Reflection {2010}

Hello everyone! I took a bit of a hiatus for 2 weeks during the holidays. Mostly because of trying to keep my sanity during such a hectic time of year. And also because I felt slightly lazy after working on our living room for so long. Now that it’s done, I am honestly just looking forward to taking down all the holiday décor and having a very clean, monochromatic color scheme. Until spring. Then bring on the turquoise & orange color combo I love so dearly.

I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday, and has very safe New Year’s Eve tonight. Don’t drink and drive. Seriously, please don’t.

I wanted to use this post as a way to reflect on 2010 and reflect on what I hope 2011 will be like.

2010 was a bit like a slice of cherry pie. It’s sweet, but awfully tart during some bites. You can’t stop eating it because you know it CAN taste good. That’s 2010 for me.

I got moved to a new position at work, which has been probably been the greatest thing EVER. Next to buying a house. And celebrating one year of marriage. And being on HGTV.

But there were some rough spots like gaining another 20 pounds or so. Unsuccessfully trying to lose the 20 pounds I gained in 2009. Losing some friends for no apparent reason. Feeling my absolute lowest ever.

Now, I am looking back at the past 364 days and I realize those moments- the good and the bad ones- have made me who I am today. Yup, this girl typing here to you all. I wouldn’t be doing this if it weren’t for all that has happened to me. And I realize, it’s simply time to look forward. Plan, hope and pray for better things to come for myself and everyone.

Every year I say something like this, “This year will be the year I achieve my goal weight. I will get healthy. I will love exercise.”

And it never happens. Therefore, I am NOT going to say 2011 will be the year I do all of the above. I am simply not jumping on that bandwagon anymore. 2011 to me is going to be a year of beauty. Inside and out.

Beauty.

I resolve to feel more beautiful about myself and the world in small ways everyday.

This might mean being more charitable. More active. More in tune with fashion. More willing to help others. More positive.

In 2011, I just hope to be more than I was in 2010. Not in weight though. HELL NO.

I also took sometime to update my 30 under 30 list. I am removing the following goals and replacing them with new ones. I’ve also italicized those I have accomplished in the original post.

10.) Move back to San Antonio!- Not going to happen anytime soon. Instead, I plan to embrace where I live right now.

22.) See Oprah’s show in Chicago. I don’t think I have much time for this one.- Oprah show tickets are impossible to snag, so it’s now off the list.

23.) Have a successful event planning business in San Antonio with a cool home office. – I do not have any aspirations whatsoever of doing this anymore. Zilch. Nada.

26.) Run a marathon. Yes, a full, 26.2 miles of hell on earth marathon. – I’ve decided a half-marathon is just as good.

With all that being said, I am looking forward to 2011. A new year always feels like a clean slate to make yourself into anything you want to be.

What do you resolve to do in 2011 to make it the best year it can be? Leave me a comment below with your answer (and a way to contact you) and you’ll be entered to win a set of 4 wine labels that were featured on HGTV. They’ll be customized with any names/details you’d like. It’s my way of saying, “Cheers!” as we toast our way into a new year. I’ll be giving away 3 sets, so that’s THREE winners. Yay. Contest closes Tuesday, January 4th at 10 pm CST. 1 entry per person!

I’ll be back tomorrow with 2 new Silhouette SD projects I worked on over the holidays. I can’t wait to show you all.

Best Gift I Ever Gave {Tis The Season}

SWAGG is a free mobile app (download here) that lets you shop smarter using your mobile phone. Buy, send or swap SWAGG GIFTS and organize your old school plastic gift cards.

For every download of the app between now and Dec. 31, 2010, SWAGG will donate $1 to Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) , up to $125,000.

Clever Girls Collective and SWAGG are sending a pair of movie fans to the Sundance Film Festival! Download the SWAGG app and then visit the Ultimate SWAGG Getaway Sweepstakes site to enter to win a trip for two to the Sundance Film Festival. Entry deadline is January 3, 2011, 11:59pm, PST.

{My dog Pee Wee when he was a baby}

If someone asks you, “What’s the best gift you ever gave?”, what comes to mind? A Wii? The hot electronic item of the season? A homemade gift? Money? A fabulous vacation?

Well, I’ve been thinking about that a lot for this post, and I began reflecting on every gift I’ve given someone. What I came to find was that items that can be bought are fabulous (helloooo iPhone!), but isn’t it often the intangible things that are truly the best things in life? Those moments that grip at your heart strings. Bring a smile to your face. Make you realize what this thing called life is really all about.

