I'M NO VAN GOGH

But, in high school, I thought I was an artist.  I have always been a creative person, but calling myself an artist might be a bit of a stretch.  I took art in high school and one semester I painted this.

Believe it or not, this painting hung in my high school cafeteria for many years.

It may or may not have had food thrown at it during it's display there. 

Nonetheless, it eventually came down and was given back to me.  

I always knew if I had a daughter, I would hang it in her room.  

Up until two days ago, it has been sitting on top of my daughter's dresser leaning up against the wall.

I was stuck at home for 2 1/2 days this week with a sick kid.
I got a little bored being cooped up and decided to hang it.
First I used the velcro command strips to adhere it to the wall.

Then, I decided to break out the chalk and create a frame. 

I started out doing it freehand and and then I went back over the lines using a level as a guide. 

My daughter was pretty surprised when she walked into her room that night. 

She asked if she was allowed to color on her walls too.  Well, of course not!

While I was at it, I went ahead and hung up one of the other paintings I did in high school. 

I hung this one in her bathroom.  

Just for the record, I copied both of these paintings from other artists. 

I think that's the difference between me and artists, I can copy, real artists create!

Changing the subject,
I just finalized a design plan for a new client and I can't wait to show you on Monday.

Hope you all have a great weekend. 

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From Boring to Bold

This desk is the one I was referring to in this post as the desk that has lived all over our house (and our last house).  I originally bought the desk at an estate sale about six years ago.  It was super cheap and I knew we could use it somewhere.  I slapped on some khaki paint that we had sitting around and then proceeded to move it from room to room and house to house for the next six years.  

It is nothing fancy, just kind of blends in and doesn't bother anyone.

When the "deal of a lifetime piano" arrived recently, the desk had to be moved once again.  

This time it landed it my daughter's newly redecorated room.  

The boring khaki just wasn't going to cut it in this vibrant, youthful room.  

The desk now sports the color of "rouge" by Sherwin Williams.  

 I know I already showed it to you, but thought you might want to see the difference a little can of paint makes. The dark wood and black metal chair also got a makeover with some white spray paint and a coat of "Stem Green" by Benjamin Moore. 

Now, I'm thinking I'll give the mirror in my daughter's bathroom an update with the "rouge" paint.

Brighten it up a bit in there!

Once again, if you get a chance, go "like" Oak Ridge Revival on Facebook. 
Thanks so much for the sweet comments on my daughter's room and her birthday.
 It made her day (and mine)!

Linking to:
Miss Mustard Seed

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It's About Time

I know, I know, slowest room makeover EVER!!  I'm sure I'll tweak things a time or two, but I am finally ready to show the whole world (okay I exaggerate, my couple hundred faithful blog readers) the finished room.  I just know you've been hanging on to the edge of your seats waiting the see the reveal!

Ta Da!!

The walls went from a pale pink to a soft cream (Sherwin Williams White Duck)

The ceiling went from a pale yellow to a lovely shade of blue (Benjamin Moore Bird's Egg)

This fabulous chair was the big hold up in the room.  I bought it last fall and it sat in our guest room until I finally found the fabric I wanted to use on it.  After a failed attempt to reupholster it, it was taken to a professional.  It finally made it's way home and I got busy on finishing the small projects.

Small projects, like this desk.   It was previously a khaki color.  The desk has been everywhere in our house, the boys' room, the guest room, the basement and the living room.  When the new piano was delivered, I had to find yet another home for the desk.  My daughter had the perfect spot for it and it will be a great place for her to do homework.  I painted it bright pink (Sherwin Williams Rouge) and then lightly glazed it.

The chair got a coat of Sherwin Williams Stem Green.  

It was previously stained dark and the base was black.

I bought this vintage stool last year at an antique store and I was never exactly sure what I wanted to do with it.  It sat in our mudroom for a while and I finally moved it upstairs to her room to use as a nightstand. Of course, when I brought it home, my husband thought it was another piece of "junk". Clearly he was wrong!  It's a great place for her to store some her books.

I bought the vanity from the previous owner of the house.  

The bookcase got a coat of blue spray paint 

and the little white nightstand holds American Doll accessories.

