Dreaming of far off places

I think ever since B, our oldest son, started learning about the world beyond what the eye can see, he has become obsessed with maps.  Starting with our next 15 min. journey in the car, advancing to following the location of grandparents as they travel through Norway and Sweden, some off to Mexico, and a dear friend in Benin, West Africa.  It is only natural that with his interest in maps he would request one for his bedroom.  Except his request wasn't satisfied with just a globe, or a framed map. He envisioned a whole wall to be filled with the world.

 

Ever since the big switch, the boys room has been in limbo.  A smash up of what was left anchored to the walls before the boys took over this space, combined with everything we moved over from their previous bedroom.  It worked, it wasn't terrible, but their bedding needed to be replaced desperately so therefore justified a whole room redo.  Plus a nine year olds dreams needed to be fulfilled.

 

 

My mission was to give B his wall map in a subdued way that satisfied his dreams but still worked with the direction I longed to see the room go in.  Lets just say it was a win win.

 

My map was printed from my computer, then traced onto a transperancy, and projected onto the wall. (I don't have a projector so therefore my transperancy was suspended in the room with a lamp shining behind it to get the image projected onto the wall.  The room had to be pitch black in order to see the image so therefore the only night that worked was after a nice date night with my man while the kids were away (date nights are rare, kids being away is even rarer).  What better way to end a date night than tracing a map onto the wall?

 

Once I had the map outlined on the wall in pencil I went over those lines with paintable silicone.  Yup, you read that right silicone.  Tip: don't cut your opening too large.    Then the lines were primed and the whole room painted.  One color.  Not in your face world map but beautiful subtle texture. 

 

The color is Benjamin Moore's Black Panther.  My house recieves a ton of natural light so every color I tried in this room read very blue.  I was aiming for a nice charcoal grey.  Couldn't find anything so settled on a jet black.  During the day it appears to be a beautiful dark navy (very classy) and at night deep deep grey.  I couldn't be happier and my two little boys dream of adventures across the world at night. 

Faux Brick Wall Tutorial

I really did not mean to keep everyone in suspense after I revealed in yesterday's post the faux brick wall I created in my craft room.  I simply wanted to link up with the Pinterest challenge and did not have the time to add the whole tutorial due to other commitments.  SORRY!

Without further ado, here are the details on how to create your own 'brick' wall.

I picked up from Home Depot a roll of this SuperFresco Paintable Wallpaper.  There are various textures to choose from.  The one I chose just has a simple line texture.  The wallpaper cost $21.95 and there are no other wallpaper supplies needed for this project.  No fancy prepping adhesive, no special tray, and no trowel.

Then I cut up the wallpaper into 'bricks' using my Olfa fabric cutting system.  The size I chose for my brick was simply just for practicality reasons so you can make the 'brick' whatever works for you. 

 I chose 6" by 2 1/4" simply because my ruler was 6" wide and 2 1/4" left very little waste.

Then right over top of my previous stencil I drew out my grid lines for laying my 'brick'.  I decided to have 1/4" 'grout' lines so that meant adding 1/4" to each dimension.  My lines were drawn for 6 1/4" and 2 1/2" rectangles.

To wet my bricks I simply used a plastic container big enough to fit the 'brick' in, filled with water.

Then simply dip the 'brick'.

 

And stick it to the wall in the upper right corner of your lines.

The best part about this is that you can rework, and fudge the placement as you go along because the strips do not dry immediately.  Just make sure to press down the whole 'brick' to get a good bond.  Especially the edges.  I just used my finger for this.

To get a perfect fit at the edge just simply dry fit the 'brick' in place and crease it with your finger.

Then simply cut off the excess. 

Here is a picture of something I never counted on.  I quite liked the look of the 'brick' with dark 'grout' lines. 

However, upon close inspection you can see light and dark spots from my stencil.  If you like this look, simply paint the wall in the desired 'grout' color before adding your 'bricks'.  Then I think I would finish it it a glossy clear coat just to make all the texture stand out.

Anyhow, since I wasn't about to remove all the bricks, paint, and reapply I carried on with my original idea.  I wanted some of the dark wall to show through to make it more of an aged 'brick' look.  I simply took my paint (Benjamin Moore's Timid White in a gloss finish), and dry brushed the entire wall.  Simply dip the brush,

Wipe off the paint lightly,

And starting in the middle of the 'brick', lightly paint over the bricks.  Because the bricks have some depth to them not as much paint falls into the 'grout' lines.

The completed wall.

And a close up of the texture.

