T.V. Room-Mini Makeover

So I wanted to spice up the look and design inside the house a little bit.
But, I didn't want to do something that would require too much $, too much time, or too much work.
I also didn't want something that would require too much commitment.
Like wall paper.
That's commitment.
And time.
And money.
So, no wall paper for us, even though they have some really gorgeous designs out there.
I had an idea to do a large stencil on the wall, but didn't want to spend the $$$$.
So I turned to my favorite creative source, Pinterest.
Oh yes I did.
And it came through for me once again.
I found a link to a website where the woman did an awesome hand stenciled, hand painted design on her wall and she even had a link to print out the stencil! Score!
You can see what she did here.
Since I have more time than money I thought it was a great idea to copy.
Here is the before:

And here is the after:

Love it!

Yes, it was a a bit of a detailed process, but it didn't really take that long when you think about it.

First I painted the tan walls a perty blue.

I also painted the one blue accent wall, a slightly different blue.

I couldn't paint the tan wall the same blue I already had painted the accent wall because I mixed it myself with leftover colors at home and didn't have more than about a cup left over.

Make sense? Of course it does!

I took the stencil I downloaded off the internet, and enlarged it on the copier at SBR. I didn't want to be too crazy.

Then I traced and traced and traced.
I did use a level to help me keep things straight.
I didn't want a wonky wall.

After tracing and tracing and tracing, and tracing, it was time to paint.
I found a paint brush I liked the size of and started tracing over all those faint lines. 
I love the final look.
What do you think?
Phase one of the t.v. room remodel is done.
Woot!

I'm not sure when the rest will get finished, slowly but surely.
The rest won't be anything too major, a lighter paint on the walls, maybe some different curtains, sew some cool pillows and figure out how to hang the pictures on the walls.
I'll try and keep you posted.

Thanks for dropping by!
                               Jana

Vintage Table

I know you are dying to know what I did with my vintage table that I scored at the rummage-sale-to-end-all-rummage-sales.

Well, I truly didn't have to do much.
I cleaned it up a little bit and moved it right into the house.

Here it is in all it's rummage glory.

I thought you might enjoy a little close up of the metal detailing.

Here she is all cleaned up and prettified.
Yes that is a word.
Don't question it.

I put the table in the living room between two chairs that I had painted white last year.  They had been in my bedroom but when I rearranged the living room furniture I had room for extra seating so I moved them out. 

  I think it makes a great compliment to the chairs, and hey,  there are never enough tables for coffee mugs to be set on during Bible Study.  Now we'll have one more.

These books were given to me by my Grandfather.  They are pretty old.  Which I thought was appropriate for an old table.

Next I'm going to be tackling that wall behind the chairs.  I've got a couple of ideas but I'm trying to think it through before banging a bunch of holes into the wall.  I think I'm looking for a new wall color too.  Yep, no 10 year paint warrantees needed here.  I hit 3 and I'm ready for a change.

When it comes to decorating, I like to mix things up.  I'm  a bit eclectic. I don't have a problem with pairing vintage and modern.  I don't like sterile environments. I don't believe having kids means that you can't have anything stylish.  I like to pull ideas from all different sources and blend them together.  I like to repurpose items.

Mostly I want my house to be comfortable and relaxing. I can get really caught up in all of the beautiful homes you see in Better Homes and Gardens and other decorating magazines if I'm not careful. But basically I don't want my house looking like a cookie cutter of all those magazine pictures. 

Which in reality, shouldn't be too hard, since I don't have that kind of money.

I want my home to be different from everybody elses. I want it to be uniquely suited to my family.  And I want it to be filled with all of our sentimental objects spread around as stylishly as possible.

Am I asking too much?

I don't think so.

What is the most important thing to you when you consider decorating your home?

What's your favorite pain color, I could use some ideas.

I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks for stopping.

                  - Jana

Well, What do You Think?

Well, after much distress and many attempts I have finally improved the blog header!  Thank you Shabbyblogs.com for the free back ground.  I just added my own picture and text on ipiccy.com

I think it's a vast improvement from what was up there before, however, it's a little busier than I would have chosen if I had made it myself.

Which is the next step.

Making one myself.

Oh despair! Oh agony! Oh why didn't I take more graphic design classes when I was in college (?an undisclosed amount, if you know me well enough you can do the math yourself?) years ago?  Who am I kidding, it's all different now anyway. 

Actually, I'd really like to be able to design stuff on the computer.  Maybe it's time for this Momma to look into a tech class.  Or maybe an on-line design course. 

Hmmm, as if I don't have enough to do, home schooling 3 boys and loving a husband, keeping a house in some semblance of order, doing massive amounts of laundry, etc.  Right?

Well, maybe I could squeeze it in.  It would be beneficial to me and then I could teach my boys something instead of them teaching me something. About computers that is.

Anyone have any ideas on a good class?

So, comments please.  I'd love some feedback on the header.  If you don't tell me what you think I'll let  my dog get after you.

If you don't she's scary enough, then I've got this kid -

Trust me, you should be scared of him.  ;)

Thanks for reading.