I bet you thought with all this post-Haven excitement, inspiration and head-swirling, that I’d forgotten about our projects around the house? Nope! Not at all!
A few weeks ago, I shared the beginnings of our custom crown moulding project in the dining room:
And I’m very happy to report that ALL of the moulding is now up!
I think I forgot to post an update on the crown moulding progress. And progress we do have.
You may have noticed this photo appear on Instagram a few weeks ago. After weeks (months?) of “acclimating” to our home, the crown we purchased was moved back into the garage to be painted. Huzzah!
Then, with the help of our awesome new pneumatic brad nailer and air compressor, we actually affixed pieces of moulding to our dining room walls.
Seriously. See, I have photo evidence!
It’s a beautiful sight, isn’t it? At this point, I will explain why it looks like we nailed a baseboard to our wall. Because we did. We’re getting all fancy up in here with our moulding project. I should clarify that for once, this wasn’t (100%) my idea. Tom & I were admiring multi-piece moulding examples at Home Depot a while back, and then I could see the wheels turning in his head: one piece would no longer fit the bill; we were going to create our own crown concoction.
The original vision included three separate pieces of wood. To be nailed to the wall by a man who has never attempted this before.
Well, reason came into a play, reality set in (because we want to do most of our first floor rooms this same way) and the final crown product will have two pieces put together, and should look something like this:
The bottom piece is the baseboard; the top is a crown piece.
There is a bit of reason behind this madness. After doing some research on crown types, room sizes, etc, I discovered that there are recommended moulding widths based on the height of your ceiling. So, a standard 8ft ceiling would take a smaller piece of moulding, where higher ceilings can take larger pieces. We have 9ft ceilings in most of our first floor; our family room has a 10ft ceiling. The same goes for your baseboards. We upgraded to 5″ baseboards throughout our first floor; and the bottom piece that we’re using for the crown matches our baseboards.
I can’t wait to see and share how the finished product looks in our dining room. And then it’s on to the rest of the house! Or maybe just a few other rooms, hahaha!
I’ve been wanting to try my own hand at painting lately, i.e. without the instruction and guidance of local paint-your-own establishments.
<gulp>
I finally got up the courage a couple of weeks ago.
My intent was to create a series (if two can really constitute a series) of paintings to hang in our first floor half-bath. I already had the first completed from a Cheers to Art trip earlier this year.
Here’s how my solo attempt turned out:
Not too bad! It looks like a dress, so I’d call it a win! The only thing I’m not super-pleased with is the background. It doesn’t match the background of the shoe painting:
But I have no idea how I could have gotten them to match, seeing as they were painted months apart with different brands and shades of paint. So, I guess I’ll just go with it, right? My Laziness overcomes my OCD-like desire to re-do it until a perfect match is met. Plus, how crazy would I look if I had a bunch of discarded dress paintings hanging around my house? Answer: pretty crazy.
Does your Lazy battle your OCD? Which one usually wins?
I often find myself in a bind when it comes to occasions that require (maybe not require, but look more favorably upon) greeting cards: I frequently forget to buy one. So recently I took inspiration from this pin to create my own card using washi tape. (Side note: washi tape is probably one of the greatest inventions of our time. Right up there with mobile phones and home espresso machines).
It’s simple. Just grab a piece of cardstock and cut it to your preferred size/shape. Then grab some rolls of tape and go nuts! Layer different tapes on top of each other to create unique patterns and color combos. Or just keep it simple, if that’s more your style. I added a paper flower and brad to my little handwritten birthday banner for some extra pizzaz.
As I was digging through my wrapper paper and gift bag options, nothing was really jumping out at me. So… back to the tape! A bit of craft paper, a few pieces of tape, and there you go = A nice little coordinating set 🙂
Then I’ve got a round-up for you!
I’ve gotten several questions from friends who are wondering what’s up with washi tape (y’know, what do you *do* with it). So I’ve pulled some of my recent pins to help give you some ideas, in case you’ve been wondering the same thing.
DIY Masking Tape Monogram // Creature Comforts
Washi Tape Candle Votives // I Spy DIY
Gift Bags // Craft and Creativity via Washi Tape Crafts
Stop back on Wednesday to see how I put my washi tape to work to create a birthday card and gift wrap!