Step Away from the Green Sponge Paint

I've Been Dreaming of the Perfect Bathtub

I am really disappointed in the fact that I haven't written a creative blog for sometime.  When I started this blog I had made a commitment to myself to post here at a minimum of once a week.  A month has passed and here I am silent as a church mouse.  

It isn't because I haven't been creative during the time.  On the contrary, there has hardly a day gone by that I'm not creating some sort of art or learning Photoshop or thinking about marketing my art.  I have another blog for that activity.  No, this blog was to motivate me to step up my game here in my home and with my family.  

I've never been much of a craft person, but I do absolutely love country, rustic or primitive decorating.  That can be a challenge when you live in a large urban area and there no agriculture around.   Thankfully, we do have a Hobby Lobby now and they have plenty of adorable decorations to add to my collection.  

Yuck!

This past fall, the last child at home flew the coup.  With that event, comes the pressure to finally tackle those really big projects that having children in the home discourage.  So Brad and I made the decision to begin remodeling our main bathroom.  I should clarify this and say Brad was more like a hostage to my zeal to finally in my life have that amazing, as deep as I can get bathtub I have always dreamed of, the bronze fixtures, granite counter top and beautiful travertine walls and floor.

Tearing out the one piece tub

We took it down to the 2 x 4 studs, ripped out plumbing and tile.  Pretty much every square inch will be impacted and nothing there will be remaining.  As the old saying goes, "No PAIN, No GAIN!"  This mantra expresses perfectly the remodeling process as well as an effective exercise routine.

Even mopping the rest of the house seems like an effort in futility so to say I've been on the top of my game creative wise would not be true.  I've just been struggling with keeping the chaos organized and the drama to a minimum.  I FAILED!

Paint Swatches on Green Sponge Paint

We are now approaching the stage of remodeling project where I can begin to think about being creative.  I'm considering the paint colors and the accessories and little touches that will make this area pop with my personality.  I am SO ready to be rid of this 90's green sponge paint.  How did I ever think that was a good idea.  

New Travertine Shower

I've been in love with Teal and Brown for quite sometime now and I really want to make that the color theme.  The bathroom is really small so I'm planning on only painting one accent wall with the largest color sample.  The rest of the walls will be painting with a nice neutral beige to tone down all that browns of the stone floor and vanity top.  

Granite for the vanity top

I know that this particular color scheme just screams out Ocean or Beach decorations, but I'm not letting that hinder me here.  I'm thinking more in the line of flower gardens,  birds, nests with eggs and feathers.  I've already started gathering ideas for creating my own artwork to decorate with and will be blogging about this whole process so please consider following me as I attempt to transform this overused and worn out bathroom into a place that I can truly enjoy.  I had better start stocking up on bubble bath and candles.

Here are some small bird paintings I have done in the past and might try to either recreate or utilize them along with some purchased decorations.  As you can see two of them are on cowbells but I could repaint them on small canvases.  The center artwork is a colored pencil drawing I did last year.  

     

 

Feels Like Summer Outside but it's Spring Just Inside My Door

I would really like to know where spring has gone.  With temperatures in Las Vegas well into the 90's it feels much more like May than March.  Then if you add in the factors of recovery from the 1000 mile road trip to Reno topped with the springing a head of daylight savings time, you can see why this week has been pretty much a blur.   

Before our trek across the vast emptiness of the Nevada desert, I had finalized my spring decoration in my foyer area.  I was happy with everything EXCEPT the table runner.  I just couldn't find one that jumped out at me so I opted for a plain ivory lace runner that I found at Hobby Lobby.  I think it was about $6 (1/2 off sale).  Not bad but it really wasn't what I had in mind.  

While I was in Reno, I spent a little time walking around the Ross Store near our hotel.  As I was almost finished shopping, I ran across a picked over display near the front of the store.  This cute little chick appliqued on a set of two cotton dishtowel caught my eye.  Embellished with pastel colored ric-rac and at only $3.99 I couldn't resist.  I knew I had found my perfect spring table runner.

Today I finally got a chance to put the towels together.  A needle and white thread were all I needed to add some quick basting stitches so that the towel ends lined up and would stay in place under my sewing machine needle.  I started with a stitch at both ends to make sure they lined up perfectly and then I worked my way to the center.  I think it only took about 8 stitches and I was ready to get my ZIG ZAG on.  

Since I wanted the runner to lay flat it was important to stitch them together rather than overlapping and then having a thick seam running down the middle.  

Here is my finished table runner and I couldn't have asked for a better fit.  This antique buffet was a trash treasure that my husband found about 2 years ago.  I had wanted a high narrow table to fit behind our front door in our foyer and this piece was just perfect.   

And finally, here is my completed display down to the malted robin's eggs in my antique Red Wing spongeware mixing bowl.  How could something so easy make me smile so big?