Dining Set

So now that summer is here, I have not had as much time to do any projects. So much harder when Ava is not in school. All I've managed to do are a few hoodies here and there. However I finallly decided to do something with my old dining set. And by old, I mean it is my parents from some 25 years ago. It was given to me years ago and I kept thinking we'd get something else but then other things that I'd rather have kept popping up and we talked about moving at one point so I didn't want to get something that might not fit the new space.

Anyways, this set is completely not my style and I am shocked that I have had it so long and not done anything to it.  If I had known that I would own it for so long, I really would have done something years ago.

Anyways, here is what I am doing right now.  Painting all the chairs a turquoisy blue (this is the same paint I used on the media cabinet I did awhile back so it was free!)

  A vast improvement if I do say so myself.  Here are the before photos of the table (please excuse the mess, the very old rug etc. - it's all a bit embarrassing that this is what a corner of our living/dining area looks like).

 A shot of the hutch (it has been empty since we moved it out for the kiddos parties because I knew I was going to do something with it soon)

And here is the inspiration photos I found that made me finally decide to do something about my table/hutch/chairs.  The final product will be slightly different as I think I am going to stain the table top a dark espresso color (since we have a brown couch in the same room as our set) and I think the hutch and table legs will be painted black and have that "Pottery Barn" distressed finish on them. I also am debating if I will make or buy chair cushions so for awhile I would assume that we won't have any.  And I am hoping to buy a colorful striped rug from IKEA that ties in all the colors of my room.  We'll see. 

Keep posted for the final photos.  I still haven't finished the chairs (I can only work at night on this and it's been too hot!) and I know the table and hutch will take awhile to complete too.

Nursery/Guest Room

Finally kind of got our nursery/guest room together.  Yes, we are not getting rid of our guest room which really only is used for 1 set of guests - my hubby's parents.  Baby boy does not need his own room for awhile as he can easily stay in our room when necessary.

It's not completely done (still one naked wall and a pink pillow that needs to be recovered) but it looks so much better.  I really stink at before photos...I would blame it on the pregnancy but I know that is not why I don't take them.  I just forget and get excited and jump right in without thinking about the fact that people like before/after photos.  I know I do.

Anyways, here is the crib shot with the letter paintings I made (all paintings in this room were previous paintings I had done -  after them hanging in our house for 5+ years, it was time for a change so I did not mind painting over them).

Bedding is Dwellstudio for Target (I love DS stuff..too cute) and crib is our old one we used for Ava 4 yrs ago.

Close up (or closer) of the paintings before they were hung.  I did each letter in a different font using the colors in the baby bedding.  Although the pictures make it hard to see, each one is distressed a bit and has cracks/stain on it.  I covered each canvas in newspaper strips and mod podge, then painted, sanded, applied crackle paint, and applied stain for the look.  I kind of like that they are not perfect.  The photos really don't do these justice. 

 Shot of the guest bed and new curtains (darn wrinkles won't come out...anyone know how to get wrinkles out of twill/acrylic backed curtains?  can't wash them and the iron did nothing).  The painting above the bed used to be of 2 girls dancing on a red background but I whipped out a quick color block painting to tie the bedding colors of the guest bed to the new baby bedding.

 Close up of painting.  Seriously this thing took like 30 minutes for me to make and I actually really like how it turned out.

 And a shot of the room looking from guest bed out.  This painting was inspired by one I saw on the blog How About Orange.  She had painted this for her living room (in different colors and in a more professional way) and I thought it was so cool that I made my own version.  Again I distressed it a bit so the colors would be a bit more muted and match better with everything in the room.

Other than these changes, we just bought a cubicle system for inside the closet (you know the kind with canvas bins...we got ours in light green, khaki and chocolate) and put some baskets on the shelves in there to hold all the baby essentials (diapers, wipes, blankets & burp cloths).

Birds on a Wire Painting

This weekend I finished up another painting for Ava's room. You remember the big blank wall space above her bed (here)? Well this "Birds on a Wire" mixed media painting is going there.

I used fabric, doilies, telephone book pages, paint, charcoal, and glue to make this. Here are some close ups of some of the birds.

And here it is in the room (right next to my big Pinkalicious painting -- notice how the colors coordinate? I love that you can do crazy bold colors in kid's rooms).

I thought I was done with her room (and I pretty much am) but have decided to fix some shadow boxes she has on the wall to make the more colorful and to add something to the entryway as it is a little dull too. But it is coming along!

It's Finished!

Here it is! The completed Pinkalicious painting. I think it turned out really cute and I love the fabric flowers, bee & butterfly. I even ended up putting a little glitter on Pinkalicious's shoes and crown just to make it even more bright and girly. And most importantly? Ava said "It's gorgeous!" when she saw it all done. It is now hanging in her room and I'll finally post some photos of her new furniture & room setup really soon. Promise!

More Pinkalicious

Here's an updated photo of the Pinkalicious painting. I have finally filled Pinkalicious in herself. I also did a special texture on both her wings and parts of her skirt...in the book she kind of has lacy wings and lacy tiers on her skirt so I decided to cut up some doilies to get the same kind of effect.

You can't really see it in the photo (at least on the wings) but it turned out really cool and definitely looks more like the book than plain paint would have. Will have to see if I can get some good close ups when it is done.

I still have quite a ways to go since I have to cut all the flowers out of fabric and mod podge them on. Still have major touch up work around Pinkalicious and in the grass & stems but some of that will be the last thing I do.

Best part of this process, is that I work on it an hour here and there and each time I do something, Ava comes in and notices and tells me how much she loves the new part. I actually caught her hugging and kissing the painting the other morning as I was getting ready. So glad she likes it!

Pinkalicious in Progress

Here is what I am currently working on...finishing up Ava's big girl bedroom. It has been too long of a project (maybe because I have procrastinated and also because of all the stuff we have had going on ranging from parties to being sick).

Anyways, you may recall, I was refinishing (with the help of my father-in-law & hubby) some vintage bedroom furniture for her new room. My AMAZING father-in-law, Rudy surprised us by finishing the project himself! I was a bit relieved b/c I did not know when we were going to be able to finish it and it looks AWESOME! I promise to post photos soon, I just need to finish repainting the hardware first so you can get the complete look.

At any rate, getting back to this post. Ava loves the book Pinkalicious (if you have a girl in preschool you know what I am talking about). So I decided to paint a picture from the book for a big empty wall in her room.

Here is the scene from the book:

And here is the painting in progress. This thing measures 4' x 4'. I made some adjustments to the picture...I decided the sky should be a Tiffany/Robin's egg blue. I want this to be bright and colorful. Next step is to paint Pinkalicious herself and then the final step is to make all the flowers out of fabric and mod podge them on. Think it will look really cool and will be a good way to use fabric scraps I have lying around. Plus I have so many cute, pink or girly fabrics I can't wait to incorporate in this painting.

I'll post more pictures as I get further along.