more chalkboard fun...

i had this old mirror sitting around, so i thought i'd turn it into a chalkboard too...(the chalkboard spraypaint is dangerous...a little too easy to turn anything and everything into a chalkboard...)

before - the frame of the mirror is supposed to look like wood, but it's really foam. i do really like the wood look (i thought it was really 'anthropologie' when i got it), so if i ever decide to go back to the wood look, i can just faux paint it, since that's what was on there anyway...

after! sorry it's so grainy again...i think the morning light at my house is a little intense, coupled with my simple canon camera quality. you get the drift, though!

score!

so, i've decided that yardsale-attending must be my destiny, because if i don't go to them - they come to me. i looked out my front door this morning to find these 3 beauties sitting in a neighbor's yardsale! for all 3 of these pretty mid-century (and really heavy, real wood) pieces i paid only $15! i plan on sanding them and refinishing them since they are pretty scratched and worn, but i love them, and i love that they are true mid-century pieces. plus, i can't wait to try my hand at wood refinishing. 

sorry for the bad quality of these photos - my bedroom is very dark, except for that one window, so it makes photos really grainy. hopefully when i refinish them i will be able to get some better photos...anyway, it's 2 nightstands and a 3-drawer dresser.

stripes!

this is another old job i did a couple of years ago...

we painted these cool, metallic stripes on this teenage girl's walls...then, we painted the ceiling the silvery color, and two of the walls just the hot pink metallic...it turned out very bright and fun! i love this, because it's peppy and unexpected...and wouldn't you love this if you were a 13-year-old girl?

the pink metallic wall...

silvery ceiling (not an easy task!)

mod curly q's

this is a girl's bedroom i painted a long time ago, at my last job. 

we painted the entire thing (ceiling, too) a pale dusty blue, then i painted these curly q's all over - starting around the lighting fixture, then kind of trailing down the walls and into the corners. i accented it with rhinestones glued on, and metallic paint. it turned out pretty cool, i think!

"vintage" '60's star remake DIY

so, i saw these awesome 60's stars at lee kleinhelter's atlanta-based store, pieces. (looovely store, by the way, i love everything in it!) 

 

the prices aren't awful, just not do-able for me right now. soo, i decided to DIY-it. (does anyone hate that term yet? if so - sorry)

here are my supplies: small styrofoam balls (actually, probably would've turned out better if i'd have used a littttttle bit smaller ones), metallic spray-paint, and two sizes of dowel rods from the wood crafts section at the craft store. i made two different sized stars - hence the two different dowel sizes. (i ended up not using the scissors)

after trying to cut the longer dowels in half, then trying to saw them in half, i realized i could just snap them in half with my hands. RAWR!!! so i did that to all of the long ones. 

i just started putting the dowels into the styrofoam pointy (aka, the broken part, not the flat part)-side in. i did them all directly across from each other, on different sides of the sphere to begin with, just to get as much symmetry as i could. then, i eventually started just putting them in all over, to fill all empty space.

see how they're across from each other? sort of pattern-ey?

they're everywhere! i filled them in even more than this,but almost done here...

then, i spraypainted them with the gold metallic paint. i think it would be cool to do a bright color, too, but for the purpose of getting them to resemble the '60's grouping, i used gold. i think it would probably be better to use a thicker styrofoam, too (the floral kind), so that it absorbs the paint better, rather than sinking in. 

here it is in my house! yay! they would be really cute hanging as well, with a clear string hanging from the center. there are certainly tweaks that could be made to improve them a bit, but for now, i like them how they are. 

baby blue bird

this is a baby nursery i did about a month ago. the mommy had already painted the tree, but wasn't happy with her results, so i just came in and evened and smoothed things out, and added a few things. i love her idea of blue-on-blue, especially since the parents don't know what the sex of the baby will be. so sweet either way! 

i love that the branches reach up onto the ceiling, which is painted the same sweet blue as the walls. this is the calmest room i've ever been in!

chirp. chirp. chirp.