I remember about a year ago when I was contacted by an animal shelter that I regularly donate to about a special child with a special holiday wish. The child was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and the doctor didn’t give the child much time to live. All the child wanted was a pet, so the Humane Society wanted to step in to help make that wish come true. The child, only 6 years old, picked a dog from the shelter who also had cancer. The letter the boy wrote said he wanted someone “like him” so they could go through cancer together. Of course this meant the dog had expensive medical bills and medicines that would be quite expensive for a family to afford if their little one was facing cancer. The medical bills for the dog were about $700 a month.

That’s where myself and many other people came in to make a donation to help make this happen for the child. To me, it was the least I could do to help someone in need. I didn’t look at it as donating money- I looked at it as providing comfort, companionship and courage to a little boy who might not have much time to enjoy the things I get to enjoy daily. And personally, my dog Pee Wee is a huge source of happiness in my life. I love him more than words can ever explain.

During the middle of this year, I got an updated e-mail that the young boy had passed away with his dog by his side, and the family thanked all of us donors for taking care of the dog’s medical costs during their difficult time. If that wasn’t sad enough, the e-mail also said his dog passed away about a week after the boy did. The dog was so sad without the boy and went to be with him forever more.

To this day, I can’t think of the boy and his dog without crying. Tears are running down my face even now. Sometimes, it’s sad tears. I feel life can be cruel. Unfair. Awful. Why him? Why his family? Why the dog? Why?

And other times, I cry out of happiness that I was able to do something amazing for someone. Able to make someone’s life fuller and happier. Even if for a small period of time.

That, to me, is truly the greatest gift of all.

So, in this time of gifts and parties, let’s all think back to what the holidays and life is really all about. Celebrating with each other, loving one another and giving as much as we are able to.

Happy Holidays from my family to yours!

SWAGG has partnered with non-profit Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C). For every download of the app between now and Dec. 31, 2010, SWAGG will donate $1 to SU2C up to $125,000. Awesome, right?! Visit the SU2C site for more info http://www.standup2cancer.org/ Download it today to help this amazing cause!

Learn more about the coolest new app that revolutionizes the whole shopping, gifting, and gift card-organizing experience and Download the SWAGG app to your iPhone or Droid. I was selected for this sponsorship by Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity.

How to Paint Wood Paneling {DIY Instructions}

As promised, here are the how-to instructions for how to take a room looking like this:

To something like this:

And this:

Let’s get to it! Here’s a list of supplies you need to paint wood paneling:

1.) 1 gallon of oil-based primer (I used Kilz, about $18 per gallon)

2.) 1 gallon of paint color of your choice (I used Mindful Gray by Sherwin Williams)

3.) Purdy Roller Covers- YES, they HAVE to be Purdy rollers. I picked up a pack of 3 for $10 at Lowes. Make sure to get the one for smooth surfaces.

4.) Purdy Paint Brushes- YES, they HAVE to be Purdy paint brushes. If taken care of, these will last you a long time. Consider it an investment. We bought a 3 pack for $20.

5.) Scotch Edge Lock painters tape, 1.5” wide (1 roll should be enough)

6.) Spackle/wood filler (I love Dry Dex brand- it’s about $2)

7.) Lysol/Clorox Wipes

8.) Scraper to smooth out wood filler (you could use an old gift card in all honesty)

9.) Paint thinner if you plan to clean your Purdy roller after using oil-based primer

10.) Drop cloths/plastic sheets- we bought about 5 from Dollar Tree

11.) White Semi/High-Gloss paint if you need to paint trim or baseboards (We used Kilz High Gloss in Bright White- only at Wal-Mart)

12.) Rollers- also get a lengthening attachment if you don’t want stand on a step stool while painting

13.) A ladder/step stool to reach high places, if needed.

14.) Gallon sized ziploc bags (We bought a pack from Dollar Tree)

TOTAL ESTIMATED COST: $150-$200 (less if you have some of these items, we didn’t)

TIME NEEDED: 3-4 days

DIFFICULTY: Novice/Beginner

If your wood paneling happens to be shellacked, you’d need these as well:

1.) Sanding block/sandpaper

2.) Tack cloths

My wood paneling, thank GOD, was NOT shellacked, so I didn’t have to sand. This doesn’t mean there isn’t prep work, because trust me, there is. I wiped clean all the walls with regular Lysol wipes. I probably used up about 10 wipes. After wiping down all the walls, I went around with some spackle and filled in all the nail holes and patches in the wall.

The above photos show what your walls should look like after filling in the holes. The spackle I used went on pink and dried white, so I knew when it was OK to move onto the next step. Remember to scrape off excess spackle/filler using a scraper/old giftcard. This will make sure it’s flush with the wall.

