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Winter Mantel

2012-02-14T09:08:00.000-06:00

I've actually had this put together for a while and yet it's taken me this long to post about it. After the Christmas decor came down, I needed something to put on my foyer mantel. While Valentine's day seemed the obvious decor route to go, I knew I HAD to have something to last longer than until Feb. 14th. It's just become that type of year for me. I'm so busy and don't have as much time for rearranging and redecorating.

After decorating for the wedding reception, I figured I was crazy not to re-use a few elements. I grabbed 4 of the glass vases and partially filled them with Epsom Salt (the dollar store was the cheapest way to buy it.)

Since we've had a very snow-less winter so far, I thought it'd be fun to "make" some of our own! I took some of the Dogwood Branches leftover from the wedding and added some "frost" to them. I sprayed each branch with spray adhesive and then sprinkled more Epsom salt and coarse glitter on them. The light catches it just right and they sparkle!

I found a free printable online that said "Let it Snow" and figured that would be a better option than running outside to do a snow dance. So far even that hasn't worked! I put the print in an old frame I already had. I also had an old, gold frame that I quickly spray painted silver. I added a few candles and silver votive holders and that was it! Simple display of silver, white and glass.

And as part of the whole New-Year-clean-and-reorganize thing, I decided our entry shoe situation HAD to change. I looked everywhere for a solution that the family would actually use. I swore I'd never buy any furniture from IKEA, but I finally cried "Uncle!" These cabinets were just the best solution out there. They're narrow, yet hold enough shoes out of sight. So far it's working perfectly for us!! I had just barely sold some of my furniture re-dos and it was just enough to get these guys. Yeah!

Ahhh. Much better. Happy foyer, happy me!!

Internet Inspirations

2012-02-08T10:09:00.000-06:00

When I have some down-time, I like to browse my favorite decor blogs. I save fun ideas and beautiful images. When I get a bunch, I like to share them here. Well, it's that time again! Look what I've seen:

How cool is this idea? A closet door is turned into a bookcase! This would be a perfect idea for small spaces. I just wouldn't fill it with Grandma's china with the way people slam doors around here!

Here was a fabulous tutorial from A Charming Nest on adding more character by way of moulding to your doorways. For those of you that have more contemporary homes that have little moulding, this would be an easy way to add some.

I'm not sure which I love more: the blue and coral combination or those awesome striped drapes!

Courteny Hill Interiors

I love how this memo board was jazzed up a couple of notches by adding nailhead in a great graphic pattern. And how about that lucite chair? I have got to get one of those!!

Kara Paslay Designs

How cute is this cabinet. This couple collected odd drawers and built the cabinet to fit around them. The mirrored panel flips up to hide the DVD player. So creative!

Polish the Stars

How cute is this? For this boy's superhero room, the closet door was painted to look like a phone booth! Love the bright red element that is added to this room!

Scout and Nimble

I LOVE this idea for a great, large piece of art. This blog shows you how to make a piece of art using your wedding song and aging and enlarging it. An inexpensive piece of art that has meaning.

via Knock off Decor

I love those blueprint artwork seen in Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware. But the price!!! This blog shows you how to use copyright-free prints and make them yourself!

I LOVE this idea! How about mounting an old china cabinet about the sink? It's a fun way to give a custom look to your kitchen without a huge makeover. You sure could do this idea on any awkward wall (you know, those kitchens where one lonely cabinet sits off all by itself to one side? Take in down and put something with character up!!) This would also be a great idea for a renter.

Curb Alert

Do you have one of those ugly intake vents on a wall that bugs you? This lady "covered" it with an easy-to-find iron piece that still lets the air flow, yet dresses it up.

A great DIY headboard by The Idea Room. It's simple but gives such a custom and elegant look.

I think this is such a cute idea. Make photobooth-style art for a hallway or family room. Have fun taking photos on a white background, using some photo editing, then print them out in squares (I love costco!) and hang as if in photobooth strips (I'd probably just spray mount them on foam or MDF.)

Odeedoh

How cool is this Triple bunkbed idea? It would not only be a fun space for the kids, it would save a lot of room for those that have to share a room.

Remodelaholic

Here's a great tutorial of how to build a wood frame for your flat screen out of scrap lumber. I love this idea!

Wedding Open House Decorating

2012-01-23T12:24:00.006-06:00

I just completed by first experience decorating for a wedding open house. It was held in a church gym. It was a large, empty space that needed to be warmed up, but on a budget. I had a lot of fun finding ways to decorate and keep it inexpensive. I still don't have a nice camera and with the lights turned down low, these don't quite capture the charming, intimate feel we achieved. Hopefully, you can still get a sense of what it was like.

To bring down the ceiling, we strung white lights back and forth across the gym and then hung 100 tisssue paper poofs from fish wire and paper clips. Some amazing friends helped fold and cut the tissue paper and then the day before the set-up, helped again to poof them all out (they take up a LOT of space so we couldn't do it too far ahead.) A couple days after Christmas I was able to pick up HUGE packs of white tissue paper at Costco for next to nothing. For instructions on how to make the two styles of poofs, I used THIS link.

The bride chose purple as her accent color so we made table runners from a fun purple damask pattern from fabric.com. We used clear vases (mostly from TJ Maxx because they were all under $7!) and used battery-powered candles (purchased at Costco around Christmas for a crazy-good price) and dogwood branches from my yard. I needed to prune my bushes anyway and just had to wait until the cold winter turned them that lovely red. We ordered these beautiful birds from Floral Trims.com.

I found a huge lot of glass votives at goodwill and we used battery powered candles in them.

Since we had a stage to work around, we chose to use it. I placed a garden bench and a few silk plants and had all the wedding gifts placed on and around the bench. Across the front of the stage, we wrapped LED lights in purple tulle for a nice "fairy" effect. I made Four large paper flowers to dress it up further. They really weren't that hard to make and I once again took advantage of the after-Christmas sales and found the purple wrapping paper on clearance. I followed THIS tutorial to make the over-sized flowers.

Since the gym had these large, gold dividers, I just embraced the finish and repeated the gold in 4 large frames. I found the frames for really cheap at Goodwill and on craigslist. I will later re-use them for my sign-making business. Two were already gold and the other two I spray painted. I used wood underlayment to paint on the lettering (because it's cheap and lightweight.) I painted the backgrounds purple and then hand-painted on two cute sayings. We hung them with fish wire also.

These frames look so small against such a large space, but they're actually well over 4 ft. long. I had to pick them up with my van! The other two gold frames I left empty. One went behind the food table. I used a fake boxwood wreath I already had, clearance purple ribbon from christmas and two purple monograms hung with fish wire.

And the other Gold frame went on the opposite end of the gym. I left it emptier so that it would "frame" the couple. I used a rug from home to "set the stage" and a tree to soften it.

(The carpet looks dirty, but it's just the shadows. Darn it!)

The other big problem I had to fix were the ugly gym mats under each basketball standard. They were bolted to the wall and HAD to be covered up. I finally came up with doing an Anthropologie-style ruffled curtain. I found Queen size flat sheets at my local Habitat Restore for only $3 each! I used 3 sheets to make each ruffled cover. A couple more good friends came over to my home to help me ruffle and pin them. I'm guessing that we'll be able to use them again for future events.

Three other little areas received some love. We had a guest book table, backed with a screen where people came into the gym (the table cloth was purple NOT blue as it looks in this shot!),

A little sign just inside the doors to the building to direct guests,

And the punch bowl table.

Overall, it came together like I was hoping. You definetely could ratchet this up a few notches if it were to be a full reception. In this case, it was meant to just be a smaller gathering for the groom's family and friends in Illinois (the weekend after the wedding and reception in Texas.) It was a really fun project to do for some dear friends.

This week I'm linking to:

Frugalicious Friday

Tuesday's Treasures
Whatever Goes Wednesday
Penny Pinching Party
Tutorials and Tips
Frugal Friday

Great Source for Inexpensive Art

2012-01-04T13:17:00.001-06:00

While helping source out some art for a friend, I came across a fabulous site. It's called Image Kind. Artists of all kinds download their works of art and allow you to print out the size and quality paper you want! This site is downright fun! Whatever you're looking for, they have. Let me take you on a little journey to show you what you could use this site for.

I started off looking for unique art of my church's temples. I found so many unique and artsy shots. There are so many styles, from stunning photos:

Ken Fortie

James Neeley

Kory Trapane

To creative altered images:

Daniel Vineyard

Ryan Houston

Bryce Gandy

Ryan Houston

Kristofer Sundberg

Mark Evans

To Traditional Watercolors and Drawings of the Temples:

Terry Springer

Amy Zeleski

Paul Duke

Aren't all the styles amazing? You get to pick what size you want it to be and what quality of paper. Then, to keep costs really down, frame it yourself. If you like one artist's style, you can look at their gallery for other works or views.

Art for your home should have some meaning to you and your family. What about looking up places you were raised (like the Adirondacks, where I was raised:)

Cat Scott

Lolly Fleming

Or where You live now (chicago for me):

Milena Ilieva

Karen Margulis

How about finding art of places you've vacationed or want to visit:

Jonathan Haber

Andrzej Szczerski

Nose Prints Studio

Brandon Specketer

Brian Eden

Miguel Angel Zaboni

Try searching for an interest you have. Consider grouping a few different works by the same artist to fill a larger wall. Maybe vintage cars, maps, trains, Maori boats, or whatever!

My choices for Maps are:

Jessica Barten Hagen

Michael Tompsett

My Choices for fun vintage objects:

Michael Tompsett

Boat ideas:

Linda Plaisted

Gorgeous Scenes:

American Fork Canyon by Ryan Houston

Adirondacks by Lee Shelley

Pamela Phelps

Maybe you love history and want a touch of it in your art. I would love this one:

Liberty Maniacs

Or how about something fun for your child's room:

Robert Holewinski

(Star Wars Fans MUST have these!)

