Jen Bowles Design

Friday Happy Spot

There's a spot in our breakfast area/family room that makes me smile whenever I look at it.  Yep, I pretty  much just love everything about it--not that's there's much to it.

Well here, let me show you...

Can you see it?  It's the shelf vignette just past the chandelier.

That's the spot.

When we revamped this area last fall, I decided it would be the perfect landing place for one of my recently displaced Ikea shelves.  I take great pride in noting that I installed the brackets and shelf all by myself-- with the help of a drill and a level.  And it's still there ☺.

Although there are only three things up there, they are 3 of my favorites.  And they were all cheap.

I love, love this painting.

  The colors.  Swoon.  I bought it at the Tri-Town Rotary flea market for $1. Yes, $1 orignal art.  Cannot. go. wrong.

This milk bottle collage print is from the Pottery Barn Outlet in Gaffney, SC.  $9.99. 

Considering I first saw it (and instantly coveted it) in 2004 at The Island Cow restaurant on Sanibel Island as part of their wall decor, I was thrilled to find it and make it mine.

The newest item, though I'm sure it's really the oldest thing up there, is the whelk shell. 

I broke my own rule and *gasp* bought it last year when we went to the Outer Banks.  I made the exception because the owner of the shop where I bought it assured me that he had personally found a whole big bunch of whelk shells on the beach in Corolla after a big storm the previous winter.  At $3, totally worth it.

So there it is: my $14 happy spot. 

Priceless.

Have a great weekend!

 

St. Patrick's Day sign

It was a wonderfully warm and sunny day here in coastal Massachusetts--which means Spring Fever is on!  Before I go full-on Spring and Easter decorating though, I have one more St. Patrick's Day project to share ☺.

Fittingly, this St. Patrick's Day sign is "green", as in eco-friendly. For the base of the sign I used an old game box, Scrabble I think.  I had to cut three pieces because the box alone wasn't long enough and we were all out of extra large pizza boxes in the recycling bin.  I taped everything together and then glued on old book pages.  After the glue dried, I painted a wash of spring green paint to the book pages.

The lettering was originally going to be glittery but I didn't have the patience.  Instead I used a combination of green paint and green Sharpie. 

I wanted to do something a little bit different than shamrocks, thus the rainbow.

You can't have a rainbow without a pot of gold, right?  I outlined the coins with a gold glitter pen to help them stand out.

And there you have it, a green, eco-friendly decoration for St. Patrick's Day! 

Thanks for stopping by,

Handmade Valentine Projects: Day 12, Valentine Word Art

Today's project just kind of happened.  There were a few different ideas spinning around in my head:  the uber popular subway art, Valentine's Day themed song lyrics and using the new, tiny tipped brush I bought for $1 at AC Moore to paint cursive words.  Add that to a scrap piece of plywood and some acrylic paints and this is what you get:

The lyrics are excerpted from The Beatles 'All You Need Is Love'.  I sort of painted them by the seat of my pants, without a lot of thought to spacing or exactly which lines of the song I wanted to highlight.  I started from the beginning and pretty much painted what fit (with at least one word omission) until it became clear that not all I wanted to paint would fit--so I skipped a few lines of the song and finished up with 'all you need is love, love is all you need'.

I'm looking at it as an experimental piece.  It could probably benefit from a darker background color to give more contrast with the writing.  Maybe some sort of mixed media heart in the center instead of just a painted one.  But I do love how the script turned out.  I freehanded all of it, and it took a while to complete but I just sat at the table while the kids did their homework so it didn't feel like a big deal.  I got more comfortable as I went along and by the end was hitting my stride.

Maybe I'll paint another one with a Springtime theme...and a bit more pre-planning☺.
Thanks for stopping by,

Handmade Valentine Projects: Day 2, Winged Door Heart

I'm kicking it up a notch for day 2, going big and going outside!

Today's project is a Valentine themed door decoration:  a Winged Door Heart. 
Just what every front door needs.

Please ignore the ugly brass lighting, needs to be painted or swapped out.

First, the inspiration.  Or should I say, Pin-spiration.

Source: callingallsleepyheads.blogspot.com via Jen on Pinterest

The original project features a painted burlap shape, stapled together, stuffed with plastic bags.  Cheap and cute.

Here's my version.

I used off white canvas/duck cloth.  I have a bolt from a thrift store that has come in handy for a number of these type of projects.  I primed the cloth with white gesso then painted with regular acrylic paint--but just one side.  The back side is plain, no need for extra effort since this is hanging on an exterior door.

I freehanded the heart and the wings in pencil directly onto the cloth.  Cut out your pieces (front and back).  Stitch with a sewing machine~I like the detail.  Then stuff. 

I love the idea of using plastic grocery bags for stuffing.  Who knew??  I did use regular polyfil for the wings, too small and fussy for grocery bags.

Hopefully you can get a sense of the dimension in this photo.  Pleasantly plump, I'd say.

To attach the wings to the heart I used a combination of hand stitching and hot glue.  Again, not pretty but also not visible.

There you have it, a fun, whimsical winged Valentine decoration for your front door.

Even if Ebby says it looks like a giant blood spot as you drive up the driveway ;-).

Winter Cloche

It's stormy today but here along the coast we're just getting rain.

I can't say that I'm too upset about that.  I've decided that I'd be happy with a mild, make that very mild, winter.

The other morning we did wake up to a light dusting of snow.  The kind of snow you can just sprinkle some ice melt on the steps and call it clear, no snowblower required.  It was also the kind of snow that made a lovely backdrop for photos of my new winter cloche.

My Mom participated in the 12 Artsy Ornaments of Christmas mini workshop offered last month by several talented artists/bloggers.  Lucky me, I had a birthday and was gifted this wonderful winter cloche my mom created during the workshop.

