Family Quote Art

"Usually I'm behind you on this kinda stuff, hon, but I gotta tell you, not really feeling this one..."
"Looks like I should put some pushpins in it and use it as a bulletin board or something, Aunt Liz..."
These are two quotes from my husband and nephew, respectively (what's scary is that my husband made the bulletin board reference the day before my nephew did!). They were discussing my "wall art" in the family room, aka, something I was trying to pull off to solve my awkward space dilemma. You've seen our Gallery Wall above the sofa (if you missed that post, you can see it here). Problem was, what do I do about the wall to the left of the sofa? I needed to find something that wouldn't distract from the focal wall, but what? Especially since I had a wall lamp to work around also. I previously had some shelves on the wall, but even MORE stuff to look at just didn't feel right. So I bought a canvas, stretched fabric as tight as it would go and stapled it. It was a pretty muted fabric - just different shades of yellow in a paisley print - I liked it. And it definitely did NOT take away from The Wall. But what exactly was it? I have to admit, even I didn't quite understand it completely. It did fit the space, and covered up a looot of holes on the wall from the said shelves, which was a plus. But I totally understood the bulletin board reference, so I knew it was time to do something about it.

I had an idea...I love quotes. So I thought, "what if I stenciled on a quote about family on the canvas - on the fabric itself?! That just might do the trick!" Of course, it'd be a whooole heck of a lot easier if I had one of those fancy cri-cut or Silhouette machines to help me out, but I don't (ahem, hope the hubby's reading this and making a mental note for when birthday time comes around;) hehe), so stenciling was the next best choice. I found a quote online that I tweaked for our family, and here's how it turned out:

I chose to use the "rustic" stencil for this. I like that it's a little rough around the edges, so imperfect looks even better. I don't like to take my time and measure things out, so messy and uneven worked just fine. I'm a tad bit impatient. Ok, ok, a LOT. But the messy look kinda works on this, I think? First, I started with the fabric covered canvas:

I used the stencils and traced the quote on the fabric, using a pencil:

Then it was time to paint. I had some brown paint, and thought that'd be a good choice. I just used a thin paintbrush we already had:

Took a while! But here's the finished product:

Wow, that lampshade is crooked! oops.
Here's a shot of it as it plays against the gallery wall:

I like! I think it adds just the right amount of pop, without being overbearing, or taking away from the main wall. And the words are just perfect for us. And the room. This is the room where we spend the most time, and I think between this project, and the gallery wall, it reflects us pretty well! Another plus- it doesn't look like a bulletin board, or a big fat question mark in the room anymore - excellent! And all I needed to pick up were the stencils. I have to give it to my husband, in this case, he was right;)

Lesson Learned

Weeell, I listened to The Voice. For three short days this week I had a green kitchen. An absolutely beautiful shade of green - truly. So soft, with a hint of gray. Matched the picture I posted here to a T. I had the white dishes out, with touches of cream here and there - it was calm. And soothing. And lovely. And NOT ME AT ALL. I tried, oh how I tried to fall in love with it. I mean, the picture I saw of the green and white kitchen was positively gorgeous! So much that The Voice would NOT leave me alone until I tried to replicate it. But every day (for those 3 days), I would walk by it and just not feel like it was home. My husband thought it looked great, but said the cabinets should be painted white. My mom also adored the color, and tried to convince me it could work, if I did this or that. But I knew it was not going to happen. So yesterday, I ran to Sherwin Williams and bought a couple samples (oh how I love $5 samples! Thank you SW!) of some different shades of green, thinking, maybe if I went a tad bit darker, it would be right. Nope. I came to the conclusion I am not a green person. 8pm rolls around, the kiddos are in bed, and the hubby's on a run. I head downstairs to the laundry room, just out of curiosity, mind you, peek on the paint shelf, and wouldn't you know it - there's a good half gallon left of Pottery Red! It was almost like it was screaming at me, "Please! You love me! Put me back up on your walls!" At this point, I had just about had it with trying to figure this whole green thing out, so I gave it a good stir, and started. Without really even thinking much about it. My husband comes in from his run and just shakes his head. Not really sure if he even said a word, just asked if I needed any help (I said no, I made this mess, I need to clean it up myself!), and headed downstairs to watch tv.