Or just something fun and quirky:

Lisa Whipkey

Jana Cooksey

Or go with an Abstract that has the colors you're using in your room's decor:

Shari Nees

Nancy Ramirez

Shari Nees

Do you catch the vision of how much fun this site can be for decorating your home? Prices average around $30 for a 16 x 20!!! You just can't beat that price. You'll be getting something that isn't what EVERYONE has right now from the big box stores. You get to customize your taste and interests in your artwork and also support these talented artists.

Of course the hard part is narrowing it down....

A Few DIY Framing Hints:

-If you have access to a mat cutter, you can not only save tons on framing, but can more easily re-use old frames and "make" it fit. For my friends that live nearby, I do have one that I'd be happy to help you use.

-Check Goodwill, resale shops and garage sales for beautiful frames. I usually have to spray paint them another color, but I've found HUGE to ornate to unusual sizes by shopping this way (not to mention saving tons!) I even found some really oversize ones on craigslist.

-I love to buy mat board at Hobby Lobby (it goes on sale every other week there.) Michael's carries only limited colors, but they do have some. Dick Blick also carries mat board.

-If you do need to buy a new frame, I use either Michael's when they have their monthly 40% off + an extra 25% off sale or Hobby Lobby when their frames are on sale (usually every other week.)

Table turned into Ottoman and New Accessories

2011-12-05T12:28:00.005-06:00

UPDATE:
Well, I found the lost hardware and here the ottoman is with it's hardware, all buffed up. I also found a perfect rug for a killer price to help define and ground the space. The blues, greens and touches of orange tie all the fabrics together perfectly. Yeah!

ORIGINAL POST:

Here's a long post about how and why I turned an old coffee table into this ottoman:

It was time to replace our couches and I had finally saved up enough money from the furniture I've been refinishing and selling. I looked just about everywhere and ended up with a set from Ashley. However, I ended up ordering them through an online distributor. They go directly to the Ashley Factory and with being based out of Oregon, I didn't have to pay any sales tax. Plus, shipping was free. I ended up saving over $300 doing it this way! I'd highly recommend looking online.

I found the perfect fabric from Waverly. It had the cooler blue tones I wanted to bring into the room, yet had my burnt orange like in the curtains and greens to match the adjoining dining room. I found it at my new favorite fabric store, Loomcraft. If you live in the Chicago area, you must RUN, not walk to check it out! I managed to hit it on a 50% everything day! The selection is wondeful and they have a great remnant room full of great fabrics, almost all under $5 a yard!

I don't have the best light today, but here's the online shot of it. It's called Olana Oxf Bay Leaf.

I made drapes for my kitchen slider out of it

and then made a few pillows for the couches (can I just say how horribly cheap the pillows were that came with the couches? Awful.) Within a day of buying the fabric, I changed out those cheap pillows with nice feather pillows (I will never go back to polyfil pillows again. Feather pillows fluff up and retain their shape so much better and stay classy looking! I've even made my own feather pillow forms by buying a King size pillow at Walmart and making about 4-5 pillows out of each one! The cheapest, but messiest way to get feather throw pillows!) I have another coordinating fabric to make another set of pillows for the couch. I just haven't gotten to that yet.

So, with new couches and the fabric to go off, I needed to replace my "too-contemporary" ottomans. I found a nice coffee table with brass accents and nice caster feet. I found it at a thrift shop for all of $7.

While solid, the top was horribly water stained and the veneer surface didn't make it a good candidate for restaining. I gave it a couple of coats of ASCP in Old White, roughed up the edges and applied a couple coats of wax. To turn it into an ottoman, I bought some 3" foam (use a discount coupon because it's expensive stuff.) I had a piece of wood cut to the size of the table top. I then glued the foam to the plywood.

Then, I made a box cushion cover out of a gorgeous blue upholstery fabric with a nice greek key weave to it. I added welting to help keep the box shape. I then pulled it over the foam and wood and stapled it on the underside.

To complete the box cushion look, I then stapled more welting.

The top is then screwed to the top of the coffee table from the under side of the table.

The drawer is still missing it's hardware (misplaced by my 4-year old and we're still looking for it! ughhh!)

I painted it old white to lighten the room up a bit and to match the buffet I redid earlier.

I'm still a bit unsure if I should have gone with a narrower foam or not. What do you think?

I'm slowly pulling the room together with two vintage travel posters (that have absolutely perfect colors) above the sconce/lanterns and an architectural piece above the TV armoire.

Above the buffet I refinished, I found 3 vintage watercolors at a garage sale for $4 each!

I love the vibrant colors and vintage feel these add to the room. The accent chairs in this room are up next for a fabric redo on their cushions. It's amazing how it all kind of snowballs...

What do you think so far? Should I make the foam thinner? Maybe an area rug to ground the space? I like it so far, but it's not quite "finished" (is is EVER?!haha)

This week, I'm Linking up to:

Thrifty Decor Chick Before and After

Shades of Amber Chalk Paint Party

Miss Mustard Seed Furniture Friday

Finding Fabulous Frugalicious Friday

Internet Inspirations

2011-10-26T09:31:00.001-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted about some fun ideas I've seen around Blogland. My files are filling up with so many amazing ideas and I need to share:

Anythingology

This creative lady has recycled lanterns with fresh paint and created amazing fixtures for a fraction of the new cost. Go see what she's done!

First off, if I had such a hallway I'm be in heaven. But if I had a hallway AND these amazing bookshelves, I think my heart might not be able to handle it! I think I will always be remembering this idea of combining what could be a boring hallway into a library/showstopper. Amazing.

These cabinets just take my breath away. Big, oversized china cabinets are to be had for very little on craigslist right now if you're willing to freshen them up a bit with paint. I love the bold use of color in these rooms. How about the stunning blue inside the black or the white contrasting with the gray? Wow!

I don't usually make many Christmas crafts, but I love this wooden star. The glass knob for the center is just perfect. I might just be patient enough to try making one.

All Things Thrifty

See those frames on the top left and lower right? Well, they're not frames. They're actually chair backs! Cool, huh? Now I'm on the lookout for cheap, broken-down, old chairs to turn into gorgeous frames like this.

I'm not really a ruffle kind of girl, but my eye was drawn to the boxpleats on this charming tablecloth. Love it!

I Love these collections of nursery/girl's rooms.

Pink, Taupe and touches of Navy! Wow, love this combination!

Don't let that flat screen take center stage. I love how this one has been blended into a gallery wall. This is so easy to do!

My own personal days of a nursery are over, but I am in love with this wall treatment. A chinoiserie pattern has been painted in white on a pale, gray background and accented with pale pink and blue. Just gorgeous. I'd even do this type of wall in a dining room in these subtler colors than the typical bold, rich chinoiserie colors.

There is a lot that I love about this room. I never feel like I have enough wall space for all the art I'd love to have. I love how that didn't stop the designer here. Art is layered, above and below the wainscoting and even on the floor. More pieces decorate the bookshelf cabinet and even ON the cabinet. I also love the books stacked under the sofa table. A living room has taken on a cozy, den or library feeling while remaining light and comfortable. I just want to curl up on that couch and read!

Another example of what could be a boring stairwell turned stunning by a combination of the horizontal planking, the art grouping and the stunning light fixture!

In My Own Style

Want that layered look to your gallery walls that you see in Pottery Barn? This blogger shows how to do it yourself, as seen with this arrangement of mirrors.

I just love gallery walls and I love the variety and fun you can have with them. Some love the symmetrical, some the randomness. I love this for how unique it is! Perfect for a low-ceilinged hallway!

If only I still needed a kids playroom/craft room! I love this industrial-style room with the school chairs and stainless-topped table. Of course, I'd HAVE to have those metal bins and that HUGE bulletin board...

via honey and fitz

I might just have to do one of these Ombre dressers! Darling.

Pottery Barn

How about taking those "dime-a-dozen" oak frames found at Goodwill and stain them with dark walnut and mat them with burlap to achieve this look.

Restoration Hardware

I was following a guy on the interstate the other day that had a pair of red corbels probably the size of these in his truck. Oh, how I wanted to pull that guy over and insist he give me them!!! I'd love an office desk like this or get rid of the run-of-the-mill kitchen desk and do something like this!

Okay, we're seeing these book page wreaths everywhere around the internet. I actually don't like most of them. I did find three that I really like:

Karen Blackburn

She varies her rolling method of the paper and uses black ink on the edges. I like that it's full, yet not perfectly round, with pieces sticking out in a more natural way.

Lovely etc.

I like the leaves of this one!

A little Bite of Everything

What about a DIY Quatrefoil rug for a fraction of the price of a store-bought one? This gal shows you how.
I've always been hesitant to make one because I know these IKEA ones are the thinner kind that can slide all over. Well, I'm not afraid anymore. Look at this idea of how to give yourself a non-slip backing:

via Loving Your Space You just add lines of acrylic caulk, let it dry and wowser, no-slip! I'm anxious to try is sometime.

Well, that better be it for now. I have way more than I thought. I hope you were inspired and found a project or two to make your house YOU!

Piano Bench turned Coffee Table

2011-10-14T21:24:00.001-05:00

Thank you, thank you Annie Sloan Chalk Paint! Once again, you've turned a shy,hidden and neglected beauty into a Star. This time your color "Aubusson Blue" had the magic touch.

Imagine an old piano bench with no finish left on it and the laminate savagely torn from the lid. Well, that's the before (I hope you have a good imagination because I forgot to take a before photo! My eagerness to start the makeover seems to freeze my brain from remembering a before shot!) It was a larger than normal bench, so I knew it would make an awesome coffee table. The whole thing was solid and the top had enough "character" (aka "damage") to work with this vintage style.

Anyway, her she is:

Just look at these legs! Aren't they classic? This is what drew me to the bench in the first place. I knew Chalk paint was just the thing to make the details pop.

The inside was actually in the worst condition. I chose to cover it with some paintable wallpaper I already had and then painted it the same blue. It's a fun little area for storing (hiding) the remotes from little fingers!

