Getting Things Done Feels So Good!

I've got some updates for my favorite readers!! I got the Chevron Paintings up and the Spring Wreath hung! Yippee! Here's how they turned out:

The Chevron Paintings:

I have to say I'm pretty excited to have my dining room back to the way it is supposed to be. In order for me to paint, I covered my dining room table with a hot pink vinyl tablecloth so I could paint without fear of messing up whatever I was painting on or burning up out in the garage. So to see my pretty wood table again is pretty exciting!

Here's the Spring Wreath! (Which has come to be known as the "yarn frame" since Blake doesn't think it should be called a wreath since it isn't round)

I found this wreath hanger for $1.50 on Amazon! I got expedited shipping so I could get it sooner and share it with you guys, and it was still only $11! I was super excited :)

I think it helps out with the Look-At-Me-And-Buy-Me factor, don't you? I just heart it :) Now all that's left for the front patio is to get/make a new door mat, get a place mat to go under the candle holders, and maybe put a plant out there!

What do you guys think? I'm thinking that the chevron paintings are a bit small and am considering adding something around them....any ideas/suggestions? Or should I just leave them as they are? 

Chevron Fail And Then Some Success!

I am in love with the chevron print! It's all over the blogosphere and I just love it :) I have a feeling it will be on its way out soon, but for now it's here and it's awesome! And it just so happened that I needed some art on the walls of our dining room! Yaaaaay! Chevron!

So off to Wally World I went and picked up two 16"x20" canvases! And I started by trying to make the pattern myself with a ruler and a pencil...that was just a waste of time let me tell ya! Then I found this stencil online! I highly recommend using a stencil!! Anywho, the colors in our dining room are green and brown so I got a tan color and a green (technically they were called "Latte" and "Fresh Cut Grass"). Then I used the stencil, taped where I drew my lines with a pencil, painted, and painted a second coat. I was so excited to be done (because the whole taping thing was not really my idea of a good time...it was soooo tedious!) and when I took it into the dining room and showed Blake, here's what it looked like:

Aside from the paint that bled at random places under the tape, the green was a bit too "green grass" and not enough "mossy green." So defeated me went back to the drawing board. Luckily I only used one of my canvases that I got from WalMart. Although I did paint the background color that dark tan, which we also didn't like. Sad face.

So off to Hobby Lobby I went in search of the perfect mossy green, and wouldn't you know it! They had a green there called "Forest Moss" how perfect! I also picked up "Vintage White" that was almost white, but had just enough tan in it that it wouldn't look weird against the tan walls. And I did the same thing. Stencil with a pencil (that rhymed!!), tape, paint, and paint the second coat. Here's what it looked like:

Better green, but that dang paint still seeped under the tape again! And it made it look not so sleek and smooth like chevron is supposed to look. But I was determined to not tape this blasted thing again, so I got a small brush and just carefully painted around the edges. And here's how it turned out:

Still a little splotchy in places, but from far away you can't really tell :) And here's the green next to the curtains!

 I'm definitely loving this green and vintage white waaaay better! But I'll let you decide! (disregard my failed attempt at holding up a canvas while taking a picture of it...)

Fresh Green Grass

Forest Moss

I'll be actually hanging the new ones up once I finish the second canvas (I'm telling you guys, this tape is going to be the death of me!! lol)

Which do you guys like better? Has this ever happened to you? You get through slaving away at a project only to realize your fantastic project isn't so fantastic next to the rest of your fantastic decor!

No Paint, No Problem!

As we're trying desperately to sell our house, we have gotten into figuring out how to stage it! We've just started so we still have a long way to go with a super short budget, but baby steps, right? Well, we decided that painting over the basically new paint job (our house was built in 2008 so the paint is only like 3 years old) wasn't the best way to get a return on investment. So, we stayed with the all neutral palette going on in our home and decided to add color through curtains and art! Well, this is our first curtain adventure! Here's out it turned out:

I'm pretty pumped! I really need to work on my "before" pictures...I always forget until the task is complete!! Anywho, we tried to hang the curtains as high as possible without looking like they were expecting a flood so we could make our window look as big as possible and our ceilings look super high (unfortunately I didn't know this trick until after I bought the curtains, so their length required us to put them pretty much as the regular height...oh well! Better luck next time) :)
But, since I've never posted pictures of our dining room, this is what the rest of it looks like:

With this little guy in the corner:

And a close up of our centerpiece and place setting:

The wine glass part of the centerpiece we found at a yard sale (there was one broken piece, but I always liked even numbers anyway) ;) The candle was our unity candle in our wedding, and the coasters were a souvenir from our honeymoon in Cozumel, Mexico :)

The plates Blake purchased from Bed, Bath, and Beyond a few years ago, and the chargers are from WalMart and a Christmas present from my mom! :)

We're super thrilled about our first curtain hanging adventure being a success! So, we can cross that off of our list and move onto even more fun decorating stuff!!

Have y'all hung any curtains lately? Did you go with a more neutral color to compliment everything else, or use them as a statement piece?