I added a little blue rick rack to the shades of the chandelier.  

This fabric was my inspiration for the room.  I fell in love with it and bought four yards for $20.  

I purchased the blue pillow and added the rolled flower to it. 

The monogrammed bolster pillow is from Pottery Barn Kids and she has had it for years.

A few floral details....

Just to remind you, this is what the room looked like before we bought the house.

Here is another view.

Shortly after completing the whole house renovation, her room looked like this.

And one more time, here is is now!

Now, whatever will I do with myself?  If you are interested in having me help you develop a plan for your room makeover, feel free to e-mail me here for the details.  I need a new project!

I am linking to:

Perfectly Imperfect, Delightful Order, Home Stories A2Z, Savvy Southern Style, 

Elle Belle Creative, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, The DIY Showoff, Making the World Cuter,

Tip Junkie, The Shabby Chic Cottage, A Glimpse Inside, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, 

French Country Cottage, Simple Home Life, The Shabby Nest, At the Picket Fence, 

Ginger Snap Crafts, All Things Bright and Beautiful

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The Playroom

So obviously this summer is not going to be very productive for me in terms of getting projects around the house finished.  That's okay,  I've accepted it and embraced it because I really want to spend the summer having fun with my kids. I have several projects planned for the playroom, but it looks like they will have to wait until the kids go back to school.  

The playroom is on the third level our house along with the guest room, a full bathroom and a large cedar closet.  Before we moved in, we had the cedar paneling painted Sherwin Williams antique white,  new carpet installed and we added ceiling fans.  Since it's the third floor, it gets pretty hot up there. 

This is what it looked like before we bought the house. Pretty ugly, huh?  

The windows are giving me some grief.  

There is another small window on the other side of the large window. 

 It's behind the slanted wall next to the big window.  

 When the full bathroom was added (not by us), they wanted that small window in the bathroom for some natural light.  Great for the bathroom, odd for the playroom.  

 After spending way too much time agonizing about this unsymmetrical situation, I decided (for now) to hang this bulletin board over top of the small window to help even things out a bit.  

You may recall from this post, how I feel about symmetry.  

This is the boy's entertainment area, equipped with the Wii and a dart board.  

Kota, the dinosaur resides in the dormer.  We have great storage under all the eves.  

Here is the lego table I made recently.  It is working out very well.  

Not quite sure what to do yet with this big blank wall.  

The giant chair used to be in the office.  

I'm not crazy about, but until I find the perfect seating for this area, it will be staying put.  

There used to be four prints hanging on the wall.  

An unfortunate incident with a ball and some rowdy boys and now there are three. 

The cedar closet is behind the door with the basketball goal and the guest room is through the open door.  

I am linking to:

Houseography

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A Punch of Color

In keeping with my "do it now" or it never gets done attitude, I decided to whip out a can of spray paint last night around 8:00 p.m.  I immediately start clearing everything off my daughter's bookshelf and carry it down the stairs all by myself.  I run into my husband on the way outside (with the bookshelf in tow) and he  says "You're not going to do that right now, are you?" Using a phrase borrowed from my dear friend, Mary Claire, I reply, "Do you know me at all?"  With that out of the way, I proceed to start spray painting the shelf.

Here is was before I got a hold of it.

I bought this at Homegood's a few years ago for about $50.  My daughter didn't really have anywhere to store her junk prized possessions.  This works perfectly for books, trophies and anything else she might want to cram in there.

Here it is in all it's blue spray painted glory.

After painting the walls with Sherwin William's White Duck, her room needed some punches of color.  The green bench from this post helped liven up the space a bit, but it was still lacking some personality.

I've been tackling little projects everyday in her room so a full reveal is coming, but it I'll be sure to keep you posted on the progress as I go.

Oh, and just for the record, I am one of those crazy moms who cleans my kids' rooms.  I am not a fan of clutter so I make sure to weed out the junk often.  With the exception of a few things underneath her bed, this is about all the clutter in her room.  I know, I have a problem. The first step is admitting it, right?  After that, I'm not quite sure what to do about it.

