Follow Friday 21: Happy May Day!

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Good morning! I hope your week has gone well! We are officially all moved in now! Let the nesting begin! Not sure if we are going to Prescott this weekend for my Grandmother's Birthday and Mother's Day or next weekend, we shall see!


I wait all week for this day! Friday Follow's are one of my favorite post, because I hope it helps you to find new and inspiring blogs to follow! Thanks to Pinterest and Instagram their Inspiration gave me so many ideas, with too many being my favorites, that  I would really love to share them all with you. I just don't want to take up all of your time, so here are a couple to spread the love and inspiration!

This week, I wanted to try something a little different, than just share, I want this to be more interactive and fun! For this week, I want to hear from you...I want to know who inspires you.
Here's the plan:
1. Post a comment, tagging an individual (or individuals) who inspired you this past week.
2. Visit and follow at least one of those mentioned. A comment is always nice...:)

Someone who loves color as much or actually more than I do!! Love her blog...full of inspiration!

 

French Tangerine

 

Instagram      Facebook      Twitter      Pinterest      Bloglovin                    

 

One of my obsessions lately has been Succulents, and it has nothing to do with me living in a desert, or that I know feel that my black thumb has graduated to a brown thumb, and I feel pretty confidant that I can keep succulents alive. I just love everything in this photo. What I love most of course is the repurposing of the votive candle holder to a miniature succulent planter! Brilliant! For more inspiration, be sure to check out Cherished Bliss!

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If you are following my One Room Challenge Coastal Charm Great Room Makeover...This is what I am envisioning for my room. I love the art print, and although I love the creamy neutral colors, this is mostly the color scheme I have in mind, but you guessed it with more pops of colors from Starfish Cottage!  

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Love this entry by Design Indulgence, especially the turquoise vase, the vintage nautical prints, and the jute area rug!  


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        Let's see how much love and inspiration we can spread together.

Have a lovely weekend! Until next time!

xo Christine 

One Room Challenge Week 4: Coastal Charm Great Room

Happy Saturday, and I am happy to say we are all finally moved in! Today I decided to celebrate by taking the girls to the Phoenix Home and Garden show, to see our favorite twins, "The Property Brothers". It just happens to be the brothers' birthday weekend, so it truly was a treat for me and the girls. Even though the show was only about 45 minutes, I learned quite a bit about, buying, selling, and remodeling a house; not to mention they are really tall in real life.  Their energy was such an inspiration to keep pushing me to put this room all together.

 

Here is my progress to catch you up!

 

Week 1       Week 2     Week 3

 

Onto the Week 4 progress for our Great room. The spring pillows are being made. We've picked out the rug and the carpet runners, picked out lamps, and the coffee table. Today I am showing you the handpainted French end table Part 1, I have finished so far. It will be completed by Week 6. Here are a couple sneek shots.

 

 

Before: I think my sister in law, was going to paint it aqua, and just decided she didn't like it. I love the how the table is turning out!

 

 

Here she is, all painted, for the first time I think I did a pretty good job, because I didn't have any luck with the reverse transfer. One tutorial, said to just spritz the table with water, before I put down my reverse transfer, and then spray the reverse transfer with water; then use a credit card to smooth out the paper, and transfer the ink onto the table. Nothing happened. No ink running, no ink transfer at all! Any one have any guesses why it didn't work? I did get better results, not perfect, it does need  a few touch ups. I followed this video for the how to, but in a later posts, I'll give you how I tweaked little bits here and there. I used this graphic from The Graphics Fairy, and I haven't quite decided, because if you haven't noticed, this table is WHITE! Around the edges I either want to handpaint roses or hydrangeas...Which shall it be?

Just for the record, I wouldn't paint all furniture. I think wood is gorgeous on it's own. The twin to this end table, I have plans that include, having my husband make a real wood top, painting only the body of the table, and transferring an image on top. Also, I have pieces of furniture pieces from my Great-Grandmother and Nana, that I would never paint either.

For me, the paint and the transfer give this end table some character and accent it's style!
 Just thought I'd let you know.

 

 

 

 

The video with the tutorial that helped with the transfer is this one. He uses this technique to write names on walls. Pretty cool! Think I am going to try this in the girls' rooms.

 

Here are a couple of the gallery wall inspiration, one for over my accent table, and the other over the couch.

 

 

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 The first one, on both.

 

 

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What I have left to do...finish the end table and pillows, DIY the drapes, and hang the gallery wall pictures.
 

Be sure to check out what the other ORC linking participants are up to and help cheer them on,
and click here if you missed the ORC participants. 

 

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend! Until next time!

xo Christine

Sharing with:
DIY Sunday Showcase
Creative Collection Link Party
Feathered Nest Friday
Something to Talk About
Metamorphosis Monday
LouLou Girls

One Room Challenge Spring 2015: Great Room Coastal Charm: Week 3

Happy Saturday! We almost didn't move today! My husband told me that the Property Brothers are coming to Phoenix for the Home and Garden Show, and he thought it was today. Instead it's next week! Katelyn loves watching their show (me, too), so hopefully next week we'll be able to meet them at the show.

