gyqx853fmRookie moves…
I love DIY and crafty projects, there is no denying. Who doesn’t? But I do not claim to be super crafty myself. I am learning, but I admit I am a total wannabe. Spice Girl style. I feel like I could be so crafty if I was taught some techniques, but on my own I’m way awkward. That’s how I was through art school – as long as I have an assignment, I can do great work! Work that passes me off for someone who knows what they are doing! But I am not a ‘think-outside-of-the-box’ type of girl when it comes to creating things for myself. Like I said, a wannabe. This is usually how my projects turn out – glad to see the Petersiks are human! 
(image via younghouselove’s flickr)
Thank goodness for my husband — he is so super handy. He fixes a lot of my mistakes when I need it. My adventures in crafting and DIY’ing usually seem to go like this; just this past week I’ve been painting everything I can get my hands on a nice glossy white for my daughter’s room. So far I’ve painted her changing table, a magazine side table, today I finished painting a wall shelf, and my next project (before next Wednesday) is a dresser. The changing table and side table went pretty good – I spray painted both of them because they had lots of turnings and carvings, and I knew a paintbrush wouldn’t be able to get it all evenly – so I was pleased with myself there, but then I attempted to tackle the shelf, paintbrush in hand. A few things went majorly wrong (I can’t believe I’m revealing this, but maybe you can all give me some tips!!): first, it was about a million degrees outside when I did this. I was covered by shade, but it was in the high 90′s. Hot weather + wet paintbrush and open paint = clean paintbrushes for each coat, and lots of cleanup later. I went back to put on the next coat (always later than I thought I would be able to — I have a busy 11 month old!), so the bristles were hard as a rock and you can’t clean that up without paint thinner. Boo. They’re soaking as we speak. Second, one of the brackets on the shelf turned — somehow! — while it was drying, so it was stuck in a crooked position because of the paint. I finally found one of Glenn’s razor blades and freed the bracket, and I had to re-paint where it was stuck, which was fine because that bracket needed another coat anyway. But still — pain(t) in the butt!! And third, and this is the biggest rookie move of all on my part, I painted the shelf and left it ON NEWSPAPER. Paint loves to act like glue with newspaper, which means lots of newspaper stuck to the back of my shelf. I knew this was going to happen, but it takes me 3 times as long to get back to something as I assume…razorblade bailed me out again, but it took almost an hour to get all of the paper shreds off. I should have painted one side, while it was propped up on something, then flipped it over to paint the other side, leaving it elevated and away, far, far away from the Modoc Record archives.
(image via pink loves brown’s flickr)
Be on the lookout for my next post on how it all turned out!! I’m learning, so that’s okay. And I have a good attitude and can admit my mistakes! What a fun thing to learn by trial and error, right? So…I would love to know your DIY/crafty tips so that I don’t run into problems like this again. I can hardly wait for Centsational Girl’s FAQ: In My Toolbox – Part 2!! I love seeing posts like this, so I can fuel my wannabe DIY soul!! And a big thanks (again!) to Brooke at ohbrooke! for the link to the Centsational Girl site!!
Read MoreI {Sew} Can't Wait!
I can’t wait to finish this project! Well, my mother-in-law will probably be doing most of the leg work as I’m re-learning to sew, and she is much, much better at it — I guess I just don’t trust my skills yet! But this is the fabric that I bought which will be the new shower curtain in our bathroom! It’s a super soft, creamy linen which I matched to a lighter shade from the paint chip card that is the wall paint and I can’t wait to get it up (and replace the green and red graphic print curtain we’ve got going on now!), as well as get new towels to match the curtain!
I just hung the fabric up to see how it looks and I can’t wait! It will really lighten and brighten up the room. I was going to sew a floor-to-ceiling length panel for some drama, but I’m really worried about blocking ALL the light in the shower. I think the light panel will let more light through the panel itself, but the ceiling light is what brings the light in and I need to be able to see when I’m shaving! What do you think?
The new panel almost makes the pistachio green bathtub look great in there! Yes, we’re that lucky to have a green bathtub.
So what do you think? Ceiling height shower curtain or standard 6 feet?? I can’t decide. And how great does the linen look with my super cushy bath mats??
Rainbow of "Things"
This picture makes me happy. I snapped it when we were driving back home after swimming in the lake to cool off! After the backyard incident.
Testing "Blog by E-mail!"
Just a quick post to test WordPress’ new “Blog by E-mail” feature. So if you’re reading this, I suppose that it works!
xo, Lindsay (and Harper )
Likely, California
I switched up my blog background and wasn’t able to use a custom header anymore. This photo was what I used and a lot of readers liked it, so I thought I’d bring it back as a post!
xo,
Lindsay.
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About Me
I'm an interior designer and a draftsperson, but I live in the country. I like it that way. I'm also a firefighter's wife, mom to 2 cute kids, and a homeowner and I like that even better. But right after that is a pretty and affordable space...and I mean a REALLY affordable space. Because I believe good design can be for EVERYONE!
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