I fall in love with each piece I do, so sometimes it hard to let them go. Alas, this beauty found a lovely, new home with a gal in downtown Chicago. She even got to ride home in the back of a Mini Cooper! That let me know for she that she'd found the right home to go to!!

My Master Bedroom

2011-10-04T08:28:00.000-05:00

I tend to first decorate and work on the main level rooms since that is where we spend most of our waking hours. The kids rooms get decorated next as they develop interests. The Master Bedroom seems to always be the last one done. Mine wasn't too bad to begin with. It just never quite seemed "right" to me. The last few months I've been slowly making some changes, acquiring some linens, artwork, and objects and sewing up a storm. While it's not 100% done yet, I felt I could finally post some pictures. Get ready for a bunch!

For instructions on how I made the sunburst mirror (yes, it's made of a LOT of wood shims,) follow the instructions found at this blog

I found the Peri Duvet cover at TJ Maxx and made the greek key pillows. The light tan matelasse coverlet was found at a garage sale for all of $6! I love the lighter look for summer and come winter, I can reverse the duvet and coverlet for more warmth.

Instead of buying the matching nightstands that went with our bedroom set, I decided to hold out for something different that wouldn't make the room so "matchy-matchy." As luck would have it, one year we won a furniture drawing! We selected two of these chests to serve as our nightstands. We loved the formal "old-world" look of them and the storage they offered us.

As you face the bed, this wide dresser is just to the left of the bed. I loved the square mirror it came with! We hung a fun print of Florence my husband and I found while traveling there. I found the perfect frame (with mat) at Michaels when they were having a 50% off + addtional 25% off sale of their frames! Score!!

This wall is to the right of the bed. I took the sepia pictures and the large picture on the dresser. I played with them a bit more with "picnik" and then framed them. It's fun to be surrounded by reminders of some of the countries we've been blessed to be able to visit.

This is the wall directly across from the bed. We have a large shelf above the two doors (into the room and into the master bath.) This wall has been really hard for me to decorate. I finally like how the shelf looks and am still playing around with the wall art and that underdecorated bookshelf. That chair has alot of history to it, so I'd like to keep it. I reupholsted it a few years ago, but may still redo it again in something brighter when I find just the right fabric. Amazingly, it only took about 3yds of fabric and didn't take me that long to do.

The oil painting of Kyoto was found at a yard sale, the pen and ink of Italy above the bookshelf, and the long panorama print of Venice up high were all found at garage sales, yet all had meaning to us since we'd traveled to those countries. I love using items that aren't just pretty, but inspire and comfort us, especially in a personal space like a bedroom.

It's hard to capture how lovely this fabric is that I found at fabric.com. It has a lovely cream color with a classic trellis pattern. I lined them and they give a neutral, but full look to the windows. I'm saving up to replace the ugly IKEA blinds (totally the wrong wood color and outside mounted-ughhh.)

There are always going to be some tweaks to make here and there in the future. If I found a nice rug cheaply I'd love that or a bench for the foot of the bed. I LOVE to replace the ceiling fan with a chandelier but that is never going to happen (we HAVE to have that fan to survive the humidity here!)

Want to see some other fun Master Bedrooms done by other DIY-ers? I'm linking up to Roomspiration and you can go there to see others.

One Can of Chalk Paint Equals...

2011-09-19T10:30:00.004-05:00

I thought I'd better show you what one awesome can of Annie Sloan Chalk paint can do. I just finished three pieces of furniture and I still have about an inch of paint left for a smaller project! Even though the $37 price tag may seem shocking at first, the fact that you don't have to paint a primer coat and it's thickness makes it really stretch how much it can cover!

First up is a gorgeous buffet that was from Marshall Field's here in Chicago probably 60 years ago. While solid, it's finish was pretty beat up and that lovely orangey finish. The best part was the price- $20! Yippeee. I sanded off the top with a course of sanders (belt to orbital to mouse.) Then I purposefully beat up the top with the edge of the belt sander, a hammer, some nails and such. I wanted a worn, reclaimed wood look. I've discovered that it's pretty important to use pre-stain wood conditioner to get an even finish (see the difference a poor sanding job and no pre-stain affects the finish on the last item in this post!) I stained it with 2 coats of "Jacobean" Minwax stain. I also did two coats of polycrylic in satin finish.

For the base of the buffet, I used the "Old White" Chalk paint bought online from Shades of Amber. I applied two coats straight onto the cabinet (no sanding, no priming!) I then applied one light coat of clear wax and let it dry about half an hour. Then I used my mouse sander to rough up the edges and high points. Then I applied a second coat of wax and when dry, buffed it up to a nice sheen.

I absolutely loved the hardware it came with, so I just freshened it up with some "Oil Rubbed Bronze" spray paint.

The whole family forbids me from selling this one, so this is a keeper (we keep our favorite games in here, along with some of my fabric.)

The next piece was a fun oval table I found at a garage sale. It also had the orangey finish and made the whole piece seem very heavy. I did basically the same process (minus the roughing up the top part) as the buffet.

The table even came with a piece of glass already cut to the shape of the top! All that hard work will be protected. I did change out the handles of the drawer to something more current.

The whole piece seems lighter, the details of the curvy base are shown off better with a little edge-sanding and the handles dress it down a bit. It's a really fun piece, but alas, I'm selling it.

The last piece was a very nice, solid wood table I found that needed a bit of love. Unlike the other two pieces, this was that black, 70's finish. Yuck! I did the same treatment as the others (I do all three at once and assembly-line work on them. It really saves on the prep and clean-up of brushes.) On this table, though, I felt the top needed something to make it special and break up that expanse. I found a graphic of a compass rose online that I liked, blew it up to the right size and traced the design using carbon paper. I used my handy, dandy paint pen and a ruler and transferred the design to the table. I let it dry thoroughly and then sprayed it with spray polycrylic before I brushed on two coats of polycrylic. I love it! It's a fun addition that's subtle enough to keep it from feeling "too decorated." Hopefully a nautical-loving person or someone who just wants something unique will buy it soon.

See what one can of chalk paint can do? Impressive. The finish is just so fun.

While I had the stain out, I also restained this little shelf I had, that was just waiting around to be refinished. I thought it'd make a great little shoe shelf for an entryway. It even had a beautiful inlay across the front that I didn't want covered up by paint.

Not my best sanding job, but it's still cute. With the arrival of fall I'm madly finishing up all the projects in my garage so we can get our cars back in before the cold hits. I'm almost done with a gorgeous china cabinet in a lovely blue chalk paint. I'll be posting about that one soon!!

This week I'm Linking up to:

Shades of Amber Chalk Paint Party

Furniture Feature Friday

Frugal Friday

Frugalicious Friday

Numbered Rustic Dresser

2011-09-10T17:27:00.000-05:00

Here was another fun, yet easy project. I found this dresser for free, sitting with someone's trash. I quickly examined it and the whole thing was sound and the drawers even had dove-tail joints. Yippeee! I knew right away what I was going to do to it. I'd seen lots of Anthropologie knock-offs around blogland and saw that the dresser's shape would be perfect for this style.

Mine- Free + elbow grease Anthropologie's- $900!

Once again, in my excitement I forgot the true before picture. I had just applied the paint stripper when I remembered to take a photo. So just imagine this ugly brown color plus about 5 large stickers:

Yup, not too pretty. I used one coat of citri-solve paint stripper and then 3 rounds of hand sanders (from a belt sander to a hand orbital to a final of a mouse sander.) Then I applied two coats of Minwax Early American stain. I printed out the numbers I wanted to use and traced them onto the drawers with carbon paper again. This time, I just used a black sharpie marker instead of a paint pen and it worked great. I put a few coats of poly on. For the finishing touch, I mod-podged some decorative paper in the drawers. It was some fun vintage postcard paper I already had. I love how it turned out!

Turned out cute, huh? I think I've figured out that I really like these furniture makeovers. They really don't take alot of work, but oh, the results!!!

Search Craigslist Faster!!!

2011-08-29T08:49:00.000-05:00

I've been using this awesome way of searching craigslist for a while now and realized that I hadn't shared it on here. If you use craigslist to find used items and hate how long it can take to weed through all the garbage listed on there, have I got a way to help!

It's a bookmarklet called Craigseasy. What it does is let you search craigslist in just pictures. Then you can quickly scan down the list and see what is good and find what you want SOOO much faster. I used to spend 30 mins to an hour opening and closing listings looking for what I wanted. Now the same search will only take me under 5 mins!

Here's what you do. Go to Craigseasy. Follow the easy instructions to download the bookmarklet.

It takes less than a minute to do this. You add craigseasy to your favorites up in your tool bar. Then, go to craigslist like usual. Put in your search parameters, like "couch", click "furniture by owner", and click the "has image" box (be sure to do this step!) Then hit "search." You'll see your usual search list in text. Now, for the magic... Go up to "Favorites" and click on your new "craigseasy" button. In a few seconds, up will come you search for "couches" but in pictures!

Now you can just scroll down the search results and see what's out there. If something looks interesting and you want to read more details about it, just click on it's title and the listing details will come up.

I can't tell you how much time this has saved me and enabled me to get some great deals off craigslist by only spending a few minutes a day. Go! Get this Bookmarklet now!

My First Chalk Paint Project

2011-08-18T15:29:00.007-05:00

Have you ever been so excited about how a project is turning out that you show it off before it's even all the way done? No? Well, I am going to. I have been DYING to try out the amazing chalk paint all summer. My wonderful friend, Amber, of Shades of Amber (click on this link to order), has recently become Colorado's only stockist of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. She was kind enough to send me a quart for me to try.

I heard all the rave reviews about this last winter and have been wanting to try it ever since. It may seem a bit expensive at $36.95 a quart- but believe me, it's worth it. It's a beautiful, thick, creamy texture and spreads beautifully. The best part is that you don't have to prime, sand or strip down your furniture. Yup, that's right, just spread the gorgeous paint right on.

So, here's my guinea pig project. A nice, round coffee table I found cheap on craigslist.

See that nice glossy, stained finish? Well, it didn't last long with chalk paint. In the past I would have had to sand it down a bunch, wipe it down, apply a couple of coats of primer and then get around to painting. With chalk paint, it's all instant gratification (definitely my type of project.) I used both a nice purdy-brand brush and a foam roller to apply three coats of paint. You only need to wait about an hour between coats (see, it IS instant gratification at it's best!)

This is what she looked like with just one coat of "cream" chalk paint:

I was impressed at how thick the paint was, making very few drips or paint brush marks. It dries very fast, though, so go light, rather than thick as you apply it. After the three coats, I let it dry overnight.

When dry, you are left with a nice smooth, but matte surface. Here's where the fun begins. Because of it's chalk nature, it sands away beautifully. I sanded all the edges to give it a nice aged patina.

It does leave quite a mess of chalk dust when you sand, so do it outside (not inside, on carpet, like I did!)

I knew right away what I wanted to do to make this table special. Like the tables I did in my last post here, I found an old french label from The Graphics Fairy (an awesome copyright-free website of clipart) and blew it up at Kinkos.

So here is what it looks like so far. I still need to use a couple coats of wax to seal in the paint and lettering. The wax will harden and protect as well as give the piece a sheen (when I finish with the wax, I'll add a post script on with a picture.)

I love how it looks now! I'm still not sure it's the right scale for the room, but I'd sure have a hard time parting with it. It was such a fun, quick project (probably a total of only 2 1/2 hours of work!)

So, are you sold on chalk paint yet? Well look at all the amazing colors it comes in (and yes, you can layer or mix colors.)

Shades of Amber (click on link to order) offers a beautiful color deck that you can buy so that you can see what you're getting before you mortgage the farm or cat or whatever to buy the paint! Brilliant, huh? What's even better is that they've covered one side in clear wax and the other side in the brown wax so you can really see how it changes/accentuates the color! Amber sent me a deck and it really is beautifully done.

I also recommend visiting Amber's blog to see projects done with chalk paint. She even hosts a fun link party on Mondays so you can get further inspiration and ideas of what can be done with chalk paint. I'll be linking up my table on Monday, Amber!!!

I would also recommend visiting Miss Mustard Seed's blog posts about chalk paint and her video tutorials on wax if you're feeling a little nervous about trying this.

I still have 3/4 of a can left after painting this table, so I plan on painting a secretary desk that's in my daughter's room next! I can't wait!! So what are you going to try Chalk Paint on?

This week I'm linking to:

Furniture Feature Friday
Frugal Friday
Addicts (not so) Anonymous party
Show and Tell Saturday
DIY Project Parade
Shades of Amber Chalk Paint Party

A Few Sanity Projects

2011-08-09T12:17:00.000-05:00

Soooo, I've been planning a church girls camp since January and it all came to a close with the big event itself mid-July. It's been really busy and a bit stressful to plan a week camp for 90+ girls and a bunch of adult staff. That hasn't left me too much time to do all the decor projects I've wanted to around the house. Still, to keep sane, I had to do a few quick projects (it's truly how I recharge.) Now that camp is over and I'm home from a 2-week family trip, I'm finally able to share a few photos of those "sanity-saving" projects.

First, I found this cute trunk/coffee table at a garage sale. I immediately saw potential. I loved the unique elephant legs. I bought it for all of $15 because there was a fair amount of pen and marker scribbles on the top. Well, no problem. I pulled out my trusy palm sander and in about 5 minutes I had a nice clean surface. I applied two coats of Minwax Jacobean and a few coats of wipe-on poly.

Isn't it cute? Sadly, it was just to small for the scale of my room. I listed it on craigslist and it sold quickly for a nice little profit.

For my next project, I found this cute little table sitting out with someone's trash on a neighboring town's large-item trash day.

Sorry for the blurry picture, but you're really not missing much. Someone had mod podged a poorly-colored backgammon and scrabble boards on the top. I first tried a little goo-gone, but that was taking too long. So I pulled out the big guns and used our big belt sander. It tore that paper right off and I took off all the existing finish. I intentionally used the front of the sander to gouge the wood to get a "hand-scraped" look. I then went over the whole top with my palm sander to smooth out the wood again. I put one coat of dark walnut stain on.
I had seen this idea for using a free graphic label from graphicsfairy on the top. I loved the idea and knew I could recreate it using my old carbon paper method I used back on my Subway signs here. I found the label I wanted and took it to Kinko's to have it blown up to a large size, costing only about $3.

I taped on the enlargement and slid under carbon paper as I traced the whole thing. That left me with faint lines to fill in using a black paint pen. After it dried, I sanded it with sand paper and roughed it up. I then applied another very light coat of stain and followed up with a few coats of poly. And here it is:

I freshened up the bottom part with some Heirloom White Spray paint. I love how it turned out and it sure helped with de-stressing me. I've realized that I really enjoy re-finishing furniture. I love taking something ugly or out-of-date and bringing it back to life!

I'll be back soon with some more projects that I've recently completed and am about to start my first furniture make-over with Chalk Paint (can I tell you how excited I am to try this?!)

Have fun!

DIY Kokeshi Dolls

2011-06-28T18:01:00.004-05:00

Our Kokeshi Family

When we lived in Japan, my daughters and I collected Japanese Kokeshi (traditional wooded dolls) from used shops. We loved seeing the different sizes and odd shaped heads. We have a shelf just for them in our new basement bookshelves:

I looked and looked for blank Kokeshi dolls and could never find any. So, I decided to make my own! I scoured the woodworking suppliers online and found so many different shapes. I decided to make our family as Kokeshi dolls!

After ordering the pieces, I had to connect the heads to the bodies. I used wooden dowel pins.

All you have to do is drill a hole slightly bigger than the pins in the head and the body, fill the holes with wood glue, and use the pin to join the two. It was really easy and they are nice and sturdy.

The hardest part was painting the dolls to look like us. This is where I totally cheated- I had my amazing sister-in-law do it! I have no painting skills beyond painting a wall or furniture. Remember these gorgeous Nesting dolls she helped me do for a Christmas gift:

I printed out some photos of our family for her, along with some pictures of Japanese Kimono designs for her to use as inspiration. Aren't they amazing?

That's me! I had a hard time finding large enough wood spheres for our heads so that's an apple for my head (on a small wood bowling pin shape) and my husband's head is an orange wood shape and his body was a wood lighthouse, with the top sawn off! See, I had to get creative to get the different sizes for everyone.

For our twin's bodies I used wood jump rope handles! Just look at the cute designs on their Obi (the sash/belts.) How cute are those?!

If I remember right, I used some really weird wood pieces to make these kids. One is a candle stick holder, another an egg cup and even a train smoke stack! Told you I had to get creative.

I found a half-moon window at a gentleman's farm and loved it for it's shape. I had been wondering how to use it and wouldn't you know it, the dolls fit perfectly! I had to take out all the old glass, make a flat surface on the inside for the dolls to sit on and had to cut down the depth of the whole frame (it had been really deep.) I worried about the dolls tipping over and breaking, so I made little "stands" for them by hammering in some long finishing nails (with no heads) and drilled a hole in the bottoms of the dolls to slip over the nails.

I chose to hang it in our oft-traveled hallway. I love how it turned out!! A million Thanks, Ellen. I think this is my first family heirloom!!

This week I'm Linking up to:

Tea Rose Home
Frugalicious Friday
Addicts (not) so Anonymous
Show and Tell Saturday
Weekend Wrap up Party

Boys Airplane Bedroom

2011-06-15T14:34:00.006-05:00

I've been wanting to share pictures of my 8 and 4 year-olds' airplane room for a while now. It never seemed "done" enough or clean enough to photograph. It also gets a lot of sunshine from a very big window. That's a wonderful thing for playing and hanging out, but not so good if you're trying to photograph it.

It started with a paint job of a creamy tan and a very wide blue stripe all the way around the room. I then found some adorable airplane fabric at Wal-mart and made two comforters out of it (I reused their old twin quilts for the inner batting to the new ones to same money.)

I then collected a bunch of artwork and metal airplanes at garage sales.

For the prints below, I bought a cheap calender and simply layed the pictures on a couple sheets of scrapbook paper to make a "reverse" matting. I found some square frames at a garage sale, painted them black and voila, easy, inexpensive art:

All the planes were a few dollars each and we hung them from eye hooks with fishing line so they would like like they are flying (well, except this one-it already had hanging hardware:)

I made simple red valances, trimmed with blue ribbon to keep out of the reach of little ones. Ideally, I'd like to do drapes, but that will have to wait a few years.

This room didn't have any ceiling light, so my handy dandy husband climbed into the attic and wired the ceiling for a lighted fan (we HAVE to have fans in IL to battle the humidity. It's a MUST!) So if we had to have a fan, how about one that says "airplane"? Isn't it perfect?

One of the boys' dresser is housed in the closet, but the other little guy's needed to be out in the room. I found this dresser for $5 at a garage sale and thought I'd try a Union Jack design since I've been seeing them across blogland lately. Well, they're not as easy as they look! Mine turned out okay, but was harder because I didn't choose a dresser with smooth, flush drawers. Tape would NOT stick to all the routed edges, so a crisp line wasn't possible. I had to freehand it, and that's definitely not my forte. I choose to rough mine up and added a tinted wax to the finish to "antique" it.

I like the punch of pattern and color it gives to the room. With about $15 in painting supplies plus the $5, it's not bad for $20.

We found two sets of these solid bunkbeds last summer at a garage sale for only $60 each set! Can you believe it? I couldn't either!! They were hardly used since they were from this couple's cabin. One set went in here and another set in our guest room. I just love what you can find at garage sales!

My sister even found them a propeller coat hanger thingy at her garage sales! This room really came together and leaves a nice amount of space to spread out the lego-building, marble runs or whatever! It looks all clean and bare, but believe me, it doesn't stay this way long!!

Well, thanks for looking. They love it and it should grow with them for a while.

Room tally:
Bunkbeds: $60
5 pieces of artwork & frames: $25
3 Metal Planes: $17
Curtains: $5
2 Comforters: $20
Dresser: $20
Propeller Coat Rack: $3
Total for room decor: $150!!!!!
(thank you, garage sales!)

This week I'm participating at:
The Nester
Tea Rose Home
Whatever Goes Wednesday
Hooking up with HoH
Frugal Friday
Feature Yourself Friday

Simple, inexpensive sconce update

2011-06-10T17:14:00.000-05:00

When we moved into our current home, the previous owners had wiring for sconces in place, but no light fixtures up yet. We actually already had a pair of simple sconces leftover from our home in Japan. When we unpacked in this house, we threw those up on the wall and there they sat for the last 7 years. They weren't horrible, just not the right scale for these large, two-story walls.

Okay, let's play "I spy". Can you find a sconce in this photo?

No? Don't worry, no one else could either. You can "see" one of them under the tall, rectangular floral print on the left of the curtains. They were just too small and not much of a statement.

I scoured the stores and looked online for a pair of affordable, vintage and unique sconces. Nothing was jumping out at me or ones I did like, were so out of my budget it wasn't even funny. Then, I remembered an idea my Mom had used when building an addition on her home. She had chosen an outdoor garage light fixture and installed it inside. Voila! I found my solution and in my price range.

Isn't she pretty? She doesn't look like the typical garage light, does she? It has this lovely mottled glass and just the right character I was looking for. I found them at Lowe's for $35 each (they've since gone up a few dollars.) I bought one with some decorating earnings and got the other for Mother's day! After ten minutes of wiring, we had them up!

I adore how they hang out from the wall, making them more noticeable.

They're twice the size and the darker finish gives it twice the impact. I'm in love!

I bought fairly low watt bulbs, but I plan on going even lower to soften the effect more. Even so, I love them during the day and love them at night!

I'm not sure if you can see the lovely bubbled finish to the glass. It's one of the things that really added to it's look. They were just what I was looking for. I took down the floral prints above them and am just living with the "simpler" look for now. I may put a mirror above each if I were to find just the right ones. Not sure about that yet. It would have to either be very vintage and industrial or have a bit of ethnic flair to them. Here are a few I like:

Of course, most of these are coming in at around $400, so that is NOT going to happen. I may take a plain rectangular mirror and add my own wood moulding to make a design. Definitely a project that is going to have to wait until after my crazy summer.

I really enjoy making these small changes and seeing how it changes the whole feel to the room. This was one of those changes that the second I held the lamps up, I knew it was the right touch for the room. Hope you enjoyed seeing this little alteration to my family room.

Have fun!

Re-decorated Living room

2011-05-17T12:08:00.009-05:00

I think we all have that one room that gives us trouble decorating. For me, it was our formal living room. It's where we practice instruments, read a book away from the noise and mess of the family room, and where we talk on the phone. I've always tried working with what we had and found a look that I could at least live with. Here it is before it's most recent tweaking:

Not bad and I liked it enough for a few years like this. But that tweaking-bug struck and I was just ready for a light, less-formal look. I wanted to play off of those old windows and go for a vintage look. Here is the room now:

I decided to move the sofa to the other wall since it really was the focal wall of the room. Also, those old windows-turned-mirrors needed a heavier piece to anchor it. I rearranged the windows for a fun shape and not the "wagon-wheel" look (too country for me.)

I made some cute pillow from a nice chevron fabric (from fabric.com) and made the monogram pillow from iron-ons from JoAnn's.

I found these cute tuxedo-style lamps at a garage sale last week and just love them. They were just the lines I wanted. I'm not happy with my end tables as-is, so I'll probably refinish them soon. I made the two old bus-roll signs to go on either side of the mirror.

Here's the other side of the room where the couch used to be. I got rid of the plum wall and painted it to match the rest of the room. I kept the antique violins we've collected from our travels (my husband and two daughters also play violins-so they're meaningful decorations for our family.) I changed out the artwork to something with more blue in it to tie in the fabrics. I actually just got the print from Costco's online photo lab. They have tons of art there for free that you can have enlarged to any size for unbelievable prices. I think this huge print was only $12.99! I love the colors and texture in it! I pulled in these accent chairs from another room and plan on either dye-ing them or recovering them if that doesn't work out.

I saw this gorgeous suzani print fabric a few months ago and knew I had to use it in this room. It's from premier prints also. We get a lot of sun in the mornings so I lined them and was really careful when I cut and sewed them to match up the design so they looked good when they were left drawn.

I wanted a fun rug to tie in the blue, browns and black and was getting frustrated at the prices. I sold my old plum rug on craigslist and found this perfect jute rug at Lowe's for $49!

I'm so happy with it so far. I would love a fun vintage, industrial piece for a coffee table. I'll be scouting the garage sales for that this summer. Maybe an old railroad cart or iron piece like these:

(Costplus "Aiden" table)

So, I guess a decorator's room is never really "done!" It's just too much fun to collect pieces and tweak as the mood strikes! For now, I LOVE it! It feels so much more open and flows better with the rest of the house.

Have fun!

This week's link parties are:

Show and Tell on BCD
Whatever Goes Wednesday
Frugalicious Friday
Flaunt if Friday
Remodelaholic Friday
At the Picket Fence
Vintage Friday
FFA Friday
Saturday Nite Special
Roomspirations

DIY Padded Headboard

2011-04-13T17:29:00.002-05:00

Okay, I'll say it for you: "Bad, Blogger,bad!" I have all these posts I'd like to do and life has eaten me alive lately. Finally, I'm getting around to posting about how I made my daughter's headboard for her Asian-themed room. I know there are tons of tutorials out there, but I figured I might as well add mine to the mix. (You can see more shots of her room at our basement post.)

Step 1: I made a pattern for the headboard out of some old wallpaper. I figured out the size I wanted, folded it in half.

Step 2: I wanted a curve at each corner, so I found the perfect size lid and used it to trace my curve.

Step 3: Lay your pattern on both your wood backing and your wood frame pieces. Cut all the pieces with a handy-dandy hand jigsaw (also known as a "sabre saw.")

The reason I did the wood framework around the edges, was to enable me to put my nailhead trim on later. If you weren't using nailhead trim, you could skip this step. I applied some woodglue to each piece of trim before screwing it to the frame. If you were to want a tufted look, this is when you would drill holes in the desired locations on the backing. Later, you'd be able to run a needle through these holes to add your buttons for the tufts.

Step 4: Cut to fit your foam to the center's shape. Glue down with spray adhesive. Hint: if you have an electric knife, it is so much easier to cut foam with. I don't have one, so it was a pain with scissors.

Step 5: Lay your fabric, right side down, on the floor. Lay your batting also on fabric. Place your wood piece also right side down on top of the fabric and batting.

Step 6: Starting on one side, in the center of the side, staple down a few inches. Then go to the opposite side in the center also, and gently stretch the fabric and batting. Staple down. Then work your way towards the corner, moving from one side to the other, remembering to stretch. Stop before actually doing the corners. Then follow the same method with the two remaining sides.

Step 7: For the curved corners, clip the fabric along the curve every few inches with scissors. Then, staple down, gently pulling tight as you do.

Step 8: Flip the headboard over. Now comes the fun part. Using a tape measure as you go, figure out how far from the edge you want your nailhead trim. I choose to buy the kind that comes in a strip, where you only have to nail in every few spaces. In other words, there will be a couple "fake" nail heads, then a gap for you to nail in a real nail. I found the best price on these on ebay. It was trickier than it looks to keep it straight as you went around the perimeter, so just be careful.

Step 9: Ask you toddler to jump up and down on it to check it's soundness. Just kidding! That was his way of "helping."

There are so many shapes and sizes you could do with an upholstered headboard.

If you're having a hard time picturing how it would look, just google "upholstered headboards" and loads of pictures will come up. Find the one that captures your attention and copy that style. To buy a headboard it can cost a pretty penny. Don't! It's really not that hard to make one. It takes very little wood, few tools and a minimal amount of fabric. Since it does take so little fabric, splurge a bit to get a luscious, richly textured fabric to give it that high-end look.

This week I'm linking to:

Get your craft on

Tutorials and Tips Tuesday

Whatever Goes Wednesday

Penny Pinching Party

Internet Inspirations II

2011-02-22T13:53:00.015-06:00

With the hard, cold winter comes lots of nasty sickness. Around here it's really slowed down what I've been able to get done lately. Until I can finish up a few projects to share, I thought I'd share a few fun, beautiful and clever ideas I've seen around the internet recently.

(apartment therapy)

I love this foyer entrance. It's very small, yet they made the most of this space. The small, demi-lune shelf is mounted on the wall to not take up precious floor space. It provides a quick place to drop the keys and the mirror visually opens up the tight space.

(shannon berrey)

While I love all the colors and patterns in this child's room, it's the darling pillows that caught my eye. Wouldn't it be fun to have your daughters faces on her pillows (or your daughter and her friends?) With all the computer programs and such out there, you wouldn't necessarily have to hire an artist. Sooo cute! And did you see those monogram shades? LOVE!

(via apartment therapy)

I just love to look and dream about this one. If I had a blank wall in my kitchen, I'd do this china cabinet in a heartbeat!!! What a statement piece and it gives the kitchen such a custom look. See those kitchen cabinets in the corner of the picture? They look to be really standard cabinets, probably painted over. Instead of new cabinets, they probably splurged their budget on those gorgeous marble(?) countertops and repainted a china cabinet. Love it!!!

(full house)

Need a statement piece that's fun? This gal took a quality camera and photographed a dollar bill (first circling "in God we trust" with a red marker first.) She then had it enlarged as big as she could through a photo shop. Do you ever look closely at our bills? They're actually quite lovely works of art. Enlarging them just accentuates them. Fun idea!

(hgtv)

Okay, so gallery walls are really big right now. So are flat screens. Why not marry the two and hide the black hole inside a gallery display? Why should that tv monstrousity dominate your room? Find a nice buffet table to set below to ground the space (and hide any electronics.) Much better, huh?

