Blog - Decor Fix

DIY: Ombre Paint Chip Art

Apparently I’m a little behind in blog world and am just recently getting swept up in ombre obsession along with everyone else. I decided to combine two things that I’ve loved seeing on Pinterest lately: OMBRE + PAINT CHIP ART.

I found the gold frame at a flea market several months ago for $12 and had been waiting for something to house in it. The paint chip art was FREE, since I painted the matting and made two four trips to home improvement stores to collect the chips.

Maybe I just have a guilty conscience, but my husband had to keep reminding me, “You’re not stealing. They’re free chips.” Regardless of this true statement, I feel the need to sport a trench coat and dark sunglasses in Home Depot if ever I decide to do this project again.

Our guest room houses my clothes and serves as my dressing room. Most old homes have larger bath tubs than closets, and ours is no exception. The Mister gets our closet, so I get the whole guest room. (Don’t feel bad for him; he has full reign of the basement.)

Since I’m in this room a lot, seeing it undecorated each morning was bumming me out. I had a few pieces that I loved and decided to work with them to build the room. It’s not finished yet but getting there.

I found this chair last year at a resale shop downtown that still had the ORIGINAL upholstery . Pictures just don’t do it justice. The fabric has flecks of gold and different hues of coral in the pattern; it’s so stinking gorgeous.

I had two gold lamps that I found at a flea mart for $5 each a while back. This summer, I found the shades at World Market and loved the color combo. The room was already green, so I decided to accent with gold, corals, pinks, and purples.

The “Fraggle Rock” pillow, as my husband jokingly deemed it, is from Pier 1.

DIY Ombre Paint Chip Art

Materials Needed:

-Poster board
-Scissors
-Glue stick or spray adhesive
-Paint chips
Process:

1. First of all, I recommend getting more paint chips than you think you’ll need. You’ll want to sort the chips into colors and then hues. I had all the lightest up top and worked my way down. That makes it easier to visualize what the final product will look like.

2. I laid one row out at a time and then glued it down. I used extra strength glue sticks, which were awesome. I avoid using spray adhesive because I wind up getting it all over my floors and furniture no matter how hard I try not to. I’ve read that plenty of other people used it for their paint chip projects and loved it.

3. Make sure that you are laying the chips down straight, or your whole pattern will be thrown off. I’m sure a more precise person would’ve measured, but I didn’t want to take the time. After you finished gluing down your chips, trim off the edges of those that overlapped on the side of the poster.

I started with smaller paint chips and worked for several hours. (My first attempt is above.) Then I started over again with larger chips. I actually ended up leaving a little white space between each chip which allowed me some wiggle room as far as lining them up perfectly.

I am all for cheap/free art, so this project was great despite being time consuming. Clean up was “fun” to say the least. And I will never walk into Home Depot without the “Mission Impossible” theme song running through my head.

My Classroom Makeover

| by Heather Freeman

This was the first week of school, and I am pooped. The sheer fact that this post made it up is a miracle. Fall is the craziest time of year for elementary teachers. Endless to-do lists and twelve-hour work days can make you question your sanity for ever getting into the profession. By October things slow down, and I can breath again. Hats off to my teacher friends with real children of their own; I don’t know how you do it.

My post-school routine for the first week goes a little something like this: Trudge through the door. Drop everything I’m carrying the second I cross the threshhold. Mumble “hi” to husband. Put on pajamas. Open a pint of ice cream. (A blur that involves spoon and mouth.) Sit in catatonic state staring at empty ice cream carton.

Thankfully my husband knows this about the beginning of the school year, lovingly stocks the freezer with Ben & Jerry’s, and fends for himself where dinner is concerned.
BUT, my favorite part of a new year is getting my classroom ready for a set of fresh faces. I have a disability when it comes to teaching…If my classroom doesn’t look good, I can’t function. I picked out several fabrics as my inspiration, and built the the room’s look around those colors.

Even though the cabinet is in the back of the room, I wanted to make it a fun spot for the kids. After I painted the wooden cabinet doors blue, I used an overhead projector to draw the US map in pencil. I then traced the outline using a chalk paint pen. My original plan was to draw each state…that plan fell to the wayside quickly, and Missouri ended up being the only one that made it. (Though very tempted, I resisted the urge to trace Texas.)

This name tag cost me nothing to make. Yes, these are just Scrabble pieces! I used wood glue to attach to stands, and then glued the letters in place. (You better believe I added that apostrophe in…Sharpie to the rescue.)

