Striped!

When we purchased our house the hallway was a gloomy green - it somehow sucked all the light out of what should have been a bright space.

I knew we would be painting it, and we quickly updated it from the dark green to a bright cream. I loved the crisp clean look it gave, but even I have to admit it looked a little plain Jane - even with the introduction of the cute Loch Ness Monster print (more on that HERE) and a little Welcome sign (more on that HERE).

The wall by the stairs, in particular, was crying out for something.  Anything!!

I came up with the idea of adding stripes along all of the walls, but with 5 doorways it would have been very start stop, so I decided on one wide stripe on the main wall. Now for the color - I must have bought about 50 different paint chips home. I wanted something neutral, but enough of a contrast that you would actually notice it. In the end I went for Dust Bunny (oh the irony!) by Valspar.

 

I masked out my line with painters tape. I read a great tip on Emily Clarks amazing blog for painting stripes: paint along the outside with an almost dry brush as this seals the edges and prevents bleeding under the tape.  (Please ignore the hideous smoke detector - it's on the list to be replaced!)

 

I couldn't wait to whip the tape off. Sure enough, the lines were nice and sharp.

 

I picked up 4 frames from our local dollar store and framed some of my own photos (side note: Walmart is having a half price sale on Poster Prints, less than $3 for an 11x14.  Run, don't walk!).

 

 

This pic was taken on a trip to Tampa.  Sadly this is as close as we got to that yacht!

 

 

The colour was just what I wanted, and I love any excuse to get my photos out of a box and onto the wall.

 

At only $3 for the tester of paint and $4 for the frames the whole project came in under $10. Perfect if you're a renter and don't want the hassle of repainting a whole wall when you move out, or if you want to inject a bit of color but don't want to commit to a whole wall.

 

Kate

xxx

 

I Heart JCP

I was wandering round JCP this weekend and saw some great deals.  The housewares department was cloaked in plastic ready for the big Jonathan Adler, Martha Stewart, Conran reveal later this spring.  But I did manage to have a look round the lighting section, and couldn't believe the modern designs.

(oh yeah, check me and my new collage making skills!)

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

 

Seriously though, how amazing are these lamps?  I ordered number 2 online (part of the new Jonathan Adler collection), and picked up number 4 in store.  They're just as nice in person.

I'm not ashamed to say, I'm a big JCP fan.  I think because I wasn't here for the "that's where my Gran shops" era (I've only been in the US 5 years).  And I love all of the new improvements and concessions they are bringing in. 

 

Kate

xxx

 

PS - this was 100% not a sponsored post, I just like shopping.......and JCP.

It's all white

In super duper amazing news, our bedroom has made the cut in the Apartment Therapy Bedroom Retreat contest.  If you would like to vote, you can pop on over HERE.  Try not to be distracted by the other amazing entries, and head straight for the purple pillow.

This is the perfect opportunity to tell you about my latest TJ Maxx find (love that shop).  If you've been following along, you'll know I've struggled to find something I really love to hang above the bed in the master.  Why is that big blank wall always so tricky to fill?

I started with a small (too small for the space) square pic that made the move from our apartment.  It was only meant to be temporary, but 8 months later it was still there, staring down at my with it's annoyingly small proportions.  It's amazing how a temporary fix can turn into permanent.

One day I decided enough was enough and took it down in the hope that having nothing at all would be the kick start I needed.

And then a couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon this gem in TJ Maxx:

It was only $20 - great price, check.  The shape and size were perfect, check.  But I wasn't keen on the colour.  Nothing a can of white spray paint couldn't fix.

I made sure the mirror was completely covered before starting to spray.

After just one coat.

And here it is after about 3 coats and 24 hours of drying.  Ta daaaa!

Murph is as enthusiastic as ever about my latest project.  He could really give a girl a complex!

This weekend has a forecast of warm spring weather, intermittent spray painting, with a chance of thrifting!  Have a great St Paddys day.

Kate

xxx

Say what?

I'm sure I'm the last to get the memo, but Jonathan Adler is doing a Happy Chic line for JCPenney!  Hold the phone!  I LOVE Jonathan Adler.

These bright colours and bold graphic patterns make me want to get in the car and zoom straight to JCP right now.

 

 

Apparently March is the launch date, and if you click on the right links you can find most of the bedding on their website - but search under Jonathan or Adler and no results pull up.  Clearly JCP want us to work a little harder for the good stuff!

I've also heard that Terence Conran will be adding to the JCP Home lineup.  He currently has a line for UK department store Marks & Spencers.  Check out some of his M&S offerings below, fingers crossed the same clean modern lines make their way across the pond.

 

Kate

xxx

Pottery Barn Copycat Cart

Has anyone else spotted this sweet little Pottery Barn supply cart tray:

Last time I checked it was no longer available.  I guess the $100+ price tag didn't stop people from scooping it up.  Unfortunately, my budget doesn't stretch that far, so I thought I'd try and recreate the look for much less.

The tray bit was easy.  I had an old wooden tray I pick up a couple of months ago from a thrift shop.  I think it was $2.  I made a quick stop at Hobby Lobby and picked up some hunter green paint and a small stencil.  Another $3 spent.

I painted the whole thing in green, and began to stencil.  I decided to add a personalized touch and used our name for the supply company.

I wasn't worried about it being perfect as it is supposed to look like an old slightly battered cart, plus I could go back over and touch up any extra white bits with my green paint.

