Pottery Barn Style Typography Placemats

Having been inspired by all of the typography going on around the design world, as well as my yearning to finally get around to sprucing up some of my old household items I updated some bland place mats cheap-o style  without spending a penny!  

Insert hubby saying "old, we just bought those this summer".  Truth be told, I should have listened to my mother and got a color that contrasted my dining room table more.  Then I went and washed them and they turned out like this! 

They have sat in a drawer since, never to see daylight again.  That is until  I  decided after New Years to try ironing them to see if they would go back to normal or purge them!  

These next steps are for the other cheap-o's out there {come on, I know I'm not alone here} so if you have one of those handy dandy cutters skip the next steps.  I went into my standard word processor on the PC and found a font that I liked.  Then taped some stencil paper to the screen, traced and cut with an Exacto knife.  Taped the stencil to the place mat and went to town with a stencil brush and some acrylic paint.

I think they turned out pretty well, and I don't have to worry about those sweating glasses {as you can tell I am a little psychotic afraid of people putting their glasses on my wood tables}.

Don't mind that empty hole there!

Thank you to Michaela Noelle, Carly at Honey and the Moon, and  Rachie @ A Chi Chi Affair for honoring me with the Stylish Blogger Award!  So the rules are that you must tell seven things about yourself and then pass the honor on to 15 other bloggers that inspire you.
1.  I HAVE to have coffee in the morning, the more the better and it has to have lots of fruffy creamer in it!   2.  I sometimes stay in my pajamas all day until right before my hubby comes home, sometimes I stay in them even after he comes home 3.  I am a horrible speller, thank God for spellcheck!  4.  I use ! and :) way to much while blogging.  5.  Met my hubby when we were 17 and married him when we were barley 20.  6.  I don't eat my veggies.  7.  If I had a choice between traveling or doing a home project I would choose home project 99% of the time.

The award now goes to other blogs that inspire me:

A Thoughtful Place
Honey and the Moon
Michaela Noelle
The Little Brick House
The Way We Are
Creative Index
A Chi Chi Affair
Danielle Oakey Interiors
Hi Surgarplum!
Honey We're Home
Stephanie@Home
Sixty-Fifth Avenue
Restored Style
On the Banks of Squaw Creek
Lauren Lane Decor

 Where I'm Partying Today:

Stenciled Entry Revealed

So I finally finished my stencil project that I mentioned in my earlier posts here and here.  It is a good thing that I am a pretty self motivating person, otherwise this project would NEVER have gotten done.  I had been debating about whether I should go with a lighter color like I was leaning towards or darker for the accent color.  I had the lighter color in the garage, convenient, took it as a sign and went for it!

First step is to take out the level and mark your starting point in the top middle of the wall.  Line up the triangle doody dadelys with your level line and use painters tape to hold the stencil in place.

Before painting mark all of the triangle doody dadelys hardest part for me to remember, then take a stencil brush dip it into your paint and dab it on a wad of paper towels.  Hold down the stencil in the area you are painting to make sure the paint doesn't get under the stencil.  Then move the stencil to the next position by matching up two of the triangle doody dadelys.  And repeat until wall is done (or in my case hating it, knowing I would always hate it, painting over it, buying the darker color, and starting over!

Remember how my entry looked before?

Now it looks like this :)

 

Eventually I will get new furniture for this space, but for now this project cost me a whopping $10.  I am considering painting the front doors black, what do you think?

Entry

I am trying to find a little inspiration to finish the stenciling of the wall in my entry way, and this photos are definitely inspiring me!

Samantha Pynn & Virginia Macdonald Photography!

Source: Decor Pad

Kim Cornelison Photography

Source: Decor Pad - Isabella & Max Rooms

A Layer of Character

Janell over at Isabella & Max Rooms has inspired me to find a way to use stencils in my home. She has done such a great job of bringing stencils into her home in a modern way that just helps bring some character and personality into a space. It is easy to have too much going on in a home and it starts to look cluttered, and the way that she incorporates these throughout her home just adds a feeling of texture.

I have been just standing back and thinking about where I could incorporate this into some prominent space. Then I realized that it could give my entry wall some definition since it really only has one wall, and that wall is shared with the Living Room. Now my only decision is do I use a darker color for the stencil or a lighter? I am leaning towards the lighter, but I don't want it to look to feminine and I think that the contrast of a darker color will keep it from looking to much like lace (see this is why it is so hard to decorate your own home).