A few little updates to my daughter’s room

Well hello my friends! I hope you all had a great weekend. I appreciate all your sweet comments and support from my previous post about digging out of debt and following Dave Ramsey’s financial plan.

I’ve been trying to tie up little loose ends around the house and this weekend I tackled a project I’ve been meaning to do for probably a year. It took me a total of about 10 minutes. I don’t know why I put these little things off for so long! Both quick projects were in my daughter’s room. I’ve been trying to just finish up this room but it’s all the little finishing touches that I really drag out for far too long!

For starters, she has a full length mirror in her closet:

It has been leaning up against the wall and I’ve been meaning to hang it up so it’s easier for her to use. I finally got around to hanging it, and instead of putting it up on the wall behind her dresses, I stuck it on the inside of her closet door.

It’s so low because she’s a kid and is short! As she grows I’ll move it higher for her, but this height makes sense for her right now.

I have been getting more and more addicted to a new product lately. Have you guys seen the command strips by 3M? These things are the best! I really love the velcro ones for hanging pictures.

I have a serious phobia about wasting random office supplies (I’m whackadoo, I know) so to have these stretch further I like to cut them in half.

If you are using the velcro ones, you just take the top half of your cut and stick it to the bottom half. It’s like a two-fer.

I usually will stick the strips to my frame first, then peel off the paper backing and stick the whole thing to the wall.

One more little update I did was to hang a necklace holder under her earrings frame. I found this cute little knob holder at Hobby Lobby on clearance oh, probably a year ago?, and I’m just now getting around to hanging it. Once again, it took me like 3 minutes tops.

I hung it the same way – with the command strips. Just cut ‘em in half, stick them to the back of your holder, and then slap them up on the wall.

So much easier and less messy than a hammer and nails. And if you ever want to move your frames, there are no holes in your sheetrock. Can you see why these are quickly becoming my favorite go-to item?

Finally, two more little things to check off my daughter’s room list. So close!

PS, this post is not sponsored by anyone. I am writing about command strips because I love them.


     

Our quest for cool air {putting up ceiling fans}

Oh man, I have had Olympic Fever like cray-zeeee this past week. I absolutely LOVE love love watching Women’s Gymnastics! I’ve also been enjoying swimming as well. Fun Allison fact: I joined the swim team my senior year of high school. Because I was a senior they had to put me on Varsity. Oh man I sucked. Hahaha! I had never done swim team in my life – not even as a kid! It sure was fun though.

In addition to watching the Olympics, vacationing, and all around enjoying the kids home from school this summer, we’ve also been sweating it up like fat pigs!

We already discovered we are incompetent home owners and had too many air filters in the a/c unit. Now we’ve done yet another project on our quest for cold air.

If I have’t mentioned it like twenty billion times, I live in Austin, Texas. And if you are remotely familier with Texas you’ll know it’s freaking HOT here. And we’re having a mild summer this year! Last year I didn’t leave the air conditioning for 3 solid months. ;)

Ben and I have been making a few small updates to the upstairs of the house because of the heat (heat rises so it’s hotter upstairs).

If you guessed “installing ceiling fans” then come on down! We just had to get the air circulating in the bedrooms so ceiling fans are a must.

Obviously a big fancy chandelier or light fixture would be ah-mazing, but in Texas? Not an option. It’s just too damn hot here. Boo.

We ended up going with the Hunter 52″ Studio Series white Ceiling Fan from amazon. We bought 3; one for each kids’ room and the third for Ben’s office.

We chose the Hunter Studio Series for a few reasons. I wanted white fans so they blended into the ceiling. I prefer white ceiling fans in bedrooms and then fancier pretty ones in living spaces. Totally a personal preference though.

I also wanted one with 3 or 4 separate lights and frosted light covers as opposed to the traditional “boob light”. Again, personal preference. Oh, and cost: since we needed 3 fans, we went with a basic but good quality 3-speed fan that cost only $115.38 each.

I was ready to just buy one off the shelf at the hardware store, but my husband is the Consumer Reports nazi (is it un-PC to say he’s a “nazi”? I’m guessing so if I have to ask…) So anyway, Ben’s really into Consumer Reports and doing tons of research (I cringe at the word!).

Well, for whatever reason (okay, for these reasons: it’s quiet and has a good motor) we went with Hunter brand. In fact, the past 3 homes we’ve bought fans for we’ve only bought Hunter. (It’s safe to say we are partial to Hunter brand, and NO, I’m not getting paid to say that.)

So anyway, we bought 3 Hunter fans and we’ve had them for a month or so. They are so quiet I don’t hear them at all! Installation was a breeze (haha, get it? a breeze… I kill myself sometimes, I swear) and we had all three up and running in about an hour each.

Like I said, nothing designer-worthy or anything; I’m sure Genevieve Gorder would be taking them down seconds after stepping into the room; but they get the job done. And for the cost, they are incredibly solid and good quality.

Ben’s office also got a new fan but based on the condition of his office I am hesitant to share this little gem of a photo with you.
Ah, hell, here ya go:

Is this real life? Unfortunately, yes, this mess is my real life. Thank goodness I don’t share an office with him anymore. At least I can close the door to that eyesore whenever I walk by.

So anyway, what I just said in no less than 550 words I could have said in 7:

We installed ceiling fans in three rooms.

And the rooms are bearable to go in again. Three cheers for cool air.

Here’s the link again if you just have to have one. Or three. Hunter 52″ Studio Series white Ceiling Fan from Amazon.

Oh, and before I totally forget, if you are wanting a ceiling fan installation tutorial, google it. ;) Or, do what we did – read the very well written, easy to follow instructions that come with the ceiling fan. There’s something to say about instructions: They work.


     

Ombre Mirrors Tutorial {pink & orange}

I am so so so so so excited to share this next project with you!

ombre home decor mirror sorbet

Did I mention I am really excited?

Ahem. Now that we’ve got that cleared up…

I’ve been working on my 8 year old daughter’s room for oh um, like, forever.

In January of this year I hung some shelves in her room and drug in an extra sofa table I had.

Since then I’ve done tons of other stuff to her room, but nothing to this little dressing area. Until today. Dun, dun, dun.

I want her to have an area where she can sit down and have a little table/desk area for all her primping. This child loves to be girly and her nail polishes, lotions, and jewelry are taking over! Well, you can’t have a girly primp area without a mirror. Or three…

ombre home decor mirror sorbet

Say hello to her new trio of Ombre Sorbet Mirrors!

ombre home decor mirror sorbet

I came up with the three mirrors idea after finding three similar sized but perfectly mismatched mirrors at a thrift store. Once I saw the three mirrors I literally just “saw” in my mind these sorbet-inspired colors blending together.

ombre home decor mirror sorbet

The logistics of figuring out how to turn cans of spray paint into an ombre mirror had me stumped at first, but I figured out a technique that worked pretty darn well.

ombre home decor mirror sorbet

I am pleased as punch with the outcome. I’m also relieved that my picky daughter likes them too.

Here’s a step-by-step for making your own ombre finish using spray paint.

ombre home decor mirror sorbet

You can apply this technique to pretty much anything you can spray paint, but for this tutorial I’ll stick to mirror frames. First, start out with your mirrors. I found 3 similar sized mirrors at a thrift store for about $7 each.

ombre home decor mirror sorbet

I love that each mirror has its own unique texture and pattern.

ombre home decor mirror sorbet

Once you have collect your mirrors, remove all the mirrors from the frames.

ombre home decor mirror sorbet

I gave each mirror several thin coats of spray paint primer. I prefer Rustoleum Primer (I prefer Rustoleum brand for all spray paint actually).

ombre home decor mirror sorbet

Once the primer is dry you can start with your first color. I used Rustoleum 2x Gloss Berry Pink. Coat the top and inner and outer edges with your pink spray paint. Only paint about a 4th of the frame.

ombre home decor mirror sorbet

Now move on to the next color and coat the opposite end of the frame the same way. I used Rustoleum 2x Gloss Real Orange.

ombre home decor mirror sorbet

Grab your pink again and this time try to spray from about 2 feet away and lightly dust the frame towards the center.

ombre home decor mirror sorbet

Repeat with the orange.

ombre home decor mirror sorbet

If you hold the can far enough away and lightly mist the area, you will create a blended center without a definite line between the two colors. This gives it the ombre effect as opposed to an actual line where the colors change.

ombre home decor mirror sorbet

I was so giddy to get the mirrors in the frames! I set them up and was ready to put them all together and then I noticed this:

ombre home decor mirror sorbet

Can I get a “doh!” I so know better than that! Of course the back will reflect onto the mirror. Darn it. It was an easy fix though. I just found some craft paint in my stash that matched almost perfectly and painted it onto the back with a craft brush. The finish is different but because it’s only a small refection you can’t even tell.

ombre home decor mirror sorbet

To affix the mirrors I hot glued them all in. So easy. I hung them up and did a few cartwheels (not really) I was so excited.

ombre home decor mirror sorbet

The sofa table will soon be getting a coat of paint as well, so try to overlook how ugly it looks against those fab mirrors.

ombre home decor mirror sorbet

Now my daughter has a place to primp and play with all her little girly polishes and dangles.

ombre home decor mirror sorbet

The mirrors were hard to photograph! No matter what angle something was being reflected. I really like how you can see the reflection of her Pottery Barn inspired bedding and her ikea-hacked curtains. :)

ombre home decor mirror sorbet

Aren’t the colors so fun?! And I just can’t get over how cool they look all blended together in the middle.

ombre home decor mirror sorbet

I really hesitated doing ombre because it seems so overdone recently {amIright?!}, but most ombre is only a single color and goes from dark to light. This is different because it’s a mash-up of two different colors. Also, being an 8 year old’s room, I felt like this would be a really fun *POP* against the white board and batten, gray walls, and white shelves.

ombre home decor mirror sorbet

So, what do you think? Are you a fan of the two-toned ombre effect? If you hate it, that’s okay too, just be gentle when you tell me. ;)

See all the progress I’ve made on my daughters room here.

As always, thanks so much for reading and supporting House of Hepworths! If you are new here, my TOP POSTS are all along my sidebar –> Enjoy browsing! Subscribe here.


     
Related Posts with Thumbnails