Monday, September 30, 2013

:: Project - Bare Walls

I might have mentioned I've been busy with walls over here lately.  After getting the main floor painted this summer, I finally had enough of bareness.  It's like something snapped inside me.  See this huge, empty wall in our dining room?  Bo-ring.  It's amazing to think we stared at that wall during every meal for the last 3 years, isn't it? (excuse the wood plank on the ceiling - it's for attaching the baby's jonny-jump-up - but back to walls...)
I laid everything out on the floor and was able to work out an arrangement.  I did have to use some brown paper to save spots for the chalkboard we were making, and a few other things I didn't have ready to hang.



Last year for Mother's Day my husband bought this growth chart for me.  It's my favorite.  And yay - it's finally up!   (You can find it here.)
My children measure themselves all the time. Just in case someone has grown overnight.  I love it.
I wanted a chalkboard in the dinning room so we could work on the verses we are trying to memorize as a family.  It's a great visual prod while we are sitting there eating.
I found a large piece of wood in our garage, and after applying a few coats of chalkboard paint, Josh was obliging enough to attached some inexpensive pine trim, and with a bit of cream paint and slight distressing around the edges, it was ready to hang.
 
I used a vintage matchbox holder for our chalk and eraser.  It's quite charming, and works perfectly.  You can find them in a wide range of prices on ebay.  (I bought the cheapest one I could find for about $7, covered in years of grease, and then just scrubbed it over and over once it arrived in the mail.  Good as new - or old - again.)
Obviously I still need to get new pictures printed out for all the frames, but at least now they are on the walls.  Most of the frames were ones I already had, a few are new, and the plates are either from the Goodwill, or ones my grandmother hand-painted years ago.
I have a few ideas floating around in my mind for that empty space directly over the chalkboard.  But that's for another day.
 

Sew Together Bag SAL // Week 5: Finishing It Up! (last zipper + bindings)

Ok - Technically I should have waited a week for this, but I just couldn't help myself!  We need to get these cute Sew Together bags fin...