One Lovely Blog

Yesterday, I was so generously awarded the “One Lovely Blog Award” by The Sister Sophisticate.  What a fun and unexpected surprise!!!  Especially, since my blog has been lacking lately due to the big bump that’s growing inside of me. 

Since I received this award I have to tell you 7 things about myself.  I’ll try to think of things that you may not know so that it is more interesting.

1.  Let’s reserve 2-7 for things that you don’t know because number one has to be the fact that I’m pregnant (which I’ve talked about A LOT), due any day now and dying to have this baby.  My official due date is June 1st but the doctors moved my due date up to May 22nd about a month and a half ago.  In case you aren’t by a calendar that was 2 DAYS AGO!!!!  They also told me about 2 weeks ago that I probably had about 48 hours to go.  They obviously didn’t have a clue what they were talking about.  Can’t I just have this little man already!!!

2.  I really, REALLY hate bugs.  Spiders in particular.  I scream every time I see a spider.  Even if it’s the size of my pinky finger nail.  My husband on the other hand is scared of snakes but not spiders.  We make a good team because snakes don’t bother me in the least, and he kills all the spiders for me. 

3.  I’m really loving blue right now.  It took me a while to warm up to the color blue but now I love it and I don’t ever want it to go away.  My mom thinks it has something to do with the fact that I’m having a boy.

4.  I’m always cold (with the exception of these last few months of pregnancy).  Even in the dead of summer while laying on the beach I can get chill bumps. 

5.  **Cheeseball alert**  My hubby and I were set up by our 2 best friends and he originally contacted me through a message on MySpace (who even remembers MySpace???).  The 2 best friends ended up being our maid of honor and best man in our wedding.  They were pretty proud of themselves for making a successful match.

6.  I have a crazy Jack Russell Terrier named Sweetie and I have diagnosed her with “OCSD” (Obsessive Compulsive Squirrel Disorder).  She seriously obsesses about them night and day.  Now that we have a yard for her to play in she hunts for them all day long.  Her second favorite hobby besides looking for squirrels is swimming.

7.  And, for the very last fact, I really like to sing and even tried out for American Idol a few years ago.  I obviously didn’t make it but it was a fun experience.

I hope you enjoyed getting to know some fun facts about me.

Here are the blogs that I’m passing this award on to.  I think these blogs are lovely and I’m sure you will too. 

The Painted House

Savor Home

Cookin’ Cowgirl  - (All I have to say is YUM)

LiveJournal Tags: Lovely Blog Award

Ikea’s MAskros Gets “Sputnikerized”

Have you been to Jenny’s blog yet today?!?!?!? 

[Little Green Notebook]

If not, you have to check it out to see how she totally transformed the MASKROS chandy from IKEA to make it look more like a chrystal Sputnik chandelier. 

Her transformation of this chandelier is incredible!!!

Click HERE to go straight to the post so you can get the whole DIY tutorial.

LiveJournal Tags: Ikea hack,sputnik chandelier,little green notebook,maskros

Chase’s Nursery – diy pAINTED iKEA Rug

It’s been so long since I’ve posted anything about Chase’s nursery design.  I have had so little time to post anything but have been doing so much to it.  The nursery is basically complete with the exception of a few pieces of art.  I’ll do a big reveal once I have all of the artwork up, but for now I thought I would share my rug project with you. 

First off let me get 2 disclaimers out of the way…

#1 – DO NOT ATTEMPT PAINTING A RUG AT 8 and 3/4 MONTHS PREGNANT LIKE I DID.  I THINK IT WOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH EASIER TO DO AS NON-PREGO PERSON.

#2 – THIS PROJECT REQUIRES MUCH PATIENCE.  IF YOU DO NOT HAVE PATIENCE THEN DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS PROJECT.

Okay, so back to the rug story.  The rug I originally wanted was this dhurrie rug from West Elm.

It is a beauty but after we moved to our new home I realized it was slightly out of our budget.  I started thinking about the awesome painted Ikea rugs that I had seen around the blog world lately. 

[Cape 27 Blog]

[Classically Modern Nest]

[Diddle Dumpling]

I thought I could do something at least in the same colors and make it have the same feel as the West Elm rug.  So off to Ikea I went. 

