8.12.2013

Straight Lines on a Textured Wall

So I will be perfectly honest with you, I am (if you don't know already) not a crafty person, or a true diy gal. I'd like to be but #1, I'm a little afraid of power tools (need to work on that), #2, I'm a bit lazy and would rather just buy it than make it, and #3, did I mention I might be a tad lazy?

However, one thing we definitely do around our home is paint ourselves. I sort of like it other than the prep work and the clean up afterwards. Other than that, I like it. Haha. Again, did I mention the laziness?

We try to be very detail oriented while painting though. There's nothing like spending all that time prepping and moving furniture, painting, and having it look like a 6 year old slopped some paint on the wall. We try to do our very best with the cut in work around the moldings and trim work, and if we are doing the ceiling and walls a different color, we do our best to make that as straight of a line as we can.

Our old trick was to put tape on the ceiling close to the intersection of the wall as possible, and first paint the color of the ceiling to seal in the tape. Once that was dry, we would paint over with the wall color. Pull it off and voila, a straight line. Well, most of the time. But we have textured walls, and sometimes it doesn't come off quite as straight as I'd like.

Recently, we've been working on daughter #3's room, ( #3 for birth order, not for how well she is favored) We painted her ceiling a fun turquoise color and painted the walls white. I wanted to do something fun, so decided to put a green stripe at the top of the wall, where crown molding would go.

I was researching how to paint a stripe, since I've never done any and I found a "new to me" trick that I was intrigued to test out.

(note, do not put caulk where it shows in this picture. I couldn't keep my hand placed right on line while taking picture in the other hand.)
 
 So, first step is to tape the ceiling right up to the edge of the wall.
Then for your stripe or stripes; decide how big you want the stripe and then take a measuring tape and make pencil marks every 12 inches or so along the length of your wall. Then take your tape and tape along those marks. You might want to take a leveler to make sure you made your tape line straight.
Then once it's all taped up, take white paintable caulk and very lightly put in on the edge of the tape lines and take your finger and thin it out along the line. This is to seal the tape really well, and gets in the grooves of your textured wall.


Then you are good to go on painting your stripe(s). I let my paint dry but after re-reading/watching some other tutorials, you don't need to wait for paint to dry and can pull it right off.


I was very happy with this new trick and will definitely use it again.  Have you used this trick before?
There are many youtube videos out there if you need a more visual tutorial.

The room is getting closer to be done. Need curtains, curtain rods, art, reupholster her desk chair, and maybe a rug. Again, other than that it's almost done. Whew! Better get my butt moving.
Hope to share the end results soon!
**Disclaimer** I know I don't paint the best picture of myself (no pun intended) about myself being lazy. If anyone ever wanted me to help them in their own home (which is my goal someday), I would not be lazy for anyone else. It's just in my own home projects that things tend to get pushed aside, and prolonged longer than they should. Anyway, just wanted to be sure you all knew I have "selective" laziness, and should be seeking help for it soon. Hopefully, I'm not the only one out there that has that disease.

8.06.2013

Outdoor Entertaining

There is still some summer left, so get on outside and do some entertaining. Need some new pretty things to inspire you?
I am loving all these products from Terrain.










 
 
 
 











 
 
 
To see more fun items go to shopterrain.com

8.05.2013

Life Lately per Instagram

Summer has been flying by and this blog has definitely been taking a back seat.
Thought I'd share some pics of what's been going on lately in no particular order...

Spending time eating al fresco, and hosting a few small dinner parties.

With all my favorite shows being on hiatus for the summer, I've found a few new favs and some old ones returning.
The Bachlorette is on of my guilty pleasures, along with Pretty Little Liars, and a lot of shows on Bravo.
Super excited to watch the Bachelorette finale tonight, and inviting a couple of my girlfriends over to watch with me so we can talk to the tv together!

OMG! Took both my 14 & 12 year old daughters to the One Direction concert in Seattle. My ears seriously rang the whole next day! I think some damage was done. Sorry, what?
Apparently the new way to show you like a song is to scream a blood curdling scream in the highest pitch you can. If you clap like me after a song, you.are.a.nerd! 

Still working on my dining room, and living room and adding things to my new shelves. I am loving the way these rooms are turning out and can't wait to show you when they are both done.


While daughter #3 was away at camp, I had to say goodbye to this sweet this girl's room and paint over the flowers, birds and butterflies. You will be missed. :(
So, while she was gone I had to bust out some quick painting. The ceiling was painted a fun turquoise color, the walls white, and a fun green stripe was added. I will do a post soon on how to make a (new to me) way to make a super straight line on textured walls.
Also, excited to share this room when its complete. Loving it so far....

Girls did a golf camp, and we did a family night of golf. Love this shot with my daughter trying to photo bomb us!

We've done a couple soccer tournaments, and have one more this summer on our list.

Got new pillow cases for the living room, and absolutely love these! Will show room soon....
Spent a little time at the beach with the girls and their friends...
Daughter # 2 and my husband went on a little adventure this summer....


And a little sneak peek of a chair I will be redoing for said daughter's room above... Well, I will be painting the wood, and have a professional redo the fabric.

 
 
So, that about sums up my summer so far. Hope yours has been going well too. Any fun projects or vacations lay ahead of you in this final month?
 
 
I am a bit obsessed with Instagram lately too. So fun seeing projects other bloggers/ designers are working on and seeing into their lives a bit with family photos, and vacations. Feel a little bit of a stalker.
If you'd like to follow me, find me at Steward of Design on Instagram and follow along! 


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