Tag: Paint Ideas

Easy Cricut Hexagon Stencil Dresser Refinish

While we discussed the move to our new house, my youngest daughter had a specific image in mind for her new room. She absolutely had to have a hexagon stenciled wall. Thanks so our new homes previous owners, I had four dressers ripe for refinishing, so it was a great opportunity to use another hexagon stencil to spice up a dresser. I did a brief search for a hexagon stencil but didn’t find what I needed. That only meant it was a great opportunity to use my new Cricut to create the stencil for both the wall and dresser.

Prep Work

I love a project that doesn’t involve much prep work. As I’ve stated in other posts, sanding isn’t my favorite thing to do by hand. With my feathered bench refinishing project, I used a deglosser for the first time and found a new love. That same sander deglosser was what I used to take off the remaining shine of this old dresser.  Using a clean rag, the deglosser was rubbed on all the surfaces of the dresser. 

Paint Choice

Paint choice is important and the choices are endless. The fun thing about being in a new town is finding new stomping grounds. My girls and I checked out a nearby antique shop and certified stockist of Annie Sloane paint, called The Farmhouse. The thing about specialty paints, like Fusion Paint and Annie Sloane, is that it can be difficult to find exactly what you want without having to cart yourself clear around your state. I lucked out here with this shop being just 10 minutes away. The pure white paint was calling me, so that’s what I went with for the hexagon stencil dresser. The only other project I’d used Annie Sloan paint with was my Antique Chabby Chic Hutch redo. Many refinishers love Annie Sloan, so I kind of felt obligated to give it a more full-scale try. 

The hexagon color pallet was a given, I used the same colors as the walls in my daughter’s room. 

The handles stumped me a bit on color choice. I didn’t want to run to yet another store to buy different spray paint, so I choose out of my existing stock of colors. The teal was the closest I had to the hexagon stencil colors but it didn’t feel quite right. In the end, the teal is as they remain, although I ended up buying some clearance sea glass at Michaels that may just end up covering the teal at some point. Only motivation and other finished projects will tell!

Paint Application

You hear a lot about the importance of the paintbrush choice when refinishing furniture or really any other painting project. This rounded paintbrush is an Annie Sloan brush. The website description says “Annie Sloan’s bristle Chalk Paint® Brushes are perfect for producing a textured, vintage finish. The bristles are strong, yet pliable, and are made of predominately pure bristles with natural split ends, allowing you to paint expressively. They hold a large amount of paint and can also be used for applying wax.”

I agree it holds a good bit of amount and definitely gives it a textured finish. Pictures below will show proof of it. Since the dresser started out with a dark cherry finish, the first coat of the Pure White Paint didn’t appear to cover much. I ended up doing three coats to get full coverage. It didn’t really feel like much work at all. I would throw a coat on, go complete some other tasks, then return for another round.

Hexagon Stencil

Unfortunately, I realized after the fact I was millimeters off on my wall hexagon stencil so was determined to get this smaller 3-inch hexagon stencil right. I used 12 x 12 Acetate stencil material I bought on Amazon to create the stencil with my Cricut. Here is the stencil pattern if you’re interested. After the tedious work of getting it just right, I went about painting the hexagons. 

The stenciling component was smaller in scale but felt like it took longer than painting the coats over the enter thing. I did one 12 x12 section at a time. Waiting was the name of the game, because I had to wait for it to dry enough to lay the stencil on the next section without creating a mess. After about 15 sections or so, the top was finished! My hexagon loving 7 year old was over the moon. 

The Finishings

The call in me to rough it up a bit had to be reined in to fit the modern look of the hexagon dresser, but I decided to go for a small amount around the drawer edges. This is simply accomplished with sandpaper and muscle. With a less than careful new user, I figured there was bound to be some scratching of the finish in its future. It seemed worth it to give it some of that charm ahead of time. 

As I noted above with the rounded paint brush, there was a definite texture to the finish. This can be seen in the first image below. My daughter was less than keen on the roughness, so I opted to sand down the ridges to a smoother finish. After the sanding, the finish was so wonderfully soft and smooth. The middle and right pictures show the difference. 