Once I got home with the flat-woven $40 ERSLEV rug, I laid it out on the floor and measured it to determine how big my pattern should be.

I also talked to one of my friends, a faux painter, and asked her what material I should use to make the stencil.  She gave me a great tip.  She said to use clear contact paper, like the kind you line your shelf with.  It was 5 bucks a roll at Wal-Mart.  Fortunately for me, it worked out that the contact paper could be placed exactly 4 times across. [Please excuse the mess on the left side of the picture.]

Once I determined the size that my stencil should be I made my stencil pattern out of an extra large sheet of graph paper.  Then I traced it onto my contact paper and cut it out.

Once I had my patterns cut, I peeled the backing off of the contact paper and stuck it on the rug.  This is where I about lost it.  The contact paper was pretty flimsy and kept wanting to curl up on itself.  Couple that along with bending down with an oversized tummy and you have one worn out pregnant lady.  When it was finally down and straight I gained my composure back and continued on. 

With my sponge roller and latex paint I painted a light coat over each of the openings in my stencil.  I wanted the color to be somewhat transparent so I didn’t do a heavy coat at all.  The paint did end up being quite darker than I had originally planned so I ended up using a second coat of a lighter orange.

I don’t have a picture of the next step, but once my paint dried I peeled up my contact paper and moved it over to the next two sections.  It went down much easier the second time around.  The contact paper seemed more stiff.

After two more coats of paint on the 3rd and 4th rows I was done.  It took a little longer than I had expected it to take, but I was so happy with the end result that I didn’t mind the time it had taken.

It is absolutely perfect in Chase’s nursery and really helps complete the space.  I can’t wait until I get pictures of the whole room to show you.

If any of you end up tackling this DIY rug project I’d love to hear about it. Please send me pics too! 

LiveJournal Tags: DIY Painted Ikea Rug,Chase's Nursery,Dhurrie rug,West Elm,Erslev Rug

Touch of Charm & We’re In

Jessica from San Diego contacted me a few weeks ago about using my Touch of Charm internet-based design service.  I always love creating these designs for people.  Jessica and her hubby are moving into a new home and wanted an update for their living room.  She had purchased a sectional sofa, but other than that she was starting with a clean slate.  Oh, the possibilities!  Jessica’s style request was to create a room that is comfy, yet modern and stylish.  She didn’t have any constraints on color and said that she pretty much liked everything.  So here is what I came up with for Jessica and her husband.

This beautiful Asian-inspired pillow was my inspiration for the entire room.  Everything else blossomed from there.

***If you are interested in finding out more information about Touch of Charm or my long distance design services email me at charmhomedesign (at) gmail (dot) com.

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We’re In!

It’s hard to believe that two weeks ago from today we moved out of our teensy condo and into our new home.  It was an extremely stressful day for me(moving at 8 months pregnant was a very daunting task).  Thank goodness for my sweet hubby and amazing mom and brother.  They were my saving grace.  Especially since I spent about 2 hours in a total emotional breakdown.  Somehow we managed to get out of the condo, into the new home and we are actually out of boxes for the most part. 

For the last two weeks I have been consumed with “nesting” and trying to get the place in order for our soon to be little bundle of joy (who may be coming sooner than we planned according to the doc).  We have a long way to go with the house but it does look somewhat like a home instead of a storage unit at the moment.  I promise that I will post pictures as soon as I have a chance to take them.  I took really great before pictures, but it’s hard finding the time to take progress pictures. 

Chase’s nursery is almost complete.  Today I’m heading to Ikea to pick up a new dresser because the beautiful vintage piece that I bought never got painted.  I’ve found a better home for it in our new dining room though.  Chase’s room will be the first totally completed room and will probably be the first one I post on the blog so stay tuned. 

Thanks to all of you for hanging in there and continuing to comment on my blog during my long breaks in posting.  I appreciate every single comment and word of encouragement, even if I can’t comment back to you.  It’s pretty hard to find the time to pick up the computer and blog these days.  I have so much to blog about yet so little time to actually blog. 

xoxo, Cristi

LiveJournal Tags: Chase's Nursery,Ikea,Touch of Charm