Ombre walls: EPIC FAIL

I’ve admitted defeat. The ombré walls in the craft room are a no-go. My fifth attempt on the weekend was the deal breaker. Even with tips and suggestions from two professional painters, good quality glaze, all the right tools, and spending an hour getting the colours just right, the ombré effect was a total flop. {Sorry for the crappy picture quality – it’s a small room in the basement with no window or natural light.}

I gave up after two hours when it was obvious that all I was doing was making the wall look increasingly crapp. So back to square 1. Actually, square pre-1, because I repainted the wall white to help cover the ombré crap. I painted the wall next to it white too – you’ll see why in a minute.

See the painting leaning on the ledge? I decided to at least try painting an ombré affect on canvas so all the time and money I spent wouldn’t be a total loss. The painting looks kinda splotchy, but it looks a lot better than the wall did. Here’s a closer look {it’s still wet} – I think I’ll buy a big canvas and create a larger version to hang in the craft room.

I’ll be doing something else with the two white walls. Last night, I thought I’d do stencilling on them. These are some designs from Cutting Edge Stencils that I was considering.

    
Clockwise from to left: Zamira, Houndstooth, Birch Forest, Birds of Paradise Damask

Then I thought, seeing as one of the walls under the ledge is already white, why not paint the other wall under the ledge white too, tape off a design, then paint the walls blue and pull the tape off. First I thought I’d do diamonds. Then I thought plaid. But both would require a lot of measuring and making sure things are perfectly straight, and quite frankly, I’ve already spent too much time working on this room. Then I had an Ah-Ha moment – the Mulholland china pattern by Kelly Wearstler that I had originally planned to do on the bookcase and/or desk.

So that’s where things stand now. I really wanted to have pretty ombré walls to show you today, but nobody ever said that design is always pretty!

I’ll keep you posted on the new plan…

On another and more successful note, there’s one week left in my Pits For Tits campaign. I’m way over my goal of $500 with a total of $770 raised so far, thanks to my friends and family and blog buddies :-) I'd love to reach $1,000 – if you can spare a few bucks, please click here and send it my way to support breast cancer research & awareness. My pits and I thank you! ♥

Long weekend plans: DIY and dogs

What’s better than a long weekend? An extra-long weekend! Can I say I’m just a littl ebut excited about having the next five days off? :-) WOOT! And it’s a good thing too, ‘cause I have a lot of projects on the agenda!

For starters, I’ll be starting my next PARA Paints Blog Crew project. I’m turning a small room in the basement into a craft/painting room. Hubby has installed the ceiling and crown moulding, and now it’s ready to paint. I was originally going to do something bright and funky and graphic, but now I’m leaning towards trying something different and doing an ombre effect. Like this:

Image via P.S. - I made this…

Now I just need to decide on a colour palette. I’d love to do navy, but it’s a small room with a low ceiling and no window, so I may have to go with something lighter. I really love the colour I used on my little chair, P5168-51 Time Will Sell. I might use a series of colours from that colour chip.

I’ve picked the ceiling & trim colour for the room – white! I know, pretty exciting, eh? ;-) It’s P5216-14D Climb the Mast. It looks a bit pink in the picture, but it’s not at all. It’s a yellow-based white, so it’s slightly creamy.

So that’s project #1. I’m also planning to paint a bookcase and desk to go in the room. I’ve had the Mulholland china pattern by Kelly Wearstler in my head for a while now…

…to do a little something like this:

Image via Timmy the Weiner Dog {blog no longer exists}

I think I’ve figured out how I’m going to do it – now I just need to get it done! That’s project #2.

Project #3 is easy – upholstering seat cushions for the four stools that hubby built for the kitchen . I bought this fabric from Tonic Living – it’s called Make Waves in the Latte colourway. I love the pattern, and the colours tie the kitchen and family room wall colour.s together.

FYI, the ladies at Tonic Living are super-nice and their service is super-fast – my fabric arrived two days after I ordered it :-)

I’ve been transforming a couple more pieces of furniture with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. The first is a side table that I gave a driftwood look to. It still needs a few touch-ups and a new pull for the door. Here’s a peek:

And this little table is taking forever – the stupid spindles are a lot more time-consuming to paint than I thought. It’s almost ready for its debut, but for now, here’s a little preview…

Besides these DIY projects, we have a lot of dog stuff going on this weekend. Jackson & Toby are going to a photo shoot on Saturday morning, and then Toby is meeting potential adopters in the afternoon.

They seem like a great couple, and they have a home that’s right on Lake Erie, so Toby Won Kenobi {that’s my nickname for him} will be able to do lots of swimming and playing on the beach. I want them to adopt me too!

I’m really going to miss Toby when he leaves for his new home – we’ve been fostering him for almost two months and he’s become a part of our family. But this will probably help with the transistion – we have a new foster dog arriving on Sunday. His name is Malcolm. When I saw this picture of him on the Catahoula Rescue Ontario Facebook page, my heart broke and I just had to help him.

Have you ever seen such a dejected dog?! Poor guy! He was scheduled to be euthanized the following day, and I just couldn’t let that happen. I told Gloria who runs Catahoula Rescue Ontario that I would foster him if she could pull him from the shelter. Luckily, we were able to rescue him just in time. I’m really looking forward to meeting him so I can finally see what he looks like – he didn’t face the camera for either of his shelter pictures. Assuming there are no glitches with the transport or issues at the border, he’ll arrive in Ottawa Saturday night and Gloria will bring him to our house on Sunday. I’ll post better pictures then :-) By the way, if there’s anything you want to know about Catahoulas or if you’d like to adopt or foster a dog, you can find all the info on the new blog. I designed it with lots of help from Heather and Tanya – thanks girls!

We’ll be having our Thanksgiving dinner on Monday with my dad and mom #2. If there’s time, I want to do a little crafting with them and paint some pumpkins for Hallowe’en…

Image via Landee See Landee Do

And finally, I need to put the finishing touches on this painting and mail it to its new owner. It’s my first official sale – thank you Janet :-)

Of course, just because I plan to do all these things doesn’t mean that I actually WILL do all these things! Come on by next week and I’ll let you know what I manage to get done!

Oh, and one more thing – I’m just $65 away from my goal of raising $500 for the Growing Our Pits For Tits campaign! Thank you Chuck, Diane, Lana, Stephanie, Vanessa, Sarah, Suzanne, Lisa, Janet, Kate, and Pam & Oded for your support! If you’d like to make a donation towards breast cancer research and awareness, click here to go to my donation page.

What are your plans for the long weekend?

Happy Thanksgiving & Happy Columbus Day!