Herringbone Art- A Pinterest Project

Remember when I posted about my master bedroom redecorating project back in September?

Well, nothing has changed in there... until now. I still needed something for the wall on my husband's side of the bed, and that is when I saw this art piece on Pinterest...


Cozamia via Pinterest

This is actually an art print, but I liked the idea of painting over an abstract print with a white herringbone pattern. So, I grabbed this painting that has been sitting in my garage sale pile for a year now...


And then I painted over it abstractly with some of my acrylic paints. I love the colors in the inspriration print but I chose a palette that matches the decor in the room.

Then I covered the canvas in strips of painter's tape placed in a herringbone pattern. I did this while I emptied my DVR. It wasn't too tedious. Then I ripped off a couple strips here and there. And finally, I painted over it with white paint.

After the white paint dried, I peeled off all the strips and wa-la! It's done!

And here it is in the master bedroom. Pardon the photos, they were taken with my iPhone.



The room is complete... for now. I am always switching things up all over my house, but I actually feel "done" for the first time since we moved. In that room at least :) Thanks again, Pinterest- you never fail me. How has Pinterest inspired you lately?

If you'd like to follow me on Pinterest you can find me and my pins at http://pinterest.com/findingmyaloha/

Finding My Aloha's New Prints Now Available!

Aloha, friends! Sorry if you have missed me lately. No, I haven't been pinned under an iceberg or taken captive by a polar bear- not yet, at least. To be honest, I kinda needed a break at the beginning of the year. I am sure you can all relate to the burned out feeling while recovering from the holidays. I intended to focus the first week of the year on completely scouring my house top to bottom and purging everything we don't need or use. I was mostly sucessful, but I definitely under-estimated my time commitment! Besides copious amounts of organizing, photo shoots, and life in general, I also launched my photography website this month! See, I told you I have been busy!

I'm dusting off the cobwebs around FMA, and today I am here to share my new website! Besides showcasing my portfolio and session info, I have a photography print gallery with images you can hang as art in your home or even office! I have embedded a slideshow of all my artwork prints available for purchase. Take a peek, and even hop over to the site and let me know what you think! I will be adding more and more to the selection too!

Reupholstering the ottoman

I'm taking a brief hiatus from holiday postings to bring you a project I've been working on. I don't know if you remember, but back in November, when revealing my new family room, I hinted of a project coming soon. Well, this is it! I reupholstered the ottoman in the family room! I found a great ikat pattern at JoAnn's. I love how the trendiness of ikat keeps the space fresh, yet the colors of it still lends itself to the lodgy chalet I am going for in there.

Here's a shot of the ottoman before... 

And here's a look after...

I just flipped this guy over and attacked it with my staple gun. Haha, I mean I carefully folded and stretched 

the fabric over the edges and stapled it to the bottom of the cushion. Since I cheated and didn't take the legs

 off, I created a bias tape with the left over fabric and finished the legs off.

easy peasy!

hehe, yes, that's Nate on TV. I just love him :)

Shared on Blue Cricket Design & Someday Crafts

This year's Thanksgiving Table Decor

Hi y'all. Are you ready for Thanksgiving? I am! My son and I braved the single digit temps and the crowded grocery store yesterday to bring home our bounty. What a bounty it is too, I had that cart heaping. I have already started ahead on some of the side dishes and pulled the turkey out of the freezer. I'm trying a couple new recipes for hors d'oeuvres this year, like Fire Roasted Avocado Fresco, Buffalo Chicken Dip, and Buckeye Bars. You know, good 'ol football snacks. Besides prepping in the kitchen, I am putting the final touches on the table too. Here's a peek at my Thanksgiving table this year.

I made the table runners out of this awesome Thanksgiving toile I found at JoAnn's. I love how using multiple runners fills the space on the table.

I am loving my new acorn salt and pepper set. I snagged it from the Pottery Barn outlet while I was in Texas last month. I love how it matches my new dinner plates. The rim of the plates has a bronzy metallic finish, which the same as the salt and pepper set. The plates are from, get this, Target. Oh yes, there is a reason I love that store :)

The wine glasses are Villeroy & Boch, also snatched up on my trip to Texas. {love} The water goblets are from, believe it or not, The Dollar Tree. I bought 8 of them a couple years back and they have been awesome! Lastly, the silver is a cherished family heirloom and I use any excuse to bring it out.

