Chalkboard art wall

Hey all! Happy almost new year!! What do you have planned for tonight? Ours will be low key, as we are most years anymore. We just eat, play and hang with the kiddo. Wild and crazy. ;)

Today I wanted to show you how I turned the new chalkboard wall in the kitchen into a gallery wall to hold the Bub’s artwork. I showed you the Christmas version of the wall a couple weeks ago:

The art on there started out like this:

The small magnolia wreath didn’t make it up there, didn’t look right (I just hot glued the leaves onto a paper plate with the center cut out). The deer head was from Michael’s and I just glue the paper on like I showed you here.

The big “S” was from Michael’s too if I remember right. It stands for Sarah. I kid. It’s for our last name. ;)

I just gave it a quick stain with my dark walnut and called that done. The three felt snowflake ornaments were from Target for a buck each and I just stacked them on top of each other with a little hot glue.

The little paper poinsettia flowers were just hot glued together after I free handed the leaves and cut them out:

I just did one leaf and then traced it seven more times to get enough for a flower.

So I had a plan to make this wall more function for art throughout the year too – I wanted to make it so I could use magnets on the whole wall, but did NOT want to mess with magnetic paint again. I tried that before and even with one meeeellion coats, it doesn’t magnetize well.

So I came up with an idea, courtesy of the roofing area at True Value – I grabbed a few of these small metal sheets:

I have NO clue what they are for – I just know they were cheap (about a dollar each) and they were magnetic.

I learned years ago you need to find the right metal for these types of projects – magnets will not stick to so much of the metal sheeting you find at the hardware store. You need to look for galvanized metal – when in doubt, take a magnet with you (that’s what I do!).

I just put them up with tiny nails:

The holes are perfect!

I centered them in each frame:

They aren’t big, maybe 2 1/2 inches by four? So either direction worked.

It took just a few seconds and I was able to use my magnets to get some art up:

I can use my cute DIY magnets I made a couple years ago – they’re just scrapbooking brads with the prongs pulled off, then magnets glued on (I used Liquid Nails):

I kept the S for Sarah up ;) just because I think it looks cool, but I’ll probably replace it to put bigger art in there:

It’s a great spot for school papers, art work, cards – I hung two cards up:

The Bub is obsessed with writing us notes lately, and the other day he pulled out a few of my random greeting cards and wrote us sweet messages in them. It was too darn adorable for me to be upset about the losing the cards. ;)

So there you go, a chalkboard art wall – with magnets! The whole project only cost about $5 because I had the chalkboard paint, the frames and the magnets. I LOVE this new wall! And we still have plenty of room to write our lists and notes and the kiddo can still draw all over it too.

A little fun, a little art, a little organization – that’s what I’m talkin’ about!

Happy New Year to you!! Please stay safe and have fun!! See you next year! HAR. :)

 

I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as my writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.

$100 for DIY in 2013!

**This giveaway is now closed, the winner has been contacted via email.

 

Well, cleaning out today does both me and you good! I found a little somethin’ to give away to one of you!

I have $100 True Value gift card for a lucky winner:

The perfect way to kick off the new year -- $100 for new projects. I can’t think of anything better!

You can go here (click on “participating stores”) to see True Value locations near you.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment here. What house projects do you have planned for 2013?

Please leave an email address if you don’t have a blogger account I can access. (Spell out “at” and “dot” to avoid any potential spammy stuff.)

Hope you have a great weekend! I plan to be back on Monday for one more post before the new year!

**This giveaway ends Monday, December 31 at noon EST!

Best of 2012!

Hello all! I hope your holiday was just wonderful!! Ours was great, I am counting my blessings. I’m slowly starting to function after feeling like a sloth for the past couple of days. I started a bit of decluttering last night and my Dad and I took the Bub out sledding this morning which was a BLAST. I can’t remember the last time I did that. :)

Today’s post is up late today because I’m still on Christmas break mode – and will be for the next week or so. I have both the hubs and the kiddo home and am loving it.

I love doing a year-end recap every year to look back on the bigger projects I’ve completed. When I look around our house that is a total and complete pit as I type right now, it makes me feel better. ;)

I rounded up the top ten, or twelve? projects of the year, based on comments, to share today. The first was my office redo, which started out like this years ago:

It was warm and cozy but not my style anymore. It took about a year (if you’ve been around for awhile the time it took will not surprise you) to complete the redo.

It consisted of a new wall board and batten treatment, new paint, craigslist furniture, Goodwill art and we ended up with new floors last fall too, which I LOVE. It took forever, but I ended up with a space that I just adore:

It is a pleasure to get to work in there every day, writing to you. :)

Our pantry got a redo this year too, thanks to melamine boards that replaced the no good, horrible, awful wire shelves:

It has stayed pretty organized too, far better than any other time I’ve cleaned it out and reorganized it. Which has been quite a few times. :)

I found some funky moon chairs for the basement and gave them a inexpensive, quick makeover:

And yes, they SPIN. The very best part!

