A WALL GALLERY (ISH).

 I think I said it previously, but January I've given myself the challenge of decorating some of the walls in this home.  It's going fairly slowly, but I did tackle the big blank wall in the living room!

I had originally hung some photos on this wall a year or so back, but took them down when we were having our floors sanded.  I wasn't motivated to put them back up because I wasn't in love with the arrangement I had going on.  The largest photo in the grouping was an 8x10, and since the wall was so expansive it just seemed...small.

I pondered some larger print sizes, even 16x20, but when placed next to our 19 inch t.v. it made our television look....well, small.

Then the day came when our whole family when to Costco to look at a t.v. on sale.  The kids and I never actually thought Matt would go through with it, but the price was very good and we walked out of there with a 40 inch t.v.  So, not only could we now host movie nights and Super Bowl parties, we could also hang some larger photos without it looking ridiculous!

About the time of New Years I got an email from unitprints.com advertising their 16x20 prints were on sale for $10 (normally $20).  This was a great opportunity to order some big prints and save some big $$.  So, I ordered a 16x20 of each kid, plus two 11x14 sized prints, two 8x10 prints, and even an 8x12.  My goal in putting up "artwork" on the walls has been to keep it frugal and keep it personal.  My final total was definitely not "cheap", but I spent about $75 on all 9 prints with shipping and tax. (I should also note that I wanted professional quality prints, it may be cheaper to print at Target, etc. but I didn't look into that).

I will admit that when I received the package in the mail, I was a bit nervous to open it up.  The box was b.i.g., which meant the photos were b.i.g.  I honestly had never ordered anything larger than an 8x10, and now those looked puny.  

I should have taken a photo of the process, but I cut out each photo's dimensions from newspaper so I could place them on the wall.  This is where it started getting troubling for Matt.  Matt dislikes holes in the wall, which means he also dislikes photo galleries.  

Sometimes for fun, I like to show him Pinterest projects like this:

And then I act like this is a project I'd like to do.  This above gallery also contains a plethora of IKEA frames...another strong dislike of Matt's!

(sidenote:  I just showed the above photo to Matt and he shook his head in disbelief and commented, "That is so pointless...")

So, I do have to keep his preferences in mind when I decorate any wall.  Matt can be a stickler, but the truth is that he's usually right, and so I'm thankful for his judgment to guide me (most of the time)! 

I left the newspaper cutouts up for about a week and moved things around from time to time. Then I had to find and purchase frames.  I had 8x10 frames, but that was it.  I looked at a couple of thrift stores, but couldn't find anything I liked, let alone seven frames I liked.  I looked online (some frames are ridiculously expensive), but ended up purchasing frames at Target.  It was another investment, about $140, but I used some money from Christmas.
Then I laid out the frames on the floor (ideally I would not have left these on the floor for three days...thankfully none of them broke even though Evelyn walked across several of them several times!)

Finally one night Matt and the big kids were busy changing the oil in the truck and finding constellations (true story, he's a great dad), and Evie and I hung some photos.  I found out that I'm very bad at measuring and nothing really ended up exactly where it was suppose to (Matt made a joke that it's good I'm not a pharmacist), but I was pleased with the end result.

It was super bright and sunny today, so getting a great photo without glare was difficult.  However, I'm not going to complain about sunny and 50 degrees in January!

Yes, our "media cabinet" is a little small, that may change or it may not.  Eventually the t.v. will be in the basement.  And yes, that's an antenna from our rabbit ears in the corner!

Here's the photos a little closer, but with some glare.

The photos are from left to right: Evelyn (1 day old); scrapbook paper with "t";  Nathan (8) from last summer in WI; Ella (1 1/2) from a trip to CO; Ella (6) last summer downtown Sioux Falls; Addie (4) on a fishing trip last Summer in WI; Evelyn (2) last summer dtsf; Matt and Addie (3) a couple of summers ago at the Ingalls Homestead; Evelyn (2) at a CO Rockies baseball game; and Evelyn with Great Grandpa Bob (though you can't really see it in this photo below, it's more visible in the first photo).

The good news is that Matt also likes the end result!   I'm glad we went big; it's much more proportional and visually pleasing.  I've even left some negative space for growth in the future...though Matt does feel like adding anything is "completely unnecessary"!

Oops, I Did It Myself.

 Our house has a lot of blank walls.  Hopefully that doesn't speak to the condition of my mind, but it probably does speak for my lack of decision making abilities...and also Matt's dislike of putting any holes in the walls.  

So, amongst other things, I've been wanting something for behind our dining table.  I used to have three 16x20(ish) size Ribba frames (from Ikea) here holding different coordinating fabrics.  However, our kids like to run circles around the table and inevitably a shoulder would hit a frame as they were running by.  It happened not only once, not twice, but three times.  If you've ever seen a cheap Ikea frame hit the floor, you know the end result.  All three of them busted at the seams.  We tried some gluing, but to no avail.  I learned a $45 lesson in picture placement (and quality), and for almost a year the wall has sat blank.

