MASS MoCA

I've been meaning to post this for a LONG time- and I am home sick with the little man today- so while he plays with his Duplos- I'm gonna take some time to share an awesome field trip I went on this past summer...I was lucky enough to take my big sis and little Zel along for the ride.

MASS MoCA or the Massachusetts museum of modern art is a hidden gem in New England located in the old mill town of North Adams MA- and it's AMAZING!  Totally and completely worth the trip. Even Zella- 5 at the time had an awesome time. There is a ton to see- lots of fabulous installation pieces that are fun for kids to explore and they have an awesome collection to boot- oh- and a great menu at their eatery (all local ingredients, etc.)

Auntie Em and Z posing in front of the amazing Sol LeWitt installations- Mass MOCA has an entire building filled with his amazing designs.

This piece was in a HUGE room- there were broken mirrors all over the place, and crazy stars and then this whole lifted alter scene in the front of the indoor football field sized room- INSANE!

Mama, Zella and Sol:)

She's a superstar:)

Here's a great example of the installations- this was in the Oh Canada! exhibit and it was this crazy crafted igloo/tent- with felt boots of all sizes lined up around the exterior perimeter-you stepped into the boots and entered the "snowy world" and sat on these wooden stumps amongst the snow and watched this crazy snowy silent movie- very cool.

 I love art that makes you feel transformed.

On our way home we stopped in this amazing field of flowers to snap some pics:)

YOU MUST GO!!

Dining Room Updates, Golden Eggs, Cherub Tushies and The MONSTER

I've discovered that I am now an epic-post kind of blogger. While I wish I had more time to post a few times a week like I did back in the day...I realize that, plain and simple, I just DON"T. So I figure I might as well make them meaty when I do post- especially since its so few and far between!

A quick announcement:::

If you access my blog via Facebook, I will be closing my FB account (WAANT-WAA)... Why? To put it briefly- I waste time on it-more importantly, time that I don't actually have:)

SO- if you want to keep reading my blog (thank you for reading my blog)- I recently added an email link on the left hand margin- simply type your email address in and you will get emails when I post new entries- that way you can keep up!! Thanks!

Okay- so- D recently installed these shelves in the dining room for me.

They are from IKEA- we went with two rows, two per row, four shelves total. We purchased them a couple months ago and they have been laying on the floor of the dining room collecting dust/cat hair;)
I was glad to get them up and styled!!

My vision for this room is starting to come together. The final piece is this HUGE buffet, (and refinishing the little desk, as well as reupholstering the couch)

I am not a fan (of the buffet)- but I don't want to be wasteful- the size is great, and I don't want to spend the $ to get a whole new piece. SO I figured by adding shelves to the wall above, and then (next step) replacing/fixing the doors, replacing the hardware, and potentially adding a new top...oh- and new paint... and it should be in good shape!!

After having various pieces up in the room (I am constantly changing the art layout in this house), I created a gallery style wall the other day- that I feel good about...take a look

I may add one more vertical framed print to the right side...we shall see....

We had a lovely- eventful Easter - I could do a whole separate post-but I will spare you the details and leave you with this fun little project:

We decorated eggs this year! I found a great picture on a blog that inspired me- so I decided to slap some gold leaf on the decorated eggs- they came out so pretty...the turquoise one looks like a little globe, no?

First you apply the adhesive- let it dry (blow on it and it dries faster;), then you stick the gold leaf on, and brush of the excess, easy-peasy (you can get the supplies at a craft store)

Oh- I recently "treated" myself to a very fun ETSY purchase- I've been on the hunt for a pair of table lamps to add lighting to the dining room. NO LUCK. While browsing ETSY the other day I came across these lovely orange cherub lamps. While the orange was fabulous- it wouldn't work in my house...so I messaged the seller about a color change and she was wonderfully helpful and switched the color in less than a weeks time!!! Check out her fun shop!

They arrived today- aren't they darling...

and the tushie of course:

I love how unexpected they are in the space. Clearly I do not have a a french-revival style house- but the blue enamel gives them a modern vibe- and with a nice clean white linen drum shade...LAMP PERFECTION! Oh and they are rewired- and they were $60 for the set!!! Did I mention I LOVE ETSY?!

The MONSTER I'm referring to is the mammoth mural project I have undertaken in our powder room...

The idea and original inspiration was very strong in my creative mind. Since starting the project I have felt some serious doubt- although I'm starting to turn the corner- and I am persevering!

here's how its looking

this sucker is gonna take a long LONG time. I'll be lucky if it's done by the end of the summer. But it's one of those projects that I look forward to putting time into when I can...a labor of love if you will...I'll be sad when it's done:)

Homegoods: You Rock My World

I went today
I went for lamps
or sheets
and I came home with this:

and these other fabulous little nuggets

the first one. especially. is a gem

a gem that is 1: sparkly, 2: turquoise, 3:$12 on double clearance, 4: the most beautiful trash can EVER

nuf' said

no sheets, or lamps....next time

oh- and the reason for my little shopping trip- I decided, Friday, that I am redoing my downstairs bath

it was in desperate need! and I was in desperate need of a project!!

Here is how it looked before:

It's super tiny as you can see- it's really just a little "water closet/powder room", and it needed a face lift!
If you follow me on Pintrest, you may have seen my numerous pins of this INSANE fabric

SICK, right? It's by Joesf Frank, and I think it's brilliant.

I love it- I covet it, I dream of it...it kind of looks like a dream...

I saw it a few months back in this equally stunning House Beautiful spread (take a look at the link- it's probably my favorite recently published house spread- I LOVE it...the simple lines, the whitewashed wood- heavenly)

and I have decided that I am going to paint a mural, based on the fabric on all of the walls of the tiny bathroom. I'm employing the "go big, or go home" approach in this space. It's gonna be drama with a capitol D. I figure...why not? You are in there for 5 min.s max- it might as well be exciting, right?

