5 Simple Updates to the Family Room

With the laidback, lazy days of summer here, now is your opportunity to freshen up the family room.  Who am I kidding?  Our summer schedules can sometimes be just as busy as the rest of the year.  However, that doesn't mean you can't tackle a little decorating too.  With these 5 simple updates, you can quickly and inexpensively add new life to your family room.

Pottery Barn Inspired Horse Triptych

I've been surfing around Pottery Barn's website again and found a beautiful Plank Horse Triptych.  I loved the simple gesture drawing in black and white.  I knew I could probably do something like that with the 3 large canvases I had.  I do like the plank look better but having had the canvases, using them just made sense.

This project does require some degree of drawing skill.  However, if you can copy and enlarge, you'll have no problem.

I began by painting all three of the canvases using flat black latex paint.  Make sure to cover the white completely.

Next I rolled out brown kraft paper the size of the three canvases pushed together.  Begin sketching (or copying) the image you want for your triptych.  You can use an overhead projector to enlarge a drawing onto the paper.  Trace your image on to a clear sheet like a page protector.  Lay it on the projector and then trace the projection on the paper.  You will probably need to tape your paper to a wall in order to use the projector method.  I have been drawing since I was very young so I have had lots of practice and was able to handle this project freehand.  (Not without mistakes however!)

Ok, here's my cheater step.  After laying the drawing over the canvases to check for position, I cut the image out so that I could lightly trace around it with chalk onto the canvases.

Now comes the "fun" part.  I say that because you wouldn't believe how many tries it took me to be satisfied with the look of the horse.  My first attempt looked more like a donkey.  Great thing about chalk...easy to erase :)  I began by going over my light chalk lines and adding more sketch lines to it.  This is a gesture drawing...very loose.  So, remember that and don't try to draw perfectly straight or too deliberately.  Loose...let your hand flow (said in a quiet, yoga master voice...looooose.)

Ok, seriously, don't be intimidated.  The more you work with it, the better it will begin to look.  I sketched and wiped off and sketched and wiped off many times.  It really adds to the feel of the drawing.  Once you're satisfied and done, you don't want to risk erasing your masterpiece accidentally.  I used a clear spray sealer on mine.  WARNING:  Use several very light coats.  If you get the canvas too wet at once, it will "wash" away the chalk. 

I hope you give it a try.  Remember, it's just chalk and paint.  Don't like the horse, try something else.  If all else fails, you've got three chalkboard ready canvases to use for a Scripture verse, quote, or menu!  

DISCLAIMER:  My drawing was inspired by Pottery Barn's and I created it for my own personal use, not to be sold.

Thanks for stopping by and God bless!

Angie

I'm linking here:
THE STYLE SISTERS
JENNIFER RIZZO
HOME STORIES A TO Z
FROM MY FRONT PORCH TO YOURS

COMMON GROUND

HAVE A DAILY CUP OF MRS. OLSON
COASTAL CHARM'S NIFTY THRIFTY TUESDAY

FRIDAYS UNFOLDED

FEATHERED NEST FRIDAY

ONE MORE TIME EVENTS

TWIRL AND TAKE A BOW 
SAVVY SOUTHERN STYLE

STONEGABLE
UNDER THE TABLE AND DREAMING

A DELIGHTSOME LIFE
ART IS BEAUTY

CLEVER CHICKS BLOG HOP DIY SHOWOFF IT'S OVERFLOWING

THREE MANGO SEEDS

ELIZABETH JOAN DESIGNS

WEEKEND CRAFTS

PRETTY PINTASTIC PARTY
THOUGHTS FROM ALICE
HYMNS AND VERSES
MISS MUSTARD SEED

Here's Your Sign!

Do you love signs?  I do and I have a small collection.  Three constitutes a collection...right?  Good, because I have five. :)

This is one of my oldest signs.  It was painted by yours truly back in my high schools days.  I painted it for my brother who had just married and they were starting a farm.  Shallow Branch Farm is still the name of his farm today.  It's painted on a piece of old barn wood from my papaw's farm where my brother lives.  This sign hangs in my kitchen today.  My brother was sweet enough to let me have it.

I guess a chalkboard is still signage.  It wasn't used as a real sign in it's past life but I love the fact that I can change the message of this sign at any time.  This hangs on a door in my kitchen that leads into the laundry room.  If you notice the door frame, you'll be able to see some of the marks we've made over the past 9 years of our girls' growth.  I think I'll have to take that piece of trim with me should we ever move.