I made the centerpiece with a wooden tray (Target clearance find), an antler from a local antique store, my corn wrapped hurricane, and a white pumpkin candle from Kohl's I believe? I am loving the rustic vibe this year. Probably because I live in Alaska now, ha!

I scored these brass leaves at an awesome and fairly well-known antique store in Austin, Uncommon Objects. I love that store and could spend days looking at everything in there. I particularly loved these leaves because they float above the table and add so much interest and a touch of history.

Here's a glance at my sideboard all ready for Turkey Day. Two of my favorite things are my lighted pear lamp and the mid-century cut glass "Bourbon" and "Scotch" decanters. They bring out my inner Mad Men vibe ;)

Let's take a peek at the rest of the decor around the house while we are at it...

I made the "Thankful Hearts" felt banner in the same fashion as my Halloween "Boo Banner." I wanted to make the pattern into a free download, but I missed that bus this year. I will definitely make it available with sufficient time to make it for next year. Something to look forward to, right?

And here's a sneak peek at the hall decor. Notice something different? More on that next week. I want to make sure we have all recovered from our turkey comas before I whip that one out. We will want to savor it.

And here's our wood stash, all ready to go for those Thanksgiving Day fires... ahhhhh

Well, that's most of my fall and Thanksgiving decor this year. I go all out for Thanksgiving because, well for starters, its my favorite holiday, and delving into Thanksgiving decor helps take the edge off the itch to decorate for Christmas. Around our house we love Thanksgiving too much to ever pass over it and go straight into Christmas, but can you keep a secret? I may or may not have been digging out all the Christmas boxes and have them stashed away in the guest room ready to whip out on Thanksgiving Eve while we watch all the holiday specials. Ooo I'm so excited! I love all this Thanksgiving decor but with two feet of snow on the ground and negative degree temps, it been feeling alot like Christmas for at least a month!

Living Room REVEAL!!!

Well, hello there! I am so excited to finally be able to post my living room reveal! After I returned from my month trip to Austin, I have been without internet at the house for over a week now...ugh! My IT guy (the hubs) was out of state for the last six weeks, so here I was, screwed. He returned home this weekend and was finally able to get the wifi up and running, and now I'm back in business! Woo hoo! Isn't it amazing how your world can come to a screeching halt when the internet is down. Sick.

Anyway, on with the reveal! Here are the BEFORE pictures taken from the house listing...

And now here is the AFTER...

A couple notes about the transformation...    Since we are only going to be living here in Alaska for three years total, I really wanted to embrace our surroundings and go with a Chalet-chic vibe. I want the coziness of a lodge but the brightness and clean lines of Swedish designs. So, to start, I needed to paint that wall!! I painted over the existing burnt orange accent wall with Glidden's Woodsmoke. It's a shapeshifting grey. Sometimes its straight up grey while other times it will look blue or even taupe. I love it. It changes moods like the sea, or the wintry Alaskan sky.

Next, I wanted to draw the eye up to that soaring vaulted ceiling with something of high impact, so I had my husband build a wooden mantle piece that would emulate the feeling of a chimney. Its an added bonus that it hides the TV cables and mount! The wooden structure cost a total of $60 to build. It's just two 2x4's with pine planks, and I stained it to match the bamboo floors. My hubby is brilliant and it's not drilled in, so there's no damage to the wall. It hangs like a picture and is reinforced with the TV mount.

I really wanted to authentically capture the essence of Alaska, so I searched for local vintage items. I found the vintage wood skis for $20 at Play It Again Sports. I snagged a couple antlers from a local antique store. I found an eagle sculpture made from Alaskan clay. The clay looks plain until it is fired and the ore in the clay reacts, creating beautiful red-brown swirls. I bought the white faux fur pillow for $17 at Target, to add to the lodge feeling and represent a polar bear.

This is a shot of the rest of the living room. Here, you can see my DIY sweater pillow, and my DIY shag rug. I didn't want to put a fur rug in here so my shag rug is supposed to give a similar softness and texture to the room. The ottoman just got moved back in here. I had my beautiful coffee table there that my husband built for me. It looks like the Rhys collection at Pottery Barn, but our two year old son started diving off the couch onto it and we knew it was just moments from becoming an emergency room visit. I am sad to lose the coffee table, but I do have grand plans for recovering the ottoman. I already have some fabulous fabric ready to go, so be on the watch for that post!

And here's the back of the room looking towards the kitchen and hall. I love the vintage ski poster but I do want to do more with the wall above the sofa. I don't know what yet. One of my favorite pieces in the room is the moose on the other wall. I scored him at an antique store in Washington right before we moved to Alaska. Everyone loves that little guy!

The picture above was a shot taken from the hall as you enter the living room.

This last picture was taken from the loft, and you can see into the dining room too.

So, thoughts? I'd love to hear your first impressions of the room and any suggestions for the sofa wall you might have. I am leaning towards a mounted white resin deer? It took me awhile to finally post this reveal, well for one because I was still working on it, but two, because I never feel like I am really done with my own spaces. I realized though that if I don't share at some point, I never will and I will miss out on everyone's awesome feedback! Join me in the progress of the room?

I shared this on The Shabby Nest, My Romantic Home, Funky Junk Interiors, Under The Table and Dreaming

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If you have featured anything from FMA, let me know so I can link back to you!

Bedroom Dresser REVEAL!

I'm back! Finally, after dealing with the theft and subsequent insurance claim of my DSLR, I have a replacement! We decided to take the opportunity and upgrade to the Nikon D7000 since my old D90 is about to be discontinued anyway. It was a major upgrade for me, this camera has mad skillz! Anyway, I am finally back in business and I'm dying to show you my bedroom dresser reveal!!

Who doesn't love a before and after?

So, here is the dresser BEFORE...

And here it is AFTER...

I painted it "Jazz Club" blue from the allen+roth collection.

I love being in my bedroom now. It is a much better reflection of me now. If you if you are new to FMA, or would like a refresher on the progress of my Master Bedroom you can see it in it's original state here, an accessory update here, and the painting process of the dresser as well as my inspiration photos and hardware information here.

It has come a long way, huh? I love taking risks and playing with color. I couldn't go wrong in this case. I am so happy with it. So much more sophisticated now. As with every other room in this house, I am not done yet. I still need to find 3 pieces of art for some of those frames and I also need another piece of art on the wall near the bed. Those things take time in finding the perfect piece, and most of the fun is in the search anyway.

Soooo, what do you think?

I linked this up at some wonderful link parties over at Domestically Speaking, Blue Cricket Design, Funky Junk Interiors, and Tatertots and Jello!

Progress Report: Bedroom dresser

Well hello there friends! Sorry I have been rather absent lately. This month seems to be disappearing faster than even last month did! We have been busy soaking up every last drop of Alaska's summer. Even though we seem to have been camping and fishing every weekend, I have still made progress on my bedroom dresser project, and I have made a decision! We all know that is 90% of the battle! The dresser will be (now picture Jim Carrey in Liar Liar here)......rooooooooyal blue!  

More specifically I picked out allen + roth's jazz club blue in Valspar from Lowe's. I am pairing it with some awesome burnished brass hardware that, get this, was on CLEARANCE! I paid 49 cents for the knobs and $1.19 for the pulls! Woot, woot!

And finally, I am going to let it shine with a protective coat of glossy polycrylic.

I came to this color choice after some of this inspiration....

House & Home, August 2011

House & Home, August 2011

House & Home, September 2011

And then I want to accessorize in the bedroom with these eclectic, curated looks...

House & Home, June 2011

House & Home, September 2011

So this is what my dresser looks like after I've sanded down its current black state...

And hopefully after a couple coats of this...

And with some accessorizing, hopefully it will look a bit like this...

Can you see my vision for the room now? Wish me luck!

I'm itching to be back here with a before and after reveal!