My fireplace faux

(missing some of the mantel accessories)

Sweet Beth at The Stories of A to Z used to have "mantel parties". I was all ready to post my fireplace mantel one day ...when she decided to have the mantel parties less often. I was thrilled to see she is having one today, so I am linking up Beth!!!!!! Thank you!

This was our fireplace when we bought our home....

I kept it this way for about a year (we did get carpet) until

i.couldnt.stand.it.another.day.....

I decided I wanted it black. "Cuz' every room needs a touch of black".....


I think it lasted 2 years....wish I had a full picture of it.

And this is our fireplace today.


And this is my baby girl chillin' in front of it.... And she is wayyyyyy prettier than my fireplace.


Thanks for looking!

Linking up to A Soft Place To Land and The Nester's Mantel Party!

Confession: I don't decorate for Easter

I may be the only blogger out here who doesn't decorate for Easter. I love Easter. But there is such a fine line between cheesy and classy Easter decor.

I did try to gold leaf a bunny and an egg.


They are still cheesy.


And...the last time I tried to decorate in Easter fashion.... this is what I got.


Reread this post from last year. You will feel like a decorating genius. You can thank me later for boosting your self esteem.

Clearly I haven't recovered from the incident. I am still mad at that wreath.

Turquoise & Zebra table..... done!

I showed you this outdated end table in a post a few weeks ago. Lori K. you are such a sweetie for giving it to me!!!!!


I gave it some "spray paint love" and changed it to this:


But then I gave it some zebra love and now she looks like this:






Oh how I want to keep her!!!!! But I've been collecting furniture lately like some people collect cars or kitties or kids.....I gotta sell it.

It really doesn't go with the decor in my dining room


But every time I walk past it, it makes me happy.



I hope she sells quick before I change my mind!

Linking to Making it for Monday ,Boardwalk Bragfest, Between Naps on the Porch, Make it for Mondays, The DIY Show Off , Make Your Monday , Making the World Cuter It's So Very Cheri, DIY Day ,Single Nester Turquoise Party, Power of Paint Party, Toot Your Horn Tuesday , Miss Mustard Seed and Thrifty Treasures.

Sunday morning funny

Stunning ceiling

(I did NOT faux finish this ceiling. I ripped this picture out of a magazine for inspiration and of course can't find the magazine to give credit where credit is due.)

So....

Dear amazing faux artist who did this ceiling-

Your ceiling is the perfect mix of all things pretty for me.

It balances old wood with new faux. I love the shiny gold leaf with the flat tones of the wood. The uneven hanging of the lights is genius. Your stenciling is amazing. I love, love, love the melon color with the red. And your gold leaf is stunning!

Take a bow faux artist.....that ceiling is a winner.

You rock.

Signed,

Your biggest fan



Edited because a sweet reader named Suzanna found the ceiling on the Cutting Edge Stencils website. You can see it there at http://www.cuttingedgestencils.com/chinoiserie-ceiling.html. Thanks Suzanna!!!!

Tissue paper 101: A Tutorial

I love, love, love, love the tissue paper faux finish I just did in my master bedroom ceiling. I learned how to do tissue paper 9 years ago and I still love how it looks. There are very few faux finishes I can say that about.

I mentioned in this earlier post that I was over.my.Ty.Pennington.paper. It was too dark. Too heavy. Too masculine for my master bedroom ceiling.



So I went about the business of tissue papering over it. One of the nice things about tissue is that it covers a multitude of sins on your walls. So, if you have bad sheetrock, or bad wallpaper... it can cover both. Just oil prime over those walls first.

Let's begin.

First, you need ALOT of tissue paper. I suggest Hobby Lobby. They have 100 packs available. In stacks of 3-6 sheets at a time, rip off the squares edges of the paper. This way you won't see squares all over your walls!


It will take awhile. Get your kids, your hubby, your friends to help.



Your pile of rippings should look like this.



I like to keep one pile of tissue paper with only 3 of the 4 edges torn off. These are the pieces I use to edge my room around the baseboards and the crown molding. They will have one edge that is unripped.

After ripping edges (that is the worst part in my opinion).... you need to individually ball up every piece of tissue paper.



Then un-ball each piece and put them in their piles.




Ok, so I ALWAYS use an eggshell or satin sheen paint to roll my tissue on with. If you try it with flat paint you will email me crying. I know some people use wallpaper paste to hang up tissue paper, but in my opinion... wallpaper paste is heavy, messy and can crackle paint. Plus it's colorless. Stick to satin paint. You will thank me later.

I prefer to do all my edges first, then fill in the center of the wall....like a puzzle. But you can do it any way you want.

Roll a section of paint bigger than your piece of tissue paper onto the wall. Now loosely press a piece of the paper immediately onto the wet paint. You can smooth the wrinkles down with your hands. You don't want to get rid of the wrinkles, you just want to get out all of the air bubbles.

