71 Projects: Owl Art

Project 10: Owl Art

Total Time: 30 minutes

Difficulty Level: Easy

Total Cost: $0

The girls have their own bathroom. It is a fairly good size and is a great space for them! The previous home owners left their shower curtain and honestly, it looked very nice! I just wanted something a little more colorful and cuter for the girls.

I went to a friend's house and saw that she had an adorable owl shower curtain in her bathroom! It was perfect for what I was looking for for the girls.

It matched the existing wall color perfectly!  The only problem was that it made the rest of the bathroom seem very bare.  The wall space between the mirror and the shower curtain now looked huge!

I decided to make a little artwork to hang there!  I went to my craft room and gathered some papers that matched the colors in the shower curtain.

Next, I traced one of the owls.

Then, from that tracing, I traced each individual shape and then cut them out.

I used the cut-outs as templates to trace onto the paper I chose to match the shower curtain.

After I had all of my pieces traced and cut out, I glued them to white cardstock.

Then, I wrote a couple of reminders for the girls, framed them, and hung them in the bathroom!

I LOVE the way they look! They are the perfect space filler for that wall.

In case you were wondering, I did make some for my friend that has the same shower curtain :-)  Thanks, Kalie!

Keep track of all of my DIY projects by clicking on the DIY Directory tab at the top of my blog!

An Apple A Day...

When we moved into our house last summer, we inherited an apple tree. I wasn't very excited about it because growing up, I remember walking down the alley to my best friend's house. There were always those soft, green, apple-like things all over the alley. I don't know if it was the apples or the caged German Shepherd, but that alley smelled awful!  To this day, I pair that smell with those apples (or whatever they were).  So, when we learned of our apple tree, I just knew we'd have that smell in our backyard... yay.

The apple tree became a nuisance.  Mike would have to pick up the fallen apples before he mowed each time.  Although it didn't reek like I had expected, it was still a pain compared to the rest of the trees in our yard.

Dad came over a month or so ago and grabbed a couple of apples off of the tree. He was going to eat them! What?!  I never even considered eating the apples!  I don't know why the thought never crossed my mind. Maybe it was still the stinky apples that I remembered growing up. I know that those (if they even were apples) were not to be eaten.  I was surprised that Dad wanted to eat them.  I told him he could take as many as he wanted... What was I going to do with them??  In the meantime, I continued to buy apples every week at the store.  Yes, I am aware of how ridiculous this sounds.

Last night, I was out back grilling our dinner and I noticed how many apples were on the tree. It amazed me!  Wow! I actually have apples on my apple tree!

I gave the girls a bag and told them to get picking!  We were going to be set for LIFE!

Although small, these apples looked great!

 

I washed and cut one for Taylor and I to try. It was delicious! A little tart, but very good!  I will not be buying apples from the store this weekend, that's for sure.

We have enough to feed an army! Come on over and fill a bag!  I'm excited to eat fresh apples all fall :-)

Making House a Home: Living Room

Well, we are coming up on our one-year anniversary in our house! In our old house, our living room was the only room that was never re-done after moving in. It never felt comfortable and homey.  I was determined to not let this living room be the same way. I want every room in our new home to feel like the next.

Our living room has a huge window. There is a ton of natural light, but it is also very visable from the outside.

This is how our living room looked when we first walked through the house.  Very outlined.

When we moved in, we tossed some furniture in it and it basically became an extension to the playroom.

I decided to use the colors that I used in our family room, plus add in a little warm gray.

We got rid of the old furniture and did a little shopping!

We also inherited a piano from my parents and a chair that was my great-grandfather's and then my Grandma Pat's.  Here is my redo!

  

I was going back and forth on whether or not to do a reclaimed wood wall. It was originally planned to be on the wall that the piano backed up to. Mom pointed out that the woods would be different and I quickly decided to change plan and to an accent feature instead!  I couldn't be happier with the result. Plus, repurposing Mike's old toybox as a coffee table was perfect. It matches the wood on the wall better than any new coffee table!

To create this piece, I (with lots of help from Dad) ripped apart a few pallets and nailed them to the wall!  Super easy!  Then, I placed a vinyl decal on it and called it a day.  Love the result.

 

A few details in the decorating that I love...

I used BEHR Premium Plus Ultra paint in the following colors:

I love my new room. I'm not gonna lie... It is still pretty much an extension of the playroom.  Only now, it looks a little nicer :-)

Here is a list of my goodies:

Paint - Home Depot

Pillows - Gordman's

Mirror - Kroger Marketplace

Curtains - IKEA

Loveseat - Macy's

Chalkboard Art - Caravanshoppe.com

Rug - IKEA

Living Room Pre-Planning

I'm getting ready to start re-designing my living room.  This room is in the front of the house and has a huge window that looks out to the front yard and our street.  When we have the blinds open during the day, this room is very visible to those walking or driving by.

Right Now:
This is Taylor's room. She watches Dora DVDs and has picnic tea parties in this room. We have a futon couch and a recliner in there right now. The TV is not hooked up to cable, only a DVD player.  It is painted yellow.

What I Want:
We are getting a piano similar to this one:

Also, I want to get a new couch.  I have my eye on one, but need to get the measurements to make sure it will fit where I want it.  I also want an accent wall.  I have my heart set on a reclaimed wood wall similar to this:

Contemporary Kids by Birmingham Interior Designer AMW Design Studio

or this:

Eclectic Living Room by Atlanta Photographer Ashley Anthony Photography

I really like how it looks, but am a little worried about the maintenance.  Have any of you put one of these focal points into your house?  I also love that I can marry gray and brown because of the varying tones in the wood.

If I decide not to do a wood wall, I am thinking about a stenciled accent wall like I did in my family room at our old house.

I would do either a light/dark warm gray, or a flat/gloss dark gray/black for the colors. Maybe do the three other walls in the Gobi Desert (tan) that I've used throughout the downstairs, and the accent wall in Manuscript (the gray tone):

Maybe I could do a wood accent art piece?  That would bring both of these colors together.

What are your thoughts?  The couch I am eyeing is gray so I don't want the other three walls to be gray.  Also, I am liking these curtains from IKEA:

Also, Jaden's birthday party is in three weeks. I am kind of on a schedule for this room re-do. Help me out here!