And with that, this Hexagon Stencil Dresser Refinish was a wrap. At the time, I didn’t have the right wax on hand. I moved it to the room to get it out of the overwhelmingly messy basement. My little gal loves her room and dresser with all the finishing touches just as she dictated. She’s the same daughter who wanted the Imagination Galaxy closet, which I completed the day before we moved furniture in to our new digs. This is also why she wants no part of giving up her room for the new baby sister due in December. This new room is definitely her safe space to feel completely in her element.

Safe Spaces for your Mental Health

Some of us don’t always have a safe space where we can create things just as we’d like. Sometimes, anxiety or feelings of extreme stress can strike when we don’t expect it in public, at the office, or at home. Not only is it important to create physically comfortable and safe spaces for when the need strikes, it can also help to create safe mental spaces. Using some soothing safe space imagery,

You can train and tone up your imagination like a muscle, so it works for you and not against you, helping you manage or soothe emotions at times of stress or difficulty. This builds inner-confidence and resilience, benefiting your overall wellbeing.

Sarah Rees, CBT therapist

On her website, Sarah Rees offers instructions on 7 steps to Safe Place Imagery Practice. If you’re feeling bogged down by mental madness, why not try to mentally create a place of calm in any situation. I know I benefit from focusing on something specific for a short time to unwind from the stress knots. For me, it tends to be running through how I’m going to accomplish a project that has been pending or is stuck on how it can be completed. I hope you find your mental and physical places of comfortable and calm today!

*This page contains affiliate links. This means if you use one of my links to make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Cathartic Crafting!

Brilliantly Beautiful Kid’s Rainbow Room Idea

As I posted in a previous Rainbow decor and rainbow fan post, my middle child is an avid rainbow lover and has been since she was a toddler. We redid her room for her 10th birthday in full rainbow fashion. Nine months later we were getting ready to move. With the prospect of a new room to design, a rainbow room was still the desire. She wanted a rainbow tree similar to one I painted on a canvas for her. From there it was just a matter of figuring out how to get the rainbow around the room. That’s when the butterfly rainbow room idea was born!

Rainbow chair, rainbow shelves, rainbow curtains, and rainbow lamp from our previous room makeover.

Rainbow Room Tree Mural

I also have a lifelong love; of drawing and painting trees. That’s not to say I’m super great at it but it’s been a focus of many of my sketches and paintings. At my daughter’s painting party a few years ago, I painted a rainbow tree for her on a small canvas. We used that as the inspiration here. I started by painting the trunk using cheap acrylic paint. After the base coat dried, I started with the details to give it some dimension. 

Using bunched-up paper towels, I dabbed each color starting with purple onto the wall. I can attest that it’s much easier than trying to paint leaves. After doing a layer of coloring, I did another coat of a dark shade of each color. Again, the idea was some added dimension. That’s all it took to finish the tree.

Rainbow Butterflies in Action

I got a Cricut for Christmas and had been itching to use it for something. This was the perfect opportunity to create sheets of rainbow butterflies to fly around the room. Here’s the template I created, which I’m attaching free for you to use, Butterfly Template.  To start, I bought a rainbow pack of cardstock. With the template created and the cardstock in hand, it was just a matter of waiting for the many sheets to print/cut. 

Butterflies Lifting Off into the Air

Using a double-sided tape roll, I stuck each butterfly to the wall with the wings flapping out. My daughter wanted the 3D effect, which I totally understood. Some butterflies fluttered to the ground and needed a bit more stick to them. I placed a good amount flying out from the tree and then the rest fluttered around the rest of the room. 

Completed Rainbow Room

From removing clutter to adding art that speaks to your happy emotions, your living spaces can contribute to your mental health. I know my daughter is completely happy in space being surrounded by the colors and things she loves. As noted in the article, How to Optimize your Space for Your Mental Health,

While there are many ways to improve your mental health including therapy, meditation, exercise, hobbies, a healthy diet, and time spent with loved ones, there are also small things we can do to create a shift in our mood. One of those small things is tweaking the space in which we live and work. These small changes and tweaks can make a world of difference in your overall mental well-being.

Very Well Mind

Don’t delay in creating your happy places!

*This page contains affiliate links. This means if you use one of my links to make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Cathartic Crafting!

