Hoarding Covering The Walls

IMG_3212.JPG

I love stuff. Art. Old relics. Things that hold a memory or recall a moment in time suck me in and keep me there. But I have a small house and a lot of… Stuff. It was only a matter of time before it encroached all over the walls. It is still a work in progress. At my last estimate, I need nine more pieces of art just to complete the two gallery walls in the living room.

IMG_3214.JPG

I purchased this crewel work of a monkey in a sail boat at the Rose Bowl Flea Market back in July. I bought some clips and hung it by the front door. Shockingly, the sellers wanted nothing extra for the mystery stains. “My husband is so thrilled with this piece,” she says as her face spasms from winking so hard.

IMG_3203.JPG

My sister and my brother-in-law gave my husband and myself these awesome vintage initials from an old sign (we’re guessing J.C. Penney’s) for Christmas. I love the purple color so we hung them backwards. This also kind of represents our thought process at all times.

IMG_3219.JPG

My daughter just finished painting this piece of art. It is based on Van Gogh’s The Starry Night. It is her favorite thing she has done. We love our new art teacher, Jennifer Bonneteau. She is amazing. My son made a similar painting. I just forgot to take a closeup picture of it.

IMG_3220.JPG

The kids did their self portraits again this year. They did the paintings all by themselves at home. I think they did a great job.

IMG_3216.JPG

Here is where I want to put more pieces of art to complete the project.

IMG_3204.JPG

I bought this old folk arty game wheel at the flea market. I like it a lot. It was a lot larger than I had thought when we brought it home.

IMG_3217.JPG

I have an idea to put bookcases up here (better pictures of the niche can be found in this post). We are overflowing with books. I previously put bookcases in a niche in our home here. But I would have to wall in the kitchen on the other side. My husband says we need the extra natural light in both rooms. What do you think?

IMG_3207.JPG

I want to get a new couch in this room. I am thinking of this sofa in mustard or teal. I also considered a pink, but I think it would be too much. I am definitely waiting for a discount! What home projects are you currently working on? Any new furniture plans?

It’s The Little Things: Head Sculptures

20140702-131411.jpg

My family and I went to the San Diego Del Mar Fair on Monday and we had a wonderful time. I will have a post coming up soon about the day and the $10 H&M dress that I wore. But while the fair is still going on, I wanted to highlight an amazing find that we discovered while we were there.

20140702-131524.jpg

They are these wonderful portrait sculptures by Hu Tian. He can be contacted at Hootian at yahoo dot com. I know he can do sculptures based on photos, too, if you are not in Southern California. He is incredibly talented. We are fortunate to have stumbled upon his booth. If you are there this year, it is in the shopping building across from the carousel. I cannot believe what he can create in such a small amount of time.

20140702-131556.jpg

Each one took about twenty five minutes to make. It was relaxing to sit and watch them coming to life, so to speak, through the clay.

20140702-131635.jpg

I plan on hanging my sculptures in my living room, surrounding the square arch. They are still drying. It takes four days to cure from the time the clay was created before I can hang them.

20140702-131700.jpg

The price for these was $52 each, including frame. It was a fantastic price for a really cool piece of a period of time captured forever.

Had you seen something like this before? I had not and it was my favorite thing to discover at the fair.

*this is off topic but I wanted to note it: If you plan on attending the San Diego Fair this year, Costco has the best package. It was $60 and came with parking, four entry tickets, 50 ride tickets, the Passport To Savings book and four free drink vouchers. It was a great deal! We purchased ours at the San Diego Costco on the way to the fair. Maybe a Costco near you also has fair packages for your local fair, if you are not near San Diego.

I shared this on Cozy Little House.

And Savvy Southern Style.

Our Finished Otomi Bathroom

20140312-171240.jpg

I am so excited to share our finished bathroom! Here is part one and part two in case you missed them.

My friend, Jessica, owns Bella Wall Designs. She was such a sweetie and stenciled my walls for me. She did such an amazing job on the stencil. The whole bathroom just pops. The updated bathroom makes me smile. Just like Jessica does.

My philosophy on design is to do whatever makes you happy. And every room should have layers. Small bathrooms have so much potential, because you can really make them pop in a more bold way than the rest of your home.

