Olivia's room, Florida, 2011

 I wanted to do Olivia's room in red and cream with hints of aqua this time around. I was inspired by this awesome vintage dress I bought her this summer. Except then I had to face the annoying fact that I can't paint or do anything fun to these annoying textured walls (no contact paper for me this time around. boo).

I wanted to have her entire room done in the 3 weeks between moving in and having my baby (as well as the rest of my apartment and all the furniture I had to repaint... I completed most everything though! thank goodness since I haven't had a chance to do anything like this since Amélie was born).  I went back and forth and became very frustrated trying to come up with something that wasn't already pinned all over pinterest (I love pinning, but I also like having my own ideas!!). I thought clouds! ohhhh so done already. scallops! no did that in her last room... I went around and around.

Finally I decided I wanted to continue surrounding her with abstract art/decoration so that she learns that art doesn't always have to be creating things that already exist (people, animals, etc). Maybe you think I am making this up, but I really do want my children to be creative and open to what art can be.
Anyway, I made the bookpage blobby things you see above. And I really don't love them them. But sometimes I like them. but mostly I don't. You see so indecisive about this room. When she switches to a bed (instead of crib) I will change the wall hangings, but keep the color scheme. Anyway, hopefully someone out there likes them!

long explanation. sorry.

 This is my favorite piece in the whole room! Another piece that I painted using the paint from this series of redone furniture... (I did all those pieces with only 2 little paint samples!!). I taped off the legs and used this trick to make sure the paint didn't bleed through. I love the legs on this thing.

 Those are the pinfamous ikea spice rack bookshelves.  I spray-painted them red.

 corner of the room... (the yellow on the side of the bed is leftover from her old room/color scheme, as is the  dust ruffle...). made the crib sheet of course. and that big ball/pouf (see here).

 I was really trying to get Olivia more interested in numbers without forcing them on her....
These are mini canvases that I spray painted and then glued book page numbers and white paper on. The praying children are from Goodwill. I planned on painting little red triangles around the edges of the "torn" paper edges on them, but haven't gotten around to it.

 I do love the way the book pages look around this window though! I happened to have that rug from anthro (when I worked there years ago) that I was sick of using elsewhere in the house. It went perfectly in here!! yipee!

 alphabet (Martha Stewart--my mom gave it to me), dress-up box, trash can. exciting.

And here is all the crap I cropped out of the photos:) Thought I'd make this real. I like it when people show how things really are in their house so you don't feel like a domestic failure when you see their blog photos.

So there you go! what do you think?

My apartment: Headboard re-do

If you've been reading my blog for the past few years (or even better, since 2008- when I started it), then you have seen my bed go through periodic changes. I really just get bored of the same thing after awhile and I have to switch it up! Before I show you my most recent (and favorite) version, I will take you down memory lane (haha):

One of my very first posts! This was my bed when we first moved to GA and I was teaching high school art (hadn't started selling my headbands really yet) and my husband was in a masters program.

My bed along with the guest post I did for Made By Lex back in March 2010, Olivia was 8 months old, my husband was in med school, and I was doing blue-eyed freckle stuff in a major way.

In July of 2010, when my husband, Olivia and I all went to Europe, I purchased my favorite bedding of all time: this Orla Keily duvet! And to make it better, it was on sale (in PARIS???weird) and its a king size, which I just temporarily have sewn smaller until the day we can afford to buy a king:) This photo is from my valentine's bunting post.

I don't know if you have noticed, but for all these years I have been trying to make up for the fact that we have no headboard. One day we will be able to buy a real bed frame I suppose, but for now we just have a cheap metal one that the mattress just sits on, while I attempt to make "headboards" out of random things. Well, the time has come. Not for a real bed by any means, but I have a real headboard to stick behind our cheap metal frame at least! I purchased this caning KING size (that seems to be all I can ever find) board at my favorite local thrift for about $20. And I loved the caning, but wanted the trim to be a different color. So..... 1,999 coats later (and it was paint+primer!!!)....

I had my favorite headboard of all time! Its a hot chili red to match the shapes on the duvet (which, while in FL, is not filled with a comforter because it is too darn hot! I just leave it empty like a sheet). And the bench at the end of the bed is another of my favorite things I re-did---it had been painted gold with black speckles on the wood parts--ICK! But I bought it for $5 and repainted the bottom with white. Thanks to my mom who found it for me!

Cheap Furniture make-over (with some painting tips)!!

Sometimes I wonder if when my husband is finished with medical school and we are FOR THE FIRST TIME making a decent amount of money, will I still be repainting thrifted furniture? Or will I just buy some new stuff? I tend to think it will be a mixture of both. I really love making the decor in my home. It's a way to create and express myself artistically even if I am not currently working on my fine art (paintings, etc). Anyway, long intro but here are my 2 latest re-dos!

BEFORE: $20 sideboard with hutch on top (wood covered in veneer).

1.Lots of taping (making SURE I got perfect little diamond points)
2. seal tape with clear polyurethane to prevent leaks under the tape!  (a little tip I learned from some furniture blog a few months ago!!!-best tip ever)
3. primed
4. painted and peeled tape while still wet. (Though since there were other dried coats underneath I still ripped paint off in a few spots. If you can take the tape off before the 4th layer then you have more luck and this usually doesn't happen:) )

AFTER!!!! I LOVE this thing. I still haven't unpacked all my books or display-type things, so it remains empty, but I love it even just like that!

BEFORE (well we are going to pretend since I really didn't take a shot of it before...) $5:

1. taped around the top circular veneer part
2. FORGOT to seal the edges of the tape, and painted 2 layers of Behr paint and prime in white.
3. taped off a bunch of stripes
4. SEALED THE TAPE WITH THE SAME WHITE PAINT.
5. painted the aqua color and immediately took off the tape
6. painted a layer of polyurethane b/c the original paint was flat.

ewwww! I  LOVE it!!!!

AFTER! yay! To do these two projects all I bought were the sample sizes of white and aqua ( and I actually painted a third piece as well with the same paint). The samples only cost $2.50 each, but since they only come in "flat" I had to polyurethane over top (I already had some). So for 3 pieces of furniture I only spent $5 on paint, and $27 (including the 3rd piece not shown) on furniture! That works VERY well into our student budget!!