Unique Rainbow Ceiling Fan Revamp for your Color Loving Kids

My daughter’s love of rainbows started when she was 2 years old. One of our favorite videos of her entails her proclaiming, “This is the most beautiful cake in the world, mom!!” as she looked at a rainbow cake in a board book. I couldn’t get out of that particular weekend without making her a replica of that rainbow cake. For her 10th birthday, I gave her a rainbow room makeover. After our recent move, we had another opportunity to go on a rainbow room adventure. We started with an easy rainbow ceiling fan.

Her fan is the same one in my parents’ kitchen. It has reversible fan blades, so I didn’t feel so bad about devoting this side to the rainbow update. 

Spray Paint Base

I knew that I was going to try spray painting, so I started with giving the brown a coat of white spray paint. I think any kind of spray paint would do.

After a quick-drying session, it was time to use the airbrush for a cheap win. If an airbrush isn’t at the ready in your craft space, a paintbrush will certainly do. I liked the prospect of a lighter and even color. 

I used watered-down acrylic paints for my airbrush. Given airbrushing is pretty new to me, I haven’t quite perfected my airbrush technique. Things when alright until I got to yellow. I don’t think I made the yellow thin enough because it started to get difficult to spray. What should have been a quick task, ended up being a frustrating one. And such is life. 

To touch up a little of the splatter spots, I used a paper towel dipped in the watered-down acrylic paint. With a bit of blotting, it was ready to go back on the ceiling. I do the watered-down paint as a cost-saving method but I think I may opt to see the difference in purchased airbrush paints. 

Rainbow Ceiling Fan

The fantastic thing about the rainbow fan blades is that when it’s spinning, the circular rainbow really comes together. My rainbow lover was thrilled with the end result! Having physical spaces that you love definitely helps your mental space. When your stressed by your physical space, it’s going to be difficult to keep your mental space right.

Mental Health Awareness

It’s not just adults who suffer from mental health issues, children can struggle with it in much the same ways. It’s important to check in and keep a pulse on how they are doing and handling all the “new” ways of life.  On Our Sleeves is a Movement for Children’s Mental Health. It provides evidence-based resources to help kids cope during this challenging time, provided by the experts at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, OH. 

A rainbow is often a sign of hope, the beauty after the storm, a pot of gold and good fortune at the rainbow’s end. For many, a rainbow carries a personal symbolic meaning–representing inclusivity and diversity, an all-embracing image of love and friendship.

For others, a rainbow might not mean good fortune and beauty, but something far off. The pot of gold isn’t there, or the love and friendship is there for others but not for them. Somewhere over the rainbow is far, far away. What does the rainbow mean to you? Share using #OnOurSleeves.

On Our Sleeves

For other creative activities to expand your mind and relationships, check out Crafting a Calming Corner to Assuage Parent and Child, How to Throw a Magical Harry Potter Party, Budget-Friendly DIY Monster Book of Monsters from Harry Potter or The Ultimate Cardboard Gingerbread House for Christmas Crazed Kids.

*This page contains affiliate links. This means if you use one of my links to make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Cathartic Crafting!

Imagination Closet for a Child’s In House Getaway

A new house means new opportunities and ideas. While we were planning for our coming move, my youngest put forward two ideas for her new room. One of them was a galaxy with black paint. I loved her creativity but wasn’t ready to go full-on black painted room. Thankfully, the closet in her new room was soo much bigger than what we had at our Westminster house. That fact translated really well into shifting the idea into a galaxy-inspired imagination closet for her to use as a hideaway. With more time being spent at home during this pandemic, it’s definitely an opportune time to provide more creative spaces for play and mental benefits. For us, it was also a way to get my youngest to be excited about the move.

If you know a thing or two about play therapy, you know the beneficial effects that come with allowing a child to express themselves through pretend situations. Children who play pretend can come up with their worlds and characters, through which they emulate some of the social skills they’ve observed in the real world and figure out how they apply to any given situation.

Betterhelp.com

Paint Choice

I didn’t do much analysis on which paint to use. I went with the easiest to get. This Krylon paint had great coverage, so it only needed a few touch-ups after the first coat. With a lot of projects to complete, this was a must.

We took the weekend to paint several rooms in the new house. My oldest felt more comfortable helping with the hidden closet than painting rooms.

