This Craft Room's so Bright...

You're gonna want shades (what up, 80's music fans!)

The pictures in this post may hurt your eyes if they are sensitive, so I'll wait if you want to grab a pair of sunglasses or preemptively turn down the brightness on your screen.

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Got them?  Awesome :)  Now you are set to continue!

Last weekend Mr. B took off on a football-viewing mini vacation with some friends.  Naturally, I decided to use my alone time to work on some projects...so I decided to get down and dirty and get my craft room transformation under way.  First step - Paint!!

I had shared in an earlier post that I was thinking green...and boy, did I ever go with green!

The craft room itself is in the basement.  It has low ceilings and poor lighting, so I knew that I needed a color that would help brighten the space and not make it feel even more cave-like.  Solution? Hit up the Home Depot on Friday and spend some quality time with the paint chips! (isn't that what everyone does on a Friday night?!?)

Side note - I think the guys at the paint counter may think I'm insane for how long I spent there.  I kinda feel like I should ask them their names the next time I go since we will likely be spending more time together down the road as well.  Maybe I'll bring them a loaf of thanks-for-putting-up-with-me banana bread.  IDK, just a thought.

I got home with 3 different samples that were quite different from one another:

After slapping some squares up on the wall with each sample, I quickly decided that Fern Leaf and Intoxication were just too dark.  Though Intoxication is pretty much my favorite color of green ever, it would have made the room feel much smaller than it really is.  And I probably would have had to have a halogen worklamp on at all times in that place to be able to see what I was doing.

The more I looked at Honeydew, the more I liked it!  So back to Home Depot it was for a gallon of the selected color.

So this is the part where those sunglasses I mentioned come in.

Like, seriously.

When I say bright, I actually mean "WHOA, THAT IS BRIGHT!!"

Brace yourself - here it comes.

WAH-BAM!!! Told you it was in your face.

At first I was a little unsure when I got it on the walls.  There were some texts to my BFF Jaime to talk me off the oh-shit-I-think-I-just-spent-3-hours-painting-this-room-a-horrible-mistake-of-a-color, ledge.  And some pacing around the room, contemplating each wall.

And then I was exhausted, so I went to bed with 2 walls to complete.

When I woke up the next morning, I tiptoed down to the room to take a peek again (apparently I thought that the silence of my steps would help in the acceptance of the color? IDK, I don't make sense sometimes).

The sleep had helped, because walking through those doors I was totally digging the color!  After a few deep breaths, I grabbed all of my paint supplies and finished up those bright green walls!

Here are a few more pics:

Hey look, another Fitz sighting!

As you can see, I've already got my desk and some other furniture downstairs!  The table in the middle will be the stand-in until I've got a bit more moolah in the craft bank and I can get to building my ideal table.  So until then, our old hand-me-down dining table will do just fine!  White paint may grace it soon so that I can accept it's presence in the room for a longer while.  

Other plans I've got for the room? Why, I'm so happy you asked!  There will definitely be a pegboard built for that giant empty wall - ever since my days in the glamorous retail world, the beauty and pure organizational perfection of pegboard has been in my dreams.  It's time to make it reality.  I've also got plans for a new light fixture, a fabric filing cabinet and (a looooongggg ways down the line) a sliding door to the bathroom that you can't see in these pictures.  Right now there is just a shower curtain there....not my favorite way to close a bathroom.

Oh, and there will be new pompoms as well!

So what do you think?  Is the green workable in your mind?  Let me know!  I'm totally up for any ideas to make this an awesome craft room...on a budget, of course :)

Linking up @:

- Snap Creativity

- Ginger Snap Crafts

- Whimsy Wednesdays

Project Update: Stencil Madness

How's about a stencil update?  Yeah? Ok, let's go!

Prepare yourself - if you think you're going to see a completed room with furniture rearranged and all mess put away, this is not the post for you.  You'll want to wait for the post I eventually title "FINALLY DONE WITH STENCILING - WOOHOOOO!"  Or something to that effect.

If you're still interested in the progress, then you can keep on reading :)

Since I have yet to track down my good camera, you'll have to put up with my grainy cell phone pictures...but it will give the same effect!

The little wall is done!! Yay yay yay!!!!!!  (Pause for mini victory dance)

The little wall is what you see when you walk right into the room. I love seeing it when I turn the corner into the hallway.

And now, for the larger wall.....

*Pow*Pow*Pow*  *WHA-BAM!*   (that's for you, Mr. B!)

Not done.  But the main large section is! I just have to do the top and bottom and the far left side, and I'll be like 2/3 of the way done!

I told you that it would take a while.

But it's ok!  Life got in the way - and that's the way it should be!! Weddings and friends and enjoying the sunshine is far more important than a wall being done.  No rush!

Ok, quick segue.  Ya'll need to keep me honest though.  It's ok that it's not done now, but if you happen to mention it to me in another month and I haven't made any progress, sit me down for an intervention and whip me into shape.  I give you permission.  Segue done.

So, that's where painting is at.  Once I'm all done with the actual stenciling, I'll have some touch ups to do.  Those are good to save for rainy days though :)

At least, that's what I tell myself.

Thanks for reading!

Truthiness: Stencil Edition

Truthiness is one of my favorite words.  And I don't use it nearly enough.  I'm sure my friend Stephen Colbert is disappointed that it is not a more regular part of my vocabulary (Me and Steve - we're totally BFFs)

But BOY do I need to use it today... Sit back as I regale you with the story of Amanda vs. Stencil.

I'll start with this...

THAT is where 2 hours of work, a trip to find a new stencil brush (or 4) and half a roll of paper towels got me. A blank white wall.  A whole lotta nothin.  I'll explain in a minute.

Whoof.  I knew it was going to be hard work, but guuuuurrrrrrllll (and guy too), it's WAY harder than I thought.  Like pull-my-hair-out hard.

My perfectionist side had a meltdown yesterday as I pulled the first stencil off and saw the fuzzy edges and drips of paint on some of the herringbones (I don't think that's a word, but go with it for me!)

Then my practical side kicked in and I thought, "Hey, it's actually not too bad for a first try!"

But eventually, Ms. Perfectionist won the battle.  I went to bed disappointed in my work and a tad bit totally ready to call it quits.

7 hours later, my tune had changed. It's amazing what a night of sleep can do for me (no matter how restless or low-blood-sugar-filled).  As I was walking in to work this morning, I just decided I'm going to make it work.  Fuzzy edges ain't gonna get me down!   Yes, it's probably going to take me a week or more to get it done with an hour here and there.  But I DO love how it looks already, and I know once it's done I will be happy I did it.

When I got home, I looked at the work I HAD done yesterday and decided it wasn't a good place to start.  So, I went back to a blank slate and painted over what I will now refer to as the "stencil test run."

If you come to my house and it's not done, don't be surprised.  you come and it IS done, better believe you're going to be getting an art museum-esque tour of that wall in all of it's glory.

I imagine it will be one of those projects that I work on here and there until it's done.  After all, there's no real rush.  And I don't want to take the joy out of the process either!  Because when I sat down today and tried again, I truly enjoyed myself.

And here is what I ended up with:

Is it perfect? No. There is still some bleeding and spots that I will have to touch up.  But that's cool with me.

So there - that's my truthiness.  And I'm stickin to it.

PS...apologies for the poor photo quality...late night painting and those darn boob lights makes picture taking difficult!