Frames

I like all the frames in my house to be the same color... black. I had a couple frames that were wood, and thus stained.

I first took taped the glass on the frames, as it would not come out.

I did not pick a special kind of spray paint, just whatever was on sale. Again sorry it is sideways, my computer and I do not get along all the time.

My grandfather paints portraits from pictures we send him.  He buys frames at a local discount place in Utah, the frames are not always as fashionable as I would like.

I was going to try and save the white fabric on the frames, but that turned out to be a bigger task then just painting over them. I recommend spray painting outside, with a big drop cloth and no wind. We now have some black rocks in our backyard. I also learned how to properly spray paint... long fluid motion and do not over do it! More is not always better, take your time and do a couple coats if you need to or you will get drips and globs of paint.

After I put the small wood frames back together and hung them I realized I should have also sprayed the inside, as the frames are shadow box style.

The other frames turned out perfect as well.

Wall of Plates

Our living room and dining rooms are one big room with high ceilings. Ben is not a fan of putting big pictures of us up and not having a ton of money to spend on a big art piece, I came up with some wall art with plates. I like the collection of random plates that people have hanging, in all different colors, shapes and sizes. But lets face it I am to ocd for that. So I did a Google search of plate art. I saw a restaurant that had white plates in a nice pattern with some black artwork on the front. Thus my idea was born, so off to my favorite place the dollar store.

I found plan white square plates for a dollar a piece.

I did run them through the dishwasher just to get all the dirt and stickers off of them. I am lucky to have both the Slice and Cricut scrapbook machines, so off to my next favorite store Michael's to see what card I could find. I looked at both machines and settled on the Slice card called Bon Appetit! I also bought some black vinyl for the Cricut, but it can be used for what ever you need.

Next I made a template of what objects and sayings I wanted on the plates, I did keep some of the blank.

Now it was cutting time, I love my slice. I can only cut one item at a time (hence the reason I have the Cricut) but it is so easy to use. I used the adhesive that comes with the machine and the glass cutting board. I picked the largest size 4" for the objects and sayings. Then I smoothed the black vinyl on the cutting board and away the machine went.

The vinyl I bought had a sticky back, this made applying it to the plates easy. I first decided where I wanted the objects or sayings on the plates. Then I peeled the paper off the back and pressed the vinyl firmly onto the plates. I used a popsicle stick to help smooth it out and get any air bubbles out.

Here is a sample of some of the plates up close.

My next big adventure was finding a way to hang the plates flat on the wall so you could not see the hanger. I again turned to Google. I found a company called All plate hangers ( http://www.allplatehangers.com ). It was pretty cheap and fast. I did not take any pictures of these, sorry. They are really easy to put on the plates, you just take the hanger and wet the back, let it get tacky and smooth it on to the plate. I let them try for about 24 to 48 hours, as I was nervous that we would hear a big crash in the middle of the night and my plates would be on the floor. They work great and you can not see them, they also come off if you soak them in hot water.

Next I put the plates on the floor in the pattern I liked.

I also made templates out of paper to hang on the wall to make sure the spacing and style was what I wanted. I left the paper plates up for about a day or so to get used to them.

Here is what the final project looks like, well with paper plates.

So the paper plate pattern is not so perfect but it did help me to hang the rest of the plates.

 This was taken before we got our kitchen table.

After we got the bigger table and a couple months go by, I realized that the plates were off a little bit. My friend Jill (the real interior decorator) and I decided that I needed to add another column of plates.

I am happy with the way it turned out, it is the first thing people see when they walk through our front door.

Abstract Art

I don't remember how I found this web site http://www.styrofoamcrafts.com but I saw some wall art that I thought I could easily make one for our wall. Little did I know that it would take me about 4 months to finish it and 1 month to finally hang it. It seemed simple enough, Styrofoam and scrapbook paper, some glue and poof you have some nice art to hang on your wall. Wrong... first finding the exact size and thickness of foam was impossible in the wonderful small town of Flagstaff. So I had a friend look in Phoenix for me, still no luck. After buying what I thought would work, it was more poster board than foam and this did not work at all. I slept on it for awhile, hence the months it took to finish. I then bought what I could find at the local craft store and made due with what I had.

Here is what I printed out from the web site to help me cut the foam.

Once I cut the foam into the shapes and sizes I wanted, I set them out many times till I found the design I wanted. Then numbered them and took a picture so I could come back to the layout.

I picked out scrapbook paper from the local craft store, I tried to pick colors that match our living room and dining room. I did not read the instructions very well, you were supposed to leave enough room around the edges to be able to fold over the paper. I did not do this, I cut the paper to match the exact shape and size of the foam. Thus leaving the edges white, so I painted them black. I like the way it turned out!

The best thing I found to make the paper stick to the foam and the foam stick to the other pieces of foam was spray adhesive for Styrofoam. I recommend this product for anything that you want to use to have anything stick to anything. The only way I could get it off my hands was, now do not laugh was windex. :)

I sprayed both the paper and the foam then waited about a minute or two for it to become tacky, then I was careful while placing the paper on the foam. Once the sticky sides are together there is no getting them apart.

I placed books and heavy items along the thicker parts of the foam and left them there for a couple of days. I half wanted to make sure it stuck and half forgot.

To hang the art, I held it on the top to find the "center" of the piece. I used a picture hanger with a round, flat bottom and a hoop at the top. I cut into the foam and sprayed the hanger with the adhesive, then shoved it into the foam. I clamped this for about 24 hours. Then Ben and I hung it...

I am so happy I stuck with this and got it finished. It looks good on the wall where it now hangs. I am very proud of this piece of art, maybe next time it will not take me so long to finish it.

Our master bathrrom

We have high ceilings and weird angles in our master bathroom. This was one room that I wanted a punch of color. As you can see we had a hard time picking out a color...

My sister Daniella and I finally picked a bright blue and figured we would just paint one side of the bathroom as the mirror makes it feel like two walls are painted.

We had to get the big ladder out and Ben had to once again climb up and paint the tall walls.

 I love the color, it is very bright and welcoming. This bathroom is a work in progress, as I still don't have the design I want. We will see if I keep the color or go crazy and paint something different... of course I would have to do this when Ben is gone.


Here is the final product.

Our guest bathroom

This bathroom was somewhat of a challenge for Ben and I. I first had a hard time explaining what I wanted to do and picking out just the right colors. We made many trips to Home Depot and had to bribe my sister into helping us get some of the supplies with her truck as big sheets of wainscoting does not fit in our cars.

The before pictures, with the paint samples we were trying to decide on.

 Here is the before picture of the mirror (sorry it is side ways, can't figure out how to fix it).

We first painted the trim white, after Ben cut the pieces with my dad.

We learned from putting the trim around the mirror in the half bath that we needed something stronger to hold up the thicker piece for this mirror...

We put lots of tape up... very nervous the liquid nails was not going to hold.

The finished mirror...

Next we painted the wainscoting and then put it up on the wall.

We used liquid nails and nails to hold up the wainscoting, here are some of the tools we used. I recommend wearing earplugs as you hammer in the nails, very loud in a small place.

Ben also got familiar with the spackle, putty knife and caulking gun.

Then we painted, so much fun painting our textured walls! The green was a good choice of color, the bathroom looks like a spa and is so relaxing.

The last thing to go up was the chair rail. We went with a little more detail then the last one.

Our spa guest bathroom...

My dad made us a cute box with the left over chair rail, thanks dad.