When You Can't Do It Yourself...

shop homemade! I love hopping onto etsy when I know my talents are non-existent in an area. In addition to pinerest, it's also a great source of inspiration too! I've been compiling some additional decor/newborn ideas for our nursery and am hoping to make a few purchases this week--just enough to accent, but not seem too-theme-y!

Here's what I've been eye-ing:

{super cute burlap banner...would look great hanging up over a window}

{country guitar print}

{courage quote print}

{because every nursery needs a deer taxidermy trophy, right?!}

{k, not decor, but seriously the cutest thing ever! NEED this knit coon hat for newborn pics!} My ever-talented girlfriend, Megan, at Crochet Every Day and NewlyWife, will hopefully be making one for Boy so I can not only shop homemade, but support a friend!

Ode to An Old Door

W happened upon this old door for free several weeks ago. I'm really excited to redo this and turn it into a real beauty. It's just oozing with potential!

It's got lots of character and has obviously made home in our garage for the time being. I love that sweet little mail slot.

We jumped on pinterest the week we got it to cook up some ideas for transformation. I was already thinking of turning the big glass space into a chalkboard...something similar to this:

{source}

But I did love these ideas as well...

{garden center}

{outdoor decor}

{outdoor table}

And I think I've even narrowed down my choice for paint colors. 

Aegean Blue

Sunken Pool

Egg Yolk

or maybe plain ol' white.

Hopefully, we can get that sander swirling soon but I'm not holding my breath. There still that nursery to finish!! ;)

Burlap Pin Board

So, you probably noticed from my nursery sneak that I finished the Burlap Board. It was a super easy project that was easily finished in an evening. You may remember from my plan that I got the tutorial from two sources: here and here. They were both easy to follow!

This {before}:

Boring ol' cork board.

Plus this:

"Idaho Potato" Burlap...I went with the richer/darker burlap color.

Equals this:

Completed and updated woven burlap board!

The only adjustment I made was to skip drawing lines on the burlap. I only made small marks along the top of the burlap to measure out 3 inches. I did not continue these marks into lines because I didn't want the lines to be seen if I didn't cut exactly along the line. Plus, I'm absolutely horrid when it comes to drawing a straight line! So after marking 3 inches across the burlap, I simply folded the material in half and got right to cutting it into strips. And it worked out perfectly. 

I added the 'S' which was already in the room as well as some maternity pictures from E because they fit the country motif. 

I still want to get some regular T pins and spray paint them for some extra fun. 

Now that we have all the pieces in the room, we found that there is no room for a craft desk at the moment. And our computer/office supplies are actually taking up half of the closet. So, this room will turn out to simply be a nursery until the boys are both sleeping through the night and can share a room. All that's left for the nursery then is wall decor and filling it with baby supplies! Sounds easy enough, right?

Nursery Peek

We still have a load of things left to do in this room, but I'm happy to report that we're already starting to check items off the list. Woot woot!

So...Maybe It's Not A Pantry {Reveal}

I think I may have been labeling this space incorrectly this whole time!! W shared with me, as I started to fill the space over the weekend, that this wasn't really becoming a pantry, but more like a storage closet.

Although, according to the dictionary, a pantry is: "a room or closet in which food, groceries, and other provisions, or silverware, dishes, etc., are kept." So, whatever, it's a closet with stuff. :)

W installed the shelves once we located an air nail gun {You rock, Olivers!}. Took him a few hours because with each shelf that went in, so did bottom support and top trim to finish it off.

He had to do some creative jimmy-rigging because there wasn't enough room through the doorway to get the shelves in once the other were in place.

Once they were all in, I was all giggles! I decided right then to forgo the extra stenciling on top-- too impatient not to start filling 'er up with goodies!

W even made a little walking stick for E out of the extra support pieces. E also turned it into a hammer at one point, but thankfully on his wooden tool bench.

{yeah, he's a boxer kind of kid.}

Next, came the fun part: trying to figure out what the heck I was going to fill it with. We had our kitchen redone when we moved into our home about 4 years ago...including new cabinets. So, that space is already really functional with some pull out drawers, a lazy Susan, and other helpful features. It just needs to be re-organized. Keeping it real: we got married, moved our stuff in, and haven't spent the time to re-visit how we did it so long ago. 