(graham and green)

Wouldn't this be gorgeous in a nursery or young child's room? You could buy it for almost $500 or you could sooooo make this! I've seen such cute and realistic birds at Hobby Lobby for next to nothing. I'd either strip down an old lampshade to it's metal frame or grab some mesh wiring at Home Depot and make one around a standard light kit. Anyone want to try it with me? :)

(Holly Mathis)
While this chair makeover is just stunning, it's the Ballerina-style ties on the cushions that are brilliant! I'd love to make a chair like this for my daughter's desk in her bedroom. Oh, garage sale season, can't you get here any faster?!

(Ingle Nook Decor)

Another darling idea for a girl's room! Silhouette's are still hot right now and you could easily replicate this look. Cut your headboard shape out of MDF or plywood, prime and paint (this gal used chalkboard paint so she could write on it as well) and then apply a silhouette of your child (there are tons of tutorials of how to do a photo silhouette on your computer-no art skills necessary! Believe me, I've even done it!) Hey, Julianna- I could soo see this for your girls, huh?

(Traditional Home)
What I love about this room is the ceiling. We often need color in our rooms but are afraid to do the whole room. Why not just do the ceiling? It's a cheap fix and adds interest without the cost of adding architectural interest. I'd take those oversized framed maps on the wall, too!

(via Cote de Texas)
I've never liked mirrored closets until I saw these. What I love is the use of antiqued mirror panels. It really lessons the harshness of pure mirror and creates instead a vintage, architectural feel to the room. You still get to visually enlarge the space, but with style! While buying antiqued mirror would cost a small fortune, you can do it yourself! I've seen quite a few tutorials of how to do it. I would love to try this sometime.

(young house love)
Do you see that tall, floor length mirror? Expensive? NO! These creative people used a discarded mirrored door and framed it out with wood from a old, weathered pallet. This left it very stable and sturdy. People are getting rid of both of these for FREE all the time on craigslist! Save your money on an expensive mirror and make one of these. I just love the vintage feel of it.

(sit relax read)

I love this homework desk built by this clever couple. They wanted to create a place for their kids to do homework other than the kitchen table. They reused old cabinets and beefed them up with molding and shelves. They built the table from scratch. It looks so good, yet really takes up very little space. I've seen people do something similar by literally cutting a table in half like below:

(hello lovely inc)

(bhg)
I thought this idea was a very clever way to work a tv into a room that is very open and doesn't have enough wall space to waste on a tv. It still allows traffic flow and keeps it open, yet defines the sitting area from the dining. I wish I could see what the other side is like; perhaps you could hang a lovely piece of artwork or maybe I would widen it a touch for a narrow bookshelf on that side. Great idea and wouldn't be too hard to build yourself.

I hope you were as inspired by these as I was. Everytime I look at these I get all geared up to make every single on of these.... Have fun!

Scrapbook Paper as Art

2011-01-21T13:23:00.000-06:00

Have you ever gone to a specialty scrapbook store just to drool over the lovely papers found there? I sure have. I'm not a scrapbooker but when I see those artistic papers I can't help but try to figure out where I can use them. A friend just asked for some ideas of what to do with her inherited stash of gorgeous paper, so here are some ideas.

A while back I showed you a project I helped a friend with:

She had a huge wall that needed something big, yet didn't cost too much. We found a Ginormous frame at a garage sale, painted out the background, and then mod podged scrapbook paper she had selected.

Here are a whole bunch of other ideas I've found using scrapbook paper:

(dollarstorecraftsjr)

(jcaroline)

(moneysavingmom)

You can find square frames at places like IKEA, dollar stores, and Kirklands. Or skip the frames and just mount the paper on wood squares or foam.

(casacullen)

I like how this gal found these pre-matted $5.99 frames at Michael's, added the paper and grouped them together to make a bigger impact.

(BHG)

I love breaking out of the mold of the square frame and placing the paper in chunky mats. Very artsy!

(BHG)

While these are framed fabric, this unique arrangements would work well with paper.

I personally like mixing in family photos like in the arrangement on the left (sorry for the cruddy quality.)

(lifecraftsandwhatever)

We've seen all these tile mosaic art pieces in Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn. You could make one easily. But the cost of the tile and the weight would be crazy. This lady made hers from paint sample chips and you could do the same with scrapbook paper. See how she did it here. I like the metallic glaze she did over the top of it.

(remodelholic)

Here's another version of the mosaic. See her tutorial here.

(AndThen...)

This whole playroom wall was covered in scrapbook paper! Perhaps a bit bold, but you get the idea.

These paper butterfly specimen art go from simple to very detailed. You can just use a butterfly-shaped paper cutter or print out butterfly shapes from online and use delicated scissors to cut out varied shapes out of your paper. I don't know about you, but I'm going to start snatching up shadow boxes and deep frames at goodwill!

I LOVE these ones! While the shapes are all the same, they made each butterfly out of 3 layers. So pretty!

These are basically the same idea as the butterflies, instead, fold your scrapbook paper into origami cranes, flowers or whatever shape you want.

(curbly)

These paper chains were made from scrapbook paper, shaped in to squares and framed for a unique piece of art.

(hollydollydoodar)

This creative art was made with textured wallpaper as the background and the flower pieced together from scrapbook paper. Lovely, huh? Reminds me of a quilt.

(wheelerthree)

These would be easy to do using a piece of plywood or mdf, paint a background, a branch and then make your blossoms out of scrapbook paper (look for tutorials of flowers online-they're everywhere!)

From very simple to very artistic. Hope you found some ideas to decorate using such a gorgeous and inexpensive resource.

Our Basement is "Finished"

2011-01-07T12:28:00.008-06:00

Wooo-hoooo! We have been hard at work finishing our 1000 sq foot+ basement by ourselves. Last December we officially kicked it off by my husband putting in four new egress windows. Then around March we pulled the permits and officially started work. There were cracks to seal, lots of heating ducts to move and install, cement to crack and install the bath rough-ins. Then it was on to framing, electrical conduit to install, wrap and insulation. Even though my husband only had evenings and Saturdays to work (and usually one week long business trip a month,) he got it ready for drywall by this past September. After that lovely, dusty mess, we all got in the action with all the finish work of moulding, priming and painting, sealing and such. My husband installed the carpet mid-December and it was time to move in! Our two girls moved in downstairs in time for Christmas and the whole family is loving the new rec room.

Want to see it in it's "finished state"? Okay, I'll show you if you just keep in mind that I have a lot of decorating yet to do. Sure wish I had a better camera to capture the colors better. Oh well.

As you open the door to the basement this is what you see:

(No, the "no food" sign the kids made is not staying! It was just up for our annual New Year's Eve Family Party. We had over 100 people and needed to keep the food to one level.)

The landing half-way down:

The vintage roller coaster poster I mod-podged onto a cheap canvas and the old wood tickets sign I made earlier (details here.)

Are you asking about that Ladder about now? That ladder leads to my husband's pet project and favorite part of the basement finishing. It leads to a tube slide down! Cool, huh?

That's an old bunkbed ladder that some dear friends gave us. It sits in holes to hold it steady, but leaves it so we can remove it when moving furniture down or slide it up into the hole if we don't want small kids to use it. We have two sets of stairs going upstairs and this set had this wonderful empty space. We really had to search the internet for a tube slide that would fit between some tricky beams and poles. My determined engineer husband twisted the top section and added an extension piece and made what I call "the death drop slide." It's very steep at the start, making it fast (perfect for our kids!) It does a zig-zag and comes out gently downstairs (you'll see in a minute.)

Needless to say, there was a line at the slide the whole night of our party! And, yes, the adults can slide too and they do too!!

As you turn the corner of this landing, you can see down the next set of stairs to the actual basement.

Straight ahead it the bathroom, to the left are the two bedrooms and to your right the main room.

We decided on a board and batten style treatment to the hallways and the main room. I felt the basement needed some architectural umpf to make it feel nice and the white visually keeps the space from being the typical dark dungeon. We chose 4" baseboard trim and a nice, curvy chair rail. I chose a less-traditional slat by picking something not as boxy.

If you turn to your right, this is what you see:

Here is MY favorite part of the basement, the bookshelves! I have always wanted a library for our whole family's books. We had a pipe that had to be soffited along this wall, so it made a perfect place for built-ins. I pulled out a bunch of pictures of what I thought would work and my husband built it!

We found some lovely, wide crown moulding and some fluted trim at Habitat REstore (if you have a Habitat for Humanity REstore near you, you ought to check it out! The prices are amazing!) Since this was going to be a long wall of shelves, we divided it up into thirds and bumped out the center section to add visual interest.

Here you can see the almost-complete exit for the slide. We still have a bit of mudding to the trim area and touch up to complete that. We slanted the wall leading into the main room to make a nice, wide entrance to the room. The door lends access to the slide and should someone want to remove the slide, it would be easily done and leave a nice storage closet behind.

You must notice the biggest drawback to the slide- the piles of socks! After a few rides down, the kids end up shedding their socks so they can climb up the slide, leaving me with a constant pile of socks down there! Oh well.

We threw down some furniture we had and I've since found the perfect smaller-sized sectional. I plan on slipcovering it and those red chairs with dropcloth.

I found the cabinet sitting by someone's trash on garbage day and brought her home. I fixed her up, added some cute paper to the inside and it made the perfect media stand. The DVD player and Wii fit beautifully inside and I don't have to look at it! We chose this wall to place the TV on because I didn't want the TV to be the focal point of the room as you walk in. We did add extra wiring in the bookshelf wall in case someone should ever want to mount the TV over there.

The kids also love the swing from Ikea. We reinforced some boards between beams and marked the spot before we drywalled the ceiling. The air hockey table was a $60 score at a garage sale a few years ago and the $10 foosball wasn't out of reach either!

I pulled together a collection of posters, maps and prints from a few places we've traveled to. My handy-dandy mat cutter made it easy to use some old frames from Goodwill and a few standard, cheap frames to frame the artwork.

