Thursday, November 17, 2011

A Few Little Projects

'Tis the season when I want to start spray painting crap. I've blogged about spray painting things white,  and I pondered whether to paint my owl lamp (it's in its pristine state as of this writing). This year I did not paint any pumpkins, as I have in the past, so I have an itchy trigger finger. Meet the next victims.

birdies

Anyway, this is becoming one of those spray painting blogs, but I can't help it, because I did not dumpster dive these birdies, my mother-in-law brought 'em to my house and said, "Help me figure out what color to spray paint these guys." Then she left them with me so I could study their personalities. What I've decided is that they want to be silver for Christmas.

This might be a good time to review my post from last year, How Tacky Do You Let Yourself Get For The Holidays. Pretty sure we decided that the sky's the limit. So those guys are going to be silver, and this very unremarkable metal wreath I have that doesn't show up against my front door, it's going to be silver too. Anything else that gets in my way?

Silver.

Also around the house, I've been slowly getting my dining room and office together following their repainting. I think that was in September? Geez. But these things need to ripen. I've had a few big fabric panels sitting folded on a shelf, like forever, that I wanted to frame and hang. The other day I finally did. These two are Marimekko, and as you can see they're the same design in different colorways.

marimekko panels

Here's a better view of where I'm going to put them, both together on that wall. I wanted a big bold thing going on there, and I think these fit that bill.

dining room in progress

After I got them onto the stretchers, I texted my friend David a picture of them and said, "I'm thinking of putting these right next to each other on the same wall. Or have I lost my mind? Talk me down." He said, "In theory, that's nuts. But I'm seeing it. Do it." So I'm going to hang them. I've left them leaning together against the wall so I could try them on, but now I'm ready.

I also framed the fabric I bought at Ikea that time my sister threatened to punch a guy. That's going in my office. I'll show a pic when I get it all together.

If you have a piece of fabric you'd like to make a wall hanging of, it is dead simple. You just need four of those wooden stretcher pieces (they have them at Michael's or art supply stores), an iron, and a staple gun. The trick is figuring out which part of the image to show, and then getting it straight on the stretchers. Then it's easy peasy lemon squeezy.

And if you have any little pieces left over and you don't want to waste them, you could do what my sister did and put them in embroidery hoops. Like so. This is in my sunroom.

embroidery hoops

I'm going to give this treatment to some old toddler t-shirts and sentimental things of the kids' that I still have. Like, cut out the design and put it in a hoop, then hang it on Hank's wall and leave it there until he goes to college. Then after he drives away, I'll walk into his empty room and sit on his bed. Then my eyes will land on the little embroidery hoop containing a piece of his old "100% Love" shirt, and then I'll have a good soaking cry. So thanks for that, embroidery hoops.

(I should say that my finally getting to the fabric panels was inspired by Aimee and her excellent 30 Days of No Procrastination project. Props to her!)

Y'all got any Holiday craftiness going on?

xo
b

15 comments:

Amy said...

Silver!

I love those pieces in your dining room! They must be relatively new, cause I didn't see 'em when we were there. Really pretty! I did the embroidery hoop thing with some of Grace's old baby onesies. I love them! And yes, good soaking cry one day. It's nice to plan ahead.

And I'd like to state for the record, I did not threaten to punch that dude! I asked if anyone did, cause I could see it happening. Totally diff.

Becky said...

I thought the threat was still rather implied.

Amy said...

Well, people hear what they hear, whatchagonnado?

Elizabeth said...

I just cleaned out a gallon jug of apple juice, and I'm going to THINK about doing what I saw Design Mom do to one. Drill a hole in the bottom, paint the bottom gold and then stuff Christmas tree lights inside. I'm serious -- I'm going all Designmomish.

Holly said...

I love the fabric canvases. I just found some Marimeko fabric at a Crate & Barrel outlet for $3.95 a yard (regularly $35!) and am going to make pillows out of it, I don't have a big wall space to put it on in my living room. Still figuring out how to decorate for Christmas in there given the blueish gray walls. Silver and red?

Becky said...

Holly, what an awesome deal! Oh wow, I need to remember to stay on the C&B Marimekko. I think silver and red are great in any room, sounds perfect.

Elizabeth, I know how you love your Design Mom. Do it! Actually, I have seen it done where there's no hole in the bottom, the lights are just threaded in through the top and then out again. Not as classy though. And since you and I both appreciate a good Design Mom moment, how about her saying that she didn't know what sex was until she was a senior in HS? Not to change the subject...

delaine said...

Silver is good and would look good, I think. I also like moss green-light, not deep Christmasy green. Think deer moss. I also love the big fabric panels! I know they'll look great on that gray wall. Go girl!

Nina said...

I have a kind of breakdown every time I go to Ikea but not in a good way. I can't go there any more in case I assault one of the employees. So I thought that old post was going to tell me that I'm not alone... Damn it! Do people REALLY have fun at Ikea??

David said...

You're welcome. Now, could you please leave a key for me under your mat? That way, I won't have to break a window when I sneak in to organize your books.

Fanny Hill is sandwiched between Henry James and Salman Rushdie, and while that brings me no end of mirth, I don't see how you can live this way!

Becky said...

You photo-enlarging bookshelf reader, you! It is true, it is a rather hard-to-navigate system in there. But don't you think that if there were a Henry James/Fanny Hill/Salman Rushdie sandwich, all parties would enjoy it?

Nina, people DO have fun in Ikea! Right up until the moment that the last bit of life force drains out onto the floor. Meatballs are good though.

Nina said...

Aha, thanks, Becky - mystery solved: I'm a vegetarian!

Aimee said...

Yay for anti-procrastination! They look FABULOUS! I'm so impressed at your boldness. Your dining room's going to look incredible.

Anonymous said...

I think about your owl lamp all the time.

You MUST. Paint. It.

White, black, bright yellow, granny apple green, turquoise, whatever, just shiny, glossy, all one color PAINT IT.

You will wonder what took you so long and you will be so so happy.

And so will I.

gretchen said...

1. Saw Elizabeth at a Cub Scout activity tonight (God bless us both) and she said "OH God, haven't you loved Becky lately!" and I confessed that I have been a terrible reader, and I really needed to catch up, so here I am.
2. I am now looking for things to spray paint silver, despite the fact that gold is a better metalic tone for my home.
3. I think that perhaps I may the only other blogger on the planet that has "Harlot's Ghost" on their bookshelf. I feel that I should post a picture to prove this, but I'm too lazy.

gretchen said...

Oh no, I just left TWO typos in my comment. This is because I was so exhausted by the aforementioned Cub Scout meeting that I made myself an Aviation cocktail. Remember when we all went out together? And now I am slightly tipsy, and didn't spellcheck before posting. Oh, this is embarrassing.