Studio / Guest Room Makeover

The February doldrums have hit and it looks like I am not the only one they have affected, my Bloglovin feed has been strangely emptyish lately. I can only hope my favorite bloggers will be back in full force with the promise of Spring.

Since it is such a dead time of year, at least for me, I decided to tackle something I have been wanting to do for some time.  This is the little bedroom that used to belong to my eldest daughter. She grew up and moved out, much to my chagrin. Why must children do that? Why can't they grow up and, say, move next door where we can all have our freedom but still see them every day? *sigh*

When she left the room was painted light blue. Before that it was several other colors including hot pink, which is the color we painted over when we moved in 34 years ago. Lets just say the room is a little smaller today than it was back then. You may have noticed I like lots of color. I used to chide friends and relatives about their white walls, (sorry Marie), and here I am painting the house in shades of white. You see, the thing I have found is that Color on the walls blocks me too solidly into one decorating style and color palette and I am nothing if not fickle. I want to be able to change my decorating with the seasons and on a whim, without changing the wall color. Also, this room has one north facing window and I need light. So white it is. The yellow looks nice and bright in this photo, but it was worn and to tell the truth it was wearing on me.  The chair is a garage sale oldie that I painted eons ago when the girls were little. I still love the silly thing. The rug was $5 at a garage sale and is there just until I find something I really love.

 So, I went to the Hardware store and I found the brightest white I could. Bright white in a low VOC formula because painting in the winter when you can't open the windows can really stink the place up. I am happy to report that there was virtually no paint smell at all. A very light scent as I put it on, no smell that evening when it was done.

I need a place to work on projects but this is also the guest room. I need to be able to fold up the tables, put things away and welcome that eldest daughter and her sweet husband back to her old room when they are in town, so the folding tables work for me just fine for now.  This is actually, hopefully,  a temporary studio, we are working on plans for something more permanent soon :>)

I am showing this even though it isn't finished. The walls are bare and it looks a bit blah right now. This is reality and I feel that it has to be said that, although we pin amazing studios and work spaces on pinterest, they don't have to be complete and happen overnight. There is joy in the process and in taking time to make this space my own and a reflection of what I love. I have a lot of plans to make it more fun and colorful, but right now, I am really enjoying the light and fresh whiteness of the walls.

I gave the old brown inspiration board a coat of jadeite green craft paint and purchased fabric for some cute yellow curtains from fabricguru.com for a steal.  A simple hem on each end and some clips and they are done. I like the sunny jolt of color they add, and because the fabric was so inexpensive I won't have any guilt when I want to switch them out for another color.

The create banner was made for me by a sweet blog friend, Trish, at Notes of Sincerity, and I love the fact that I think of her every time I look at it. In fact, the space is decorated with gifts from several blog friends and I will share more about that later.

 So that is the "studio" so far. It is so nice to have a space that I don't have to clean up every time I am finished for the day and that doesn't impinge on the rest of the house!

On another note, I have to share the latest $5 find from Home Depot. This time of year I CRAVE some green. I have to admit, I am not particularly good at keeping houseplants alive. The outdoor garden does much better because God takes care of sunshine and watering with just a smidgen of help from me :>) The indoor plants...God must just shake his head.  But I found this huge gorgeous ivy plant at Home Depot and it was $5! I couldn't even believe the size of it when I unwrapped it from the plastic sleeve it was crammed into.  It is lush and gorgeous and I have so far been diligent about babying it. But if it should die some day, (if?) it was only $5. Less than the cost of fresh flowers and guaranteed to last longer. I l♥ve it. HD is quickly becoming the affordable fix for my winter plant and flower addiction. (Not a paid endorsement, you know I don't do those right?)

Please tell me, how are you fighting the winter doldrums? Do you have any fun projects you would like to start? Maybe now is the time, before the outdoors beckons and all those Spring cleaning and planting chores fill up the calendar.

Happy Valentine's Day

 

Let the weekend begin! These were delivered to my door today, courtesy of my wonderful sweetheart ♥ #loveofmylife :)

To tell the truth, we don't have anything special planned for this weekend.  We never go out in the crowds, our plan is to go see a movie and have dinner some time next week. This weekend I will be painting my studio/guest room and I have to say I'm pretty excited to finally get that project off the ground. I will be sure to share as I get things spiffed up.

What about you? Do you prefer to celebrate at home or mingle with the crowds on a holiday weekend?

♥♥ Happy Valentine's Day to you all! ♥♥

New Kitchenaid Design for Spring, Pretty Poppies

I just added a new Spring design in the shop.  Bright red and orange poppies.  They are bold and fun and will brighten your kitchen up fast!

 If red isn't your cup of tea, you can get them in pink too. I'm loving the big bold flowers and the soft greens of the leaves.

I'm having fun designing new looks, and I have some fresh ideas for other accessories just waiting to be implemented. 

Only 44 days until Spring, and green grass, and flowers, and gardens. :>)

I hope your week is going well, we are supposed to get more snow tonight, 2-5". I'm sure glad we invested in that snow blower this year!

Stay warm, and dream of Spring!

Notecards

 

Dori at The Red Feedsack did a post recently on making cards by hand. I love that idea. I have just about given up on commercial cards. They are ridiculously expensive, usually end up in the trash and often don't express the sentiment you are looking for as perfectly as you would like. The trouble is, I am not a paper crafter. I already have so many hobbies, and so many I would like to learn, that adding all the paper supplies, and spending additional time learning the tricks of the trade just isn't up my alley right now. So how to grow a stash of pretty cards that I can use?  Well, as a blogger I have 8 years worth of pretty photos on my computer! Yes, this month marks 8 years of sharing  and I will be celebrating with a giveaway later this month :>)

 But back to the task at hand. I opened an account with Snapfish and they gave me 55 free prints as a welcome gift.  This is not an endorsed post, just a heads up that if you join there are some good things you can take advantage of.  So I went through, cropped some photos to 4 x 6 size, uploaded and ordered my free prints. I picked up some note card blanks on sale at a craft store, super cheap, and when the photos came I took all of about 10 minutes and attached them to the front of the cards.

 Voila! I have a beautiful stash of note cards to use at a moments notice, and each one cost pennies. Please excuse the glare on these photos, it comes from the 10-14 inches of snow we got last night bouncing the light  like crazy.

 The best part? I have photos that represent lots of different seasons.

 I can even add my own text or message to the photo before printing, so my cards can say exactly what is on my heart.

 Why pay a mint to have wedding thank you notes printed? You could take your own photo and use it to make these yourself.

 So many perfect photos to send a little hello and brighten someone's day.

How about a sweet Valentine? Go ahead and add some ribbon, rhinestones or other embellishments if you want to, but they are just as pretty unembellished.

And they are as personal and colorful and YOU as you want to make them.

Even if you aren't getting the photos free, having your own pictures processed is so inexpensive. The amount I saved in this offer was less than $5 for 55 prints, so even if you don't get them free that is a great deal for cards.

So happy February! The shortest month of winter brings us one step closer to spring every day:>) Are you shoveling out this morning, or enjoying some sunshine somewhere warm?