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Dream Craft Art Studio: Reveal – Move In Ready! – Part 3

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Good gosh!  Is it me, or has this been a long. time. coming?
I am THRILLED to say, the art studio is DONE!!
Construction and carpentry-wise, anyway.  I’m sure we’ll have a few more organization units to install, but I’ll figure out just what I need  in the process of moving in with all of my stuff!

Before you scroll down and see, you may want to see the previous states of progress, to really appreciate all it is now.  It’s still just a little bit hard to show you because….I’m afraid you all just might be bored by it!  It’s the reason I haven’t shared more of the progress along the way.  I’m the type who has the whole finished version in my head along the way, and so knowing where it’s going….anything prior to that is somehow……less than.  But, I did give you a few couple of progress updates as you know! It’s just that, it’s a whole lot of whiteness right now; as I said was my plan all along. My dream was a bright white canvas to work in and on, and to photograph in, with a whole lot of color accents.  And I must say, I do love it already, even just as all white at this point!  The light being thrown around, is divine!

Here’s a look inside now!

A view from the entry door! 
It’s instant cheer for me, just walking in.
The bright natural light in the mid-day all through the afternoon, is phenomenal!  And if you all know me, I need light.

The creative space/room is 13′ 8″x 12′.
One of the biggest features you may notice here, is that the single window was finally replaced with the larger (relocated) picture window, as planned.  It made the world of difference in the light that it lets in, as I knew it would.  

Those very simple shelves to the left are from Ikea; love them! While the plan was to build cabinetry, I realized we had white cabinets in 2 different rooms of the house that were emptied (of my craft stuff that was packed up), and they needed to get out of the rooms they were in.  After talking with Michael, we realized we could definitely re-purpose them into this art studio, and keep true to our original plans of white storage cabinets, drawers, cubbies, and one single counter space all along that wall. It worked!  The counter-top was custom-ordered through Lowe’s, and delivered. It is 13’4″.
We have a couple of white stools that fit well right under those cubbies, and are the perfect height for sitting and working. But I believe I’ll also be ordering some roll out paper storage, for the loads of paper I have in stock.
Also on the right wall will definitely be some art or a sign, over that control panel, and possibly another shelf or 2.

The crafting table is long!  From Ikea: it’s actually two (60″) tabletops combined for a total of 10′ of workspace. 
There is space for 6 people to sit and work comfortably, with foot room and all.
I’ve picked out the chairs, but still need to order them.


Also from Ikea, to support our tabletops:  2 work-horses, with cute storage shelving.
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As well as this unit, that offer even more storage shelving.

So yes, the length of the work table is almost as long as the room; just like I wanted. The surface is perfect!  Quite stain and generally scratch resistant. 
But we’ll likely always protect the surface with newsprint or something just in case anyway.
In this photo you’ll also notice the 2 additional windows we have, to welcome more light in the late afternoon light.
Under the windows will likely be more shallow storage units of some kind, or something like that. I’m still unpacking, setting up, and figuring out what else I need.

I’ll be storing the big, ugly and/or cumbersome items for our crafting projects. The drawers are deep and hold lots of little and long stuff.  As I said, there will be more storage worked into underneath the cubbies, but will also offer additional seating, if necessary.  My husband will be doing a lot of his designing and cutting at the end on the far left, and be able to weed material easily on the table. (If I don’t have a project mid-mess, of course.)

Speaking of Michael, I am SO THANKFUL to him for all of the many hours of hard work he put in, making this dream of mine come true for me, and for our family. I am so very blessed for the many ways in which he is a wonderful husband to have.

Did you notice the amazing barn doors?….
 Michael completely designed, custom-built and installed those, too!
No small project!  I love them.  Perhaps I will do another post just on those, and give you a closer look with more verbal details.
And then there is yet another reveal behind those barn doors: one of our boy’s awesome bedroom!  He’s all moved in, and loving it.

My art studio reveal is not done though! 

There will be one more, showing you what it looks like all moved in!  Expect lots of COLOR added!  And instant happiness and inspiration. We actually started moving stuff in right after taking these photos for this post.
We are so thrilled with how it’s all coming together. What do you think?  Do you have a dedicated space to get creative? Tell us about it or share your links, please.
And be sure you are following us for our next art studio reveal!
Thanks for coming over, Friends.

