Fireplace Makeover

I am so excited about today's post.  From the minute that I walked into our home before we bought it I knew that this fireplace could be something amazing.  Today I am excited to tell you that I made it that way by using only paint (and a stencil)!

The living room started like this.  The purple walls and the dark wood trim made the room so dark (it is dark anyway since there is no overhead lighting. When we first saw this room before we bought the house the previous owners had a giant entertainment center in the corner where the piano is now that was blocking that window by the fireplace so it was even darker! By just changing the wall color (I chose Behr Silver Drop for this room) and painting the trim white the room became dramatically lighter.  We just got an overhead light fixture installed so I can't wait to share how that changes things too.

The walls and trim made the room look so much more modern but the fireplace was a giant dated piece in the room.  Originally I wanted to rip all of that stone off and do something like shiplap but that would be messy and time consuming.  Plus using the existing materials is so much less wasteful.  So after a lot of Pinterest research I started to form a vision of what this fireplace could become.  I knew that I wanted the stone to be white.  I had played around with the idea of just white washing the stone but I know that bright white was what I really wanted it.

I started by cleaning the stone with vinegar and water and a scrub brush.

Then I primed the stone using Kilz 2 latex primer.  I have never used this primer before but I liked how thick it was. I used the fluffiest roller insert that I could find to get in all of the crevices on the stones.  I had to use a brush to get in the the cracks between the stones and it was a huge pain in the butt.

I used a cheap brush at first and totally destroyed it after priming just one side of the stone.  Later I used a 1.5" Purdy brush that I already had and it worked so much better and I was able to prime the other sides and paint the whole fireplace white before it was as bad as this brush was.

While I had the primer out I figured that it made sense to go ahead and prime the mantel piece too.  This primer worked great over the wood too.  I did give it a light sanding before priming.

Next I painted the stone and wood piece with Behr Ultra White in satin.

At this point you may have noticed that I removed that lovely brassy piece with the doors.  I wanted to get rid of the brass so I painted it with Rustoleum High Heat paint in BBQ Black.

This paint is oil based and smells very strong.  It took two coat to cover the metal.  In some lights it almost looks more like an oil rubbed bronze than a black.

After cleaning the tile I painted it with Rustoleum Chalked in Linen White.  I painted the grout as well.  It took two coats to cover.  This paint isn't really white at all.  It is almost more of a very light gray.

You can see the difference between this paint and Behr Ultra white where I accidentally painted a little bit of the wood piece.  I didn't really mind the contrast thankfully so I just went with it.  I'm glad it was this color instead of turning out to be a yellowy off white.  This is my first time using chalk paint (and probably the last) but it seemed to make the most sense for this application.

Next I used this lovely stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils called Santa Ana Tile Stencil.  It is the 12" size.  I taped over the grout because I wanted to make sure it stayed white.  This isn't my first stenciling project of course.  Stenciling is one of my favorite ways to add details and interest to a project.

Stenciling the walls in our dining room was one of the very first projects on this blog.  I loved that room!

I stenciled the tops of the night stands in our bedroom.

I made my own stencil with my Silhouette Portrait and stenciled the backs of these chairs.

And I stenciled these storage boxes.  You can find many other examples of stenciling throughout my blog.

 I used Rustoleum Chalked in Charcoal for the pattern.

This was probably the hardest stenciling project I've had because of all the partial tiles I had to do.

It was so hard to bend the stencil into some of these small spaces.

So I had to make my own mini stencils to finish the project.

After touching it up it all turned out pretty nice.  The last step was just to apply two coats of Minwax Polycrylic over the tile and the top of the mantel.  I put the polycrylic on top of the mantel because I knew it would get the most abuse with changing out the decor frequently with the seasons.

Then of I put the door piece back in.  Here's a reminder of what I started with again:

It is such a drastic difference!

Then I just pulled out some random decor and styled the mantel.

This is the view I now have from the dining room table!  Note the cute baby on the playmat in this shot.  Also that door looks like it is painted the same color as the walls but it is really just a very dingy white because I haven't painted it yet.  Here is the whole side of that room now:

 That skyline painting is on the floor because I don't know where I want it yet.  Eventually I want to get two accent chairs to put in front of the fireplace.

I am so glad that I got this project done before the Christmas season because I can just imagine the stockings hanging from the mantel!  

I'm not sure what will be next up on the blog but there will be two more big changes in this room in the near future and I have a big list of sewing projects that I want to finish.  I hope you like my new fireplace as much as I do!

Floral Number Monthly Baby Photos

 My little baby Ana turned 6 weeks this past Friday!  How is time going so fast!  Today I wanted to share with you a post on her monthly baby pictures.

