Office Shelves.

After my Office Re-Do I posted about on Friday. We were left with a big blank wall in the office due to furniture rearranging craziness. I really love open shelves but new that we did not have much money in the ol'budget to buy any. So, here is my very cheap solution....see that would laying around on the floor....

It's old wood my Dad had laying around his shop. I tell you that man has everything. After we pulled out a couple of the best pieces we cut them all to the desired size. They all had tons of age and character...which made them perfect for our abode....

 We didn't do anything else to them....just cut measured and Tal hung them evenly on the wall....

I have the hardest time with wall art...I think it is because I like to change stuff up so much that I do not like to do anything very permanent. I love these shelves. #1. Because I could move them to any room in my house and they would look awesome. #2. I can change the art/pictures/accessories out on them at any time.

 Like right now it looks like this...but I already semi-hate it and I am sure it will be different next week... 

I guess it will always give me something to do. Anybody else getting crazy with old wood? This is a great inexpensive shelving solution. I also could easily paint the wood if I ever thought I wanted a not so barn yard look...right now I am really loving the rustic feel. Happy Monday!

Office Re-Do

Remember when not to long ago I painted this stencil wall in my office? Well, I decided I wanted to paint over it. I'm the queen of doing things more than once. It's very strange. 

 It's not that I didn't like the stenciled wall paper. It was more the color of the room. It was a lot darker than all of the other rooms in our house. The stencil also had a TON of imperfections since I did the entire thing by hand. You couldn't see them unless you got close up - but I noticed them every time I walked in the room.

First I chose a new paint color. I set out to find a lighter color gray that would flow better with the entire house. Both of the below paint swatches are Martha Stewart. We went for the top one. Bedford Gray. I can't remember the name of the lighter color on bottom. 

After the room was painted. It was not easy painting over the stencil. Stung a little bit. Even though I had plans to replace it with something very similar. After searching the internet I ordered a stencil from Royal Studio Designs. I actually ordered one that was too small at first and had to send it back. So, if you are thinking about doing a full wall make sure to order a large stencil. Once I got the right one in the mail (they ship really quickly) I was able to get started. This is when I only thought I had a few hours of stenciling ahead of me....

A day and half later....

And compared to the hand stencil....it was a breeze. But really...it was hard. Like I wanted to quit on several occasions and just paint the wall gray again. The ceiling and edges were most definitely the hardest part. I never got the hang of it and honestly never want to. I have no more stencil plans in my future:)

My main goal was accomplished. It lighted the room up and now it flows much better with the rest of the house.

The professional stencil eliminated a lot of errors...making the finished product look much more seamless.

The change isn't that dramatic. Just a little bit lighter with a different pattern. Another suggestion I would give if you are thinking about venturing in to stenciling would be to choose a base paint color that is not that different from your stencil color. It took a lot of pressing with the paint roller to cover the white paint over the gray. So, what do you guys think about the change? Did you know that after I painted this room...I had painted every single room in our house in 2011 (including bathrooms). And then stenciled the same wall twice. Does that make me crazy?

Christmas Bling.

I know that yesterday I said I was ready to move on to Thanksgiving. Ya know, since it is the closer holiday and all? But one more thing before that. Our office...all decked out with Christmas bling....I bought this star last year at Lowe's after Christmas for pennies. I've made a promise to myself to only buy Christmas decor in the weeks after Christmas. It's ridiculously inexpensive then.Lots of silver tidings for this one little tree...Including disco balls...every tree needs a disco ball.And a bowl full of bling for the other side to even all that blingeness out.
Now seriously....on to Thanksgiving:)