Bringing out the Stars

Using what spray paints I had on hand, I started on the details of this imagination closet. Colors included lavender, purple, teal, blue, gold, and white. Short bursts of color worked to bring out the galaxy. I did a quick google search of different galaxy pictures, as is my usual practice. I admittedly am not great at painting and drawing without a visual. Lightly pushing on the white paint spray tip was the way to get speckles of stars in this galaxy. It took me about 10 minutes to finish the spray painting of the out of this world imagination closet.

Time to make it glow!

After several nights of unpacking at the new abode, it was finally time to paint the closet with glow in the dark paint. It was definitely maddening to have such a long list of tasks while working my normal job during the day. I’d grabbed a bottle of glow in the dark paint at Michael’s for a different Halloween project but didn’t end up using it. It was a new paint type for me. It didn’t take much to put it on for it to glow. I was quite surprised by how well it showed for a cheap paint! We painted in the dark with a black light which was also a first. My youngest was thrilled by the activity and a great time for us to spend together in creative activity. 

My daughter commented on how her painting was terrible compared to my glow in the dark painting. I can’t say whether this self-deprecation and lack of confidence is a common difficulty with other young kids but mine definitely exhibit it frequently. When I have to help squash their self-doubt, it pushes me to reflect on my own mentalities and lack of confidence. I know I think similar things to myself so it’s really no wonder I hear it coming from them. I am thankful these creative activities present opportunities for discussion between us and chances for growth within us all. It’s a chance to combat those doubts and build confidence in different venues and skill development. 

Personal Benefits from this Imagination Closet Project

I am thankful this small project has provided a place to escape and be imaginative, and it continues to develop the relationships with my girls and my mental space. Even as adults, I believe we should all participate in a bit of imagination. It can’t hurt to escape from reality every now and again, especially when it becomes a bit overwhelming.

 Creative activities and imaginative games with others give us the opportunity to recharge our brains, take a much-needed break from our daily stressors, and help us connect with those around us.

Betterhelp.com

For other creative activities to expand your mind and relationships, check out Crafting a Calming Corner to Assuage Parent and Child, How to Throw a Magical Harry Potter Party, Budget-Friendly DIY Monster Book of Monsters from Harry Potter or The Ultimate Cardboard Gingerbread House for Christmas Crazed Kids.

*This page contains affiliate links. This means if you use one of my links to make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Cathartic Crafting!

The Ultimate Cardboard Gingerbread House for Christmas Crazed Kids

As some of my other posts show, I have a strong love for cardboard. It’s easy to find, it’s free, it’s got a nice balance of flexibility and strength, fairly easy to manipulate, and it’s recyclable. I mean, with all those great characteristics, who wouldn’t love it?! I started just as many other parents, by providing the big box to the child, allowing their imagination to run wild. Since I love allowing my imagination to go wild, that only lasted so long for me. When we moved into our current house, I finally had the open space to run a little wild.
I made my first cardboard gingerbread house about 5 years ago. It stayed up well over a year before we took it down. My youngest spent many hours playing in that little house and why I recommend you make one of your very own if you’ve got the space. I hope my ideas help to inspire your own!

Now onto the Build

Materials:

  • Big and small cardboard boxes
  • Paper towel rolls or wrapping paper rolls
  • Contact paper
  • Toilet paper roll
  • Egg
  • Sticks
  • Scissors and/or razor
  • Hot glue gun and glue sticks (check out this link for a cordless hot glue gun, I know what I’m putting on my Christmas wish list!!!)
  • Paint and paintbrushes
  • Fake snow or whatever Christmas element you’d like to add

To start, it’s really up to the boxes you have on hand to determine your eventual house shape. Hot glue is a wonderfully quick and sturdy option to glue your pieces together. Thankfully, I had huge boxes from a refrigerator, a washer, dryer, and couches. I’ve found it’s quite easy to cut at the corners by running a razor down through it. 

I painted the wrapping paper rolls with the candy cane strips before cutting them open in one straight line. This was to open them up for gluing on the corners of the house/box. I truly loved the effect. We made some peppermints out of other bits of cardboard and hot glued them onto the front. From there, it was just a matter of painting the house front as we desired. 

The Front Door: the magical entrance to an imagination space

For the door, I cut out an open panel to let the girls have a spot to look through while in the house. To give it a personalized touch, I used contact paper so my girls could create a little winter scene. I sealed it with a backside of contact paper and glued it to the back of the door. 

