Friday, October 29, 2010

Masking Tape Art

I needed to replace the flower picture in our guest bath with something that grooved a little better with our Morrocan theme. I wanted to do this quickly and cheaply and because I'm kind of impulsive and reclusive I wanted to do it with items I already owned so I wouldn't have to leave the house. Well, it may not have as many uses as duct tape, but I had masking tape handy so I decided to roll with it.

I grabbed an old canvas and got to work with the tape.


I just began taping in straight lines trying to make the lines as even as possible while still trying to stay random, if that makes any sense at all.


I used an old can of spray paint left over from a failed bookshelf painting experiment and went to town on my 8x10 canvas.


I immediately removed the tape to get my lines as clean as possible and left the canvas to dry for an hour or so.


Here's the finished "artwork" in the guest bath. The green is just so fresh and fun and for a grand total of $0.00, I don't think I could've done better!


Voila!

Happy Halloween Everybody!

~Ashley

Friday, October 22, 2010

Fall Festivus

Last weekend I started thinking that maybe it was time to inject a little of the holiday spirit into our casa. I don't usually go overboard with the seasonal decorating, but I thought a few groupings here and there would give our place a little fall punch, if you will.


I picked up the woven copper colored plate and candy at (shhhh, don't tell) the 99 cent store. I'd never been in before, but at CJ's urging we checked it out. That. place. is. AWESOME. They have everything, and no joke it's all 99 cents!


Jeff and I headed to Salvation Army on Saturday and I scored this adorable little cloche for $1.99! I threw in a few pine cones I'd collected on a long ago Griffith Park excursion. It's fall, but subtle, which I really like.


While at Salvation Army I also grabbed this beautiful heavyweight candlestick holder for $2.99 and topped it with a beautiful 69 cent gourd from Trader Joe's.


Here's a slightly scarier tableau in a little cubby off the dining room. I bought the plate last year at Target and used a stamp and marker on an old canvas to create a little Halloween "art." The vine covered glass was a gift from my mom and the orange candle is from Ikea. I bought this perfect white pumpkin at the grocer's and added a little jadeite bowl filled with Tootsie Rolls. Please tell me there's someone else out there who craves Tootsie Rolls? Because I'm certainly the only in my house who does. The orange place mat is a reversible number I snagged at Anthropology in the sale section a few years back.


And a little closa, a little closa...(I make things up in my head from time to time.)

Anyone else sprucing up for the season?

Happy Trick-or-Treating,

~AJ

Monday, October 18, 2010

à moitié la salle de bains

("half bath" in French, one of Morroco's national languages)

We moved into our new apartment months ago. I've wanted to have a cheery, welcoming half bath for our guests to use since day one. Well, I had some time off recently and made the trek all the way across the city to Glendale. If you live in L.A. you know that the 22 miles separating my little Santa Monica townhouse from the home goods mecca Home Goods (hehe) can take an easy hour and a half.

Totally worth it!

I came home with under $15 worth of items that have totally transformed our itty bitty half bath.


First up is this adorable hand soap and lotion set on clearance for $3.99! I saw, then smelled this beautifully packaged almond ginger set and knew I'd hit the jackpot. My Moroccan themed half bath idea was ignited.






This little hand towel with the gold string and ball theme was also on clearance for $3.99. How perfect and polished is that?! I only needed a solid accent color to tie everything in. Enter the coral Ralph Lauren bath towel for a cool $5.99.


Jeff said, "It's pink." "No babe, it's coral." The color is a bit off in the photos, but it really is a beautiful vibrant true coral color.


Our cheapie, previously purchased Ikea rug works oh so wonderfully with the other accessories. It really feels like a finished room, probably the first one in the whole house to be honest...


...almost. I want to add a candle, for obvious reasons, and am searching for a really great textile print to replace the flower in the frame. If you know of one, please clue me in!




I'm quite pleased with my little half bath and even more pleased knowing it was done on an uber thrifty budget :)

~AJ

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Kitchen Make-over

Having my new TV Stand finished and up for display inspired me to de-clutter my Kitchen area.  In all honesty - it had no flow, whatsoever. So, first things first - I took everything out of the space and cleaned my floors.  Then one by one I started to put back the pieces like a puzzle.  Moving things here, moving them there until I felt that "zen" feeling.  My kitchen table use to be pushed up against the wall and frankly  un-usable.  It was more of a clutter holder than anything else. See Photo below.
Table where it use to be - pushed against the wall. 



Photo of from before the make over
After - Table is usable (sitting on it as I blog) and on the left you'll see my bar stools FINALLY in use.  This space has really became an area to hang out in.

New TV Stand


A beautiful Saturday afternoon – I find myself at my favorite thrift store with no intentions to purchase.  Yeah right!  I cannot go to this store without finding a great piece of furniture.  I saw this beauty (pictured below) and had to sit down and think – Do I really need this?  I snapped a photo on my iphone and sent it to AJ my fellow blogger, for her approval.  She called it a “tv-stand-off” She’s clearly the writer in this duo.  Needless to say, I bought it and turned it into my tv stand.  Follow the journey from beast to beauty.
Photo taken from my iphone while still in store





Ready to start the transformation.  Sylar feels that he needs to inspect all new projects.



Before
Before - up close


First coat
First coat - take 2

First coat - take 3

After the first base coat was applied, I was ready to start the de-stressing



Effects of the de-stressing





After I was satisfied with the de-stressing, I put a nice-heavy coat of polyurethane to seal in the paint.
24 hours later - I had a brand new tv stand that I love!








Shelves!

A few months back my darling boyfriend, Jeffrey, was kind enough to take on the monumental task of hanging floating shelves. I've wanted floating shelves for a couple of years now and have to give 100% credit for my lemming to the shelves hanging in John and Sherry's dining area over at YHL. I am a bit of a stress case, so I went to bed while the bf stayed up hammering away. I know he used a level, an anchoring screw thing, a ruler and a stud finder while hanging. Unfortunately, due to my state of REM I can't give you any more details than that.


Jeff did a wonderful job and I won't ever stop praising him.


Detailed shot of my growing jadeite collection, I can. not. get enough!


I'm no pro when it comes to arrangements, I just moved things around until I liked the way everything looked. Any constructive criticism is much appreciated!






Wait a minute here, what's missing? OH RIGHT! A dining table! Well, we still don't have one of those...whoops! We're working on it. Promise.

Anyone else have a room left incomplete by a missing major piece of furniture?

~AJ