My favorite thing is the blue silk bow around the glittered deer's neck

I also really like the {bleached} white bottle brush, pearl bedecked trees.

And the fence is adorable.

As is the sparkly, pearly topper.

Yep, I love it all.

And really, I'd be happy if this cloche was all the winter I experienced this year!

Winter Wonderland mural

Once again, it's almost Christmas and I'm running behind on my to-do list.  It's actually my to-make list that's in disarray.  I really need to start Christmas gift crafting in January!  Maybe one of these years I'll learn...

In the meantime, I was looking through pictures of Christmases past, and what to my wondering eyes should appear:  my Winter Wonderland mural from 2005!    

Yep, I painted this mural in our soaring foyer in North Carolina the first Christmas we were there.  It was going to be painted over in January so I decided to go for it.  I loved it.  The kids loved it.  The guests we invited to our Christmas Open House that year loved it.  I'm guessing had we left it there the people that eventually bought the house from us in 2008 would not have loved it.  It was May after all.  Although, the mom told me she planned on leaving the robots I painted on the walls in the boys room.

There are no winter (or other seasonal) murals on the walls in our current home so I thought I'd share a peek back (once again...) at our whimsical Wonderland.

Enjoy the season!

 

My {Thrift Store} Desk: Before and After

I bought my current desk at the Salvation Army either two or three years ago. 

What I liked about it:  lots of surface area, great drawer space and fairly dirt cheap at $30.

What I didn't like about it:  the dark color and the faux/laminate wood grain.

It took me until this summer to finally tackle the task of painting my desk.  Apparently I'm easily intimidated by certain projects (see: painting kitchen cabinets...).

With a little help from Bobby Law, my desk was hauled into the garage, finally marked for renovation.

After months of searching, I'd found my Mouse sander and put 'er to work sanding down the desk and {removed} drawers.

Next step: a coat of stinky, stain blocking primer.  I think it was Kilz.  It was definitely latex and I definitely need more of it.  Perhaps the less stinky kind though.

After priming I let the primer cure for a few days.  Sometimes laziness can be to your benefit.  In the meantime I had to decide what color to paint the topcoat.  Rather, which shade of blue to paint the topcoat.  I think I currently have about 7 different shades of blue/turquoise paint in inventory.  I decided on a rather bold and bright choice:  Rapids by Valspar, aka the color of Ebby's walls.

I did two coats and a couple of coats of Minwax water based poly.

Ah, so much better.

My next conundrum was the drawer hardware.  I considered replacing it, spray painting it another color or filling in the holes and using Hobby Lobby grade crystal knobs.  In the end my mom helped me decide that the original pulls with their vintage-y patina would look best.

I totally agree.

With the addition of a few updated desk accessories, I was back in business.

You know, if I had a business.  Or could figure out what kind of business I could be in.    

I'm loving my "new" desk.  My new red leather desk chair {from Office Max, here} and unobstructed view of the Bloom garden give me even more reason to spend time here.

 

Because, you know, it's important to have a colorful, comfortable place to sit while you browse on Pinterest.

Trick or Treat

Wishing you a...

Bubbe's Handpainted Buffet

Last month my mom (a.k.a. Bubbe or Mrs. Blossom) donated her time and talents to the North Rivers Arts Society.  She painted a buffet that was part of a silent auction at their annual Arts Festival. 

Now, I'm no stranger to painting furniture.  Give me a gallon of Kilz and some Oops paint and I'm good to go.  But my mom, she's on a whole 'nother level.  When she paints furniture she turns it into a work of art.

I don't have any before pictures, but when this buffet was dropped off at her house it was fairly typical: brown and dingy wood covered in dust. Inspired by a piece of Amy Butler-esque fabric, Bubbe freehanded the entire design with pencil and then went to town with acrylic paints and a black Sharpie or two.

The result=a-mazing!

 

 

Awesome job Mom ♥!

Happy Chair at Bebe Gallini's

I saw my first Happy Chair on tumblr.  The bold colors, wonderful texture and sense of whimsy drew me right in.  Soon I was looking through the gallery on the Happy Chair website.  Apparently I was so enchanted by the chairs that I neglected to read any of the info about the company or the woman that behind Happy Chair.

Fast forward to last Saturday.  I was in Charlotte (NC) visiting my old stomping grounds in Lake Norman.  I walked into Bebe Gallini's, one of my favorite local gift/home decor shops, and what to my wondering eyes should appear but Happy Chairs!   Not one or two, but several scattered thoroughout the store.  They are even more fabulous in person.   While I'm sure they are comfortable, I didn't even bother to sit in any of them.  Instead I was admiring the creative skill that goes into making each chair a true work of art.     Swoon.

As we browsed around Bebe's spotting Happy Chairs, I couldn't help but notice several Happy Chair accessories including over-the-top pillows and oversized appliqued draperies.   If I could've fit this pillow in my carry-on bag...

Turns out that Happy Chair is a local Charlotte company created by Shawna Robinson, a former NASCAR driver.  From the Happy Chair website, "Happy Chair finds worn and weathered pieces and gives them new life. My heart, soul and hands personally go into each piece of furniture designed to be a Happy Chair.  I brazenly mix and reconstruct new and vintage fabrics.  Exciting patterns and inspired details bring unique character to life in each original piece.  Once completed each Happy Chair is given a name based on its distinct personality. Yes it takes time, creativity and patience but the end result is magic derived from passion."

And to think, there's a veritable warehouse of Happy Chair designs barely 5 minutes from where we used to live.  While I'm disappointed to no longer be so close, it's likely a relief for my credit card.   Happy Chair may not sell online...but then again, it's not like I've never driven between MA and Charlotte before ☺...

{visit the Happy Chair Facebook page for a peek at Shawna's current projects}