Back to Blueberry Hill

If you know me, or have been around for a bit, you know how I love to shop around my own home and use things in a new way in new places.  It’s a simple (and inexpensive) way to make things seem new again.

This time, it was the gallery wall in the living room that was just giving me that, eh… yeah I need a makeover feeling.  You know the one?  I see it from the kitchen and well, I spend LOTS of time in there so it quickly jumped to the top of my list for a refresh.

Here’s a glimpse back at where we began:

And now, after a bit of updating:

I brought the baskets that used to live in our upstairs hallway down and they’ll double as toy storage by day, beverage table by night.

The rocking chair was already in here I just changed out the two chairs for it:

All of the pillows and throws I’d already had, but just by moving them here has freshened them up too:

I’d also been working on this huge picture I’d taken of the little beans when we went apple picking this Fall.  My adorable friend Adrian (@cre8tive_instincts on IG and www.cre8tiveinstincts.blogspot.com) gave a great tutorial on transferring black and white photos to wood (and other pieces like furniture) and I thought I’d give it a try.  This kind of project, I’ll warn, is not for the impatient or faint of heart.  It takes a lot of time and LOTS and LOTS of patience.

First, I had staples print out an “Engineered” print of my beans for about $8 (and its 2ft by 3ft) then purchased a bottle of transferring medium by mod podge from Jo Ann Fabrics (depending on the size, its about $8 for a bottle.)  You paint a piece of plywood with white paint, then paint on the transferring medium evenly and generously.  Immediately you place the picture, ink side down, onto the plywood and let it set overnight.  The next day you take a cup of water and use it to dip your fingers into and then swirl over the paper.  You’ll want to do this EVER so lightly and start peeling away single layers of the paper until finally you’re left with just the ink.  (Keep in mind that it will be the mirror image of the photo).  It looks like this for many, many days:

Truth be told I got a little impatient at the end and used Vaseline over the last layer of paper just to get the ink to show through. I can live with imperfect ;-).  When it was finally ready for framing. I just used some old mahogany wood I’d snagged from the side of the road, cut it to size and nailed it to the wall.

The ladder was one that has floated from outdoors to in, room to room and I love its versatility.  I finished off the look with some fresh berries I’d picked from outside:

All ready for Thanksgiving!

Thanks so much for popping in, I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Stay tuned for the front door reveal 🙂