More Unique Headboards

Don't fight with the pillow, but lay down your head,
And kick every worriment out of the bed.
~Edmund Vance Cooke

After my post about the headboard we made for our master bedroom, I had a query about more options for nontraditional headboards. You guys ARE paying attention!

So I brainstormed a little and then searched for my ideas online. Just about everything I came up with was represented in some clever DIY photo online.

Like this one -- a surfboard that would add a coastal touch to any beach bum's bedroom...

I don't see why you couldn't use the Hang Man system on these. And even better, I did a quick scan of Craigslist and found a few used boards for $25! They looked a little worse for the wear, but with some spray paint and Frog Tape for stripes ... you could get a result like this!

The next one would be super easy and very sweet for a little girl's garden party bedroom -- a length of picket fence. White is the obvious choice, but think how cute this would be in light pink or yellow...

Art work on canvas -- particularly contemporary art -- makes a fun, creative headboard. To bring some simple, elegant style to this concept, you could even buy a canvas that's as long as the bed, slap some painter's tape down, then paint it with bold stripes of coordinating color and hang on the wall. Voila! Your bedroom masterpiece! You could hang small framed pictures or mirrors in rows so they appear to be one piece.

Stretch out a room-dividing screen and hang it on the wall.

As I was brainstorming, I realized there was a length of cool antique railing in my in-laws' garage. Chunky oak -- perfect for a boy's room. Soooo ... that will become our little man's headboard very soon! Pictures to follow, but for now - check out this version...Lots of wrought iron possibilities there too. Just browse an architectural salvage place (or even better -- your own garage) and try to see everything there with fresh eyes. If it's long and skinny and you could hang it on the wall, chances are you could make a headboard out of it. Doors, shutters, window frames ... the possibilities are endless!

There are SO many ways to top off your bed with style. Think outside the box and give your head something cool to lean against!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Take thy spade, it is thy pencil;

Take thy seeds, thy plants,

They are thy colours.

~William Mason, "The English Garden," 1782

Happy fall, my friends! It's that time of year in Florida when we get a break (however small) from the oppressive heat. And it always makes me feel a little spunky. Ready to tackle those projects I've been putting off!

For instance, my mother-in-law had been after me to paint a small mural in her house. So we decided on a few rows of dainty reeds and swaying cat tails for the vanity area in her master bathroom. She has a serene blue and beige color scheme going on in there, so I set that off with brown, beige, white and slate blue.

Here's the result!

And a little more detail ...

She says it reminds her of a little garden of weeds. Le Jardin de Weeds. So long as they aren't choking out my real flowers beds, that's fine with me!

Hope the cooler weather is inspiring you to do something fresh and fun!


See you next time, domestic divas!

The Wonder of Spray Paint

"Do what you can with what you have, when you have it."

~ Theodore Roosevelt
This transformation brought to you by a little sandpaper, primer and a couple of cans of Rustoleum! I recently helped a friend turn this hand-me-down dud into the sage green star of the living room. Bless her heart, she had never used spray paint before. But before the day was over we'd spray painted all the drapery hardware and some lamps in her family room. It was glorious!

Ah, spray paint ... is there anything it can't do? What else can transform a piece of furniture, picture frame, accessory or fixture so quickly and completely? When you think about it, it's simply amazing.

Now, I've always loved the quick change spray paint offers, but I've become especially obsessed since moving into our house last year. There were so many fixtures and things we couldn't use, but I knew someone else could. So a little spray paint, a quick posting on Craigslist and voila! Extra cash for the decorating budget.

Here's a light fixture that went from "Granny's Florida Room" to "Sweet Girly Chic" in about two cans:

Like how the "before" picture is on my bare mattress? One word: Classy. The folks who bought this fixture were going to add strings of crystal beads and hang it in their baby girl's nursery. Fabulous!

Anywhoo, I've saved beaucoup bucks spray painting plenty of things we've actually kept in the house too. Metal AC vents, the frost on our glass front door, and don't forget the fabulous transformation of the light fixtures in our master bathroom.

This was a cute little mirror, but it needed some jazz and personality. So I added a fleur-de-lis finial for some cajun flavor and spray painted it a yellow as wild as Mardi Gras. Oh la la! And it just happens to be for sale on my new Etsy shop! (squeal!)

My antique expert mother-in-law had this sweet little Jenny Lind twin bed in her treasure trove of vintage gems. It was hand made in the late 1800's of solid walnut and has a great shape. But we thought the dark finish didn't do too much for its diminutive size and girly shape. A coat of primer and antique white -- and it's ready to grace some lucky little girl's bedroom. Like it? Really?! Good, cuz it's for sale on CraigsList!

