Category Archives: Wall Decor

Quick Functional Fix Clearing Daily Counter Clutter

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Design Build Love

Every day, when we come to and from our home, inevitably, our clunky keys land smack in the middle of the kitchen counter. I constantly find myself moving them around all the time to accommodate whatever it is that I may be doing. Silly, right? Well, we’ve had key “storage” for quite some time, but it doesn’t really fit this particular need. You see, we have what I call “uncommon-key-storage”… meaning that any keys that are not used on a daily basis go into a tray in our kitchen handy-not-junky drawer. But, for keys that we use every day, day in and day out, it just doesn’t make sense to have to pull out the tray and dig for the keys that you want. So, when I came across this old key rack, I knew I needed to give it a quick cleanup, and it would serve perfectly! And let’s be honest, maple wood and tacky, brassy-gold is just NOT our style! To prep the rack, I removed all of the hooks, gave the wood a quick sanding with my handy-dandy sanding block. Once wiped down, the wood, mounting screws, and the hooks got a quick shot of grey spray paint primer. Finally, the wood and screw heads got two thick coats of the white trim paint we had on hand (since my white spray paint can decided to clog) and the metal hooks got a thorough coating of silver spray paint! Simple. Understated. Perfectly functional. Aww… peace! No more keys on the counter… and one more “win” towards a clutter-free, efficient home! And possibly the best part of all, NO COST! I think Eric is totally diggin’ this no-spend thing! Oh ya, and in case you’re wondering where this bad boy is ending up, it’ll probably find a … Continue reading

Posted in DIY, Home Accessories, Laundry Room, Painting, Wall Decor | 6 Comments

Vintage Mirror Makeover

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Design Build Love

Recently, I was lucky enough to get a hand-me-down from my momma. Truth be told, my momma is super stylish and I happen to be a very very lucky girl who frequently gets amazing “gifts” from her momma! And lately, I’ve been getting lots of house stuff (in addition to the standard clothes) since my parents just so happen to be remodeling a home from the studs, out. As well, they bought a smaller home which means that there’s lots of downsizing happening in addition to renovating! Lucky me, I know! Anyways, this is the beautiful mirror. This gold wonder was meant to live above the guest bed in what we lovingly refer to as mom’s “Barbie” room since the room is full of vintage furniture and framed vintage Barbie prints. Safe to say that this mirror was a perfect fit style-wise, but in the end, it just wasn’t a good spacial fit and there really was no other place in their house that it could go. Crazy, I know… that lady has things planned out! As much as I loved the mirror in all its golden glory… the hubby hates gold! And when I say “hate,” I really mean HATE! Seriously, he is that vehemently opposed to gold in our home, and while I could’ve convinced him to keep it gold if it went in my office, the gold just didn’t work against the yellow walls. So what did I do…. Paint it! In all fairness, this vintage mirror is actually too nice to a half-assed paint job to, so I went ahead and disassembled the entire thing. You see… with quality, American-Made products, it’s actually possible to disassemble and reassemble something without ruining it! Gotta love… Made in USA! Once disassembled, I grabbed my favorite spray paints and … Continue reading

Posted in Art, DIY, Home Office, Painting, Wall Decor | 5 Comments

Recent Purchases

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Design Build Love

During a few of my recent shopping adventures, I was able to snag a couple of beloved new pieces for our home. Since I’m not making any major purchase right now, most of these items are simply little accessories to liven up some spaces, and for me to build upon as we grow our décor. First up… this little beauty! I really don’t know what it’s officially supposed to be, but to me, it’s a beautiful, unique piece that I can dress up with flowers or dress down with candle light. Either way, I can just stick a clear vase in the center, insert the desired “mood” and call it good! Gotta love versatility! I seriously LOVE its simple beauty and the vintage nod in the cutout pattern and the bit of rustic glam with the lantern-like handle. Next, this little monochromatic tray had me at hello… is it Ikat? is it southwestern? I really don’t know, but I DO KNOW that I love it! The blue’s are a perfect compliment to our home and even though I had no idea where it would end up, I knew it was coming home with me! Then, a collection of 8×10 frames for $7 or less was certainly hard to pass up! The black and white one might get a coat of spray paint at some point, but for now, they will just chill in my collection until I decide how I want to use them. As for the silver-plated herringbone frame… I’ve got a special place in mind for this one for sure! (PS- I totally did NOT notice the herringbone pattern until I got home, and I couldn’t be more thrilled with it!) Last but not least is the gold, floor-length mirror. This mirror was love-at-DIYers-first-sight- and only $15!!! I … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Home Accessories, Shopping, Wall Decor | 8 Comments

