Poster Framing - What a deal!

At my work there is an annual "artwork sale"...  Unwanted pieces from around our corporate building gets clear out & sold to raise money for charity.  The vast majority of the stuff isn't anything you'd ever want to hang in your house- but it's awesome if you're looking to pick up some really nice frames!

This year, I found this silver poster frame.  I paid just $1!

This is the spot I had in mind for it...

As you know, my oldest's room is decorated with a nautical theme, and we picked out this poster when visiting the Submarine Force Museum.  It was also special because my dad, uncle & grandfather all served in the Navy.  The small photo in the image above is a photo of my dad & uncle, and we have my grandfather's uniform hanging on the wall in here too, along with some of my dad's Navy  memorabilia.


I had bought one of those black plastic poster frames, but it completely fell apart. Then I just put the poster directly on the wall, but that didn't look all that great.


The frame was a little bit larger than the poster (I didn't have the measurements when I was at the sale!)  But since the original image in the frame had a black background, I used that to make it look like it was matted.

It's a heavy-duty frame, so it won't be falling apart any time soon.  It definitely looks more finished hanging up there. I'm very pleased with it!

Nautical Bedroom Update- Chair Cover

Part of my spring cleaning was clearing out the clothes that no longer fit the kids. 

That led me to this sweater... my son loved it when he was in his pirate phase.

At first I thought I'd make another throw pillow- 

I started by turning it inside out and stitching with some gray thread...

That's when I realized it was going to be an odd shape, or would have some weird detailing at the corners.

So, I rounded the top and then cut off the excess material...

and turned it right-side out.

I decided to make it into a chair cover for the desk chair!

Who knows... it still may become a pillow someday... we'll see!

Pillow from Placemats!

While getting some spring cleaning done, I came up with a few projects to update the kids' bedrooms...

The first was for our oldest son's nautical theme bedroom.  I found these placemats on clearance at The Christmas Tree Shop (for 88 cents each!) I thought they would make a cute throw pillow.

I found a tan colored thread and sewed down the edges by hand.

The sewing machine would have been quicker, but I'm still a bit intimidated by it!

One side sewn...

After sewing three sides together, I stuffed it with batting and closed up the fourth side.

I also picked up a set of similar placemats with a crab on them that I may also make into a pillow.

AFTER

BEFORE

I have another super quick sewing project to share tomorrow, 

and later in the week a small project for the airplane room!

Nautical Room updates

While Mike's been doing the heavy lifting in the bathroom renovations, I've been tackling little stuff around the house (while keeping the kids out of Mike's way!)

I've been looking for a ship's wheel wall hanging for my son's nautical-themed bedroom, and two weeks ago found one on Joss & Main.  It arrived this weekend, and we got it up on the wall.

The ship's wheel replaced the 3 whaling paintings that were hanging there.
I'm still figuring out where to re-hang those.

Here it is with the trunk we recently picked up.

I like the balance of  the "rough" finishes.

On the other side of the room, we've added a poster purchased during our visit to the Submarine Force Museum in Groton, CT this past spring.
(Great trip, by the way!  In addition to going aboard the USS Nautilus at the Submarine Museum, we visited Mystic Seaport & the Mystic Aquarium.
The boys loved it all!)

We thought the vintage-style "Join the Navy" poster went really nicely with the family Navy memorabilia we had already put up (my grandfather's uniform, photo & plaque from my dad's ship, and his line crossing certificate).

Outlet covers

I love reading other home improvement and design blogs.  It keeps me inspired!

Here's a post on on  Jones Design Company about dressing up light switches & outlet covers using scapbooking paper & Modge Podge.

I've already replaced about 90% of our light switches and outlet covers with new.  

However, there was one in my son's room that was just plain white, and since he has a nautical theme in red & blue, I thought it would be fun to try it out.

I've never used Modge Podge (although it does remind me of the watered down school glue that we used to make votive candle holders out of jars and tissue paper in college!)

My first try was with a water-looking patterned paper- and I totally blew it.  I wasn't thinking & placed it face down on the table to fix the edges... it stuck to the newspaper I was working on...

So after cleaning up that mess, I found this pattern that would work:

Definitely not camouflaging the outlet with the wall, but for a kids' room, I don't mind.

There's one little wrinkle that I'm not happy about, but for a first try I think it came out pretty well!

And I'd have a wide shot of it- but his room was too messy!  

Will try to snap one the next time we are expecting company- since that's the #1 way to get him to clean it!

Kids Room #1- Yo Ho!

It was a shame... the existing paint was in great shape, but the colors (purple & pink) weren't right for our themes:
Nautical & Airplanes!

I love that the rooms not only have entrances from the main hallway, but also have a door inside that joins the two rooms.  (I'm sure that door is going to get slammed many, many times over the coming years!) Since the rooms connect, I wanted to use two complimentary shades of blue, but the boys insisted they wanted the same.  That made it even easier!

Mom & Dad were back for a visit and Mom volunteered to paint the bedrooms!  (I don't know how she does it, but Mike & I consider ourselves VERY lucky that she loves this house as much as we do!)  Happily, the blue paint covered really well- only ONE coat was needed! 

In our old house, B's bedroom was done in a pirate theme (he's loved pirates since he was 2 years old!)  We morphed into a nautical theme, figuring he'll be less likely to outgrow it anytime soon!

Before

After







 





Before

After

My favorite part of the project- gathering the themed decorative items.  Most of them have a family history behind them.  For instance, we hung my grandfather's Navy uniform on the wall, along with my Dad's Navy memorabilia.  The trunk at the bottom of the bed was a wedding gift made by a co-worker of mine (it now holds a multitude of kids costumes!) 

Check out some of the other items that we incorporated below...

Fun Decorative Details:



Painting done by my great-grandfather

Dad re-wired his childhood lamps!

Cabinet made by Mike's Dad

Papa's Navy Uniform

Whaling paintings done by a family friend
(who was a cartoonist for Warner Brothers)