the little hedgehog: -CLOSED- Belvedere Designs Review & $50 Gift Certificate Giveaway!

A little over a year has gone by since we moved into our home - at the time, I was newly pregnant and hubby was working a lot. We were able to paint the nursery, the laundry room and guest room and get those rooms decorated. Then little man came into the world and time flew by as we slowly painted one room at a time, but decorations and embellishments had fallen by the wayside. Now, with little man's first birthday quickly approaching and hubby having some longer breaks from work, we are kicking things into high gear to get the house looking nice for a birthday celebration and the holidays! One of the rooms that we recently painted was the kitchen. Ever since our trip to Europe two years ago where we stayed in a bed and breakfast in Tuscany, we have wanted a kitchen that reminded us of our stay in that bed and breakfast in Italy. So, we painted the kitchen a warm Tuscan gold and got a cute corner breakfast nook that fit perfectly in the space next to the slider door. But then we were at a loss of how to decorate that large blank wall space.

A little while ago I had randomly discovered Vinyl Wall Art when I was searching google for ways to decorate our kitchen. This search led me to Belvedere Designs site, wallquotes.com, where I found a host of beautiful Wall Quotes! Their site was just overflowing with wonderful designs and amazing pictures of where you could place wall quotes! I was just thrilled when I heard from Belvedere Designs that they wasnted to sponsor a review and giveaway through my blog! My mind was a-buzz with ideas! As I was looking through their Foreign Language Wall Quotes when I found this one:

The Italian Translation is: The days here in Rome are beautiful. I think I've definitely fallen in love with Italy and mamma mia - the pasta here is too good! - with love

Ah! It was perfect! So perfect in fact, that I have been thinking about going back to Italy non-stop since I saw it! I especially love all things vintage Europe (I even have a vintage luggage and luggage label collection!) Belvedere Designs created this wall quote for us in Chocolate and it is 12" tall by 44" wide. It fits the space perfectly! I think that it really adds something unique to the atmosphere of our kitchen. It looks like someone hand painted it on the wall and the Chocolate color coordinates perfectly with the table and curtain. It has really inspired me to have some of my pictures printed from our trip to Italy and hang them on the wall adjacent to our vinyl wall quote. I can't wait to get them framed and on the wall! The Belvedere Designs vinyl wall quote really adds some Italian personality to our kitchen and I just love how it turned out!

So, never put up Vinyl Letters before? Neither had we! Was it easy? Was it hard? I would say that it takes time and patience, but it wasn't hard. It is not a task (at least for the size we got) that you can just slap up on the wall. This is something that you want to look professional when it is done being applied. I was a bit intimidated because it was somewhat on the large size. I really didn't want to mess it up, so I waited until hubby was home from a work trip so that he could help me! We went over the directions together and then we set out to put our wall quote up!

These are the steps we took to put up our vinyl wall quote:

We already had a clean surface to start with, since we had recently painted (But if you don't, make sure you clean the wall first)
We figured out where we wanted the quote positioned on the wall, then we affixed it with some blue painters tape along the top (almost like a hinge)

We rubbed over the backing paper with the vinyl application squeegee (or burnishing tool) that comes free with your order.

We lifted up the vinyl wall quote and slowly peeled off the underside of the backing paper, leaving behind the vinyl wall quote adhered to the transfer paper.

Then we slowly lowered the vinyl wall quote back down onto the wall and starting from the top, we smoothed over the surface in long, sweeping downward motions, making sure that there were not any air bubbles under the transfer paper.

We then used the vinyl application squeegee (or burnishing tool) and rubbed it on the transfer paper against the wall. We made sure we did a very thorough job on this step, since our walls are textured.

We then slowly peeled away the transfer tape, making sure that they vinyl wall quote was staying put on the wall as we went along. If we needed too, we laid the transfer tape back down over the quote and rubbed it to help it stick a little better.

and...

Voila! All done!

I think that it turned out fabulously. I think that the Belvedere Designs Vinyl Wall Art are made with impeccably high quality material and they pay great attention to detail! They have beautiful designs and a wonderful array of wall quotes, vinyl headboards, great wall art and they also do custom graphics! Belvedere Designs has something for everyone, they ship at a great, reasonable price of $5 and their customer service is a pleasure to chat with as well! They also have a monthly photo contest! Each month, you can submit photos of your wall quotes for a chance to win a $50 gift certificate to spend on the wallquotes.com site!

Hubby and I had a fun time working on this project to add some Italian ambiance to our kitchen and I just love my Belvedere Designs wall quote! I love the quality of the vinyl, the color, how it is removable if we ever decide to repaint the kitchen, I love how affordable all the designs are and most of all, I love how it adds so much to the overall feel and decor of the kitchen! I am already dreaming of other areas in our home that would benefit from the unique touch of a Belvedere Designs Wall Sayings!

Did you see a design that would look perfect in your home? You can shop Belvedere Designs entire collection here!

-Or-

You can enter to WIN a $50 gift certificate to Belvedere Designs to spend however you like on any of the wonderful items on their site!

Here's how to enter:
Mandatory Entry:

*This mandatory entry must be completed for the rest of your entries to be valid. I will be checking/verifying your comments, if you say you signed up for something or did something, you do need to actually do it for it to count as an entry*

You must my publicly follow my blog via Google Friend Connect AND visit Belvedere Designs and tell me what vinyl wall quote you would buy if you won!

Extra Entries:

"Like" Belvedere Designs on Facebook then, comment here with your Facebook name (2 entries)

Follow the Belvedere Designs blog publicly (2 entries)

Add my *NEW* button to your blog and leave me a link (2 entries)

Follow me on Twitter: @lttlehedgehog then, comment here with your Twitter ID to get your entry. (1 entry)

Tweet about this giveaway. Comment with a direct link to your tweet so I can see it to get your entry! You may use this tweet or make up your own: #Win a $50 GC to Belvedere Designs on the @lttlehedgehog blog! Unique wall quotes for any room! http://bit.ly/aeUFpn {Ends 11/16} #giveaway (1 entry per day)

Blog about this review/giveaway. Be sure to include a link to this review/giveaway. Comment with a link to your blog post to get your entry! (2 entries)

Don't forget to put your email address in each comment so I can get a hold of you if you are the lucky winner! If I cannot get a hold of you, I will have to draw another winner! Also, I will check to make sure that the winner filled out the mandatory entry.

Open to U.S. residents only.

I'll accept entries until Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at Midnight PST. I'll select a winner using random.org's random number generator, then email the winner. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to my email and if I don't get a response, I will have to choose another winner. Again, make sure you leave your email address in your comment!

*Belvedere Designs will be emailing the winner’s gift certificate item to them directly.

Thank you to Belvedere Designs for providing me with the opportunity to host this review & giveaway at no cost to myself. The item sent to me for review & the giveaway has not influenced my opinion of the product. I have sought to give my honest opinions and experiences on these products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely my own. Thank you again to Belvedere Designs for sponsoring this review and giveaway!