On Saturday I planned ahead and "scheduled" a day of creativity. Somehow, writing CREATE on my calendar granted me permission to do those things around my house that might otherwise be considered fluff.
Let's face it: A girl needs fluff on a regular basis.
Among the little things I've been adding to my creative to-do list was to go back into the rooms I'd somewhat finished and add personalized details. I read a quote in a design magazine the other day that said, "God is in the details."
I recognize that I often stop short in the accessorizing department (a fundamentally all-too-common error, one of my favorite designers Suzanne Kasler says). It seems like by the time I've painted walls & furniture, selected fabrics, and arranged everything, I'm ready to move on. It's also because I still feel like such a baby in this area! You'd laugh if you knew how long it took me to arrange items on a shelf or collage. Sometimes things come together great, but usually it takes a lot of time and energy for me. I think I'm getting better, but it's definitely a journey.
I knew when I finished Gabriel's room for his Christmas back in December that the spaces above his twin beds were not finished well:
There wasn't enough "presence" above the beds. They either needed higher headboards, darker framing around the green art, something. At the time I let it go, but on Saturday I finally completed my solution to the problem.
I decided to frame the green artwork signs with painted brown rectangles. It was an inexpensive solution because I already had the brown paint left over from Isaac's room. All I needed to do was tape the space off and paint it brown.
The walls are quite textured, so I employed a trick I learned several years ago for painting straight lines on textured walls. It's such an easy, effective solution that I applaud the great mind who thought of it.
After taping off the space you want to paint, you FIRST paint along the edge of the tape with the original wall color, like this:
The original wall color seeps into the little textured crevices under the tape, prohibiting the second color from seeping in when you paint it over the top, like this:
You can see I removed the tape on the right after painting the brown color over the original color. (Important: You must wait for the first coat of original color to dry before attempting to paint on the second color.)
You can see above that the brown seeped under in just a couple places, but overall the line is pretty straight, don't you agree? As soon as I got the brown on (it was still wet) I peeled the tape off right away. I've found this is always a good practice to get the tape off as quickly as possible to avoid further seepage and stubborn tape stickage.
Is stickage a word?
The result above Gabriel's beds is exactly what the room needed:
A bit of modern drama, and a more balanced look.
The lamps I stole from my living room help, too. (By the way, anyone know where to get a pair of amazing lamps for under $100 apiece?)
A small project, but one that feels good to be complete :-)
Jaimee
Labels: Gabriel's Room