Since my last name is Freeman, my class is nicknamed “The 5th Grade Freebeez”. I found inspiration on Pinterest and ended up making a “bee hive” lantern in my classroom. I’m not thrilled with the results and almost left this pic out. (I figured if I show you everything I’m proud of, I should show you my flops too!) I’m thinking I should have started with a yellow paper lantern and added several more layers of tissue paper. Martha Stewart may not be impressed, but 10-year olds seems to like it alright.

Our principal let us use chalk paint on our classroom doors this year. This is great and serves as kind of a management spot in the room.

Remember the “toad stools”? They found a home. My double decker hamburger used to show the steps of the writing process is on its third year. Crossing my fingers it lasts a couple more.Here’s to a new school year, freshly sharpened pencils, and lots of “aha moments” for both the littles and their teachers.

DIY Art 3 Ways

| by Heather Freeman

One of the first things I wanted to do when we bought our house was to cover our blank walls with unique art and decor. I didn’t realize that most of the art I loved was way out of my budget. I didn’t want the same prints from Target or Bed Bath and Beyond that I’d seen a hundred times, as much as I love other things from both those stores. Thankfully, Etsy provides us with a plethora of options these days. But sometimes even a $30 print from Etsy feels like too much. I’ve found a few thrifty ways to imitate the look I want for less. Another way to save is by using coupons, visit website.

1. Print something you find online on your favorite wrapping or srcapbook paper.

I knew I wanted silhouettes and just couldn’t seem to create my own, no matter how hard I tried. I searched online and found two free images that I loved. I scrounged around the house and found some of my favorite wrapping paper left over from Christmas. Ridiculous as it may sound, I was actually excited that I’d get to see this paper all year. If I was a wrapping paper, I’d hope to look like this one. When you love the print of paper that much, you should just find a way to use it in decor, right?

I used card stock as my guide and cut the wrapping paper to a standard sheet size. Feeding it through the printer can be tricky. Just keep trying, and eventually it works.

TOTAL COST: Free

Wrapping paper: on hand

Prints: stock photos from the Internet

Frames: Repurposed from another room

{The “F” is from Anthropologie.}

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2. Find a great book and frame the illustrations in a series.
My sweet friend Dana had this great book, Insects of Surinam, that is filled with vivid images of flowers, plants, and an array of crawling creatures. We loved how unique they were compared to stock botanical prints you see in stores. We joked about ripping the pages out and then framing them. Well, she did. Then I did, and now I’m planning to do the same for some clients above their mantle in a formal living room.

From Barnes & Noble. A STEAL.

The hardest part was choosing just four.

TOTAL COST: $73.28

Prints: $5 (my share of the book cost)

Frames: $9.57 each (I waited until Hobby Lobby had 50% sale on frames.)

Custom matting: $7 each (Hobby Lobby)

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3. Trace a shape and create your own oil pastel art.

Something about artichokes… Not only are they delicious, but visually they’re so iconic and beautiful. I’ve seen some great prints online, but couldn’t commit. I also kept thinking about the Andy Warhol soup cans. They’re so bright and playful you can’t help but love them. I wanted to merge these two things for my kitchen art. I’m not really sure that came through, but these were my inspiration for the artichokes.

I’ve NEVER worked with oil pastels before, so this was a learning experience for me. Since I traced my shape first, it turned out to be easier than I thought.

Total Cost: under $26

Oil pastel set: borrowed

Acid free paper: $3

Fixative to set oil pastel: $5

Frames: $5.99 a piece at Michael’s

Some other things you could fame:
-Your kids’ artwork
-Comic book, magazine, or album covers
-Dried leaves/flowers from your yard
-Beautiful wallpaper
-Collections in a shadow box

If you’ve been frustrated by blank walls or almost passed out due to sticker shock on great art, try to make something you love. You really DON’T have to be artistic to create personal art for your home. It can be as easy as cut, frame, and hang.

DIY: Stenciled Wall

| by Heather Freeman

This very well could be my biggest DIY to date. That, my friends, is not wallpaper. It is several hours worth of work using a paint pen and a piece of cardboard. It’s not for everyone, but this project only cost me $15!

My Unrequited Wallpaper Love

After realizing the cost, I regretfully kissed my dreams of a gorgeous embossed wallpaper goodbye and set out to try stenciling my dining room. (My husband almost passed out when I told him how much papering just one wall would be. I could see this was a problem…) In hindsight, there are so many reasons why I’m glad I went with a stencil over wallpaper. Just to name a few…

1. The total cost was a mere 5% the price of the wallpaper I had picked out. Seriously.
2. If I tire of the pattern (which is inevitable at some point), I can simply paint over it.
3. I discovered that trying something that once intimidated the life out of me could pay off.

My Inspiration
Like many blogoholics, I too have been enamored by the amazing stenciled wall projects out there. Here are just a few of my favorites that nudged me over the edge to try it myself.

This amazing room from Hello Gorgeous

Kate’s bedroom from Centsational Girl

Above is Emily’s office (Jones Design Company). I decided to imitate her stencil. She was inspired by these curtains from Ballard Design that I had been admiring for a while.

My Process

1. I tried to use Emily’s stencil, but the scale wasn’t quite right for my wall. I basically recreated the same shape with poster board in the dimensions I needed. I spent quite a while testing it to get it perfectly symmetrical. (This could have been avoided had I downloaded or purchased pre-made stencils, BUT mine was free.)

Please forgive the dreadful pics…This was pre-Cannon 60D.

2. Next I traced the stencil on my entire wall in pencil. I started at the top and traced vertically down the wall. If I had to do it over again, I would start on one side and trace horizontally across the wall first. This would have saved me a lot of erasing and repainting. (I did admit to the trial and error at the beginning, remember?) This was the hardest part.

3. Then I used white paint pens to go over the penciled tracing. It is by no means perfect up close, but from a distance the pattern looks mostly uniform.

Dining Room BEFORE

All my friends who saw the project wanted to know how long it took me. Honestly, I don’t know exactly, but would guesstimate between 12-15 hours. I came home from work each day, turned on music, and worked until bed time for four days. That’s where the patience comes in.

If you’ve been contemplating stenciling, just go for it. You need to be precise and patient, but the end result is completely worth it. If you fail miserably (which you won’t) all you have to do is paint over your attempt and no one ever has to know. If only high school year book photos were that easy to erase…

Be sure to “stop by” next week. I’m going to share three DIY art ideas to solve the “BLANK WALLS” dilemma.

Console Tables

| by Heather Freeman

One of the only places in my home that I am totally content with is my entryway console table. For some reason the stars aligned, and I wouldn’t change a thing to the set up or accessories. This doesn’t happen often, as I almost always change my mind about a space or have a plan for improvement. (If my husband were reading this, there would be an audible , “Amen”.) The first set of images is my home. Followed by that are foyers and console tables that I’m pretty fond of.

I’m a sucker for symmetry. I started with two lamps I loved and two of the centerpieces from our wedding. From there I just picked small items in my house that I wanted to showcase.

The mirrored table was purchased from Pier 1. The “pinwheel frame” was a Christmas project that became a permanent fixture post holidays. I had trouble finding something I liked better for the space.

Most of the images below, I feel, tend toward fashion rather than function. In truth, mine does too. Our back entry is where all the keys are thrown, bags dropped, and mail collects. I’m still on the hunt for pictures of tables that are equally functionally and still fashion forward.

entrances/foyers - Jonathan Adler Bond Desk black striped walls lucite console table horse lamp Lonny Mag: Lee Kleinhelter of PIECES! modern,

via Lonny Magazine

Windsor Smith

Two of my favs from Domino

So what do you think takes the rump card, function or fashion?

Little Mister: A Bow Tie Baby Shower

| by Heather Freeman

Whenever I’m throwing a shower, I have a tendency to “throw” myself into it Much to my husband’s dismay, I morph from the girl he married into crazed party planner, ignoring the budget and rearranging the furniture with or without help. I lose sleep, forget to eat, and make more trips to Hobby Lobby than any sane person should in a week’s time.

Ironically, I love this process.

I love it more when I’m throwing it for someone who can only be described as my “kindred”. My best friend Tanya is expecting her first baby and couldn’t more excited. When we sat down to plan the shower, immediately we had flashbacks of wedding planning. (We were both each other’s maid of honor and decided to get married within a month of each other…What were we thinking?”)

We even planned the date around when our dear friend Laura (Lark Photography) wasn’t traveling the globe and could shoot the shower. Tanya has impeccable taste, and I knew this shower had to stand out. We based our theme around this adorable invite we found on Etsy.

I got a little ambitious with the favors and made mixed berry pies in mini mason jars for the guests to take home with them. I snagged this great idea from Paiges of Style.

Other than an actual newborn baby (or a boatload of puppies), what in the world is cuter than baby pies?

I got desperate at 2am and decided my only option for getting the ribbon up was hot gluing it to the trim. That was a snap decision that I’d pay for later. Clean up involved repainting the trim…