So. What will you spray paint today? Dust off some stuff in your garage and start shaking that can. While you decide what to transform, here are my top three painting tips:

1. Cover your painting surface (for me, it's our driveway). You don't want the tell-tale outline of that transformed item reminding you of your little project for years to come.

2. Use a tarp, not newspaper. It sticks to the stuff you're painting and makes clean-up messy.

3. Don't try to "cover the earth" in one heavy coat. You'll just get glops and drips. Two (or even three, if the item will be handled a lot) is soooo much better. Trust me, I've sanded down and repainted a lot of glops.

For more tips and ideas, check out my girl Thrifty Decor Chick's spray painting page. See you next time!

Whimsical … Pool Decks?

"There is no such thing as a bad color, only bad color combinations."

~ Elizabeth Mayhew

You know that feeling you get when you look at a room, the exterior of a home or an outdoor space and something’s just not right? It isn’t visually appealing because the furniture is placed all catawampus, the architecture is out of balance or the colors are just bad?

No? Okay, maybe it’s just me. And (woe is me … this is the cross I bear) I get that feeling A LOT. Often in my own home. But there was one thing that particularly bothered me – and my dad … the pool deck.

“It is just so ugly,” he said.

My friends, he was right. Light gray concrete. Bleached by the relentless Florida sun. Bland. Boring as oatmeal.

The deck didn’t do a thing for the pool. Or the view of the back yard from our living room. So after checking into the feasibility and cost of covering it with something like pavers (ouch), we decided to stain the concrete.

For some reason, I thought this would be a quick, easy project. A cinch! We could practically give the kids some rollers and stain and it would take care of itself! Oh brother … was I ever living in a dream world. The project took every bit of a three-day weekend (with my parents helping us) and wasn’t nearly as easy as I’d hoped.

First, let’s talk materials. I heard about this new H&C product at Sherwin Williams and liked that it was water-based, didn’t require etching or priming, was quick-drying and – with diluting and mixing – allowed for lots of color options. Also, it wouldn’t make the surface slick like paint or oil-based sealers. Which is good -- because seeing my kids fall by the pool is in the top ten on my mental reel of nightmare scenarios.

To warm up the deck and complement the blues of the pool, we decided to go for a terracotta color. We borrowed small sample bottles from our SW store (free – they just ask that you return them) and tested them on the deck until we got the right combination. We finally chose a mixture of Henna, Dahlia Red and Autumn Breeze.

There’s a hitch in every home improvement plan and here was ours: Being about 30 years old, our deck is VERY porous and really soaked up the stain (more on this in a sec). As we started spraying, we were amazed how much stain the concrete was soaking up and how … well, NOT great it was looking. Big blotches and clumps of color here and there. Also, the concrete was MUCH more or less porous depending on how much it was exposed to water and sun.
Bah. We wound up having to go over the same areas several times with slightly different versions of our color mixture to get the right color throughout the deck. I even got down on hands and knees and used a sponge to do a little faux treatment and blend in blotches. It was pretty frustrating, but at last we started an impromptu pattern and got a system down. Our strategy was to layer on the color using pump-up sprayers to get a more natural, marbled look of varying color. But if we had to do it over again, we would use rollers with long handles and perhaps sponge on a pattern afterwards.

AND -- this is big -- we would seal the surface first. We used a paver sealer after the deck was completely stained and dry (gloss, as recommended by the SW rep, which doesn't look glossy at all -- just a bit shiny. No, in a GOOD way). But, I think we could have avoided using so much product – and spending so much time – if we had sealed first too.

Oh well, hindsight’s always 20/20, right?

If you decide to take on this project, don’t be frightened by my lamentations of hard work! Try a sample of the product I used (but be advised, it’s a new product and SW stores may have to order the color you want). Here’s another water-based stain that’s available at local Benjamin Moore stores (like Watkins in downtown Orlando). Or check out more affordable stains at the big box stores. Just be prepared to do the etching first and work with some slightly noxious stuff (get out the HazMat suit!).

Check out the before and after…

Makes a splash, no? I think the hard work and expense was definitely worth it. I love the way the terracotta sets off the blue of the pool -- and blends with the brick on our house.

Now Dad and I no longer cringe when looking out the back doors. Finding the right color and getting it done ... gotta love it!

Athletic Art

Life is about timing. ~ Carl Lewis The time had come for a bonafide big boy room. Some good buddies of ours set out to transform their little boy's nautical nursery into a sports sanctuary.

They already had this cute bedding set from Pottery Barn Kids, so I made them some mixed media canvases to coordinate and jazz up the walls. I loved the red, blue and green color scheme and used that as a jumping off place. Then I asked Will to name his three favorite sports, which turned out to be football, basketball and soccer.

