Table runner wall art.

OK, well I kinda lied about the not mentioning molding for another month thing. It wasn't deliberate, I swear. This project just kind of came to me today and molding was the perfect touch to finish it off. Sorry. Not really. :)

So I was feeling the itch for a Goodwill trip today -- it's been about a week, and after that long, I start daydreaming about it, and getting hives at the thought of something totally fab and perfect and lovely that's there waiting for me rightthisminuteandI'mgoingtomissit!!

Whew. So I needed to go. I found a few goodies for under $10 -- the other items I'll show you soon. This one, I just couldn't pass up. It was a table runner, all beady and natural looking. I feel in lurrrrve.

I stood there with it in my hands staring at it, not baring the thought of putting it down. But I couldn't figure out where in the heck I would need such an odd sized table runner. It's only 31 inches long.

So I thunk and I thunk and I thunk and it hit me -- I knew just where it was going.

Over the toilet.

Yeah, that's right. For the longest time, this is what I've had over the toilet (such an ugly word) in our little room in the master bath:
Don't ask. I have no clue what I was thinking. I was thinking spa I guess? It didn't turn out well. And towels over the toilet? Um....that's just not good. I mean, we didn't use them, but still...

So I had a vision, and it turned out exactly how I had hoped! First, I just nailed the runner to the wall using little finishing nails and my hammer:

I used my nail sinker thing (the technical term is totally escaping me) to get them in close enough to the wall so you couldn't see them:

Most of them I was able to just push in with my finger.

I didn't take pics of the molding process, because I think you've seen enough of that over the past couple of weeks. ;) But I added some thin molding I had in the garage around the runner to finish it off:I spray painted the molding before I hung it, but it still wasn't just the right tone. So I just brushed some of my walnut stain right over the top of the wood, and now it matches perfectly!

Because I love it so stinking much, I took a ton of pictures, so bare with me:

I'm not sure what you would call the style of our bathroom, it's a little traditional, a little fancy, a little nature-inspired. But this works, no matter what it is. :)

How gorgeous would this be in a dining room -- in a set of three on the wall hanging horizontally? FAB!

The before again:
The much lovelier after:

Total cost? Four bucks baby. And it took about 30 minutes start to finish, to complete. All during nap time, with time to spare to watch my stories. ;)

I know, by the way, what many of you are thinking. Why worry about this little wall in this little room that no one sees? Well, we see it numerous times a day, obviously. And ummmm....well....have you read this blog? Helloooooo, it's me. ;)

I will decorate anything if I can do it for cheap!

Wallpaper art.

I know! Finally, a post that's NOT about the kitchen island! Many of you have commented on my "art" above our master bedroom fireplace:
I wanted large art, but didn't want to spend a lot of money for a huge piece. This was a VERY easy and cheap project. I didn't take pictures back when I did it, but it's so easy I can show you after the fact:

You'll need canvases in whatever size you want. Then, a staple gun, paint and a metallic glaze if you like the look of it. And of course, wallpaper: This project would take half the time if you just used regular wall paper you love, but I wanted something with texture and I already had it. :) Can't beat that folks. I got my textured, paintable wallpaper at Lowe's for around $12.

You'll want to follow the directions for getting the wallpaper prepped. I was afraid of doing this but it was SOOO easy. I rolled up the paper and soaked in the bathtub for a few minutes. Then I folded it like they told me to...cause I do what I'm told. (Lying.)

I just laid the paper on a towel, face down. Put the canvas on it, and stapled the wallpaper around it like I was upholstering a seat or wrapping a gift:

I did this while it was wet, and made sure I pulled it very tight. When I was done, I trimmed it all down, then flipped it over and smoothed out any air bubbles.

You'll want to let it completely dry before painting it. Also, I kept an eye on them and smoothed out an air bubbles that came up. (There weren't many, I'm just a freak about it.) Then, when they were all dry, I painted them all out with black paint using a sponge roller. I did three coats I believe.