For Lyla's monthly baby photos I found a vintage suitcase, some pretty fabric, a blanket (which now hangs out on the futon in our family room), and made a bunting with her name on it.  You can read more about her monthly baby photos here and here.  You can read about how I made the bunting here.

Above is a composite of all of her monthly photos from her baby book. The setup went with her vintage travel nursery theme.

Oh my goodness, she looks so different now!

She is definitely a little girl instead of a baby now.  It is so crazy!

I wanted Ana's monthly photos to also go with her nursery theme so I decided to make the number of each month out of flowers.  This was such a simple project that there isn't really that much to explain.

I waited for fake floral to be on sale at Hobby Lobby.  I gathered up quite a few stems with shades of pink and white flowers.  I made sure to select some that had some nice leaves as well.  Then I trimmed all of the floral heads and some of the leaves off of the stems.  I laid out an off white textured throw that I found at Target in front of the large window in her room.  It lets in a fantastic light that is perfect for pictures.  Then I arranged the flowers into a number 1.  That was all I had to do folks!  It was so simple and they turned out beautifully.  It will be see fun to see her grow next to these lovely floral numbers!

Seriously the light in her room is so gorgeous!  I also had an adorable model as well.  She isn't always a cooperative model though.  I added bandana bibs to my Etsy shop, The Petite Seam and she was  not amused when I tried to have her model one of the bibs.

Thankfully she fell asleep shortly after this and I got some sweet photos.

Seriously that light!

I am so excited for the next post on this blog.  I have been working on a big fireplace makeover in our living room over the past couple of weeks and it should finally be done by the end of this week or the beginning of next week.  Here is a little sneak peak:

Keep checking back so you don't miss the post on this stunning makeover!

Minnie Mouse Costume

 

Good morning and happy day after Halloween!  This was Lyla's 3rd Halloween and her 1st time trick or treating in the neighborhood.  It was pretty cold so we only went to a few houses but it was fun anyway.  I have made all three of Lyla's costumes and plan to continue making costumes for both my girls because it is so much fun.

When Lyla was 3 months old she was an owl.  You can read about how I made this costume here.  This costume was a no sew costume.

Last year Lyla was a cat.  You can read about that costume here.  This was also a no sew costume and was extremely simple to make.

This year Lyla was Minnie Mouse.  This was my first time sewing a costume for Lyla and I am so pleased with how it turned out!  When I decided that she was going to be Minnie for Halloween I spent some time searching for the perfect dress pattern.  I knew that it had to have a peter pan collar, puff sleeves (this reminds me of Anne of Green Gables and how she begged Marilla to make her a dress with puff sleeves), and a sash.  After searching I found The English Rose Dress pattern from the Etsy shop Mandy K Design.  It was perfect!

I like the look of the traditional Minnie with the red and white polka dot dress as opposed to the new pink and white version.  I found the red and white polka dot fabric at Joann Fabrics and also purchased some plain white cotton fabric for the accents.  The only other fabric I needed was some white muslin for the bodice lining which I already had on hand.  The pattern had several options for collars, sashes, and ruffles.  I chose the peter pan collar, the simple sash, and the fabric ruffle.  As you can see I chose to make the collar, sash, sleeve trim, and fabric ruffle with the white accent fabric.  I made the 3T size to make sure the dress would be roomy enough.  This pattern used layers in Adobe which is nice because I only had to print out the pattern pieces for the size I wanted to make.

This was a great pattern!  The instructions were easy to follow although I would definitely say this is an intermediate sewing pattern.  You will get really good at your gathering skills by the time you are done with this dress because there is a ton of gathering.  I only had to use the seam ripper once so I must be getting better at sewing!

For the ears I just purchased some from Target for $3.99.  They were in the party supplies section.  They had both Mickey and Minnie ones.  I bought the Mickey ones because I wanted to make a bow out of leftover fabric from the dress.  You can find a ton of bow tutorials online.  The are quite easy to make.  Then I just hot glued the bow onto the ears.

She didn't always want to wear the ears.  That is the explanation for her reaction in the top photo above ha ha!  I ended up putting her hair in two buns to help hold the headband for the ears on but they also doubled as ears themselves when she wouldn't wear the headband.  The only other things that I needed for the costume were a pair of black tights and a long sleeve black shirt.

On Halloween it was quite cold so I found this adorable hat and mitten set on Amazon.  I just love those pom pom balls for the ears.  The bonus is that my Minnie loving girl can use them all winter!

I didn't make a costume for Ana and she was a little too small yet to fit Lyla's owl costume so she just wore a cute Halloween outfit.  

I hope you enjoyed this post on Lyla's adorable costume.  Next up on the blog I will be posting on Ana's monthly photos.  She is already a month old!  It is so crazy!  I have also begun work on the fireplace in the living room and I can't wait to share that makeover with you too.