Bedroom Makeover - Painting Horizontal Stripes

We just switched our boys room with our guest room so our boys could have more space. Before we moved all of the furniture in we decided it was time to PAINT!

BEFORE:

We went a little crazy at the paint store and bought some exotic colors. Actually, my hubby had nothing to do with the color choices, he left me alone at the paint counter. . . All alone.

We walked out of the store with:

Lime Green, Overall Blue, and Cocoa Brown.

AFTER: 

We had planned on painting horizontal stripes in the boy's new room but neither of us had done it before. So we combined our knowledge and man power and attacked the walls at full force.  It took us ALL day, sun-up to sun-down, but we love it so much! And the boys think it's super cool.

Here's how we painted the horizontal stripes:

We started by marking the general area of the blue stripes and haphazardly painting 3 coats of blue.

Once the blue was dry we used 2 inch Scotch-Blue Painters Tape to mask off 2 straight lines around the room. It took me 3 tries to get the lines absolutely straight. My advice: don't use a laser level, measure down from the ceiling or up from the floor. Use a yardstick to mark straight lines with a pencil and then tape.

Next, we painted over the blue painters tape with one more coat of blue paint. This is to ensure that the tape seals to the wall and that any leaks underneath the tape will be blue, so they will match the stripe.

Once the blue was dry, we painted the top and bottom areas of the wall green. It took 2-3 coats of quality paint to get really good coverage.

Finally, we painted the chocolate brown stripe in the middle. Make sure you keep on eye on your tape lines so you don't paint into the green areas.

After about 20 minutes, you can GENTLY peel off the painter's tape. 

We made the mistake of putting the tape on before the blue paint was completely dry. When we started to peel up the tape, blue paint bits started to come up too. 

If you have some areas that need to be touched up, use a straight edge, like a putty knife and a small paintbrush to fix any spots that may have smudged, leaked, or peeled. 

Painting stripes takes much more time that painting one solid color but it is definitely worth the extra effort.

Hoo Hoo's cute? { Baby's room owl wall art }

Here's a super simple project I made for our baby's owl room.

Owl Wall Art

1 Canvas + Painters Tape + Paint + vinyl owls = Cute baby wall decor

1. Paint your canvas white.

2. Once it is dry, tape off across the middle horizontally and vertically. Make sure it sticks down tight.

3. Paint each quadrant whatever colors match your babies room.

4. Once they are dry, carefully remove the tape. Touch up if needed.

5. Add your vinyl stickers.

Hang it up!

It doesn't get easier than this. Change up the paint colors and stickers to match your baby's room.
Have fun craftin'



Magnet Board Re-do

Like many of you, I get a rush out of treasure hunting at yard sales.
My husband has learned that I never really like anything until it has been painted at least once.
Spray paint is my dear friend.

This week's treasure hunting trip landed me with this beauty.

The paper was warped and someone must have used it for a candle holding table tray because there was a huge wax spill on it.

I adore the glass drawer pulls. So vintage.
The nautical paper had to go. I scraped off the seagulls and starfish off the metal backing and painted the frame matte white.

Then I added some cute yellow fabric and trimmed with black ribbon.

I am using it for my kids who are 2 and 4. We have the letter of the day and the word of the day.

This was also my solution for my son using up all of my scotch tape to hang up his drawings of trains ALL over the house! You should see my collection hanging in my studio, whoa! I love them but . . . you know, after the 30th picture of the same thing. . .

So now he has a magnet board to display his very favorite pictures.

:)

Fabric Covered Shelf Tutorial

My new studio is still a work-in-progress. I have more projects to work on before it will officially be done.

This is my favorite project so far! I wanted new wall shelves to hold all of my junk.
You know, to organize.
Whatever that means.

I found these shelves and some brackets at Lowe's on clearance for dirt cheap. They were perfect! Except. . . . . they were completely the wrong color.

(This technique will also work great for floating wall shelves)

I thought about spray painting them white, but painting over laminate has never worked out well for me.
Besides, something more fun, fresh, and colorful was in order.

But, I did spray paint the brackets white:

I decided to use up some of my favorite Amy Butler fabric to cover the shelves.
Green and white, cuz it looks awesome with my new orange walls!

Here's what you will need for this project:

Shelf

Brackets and screws (if needed)

Fabric

Spray Adhesive

Scissors

Hot Glue Gun

Any extra stuff to attach the shelves to the wall: screws, drywall anchors, drill, etc.

 

1. Measure and cut your fabric rectangle. Make sure it will cover the width of your shelf plus about 2 or 2.5 inches extra on each side. The length should be able to cover the entire top, front, and bottom, add about an inch to each side of the length.

2. Spray the top of the shelf with adhesive and lay it down onto the fabric. Stretch out any wrinkles if needed.

3. Spray the front with adhesive and pull the fabric over the front of the shelf.

 4. Spray the bottom of the shelf and stretch the fabric over, stretching out any wrinkles. I didn't use much on the sides since we will still be working with them.

5. Lightly spray the sides and front corner with adhesive. (my shelf is sitting upside down in the picture ) Pull up the bottom fabric and fold the top fabric over. It's kind of like gift wrapping your shelf.

 6. Use your glue gun to glue down the side. Make it look pretty as a package.

 7. Trim the back edge if needed. I don't like to measure so I trim as I go.  You don't want a lot of bulk on the back side because you want it to sit flush against the wall.

 7. Spray the back with a small amount of adhesive, fold one edge down.

 8. Hot glue the final edge.

See! So cute already.  And it's not even on the wall yet!

9. Mark your brackets. Use a pencil to mark exactly where they are going to go. I recommend making a small hole in the fabric where the screws go so your drill doesn't snag your beautiful work.

10. Attach your brackets. I drilled out the holes first before attaching the brackets with screws.

11. Hang! Find a buddy to help you with this part. Use your drywall anchors or attach to your wall studs. I used 50 lb. capacity drywall anchors on one side and I secured the other side to a stud.

P.S. It also helps to have a stud holding up the shelf  while you attach it to the wall. Like maybe, your husband?

Now stand back and marvel at your beautiful and unique fabric shelf!

GO YOU!

** Thrifty Crafting **

What do you get when you mix a plain jane ol' board that's been sitting in the garage for a year, a coat of turquoise paint, a silkscreen, and vinyl lettering?

Yes, it's another episode of "Thrifty Crafting"!

My favorite projects are the ones that look fab and cost nothing (or next to nothing.)  I had all these things just hanging out around my house waiting for their time to shine! 

Maybe I'm a bit of a pack rat.  But only with craft supplies. . . . .and shoes. . .       I'm working on that.

The board was left over from our backyard sandbox project,

the to-die-for-turquoise paint is from the dresser in the picture that I am currently refinishing,

the vinyl lettering was a Christmas gift I got 2 Christmases ago from my sister. I hadn't found the perfect place to put it yet. Till now!

And you may recognize the "Birds in a Tree" screenprint.  This was my first, and definitely not my last, attempt to screenprint on something other than fabric! It was so easy!

And there you have it. Another thrifty, no cost craft!

CHALLENGE:

I would love to see your "Thrifty Crafts".   Dig through your garage, junk drawer, craft boxes, art closet, or where ever you keep your rainy day craft stuff, and make some thing what you've got, or  create something with some great deals from thift stores or yard sales!!

I would love to post your crafts here on my blog (If you would be so kind as to let me show off your greatness!)

Get busy!