I’ve missed doing OPAM projects, but for the last several months (or half of a year) it’s felt like I couldn’t start and finish anything. I could totally start, but finishing was a problem. I can’t imagine why. :) So I was really excited to work on the project below! We have a little cutout in one of our hallways that was just kind of blah. It wasn’t exciting at all. I started scheming about what to do with the space then I ordered some frames from The Organic Bloom and a plan started coming together. I thought a “Wall of Kingston” would be fun, because what we need most in our house is more pictures of him. We don’t want him to feel neglected or anything!

Before: LOVE sign from Kirkland’s.
Pillows that ended up here, because they didn’t really go anywhere else in the house.
Bench from Pottery Barn.

After: Frames from The Organic Bloom. I’m offering these to clients now!
I made some of the pillows and bought the rest at the thrift store.
The circle banners are just scrapbook paper glued onto yarn.
The paint is leftover from when we had our living room and kitchen painted last year. I thought the rounded edges mimicked the frames a little bit.

This space makes me so happy now. When I finished decorating I thought, “Hmm. Is this a little too much?” Yes. Yes it is. And I love it!

I used some of Kingston’s favorite books ;) and other fun goodies to fill the square cubbies.

Oh, he feels so loved now!

Under normal circumstances this little D.I.Y. project would not get OPAM status. It should really only take a fews hours to make; not a month. But I’m doing good to complete anythything these days, and this felt table runner is the only one I finished in February! The good thing about this project is that you can pick it up whenever you have a few minutes to work on it, then get back to it later. Mine was on my living room floor for weeks. :)

You’ll need:
-Felt in your choice of colors
-Scissors
-No Sew or other adhesive
-Buttons, embroidery thread, beads for embellishment

Cut out circles from felt. I used a plate to trace and cut out the large and medium ones and a medicine bottle cap for the small ones.

Lay the circles out and overlap them to create the design for your runner. Then, starting from one end and working your way down, attach the circles to each other with No Sew. I laid the circles on top of a runner that I already had to get a feel for the length and width.

Add embellishments-Buttons, beads, embroidered designs… TA DA!

I get that super-bright colors aren’t for everyone!
You could also use neutral colors – greys with black and white
or all one color felt for a monochromatic look
or holiday colors – red and green for Christmas, pastels for Easter… you get it!

Have fun!!!

We have one piece of furniture that I really hate. I guess in the big scheme of things, one is not too bad. The problem is the size and location of this piece. It’s a huge black box and is prominently displayed in our living room. In fact, I think I could go as far as referring to it as the focal point of our home. And I can’t just get rid of it, because it’s the only thing that Anderson picked out. And even though it’s old and we could probably go out and get a nice sleek one, he loves the big black box. So my project this month was an attempt to make the area around it look a little more cheerful.

Before-How many boxes do we really need on top of the tv?
After-I gathered some fun, random pieces and tried to stay with a candy-colored theme!

This was another easy project, but it brightened the room up a lot!

A few details (left to right):
The big frame once held a hideous family portrait that hung in my Grandma’s dining room. I painted it sea foam green and hung E – 2008 (for “Established 2008″) in it. A modern take on the signs we’ve all seen in people’s homes over the years. I used a wooden letter and numbers and covered them in magazine clippings with Modge Podge.

Below that is a framed vintage camera manual.

To the right is a framed “A” and a ceramic cow head from the thrift store.

The pink metal square is from Hobby Lobby, but it was a yucky rust color. I sprayed it cotton candy pink and attached a deer head cut out of scrapbook paper. (This is the picture I used in case you wan to make your own!)

I found the pink cuckoo clock on eBay and painted the canvas under it a long time ago!

I'm back at the OPAM projects! Style School was the reason for my two month break, but since that's over now; I'm ready to jump back into the fun world of random monthly decorating projects! Here goes…

This is the second bookshelf I've revamped since starting OPAM. I really like bookshelves, because I can display so many cute things on them. In other words, they are clutter collectors…and I love clutter!

