i stole a wall of S’s

Truth be told, I didn’t actually steal the S’s in the strict sense of the word, rather just the IDEA of them.  This blog is supposed to be about The Mr and I traveling about, eating good food, drinking good beer, and learning how to use our fancy camera in the process.  However, the fact of the matter is that, for the time being The Mr will be the one traveling about, not I.  Don’t worry, he’s just going on work trips, not doing anything fun without me.  I am perturbed about said trips because they are keeping us from doing a couple fun things that I really like to do…like say the inaugural Oxford Craft Beer Festival… I’m more than a little annoyed by this.  But I digress…

Don’t worry, though, Charlotte has enough going on in the beer scene these days to keep this blog hopping (ha, ha get it.  Beer.  “Hopping.”  am I the only one that finds that amusing?) for a while.  Anyway, because we’re (mostly I will be) hanging out at the homestead for a bit, I thought I’d feature a couple little projects that we’re doing around the house.  Which leads me back to the “stolen” wall of S’s…

We’ve been in our townhouse for 4 1/2 yrs.  Most of the decorating is done, but it is definitely still a work in progress.  Our downstairs half-bath has been one of these unfinished projects that has plagued me since day one.  It was painted and crowned with moulding within two months of us moving in here but I’ve never been able to check that tiny little room off as “done” from the decorating “to-do” list because I’ve never had an idea about what to do with the wall behind the toilet.  This has irked me every single time I’ve gone into that room for 4 1/2 yrs. And when I say “every single time I’ve gone into that room for 4 1/2 yrs” I literally mean EVERY.  SINGLE.  TIME.

You might be thinking “Dude, it’s a bathroom wall.  Relax.” But, you see, because it’s the only water closet downstairs, someone goes in there every single time we have people over.  The toilet directly faces the sink which, like all bathrooms everywhere, has a mirror hanging over it.  So, whether it’s a female guest who sits or a male guest who stands while answering the call of nature in my home, what they stare at is a big blank green wall. See what I mean…

Call me crazy, but I like to look at something pretty when I potty.  I recently spruced up the back of the bowl with an orchid.  It helped, but it wasn’t enough.

That blank wall plagues me.  It simply won’t do.  It just bothers me.  It’s blah and boring.  Despite it’s constant mocking of me,  I didn’t want to just throw any old thing up there to fill the space.  So, 4 1/2 yrs go by while I remain uninspired about how to remedy the situation.  Enter Emily from Jones Design Company.  I’ve been one of her readers for a while, but had forgotten about this particular project until recently when I came across this post from March of last year while perusing her site in search of something else.  I didn’t even have to re-read the entire post to be inspired.  As soon as I caught a glimpse of the post title I knew – this was the solution to my bathroom dilemma bathroom WALL dilemma.

I took inspiration from Emily and decided to fill our half-bath wall with our monogram like she did with the L’s.

Emily said that she purchased only a couple of her L’s and that she made the rest from things that she had lying around the house.  Not being as much of a DIYer as Emily, I actually had to spend about $50 to gather the necessary supplies, but (for me at least) that’s a pretty low budget decorating project.  Also, I’m not nearly as creative as Emily, so I actually copied a couple of her monograms outright.

I stuck with neutral tones to keep it from looking too busy.  Here’s the individual breakdown (descriptions left to right):

1.  S sketched and painted onto a small canvas purchased from Michael’s.  I used the font from #6 as my guide.

2.  S printed on parchment paper and framed in a vintage frame purchased at the Habitat for Humanity Restore ($1).  Like, Emily, I drew in the “No. 2” at the bottom to add visual interest.  (It was the second S that I completed.)

3.   layered scrap linen with S cutout of scrapbook paper framed in an ugly frame purchased at the Habitat for Humanity Restore (also $1) that I repainted black.

4.  large S cut out of foam core board and decoupaged with scrapbook paper in vintage frame also purchased from Habitat ($2).

5.   printed/framed photo of an S I took as part of a photo project I’m working on.

6.  plain wooden S purchased from Michael’s and crackle finished using paints that I happened to have around the house.

7.  a combination of two stolen from Emily’s wall… a S cut out of glittered scrapbook paper and glued to scrap linen with metal book plate and label with “est. 1999” handwritten on it.  (We got married in 1999.) The frame was also an ugly $1 purchase from Habitat that I crackle painted using supplies I already had.

8.  toile fabric swatch from Calico Corners (ordered years ago and never used) layered with a printed S framed in a vintage frame purchased at the Habitat for Humanity Restore (also $1).

9.  chalkboard painted piece of scrap wood from our garage with hand drawn S and border.  Stolen straight from Emily’s wall…

10.  bronze metal S purchased on clearance at Restoration Hardware for $6.

11.  small S stenciled on a piece of frayed scrap linen, backed with a scrap fabric swatch from another project, and framed in a small frame purchased at Michael’s. MY FAVE!!

I spent an entire Saturday sprawled out on top of a drop cloth in the middle of my kitchen floor painting, cutting, crackling, gluing, and decoupaging then let everything dry overnight.  The next day I enlisted the help of The Mr to mount/hang them.  I then added the bright pink orchid back to the top of the toilet for a pop of color and…VOILA!

I ADORE how it turned out!  In fact, I now believe this to be the most interesting wall in our house.  And, I promise I haven’t been outright asking people that come over if they need to go to the bathroom and following them there to show off/talk about my S’s…I mean, that would be weird right?…honestly, who would do that?…

Moral of this story – crime DOES pay. 😉  Now, if I can just keep from murdering the orchid…