DIY Puppy Art

One of my sons is obsessed with puppies!  He has always loved them and I was in the mood for a new project so I decided to make him a custom piece for his room. 

 I started with 4 pieces of cheap pine which I put 2 coats of black stain on.  I wasn't sure what I was going for but I knew the black stain wasn't enough so I pulled out the acrylic paints.

  I put off white, blue and brown on a paper plate with a bit of water.  Using a paper towel, I began rubbing the wet paint right on to the stained wood.  I used one color at a time.  I kept adding more and more paint and it became weathered looking.  I wiped it on and smeared it off with the paper towel.  I made sure to stay going with the grain of the wood.  

Mocha Madness!

I wanted to try a new twist on chocolate cake for my coffee loving friends.  So I experimented a bit and according to my husband, this is the best tasting cake I've ever made!  And it was SUPER easy to do!

To get the mocha flavor, I used a box of chocolate fudge cake mix and substituted the water for vanilla flavored coffee that I brewed at home.  Before I added the coffee to the other ingredients I made sure it was room temperature.  I wasn't sure if it would work hot or not.  After the cake was baked, I soaked more coffee right on to the cake with a basting brush.  

I also made regular chocolate buttercream and added quite a bit of room temperature coffee right to it.  I cut back a little on the milk and continued adding coffee and powdered sugar and cocoa until the flavor and consistency were perfect.

Keely's Big Girl Room Make Over; Part 2!

The biggest change in my daughter's Big Girl room is her new bed!  I got SO lucky and scored this super heavy, iron bed from the 1920's on Craigslist for $50!  And my husband's BFF even picked it up and delivered it to our house for us!  It was white and in great condition.  I spray painted it hot pink.  Inspiration for her room came from two rooms in particular, which I saw on pinterest.  They gave me amazing ideas and I was able to translate them on an extremely small budget.  Check out the other rooms here and here for some incredible ideas!

We also moved Keely's bookshelves (which she's had since birth, a Target purchase.) to the same wall as her headboard.  I was lucky that she decided to keep her pink walls, which meant I didn't have to paint!  We also kept her name on her wall that I painted years ago.  We found the bedding at Home Goods for $40.  Keely picked it out.  It's totally different than what I was thinking of getting but it's her room and she liked it so I went with it.

Even though I did little bits and pieces over several weeks, the day the bed went in the room was a big deal!  I decided to keep her out of the room while I set up the bed and bookshelves.  We brought her in with her eyes closed and had her open them on the count of 3.  She loved it!

Keely's Big Girl Bedroom Makeover!

I am in the process of making over my 7 year old daughter's bedroom so that it is more "Big Girl".  She loves to read so I wanted her to have a cozy spot to relax while she dives into her books.  

  

Here's what I did...

Easy Homemade Pirate Cake

Here is an easy to make pirate cake that the kids go nuts for.  Even if you don't decorate a lot of cakes, this is one you should be able to tackle.  

I made a double cake and frosted a crumb coat.  As you can see, this cake was very crumbly!  After the all important crumb coat, I stuck the cake in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes to let the crumb coat harden.

Next I frosted the sides of the cake in blue buttercream.  Then I used a toothpick to draw an outline of where I wanted the ocean and beach to be.  I spread brown icing on the beach side and blue icing on the ocean side.  The nicest part about this cake is that you don't have to get any of the frosting smooth!  Just smear it on!  I even used my spatula to make the water extra wavy.

Painted Backyard Furniture

 My backyard chairs needed some love.  They were boring brown and the cushions were shot.  I decided to spruce them up with a can of spray paint and some new cushions.  Now they are bright and cheery.  And they look brand new!

I found some cushions for $15 each at Home Goods.  

This is what my chairs looked like before I painted them.  Faded cushions and plain tan metal.  The chairs are really comfortable and they're good quality so I thought a coat of paint would bring them back to life.

Too Stuffy for Me Part 6....Hand Painted Sign

Its been a while since I posted anything new about the living room and dining room transformations.  I'm still working on them slowly but surely.  My latest addition is this painted sign.  

It's very similar to the LOVE sign and is actually hanging on the same wall.  I used the same technique I used on the LOVE sign and painted these sayings I found on Pinterest.

  

Here is a shot of both rooms that I took with my panoramic camera.  My wall is actually flat (not curved).  You can see how the two rooms are connected, yet still separated by a hallway down the middle. 

 I thought the second sign helped balance out the big LOVE sign. Sorry for the cruddy lightning. 

The opposite wall has a faux "built in" made with Ikea cabinets and bookshelves.  I keep meaning to blog about this installation so here is a quick mini post about it.

We purchased the two lower cabinets and three bookshelves from Ikea.  Then we painted the back of the bookshelves the wall color (photo wall).  We stacked the bookshelves on top of the cabinets and added a piece of trim to the fronts of the bookshelves (where they come together), as well as trim where the bookshelves and cabinets butt up against the wall.  We also added crown molding around the top.  Then we painted the new trim to match the bookshelves.  My dad did the installation for us.  He braced all of it to the wall so it actually is built in.  I know it would cost a fortune to have this made from scratch but it only cost us about $400 total!  I obviously still need to accessorize it but that's not in the budget for now.

 Here is a panoramic of this side of the room.  As you can see, I still have no sewing table but we will get to it eventually.  In the meantime the empty room makes a great hula hooping area for the kids! :)

Happy decorating!

For more posts about this room transformation check out the links below...
Painted Stripes
Love Sign
Photo Wall
Chevron Table and Chairs
Chair Make Over