Quick Change

Not every project has to take 3 or 4 days, or even a weekend for that matter.  This post proves that a change of accessories can be a quick fix to freshening up a space.  In our entry way we put in the Hemnes shoe cabinet from Ikea seen here.  It is a great solution to the shoe problem we have had, which is crazy because it's just us and the mountain of shoes is ridiculous... I digress...  Anyway, I wanted to hang some art and accessories over the cabinet and this is how I did it.

Here is a close up picture:

This is the full length shot, which Marypoppins (our dog) had to make her blog debut!  

I liked this look, but after a while it felt a little matchy-matchy and maybe too much yellow for me all the time.  Plus, the "B" would always be crooked!  Just laying around the house I had white frames and I thought that would be too much white and well...boring.  So on one of my many trips to Target (I LOVE Target!) I picked up this little square number for under $5, $4.98 if you were wondering! 

It's really cute, a great pattern, and in my new obsession color: blue.  I actually thought that I would hang it up in our bedroom, but it was too blue (our bedroom has aqua colors and saddly, it clashed).  So, what did I do with it?

This:

And this...

I love it!  It is just the right color and it broke up all the yellow we had going on previously.  Let me know what you think!

P.S.  Incase you were wondering, the yellow bowl, gold desk calendar and metal lunchbox were bought at a barn sale down the street (this guy has the best sales).  The picture frame and blue art are both from Target, the shoe cabinet (as previously stated) and white ceramic pot are from Ikea.  Also, you can get the art I have in my home from this free printable website.  They have several different colors of this cute saying about who you share your home with.  



Curtains, Curtains, Curtains...

I have been wanting to change the curtains in our living room for some time now.  I have been slowly changing up the decor in our living room with more "inky" blues and the pale blue curtains were not cutting it anymore.  I knew that I wanted to make a bigger statement, so definitely something with a pattern or color...or both!  I did some scouting on my new favorite obsession Pinterest and I noticed a theme.  See if you can guess...

          

If your guess was stripes...you were right.  A few problems presented...Matt did not like them. Wah, wah, waaaaah.  He said they reminded him of a lighthouse, and then that was all I could think of when I looked at them.  Secondly, this type of curtain starts around $60 a panel, and I needed at least four panels.  That is around $240.  That is not bad, but it was more than I wanted to spend.  So I started "googling" around and found this...

Sorry that the picture is sideways :(  I tried 100 ways to straighten it out and just couldn't.  Anyway... these are painting drop cloths made into striped curtains!  I found them here on Dana Millers blog: House Tweaking.  She gives a great tutorial that I followed to make the curtains. 

I started out by heading over to Lowe's to get drop cloths and paint.  I bought three drop cloth panels each 6' X 9' they were $12.48 a piece.  What a steal compared to the $60 a panel that I was looking at paying before.  Next, I choose the color and ended up with Admiral Blue Olympic, No-VOC interior paint, in eggshell.  I bought a quart thinking that would be plenty for $9.98.  That would be three curtain panels for under $50 ($47.42 to be exact)!

I needed Matt's help to measure out the spacing and make sure that the lines...lined up.  I did not want them to be wonky! 

 They did line up perfectly, they only look crooked because they are not lined up together on the garage floor.  I did not want them to be too dark so I opted for a alternating pattern with a big cream white space in the middle.  Here is one of the three panels:

Now didn't that look easy?  It wasn't!  This one panel took two hours of work.  I promise that I am not a slow painter.  First, lining up the frog tape for the stripes took a good amount of that time and two people.  Once we had the lines straight, I had to start painting.  Because it is fabric the paint soaked right in which meant lots of reloading the roller.  I got one panel finished and had used 3/4 of the quart of paint that I purchased.  I was finished for the day, but on Sunday I went back to Lowe's and bought a gallon of my paint to finish the last two panels (making the total for this project $71.90 with the addition of the extra gallon).  By Wednesday they were finished and ready to hang.  I am in love!  Just one thing, I wanted to change out the curtain rod and clips that we had in the living room.  The curtain rod was a textured white, and I purchased silver clips from Target a while back, but wanted a cohesive look for the next curtains.  I chose Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint by Rustoleum (which I had on hand). I laid everything out on paper bags.  It took several light coats to achieve the look I wanted (oops, I forgot to take a shot of the curtain rods).  

 Anyway, all that being said, I am in love with them, and here is the before and after you have been waiting for...

Before

After

Another after, sorry for the bad quality

Let me know what you think!

- Mary

My husband and I purchased our home in 2005 just before we were married.  We were new to being married and new to being homeowners...needless to say we had no idea what we were doing with anything!  For the longest time (4 years!) our house was "builders white" with a mismatch of furniture. Sort of like this...



We had some nice pieces, like the 1930's deco buffet and china cabinent, but everything was in a wash of white and did not seem very cozy.  It took some convincing of the hubby, but finally we decided to paint the majority of the interior in two tones of brown.  They are camel and saddle, both purchased from Lowe's (Olympic, No-Voc Paint in Satin).  Which you can see here. 

It definately warmed things up and gave us a neutral backdrop to use for when we want to inject color with furniture and accessories.  I know that brown or beige can be boring but I love it (and with 15ft cathedral ceiliings and lots of weird angles, I would rather change out accessories and furniture than repaint the main section of our house ever again)! It took three days of work for my friend Melinda and I to paint my living room, dining room, and kitchen.  I had to find colors that would blend throughout all the rooms and have a cohesive look as we have a newer model home with an open floor plan.  I think that it has worked out really well for us so far...



I have lots of updates to post already throughout the house and I look forward to sharing them with you!  I hope to turn this blog into a diy home decor blog where we can work and learn about home decor and home life together.  Thanks for stopping in to the Baker's House and you'll be hearing from me soon. 

-Mary