Stencil Wall Complete!!!!

It's finally finished.  After many nights of stenciling, cleaning and drying I was able to finish my stencil wall.

What do you think..... 

So Many Stencils So Little Time

Every time I go through all of my favorite design blogs I always have "Stencil Envy".  When I originally bought my condo I thought I would put vinyl lettering or vinyl decal's up everywhere.  Then I came to my senses and realized that you can't have vinyl decals and lettering everywhere, plus for what I wanted to do it would have been really expensive and really tacky.  After spending hours on the Internet viewing tons of different vinyl companies I came across this wonderful company called "Royal Design Studio" http://www.royaldesignstudio.com/  (I highly recommend that you check it out sometime).  Tell them I sent you, not that it will help you but you never know :)  Maybe I"ll get a free stencil out of it, hey you've got to work the angles when you can.

Now I realized that my switching from vinyl decals to stenciling, that meant many long days and nights of tedious painting work but for the out come I knew that I would get I felt it was all worth it.  So far I find this to be true.  I'm not finished with the particular wall that I'm working on, but every time I stencil another section of the wall I love what I see.  Not to mention that stenciling really isn't hard work.  You just have to have the patience for it.  You have to wait for one section to dry before you can add to that particular area.  Of course you have to clean off the stencil in between each use.  This can be the a pain in arse but it's well worth it!!!

Anyways...I originally was trying to find this particular trellis pattern stencil (FYI there are about 1 million trellis patterns out there to choose from so be prepared when you begin your search).  After days and days of searching I came across this wonderful "Ribbon Pattern" and purchased it immediately. 

This is the stencil that I choose.  It's called "Ribbon Lattice Allover" and I love it.  I'm currently stenciling the wall outside of my spare bathroom.  I would like to eventually use the same design in my dining room stenciling half way up the wall and then adding a chair rail at the top to of the stencil to finish it off (be on the look out for that project). 

In the mean time here are a few pictures of what I've done so far.

 

Bedroom Window Blinds

When I moved in all of the windows had existing window treatments (one less thing to worry about until I was settled in and could spend time deciding what I wanted). So I slowly worked my way around the living room and dining room by installing new faux window blinds, instead of the standard tiny plastic blinds and come with every house. My master bedroom didn't come with these blinds, it came with the original home owners khaki and white checked curtains. Now don't get me wrong I was grateful that something was here so that my neighbors couldn't see in my bedroom. O that reminds me I should tell you all that I am living in an episode of Friends... I live across from the "Fat Naked Guy" expect my neighbor isn't fat.

So last weekend it was time for me to update the out dated, not to mention since I've painted my bedroom a very light gray it was driving me nuts!!!! Here look for yourself....

Wouldn't this drive you nuts as well? You can see a corner of my new bedding (also from West Elm) it's the same color gray as my walls and an off white. So needless to say white and khaki curtains just didn't look good together.

So back to Home Depot I went and had the faux wood white blinds cut to cover my two bedroom windows. As soon as I installed the blinds, I took a step back and I felt like I could actually be comfortable in my own bedroom!!!!!

Now the next step in my bedroom is a DIY Headboard, so I need to pick a fabric that has gray, white (maybe black) and a splash of color. The fabric will cover the headboard and will also be used for tie back curtains. Don't you think tie backs will look good there? I've also got two light sconces that I purchased from Ikea before the holidays that I can't wait to put up on each side of the bed next to the DIY head board. Of course I will update you on those projects as I'm working through them and when they are completed.

Dining Room Updates

Ok, so I've been telling you all about the updates that I've been making to my condo so I'll start with dining room and then I'll work my way through the rest of the place as I go. For now here's the new dining room table (Overstock.com) and the chairs (Ikea). I had been searching and searching for the perfect "drum" chandelier and finally just a few months ago found this one from West Elm!!! I love it, it's the perfect fit for the room and for my style :)

Moving on Up to the East Side!!!!! No more Card Table and Folding Chairs :)

That's right I said it "NO MORE CARD TABLE AND FOLDING CHAIRS"

Insert a photo of my borrowed card table and folding chairs from my parents. O wait.... that's right I was too embarrassed to take a picture of my dining room that I never spent time for the first 3 months of moving in. I hated to open my curtains during the day because I wondered if anyone could see in and see the card table. O well such is life.

