Tag: Decorating

Create a Wow Factor in any Room with Easy Decorative Fretwork Panels

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While planning for our impending move, I was really looking to try some new things with the space. I came across some images for fretwork panels and was immediately hooked. Of course, I had to pass the idea through my husband. Thankfully, he also liked the look of them, so I had my ‘all clear’.

I did quite a bit of searching due to the variations in price and design. You can definitely get smaller panels. Given my chosen wall was quite lengthy, I was looking for larger panels. I admittedly did an abysmal job of predicting how much I would need to purchase. Due to the expense of the panels, it was absolutely hopeful thinking to order low and hope it covered enough. If I were to do it again, I probably would have gone with the fireplace wall in this same room simply for the cost savings. Definitely a live and learn moment for me. Regardless, it sure turned out pretty!

Fretwork Panel Supplies

My chosen paint color was Sherwin Williams Succulent from the Emerald Design color pallet. I was slightly worried the dark green would be too much in the space, but the whole family has really liked it. After a little looking at how others attached the fretwork panels to the wall, I found different versions of screws, glue, and tape. I opted for the tape below that has super good hold. I’m slightly worried about the day I want to take the panels down to repaint but will deal with that day when it comes. 

Easy as 1, 2, 3

It only takes four small cuts of the gooey double-sided tape in the corners to stick the panels to the wall. So easy that even my seven-year-old was able to help with this project. The tape has a plastic covering you have to peel off of the second sticky side. After 10 minutes of fighting with getting the plastic off the little cut strips, we smartened up. We pulled the plastic off a good portion of the tape and then cut the pieces. It was so much quicker that way. After creating our assembly line of tape cutter, tape placer, transporter, and leveler, we were lightning quick getting it up!

This next step is THE MOST IMPORTANT step of the whole thing; use a small level ON EVERY SINGLE PIECE. As you begin to place the pieces, it’s super easy to start by lining up the pieces along the ceiling and corners of the room. You’ll feel quite confident the panels are level doing so, but it’s still your best plan to level even those panels. For my chosen pattern, I had to measure the middle of the squared pieces to ensure the crosses would keep everything in line. I readily admit I was nervous to start this project thinking that it was going to be difficult to keep lined up. After just a few panels, it was a breeze and no worry at all. 

Level, Level, Level………………and Level some more

And below is when I ran out of panels (for a second time) to finish the bottom….

Easy Cuts to Finish off the Fretwork Panels Wall

After waiting another week for the next order to arrive, it was time to cut the panels to size. I used my old-school radial arm saw to get the job done. Some day, I’ll get some updated tools. 

The ultimate satisfaction; seeing the pieces fit in beautifully against the trim. 

Fretwork Panels Wall Finale

And with the last of the cut pieces in place, this project was completed. From a picture, it definitely looks like more of a stencil, so it definitely has more impact in person. I’m now toying with the idea of strategically placing pictures in the centers, so there may be an update in the future!

From removing clutter to adding art that speaks to your happy emotions, your living spaces can contribute to your mental health. We all feel a sense of comfort sitting in this room together as a family. 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! Check out some other home designs; Rainbow Room, Calming Corner, or Teen Bedroom Design

*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!

Super Simple Succulent Decor Ideas for a Struggling Plant Mom

This quote pretty accurately describes my feelings about succulents and other plants. In doing some research, I found this article on the 11 Ways Plants Enhance Your Mental and Emotional Health from Psychology Today. Take a look at #7; Higher levels of creativity! Who doesn’t love succulents and cacti? This article on the Top 8 House Plants to Help with Mental Health explains why those plants in particular help with your mental health. During these uncertain times, it’s definitely necessary to do what you can to keep stress and anxiety at bay. With that being said, who’s ready to put together some succulent decor?!

You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy succulents! And that is pretty much the same thing.

-Unknown

Time to Run through Three Succulent Decor Ideas

Simplicity at it’s Best

Cacti Succulent Decor

This simple set up comes by the way of Lowe’s gardening center, Michaels’ rocks, pots from a failed potting present and Target. The rocks were my attempt at creating a more prosperous environment for hen and chicks after many deaths. It sadly failed just like those before it. At some point, I will figure out how to keep them alive, but for now, I decided I’d be best to stick with simpler cacti for a bit. This bluish-gray platter was on clearance at Target and a perfect fit for these pots. So far, I’ve been able to keep these cacti alive by spritzing them with water I spray these cacti with a spray bottle once a week. The flowers have stuck around for months, so I’m at last doing something right. 

Long Lasting Succulent Decor

When my daughter said she wanted to have succulent decor in her ‘new’ room, I pushed for the fake variety for her. I initially found some individual stems at Big Lots months before, but we needed more than what I’d gotten. We went on a little mother-daughter shopping trip to Michaels. My oldest is talented in a great many ways but doesn’t typically go the crafting route with me as my other two girls do. It was a nice time to get away and pick out some items for her to put together. She picked out the extra succulents, the glass container, and the sand color. 

All that was needed was to throw the sand into the glass and arrange the succulents as she liked. I enjoy the look of this angled bowl combined with the varying heights of the succulents. In order to achieve that, we had to cut the thick stems with wire cutters to make it all work together. You can see it in her renewed room here…

Easy Square Plant Hanger

A little woodworking never hurt anybody…. Just kidding, it definitely could, if you’re not careful. This square hanger is super simple and involves a wee bit of woodworking.

Materials

  • 1″ x 3″ x 6″ pine
  • Wood Glue
  • Paint or stain
  • Hook
  • Small planter hanger
  • A Plant
  • Nail Gun
  • Saw (I used this arm saw, but any variety of saws could cut the 4 pieces of wood.)

