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My Nursery Mural

22 Jul By 9 Comments

When I decided on a beach nursery, much of it was in my head. I live in the south and the view and emotions I get from going to Pensacola Beach are perceived in one way and I wanted so badly to make sure my sons room reflected that calm peace that you get when you walk out on white sands and emerald waters of my local area.

Part of doing that was finding the right wall coverings and I considered paint, wallpaper, hand painted murals, and regular murals. Now Charlotte has had both a hand painted mural and a wallpaper mural and both had their plus’ and minus’. Her wallpaper mural was difficult to add for us two short girls who did it and honestly, Charlotte and her friends have found ways to pick at the seams making it come up which leaves me having to find new paste in order to reattach (which I have yet to do). While the hand painted one was beautiful and very fun to do, it was never cleanly finished or had as dramatic an effect as I would have liked for this nursery – however I was able to place it and pick the colors around the room which was a great thing when I did her playroom

Still hand painted wasn’t the right choice.

When it came to Phoenyx I decided that a wall mural would have the most dramatic, clean, and soothing effect for his room and started researching Murals Your Way, the same place I got Charlotte’s. I emailed them my paint colors on the wall and they let me know the murals in my taste selection (beach) that would match the paint….yep!

I was so happy.

Sometimes staring at a computer screen is really hard. I even had picked a different mural and in the end they told me the stretch on the canvas wouldn’t look right, so they didn’t let me waste my time and be disappointed in the end. Because murals can cost from $100 to $1000′s of dollars, this was important.

This was the mural I went with in the end:

Also, last time we dealt with past and panels…no fun. Luckily for me, they are now offering a new type of mural, which includes NO paste.

WOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

They call it SmartStick:

SmartStick™ Repositionable Wall Covering

Just peel, stick and enjoy!

  • Lightly textured finish-comparable quality to our vinyl & canvas.
  • Reusable – wrinkle resistant & can be reinstalled many times.
  • Adheres to nearly any surface – just peel & stick.
  • Great for quick change decor.
  • Simple installation – no paste or tools needed.
  • Easy to clean, easy to remove, and tear proof.

Now the question is, would Smart Stick actually WORK?

The short answer is yes. Its fantastic compared to any painting or wallpapering and is 10 steps above any other offering. I would NEVER wallpaper again having used it. I found that there were re-sticking points where I had to peel and redo and it was not an issue. Because the room was premeasured, there was also no cutting, tools, nothing I had to have on hand to make the room transform.

Aside from that, depending on how large of a wall you are covering, don’t let me tell you its going to be flawlessly easy. You still have to line up your panels, stand on chairs and its absolutely a two person job if you are going a full wall. The first panel was the hardest, but once we figured out how to lay it straight and line it up, it went quickly.

The entire process took just under an hour and despite a 10 minute learning curve, was extremely easy. I would not only recommend it, but I would do it again.

Everyone that has seen the room has remarked how beautiful the walls look, how well it matches, and I 100% agree.

Of course, if you love it, please vote for me in the Parents Magazine Challenge and help me win $3000 for savings to start Phoenyx off right (and you can win too!) and also to go Murals  Your Way to transform your own walls! More “things I had in my room” nursery posts coming up this weekend so you can find exactly what you need for your nursery if you like mine.

 

~Trisha

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company provided mural to facilitate this review

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Charlotte and I are Picassos

24 Jun By 8 Comments

Charlotte and I painted a horse!

You know your day is complete now.

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Nursery Paint Colors

12 May By 14 Comments

And…the countdown continues.

Today has been a long day. In fact, its been a long week. I am still dealing with the AT&T DirecTV bundle drama (yes, still), my husband is away this week, Charlotte will NOT stop talking long enough to breath, and my house needs some cleaning. Major cleaning.

Which is why I am blogging.

Avoidance.

(out of the #101 Days till Baby Countdown)

Back to baby it is.

After we narrowed down the entire nursery room scenario, a few things hit my mind. I knew the direction I wanted to go regarding theme, but truly there are so many subdirections of direction. Isn’t that the way it always is?

For example, my idea for Phoenyx was beach and gulf cost decor, after all, I live on the coastline, but when you explore that option you tend find a whirlwind of what is defined as “beach” or “ocean”.

Beach can apparently be:

  • Hampton
  • Lighthouse
  • Sailboat
  • Crabs
  • Beach Creatures
  • Pirates
  • Hawaii
  • Tiki

See what I mean?

Head. Ache.

To get inspired we decided to start with the colors.

We browsed places like Lowes and Home Depot for paint samples to get a feel of what color schemes were ‘right’. You would be surprised at how quickly you can throw out specific blues and greens and whites just by comparing them to other paint samples.  After bringing home countless strips to tape to the wall, literally one after another, it struck me we were going about this the wrong way.

