Hey everyone! I'm excited to share my latest and greatest tropical downloadable prints for purchase in my Etsy Shop. I know a lot of people have been busy doing home projects since Covid and adding some fresh, new art work to your walls is an easy one! In my shop, the prints are downloadable so once you purchase your favorite print (or in this case a set of 4 prints!) download, order prints online and have them shipped to your home! This Palm Tree Collection would add a pop of color to any neutral room! You can purchase them in my #Etsy shop here at Pink Palm Designs Shop.
If you are a single, independent woman on a budget like myself and you are used
to doing home projects on your own, then yes you too can rip the old, nasty 18 year old carpet (don't judge) off the stairs and paint your own, too! I'm going to be straight up about
this though...this is NOT a weekend project! It's messy, dusty, tedious, tiring AND well worth the reward if you're up for it! I did my research and looked at many
how to's and I found one person that nailed it (no pun intended) and said this
project IS more than a weekend project. I honestly thought I could knock this
out in a few days if all I did was work on the stairs non-stop but that is just
not the case. I had my son help me rip out the carpet (well half of it!) and then I was on my own
for the rest of it. We're supposed to be getting new carpet for my bedroom and
the upstairs bedrooms so I wanted to paint my stairs and live with it for awhile first and then if I don't like it I can always have the stairs covered again. OR, I
may have a runner installed in the middle of the stairs and keep the colored
stairs showing on the sides. We shall see. This is all new and exciting right
now so I'm loving the finished product so far. AND, after all this work I can't
EVEN fathom covering up this beautiful piece of artwork now!
So, let's get
started! You may want to grab these things to have on hand:
work gloves
x-acto knife
broom/dust pan
vacuum
trash bags
needle nose pliers
hammer
staple remover tool (if you have one)
pry bar, claw hammer to remove carpet tack strips
spackling/wood filler
hand sander
sand paper
sponge/bucket/soapy water
caulk
paint/paintbrush
My son used an x-acto knife (utility knife) to cut the carpet under the top lip of the
top stair. Then,he grabbed a corner of the carpet and started yanking! Of course, he needed mama's help so I had to get in on the action. This, my friend, is a great way to get some of that pent up frustration out, too! :)
RIPPING OUT THE CARPET VIDEO:
Round 1: ding. ding. The carpet VS. Brandi...Brandi wins! Roll that nasty 18 year old carpet up and put it in the trash! I know what y'all are saying...how could you have 18 year old carpet, Brandi? Well, s*it happens and certain projects get priority over other projects and then there's budget restrictions and time passes and then you're kitty cat gets to be 18 years old and his health isn't that good and you don't want to get new carpet while you're having to clean up after him all the time and time just happens. You can have some relief in knowing that I built this house and we're the only ones who have ever lived here so at least the old carpet ick is just from us. Now, let's move and quit being so judgy.
Ewwwwwwwwww!
This is where the broom/dust pan and vacuum come into play. I like to clean up as I go so the dust and crap don't get walked through and tracked through the whole house. Here's where it starts getting fun...JK! This is where the elbow pain starts to happen. Time to remove the carpet padding (easy) and the carpet tack strips (not bad) and the staples (this will make ya cuss for sure!). Ugh! Why did those carpet installers use SO many freakin' staples? You'll see what I'm talking about if you're removing carpet from your stairs. Now, I don't have all the fancy tools like I mentioned above for removing staples and tack strips so these are the 3 tools that I used. Yeah, I'm a beast. I try and work with what I have b/c my budget is tight.
I thought removing the staples for me was the worst part b/c my elbows were so sore from pulling, tugging and yanking so hard but as the job continued I learned there were other parts to this that I hate more. Ha! I told ya I'm not going to lie to you. This job is hard yet rewarding. Two steps down and 15 to go! This part I did over 2 days because I thought I was going to lose my mind and that my right arm might fall off. Just remember no pain no gain. After I finished removing all the padding, tack strips and staples, I moved on to filling all the holes. I started with the wood filler that I had but it was kind of old and hard so I ran to Lowe's and bought some @Fast'N Final lightweight spackling and it's nice, light and airy.
Slowly but surely, I made progress. I was like the little train that could...chugga chugga choo choo!
I had to take a break and work out to go move around and get this body off of those hard stairs for awhile AND I had to reward myself with some zucchini brownies before I could move on to sanding!
