Wall Stenciling

I have been thinking about wallpapering our entryway for quite some time, but have absolutely no clue on even the basics of wallpaper, so while browsing Pinterest one day, I came across this: http://jonesdesigncompany.com/decorate/painted-wallpaper-a-tutorial/ - wall stenciling. I love the final result on her wall. I made a stencil almost exactly like Jones Design, and then saw another blogger use a metallic taupe paint for her design, and liked the idea of having something a little more subtle, so I decided to go with the metallic taupe as well.

Here is a photo after day 1. It is time consuming, but not hard...

Felt Pillows

I have been wanting to add a pop of color by the fireplace for a looong time, and thought it might be easiest by buying/making pillows to put on the two gray accent chairs. I saw these felt pillows on Pinterest, my latest addiction, and immediately wanted to make them. Etsy's How-to Tuesday gives great instructions: http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2009/how-tuesday-pillow-with-rosette-clusters-from-felt-furnishin/. I already had the felt, and the right color yarn so it was a cheap project. I cut out 3" circles of felt, bunched each one in the middle, and hand sewed every circle onto the front piece of felt. I think I used about 40 circles for each pillow. Then I used my machine to sew the front and back of the pillow together.

Key Rack

I saw this on Design Sponge http://www.designsponge.com/2008/02/diy-project-patterned-key-rack.html and thought it would be fun to make and put in our laundry room. I also made two smaller ones for the bathroom to hold my necklaces. I am not as crazy about the pattern I used for the jewelry racks, so I might change it, and then I will post pictures. Here is the one I made for the laundry room.

Chalkboard door

I have been wanting to do this for a long time, and it actually turned out like I had pictured in my head. I bought a can of chalkboard paint from Home Depot, taped off the area I wanted to paint, and then applied several coats alternating between a roller brush, and a standard paint brush, letting each coat dry about 30 minutes before adding the next coat.