Advent Calendar

I saw this in Joanne's after Christmas last year. I yanked the silver plastic knobs out of the holes before I took this picture but most of them were missing. Which is why I got this item with a price tag of $50 for $4! Yes, $4!!!! The challenge was on ~ I wanted to alter it completely and have fun with it!
I painted it with my green wall paint. Then, in order to put new knobs on this, I had to drill all the way through the holes. And then there were some brads I wanted to use and they need to fit into the doors so I had to drill for those as well.
I had to be patient and wait for the large order I placed from Scrapbook.com as I didn't want to mix stuff ~ I wanted everything I used to be from the same line so that my over the top project pulled together well. I ended up buying "We Are Memory Makers" White-Out Christmas Collection.

Many hours later, here it is!


Here's the back

Close up of the side. I used 'frosting' as well ~ the stick on 'bling' that links together and it is so fun and easy to use! Another thing not from the paper line I mentioned would be the knobs. Those are beads. I wired them with a small bead behind the door to attach them.

More close ups of the 'Glitz Frosting' which is the stone like embellishment I used. You may notice that some of the items are outlined in white. That is a huge trick of mine. So that things don't appear cluttered, I use a white gel pen to outline embellishments. It makes them pop and cleans them up too!

The big door is so cute!

More details including a bead

One of the cute little doors!

I love my new advent calendar and hope you enjoyed seeing it!

Home School Room

I was contacted late spring and asked to complete a home school room for a Mom who planned to begin homeschooling 2 children that would enter 2nd grade and 5th grade. Above their garage was a room that had been a catch all and she wanted it to be transformed into a classroom over the summer! Most people work a home school room into their dining room or a side of their family room or a side of a home office so it was very exciting to work on a room that would be 100% used as a classroom!

She wanted a central work space, lots of storage, two desks as they would each have a computer and wanted it grown up, nothing too elementary as she has older children as well and knows how quickly they grow out of the 'kid' phase! She needed this room to be durable and did not want laminate furniture but also did not want to spend a fortune. She knew what she wanted but she had not had time to look for anything so she did not have any furniture chosen and needed me to select everything! The only thing staying was the couch. Yup, Dream Job!

The room is large, 19 feet x 12 feet. When you walk in, you are opposite from the large window and it is just one big rectangle! Here are two pictures of it before.

You can see lots of boxes and that would be solid wood furniture that I found from Ikea! Yes, solid wood! It is there, I swear! There is a perception of a decreased quality from Ikea but for their price point, they are in fact quite superior to many middle grade brands and have very ingenious ways of construction even the simplest product to last longer than other items that appear the same on the market. I am with most of you who would not choose Ikea for your Family Room or Master Bedroom but for a kids room or work area like a craft room or home school room, I think Ikea is perfect! The parson chairs, desk chairs and laptops were all very affordable options from Walmart!

I focused on zones to plan the space. When you walk in, the desks and individual areas are on the left, the work area is in the center, storage for Mom is on the right and in front of the window is a reading center.
Here is the desk area where they each have their own laptop.

In between their desks is a bookcase where they have a printer that they share. One of my 'tricks' for craft or work spaces for kids is to use a utensil caddy for craft tools. You can see 3 here. If a pen breaks or marker leaks, this will wipe right down and can even go in the dishwasher!

they each have a map above their desk, one of the world and one of the United States.

Right in front of each child is an in basket which is where they put the work that they have completed.

In the bookcase, they each have their own storage bins and set of notebooks and Mom grades their work and then files them here. If it is daily work, it goes in the subject folder, if it is a grade or represents that they have completed their required curriculum, it goes into their portfolio.

The low cabinet on the right holds baskets and storage boxes perfectly for LOTS of storage yet every spot holds something specific so she can find anything she needs quickly.

Here is a close up of the baskets and boxes--they are huge!

Here is another view of that area while standing from the window end of the room.