Over the summer we had a HUGE job done that was a long time coming. We had the walls throughout our open floor plan painted for the first time in eight years. It was flat paint that desperately needed it. Oh yeah, and those flat walls were PINK:

That’s the after on the right by the way, which should be obvious due to the lack of pink. :)

Part of the basement finishing process included a laundry room – I explained my reasoning in this post:

Some thought I had lost my marbles wanting to move the laundry downstairs, but I had a plan…a plan that luckily came together. It involved this big fat tube – our laundry chute!:

It pretty much rocks. my. world. Oh yeah it does. We still haven’t had anything stuck in there either, it works great.

You can see the latest on the new basement laundry room here:

It’s coming together, slow but sure.

I completed a few projects in the family room this year – first up was my Pottery Barn knock-off art:

And then the painted Goodwill coffee table, which I love SO much more in it’s brighter state:

I had BIG plans for the kitchen this year that never happened, but I’m determined to make progress in 2013. I did finish up (yet another) island redo:

I think this was makeover number five? ;)

One of the biggest projects I completed this year, probably ever in our house was the built ins in our dining room turned library:

My Dad and I built them using kitchen cabinets as the bases and I am SO thrilled with how they came out.

I started out this year asking you all if I was crazy for thinking about losing the dining room and your responses here encouraged me to just do it! It almost took all year but I am so glad we went ahead with this project!

Of course, the biggest redo in our home this year was finishing the basement, which we hired out for (for the most part – I did the painting of the 800+ square feet and all of the baseboards). Even then it still took about six months to finish, just because we did chunks at a time. We still have to finish up the bathroom, the kitchenette and the laundry room is almost there. You can see more of the basement progress and projects here.

One of my favorite projects this year was one leading down to the basement – I love how the wood wall turned out:

We get compliments on it all the time – I am thrilled with the warmth and texture it gives what would otherwise be a boring stairwell.

Wow! I feel productive all the sudden, which is nice cause I’ve felt like a total slug the past few days. ;)

I love working on our home and love seeing it evolve over the years – it is one of my greatest joys to do what I do!!

Of course I cannot WAIT to get started on 2013!! We may not have Twinkies or Snoballs (sniff) but we will have some DIY! I have sooo many projects planned for the basement, and I really hope to make my plans for the kitchen happen as well. And then there’s the never-ending powder room and guest room that have sat half done for two years (more?). But first, I must declutter and get all of this extra STUFF out of my house!

I LOVE this time of year, don’t you? A fresh new start for everything.

Merry Christmas!

The Bub is in bed, I’m settling down to finish up the wrapping (almost done!!) and I just wanted to take a moment to say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you once more.

(The Bub thought Santa would want five cookies. I didn’t argue.)

I hope it is absolutely lovely!

I’ll be back in a few days!

Our home at Christmas

Hello all! Can you believe it? It’s almost here! We had snow last night, a school delay this morning and then the Bub’s party this afternoon so I’m just now getting this post up!

I wanted to share our home, decorated for Christmas with you. Some of the decor you’ve seen, some you haven’t. I toned down it BIG time this year. You may not think so after you see all these pics, but believe me, it’s toned. ;)

I just added touches here and there, a bit simpler, but just as festive. I’m learning that you really don’t need a whole lot to decorate your house for the holidays. Greenery is a staple, lights and ornaments – that’s what I stuck to for the most part.

I won’t comment on all of them, (because GEESH, there are a lot of pics), but if you have questions on anything please let me know!

I layered three dollar ornaments from Target for art on the new chalkboard wall:

It is not lost on me how so many of our Christmas books center around MICE. And yes, I can kind of laugh about it now. :)

As of today the Christmas card holder is filled up – here it is last week:

I love using cuttings off our arborvitae in the decor – I especially love it paired with the white hydrangea:

The coffee table is staying clutter-free thanks to my DIY wood tray. I love having this little spot to decorate in the family room:

The magnolia mantel is holding up beautifully – I may try to salvage some of the leaves for next year:

I didn’t buy much new decor this year, but I did have a slight obsession with holiday pillows for some reason. I got a few – this one: 

And I loved this one at Pottery Barn for $50:

But that so wasn't happening for something I’d have out a month out of the year. So I grabbed one of their crewel placemats and made my own for  a fifth of the price:

I LOVE these preserved boxwood wreaths – I was so happy with them when they arrived:

I showed you a couple of my additions to the bookcases here:

I shared our trees at the annual party here:

Another placemat pillow, from Target ($4!):

The train art is just the front of a gift bag I found at Joann’s a few weeks ago on sale:

My cute Santa hats:

I had big plans for this tree in our bedroom, but time ran out. I think it’s still lovely with some burlap ribbon and lights:

And finally, I shared my outdoor decor in this post:

Whew! Told you, lots of pics!!

I’m signing off till after Christmas, I hope you and yours have an absolutely lovely holiday. Revel in, enjoy, HUG and love on everyone as much as you can.

I am so thankful to have you in our lives, thank you for another amazing year.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you all, every one. ;)