2012 1st Projects of the Year: Double Feature

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Design Build Love

Just wanted to give a quick shout-out and THANK YOU to Whisper Wood Cottage for featuring two of our recent projects!!! As part of their 2012 1st Project of the Year Party, they’ve featured both our Laundry Room Makeover (found here)… AND… our Vintage Window Picture Display using cut-up holiday card pictures (found here)! Make sure to head on over and check out Whisper Wood Cottage’s series! There are tons of amazing projects being featured and lots of inspiration to be had! Thanks again Whisper Wood!!! ~Ashley Blog this! Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Share on netvibes share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tumblr it Tweet about it Buzz it up Subscribe to the comments on this post Print for later Bookmark in Browser Tell a friend

Posted in Art, Celebrations, Contests, DIY, Laundry Room, Wall Decor | 2 Comments

Basics of Affordable DIY Shelving

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Design Build Love

In planning our laundry room overhaul, I knew that the only way to accomplish my low-budget makeover was DIYing my own shelving. Custom shelving can cost upwards of hundreds of dollars, and even your basic pre-fabbed, boring shelves can be about $20+/- a piece! With three shelves, that would have been a minimum of $60 right there! That wasn’t going to work for us! Our solution… Plywood! Some of you might be thinking just what Eric thought… “that’s gonna look cheap!” Yes, it even took me doing some convincing on the hubby before he’d sign off on the project. Without making much headway, I finally just gave it the ol’ faithful… “trust me babe… and if you hate it, we’ll just change it!” Apparently, that worked because he finally said ok. Now, here came the options… When people say “plywood,” lots of images come to mind for people… mostly OSB (oriented strand board) and particle board. {source} THOSE LOOK CHEAP!!!!!!!!!! Each type definitely has it’s appropriate use, but if you are going for a polished and more custom look… do NOT use these!!! We chose 3/4 inch pine plywood to make our shelves. It has a nice grain in the wood and the pre-sanded finish saved us a lot of time and headaches. Lowe’s and Home Depot carry this product in various sizes and thicknesses, but since we were building these shelves in conjunction with some other quite large (and not yet debuted) projects, we simply bought it in 4′x8′ sheets (sometimes called woodworking panels since this type is used for lots of specialty building) at $20 a sheet, on sale. This project required less than half of one sheet, which means that we only spent about $10 for all three shelves! That’s an instant minimum savings of $50! We … Continue reading

Posted in DIY, Get Organized, Home Accessories, Laundry Room, Wall Decor | 7 Comments

How to DIY a Herringbone Color-Blocked Wall Pattern

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Design Build Love

My favorite part of my recent laundry room overhaul just might be the fun, herringbone-patterned, color-blocked wall… it was my jumping off point for this entire makeover! I knew that I wanted some kind of fun accent wall and I really didn’t want to just do a plain-colored wall, but I also didn’t want to spend the time or money for a stencil for this project either! Before I could even get started, I had to do some quick demo by hammer/prying out the existing shelf, patching holes with spackle, and spray-texturing to blend where the shelf was and match the existing texturing (it takes some practice, but after a few times, you become a pro!). When the wall was finally fully prepped and dried, it was time to paint! Because our laundry room is a high-traffic area and since there is moisture in laundry rooms, we went with semi-gloss paint. Since I knew that the wall behind the washer was going to be the “accent wall,” I went ahead and painted that wall and the ceiling Swiss Coffee white. After that, I followed up and painted the remaining three walls Kelly Moore’s Snip of Tannin (basically a really light and airy tan color- same as Eric’s office). After the base paint went on, I allowed two days dry time and then got down to business. Normally I never ever paint with tape, but there was no way I was going to accomplish any elaborate or even remotely cool accent wall if I didn’t use it. I have to say that my past experiences with using tape while painting textured walls have not been good, so I was a bit wary going into the process and as such, I read up on every little detail to get this project done … Continue reading