 I didn't want to just put up three new frames (like I said I learned that lesson), so I waited for something larger.  The nails were still sitting in the wall, so I wanted to be able to just use the nails to hang up a new picture that would span the space of the three previous frames.

I'll try to cut to the chase...art is expensive.  Even "cheap" buy-it-at-a-big-box-store art in the size I wanted was over $100.  AND it was hard to find something in the colors I wanted.  So, after seeing this on Pinterest, I decided to go the DIY route.

I bought a canvas at Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon.  I wish I could remember the dimensions, or muster up the energy to go measure it, but I went big.  I also went for the thicker one because I wanted it to be nice and beefy (and not look cheap).  It was still somewhat of an investment.  I think I paid $35 for the canvas after coupon.

I then went to the craft section and picked out four acrylic craft paints.  These were each a little over a dollar.  

Then later after the kids had gone to bed, I just went for it! I started with dark on the bottom.

I used a three inch paint brush and was very casual about it.  You don't even want to clean your brush in between colors because you want the colors to mix and blend together.   So, I would paint a little then walk away for a little bit and then come back...I remember it was game 7 of the World Series, so I had to keep checking on that.  Total time I spent on it was probably around 30 minutes.

Here's the final result!

  I wasn't even trying but both Ella and I observed that it looks like an abstract painting of the sea, land, and sky.  It's not perfect (nor is it suppose to be), and perhaps it's just hard for me to really love something I made myself, but the great thing is that it's acrylic paint and you can always paint over or do touch-ups if you wish.  What I do love about it is that I got to choose my favorite colors (shades of blue and green which are pretty beachy).  You could choose any colors you love to match your home.  I also like that it cost $40, so until our kids are all out of college and we can afford great art, this will do.

{side note:  For whatever reason while painting this I kept singing "Oops I did it myself" to the tune of Brittany Spear's "Oops I did it Again"...hence the title of this post.}

Stick a fork in them...

I ended the last flooring post on a note of frustration, so I wanted to update that the floors are DONE!

It took Matt a few evenings to hand make the two needed transition pieces, but we're both really happy with the end result.

 

Here is what they looked like before:

To start, he routered (is that a word?) the new floor so that the edge was straight and even.  Then he used a leftover piece of floor board and cut it to fit into the groove and sit on top of the floor.  I made that sound simpler than it was, it definitely took some careful planning, lots of measuring, and a steady hand! 

We since have spent the last couple of weeks cutting and painting trim boards.  We bought new trim boards because we knew we wanted something a little more substantial than what we already had. We also had oak trim before and it pains Matt to paint any wood he considers of quality.  So, we bought some cheaper, wider, pine boards (we can reuse the old trim in the basement).  Matt cut, I painted, Matt nailed them in place.

  So nice to finally have it look finished (though the children concurred that they liked the '80's carpet better...we resist change around here)!
 

Now we just need to decide what the next big project should be!  Bathroom? Kitchen?  Basement?

Woot! The floors are done....and yet still not really done.

I previously posted how Matt had laboriously installed our new hardwood flooring through out the dining and living rooms on the main floor (here and here).  As planned Dakota Floors came out last week to sand and stain them-what we thought would be the final step.  Well, they are mostly done...but I'll get to that later.

For now, let's focus on the positive.  I'm very satisfied with the way the floors turned out!

 

Here is the before shot of the entry way.  Not a lot of work was done in here by us, but we had them professionally sanded and restained.

 

Here is the entry way now. 

 

 

It's a little bit of a "wah-, wah".  However it does look different, even if not drastically so.  It's richer and warmer and not quite so orange.  We did go into this project assuming the entry was white oak (like the wood we purchased), but found out from the guy who finished them that it is actually a mix of red and white oak.  You can definitely tell how the different woods took the color differently.  If I could change it, I would probably prefer it to be all white oak, but I also like it the way that it is.

Moving on to the dining room:

(I decided to go way back for a before shot.)

 



This is why it's good to take photos!  I forgot that we used to just have a folding table in here.  It was where we did school and other art projects.  So, thankful that Matt built us a dining table to eat at!  The above photo also gives a nice appreciation for the 80's carpet and ceiling fan.

And Dining room now:

 



 

This room is all white oak stained walnut.  It's exactly the color I wanted and it looks fabulous with our pre-existing wood features.  This isn't really an "after" shot because we do still need to put up the new baseboards, and I have a few dream projects for this room (can I get a second for a barn door and some built-ins?)  But, I'm guessing those are on like the "C" list if we are prioritizing...

 

Here is the living room before:

 

 Again, it's nice to look back.  This is not at all how the furniture has been arranged for over a year, and we have since taken down the outdated (though quality if I do say) curtains and the broken halogen floor lamp in the corner. Ooh, and do I see a little Vietnamese wall art...

