The Great Wall of Awesome

Remember this list? You'll notice that I mentioned decorating the staircase wall.  Here's why: 

Kind of boring, huh? I had a million different ideas and all of them included incorporating some of my favorite prints and pieces that I have been accumulating. When I saw this photo on Pinterest, it became my inspiration.

via MarthaStewart.com

To jazz it up a bit and tailor it to my style, I decided to paint a horizontal stripe in between the frames instead of leaving a blank space. I kept going back and forth on the color of the stripe. Initially, I wanted the color of the line to be a dark blue. A dark blue will coordinate with the blue that I am going to use to stencil the curtains in our living room. But then I realized I didn't want it to be all matchy-matchy and imagined a lighter blue. And then a bluish-green. While I debated on the color of the stripe, I marked off my line and laid out the wall a la Young House Love.

For the stripe, I ended up with Araucana Teal by Martha Stewart. I thought that the blueish-green of Araucana Teal, paired with Nurture by Behr (the light blue already on the wall), would not only go nicely with the rest of our downstairs, but also give off a laid back, beachy vibe. We like to pretend we live closer to the beach than we really do.

I really like the results.

I like to fill our house with things that make us smile or laugh, and this wall is a nice mix of special pieces that do the trick. Starting in the upper left corner, we hung some canvas map art. There's more on how I made them here, but they're super special because each piece represents somewhere significant to us: where we met, where we got engaged, where we got married, and where we live.

Next to the map art is a gift from my parents. We got married in Pismo Beach, California, home to Splash Cafe. Splash Cafe has the world's best clam chowder, and the aesthetic inside is just as entertaining as the food is delicious. The walls of the restaurant are adorned with cool murals depicting clam-people surfing, sunbathing and swimming. This piece is a replica of what you'll see inside Splash Cafe. My parents gave this to me for my 28th birthday which was only a few months after we got married. 

We love our dogs. I mean, we LOVE our dogs. And they're crazy about us too. So when I saw this print ("Please let me be the person my dog thinks I am.") on sfgirlbybay, I had to buy it.

We also love California, perhaps slightly less than we love our dogs, but still. This California Love print seemed only fitting. It's from an Etsy shop, Love in Letters. I had it tagged as a favorite, and Nick surprised me with it out of the blue. Nick knows that Etsy (and food) is the way to my heart.

The top floral print is just a pretty piece of scrapbook paper. The three pieces beneath it started out as tile coasters I found at Anthropologie a few years ago. I knew I'd never use them as coasters and have been saving them until I could properly put them on display. When I found three square frames at a thrift store, I knew they'd be perfect for the coasters. I sanded them and spray painted them white and then glued the coasters to them. I think they look quite nice. 

Next, I included this beautiful pair of original oil paintings I found at a local thrift store. They're coastal scenes and they're gorgeous. Seriously, an awesome find. They are signed Murane and the back of each painting shows the artist's information as Ruth Z. Murane from Santa Cruz, California. 

Ah, and then there are my cows. They're not really my cows, but they reminded me of cows I fell in love with near our house. I would drive to and from work each day and see these beautiful brown and white calves sitting in a field near their mom. They were so small and precious with thin, wobbly legs, and they etched a place in my heart. They just made me smile. Why I still eat meat is a complete mystery to me. Anyhow, rather than get out of my car and trespass on someone's property to take pictures, I thought a print of Rachel Parker's original watercolor painting would do. I found this vibrant print on her Etsy site.  

To the left of my sweet cows is a swatch of fabric framed with a white matte. The colors and pattern of the fabric remind me of a peacock. 

I really like this photo of our bikes in Monterey with the ocean as a backdrop. Ah, to be back in Monterey again. Most of the frames on this wall are thrift store finds or old frames we already had with a fresh coat of spray paint. This frame, however, is brand spankin' new. It's from Aaron Brothers, and I'm smitten with that whole distressed wood thing its got going on.  

I got this D print from Young House Love before they did away with their print shop. I guess you could say that I have a piece of history on our wall then, right? (I think I accomplished that with those beautiful Murane paintings, but you know what I mean.) 

And last but not least, we have a sweet note card of a dog smelling another dog's butt. My mom gave me this print, and boy, does she know me well. Classiness runs in the family, I tell you. She ordered it from snew, an Etsy shop.  

So there we have it, one more thing to strike from my list. 

I have a couple more projects in the works. With the way things are looking in baby land, I'll have this list completely finished before my uterus knows what hit it.  

• Paint and decorate dining room
• Stencil Ikea curtains in living room
• Clean out "baby room"
• Organize garage
• Decorate staircase wall
• Give loaner desk back to mom and dad
• Refinish mom and dad's generously donated dresser for master bedroom
• Repair carpet in den and upstairs hallway
• Shampoo carpet and rug in den
• Reorganize kitchen cupboards
• Revamp the "recycle center" in the kitchen
• DIY throw pillow covers for the couch

A Man Cave For My Man

While Nick was planning to go on a short camping trip over the weekend, I had plans of my my own. I wanted to update our ho-hum computer room and surprise Nick at the same time. So, I came up with a baseball themed room which was inspired by Nick's favorite team, the San Francisco Giants. Luckily, Ikea has some great orange accessories and what I couldn't find in orange became orange with the magic of spray paint.