For the handle, I knew I wanted to make it able to turn and “lock” into position. Below is what I came up with based on what I had on hand. My motto is generally to use what I have rather than look to buy something. I used a toilet paper roll and two wooden dowels I had for cake stability or some other craft project. It was easy enough to cut the hole for the toilet paper roll and holes for the sticks that would keep the door in place. The problem was that the toilet paper roll wasn’t strong enough on the edge now to be crushed.

A bit of ingenuity

I came up with using an egg out of my fridge. I blew out the innards and then coated it in Mod Podge to seal it and give it some added strength. After that, I stuck the egg into the end of the toilet paper roll. Looking back, I admit it does seem rather odd, but it worked perfectly and lasted a really really long time. It wasn’t until we had some little boys over to play that one egg ended up crushed, cause, you know, BOYS. 

For the chimney, I used a white square cardboard box. It was easy to cut the bottom at the angle of the roof. Then, my oldest daughter helped me to paint the stone look of it. I used some super hard corner cardboard pieces (the kind that comes with appliances or furniture) as the roof seam. 

“He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight—
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

Clement Clarke Moore, The Night Before Christmas

Stepping inside this Cardboard Gingerbread House

Obviously, a cozy Cardboard Gingerbread house isn’t much without a roaring stone fireplace. Using another super-stiff box, I cut it in half and then cut the front down the middle to be able to bend back for the fireplace shape. My oldest was then 7 and really enjoyed helping paint the stones. You can really see the concentration on her face here. Did you know crafting with kids can build their confidence? As they start to see the results of their work, it proves how much they can do just by trying. 

With the fireplace in place, it was only a matter of rolling up some brown cardstock into sticks and cutting and gluing some tissue paper together to create the roaring fire. There were cut off corner pieces needing to be repurposed, so I glued them to the corners as shelves. In the below photo, you can hopefully see I used some bent cardboard as roof supports to keep it solidly in place. It was easy enough to then tuck the light strings into the open spots. 

Just a few hours of crafting and engineering precision, created years of enjoyment for my three girls!

Upping the ante with Cardboard Gingerbread House #2

For my daughter’s 6th birthday, I made a Haunted Cardboard house for the birthday party. Since I’d put so much work into it, we weren’t about to take it down right afterward. Together, we spruced it up to turn it into another cardboard gingerbread house. Because I’m a bit of a hoarder, not really, just an avid “repurposer”, we were able to use the chimney and fireplace we’d created the first time around.

Join me on the Inside

Obviously, the square footage of this house was a great deal more than the previous one. The girls were able to go full-on Christmas on the inside. It was such a fun Christmas activity to get us in the spirit!

“Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there…”

Clement Clarke Moore, The Night Before Christmas

 

*This page contains affiliate links. This means if you use one of my links to make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Cathartic Crafting!

Easy Storage Bench Refinish from Drab to Fabulously Feathered

Sometimes when we grow tired of furniture, we decide to replace it with something new. Why not save the money by giving the piece a new look? For this storage bench, it wasn’t at all that I’d rather buy a new one, it was more, “I’m going to give it a more sophisticated look so my husband accepts it being in the hallway” scenario. My daughter no longer wanted it in her small room, so I decided the bench and the toys it stored might be a fit for the empty space in our upper landing. And thus starts the story of this storage bench refinish. 

Bench Refinish First Steps

In all of my other refinishing posts thus far (Stenciled Coffee Table and Revamping a Bookcase) I’ve made it a point to reinforce sanding the surface before painting. I’ve also noted it’s not on my list of favorite things to do. With that being that case, I opted to grab this deglosser off the shelf during a shopping trip at Lowe’s. I figured if it saved me 30 minutes of sanding, it was worth the $8.

Basic instructions include putting the deglosser on a clean cloth and rubbing in a circular motion over all glossy surfaces. If you like easy, this is it. This bench definitely had a glossy surface despite all the years of use, which would definitely have been a paint chipping risk if I didn’t do something to it. I liked that using the deglosser didn’t involve full paint removal or scraping. Definitely, a thumbs down if trying to work in an arm workout (those who sand know what I mean) but a thumbs up for the mental state. Yet to tell is how effective it will be for keeping the paint in place.