Now the fun part -- this takes longer than the rest of it and take some major patience. But it made these, in my opinion. I took a small paint brush and used my metallic glaze to highlight the raised, textured parts of the wallpaper:

Then I added a kitty to the top:

Why must they lay on everything? Sweet patoot.

That's it! I added some wire to hang them:

Without dry time, this took a couple hours, total.

They turned out exactly how I wanted! And with a coupon, I think I got the canvases for around $20 total.

You could also use fabric, wrapping paper, anything! Have a fantastic weekend!

Putting odd wall space to use

I have a major staircase redo in the works, but until then, I'm adding this post to Beth's party!
Thank you for your encouragement about my last post! You are all so wonderful and it warmed my heart. Thanks to those who have already gotten in touch with me -- I'm so excited about working with you all!!

So you may have heard me complain about our lack of beautiful stairway railings in our house. (Especially at Christmas with the GORG garland wrapped around them.) I only have myself to blame for this -- hubby wanted them when we were building our house but I was already hyperventilating about the growing size of our mortgage with every. single. little. thing. we were adding. The extra four grand for railings (come on) was enough to put me over the edge.

So I've dealt with what we have. Which is a bunch of HUUUUGE walls on our stairway. It is open to the top of our house, about 25 feet up, so there's lots of space to work with. I've done a couple things to fill these spaces, the first of which I wanted to share with you today:

I started with a vinyl rub on from Uppercase Living. If you haven't heard about them, I wrote about the products here. I love this stuff!! Luuuuurve it!

I found floating frames at Joann's at half off -- I've probably spent about $50 on all of them. I love that there is no mat, just the wall showing through:
I started taking my own pictures of our son when he was itty bitty -- the baby who NEVER cried screamed like a banshee for his first professional pictures -- so that day I went home, stripped him down, laid him on black fabric, and shot away. I did this often his first year or so:
**This does not work with a two-year-old. :)

I didn't use any kind of design to put these up -- just hung them willy nilly, and I love doing it that way:
It's one of the first things you see when you walk into our home and it's one of my favorite spots. I just added a new one today, and may add one more, but I don't know. I like all the "white space":

I always suggest this kind of wall for weird hallways and stairways. I think it is a beautiful way to deal with awkward spaces like this. The pictures cost me nothing because I print them at home, on regular paper. Love it!

And yes, I hang my head at the awful lack of stepdaughter pictures. I am really a good stepmom, I swear. It's hard getting a good picture of a teenager -- especially when they don't live with you full time. (Or hardly ever come over anymore cause they are too busy with work, choir, friends, boyfriend, school, sporting events....wait, sorry....rant.) Sniff. :)

Seriously, come ON.

So I'm leafing through the latest Pottery Barn catalog the other day when I see this...

These are $79 for the set. What a fantastic deal (dripping with sarcasm). You have GOT to be kidding me. Really? For pictures of forks and spoons? Do you KNOW how easy this would be to do? And it would be even prettier if you did it yourself. I know, I know, it would take a little more time. (All of about ten minutes more than ordering them online.)

Pile some stinkin' flatware together and take a picture, no flash. Print it out on glossy paper, frame it. I could do it in 15 minutes and guarantee it would look better. (I'm waiting for a dare here...)

When my good friend Krista buys something new, half the time I say, "Do you know how easy that would be to make yourself?" Hehe...snicker. Krista, this one's for you!

Cheap art

I needed something to fill a large wall in our powder room and came across a print I thought would work well. It was in those bins of posters/art at the back of the craft store -- the bins I haven't rummaged through since college!

I found a $10 poster...






And used frames I had to create this...



I bought poster boards, painted them chocolate brown, and then cut the photos down to the size I wanted. I placed the photos on top with double sided tape. If you want to spend a little more, you could have actual mats cut for the pictures, and then paint them. But I'm a thrifty decor chick and I'm impatient. :)

Total cost for this project was $6 for the art (I had a 40 percent off coupon baby!) and $1.50 for three poster boards. If you don't have the frames, look for them at half off. Or use a bunch of smaller frames you already have and cut one large poster/picture/image into smaller pieces. Cheap, one-of-a-kind art!