Onto the Week 3 progress of our Great Room. For being halfway through I thought I would have more done! I am hoping that the DIY I have in mind for the drapes, and making the Spring throw pillows won't take too much time. When we get moved in I can put up the gallery wall, and hopefully finish up one of the end tables. I have a design for the other one in mind, but don't think I will get that done in time (maybe).

Here is my progress to catch you up!

 

Week 1       Week 2

 

Last week, I found this fabric at Joanns for my Spring pillows. I fell in love with the turquoise color and pattern. Those should be finished for next week!

 

 

 This week, I took a quick trip to IKEA, to look for woven storage baskets, and I found an idea for the drapes, which I will share next week. Also, at IKEA, I found a coffee table that I liked, that I think will go really well in the design.

 

 Next, I found my way to Home Goods, where I picked up this Jute rug for the entry, and saw these beautiful Coastal Coral artworks.

 

 

 

 

 

After that I picked up more (affiliate) Americana Deco Chalky Finish Paint, paint in 'Lace' to finish painting the end table, at Michaels I also saw these Coastal Lanterns. Not a bad deal, if I use their 50% Off coupon.

 

 

 

Earlier this week, my husband and I were talking about the situation with the couches, and since we're moving into a new place, he wants to get a new sectional for the Living room, the light tan leather couch can go in the Great room, and my SIL's light purple couch in the family room.

Glad that's all settled!

 

 

One thing about my husband he does have an eye for detail. We were out looking for rugs, and he actually helped me find one, that we both liked. That will be shared for the last post. So we are making progress, just not as much as I would have liked to share with you today! I should have more done for next week for you!

Be sure to check out what the other ORC linking participants are up to,
and click here if you missed the ORC participants. 

 

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend! Until next time!

xo Christine

 

One Room Challenge Spring 2015 : Great Room Coastal Charm

Welcome to the second week of the One Room Challenge! Here is a look at my Week One!

 Today I am sharing a mood board for my Coastal Charm Great room.

At the front door entrance, I'd like a jute accent rug/ runner, and then either one long runner rug from the front door to the kitchen/living room or two smaller ones, most likely in a solid medium blue color.

I have been also looking at area rugs, and I really like this nuLoom from Overstock

(in my mood board) the best.

I also found a Better Homes and Garden one at Walmart, that I think would go good, as well.

Right now, I am working on chalk painting some end tables that my sister in law gave me. Sneak peek coming soon.

Lately, I have this obsession with botanical prints; tulips, seashells/other oceanic life, vintage flowers, and wild life, especially blue herons.  For gallery walls, I would like to have one for family, and one for coastal, and one wall for the botanical prints; I am having a hard time making up my mind.

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Other décor items, such as hydrangeas, coastal candle holders, sea horses, rope wrapped lanterns, and I really would like a rustic clock behind the couch, are on my list too.

Today I am going fabric shopping for pillows and drapes.

 These fabrics from Lewis and Sheron gave me inspiration, in what I wanted to look for.



Leaf for Ever

 

 

                                                        Kai                                      Keyhole    



 

 

Right now my husband and I are, (and if you are living with someone, you know how this goes), we are moving, next weekend, and my husband and I are discussing which couch/sofa, goes where. I would like our light tan leather couch in the Great room, my husband wants this light plum couch (it is a pretty shade of purple) in the Great room, and the leather couch in the Living room, because it is the most comfortable for him to watch his big screen tv. Which way will it go? If the purple couch goes in the great room, I am going to have to make/buy slipcovers.

Another fun thing about my husband, he is a cabinet/ wood craftsman, and he works with designers. You should hear what he wants to do to our kitchen. That's for another post.

He was checking out what I was looking at on Craigslist, and I really would like a Teak coffee table. As we were looking at them together, he could tell which ones were solid teak, and which ones had teak veneer. He's a keeper! We were laughing because, I asked him to make one for me, and he said I would have to wait, until after June, because he's booked solid; like I was a client. Long story short, I'd rather buy one now, have him do our cabinets, and then make me a coffee table.

Be sure to check out what the other ORC linking participants are up to,
and click here if you missed the ORC participants. 

 

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend! Until next time!

xo Christine

Less than $5 DIY Floating Frame with Wall Art Part 1

Good Thursday morning, friends! Hope you all are having a wonderful week! I've been busy moving, not so much packing, as we just moved last year into a rental, and thank goodness I hadn't really unpacked. That will wait until next week. What will be nice is, my children have a 3 day weekend next weekend, so if we get all moved before next Friday, it will be a really nice weekend to just relax, but that means a busy upcoming weekend!

In my attempt to go through and either give away or toss away things that I didn't think would fit in with the new house, while I was rummaging through my old boxes, and looking through old magazines, I have hoarded stored for later browsing, I came across some inspiration that I had never heard of; floating frames. Although I've had floating shelves before at our old house, and something I want in the new house as well, the concept of floating frames had escaped me.