Now, you need to lay down your drop cloths so you don’t splatter oil-based primer/paint onto your floor. We taped them to the base boards using masking tape. Also, if you’re not moving furniture from the room (we didn’t) cover it with a sheet of plastic as well.

Next step is to prime. This is the part where I gush about Purdy rollers/brushes. GUSH. Yes, that’s how fabulous I think their products are. They gave us such a smooth finish on our walls that no other roller has ever been able to do on a project of ours. Now I know why so many people only use Purdy products when painting, and now we’re converts, too. The brushes were also a great investment for us because we used them to fill in all the grooves in the paneling- it turned out flawless. Here’s what we bought from Lowes:

We used one of the rollers to prime the walls. I always feel a slight panic attack when I see primer go on because it tends to look terrible.

Remember, primer is not supposed to look perfect. Get a good even coat on the walls, trim and baseboards. Our trim & baseboards were also dark wood, so this was imperative for us to do. Oh the joy.

Let the primer dry (we let it dry overnight) and then the next day we started painting with the Mindful Gray paint from Sherwin Williams. This is the part that gets daunting. Exhausting. You’ll feel delirious.

It will pass. Say that to yourself. It will pass.

I do want to mention that Young House Love told us to get primer into the grooves…I did that for about 50% of one wall, and then said FORGET IT. In the end, we didn’t prime the grooves and it all turned out fine. My advice? Don’t waste your time. But, if you want to, go ahead and prime all the grooves and then paint them. Up to you.

Grab your 2nd Purdy roller, and start putting on the first of 2 coats of paint. The Sherwin Williams paint we used had a recoat time of 4 hours, so make sure to pay attention to that for best painting results.

Tip: if you need to take a break from painting, put your roller/brush into a gallon-sized ziploc bag, seal it tight, and it’ll stay moist for when you’re ready to go again. I learned that handy tip from Bari on Twitter!

We used 2 coats of paint and that worked out well for us. And yes, you’ll likely need to use one of your Purdy brushes to get into every. single. groove. It will pass. It will pass. The grooves took us forever, but just take it one groove at a time. My husband painted along with me, so we had fun talking all day while getting the grooves painted.

Again, let the paint dry overnight because you’ll be taping off your trim/baseboards in the next step. Trust me, you don’t want to peel off the paint you just applied 2 coats of. Patience young grasshopper.

Many people love Frog Tape, but I am going to remain loyal to Scotch Blue painters tape. It worked so fabulous, and I barely had to touch up anything in the end. I used the 1.5” wide tape that they sent me for free since I won a contest on Twitter. I am impressed!

Once the 2nd coat of paint is dry, I then taped off all the trim around the ceiling, beams, doors, baseboards and carpet. Yes, the tape even worked well on my carpet- there was no paint seepage whatsoever. Bravo!

Then I used a 2-inch Purdy brush (told you they come in handy!) to paint the trim. It took about 3 coats to get the bright white color I wanted. While the last coat is still wet, peel off the blue painters tape. You’ll hopefully have nice, straight, crisp trim that did not drip down onto your walls. If it did, touch up with the wall paint. The Purdy brushes and the Kilz paint created a beautiful, smooth finish.

At this point, because I am a perfectionist, I walked around the entire living room to do touch-ups. I had very few to do thanks to the high quality Purdy Rollers and Scotch Blue Painters tape.

Once everything was dry, my husband and I moved all the furniture back to its proper place, and we ended up with a fabulous, modern living room. While the task may seem daunting, I truly feel this project can be taken on by a beginner/novice. Just know it probably cannot be done in one day. It’s not possible, or likely not possible. We did this project over our Thanksgiving break, and it was time consuming. Hard. Frustrating. The end result? So worth it. It’ll instantly update a room and add value to your home. What could be better than that? Not much, in my opinion.

Also, if you look at the first picture in this post you’ll see we also had a dark wood built-in bookshelf that we painted white- we did the exact same steps that I outlined above with the addition of sealing the shelves with 2 coats of polyurethane ($10 for a quart at Wal-Mart). Yes, we used a Purdy roller to apply the polyurethane- flawless finish.

To see the complete before/after pictures, click on over to this post, but here’s some more just to inspire you to paint your wood paneling or tackle that project that seems overwhelming. I am telling you- DO IT! You’ll feel so much better afterwards. DO IT!

What do you think? Is this a project you’d take on? Already done this project and have some tips? Share them in the comments section!

I hope my directions are easy to follow, but if you have any questions or need some clarification, please feel free to ask me in the comments or e-mail me at MonicaWantsIt@gmail.com I am here to help! Or feel free to tweet at me on Twitter- @MonicaBenavidez

This post is linked up at:

Check out the DIY club for LOTS of inspiration.

