Chalkboard Art

With Thanksgiving tomorrow I thought it might be fun to go ahead and share this. Could be a good way to have a festive menu displayed or create an "I"m thankful for" board that the whole family can contribute too.
I had always wondered how people made those totally awesome chalk art and had "chalked" (ha) it up to them being super artsy and talented. Not so my blogy friends! I found this lovely pin on Pinterest that totally changed the game. Then I found this awesome typography of a great Ferris Buller quote and knew we had a winner.

The first step was to print out what I wanted and take it to Staples. There they blew it up to poster size for about 20 bucks. I also loaded up on chalk.  Then I took it home and covered the back with chalk. And I mean cover it. The more the better. Next I taped it up on the wall with the chalk covered side facing the wall. 

I then found a ballpoint pen and started tracing all the lines. I was afraid resting my arm on the wall would also smudge some of the chalk on the wall making the outlines look messy, but that did not happen. Yay! This step took the longest as you really want to make sure you are pressing down and getting a good sharp line. 

I peeled up a corner to check on progress and was happy to see the outlines taking shape. 

After tracing over all the outlines I peeled the poster off to revel this. 

I then took my chalk and went to town filling in the lines and darkening some of the thinner lines. A good friend of mine told me to dunk the chalk in water before using to make it go on smoother. Worked like a charm. 

The thinner lines were a little stressful, but slow and steady wins the race. 

And done! 

Hope you all have a beyond wonderful Thanksgiving! xoxo 

Chalk Board Wall

Finally something big happened in the kitchen! We painted a GIANT chalk board wall. I've got pretty big plans for the kitchen and having something chalkboard was on that list. I originally thought a chalkboard refrigerator (see this for inspiration) would be ballin' but after realizing the fridge we inherited with the house needed to go we decided stainless steel was best for  home resale and function. Whew-whew.
So plan-b was put into action:

So this is what we started with. Kilzed empty blank bleh wall. 

The tools. I wanted to use the magnetic primer so the whole wall would be one big awesome functioning board. The magnetic paint ended up being quite the battle.  All the metal particles were in the bottom of the can which I did not realize until getting to the end of my first can and discovering a metal sludge. Woops. So one more can and 6 total coats of primer later.... it still doesn't work that great. It's magnetic but not enough to hold up anything. Also it made a HUGE mess and make the surface very bumpy. So I wouldn't recommend the primer. Save yourself the time.  

Yes, I paint in my football pants. Don't judge. 

The color of the chalk board paint. I was so afraid I had gotten blue. Luckily it dried nice and black like I wanted. 

What coat one of the magnetic primer looked like going on. I had such high hopes...

And the whole wall in all it's primer glory. Notice the blue tape and green countertop lip in the lower left corner. 

As I painted I started to think about that lip. It won't be there forever. Eventually we want to replace the countertops and add a subway tile backslpash. So I had 2 options. Leave it and have the hassle of fixing it and repainting that side and hoping it looked even down the road. Or take care of it now. Guess which one I chose. 

It was surprisingly easy to remove. I didn't even wake MLW up. However it did leave behind some nasty looking glue and an uneven surface. 

So out came the spackle and the sandpaper. 

Nice and even and pretty! No hassle down the road! A DYI win! 

The hardest part about the whole process was waiting the 3 days for the chalk paint to cure. Luckily it was over the weekend MLW and I were in Asheville so I didn't have to look at it for 3 days! 

After 3 days you have to set the paint by covering the whole surface in chalk. This makes it easier to erase down the line. 

It actually looked pretty cool all done, but it was dusty. Chalk dust particles were a flyin'! 

Look how messy my patched corner looks! I'm totally glad we did this before the new countertops.  Trying to keep the countertops clean and pretty during this whole process would have way upped the difficulty level.

I then took a rag and just erased all the chalk lines. Starting to look like a black board. That haze in the air is all the chalk particles. 

Dusty!

Dusty and gross. The magnetic primer made a huge mess. 

Viola! Add a fall garland that I rescued from a wedding. ( I can't stand to see good flowers go in the trash, especially if I have a hunch they will dry pretty) Also it still super hazy. It probably took a good 24 for all the dust to settle so I could clean it up. 

And the whole wall! The best part is waking up to sweet messages from my husband. Stay tuned for a tutorial on how to do chalk board art, because you know I didn't freehand that quote on the right! 

Small updates make me happy

Here's a few small updates I've made over the past few weeks. Just a couple of small tweaks that have made me super happy!

As promised here are some better (hopefully?) pictures of the hall lights. Aren't they pretty? It makes the whole hall feel fresher and new. Now if I could only get the art of the floors and onto the walls. 

And the lights are ready for their closeup. 

Coral towels and a fun little tray in the bathroom. I was a little afraid of the coral but now I'm totally digging it. The nice thing about the wallpaper is that it has so many color choices, I can easily switch up the accents depending on season or how I feel.

Hey Ya'll! Loving this super cute little entry sign by Stephanie Creekmur . Love the sign, love everything. 

Hope ya'll like all these little updates. Sometimes I have to take baby steps so the bigger projects don't overwhelm me. Its all in the details! 

Birthdays and Brass Lights

I'm back! Sorry for the mini break last week, it was my birthday:D MLW and I also had a wedding in Asheville that was beautiful! We really loved getting to the mountains for a bit to see all the pretty colors.  And I got to bust out my fall/winter wardrobe. My OTK boots and Barbour coat made their official first outings of the season. Yay!
I did also get some pretty sweet birthday presents. Most of course are house related and I'm super excited to share some with you.

First up, these guys. My parents in law get me and I love it. Hippo salt and pepper shakers! MLW and I haven't had salt and pepper shakers  for the past few years ( our first set broke?) so I'm excited to have these little friends. 

Then MLW got me the wall light I've been lusting for the corner in the Den. Its perfect and adustable for my favorite cozy reading/pinterest-ing spot. We also have no other light sources other than the odd pendant ish lights in the middle of the room so it was definitely time to add some sort of lamp. I also plan on getting a floor lamp for by the door and eventually hanging these pendants from Urban up. 

This light is not a birthday present per say, but MLW helped me put it up during my birthday week (yes, we celebrate the whole week around here) so it counts? I purchased them a few weeks back and after my successful venture with the bath light we were ready to pop these bad boys up. Cue neck and back pain. But totally worth it. They look fab and say "Hey Ya'll, I'm an updated ranch!."  The color is a little hard to see but its a perfect antique brass. Most of the light fixtures in this house will probably end up being gold, brass or some variant of. Brass is back.

Remember this crazy, cattywompus light from before? Its gone and on its way to Goodwill.

This is the complimenting semi-flush light further down the hall. The picture is terrible. My apologies! As soon as I have a moment I'll bust out the Nikon and give better photos of both. But, trust me. They are pretty awesome in person. 

Thats all for now, but get ready for a feature wall I've been working on coming up on the blog soon!(Hint: its in the kitchen!)