I decided the split the storage closet into two parts. 1) storing items that are currently in hard to reach places or on the counter taking up clutter-space and 2) my craft supplies because our kitchen table is really where I do it, at least while my kid{s} are so small. 

The top half:

I tried to think both 'pretty' and 'practical' while putting things in. My cook books were split between a really high shelf and stacked on the counter before. The flip jars were also taking up space on our counter. The top two shelves store things that were just hard to reach before and therefore were hap-haphazardly stored. Now, they're a bit on display!

Bottom half:

I'm still working on fill in these shelves. I'm not completely sold out on the storage bins--they were just what we had on hand at the moment. Thinking about spray-painting the milk crate if I keep it. I'm also still moving things in because they were in the nursery/office room before...stuffed into a dresser or in lots of miscellaneous bags. What a chore in and of itself to locate all my stuff!

The milk crate holds fabric scraps, but I'm not liking how I can't see them. There's got to be a better way, right?! The green fabric box contains the randoms: glue guns, sticks, mod-podge, etc while my paint supplies sit to the left and my button jar to the right.

I'm also still working on finding some cute hanger-knobby things for the door to re-hang my Anthro apron, my purse, and his man-bag.

I must admit that this thread container makes me feel so guilty:

I didn't know I've purchased so many. And I have duplicates! I started the jar with three spools from my sewing box and then continued to find more and more while rummaging through my random bags. So embarrassing!!

So...once again, here's the BEFORE:

AFTER...Our new Pantry Storage Closet! Pretty darn close to the plan!

It looks so good and ::gasp:: should I say--a bit girlie too-- which I'm so loving, but not mentioning to W.

Silhouette Project: Take 2

Last spring I used this awesome tutorial for making E's silhouette to put on our mantle. Seriously-- easiest way to do them, ever!

I loved how it turned out SO much! I figured if one is great, two more must be better! So I got to work. Here's what I needed to make my two more:

 - Two black and white photos {5 x 7s} of profiles

-Black craft paint

-Small to medium craft paint brush

-scissors

-surface to paint

First cut out profiles from the rest of the picture

Then cover each entirely with black paint

Let 'em dry {you could pass the time eating some oreos...you know, if you like that sort of thing.}

 

Frame 'em, hang 'em and enjoy!

I purposely put us this way because they coordinate with our sides of the bed--which we have very strong opinions about and may or may not have have battles in the bedroom over them. ;) I'm still looking for the perfect piece to hang in between them. I have an idea already in mind, but can't seem to locate it in stores. But, they are so cute that I don't mind if we live in earthquake country and they may one day end up on our heads.

And yup, did these puppies awhile ago...the same week in which I chopped all those lovely locks off. I loved these too much to redo!

My Part is D.O.N.E. {Stenciled Pantry Reveal}

Oh, I can't even tell you how good it feels to be finished with stenciling!! It took exactly 5 days to do this--although, I must admit that the 3 hours I spent the first day was the longest I spent. Each following day, my time commitment {and motivation} got less and less. Not sure I'd have made it if this space was any bigger.

This pantry journey so far has definitely taught me a lot. And most importantly, I actually did the stencil. As my pop would say, "You followed through." :) Yippie!!

Sure, if you look close enough, you will definitely find error. The last three rows are a real sorry excuse for the pattern. My big 36 week belly and my inflexible body made it waaay difficult to get that low. But as W pointed out, it's going to be underneath shelving and all the stuff that we fit in there.

There is space above this shelf that still needs attention. I'm going to try a roller and the stencil for this space, but there isn't as much as a deadline as below since there won't be any addition shelves placed up there.

Now, I get to sit back and relax while W puts in the shelving.

We're all waiting on him now... ;)

Speaking of Quatrefoil

Even though I may be done with stenciling major square footage for awhile, I'm definitely not done with the Quatrefoil pattern. It is simply lovely. Here are some more manageable projects with considerably less hand-cramping and time.

Stencil a tray or stool

or drop cloths to make placemats.

Decorative Wall Art

A wreath

Glass Hurricane

I would love to do this on our master bedroom lamp shades...perhaps try out some vinyl or just spray paint the stencil this time.

