Channeling Dr Seuss in Home Decor

From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere.  -Dr. Seuss

Just in case you were wondering what I decided to do with that bowl of... I honestly don't know what these are, but they make me happy.  I didn't do much with them because, well I felt like being lazy.  It has been so cold here of late, and it can get a little mundane staying inside all day, but these bring a smile to my face because they are so funny looking.

Maybe it is because I have a little one who loves Dr. Seuss, but all I could think of was how these look like they should be in one of his books. 

Saturday Features!

I'm sorry that I have been MIA for the last couple of days.  We've made big headway on our fence, but it has left me little time to respond to all of your emails or posts.  I promise I will be back next week and you will all be inundated with comments from me ;)

In the meantime I wanted to let you all know that House of Ficek has been featured by two wonderful blogs Sumo's Sweet Stuff and A Little Lovely.  I hope you stop by and check them out!




 





Have a wonderful weekend :)

Honey and the Moon {Guest Post}

Yesterday my wonderful father-in-law and brother-in-law drove 900+ miles to help us repair our fence in the backyard.  Therefore I figured we better assist in helping and have the wonderful Carly from the blog Honey and the Moon guest posting.  If you aren't familiar with her blog, she is doing a master bedroom makeover and is taking us step by step through that journey.  It is a wonderful blog, and she is an amazing person.  I hope you'll take a moment to read about a project she's just completed as well as stop by her blog.  Enjoy!
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Hi y'all, I'm Carly! I blog over at Honey and the Moon and I am so happy to be here guest posting for the fabulous Kendra today.

I just recently met Kendra through some mutual blogs that we both read. We quickly found out that we're both Texas girls {me being native, her being a "transplant"} and that we actually live pretty close to each other. Kendra is as sweet as she seems on her blog and since we're both on non-existent house budgets, I love seeing how she keeps her projects affordable.

I'm currently a full-time student, a wife, and a momma to two sweet puppies. My husband and I live about 30 minutes from Dallas and 30 minutes from Ft. Worth, it really is a great place to be. I love coffee, organizing, and doing things in the cheapest thriftiest way possible...which brings me to the project that I'll be telling you about today. 

Before I get to the project details, you should probably see my master bedroom inspiration photo first:

You see those little knick-knacks on the side table? I wanted something similar, but I wasn't interesting in spending too much money on anything. Naturally, I started looking for things in my home that I could give a good coat of spray paint and put at my bedside. 

My mother-in-law gave me these little Christmas red birds this year when she was getting rid of some extra Christmas decor, and I thought they'd be just perfect with a coat of paint.

So I bought a can of paint, in my favorite brand...

Seriously, I swear by this brand.

Gave the birds a coat of paint...

And totally ignored that whole rule about waiting enough time in-between coats...

I guess I never learned that I should just follow directions the first time, so I had to do a little bit of light sanding to fix some of the imperfections. I just used a 180 fine grit sandpaper, being really careful not to take too much paint off.

I gave the birds another coat of the metallic paint, and {maybe} waited the suggested amount of time before whipping this stuff out for a finishing coat. Kendra recommended it to me after using it on a project, and I really loved it. It gave everything a very finished look.

 Warning: this stuff smells STRONG. I'd definitely recommend doing it outside if possible

My last step was to find a place for my birds. I knew that one was going by my bedside, but wasn't all too sure if the other would go on my hubby's side or not. In his words..."he doesn't like a lot of 'junk' on his nightstand." So, I'm still trying to find a place for my other little guy.

On my nightstand

Sorry about the poor lighting. Still gotta achieve that 2011 goal of figuring this camera out. 

Project Cost Breakdown:

Krylon Metallic Silver spray paint - $3.75
Krylon Clear Gloss spray paint - $3.75
180 grit sandpaper - $2.50 {I bought extra for a future project}
Ceramic birds - free
Total: $10.00

Overall, I'm really happy with the way that they turned out. The spray paint didn't give quite the metallic look that I was hoping for, but I'd read that from several other bloggers as well. Maybe I'll change them someday {I've thought about trying to silver leaf them}, but for now I'm really satisfied. I'm always so amazed at what a huge change a can of spray paint can make.  

Thank you for reading and thanks again to Kendra for letting me guest blog over here today! I hope all of you stop by my blog sometime and say hi...I'd love to meet you.




Love to all. x

Inspiration for a Bookshelf Spruce Up

One of my New Year's resolutions was to spruce up our hallway, and the first step is to take care of our bookshelves there.  Since our little man learned to walk we have had to move everything from within his arms reach.  This has left the bottom bookshelf empty!  I've turned to Houzz for some distraction inspiration on where to begin.

eclectic family room design

contemporary kitchen design by boston interior designer Su Casa Designs

traditional hall design by los angeles interior designer Abbott Moon

 contemporary family room design by portland interior designer Garrison Hullinger Interior Design Inc.

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:

DIY Retro Print Coasters

I have a confession to make, I have coasters that I got when we got married eight years ago and they look like this...

 I shrunk the picture as small as possible because I am so embarrassed

 and they have looked like that for quite awhile.  The really humiliating part is that I still insist let my guests use them.  We actually use them a lot because we live in a very humid climate and our glasses sweat. The reason they still look like this is because I haven't found any new coasters that are in my budget and cute.  What is a girl to do?  Mod Podge! 

Step 1:  sand, sand, sand! Step 2:  prime Step 3:  paint, I avoided the center since I knew that I was going to be covering it up.  Step 4:  I found a spool of ribbon that was the same size as the inset of the coaster and traced it onto the back of my scrapbook paper and cut it out  Step 5:  Mod Podge it baby!  First apply a generous amount to the back taking extra care to get the edges, and secure it down to the coaster.  Wait about 20+ minutes for it to dry before applying Mod Podge to the top.  I added two coats of Mod Podge to the top waiting at least 20 minuets in between.  I am an impatient person when it comes to these types of projects, but you really need to wait the appropriate time on this step or you'll get bubbles under the paper.  Step 6:  Add a coat of clear gloss glaze.  You have to wait 24 hours before doing the other side, this was the hardest part for me!

This was such an easy and inexpensive update.  I really wish I would have done this oh, five years ago!

 Linking it up Here: