This Is My Happy Place

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
                                                                                ~Mark Twain

I have always loved to draw, even as a very young girl.  Over the years, I discovered my love for painting; and while wintering a Florida a few years ago, I decided to sign up for a free watercolor class at the RV park.  What did I have to lose, other than a few inexpensive supplies I purchased.  Now I have my own studio in our house, a shop on Etsy, and I've invested in good quality paints and brushes...

So a while ago, I decided to redo my chalkboard framed magnetic board with different phrases that really meant something to me and would really make me happy when I saw it...

I first saw this next phrase on one of my favorite HGTV shows, Fixer Upper.  It was too long to put on just one panel, so I had to split them up...

And finally...

The first thing I did was to decide which font to use (I used a different font for each phrase), enlarge it and print it out...

Then I taped them together and before carefully taping it to the board, I rubbed chalk on the backside of the paper...

Then taking a pen, I traced over the outline of each letter and filled it in with my liquid chalk pen...

And this is the result...

I think I showed you the wall color of our downstairs.  We never noticed it had a pink undertone until we moved in...

In trying to decide on a paint color, someone suggested yellow because it's bright and cheery...

I had paint samples all over this huge room and moved them around to different walls and looked at them in various lighting.  I know I've heard it said that it's "just paint" and if you don't like it, you can repaint it again.  I DON'T THINK SO!  Number one is the cost.  We bought Aura by Benjamin Moore which is one of their more expensive paints.  It has a primer in it and can literally cover a wall in one coat (which it really did).  Then there's all the taping, moving furniture and all the time spent.  No, we were going to get this right the first time...

I'll share the color and more of the room once we get things put back a bit more.  But I needed to show this last photo which I took to share on Facebook.  It wasn't until I actually saw it, did I realize how pink that wall was.  Obviously, the hallway will be painted next, along with all the trim...

We're making our new house our home, one step at a time.