I painted designs such as football field markings, a soccer ball and the sketch of a dribbling basketball player onto the 24" canvases.

Next I poked around online and found some vintage photographs and shots of the family's favorite athletes. Then I decoupaged the photos, as well as sporty stuff like tickets and numbers over the paint. Finally, I used distress ink to give everything an vintage look.

For one of the designs, I borrowed from Land of Nod wall art, which, I would like to add are mass produced and cost $119 each. Mine are hand painted and customized to your colors, bedding and favorite teams. Oh, and I'd only charge $50-$75 each.

Soooo ... want some customized art to accessorize your child's room? I'm at your service, sports fans!

More Architecture, Virginia Style

In matters of style, swim with the current. In matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Oh hi! Are you dying for more details from our family trip to Virginia? Of course you are! Hang on while I drag out the slide projector. Ughhh ... there. OK, now sit back and get comfy...

After the beauty (and symmetry) of Stratford Hall, we experienced the simplicity and grace of a little brick country church -- with a cemetery that rests some of the first souls to "settle" our beloved country, no less. The lives those tombstones marked dated back to the 1600s -- craziness!
But for me, the gorgeous wrought iron gate and moss growing among the centuries' old brick were even more compelling...

Several days later, we got a break from the kiddos and took a day trip to Monticello. If you haven't seen it, you must. Run, don't walk! If it looks familiar, just flip over a nickel and there it will be -- in all its Roman, domed glory.

Besides writing the Declaration of Independence and being president, Jefferson considered the design and development of this unique, beautiful home his proudest achievement. Who could blame him? The home's luxury and innovation would be remarkable today, let alone more than 230 years ago.

The columns, the french doors, the gardens ... the dumb waiter just big enough for a wine bottle to travel from the cellar to the dining room. Really?!? Why don't I have one of those?! It's 2010, for crying out loud.

There were so many unusual touches that made this place befitting a self-styled architect, great thinker and revolutionary: an office with a desk that offered a reclining lounger instead of just a boring old swivel chair. (Build a democracy, take a nap ... whatever!)

And a bedroom that adjoined the office (or "cabinet," as he called it) via an alcove bed. I think it's adorable and space saving -- but some folks found it a little odd. Apparently a visiting European dignitary wrote in a letter, "The president's bed is in a doorway." Well, at least it's not as harsh as the judges on "Design Star."

President Jefferson was full of unusual ideas. Like the octagonal guest room (also with an alcove bed). Or the bright yellow dining room, which was evidently a very fashionable, expensive color back then. (Bet he'd be surprised to see it painted in dashes down the highway these days!)

Visiting Virginia was inspiring on many levels. History and natural beauty are one thing, but I wasn't ready for the rockin' design style of our forefathers!

Architecture, Virginia Style

"The point of travel is not to set foot on foreign land, it is to at last set foot in one's own country as foreign land." ~ Chesterton

After a week of touring historic sites in Virginia, my head is full of images of some of the grand homes of our forefathers. Some of their design ideas were a ill-advised (FOUR giant, homicidal stone staircases each side of the house ... really?) -- some were simply divine (alcove beds at Monticello -- adorable!) So I just have to share! I'll split this into two parts, lest I start sounding like a droning tour guide...

First, we visited Stratford Hall, birthplace and home of Robert E. Lee and the generations of Lees before him who included a governor, patriots, signers of the Declaration of Independence (two) and even women's rights activists.

As our droning tour guide pointed out, the mansion's style showcases the three characteristics of English architecture: "Symmetry, symmetry and symmetry." Heh. But seriously, get a "load" of the brick at this place (600,000 -- all hand fired on site.

We started the tour in an outlying building that is believed to be the coachman's quarters. This mural of a horse is thought to have been painted by his daughter, Sally.

Then we made our way into the Great House. And as I was trying to keep Little Miss M from slipping under the velvet rope and testing General Lee's bed for herself, I missed the part about "no photography allowed inside" and took this picture. It's the seven-foot tray ceiling in the Great Hall. Oops. Chastised by the gasps of my fellow tourists, I moved quickly to the back of the group where I stood, appropriately shamed. But the picture of this amazing woodwork and ceiling was worth it. Wouldn't you just die for a ceiling like this?

By the way, here's a photo (from the home's Web site, not my own illicit camera) of the bedroom where my girl DID eventually break free and slip through the gate where she proceded to run toward the bed and dance around like an imp. Fortunately, her Daddy coaxed her back before anyone noticed and we got the heck out of there...

More on Monticello next time!