Next up were the wheels.  Sadly I don't have 4 small metal wheels lying round the house (I checked!).  Etsy had a couple of options, but it would have been about $30 for 4, and even then they weren't an exact match.  In the end I found these teeny tiny wreaths at Michaels.  My plan was to use the tray on our porch, so the natural element of the grapevine wheels would be perfect.  Plus it was $3 for all 3.

Clearly these spindly wheels weren't going to hold the weight of much at all, so I needed reinforcements.  I picked up a plastic container from the dollar store to glue to the bottom of the tray to support the weight of whatever goes on top.

 

I hot glued the plastic container and the 4 wheels to the sides.  I made sure to glue the container first, so I could glue the wheels at the exact height for them to touch the ground.

 

You can see the container in the pic below, but when you're sitting around the coffee table it's hidden completely.

 

 

This is the original Pottery Barn look:

 

 

And here is my recreation for less than a tenth of the price:

 



 

 

Now all we need is a few more warm spring days to put it to good use. 

 

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Kate

xxx

Wonder Wall

On Monday we checked out how I turned a grubby grill into a fun note holder (more on that HERE).

On Wednesday it was the turn of a pair of thrifted wall sconces to be brightened up (more on that HERE).

And now, finally, its time to see what they all look like together.  "Good grief Kate, you really know how to drag a project out" I hear you cry.  Ha, I know - but I just love love love how it all turned out.

Our big blank bare grey wall has finally be transformed into a gallery-ish wall.

 

I tried to mix items that were personal to us, with colourful prints and things I'd made.  I knew I didn't want just a wall of frames, so mixed in the little shelf, the wall sconces and the upcycled note holder.

 

 

Emily Henderson of The Emily Henderson mentioned a little shelf exactly like this one in one of her Craigslist roundups, so I was especially smug to have picked mine up at a local flea mall for a crisp 1 dollar.

 

 

The little hexagonal mirrored tray was also a thrift store find.  It wont be long before there will be nothing new in our house, just a sea of thrift shop finds.  And I'm ok with that.

 

 

I'll give you one guess where the fan came from... altogether now... "a thrift shop".  But seriously, they are just the best places to find vintage bargains.  And no self respecting home blogger would be without their Design Sponge book. 

 

 

Going into the project, I knew the kind of overall shape I wanted to create and laid everything out on the bed to get a rough placement.  When it came to hammering the nails into the wall, I really just free styled it.  I wasn't concerned about having even spacing or anything hanging in line.  In fact, the more random the better.  Clearly if you want to hang pics in a grid, a level and tape measure and some serious calculations are required. 

 

 

Murph clearly wasn't too enamoured with my wall hanging technique.  You're looking the wrong way!!

 

 

This weekend I'm preparing to check off one of the major projects on the 2013 to do list.  Brace yourself Birmingham!!  Plus I have a sweet little Pottery Barn copy cat project in the works. 

 

Have a fantastic weekend whatever you have planned - hope to see you back here next week.

 

Kate

xxx

 

Wall Sconces with Love

I'm finally putting a dent in my spray painting hit list.  First was the metal grate (see more on that HERE) and next up were these 2 wall sconces.  They were a whopping $3 for the pair from Gardendale Flea Mall.  I love the shape, but wasn't in love with the colour.

I thought about painting them black.  Then I thought about painting them white.  Then the March issue of BHG Magazine arrived with all the bright spring colours, and so I decided on something completely different.  

I wouldn't describe myself as a lavender person, but I really like how they turned out.  I originally planned to hang them in the dining room, but shifted them to the master when my wonderwall began to take shape.

You can see my Dollar Store Ampersand art made it onto the wall too (see how it was made HERE).

In other cheapo art news:

Step 1 - buy cheap Big Lots sticker

Step 2 - stick to paper

Step 3 - put in frame

Hope to see you Friday for the big wonderwall reveal.  I couldn't be happier that our big grey wall has been transformed into a little pocket of loveliness.

 

Kate

xxx

Grate to GREAT!

Despite the weird snow in March weather, this weekend was surprisingly productive.

First up were these strange grate thingys.  I bought them from a thrift shop a couple of weeks ago for I think 20c each.  I'm not entirely sure what they are - maybe a BBQ rack or a grill rack?  Whatever they are, they had something funky stuck to them.  Nothing a good soak and scrub with a wire brush couldn't fix.

I really liked the pattern so in the cart they went.  Yep, I'm the type of person who needs a cart when I shop at a thrift store, ha!

I decided that after cleaning a coat of spray paint was definitely in order.  I thought the zig zag pattern would be perfect for holding postcards and notes.

This is how it was looking after a couple of coats (I wanted to try just one first to see how it turned out).

Luckily there were a number of small holes down each side, the perfect size for running a rope through to hang my upcycled note holder.  I picked some up at Hobby Lobby for a little over $1.

Here is my new note holder hanging in the master.  Can you believe that this used to be a scabby old grate?  Sometimes I wonder where I get these ideas from, I really do.

I added this sweet little origami dog to the top (it was a West Elm Christmas clearance buy).  He was looking up so I needed to give him something to look at....a funny little rabbit keyring (no clue where it came from).

 

You can see that's it not just the note holder that made its was onto the wall in the master.  Oh yes, I was hammer happy this weekend.

 

 

I hope you all had a productive weekend.  Be sure to check back on Wednesday for more wonderwall updates.

 

Kate

xxx