I found this huge clock for a measley $5 at a garage sale and the old door pediment was also in someone's trash (yup, no self-respect!)

Here's a close-up of the moulding treatment we chose.

This is looking into our storage room just past the swing (which is nice because if a long-legged kid is swinging, we open the door to the storage room and the door doesn't get kicked to bits.) We still kept a good sized store room for all our "stuff" and space to work on projects. We're still working on making it neater and adding another shelf.

Alright, this is heading back towards the stairs and the rooms.

This is heading into the bathroom:

The bath vanity we found at "Cabinets to Go", a wonderful resource. They are known for their assemble-yourself kitchen cabinets. They cost TONS less and are actually made quite well (we helped a family member redo their whole kitchen with these cabinets and we very impressed. The drawers even had dove-tail joints.) They have a great selection of bath vanities of all sizes and these not only come assembled, but they include the marble top in the price. This one had been returned for some slight marring to the paint so they gave it to us for almost half price! Honestly, you can barely notice it that I haven't even touched it up yet!

We chose to lay the typical square 12" tiles off-set from each other instead of square to add more interest. We really like how it turned out.

The walls in here are painted more of a greenish-blue, a sort of sea-glass color. I found the mirrors on clearance at Lowe's for only $9 each!

An old bookshelf we had fits this little space perfectly and works well as a linen shelf. The doorway leads into the shower and toilet.

The shower was tiled in a fairly neutral color, so we added a little interest by adding a stripe of smaller, contrasting tiles.

Across from the shower we squeezed in the toilet (maybe you don't need to see it, but here it is anyway.)

Now, we'll head into the first of the bedrooms. My oldest wanted an asian feel to the room. This was her inspiration picture that we were going for:

And here's ours so far. We need some more accessories and such, but it's off to a good start:

I made the upholstered headboard with nailhead trim (I'll try to do a tutorial on it later) and made the bedspread. We already had the artwork by VanGogh and just repainted a second-hand frame.

I found a very long $2 frame at a garage sale, cut a piece of thin plywood for the backing. After painting it, I screwed on a kitchen drawer pull and hung a Japanese Obi we had from our stay in Tokyo. It makes a fun art piece, yet does something much more practical; it hides the ugly electrical box that had to stay situated in the bedroom. It's on hooks for quick removal should we need access to the circuits.

Some wonderfully talented friends came over and painted these branches for us in a nice metallic paint.

On either side of the closet we placed some old Chinese screen panels:

We're on the lookout for a fun desk for her room, but it's coming along.

Next door is our other daughter's room. She's been warned that she's the first to get kicked out when guests visit since we put a queen size bed in.

The headboard was found at a garage sale for $20, repainted the famous "Heirloom White" (we left off the footbard so it wouldn't close in the room as much.) It's positioned in a bow in the foundation since this room sits right under the den in the front of the house, which has a bow window.

We already had these mini chandeliers from the girls' old rooms. They have very dim bulbs so they can be used as reading lights. They're connected together and put on a button switch attached low on the bed frame for easy on and off. This very old, delightfully rough frame was found for a $1 and the bird print in the center was found at Goodwill.

On either side of the bed are these great old window frames I found on Craigslist. We painted them gray and distressed them a bit. We're patiently waiting for some free mirror on craigslist or Habitat REStore to turn them into mirrors. It'll help reflect more light into the room.

To the right of the bed is a sleeping beauty print we had in their old room. The frame is a fun antique find for $5.

We're moving in a slant-front desk and need to make some curtains, as well as look out for a few other accessories.

All the doors still need their topcoat of white and a few touch-ups here and there, but it's pretty much done. We chose really plush carpet and a thick pad to make it fun to relax on (we've already had two sleepovers down there!) It'll be fun to accessorize, arrange the shelves more pleasingly and get to those slipcovers. It was a big project but taught our whole family the power of doing things yourself and the satisfaction that comes with it.

Paint Colors used:

Main Blue: Behr River Rock

Bathroom: Behr Nurture

Shabby Chic room: Behr Cottage White

Asian Bedroom: Valspar Dolphin Cove

Trim/ceiling/moulding: Behr Decorator White

Participating at:

Furniture Feature Friday

Tea Rose Home Link Party

Frugalicious Friday

Frugal Friday

Saturday Nite Special

Weekend Wrap up Party

Show and Tell Saturday

Thoughtful and Unique Gift Ideas

2010-12-07T14:53:00.006-06:00

Whew, we're in the whirlwind of the holiday season full steam now. It's been hard to find time to put together the post I wanted to do about gift ideas for Christmas, as well as other times. Between parties and concerts and holiday shopping, it's been hard to find time to gather the pictures I needed. Finally, I've got it together enough to post.

These ideas are somewhat unique, yet inexpensive and very thoughtful gifts. Obviously, they're perfect for Christmas gift-giving, but they would also make great birthday or aniversary gifts as well.

1. Wire Family Tree I saw this idea a number of years ago and have made countless versions of this for many people. It's made from wire and metal leafing and your own family photos, all put in an easy to find frame. I usually do a 16x20 frame, but I have made an insanely large version for my in-laws (I did their picture at the base of the tree and did all of their 12 children and spouses up on the branches- kind of a reverse family tree.)

There's a really nice tutorial on how to make it here. The first one takes the most time, but you get the hang of it pretty quickly. My hint is to just keep playing with the wire to get it how you want (and at the beginning, it won't really lay flat until you get a lot of the branches connected.) To connect the tree to the frame, I took inspiration from all the Barbie doll packaging. I poked holes through the cardboard backing of the frame and wired different spots of the tree and "twist-tied" it to the back of the cardboard and taped the wire down.

2.Custom Russian Nesting Dolls: I found a great place to buy these darling nesting dolls blank. They come in various sizes and numbers of dolls inside. I had the fun idea of painting the family we'd drawn for Christmas on the blanks. I have zero painting abilities so I enlisted the help of my talented sister-in-law to paint each doll to look like the Mom, Dad and all the kids.

They really look like each of them and they're each holding an object that relates to a hobby or interest of theirs. Here's another set, partially done:

We painted them with nice acrylic paints and then varnished them really well. They were a huge hit and I've got her painting a set for my family but on Japanese wooden Kokeshi dolls! You can find the blank nesting dolls here.

3. Quiet Bag for Church: For families, I like to put together a fun bag of quiet activities that are original and unique. It's great for church, the doctors, trips and so on. Here are a few things I made for in the bag:

- I spy Bags:

These can be made fairly easily with cute fabric, a bunch of small objects, some poly-pellets and some iron-on inkjet paper. Kids (and Dads) love looking for the objects.

-Wipe-off Picture Searches:

All I did for these was go to Highlights online, download a bunch of their hidden pictures, blew them up to full page size on both sides of cardstock and then laminated them. The kids can use either dry erase markers of crayons to circle or color in the found objects. I put all the cards in a clear envelope to keep them together. I made a couple of "erasers" out of squares of flannel.

-Quiet Book:

This was very inexpensive to make by putting these small 3x5 cards in a small photo album. The cards are fun, inspirational ads from a teen church magazine from my church. They're called "mormon ads" and can be ordered here.

-Tag Ring:

My kids always loved the car keys, but made way too much noise. I made this by using tag rings from OfficeMax. I used scrapbook letters on one side of a larger tag and put small pictures of objects starting with that letter on the reverse and another smaller tag. I collected images online and printed them all out on one page and cut them apart. Then I used mod podge to stick them on the tags and put a protective coating of mod podge on top. I then put all the tags onto a large Ring also found at the office supply store. Then babies and toddlers love it.

-Small Car mat:

I did a tutorial on how to make these mats a while back here. These little roads have been a life-saver for me at church. My little guy loves to play with it and not, just at church!

-Crayon Roll:

I love these because it keeps the crayons from getting broken and organized for those little hands. There are tons of tutorials out there but I used this one.

-Picture Starter:

I made this by drawing random squiggles on business card-size cardstock on both sides. I also chose some family photos that would be fun to draw on. I laminated all of them and put them on a ring. The kids can draw pictures out of the squiggles and draw silly faces and hair on their family members with dry erase markers. I made an eraser out of a small square of flannel. The "older" kids really got a kick out of this.

-Cute Capri Sun carry all:

This cute and waterproof bag was really fun for my daughters and I to make. We collected a bunch of Capri Sun bags and just sewed them together using this basic tutorial here.

4. Family Picnic Blanket: I had seen these around the internet and thought they'd be so cute and easy to make. I ordered bandanas from an online bulk store, sewed them together (after washing), used a sheet as backing and an old comforter that I wasn't using any more. I just wrapped the flat sheet around the front to make a binding and used yarn to tie it all together (didn't even use a quilt frame, just did in on my living room floor.) It's a fun picnic blanket that can be washed easily and in the winter, it makes a nice emergency blanket to keep in the car.

5.Custom Guess Who Game:

I saw this darling idea on a friend's blog and just had to do it for our family reunion as a prize. It was easy to find a used copy of the game at a garage sale and at places like Goodwill.

6.Special Plate:

This was a fun family gift that starts a meaningful tradition. Just find a cute plate at someplace like Big Lots, DollarTree or Pier1. Buy ceramic paint in a tube at Michaels and follow the instructions. Basically you just write or brush on the words and bake to set in the paint. Then pull it for the family member to use on their special day, birthday or for celebrating their big performance. Very cute, but inexpensive.

7.Photo Book:

My parents were getting ready to sell their home so I took tons of pictures of it when I was visiting and put them together into a lovely photo book through Shutterfly. It'll be a great record of their lovely home when they've moved across country to their new home. There are so many companies out there that make these photo books easy and inexpensive to do. Maybe you can collect family photos and make a book for each member of the family (I need to scan all mine in first- ours are pre-digital days!)

