Oh the  challenges of decorating a large wall!  Well, if  you do not have large artwork—-consider grouping like sized accessories and wall art to create your own personal style in a big way!   This is my family room cathedral wall and believe it or not— the artwork is original (made by me!)  To create this vignette,  I gathered flea market finds and thrift store frames for a casual look.  Each frame was painted black and the photo mats were painted white (yes you can paint the mats!)   This gave me the ultimate opportunity to finally frame some vintage fabrics I found at a yard sale in New Hampshire years ago.  The road sign has sentimental value to me as it was one of the original signs in the neighborhood where I grew up.

The vase was a great steal at $2.00 from a church flea market and the two white bowls I found when I was featured on HGTV’s Longest Yard Sale a few years ago (another steal deal).  And the cow creamer was given to me over 20 years ago from one of my best friends.   What I like best about this decorating idea is that I got to go on a treasure hunt in my own home PLUS  it didn’t cost a fortune!

Stay inspired!  www.KathyPeterson.com

It’s that time of year when the Ghouls and Ghosts start to come out for Halloween.   Here’s a great idea from Krylon Spray paint using classic black and lime green to decorate your Halloween party tables!  And it’s so simple to recycle odds and ends around the house.   Find an  old frame, birdhouse, teapot, candle sticks, margarita glass and other odds and ends and revamp them with some fresh paint!

A little dry ice will also set the scene.  Here’s the recycled Margareta glasses made to look like a compote.  I think the crow is really intrigued don’t you?  LOL.

Stat inspired and have a “boo”tiful Halloween!   www.KathyPeterson.com

Every time I work on a home makeover, I do it with love.   But this makeover was especially heartfelt because it was the house I grew up in.  It was a lot of work covering 2,100 square feet and 50 years of accumulation, yet it was so much fun even though it took me about 6 months of going back in forth over the last 16 months—and worth every ounce of cuts, bruises, backaches and lots of paint in my hair!

THE KITCHEN MAKEOVER

•  Above is the AFTER of the kitchen makeover and here’s what I did.
• Clear the clutter!
• Repair the floor from water damage due to a leak in the plumbing 
• Prep and paint the cabinets and drawer pulls
• Paint the fridge with Krylon Appliance spray paint (follow directions on can).
• Sew new curtains
• Replace the floor with faux vinyl tile (although this photo does not do the floor color justice)

THE KITCHEN BEFORE

Are you digging this 1966 cabinetry and floors?  Well not me!   However, the cabinets were in great shape and the appliances still worked even though they had been updated about 15 years prior.   With the new look in the previous photo, this room now looks bright and clean —and lean and mean!  Come back again with another view of this kitchen makeover as well as the rest of the house re-do!  Stay inspired—you can do it!  www.KathyPeterson.com         TOTAL COST FOR THIS MAKEOVER:  Paint, Materials, and Labor — Less than $1,900 ($1,000 was replacing the damage floor).   Stay inspired! 

It’s finally here! My new Kathy Peterson Inspired Home Decor Stencil Collection. Today I’m featuring my “LATTICE” stencil and I love the look. It works well in any decor and appeals both the guys and girls. Not too frilly and not too masculine!

Because the stencil is large (about 2ftx2ft) you can cover a lot of space in no time. This wall makeover would take less than an hour using a roller and a tad longer if you used a stencil brush.

Stay inspired! www.KathyPeterson.com

Today ends the 4 week hop with 5 of my favorite man crafters.  Be sure to check out all the clever projects created by Ken Oliver, Mark Montano, Martin Amodo, Suede Baum and Aaron Christisensen using a Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner.  Amazing stuff!

Join in the fun here!

Stay inspired!  www.KathyPeterson.com

I have a confession—I’m a Fab-ri-hol-ic !  In other words—- I love to decorate with fabric.

So whenever I spy a pretty bed sheet on sale, I snatch it up then cut it up!  This sheet cost around $5.00 so I bought two of them.  I mean—- who could go wrong with spending $10.00 to cover a lampshade, chair and make a window treatment?  The lamp shade and window coverings are probaby the easiest projects you can make especially if you’re a beginner and don’t have a sewing machine.

