Bathroom Update, Part 2

We are well on the way to having a functional guest bathroom again! And to be honest, I think it's a reasonable facsimile to what I had envisioned!

Just a little touching up here and there, but we can do that another weekend. I think the color on the cabinet is MUCH better than that lighter color.

This third photo shows the truest color compared to what I painted. It's a really cheery bathroom now, and looks like a fun place to take a tub for the girls! A helped me pick out a new shower curtain, and we also picked up some towels and new bathmats on sale this weekend. The mirror that we picked up this weekend will probably go in either tonight or tomorrow.

Many thanks to my dear husband for helping me with all the taping and for watching the girls while I painted!

Bathroom Update, Part 1

Am I insane for planning to go to the hardware store, the paint store AND Ikea this holiday weekend?

I want to be sure to have the bathroom done by the time our out-of-town guest arrives at the end of next week.

Through the Looking Glass, Part 2

So I think I've got a plan. 

We've gotta keep it inexpensive for now, so we'll paint the walls and the cabinet. This weekend, I'll pick up a plain mirror at Ikea, and if they have an interesting simple shelf to put below it, I might do that.

While I'd love to be able to switch out the light fixture and the countertop (and the cabinet for that matter), it's just not in the cards for now.

And I managed to pick a wall color that didn't make my husband nauseous. Check it out:

...ahhhhhh.

Through the Looking Glass

Tuesday morning around 5:30am, we were awoken by the most horrifying sound.

The mirror in our guest bathroom mysteriously fell off the wall and broke into a bazillion pieces.

After we (and by "we", I mean my husband) swept up the pieces, swiffered the floor and then mopped, we decided to throw away the bathmats for fear we'd never get all the little shards out. And on the way down, the mirror also took out the towel rod. Once the dust settled, my husband said the magical words that were music to my ears:

"Well, now that the mirror is down, if you want to repaint, now's the time."

Sadly, it was followed with a little general guidance, because I have a tendency to paint rooms a little more,... how shall I say it... more chromatic than he's usually comfortable with. We can usually find common ground in the end, but let's just say I think he's still not completely on board with V's bright orange accent wall. (Honestly, I'm not so sure about either sometimes).

So what say you, blogosphere--any color suggestions? Any websites I should check out for inspiration? Please drop me your two cents below!

Freezer Paper Stencil Wall Art

When my oldest child moved into her "big girl room", we did the painting and moved in the furniture without a hitch. But her walls have been looking a bit blank. So I decided to create something to dress them up a bit. I decided to make 4 pieces of art that would function as a set, and use either cheap-o materials or things I already had on hand.

For this project, I used the following:

2 fat quarters of fabric

2 different fabric paint colors with sponge brushes

freezer paper

4 framed pieces of "art" from the dollar section

white wall paint that I had on hand

a staplegun

I prepped the frames by painting the over the existing "art" with white paint. I used two coats for opacity, and set them aside.

I then asked A what animals she would like to see on her wall and her selections included a dinosaur (of course), a grasshopper, a kitten and a bunny. I found silhouettes online and printed them the size that I wanted them to appear on each canvas. I then traced the images onto freezer paper and cut them out using an xacto and a cutting mat.

Once my stencils were cut, I positioned them glossy side down onto my fabric (making sure I left extra space around the edges of the fabric to attach it to the frame later). With a warm iron, I adhered them to the fabric.

Once the fabric was cool, I used a sponge brush and applied the fabric paint to the fabric. Make sure that you're working on a protected surface, in case any fabric paint bleeds through. Again, I used two coats for opacity, and I let each one dry.

Once they were dry, I gently peeled back the stencil to reveal crisp outlines of each creature.

After the stencils were all removed, they were ready to attach to the frames. I used my staple gun (what fun!), starting at the top center to allow space for the wall hanging hardware. I then pulled the fabric to snugly fit to the bottom of the frame, and then worked on the right and left sides. They were finished with "hospital corners" and the fabric was stapled to the back of the frame. Viola!

I can't wait to see them hung on A's wall.

So what to do with the freezer paper shape that is cut out of the stencil? Make fun t-shirts of course! The process is just the same, but I used a round stenciling sponge brush to create a soft edge all around the creature.