MTG Wallpaper Round-Up

~
Happy Friday MTG peeps,

Although we've had a few snowflakes here in Barrie, Ontario over the last week or so, it was a rather quick melt, often in a matter of just a few minutes.  Today, however it appears that the white stuff will finally stick and perhaps stay (picture from our backyard to the right).  The current meteorological conditions may even prompt us to leave a few minutes early to get to OMG! Games for Friday Night Magic tonight.  This minor inconvenience is nothing in comparison to the super Typhon which caused massive devastation across the Philippines.  Our thoughts are not only with the Magic: the Gathering players there but also their communities.  The Phillippine Red Cross now takes PayPal.
~

Anywhoos - on to today's article here at the MTG Realm blog - MTG Wallpaper.  Here are a few recent wallpapers posted to the mothersite.  We have most of these cards through MTG Mint Card but may not likely get a hold of Nekusar, the Mindrazer from Commander 2013's 'Mind Seize' pre-con which happens to sell out just as quickly as it gets re-stocked.  Righto - Here's the round up of recent wallpapers, available in your choice of size - 2560x1600 / 1920x1080 / 1280x960 / Mobile / Tablet / Facebook - just click the link to land on the page.

Nekusar, the Mindrazer from Commander 2013, illustrated by Mark Winters

Hythonia the Cruel from Theros, illustrated by Chris Rahn

Gift of Immortality from Theros, illustrated by Matt Stewart

Thassa, God of the Sea from Theros, illustrated by Jason Chan

Purphoros, God of the Forge from Theros, illustrated by Eric Deschamps

Nyleas, Gof of the Hunt from Theros, illustrated by Chris Rhan

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx from Theros, illustrated by Jung Park

Heliod, God of the Sun from Theros, illustrated by Jaime Jones

Vanquish the Foul from Theros, illustrated by Eric Deschamps

Errebos, God of the Dead  from Theros, illustrated by Peter Mohrbacher
~

The Dream House Diaries #9- Wallpaper

So...baby has his first sickness...fever and a stuffy nose:(((((

Total and complete suckage- we're supposed to be leaving for vaca on Friday but mama is not driving for 20 hours with a sick bambino...please send speedy get well thoughts his way. xx

After only a couple hours of sleep last night because of said poorly baby, this post might end up being a little scattered but I'll try my best.

Today's topic...

...and more specifically...what I'm doing with the walls in said dream house.

As you know, my main vision is wrapped up in a neutral palate of white moulded walls...I'm happy and in love with this plan...BUT...as always, blog reading has its downfalls...just when you're sure of a direction, good old bloggers go and showcase things that turns it all on it's head.

First there was this Lindsay Cowles heaven done by Alex over at Things That Sparkle...

...and then Bailey over at Peppermint Bliss and her 'projectholly' came in and furthered the brain SPINNING.

I mean look at this business...

She's literally and blissfully resuscitated my love for wallpaper...like in a LARGE AND IN CHARGE WAY.

Birds and Butterflies has been on my lust list forever and seeing it with the black trim...can we say new house playroom anyone.

And the B&F Guermantes...COME ON!  I'm thinking Scarlett must must have this in her bedroom....I showed it to her and as no surprise, she's insisting on the pink colourway, which is a whole lotta pink...

...though, Cole and Son's bespoke Gucci has always been my number one favourite for her...

Along with these, I'd also love to figure out how to use...

...this Porter Teleo bliss...mahybe for the dining room or Natasha's room?

And this classic favourite...

...aka Martinique.

And then there's this bookshelf nirvana from Mineheart...

...would really love some of that action.

Malcolm's room is going to get this Brian Flyn 'Imperial Forces' coolness...

And Makelike's succulent in pink could make for one wicked powder room...

...as could this B&F guy...

And for the master, those who have been reading my blog for a while know that this O&L Davidia white and silver loveliness has been on my list FOREVER...

...and will happen.

Some other random tried and true faves...

...Thibault's Tanzania...and their Etosha for that matter...

And a new fave (thanks to the owner of this fabulous house)...Farrow and Ball's Ocelot...

Oh and then there's this from Cuff Home...

...it could be pretty swank in my studio (if I get one of those)...

What else???

Emerald grasscloth perhaps...

...yup, that would be pretty swell.

As would this metallic marvel from Flat Vernacular...

...yummy.

