Thursday, May 31, 2012

{ Homemade Summer Camp }

If your like most of my mom friend's you just can't wait for school to end so your children can follow you around the house and beg you for snacks, drive them somewhere, "when does the pool open?", "can I (fill in the blank), "do we have any popsicles?", "I'm bored", etc....

Good times.

So a few years ago moms in the neighborhood invented -

It Takes a Village Summer Camp,

'cause it does.

The kids LOVE it.

We've had great themes, such as -

cooking lessons

water balloon fights

tie dye parties

ice cream socials

arts & crafts parties

water fun parties

You can find tons of suggestions here, here, and here.

We also use

Lots of Helping Hands calendar to keep track of whose having what camp when.

This year I made the printable above and sent it out to all the interested family's.

Feel free to copy it and send it to your friends, 'cause it takes a village people!

linking to

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Heritage of Style

When our old church hall was delivered "Monster Moves" style on the back of a giant truck, it looked pretty shabby and forlorn. That was the Christmas before last and although we were hoping its makeover would be finished by now, it is certainly getting closer.

The boys are in the hall now fixing the ceiling and stuffing insulation everywhere they can fit it. I am looking for kitchen inspiration for details such as benchtop materials and shelving options.

The old building has turned out to be much older than we first thought. Our heritage-listed farmhouse dates back to the turn of the 20th Century and we first thought the church, a former classroom in a local primary school, was about the same vintage, maybe a decade or so earlier.

On closer inspection, we were in for a surprise. When my husband pulled the first weatherboards off to kill the termites (!) and had a good look at the joinery in the old building he remarked that it looked to him like it might be more like 1850s or 60s. After doing some research we found that this building was in fact the first Catholic church in the region and dated back to the early 1840s. And it was just about to be demolished when we put our dibbs on it.

Buildings like this often slipped under the heritage radar because they were plain and utilitarian. Much more grand buildings are valued where older buildings that were not pretentious but had more or at least equal value historically, well, the vast majority have been demolished over the years. The local Catholic church's own website's history page indeed features photos of the much newer and grander stone church and the old one just gets a few words and no photo probably because it was just an old shabby weatherboard "shed".

Anyway, we are chuffed that we managed to save it and give it a new lease of life and it looks great as the addition to our old farmhouse. It has huge old hardwood floorboards which we can't wait to clean up and big old timber trusses from which I am hanging some industrial-style pendant lights.

Some of the windows were taken out and replaced by a bank of 50s style hopper windows so we are having new "old" ones made to go back in place.

{ Free Garden Art }

Beside the fact that I love playing with the new Pic Monkey Collage feature,
I also love getting floral-ish centerpieces for my home...and you can too.
Here's a pictorial of how to -

linking to

Saturday Nite Special link party via Funky Junk Interiors

{ Free Printable }

Do you like The Painted Home on Facebook?

We've added a new tab, called "20 essential Tools for the DIYer"

it's a list of all the basic tools any self respecting DIYer should have, and you can download a copy to print for yourself!

If you already "LIKE" TPH, than, thanks! The download is already available to you.

If you haven't checked us out yet, please do, and if you enjoy it click "LIKE".

Then you'll be directed to the printable page.

I hope you like it!

click here to be directed to

The Painted Home's

Facebook page

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

{ Adding Icons to your Social Networks }

Are you as graphically challenged as I am?
Do you look at others icons and buttons and think...CUTE!

Well, there is an angel among us, in a scientist's lab coat. And her name is Caroline, and she's really good at sharing.

Hello Caroline.

Caroline writes a C.W. Frostings. C.W. Frostings is chock full of bits and babbles that you can add to your blog, for FREE, just 'cause.
She's nice that way.

Caroline has a whole page on her page devoted to designs you can add to your page to get it lookin' all cute and whatnot. Just click the "design lab" button above and it'll take you there.

I added the gray bunting to my blog recently and couldn't be happier.
I even added them to my email signature.
Caroline even responded to questions and requests I had, 'cause I'm so darn simple minded when it comes to this madness of computer graphics.

Caroline doesn't just add beauty to your page, she's all over the place.
From home decor...

to jewelry...

to making the light switch in your closet more stylish...(ummm, why didn't I think of that?)

She's rockin' her Chicago style all over the Manhattan Beach.

So, I highly suggest you check her out, and thank that stylish scientist for bein' so darn smart, AND fashionable! Could you ask for a better combination?

Thanks Caroline!

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

{Summer Ideas on Pinterest }

Saturday, May 19, 2012

{Chalkboard Art}

Thursday, May 17, 2012

{ Using ClipBoards for Art }

Jonas's room is still one of my favorite rooms in the house.
It's the perfect combination of flea market, little boy, and campy.
There's a lot going on in it, but somehow it doesn't look cluttered (to me).