 Here’s a chic-sheet idea for either a window treatment or shower curtain.  Now this isn’t anything new, but sometimes we rush out and spend way to much money (if we’re on a budget) when instead we can customize our own decor using a sheet that already has the hems in place.  And believe me, I like to keep things simple when I’m in a time crunch so I used clip-on curtain rings to keep this project even more “no-sew”.

The chair covering was a bit more challenging and time consuming but I love the result.  I found this chair at a yard sale for $1.00 and replaced the tattered upholstery with the same sheet design.  Special tools include a staple gun, hot glue gun and lots of patience! 

Stay and Inspired!

www.KathyPeterson.com

What sign are you!  I’m a Sagittarian and I’m so blessed to be able to express my creative spirit.  Now you can express yourself with Duetica’s lettering system.  It’s super easy and fun too!

Here’s how I made this….I was inspired by some old prints my mother had of the astrological signs of everyone in my immediate family.  Next I sketched out a few simple designs (the arch bow, flowers and some birds) but you can include anything to customize your own look.  Then I looked up the personality traits of Sagittarians!  Using a combo of both Duetica’s Tin-Whistle and Saxi (spot) font styles made it super easy to create this project.

After I was satisfied with the layout—it was time to print it out and frame it up! 

 This makes a fun, whimsical and unexpected gift for your friends who enjoy Astrology!

Be sure to check out the other team members of the Duetica Design Team!  Enjoy!

Please visit all the members of the Duetica Design Team

Please visit all the members of the Duetica Design Team
Becky Conley
Candice Windham
Christy Monge
Eileen Hull
Kathy Peterson
Kristie Taylor
Niki Meiners
Rebecca Lynn
Suzanne Sergi
Veronica Goff

Stay Inspired!  www.KathyPeterson.com

It’s June and that “spells out”  my next project for Duetica Fonts!   For this project I decided to make an OPEN HOUSE invite using some of Duetica’s “fun” fonts and some sketch art using  Photo-shop and then print it out!

My inspiration came from  two very simple shapes–a house and a heart!  Next came the fonts.  In this project I used the font TIN-WHISTLE in two different styles– #’s AOO and FOO.  But there are more styles of this font available too!

Isn’t this a fun font!   Notice just the slightest changes to make it truly your own style for your next open house celebration!  Oh when you send it— send it from the “heart”.  Craft on!  P.S.  For more design inspiration from my fellow designer friends–go to http://duetica.com/blog/  and http://www.duetica.com/gallery/gallery.html

And be sure to check out the other Duetica design team member’s projects too!

Becky Conley
Candice Windham
Christy Monge
Eileen Hull
Kathy Peterson
Kristie Taylor
Niki Meiners
Rebecca Lynn
Suzanne Sergi
Veronica Goff

Stay Inspired!    www.KathyPeterson.com

Yeehaw Cowboy!  Here’s a fun project I made several years ago for Carolina Manufacturing bandannas.  And it appears that Cowboy Decor is coming back again!

I had so much fun making this super simple quilt and matching pillows and what little cowboy or cowgirl wouldn’t  just love to have this in their own bedroom!   For the quilt I just quartered the bandannas and pieced together.  The pillows were also very easy to make–just stitch and go–and add some faux leather fringe and ball fringe!

Now giddy up and go get inspired!

Kathy Peterson www.KathyPeterson.com

Today’s Duetica Design is about as easy as can be.  But the key word  (or lettering) here is CUSTOMIZATION with just a few key strokes!   Duetica has made monograming so easy with all their fun and elegant font styles.   This font is called Piper- GOO but look at the other style you can mix and match with the Piper font.

With so many fonts styles to choose from, it makes my job as a designer pretty easy to customize a look!  Keep it simple or add a swirl here or there—it totally up to you! 

Stay Inspired!

www.KathyPeterson.com