Ok, back to work. It's time to sand these mofo stairs! Remember how I said I thought pulling the staples out was the worst job? Well, sanding is worse! Since my budget is tight, I'm going to sand the existing wood used for making the stairs because it's good wood just not pretty. When they built the house they knew they were covering the stairs with carpet so they're very unfinished and have some plaster on them, etc. I've seen where some people actually replace or cover the wood here which would save the sanding step but also cuts into the budget more. You decide what's best for you. You'll see here what I think about sanding! I did put a big piece of plastic over the stairs trying to contain the dust a bit and I do think it helped...a little. EVERYTHING will get dusty so get ready for a mess! My son had left to run an errand and came home after I had been sanding awhile and he was like, "What is going on in here? Have I landed in the Sahara Desert or what?" You can chuckle all you want but I actually thought at first I could just sand the stairs by hand to knock off the top uneven layer...yeah, I know. That was a joke! Half way through my first stair, I called my gay neighbors Paul & Ry ( AKA my besties who save me from everything!) and asked to borrow their hand sander. They of course bailed me out once again and let me borrow their @Craftman hand sander. What a life saver!
Meet Paul & Ry (my crazy neighbors!)
Remember how I said everything will get dusty? I wasn't joking. With sanding, comes cleaning which I'm going to say is the silver lining. It makes you clean and wipe down things that maybe you haven't dusted in awhile. You're welcome!
The video is just for entertainment purposes. I crack myself up! Haha! Viewer notice...it's a Sunday afternoon and I'm doing manual labor so I'm a la natural. No make up, no cover up, nothing, nada. I maybe had a little trouble pronouncing the word caulk, too. 😂😂😂 You can watch part 1 sanding video here (hit replay button if you don't see me): and part 2 sanding video here (hit replay button if you don't see me):
Once you've finished sanding, vacuum the stairs again. Get some warm, soapy water and a big sponge and wipe down all the stairs really good to clean up the dust. Now, you're ready to CAULK! Remember how I said I hated sanding even more than ripping out the staples. I hate caulking even more now!!! Here comes another funny...I bought one tube of caulk thinking that would cover all the cracks in 17 steps. Uhhhh, no. Try 9 tubes of caulk was needed for this project. I misjudged that, too! Caulking was easy on the small cracks but it was a b*tch on the larger cracks. One things for sure, I'm putting professional caulker on my resume now. I bought @White Lightning 3006 All Purpose Quick Dry Caulk @Lowes.
Look at that caulk, baby! That is a piece of work in itself. Another truth, the caulking took me a couple of days just because I'd get so frustrated. You're laying on the stairs trying to get up under the lip and you're at weird angles and everything hurts so it's not a pleasant job. Thank you to all the caulk layers out there. You're much appreciated after I finished this job. Can we please paint now? YAAAASSS!
It's time to paint the primer/base coat. I painted two coats of white on all the stairs and the sides.
Holla! I do have to say the house feels much cleaner just having the carpet off of the stairs. It took me awhile to figure out what my color scheme was going to be. I knew I wanted it to be a party so I'm going with multiple, bright colors. I debated doing an ombre but in the end I'm glad I went with what I did. There's some really fun ideas out there though that you can do...patterns, mural, ombre, wallpaper the backs of the stairs, etc. After I painted two coats of white paint on, I let it dry over night and then FINALLY 11 days later I painted the colors on! Whoop! To be honest, I didn't know if this day would ever come! I ended up using a 12 pk of bright acrylic paint by @Deco Art Americana that I bought from Hobby Lobby. I think the 12 pk of paints was $12.99 and then applied the 40% off coupon off in the Hobby Lobby app so they ended up costing about $8.99 instead.
So, there ya have it! The real truth about painting your stairs. It may be a lot of work but now I get to kick back and enjoy the view! You got this! Just do it! You'll be happy like me after all the work. ;)
Isabella showed up ready for her photo shoot rocking her new Texas Tech t shirt and mini skirt. She's only looking forward into the future and excited about becoming a Red Raider. Her senior shoot may have gotten delayed a bit because of Covid but we finally were able to get her shoot in a few weeks ago and she rocked it! We are still celebrating these seniors of 2020 and will be all the way up through August! They deserve as much celebration as possible because their senior year ended with a fizzle...then a ploop...then a plop. No big "POP" or "BANG" has really happened for any of them so remember to keep these seniors of 2020 in your thoughts. Isabella is moving on and excited to study film editing in college. I told her she will ALWAYS have a job if that's her career. So, let's do a toast and give Isabella a big "cheers" to her super cute senior photos and a "cheers" to her heading off to college! Yay! Congratulations on your achievements!!!
#classof2020 #graduation #senior #seniorpictures #seniors #graduate #seniorportraits #senioryear #seniorinspire #grad #seniormuse #covid #senioryearmagazine #annrichardshighschool #seniorstyleguide #seniorphotos #photography #college #atxseniorphotographer #congratulations #quarantine #prom #graduationpictures #modernsenior #seniorphotography #thetwelfthyear #seniorpics #strong #theseniorcollective #brandinellisphotography
For those of you who don't know that I am the world's best beach expert, well now you do! Every chance that I get I will soak up the sun and sink my toes in the sand. I've acquired so many beach photos over the years of travelling so I've finally started selling them in my Etsy shop that's called Pink Palm Designs Shop. You may purchase the digital file for personal use and make your own beautiful products to hang around your home or office. Simply purchase the print/file, download to your computer, choose your favorite product that you'd like to print it on...canvas, wood, metal, acrylic, paper, order online and have the finished piece shipped to your home! Voila! Super simple! Here's my latest print that I've added to the shop titled "Beach Please!".
