Lisa Gets Crafty

Hey there!

I started this blog because of all the other blogs out there that I enjoy so much. Sometimes the blogs I love feature creative home decor ideas or crafty little DIY projects, and I always get so inspired to make my home more beautiful and enjoyable - and usually for so little money! So of course, I am a being a copy-cat and I'm not afraid to admit it. I only hope that one of my little projects just might inspire someone else too - especially if you know me, because then you probably know that I am really not a crafty type person :)

The other day I posted about my living room decorating progress and mentioned my lamp.  Well, here's the  step by step as promised! First I would like to say that I got the idea from Pearls, Handcuffs, and Happy Hour. One of the other blogs I read often posts recipes from this one, so I check it out occasionally and happened to find this post a while back. For whatever reason, it stuck in my memory as being something I could totally do. Then, right after we moved up here, I was hit with this unusual desire to go garage sale-ing one Saturday morning. Although I wasn't really looking for a lamp, one caught my eye and I decided to give this project a shot.

Here's what I started with:

First, I set up my work area. We have a balcony outside our 2nd floor apartment that has just enough space for small projects. I put down a kitchen sized trash bag and a couple flattened cardboard boxes to try to protect the walls and deck. Unfortunately when I was finished and picked them up I could see a line of blue mist where they had been - so I guess I didn't do a good enough job. My advise to you is this: be over prepared when it comes to protecting your work area! Moving on...

Second, I prepared the lamp. I removed the lamp shade and light bulb and taped over everything that I didn't want to get painted (the cord, the switch, and the place where the bulb goes).

Third, I primed the lamp using white Krylon primer. I really know nothing about choosing paint, so I just went to a craft store and read all the labels really carefully. This one said it works on metal and ceramic, and my lamp has both so I figured this was a good choice.

After the primer dried I applied the blue paint (it said on the can it only had to be a few minutes, which was lucky because I was in a painting mood and didn't want to wait!). I also used Krylon...

I don't have any gloves, but I recommend getting some. As you can see I got paint all over the can, as well as my hands. Blue paint looks weird under fingernails, and it doesn't come out easily!

I did 2 coats of the blue paint. I probably spray too close to the object I'm painting, because I can see a few little drips on my lamp from up close. It's not really noticeable though.

Finally, after my paint had dried thoroughly, I brought it back inside, untaped everything, and replaced the bulb and shade. In my opinion, it turned out awesome!!

Unfortunately, I don't have a great camera, nor do I have very good photography skills, not to mention good light in my living room. So here's a very poorly lit and unimpressive picture of the final product. In person I think it looks great, and once my living room has more awesome blue stuff in it this lamp will look right at home. I am so glad that I have a funky and useful lamp in the exact shade I wanted, and for so little money! Like the newb blogger that I am, I didn't track my expenses closely enough to give an exact dollar amount, but I would confidently say that I spent less than $15 on the whole project. Now where could you find a deal like that at the store?!

So there you have it folks. Lisa's first DIY tutorial blog post! I know, I know, it wasn't unimaginably cute or ingenious and it didn't require any real skill or unusual supplies. I could easily sum up this entire blog post by saying "Hey guys, I'm decorating in this weird color that I can't find anywhere in stores, plus I'm super cheap, so I bought a garage sale lamp and spray painted it! You should try it!".  Then I wouldn't have to put so much effort into writing all these "instructions". But it's a start! Now go be inspired! Be crafty! If I can do it so can you :)

Xoco

A few weeks ago Eduardo and I spent a day in Chicago. A few of our beloved Texas buddies were in town for a wedding on Saturday afternoon, so we got to spend Saturday evening as their "local" tour guides! We had a blast, and hopefully they did too. It was fun and so refreshing to spend some quality time with people we've known longer than a month.

Although we weren't meeting up with our friends until around dinner time, we drove into the city in the late morning to meet another couple for lunch. These friends also recently moved to Illinois from Texas, but while we have been settling in to life in a small town, they are adjusting to the big city lifestyle! They have a high rise apartment just a few blocks from the corporate real estate office where she works, and he is attending the University of Chicago. So far, we were happy to hear, they love their new life! And while we were in town, we benefited from their growing knowledge of the best that the big city has to offer - a multitude of options for amazing cuisine from around the world!

At Nicole's suggestion, we made plans to grab lunch at Xoco, a small authentic Mexican casual cafe. She informed us that it was started by the famous chef, Rick Bayless, who lived in Mexico for many years and has published some of the most famous and popular authentic Mexican cookbooks. He is better known for his two fancier downtown Chicago restaurants, but his little lunch cafe Xoco is clearly well known and loved, based on the crowd we saw there! And for good reason - the food was amazing! But that is getting ahead of myself...

Eduardo and I arrived in town just early enough to park and take a stroll around the block, taking in the city and all there is to see there. Shortly before the time we had agreed to meet our friends, we made our way back to the restaurant and joined the line that was forming rapidly. During our 10 minute wait, we browsed the menu and watched as the line grew out the door and down the street. Our friends joined us in line and before long we had placed our orders and were seated at a table outside in the gorgeous August weather (to you Texans - ha!). Let me tell you, the food was incredible! There were so many flavors, and they were perfectly combined to work together. I ordered the Milanesa tapas (think Mexican sandwich): Crispy Gunthorp chicken, black beans, artisan Jack cheese, tomatillo-avocado salsa. The most memorable part was the creamy cilantro dipping sauce that tasted incredible, and enhanced all the other flavors too! To end the meal, we all shared an order of churros, which were the best I've ever had by far. Everyone loved their food and agreed that we would definitely go there again. In particular I am convinced that a trip to Chicago in the winter would be incomplete without sampling one of their many made-from-scratch Mexican hot chocolate varieties. Yum yum!

In all, it was so fantastic to catch up with some friends and find out all about their new lives as real city slickers, not to mention the amazing food! And if you are ever in Chicago, let me highly recommend that you make a stop at Xoco for lunch!

Happy Weekend everyone!

Living Room Progress

I may as well set a default on blogger to start every new post with an apology about how long it's been since the last post... or perhaps I should just try to get better about blogging more regularly!

Anyway, we're still making progress on settling in to our apartment, but lately it's been barely creeping along. During the 2 weeks we had here in Illinois before work started, we were able to get rid of all the boxes and put most things in their places. We also managed to get a few things hung on the walls. However, this place is far from feeling "complete", and now that we are both working not a lot is getting done around here.

I am trying to make the living room / dining area a priority. It's definitely our biggest space, and the one seen by anyone who might come over. Unfortunately it's probably the most challenging room too. First, it's kind of a strange shape, which makes furniture arrangement a little unusual. Also, none of the furniture we already own really goes together and we have to make do with that. Not to mention, the colors we chose aren't exactly the most common for home decor, so it's been tough to find things that will work. But I am hopeful that it will eventually all come together, and I think in the end we will love it. I will share my ideas and progress with you all and hopefully you will love it too!

It all started with the blue loveseat we were given by my in-laws. It's a really nice piece of furniture and pretty comfortable too, plus it came at our favorite price - free! Since it was the only thing we owned that had any color at all when we first got married, we decided to make the best of the opportunity and do our whole living room in blue. It worked great at our other place because the room was a lot smaller and we were allowed to paint. Two blue walls made up for our lack of success in finding other blue objects to put in the room. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to paint the stark white walls here, so I am once again on a quest to bring some blue into our living room.

My original inspiration

It was actually long before the move that I first saw this collection at Target and was immediately hooked. At first it only caught my eye because the wall color in the photo is identical to the shade I had on my walls in Texas. But now I realize, after looking through dozens of blue-and-white-living-room inspiration pictures, that this is exactly what I am going for. Blue and white is a classic combination for making things feel homey, but the bright shade of this blue plus the bold patterns make the look modern. It was such a mistake not to jump on this collection so many months ago when I first saw it! In addition to the awesome lampshade, they had some very neat wall art that was so unique and perfect. But the coolest items were gone long before the collection hit the clearance section online, which is around the time I realized what I had passed up and tried to go back for it. Now I am left with only the memory and a determination that I can accomplish this look without Target dropping everything I need into my lap. It would have been so easy...

Let me say at this point, thank goodness for Pinterest! I'm not quite as hooked as many other bloggers, but it has been a huge help as I've looked for inspiration and ideas. Here are some of my pins for living room inspiration: (for simplicity, they are all on my Pinterest Board)

I love the colors in all of these, and I'm especially encouraged that some actually feature blue couches! I often worry that white is the only (attractive) option and there is no way a white couch could survive in a real person's house, right?! To make these pins more perfect, however, they would need to have a nice modern, bold pattern somewhere - for my living room I am hoping for some great curtains. Which brings me to my next point....

I am hoping to make my own curtains! They look so easy online, I'm hoping to save a little money, and a friend here offered the use of her sewing machine. Despite all those great reasons, my main motivation for going DIY is because I'm being so picky about fabric. I want a white-on-blue, large geometric or bold floral pattern. The shade of blue itself might prove to be a bit of a challenge, but the real key word here is large. These are going on a sliding glass door which is pretty big, and I want to be able to see the pattern from across the room without it looking too busy. Needless to say, it's been hard to find a fabric that lives up to all my expectations. I do have a few ideas though:

Waverly Lovely Lattice Lapis

Croscill Felton/River

I haven't settled on either of these because the pattern isn't quite as large as I was hoping for. I prefer the second one except the that color might be slightly off. It's so hard to tell from a computer screen! So my search continues...

I have had success with one project, thankfully. Thanks to a few online tutorials from fellow bloggers and a morning of garage sale-ing, I have turned this...

into this!

(Sadly the amazing bold blue color looks kind of purple in this picture. Maybe it looks better on your computer?  Either way it is awesome in person!)

Perhaps someday I will get around to posting the whole step-by-step process, but let me tell ya it was easy!

I also have several other projects up my sleeve that I just may end up doing one of these days... all from Pinterest of course!

DIY Doily Art 

Collage of Blue Frames 

DIY Sunburst Mirror

I'll keep you updated - wish me luck as I try to complete my new living room!