We needed to go to the craft store.

Thankfully I have a friend who doesn’t mind trucking along for the ride, and Lynsey and I went to look at, of all things, scrapbooking sheets. There are so many clever colors and scrapbooking sheets are so full of direction and inspiration. We found beach, and blue, and tiki, and sailboat, and white, and sand and on and on and on…quite easily.

I was able to eliminate an entire look just by walking down the crafting aisle and giving all those sheets the evil eye. By the time I was done, I brought home two sheets that I liked the best to ponder on further.

Which, by the way, is so much cheaper than embarking on a paint color or bedding set to just find out you hate it 3 weeks later.

To give you an idea of how well this worked for me, here is one of the two sheets that made me feel inspired. It has blue, white, and brown stripes, and honestly is a pretty far cry from “beach”.  Except I actually bought this sheet due to the shade of blue on it.

I adored it.

And from this, we found some paint:

And just tonight, I see this bedding set randomly (Note: it’s not the one I bought, but I found it interesting how it looked just like my scrap sheet) and it would have gone perfect…

As you can see, once you have a plan, things start falling into place. Now if only labor were this easy to sketch out…

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Was there a special way you picked out your baby nursery paint colors?

 

~Trisha

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Preparing for a baby boy..

9 May By 17 Comments

From Charlotte’s Big Girl Playroom

To Phoenyx’s Baby Boy Nursery

Just a sneak peek…much more to come!

 

~Trisha

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Fun Springtime Craft for you and your little one!

22 Mar By 14 Comments

As spring is upon us now in almost every state, we naturally start to spend more time outdoors in the evenings and weekends. But for some, like me, standing out in the sun is not exactly something I ache to do.  In fact, I am allergic to the sun! That being said, I still have to find a way to connect with my daughter without being the mom that has to run down the street after a bike.

Lucky for me, Charlotte (as I would imagine most kids) absolutely loves to craft.

Yesterday, while she was off of school for a teacher planning day, we picked up a few items to have a fun Spring time craft that anyone can do and for very little money.

Supplies

We bought at Hobby Lobby. You can print 40% off coupons right on their webpage.

  • Birdhouse ($3.99-$9.99 – ours was $6.99)
  • Paints (.99 a bottle)
  • Paintbrushes (most have these at home, but we needed a new set, so I picked up a pack for $5.99)

You can choose to buy a birdhouse pre-assembled like ours was or you can buy one to assemble around the same price. Because our mission was simply to paint rather than wait for glue to dry, I chose to pick one out that was ready to go. If you have an older kid, you may want to prolong the craft by having them put one together.

 

In our case, we simply painted, but if you want to get really creative, try adding:

  • Stained Glass
  • Mosaic tiles
  • Natural elements like sticks and leaves
  • marbles
  • Stones
  • Foil
  • Wood Etching

You can also get a birdhouse for every person in your family if you like. In Charlotte and I’s case, we chose to share a birdhouse and each work on a side and then rotate it around.

Here is our birdhouse (on our poor Winter ravaged Oleander tree) all ready for some seed and a bird!

~Trisha

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Remodeling the house…

20 Sep By 19 Comments

I am not sure when it happened, but I looked around about 2 months ago and realized I was still modeling the home decor from my first year of marriage and my house looked it hadn’t seen an upgrade since I broke down and bought a flat screen.

And its not too far off from the truth.

I have lived in this house for 2 years, heck, over 2 years, more like 3 in February, and we have yet to paint the walls from drab to fab. Actually the paint is still the craptastic brown construction paint they put in every home. You know the kind?

Its the kind of paint that if the wall gets scuffed, you cant exactly wipe it off….you paint over it for it to go away. The scuffs are building.

And don’t get me started on the carpet. Its pulling up on the edges. Surely carpet should last longer than 2 years, right? At this point I’m worried that one of us will get our toes hung up on the edge tacks. I went to Home Depot  hoping to find some fix that wasn’t new carpet, but they basically said there wasn’t much I could do but have it repulled. Perfect.

Honestly, why would I repull what has already been proven as crap to begin with? No thanks. The sad part is that we bought our home brand new and I dont believe we abuse it, with the exception of an abundance of cat puke, anymore  than a normal family would. The standard carpet and paint they installed is is just that bad.

(entry way to kitchen from living room….would you like to get your toe caught on this? Thanks Adams Homes!)

It’s time for me to take control of my house.

*insert Rocky Theme music here*

The first thing I did, and will spare you a picture of, is paint my office blue. Like…..sky blue. I spend an unnatural amount of time in here and the gray/white/tan color was borderline depressing. Surprisingly brightening it up made me feel better during the day. Typing all day alone can be quiet…and suicidal.