Power of Paint- Domestically Speaking

Boring to Better- Savvy Southern Style

RE-Decorate Party- First A Dream

Just Something I Whipped Up- The Girl Creative

Metamorphosis Monday- Between Naps on the Porch

Silhouette SD {Placecards}

Santa came really early for me this year. As in, last Thursday. My hubby so graciously offered to buy me the Silhouette SD I’ve been coveting ever since I had 2 failed attempts with the Cricut. I found the Cricut frustrating, expensive and really difficult. I find the Silhouette easy, fun and really inexpensive compared to the Cricut since it comes with the software you need to cut almost ANYTHING. No cartridges! Only downside is it cannot cut 12” wide, but that wasn’t a deal breaker for me at all. Oh, and guess what? It’s TINY! It doesn’t take up a ton of space like the Cricut, so I am very pleased to have found my craft machine soulmate. I love you Silhouette SD!

I cut a bunch of random text my first night with it, and I found it easy peasy. Tonight, I was setting up my dining table for the holidays, and an idea came to me. Don’t you love when that happens? I sure do. I get an adrenaline rush, and I think to myself, “You kick ass Monica!” I decided to make fancy placecards using my Silhouette, and they came out fabulous. And I’m going to teach you how to make them, too. Yay! Trust me, you can do this. I promise.

I created a 4x6 rectangle in Photoshop. If you don’t have Photoshop, any free program that can allow you to save in a JPG format will work. Photoscape, Publisher, Powerpoint, Paint, etc. will all work. I used Photoshop Elements. So, back to what I was saying, draw a 4x6 inch rectangle. If you have really thick cardstock, you can get away with a 4x4 square instead, but I wanted to make sure my placecard held up well.

I then added the word JOY to the top of the rectangle. Make sure the bottom of EVERY letter is touching the rectangle. Using all capitals should help achieve that. I used the font Impact which is a PERFECT font for this sort of project.

Here’s what it should look like:

It should seriously take you about 1-2 minutes to do this. You could also do a rounded corner rectangle if you prefer rounded corners.

Save the image as a JPG, and open up your Silhouette SD software.

You then click on new> Letter/Portrait> Insert> File and then double-click on your saved JPG file.

You should be here:

Once your image is imported, right-click on the image and click on “Get Outline”. Your image should now have a red outline all around it. This is what will be cut. Now, the Silhouette SD comes with 50 free images to use, so I added a flourish in the corner. If you’d like to add it, too, click on “My Library” over on the lower-left handside and import the flourish and size it down. I then placed it in the corner, and you can see its outline in red.

Click on “Output to Craft Robo” and then click “cut”. I used cardstock, so I made sure to change my settings to that in the cut window. Also, the color of your image doesn’t matter, but to me it’s easier to visualize how it’ll look if I do it in the color of my cardstock. As you’ll see in a minute, I used black cardstock.

The Silhouette SD then does it’s magic, and you end up with this:

I then flipped it over, and with a yellow colored pencil, marked every 2-inches along the length so I could know where to score/fold.

I then used my ruler and my Martha Stewart bone folder to make a score mark for a nice, straight crease. I love my bone folder. It was about $4 at Wal-Mart and I have probably, no joke, have used it 2,000 times. This little tool was used about 20 times for each of my wedding invitations. I think I made about 75-80 of them. Do the math.

Once it’s all folded, I grabbed my white paint pen (wish I had a silver one…must buy soon) and embellished the placecard with a sticky rhinestone. I picked up a sheet of about 50 rhinestones from the $1 bins at Michaels.

Now, you can marvel that in about 10 minutes time you created something fabulous like this:

The possibilities for this idea are endless- children’s birthday parties, family reunions, cocktail soiree, weddings…and it’s so easy, too! Your guests will be impressed, and it’s these special touches that really stand out. What do you think? With the holidays coming up, this’d be a great way to make that chore of creating a seating plan that much more fun. Maybe use words like noel, ho ho ho, merry, etc. If you make some, I’d love to see!

Now that I have this wonderful little machine, I hope to be posting a tutorial/project idea for it about once a week, so stay tuned for lots more lovely, cheap ideas.

Living Room Reveal {Finally}

The moment you’ve all been waiting for is here! And by all, I mean probably a handful of you, but I’d like to think everyone is on the edge of their seats waiting for my before and after post. I debated on posting the how-to before I did the BIG reveal, but I think it’s best to do it after. So, stay tuned to my blog within the next few days if you’d like to know HOW I painted the wood paneling in my living room and brought it to current modern times with a lot of hardwork + some helpful hints I learned along the way. Are we set?

