http://theperfectshadeofgrey.blogspot.com/
Katie is a good friend of mine who happened to come over at just the right time- shortly after I {almost} finished my stenciled wall. She is an up-and-coming star photographer in Dallas and took some awesome shots of my painted wall. She is going to come back someday when I've finished decorating more of our new house, but for now, she's blogged a "sneak peak" of our house! I'm so flattered! Thanks Katie! :) You can find her blog here!
I must bid farewell for now, for an 18-month-old little boy is crawling all over me and is about to spill his sippy cup of apple juice all over my hubby's prized mac.
Can't wait to share pics of what I've crafted, sewn, and etsy'd lately!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
Father's Day
Ok, so I found so many awesome free Father's Day ideas that I couldn't keep them to myself. And since I'm throwing a Father's Day party on Saturday and Sunday (one for each side of the fam!), I thought this would help motivate me to get my lovely rear in gear and clean the house to get ready for these awesome decorations.
Candy bar wrappers
jelly bean dad
cute quote print
photo collage
free card printables
candy bar wrapper (I'm using this one, since his dad day present has to do with biking! Can't say in case he reads this)
Have fun saving money and being creative!
Candy bar wrappers
cute quote print
photo collage
free card printables
candy bar wrapper (I'm using this one, since his dad day present has to do with biking! Can't say in case he reads this)
Have fun saving money and being creative!
Awkward and Awesome Friday
Fridays are now my goal for keeping up with this blog. My brother thinks blogs are stupid. And he makes fun of me every time we talk. After every sentence I speak, he'll say, "Did you talk about that in your blog today?" Hah! Well, my wonderful brother Ken, this blog tradition is for you. Awesome and awkward Friday. (Click here for my inspiration for this blog idea-I decided Thursdays are too awkward in and of themselves to have as my goal day)
Awkward: (let's change it up a bit, esp since my awkwards are a little fewer and far between than my awesomes this week. *note- this is NOT usually the case)
We finally had our garage door installed and were enjoying it greatly, until said garage door was "slightly" damaged (completely destroyed) when it was accidentally closed on top of sawhorses that were left in the wrong place at the wrong time. Chris went to Lowe's, and they assured us it was covered under warrantee (OH YAY- we all know what that means)... So the garage door guy comes out yesterday and we tell him how UNACCEPTABLE it is that the garage door wasn't tripped when it felt something was in the way. I added in the sure-fire fix-our-door-for-free-and-apologize-a-lot comment of "What if it had been my SON?" He does his thing, then comes to the conclusion that it was our fault, since the garage door was already manufactured to trip when something gets in the way of it closing, but the sawhorses don't count since their legs were on either side of the laser sensor thing and didn't trip the door. DID HE JUST SAY THAT? (we still haven't heard back whether or not Lowe's will cover the cost of a new friggin' garage door).
Awesome:
Lately I've had too many ideas. They keep me up at night. So annoying. I work from home, so my home is my office. I have to stare at the blank walls and plain white couches all day long, and it's driving me ca-razy!
So last night I went a little crazy with buying pillows from my favorite "store" ever!, the point being to add some color to my otherwise white on white family room (which happens to be right across from my office, so it stares me in the face like an albino that hasn't seen the sun in six years). Here are the 8 I finally decided on.......
THEN, I couldn't stop thinking about the ridiculously white walls (I've never been a fan of no color, but I'm scared of painting before I decide on overall design), so I decided on curtains. I've already been through 2 sets of curtains (both returned when I realized how little I actually liked them-much to my husband's chagrin).
I finally bit the bullet and bought MORE fabric from fabric.com. My first two orders came in really late, and the hand-sewn curtains for the living room took FORever, so I swore I'd never order any more fabric or attempt to make more curtains.
Well, after a quick looksie on Etsy and their custom curtains, I realized I was NOT willing to pay someone $300 to make curtains I could make for $76 (cost of my fabric. Sweat and tears are well worth it to save more than $200. who would pay for this???
Here's the exact same fabric I got- click here! which will make 4 beeauuutiful hand-sewn curtains by muah. Maybe I'll pay myself the difference and take Chris on a mini-vaca to Six Flags. :)
Everything I bought should go with the stenciled wall I'm working on in the entryway. Here's the blog with the tutorial: stencil tutorial!
So far, mine looks exActly like hers! I wasn't expecting it to look as good as it does. It's a great idea for adding some drama into a room without having to splurge on wallpaper or pick a solid color. So far about 1/3rd of my wall is painted. It took about 3 hours of straight stenciling, then a good 4 hours of painting and erasing pencil lines, and I'm 1/3rd done. Aghhh! My arm about fell off, and it hasn't told me it's ready to start again. We'll see what said arm decides today. I want to get it done- I have too many unfinished projects going on.
My next project will be this! Total anthropologie-inspired budget-friendly art for the fireplace mantle.
Get it here
and...
get it here.
Tune in next time for a picture-filled update of casa de Layton! And if anyone has any lovely awesome or awkward moments they'd like to share, carry on the new A & A Friday tradition!
My sweet little bro and I on June 28th, 2008! (I guess this pic could fit under the just a little awkward category...)
Awkward: (let's change it up a bit, esp since my awkwards are a little fewer and far between than my awesomes this week. *note- this is NOT usually the case)
We finally had our garage door installed and were enjoying it greatly, until said garage door was "slightly" damaged (completely destroyed) when it was accidentally closed on top of sawhorses that were left in the wrong place at the wrong time. Chris went to Lowe's, and they assured us it was covered under warrantee (OH YAY- we all know what that means)... So the garage door guy comes out yesterday and we tell him how UNACCEPTABLE it is that the garage door wasn't tripped when it felt something was in the way. I added in the sure-fire fix-our-door-for-free-and-apologize-a-lot comment of "What if it had been my SON?" He does his thing, then comes to the conclusion that it was our fault, since the garage door was already manufactured to trip when something gets in the way of it closing, but the sawhorses don't count since their legs were on either side of the laser sensor thing and didn't trip the door. DID HE JUST SAY THAT? (we still haven't heard back whether or not Lowe's will cover the cost of a new friggin' garage door).
