Ikea Latt Hack

Heeeeeelllllllloooooooooooooo!!
Been a while, eh?  Did anyone besides my sister read the Mrs. Doubtfire into that HELLO??  Summer in the tudor has been delightful so far and thankfully having less to write about here means we have been enjoying our home and neighborhood and not doing much in the way of big projects or updates.

I should say that was all true until last night when my husband stayed up until midnight designing our new facade and interior floor plan for our one-day (in the distant future) expansion.  He was inspired by a house he saw this weekend and clearly had to put pencil to paper to get to sleep.  He did an amazing job and I was happily inspired but hopefully it can now be put to bed for a couple years until our bank account is as big as his design.

the inspiration

I have been up to one little, easy project I thought I'd share.  My son's speech therapist had been recommending a table and chair set-up for some of his therapy and I'd been uninspired by the readily available plastic or primary colored wood options for $60 and up.  I remembered the little Ikea pine table with a little price tag ($19) that would work great with our little space and got to work.



I didn't want to spend money on paint in case the table was little used but had just enough left from painting his room to spruce it up.  We also spent $5 on a polyurethane clear coat spray.

I painted the pieces before we put it together and prioritized based on the amount of each color I had left.  I didn't have much Citronella left but was happy with the splashes of brighter color and think any more would have been too much.

After two coats of each color that took many days of flipping and drying, my husband assembled the table.

I then touched up a few mistakes and rough spots before clear coating.  We taped off the table top and chair seats before applying the clear coat.  We let it dry for a couple of days and viola!!!!

 

I thought about using spray adhesive to add fabric to the chair seats but thought one splash of red paint or marker could ruin the whole table.  I think some little, washable, tie-on chair cushions would be really cute.  I have some perfect fabric and if I have any left from an upcoming project, I'll stitch some together and show you all how it turns out.

I also still might share where this paint all came from everywhere else in his room. ;) It keeps changing as we add and subtract pieces but I have plenty of pictures to share so you'd all get the idea.  Maybe someday...................

In the meantime my office/craft room is up next.  I'd LOVE to have a clean organized space by the time the cooler, craft-inspiring days of fall are upon us.  I have a plan and some great organizing pieces already purchased so now all I need is Time and Inspiration to get to work.  Let me know if you come across either of those on sale anywhere!

new art

I've framed and placed a couple new art pieces in the last few weeks that I wanted to share.

The first is Ork poster's Denver screen print:

I'd been wanting this for some time and decided to bite the bullet so we'd have it for our big Memorial Day BBQ.  The poster was not expensive at $34 including shipping but framing an 18" square is NOT easy.  Thanks to a wonderful woman at Aaron Brothers who kept looking and looking, I was able to use a 20" square collage frame along with a custom mat and their Timeframe framing services for upgraded UV glass, etc.  It wasn't cheap but was a lot less than custom framing and allowed me to keep a square frame rather than the rectangular route I thought I'd be tied to.  Eventually the wall behind this will be much closer to the color of the mat.

Next, I hung my Mother's Day Gift, the Legacy of an Adopted Child print by Chloe Marty.  I'd been asking for this for almost two years and with some direction (multiple emails with exacting instructions,) my wonderful husband remembered it for Mother's Day.   I babysat an adopted kiddo when I was in high school and he had a similar sentiment hanging in the hall outside his room.  As young as 4 he would say, "that's the special story about how I'm adopted."  I hope that over the years my print is as meaningful for our family.

I had just started painting the adjacent bathroom and I love how the wall color there compliments this print as you open the door. 

lately

I've been...........

pLANNING

our Memorial Day BBQ

(pEEK)

pAINTING

both bathrooms

with Sherwin Williams Rainwashed

(here's a before)

(before & after)

(I love this color even more than I thought and it really makes the white wainscoting pOP and the wood look darker and cooler)

pLANTING

these on the front porch and some more in the back

there's the sand you all voted for

every morning I peek out to see if these pEONIES are closer to blooming

pLAYING

with Pinterest pROJECTS,

pLACE-SETTINGS, 

and my new pATIO furniture.

more pINWHEELS on my summer mantel

pLOTTING pURPOSEFULLY

I've also been busy trying to help with the garden at my son's school, getting donations for a charity golf tournament to benefit a family grief center, and jumping through the city's hoops to put on a block party for our street in June.  So much for simplifying! Helping out always feels good when the helping is done though. :)

to every season....TURN! Turn already!!

Well I'm back at the Tiny Tudor after a nice reprieve in the desert and lots of things are happening here.  Another blogger I follow recently wrote that she can have only 2 of 3 of the following at any one time; happy kids, a clean house and an updated blog.  I know this blog, which is my second, is always first to be neglected but I do think I have my priorities straight.  Some of the happenings make me think this blog will be changing or maybe going away all together but I'm going to attempt to keep at it for now.  (and no, there are no additions to our family on the way ;))
How many times have I threatened to share Ben's finished room? I think we're up to 4 but I'm too wiped out today to edit and choose the final pics. 
I'm also very excited to share our new patio furniture but the chairs await assembly and the table is covered BY SNOW!
Spring has been slow to start in our neck of the woods but with mid-seventies on tap for this weekend I really really think we might now have seen the last snow.
Not unlike giving a mouse a cookie, if you give a girl a new patio table, she will want new outdoor serve wear.  I do think any additions in this department will come at the end of the season when they are on clearance, but it doesn't hurt to look, does it?
Here are some pieces and collections I love from around the interwebs.
I hope Spring has sprung where you are and I hope I get myself together enough to post some room reveals soon!! 


I really love Target's ikat collection and love the prices even more.


Pier 1's trellis collection has a great neutrality to me despite the single color.




This is Pottery Barn's Cabo collection and I love the versatility with the many colors.



This is Williams Sonoma's La Med melamine collection.  I think it's too cool with our likely cushions and all our red brick, but I love it.