Do not be afraid of color.

It has never bit anyone.

That I know of.

I wanted to share some tips on what I did for a quick update on a builder’s stock bathroom. Our bathroom is over twenty years old. I thought of replacing the vanity, but the tile in there is fairly new. And it matched the tile throughout the house. To replace the vanity probably meant having to patch some areas of the tile. This seemed risky (what if it didn’t match?) and costly. I also priced out several vanity pieces. I fell in love with an antique pine cabinet, but it sold out when I was not looking.

What’s a girl to do?

20140312-171408.jpg

Well, I simply purchased these furniture legs on clearance from a hardware store in town that specializes in molding. Our woodworker who did our library cabinets and baseboards put them in for us at the same time he did our mirror.

Then we just painted the cabinet a medium shade of grey to compliment the blue that was going to go in.

Added mustard knobs from World Market.

And voila’! Our vanity looked like a new one!

20140312-171848.jpg

I love the frame that Paul from Vrieling Woodworks. (he also installed our large baseboards and our bookcases) built us last year. It was installed around our standard builder’s mirror. It definitely goes with my Alice In Wonderland meets The Hobbit themed home.

20140312-171516.jpg

I love our farmhouse copper sink in our kitchen. I purchased that one off of eBay. So, I knew I wanted to continue the copper theme into our hallway bathroom. I continued the savings by purchasing this copper vessel sink from eBay, as well. Copper is a natural killer of bacteria. So, it is perfect for a bathroom. If you do choose to purchase copper sinks from eBay, it is important to do your research. Some copper sinks from certain countries have lead in them. That would be dangerous to have in your home!

The faucet was also purchased from eBay for a steal.

20140312-171747.jpg

We went to the local countertop dealer and requested a look at their scrap pieces. We were able to save money on the countertop this way. We also got a much higher end countertop than we thought we would be able to get, because of our savings. It is a concrete countertop with bits of blue glass and shells in it. Almost as if Alice came back from her adventure and put her souvenirs into this countertop.

20140312-171926.jpg

I bought the Otomi Stencil from Etsy. I have a collection of Otomi pieces from our trips to Mexico. I love the pattern. I knew I wanted to match the blue of the Otomi in the bathroom to the blue of the pattern below.

20140314-210604.jpg

Here is sweet Jessica, who did my stencil in the bathroom holding the Otomi piece with me. Notice her amazing vintage Ralph Lauren tie. She has the coolest style.

20140314-211054.jpg

Here we are in the finished bathroom. The embroidered crewel pieces are all part of my vintage collection.

20140314-212207.jpg

20140314-212305.jpg

And here are some pictures of the bathroom sans us friends. The shower curtain is Anthropologie’s Flamenco Shower Curtain. I love the different shades of blue and green it holds.

I am so proud of this room. I think it came together in a variety of cool layers.

Have you redone a room in your home lately? Added any fun colors?

P.S. I shared this on Savvy Southern Style.

And My Romantic Home.

Embroidered Bird

20130718-225336.jpg

I like to search for vintage crewel on Etsy. I sometimes find some great unique pieces. Once you start looking, you will generally start seeing the same pattern over and over. So, you will know which pieces are pretty common.

A bit ago, I spotted this guy. And I knew. He was going to be perfect in our hallway bathroom. I had never seen one of his kind before. He reminded me of those pencil and hammer birds in Alice in Wonderland. That was my favorite part when I was little. My least favorite part was the broom dog. The one that had the broom for a head and a little one for a tail. It would shake me to my OCD core.

Okay, wait. Look how cute that dog is. Oh, he’s erasing the path. No. You missed a spot. There is a part of the path not erased! Hey, dog. You cannot leave with a giant spot just sitting there. Come back! Aaaah!

Anyhoo.

20130718-225251.jpg

Our mirror has been transformed into a bright green creation. I think it looks amazing. One of my favorite things we’ve had done to the house.

20130718-225501.jpg

But the bright green mirror had nothing to compliment it. I thought I was fine with that. Until I saw this wacky character.

20130718-225418.jpg

Doesn’t he look perfect for an Alice In Wonderland themed house?

No broom dogs allowed.

20130730-165809.jpg

I shared this on Savvy Southern Style

And My Romantic Home