Nursery Update

Since my last post I have painted the diamonds and removed the tape.


Then, I started connecting the points of my original grid to create the lines of the argyle. I used my ruler the thickness of my ruler to create the lines by first marking the center of each end of the ruler and then lining the centerpoints up on the line created from the grid. I then drew a line on both sides of the ruler.

This time the taping took a little longer.

I still need to go back and clean up my lines and touch up the original blue in a couple of places around the room but I love the final look of the wall and am glad that I didn't talk myself out of it.

Up next...
-a new ceiling fan
-ripping out the carpet
-curtains
-installing the furniture

Nursery Update

While planning the nursery I decided that I really wanted to incorporate the look of argyle. Originally it was going to be a quick detail like this:
 
 (Project Nursery: Henry's Nursery)

I had eventually talked myself out of painting the detail on the wall due to time constraints and how long my to do list was. And then I saw this on pinterest:

(Can not trace it back to original source, if it's yours please let me know)

I was in love and wished that I had found this sooner so I could totally redecorate everything. As I sat there staring at this picture it occured to me that there was no reason that I couldn't still do this without repainting the entire room. This would work with my blue just as well as with their greys. So I got to work cleaning out the craft room. Well most of it so I could get to the wall that I wanted to paint.

Using a white colored pencil I divided the room into thirds horizontally which for me was about 30". After playing around a little bit I figured out that at 27" wide I could fit 5 across the wall which would give me almost sqaure diamonds like the picture. After blocking out a grid, I started finding the center of each section so that I knew where my points should hit. Then I simply connected the dots to form my diamonds.

Here is what a close up of what the wall looked like at this point. It was time to start taping.

I laid tape on the outside of the diamonds that need painted and then used a 6" metal ruler to create a crisp tear at the point. I originally thought that this step was going to be a ton of work but it was really quick and easy once I had the pattern drawn and figured out an easy way to create a crisp tear. Up next painting.

Craft Room Update

Have you ever had a bomb explode in your house and it looks like this?

(taken last year after my Christmas craft-a-thon)

Well, we had one explode this past week as we started the merge of Jason's office and my craft room. At first the office spilled over into the living room while divided up the space and rearranged the furniture. Then the craft room exploded as I sorted and started to move things into the new space. After investing in some better storage solutions I have been very happy with what I have been able to fit into my half of the room (okay so I might have taken over a little more than half). Finished pictures will be coming soon.

Our Summer Project

This spring we started a project on the house that took on a life of it's own. We decided that it was time to paint the house, which was originally red with a very poor coating of beige over the top creating an interesting pinky-tan color.

Spring

After scraping parts of the house we found dry rot in some of the soffits and that they needed to be replaced. Then summer hit, full of weddings and harvest and 100 degree days and the house sat there

unfinished waiting for us to find the time to repair the soffits.

Labor Day weekend, we finally were able to replace the soffits and then we started painting. While we had all the storm windows off we decided that they needed a good cleaning too so we scrubbed 7+ layers of crud off them. So after 6 months of work our house is finally finished. We decided to paint it a carmel colored brown with white trim.



Unfortionately this picture doesn't quite do it justice becasue the sun washes is out so badly but we are very pleased with the final product.

Craft Room

In April I started a craft room remodel. I had just finished building the first piece and hung it on the wall when we found out that we are going to have a baby.  Since then the remodel has slowed way down, partially because the craft room will be turned into the nursery but mostly because I can no longer stand the fumes from finishing the projects. Jason has slowly been finishing up the remaining pieces that we had started when he finds the time.  The new pieces will  now be sitting in storage until I move my craft room into my new space but I wanted to show the new items that my husband has been working on.

This is the only piece that will be hung. I had to purge some of the thread collection that I inherited from my grandma but many of those where either really old or repeated colors. I designed the shelf to fit the narrower spools that are popular now so there will eventually be more space between the individual spools



Below each spool is a nail to hold the matching bobbin and I plan to eventually have a matching bobbin for each spool because I hate wasting undwinding bobbins to switch colors. Here is where I got the idea.



This is a shelf that will be permanetly screwed to the wall so it will not be hung until after the move. The shelf is tall enough to sit spools of ribbon on end inside of it. I plan to sit jars of buttons on the top of it and hang my brads and other scrapbooking embelishments off the bottom using magnets attached to a metal plate that is hidden behind the larger trim piece on the bottom. Jason made two of these.



This is my future craft space. Jason was kind enough to give me the closet side of the office which will be great for storage. Unfortionatly I currently have an entire room and closet so some of my supplies will have to go to the basement. I plan on removing the sliding closet doors and using the inside as part of my space after repainting it.

I'm looking forward to the new chapter in our lives but am going to miss my private craft space. I need to get busy because I only have a few months left before I have to move and actually keep my craft space halfway clean. Check back in a few months for the new craft space and nursery reveal.

My Craft Room

After my Christmas craft-a-thon this what my room looked like. So the first major project was to reorganize and put everything away.

My craft room is pieced together using various pieces that I have aquired over the years. I'm waiting until we get into our forever home before I buy pretty matching pieces.

Starting to the left of my door...

This is my primary work area. The colorful table on the left holds my paper cutter and printer on top with the majority of my completed, in progress and not started scrapbooks below, as well as my tub of scraps.  The green bookcase holds my cricut, computer, cuttlebug, ribbons, colored pencils, markers, card blanks, pictures to scrapbook and punches. Hanging on the wall are excess blocks from various quilts and my thread rack. The folding table holds my small paper cutter, a shelf with my cricut cartridges and accessories and a couple of small baskets for extra die cuts and unused pictures. Under the table is a cart full of paper, an expanding file full of stickers and my drawered storage that hold adhesives, pens, embelishments, stamps and ink pads. To the right of that are my filing cabinets and cutting table. The files hold larger items to scrapbook, craft books and tissue paper.

Next to my cutting table is my scrap can and ironing area. My yarn storage is in the dresser. Straight ahead is my wrapping center and desk. The baskets hold various bows.

My closet holds supplies for everything esle.... acrylic paints, oil paints, watercolor paints, sewing machines, beads, glues, sewing supplies, fabric, drafting supplies, embroidery supplies, picture hanging supplies, batting, ornaments, glitter and batteries. Basically everything except for the scrapbooking supplies and the yarn.

This is my fabric stash. It is folded around my 4" ruler and then sorted by color. The bottom drawer is flannel and the top drawer is full of fat quaters. On top of my fabric are the projects that I'm working on.

 I realize that my craft space isn't all matchy and beautiful like many that you can find on the internet but it works well and I don't feel guilty if a piece of furniture doesn't work out like expected. Someday it will get a make over once we know a little better what our future holds and where we will end up.