This one came from Target a few years ago. It fit perfectly into the beach décor at my old apartment, so I bought a whole matching set when I moved in. But since I'm not into this color wood anymore it never made it into our house. It was in the garage in the i-don't-know-what-to-do-with-this-stuff-but-don't-want-to-throw-it-away pile. Then I decided what it needed was a little bit of pink spray paint. Ya'll know I like spray paint! Once I got the idea to paint I knew exactly where I wanted to put it and started collecting little goodies to display.

Before: Sad little shelf. After: Two cans of pink spray paint later!

Now it has a home in a little corner of our living room. Isn't it happy?!

Here's what I put on it…

On the wall: This clock from IKEA, this print that my sweet brother-in-law and sister-in-law gave me for Christmas and a yellow "A" from the thrift store.

On top: An old typewriter that someone was throwing away (gasp), a Polaroid camera and my Great-Grandma's book about how to read and write short-hand. Ha!

On the shelves: Books (including Bibles, legal thrillers by John Grisham, Amy Vanderbilt's "Complete Book of Etiquette" and old Reader's Digests), mini yellow vases from the thrift store, a light bulb full of confetti and an old hatbox top.

Completely unrelated…but thanks so much to everyone who sent me emails about where to go in Hawaii! I now have a list of fun things to see and do-yay!!!

Between taking down my fall decorations, replacing them with Christmas ones, buying and wrapping presents and processing print orders I didn't have time for a true OPAM in December, but I did make some fun decor and thought you might enjoy it. Maybe you can save an idea or two for next year!

I love wreathes-and when I saw these yarn ones I was excited to try making one.

It wasn't hard to make, but wrapping the yarn around the foam wreath 5,000 times was NOT my favorite part. Once it was wrapped I added the pom poms, felt leaves and a little fabric yo-yo for accent!

Presents!!!

Paint sample gift tags.

Left: A big tree limb Anderson swiped for me from the little patch of woods in the middle of our neighborhood. I spray-painted it and stuck it in an IKEA flower pot. 
Right: Oh, Christmas Tree!

More of the white tree.

I found this old record at the thrift store. Isn't it fun?!

Pom pom garland.

Left: A fun pillow I made out of fabric that has flamingos and motor homes on it-ha!
Right: The stockings hung by the TV with care. :) When we built our house Anderson didn't think we needed a fireplace. I agreed. I mean, it is Florida! But now his ridiculously large TV is the only place for our stockings to hang…sad.

The dining room.

Left: Little pink tree in the kitchen.
Right: A couple of the many crystal trees in the dining room.

I looked for bright green cloth napkins everywhere but couldn't find any. So, I bought these bandanas instead (for $.99).

Left: Crystal trees and a pink feather wreath that I made…on the dining room table.
Right: Some of the cards we got from family and friends. I loved them ALL!

Left: The frequently updated chalk wall!
Right: Merry and Bright

Oh, and can you believe the birthday celebrations are still going on? Anderson and I just can't let it go-ha! We're going out to celebrate his birth with my parents tonight. Of course he requested a buffet…seafood. It seems like a lot of our celebrations involve eating!

I like Maggianos, so we went there for my birthday.

Mom and Dad.

Anderson and Me.

Anderson wanted to see Avatar on his b-day, so we did. In IMAX 3D!

We ate at Gypsy Cab Company in St. Augustine on my actual day of birth. It's my favorite restaurant! Then we had to swing by the Fountain of Youth for some pictures.

Doesn't he look youthful?!

And yet another night of celebration at a Yummy Mexican restaurant. Yeah, I haven't really cooked much lately!!!

I have to admit that this project technically took longer than a month. It started a while back when I saw a cute underwear wall decal on the Red Velvet Art website and thought it would be really funny in our master bathroom. They didn’t have the colors I wanted though, so I traced the decal and painted it-orange and brown. (I just realized they are out of them on the website right now-bummer). Once the underwear was on the wall I couldn’t decide where to go from there. How exactly do you coordinate with underwear?! Then I just decided to have fun and go for a happy, carefree design. So…here’s what I did this month:

Before-This is the bathroom while the house was still being built last year. Definitely a “before” picture!

After-Bright and cheery. :)

I made the little curtain with this retro-style fabric from Alice Kennedy’s Timeless Treasures Collection. It reminds me a little of Orla Kiely .