I found some vintage maps and vacation maps & brochures on ebay lat year and gave them to my husband for Father's Day. (He lived in Alaska for 5 years pre me and the kids and he misses it very much.) He loves them.

But, the they sat around not doing much. So, after I saw a recent cover of Flea Market Style Mag, I had an idea. Clip the brochures and maps to clip boards and hang them in Jonas's room. The perfect spot.

They worked out great!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

First Episode–The Webbs

Thanks to all of you who tuned in to the premiere episode of HGTV’s Elbow Room. Saturday was such a fun day! It was so exciting to see all of everyone’s hard work come to life on TV. I have been dying to share this experience with all of my readers for quite a while, but I’ve had to restrain myself until the show aired.

I’m thrilled to be able to show you pictures of the first episode. I thought I would share a few tid-bits about each of the episodes as they air. Here is an after shot of the home.

This episode was such a fun episode to work on. The family was absolutely amazing, and they were thrilled to be a part of the show. We took the main living space in their ranch home, which was divided into four rooms, and transformed it into one open and airy space.

I really had no clue what to expect while we were filming during this pilot episode. If you can imagine a renovation in fast forward that is basically what it was. From demolition of the space to the final homeowner reveal was right around three weeks. I was amazed at how it was possible to do a renovation so quickly. There were a few late nights and a lot of effort, but we did manage to get it done.

These photos were taken about two days before the final reveal. It’s crazy to imagine that this unfinished space went from this state to totally complete in two or three days.

For me, one of the most fun parts of this episode was getting to make a custom piece of artwork. It was very easy to make. I painted various widths and colors of stripes on a piece of precut luann. Then I added a coat of resin to bring out the colors in the paints.

Here is the finished piece hanging in the dining area.

Hope you enjoyed this little look into the show. Just in case you are interested in seeing a little bit of fun on the set here’s a link to our cast and crew FB page. Only members of the cast and crew can join, but anyone can view it. We have too much fun on the set! [Elbow Deep]

Photo credit for all final reveal images – Christina Wedge Photography

LiveJournal Tags: HGTV's Elbow Room,christina wedge photography

Monday, May 14, 2012

{ The Girl's Room }

Since there was a rare day last week that the entire house was clean, I thought I'd take some photos.

Here's some shots of the girl's room all pretty!

Lucy's dresser - mid way there in a Union Jack painted dresser project...

Saturday, May 12, 2012

{ Spots of Color }

I love the rustic look browns and tans and creams in a room.
But every now and them I feel the need for some color. Especially when the weather gets warmer and Spring really gets going.

There's been more and more color add to our house lately.
I thought I'd share a few images with you here...

I particularly love the tomato can planter!

linking to

Friday, May 11, 2012

Elbow Room Premiere Time!!!

Many of you already know, but for those of you who don't, for the last six or so months I have been working on a show for a little network called HGTV!!! This past year has been one amazing journey after another. Not only was my son, Chase, born almost a year ago, but three weeks later I auditioned for and won a spot as co-host and design coordinator of a new project that was being pitched to HGTV. Within weeks filming began for the pilot of "Elbow Room" with host Chip Wade. In October, we found out that we were green-lit for the first season of "Elbow Room" and the rest is history.

With one extra-long week to go, we are coming to the close of our first season. Thirteen episodes in, I am so excited to have been a part of this show. My limits as a designer have been pushed to the most amazing sides of extreme. I've worked on projects that I never dreamed of working on, and I've met so many amazing people along the way. My fingers are crossed and we are anxiously waiting for confirmation of a second season.

Please set your DVRs and tune in for "Elbow Room" on HGTV, premiering this Saturday, May 12th at 1 pm EST. We are also on Facebook and Twitter. Make sure you check us out.

Thanks for all your support!

xoxo, Cristi

LiveJournal Tags: Elbow Room,HGTV,Chip Wade

Thursday, May 10, 2012

{ Pinterest Inspiration }

By now we're all on Pinterest, sometimes a little more than we'd like (it's easy to get sucked in for hours).
I've been lame in posting a link to my Pinterest boards, because, honestly, I thought who cares about what I'm pining on my Pinterest boards? But, after months of pinning on Pinterest, I see that some of you are interested to see what I'm pinning. So, if you'd like to follow my boards, I'd be honored. I'm also shocked about this whole internet world.
I get tons of inspiration for the creative ladies (and men) in blog world. And, I've made tons of friends through this crazy blog. Some I've meet in person and some I may never meet in person. Love them all!
So, I'd like to share it with you
He's a little snippet of what you'll see. I hope you'll follow along :)
click here if you'd like