Let me show you a picture of the green, circa Thursday:

Pretty enough. And granted, this was before any window treatment, or finishing touches, but even then I just knew. I knew it wasn't me. I've learned a lot about myself throughout this whole ordeal. I need POP. I need CONTRAST. I need COLOR. I need WARM COLORS. As much as I adore the simplicity and loveliness of the light green, it just didn't scream home to me the way the red did. I think I could have made it work if I had endless money to spend, and felt like doing a looot more work (like painting the cabinets, which even I find exhausting), it wasn't gonna happen. Like perhaps if I had dark wood floors, or something...who knows. But there was a lot to work into the mix - I had yellowish floors, creamy yellow cabinets, dark countertops - and the dining room and kitchen are one big open space, so it had to somewhat meld together. My dining room is a deep gold color, with black furniture, and the beautiful light green and white colors just seemed to be clashing. It'd be a whole lot cheaper and easier to solve the kitchen dilemma than start painting and redoing every room in this house!

So I paint my first stroke of Pottery Red on the wall. Ahhhhh, immediately it feels like home. And that's what I want to feel when I walk into my kitchen. The kitchen is truly the heart of this home, and maybe if I were talking about a bathroom, or basement, I would have gone along with it for a while, to see if it grew on me, but NOT my kitchen. I don't mess around with my kitchen. That is just too precious of a room to not have just right. Which is why I went all psycho-painter late last night and was up until midnight getting it back to the way it was. The way it should be. For now at least. I know me, and I know at some point, might be many years, or very few, but I'll get the itch. I'll hear The Voice again, and I'll try and change things. And then it might work. Who knows. Maybe then we'll go all out and redo floors, and cabinets, counters and such, and a light color will be just the right choice. But not now.

I almost titled this blog, "If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It..." but changed my mind. Because I don't want to send the message that if something is working just fine, leave it alone. Sometimes things that "ain't broke" but you try to fix them, turn out even better than before. I've had that happen in the past, and some of my favorite projects have been perfectly fine before I updated/changed them. But sometimes they're not. I've mentioned in a previous blog, that The Voice isn't always right, but I always listen. Here's a perfect example. Do I regret listening to it? Not one tiny bit. I know me, and I KNOW the green kitchen would consume my brain until I took action. Not a doubt in my mind. That's how I work. I get ideas and they just don't. leave. me. alone until I do something about it. So it had to happen, and now I am even MORE in love with my red kitchen. I am a red kitchen kind of gal, and now I know that. I see those loud, bright walls, and the contrast with the white molding, and I just feel ME. I'm loud. And so is my kitchen:) We're a perfect fit. I love the way it meshes with the dining room. And the floor. And the counter. And the cabinets. And the black and white island...oh WAIT! I DID NOT TELL YOU ABOUT THE ISLAND!!! Here's another reason why I don't regret the green kitchen fiasco:

GAH! I LOVE IT SO!!! And I would never have thought to paint it this way had it not been for this whole thing. It was red before, with brown stools, and I painted it to go with the green, and I could not love it more! The contrast! The pop! It's ME ME ME! And also this week, I painted a bunch of things white and cream, and they look A-M-A-Z-I-N-G against the red. Like these shelves:

And these letters:

And I've simplified the tops of my cabinets:

 Oh, and speaking of...another bonus: the tops of my cabinets and behind the fridge got cleaned for the first time in 5 years...always a good thing! Did I really just admit that to the world?!

So nope. Not one regret. I've learned some mighty good lessons this week, and if I don't pick up another paint roller or brush ever again, it'll be too soon! Oh, who am I kidding?! I'll be doing something crazy in the next day or so, I'm sure. But you can bet it won't be these kitchen walls!

One more picture of my island before I finish this post, just because...