kingFLY

my lovely friend rachel makes these awesome winged hairclips called "kingflys"...she lives and works here in atlanta, and you can purchase the cool barrettes at youngblood gallery & boutique (which is a really awesome place, by the way), and online at her blog.

the barrettes are made of street maps, cut into a tear-drop shape, then rachel hand-draws a pretty feathered print onto each one (you can specify any color you want). 

on the back, a sweet barrette is hand-stitched to hold it in place - they're really sturdy, and i love the contrasting bright colors. such a cute idea!

she also makes sweet bracelets and cool leather bags.

here is rachel sportin' her kingflyyy

here is meee wearing miiine (yay, thanks rachel!)

here is the back of it (sorry, i get lazy and just use my photobooth...). isn't it cute? i love the backs of them - i may like the backs just as much as the front? see the hot pink fabric with the turquoise stitching? so cute!

bike mural for baby

sooo, i haven't posted anything in a few days because i was on a little beach vacation (yay)...sorry for the absense (if anyone cares?)!

anyway, i couldn't help but re-post these pics from a recent this young house blog.

being a decorative painter for mainly kids' rooms, it's totally inspiring and refreshing to see this bike mural on the wall for a baby boy. i love that the parents used a more 'grown-up' look, rather than something "baby-ish" for their little bebe. the child can definitely grow into it, and it keeps it from getting old fast. i love this!

i also had to post the other "after" pic..isn't the geometric mobile and brown glider great? love that it's not all lambs and lace. :)

tulip chair

i've had this tulip chair for a really long time. when i was in college, i spraypainted it silver, but it's been in need of a new coat of paint for a long time, so...

hot pink! it's "watermelon" from rustoleum. i bought the can a while back for another project, but didn't use it, and since i've been down and out the past couple days, i had to do SOMETHING.

tissue paper flowers

i've been home the past 2 days with a really painful pinched nerve or something in my neck - it's making me terribly bored and irritable, so i had to do something creative to get my mind off of it!

i decided to do a little tissue paper flower tutorial, because i thought it might be something you guys would enjoy, and they seem to be all the rage on the internets these days. martha stewart has a craft packet with instructions & supplies on how to make them, but the packet is $25, and i'm pretty sure all that's in there is paper and some wire. my mom taught me how to make these flowers when i was little, so i'm sharin' the love! 

here are some images from flickr when i searched for 'tissue paper flowers' - ideas for what to do with your flowers when you are done: 

use them as small floral centerpieces for a table:

hang 'em from the ceiling for whimsy at a child's birthday party (or for any reason, if you're me)

hang them outdoors as a sort of lightweight lantern look for above a table

aaand for my tutorial:

1. buy any type of tissue paper. mine came in a packet of 8 sheets (from target). i also needed heavy duty wire, a pair of regular scissors, and wire-cutters.

2. i cut it into 1/4 just for easy-viewing purposes, but if you want to make a big tissue paper flower, use all of the entire large sheets in the packet. you are going to want to keep all 8 sheets together, and make sure they all line up.

3. fold all of the sheets together fan-style. the more sheets you use, the fluffier and fuller your flower.

4. once your flower is all folded pull the ends together, and...

5. snip off the ends into a half moon shape, so that your flower "petals" are scalloped in the end...

6. get some heavy-duty wire and loop it over the center of the "fan". twist it around itself to create a heavy "stem" for the flower that will hold up well.

7. start un-folding the little "petals" one at a time (carefully!) to create the full, circular flower.

8. done! you can hang it upside down by simply twisting your wire onto a hook or nail coming from the ceiling, or fold the bottom of your wire under to create a stem base. 

springy side tables

this is a small project i did recently for a client. she bought these two old tables second hand...just showin' off the magic of a fresh coat of paint & poly...

before:

after! it's easy to miss the cute morroccan details on these sweet side tables when they are painted a dark, drab color like that burgundy. i chose this color called "grape leaves" by behr to brighten up the room and the tables.

o!rachew!

o!rachew!'s house tour on flickr is blowing my mind. gosh. amazing. makes me want to rethink my entire color scheme. i love her use of color with bright light and whites. beauuuutiful! 

i particularly love her kitchen:

how amazing is this shelf?