The Stationery Closet - A Small Project - Part 1

Some weeks ago I had shared this picture with you of a mini project I was doing in the house.

I have been working on Isabel's room a little at a time. The walls used to be painted in Benjamin Moore's Cotton Candy, a very girly pink which the girls themselves had chosen when they were littler. A year ago she chose Behr's Harmonious, a relaxing medium blue as a change for when the room became her own and in anticipation of turning thirteen.

We decided the accent colors would be orange and cream or white with a litte black, of course, to ground the room.

Of the two closets in that room I have converted one into a shared stationery closet for the girls. It holds their old music books as well as used colored folders from previous grades that can be reused. It also holds printer paper, pencils, some kids' craft supplies and so on. I connected the huge printer to an outlet outside the closet so that it sits on a shelf within and does not take up space nor is it an eyesore on the desk outside. This picture gives you a view of the inside on a typical day before I organized it further therefore the items are a little haphazard.  

To the left of the printer is an old Pottery Barn Kids lamp which, again, I connected to the outlet outside so that the kids have sufficient lighting when printing. Any lighting in a closet is a bonus. It was a simple solution and the lamp was a spare.

I wanted to incorporate the blue and orange colors of the room somehow into this closet. I have seen some great decorative work done within closets and thought this would be a perfect space to work on. A few months ago I had ordered this Moroccan Sun Flower stencil from Royal Design Studio because I liked the floral pattern. I decided to use this as each flower is a good size (7.5" x 7.25") and would make a perfectly fun yet bold statement in an otherwise regular utilitarian closet.

I keep all my paint samples as they are useful for little projects. I had these two samples from the Behr in Tibetan Orange (for something else, possibly) and Harmonious(from when we were sampling colors for the room.

I experimented with color combinations on paper, trying to decide whether to combine both the colors or do all orange or all blue.

The Tibetan Orange is a deeper orange (closer to red) than I was looking to use in this space.

I combined another paint sample, Benjamin Moore's Honeywheat, and mixed it with the orange to obtain a lighter and brighter hue.

I loved the color - it has enough punch. I also thought this pattern would look good in a wood-blocked effect.

I will show you the work I did on the closet in my next post so stay tuned!


Linking up this post to Passionately Artistic and the party at Savvy Southern Style

If you require any help with Interior Decorating please click on the tab at the top of my page marked 'Services' or click here for further details.

I would love for you to leave a comment. Thank you for stopping by; please do check back often.

Lisa

Please Note: I have not been compensated in any way for this post.

Happy New Year And Looking Back At The Year I Discovered Blogging

Happy New Year to all those who are still following me. I have not posted in over a week as I have been extremely. I hosted seven dinners in eight weeks and the last one was last night for New Year's eve. I have also been setting up a new laptop for myself while passing on my old one to one child and her computer to the youngest. One of my resolutions for this year is to be more efficient with my posts.

I wanted to begin the year with a recap of some of my popular posts from 2011, the year I discovered blogging, with a promise to share much more. I started this site at the end of May 2011 and on a good week have probably been able to publish three posts. Here are a few posts, click on the title to read further.

House Sneak Peek

The Entryway

Decorating the living room with turquoise and teal accents.

Decorating the mantle in the living room.

Chandelier makeover

The kids' canvas artwork

Living room mood board with Spherica wallpaper as inspiration

A Dining Room Mood Board with Lenox Fine China Chirp Collection as inspiration

Nursery Design Board with Safari decal as inspiration

Beside client work, some of my house projects I plan to share this year are the dining room redecorating, the guest room and some of my study.

Whether you leave a comment or choose not to, I do appreciate the visits to my site. I have some regular readers who are not familiar with blogs and how to follow. I shall do a post on that very soon.

Thank you, once again, for your continued support and I wish you all a happy and healthy 2012.

If you require any help with Interior Decorating please click on the tab at the top of my page marked 'Services' or click here for further details.

I would love for you to leave a comment. Thank you for stopping by; please do check back often.

Lisa

Christmas House Tour

I wanted to share some more of the decorating I have done in the house for Christmas. The Nativity set was purchased many years ago and I only had it out once as there have been little kids running around and this used to be displayed on a low table. It has a few glass pieces and I broke the halo over one of the pieces but now it is fixed. Little kids are still around but I now have this displayed on a chest in the living room. I layered the base with stems which have silver berries.

For an evening glow, I added some small bare flameless candles.

I painted the living room in February this year all by myself (although I have yet to do the molding). It used to be green so this year I was excited to see how my old Christmas decor would fit in with this modern, sophisticated yet relaxing color. Below is the fireplace mantle in the living room. Today I am showing you the entire fireplace with black marble surround and hearth which the previous homeowners had put in. I arranged some red berry stems in the shell vase purchased at Home Goods. In fact, all three pieces are Home Goods' items purchased on different occasions.

To see more on the mantle go here.

To the right of the fireplace is my Ethan Allen wingback chair with cane (which I love). The Indian raw silk cushion with red-and-green block print is moved around throughout the year and fits in well with this season's traditional color scheme. The smaller cushion with the tree was a Treasure Island purchase.

Dining room chandelier with garland and pearl strands wrapped around.

