My Own Mini Art Gallery

I'm not sure if y'all remember my post about Eric hanging some frames for me in the den and me laughing at him because they were ceiling height.  That stuff happens when you get a 6'4" man to hang pictures, I suppose.   Anyway if you want a before picture you can check out that post here, it's OK it's a small post.  Go on, I'll wait for you to get back here before I reveal the new look.

Is anyone else humming the Jeopardy theme song?

I decided I needed something different in my house that wasn't just the same old, same old when it came to displaying photos, art, prints, etc.  I tend to follow the safe routine of asymmetrical wall hangings, everything being level... you know the drill.  When I stumbled upon an idea on the P site that I thought was pretty awesome, I realized I had an answer to my desires.  It helped that I had the perfect wall space to enact my own version too!

Before, after readying it for the paint job.

The mirror after painting it pink!

I was a little bit excited to pull it together, but once I got started it was more daunting than I had anticipated.  I still had to paint the ornate mirror I had picked up at a garage sale last summer for $3.00 and I wanted to hit Value Village to see if I could find some ornate frames to use for display purposes.  When we were there though, Eric found a tacky, but still so amazing, clock for $5.00.  I decided I'd paint the clock the same colour as the mirror.  I picked bright pink because it would compliment my Twisted Sister album that I had planned on incorporating into the scheme. 

The clock, before of course.

And after!

We were able to find 3 frames at V.V. that I used, and only one I had to actually paint.  I wanted to use some of the prints my friend Syx had given me last year of a photography project he did on Graffiti he found around Vancouver:  NoGraffito. 

This was an ugly brown frame before I painted it with left over green paint.

A pretty cool gold coloured ornate frame.

Things work in mysterious way... it's pretty interesting because not two days before I planned to start my project, I was cleaning out Roan's backpack for March Break (sometimes he leaves his left over lunches in there and a week of festering food is no good!) and I literally stumbled upon a folded up large piece of art he had completed at school.  A couple of years ago he brought a similar piece home and I had it framed and it now hangs on my wall in my office at work.  I was pretty stoked to find this masterpiece and immediately came to the conclusion that it warranted a spot in amongst my new wall display.  Funny enough I had a frame that fit the picture perfectly.  It just needed a paint job. 

So, now that I had my main pieces sorted out I knew I wanted to include some personal photos of the boys and Eric and I.  I can't believe that up until this past week I haven't had a photo of Eric and I displayed in my house.  I'm a terrible girlfriend.  But now I do!!  And it's in a pretty awesome gilded frame I got at Value Village for a buck. 

I then rounded out my project with the taxidermy frames that were the original pieces on the wall.  I still think they are crazy cool so I couldn't bring myself to part with them.  I'm still not sure I'm content with the placement of everything but it's working the way it is, and I know my laziness will probably take over and I'll just eventually be totally content with it as it currently stands.  

And here's my finished art wall.

I was digging the character the wall added to the den so much I forced Eric to just sit in there with me for a while to take it all in.   I don't think he felt the energy like I did.  I'm pretty pleased overall even if I make a few changes here or there.  I've never been brave enough to hang pictures that low or that high or in that quantity, but I'm glad I went out on a limb and took a chance.  Sometimes venturing out of my boring comfort zone brings excellent results!  Have you done something you wouldn't normally have thought you would do and been pleased with the results?  I'd love to hear about it! 

All You Need Is Love, and Epoxy

Last summer in my seasonal tour of garage sales I stumbled upon a stunning, faux fur, simple, metal stool for one dollar (yes, I think it warrants that many adjectives).  Yes, ONE dollar!!  I had an idea of what I'd like to do to it and actually had the parts to create my vision (that I'd scored at yet another garage sale for 1 dollar as well).  It's taken me until just now to get around to it.  I'm kind of kicking myself because the actual craft itself hasn't taken long at all. 

