House Full of Pretty

Teach me Tuesday: Triptych

April 3rd, 2012

*Sorry for anyone who experienced technical difficulties on the blog today. We’re back on track, but might need a few days to get everything back to normal. Thanks for your patience!*

And hey, while you’re here, let’s learn something!

Today’s “Teach me Tuesday” is all about Triptych!

A triptych (TRIP-tik; (from the Greek adjective τρίπτυχοs (“three-fold”), from tri-= “three” + ptysso= “to fold”) is a work of art (usually a panel painting) which is divided into three sections, or three carved panels which are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all multi-panel works. The middle panel is typically the largest and it is flanked by two smaller related works, although there are triptychs of equal-sized panels.

Source: Wikipedia

You can totally DIY this technique using a photo (panoramic photo would be fabulous) and a frame with three sections.

You know, kinda like this…

Source

So here’s one I created using a great free photo editor called Pixlr. In fact, I do a lot of my blog photo and image editing using this tool. It’s kind of like a water downed version of Photoshop, and the best part is that it’s free!

Oh Costa Rica, how I miss you…

Project: Stairway Gallery Wall

April 1st, 2012

I’ve talked a lot about my love of gallery walls, and decided I finally needed to put this talk into action. Now our old apartment had no free wall space left by the time I got done decorating, so our new house’s “clean slate” was the perfect opportunity to get crackin!

This project was relatively easy, a little sentimental, and CHEAP! I think in total I spent $15 on materials.

Let me show you!

Pre-project to do list:

1. Get some frames!

Tips:

~ Use what you already have
~ Find cheap vintage frames at goodwill and salvation army
~ Don’t just look for empty frames – remember bad art can be removed
~ Stick to one color (use spray paint for consistency), one theme (frames with unique textures) or keep it random like I did!

2. Pick up some picture hangers. Trust me, they are far better than regular nails. I’ve learned this the hard way.

I love these:

From Amazon

Now it’s Project Time!

Step 1 is super important. You don’t wanna be messin’ around with your layout on an actual wall because well, that’s just silly people. Find a big table or even use the floor and play around with spacing and layout. Gallery walls can be symmetric or totally random, it’s completely up to you! If you need some help, here are some layout suggestions.

Source: Atypical Type A

This is the sentimental part. I had SO much fun with this! I explain below the meaning behind each item, but remember you don’t have to limit yourself to just photos. Be creative here!

By far, best trick I learned on the incredible internet. Use newspaper or paper bags to cut out replicas of your frames. This will allow you to play on the wall AND get it right with the hanging. Once you cut out the shapes, lay them over the frame and using a marker place a dot where the hook is (i.e. where the nail will go).

Now take your paper and tape the pseudo frames to the wall using painters tape. Mess up? No problemo! This is a safe work space

Step 4.2: Ok important step here! So important I forgot to take a photo. Sorry!
With the paper taped to the wall, hammer your nails into the convenient dots you drew in the previous step. Then rip off the paper! Now your nails are hung perfectly!

Step back and enjoy your gallery wall!!! FYI – It’s nearly impossible to take a picture in a narrow stairwell, so sorry for the half a$$ photo.

Jenny’s gallery explanation…

1. Photo gifted from my sister-in-law Cindy during her trip to Italy

2. Photo of me and my husband made up of tiny photos of us. Bday gift from Tony

3. Wood flowers from our wedding centerpieces

4. Another gift from Cindy (she has great taste!)

5. Table numbers from our wedding spelling out our wedding date 8/6/11

6. Photo of me and Tony in the Grand Canyon, one of our first vacations as a couple

7 & 11. Framed fabric from our old apartment

8. Our save-the-date

9. Picture from Tony’s grandparents cape house – view of the path down to the beach

10. Handkerchief that Tony’s grandmother made me for our wedding day

12. Our dog-child Roxy

Have you made a gallery wall? Tell me about it!

Weekend Warriors

March 30th, 2012

(My apologies if you receive this post twice in your email. Just fixing some things on the site!)

It’s not all fun and games here at the Hopf Household…

Ok, well for Tony this was the epitome of fun….

Let me explain.

We are in the process of switching from oil to gas heat (this process deserves an entire post of it’s own, so stay tuned). And because we have a large basement with great finishing potential, we decided to put the future gas burner in a new location in order to maximize the living space.

But mind you there is a huge brick triangle wall thingy (official term, yes) in this desired space, which to me seems like a deal breaker.

But to Tony this seems like the perfect excuse to buy a sledge hammer! Well to my great surprise, within 1 hour Tony smashed that bad boy to pieces, removing it entirely from the wall and floor…

Still full of adrenaline, he then proceeded to remove all of the broken brick and concrete, up a full flight of stairs, leaving us with this!

Bring on the new gas heating system! (And the new walls, floor, and windows….)

Be right back!

March 22nd, 2012

It’s getting hard for me to contain my excitement right now…. but very soon you are going to see an entire new HFoP!!!

