Picture Frame Redo

I purchased these picture frames a while back when I thought they would be perfect for little J's room but as it turns out his favorite color is orange. I still love them but obviously they aren't going to go with my country warm feeling kind of theme. Time for a redo!

I had left over fabric after cutting out pillow covers from this post, and wanted to incorporate it around my home to give a little more cohesive feeling. I have a very open floor plan where my kitchen, dining, living and sitting area are all pretty much one ginormous room. I love how open it is, great for having people over!

All I did was take the frame apart, cut out the fabric to cover the lime green mat and then hot glued it on! Simple yet such a drastic change.

What do you think? Do you ever take items you have and do simple updates to change your decor?

Thanks for stopping in!

Creating,
Leilani

Easy Pillow Cover Instructions No Zipper

Last night I had a crazy dream. I was assisting on a live tv show featuring a segment on a specific quilt. Well the person who was supposed to be featured never showed so they threw someone else in there to do the segment and literally 1 minute before we were to go live she had a panic attack and insisted that she could not do it. I stepped in and had about 30 seconds to figure out how the quilt was made. It looked simple enough so I courageously started and then out of nowhere it wasn't just the quilt top, batting and bottom. There were extra components that I had no idea how to explain. Thankfully I woke up. No quilting tutorial here yet. So on to the pillow covers!

We purchased a ginormous sectional for our living room and it came with three 21" by 21" inch pillows. I love the size but not the geometric pattern. At some point in my life I'm sure I would have loved them, however, after realizing that every home that I've walked into and immediately fell in love with had a country warm feeling I knew they had to be changed.

The first step is finding a fabric you love. This pillow cover is a "pocket" cover, no zipper needed here. In this case I was working on the little blue pillow it was 14" by 14" so I cut one square 15" by 15". The second piece of fabric needs to be longer to allow for overlap for your pocket, cut a 15" by 20" rectangle. Then take the length that is 20" and cut it in half so you have two pieces of 15" by 10"".

You will need to hem the edges that overlap (the half pieces). Take the raw 15" edge and fold it to the inside half an inch, then fold it over again then sew down the strip. It helps if you iron the seam and pin. Do the same for the other piece.

Once both back pieces are sewn take your front piece and lay it right side up. Then place both back pieces on top of it with the right side down. The right side would be the one with the pattern or design. Make sure your back pieces overlap. Then square up the fabric. Pin all the way around and then sew around the edge with 1/4" seam allowance. Flip inside out and voila! 

It's amazing how much personality a pillow can add to a room! Not to mention that fabric is cheaper than going out and purchasing new pillows. Now to decide on fabric for the other two large pillows!

Thanks for stopping by!

Creating,

Leilani

How to Paint a Red Wall- Part 2

If you haven't read Part 1.... maybe you should. Did you read it? Good. Congratulations you have extraordinary taste! The only question is do you have the determination to make your wall the deep dark red or bold bright crimson red you are dreaming of?

I did or well I thought I did until I was debating on a 4th coat of paint. Yes I said 4th. My walls are a creamy color which aren't bad but I wanted some warmth to my home and my giant red wall gave me just that. I chose the largest wall in my home to paint red. Not so smart. The paint guy at home depot told me it should take two maybe three coats. Well, he was wrong.

Let me start by saying buy the BEST paint and primer that you can afford. I read some posts after already painting two coats that suggest that first painting your wall gray helps the red coat better. I would certainly take that in to consideration. I have a friend with a very gorgeous red wall. It took her two coats however she painted over green. Clearly I was doomed from the start.

So I taped off everything because I can't "cut in" with a paintbrush to save my life. Major Fail. My walls have a slight texture to them so even though I went over the tape and made sure it was stuck the wall, somehow paint still crept under it, EVERYWHERE. My friend with the awesome red wall suggested that I purchase a paint edger. It is a little pad with a handle and wheels that keep it an even distance from your molding, ceiling, trim, etc. I haven't tried it yet but I'll just take it from her that it works amazing. I'm kind of getting the feeling I should have asked her for advice before I started painting but hindsight is always 20/20.

So it took a gallon and a quart of paint. I used Glidden Paint and Primer the color is Martha Stewart Barn. On the third coat which was the quart plus a little from the gallon, I mixed about 3oz of Floetrol into the paint. It helped spread it more evenly before it dried. It dried darker than it appeared right after I painted it, thank goodness!

Below are the photos. The original wall color, followed by the first, second and third coat of paint. Finally, there is a picture with wall decor where you can see that it doesn't look too bad after all!

This wall is also EXTREMELY difficult to photograph because the light coming in glares on the wall and shines too bright for a good photo. I did the best I could.

Hope your red wall adventures are easier than mine were!

Creating,
Leilani

How to Paint a Red Wall- Part 1

Don't. Choose another color or hire a professional. 

If you're here because I required in Part 2 that you read Part 1 then you can bravely continue here.

6 Weeks of Paint and Projects- Painting Chairs

The amount of stuff I get done when my husband is away with work and the kids are in bed is unbelievable. I can prep most projects during the day during nap times and then work away at night, hence the 6 weeks of Paint and Projects!

The left chair is the before and the right is after. My husband built an awesome farmhouse table and we picked up chairs for a decent price on craigslist.org. I have this vision of a country home. So I decided to paint. I first tried to roll on primer with a small roller and failed so miserably that I didn't touch the chairs for another two months! Then a friend suggested I try Lowe's Valspar Paint and Primer Spray Paint, let me tell you it is a life changer. I have had some terrible encounters with spray paint but this one was amazing. Never rolling paint on to furniture again!

It is necessary to sand all the glossiness off of the chair otherwise the paint won't adhere properly, I learned this from experience... I used a coarse grit sand paper, it left lines in the chair and made for neat detail after it was painted. If you don't want lines or to see where you sanded then I suggest a finer sand paper. It took longer to sand than it did to spray the paint on! Only 5 more chairs to go!

Creating,

Leilani