DIY Quote Painting

I’ll start this post by saying 1. I needed a picture above my bed. Blank walls make me sad. 2. I have some blank canvases laying around. 3. My favorite book in the world is Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. I decided to do a simple painting of one of my favorite quotes from the book to fill a space on the wall.

I typed the quote into Word processor to make sure it would fit on a rectangular canvas, and so I would know where to put the words.

Once I had the words printed, I folded the page in half, and in half again, and again the other way. That way I knew where to place the words on the canvas. I measured the canvas for it’s halfway point and wrote the words onto it.

 

The last few lines were crooked when I was writing, so I made sure when I painted the words to straighten it out.

Here’s my finished work. I painted the black words, then I painted in white around it. Sure it took a long time, but It was worth the finished look. I like how the white isn’t even in the background.

 

I also took some old sconces that I found at a garage sale for $6 and spray painted them black to match and go on the sides for a finished look.

Looks better black!

 

I love the finished look! Plus, I get to re-read one of my favorite quotes as often as I want to.

Price of canvas: $8 for a 2 pack. Sconces: $6. I had the candles and the paint, so this project cost me $10. Happy decorating!

Vintage Attic Finds

Recently I was helping the boyfriend clean his grandparents attic, and re-arrange the contents, throw away old and broken items, and even sell some things to get them some money. Among the bees nest, the sentimental wedding dress and ice skates from the 40′s, and the Green Bay city council books claiming the new name of Lambeau Field, we found some other awesome things. Some we are keeping, and some we are selling, and others we are putting back in the attic where we found them.

Among some of the things we found, an antique fan, a tube TV that… works!! And some luggage and a wooden crate. We claimed the fan for our own.

The TV worked when we plugged it in. Amazing! All we need is a converter box and we can watch TV on it!

This box of quilts was in poor shape, so I cut off the ties, and cut the fabric from the batting, and am re-creating the fabric into something new. And yes, those are Care Bear sheets.

This gorgeous fabric wanted to be used! So I sewed it onto a knit quilt as the backing. It’s now on my bed.

This was a suitcase from 1994 that was never unpacked. We checked the date on the magazines (the one under it has Barbara Bush on it.) I wonder where they were going…

These linens are now on my Etsy store! There were about 100+ more tablecloths, but most of them were plastic and made for a picnic.

Many, many glasses. We kept a few, and will sell or donate the rest. The family of course has first dibs.

More gems… A GE record player in a suitcase, an alarm clock, a Brownie camera (purchased on his Grandfather’s honeymoon when they forgot their own camera), and a humidifier.

This is a railroad lantern, missing the light, but would make a neat decoration.

This is the best find of them all! It’s a little coffee table with drawers, and when you pull out the drawers, one is a radio! The record player is missing, but it’s still awesome. It needs to be re-finished, but I can do that. And as for the radio? The boyfriend can fix that.

The rest of the Christmas and Easter decorations, Packer memorabilia, blankets, and nostalgia was neatly packed away and easily accessible for the family. What’s the best vintage thing you’ve found? Happy Antiquing!

On The Set Design: “Elizabethtown” Claire’s Apartment

Ok, so the movie Elizabethtown (2005) was pretty bad. The plot was terrible, the character development was bad, there was no romantic chemistry between the leads (although Orlando Bloom was in it…) and Kirsten Dunst’s character was overbearing and way, way too cliché. The best part was her apartment, and the journal / scrapbook / road trip guide she made for Drew (Orlando Bloom), which by the way that she unrealistically made in like 3 hours that really would have taken weeks. And I can’t find pictures anywhere! I think my apartment now is shaping up to look something like her place, dress-form and all. I will take more pictures when I’ve tidied up a little.

To get pictures of Claire’s place I had to watch the movie and pause the screen. But, I got some good ones.

Foyer

This screenshot of the foyer shows a cute narrow dresser, a couple of mirrors and floral arangements. Very shabby chic.

Kitchen

Claire has a vintage little kitchen with a yellow stove, and checker floor. I love the gray-blue walls.

Here’s a close up of the floor.

Bedroom

Here’s a shot of what I believe is the bedroom. I don’t recall seeing this furniture in any other scene. I love the keyholes though, I have a dresser with skeleton key holes, and I happen to collect skeleton keys. I haven’t checked to see if they fit though. I should.

The blue wall is bright, and “Charming.”

