Pepper Design Blog - Page 174 of 358 - A Little of This & That... Renovating, Decorating, DIY Projects & Family

2nd Blogiversary, Day 2: DIY Pack Giveaway!

November 8, 2011

I have the perfect giveaway lined up for all of you DIYers out there. HomeRight, Purdy Paintbrushes and X-ACTO are teaming up with me to offer a CommandMax HVLP paint sprayer, 3 pack of amazing paint brushes and an awesome utility knife kit (including a super helpful mat) to one reader!

Imagine how easy painting furniture will be with a product that provides professional grade paint and stain finishes (no brush marks!). This low pressure sprayer that is perfect for projects around the house.

Professional paint brushes are a MUST when it comes to any type of painting or staining DIY project. Use well-made brushes, take good care of them and you will always be happy with your results! Purdy is offering a 3 pack (the perfect sampler) of their high-quality brushes as part of today’s DIY Giveaway.

Have you heard of their Save the Walls campaign? Head on over for to find tips, frequently asked questions and projects by HGTV’s very own Lisa LaPorta!

And when it comes to day-to-day handy tools I cannot recommend an X-ACTO knife enough. I’ve used it for little projects like separating a lampshade from it’s frame or taking apart an old picture and matte, but here’s a link with over 300 creative and quirky uses for the tool!

The prize pack includes a Retract-a-Blade knife, Designer Series Gripster craft knife and a self-healing mat.

******************************************************************************************

Giveaway: A Command Max HPLV paint sprayer, 3 pack of Purdy brushes and an X-ACTO prize pack! So awesome! A second X-ACTO knife prize pack will be sent out to the runner up.

Blogiversary Question to Enter: Since it’s a week of celebration for PDB, I would love to know… what do you tune into Pepper for? There are so many tangents posted here: home renovating highs and lows, family adventures, entertaining & party inspiration, wardrobe stye boards, crafts & DIY projects that I attempt (or that catch my eye) and even the occasional recipe. It’s a hodge-podge to say the least.

For Additional Entries: Become a Facebook fan of HomeRight, Purdy, X-ACTO or Pepper Design Blog and leave a separate comment for each additional entry!

Giveaway ends Friday, November 11 at midnight PST, winner will be chosen randomly and announced the following Monday. Good luck!

*****************************************************************************************

And don’t forget about the EmersonMade gift card giveaway from yesterday!

2nd Blogiversary + EmersonMade Giveaway!

November 7, 2011

If you want to witness the most wonderful smile, give a baby a big balloon! No, Liv did not magically jump from 10 months to her first birthday, but it is Pepper Design Blog’s 2nd birthday! And we’re celebrating all week long.

I have such a fantastic line-up for you this week! I’m hosting a meet & greet (complete with bite-sized Sprinkles cupcakes and cappuccinos for everyone) tomorrow, announcing an AWESOME addition to the blog on Wednesday and giving a quick look behind-the-scenes to the happenings of everyday life over here later in the week.

Pair that with several fantastic giveaways from companies that I personally reached out to (so I that I can fully recommend their products) and that’s my celebration week in a nutshell.

There are just a few changes to announce today as well. You might notice my new little bio pic with Liv over there in the right sidebar, and if you click that new pic a brand new ‘About PDB’ page will pop up. Something to do if you have a bit of down time at the office.

If you read all the way through the About PDB page you’ll quickly notice that Pepper actually celebrated its birthday back in September. But there was so much going on that it flew right by without a second thought! So November is the blog’s honorary blogiversary this year ;).

******************************************************************************************

EmersonMade Giveaway!

a
Let’s start off the week of celebration with a giveaway from one of my favorite companies! I fell in love with EmersonMade back when they specialized in the most beautiful fabric flowers – and now this hubby + wife team has jumped to a full line-up of chic clothing and jewelry that I adore.

Emerson designs all of the clothing and is the model for each photo that her husband Ryan shoots. Their clothing is sophisticated, sexy, well-made and timeless. You will definitely love their little brown tweed blazer in ten years as much as you will today. Other awesome items include their line of blouses (love these), denim, necklaces and even linens (see shot below with the flowers that used to be their trademark). Man, right about now I really wish I could enter this giveaway.

******************************************************************************************

Giveaway: A gift certificate for $75!

Blogiversary Question to Enter: Since it’s a week of celebration for PDB, I would love to know… how did you find Pepper Design Blog? :)

For Additional Entries: Become a Facebook fan of EmersonMade (they dish all of the good stuff on their FB page – including a great promo code for an additional % off right now) or Pepper Design Blog and leave a separate comment for each additional entry!

Giveaway ends Friday, November 11 at midnight PST, winner will be chosen randomly and announced the following Monday. Good luck!

*****************************************************************************************

Office Makeover: New DIY Curtains

November 4, 2011

On Wednesday I shared how the guestroom portion of the office is looking right about now. You might have noticed that I moved the curtains that used to be between the kitchen and office (covering the french doors) to the big window near the bed. But they might not stay.

I’ve been using Spoonflower to play with a few handmade designs for a new pair of curtains for this area and here’s where I’m at now:

Here’s a better look at what’s going on on the bed, or the ‘test swatch’ area:

The original inspiration came from this beautiful upholstery weight suzani print from Calico Corners, but the heavy woven fabric did not lend itself well to a soft, breezy curtain that would allow light in (the walls are brown so light, even with curtains, is a must).

Have you heard of Spoonflower? You can create your own design and they’ll print it up on a variety of different types of fabric. I love it! I’ve used it for curtains in the past and went to work to create a suzani print of my very own.

The first time I ordered I used their original color guide to pick my fabric shades, and you can see from the ‘really bad color swatches’ above that I was waaaaay off. Spoonflower was great though, they sent out their latest and greatest color guide (so you know exactly what colors to send your design in for printing), and even reimbursed me one round of bad swatches.

Soon I was left with the two swatches (on two different types of fabric) that were very close color-wise to my inspiration print:

Here they are up against the natural light of the window. The fabric on the left is a sheer fabric and the one on the right is a cotton. The jury is out on which looks better at the moment… I’m nervous the sheer is too sheer and the cotton might be too prone to wrinkles. But I’m hoping to have picked one by the end of today!

My over all experience with Spoonflower has been positive. There were a few frustrating moments (aka ordering swatch upon swatch – plus waiting for shipping – and then finding horrible coloring) but their customer service is awesome and they ship for $1, so you can order all day and it won’t really cost you much. Another bonus is that there are thousands of free designs that others have uploaded – so if you’re searching for the perfect print and you just can’t find it online or at your craft store, a Spoonflower artist might just have what you’re looking for.

Decisions, decisions. Hmmm… those original curtains do work pretty well, too!

For more Office Makeover posts, check out: new shell pendant, organizing the bookshelves, wall collage part 1, part 2, fabric bulletin board inspiration, (new) inspiration board, new lamps, wallpapering open shelves, finding the perfect credenza, new trim, dining table-to-desk, a new desk & bookshelves, installing remnant carpeting, grasscloth wallpaper, painting the office nook, finding carpet for the office, chocolate brown wall ideas, plastering progress, inspiration for a diy desk, back in action!, desking hunting for under $300, bookcases under $300,inspirational rooms, room layout options, demo part 1 & demo part 2.