Home Making

DIY Decorating Around a Flat Screen Television

I've had some stuff I've wanted to frame for a while now but never got around to doing it.  And...I had a super blank wall in the room I like to read in.  I have a television in there that I use to binge watch programs The Robinator doesn't want to watch like "Parenthood" and listen to music.  The room is comfortable and I've been finishing it slowly.  

That blank wall is opposite my mirror gallery and behind the television.  

Have I mentioned that I hate how televisions take up a wall?  Like...there never seems to be anything interesting about the wall the television is in front of.  I've seen where interior designers put a lot of art on the wall behind the television and I kind of liked that.  Then...I thought about other stuff that I like too and decided to make a mixed media wall.

Our friends, Kenny and Booth, have an amazing home.  Not because it's like this grand estate or anything (even though it is), but because everything in it has a story.  Anything your eyes light on has a unique history and story.  Walking through their home with one of them is like a cultural personalized museum tour and I love that everything has a story behind it.  They didn't just roll up to a furniture store and buy a matching living room set.  Every piece is unique and personalized to their personalities and the way they live their life.  They have fascinating art and bits of all sorts of amazing things to look at.  It's like a sensory party that you never want to leave. I could sit in their great room for hours and hours perfectly content.

And that's what I want.  I want spaces and things with personal and unique stories.  This room is the first one that I'm doing that way just to see how well it fairs and I am loving it so far.  I can't wait until I decide on window treatments because that will mean that I am finally finished with it as I've said they will be the last things I do in each room.

Michael's was having a 50% off sale on their wall frames so I picked up some of them for the vintage musical programs and art that I had.  I made a tray at an Annie Sloan paint techniques class I attended, did a canvas using stencils and added two wood pieces that I did myself.

The first one was an address sign with 13700 on it.  All my happiest memories in life so far were made at 13700.  It's where my husband and I first started out as a married couple and where we just grew into who we are.  It's where my family, framily and friends gathered all the time and where I've circled infertility, learned how to be settled and really just grew up.  

The second one is made from handwritten sheet music from a musical in the early 1900s.  "Swing Low," "Were You There?" and "Deep River."  I bought this years ago with the other pieces in Maryland.  

The tray was a fun time and I enjoyed meeting the ladies and learning about different painting techniques. So there is a story behind it too.  The vases were made using dollar store vases and dots and tape to create a design and then spray paint.  

I love the way it has all come together.  It's visually interesting and the television is no longer the focal point of the wall.  I even have room to add more pieces should I ever decide to.  I like that I decided to use the whole wall instead of just up high above the television.  

Antique Victorian Oak Eastlake Spoon Carved Vanity Dresser Chest

This piece?  SWOON!  1800s.  Astonishing.  Look at the finish before I started working on it!  

How amazing is that transformation????????  I only used Howard's Wax-N-Feed once I'd done the repairs and sanded out the insides of the drawers, followed with a quick dry rub of stain.   I used Brasso on the drawer pulls and man...it is soooooooo gorgeous to me!  LOVE.IT!!!!!

Cavalier Cedar Chest - FINISHED!

Remember that cedar chest I bought and bragged about HERE?  

Well, I finally got around to it.  I was scared because it's so awesome and I didn't want to screw it up.  I found out about these AMAZING products and, with some 0000 steel wool and a whole lot of elbow grease after the repairs were done, it looks amazing.  

I tell you what...of all the crap I know how to do and do pretty well, this has got to be my favorite thing to do.  It is just so soothing to put on an audiobook and have at it!

Speaking of audiobooks, have you added the Overdrive app to your phone yet and synced it with your library card?  I'm telling you...it's the best thing ever.  That and Hoopla.  LOVE.THEM!

Oh yeah...the products I used?  

1.  Howard Restore-A-Finish, Cherry:  I applied this with the steel wool.  I just REALLY got into it and it worked so well! 

2.  Howard Wax-N-Feed:  This product is my new favorite thing in the EN.TIRE.WORLD!  All of my stuff will be waxed and fed by this stuff from now on at least once a year!  This stuff is amazing!   

My new FAVORITE thing! OXO Good Grips Soft-Handled Garlic Press

If you're like me, you buy something and use it until it breaks and then you replace it.  You're not out and about thinking to yourself...hey...I need another garlic press even though nothing is wrong with my current garlic press.  It's just not done.

My garlic press broke.  I've probably had it for 20+ years so it had a good, long, life.  So it broke and I went out looking for a new one.

You never think you can improve on things like garlic presses ya know?  They are all pretty basic.  Um...WRONG!  

I got this one:  OXO Good Grips Soft-Handled Garlic Press  

You press the garlic, flip the handle over and it pushes out the skin.  *BLINK*  No...really...*BLINK*  Now...those of you who have garlic presses which do this...I bow down to thee because my life has changed.  I just pressed a while bulb of garlic, three cloves at a time easy peasy.  This is seriously my new favorite thing.

I'm a simple, simple girl.

Does your garlic press clean the skin out for you too?  WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?????????????