whoa. last weekend was a l  o  n  g weekend around the re-nest house. don’t get me wrong. it was super-fantastic. as in, going back to work was pretty painful, it was so good.

we managed to divvy up our weekend into little chunks: family time, house project time, errand time, crafty time and ice cream time (muy importante). family time was a little trip over to the quad cities to the john deere pavilion, along with a hotel stay and a trip to the family museum of art & science. lots of fun and little mr. re-nest proclaiming, ” i love vacation!”

house project and crafty time was up next when we got home. and i knew just what my target was: our spare bedroom. admittedly, i bought the paint for the room back in april. and it’s been permanently planted in my basement ever since. i don’t know about you, but i totally have to be in the “zone” to paint. i always feel like i think it’s no big deal when i’m talking about the theory of painting a room….until i actually get everything out, and realize how long it takes to just tape the ceiling and trim. then, the first coat is exciting for like, the first quarter of the first wall, and then it’s like, “oh my gosh, when is this going to be finished???” 

this room was no exception. don’t get me wrong – it’s a great space, but there’s just a lot of solid wall space in this room….not a lot of it is broken up by doors or windows (which to me, always makes painting go much, much faster). pair this with the fact that these walls still had a horrible painter’s grade primer on the walls, and most of the first coat just soaked into the wall. (i will note here that i wasn’t using my favorite paint…i was using the valspar eggshell from lowes. i usually go for the pittsburgh paints grand distinction from menards. but i found the color i liked from lowes and i totally bought into the whole “menards-might-not-be-able-to-match-it-exactly-if-it’s-not-the-same-base” theory. silly, silly me.) 

so, about ten hours later (over two days), the room was painted. and i don’t think i’ve ever made such a mess painting in my life. but i loved the color and how it came out. 

and if you happened to be following the re-nest studio facebook page that day, you’ll know that i was bitten by the “refresh a room” bug. it wasn’t just painting the room. then, i needed curtains. and a curtain rod. and some new art. 

curtains. check. curtain rod. not check (yet). art. check.

the 24″ 24″ canvas + chevron

the wall that our bed is against is pretty wide, and so is the structure of the bed/headboard in this room. i instantly thought that it would be great to do a multi-piece look over the bed, in a variety of mediums. 

enter the following:

1. a 24″ x 24″ canvas (used my 40% off hobby lobby coupon). paired with a yard of this great grey and white chevron (my fave, fave, fave!) found at hobby lobby (30% off….even better!)

wrapping the fabric around the canvas

2. a 12″ x 12″ canvas from my re-nest stash. some grey acrylic paint + a layered circle and monogram look.

the finished art!

3. a white gallery frame from target. paired with grey paper, and a die-cut leak in pale green and white.

and voila! art. customized. in a look that i wouldn’t be able to find at a store. i have to admit, i’m pretty psyched about the new look. now, if i can just find that curtain rod….

here’s to being a little creative (with your home refreshes)!
ashley