So- Friday, during nap/rest time- I stripped this sickly sweet strawberry wallpaper off the walls (it thankfully went better than I thought it would) I started by peeling the top layer off by hand- leaving the backing stuck to the walls.

Then, with my handy spray bottle- I dowsed each panel in hot water

and then scraped each panel off by hand- it was similar to scraping paint- or maybe even like using an ice scraper on your windshield. It took a good deal of effort- but since the room is tiny- I thankfully didn't get bored and had it done in a few hours.

I took Saturday off, and today I was back at it- scrubbing the adhesive off by hand using a trusty scrubber sponge, and soapy water.

I picked up the paint today too, so here's the plan:
I went with this Martha Stewart color: wrought iron gate

rather than pure black (like the inspiration fabric) I opted for a super dark navyish hue- I thought it would have more depth.
The trim (window trim, shutter, baseboards, radiator, chair rail) will all be in this color as well in high gloss. The walls both above and below the chair rail will be in the same color in eggshell- and the mural will be painted on all of the walls, above and below in one continuous pattern- to look like wallpaper. The ceiling will be the high gloss, I think:)

CAN NOT WAIT to reveal this space!!!

An Improvised Hearth and a Simple New Years Res

The other day I posted a Christmas recap...and among the beautiful and thoughtful gifts both given and received was a lovely Sturbridge Village play set for the kids- from my Mom and Dad. On New Years Eve I was both inspired, and had an unsightly burst of energy (something rare these days due to the too-much-school-work- syndrome I'm still suffering from;),  so I decided to run with it and create a little "hearth" in the playroom to go with their creative play set.

It is not the typical "style" mural I prefer, at least design-wise, but it works well in our basement playroom space for the kids:)

and it gives them options for their cooking style: open hearth or traditional stove top

I had D attach a couple of cast iron hooks to hold the pots, and a 2"x4" above for a little mantle shelf, the kids love it! It kind of feels like a little mini children's museum:)

As for the New Years Resolution:

Last year- I did a whole, lovely New Years post- recapping all of the major events of the year and a list of resolutions for 2011. While some were met- many, were forgotten and overlooked. This year- in keeping with my sole resolution- I'm keeping it simple....

my only resolution is: to be better to myself by taking one day at a time

and in keeping with my resolution- I'm going to bed- early-at least for today!

That's all I got

xo

Finished Project!!!

Here is the completed room I've been working on.  This was a fun project- I not only got to design/create this fun mural, but the homeowner (and friend/co-worker) also asked me to paint the room, create window treatments, and pick out the bedding. Let me know what you think!!!

Here is a BEFORE shot:

and the AFTER:

The bedding and accent pillow are from Ikea (click on the words to be taken to the source)

For the curtains I used Ikea drapes (a great way to save money... the drapes were on sale for $25 for the pair- I was able to create the cafe curtains out of that fabric- and added a border for a little more length at the bottom).  The linen border fabric is from Premier Prints- my go-to source for home decor weight fabric at a reasonable price.

Closeup of snowboarder dude:)

I really like this happy little tree:))

This fabulous chair- the homeowner got for FREE- yes, you read it right F R E E!!!

She is the ultimate bargain/estate sale/garage sale guru and has tons of fabulous furniture she's collected over the years.

It was a fun project!  Contact me if you want something for your house;))

Ziplining and Snowboarders

Last year D and I went zip lining- we had a great time...so when A called me to say she and her boyfriend were buying a Living Social pass for zip lining we jumped on the bandwagon!!!  and thanks to my lovely parents- we actually had 24 child free hours- which consisted of zip lining 75 feet up in the trees, cargo net climbing, tree scaling, sleeping in (till 9am!!!), meals for two, some dancing, a comedy show,  and lots of laughs. For a split second I felt like I was a 20 -year-old again;)

I feel revived (and slightly sore from the cargo net/tree climbing)- which is the kick in the pants I need to realize I need to do some more pushups!!! The facility that we went to was Empower center in Middletown.

and sticking with the active sports-theme...I worked on my current mural project this morning.  I decided to tackle the snowboarder- who I was a little weary of (mostly because I haven't painted/drawn a person in a very long time since most of my current work is pretty abstract...

I decided to use the trusted grid technique- where you create a grid over the original image (in this case a photo image from a Google search...)

then I created a grid on the wall where I wanted to place the figure- this grid was 7x the size of the first grid.

and then I started painting....

I still need to add another coat of red to the snowboard- plus the logo that it's going to have on it- I'm pretty excited about how he came out!!! Here's a close-up....

The Old Dog Learned a New Trick, and A Current Project

First off, I came home from work the other day, to this:

yes folks- that's dinner- better yet dinner made by my husband:)
(it's a tortellini salad with carrots, tomatoes, peas, broccoli, veggie pepperoni and parm- and it was yummy!)
Oh - and then he went out and bought sheets for the babes bed (they have been co-sleeping lately- quite successfully I might add on the bottom bunk- it's a double bed, which means no more sleeping with us- it's been LOVELY)

I'm not sure if it's the fact that he bought them, or the polka dots, but whenever I see them- I smile.

As for the new project.  I am working on this cool room for a 13 year old boy right now.  It's been a lot of fun so far.  He's away at camp- and I'm hoping that the whole thing will be done when he gets back- so it'll be a big reveal!
The past 2 days I've been working on painting the room- and creating a snowboarder-themed mural that is on the wall in back of his bed.

Here's a few shots of the in -progress mural:

                             

This is my preliminary sketch, based off of a photograph of a snowboarder, and here's the shot from midday today-

Here's a little in-progress series of a cloud:

It's coming along...I'll keep you posted!