Lovely Letters

Speaking of origami, I made something else. This time it was something for the Boy.

The Boy loves letters. Every time we go anywhere, since he was a year old, he has pointed out letters and gravitated toward any toys/games with letters. I saw some origami number art on Pinterest and immediately thought of the Boy.

Source: bkids.typepad.com via Lydia on Pinterest

Upon further investigation, I found some instructions for letters, so I had to make them. This was a pretty great project to do with the Boy's help. He picked out the colors while I did the folding.

Basically the Boy was really excited. It paired pretty well with the framed number chart I found at Goodwill.

Modular Love

While I was excited to share the fireplace yesterday, I am even more excited to share what is on the wall above the fireplace.

Many months ago, I stumbled upon a post of some 3d paper wall art made by Marsha over at Three Nation.

This piece is very reminiscent of the modular origami I dabbled in while going through a HUGE origami phase* when I was younger. It became my mission to make my own 3d wall art.

After some quality research via google, and what seemed like hours of folding, I came up with a prototype.

That prototype turned into the large piece in what I'd like to call a 3 piece art instillation  No glue or tape was needed to hold them together, but I did mount them all on cardboard to make them easier to put on the wall.

Whenever someone comes to the house, they usually share what they see in the pieces - much like seeing shapes in clouds. The most common items seen are armadillos and deep sea fish. I can dig it.

A big thank you to TheZocar for providing a video demonstrating how to make sonobe units. The kid knows his stuff.

*Around age 12, I may or may not have attempted to make 1000 paper cranes like Sadako. I also may or may not have only made 42 before I got distracted by something else.

Fireplace Makeover

I mentioned in a previous post that Husband and I painted our fireplace. This was such an exciting transformation that it deserves it's own post.

Our house came with a big nuisance - a fireplace. A big, ugly, useless (in my opinion) fireplace in the center of the family room. Plus the mantel was detaching from the wall. When we bought the house, the first big project I thought we would do was tear down the mantel (because ripping out the entire fireplace was too drastic and potentially too expensive) and rebuild one. That ugly mantel taunted me everyday for a little over a year. When it was clear that we were not going to tear down the mantel, I decided I was going to paint it. Our walls are Snowbound, but that seemed like a lame option. If the fireplace had to stay, it was going to bold and beautiful. Husband figured out how to re-attach the mantel to the wall and I decided the paint color would be Commodore Blue. The fireplace doors also needed a face lift, so we spray painted a rubbed bronze finish. On a night before we had friends over for my graduation party/dinner, Husband and I stayed up all night to paint. It was a pretty good graduation present.

Here is the original ugly fireplace in the middle of everything, complete with bumper pads, in all it's glory.

The fireplace doors could not be moved, so we had to tape them up spray paint them in the house. We did not compensate for all the over-spray, so the seat of the mantel received some rubbed bronze as well. Thankfully carpet only received spray paint powder, so that easily came up with the vacuum and some carpet shampoo.

Just the change in door finish made an incredible difference, but with all the over-spray and dirty red brick, I was anxious to get painting. It only took one coat of behr self-priming paint to finish.

Final product! I seriously went from hating/loathing the fireplace to loving it and wanting to tell everyone about it. It was a bold move, but it was definitely the right move for our home.

Stay tuned - tomorrow I show you what is above the mantel.

Polaroids on Parade

A few weeks ago, Husband and I installed some shelves to display part of my Polaroid camera collections. I found 2 sets of 3 shelves on clearance at Target for about $3.50 each. They were leftovers from the dorm room decor*. It sure does pay to have the taste of a college freshman. We used the general idea of a pin found on pinterest to know where to put the screws in the wall. It worked like a charm.

*The floor lamp is from the same line and I found some on clearance it a few months ago for $6. I bought 2.

More Hyperdirve: Lampshade

Here is the lamp that Husband's dad gave us:

Awesome shape, but drab color.

Here is my inspiration:

via Melissa

And here is my version:

New-ish lampshade for less than $2. Score!

Halloween Decorations

One thing that the hello there! house event focused on big was having holiday decorations in the home. They did plan a craft for 3 major holidays, after all. The projects were cut, but just not my style. In the past, I have cared little about decorating for the holidays. It was extremely low on my priority list, especially since most decorations are too much for me. Turns out I just needed some inspiration in my preferred style. My inspiration came from Annie and her Frankenstein pillow.

This is what I came up with:


These pictures reside over my (gross) fireplace. Atop the fireplace will most likely become the permanent holiday decor spot.


Best part of these decorations is the price - $.82 total. The frames were a gift, so I only had to pay to print my photoshop creations.

Home Design Hyperdrive

I attended the hello there! house home and garden event a few weekends ago. It was awesome. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, my mind has not stopped thinking about what I want to do to my house. Here is a brief rundown of what I have been thinking about:

*color scheme - found inspiration in a dress in my closet

*simple holiday decorations

*more photos, more frames, more stuff on the wall

*outdoor living with some sun shades, comfy furniture, and art of some kind

*small container gardens

*dye, dye, dye - slip cover, lampshade, and perhaps some curtains

*reupholster some armchairs

*another million details that I haven't committed to yet

As I execute each project, I'll post the details. Can I tell you I am super excited? Thinking about the possibilities just help me love my house more and more. Especially since I am committed to keep each project inexpensive without compromising quality.

In the Middle of Our Street

Husband and I are now homeowners! It has been a long process, but so worth it. What really jump-started the process was the research I had to do for a personal finance class. While I was researching mortgage rates and insurance rates, Husband decided to see the housing prices in our area. He realized we could afford a decent-sized home, so we started looking in February. I searched online and found a short sale in our area that looked promising. It felt like home from the first step inside.
We put an offer on it immediately and waited. And waited. We looked at some other houses. Waited some more. Looked at a few more houses. Put offers on two other houses. Just when we were ready to give up on the house (our lease was nearly up) we heard that our offer had been accepted. We were given 24 days to close before the house went into foreclosure. We were worried it wouldn't happen, especially since we hit some major snags along the way. Thanks to an amazing buyer's agent and an excellent loan officer, we closed a few days early. We took a week to paint and a week to move in.

Here, in all their glory, are my favorite rooms in the house:

living room

family room

kitchen

Now before you go thinking that all the rooms look great, there is still one room of common living space that is in need of help. I guess it is a formal dining room, but that is not how I want to use it. Any ideas?


After actually living in the house for a week and a half, I'm very happy to call it home. Now to plan some parties :)