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Home Improvement; Dream Craft Art Studio Progress Update; Part 2

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 Here we are in May, and I am finally giving you all a progress update on the building of our grand craft/art studio. It was back in January when we first revealed this big and exciting home project of building a custom studio, which has been a dream of mine, ever since I was a little girl.  There is no doubt that this creative space will get a whole lot of use. In fact, I can easily see it becoming the most occupied room, in the whole house, by our whole family.  I am always going at craft or art projects, and Michael’s design, cutting and lettering prepping work space will be in here too. The kids are often crafting with me, or doing their own thing, and I can imagine they’ll be doing some school work up here as well. If they have independent work to be done after the lesson is taught, I might as well be productive! They’ll be plenty of room for all of us, and everything, if it’s designed and laid out well. And it will be.

So before I show you how much progress we’ve made, let me show you first where we were when we first shared our plans.  [Read more…]

Mother’s Day | A Social ShareIt

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 One night a week or two ago (have I told you how bad I am with time frames, yet?, lol) . . . Michael and I were having a casual conversation. So very casual in fact, that we were both in the bathroom, getting ready for bed, come to think of it.  Anyway, I don’t remember (either) exactly what the conversation was originally about, but it was on the topic of Mother’s Day being around the bend.  And the course of that conversation led me to state how “Mother’s Day was a way bigger deal to me, than my birthday”.

 For some reason, that statement seemed to get Michael’s attention in such a way, that it got my attention, because it got his, so much.  It was the surprise in his voice, and the tone of his sudden and very real curiosity, of how he said, “It does? WHY?!”.
Like he really didn’t get how Mother’s Day could trump my birthday. Which, to me, was just silly to wonder. I couldn’t believe I had to explain that.
But it was such an easy explanation.  And so the answer flowed like honey, from my heart and soul:

 


“Mother’s Day means more to me than my birthday.  Because while my birthday is a celebration of the day I was born, Mother’s Day, to me, feels like a celebration of the reason why.”

And then, after I said it so matter of factly, and maybe because it was late and I was tired, all of the power behind the sincerity of those words, that came so easily from the most sacred part of my heart, hit me.  So I actually had to go into the other room for a minute, to just have a a little quiet cry with myself.
It was not a sad cry.  It was a cry that just came from that overwhelming sense of love in the sincerity of the words I had just spoken, and knowing how truly blessed I am, with my children.
Truly. 

I know we all are.  All of us who are mothers, however we came to be one, and to whatever children God placed in our care.
We are all blessed to have this role, whether we know it or not. I know many really do.
I know I really do. 

Someday, maybe I will share with you all the story of my children, and how God really did grant me their earthly lives, in a very special understanding between me and Him. Especially with the triplets; and the part their big sister played in their lives before we were even expecting them.  It’s a quite deep and emotional story; so much so that it would take a lot for me to tell it all. And I know it would be a long post, and an emotional event to type.  It’s another reason I’ve yet to tell it. But I can tell you this; Despite the hopeless odds and statistics, in one situation after another from the moment we learned of their conception, through the weeks following their birth, our trio are still here on earth because God heard my daily, sometimes hour-long prayers, from the 6+ month bed-rest I was prescribed to. He is the Ultimate Physician. Scientific odds and statistics are completely irrelevant, where His hand is involved. These children I have, are all here on His Creation of this earth, because it was HIS will for them to be.
And for as long as He intends them to be, He has named me; their mother.

Blessed, am I.

He gave them to me to care for, and raise, according to His will. As He did any mother who has been given a child or children, in any way they’ve been given to them. There are days I feel so very unworthy of His trust. But there are never days I don’t know what a gift it is. And so I count these 4 blessings daily, and do the best I can, with all of the love and gratitude I have, to fulfill my promises and His trust in me.  I know there are days He is more pleased with me, than others. I know there are days much easier, for me, than others.
But if I pay attention, there are also days I feel Him right beside me; and the power of my role spills from a place beyond my comprehension.
We parents, we are not alone in this sometimes daunting, but always rewarding, task. Our Heavenly Father; the Father of us all, is with us every step of the way.

The journey that led to the day I held my first child in my arms, and the next chapters that led to our trio coming into this world, has shown me a conviction, of which no one can convince me otherwise: 

Motherhood, is meant to be a vocation.

And it is surely mine.

Blessed, am I.
Blessed are you, mothers.
Happy Mother’s Day.

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The Making of Mantels / Appeasing my Mantel Envy!

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A couple of weeks ago, I hinted on our Facebook Page about the weekend project we had in the works. I mentioned that I was all done dealing with the ‘mantel envy’ I have had going on, for years now. You know, mantels, the shelving surface that many homes have over their fireplace?  Many creative homemakers have great fun decorating their mantels for various seasons and holidays, switching it up all of the time. I wanted that, too!
We don’t have a fireplace, anymore. Years ago, before the little-house to big-house renovation, we had a built in coal and wood fireplace insert, with a brick mantel. But that was ripped out when our sun room was added on.
I wanted a mantel of my own to work with. And when I really want something, I usually figure out how to get it.
And you know how good I am at that?