Did I mention that I BIG FAT LOVE it?!! And I BIG FAT LOVE my Pottery Red kitchen! Home again, home again, jiggity jig. And it feels oh-so-gooooood to be home.

My Favorite (and cheapest!) Project

Maybe it's the teacher in me, but I just love me some chalkboards. Always have. They are ALL OVER my house, and I paint everything in sight with chalkboard paint. So much that my husband asked me the other day if he was getting a chalkboard for Father's Day! Such a funny guy. I just might, just to be funny;). Several months ago, we painted the bottom half of a playroom wall with chalkboard paint, and put up a chair rail. Looked adorable. But I stumbled across various Kid Gallery Walls on blogs, and thought it would just be perfect above the chair rail. Not only would it look adorable, but hardly cost me a THING! And fortunately for me, I have a few budding artists around the house, whose masterpieces I am constantly collecting;). And also fortunately for me, going to my parents' house is like going to a ginormous yard sale - I kid you not. On any given day, I could walk into their laundry room or storage and find about 15 picture frames, some old lamp shades, candle sticks, pillows I could re-cover - it's fan-freaking-tastic, I tell you! I'm always leaving with something! If you don't have the luxury of going to your parents' house and rummaging through things, hit a couple yard sales, grab some white spray paint, and you will be set. (If you don't have any small artists on hand, you can take this idea and run with it any way you like - favorite photgraphs, art, whatever you want to throw in a frame). Here's my end product:

See those handprints? This is what they looked like when I bought them for a buck (for all 3!) at a yard sale:

 I thought they looked just the right size for those cute little hands, and they were! Spray paint is MAGIC, people, MAGIC! Not one single frame on this wall was white to begin with. I took some old frames (some from my parents' laundry room, some that were next to nothing at yard sales, some I already had), sprayed them all white, and put my kids' art in them. I thought it would be cute to get some letters from JoAnn's, (they were also super cheap - maybe $2, can't remember the exact amount), and I sprayed them different colors to make it fun, and that sign in the middle there? Well that used to be this...

Yup, an old cabinet door. Painted it white, and used paint markers (LOVE THEM!) to write the quote on it. Now it looks like this...

If that quote doesn't sum up our playroom, I don't know what does!

Oh! Almost forgot about the word "PLAY" that I hung at the bottom of the stairs - didn't take a before picture, but those are just the cardboard-ish letters from JoAnn's - cost 2 or 3 bucks a piece. Sprayed them white also. Now, when you come down the steps, you know you're gonna have some FUN! Isn't that what a playroom is all about?! I just completely love this wall. Other than the chalkboard paint, it probably cost a total of $15, and that's simply because of the letters. Makes my heart smile, it truly does. To see all those masterpieces, and to me, they ARE masterpieces, hanging up there, along with their sweet little handprints...getting all misty-eyed just thinking about it. I know the day will come, when they aren't this little, and this won't be their favorite place to come and play, create, imagine, dream. But for now, it's their haven, and if you ever come over and see the mess, please excuse it, they are a little busy making memories.

The Voice is Baaaack

It never fails. As a result of watching waaaay too many decorating shows, reading waaaay too many decorating blogs, and looking through waaaay too many Pottery Barn catalogs, I hear that voice. That voice that never goes away until I listen to it. That voice that just gets louder and louder. And louder. Telling me, "Hey Liz, I know how much you LOVED this red color when you painted this kitchen five years ago. I know how you worked SO hard to get your kitchen to look like that one in the magazine. The one you tore out and carried in your purse everywhere. I know there is not one. single. thing wrong with this kitchen...but maybe green would look nice?" And it knows I will listen. I always do. It's not always right, but I always end up taking that chance. But this time it's harder. Here's why...

