Hanging Decorative Keys

About a month ago, I purchased these keys for $1 each at Michaels'.





At the time, I thought I would probably frame them & hang them on our new gallery wall, but when I got the layout the way I wanted, I decided not to use them in frames. 


 


I knew I didn’t want to hang them with ribbon, & I didn’t want to have to put two nails in the wall to hold them up.  First I experimented with sticky tack, but they kept falling off the wall after a couple of hours.

Finally, I decided to hammer nails into the wall where I wanted them.  Then, I wiggled the nail out of the wall & glued the nail head to the back of the key, like so:





I kept some sticky tack on the keys & then carefully pushed the nail back into the hole.
So far, it has worked perfectly at holding up the key without the nail being visible!





Seems like the perfect solution to my problem!

DIY Wall Clock

Today, I thought I would share with you how I made the chalkboard wall clock that is part of our new gallery wall.  Before attempting this project, I tried “googling” directions, but came up empty handed.  Hopefully, this quick tutorial will be helpful for anyone creating their own wall clock.





First, I purchased a small clock making kit from Hobby Lobby for $6.99.  The clock kit is made to be used with a face (the part of the clock with numbers on it) & they have different ones depending on the thickness of the face you are using.  I purchased one meant to be used with a 1/4 inch thick face, although I wasn’t planning on using a clock face for this project.  I also purchased a package of 4 1/2 inch gold spade hands, since the hands that came with the clock kit I bought were a little smaller than I wanted.  I didn’t take a picture of the actual products before starting this project, but the picture below is a good representation of the clock components that came in the kit:

Source: amazon.com via Wendy on Pinterest

Next, I needed something to cover the clock motor.  I ended up finding a 3 1/2 inch wooden circle from the wooden decoration section of Hobby Lobby.  It was actually painted like a globe.  Again, I failed to take a before picture, so you’ll just have to use your imagination!

When I got home, I asked my husband to drill a hole in the wooden circle.  Then, I painted it black.  Once it was dry, I assembled the clock parts following the directions on the back of the packaging.  Instead of the clock face, I used my wooden circle.





I should mention that I also painted the “hanger” (#1 in the picture) black to blend in with the wall, but I am now seeing that I could have removed it & hung the clock differently (Command strips maybe?).

The next step was to hang the clock on the wall & draw in roman numerals for 12, 3, 6, & 9 with chalk. 





I think it turned out really cool, & the process was actually pretty simple!

Black & Gold Chalkboard Gallery Wall

In my last post, I showed you the small nook that connects our laundry room with our kitchen & family room.  I felt this small space could make a big statement by painting it a bold color & adding some fun accents.




I started the transformation with a couple of coats of  Rustoleum’s Chalkboard Paint.  Then, I waited forever three days before “setting” the chalkboard by holding a piece of chalk sideways & rubbing it all over the walls.




Then, I erased the walls completely & cleaned up a ton of dust!

While I waited patiently for the paint to dry, I scoured thrift stores & our basement hoard for goldish/ brassy things to hang.  I taped off a section of the floor that was the same size as the wall & played around with the arrangement until I found something I liked.  It took me a while to get the layout right, but once I did, I was ready to hang everything.

So, here’s how it turned out:




Sorry about all the “Where’s Waldo” pictures!  As much as I tried to stay out of the reflections, I think parts of me ended up in all of them!

I really wanted to make this wall a meaningful reflection of our family, so I was immediately drawn to the angel’s wings when I saw them in Hobby Lobby.  They reminded me of a tattoo worn by a Harley riding motorcyclist, which made them very cool, but I also thought they would be the perfect item to represent the baby I miscarried a few years ago.  With a coat of gold spray paint & a spot high on the wall, they are a happy reminder of the little angel that awaits us in Heaven someday.




Below the angel wings, I framed some words from “Your Song” by Elton John.  I thought it was a great reminder to my family how much better their presence makes the world!  Obviously, I didn’t spend much time playing with the typography on the lyrics.  I might change the way they look later, but right now, I’m okay with it!

The frame on the right holds one of my favorite paintings from my daughter Eliana.  My original thought was that I could change out the kids’ artwork every once in a while, but I love this piece so much, I’m not sure I’ll be able to replace it!




On the next section of wall, I centered a very cheap mirror from Wal-Mart.  (I think it cost less than $5.)  Then, I flanked it with a couple of frames I spray painted gold.  The frame on the left holds my kids’ hand print tracings & a wedding picture fills the opposite frame.

Below that, we hung the letter E to represent our last name, some keys, a DIY heart (from craft paper), & a DIY wall clock.  I’ll post a quick tutorial on the wall clock in a couple of days.




The bottom section of the gallery wall holds three silhouettes of my kids, an empty frame, small mirror from a thrift store, & a framed drawing of an armadillo by my son!  For now, the empty frame says, “Give Thanks” but I plan on changing it for different holidays.  I can picture, “I’ll be HOME for Christmas”, “Home is where the heart is”, “I Love You”, & lots of other words & sayings filling this space in the future.




So, there you have it.  I love the bold color, meaningful artwork, contrast between the gold & black, and the practicality of the mirror & clock (to help us get out the door looking good & on time!).

Are you feeling daring in your décor, or do you prefer a safer attitude towards decorating?

I'll be back on Friday to show you how I DIYed the clock & some other details on the wall.  Then, next week, I'll show you what we did with the perpendicular wall!

Sharing here:

DIY by Design, Somewhat Simple, House of Hepworths, The 36th Avenue, The DIY Showoff, Thrifty Decor Chick,

A Look at our Nook

We have a small nook that leads into our laundry room from the kitchen/great room area:

Lately I've had the urge to paint it a dramatic color & fill it with a floor to ceiling gallery wall.  Something like these, (not the colors, just the gallery):

Source: housedressingblog.blogspot.com via Wendy on Pinterest

Source: jenniferjohner.typepad.com via Wendy on Pinterest

Source: projectnursery.com via Wendy on Pinterest

I plan to fill the space with sillhouettes of the kids, their artwork, the letter "E" for our last name, a mirror, some song lyrics, & anything else I can find!  Right now I'm thinking the frames will probably be linked in color... I'm really liking brassy/gold colors right now.

After playing around with some pinkish/red & dark blue color swatches, I think I'm probably just going to paint the area with black chalk paint.  I already have some on hand, & what's more dramatic than black?

I'm always welcome to other ideas though!  Do you have a dramatic color suggestion for this area?

Small Changes, Big Impact

I mentioned in my summer plans that I wanted to make some changes to the laundry room.  A few weekends ago we made some minor adjustments in the room, that are really helping the flow.

First, I decided to paint the dingy white door to the garage black.  I’m so glad it’s a dark color & will hide the dirty handprints & drips that are usually covering it!  (I painted the other side black too.)  I’m begging you not to pay any attention to the ginormous dust bunnies hanging from my broom!





Next, we tried to solve this problem:



The shoes were on the back of the laundry room door, so whenever we would come in from the garage, someone was usually putting their shoes away & causing a traffic jam.  We decided to remove the door to the laundry room & will eventually add built-in shoe storage on the wall next to the sink.





I still need to paint the frame, but it makes the space feel so much bigger & solves the traffic jam problem.

Most of our out-of-season shoes are stored on the floor of the coat closet (in the entry way) along with the steam cleaner, steam mop, & vacuum.  The space above the laundry room door seemed to be a great place for seasonal shoes:





Mark quickly built a shelf, which will someday become floated, get painted, & hold our shoes!  I’m not really feeling the whole painting bare wood vibe right now, so it will probably stay this way until we can paint the whole room.




Well, that’s it!  Have you made any small changes that made a big impact?

We Got Boo'ed!

A week ago, we came home late to find a bag sitting on our driveway, blocking the garage door.  The kids grabbed the bag to find that someone had secretly boo'ed us!  The kids got a kick out of it & couldn't wait to find the perfect treat for some unsuspecting neighbors!

After a quick Pinterest search, we decided to give our neighbors a jar of Halloween Oreos & some orange soda tricked out for the holiday.  (You should really click on the links.  The originals are way cuter than mine!)

Here are the results:

You can print out directions & the printable above here.

Have you ever boo'ed anyone?  What did you give them?  I'll probably need more ideas for next year!

Hip, Hip, Hooray! Halloween was Yesterday!

I am so glad to have Halloween over with!  I once again spent a gazillion hours making costumes for the kids.  They were a ton of work, but a huge hit while trick or treating! 

Let’s start with the one costume I didn’t make!  A couple of months ago, I saw this hat on Pinterest & asked my mother-in-law if she could make something like it for me.  Here is the result…




an adorable little cabbage patch doll!

Next, our son decided to be a Port-a-Potty!  Here is the result of a lot of painting, cutting, & gluing cardboard:








Unfortunately, these pictures turned out pretty horrible, but they are the only ones I have.  It kind of makes me sad that I probably spent more than 15 hours making this costume & it was pretty much ruined by the end of the night, due to the winds & rain.

Finally, Elie wanted to be a claw machine:




It’ hard to tell in this picture, but we poked battery operated Christmas lights through the cardboard, so it actually lights up!

Well, that concludes the Halloween costume bonanza that we have had going on over here since Sunday.  (Yep, I’m kind of last minute on these things which adds to the stress & last minute malfunctions.)  Next year, I think we’ll come up with some homemade costumes that don’t require cardboard, duct tape suspenders, & that are nearly impossible to walk around in!  I’d better start looking now!

So, what did your kids dress as?