My Weekend

So I was supposed to be cooking all weekend, remember?  That didn't happen. I got distracted when I saw this tutorial on making your own Ballard inspired trellis wallpaper. I may or may not have spent all of Saturday afternoon/early evening practicing in our kitchen.

We went to Lowes on Saturday with the kids and like usual came home with nothing but fed children who needed to nap. Kind of frustrating but then again we do have a 1 year old and a 3 year old. What were we thinking? The positive that came out of this fruitless trip was that we did decide where to focus our efforts for the next little while. I would be lying if I said we weren't bad about starting little projects all over the house and never really accomplishing much. So we decided that we are going to finish the kitchen to our liking and spend as little money as possible doing so. 

Here's the plan:

This pretty little light fixture is on it's way and will live above our sink where we currently have a plain old can light. I think it will look WAY better and really, who doesn't love Ballard Designs?

Ballard Designs

Currently we have funky tan laminate countertops and they're going to have to stay because replacing them is going to be expensive. We also have a ginormous laminate backsplash (like 6", ugh) and I'm still working on how we're going to remove it without creating massive damage to the wall behind it. It may also have to stay until we can afford to replace the countertops for real and I'm going to have to be ok with that. I think I can be if we have a pretty wall and shelves like these to look at instead. I think we'll only have room for two over the sink but I think I'll love it!

Beneath My Heart

And this is what got me so distracted all Saturday afternoon. I think I may be in love. 

Jones Design Company

I followed this tutorial based on the Ballard Designs drapes that I was already in love with. First I used this stencil and traced it on the wall with a pencil.

A better look at it up close. It's not perfect and it drove Andy CRAZY. I figured it would be fine, I was just practicing anyways. Notice the unfinished drywall patch below (that we've been living with for like ever...)? That has to be fixed before we do anything anyways and then we'll have to paint so really, if I screw it up no big deal. 

I didn't take a picture of my first try or at least I can't find it if I did. I'm not an artist and it really didn't look that great. It wasn't very even. So I went back and re-read the tutorial and realized that she just used a brush that was the size of line she wanted and just pushed down so it was the same width throughout. I'm not even going to try to explain what I did the first time. Looking back I'm wondering what exactly was I thinking? Her method is clearly spelled out (if I had taken the time to read it) and it works nicely and was way faster. So I followed the directions the second time and came up with this. Again, just practice, don't freak out. 

Here it is with the light on. The light that will be beautiful when the new one comes in.

And closer up, light still on. You can see it isn't perfect and you can also see the pencil marks in some places. Hers clearly looks better than mine does and her pencil marks seem far less visible than mine. I tried erasing them and it just smudged into the paint and looked worse. I'm thinking next time I'll just make sure to paint over them really well and then I won't have to worry about it. There are definitely a few spots that look a little funky but all in all I really like the design. What do you think? Feel free to tell me I'm a crappy painter and to stop. I'd rather know it now than after I paint an entire wall of this :-) 

Our kitchen island is going to get 4 new feet to raise it up to the proper height. It came with those ugly black and metal feet that looked as if they should be on a rolling metal shelf. Not really the look we were going for in the kitchen so we never put them on after putting it together. It's also going to get a coat of paint but we're not sure yet if we're going to go blue to match the hutch in the dining room or if we'll go white to go with the kitchen. I'm definitely leaving the butcher block top unpainted. I love the way it looks but I it will probably need to be refinished after a few years of abuse use. Maybe I can get some of the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and paint the island and the kitchen table the same? I'm thinking Pure White and a little distressing? I'm trying to talk myself into spending that much money on a quart of paint...

And you already know my plans for our breakfast nook. I think it will all go together quite nicely if we can just get it all done. 

Jennifer Rizzo

And if that wasn't enough for one weekend, today I started on this project. This is my Grandmother's old dresser and we are repurposing it for Maddie's room. I sanded it today and filled nail holes. The plan is to paint it Pottery Barn White to match her other furniture. I'm also going to get some pretty glass knobs to finish it off. 

Now I'm just waiting for the wood filler to dry so I can either retouch again or start priming. This will be my first experience with painting furniture. I have all of the supplies and I am planning to follow Centsational Girl's instructions. Any tips?

How was your weekend?