It all started about 6 years ago. My husband and I were starting to discuss moving out of our apartment and buying our first home. Before he even finished saying the word "move," I was buried in decorating magazines and books. I'll never forget when I saw it. My kitchen. Of course, I had no idea if it would be the same layout, or even possible to create this, but I wanted it. THOSE colors. THAT island. The one I envisioned my kids (wasn't even pregnant at the time!) all gathered around, eating their bowls of cereal in the morning. Fortunately for me, my husband backs me up when it comes to decorating, and I tore that page out of that magazine and we did what we could financially to emulate that kitchen as best we could (i.e. no granite or hood over the stove, but you get the point). Here is what that magazine picture looks like (still have it, in all its wrinkled glory!):

 Oh how I love the warmth of that red and yellow. How that island screams, "Please! Come sit and have some toast and jam!" Darling, really. And here's our kitchen today:

So of course, not exact by any means, but we took the inspirational kitchen as our starting point, and did what we could. Now here's my dilemma:

Ahhhhmazing, right?? I am in L.O.V.E. I had been thinking about a green kitchen for a while, and stumbled upon this. Oh my. And look - that island stool on the right is JUST LIKE OURS! Meant to be, right?! Now, that little voice is screaming at me to go to Sherwin Williams and buy some green paint! But is it just because it's summer, and every other part of my house is lightening up? Will I regret it come October, when the fall colors are everywhere, and my Pottery Red kitchen is so warm and cozy? Decisions, decisions. Usually I listen to that voice almost immediately and dive right into what ever craziness it tells me, but this is a toughie. This was our first real decorating dream come true. We had a vision, we made it happen, and we love it. And that's the problem. So hard to let go, but I can't get that voice out of my head, so we all know what will happen, it's just a matter of when...

Have you ever had a decorating decision to make like this? A room (or anything) that you do love, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, but you just can't stop thinking about changing it up?

Here I Go!

Welcome! I am so glad you are here! After realizing that I was flooding my facebook page with photos of my latest decorating projects on a regular basis, I thought it might be a good idea to start a blog, you know, for the 98% of my FB friends that really could care less what I bought at a yard sale and spray painted hot pink. (I just can't picture my 20 year old nephew or old guy friends from college ever glancing at those adorable candle holders!)...So here I go, off into the blogosphere, just a mom of 3 young kids, ages 4, 3, and soon-to-be 2 (I know, we're crazy!) with an addiction to decorating. I call myself the Naptime Decorator for a reason: every day, during naptime, I can be found spray painting, or making curtains (not sewing, I should clarify, crafty, yes, seamstress, no. My newest saying: Thank God for Stitch Witchery!), or even painting an entire playroom - yes, I did in fact do that on a whim last Friday...I do admit, I am completely nuts. Or determined. Maybe both. I mean really, who drags 3 kids right before lunch AND naptime to Sherwin Williams to grab a gallon of Whole Wheat paint?! Apparently I do. Like I said, Naptime Decorator. I got the itch, and HAD to scratch. Looks awesome though, and my darling hubby was kind enough to finish it up with me on Saturday night. Just what he envisioned for our Saturday night, I'm sure.

My love of decorating started long ago...once when I was in middle school - or perhaps even elementary, have to ask Mom about that one - I asked my mom if I could paint. She replied, "Sure, what would you like to paint?" I said, "the dining room." The really funny part of this story is that she actually let me!! Ah, that's my mom. Raising 5 kids will make you a little crazy I suppose...Or maybe she thought after 5 kids running around, it could use a little sprucing up?

And then there's my childhood bedroom. Oh my, I don't think there's an inch on that wall that didn't have a hole in it from my CONSTANT moving of pictures. At least once a month I would rearrange EVERYTHING. Yes, I thought I was Hercules, and to this day I still do. I could find a way to move a grand piano if I wanted to. Obsessed, I tell you.

Then there was my college dorm, my first apartment (oh was it CUUUTE!), and now our forever home. I call it our forever home, because we will never move. It was my grandparents' house (the original owners), and now we are fortunate enough to call it our home. We absolutely adore this home of ours, and have watched each one of our children take their first steps here, had first birthdays and Christmases...makes me a lil bit teary-eyed to think of how much we've been blessed here.

I hope you'll stick around and see what happens as I continue this journey of making our home reflect who we are, one thrifty project at a time!