Oh, and FYI this is going to be a LONG, picture intensive post. Grab some coffee. Order a pizza. I’ll wait. In fact, I am totally drinking red wine right now while I type this up. Look, it’s almost noon. Don’t judge.

My inspiration for this project came from Young House Love and you all. There were times I thought I was absolutely insane for listening to a bunch of strangers on the internet telling me to just paint my wood paneling. I was so upset at times during this project, that I almost wished I hadn’t even started it. Then, last night as I was thoroughly relishing in my living room, I was very thankful that enough people care about my woes and decorating problems to give me advice, encouragement and well wishes through the whole painting ordeal. From the bottom of my formerly wood-paneled heart, I thank you.

Aww, I just got teary eyed. That is how much I love my living room. I know I said I wasn’t going to post a how-to, but I did want to explain the timeline of my project. I started Monday, November 22nd. We were done painting the wood paneling about November 25th. We took a break over the weekend, and on Tuesday,  November 30th, we began painting the trim (which was also dark wood…oh the joy). Finally, last weekend, December 4-5th, we finished the door trim and bookshelves (they are built INTO the wood paneling- seriously). This past week, we’ve been doing touch-ups and decorating for the holidays. I would safely say, we probably spent about 80-100 hours on this project. But we had a lot of painting to do, and painting grooved wood paneling is insanely time consuming. If it takes you less time, please don’t tell me. I will cry.

Ready? Well, let’s go!

This is what it looked like (before obviously) when you stepped into our foyer area:

And here’s what it looks like now:

I think that about covers the before & afters, so now let’s get down to the details!

The bookshelves are built-into the wood paneling like I mentioned before. However, I wanted them to look as if they stand on their own, so I painted the wood paneling white as opposed to the gray I used on the walls. The shelves are what held up this whole post because I am awful at designing vignettes/shelves, so eventually I just tried my best and moved on.

I added LED battery lights to the top shelf to highlight the top areas. $14 for the pair at Home Depot.

And yes, 2 of the frames are empty. I don’t know what to put in there, so for now, they stay as is. I just bought those at Kohls from the Elle Décor collection. They were 70% off.

Since it’s the holiday season, my mantle is decorated as such. The mirrored/sparkly garland is from Hobby Lobby, and all the other stuff I had from last year or acquired it at estate/garage sales.

I don’t do the matchy-matchy stocking thing because we each picked one to match our personalities. Well, except mine since I can’t find my damask stocking. Curses.

I know I mentioned we were going to buy a new coffee table, but instead we decided to use the white one we had already revamped last year. Teal baskets were $4 each at World Market. It works for now. The trellis tray is from Target last year.

I love these beige/blue damask chenille pillows at snagged at JCPenney for $4.00 each a week or so ago.

Mercury glass votives from Target that were 99-cents each. Score! Lurve me some mercury glass. Big vase is from Target and was a wedding gift (we actually got 2!).

Our wedding guestbook is on the coffee table. I love reading the comments and such people wrote in our photo guestbook. Makes me cry and laugh, usually. Also makes for good conversations if people flip through it.

I usually despise faux florals, but these are gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! Snagged them for 25-cents last Saturday at a garage sale.

The lamp base + shade was about $35 total at Wal-Mart. I really wanted a crystal ball lamp. And I also really wanted a mirrored end table, and we found this one for $65.00 at a furniture store in town that is going out of business. Here’s another empty Elle Décor frame that was 70% off. Candle is from Pottery Barn. 

And there ya have it! Sorry my pictures aren’t all magazine worthy- I am still learning as I go with my Nikon D5000. I’d like to thank Young House Love again for their tutorial, and I’d also like to give a shout out to Décor Chick! Her office paint color was the first paint color my husband was ever all excited about. The paint color on the walls is Mindful Gray by Sherwin Williams. The trim paint is bright white in high gloss by Kilz (available only at Wal-Mart). On all the painted surfaces, we painted with Kilz oil-based primer since we were covering up dark wood. And a huge thanks to all the lovely peeps on Twitter who helped me along the way! We couldn’t have done this without you all. Most of the accessories I already had on hand and are usually from Goodwill or garage sales. I am cheap like that.

Our walls are also bare right now because I didn’t want to rush putting up mirrors/frames/artwork until I figured out the look or motif we want in our living room walls. And hey, that just gives me more blogging material later, right?

Would I ever paint wood paneling again? NO. It was so much work, but for us, it turned out to be the best thing we could have done for our home right now. More on that in the upcoming how-to post.

Well, I’d love to hear your comments, thoughts and suggestions on my big, fabulous living room makeover!

And that’s a wrap.

This post is linked up at: