Showing posts with label nyc digital gallery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nyc digital gallery. Show all posts

Friday, April 13, 2012

Loving Blue in our master bathroom!


 Our master bathroom had been brown for years.  I loved it that way.  That is until I started loving BLUE more. I had so much fun redecorating this room.  Just a few small changes brightened it so much!





The walls went from Sherwin Williams Baguette (which is very pretty but in a small space, very brown) to Sherwin Williams Rainwashed.   (I will post "before" pics soon)  I love this color!  I used it first in my laundry room and had to use it again somewhere. 


 


            The paint was a big change in here.  After the paint was the fun part, the painting not so much! I added some simple white curtains on the windows.  I will show later how I made these.  I changed out the cabinet hardware from brown knobs that blended right in with the cabinet color to silver knobs.  I love the difference it made!  **makes me wonder how I had those brown knobs on there for so long!!



I switched out the brown rugs and towels for white and blue.  I have started a small collection of things for when my kids are on their own.  One more year and my son will be going to college. ):  He will have a great supply of chocolate brown towels!!  

The cute little stool near the tub is from an antique store. 




I found these light fixtures at Lowe's.  We used to have a Lowe's  near our home so I would go in often.  They always had some great clearance sales.  I got these light fixtures for $7.00 each, down from $100.00 each!!  Crazy!! That Lowe's is no longer there, I sure miss it!







I used the same towels that I have in my powder room.  Once I find something I like I want it everywhere.......



The blue flower pictures above each towel bar are another really low cost project.  I printed the flowers from digitalgallery.nypl.org digitalgallery.nypl.org  This idea I got from the Thrifty Decor Chick.  I have used it several times.  It is a great way to switch out prints.  I printed these flowers out on plain white paper, matted them in gray, and put them in silver frames.  Total cost for two is under $8.00. 

  
This room was one of my favorite projects. I feel like it is spring in that room now instead of winter and I love that feeling!!!




Thursday, March 8, 2012

FREE FREE FREE!



Another FREE decorating project!

 When I started looking at decorating blogs one of the first ones I found was thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com.  I have found some really neat ideas on her blog.  This next one is a great one for me since I change things in my home pretty often.  It is wall art and it is free!

I started with these pictures.  I have had them for years and years.  I have always loved them, they went great with my reds and golds I had in my home.  Since I have been changing out my colors, it was time for a change.




The first thing I did was go to nyc digital gallery.  This web site is awesome!!  It gives you free access to images digitized from the New York Public Library's collection.  You can find some really neat prints from historical maps, to vintage posters, to nature prints, and birds! I love birds so this was my favorite area to search.  It is also neat to see the date the prints are from, I love the old ones!


I found these bird prints and knew they were the ones!  It was a very easy project.  Once I found the prints I wanted, I copied and pasted them to a Word document.  From there I enlarged them and printed them out.  (this I also learned from Sarah's blog) I used some antique looking stationary I already had which gave the prints an even more vintage feel.  You can also use card stock or just regular printer paper. Then I took the backing off my pictures and popped out the old pictures and put the new ones in.  I used the same matting.





I thought the bird prints looked fine in the existing black frames.  But after a few weeks I decided to switch them up abit more.  In comes my favorite spray paint!  :)




I spray painted the frames blue and sanded them to show some of the black through.  NOW they are done!  









In the past I would have went shopping and bought new pictures.  (which there is nothing wrong with doing!)  I do think it is pretty neat re using things I already have.  It saves money of course and it makes it much more special.  I like knowing that it is a one of a kind and I did it myself! :) 

**I can't end my post without giving a shout out to my wonderfully talented sister in law Lia.  I have mentioned my sisters on my last post and talked about all my decorating with my sister Kim.  I totally forgot to mention Lia who has been my phone decorating buddy for more years than I can count.  We live many states away from each other, but always have a hand in what the other is decorating!  I can't wait to share some her amazing projects!  :)