Sneak Peek: Progress!!

We all should have projects that we love, but also haven't kidded ourselves into ignoring the fact that the easier way would have been...well, easier, right?! Isn't a project like that suppose to be on the life 'bucket list' or something? You know, life lessons we're all suppose to re-tell to the kiddos?? Well, I'm sure my mom has a good few stories about that. She used to DIY often. ;) Now, I have my own as well... {read about the start here}

This is after one solid, committed day of work {read: max. about 3 hours, collectively}:

{still haven't touched the other two sides yet}

Can't bail out now...in too deep...

Proof I've been hard at work with my little paint brush and cup o' paint! That was before sitting down with some soda, my hubby, and Alias Season 3 for the evening. ;)

  Can I just take a moment to lament textured walls? They are awfully uncooperative in getting straight lines or curves!!

 To keep sane with this insanity of a project, I laid a few ground rules down:

-stop at any time I wanted to

-keep the time spurts short and sweet

-trace stencil by day, paint by night

-never do this during E's nap time since that's also become my nap time...and I'm not giving that up!

-manage expectations: I publicly declared {to W & E} that I would give myself a week's time to finish this project...and I don't think it'll take me nearly that long. It'll be done by the end of the weekend! Yippie!

On Color, Stencil Choices, and Crazy

During the weekend, W proposed a great idea. Well, I should say that W already recommended this idea before I went wild with green samples, but at that time I just didn't want to listen. After my painful tries, I was all ears. He reminded me that we already had some green paint. Our upstairs guest/boys bathroom is a green color but it's a very bright, sea foam-ish green with hints of blue. W also reminded me that it would look entirely different in a darker space. What the heck, why not? 

In our bathroom:

In the pantry:

Of course, this third-try coat was so much nicer than what was in there before. It was softer and looked great! It also helped that we had plenty of it and was our favorite price: free!

With that problem finally solved, it was on to my next... how to get a pattern on to the wall. If you remember, I was leaning toward a Moroccan style pattern from my idea board. Then I read House of Smith's entire pantry redo post and fell in love with her Quatrefoil pattern. Of course, this is so last year in DIY blogland since it's replacement with Chevron, BUT that means many projects and resources are already available to late-comers like me! Woot woot! 

While checking out others' projects, I found a few options:

1) Purchasing a stencil-- the most recent project I saw was AtoZ's foyer. She was given a Royal Design Studio Stencil to try out and review. If only I was so lucky! The stencil is a perfect pattern, but it's $44 and I was worried it would be too big for our small space. Plus, I'm impatient and didn't want to wait for shipping and gathering supplies.

2) Purchasing vinyl-- House of Smith used this method and I found a seller on etsy who was superbly sweet and helpful. It simply goes on like a sticker.

3) Making a stencil on my own-- wanted to avoid this option at all costs as it just sounded like it would take for.ever. Welcome to Heardmont just completed a long closet using this method {and it's beautiful!!} so I knew it was do-able. BUT it took her a collective 10-12 hours to do it all. She's got the luxury of time without little ones, I simply don't.

So which option did I pick?

I went with #3. Sheesh. I was really wanting to try out the vinyl, especially since it seemed like the easiest method. But I just couldn't justify spending $280 in such a small space when we could still really use a new downstairs rug or breast pump or awesome Nikon camera I've had my eye on.

I got my free printable stencil here. Printed it out on card-stock and then cut it out using an X-acto knife. I cut while over a cutting board to avoid ruining any surfaces. Worked out just fine, especially since I already had all these supplies. 

So, since I had already painted the bottom part green, I took the crazy route to getting my stencil on that wall: tracing my stencil with pencil and then hand-painting the whole thing. The exact thing I wanted to avoid because: I don't have time for this! Really, don't try this at home.

Here is my trial run results:

{taken with an iphone at night, no less...}

{This took me about 30 mins}

But, am I excited? Am I loving the results? HECK YES! And surprisingly, it has gone much quicker and painlessly than I thought. I think finding the green caused more of a head ache. Although I will confess that when I was doing the trial run of tracing and then painting, I kept telling myself how ridiculous and extreme this was just to get a stinkin' pattern on a wall who's door will be closed 95% of the time...All in the name of DIY, eh?