shirt turned tray

What's that saying? "Never blue and green without something in between"? (or something like that) Well unless that something in between in the creamy center of an Oreo, I disagree. I know, I'm just that crazy. Just call me the rule breaker.

Take for instance this $4 tray from Michael's.

Don't fall asleep on me. I know, pretty boring right?

I've been trying to think of a way to tie the green I used on the mirror for the bedroom to something else in the room. And also I haven't picked a color for the walls yet, so I'm stalling with a smaller project. This still totally counts as 'progress in the bedroom' though! (Get your mind out of the gutter)

No problem, I'll spray the tray green. Easy, but still pretty boring.

I thought about a stencil like this

via Pinterest

or some sort of Greek Key inspiration, like I found in these bookcases.

via Bibbidi Bobbidi Beautiful

But I wasn't convinced.

Then while browsing J. Crew, I found this honey.

Now, I'm not drinking. I am aware that is not a tray but rather an article of clothing. But the look is just right. As Uma Therman would say, "Disco."

Off I went to Lowes for the thinest painters tape I could find - .75". I started with a piece down the middle and then worked my way out from there. 

I used a piece of the same size tape for my spacer, so the lines would be as symmetrical as possible. I just moved the spacer piece of tape after each line was set, working my way out to the ends.

Sorry for the Miami Vice lighting in this picture

One taped tray and I'm ready for paint. I love it already.

I knew touch ups would be needed, especially on the edges, so I was pretty liberal with the paint...as you can tell.

I used Navy Blue craft paint, as I couldn't think of a safe way to use Navy Blue spray paint with out a LOT more taping. It did take several coats to get even coverage but it dried super fast so my impatient self was satisfied.

My best Vanna White impression

After letting that final coat dry for a few hours, I pulled the tape for the reveal.

Jackpot. 

I like that the stripes are only inside, like a little surprise. As they say on Happy Endings - so cute!

There are some small touch ups to attend to, but I knew that would be the case. I'll also spray the whole thing with a coat (OK, two coats) of high gloss lacquer to protect it from the years of abuse and use it is in for.

This is going to serve me well as a make-up tray and general organizing type thing for my dresser. And its keeping my momentum going. This weekend, paint color for the walls will be picked! Promise.

Have you spray painted anything lately? Have any touch up paint advice? How do you organize your jewelry?

11 questions

Tag! I'm it. The very lovely Brooke from Inside-Out Design has tagged me and 10 other design bloggers to answer 11 questions about ourselves. She is one crafty genius and one of my very first blogger friends. She's a big inspiration for me and I'm so happy to play 11 questions with her. Thanks Brooke!

The Rules are simple:
First rule - you do not talk about Fight Club...wait, wrong game.
1. You must post the rules.
2. Answer the 11 questions the tager posted for you and then create 11 new questions to ask the people you've taged.
3. Tag 11 people and link them in your post.
4. Let them know you have tagged them. 

May I present to you, Brooke's questions:

1. What is your favorite room to decorate and why? 
I'm a sucker for a good living room. I have a chair obsession and love pretty much all upholstered furniture. The pillows, the vignettes, the lighting. Oy! So many options. So much fun. My Living Room is on the to-do list for this spring/summer.

This baby is in need of an overhaul!

2. Do you have a "Monica's closet" aka a hidden space in your house that's either a total mess or completely undecorated? 
YES! Sadly my bedroom is always a total mess and hasn't had a touch of attention since we moved in. During parties it is always the room we throw all the last minute messiness into and close the door. Sad. This is why its my next project!!

3. What is your favorite room in your house?
That's a hard one as it changes all the time. Right now it is probably a room I haven't really ever talked about - my girls room. There is a lot of laughing and happiness in that room. It is a happy place to be. I'll be posting pictures of it soon. 

4. What made you decide to start a blog?
I've been designing, whether it was my bedroom, dorm room, apartment(s) or house since I was able to move a chair. I look at this blog as a creative outlet, a chance to learn and share with a wonderful blogging community and also a way to look back on all of the projects I attempt. 

5. What is the best decorating tip that you've learned from another blog?
The best thing I've learned is not from one blog in particular, but several of them - not everything you try is a home run and that is OK. Its OK to strike out. And usually those big busts lead to an even better idea.

6. What is your favorite movie?
There are so many bad movies I watch over and over again because I love to study the interiors. Sex and the City for example. Good gracious they are bad (especially #2) but I watch them over and over again. Mr. and Mrs. Smith - I get upset every time they hurt that wonderful house. Do your shooting outside! 
As for real movie loves, I quote move lines all the time so I could never pick just one favorite. A few that come to mind are Gone With The Wind, anything by John Hughes or Thank You For Smoking. 

7. What is your favorite food?
Sushi is something we do on date night, so that represents happy adult time to me. However, my go to comfort food will always be pizza. (homemade - I make a mean pizza)

8. Is there a decorating trend that you hate and why?

Get ready to throw rocks and burn my car - I'm kind of over chevron. There, I said it.

