is incredibly small a fact that is emphasized by the strangely low ceilings.
-There is no bath, only a shower stall. (I haven't had a bath in almost six years!! I do shower regularly though!)
-There is no window and therefore no natural light.

I would love to do a complete renovation on it but that is not in the budget currently and probably never will be! :) So for now I am just trying to make it less ugly.

I didn't take proper before pictures so I dug through my iPhoto and found these pictures from Sutton's first hair cut.


One dark red wall and the rest of the walls primed white. I hated the red from the minute I rolled it on so I never bothered to properly finish the other walls (the plan was to paint them white). It stayed this way for almost five years! I can't believe that we let it be like that for so long but other projects received priority.


It's hard to believe but the red was actually an improvement... when we bought this house the walls were dingy white and had a green and pink rose border like this:


Who am I kidding? The red was hideous! I don't know what I was thinking. Red is a lovely color it just isn't me.

My General Contractor brother-in-law, Jon, came over recently touched up the drywall in bathroom (and lots of other little projects) as a thank you to Michael for building Jon's website. Michael can do drywall but just hadn't gotten around to it. Finally the bathroom was ready to prime and paint!

AFTER:

I used Martha Stewart 'Morning Fog'. I have to say I love Martha Stewarts new line of paint at Home Depot! I have used it on three projects now and I love the colors and the quality of the paint. It has a really nice finish to it and I LOVE that it has low VOC's.

The other side of the bathroom:


The door on the right goes to the hall and the partially visible door on the left goes to the master bedroom. The center door is a closet.


For artwork we have this adorable illustration done by Shai Zagury. My husband bought it for me years ago as a Christmas present. I think he worked with Shai's spouse at the time. I love the simplicity of the illustration.


Michael's grandmother was getting rid of this painting when she was moving from Brooklyn to NC. I love the colors and the texture.


The bathroom is still small and windowless but it feels bigger and lighter. It is amazing what paint can do!