Yikes! Stripes!

I had a productive weekend- as I mentioned Friday, Jon and I painted some accent stripes on our wall as part of our office makeover.  Seeing as how I'm still alive,  you can deduct that the project was a success and I was not, in fact, murdered for my life insurance money. The office is far from done, but I am really happy with the results!

Now that I'm an experienced striper (not stripper, mind you), I've got a couple pointers if you ever decide to give it a try:

• This goes for any project ever, but recognize that everything will take longer than you expect
• Be aware that floors are not always even so measuring from the floor may not give you a good result.  A laser tool is essential for this project, as is a second person to hold said laser.
• Be crazy psycho meticulous with the first line: mark the walls every 3 feet or so and then apply the blue painter's tape as flatly and carefully as possible. It may not seem like a big deal if there are wrinkles in the tape, but this can screw you later in the process
• I measured all the subsequent lines off of the first line of tape to make sure that the lines would be parallel to one another
• Be mindful that the painter's tape is negative space, not color. That means if you want a 6 inch stripe, the space between the tape must be six inches, not 4 inches plus the width of the tape. This means sometimes you'll be aligning the tape from the bottom and other times you'll be aligning it from the top
• THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT! After you've applied the tape, take a credit card edge and run it over the tape to make sure it's completely adhered to the wall, particularly the edges. If you don't do this, paint will seep under the tape and your line will look like it was applied by epileptic donkeys.
• After you've done your coats of paint, remove the tape while it's still not completely dry. I'm not exactly sure why, but that's what other sites said to do and I think the lines looked cleaner when I did it wet than when I forgot and had to do it dry.

 For the BEFORE, go here

 The IN BETWEEN:

X marks the DON'T PAINT THIS IT'S NOT A STRIPE!

And here's the AFTER:

Happy Painting Weekend!

This is a big weekend for the office renovation! Jon and I are going to be painting the striped detailing on the wall (see my mock-up here).  I'm very terrified excited to try this out- it'll be my first foray into any sort of wall "art". But I figure I might as well try on walls that someone else owns! If it looks like ass I'll probably have to keep it for a while so that my husband won't murder me in my sleep for my paltry life insurance sum, which would cover the costs of fixing the wall and possibly little else.

Thing is, I'm really an all or nothing kind of person. And all this paint thought has me DYING to paint our bedroom area a moody, dark color. It's been on my mind for a while, and I'm hoping I can convince Jon that it's a fantastic idea to just paint the whole universe this weekend.

And finally, I'm about to complete a "simple" DIY project that I began, uh.... a year ago. It's a beaded chandelier made from a hanging planter and mardis gras beads but needs to be spray painted a respectable color. I'll give you the entire ridiculous rundown of this year-long adventure, but suffice it to say this was the DIY project that couldn't.

Here are a few examples of dark moody bedrooms that I can't get enough of lately:

Office Space

This weekend the huz and I paid a visit to the Meeker Ave. Flea Market in Williamsburg.  Since the wedding is dunzo, we've been feeling slightly less broke, so of course it's time to buy more stuff!!!  All consumerist jokes aside, Jon's office space is the inner thigh of our abode- an area that causes me embarrassment and must be avoided in pictures at all costs!  His furniture is all PB (pre-Beth, not Pottery Barn) and was acquired through a combination of urban scavenging and adoption.  AND to make things worse, it's not even functional, which means it's all GOT TO GO.  Jon's literary masterpiece is just waiting to emerge, if we could only get him some organization and a comfortable desk chair that fits my tall drink o'water. 

I'd love to combine some key vintage pieces with a modern desk and throw in a stylish leather desk chair.  Notice I said stylish- none of this biznass:

Can you say depressing?



More like this:

  Sources: 1. ; 2. ; 3. ; 4.

Interior inspiration for masculine workspaces after the jump!