9. Do you prefer baking or cooking?
I actually really like both.

10. What is your all-time favorite blog post? (That you've done)
I would say my gallery post because it all came together so fast and it was such a big change. Although, my spray painted lampshades are a close second because I am still so surprised by how well that worked. I will say though, I've got a lot of good projects up my sleeve that I'm pretty excited about too.

11. What project have you completed that has made the biggest impact, visually or otherwise, in your home?
My kitchen. We did this prior to the blog but it was a long, blood sweat and tears kind of project. We wanted to make as many updates as we could without making any huge (aka expensive) changes. I'm happy with how well it has been updated with very little money spent. 

So there you have it. A fun Monday glimpse into the weirdo that writes these posts. :)  Now to pass along the fun, here are the 11 bloggers I'm tagging.

Megan at A Lived in Home
Erin at Clementine + Olive
Diane at Diane Again
Colleen at Lemondrop Dreams
Charmaine at My Best Friend Craig
Meg at Nutmeg and Company
Amber at Simple Dwellings
Andrea at Strawberry Chic
Megan at Sugar Megnolia
Elizabeth at The Mustard Ceiling
Camille at The Vintique Object

These are all very talented ladies and I encourage you to check them out if you haven't already.

Your questions are:
1. What room in your house would you change if you had an unlimited budget?
2. What is your decorating trend prediction for 2012?
3. If someone where to show up at your house right now, would it be presentable? (i.e. - clean)
4. What was your favorite blog post?
5. Music or Movies?
6. If you had your own show on HGTV, what would it be called?
7. What is your favorite low budget project?
8. What was your first decorating disaster?
9. What was your first decorating success?
10. What is the one design related task you hate doing? (i.e. painting trim, sanding furniture, hanging curtains)
11. What is your favorite cocktail?

the everygirl

As I start to shake my kick-off-the-weekend cocktail, I wanted to share a fun site that launched this week.

The Everygirl was started by two great bloggers, turned virtual friends, turned real life friends. And these girls are covering it all - style, food, home, jobs, everything. A very cool site with many pin worthy items.

The Everygirl

So as you enjoy your weekend peace, make sure to surf over and enjoy!!

Happy Weekend!

no, you're a knob and tube

Progress made!!

I can cross #4 off my 2012 goal list! That blasted crooked, crappy, creaky (and any other c adjectives you can think of) chandelier is gone.

You may remember it was a lovely 80's brass when we moved in.

I sprayed it black immediately and it stayed that way for a few years.

Until its most recent life in white.

Its had shades, no shades, round bulbs, candle bulbs. You named it, I've tried it. I should say here that this is a classic chandelier shape, and in many cases I really do like it. However in this instance it always felt like putting lipstick on a pig.

It had also been hung way too high and, the cherry on top, several of the arms were loose and crooked and all tightening attempts would fail. Usually resulting in a shade popping off and landing in your salad. True story.

So after years and years of hearing me complain about it, my parents were kind enough to give me a new chandelier for Christmas. WAHOO!

Now normally this would be an hour project on Saturday as my husband has hung many a light in his day.

However, since the table is off center, I wanted the light centered over the table, rather than centered in the room. We've had many guests bang their head on that chandelier, so it was really for the safety of those I love. I know, I know, I'm a giver.

Luke, being the wonderful husband he is, said no problem (while rolling his eyes) and headed up to the attic. Not a problem was the verdict. We measured, figured out where the new hole needed to be and he got to cutting. A perfect hole for a plaster ceiling I would say.

Now all he needed to do was move the wiring over a few inches, drop it thru the new hole, install and enjoy.

It was all going just too well.

Enter knob and tube wiring. For those not familiar with it, its kind of like asbestos - best not bother it if you don't have to. And really, comparing something in your home to asbestos? Never a good sign.

Apparently the wire was just a few inches short of reaching the new hole. And my husband's many attempts at getting a new wire to connect to the old wire were just not working. Something about the grounding of the wire blah blah blah. All I heard was 'electrician needed'.

Damn.

So while we waited for the electrician, we patched the old hole and painted the ceiling. And when I say we I mean Luke did the work and I said "looks great babe."

A week later the electrician finally arrives and after a lot of grumbling and several "You sure you want me to do this lady? You know that whole ain't in the center of the room?" I had my new wired and ready hole.

And now....

tahdah!

I love it! Its warm, more to scale for the room, and it gives off a really great glow.

It also gives off a saucy reflection in the mirror.

But of course, nothing is ever 'done'. Now I've got to fix the curtains. But that's another story for another day.