#photography #beachphotography #instagram #downloadableprint #livingroomart #bloggers #instantdownload #beach #ocean #water #blue #modern #minimalist #islands #beachhomedecor #coastaldecor #brandinellisphotography
I took a lil' scenic drive out to the small town of Llano to photograph the Stewarts on their ranch. I thought I had been to Llano before in all my years here but it's sort of sad to say that I realized I had never been there. I'm definitely going back b/c it's a super cute town! Might meet me a cowboy there! ;) When Stephanie (my friend and photo assistant) and I arrived on the property, Stephen loaded us up in his John Deere and took us all around the property to scope out the different places we could photograph the family. I was in heaven! There were massive fields of yellow flowers still in bloom, an old water tank, old weathered fencing and a tin building. He even showed us the ropes and how the deer feeders work (which is pretty cool I must say) and welcomed us with true Texas hospitality. We took our time while shooting and hit all the great spots on the property and in the end we got some really memorable shots of this family on their beautiful ranch. Our photo shoot ended at sunset and we cracked open a Michelob Ultra and rocked in the rockers on the porch while Stephen made us THE best steaks Stephanie and I have ever eaten in our lives! Thank you Miillers Meat Market! My mouth is watering just reliving the memory of eating that steak that just melted in my mouth like butter. :) And, thanks to Ginger who made us the most delicious sides to go with...everything was so good! Kick back and relax while you enjoy the Stewarts family video and don't forget to always take the scenic route.
#familyphotography #family #atxfamilyphotographer #llanofamilyphotographer #photography #love #photographer #familytime #portraitphotography #familyphotoshoot #photooftheday #portrait #lifestylephotography #familygoals #familyphotos #familyportraits #photoshoot #nikon #familyphoto #familyfirst #lifestylephotographer #ranchlife #countrylife #brandinellisphotography
Hard to believe these girls are seniors this year. I photographed their family years ago and in a blink of an eye they've grown up on me! We worked SO hard to make this shoot happen! Their mom scheduled this senior shoot last October because she wanted to make sure she was on my calendar for blue bonnet season. Well, little did we know that we would be in the midst of a pandemic during blue bonnet season 2020. We rescheduled this shoot because of Covid AND bad weather about 5 times. Nothing was going to stop us though. We finally met up at the CUTEST coffee shop/bar in Austin (keeps getting cuter by the day with all their creative additions) called Plaza Colombian Coffee Bar. The twins looked so cute in their matching black shirts and army green sandwich bag pants to start placed in front of bright colored doors...muy bueno! We jumped all over the place utilizing all their fun backgrounds and splashes of color. We then we're going to finish at sunset in the field of flowers and on the way there the sky opened up and released the rain so we made a quick u-turn and finished the evening out with a yummy dinner at Chuy's! A week later, we finished part 2 of the shoot in the field of flowers with the girls wearing their white dresses and caps and gown. Mom sent a bottle of champagne with them to end the photo shoot celebrating in their caps and gowns and they have to be some of my most favorite senior shots ever! Congratulations to these two on their high school graduation and as the song says, "Go on girl get it on...nothing's ever going to stop you!: So, grab your mimosa with a little bagel and cream cheese and kick back and watch Laci and Lolo's video!
Holy smokes! This is one cool photo shoot with one cool kid! Ashton owned it. I
love when my senior guys totally get into their photo shoot and have fun with
it! Mama didn't have to ask him twice to do anything. This makes my heart SO
happy! Plus, he's SO photogenic on top of everything. These photos will go down
in history one day because never in my 25 years in Austin have I EVER been able
to stand in the middle of Congress Avenue with the Capitol in view and the
streets be empty! These cap and gown photos are CRAZY cool. While we were out in
the street, we had to run back to the side a few times when a couple cars would
drive by. One was even a cop car and he just waved. I guess this is one of the
benefits of the pandemic...oh, and free parking downtown! What the what?! Grab
your Summermoon cold nitro brew and blueberry muffin and sit back and enjoy Ashton's video!
#classof2020 #senior #seniorpictures #seniorportraits #seniormuse #senioryearmagazine #graduation #seniorstyleguide #seniorinspire #senioryear #seniors #atxseniorphotographer #modernsenior #seniorphotos #thetwelfthyear #theseniorcollective #seniorphotography #prom #highschool #seniorpics #college #photography #seniorszn #theseniorbest #seniorologie #seniorsunday #seniorsession #k #summermoon #texasstatecapitol #atx #soco #paramounttheatre #brandinellisphotography #bowiehighschool #bowiesenior2020