We (I) have a ridiculously large collection of photo frames. It’s only natural, right?! Anderson doesn’t agree, but they come in handy for projects like this one. I picked out a few rectangle ones with clean lines and painted them slightly different shades of orange. Now they’re hanging above the tub!

The “perfect pair”. :)

I was an OPAM slacker during October. We were out of town several times and just busy-excuses, excuses! But I couldn’t completely abandon my to-do list, so this month I went for quick and easy. That seems to be a recurring theme, doesn’t it? But you just wait for my November project, okay?! You’ll be proud. :) Sometimes little changes really do make a big impact though…right?!

I’ve been looking for the perfect dining room furniture for almost a year. We found a table right after we moved, but I just couldn’t find a buffet and cabinet that I loved. I finally decided I wanted a mid-century modern  style, but it’s hard to find retro furniture without sacrificing your first-born child to pay for it. A few months ago I finally found 2 pieces that were very similar to what I wanted (they’re actually from the 1930′s) for a steal on Craig’s List! AND they were already painted black-we all know I have an obsession with painting my furniture black. The only problem was the insides of the drawers. They looked kind of gross. Just old. So I decided to line them!

Here’s what you need to line drawers:
-wrapping paper, wall paper, drawer-lining paper, scrapbook paper, etc
-ruler
-scissors
-pen
-tape or some form of adhesive

I had some wrapping paper and left over wall paper that coordinated together, so I used that. I measured all the drawers with a measuring tape. This is the most “not fun” part of the project. Then I traced the back of the paper to the right size and cut it to fit the drawers. I didn’t want to make a permanent commitment to the paper, so I just used double-sided tape to adhere it to the drawers. TA-DA!!!

The buffet.

Isn’t it fun?! I love opening the drawers. It’s like a little surprise every time. :)

The china cabinet. (Looking at these pictures makes me realize the room is in fierce need of some color. Another day…)

The bottom half of the china cabinet with it’s pretty lined drawers.

We finally have a place to store our pretty wedding china that we only use when the Queen comes for dinner. :)

All of my OPAM projects start out the same way. “It seemed like a simple project…”

I wanted to add some spunk to my master bathroom this month, but a sad little bookshelf in the garage kept calling my name and distracting me from the bathroom. Every time I got out of my car it said in the most pitiful voice, “Lyndsay please rescue me from this messy garage and get Anderson’s smelly soccer cleats off of me.” I ignored it until I got a vision of how cute it could look in the kitchen then rushed to Hobby Lobby to buy supplies.
**Side note:** Last month I got several emails asking me to please be more descriptive and provide instructions for my OPAM projects. I’ll try! I’ve never been good at giving instructions/directions. I can show you a lot easier than I can tell you. Maybe I need to make a video-ha! And thanks for telling me about your own projects through facebook and email. I love hearing about them and seeing your before and after pictures too!

Before.

The dusty shelf desperately needed to either be thrown out with the garbage or given a big makeover. So I decided if the makeover didn’t work I’d just go with the first option.

Here’s the step-by-step:

-Cleaned and lightly sanded the bookshelf (just enough to rough up the finish a little).
-Removed the shelves and detached the piece of wood from the back.
-Started spray painting with Krylon paint in Pumpkin Spice. This is where the simple project became not-so-simple.
-Realized I should have primed the bookshelf, because I was going from dark brown to orange.
-Went to Lowe’s and bought a quart of Pumpkin Spice paint and a small roller. It worked great!
-While the paint was drying I used spray adhesive to glue six sheets of scrapbook paper to the wood piece that goes on the back of the bookcase.
-Rolled another coat of paint and let it dry. Actually I went out of town and forgot it was in the backyard-oops!
-Reattached the back piece with small nails and replaced the shelves.
-Placed the bookshelf in it’s new home-the kitchen. :)

After.

I love it! Fun and bright and just a little bit over the top! It’s already cluttered with some of my favorite goodies.
Top shelf: Pink vase I’ve had forever, little white owl from a thrift store, vintage juicer that belonged to my Grandma.
Second shelf: Cook books- I use them all the time-ha!, thrift store mug that says, “Those who indulge BULGE!”, Capri Blue candle from Anthropologie.
Third shelf: Decorative paper thingy, skunk from the thrift store.
Bottom shelf: “Good Times Always” sign from my Mom and more cook books.