So you have seen the post below that showed the actual table that I purchased from Overstock.com. Well I actually purchase one but ended up with two. The first one arrived damaged, seriously damaged, so I contacted Overstock.com and basically they told me to keep, sell or donate the damaged table (I of course asked for this in writing). So needless to say my parents now have the damaged table downstairs in their basement. Yes that's right we have matching tables and spare bedrooms. Ok our spare bedrooms arent's matching but the color is. When I painted my spared bedroom we weren't sure how much paint we would need, as this was the first room I painted with the Behr primer paint so dad picked up 2 gallons. So my mom asked if I would mind if they painted my old bedroom the same color. I so did not mind and was glad to give them the extra can of paint.

Back to the table, I didn't like the chairs that came with the table so I decided that I would purchase the chairs after I saw the table and decided exactly what I wanted. Below is a pic of the table in it's everyday size and also a pic of the table fully extended (54" x 54").

Living Room Wall Changes

I know, I know it's been forever since my last post but all of you know why and I think you understand. I'm glad to report that everyone one in my family seems to be doing better!!!!

So since it's been so long it has taken me a while to figure out what to start posting so I'm just going to go room to room and post different updates of the things I've done. That includes posting Christmas pics.

So ever since I bought my condo I've always been really intrigued by wall decals, so I bought a set and decided that I would hang it up in my living room. Let me first tell you that it was an easy but time consuming project. I used the corned edge of my driver's licence so transfer the decal off of the plastic paper and onto the wall. See below....

It looks like it's 4 large pieces and 4 small pieces, WRONG. If you take a closer look you will see that the 4 large pieces are really about 30 small pieces. I really, really liked the decal at the beginning but after a while realized this was not the right decal or the right location for a decal. Well that and the fact that a few a the pieces starting coming off. So I just pushed the pieces back down. Suggestions don't use the decal on an outside wall. Between the winter cold on the outside and the heat on the side, I believe that was the cause of the unraveling. I will for sure do another decal, in fact I think I've already got the next one picked out, but you will have to wait and see.

So one day I was out shopping at Bed, Bath and Beyond (one of my favorite places) and I came across this picture frame set that I thought would be a good replacement for the wall decal. O and by the way they say that the wall decal are reusable, um so not the case in my situation. Every single piece that I put up tore into many more little pieces instead of pealing right off.

Here's an up close picture of the new wall hanging in my living room. It's 8 separate pieces that took me a while to hang in an almost perfect rectangle. I'm still working on putting pictures in each of the frames but I've gotten a few of the pics filed. The top center has pictures of some of my cousins kids and my old roommates Jamie & Jamie and their first daughter Madison.

Well finally after 4 months, I decided on a table for my dining room. No more card table and chairs. Yes I said it I'm 33 and my dining room table is a card table complete with folding chairs!!! No judgement thank you :)

I've always liked the higher tables (counter height) but I just couldn't decided on what I really wanted. The only thing I knew that I wanted was a table that had a removable leaf so if I had more than 4 people over I could accommodate everyone. I also didn't want a huge table that would take over my entire dining area either. So today I received an email from Overstock.com regarding a sale on dining room furniture. Dare I say it was a sign!!! I looked through the sale and found the table on the and it was exactly what I wanted and needed!! So I purchased it.

Right now I have 2 bar stools placed at my kitchen bar (see picture to the left)... so these will serve as the extra seating and I don't need to store them when they aren't being used. Bonus

I didn't order the chairs that are pictured with the table, I just didn't like them. So I'm going to hold off on them until I find the right bar stools. I'd like to find chairs with some sort of fabric and I know I wont have a problem finding something that I like. If I don't find the right fabric it's an easy fix... it's called new fabric and my mother!!! The Queen of Reupholstering !!! I'm so excited and can't wait for the final product!!! Stay tuned