m o t h e r s . d a y

My husband knows me all too well. He even said to me "you're happiest when you have a project". Ain't that the TRUTH! So for an early Mothers Day gift he gifted me the project for paint and hardware for my KITCHEN!!! I have HATED HATED HATED my kitchen since I laid eyes on it. I wanted to paint paint paint every day and was just waiting for the go ahead from Hubby. We have discussed that this is a temporary fix until we want to completely GUT and renovate the entire thing since the counters are laminate, the tile is ugly, and the kitchen island doesn't really work, but I have a few fixes up my sleeve to hold me over until complete gut day. For now, enjoy!

Information on Products used:

Wall Color is Sherwin Williams Worldly Gray SW 7043 (flat finish)

Upper Cabinets is Behr Mirage White 400E-1 Premium Primer and Paint in One (satin finish)

Lower Cabinets are Behr Mountain Haze 400E-3 Premium Primer and Paint in One (satin finish

Polish Nickel Bin Pulls are from Home Depot in the Martha Stewart Collect (here)

Acryllic Knobs with Chrome Base are from Home Depot (here)

The counters are just formica and the appliances are old, but with the new colors they breathe new life into this space!

Isn't it pretty???

d i y . o r . b u y ?

The other day I was roaming through a local dealer/antique store thats filled with dealers who sell old/new/handmade/custom design etc. Pretty much I can die and go to heaven with most of the little shops in there.

The dresser I saw 10 months ago is still there, because they're asking a crazy amount of money. It's marked down to $1300 from $1600. Crazy, right? I'm not sure they really want to sell it.

I did however see something that was heartbreaking for me to pass on. I need a lot of furniture since we moved from California. We sold and donated a lot of items that could have been really useful here. ONE of them in particular was a coffee table//large ottoman. This one that I spotted was most likely a DIY itself. Now I just need to find a pine coffee table and a Native American wool blanket and foam. Lots of foam. It's beautiful really. PLUS they were only asking $460 and for me to buy this I think that's totally reasonable seeing as a pendleton wool native american blanket is at least $249.

So here's the question, do you DIY? Do you BUY a DIY? Buy NEW???

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OR DO YOU BUY NEW?

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West Elm

 There are so many good choices and now that I've seen this beauty from West Elm for $349, I'm think it's a steal. I still love the Native American covered one though, especially because the corners would be soft and not harm my busy children. 

What do you think?

o f f i c e . l i b r a r y

 I have BIG plans for my office/library/bibliotheque. Well...the plans are similar to what I already have, but with built in book shelves, new rug and some added pops of color. But for now, I've done what I have been able to and mostly thanks to paint. Paint can dramatically change the feel of the space and since my home is so light and airy I must have dark pops to ground your eyes and give dimension. I also believe a home looks so much more elegant with painted doors. Don't you agree? I'll add some inspiration photos as well. 

Eeew the BEFORE...seriously? The yellow and the ivy were awful along with the rest of the paint in the house. We painted the walls in here Sherwin Williams Worldy Gray SW 7043

The doors need a nice glossy black. Sorry I don't have the color reference, but I went to home depot and just picked out the blackest black. I also added the push plates instead of the knobs because they totally transform the doors!

So here are just a few of our REGULARLY used kids books. I love having the bookshelves in here and I'm excited for future projects down the road for some built in bookshelves.

Here you get a peek into our guest bedroom downstairs. 

NOW FOR SOME COLORED DOOR INSPIRATION!!!

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Here you will see "a case for beautiful black doors" on Houzz.com
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Have a beautiful Monday!

a r r o w . s t e n c i l . t u t o r i a l

I have a thing for arrows. Obviously they're ridiculously popular these days on clothes, prints and this amazing wall paper. I pinned this photo on Pinterest quite a while ago and I loved it so much I added it to my screensaver on my phone. If I ever want to do something drastic to my home, I put it as my screensaver and live with looking at it A LOT to see if I still really want to do it. Helps me decide! 

Here is the only BEFORE photo I have of this space. This BEFORE is from the day we closed Escrow. Gross marbled paint EVERYWHERE!!

Here is the tutorial!

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Here is what you need:

Pencil

Paint

Paint brush (preferably with a long handle//helps with control)

Blade to cut cardboard

Cardboard cut into 7" strip or however long you want your middle line to be

Full Size Arrowhead (base is 4" long)

Arrowhead section cut

Find the Center on the wall that you want to stencil and measure the exact middle of the wall at the top of the wall and mark the center. On your strip of cardboard mark the center and place it on the dot and you can level the line if you'd like, but I just eyeballed it. Draw your line. Then turn your cardboard piece vertical and about 3/4 down the strip make a mark of where you want your next line to start (not shown) then mark and draw your line and continue downwards until you reach the bottom of the wall. 

I measured my wall for 3 columns of arrows and drew all my lines. 

After all my lines were drawn, I then took the full size arrowhead and traced around it at both ends of the line.

I then took the arrowhead section and traced my inside lines like pictured below. 

Continue to draw the inside lines for the amount of sections you want. I wanted 4, so I could have two light and two dark.

Your arrows and lines should look like this 

I have drawn on all my arrowheads and am now filling in my inside lines. 

Once all my arrows are drawn then I start to paint. I chose Urban Bronze from Sherwin Williams SW7048. I free handed the lines.

Once the entire arrow is traced inside and out, then you fill in the sections that you want dark. 

In progress view of the wall. I felt like this area was lacking in color, but LOVING the graphic of the arrow wall.

I love Navy blue, I don't think I really have to explain myself with that. Navy and brass....mmm best combo! Painted my door from my garage in Sherwin Williams Sea Serpent

I decided that I loved the watercolor effect of only doing one coat on the arrows. I love seeing the dimension of the dark and lights mixed together. It's imperfectness is completely perfect in my book.

Finished Product! This entry from the garage into my kitchen is FAR from finished. I have a few projects up my sleeve to add storage with hooks. Stay tuned for those in the future but for now, enjoy your arrow walls!

Here you can see the BEFORE and AFTER. It really does make a HUGE different to add paint to the walls.  For the Gray I used Sherwin Williams Worldly Gray SW 7043

 

If you did this tutorial I want to hear how you did and see your projects photos! Comment below with a link!

w e l c o m e

Welcome to The Navy Arrow! 

Ever since our move from California to North Carolina last summer I've been debating whether or not I wanted to start a blog about home decor/diy projects/kids/food/etc. In fact, I was debating whether or not I would do it because honestly I wasn't sure anyone would want to read a blog about our adventures and projects here in our new home. 

Obviously you can see that I decided to go ahead and start a blog! So here you will see all things and projects about our home and the projects I do to help make it look better than when we got it. 

Without further ado, let's do some BEFORE photos!!!

We looked all over for the perfect home in the perfect location that really only needed cosmetic changes. This home fit the bill! We feel absolutely blessed, and over time I will post before//during//after photos. 

This home needed paint and the yard needed a trim BAD!

The main house color is:
Warm Stone SW 7032

Trim is:
Classical White SW 2829

Shutters and Door are:
Sea Serpent SW 7615