With anything new to me, I became intrigued.
First of all how does the glass stay in, how do you keep the photo on the glass??

What I love about our new house is all the wall space. I have always wanted a Gallery Wall, so this idea fit perfect for what I am trying to achieve.

First, I found a couple of frames, I already had on hand. For my youngest daughter's room, she's wanting a Pretty Pink Paris room, so I want to use the Shabby Chic distressed picture frame.

Other great places to find inexpensive frames are the dollar store, Goodwill, and garage sales. You could also use 50% off coupons for Michaels, Joanns or Hobby Lobby!

Second, where to find the art work. One good way to promote your blog is to offer free printables. This is really nice, because there are plenty of talented and creative bloggers out there who have these truly beautiful pintables that make amazing fine artwork. Here are two I enjoy, On Sutton Place, and Craftberry Bush.

One way that I just found out about, is to browse through Flickr, and search for photos with a Creative Commons copyright license. Here is one of a lighthouse I found, as always, I link back to the original source.

Ram's Island Lighthouse

There are so many Art Gallery quality photos, with endless possibilities. I download the largest size available, and upload the pictures I want to print to Walgreens. A 4x6 is around .30, a 5x7 is $2.49, and an 8x10 is 3.99. You can also order sizes ranging from 11x14 to 24x36. The largest size I am able to order from Flickr prints is 16x20 for 15.99. Still not bad pricing for artwork.

For today's project, I'm keeping it simple with 4x6s. It may not seem like a big size, but the impact it has on a small empty space of wall is huge.

A couple other places to find free artwork, is first if you haven't visited the Graphics Fairy, what are you waiting for. In an upcoming project, I am planning on using a French transfer graphic from her.

The Vintage bird with a lilac I also found at Graphics Fairy.

Looking for more inspiration,  You can find more Vintage Seed packets on my Pinterest board.

Follow Cherishing A Sweet Life's board Vintage Seed Packets on Pinterest.

Since I love this time of year for fresh strawberries. That is how I found this Vintage Strawberry Seed Packet!

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The next couple of steps are super easy.

First I put a bracket on the back of the frame.

 Next,I glued the glass in with Gorilla glue, along the inside edges of the frame, with only a small beaded amount.

Lastly, I picked up these invisible Elmer's glue dots in the Scrapbooking section of Wal-Mart. They are acid free, so if you are using one of your own photos the glue won't damage them. When I put the glue dots on the front of the photo, even though they are invisible, I didn't like how I could still see them (maybe it's just me). What worked for me, is putting the glue dot on the very edge of each back corner, and putlled the glue dot down to the glass, making it barely visible from the front!

And Voila! That is the beginning of my Floating Frame wall art gallery for less than $5.
 I hope you enjoyed this.

 On Saturday I will be sharing with you, my plans for my gallery wall. See you soon!

Until Next time! xo Christine

Sharing with:
Feathered Nest Friday
Foodie Friday and Everything Else
The Creative Exchange Link Party
Freedom Fridays
Home and Garden Thursday
What to do Weekends
City of Dreams

One Room Challenge Week 1 : Great Room

Happy Saturday, all! I'm Christine, and for once my timing is perfect, (we were late in getting the keys to our house), to join in the One Room Challenge hosted by Linda @ Calling it Home and 20 other designers getting together to redecorate, (or in my case, start to decorate) one room, over a six week span. I'll be posting here for the next six Saturdays.  Since the first room as you walk in the door is the Great Room, I thought that looked like a good way to start!

 

 

The paint color in the photos is much lighter in person. There is plenty of natural light. Eventually we will be replacing the carpet with hardwood, just not this year.

 

 

I couldn't decide which room to put this clock, since I have a Coastal theme in mind for the Great Room, this clock is going either in the Family room upstairs or the Living room.

 

This area could be the formal dining area. Again more natural lighting, in the Kitchen behind the wall.

 

 

And the upstairs. Lots of space for Gallery Walls!

 

What I have is not much, since when we moved last year I sold or gave away most of it. I have a light greyish leather couch, some aqua/ coastal pillows, my new accent table, and some fun family photos.

 

Here is the pillow I have, and My New Accent table:

 

The accent table I painted in Valspar's ' La Fonda Mirage'

 

I picked my pillow up at a Thrift store, as well as the throw.  The oak chairs are my Nana's, and they could be going in with her dining room set in the formal dining area, or the kitchen dining area, I haven't decided yet. The knobs I bought at Home Depot.

 

 

 

 

(affiliate) You can buy the same pillow here.

 

Here are a couple Inspiration photos I found.

 

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The list of things, I am really needing are a coffee table, and a rug, for right now. More to come, soon. Thank you for visiting and helping to cheer me on. Looking forward to seeing everyone's progress and inspiration!

 

One Room Challenge Link Up Party