Speaking of thrift stores…last week I spent a whole day going from one to another. I never do that, but it was so much fun! Everything in this picture was around $40. I wish I could “tag” it like on facebook or flickr to tell you about all the little treasures! The cow head is definitely my favorite purchase of the day. I have no idea what it is or what you’re supposed to do with it, but I do have a plan for the little guy!

And this is completely unrelated to the post, but I think he’s so cute with his mohawk. :)

I ventured away from the home improvement projects for this month’s OPAM. I mentioned in this post back in the spring that I wanted to create some pretty fabric flower necklaces. Well, ever since then I’ve been making fabric flowers and putting them on necklaces, pillows, lamps, chandeliers, bracelets…you get the point. They’re so much fun to make…and wear! Then a few weeks ago I started thinking it would be fun to make some necklaces out of fake flowers. Big, gaudy necklaces! So I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a few supplies:

-Fake red flowers. (I’m not sure what these are called, but I really like the look of them.)
-Black felt
-Metal rings
-Black chiffon
-Black ribbon

I already had most of the crafty items around the house. (By the way, we need more closets for storing crafty goodies!) I just played around with the design and worked on it for a few hours.

TAAADAAA:

I can’t wait to make some in fall colors-with feathers and rhinestones! And I’m thinking they would be so amazing for bridesmaids to wear. Maybe instead of carrying flowers?

My July project started out as a simple chandelier re-do, but morphed into decorating a whole room. Hence, the late post! I feel like everything I start takes on a life of its own. What’s up with that?! Oh well-It keeps life exciting!

Our house came with some of the most boring light fixtures I’ve ever seen, so I’m slowly replacing them all. I wanted a fun chandelier for my office but couldn’t find one that matched the image in my head. (I was thinking Betsey Johnson meets Rachel Ashwell.) It didn’t take long for me to realize I was going to have to make one. So I found a hideous gold brass fixture at a thrift store for $10. Of course I forgot to take a before picture, but just try to imagine a shiny, gold, brass chandelier. It reminded me of something from the early 90′s. YUCK! I brought it home and went to work. Here’s what I did:

-spray painted it white
-attached a row of crystals all the way around
-made some white fabric flowers (yes, I’m still making fabric flowers and putting them everywhere)
-glued crystals all over it
-added a row of pearls
-pitifully asked my dad and husband to hang it for me :)

I love it! It’s exactly what I had in mind.

Once the chandelier was up, it motivated me to finish the rest of the room. Okay, I never really finish anything, because by the time I get a room just right I change my mind and want to do something different. I think it’s a disease! Sorry. I digress. Back to the room…After doing a few of these OPAM posts I have a real appreciation for architectural photographers. How do they make everything look so good? I definitely don’t have the gift of photographing “stuff”. I think I better stick to people. That’s my way of apologizing for the following pictures.

I could not get a good shot of the whole room, so I broke out the fish eye lens and decided to at least make it fun and warped. It reminds me of a fun house! The walls are pink, very pink. They look a little orange-y in some of these shots, but they’re not.

Left: The closet doors looked like a big white blob, so I painted the panels black and changed the knobs. Right: My desk. I’m so glad my friend had a baby and didn’t have room for a home office anymore, because she gave me her desk! It’s IKEA. My laptop is rarely on my desk where it should be, because I drag it all over the house.

The knobs came from Anthropologie. This turned into a mess too. I thought the original knobs would screw right off, but of course not! They were glued to the screws in the back, so Bob Vila-Almeida beat them off with a hammer-ha!

This is my favorite part of the room! My dad generously donated his first deer head to my cause. I loaded him up with necklaces, earrings and fake eyelashes. I think he’s officially a transvestite now. The deer, not my Dad! I got this idea from the Tim Walker photograph, “Diamonds, Antlers and Pearls.” I’m trying to think of a good name for him. :)

Books about important stuff like shopping, fashion and manners. :)