Thank for all the nice comments on my Chalk Board wall! If you leave/ left a comment I also visited your site and became a follower! I believe in sharing the love!!

Sincerely,

Stacey

Chalkboard Fabulous!

Who said chalkboard walls are for kids?
{Actually the man at the paint store did and looked at me kind of weird when I told him the boy would NOT be drawing on this wall} I know chalkboard has been in for awhile but now it's "in" my house!

Have you seen the adorable movie 500 Days of Summer? The character studied architecture and he did this to the wall in his room and it inspired me to do.......

This to my wall!

Getting started! It went on super smooth and fast. I used Benjamin Moore chalkboard paint.

(once you go black....)
I loved how just the matte black look that I didn't want to draw on it but then once I started....

It started to all come together. I wanted to draw something I love and represents me. I love architecture and after a lot of thought I decided to draw the Greek Architectural Columns.

Then I decided to label the architectural elements. I wanted it to have a "blueprint" look.




Ta-Da! Some people have asked me lately how I got such straight lines. Lots and lots of practice in design school! My drafting projects were graded on how straight the line were and if they maintained the same thickness through out. Sounds fun right?

To check out how I made the buffet go HERE

Featured on Tatertots and Jello Blog!

Oh I feel so special again!
First of all, We now have over 100 followers! Yay, yippee, aright, whoo-hoo, all of the above! Thank you!

Second, my post on the lamp shade HERE, was feature on
Tatertosandjello.blogspot.com over the weekend!
Thanks Jen!
Go HERE to see it!

Where do you blog from? and Dealing with a Kitchen Office

At my house the office is in the kitchen.  There are pros and cons to this floor plan.  Since I am stuck with having my office here   I might as well try to make it look nice. Currently I can't do anything about these 90's oak cabinets, but a few accessories and a burlap bulletin board I made brighten it up. 

I'm still looking for a cute mug or something to replace my pencil holder next to my urn aka treat stash, and topiary

(never mind all those receipts back there that need a home... and chords that need to be concealed:-))

I often see these wooden office organizers at Marshalls.  This was a bigger one but still only $14.  (Office max types will run around $21 & up.)

Now, why get a pretty file organizer and put boring manila files int it?  Micheals sometimes has files in the dollar bins, usually 4 or 5 for $1. 

One of my most favorite things about getting organized  is the folder I made that has a special tab for "Husbands Stuff." 

 Gone are the days of him asking me where I put his stuff,  because I just point to the folder, and now he doesn't ask me anymore:-) 
I love when simple things make your life easier.  

...and just because I am missing my old house here's a little photo of my old office, a little more roomy than my pseudo office now:-)  It still needed paint but it had room for a sofa and I just finished making the window treatment... and I lived down the street from our grandma... it was great and I miss it.

I've been on a huge organizing kick lately, I'd love to hear any tips you have to share!

Lamp Shade Re-do

Sorry about no post on Monday, I took the holiday off to go to Vegas!

I wanted to keep using the great shades that came with these lamps. So I decided to recover them. The best way to do this super fast and super easy is what I call the "wedding dress" shade.
I started out with these drum lamp shades that came with the lamps. They were red to begin with but didn't match my room. So I recovered them in black (this was about 3 years ago) and now I wanted them white.

So I had some white muslin about 28" wide. I folded it over the top about an inch and hot glued to the inside. Then I gathered, gathered, gathered until I came to the end and folded that underneath the bottom and hot glued to the inside.
Then, where all the gathering and bunching was happening I pinned so that it would stay.

(see yellow circles above)
Then I came back with some needle and thread and replaced the pins by stitching just a little bit to the fabric underneath. Do whatever you think is necessary but it really didn't take me many stitches. The fabric is staying really well.

(see yellow circle above)
Ta-Da! So easy and so pretty!
(go HERE and HERE to see how I made the pillows on my bed)

Sweethearts Mantel

Feeling like Valentines yet?

Between preschool and 1st grade valentine parties this week and next,  pink and red finally made an appearance at our house.

Here's what I used to create this "love"-ly mantel:

My white pitcher I picked up at IKEA last summer,  I got the florals at Michaels, 40% off this week I might add.  Then I opened up my Christmas totes and got out the red candles.  

 The Valentine Subway was found here.  It's printable up to 16x20. 

I sent it to Costco for about $6.  

I had a lot of dollar store flowers up in my bow-making supplies, so I stuffed them in the birdcage for added color. 

These garlands are so easy to change out for the seasons, so I revamped my Halloween napkin garland.  I simply changed it out for pink and red,  I got the napkins at Target for $1.50.    To see how I made this with paperclips etc,  click here.  

 I've had my red lantern forever,  complete with melted candle from being left outside in the summer, the silver candlestick was a wedding gift from pottery barn.

One thing I especially like is this bird I found at Michael's,  he adds just enough interest and height to balance those tall florals on the right.

How's your valentines plans going? Do you decorate your home for Valentines, or is the holiday just too short for it?

Picture Stands, Style II

Alright, lets get down to it.
Picture Stand

For these I used the bigger tables legs.

,
Then screwed it onto the wooden plaque like before.
(this one I painted and glazed for a different project but I'm using the picture here sorry)

I drilled a hole at the top of the leg and one in the bottom of the frame or board, basically whatever you're using.

I used a board for this one. You can find As-Is boards really cheap at Home Depot or Lowes and they will cut them for you for free!

I spray painted white and Mod Podged on some cute scrapbook paper.
Put together.

The top is a wooden final you can buy at Hobby Lobby or Joanns.

Complete! You can also add a little clip to the top if you want to use to hold pictures or recipe cards.

I loved the legs so I decided to top a couple of them with bird nests!

Picture Frame Stand Tutorial (I'm still trying to think of a cute name for these....)

Hi! It's time to tell you how I made these great picture holders.
To see the story behind the mantle and each picture go HERE

For awhile I wasn't going to give a tutorial on how I made them because I thought I might try selling them on ETSY, but I have my hands full making and selling other stuff. So to the 91 (hopefully soon to be 100) followers, (A.K.A my favorite-est people in the world!) here it is! The first tutorial is on making these 3 stands.
The picture above has 3 arrows, the arrow at the top is pointing to a long skinny table leg. I used that one for these stands.

So I bought these table legs at Home Depot. They have all different sizes and they are pretty inexpensive. The plaques I got at Joanns and they have all sorts of sizes starting at .59 cents.

All the legs come with screws already in them. So drill a hole in the plaque where you want the screw and then screw in.

I screwed mine together and then spray painted white. I had to take it apart for a picture so obviously that's why it looks like that.

Ok, so you have your stand now. I wanted to hang my pictures from the tall stands so I took those little circle hooks with screws on the end that come in picture hanging kits. You can buy picture hanging kits anywhere. I got mine at the Dollar Store.
Then I took some linen or drop cloth and cut/ripped a piece about 1" wide. Strung it through the hook, then hot glued it onto my picture frame, then tied together in the back.
Ta-Da! The picture frames I got the thrift store. I also spray painted them white and then glazed them with black.

Ok I'll post the other one tomorrow!

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