I want to get some of those wall sticky things, but I am not sure what to actually put up. Maybe I need a big tree or something. Maybe I need some positive affirmations “You’re  Good Enough, You’re Smart Enough, and Gosh Darnit, People Like You!”

I am sure that would go over well if we ever sold the house…

Now about 2 weeks after that was  all done and we were just about over the hassle of painting and unscrewing the outlets and taping,  I drug my DH out and bought yellow paint for the living room. My DH just succumbed to the whole process but I could tell he was thinking “yellow?”. Yes, Yellow. Lets face it, I about never get outside. I am just an indoor person and it hasn’t changed since I was like 8, so I just have to bring the sun inside the house, instead of me out to the sun.

Atleast that was what I was thinking in my head.

In the end, I think it really  did brighten up the living space and made it more homey…unfortunately NOTHING in the living room matched after that. Not that I was rocking like Martha Stewart or Modern Living magazine, but its expensive to make changes all at once.

(please ignore pile-o-laundry)

We had a maroon curtain whispy hanging thing and pictures that were Old World. Maroon pillows and a rug that “pulled it together”. I just basically took it all down, shoved it into the closer, and we have been lived in a yellow, bare bones, carpet, couch, and TV world for a few weeks till I started to find decor that I enjoyed.

Its not as easy as it sounds to find things that not only match, but are affordable and look great. I have been scouring Target, Walmart, TJ Maxx, Marshall’s, Bed Bath& Beyond, Micheal’s, Hobby Lobby and several furniture stores.

But this post is long enough so Ill do another post and share all the decor, and how much it ended up costing to redo the living room, before I go onto the next project.

How is your home decorated?

~trisha

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Charlotte is a Working Woman Now

20 May By 19 Comments

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In our house of entrepreneurs, Charlotte’s learning that if you want something bad enough, you have to earn it through hard work or talent. We like to think she has both.

Check out Charlotte skipping the Lemonade Stand and going for the gusto.

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~Trisha[/private]

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Crafts With Andrea: Lets Paint!

24 Jan By 4 Comments

Hi ladies!  I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.  This week flew by for us and I was busy as usual.  We rounded off our week with hosting snack day at preschool and having some neighbors over for pizza and play time yesterday evening.  So, I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend.

First of all, I have to start with my finished sewing project I mentioned last weekend.  I attempted to make a vest for my puppy.  She is a 9 month old doberman.  We live in a cold state and she has zero body fat, so she is constantly shivering.  I drew a “pattern” on newspaper (freehand) and whipped up a lil something I thought might work for her.  It turned out to be a bad idea.  She will not leave it on, but I love this fabric and have leftovers I plan to use elsewhere, so it’s not a total loss I guess.  I tried, that’s all that counts, right?  lol  I am trying to get a pic for you all, it is pretty funny, but she is not cooperating as usual.

Now onto my theme for this week….PAINT.  Kids love to paint.  There’s something about smearing thick lines and swirlies of color on paper that is so much fun.  There are many versions of painting for kids on the market and we have tried most of them.  Here are a few I recommend…

Remember Paint With Water Books?  These are still a ton of fun!  Use a paint brush or Q-Tip dipped in water and the colors appear like magic on the page.  My son can complete a whole book in one sitting if I let him though.
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Crayola Color Wonders also offers a low mess option for children.  They have finger paints, gel paints, a light up version and these basic brushes (our fave). Of course you have to use them on either one of their character themed books or on the special paper sheets in order for the color to show up, but they are pretty neat.
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When it’s time for things to get a little messy and a ton more fun, try these….Washable paint pens are great, we like the Elmer brand (yep, made by the glue people), washable Tempera paints are great (we like the big $0.99 bottles at Michaels), brushes in all sizes including sponge brushes are great, and we also like to experiment with different sponge and foam stamps and stencils.
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Don’t forget that sometimes the most basic toys offer some great fun…my son loves water colors.  Give him some brushes, water and water colors and he is entertained for a good half hour.  Mixing the colors on the paper is a great way to teach them about making colors beyond the primary ones.
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Painting is not just for the kids though.  There are some cool things you can make for your home with $0.99 acrylic paints and unfinished wooden items from the craft store.  This week I headed to Jo-Ann Fabric & Crafts and picked up an unfinished “word” and chalkboard to use in my dining area.  I painted the word “HOME” and the chalkboard in a cream acrylic paint.  I also painted some little wooden knobs I found there and hot glued them onto the HOME as feet.  Take a look…
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Jo-Ann’s sells a bunch of unfinished wood items ranging from letters, words, frames and boxes. Acrylic paints also come in a rainbow of colors, so you could customize the color for your decor.

Happy painting!

Andrea

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