DIY Sleepy Pumpkins

Hello, dear friends, how are you? I just had a revelation these days. I truly, utterly love Halloween. It is a time of magic, when you can be whatever you want to be - even if this is a sort of "imported holiday", since we don't have a Halloween tradition in my country, Romania. Still, the chance to walk the streets dressed up like a giant marshmallow or like a pirate deserves a celebration. So I've made these little sleepy pumpkins to mark the occasion.

Before you say anything, I know these are not exactly pumpkins, but I thought that gourds would do just as well for this DIY project. They are smaller than pumpkins, and size does matter when you live in a small home. Also, gourds have a lovely organic shape, which opens endless possibilities when I put my mind to it. Last year I've also played with gourds and made a neon pumpkin, so if you've missed it just click on the link to see it! In order to spice up my homemade Halloween, I went for the quickest and easiest way to play with the aspect of these gourds. So I painted them! 

Why did I make them sleepy, you ask me? Well, the idea came to me after staring at the pumpkins each morning, for more than a week. They were just sitting on my kitchen counter, day after day. I was too busy to sit down properly and decide what to do with them. After a while, I started to think that the poor pumpkins were getting bored, waiting to be transformed. Bored and sleepy, hence the idea to paint them into sleepy little gnomes :)

My choice of colors was not really a choice, since I didn't have the time to run to the art shop and buy new supplies. So I decided to use the colors that I already had from previous projects: white, fuchsia, gold and burgundy. I like the way they combine with the natural warm tones of the pumpkins. In making any DIY project, my advice is to use what you already have. If you make your project with love, it will look fine, no matter what colors you use.

DIY Sleepy Pumpkins Tutorial:

1. Wash the pumpkins and let them dry properly. Use elastic bands to configure your design. Elastic bands work better than masking tape when you paint on irregular shapes.

2. Paint the white base coat. I used acrylic paint. It sticks on any surface and it is water-based, so you can thin the color if you're going for a more delicate texture.

3. Let the pumpkins dry for an hour or so, then paint a second coat in order to get a nice opaque finish.

4. Continue with the top color. Make sure to respect the elastic band markers. Use 2 band for each row.

5. Finish off by painting the eyes and mouth with a thin liner. Enjoy!

Valentine T-shirt Pillow

My Valentine bedroom is almost on fire. I usually save the red sheets for Christmas, but this year I went with lavender bedding for the winter holidays. So there they were, my red cotton sheets, perfect for a more passionate display. The pillow assortment was a little sad, so I said good bye to an old T-shirt and made the cutest throw pillow. In order to ease the red impact on the eye, I went for the complementary color - green. I just moved around the potted coconut and installed a green Russian doll from my generous collection.

This old T-shirt had got everything and more: a red background (just the rich, not too bright shade of red that I love the most), tiny white hearts all over the place, a high-heeled purple flamingo (and oh I love flamingos indeed, if you read one of my previous posts) and a daisy heart. Plus the "love" inscription - too much, but I'll live with that! The red and purple combo is number one on my list right now and I'm already planning a little decoration with these colors.

People compliment me on my love for color, so maybe this time you've got a question: Is red good for the bedroom? Color theory teaches us that red is too energizing for the rooms where we rest and sleep and that we should use red in the living areas and more soothing colors for the bedroom, like blue. If you want my advice, just go with the flow. See what happens. I had a red wall in my room for a year and I slept fine, probably because I couldn't see the color while I was asleep ;))

Beachy Living Room

I see the beach mood is strong in this one :))

One week before my trip to the seaside, my beach inspired living room is finally complete. I can't believe it, because I usually plan how to decorate a room, but I never finish it at the right time. This time, the stars aligned and I was able to make all the preparations and to put everything in its place, the way I dreamed about it. Don't expect to see starfish and shells everywhere, because "Obvious decor" is not my style. The room looks casual and urban, with a shabby chic vibe and the beach can be found in more subtle aspects: the glowing light in the room or the colors of a white shore in Greece.

Let me show you how far I've come in the before and after pic of the living room. This is what it used to look like a few months ago: a thick fluffy carpet for warm feet, random pics on the wall and strong punches of color. I basically kept the main furniture (the leather love seat, the mod chair and the Lucite coffee table) and worked my way around it. I am always on a tight budget, so I changed the art, the rug and the accessories using items already in the house. The only money I spent was 5 bucks for a can of aqua paint!

I'd like to make this post a tutorial on how to pull together a beachy living room. If you're going for that refreshing coastal vibe, don't start painting the walls and shopping for furniture. There are a few things you should consider first. 

LIGHT! Think about the sea? Think sun bathing, bikinis and SPF 50 sun-screen protection! The beach is a shrine to sunshine, and your room should be one, too. In order to expand light, choose light colored walls (mine are simply white) and light colored furniture (I used a cream leather love seat and a white leather mod chair). A great tip: use clear furniture so that the eye will travel further on the walls and the room will seem lighter and brighter. I just stripped the "before" coffee table of its pink film and I suddenly had a wonderful clear Lucite little table which didn't crowd the room (it's the reverse of what I did on a previous post).

COLOR! Think about the beach? Think swirls of turquoise and light blue waves. Think white and golden shades of sparkling sand running through your toes. Think little broken shells polished with soft pinks and purples. My color scheme is a white base accented with powdery pink, aqua and a little bit of fiery red. Look at the way I've distributed the accent colors evenly to different locations in the room, instead of just cluttering them in one spot. You've got pink on the chair on the left and in the roses on the right. Then there's punches of aqua in the background (the painted Ikea floor lamp and small cabinet) and in the foreground (the painted wooden stool, the book, the glass, the cuddly toy). Yes, this is where my 5 buck paint can went: I painted a cabinet, a lamp and a stool! The little bits of red can be found in the lighthouse poster and the rug. Another tip is to blend all the colors in one big item. In my case, it is the rug that ties the room together. I've got it from grandma (not mine, but she is still a grandma and I thank her dearly).

SPACE! Think about the third dimension: the walls. Go vertical and add height to the room with a gallery wall. You can display anything and everything, as long as all the art has a common theme. In my beachy living room, all the art is sweet and naive. 

I've got two more tips for you concerning the gallery wall. First, layer! Add interest by overlapping stuff, like I did with my floor lamps, photo frames and pillows. Secondly, expect the unexpected! (and the Spanish Inquisition, ha! ha!) I put a little straw hat and a ceramic mask on the wall, in order to add texture into the sea of glass frames.

PLAY! A room should not be serious. It should be fun! Think of happy little things that suit your color scheme: flowers, little vases, tea cups, books, ornaments, baskets, boxes, pillows, photos - you name it! 

My tip here is to choose a plant that reminds you of the ocean coast, like I did with the sago palm.

That's it, folks! Happy beachy decorating!

Update: the room has been featured at Flamingo Toes, Country Momma Cooks, It's Overflowing, Little Inspiration, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Five Days Five Ways, Bacon Time With The Hungry Hypo, The Charm of Home, Lovely Crafty Home, Christina's Adventures, My Girlish Whims, Clean And Scentsible, Sweet Little Gals, Home Stories A 2 Z, The Sasse Life, Domesblissity, Loving This Crazy Life, Stuff and Nonsense and Candance Creations. Thank you, wonderful ladies, for your support!

     
     

        

      

Before and after: Small Balcony

I love to sit on my Moroccan poufs and see nothing of the busy world outside, just the mini-garden. When I bought the apartment, my tiny balcony was already enclosed with glass and had a built-in that provides much needed storage. It was perfect for the Romanian winter blizzards, not so perfect for my intentions. I found the real-estate listing pic, it's just horrible!

Dark gloomy atmosphere and horrible clashing colors. The tiles were a dirty grayish blue and the storage was brown shelves and green cupboard doors. Also my ever growing plant collection needed a proper place to stay.

Step one: Paint every wall white. This single step made the whole difference, already. You can see that I've saved the cabinet for last. I'm sorry but these are the only pic I've got, I hope you get the idea.

 

Step two:  Prepare the floor. I wanted to create a zen garden, so I chose wooden slabs and marbles. The wooden slabs were raw wood, so I stained them in 3 coats of "nut tree" finish.

  

Step three: Make a large shelf under the windows. Making holes in the concrete walls took a whole day and was very painful, so I had no time for pics. The shelf ensures the right amount of sun for the plants and provides lots of storage space beneath it.

I ended up with a vegetation jungle, because: A. I love the look of savage English gardens. B.I can't stop trying various things. There are scented herbs (basil, savory), some flowers and some decorative green plants. C. There have to be many, many pots jammed on the shelf, so that my cats won’t be able to climb up and destroy the pots.

 

Yuuupeeee! I'm so happy to tell you that I've been featured at Polish The Stars, Tatertots And Jello, A Diamond In The Stuff, Blissful and Domestic, Too Much Time On My Hands, Destination: Craft, Me And My Boysand Addicted2decorating! All my gratitude goes to you, lovely ladies :)