 

I decided that I would use it as a side table in a little corner of the den that is tight on space and skimpy on light, yet close to a wall plug.  So I (rather Eric did it 'cause I was at work) took the faux fur and padding off which left us with an MDF thick circle of wood - perfect for the base of the soon to be table.   I then painted the base a glossy black (I have had the paint for about 5 years from a school project of Gage's, so that cost me nothing!).  Upon drying, I glued a Beatles album onto the black base with an epoxy (I tried a glue gun first, failed miserably.) and reattached the whole thing to the metal legs.  Et voila!  A new mini side table perfect for my little lamp that I recovered in twine months ago! 

Here it is in its forever home.  I took the red version of the album and made my own record bowl to hold our remote controls and stuff.  This entire project literally cost me TWO measly dollars.  Pretty decent if you ask me!  The more I look around my den as it starts to come together, the more I realize most of the stuff in there is a garage sale score, Kijiji find or thrift store purchase.  I'm kind of amazed at myself.  Because up to a year and a half ago, I poo-poo'd the smallest notion of a garage sale and I never would have imagined I'd be furnishing a room in my house with those kinds of finds.  I should probably take a moment to thank my best friend, Margie and her mom for taking me with them garage sailing two summers ago. 

 

Duct Tape Really Does Fix Everything!

I came across an idea on Pinterest (of course) months ago and I've finally gotten around to executing it this weekend. 

We have two occasional chairs in our living room that I bought a couple years ago.  The cats immediately took ownership over them and basically destroyed them in record time.  Bummer for me because I really liked the pop of colour they gave, but I still hesitated tossing them out because in my mind they were relatively new and still served a purpose.   Then I decided they just needed to be recovered.  What I chose to recover them with didn't match my personal decor though.  The 'material' was more acceptable for a teenager. What a coincidence!  I just happen to have one of those and he just so happens to be getting a new bedroom. 

Here is the side chair before I tackled it but after the cats tackled it. 

I basically just took my time and pieced it all together in as many large pieces of duct tape as I could.  The less seams the better as I have a feeling eventually someone will pick away at a seam.  The good thing about this kind of reupholster is that I only need a new piece of duct tape to fix it and it won't stand out like a sore thumb!  I hope he likes it.  I think it will be a pretty cool addition to a teen aged boys room and I have enough duct tape to redo the second chair if Gage decides he needs extra seating.  Or maybe I'll just reupholster the second chair and give it away to someone. 

This particular chair took one entire roll of duct tape and about 3 extra (long) pieces of another roll.  Not too pricey of a project when you consider these chairs were basically just headed to the dump.  Now this one has a chance at a 2nd life. 

Poop House

Last weekend I felt like I should be somewhat productive.  We've been lacking in ambition during the winter months.  (Kind of frustrating seeing as those are the prime opportunities to do work around the house, but I digress.)  Since we began building Gage's new bedroom quarters we have lost valuable real estate when it comes to storage options.  The one quarter of the basement that has remained untouched  had turned into a catch-all.  So we sorted that chaos out.   In the process of this cleansing Eric decided to amend the kitty pooping area sitch. 

Up until the walls came down connecting the finished and unfinished parts of the basement the kitties had the luxury of going to the bathroom in peace.  But since Eric was framing in a new wall, Dempsey has had free range of a kitty poop buffet.  Dogs are so gross.  Eric decided to help Dempsey avoid painful teasing of poop breath by his peers and designed a new poop house for the cats (I think I like the word poop).  Little did he know that I'd be coming home with the answer to his problems. 

At work we had a couple cremation container lids sitting around taking up space in the funeral home storage.  (When we cremate the rental casket after so many uses, we don't require a container lid thus we had two laying around without an option of disposal as they won't fit in our dumpster at work.)  I had originally thought I might be able to coerce Eric into building me a window bench using the wood but upon inspection he found a better use of them. 

 

I'm content with the end result and I'm glad we've cleared up room at work, and tidied up our space at home too!  It's environmentally friendly to boot!  I was worried at first that with the lid closed the cats wouldn't have enough vertical space to poop in comfort, but the evidence left behind suggest they have adapted quite well.  I promise no pictures of the evidence.  It didn't take long for their curiosity to get the better of them, I mean I wasn't even finished taking pictures of the finished product.