Our Movie Themed Basement Make Over

I know I have been MIA from the blogosphere for a long time. I have been settled since my boys are back in school and my daughter is off to college. It seems as though my preoccupation with other things have kept me busy.

You will remember when our entire family painted the basement several years ago, then my hubby just put it on the backburner for a while. Well, the greatest motivator was when my daughter graduated from high school in May, so he had to get in gear before our family came in town.

We purchased the couches from American Signature Furniture. I looked all over to find a black leather sofa, which is very hard to find and within our budget. Finally we found these to pieces which also recline. I really wanted a new coffee table, but what I did was paint these lightwood tables we have had for years to grey. I just sanded the table down and picked up some chalk grey paint from Walmart. I chose grey because I didn't want to overwhelm  the room with too much black. I found this funky rug on Walmart online. I thought it would add a little pop to the room.

We were busy for six weeks before getting things in place. If you don't remember we had a movie theme for our basement. I found a pillow at Kirkland's that fit in perfectly. I already found this center piece for my coffee table from Michael's Arts and Crafts. We use it for the remotes, or should I say, I use it for the remotes.

I found one poster online from the movie Red Tails. My husband attended Tuskegee, so I thought having a poster about the Tuskegee airmen would be something he would like. The other poster is from the latest Star Wars movie of which our entire family are big fans of this movie.

I also wanted to show you this light I purchased at Walmart as well. It has that movie light look to me. One more thing I was thinking about was getting a book shelf to have candy and snacks for ourselves and guest, so I am on the hunt for this piece.

It is amazing how some things come together. My son, Michael had this candy machine in his room for years. He didn't use it anymore, so I asked him if I could move it downstairs. The slate coasters were a Christmas gift I got last year. They match perfectly with the end table.

And last my husband wanted a window to get more light for this room. He really wanted this to be a work room. I totally did not like this idea at all, so I had this idea. How about making this window into barn doors. Todd (my husband) already had this wood he just added the wood as a border, we ordered the barn door parts online. We actually made this room into a guest room.

I want to encourage you all to be resourceful. You don't have to spend crazy amounts of money to make a great family room for everyone to enjoy.

See you later!

Bethany and Jordan's Graduations 2016

Our May was filled with many celebrations. My youngest, Jordan turned twelve, and he also graduated from 5th grade.

My oldest child and only daughter Bethany, graduated from high school.  The graduation was held at our local arena. The speeches and tributes were actually pretty funny and very brief.

 

I can't tell you how proud we are of Bethany. She kept a 4.0 average her entire high school years. We are so proud of her.

 

 

 

 

 

We were so blessed to have my mom come from Florida, my brother in law from Texas, and my aunt and uncle come from Virginia.

 

The next day we had a big cookout with more family and friends.

 

 

We had a yummy keylime cake.

 

 

 

 

cutting of the cake

 

 





  a little candy bar for the guest

 

I can't believe after all the planning and preparing everyone is gone back home, but it was a joyful and happy celebration. Hard to believe the rewards, and parties and more rewards are now a distant memory.

 

Now it is time to start a new chapter in our family lives as Bethany enters college at Georgia Tech, and Jordan enters middle school.

 

I've already starting to think about Michael's graduation is just two years from now. So, my decorations are safely tucked away for our next big celebration. So, for now I'm going to take a little rest.

Cup of Coffee

Last week was so hectic I literally began this late Sunday night. I had to start the painting just a little and worked on it some more the next day. I just have a few more finishing touches, then I'm done with this painting. Now, I have to go figure out something fast for my painting this week. Oh no!

Week 2 Pear Painting

This week is my second week for me to paint a new painting each week. I decided to paint a pear. It was a bit of a challenge to get the light and shadows for me. Trying to create dimension was a lot harder than I thought. However, it was a great practice for me.

A Painting Challenge

My creative time I must admit has been infrequent over the last several months. I decided to paint some fruit. I created one a few years ago, but decided to do a study of this yummy fruit. That is when I decided to try to paint a small painting a week. This will keep my skills up, and build up my inventory.

This will also have me create some more work for a few local art galleries that carry my work. It is time for me to change things up a bit.

I am going to list this first in a series in my shop soon.

My Whimsical Art

When I first started out on Etsy I had no idea what I was really doing. I just posted random pieces of my art that I normally sell at art festivals. After renewing many times I gave up trying to sell online. I started to sell my clocks which had my artwork on the faces of the clocks.

 

 

After many years I did a commission, but still nothing happened. Last year to my surprise, I sold an original painting online.

 

 

my online sale

 

 

 

I decided to add some more small to medium pieces of art to my Etsy store. Keep looking for more works of art to be added in the near future. If you want to check out more of my work here is a link to my store.

My Basement/Studio Space

Almost two years ago we had our basement finished. After that it seems like I could not decide what direction to go, or what color scheme, or them I wanted to have. So, for months I am ashamed to say I did not do anything, or just worked on it sometimes. I finally went through so many old things I needed to get rid of, with plans to get rid of so much more in the future.

 

 

 

 

I have been gathering family pictures with frames I already had, and keep purchasing more to add to the collection.

 

 

 

 

After you come down the steps the t.v. and our family movie themed wall is my center piece. I picked these items up at Hobby Lobby. I created the painting to compliment the home décor.

 

 

 

 

To the left is my studio space, and to the right is the kids game area/ work bench area.

I can't tell how much I enjoy my own little space. It is my little get away without really getting away. There are still many plans to paint some more accessories red and black.

My plans are to have some friends over for some creative fun one evening very soon. What do you think so far?

My Holiday Season

 

 

I know Christmas was several weeks ago, but I wanted to share my time with you. It was a crazy hectic season as usual for my family. Last year the weather was unusually warm for the holidays.  

 

 

 

 

When we started adding more gifts it was clear we had way too many gifts. You would think we would coordinate better, but no we didn't do that as usual.

 

 

 

Every year we appoint a helper to pass out the gifts, but then the person starts opening up their gifts, and forgets about passing out the other gifts.

 

 

 

 

Our dog Talula looks like she just had to relax a little after all the excitement.

 

 

I decided to add some cotton to my fireplace to give the winter wonderland feel. 

 

 

 

 

Just before dinner we decided to take a picture by the Christmas tree. That was a great motivator to not play around, so we could eat.

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and Happy New Year!!