For now, I'll just enjoy my new lovely lady. Have you had any electrical projects lately? Been able to cross anything off your resolution list yet? Ever had an electrician tell you "whatever lady, I guess its your house."?

very first birthday

Party people in the house! We had a birthday celebration this weekend to celebrate Eve's very first birthday. We've been getting a little stir crazy from the long winter, so we were in the mood for a party. And who wouldn't want to party with this girl?!

First up, alert the public. I went the lazy green route and used digital invites from Paperless Post. This is one great site. We're talking well designed stuff people, not some crappy evite. Their selection is awesome and they manage your responses to boot. Two thumbs up to Paperless Post.

Now let's raise the roof and get crafty. It was time to pull out all of those things I've pinned and thought "I'll try that someday."  First up, a DIY Yarn Wreath I saw on Effortless Style.

It was really very simple - just a Styrofoam wreath form and some yarn. Wrap yarn until covered. Two things to note though - this does take a wicked amount of yarn. Being yarn ignorant I had no idea how much to get so I ended up having to go back for more. One super large yarn roll should suffice. Also, this is a 2 1/2 Top Chef episode project (for you non Top Chef fans, that's about 2 1/2 hours). So make sure to give yourself the time.

 Instead of several small flowers, I went with one big Carrie Bradshaw flower. Very season 3.

You may remember my Dollar Store obsession paying off with my Peppermint Wreath. Well that place rocked it again by supplying me with lots and lots of gum balls.

I'm not much of a 'theme' person, but I did find myself using polka-dot (surprise surprise) type things over and over again. So for those party people in need of a theme - let's go with polka dots. Colorful gum balls = polka dots.

I found the wooden letters for $.99 and the wooden circle thingys (what would you call those) in the dollar bin at Michael's. They were originally naked wood, so I dressed them in white and attached them with some pink grosgrain ribbon and my trusty glue gun.

The design fairy was on my side as Eve works perfectly with the rule of threes.

The ice cream cone bubbles from Target worked perfectly for favors, trimmed with polka dot ribbon. Hey, those hydrangeas could act as big huge polka-dots too. Oh this is getting fun. Kind of like Where's Waldo.

Martha Stewart provided me with a paper pom kit that was easy enough for a craft challenged person like myself to follow with no problem. Thank you Martha.

More polka-dot ribbon to keep with the non-theme theme.

Eve is a hard core meat lover (we are so proud) so I made meatball sandwiches (polka-dots get it?) along with fruit kabobs and tomato, basil and mozzarella sticks. OK, so maybe I am getting into this polka-dot theme.

There were vegetables on this spread, I promise. Mental note- make sure everything is on the table before taking pictures.

And of course, what is a birthday party without a cake.

Most importantly the birthday girl approved.

A good time was had by all but I have to say I'm glad its over.  I am pooped out! Thanks to everyone who joined in the celebration. My how quickly a year flies!

green for very little green

Hey there! First things first, I want to thank everyone for their great comments, especially about the lampshades. I think they just might deserve different bases so I'm going to keep my eyes open. I'll keep you posted.

With a 1st birthday party this weekend, our house is full of glue guns and pink. Everywhere pink. So, many things have fallen off my radar, but I did manage to finish one project on my list. A kick off project of sorts. But first a little background. I know what you're thinking, 'Oh great, another one of her stories.' I'll keep it brief, promise.

We have the classic neglected master bedroom - full of left overs, after thoughts and general laziness. Finally the other day I decided I'd had enough. I'm sick and tired of it and I'm not gonna take it anymore! (imagine me doing my best Norma Ray) Its time to start the patching, painting, moving, reorganizing, and of course, shopping. But as this room is (supposed to be) my sanctuary, the thought of the upheaval makes me want to avoid it altogether.

So I'm going with the 'What About Bob?' theory. Its all about the baby steps.

Baby step 1 - empty the room. As we've established, it drives me bonkers to live in an 'empty' space, so nothing is more encouraging than seeing blank walls first thing every day. Mission accomplished. It is driving me nuts and I am annoyed encouraged.

Baby step 2 - bring in some inspiration. I been dying for some kelly green...somewhere. Enter this mirror I picked up off the side of the road when I nabbed my now yellow table.

It used to sit on top of the table, ala vanity, which is why there is that big honkin' bolt sticking out of the bottom. Luckily that screwed right out. A bit of sanding and paper to protect the mirror and it was ready for a can of love.

After several light and even coats (a shout out to Sherry) I have a nice pop of inspiration.

Notice the blank walls. And curtains already pulled down. And no, I'm not channeling Laura Ashley's green and lavender. That wall color is the next thing to go!

Next up baby step 3 - paint the walls.

Then create curtains, get new bedding, recycle some lamps, get stuff for the walls, figure out a bedskirt, find a rug...oy. I'll stop there. I need a cocktail.

For now this bit of change will have to do. Its all about the baby steps.

Have you started any major projects lately? Have any project anxiety? Something you've wanted to get started but can't bring yourself to pull the trigger on?