I did up a quick sample board for those who want the pure clean 'bricks' just to show that this works as well.  I think the trick for this look is to make sure to use a glossy paint so that all that beautiful texture shines.

And here is my new light and bright space now that I painted the remaining walls with the same Benjamin Moore color Timid White.

And a quick BEFORE.

AFTER.

So tell me.  Which of the three 'brick' looks would you choose?  Dark grout, aged brick, or clean white?

Linking To: Simply Creation, Frugalicious Friday, Remodelaholic's Anonymous, Flaunt it Friday, Show and Share, Tickled Pink, Free For All Fridays

Piano Bench Complete!

One project off the list. 

I completed my new piano bench last night and I am completely thrilled with how it turned out.  I made it from scratch!!!!  If you missed my original post stating the reasons why I wanted to change the bench and some inspirational photos you can see that here.

Here is the original bench that I found out my dad did not make (just fixed multiple times), but my mom did do the needlepoint on top.

If you want to find out how

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Click on Read More for all the details.

Canvas Art Tutorial

Canvas Art Tutorial:

I created this artwork this week and I am loving the dimension it has so I thought I would share this super simple tutorial with you so you can create your own.  There are so many ways that it can be customized to your own tastes using different shapes and color combinations.

The first step was to take an old canvas I had on hand and prime it so the color variations of the original artwork wouldn't show through.  I used Beauti-Tone Drywall Primer because that is what I had on hand but any primer would work.

 Using Liquitex Ceramic Stucco (available at Michaels or any art supply store) I pressed a bottle lid onto the ceramic stucco and then onto my canvas leaving behind textured circles.

In a plastic yogurt tub I squeezed 3 of the colors I wanted as my base and dipping my brush into the colors I painted my textured canvas.  You can see some of the color variations depending on what area my brush was dipped into. 

Then I mixed Behr Faux Glaze with some white paint I had on hand for my top coat.  I used the ratio of 3 parts glaze to one part paint.  Then I roughly brushed my glaze mixture over the whole canvas.  Using paper towel and a dry paint brush I removed the excess glaze mixture to let the undercoat of color to show through.

 Here is a close up of how it looks.

The great part about canvases is that because of their depth they can hide thermostats.  Here is my wall with the thermostat for our infloor heat in the basement.

 Here is the same wall with the thermostat neatly hidden behind the canvas. 

DIY Starched Fabric Wall Decal

This is a very easy project using materials on hand and the best part is that it is completely removable to satisfy a decorators whims.

Lay out paper the approximate size you would like your finished decal to be.  You can see I had to tape some paper together to get it the size I wanted.  Then draw out your decal either using something as inspiration as I did, or out of your head.

 Cut out your decal and this will create your pattern. 

Lay your pattern onto your fabric and pin in place.

Cut out your fabric following your pattern.

Mix up your starch paste:

Mix 1/4 cup cornstarch into 1/2 cup cold water.  Then add 4 cups of boiling water and mix together.  Let cool.

 Because I used lace as my fabric which has very loose fibers I was able to skip one step but if you are using a cotton or tighter weave fabric you will need to paint the underside of your decal with the starch mixture.  Your starched decal will then stick to your intended surface.  I had to use pins to tack up my decal.

 Paint your decal to the wall using the starch mixture.

 If you end up with some drips and mess on your walls like I did, simply clean up with a damp cloth.

ENJOY!

Get tired off your decal?  Simply peel up the edge and pull off.  Wipe your wall down with a clean, damp cloth.

Geometric pillow tutorial!

So its not the chevron pillow I was originally thinking of here but my music room is begging for a Chevron pillow so I decided on this playful geometric design more suited to the kids playroom instead. 

Want to learn how I created this fun pillow?  Follow this easy tutorial to create your own.  Click on Read More for the full tutorial.

Make your own designer fabric!

I couldn't find quite the right fabric I had in mind from my fabric stash for some new throw pillows so I set out to create my own.  It couldn't have been easier.  I started out with some creamy white canvas fabric, a ruler, and a cd writing permanent marker.  Why the CD writing marker - because their claim is that they don't smudge on cd's.  Guess what - it didn't smudge or run on the fabric either.

I then started drawing some random straight lines.

And continued to draw more random lines.



And more until I had covered my whole piece of fabric with lines.

Voila - designer fabric by Marci.

I then used the fabric to sew these great pillows.

Can you see where I am going with this couch?

Except instead of the large dot pillows I am thinking of something more like this....

hmmm.....

Slipcover Redo!