This is a painting I created about 10 years ago.  The house and occupants represent me, my husband, and three girls.  The writing around the house are of all the addresses we've had since we were married.  We've had a lot of addresses.  From 1999 to 2005, we flipped houses, that were also our primary residences, as we worked our way through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace to get out of debt.  I could do a whole post on our journey out of debt and may do it soon.  It's not easy but s-o-o-o worth it.

Ok, so this one is another chalkboard but I love it.  I purchased the frame at a yard sale many years ago.  It was painted bright pink and had cork board in it.  I began removing the cork board and discovered the tin (which is what I eventually painted with chalkboard paint) was covered with newspaper from the 1950s.  It was cool looking at the old articles and ads.  This chalkboard hangs in my office on my map gallery wall.

The "JOY" sign brass stencils were purchased at a local antique store.  I used them during the holidays and then sold them but I kept another one, the letter F for our last name.

And finally...

Another one of my DIY signs.  I loved all of the grocery signs that were popular recently but I could never find one.  So what does a DIYer do?  Makes it herself.  The piece of wood had been used for something else originally and was pretty beat up with dings and nail holes.  Perfect.  This sign was hanging in my kitchen window before I took it down to create the silverware snowflakes display.  Now it hangs on the deck.  

What are some of your favorite signs?  Do you make your own too?

Thanks for stopping by and God bless!

Angie

I'm linking here:
THE STYLE SISTERS
JENNIFER RIZZO
HOME STORIES A TO Z
FROM MY FRONT PORCH TO YOURS

COMMON GROUND

HAVE A DAILY CUP OF MRS. OLSON
COASTAL CHARM'S NIFTY THRIFTY TUESDAY

FRIDAYS UNFOLDED

FEATHERED NEST FRIDAY

ONE MORE TIME EVENTS

TWIRL AND TAKE A BOW 
SAVVY SOUTHERN STYLE

STONEGABLE
UNDER THE TABLE AND DREAMING

A DELIGHTSOME LIFE
ART IS BEAUTY

CLEVER CHICKS BLOG HOP DIY SHOWOFF IT'S OVERFLOWING

THREE MANGO SEEDS

ELIZABETH JOAN DESIGNS

WEEKEND CRAFTS

PRETTY PINTASTIC PARTY
THOUGHTS FROM ALICE

The Curiosity Cabinet and a Gallery Wall

I love old curiosities...don't you?  I'm not talking about freaky, weird things like they made the TV show about.  I mean everyday things, old books, old coins, starfish, rocks...things like that.

Years ago, my husband built this cabinet for me using an old window.  I love, love, love it.  It's simple but has always been one of my favorite pieces of furniture.

I began filling it with old books and I liked the way it looked.  They seemed to be meant for each other.  As time went one, I added other "old" pieces.  Tarnished silver.  An old brass ship.  Pewter goblets.  And I just kept filling.

The vase hold river rocks and river glass.  (I'm from the foothills of the Smokies and I love river rocks. 

These all came from the Little River in Townsend, Tennessee.)

The rock piece with a hole was found in the creek bed at the back of our property.

I believe it is part of an Indian artifact.  The other rocks have shell fossils.

It even spills out on to the top.  Old bottles found at my grandfather's farm.  Foreign coins.  Pennies flattened on the railroad tracks.  An old globe, minus the stand.

I left you hanging a while back when I posted about my gallery wall of vintage maps.  This is the wall above the cabinet of curiosities. You can see that post here.  I had most of the wall done except for the upper left corner.  I needed something for that spot.  Well, I did finish that wall finally.  I found the right size frame, painted it black, and added a vintage map of the State of Tennessee.  I think it fit perfectly.

Thanks for stopping by today and God bless!

Angie

I'm linking here:
THE STYLE SISTERS

JENNIFER RIZZO

FROM MY FRONT PORCH TO YOURS

COMMON GROUND

HAVE A DAILY CUP OF MRS. OLSON

COASTAL CHARM'S NIFTY THRIFTY TUESDAY

FRIDAYS UNFOLDED

FEATHERED NEST FRIDAY

ONE MORE TIME EVENTS

TWIRL AND TAKE A BOW

SAVVY SOUTHERN STYLE

STONEGABLE

UNDER THE TABLE AND DREAMING

A DELIGHTSOME LIFE

ART IS BEAUTY

 

CLEVER CHICKS BLOP HOP

DIY SHOWOFF

IT'S OVERFLOWING

THREE MANGO SEEDS

ELIZABETH JOAN DESIGNS

Upcycling Thrift Store Plates

I found a couple of small plates at the thrift store for just 29 cents.  I loved their shape and the black edging but they seemed a little plain to hang as is.

