Oh, the Joy of Paint Colors

We like neutral colors and wanted a subtle color throughout the house. Thought it be easy picking out a simple light tan color, but there are SO many different colors! This was in every room of the house... 

The light grayish looking one is called Balanced Beige, which is just a tad lighter than Tony Taupe by Sherwin Williams (SW). The green one to the left of it is called Victorian Garden by SW also (which we are using in the family room.) The tan one on the far right is Basket Beige by SW. The very first one on the left is Sandy Motif by Behr. I don't remember the other ones.

We paint matched ALL of these at Home Depot (HD) because we wanted primer in the paint and SW doesn't offer that. Plus SW paints are more expensive and we wanted to cut the paint time in half.

We thought we liked Sandy Motif and so we decided to start in the boys room (which was light blue, btw). But a little patch of color on the wall is A LOT different than an entire room. The tan color is nice, but not what we thought it would look like. It's more of a yellowish tan. So it stayed in the boys room and we chose another color for the rest of the house. (I didn't take a pic of the boys room, but I will and post that later)

We decided we wanted more of a taupe tan and were advised by a professional interior designer to go with Tony Taupe, but thought it might be a smidge too dark. So we chose to go with Balanced Beige (one notch up on the color wheel) and started in the master bedroom (which was maroon, yuck). At first, it looked like the perfect color. Then it turned grey. We didn't like it, but didn't want to paint it again, so we left it. I swear over a week, the paint curred and now it is taupe! I think it's pretty, clean, crisp, and I love it. Will look so much better too once we put up crown moulding. There was some up already, but the cut lines were so uneven, we tore it down.

(Balanced Beige by Sherwinn Williams in Satin)

...But what's weird is, the color patch in the hallway still looks grey. And we labeled each color with a pencil on the wall so it for sure is Balanced Beige. The lighting is a little different I guess, but our room never looks grey in any lighting and we have dimmer lights. Hmm.
Since we thought the walls in the master were forever grey, we picked out a different color, and went away from the greyish tans. We chose Basket Beige by SW, but again, matched at HD. I love it. I'm not a very colorful person. I like pops of color, but nothing bold. I wanted something colorfully rich, but subtle at the same time without looking brown. Can't wait to get up the crown moulding, but I'm afraid it won't be til early next year. We've got so many other projects going.

 (Basket Beige by Sherwinn Williams in Satin)

Alas, I got started on Averi's nursery. I went with Mauve Morning by Behr at Home Depot in satin finish. Luckily, there was at least one room in the house without a paint color.

Before...

filthy and missing blinds are coming down. 

And here is...

Mauve Morning by Behr in Satin

I wanted a light lavender something with a greyish tint and this is perfect. It goes great with the new fabric I found for only $1.50/yrd !! I know! You can't even find clearance fabric that cheap. They must have marked it wrong by mistake. ...but finders keepers, hee hee.

Pics of that later.

I looove paint and primer in one. It's de best.

These rollers at Home Depo are WON-DER-FUL. [don't pay any attention to my ugly, kid-friendly carpet] The coverage they give make painting a heckuva lot easier. Spend a little extra and go with better rollers. You'll be painting less coats if you do. You get what you pay for if you choose the crappy cheap ones. They don't paint the same.

Painting Tip:

If you need to take a break on your painting project, put your roller in a large plastic Ziploc bag and put it in the fridge. Squeeze all the air out of the bag and it will keep for a week in there. Plus you're not wasting any expensive paint by cleaning it out. You can also put them in freezer bags and freeze them for 2 months.

Tomorrow's Project-

more painting. surprise surprise.

Jimmy Rigged Candle Making

So...a blog I read made candle making look super easy. "Oh ya just melt this and pour that, and walla!" Since I had a candle that melted the wax right on top of it's own wick, I thought I'd give it a whirl and try to reuse the wax. Plus it smells amazingly tropical. You can use the microwave, but since mine had that little metal thing at the bottom of the wick somewhere inside the glass, I didn't have that option. So I patiently waited for the wax to melt upon my stove top over medium-low heat for 30 minutes.

 candlewicks and jar...check!

 This blog I read (really don't remember whose) said you simply dip the little metal part in the melted wax...

 ...and stick it down in the bottom center of your new glass. Once it dries, pour in the wax and it will stay.

Simple enough, right?

WRONG!!!

Once the hot wax touches it, it melts again! I should have known.

This is where the jimmy rigged part comes in...

I used bamboo skewers to hold the little metal knobs down on the bottom of the glass while snuggling frozen veggies to the sides to get it to cool faster. The hardest part was trying to get the stupid wicks to stay straight in the wax!

 So once I got the wicks to stay a little straight, I used the skewers to hold the wicks upright while it cooled completely. (I dipped my finger in the hot wax and put a dab on each side of the wick where it meets the skewer so when it dries, it would hold it in place and I could let go.)