Immediately roll back over the tissue with your roller. Each piece will take no longer than 1-3 minutes to put up.

Then move on to the next piece. Always overlap the edges of your paper. If you miss a spot on the wall, you will be able to go back and "piece" some tissue in.

If you get an air bubble that's unsightly.... scrape that piece off before it sets up and try again. This finish is sooooo forgiving. If you have a spot that is too flat, lay another piece of tissue right over it to add more crinkles. You'll never be able to tell.

I did have my son make a video of me putting up one piece of tissue. If you are really visual, this should help you alot.

But, if the sight of 7 kids in a video with an open paint tray makes you nervous, please don't watch.

And, if you wonder if my hair is always this big.... yes it is. I have just learned to go with it.

Roll the tape.



The secret to tissue paper looking great in 2010 is using metallic paint.

I use eggshell or satin paint to hang my tissue up with, but...... after it dries, I always paint metallic paint on it. I don't hang the tissue up with metallic just to save money because metallic paints are so expensive.


Normally I always try to get my eggshell/satin paint to be very close or darker than my metallic paint color. Ignore that I didn't do this on my own ceiling. I had alot of the satin, golden paint that I was trying to get rid of.

For my ceiling's base color over the dried tissue paper, I mixed Modern Master's Pharoah's Gold and Modern Master's Antique Bronze. Roll it on and let it dry. This is my sweet, sweet neighbor girl Mary who loves to help me! You go girl!



Then the next day (ok.... I lie.... 2 weeks later)... I mixed Modern Master's English Brown with Faux Effects Aqua Creme and rubbed it on with a cheap car washing sponge from WalMart. The sponge helps to get the glaze to hang up in the crinkles, which is what accentuates the tissue texture. You MUST glaze it. I like to use Aqua Creme because it has an incredible open time and it is the best "glaze" for keeping your metallic paint looking "metallic-y".



You may need to use a utility knife to cut the tape off with.



And that's it! I do hope you will try tissue paper. I feel like my pictures just don't do it any justice at all! Donna from Funky Junk needs to seriously get my photography improved!

Or.... I just need to invite you all over to see it in person!

Here are a few pictures of other tissue paper color combinations:

(MM Antique Copper with English Brown and Aqua Creme glaze)

(MM Blackened Bronze with English Brown and Aqua Creme glaze)


(MM Warm Silver with MM Smoke and Aqua Creme glaze)

(MM Blackened Bronze with English Brown and Aqua Creme glaze)

One question I always get asked is about "removing the tissue paper later on down the road". My cute answer is that I say "just move". But the real answer is that the paper COLOR can be changed anytime. Just roll a different color of paint right over it.

You could also texture over it or scrape Lusterstone over it.

But if you want the paper completely gone, you'll need to find someone to skim coat over it. Or, I have been told you could "SIZE" your walls like you do under wallpaper and that it should strip off nicely. I've never done it tho. If ever I want it gone, I will move. Hahaha....

Linking to Funky Junk Interiors , Craft-Werk and Creative Cats.

Happenings at our house...

Our spring break was filled with....

Birthday dates & dinners....

"Gangsta" spinners....

Cheesey grinners.....

And makeup beginners.

And then me..... doing a whole lot of this:

Details to come...

And Happy Birthday to the love of my life. My heart still skips a beat when you walk into a room.

My kitchen cabinets and what's behind door #1?

So many of you have been sweet enough to comment on my kitchen cabinets.

This is what they looked like when we bought our house:

(Sorry about the picture quality)

For the record ....I am allergic to white (and addicted to color). White is just NOT my style. The cabinets had to change.


So, I glazed them with a product called "Glacias" by Adicolor. I order it from Kathy Carroll's Chicago Institute of Fine Finishing. It should be liquid gold for as much as it costs.... but it's SO DURABLE. It sticks to EVERYTHING. And it does NOT get a topcoat. I'll pay more for that. You get what you pay for peeps!

I worked on the cabinets during the day while my babies napped or at night after they went to bed. It took me 2 weeks to complete....but was worth every second.


This is my favorite cabinet. I'll let you have a peek behind door #1. It looks normal from the outside, right?

But inside, it's full of hardened Play-Doh creations.

One of my BFF's started it the craze with this cute Play-Doh cat that she made probably 4 or 5 years ago. Isn't he the cutest?


Then my kids started to make other Play-Doh "stuff"..... and now they are petrified "masterpieces" in my glass cabinet.




We don't even know what much of it is....


But my kids would freeeeeak if I got rid of them.



And I love that my kids want to be creative.

So our dirty little Play-Doh secret stays behind door #1....

Whatcha got hiding in your kitchen?

I am linking up to Transformation Thursday, Thrifty Decor Chic and Power of Paint Party!