Branding the baby's room

The mural! Based on the tree I used as the grounding graphic force for our wedding, I created a super adorable baby room mural. I mean, I spent $75 for a very talented gal on Etsy to develop my wedding invites and this tree and really, I'm just trying to get the most bang for my buck by making this tree our family logo. (Our family also has a few favorite fonts that fit our "brand," too in case you were wondering. I'm clearly that bizarre.)

I mentioned before that painting this wasn't too bad, even for an art dunce like myself. A nice projector, a sharp pencil and a steady hand is all it took to create:

Ooooooo!

Ahhhhhh!

For those of you curious, Hubs is the green bird, I'm the yellow bird and Baby BBB is the teal bird. Hubs (bless his heart!) originally asked to be painted with the markings of a sun conure. After perusing the paint selections, though, he realized he didn't want to upstage the kiddo's bird and also, he did not want his wife/artiste to have a conniption fit trying to replicate nature's beautiful bounty. Hubs is a wise, wise man.

I did two coats, but there are still lots of great brush strokes, which only add to the tree-ness of it all. I can't wait to camp out in here every night and stare at this sucker while I'm in a sleep deprived zombie state.

Now that this is done, the baby's room work is on hold for a few days while we finish the bathroom. Then, the floors need to get refinished (barf). That's on the calendar for next weekend. I can only imagine how excited you all are to read about the whole sand, buff, seal thang. I'll make it fun, I promise.

On the bandwagon!

I've decided to hop on the chalkboard bandwagon. Over the holidays, I painted one for my office and fell in love with admiring my own fancy handwriting every day.  

So, I took off our pantry doors and wiped them down so they were delightfully shiny.

Then, took them to the basement where I taped 'em up and slathered on the chalkboard paint.

Two days later (due to my own laziness, not paint-drying), I had my meal-planning HQ complete. Dinners up top, lunches below.

 And, of course, Hubs added some art near the cat food. This is what they mean by art imitating life.

And that was that. A simple and free project that is practical - what more could a gal ask for?

Have you hopped on the chalkboard wagon? What'd you paint?

Pimp My Office: Chalk Hearts are for the Birds (plus glitter!)

Last Christmas break, I spent hours tearing down heinous 80s wallpaper and painting the tiny room where I spend 40+ hours a week. But, I wasn't done pimpin' this little home away from home, no siree!

So, me and two office mates spent one afternoon over break at the office - not futzing with spreadsheets and Hootsuite bulk uploads - but getting our Martha on.

Behold: our masterpiece (my co-workers have similar branded office art now, too).

Yeah, it's a chalkboard heart and torch (the logo 89% of you can positively associate with the American Heart Association) - surrounded by RED GLITTER PAINT!

Do you have any idea how much red glitter paint can make a crafty Heart Association employee squeal? A lot.

I also added some functional art in the form of a magnetic bird that Hubs' parents picked up for me as a Christmas present. It sits over my desk, along with my handy (and free!) deadline clothesline and the amazing Ork heart poster I fell in love with last spring.

Clearly, this office is not short on personality.

Do you get to snazz up your workspace? How have you incorporated glitter into your professional life?

All the trimmings

Our little living and dining rooms had suffered for too long with unsightly trim. Mismatched and unloved, the trim wasn't doing much to help our admittedly neglected upstairs. And so it was that Hubs and I pulled our painting clothes out and set to beautifying the badness.

As if an ugly stain wasn't enough, this poor slice of baseboard got all dripped on by myself, way back when I didn't even know to to edge without one of those horrible plastic slider things.

Believe it or not, Hubs and I actually applied the lighter stain and declared it good. Oh, we were such DIY punks in 2009.

Again, we applied the lighter stain and felt OK with that. We must have been drunk.

We decided to pull up the quarter-round and replace it because trying to paint around it seemed like a lot more work than making a few cuts and spending $20 at Menards.

After two coats of primer and three of paint (and two meatball subs and one costume change), we had afters that we could finally be proud of!

The whole shebang.

How bright and happy!

Seriously, I spent the better part of the next day just staring at the match-y-ness of this section.