Refinishing Paint Choice of the Day

In a few of my other refinishing projects, I’ve noted my choice for paints that fit a tight budget. This time, with some birthday money burning a hole in my pocket, I opted to get one of my favorite paints: Fusion Mineral Paint. Since all the stores within acceptable driving distance had closed, I decided to place an order with Vintique Finishes. I picked out two of the available colors and a new brush (brushes sadly don’t tend to last long with me) and was giddy with anticipation for the package arrival. 

You can really see how thick the paint is here. I did two coats which is recommended for durability.

Gold had to go, so a few sprays of spray paint gave them a new look.

Quick Shopping Trip

I don’t normally shop for fabric online because it’s hard to get a feel for scale. Not knowing what I wanted to get for the bench pad, I decided to do it this time as it seemed much easier to look at the little squares of options. This ended up being a wise choice. I found this feathered home decor fabric at Joann’s that ended up matching perfectly with the Sacred Sage fusion paint. After placing my order, I picked it up the next day before swinging by Hobby Lobby on a stencil search. I found two options as seen below. One was a silkscreen stencil, which I hadn’t tried before.

Sewing Time

I admittedly wing my sewing projects since I’m not an expert sewer. Contemplation is the name of the game. I tend to contemplate the best method to go at it for a bit and then push myself to start. Doing a box cut would be easier to do to have all the seams on the corner, but I just didn’t feel like doing all that cutting and sewing if I could achieve it by keeping the material completely intact. Here’s a video by Peg Baker on how to achieve the box cut pattern. I bought a 22-inch invisible zipper (that’s the longest they had in stock) and went to work. Given that the zipper wouldn’t haven’t been long enough for the back, I decided to put it on the end. This was a bit trickier than if I’d have gone with the long back seam.

It’s always important to pin the zipper securely in place.
My Greater Swiss Mountain dog, Skye, was really enjoying the soft cushion.

Bench Refinish Stencil Mania

Silk Screen Stencils

Like I said, I hadn’t used silkscreen stencils. I wasn’t even sure what the difference would be between them and traditional stencils. After seeing what made them unique, I’m in love.

The magic of this is their sticker-like quality. Stick them in place and use a fair amount of paint applied with a sponge brush. No tap tap tapping is needed here. I loved that fact alone.



My daughters watched intently while I worked on my project. All the while telling me I use stencils for too many things. It’s not far from the truth. I have come to use stencils in many of my projects as a preferred way to add a unique flair. I suppose I’ll refrain from stencils on my next refinish to avoid becoming a one-trick pony. Anyway, I initially did 5 feathers.  After sleeping on thinking it was a bit blah, I decided to go for a feather frenzy. I was glad I did by the end.

Final touch

I had thought I was finished but just wasn’t quite as happy with the transformation. The bottom portion was missing something but I was afraid of adding another explosion of feathers there. I opted to give it a faux cut out look by painting rectangles.

Out came the squares, painter’s tape, and measuring tape. I used the width of the small square for tracing to make my life easy. I did a bit of math to ensure the rectangles would be spaced equally apart and from the outside edge. Then I used some Lamp White fusion paint I had leftover from another project. After peeling off the paint, I called it complete.

The Before and After

What do you think? My youngest preferred the white and was a bit upset by the change. My 10-year-old on the other hand felt it was an awesome transformation. To each her own I suppose when it comes to refinishing. I hope you enjoyed this storage bench refinish and it gave you some ideas for your own projects. If you’re looking for more, take a look at Furniture Refinishing

*This page contains affiliate links. This means if you use one of my links to make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Cathartic Crafting!

Teen Bedroom Design with Simple Painted Focal Wall and Succulents

Right after my 12-year old’s birthday, she started on about re-doing her owl-themed bedroom. It was painted light blue and had owl paintings and owl curtains. After 4 years, she had finally outgrown it. I still felt as though I’d only just finished decorating our ‘new’ house. Her room was one of the first I tackled after the builders fixed the nail pops a year after we moved into the brand new house. It was definitely time for an update for her. If you’re looking for some ideas for your own preteen or teen, you’d better follow along!

