Lost Sock Sign

Time for a little silly project.

We are Harry Potter fans over here, and I've been eyeing lots of cute "Free Dobby" lost sock signs on Pinterest.  Now that the laundry room is up & running, I decided to make one.

Supplies:
-I found board out in the workshop (already the right size and painted!)
-I had metallic craft paint & paint brush left over from doing the stencils in the master closet.
-I bought some letter stencils, but didn't end up using them!  Instead I used tissue paper & a pencil to trace the letters that I liked online.
-I used a blue sharpie for outlining, and then blue ribbon to hang the board & the clothes pins.

I put "tissue paper" in the supply list, but I used wax paper.  I wasn't thinking about how that would make marks on the computer screen as I was tracing!  Oops!  Luckily it all wiped off with a little effort, but save yourself the trouble and use tissue paper instead!

After tracing the letters off the computer screen, I flipped the paper over and traced the backside of it.  

This will allow me to lay it right on the board and trace it again on the front side, so that the pencil lead from the back will transfer to the board.

It's faint, but then you can just go over it again directly on the board, if needed.

Yes- a lot of tracing, but makes it easier for those of us who can't free-hand the letters!

Next I got to work painting the silver inside the lines.

It wasn't as crisp as I wanted, so I decided to use a blue sharpie to outline the letters.  The sharpie gave me better control than I had with the little paint brush.

Then I took a stable gun and attached some blue ribbon for hanging on the wall, and also for hanging socks from.

Here it is hanging on the wall in my laundry room...

I should mention here that I wish we only had 5 single socks around here... there's actually a bucket of them sitting on top of the dryer!  This may motivate me to go through them though and toss any that are never going to find their mate!!!

Accent Wall in Master Closet

From the master bathroom, you look into the master closet at a blank wall.  I considered filling this with hooks and hanging my scarves & chunky necklaces there, but was worried this would look messy & cluttered after a while.

This before photo is quite a bit before... the moldings & doors weren't installed yet!
But it's the best shot I had that shows the view of the closet wall from the bathroom.

I decided to do the same stencil that I did in the little hallway off the other side of the bedroom.
Instead of metallic purple on gray, I decided on silver over the purple wall.  But I used the same method, so feel free to check that post for more details.

This project was on the back burner, so to speak... so it took months to complete.  I had the stencil drawn out before Thanksgiving.

The wall is 4 feet wide, and just under 8 feet tall.

I bought 6 little bottles of the paint, but only ended up using 3 of them!  I found success using the little paint brushes- easy to control and stay in the lines.

Over the last 4 months, I squeezed this project in between work, kids' sports practices and other house projects (usually getting just 1-2 hours in at a time).  

The pattern took three coats of the silver to look really solid.
The first coat was the most tedious, but it got easier & faster with each additional coat.

The print was a yard sale find from two years ago!  I paired it with a brass hook & hanger that my mom gave me, and a vintage pair of stockings that were my grandmothers and were packed away, new in their tissue paper.

Here's the new view from the master bath...

Dressing up a wall

Since the previous weekend was a complete bust, due to weather... I was itching to get SOMETHING done around the house!

And I have to say, we were busy!  But there was only one project that we actually completed.

Ever since I painted the little hallway back at the beginning of October, I've been going back & forth on how to fancy it up a bit.

Here's where we started:                                        And some progress, with a gray base coat:
                                                 

I considered doing a stamp in silver, on top of the gray. 
I even went so far as purchasing this stamp online--->

And when I tried it out, it just looked like a silver blob. 
The tree lost all definition. 

Not the look I was going for.

Next I saw this post about "painted wallpaper" by Emily at Jones Design Company. 

SO Pretty! 

I downloaded the template, and got tracing...

I thought I was all set with my paint choice- Valspar Brilliant Metals, Violet Gleam. 
Until I read the directions on the paint chip more closely... it wasn't a mixed color, it required a very dark purple base coat, with the finishing coat on top to make it shimmery.  Well, that wasn't going to work!  UGH!


So, as is typical, I decided to wing it  (with hubby looking on doubtfully!)
I picked up this silver metallic glaze & mixed in some left over paint from the master bathroom (thank goodness we took that with us when we moved!) 
It mixed perfectly (whew!)

I got out a couple of brushes... the sponge ones didn't work.  They'd probably be great if it was a pattern with straight lines, but this had too many curves, and the sponge didn't give me enough control.

I raided my son's art box & came up with this smaller craft brush.  I also found this stencil in there (should have checked there before ordering that stamp online!) 

But more on the stencil later...

Emily had done a double pattern, tracing the inside of each line.  I tried to replicate it, but didn't have much luck.  I'm a little short on patience, and apparently more of a "color within the lines" kind of gal.

Which I'm okay with,
given the results!

  

Here's a view from the main hallway  --->
I thought about continuing around the hallway, but the uneven ceiling would likely be even more noticeable with a pattern on it!

On the right side of the photo, you can sort of see the purple bathroom.  This hallway will eventually be our walk-in closet, so I think the silvery/purple pattern will be a nice transition from our (soon-to-be) gray bedroom into the dark purple bathroom.



<--- Here's a view from the bedroom door, looking into the bathroom.  That wall remained plain gray.

I'm pretty tickled with how the whole thing turned out!

 

Update: 
I did another version of this stencil in the new master closet... you can check that out here.

So, back to the stencil I found in my son's art box... 

Of course, as soon as I got out the paint my little  hooligans helpers showed up.  To keep them busy, I gave them the discarded sponge brushes & some card stock.
My three year old covered the paper with the metallic purple.  My six year old used the stencil.

After they dried, I got an old frame out of the attic (can't believe it was actually already purple!) and put them together. 

I think I'm going to put it on the wall in the bedroom, to bring together the whole master suite color scheme.  That is... once we get the bedroom painted (fingers crossed for this week!)

And I just found a couple of little purple hand prints on the kid's bathroom wall (on the way to the sink!) 

Mr. Clean Magic Erasers to the rescue!