I got me TWO mantels! HA!

I reckon some will have some envy for me, now. ; )  See, the good Lord blessed me, like Mary, with a carpenter of my own.  A very skilled carpenter, I might add, who can build just about anything I want. And because I am not only blessed, but possibly (possibly . . . ) spoiled, he does build me anything I want.

 
I had been telling my-personal-Joseph, how I thought it was a fine idea, for him to build me a great pair of corner mantels, over our beloved, ceramic wood burning, family-heirloom. I explained it to him in great deal, trying to paint the picture for him. I don’t think he was really getting my vision for awhile, because he kept looking puzzled, while assessing the area, and saying, “Really?”, every time I brought it up.  But then on the Thursday before said-prior weekend, I told him I just had to have it. And I’d love for him to get sketchin’, and bring home any materials he;d need for the weekend, home after work on Friday. And he said, “So let me get this straight. This is our new urgent project, that you’d like done right away, before I have even finished the last urgent project, that you’d like done right away? I’m supposed to stop that one, and do this one first, after stopping the one I was doing 2 projects ago, to do the last, new urgent project?”  And I said,
“Right. Honey.”

And so he got sketchin’,
and buildin’, and
yes, I helped quite a bit too.
Because I’m not that spoiled.

And by the next weekend, my mantel dreams had come true, x2.
And I was and am still, thankful.

WANNA SEE?!


Ok so this is the corner as it has been (before), when anyone is looking at, when they walk into our front door. On the left hand side there, is where our Prayer List Chalkboard has been hanging for years. (And we still use it, regularly.) For now, it’s moved to the wall beside the front door. But take not of the wall straight ahead.  It’s shorter . . . . .

. . . . than the corner wall perpendicular to it. This one is a bit longer.  So I’ll have two different lengths of mantels.
I also got thinkin’ about how much I’ll be photographing the mantels as it changes for our home decor. And it hit me that the backdrop will always be the same, and green. And the simple (right?…) mantels project instantly grew. I wanted a wider bead board like wall as a backdrop.
See? Spoiled. Possibly.

I knew if my Joseph built me these, I would be so grateful. I’d be happy to finish them myself. Of course, I wanted them to not look new. Or fresh. And for my vision, distressing on fresh wood was not going to work. So I researched how to weather/age the wood, before painting and distressing, and was pleasantly surprised to find a way to do it. That worked!
It’s fairly simple too.  You ‘paint’ the wood with tea, first. I made a big strong batch, soaking my tea bags over night.

So I brushed the tea on all over my two built mantels, and let them dry. There was no difference to see. 
But the tea is only applied to react with the next strange solution brushed on.


 I had to cover very fine steel wool (#0000) with straight distilled white vinegar.  And just let it soak, at least for overnight. 
The next day, it didn’t look much different in the jar. I know in time, that wool would rust. (It has since…). But anyway, while applying it to the mantels (already treated with the tea), I could see the instant reaction happening. Very cool. Almost magical!

To see the dried wood after the vinegar/steel wool solution treatment, click on any image in the gallery below, use arrows to see each next, and then your ESC button to close.

Interestingly, even after the wood had been dry and I took the above photos, the wood seemed to turn even a bit greyer. which I was happy about. For a darker finish, I could have brushed on a second treatment, but I was quite happy with the results after just one, for this project.

So then it was time to paint both mantels, white.  I used about 3-4 parts paint to 1-part water.
And then a whole lot of sanding and distressing.

Meanwhile, Michael, a.k.a my Joseph in this post, was taking care of the walls to my every wishes.


And I’m pretty much done talking, and ready to show you lots of photos of this exciting home improvement project!
Here we go!

Now for anyone concerned, we were sure to make certain these mantels met fire code.  They needed to be at least 6 inches from the stove-pipe, and they are. It’s hard to tell in these photos, but trust us. We have the most to lose! That is why they don’t wrap around behind the pipe.  The mantel shelves are very thick, and keep in mind too, that the stove is only in use maybe 1-1/2 seasons a year.

 So yes, while narrow bead-board goes all the way around the lower half of our green sun room (as of this post), the wider bead board (v-groove) type paneling is just in this corner.  I think because of where we let it end, and because of the molding we used, it works nicely! 
And how about those mantels?
I love that I have two to work with! Because sometimes you get going on a theme, but you really have another idea that kind of ties in too.
So that is going to be way fun.  One is 48″ and the other is 35″.
Let’s take a closer look at the beauty of the craftmanship of my husband, shall we?

He used  1×12″ and 1×10″ pine boards, crown molding, and base cap.