Awesome:
Lately I've had too many ideas. They keep me up at night. So annoying. I work from home, so my home is my office. I have to stare at the blank walls and plain white couches all day long, and it's driving me ca-razy!
So last night I went a little crazy with buying pillows from my favorite "store" ever!, the point being to add some color to my otherwise white on white family room (which happens to be right across from my office, so it stares me in the face like an albino that hasn't seen the sun in six years). Here are the 8 I finally decided on.......
THEN, I couldn't stop thinking about the ridiculously white walls (I've never been a fan of no color, but I'm scared of painting before I decide on overall design), so I decided on curtains. I've already been through 2 sets of curtains (both returned when I realized how little I actually liked them-much to my husband's chagrin).
I finally bit the bullet and bought MORE fabric from fabric.com. My first two orders came in really late, and the hand-sewn curtains for the living room took FORever, so I swore I'd never order any more fabric or attempt to make more curtains.
Well, after a quick looksie on Etsy and their custom curtains, I realized I was NOT willing to pay someone $300 to make curtains I could make for $76 (cost of my fabric. Sweat and tears are well worth it to save more than $200. who would pay for this???
Here's the exact same fabric I got- click here! which will make 4 beeauuutiful hand-sewn curtains by muah. Maybe I'll pay myself the difference and take Chris on a mini-vaca to Six Flags. :)
Everything I bought should go with the stenciled wall I'm working on in the entryway. Here's the blog with the tutorial: stencil tutorial!
So far, mine looks exActly like hers! I wasn't expecting it to look as good as it does. It's a great idea for adding some drama into a room without having to splurge on wallpaper or pick a solid color. So far about 1/3rd of my wall is painted. It took about 3 hours of straight stenciling, then a good 4 hours of painting and erasing pencil lines, and I'm 1/3rd done. Aghhh! My arm about fell off, and it hasn't told me it's ready to start again. We'll see what said arm decides today. I want to get it done- I have too many unfinished projects going on.
My next project will be this! Total anthropologie-inspired budget-friendly art for the fireplace mantle.
Most recent finished project:
Kitchen art. I bought 6 wood frames, painted them white, distressed them with some sandpaper, and filled them with cute Etsy artwork, including these adorable numbers:
and...
get it here.
Tune in next time for a picture-filled update of casa de Layton! And if anyone has any lovely awesome or awkward moments they'd like to share, carry on the new A & A Friday tradition!
Monday, June 13, 2011
projects out the wazoo
I haven't had much time lately to sit down and blog. I have so many projects and pictures I want to share, so it's going to be hard to talk about one thing at a time!
First, let me start with a pic of my favorite little poopy booty boy! He is growing up so fast, I can't believe it! I'm loving being at home with him and watching him do his crazy half-head-stands.
Lately, I've been working on:
an upholstered headboard for our master bedroom
silhouette paintings for the bedroom
stenciling the entryway wall and painting in the lines!
painting the dining room wall
finishing up the living room curtains and roman shade
sewing pillows
making gutter bookshelves for the playroom
The not-so-fun-stuff:
sealing all the grout in the house (ahhhh!!)
staining the fence
weeding the lawn and garden
cleaning after each project, which takes almost as long as the projects themselves!
...All while working from home, taking care of Asher, and trying to keep up with all the ins and outs of homeownership (changing our address on everything, paying bills, endless housework, disposing of various and sundry bugs and spiders, organizing endless amounts of junk). Take that, real housewives of wherever, with your four nannies and five maids and botoxed foreheads.
I'll leave you with a picture of the new headboard- It's now cut out by my wonderful husband (of almost 3 years!!!) and waiting to be foamed and batted by muah.
1 wife with lots of design ideas + 1 husband with manly tools and manly muscles=lots of really cool thingamajigs
Off to cook some yummy Asian noodle salad (from e-mealz-highly recommend!) and caramel apple cookies. Weird combo, right? I found two yummy recipes and have the ingredients for both, so why not make a meal out of it? I'm a pioneer woman in the making. Oh yeah.
First, let me start with a pic of my favorite little poopy booty boy! He is growing up so fast, I can't believe it! I'm loving being at home with him and watching him do his crazy half-head-stands.
Lately, I've been working on:
an upholstered headboard for our master bedroom
silhouette paintings for the bedroom
stenciling the entryway wall and painting in the lines!
painting the dining room wall
finishing up the living room curtains and roman shade
sewing pillows
making gutter bookshelves for the playroom
The not-so-fun-stuff:
sealing all the grout in the house (ahhhh!!)
staining the fence
weeding the lawn and garden
cleaning after each project, which takes almost as long as the projects themselves!
...All while working from home, taking care of Asher, and trying to keep up with all the ins and outs of homeownership (changing our address on everything, paying bills, endless housework, disposing of various and sundry bugs and spiders, organizing endless amounts of junk). Take that, real housewives of wherever, with your four nannies and five maids and botoxed foreheads.
I'll leave you with a picture of the new headboard- It's now cut out by my wonderful husband (of almost 3 years!!!) and waiting to be foamed and batted by muah.
1 wife with lots of design ideas + 1 husband with manly tools and manly muscles=lots of really cool thingamajigs
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