I’m a fan of the vintage lamp in the bedroom, and the red sheets are a great contrast.

Living room

My favorite room! The reason I wanted to paint my office/ living room (the room adjoining the Living Room) blue. That and it’s the only gallon of paint I have laying around…

I’m a huge fan of the blue! Maybe because it’s my favorite color… How can she afford this apartment on a flight attendant’s salary? Oh yeah, she lives in Kentucky…

Here’s the famous road trip journal in the making! They want you to believe she made a 2 day long soundtrack and map with stops in like 3 hours. Because she’s super human. Also, having blue pillows in the living room ties in the blue in the dining room.

Where is this taking place? I don’t know. But I like the vintage print and the lamp.

This bathroom is adorable. Subway tile. Peacock blue. Crystal knobs. Sold.

Closeup of the subway tile.

I think I may have found the closest thing in real life to this apartment… Pictures to follow of how my place is decorated and you have to tell me how it compares. What’s your favorite movie apartment? Happy viewing!

If I Could Live At… West Elm

I’ve realized as a designer, and a human with taste, there is a ton of gorgeous design out there. Not all of it fully affordable, for the average late 20 something, (or early 30 something) but still very gorgeous. If you haven’t heard of West Elm though, I’m about to introduce you to a sweet little treat of home design heaven. The price ranges somewhere between Ikea and Pottery Barn, but they have a lot of awesome home accessories that will suit almost any budget.

 

Here’s a picture of the inside of the store in Costa Mesa, California. Natural, earthy, and just my style. What’s better, is everything they sell to the customers. They even grew a live green wall in the store!

 

This is another one of the West Elm stores (and there aren’t many locations, so the web site is really the best place to buy things).

One (through ten) of the reasons I love West Elm as a company.

 

I did some browsing on the site and found some things to share. Yellow and grey are a really popular color combination right now, and the cute pillows in this picture are only $31.

They sell anything from dinner glasses, decanters, kitchen goodies, cutting boards, and more. You can get all of the accessories you need to throw a killer dinner party at West Elm.

Yes, I would love to live in this kitchen! Image link.

These little throws are only $39. That’s not so bad for a college kid like me.

They even have a list of “Green” products including jute rugs, recycled glass jars, window treatments, beauty products (deodorant?!), and recycled wood furniture. I can get behind that.

So, take a peek at the site, and order yourself a catalogue! I love when mine comes… it’s better than most magazines. Happy Shopping!

New Place: A Design Blank Canvas

So in a few days I’ll be moving to Milwaukee to attend the School of Architecture and Urban Planning. I went to the new place and got the keys and took some pictures to start planning on the design. I will have a roommate to help me figure things out as well, but there are a few rooms in the house that will need a lot of help.

This is one half of the living room. So much space to work with!

This photo shows the living room on the right side, the entry door from the staircase, and more living/ dining space on the left side.

This picture shows the living/ dining room on the left side. Not a fan of the wood panel wall, but maybe I can paint it. What do you think we should do with this part of the room? Dining? Sitting/ book/ study room?

The kitchen has so much potential! It will need some wall shelves for storage. I was thinking of maybe using re-purposed wood and some brackets from the local antique store for wall shelves. New ones cost quite a bit of money, especially when we would need enough shelving to cover this wall. Also, we would need some kind of cabinet between the sink and stove. There is nowhere to put food that comes out of the oven.

There’s plenty of room here in the middle of the kitchen for an island. Now, where to get a cheap one… Craigslist?

This is the only storage in the kitchen. With my things and my new roommate’s things, there isn’t near enough storage. I mean throw a coffee maker, toaster oven, and microwave on here and you’ve got NO room for anything else.

I was thinking of taking the fridge and moving it to the other wall, and putting a little table next to it so there’s somewhere to prepare food. I was thinking of going to the re-store and looking for some cabinets.

This is an adorable bathroom. All that’s needed is a cabinet on the other side of the wall for storage.

This is my bedroom! There’s a window bench seat and a ton of natural lighting. The closet is a little small but I should be able to make it work. The door in the back goes to a 3 season porch.

Here’s one picture of the porch. It’s pretty basic. I was planning on putting a sofa back there, my old box tv with a DVD player and some curtains with some christmas lights. A perfect study and craft retreat.

So, blank canvas? I think so. I’m pretty excited and open to suggestions!