While I work with my new fabulous designer/tech goddess to get set up on the new website, and get schooled in web development/design 101, the blogs posts might be a little slow…

Source

So I apologize in advance for any error messages and slow content, but I promise to make it all up to you with the new fabulous design.

Be back soon!

xoxo

Jenny

Good times in the Bathroom

March 20th, 2012

Remember when I posted about our upstairs bathroom conundrum?
Well I hope I kept you on the edge of your seat…

Here is a refresher with what we started with…

The deal:

Our upstairs full bathroom is quite dated to say the least. I’m not even sure what color you would call the yellow room… somewhere between mustard and really ripe banana (yummy combo). But unfortunately bathroom renos are quite expensive, and not high on our spending priority list. So to hold us over until we win the lottery or yellow tile comes back in style (whichever comes first) I needed to do my best with some fun decor.

Now am I just trying to distract visitors from the color with some really cool accessories? You betcha!!!

The Stuff:

So after a little bit of shopping, here’s the update!

Paint color: Behr Gentle Rain

Shower curtain from Urban Outfitters

Various brown weave baskets from TJMaxx for storage (reused from apartment)
Hand woven Turkish hand towels from Etsy.

Wall hanging towel holder from Iron Accents (reused from apartment)

Bell jar soap dispenser (resused from apartment)

The one built-in in the entire house! This is a tribute to our old place

Ok, so not the most dramatic before and after photo shoot (and sorry for the poor photos… the lighting is horrible in there). However this was a truly cheap project (under $65) that was a lot of fun to do!

Short term plans:

Replace the toilet (white please!)

Replace the sink (something with storage underneath)

Replace the mirror/light fixture with something (ANYTHING) else!

Long term plans:

Bathroom gut, expand, and total overhaul.

{So how have YOU spruced up your bathroom on the cheap?}

Hat Attack Giveaway Winner

March 19th, 2012

Happy Monday everyone!

And an even happier Monday for Carolyn L. who is the winner of the Hat Attack giveaway!

Carolyn, you lucky chick, please email me at housefullofpretty@gmail.com so we can talk shipping address

For everyone else, thanks so much for entering and helping spread the word about Hat Attack.

*Giveaway winner is chosen using a random drawing tool, www.random.org*

So this past weekend was the first weekend since we moved into our new house that we didn’t spend most of it doing house stuff. While it felt good (really good) to get out and about, I’m definitley anxous to get back at it!

Coming up on HFoP….

1. Project: Hallway gallery wall

2. Fun with pots and pans

3. House Update: Bathroom decor

And one of my all time favorite topics…

4. Jewerly organization

{Stay tuned}

Big things ahead…

March 17th, 2012

First off, sorry for the double post on Thursday!

Things have been a little wild and crazy over in HFoP land because I am currently in the process of revamping the site!

Oh yeah, that’s right…House Full of Pretty is getting a major makeover!!! And unlike our recent house makeovers, this one is far more brain than labor intensive.

I don’t want to spoil too much too soon, but what I can say is that the site will be undergoing some much needed changes both on the outisde, and inside…And cross your fingers it’s gonna look smokin hot!

And for any bloggers out there who have contemplated switching from WP.com or Blogger to WordPress.org… I promise to share my experience with you!

xoxo,
Jenny

P.S. Don’t forget to enter the Hat Attack Giveaway which closes Sunday! We’re talking about a free designer hat, people. Let’s get on this!

Lesson Four: Inner Beauty

March 15th, 2012

When I saw this print on Etsy, immediately I thought that this was the story of our house.

Source: Etsy

When we decided to put an offer on our house, it wasn’t an “OMG this our home!” moment that you too often see on HGTV. No it was more like… Should we do this? Are we going to regret this decision? Can we really afford this? Will we be able to get rid of all that pink?

And most importantly…will this negatively impact my shoe purchasing habit???

The house was not conventionally “beautiful” as you saw in some of the before pictures. It screamed “old lady from the 1970′s” with the pink carpeting and flower wallpaper, an abundance of statues, and bold colored bathrooms. Oh, and did I mention there was no dishwasher?

But what drew us in were the things that no amount of money or hard work could change, and was the location, the size of the land and rooms, and the really good price. Another driving factor was something that Tony really helped me see and that was that the house had good bones. It’s so easy to get caught up in the aesthetics of a house, but at the end of the day, a solid home is a reliable home… and that is a happy and worry free home

So today’s home buying lesson (see previous lessons 1, 2 & 3) is a simple one, but something that is so easily overlooked…. And that is to focus on some of the “not fun” things during your search like the foundation, maintenance needs, and general structure of the house. Because once the house is yours (and that feels pretty damn good, let me tell you) the inside stuff can be changed to become the beautiful space you want.

It’s amazing what a little TLC can do to transform a place, and sometimes the love (and sweat and tears) that go into the transformation make it all that more beautiful in the end.

Aaaaand sappy post concludes