There is No Excuse Now
I am still in the land of the lake, living the hard life of sitting by the pool, drinking (I think we’re making sure to taste a beer from each continent), eating (we’re taking turns showcasing our culinary prowess each night), and relaxing (as much as you can with a large family). The next couple of days involve the girls (my brother’s fiance, my two sisters, me, and my mother) are going shopping for bridesmaid dresses tomorrow and me picking Clay up from the airport Friday morning. From there, the two of us will embark on an overnight getaway (destination to be determined), and then finish the weekend here at the lake. Then two adults, one toddler, and one chocolate lab will journey back to The Sooner State over the course of two days (we dare not try to repeat history). And you know what we will waiting for us in Oklahoma? Besides our cat? Our (notfinishedbutstartingtocometogetherjustalittlebit) master bedroom. I miss my bed. And my pillow. Please tell me that I not the only one to do so on vacation.
To jog your memory, our new duvet cover arrived the day before our massive one-day road trip. The majority of you probably didn’t even notice, but one brave commenter (shout out to Anonymous) made reference to the piece above the bed that I made. So I decided to feature this little project that isn’t finished yet but still gives the room a little somethin’ somethin’. Why hang it up in it’s unfinished state? Well, I wanted to let the piece sit for a bit before I decided on the finishing touches. So sue me. Actually, please don’t. Mmmkay? Thanks.
(source)
On to the inspiration for the piece. I stumbled across the above awesomeness on Pinterest (follow me!) from andreasteed.com and fell in love with the quirky reference to numbers. Plus it has special meaning to those who understand the seemingly hodgepodge arrangement of numbers. A Facebook friend (is there any other kind?) posted her version of the idea and I knew that I had to make one for myself.
I chose to go a more rusted route than printing the design on paper. I was envisioning the piece in our master bedroom above our bed. Our furniture has more of a traditional feel to it that can venture into boring if we’re not careful. Always wanting to shake things up a bit, my thought process was that a somewhat aged looking piece would be a good counterpoint to the glossy furniture and straight lines of the bedding. So I pick out four pieces of rough wood from the pile our neighbor gave us and bought four pieces of cut pine for about $8.00 from the local hardware store.
And assembled the pieces of wood as seen above. I used wood glue and nails. That’s it.
Once assembled, I broke out the paints. I decided to mix a dark gray, titanium white, and water to achieve the weathered effect I was going for…
…and didn’t like the results. Too patchy and too light. And doesn’t the gray look too blue? That actually wasn’t the beef I had with the watered down painting process, it was the actual water. Imagine that.
So I repainted with just a little smidgen of water. As you can see, I didn’t do a solid color, rather I chose to streak the white and dark blue/gray. No real reason, other than I thought it would be a nice pop of interest behind the numbers.
But before I could start on the numbers, I had to sand the paint to keep it from looking too perfect. We all can’t be Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. I like to fancy myself more of a Rachel Drasch anyways.
Ahhhh, the numbers. The most tedious part. I decided to freehand everything because I hate stencils with a fiery passion worthy of the depths of hell. With the help of a ruler, I was able to the numbers fairly evenly spaced.
And then I just painted the numbers using various shades of white, gray, and beige.
So I am not sure how I am going to finish the piece. Like I said earlier, I wanted to live with it first for a little while. Maybe I will paint our anniversary black, like the contrast in the inspiration piece. Perhaps stain the rustic wood? I wouldn’t mind painting it black but then all of the gorgeous knots and exposed bark would be lost. Decisions, decisions, decisions. Regardless, with this hanging in our room, Clay and I don’t have a valid excuse for forgetting important dates. Ever.
