DIY: Updating a plain black Hobby Lobby canvas frame.

Quick and easy DIY (aren't all my DIYs quick and easy) for you today! Updating a simple canvas frame with a little gold spray paint!

I had been meaning to get my son's art framed and finally the week had come when these frames were 50% off at Hobby Lobby. I got the size I needed but it just needed a little something...

I love black and white but this was a little too boring, even for me. So I simply taped off the majority of the frame, except for a little strip lined up with the inner bevel.

Then I hit it with the gold spray paint. I love the result:

Happy Hobby Lobby-ing, everyone!
Xoxo, Natasha

DIY Abstract Art (with the kids!) & My New Velvet Curtains

Hey, all! Just a little somethin' somethin' for this morning's blog post: Some examples of DIY abstract art that your kids can do that looks like you spent a ton on a great art piece! Also I thought I'd share a pic or two of the velvet panels we just hung the other night! Hope you all have a great day!!

There are so many Kelly Wearstler inspired/black&white abstract art pieces floating around out there right now, and while I love them all, I just can't shell out that chunk of change. Especially when I have a budding artist right here in my own home! My 3 year old son, Graham, painted this beauty for me:

Isn't it great? I can not wait to get it framed (another DIY project I will soon be sharing). I simply let him go to town with a little black paint on a primed canvas I bought from Hobby Lobby.

This one his sister got involved in and I let them get a little crazy with color, too:

I love how bold it is! I also let me son have some fun with gold leaf. They sell a kit at Michael's that includes the adhesive pen and several sheets of gold leaf.

Not only does this art look fabulous, but it has way more meaning to me than something  that happened to be a trend. It's a piece I will truly cherish forever and is definitely one of a kind!

And here's a little peek at the black velvet panels I whipped out this weekend:

That's Moose enjoying the first sliver of sun we have had all winter!

I love how it really pulls you in from the black entryway.

Thanks for looking!
Xoxo, Natasha

Linked up at: Makeovers and Motherhood A Bowl Full of Lemons
The Gunny Sack
NapTime Creations 

Black Walls

As I've mentioned before, our home was built in 1937. It has tons of cool art deco features such as curved walls and an extremely deco molding above the front door. I knew immediately I really wanted to keep that feeling going, and what could be more art deco than black and white?

I had already painted the front hallway twice, but it just never felt perfect. I wanted to make a dramatic statement when you first enter, so I finally decided to take the plunge. This is why we own a home, after all. So we can make it what we want.

The color I used is called Gargoyle Shadow by Dutch Boy. Although I love Dutch Boy colors, I always have them mixed in Pittsburgh Paint. I really love the coverage they offer.

Alright, enough blabber! The reveal:

I'm really please with the heavy contrast. And my husband didn't freak out, either, so that's a plus! He actually really loves how formal our entry now feels.

With so much white. a bold color can be pulled off with ease.

What could be more trendy right now than a black and gold color scheme?  Our old door bell pops against the dark walls.

I moved my $6.99 Goodwill cherry blossom tree into the front hallway and now I feel like an extra in the recent Great Gatsby movie. (Still waiting for Leo to make his appearance. Ahem.)

More black and gold rears it's *trendy* head: our antique Ansonia clock that once belonged to my husband's grandparents.

And it frames our front door beautifully. We have mega-light coming in right now with the sun gleaming off of the snow, but had I taken a better photo, you could see how the leaded windows really pop with the black walls drawing your eye to them. Just take my word for it, ok??

I now need to get moving on some black velvet curtains that are going to frame our french doors. I need to tie all of this black paint into the living room somehow. A great excuse to use more black velvet fabric!! Thanks for looking!

DIY: Louis XV Chair Makeover

Hello, everyone! I am back with a DIY decor project I have been SUPER excited to tackle: recovering some Louis XV chairs I got for a song on Craigslist.

I will briefly give some tips on how I went about this DIY project, but I am not going to go into to much detail because it's pretty straightforward, and let's just be honest: if you're like me, you just browse through the pictures.

So let's get on with it! The before:

Great, right? Eh, not so much. I got a set of two chairs, one is a side chair and the other has arms.

First we need to remove all of those nail heads! Tedious work, but sometimes I like busy work while I listen to Judge Judy,

The fabric should come off cleanly. Make sure you save the inner padding to re-use later.

Then all of the little staples in the cardboard backing need to come out. Save this piece as well.

Do the same for the seat. I removed the ugly floral fabric but was able to keep everything else underneath. it had been upholstered nicely and covered with a plain vanilla covering. Small blessings!

Use the old pieces of fabric to trace your new panels.

Make sure to leave extra around the edges, just incase.

Now drape your new fabric over the seat to make sure you have enough.

Tool time! This is what my husband had, so this is what I used. A little overkill, but whatever.

I started stapling in the back. I simple tucked he raw edge under itself to give it a "hem" and stapled as close to the edge as possible.

Just keep tucking and stapling.

Little pleats will happen, I just try to put a staple in those areas.

If you plan to use nail heads to finish, you do not need to place as many staples.

Next I moved torwards the arms.

Always be sure to keep checking that you still have your fabric evenly distributed. You don't want it to get wonky and end up short on one side. My fabric had a great amount of stretch which helped. I didn't need to pull as hard.

Seat is done!

Trace the back panel next.

Make sure the right side of your fabric is facing out on the back of a Louis Chair.

 Start stapling at the top.

Then down the sides.

After you've stapled all the way around the back, go ahead and place your cardboard and padding back in and staple in place.
Repeat the same process of rolling the edge under and stapling over the back cushion.

Ta da! Now you're ready for piping, trimmings or more nail heads if you choose!

 Isn't she a beaut??

"Black velvet in that little boy's smiiiiillleee... black velvet in that-" ok I will stop there.

This was an incredibly cheap DIY decor prjoect with a huge impact. The chairs were only $30.00 a piece and I got the fabric from Fabric.Com for $3.82 a yard! So go forth and make some ugly chairs pretty!