August 31, 2009

Makeovers and Family Art Projects

When our playroom/office/extra guest room got a make-over last weekend, I told Mr. BBM I did not want to paint. When we bought the house, we got the creamy colored walls and white trim. I like that color combination and am still not sure about what colors I want to paint where.

But when we put up all the white bookcases and the black and white desk, I knew we needed something to make it pop. The plan is to also get a small white sleeper sofa (with a removable washable cover). I figured I'd add some bright sofa pillows and curtains.

I went with my tried and true favorite, a pretty blue-green color (curtains and accent pieces I picked up at TJ Maxx) and an apple/lime green (cheap beaded necklaces as curtain tie-backs and accent pieces and a basket from TJ Maxx). I was further encouraged by my color selection when I saw, while googling paintings yesterday, that David Bromsted used exactly those colors in one of his makeovers.

Without paint on the walls though, we needed something bright, so I bought canvases, paint in the colors I wanted to bring into the room, and we all went to work on our very own creation this weekend.

Big I and Lil C went first and they did a great job. Big I's is a tropical flower. Lil C's? Well, that's a little more complicated. We've got storm clouds, the sun, a rainbow, a "tomato" (also known as a tornado), the beach, a waterfall, and her signature.

Here's mine. Big I said it should be in a newspaper or something. I tend to disagree.

And here's Mr. BBM in process. Speaking of his process, he decided to forget the brushes after he broke one and instead used his fingers to flick paint onto his canvas. He also flicked paint onto the car, my painting (twice), me, the garage floor, etc. I was not liking his "process." I swear he made more of a mess than the girls did.

His completed masterpiece. . .

When Lil C saw it, he asked her if she liked it. Her response was, "What isit?" Mr. BBM said he wasn't sure what it was, but suggested that maybe it was spiderwebs. "So do you like it?" he asked her. "Um, no," she said. Only later, when he suggested that it might be shooting stars did she say she liked it. However, she continued to ask him what it was every time she saw it for the rest of the night.

Here are all four in the room. Now they just need to go up on the walls.

So here's the room so far. . .

Before:

After: The wall of bookshelves, still missing the lights on the top. They should go up this week.

Before: A pile of toys had nowhere to go.

After: The toys are stored in the doored cabinets, and a tempered glass desk now serves as the drawing, homework, craft area. Plus, the bench lifts up to reveal storage so I can keep all my school stuff in there.

Doing this one room has prompted an entire reorganization of the whole house. It's been busy here but good to de-clutter and get rid of things. It's also so nice that all the toys now have a home!

***Please throw me a votein the Victoria's Secret "Love Your Body" contest. The 1st place person has over 16,000 votes. Clearly I need help.