Before

For the previous owl theme, I had painted three pictures for her. She had porcelain dolls from my childhood collection on the wall shelves and a wire cage hanging in the corner with a stuffed owl. This child’s theme was no longer suitable for an almost teen.

Teen Bedroom Must Haves

So when my oldest said she wanted to update her room, I couldn’t blame her. It’d really been just about the same as the pictures above for the last 4 years. For her new room, she said she wanted it to be gray and white, to have succulents and LED lights. She wanted simplicity. It was right up my alley since gray was in other parts of the house and I’m definitely a succulent lover. It’s really too bad that I’m also a succulent killer. Anyway…

I saw photos of this main geometric wall feature and really liked it. My preteen was on board with it, so she chose her colors with some guidance. We went with three Sherwin Williams colors:

Feather bedspread from the previous theme.

We used flat paint because that’s all that was available in the quart sizes of super paint. I don’t tend to like doing flat paint because it’s harder to clean. I like eggshell or satin for bedrooms. That being said, I will definitely give it to this flat paint for how smooth and even it goes on the wall. That is the benefit of flat paint. For this wall feature, I used painter’s tape to create the sections. You can really put them wherever you want. I painted the pink section first. Then while it was drying, I started on the other walls. I moved the tape from the outside of the pink area to the inside of the pink area to start on the dark gray section. It took me about half a day to paint her entire room with two coats.

Teen’s Ultimate Must Have

Her ‘must-have’ was a string of LED lights. She couldn’t wait for me to put them up on the wall with her and ended up putting them up by herself. Unfortunately, it ended up being slightly crooked and wobbly because of it. She loves them regardless and tends to use those LED lights rather than her ceiling light. If you’re looking for a sure-fire win with your teen, I’d say this is it.

Curtains for the Teen Bedroom

I’m generally floored with how expensive curtains can be, so I tend to do quite a bit of looking before buying. We looked at Target, HomeGoods, Walmart, and Boscov’s (all local options) for something to match that wouldn’t break my wallet right after all the Christmas purchases. We came up empty. I ended up being at Big Lots on 20% off day and found thick white curtains that would match the room and weren’t so sheer people on the street below would be able to see through. It was a huge win in my book. I like the large grommet look as well.

Other Small Teen Additions

She moved her earrings from her Hello Kitty holder to my DIY framed earring holder. Be sure to check out my easy tutorial!

She hung her Fuji Instant photos on a string of clip lights. Then I re-positioned her previous wall decor around it. All hung courtesy of Command Hooks.

She emptied a large bookcase filled with books in order to free up this space. I questioned where she would put everything, but she made it happen. It was a blond composite bookcase as tall as the windows that we’d gotten from my sister. The shelves were sagging a bit from the weight of years of books. I ended up cutting in half to make lemonade and bakery stand for my two other daughters. It was a win for them all.
All those books came to fill the shelves of this inset bookcase I did for her. I’d wanted to do this for 5 years and finally made it a priority. We were both over the moon with the result.

Desk Update

We used the leftover Rosy outlook and Dustblu to paint her purple desk. My preteen used the roller for the top of the desk because it was faster. This sadly ended up being a mistake because it now has a bumpy surface. You can see my gray and white striped hallway through the doorway, click the link for my run through on how to get the look.
“Yuck!” is how I feel about this finish. She says she doesn’t care, but she has to put a hard surface under her paper to be able to write neatly. I’m pretty sure I will sand it down at some point and fix the issue.
She (and I) would love to paint these dressers white or get a different set. They were mine as a kid and still have a pristine finish. I love a good refinish project as you can probably tell from this blog.
Every teen needs a mirror to check out their outfit. This is her Command hooks closet door. Truly, this post could be sponsored by Command hooks with how much I love them. The mirror is held up by them, the purses and hats are hanging on the command hooks, the light strings are hung with the special light ones. We painted the trim of this cheap mirror with acrylic paint.

Succulents

My daughter is a girl after my own heart. I love succulents and buying them. Most often, I seem to be throwing my money away because I couldn’t keep a hen and chick succulent alive to save my life. So for this pretty setup, we went fake. 

A another hint of succulents from Michaels when they were on sale. This octagon shelf was a mommy-daughter project. I really liked how it all came together.