That's when I remembered the Pinterest trick for adding designs to plates using a Sharpie.  I love Sharpies.  If you could see my work table, you would see Sharpies in every color.  It's an addiction.

My office (former dining room) has sort of a hunt theme with antlers, dog paintings, and horse sculptures along with vintage map so I thought a fox silhouette would be ideal.  I found a simple pattern online, printed it, and cut out a template.

I traced the outline with a fine tip Sharpie first, then removed the template and filled the rest with a broad tip Sharpie.  The black ink covered well without leaving stroke marks.  Now, according to the pins on using Sharpies on ceramics, you should set the ink by placing the object in the oven.  Since my plates are just for decoration, I skipped this step.  I'm not very good at following instructions.

I did flip the stencil for the second plate.  I wanted the silhouette images to mirror each other.  

I ended up hanging them in the kitchen near my cabinet, another thrift store find that you can read about here.  I think their size fit perfectly above the tole tray and ironstone platter.  

Kind of an eclectic mix I guess...fox plate, ironstone, architectural print, and tole tray...but I like it.

So, for under a dollar, I have the perfect little additions to my wall.  How about you?  Are you a plate-on-the-wall type person?

Thanks for stopping by and God bless!

Angie

I'm linking here:

JENNIFER RIZZO

FROM MY FRONT PORCH TO YOURS

COMMON GROUND

HAVE A DAILY CUP OF MRS. OLSON

COASTAL CHARM'S NIFTY THRIFTY TUESDAY

 

funkyjunkinteriors

Helene' s Legacy

FRIDAYS UNFOLDED

FEATHERED NEST FRIDAY

One more time events

Greige or Grey or Gray or Beige - Whatever You Call It, It's Now In My Living Room

Gallery Wall
(sorry for the grainy iPhone photo)

As school was nearing the end this past Spring, I had great plans for repainting many rooms in our home during the summer break.  Most of the rooms had not been repainted since our house was built in 2003.  I was so excited.  I poured over color samples.  Pinned lots of great looking rooms for inspiration.  Well, as the old saying goes, "the best laid plans of mice and men (and decorators!) often go awry."  The last week of school, our friend, who is also a real estate agent, contacted us with an offer.  Wait, what??  Our house isn't even on the market!  That's right.  His office was working with a couple that had been looking for a place with acreage, storage, outbuilding, pond...our place.  They had been unsuccessful in finding exactly what they were looking for but our friend thought our place fit the bill.  He also knows that we had talked more than once of selling our place and moving back into town for the convenience of being closer to our kids' many activities.

Before Gallery Wall and Paint Color

So, we took the offer with a contingency of the buyer's home selling.  And we waited and waited and waited.  All summer we waited until our contract ended in mid August with no sale.  Yeah, mid August, when school begins and hectic schedules and busyness.  And my great plans were pushed aside.

Another Before

I took the Labor Day break to at least get our living room/breakfast area painted.  I used Valspar's Colonial Beige and had it color matched with Behr paint.  It is called a beige but it really is a great neutral between beige and grey.  This room gets a lot of light in the morning and changes during the day as the sun moves to the front of our house.  It worked as the perfect greige for my house.  From the photo, it doesn't look that much different than the original paint but it is.  For one thing, the new paint is a grey/beige and in an eggshell finish. The original paint (contractor grade I'm sure) had a pink fleshy color and was a flat finish.  Actually, the builder used flat finish EVERYWHERE in the house, including the bathrooms. Who does that?  The master bedroom and bath are next on my list.  Do you know what steamy showers do to flat paint??  It isn't pretty.  I'll try to post pictures of that when I redo the master bathroom.

Gallery Wall After

After painting the living room, I had the chance to rework my gallery wall behind the sofa.  It was by accident that I moved some of the pieces.  I thought I could remember where everything was before painting.  Thankfully, I couldn't remember and the result is even better than it was before.

I use a lot of orange and aqua in our main living areas and I love the combination.  It works perfect with Fall decor too!

As always, thanks for stopping by and God bless!

Angie