And in the most coveted collection...ANYTHING de Gournay...

...though that's sort of a pipe dream...thankfully, I might be able to get my chinoiserie fill with one of these new panels from Black Rooster...

Gorge.

So what do you think?

Paper the shit out of the place or go paneled neutral?

My thinking for now is white on the main floor, and paper in the bathrooms and bedrooms...a nice compromise between my maximalist tendencies and minimalist wantings.

xo

DIY Plank Walls (and Painted Mudroom Floors!)

We are making some great progress on the mudroom this week! Before we moved in and tackled the space, the room had plant shelves aplenty and highly textured walls.

It's still a work in progress, but I love the direction we're going in here. The room is completely flooded with light all day long, so I decided to go dark and dramatic on the walls and the floors.

Here's the full break down...

A couple days ago we headed over to Lowes to have the wood cut for the wall planks. We decided on 1/4" melamine boards because they're inexpensive, light and easy to hang. Lowes has a pretty generous lumber cutting policy. Usually they'll do all your cutting for free (even many multiple cuts like with these planks), but sometimes they'll charge 10-25 cents per cut. We cut my stack of five 8x4' melamine board ten times, so it wasn't that expensive to have the wood cut quickly and precisely. I had all the boards cut to be 6" wide and 4' long.

The installation part is a breeze. You'll want a miter saw, a nail gun, a handful of nickels, a level, a hammer and maybe a nail set if you want to see no nail heads. 

So to start, just use a level to hang your first plank up against the ceiling and then stagger the next plank underneath and maybe cut it down a little too so not every plank is the same length. You'll have lots of different lengths to choose from before long though as you hit corners and doors/windows. 

I used a couple of nickels to space out my planks before I nailed them in. Worked like a charm to create a small, consistent sized gap between the planks. And to make my nail heads more flush with the planks, I just tapped the nails the rest of the way in with a hammer. I didn't set mine in yet though because I don't mind seeing the shadow of the nails in the planks. 

To fill in the plant shelf area above the closets, I sort of framed out the space with 1x2's and just nailed in the planks on the frame. I probably should have just drywalled in the space, but this worked too.

One of the great things about using melamine board is that it can be cut with a razor blade. If you score it over and over again, it actually cuts pretty easily. It was nice to not have to pull out my small Dremel saw or some other tool to cut around light switches and electrical outlets.

The room isn't finished yet. I'm still working on the built-ins part of the room, so the planking doesn't go all the way around the space yet. I got anxious though and decided to paint what I have done so far (the brown melamine was hurting my eyes). So I took off all the switch plates again and threw on a coat of paint.

I've been using Benjamin Moore's Onyx on our doors (you can see it here in action on the louvered doors below) and I decided to go a couple shades lighter on the walls in here. The color is called Day's End and it's a really pretty charcoal with blue undertones. It looks navy for part of the day, which I'm digging.

The brown side of the melamine board takes paint SO well. The white side sort of deflects paint in the same way most IKEA furniture does, so I'd stick with the brown side even if I was going with a light paint color. I just brushed the paint on so I could get into the cracks between the planks easily. 

On Monday night my kids had a sleepover with their cousins at my sister's house so I took advantage of their absence and painted the floors. I decided I wanted to try a sort of medallion pattern in here, but wanted it to be not as busy as the laundry room floors.

I marked out my idea with painters tape and then painted most of the tiles the same color as I painted the kitchen floors (post coming there).

And then I filled in the medallions with black paint.

This whole area will get reworked when we do the big kitchen renovation in a year or two, so I'm fine with this temporary fix on both the walls and the floors. I spent only about $50 on wood and supplies and I love how it's looking.

Here are those freshly sprayed closet and cabinet doors. Man, I love that Critter sprayer!

I also used the Critter to spray the chairs in here, which are all a similar style, but were thrift store finds on different days over the past couple weeks. 

And actually, the bright orange-red chair was a garbage room find from when we lived at the loft. I should dig up some before photos - it cleaned up really well with that new coat of sprayed paint.

Remember that mirror from the powder bath in the brownstone? It fits perfectly on this little wall. I always love having a mirror by an exit door so I can verify I don't look like a complete fool before leaving my house. This came in handy earlier today when I noticed a big smear of black paint on my forehead as I was leaving to pick up the kids. Daughter-embarrassment dodged!

Lots and lots to do in here still, but, you know, it's progress!