News Releases

Showing posts with label painting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label painting. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Room makeovers with kids- Getting them motivated!!!

Randi's room makeover
(previously posted 4/13/17)
In our house we have been spring cleaning. My goals were to declutter, be more organized and simplify what we have in our house. 

Randi taping off the edges before
priming her room.
My two girls decided they wanted to get involved in the process. My oldest daughter, Randi who is 12 years old wanted to give her room a makeover.  It's been a few years since we really did a deep cleaning getting rid of old toys, games and knick knacks.  It was also time to get rid of clothes she had outgrown. While we were doing this, she asked if she could redesign her room with a new coat of paint and rearrange  her furniture. I gave her the ok and she was off and running with it.

She got on the computer looking for picture of a room she liked and was ready to replicate the look. Her walls have a chair rail already, so she wanted two paint colors for the wall. The bottom half she picked a beautiful baby blue color and for the top half she went three shades lighter.  
Randi was so persistent in doing her room, before I knew it she she taped off the walls, primed the walls with the help of her sister, Graci age 11, and then started painting.  

Randi priming her walls before she paints.
My husband helped get her the supplies and helped paint a little of the room, but most of it Randi did on her own. She really did an amazing job.  

She went online and found several items for her room including a beautiful tapestry to cover part of the wall for only $9.99.  I was impressed.  She also picked out a wall photo organizer and new blinds and a new comforter and few other items. She gave me the list and ordered them for her. She knew exactly how she wanted her room. Did I mention she was using her own money to pay for the items and the paint? We agreed before she started if she wanted to do this she would pay for it with some of her money she had in her savings account. 

Graci and Randi having fun
painting!
Of course once Randi's room was finished it looked like something out of a magazine at least that's what friends and relatives said when they saw a photo of her room redesigned. It really made Randi feel good because she picked out everything and paid for it. Even my friend, Julya who is a home stager gave her stamp of approval for how Randi's room came out.

As you can imagine if you have two children who are close in age, once Randi's room was finished Graci was ready to do her room. Graci wanted more than a new coat of paint on her walls. She wanted to get new furniture too. We decided to sell her furniture. The money we made we used to purchase new furniture, which worked out perfectly. 

Graci also picked out a picture on the internet of what she wanted her room to look like. She wanted her room to feel more relaxing. She went from dark purple to gray walls giving her more of a spa atmosphere.  With the help of my friend Julya, we were able to make Graci's room look like the picture without spending a lot of money. Graci needed more help than Randi at painting her room, but I expected that. She is younger. 
Graci with Julya Kemp, a friend
and owner of New Outlook
Home Staging, helping her pick out
a color for her walls.

Graci is the second child and as you can imagine gets a lot of hand me downs, so we needed to get rid of toys and clothes she didn't use any more.

Once we got all her things together I had the girls help me with a garage sale and told them any money they made from their stuff they could keep.

My goal during all of this was to teach them a little about money and how hard they have to work to make money and how fast it can go when you buy things. 

Graci's room makeover
I think their rooms will mean more to them since they helped pick out the paint, decorations and used their own money to pay for it.


I never knew my girls would take spring cleaning to a whole new level. Since they are getting a little older now, it's great that they can help me with their rooms. I feel so much more organized and I know the girls do. It's like a breath of fresh air! 

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Ceramics painting fuels summer creativity

Recently my two girls started painting ceramics. One of my friends and her daughter told us about a wonderful little pottery shop in Largo that they started going to and love. We decided to check it out and found it to be a fun place to go especially during the summer when the kids get bored and want to do something new. It’s also great place to go rainy days!

The place is called Get Creative Gallery and the owner is Robin Smith. The shop has been around for awhile, but Robin is a new owner who purchased the place earlier this year.

We have been going for several weeks and my girls have painted some incredible pieces of pottery including: a chimpanzee, a little jewelry box, a heron, horses, a bunny, flip flops and a few other things. The girls can sit there for hours painting. They get so involved in what they are doing, just watching them take their time to paint is incredible to me. They are 8 and 9 now, so  they are not rushing as much as they use to.

Our friends who introduced us to the gallery help out there several days a week, so it makes it even more special for us to go there. The owner Robin is no nice and very welcoming. You feel like you are right at home painting. Robin has another assistant who also helps out and she is very sweet too.

What I also like is that the pottery isn’t that expensive to paint. For the amount of time that you are there and for the finished product it really is reasonable and for those of you out there like me who are on a budget, this is really affordable. Something else that I found different about this shop and others, is that you don’t pay for the paints, just the ceramic piece you are painting. I have been to other galleries and you pay for not only the product, but for the paints too. One of my friends told me her daughter painted a mug one time and it was expensive after they paid for the mug and the paints.

It is important for kids to be creative. At the gallery, my kids are having fun and enjoying the arts. What I like is that when the pieces are fired in the kiln they all end up looking pretty good. The kiln gives them that a beautiful glaze. Sometimes my kids can’t wait a day to have their piece go in the kiln, so they get it sprayed with a gloss. It also looks nice sprayed.

This isn’t a place just for kids to go. It’s for adults too. They have pottery that everyone can paint. They also do birthday parties, Mom’s Night Out parties and canvas painting parties.


In my house we are already thinking about Christmas in July. The girls are starting to make some of their Christmas gifts. What a treasure their gifts will be.

The Get Creative Gallery is located at: 13836 Walsingham Road, Largo, FL 33774
They are open Tuesday through Saturday. The phone is 727-226-4345.