 

And, here is the living room now. 

 

 

With the rooms being empty they look pretty much the same...except one is next to the stairs and one has a chandelier. :)

 

Last but not least, I thought I would show how the floors look where the entry meets the living/dining rooms.

 

And yes, that brings us to the annoyance factor of the "final" stage of this project, and the fact that they are not really finished.  (The real "wah-wah" moment.)  Turns out that putting in the transition pieces was not on the finishers work order.  There was some sort of miscommunication that led us to assume they were putting them in, and them to assume that we were doing them.  We didn't find out he wasn't doing them until the end of day 1 after everything had been sanded.

Now, Matt has to try to construct some pieces to fit, sand and stain them, then nail them in place.  Then put in wood filler over the nails and restain over the wood filler.  The process would have made a whole lot more sense if they could have been sanded and stained with the rest of the floor! And we would be DONE and not have to look at a quarter-inch gap between the floors and Matt wouldnd't have to spend his free time working on them....AND, AND, AND. 

But...I live a ridiculously blessed life, and complaining about such trivial matters seems, well trivial. 

I pray that we don't just strive to make this house more beautiful for the vanity of it.  Let's face it, we can pump a lot of money into this house to make it look good, and in a few decades it will look not good.  So, I pray our home may be blessing to our family and all those who enter; and even as we slowly change many surfaces in our home, may our hearts be filled with gratitude and contentment.

 



Woot, the floors are done...but not done.

The floors are doooooooone!!!

OK, by done I mean completely unfinished, but every bit of our work concerning the floors is over.  It only took three weeks (sigh) but Matt did an outstanding job and they are installed, swept, and ready to be sanded and finished!  Woot! 

The main reasons it took so long is 1. Matt is a perfectionist when it comes to his own work, B. Matt has never done this before, and III. We (Matt) only worked on Saturdays and evenings.  Not too bad considering this past week Fall activities started up again and we were busy almost every night.

 

So, Saturday Matt put in a full day starting about 10:00 a.m. and finishing a little before 7:00 p.m.

Of course, it's good if you have a little helper. 

Addie would work beside Matt with blocks and paper she pretended were her hammer and wood. She even had a children's Bible out and would "read" Matt the instructions for what to do next.

 

And speaking of helpers, I need to also give a shout out to our friend Jim Koch!

Jim is a servant and loves to work with his hands.  He showed up announced last Saturday and helped Matt with the floors for a few hours.

 

Here you can also see the floor nailer in action.

 

 

 

 Ironically it saved us a ton of money to buy one ourselves.  I would have to fact check with Matt, but it seems the rental fee was about half the price of buying a new one and you only got the nailer for a week.  We considered this option going into the project when we were naive and thought maybe this was a week long project.  So...we just would've been stressed out and frustrated about the situation, and we're glad we have one now.  Matt hasn't specifically mentioned putting up wood floors in the upstairs, but I'm sure he's thinking about it! 



So, (drum roll) here is the living room:

(This was obviously taken before we removed a couple of pieces of furniture but you get the idea.)

 



 

And the dining room:

 

 (in case you don't have litte girls at home, these two rooms are now basically dance halls)

 

I should have taken a shot of the rooms with the 1980's carpet for comparison sake, but I do think I have one in the archives and will have to find it for a true before and after shot when everything is all said and done.

 

Like I said, now they are ready to be sanded and stained.   We are going with an oil finish and opposed to a regular polyurethane finish.  This basically means the final look will be matte and not shiny and it will hide dents and scratches all lot better as time goes on.  The negative is that you have to put a special treatment over it once a month.  However, it only needs to go in the higher traffic areas (no moving furniture), and it dries within a few minutes.  So, really it shouldn't be any different than cleaning your floor.  We also checked the price of the solution, and it was very reasonable. 

 

That being said, here are the color choices we narrowed it down to:

Top left is antique, bottom left is walnut, and the right side is 75% walnut 25% black.

 

 

 It's hard to get a true to life color in a photo, but we definitely want something warm and yummy (which made me just think of a cinnamon roll...they're warm and yummy).  So, although in the photos I like the 25% black option, in real life it was a little too black so we are going with walnut.

 

Finally, here is our foyer.

 



We didn't do anything in here except the prep work of removing furniture and trim work, but they will also be sanding and staining these as well.  We debated forever about whether or not we should rip it all out, but it is in such good shape it seemed like a waste.  As a side note, it also would have been a lot of work since it is all nailed and glued down.

So, the color of this will be changing so all the wood flooring is uniform in color.  That was important to me since this floor has a lot of pattern going on and I didn't want wonky floors happening all over.  The final color won't be drastically different, but similar to the door that you see in the back of the photo.

 That's all!

We will have a crazy week of just staying out of our house for the next three to four days.  But, hey if I have to eat out a lot and hang out with friends for the sake of a house project I'm willing to do what I gotta do!