Thursday, March 25, 2010

Nest (n.): A place of retreat, rest, or lodging


Some of you may remember the post last year about my Screened Porch Makeover.  Well, the spring weather has really inspired me to finish decorating it, and I'm going all out!  This is the one room that I feel like I can go crazy with a cute theme and shabby chic decor without it feeling overdone.  I'm still working on it, but I've put up some fabulous curtains from Ikea that have transformed the room, and I have just about completed the main piece of artwork that will be displayed.  I couldn't wait to share the artwork project...

The old glass cabinet door that you can see was hanging in my porch before was cool, but I wanted to take it to the next level. 


So, I thought and thought about how I could make it more of an art piece.  After my recent shopping trip at Sleepy Poet, and discovery of my bird obsession, I had decided to go with a bird theme in the room.  Then I came across these pretty Wall Tiles at Crate & Barrel and the light went off in my head....


So here is how I created my unique piece of art....

Step 1:  I saved this image off the C&B website, then zoomed in as big as it could get on my screen.  Then I taped some graph paper to the screen and lightly traced out the pattern with a pencil.  This worked out perfectly since I was able to get the image large enough to fit perfectly into each window pane.  And since I had 6 window panes to fill, I just added my own little touch to the middle panes. 

I love this Pottery Barn pillow, so I pretty much copied their idea... haha.  "Nest:  A place of retreat, rest, or lodging."  What a perfect theme for a relaxing porch....


Step 2: I glued the graph paper to old file folders to ensure the stencils would be sturdy enough for painting later.

Step 3:  I cut out the design to create my stencils - this took a little more time than I thought, but the great thing about this design is that it doesn't have to be perfect.  I just watched American Idol while I made the cuts, so the time went by pretty quick.... I loved Crystal's Janice Joplin song this week. :)

Step 4:  I cleaned the windows on the cabinet door and taped the stencils in place.  (As you can see, I didn't bother getting off the old paint that was on the windows, I figured the white paint would cover it up, but looking back now, I definitely would have taken the time to get off that old green paint).


Step 5:  I spray painted everything white so that the design would show up clear.

Step 6:  I covered up each window pane, and then spray painted the wood with glossy black paint.


Step 7:  I removed the paper and the stencils....


Step 8:  I haven't done this step yet, but it looks like I'll need to just go over the clear part with a q-tip to soften up a few spots where the tape mark is showing... can you see it on this close-up in the top of the middle branch and in the two bird tails?  You can also kind of see it in the close-up of the word "nest".  It's a little more noticable in person, but I have already tried to blend it in a bit by rubbing a q-tip over the area and it seems to work pretty well.



Step 9:  Hang and enjoy!




And as I mentioned in Step 4, that old green paint that was on the edges of each window pane probably should have been removed before I did all this because when the light shines through, you can definitely see it.  Lesson learned, but I think I'll take it as an opportunity to add one extra touch to the artwork.  More to come on that...

Oh, and last thing... I am loving these branches from my cherry blossom trees!


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