Harry Potter Powder Room

I've been working on a few projects here and there, just puttering around in between summer fun. We took a trip to the California redwoods, the Southern Oregon coast, went camping, kayaking and have picked lots of berries for canning later.

I've recently started a new project that I'm excited about though, a Harry Potter powder room. To start off with I found some book and potion printables online:

I also found some lettering I could use for a Hogwarts Express sign. I wanted it to be just like the one in the movies. This is my first time using homemade Modge Podge (half school glue, half water) and was happy with the results. 

I ordered some decals off of Ebay for the lightswitches and the "entrance" to the MoM. 

I still have more to do and lots of ideas but, I'm happy with how it's turning out so far. Even if the muggles in my house don't understand. 

The pressure of a deadline

Our wedding momentos have been sitting in a box for almost ten years. They've been moved to three different houses. Our ten year anniversary party is this weekend. Nothing like the pressure of a deadline to finally turn a box into a scrapbook that tells a story.

More Fence Recycling

I finished another project this week with some of our old fence wood. We have quite a large pile of this beautiful old weathered wood so I'm just itching to use it. I've wanted to put up something to display photos, artwork, homework or the many various "projects" the kids have done. Two houses ago (my first home I ever purchased) I had a curtain rod in the hallway with clips attached that I regularly changed out artwork and photos. At one point it even held our certificates of completion for our foster care training. That was B.C. , what we call Before Children.

For this project I lightly painted a piece of the wood, I didn't even pre-sand. I purchased some clips at an office supply store and screwed them directly to the wood. I printed an outline of the letters and traced them onto the wood. Normally I would use transfer paper but since this wood is so soft I just outlined the letters and it transferred to the surface. I colored in the letters and then sanded a little to make it look worn. Hopefully you can see in the close up the beautiful indentions, surface weathering and texture of the wood. I hung it on the wall at kid height so I can let them hang up their own work.

Just a quick project

While in Target this week I lusted over a cute doormat with lovely spring colors and bold, graphic lettering. Problem is I can't see spending 15 bucks when I have a perfectly good, but boring, doormat sitting outside my front door. 

While taking a break from a very intense labor project I decided to do a quick update to our doormat. I taped off the line with painters tape and sprayed with some aqua outdoor spray paint I had on hand. It wasn't as dark as I wanted so I also did a quick swipe with some aqua chalk paint with a brush. I hand lettered the "hi!" with some yellow chalk paint. I thought about putting "yo!" instead, but our teenager rolls his eyes at us enough as it is. :) 

Chalk Paint

This months Better Homes and Gardens magazine has a coupon for a free sample of one of Lowes new spring colors. I picked up this bright coral pink to make a new batch of chalk paint. I loosely follow a recipe that is 3 parts paint mixed with 1 part water & 1 part plaster of paris. You mix the water and plaster of paris first then add to your paint. I say I follow it loosely because sometimes it just depends on how much room is in the container. In this instance I just eyeballed it and it came out a perfect consistency, just like pudding.

I love this coral color so much that the large bowl will likely stay here with me instead of ending up in my Etsy Shop. Now I just need to find the perfect quote to put on it. 

Old fence recycle

I've been spending a lot of time this season working in our yard. Part of the many projects has been tearing down an old privacy fence. The boards are rotting away and growing moss. They are beautiful. There is no way I could just get rid of them. The grain of the wood is deep and weathered. Every swirl and knot is pronounced. 

After our dark floors went in I've been wanting to lighten up some of our dark wood furniture. I used some of the old weathered fence wood to make a new top for the coffee table. Soon I will make matching tops for the side tables. After a quick sanding, some whitewashing and distressing the overall look is very beachy. I love it. 

Seed Starting

Now that spring is officially here I've switched gears to starting seeds and getting my vegetable garden plan in order. The first spring we were in this house I spent the entire time building raised beds and turning the front yard into a Potager Garden. This year I'm trying to pre-sprout all my seeds on an old heating pad and then transplant them into starter pots and into the cold frame in the garden. Once they grow big enough then they'll be planted in to the raised garden beds. I've also been direct sowing peas, lettuce and other cold loving crops. I've already harvested the first spears of asparagus and my rhubarb is starting to look good as well. We're still digging up overwintered carrots and I found that I didn't get all the potatoes dug up last fall. I have plenty of spots where potatoes are already sending up foliage.