Like the novice blogger that I am, I forgot to take before pictures. I remembered and then forgot... and then I remembered when I was painting and forgot again... and I remembered and forgot one more time. The room was a pale yellow which had a few baseball inspired items including prints and photos, signed baseballs, a bat, and a couple of accessories. The new room is much improved though with tan walls and the Giants' orange that unites the room. Also, rearranging the furniture helped to open up the room and make it look bigger (before, the computer desk was out in the middle of the room). Take a look for yourself...

Baseball photographs and prints adorn the wall. Many of the frames were spray painted black by my fabulous mom (and then hung on the wall by my fabulous dad). Some of the photographs are very special to Nick's family and some are special to mine. Also making the cut is a print of three small paintings Nick and I got from a street vendor in San Francisco. The print includes paintings of a cable car, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Lombard Street.

This dresser used to be Nick's growing up. Before we moved, we stripped the paint and refinished it. It needs new hardware on the front, but a good lesson was learned from this project. Make sure you can find hardware to fit the already drilled holes first!

I wanted to give Nick a nice bar area. I added three floating shelves to house all of the empty liquor bottles we have been saving for the past couple of years. The full bottles are now easily accessible. Instead of trying to climb on top of the fridge to get them, they are right at our finger tips (by ours I mean Nick's and his friends).

I purchased a white tray from Target and my mom spray painted it orange to bring some color to the bar area. In addition to the bottles, I added a glass pedestal vase full of matchbooks.

Perhaps one of my favorite pieces in the room is the vase full of matchbooks. My mom bought a humongous bag of matchbooks from an estate sale. The woman had been collecting matchbooks for many years and the wide variety really illustrates the efforts that she made. There are so many unique matchbooks ranging from ones that were given as wedding favors to hotel and restaurant matchbooks and random ones like the bail bonds one shown here. My mom displayed some in a large wine glass at her house and I knew I had to recreate the look at ours. Although we don't regularly use matches, they really add to the bar feel.



These three little, inexpensive circle rugs from Ikea add a lot to the room.




Thanks to my wonderful, hard-working parents, this beauty of a room came together minutes before Nick got home. I love the room, but more importantly, Nick does too!

Natural and Serene

After taking HGTV's What's Your Color Personality Quiz, I can happily say that my color personality is natural and serene. Here is what my results revealed:

"You are drawn to colors derived directly from nature. You get inspired by a walk in the woods or a day at the beach or the lake. You appreciate the beauty of the natural world and the peace it provides.

Your color personality palette consists of green, blue and brown. Use different shades of one color or mix and match these hues for a soft, tranquil and beautiful room."

What is your color personality?

Visions of Sugar Plums

Well, not exactly... although I have been having visions of how to decorate our piece de resistance. I initially saw this beautiful print at Aaron Brothers and thought it would be perfect for the top of the island.

So, that is just what I did. I put it in a beautiful white wooden frame and smack dab on top of the butcher block top. Alas, it was too small. Luckily, we have been saving a mirror to hang above our mantel and when I tried it out, I knew I liked it right away.

The mirror is staying and the print is going... but not too far. More on that later. Now we just need some do-dads to give this area more interest. I am really liking these items, but of course, they won't all work.

Courtesy of Anthropologie

(very whimsical... I like it)

Cost Plus

(filled with sand, not shells and beads)

From the Z Gallerie

(Very nice pillar holders)

I think that the pillar holders will make the cut. Maybe not these, but something to go on the left side of the mirror. I think that we could put the whimsical fish bowl next to the pillar holders and then perhaps a decorative upright plate on the right side of the island. Just kicking around some ideas... We will see how it ends up.

Back to the floral print. We are going to hang it in the area to the left of the island in a collection of other prints. I am thinking a few small whimsical pieces and then something more substantial.

I found these cute prints at art.com and I was thinking I could find some greeting cards at Hallmark with similar prints and frame them for the collection wall. 3 5 x 7 prints would would work nicely. I love any excuse to go to Hallmark and bawl my eyes out...

Garage Sale Goodies

I have been keeping my eye out for an inexpensive entry way table to put under the stairs for, oh, I don't know... almost 2 years now. Everything that we have really liked has been super expensive which explains the vacant spot under our stairs. Not that we have been actively looking, but I knew someday we would find something we loved that was in our price range as long as we had patience. Yesterday that day finally came!

Out on a mission at Lincoln Crossing's 1st annual (hopefully) community garage sale, my mom and I had our eyes open for furniture pieces. After about an hour, 20 or so drive-bys, and spring time drizzle we came across the steal of the century. We bought a piece that is normally upwards of $ 1,000 for $ 70. I am not kidding you... 7-0 DOLLARS (negotiated down from $ 75). I can't believe our luck! Thanks to a couple who was moving and had no need for this beautiful butcher block top island two people are now very happy to have one more thing checked off of their list.

By the way, mom found a Gap skirt with a gorgeous print for creating a one-of-a-kind purse and a cool wrought iron plant stand. Yes, we are some bargain hunting gals and we are psyched for next year's sale extravaganza.