There are only a few steps for this project. 15 minutes and you could be finished with all four steps

  1. Cut the wood to size. Two 10 inch long pieces and two 8 1/2 inch pieces.
  2. Put wood glue on the ends of the top and bottom pieces.
  3. Use a nail gun to nail the top and bottom in place.
  4. Stain/paint it

I found this wood tint and plant holder (seen below) at an A.C. Moore going out of business sale. Those items inspired me to make this rustic wood holder. I hadn’t used ‘wood tint’ before this, so figured I’d give it a go. Even after using it, I’m wasn’t quite sure what the difference was between it and stain, because they seemed mostly the same to me. Given that, I did a quick internet search. I found a post from Repurpose and Upcycle that provides an awesome explanation of the two and when to use one over the other. The wood tint seemed to provide good initial coverage based on this first experience. It also dried quickly, which keeps for the quick and easy strategy here.

I found these river rocks at Lowe’s as well. Simple is the name of the game. Put the plant in and spoon the rocks in around it. Then, it’s ready to put the hook into the ceiling of the square. It’s best to pre-drill a hole for the hook but it can also just be screwed in without it. The rope that came with the glass globe was too long, so I used some twine I had on hand. I also preferred the look of the twine, so it was a win-win.

Final Succulent Decor

And that’s it! I hope you enjoyed the simplicity of these ideas. Two of them can be found in my daughter’s newly made-over bedroom. To read more, click here…

Don’t forget that plants help with stress reduction, so go ahead and place them in areas where you tend to feel a little more stressed. I guess that’s why I love keeping them in my office.

*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!

*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!

Fantastically Colorful DIY Rainbow Shelves

Rainbow Shelves

Dare to love yourself as if you were a rainbow with gold at both ends.
― Aberjhani, Journey through the Power of the Rainbow

In 2015, we moved our family of five from a three-bedroom house to a five-bedroom house with loads of extra space. It was glorious for all of us, especially for the 7 and 4-year-old sisters who were previously sharing a room. The oldest liked sleeping with the door open, with music and lights on while the younger one preferred sleeping with the door closed in the quiet and with the lights off. Besides being able to control their own space, they also got to choose their room themes. The then 4-year-old unwaveringly went for

R A I N B O W

as her theme of choice. Curtains and sheets were easy to find. Shelves, on the other hand, weren’t something I could find in any nearby stores. The obvious choice was a mommy/daughter project to craft our own.

Supplies: 

  • Wood Cubes
  • Small Wood Screws
  • Wood Glue
  • Paint
  • Scrapbook Paper
  • Mod Podge
  • Paint Brush

I came across a nine square set of nesting cubes and decided to make them into a fun shelving unit for my rainbow lover’s room.

Each cube had a bracket to hang each individually. I thought it’d be easier to have them connected to each other. This would mean I’d have fewer nail holes in the wall. I used tiny wood screws to secure the cubes to each other in the fashioning of our design. Something to keep in mind when screwing into any wood is the likelihood of splintering or cracking when drilling the screw without predrilled holes. If there’s a chance it’ll crack or you’re unsure, it’s best to drill a hole prior to screwing in the screw. Be sure to use a drill bit no bigger than the width of the screw core to prevent the hole from being bigger than the screw.

After the cubes were secured to each other, my middle child and I started with the painting. Her motto is ‘you can never have too much rainbow in your life’. I love when I can infuse mommy-daughter time with crafting (so long as it’s more fun than frustrating). Generally, it’s a double bonus for me to have girls who enjoy doing some of the same things as me. As an adult, I have come to realize as a child I learned so much by simply watching and helping. I hope my girls learn as much from me on how to be handy and self-sufficient as I learned from my parents.

A fun Rainbow Pop with Patterns

We could have kept it simple by painting all the surfaces, but I thought it’d be fun to give it a pop of pattern to the cubes, in addition to the pops of color. It was more likely to see the ceiling of each cube when hung on the wall. This pushed my decision to use scrapbook paper to spruce up the ceiling of each cube. (Scrapbook paper really has so many uses.)

I cut colored and patterned paper to the size of the corresponding cube. Using my favorite Mod Podge, I glued them to the wood surface. I’m sure you can read the Mod podge instructions for yourself, but I’ll explain it here for you as well. Use a paintbrush to paint it onto the surface first. Then paint the back of the paper and smooth the paper onto the surface to remove any bubbles. This isn’t necessarily as easy as it sounds. Those pesky bubbles and wrinkles can be a pain to get smoothed out. Finish it up by painting the final top coating to protect the surface.

I have had the same bottle of mod podge for years. It’s lasted me through many projects. Check out some other projects you can use with mod podge.

Once the paint and glue were dry, hanging and filling the shelves were the only tasks left. My little Lily was excited to get her things in there.

Rainbow Shelf #2

We already had a shelf on hand for the next rainbow incorporation. I decided to do a fun bottom since that would be the only part to really show. I used scrapbook paper and Mod Podge again to adhere the paper to the surface. While cutting the paper to size to fill the length, the chevron pattern matched perfectly. In looking at the photo below, I obviously failed to put the two pieces in the right spots. It’s very likely I was slightly distracted by my chattering girls. It doesn’t take long for Mod Podge to work, so I was stuck (literally) with my mess up. My OCD self still gets annoyed with this mistake, but luckily my middle child was okay with it.

Rainbow scrapbook paper
Rainbow scrapbook paper shelf

Simple and easy is the best way to be when the task list is long. One project down in a night’s time and a daughter over the moon with her finished rainbow project.

Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.
― Maya Angelou

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