Once you get it just right, DON'T BUMP IT! like i did.

 Then I used my new nifty candlewick trimmers (that I pretty much got for free at that sidewalk sale) to trim down both wicks once it dried- which took another 30 minutes

 I had a little wax left over and made a mini one in a tiny ketchup bottle.

Once it all cooled, I was happy.



I'm sure those of you, who actually know how to make candles, have some neat little tricks and/or gadgets to make this easy and are probably laughing at this post, but idc. 

Jimmy rigged or not, it worked out eventually.

:)

Chocolate Gifts

I know, I know, Christmas is over, but I haven't had a chance to post about super easy, delicious chocolate gifts yet!

...just a simple, wonderful way to decorate the average [large] chocolate bar.
A little scrapbook paper can really go a long way. I made these paper flowers from a tutorial I found on another blog. (I'll post the link later when I remember where it came from. Sorry.)
I really like this idea because you can use it for any occassion. Great for a 'just saying hello' gift to a friend or a side gift to stick in next to a birthday present.

chocolate and paper flowers make me happy.

The Life of Sprite

I'm not much of a soda drinker myself, but if there are fresh flowers nearby, so shall the Sprite be. I brought home a dozen of yellow roses for my husband yesterday. oh, just because. Actually, because I read somewhere (either on msn or the Dating Divas blog, I can't remember) that guys sometimes secretly wish they would get flowers from their wives to show their appreciation -and I very much appreciate all that my husband does, so I thought it seemed an appropriate gesture. {As I'm writing this, I'm realizing how silly it is.} HA! Well, I don't think that advice is necessarily true. Not in my case anyway. Jeremy was flattered, but definitely not like a wife would be. Since he is currently home with the kids while finishing up school, I handed him flowers and his first comment was, "does this make me an official housewife?" hahahhahaahaha! I think it did more damage than good.
...Nonetheless, yellow roses are still beautiful and I get to enjoy them.
...So flowers and Sprite do have some correlation with each other, I promise. If you ever give or get flowers, pour an entire can of Sprite (or Sierra Mist, whatev) in with the water and those flowers will look better than ever! The BEST part is you will see a full bloom of beauty at least a week longer. At the LEAST! [I had some roses one time that looked gorgeous and fresh for 2 straight weeks] It's the high fructose corn syrup that keeps them alive and happy longer than usual. [HFCS doesn't have that effect on humans]
Such a simple tip.

...and the whole flower-giving thing should really remain for females to receive. I'm just saying.

Hand Scrub Table

TaDa! Sassy, Classy, and Pink! I put on this display at my sister-in-law's baby shower. It was a total hit! Really didn't take too much time or money to put on.

I got the recipes online (I chose 2 to keep it simple), but to my surprise, I had to mod them quite a bit. Whatever recipes you choose, make sure you try them ahead of time! I used baby oil instead of olive oil because, well, it just smells better. (and if you're doing this for a baby shower, what could be more appropriate?) I tried my recipes with olive oil and not only was it expensive, it STUNK! Even after I added my essential oil, it still had that lingering, bitter smell. So stick with baby oil, and I promise you'll be pleased. Once I got the recipes just right, I printed them out, cut the edges with fancy scissors, and glued to some scrapbook & construction paper. Don't forget to add sass! I also added a piece of cardboard to the back to keep em' sturdy since I displayed them on plate stands.


*I used whatever glass dishes I had laying around and borrowed the rest.
*Tied coordinating ribbons wherever I possibly could (Can you tell I love ribbon?? What crafty person doesn't?)
*Made labels for each ingredient. (I taped them on last)
*provided about 60+, 4 oz plastic GLAD containers with lids. You can buy a pack of 8 at Walmart for $3 and some change. Don't forget spoons for mixing!

*Included white sticky labels and black permanent markers so everyone could mark their own.
*Each glass had it's own proper measuring spoon according to the recipe. I.e., Tablespoon in Oatmeal, 1/2 teaspoon in cinnamon.
*Note the solid light pink, plastic tablecloth in top picture under the polka dotted, fabric one. SO easy for cleanup! Wadd and dump.
*Not in the picture: I hung a sign on the wall that said, "One per person please" just to make there are enough for all who wants one. In past experience, let's just say, people can get hand-scrub-happy.

Enjoy!

P.S. Here are the recipes I came up with...
(These are small-portion recipes for parties. Neither should be used on your face)
VANILLA CINNAMON SUGAR SCRUB:
2 Tbs Sea Salt
2 Tbs Brown Sugar
1-2 Tbs Baby Oil
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract

TANGERINE BODY BREAKFAST:
2 Tbs Brown Sugar
2 Tbs Oatmeal (ground up in food processor)
1-2 Tbs Baby Oil
3 drops Tangerine essential oil