Completed Teen Bedroom Makeover

So that rounds out what we did to bring her kid’s room up to teen room standards. Even as I write that, I’m stunned that I’m old enough to be a mom to an almost teen. She’s still pestering for a full-size bed and new dressers and I’m still generating ideas on how to make the bed. My parents made several unique beds for us, so I know I could do it. I’ll have to make it an incentive to get her to control her teenage attitude. Ha. I don’t know that even that would work.

The new bed set big enough for a future full-size bed.

And that’s all she wrote…literally….I’m done. I hope you got some ideas out of it for your own teen’s room!

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Wide Stripes: Hallway Paint Idea for a Unique Look

Strip Hallway Paint Idea

Our first home was a three-bedroom house with no real hallways. When we moved into our new house, I was so excited by this long hallway. Whereas all three bedroom doors used to be right next to each other, we couldn’t even see the door of the 5th bedroom at the end of the hall. It felt gloriously spacious. I knew I had to something special with this long wall. I settled on wide stripes as the backdrop for the gallery of photos I had just put together for the old house. If you’re looking for a statement hallway, go and ahead and try this stripe hallway paint idea.

Hallway Paint Idea

While searching for ideas for the new house, I was inspired by a wall on Girl in The Red Shoes. I loved the gray and white color pallet. The wide stripes also seemed less time consuming and busy than thinner striped versions. 

Getting Started

Supplies:

  • Painter’s Tape
  • Measuring Tape
  • White Paint in your desired finish (I used Satin)
  • Gray Paint in the same finish
  • Lazer level (if you have one)
  • Paint brushes
  • Two Paint Rollers
  • Step ladder
  • TIME

Maybe your asking yourself, “what is my desired finish”? To answer that, check out this fun pictorial from Building Moxie.

 

 

Paint Sheen by Room via Renovate Your World

 

I generally stay away from flat for the simple reason that it seems to collect dirt. Our walls had year old builder grade flat white paint that was DIRTY from 3 little girls.  Satin was my paint finish choice. 

Blank Canvas needing a Hallway Paint idea

The first step was to paint the whole wall with satin white paint. I used Color Place paint in Candlestick Silver for this. A quick tip for those painting over builder’s flat paint; you need to buy more paint than you think. The flat paint absorbs a lot of it.

The long hallway that inspired this hallway paint idea
This hallway is soooo long!

The Stripes

Using painter's tape for this hallway paint idea

Measure Measure Measure

To start, I measured the height of the wall (85 inches) and then determined an equal measurement for the stripes (7 stripes at roughly 12 2/16inches). As I said in my Stencil Coffee Table post, using those math skills tends to be necessary in my projects. This hallway paint idea was no different. Since I didn’t have a lazer level at the time, I initially measured from the ceiling and marked the height at several distances across the span of the wall. After the measuring and marking was complete, I started taping. 

What I realized when I got to the end of the hallway was that the crown molding was not completely straight and even. This meant my last stripe was thinner on one end than it was at the other. AHHHHHH. I had to measure all over again but from the floor. This was why my husband was wondering why it was taking me so long to finish. From there, I painted two coats of gray from the top and alternating down the stripes. 


Alternative Method for this Hallway Paint Idea

If measuring seems too tedious, I would definitely recommend a lazer level. I tend to do things as cheaply as possible, which generally means I’m not buying the tools that will undoubtedly make my life easier. Easier in this case being also more time effective. Obviously, that’s not everyone’s cup of tea. For those looking to make the project easier, here’s a quick video to help you decide what kind to go with Top 6 Lazer Level Review.  Among some common uses of lazer levels could be hanging pictures in line and placing anchors for shelves. 

Finished Striped hallway paint idea

Harder than measuring and taping was figuring out how I wanted to place all the photos and choosing the photos. As a fan of symmetry,  I tried to maintain symmetry as best I could. I put the frames on the floor to figure out how I wanted them to be positioned before taking it to the wall. Then, I measured the wall to find the middle position to hang the middle picture frame of my husband and me. 

Strip Hallway Paint Idea

Gallery wall with our initials. I had the K and G for years before I found a D that was close enough in size and style.

For the other walls in the hallway, I painted them solid gray. The white trim and crown molding tied it all together nicely. I hope you enjoyed the rundown and tips. Happy painting!

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