On the wall where the main entry door is, I have added a display area for their work. They both love creating art for their display wall and filled this up quickly! In front of the couch on the wall is a small bookcase that has all their books on it and they sit there daily to read while watching for the eagle that lands on the ledge outside the window. Their experience homeschooling is going very well, in large part to their ability to dedicate an entire room to becoming a classroom and it was an honor to create this room for them!

Kid's Wall Art

When we moved into our new house, I did a LOT really FAST! My friends will tell you how nuts I was and how much I got done which is true, BUT the reality is that I rushed through a lot to get things pulled together. Here is an example.

My son Carter's bedroom is a super hero theme. He had quite the dress up collection so I wanted to do a hero's theme without buying Spider Man bedding or anything else that was expensive so that his room could change easily. So I bought some fun costumes the day after Halloween and bought these cute 4 x 4 inch canvases. He has a custom bed next to this area with some spaces to stash his favorite things so I decided to use "Hero's Hideaway" on the wall. I painted the canvases a color that is in his bathroom and used a red paint market to put on the letters and a black market to 'age' the edges and I was DONE! Quick, fast, easy and DONE! Here they are! I put them on his wall over the costumes and it was great! (Here they are on my floor as I forget to take a picture of them on the wall before I took them off for their makeover . . . )In the past year, I've been trying to upgrade some of these quick things. I knew they weren't as good as they could be but hadn't thought too much about them. My friend Lisa came over and told me about some Super Hero scrapbook paper and suggested I decoupage them. I started looking for the items I'd need and didn't find paper that matched his room as most were like a newspaper print or the hero was big for such a small canvas. I was quite disappointed as it was a great idea. Now what?? Then one day, I saw wrapping paper and it all came together! I ordered letters from Uppercase Living and here is what I started with to redo the canvases. I left the sides the same color. Cut the paper with the letters in mind as I wanted them to fit well with the art. I then glued the squares on the canvas with a glue stick, blended the edges into the black edges of each canvas by rubbing on black ink and placed the letters on. They didn't "pop" enough so I used one of my favorite tricks--a white gel pen! I just outlined each letter with the white pen and they look great! Here is the entire area! The uniforms are hung with wig forms. When I was planning, I was trying to figure out how to get these on the wall. I started searching for 'hat stands' and then 'wall hat stands' online and that eventually led me to wig stands and forms on ebay! They mount on the wall and are made for stores to sell wigs and are perfect!
I STILL need to do roman shades on his 3 windows. We've been here 2 years and I am still NOT DONE! No one ever is though, right? I plan to decoupage a cornice in James' room and have FINALLY had the main part cut but have I finished it yet? No.

This week is a good project week for me as I am home all week while family is visiting so I hope to get more up soon and hope to have a fun, busy and creative summer! I hope you are able to do the same . . . Perhaps there is a cornice board in my future?

Altered window treatment

I am working in a home right now where we are making lots of changes! So many things that I haven't photographed but one big thing that has been happening is a new nursery for a sweet baby boy that will arrive in the next 2 months!

The homeowners knew someone who makes custom baby bedding. I sew but that seems like a LOT of work so I was thrilled they had someone who could design and complete this! I looked at fabric samples for them, gave my opinion (not only as a decorator but as a Mommy!), helped with accessories and they worked with the bedding designer. She did an amazing job! Here is the crib-

My client asked that she make a window treatment which is not something she normally does. There is one window and it is in the center of the main wall, so quite a focal point. She agreed to make one and described a balloon valance and made it and went above and beyond to complete the room for them. It was a great balloon valance but the homeowners just weren't so sure they loved it. This type of treatment is great in a bathroom or in a room where there are several windows that are higher off the ground with furniture under them. But one window that is the first thing you see when you walk into the room needs to be a focal point, not an accent. The husband knew it wasn't right but wasn't sure what he thought it should be and the wife liked it until he didn't but then also didn't know what to do so they asked that I 'figure it out'! My professional window treatment diagnosis? Whimpy. Yup, that was my answer. Not sure why that was my only word but once I said it, they both were like, yes, it's just to whimpy! This room is gorgeous and it needed a bit more "umph" to live up to the amazing bedding that she made! Remember, she doesn't make window treatments and did this as a bonus! She did a great job! We could have started from scratch but we decided to highlight her amazing bedding and build on what she started by altering her design to create the focal point it deserved! So, here is the before: And here is the after:

We found gorgeous trim to add to the bottom. I used the ties that she had used and trimmed the edges. The treatment wasn't much wider than the window and I didn't love seeing the brackets on the rod so the trim helped fix those issues as well. I hand stitched the pleating as the fabric wasn't long enough to function as a true shade anyway and think it turned out great!

Here is the lamp I found for the room! It was $48 but it was wobbly so it was on clearance for $10! So I bought it, spent a whopping 25 seconds tightening one bolt on the bottom and then used my hot glue gun to add the trim. Quite the gorgeous lamp isn't it?

Here is the expectant Daddy seeing the bedding for the first time!


Now all they need is a cute baby!

Craft Room Reveal!

Okay, FINALLY I am blogging! There are so many things to show you and so much that we did that I have been avoiding working on this! It has taken me hours just to upload the pictures! If someone out there can tell me how to blog without spending so much time on editing pictures and uploading on blogger, that would be SO helpful as I do NOT know how some of you blog daily!

There are 2 things pending that I have been hoping would get finalized for pictures but I'll just tell you about them so I can share this fun transformation! There are so many things to show you that I think I will break it down into walls--here is a collage of the left wall, center and right wall, before and after! This desk epitomizes her challenge. Outdated furniture. Lots of stuff. Her scrapbooking supplies as well as products to sell to clients. Many projects that she wants to do at some point. Bins and baskets where she started a system but it wasn't quite streamline enough to keep her straight. Stacks of pending albums for herself and some that people pay her to create. Yes, she's cool like that--people pay her to make scrapbooks! Throughout this transformation, you will see areas that have been created to fix all these challenges that she has! Here is the left wall. This is where two items are missing. The glass jars on top of the bookcase will be moved to the right side and on the wall facing the desk at an angle will be a flat screen TV. To the right of the drawer cabinet above the basket on the floor will be a really cool magazine rack mounted on the wall which will balance out the space below the "inspire"! There is a picture of the rack below.I had way too much fun making this and felt a little guilty this day that this was my job! This is her project area. She had boxes and bins of pending books to make, projects for clients, albums to start and she needed an organized way to handle all that. This cabinet now holds them in separate drawers! On the display board is a list of the 6 drawers and which project is in each drawer so at a glance she knows what she needs to work on. She can easily reprint and put on the display area as things change. This Simply Renee embellishment holder is SO handy for a scrapper (I LOVE mine!) and her business cards and current catalogs are right there for her Creative Memories clients! Here is the Longaberger Magazine Rack that she has ordered and will go to the right of the above items. The cabinet in the corner houses her scrapbook paper, resources and her personal albums. She had a couple notebooks with references/resources and simply putting them all in matching white notebooks and printing coordinating labels makes them look great! The desk has an open are to hold her papers, current work in progress and cutting systems! Her chair came with a boring gray cushion so I sewed a cover out of the matching fabric that I made a window treatment with. Goal #1 was that it was comfy and swiveled so she could easily get into her cabinets behind her and this one is pretty perfect! This window needed to be lightened up from the heavy treatment it once had and now the room looks so much larger! Here are the resource notebooks that she used to pull together pages from magazines and random idea books that she was holding on to! Resource Books are needed by all creative types who like to hold onto inspiration! Fun crafter items displayed for easy access. This is the bottom of her desk where there is open storage. She made the cute sign! Here's the right wall! We needed Storage, Storage and some more Storage!

The left cabinet has often used supplies since it is right behind her desk. Fun labels transform this from utilitarian to gorgeous!