I'm so jazzed to finally have paid some attention to this room. It hadn't seen any major updates since we painted it about two weeks after moving in. Now, with our crisp white trim, I'm ready to get crack-a-lackin' on making this, the most used room in our house, a little more punchy and rad.

What was your final DIY of 2011?

In which perfection shockingly alludes me

I've had this little hall mirror since 2004. It was purchased for less than $5 at Burlington Coat Factory in an effort to spruce up my crumbly sad college house.

Here is my wee little dark mirror, circa 2009. Waaay back before the new windows and back when two unruly felines had yet to destroy the upholstery on my green chair.

After living with the dark mirror for seven years, I got the itch. It was time to shake things up with my little discount store mirror and the only kind of excitement I could bring to the table was a pale gray paint left over from an old project.

This chip has been there as long as I can recall. It was likely earned during a legendary house party. 

 Taping mirrors always sucks because you I can never get a crisp line. If you look closely, you can always tell I just slapped some lipstick on a pig of a mirror. Nevertheless, I tried to wedge my tape corners down with a screwdriver and look of serious concentration.

Painting time! 

I failed to realize just how sticky-outtie the designs were until I was really trying to get in there with my brush.

I almost left the mirror in this stage of shabby chicness after just two coats of paint before realizing shabby chic has no place in my home. Mostly because the shabby rings just too true.

So I rolled on a third coat and called it good.

Today, the mirror hangs where it always had and I've got to admit - I'm underwhelmed.

 Missed a spot or two.

It just disappears.

Be honest, aren't you underwhelmed, too? It's just too light and airy that it fades away. I'm hoping that once I get my act together and paint all that trim white, it will be a little better.

Maybe I just need to gallery wall this shizzle and get my pops of boldness that way. What say ye?

This ye says that between my lame painting and having reflected hundreds of hard-partying accountants and pharmacists: That poor mirror has been through the ringer.

What paint mistakes have you made lately?

Yipes, stripes!

Last week, Bigger, Better, Best was beach-bound with 15 of our nearest and dearest. I'll regale you with group photos and stories about how we spent 12 hours a day on the sandy shores of Grayton Beach, Florida later. As an amateur journalist, though, I feel the bigger story here is the ridiculous nature of last Saturday.

8:00 ish a.m., 88 degrees: We rise and shine. We peek out the back window and see the following:

We are sad. 

8:30 is a.m., 94 degrees: Post-donuts, I don my work jorts and $2 flippies.

 9:00 a.m., 98 degrees: We pick and peel and sand the offending garage wall. We acknowledge it looks shitty. We are soaked with sweat.

 9:15 a.m., 101 degrees, no joke: I artfully arrange our weapons of the day.

 10:30 a.m., 108 degrees: We complete Project Part One, Glidden Caribe. We squint eyes and tilt heads and hope for the best as we push onward, ever onward.

 High Noon, 115 degrees: Project Parts Two (Glidden Ivy Topiary and Sliced Cucumber) and Three applied. Jorts have been removed and your humble blogger is painting in a swimsuit. Hubs loses three pounds of water weight in an hour.

 3:00 p.m., 400 degrees, hellish humidity: Project Part Four (Martha's Acuaba Teal) is complete and touch-ups have been applied. Eyes squint again, necks crane, painting duo agrees to never paint outdoors on such a hot day again, even if in a few hours we still think it looks weird.

 4:00 p.m.: Eye pallets cleansed, we silly homeowners agree - Stripes Are Good.  

 Allow me to dazzle you with our amazing painting-in-the-line skillz, y'all. What, what?

 Present: We are the proud owners of an outdoor living space that looks delightfully beachy, with a dash of Mexican restaurant. So much better than starring at a blah tan wall when we hang out on the patio. Bold move, right?

Honest opinion, you guys - digging our stripes? What's the kookiest paint job you've done lately?

Let's make the house a little weirder

It's been a very busy week, but I wanted to let you know : I wasn't kidding about the garage mural project.

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Do you see it, too?

This expanse of garage wall that faces our patio garden needs an autobiographical mural.

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