And these awesome pre-assembled 9×7″ shelf brackets. Which, I love.

 Do you see how the wood looks older, peeking out from underneath the (supposed) worn paint?
Love it!
A few more photos . . . .


Beautiful, no?

 I am SO happy with them. Of course, the whole point of having them, was to decorate. They are looking kind of NAKED in these photos.
But as you can see peaks of in a few photos above, I have indeed gotten my Spring mantels together!
So my Spring Mantels…..that is a next post coming up!
Detail photos of what I adorned these mantels with, for this season, are on their way. Which I believe will really help you pull the whole vision together.
They are gorgeous, and so homey, all decorated. I can’t wait for you to see!
But this post is about the craftmanship of Michael’s work, and his ability and willingness to build my little dreams.
Please leave him your thoughts!
And then look for the Spring Mantels post real soon.! ; )

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Re-Purpose Old Calendars | DIY Wall Art

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Have you ever found yourself sad to turn the page on your 12 month wall calendar, because you liked the image for the ending month better? Or hesitant to throw out a calendar with so many great visuals at the end of the year? After all, when we buy a wall calendar, we usually pick out the one we did, because we liked the pictures or designs that went with each month. 

So isn’t it a great recycling idea, to re-purpose old calendars into DIY wall art, using some of those favorite months, for home decor?

I had chosen this 2011 calendar for my youngest daughter to use in her room, because I just loved the artwork in it, so much. 
And can you believe I got it for $1.00, at Michael’s Arts and Crafts?! A buck!
Our girl enjoyed it hanging in her room the whole way through. And she used it to remember things on certain days, as well.
When the year came to an end, she was sad to take it down, and I just couldn’t throw it out, either.


I loved so many of the months artwork pictures, that I was hoping I might figure out something creative to be able to do with them. 
I had it for the whole following year; busy with other projects most times, forgetting I even had this calendar other times, and then finding it again and remembering I wanted to do something with it. I just wasn’t sure what.
And then it hit me: Why not keep it simple, and just frame some of the pages as artwork?!

So we chose 2 picture-pages for each of our girls’ rooms. Ones that they loved, but that also went well with each of their room colors.
After taking those 4 pages out, I DID throw the rest of the calendar away, because it had already been hanging around for a year after it’s expiration.

But in looking at all of the photos I took of the calendar for this blog post, I wish I kept the cover! 
Because I’ve realized the cover was the artwork I loved most. Dag nabbit!
I could have trimmed it right over the bottom copy there, and had say a 12″ x 1o or 11″ piece of artwork too.
Oh well. Trying to let go of the regret, since there is nothing I can do about it now.

So let me tell you the simple way in which I turned this old calendar into 4 awesome, colorful and artistic looking pieces of wall art.

The calendar measured 12″ x 12″, so that was the size to work with.
To give the floppy calendar page some stability, it needed to be mounted on something. You can also just use some sturdy pieces of cardboard. 
But my husband had some corrugated plastic around, that he uses to make yard stake signs for different companies.  Real estate agents use them a lot, as does various home contractors, etc.
So I used that stuff. I cut four 12″ square pieces.

Then I simply adhered each artwork page onto each corrugated backing, using Modge Podge as the glue.

Next we needed 4 12×12″ frames.  I am quite sure square frames are available in stores. One could certainly get them custom made, if necessary. But my husband is pretty good at just banging out any frames when I need them, and it’s a lot more cost efficient to make them ourselves, than buying them at retail stores. I also really prefer to finish them myself, so they have the look and style I am envisioning. 
So he builds the frames, and I paint them.

I have various ways of finishing frames or any woodwork pieces.
For these, I painted them dark grey first, then white, and then distressed the edges well with sandpaper.
This resulted in some grey paint as well as bare wood showing through the distressed areas of the white finish. That mix of shades and depth was just what I was aiming for.

The mounted artwork just popped into the back of the frames, and I used a few tiny nails to ensure they were held in.
Done!

Here’s a look at several photos of the finished art pieces, adding pretty and cheerful decor to each of the girls’ rooms:

(Our oldest daughter, Alexis’ room.)



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(Next, our youngest daughter, Olivia’s room.)

There you have it. Inexpensive and beautiful accent wall decor.

As anther tip, stores often sell expiring soon calendars at a steep discount, when it’s already half way through a year, etc. So if you keep an eye out for them, making framed pictures such as these is another way to create more awesome budget friendly decor for your home, or to give as gifts.

The more I think about it, the more creative ideas I can think of, to recycle and make the most of out-of-date calendars.
So before you throw out your next expired calendar, think about what else you can use it for.
Hope you enjoyed this idea, and seeing the results of it.

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