Dining table.

Some wrapping paper artwork I completed in a hurry and now have to find a place on which to hang them. I wrote about this project here.

Stacked snowmen purchased at Costco a few years ago. I have them by my Wisteria basket which holds extra blankets and throws for the family room.

These two cute wooden pieces I had purchased online from Pottery Barn many years ago. They have the hardware on the back for hanging but I have always had them propped up against a wall. I move them to a different spot every year. This year they are in the entryway by the front door.

Simple garland wrapped around the banister. The other one like this is on the dining room chandelier. I do not have an outlet within a few feet from here or else I would light it up. The only option is to use an extension cord to the next floor up. Perhaps next year. The metal piece on the bench is my mail holder/sorter. Will be sharing another post about that in the near future. The runner has seen better days and it is time for me to have it replaced.

I have had these little guys since my kids were babies. I use them at this time of year to decorate my staircase - a perfect fit. I like to decorate for all ages and I myself love to see these little stuffed toys every time I enter the house.

The tree was only set up last weekend and decorated mostly by the kids as I had no time. But first, I did string the lights on it starting on the inside around the trunk and working my way outward on the branches. I made do with what I had on hand, some of the older ones gave out on me. The mirror used to be in the family room and I recently decided to move it to the living room. I love the effect with the tree. Illuminates the space even more and looks beautiful at night.

The only new purchase this year besides the tree was this angel - I broke the last tree-topper - from Joann's.

I have only shown you glimpses of most of these spaces as I have not yet shared these rooms with you and will do so in due course. I hope you have enjoyed this holiday house tour.

I wish you and your families a wonderful Holiday weekend and a safe one if you are travelling. Merry Christmas!

I am linking this up to the Room by Room Christmas Tour on Cottage & Vine

If you require any help with Interior Decorating please click on the tab at the top of my page marked 'Services' or click here for further details.

I would love for you to leave a comment. Thank you for stopping by; please do check back often.

Lisa

My Wrapping Paper Artwork

A few weeks ago when I had purchased this amazing wrapping paper from The Container Store I had said that I planned to use it for artwork rather than to wrap gifts in. This paper is made of recycled cotton and was too beautiful to resist.

I wanted to do something festive for the holidays with it. I decided on a trio so I purchased three 8x24 canvas boards from Joann's that happened to be on sale.

I found some ornament images online and printed those out after having enlarged them to a good size.

images via here, here and Google

Alongwith the new wrapping paper and tissue paper I also pulled out some silver and gold paper I already owned.

 First I laid out the paper on the canvas and realized the creases were apparent across the center and would not look good so I proceeded to crush the paper more.

Then I sprayed the canvas and laid it upside down on the tissue paper.

And evened out the paper before the glue dried.

I made cuts on the top sides and folded over.

 Then glued with Loctite glue.

It was a little loose at the back.

I gave this time to dry.

Next, I decided to reinforce the paper by stapling it to the board so I used a staple gun.

I traced out the ornament images I had printed onto tracing paper and then onto the back of tissue and wrapping once I had determined which image I wanted in which paper.

Time to cut...

And move the ornaments around until I was happy with the mix, the layout and the look of each board making sure to have silver and gold on each.

I first used basic Elmer's School Glue to glue the ornaments on.

That red spot on the paper was there when I opened the packaging.

I did the silver star in two layers.

I used a hole punch to punch a hole in the top of this ornament.

Then came time for Mod Podge, of course. For those reading this in countries where this product is not available, this is an all-in-one glue, sealer and finish used for decoupage.

I decided to add some ribbon to the ornaments to complete the pictures and had some old ribbon in my stash of gift wrapping - some silver and some gold.

But as you can see, there was overlap with the ribbon and the ornaments. I had thought I would be ok with that but I was not happy...the ornaments are the stars.

So I cut another round of ornaments in the same paper and did another layer of Mod Podge over the first ones.

To give a sense of a framed look to the artwork I decided to glue some hemp I had around the sides of the boards multiple times until they were covered.

 

And now, here they stand on my family room floor until I have the time to hang them.

I had two small problems - the metallic ribbon did not adhere in a few spots. I guess it adds dimension. Also, I pulled a little too hard on the paper during my final (third) layer of Mod Podge on the third board therefore it has a deeper crinkle to it on the left of the star. I only realized this once it had started to dry and it was too late to spread it out. One has to be a little more careful when using delicate (in this case, tissue) paper. I love how this turned out, though. I have toyed with the idea of just glueing a bow of metallic string to a couple of the ornaments but I might leave that for next time. I did not get to the red wrapping paper but do have an idea for something for the next Christmas season.

You might think I have a lot of time on my hands but truly, I do not. Arts and crafts such as this one are done while I wait for my kids to get off the bus (starting an hour or a half before) and then subsequently after dinner. But these are also easy and really do not take much time once you have some vision.

Linking up to Saved by Suzy

If you require any help with Interior Decorating please click on the tab at the top of my page marked 'Services' or click here for further details.

Please Note: I have not been compensated in any way for this post. The views and opinions expressed in this post are solely mine and are based on my experience with the products mentioned.

I would love for you to leave a comment. Thank you for stopping by; please do check back often.

Lisa