The center has all the 'stuff' that was in boxes and bags before in these cute jars from Crate & Barrel! She had an amazing collection of handmade cards given to her by friends that we displayed on the display frames with more in the fun metal container below them. The right side of the cabinets is 100% Creative Memories products available for her customers. Come shop! Here are a few details:

These magazine bins are 5 for $3 at Ikea and are the only bins I would spend money on! Transform them to match your room and look at how amazing they are! Perfect for loose resources that you are holding on to.

On the same wall as the door is a large closet. This closet was FULL of stuff she needed often, things she was holding on to and products. We worked hard at getting out the often needed items and getting this to function well for her.

Everyone has what I like to call their 'crazy'. We all just have something that we buy too much of or can't get rid of and some are even useful which is quite nice but still is just over the top! I have an awesome client who had an uncountable amount of free Christmas cards that were sent to her by charities that she donated to. They weren't even all cute but they were free and she had hundreds and hundreds and it was just 'wasteful' to get rid of them to her so she had saved them all in office space that she could really have used for something esle. So that was her 'crazy'--but are you ready, she is Jewish. Yup, never even used them. So, back to this client's 'crazy', hers is gift giving supplies! And she uses them so it's okay! She has LOTS!! We really had to figure out how to better sort her supplies and she loves her curling ribbon. This was an easy and affordable solution and she can get to it so much easier! She has lots of projects to complete, just like the rest of us! We created a section of her closet just for projects and added a list of all that she needs to finish. She can check these items off as they are done and then easily print this again and switch the sheet out as the list changes. If you do this, just use a removable glue or adhesive so you can switch out the basic white paper!
You can just see it at the top center but that box is for her son's school work. At the end of the year, she put it in a storage container with the date and this box is where she can now easily place new items as they come in.

This bin was here with gift giving already but we pulled out the gift bags (in their own bin standing up) and the ribbon so it really freed this up to be sorted better and is much more accessible for her.

This room was transformed from top to bottom and was so much fun to work on! All the furniture is from Ikea! I know, Ikea is NOT for everyone and I personally wouldn't use it in the main living spaces of my home but for kid's rooms, craft rooms, work spaces, playrooms- Ikea is AWESOME! This store is viewed as very contemporary but you can see there are some pieces that have a more traditional look and your accessories/paint/fabric choices can drastically improve upon the furniture's streamline look! There were many questions from my past post about this room, like where is the furniture from, and I may be forgetting some. I think some asked about cost and I think she spent around $2,500 on all the furniture down to the chair, new lighting, new accessories, storage containers, etc. I worked around 45 hours on this job and was there 1 or 2 days a week to start and then a bit more often at the end with the detail work. She worked with me 100% of the time which is great as I can move through organizing decisions quickly. At the start, I helped her get through the decision making process while sorting and determined storage needs and then would leave her with 'homework' of things she needed to accomplish so the first few weeks left her with lots to do in between my visits. Once we were getting into decorating, I'd start a group of tags and then show her what I was thinking and she'd bring out a cool corner punch or have an idea and we'd finish deciding and then she'd make that group while I moved onto another decision. She not only wanted to transform the space but really transform what issues were there that prevented her from getting projects done and wanted systems in place so that she could move forward without piles and stacks of things that overwhelmed her. This is the perfect example of the type of project I love--making things Pretty AND Neat! And I am a firm believer that clutter in your life is clutter in your head. An overwhelmed space is an overwhelmed person, in my opinion. Both decor and systems were addressed at once and she is now ready to use this room to be more productive with her personal projects as well as her scrapbooking business and it was a pleasure to work with her! I wouldn't put someone's name on my page but if you want to buy Creative Memories supplies from her, email me and I'll get you her contact info! You can order online too so even if you aren't in the Central Florida area, if you want to order and have products delivered to your home and don't know a consultant, she will follow up on any questions or needs you have and is now who I shop with too! If you have more questions about this space, let me know and I'll do my best to answer!