What about you, do you have a say in what goes in your kids' room or do you give them complete freedom to do whatever they want with their space?

I am linking to:
Savvy Southern Style
Miss Mustard Seed

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A Sneak Peek

I'll be completely honest, I've been dreading this project.  Not that I'm afraid of hard work, I welcome it, but painting, not so much!  When we first bought our first house, my husband and I painted every surface of that place all by ourselves (okay so maybe a few friends and family members helped).  The busier we got and the more kids we had, the less time we had to do things like that.  For the last several years, we have left painting up to the professionals.  Since my daughter's room had been professionally painted less than two years ago, I just couldn't justify paying someone to re-paint it.  Being the overly confident, eager to prove myself person that I am, I sent my husband to the paint store and I rolled up my sleeves.  I put off the task all week, mostly because I had strep throat, but also because, like I said, I was dreading it.  

I woke up Saturday morning, with nothing on our schedule and an ugly forecast all day.  No more excuses.  I am happy to report that, after four ibuprofen and a couple of cold beers, the room is 90%  painted.  I ran out of paint around 10:00 p.m on Saturday night and I really needed a break on Sunday, so I'll resume on Monday.  Anyway, enough rambling, here's a peek at the room. 

I went with Benjamin Moore Bird's Egg on the ceiling and Sherwin Williams White Duck on the walls.

I also found this perfect bench at an outdoor antique fair today.  The guy was getting ready to load everything up so he gave me a sweet deal.  This one and an identical white one for only $30.00.

Here is my inspiration fabric.  You can order it here for $19.98/yard.  Of course, I found it on clearance and paid $4.00/yard.  I have enough to have two large pillows made for her bed and probably a cushion for this bench.

Which leaves me with eight (8) yards of this lovely fabric.  I bought it before we moved in to our house thinking I would use it for my daughter's room.  If anyone is interested, e-mail me here.

Just for kicks, here was the room before we moved in.

And here is it after its first makeover.

Stay tuned for the end result.  Life is pretty busy right now, with baseball games, gymnastics, pre-school parties, spending time with my friends and family, things like that.  I'm trying to find a nice balance between this whole blogging world and my life.  It's a work in progress, just like this old house.

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A Home Tour

I am so excited to have a lot of new readers, so I thought I would take you all on a little tour of our home.  So far, I have shown you most of the rooms in our house, but I'm holding out on showing you our third floor (playroom and guest room) because I still need to finish up some projects up there.  It won't be long.

Let's get going.  I'll start with the front of the house.  Be sure to check out the before pictures here.

Come on into the foyer.  Before pictures here. 

Off the foyer is the new and improved powder room. Before pictures here.

To the right of the foyer is the casual living room. This room has come a long way. Check out the before pictures here. 

Just off the living room is the office/den.  This room has become one of our favorite hang out spots.  See before pictures here.

These built-ins were already here, we just revamped them a bit.

Through the foyer, in the heart of the home, is the kitchen and dining room.  These two rooms got complete makeovers. See before pictures here.  

More before pictures here. 

Off the kitchen is the mudroom and pantry.  This room was previously a sun porch on the end of the house.

Having this space helps keep our family organized.

The pantry is a huge help with storage.

Just off the kitchen/dining room is the gathering place, our family room.  Before pictures here. 

The fireplace got a facelift as well.

This ceiling is one of my favorite features in our home. 

We spend a lot of time in this room, specifically gathered around this table, playing games, coloring, eating popcorn and building legos.

Now, let's head upstairs.

This is the master bedroom.  Before pictures here.

Down a little hall in the master bedroom is the master bathroom which was previously a small bedroom.  Before pictures here.

My daughter's room is across the hall.  It was formerly the master bedroom.  Before pictures here.

A small, but full bathroom is located off her bedroom. Before pictures here.

My boys' room is just down the hall.  It has quite a story behind it.  You can read all about it here.

Right next to their bedroom is bathroom they share.  Before pictures here. 

Hope you enjoyed the tour.  I am linking up to Poppies at Play Parade of Homes Party today.  Go on over and check out all the lovely homes.

Also, check back Monday night for my very first giveaway! I'll have all the details for you then.

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