8. Family Silhouettes:

How about make a silhouette arrangement of the grandkids for Grandma and Grandpa? Or sneak photos of your nieces and nephews to make silhouettes of them for your sister and her husband. I set the kids in front of a piece of white tissue paper taped to the window. Take a profile photo of them and upload it to a photo-editing program (I use picnik.com.) Crop the photo to get just the head and shoulders. Play with the exposure and balance and make it as dark as you can. Then turn it into Black and White. Then save and print them out. I then glue the headshot onto a piece of black cardstock and then carefully cut out the profile with fine tipped shears. Flip the picture over and you've got a lovely silhouette. Glue into an arrangement in a frame of your choice and voila, you've got a great gift.

9. Family Photo Collage:

This is a fun piece of art for the family, all done with stock photos available free online and then uploaded into Picasa (or something similar) to make a collage. Mine says "Beus Family.1993" You can find instructions here.

10. Family Birthday Pennant Banner:

These cute pennant banners are everywhere and you can easily find an online tutorial. I made one to say "Happy Birthday" and paired it with one of the special day plates I mentioned earlier. You could also pair it with this darling Balloon Birthday wreath (instructions here):

Are you inspired? I hope so. There are so many fun and unique gift ideas, that this only scratches the surface. Enjoy and have fun!

This week I'm linking to:

Holiday Highlights DIY Party

I made it without my Hubby

Asian Chair Makeover

2010-11-08T07:56:00.006-06:00

Look at my latest reupholstery project!

Aren't they fun?!

I found this lovely suzani-style fabric from Waverly and fell in love! This fabric would make such awesome curtains. Hmm.....

I found these lovely asian chairs at a garage sale about a month ago. The gentleman said they came out of a mulit-million dollar condo downtown (chicago.) They had a bit of chipping to the finish and I wasn't too fond of the finish anyway.

This is what they looked like BEFORE:

There were a few spots of missing finish and the red and black combo was just a bit too stereotypical asian for my taste. I repainted them gray and then ripped off a million staples to recover them with the new fabric and gimp. I'm thrilled with how they turned out and we'll see what I can sell them for on craigslist...(hey, I need to finance my many other proposed decorting projects!)

UPDATE: I sold them within a week for the full price I was asking! Woohoo.

After:

Our basement is almost to a stage where I can show off how it's looking! The bathroom is essentially done and them two bedrooms basically just need carpet. Once the hall and rec room trim and moulding are done, the fun of decorating begins! Over the last few months, I've been getting accessories ready and have a few projects to share soon. I'll be SO happy to be done with all the dust! Yippeee!

This Week I'm Linking to:

Tuesday Treasures
Tea Rose Home
Savy Southern Style
Whatever Goes Wednesday
Penny Pinching Party
Frugalicious Friday
Furniture Feature Friday
Frugal Friday
Style Feature Saturday
Show and Tell Saturday

Kitchen Islands-internet inspirations

2010-11-04T00:17:00.000-05:00

I gathered a bunch of pictures from the internet of some gorgeous ideas for making an island in your kitchen, without using just stock cabinets. I thought I might as well post them for you all to enjoy as well. If you don't have room for even a small island, you can consider using a fun dresser or table in another area of the kitchen. Just because it's a dresser doesn't mean it has to stay in the bedroom. I love seeing furniture in unexpected places.

Anyway, sit back and enjoy these fun ideas for islands:

Oh to have this size of kitchen! And with two gorgeous tables! LOVE!

coastal living

country living

via hooked on houses

via houzz

laughing at the days to come

margot austin

Old house journal

What I learned from these images is that no kitchen is too small for an island, a creative or unique island can really make a kitchen feel custom and the days of the all-matching kitchens are past. I love how the island stands alone in it's own tone of wood stain or it's own color of paint. Consider making you island something special!

What to Do with Those Front Door Sidelights

2010-10-27T10:07:00.003-05:00

I had a request to do a post about adding some privacy to the sidelights of your front door. Often we want a bit of privacy. There are basically three options that I know of.

First, is my new favorite. There are some wonderful window films available that are very stylish, easy to put up and offer from minimal distortion to total privacy. You can buy this film at places like Home Depot, but your choices are pretty limited. I found a site online that I just LOVE. You can buy it by the foot and just get what you need. It's Decorative Films. They have everything ranging from frosted glass, to cut glass, stained glass and even mirrored film.

I am in love with their SimGlass line. You can get the expensive feel of these custom glasses, for a fraction of the price. Check out this gorgeous mottled glass film:

Or this geometric pattern:

The Simglass is designed to offer a distorted view so that you have a bit of transperency to see out and get maximum light in.

If you prefer more privacy, I love the Cut Glass line as well:

Or just traditional frosted in a fun pattern:

Anyway, if you can't find one you like at this site, you'd probably better try another method. I'm going to give this film a try as soon as I can decide on one!

Second: If you don't want to spend much money on window vinyl, you can try frosting the windows yourself with Frosted Glass Spray found at most craft stores.

These are quite easy to use. Tape off a design and the areas around the window that you don't want sprayed and do multiple light coats. You can really have fun with the designs by cutting paper or painters tape into patterns:

(Centsational Girl)

I've used this method before and it was very easy to do. The downside of this is wear and tear. My windows leaked air so in winter it literally melted off the design on the edges. Once that happened, visiting kids saw that the design could come off and they started scratching at it, making it look absolutely horrid. Once I gave up on it, all I had to do was take a razor blade and scrape it off. It probably only took 5 minutes to take it off. If the kids couldn't reach it and my window didn't leak, I'd definitely do it again.

Third: Your last option for a covering is either blinds or curtains. This is very traditional and easy to do. While blinds or shutters will be costly to order custom sized, curtains can be very simple to sew and take very little yardage. My suggestion would be to take the time to find some sheer fabric that is very unique and fun instead of the granny-ish lace sheers. It's going to take so little yardage that you can look at the more expensive sheers out there. Try online fabric stores like fabric.com. Here are some favorites that would make some fun curtains, yet still let in some light:

Just remember, it doesn't HAVE to be a white sheer. You can take the opportunity to dress you entry up with a colored or embroidered sheer. If you don't like the sheer selection at your home decor store, try looking in the dress fabrics and wedding sections for their sheers. Alot of the ethnic fabrics have sheers that would make gorgeous curtains (head down to Little India in your nearest big city!) Look at CostPlus, Pier1 and other stores like that in their ready-made curtain sections. If you find a fabric you like, buy one panel and cut in down for your sidelight curtains.

You know, it was really frustrating looking for pictures of sidelight curtains that WEREN'T white! Arghh. Why aren't more people breaking the mold and doing something different? When you keep them white, you often end up with a big wall of white. Your door and trim already take up so much visual space, why not break up and accentuate the entry with some color and pattern? I'm ready to lead the revolution, people! Join me! Send me pictures of what you've done to your front door and sidelights that is unique and out of the ordinary! I was going to go the vinyl route, now I'm not sure!

This isn't for everyone, but you have to give them props for being unique. This creative preson used color slides to make a panel for the window. It's kind of a contemporary version of stained glass:

What ideas do you have?

Gray Kitchen Love

2010-10-12T11:45:00.000-05:00

My kitchen is safe, but it yours? I have no reason to makeover my cabinets, but I'm in love with gray kitchens. Gray is this year's "it" color. Gray furniture, fabrics, walls and my favorite, ktichens. It's not really a new idea, but it's come back big time. If I had old, yucky 80's oak cabinets, I'd be painting them gray in a heartbeat. I gathered a bunch of inspiration photos for you.

Probably my favorite gray kitchen re-do is Sally Wheat's kitchen featured over here at her blog:

You have to see her blog about the work she did on this kitchen. She even lists the colors she used on her cabinets so you can get the same look. I just adore the look and feel of this kitchen.

I also LOVE the DIY remodel that Layla and Kevin did over at the Lettered Cottage. Check out this kitchen:

See how they took ordinary cabinets and built up the tops, took off doors for open-shelving, and added those brackets under the cabinets. Ordinary turned custom! I love their thrifty, do-it-yourself attitude and their great sense of style. Follow their blog for so many great ideas.

Here are a whole bunch more gray kitchens in all shades, from light to dark. Sit back, relax and try not to drool!

Craig Spencer Kitchen

decor pad

House Beautiful

Lisa Epley

Southern Living

Urban Grace Interiors

Aren't they gorgeous? They are sophisticated, yet warm. They give the clean, sleek look without being just "another white kitchen."

To make them work some general ideas to keep in mind seem to be to pair light with dark or give it contrast. If you go lighter gray for the cabinets, consider a darker tone or wood as your flooring. If you go darker gray, keep the floors light. The stainless steel appliances look AMAZING with the gray, but you don't have to have upgraded appliances to make it work. White or Black could look just as nice. If you don't have the best lighting in your kitchen, consider the lighter grays or painting only the bottom cabinets.

Most of the counter tops tend to be lighter and I have to admit, I really love the airy look that the whiter ones give.

These gray kitchens usually have a fun, shiny light. I love the stainless steel fixtures, but the crystal chadelier sure adds a touch of glamour as well. Consider making the island a darker gray for a fun contrast. Add a built in or faux china cabinet and paint it in a contrasting gray for a custom kitchen look.

If you're painting exsisting cabinets, consider adding some crown moulding to the cabinet tops and add architectural interest to your island or bar. These touches really make the kitchen look custom and professional and not just a DIY painted kitchen. Spend a little extra time to dress up the cabinets. Just as a nice outfit needs it's accessories, don't skimp on your cabinets. Build them up, add character, adjust shelving, add open shelving and consider your hardware.

Hope you were as inspired as I was. I may not be able to paint my cabinets, but I think I am going to repaint my kitchen walls in a gorgeous gray as soon as my basement finishing is done! I HAVE to have some gray in my house now!

Have fun!

Accent Chair Makeover

2010-09-29T10:23:00.010-05:00

There's nothing more I love than a before and after. Last week I helped a friend recover a very old chair she found. It had fun lines, beautiful carvings and was solid. It's fabric was so bland and heavy in it's brown and orange, grungy pattern. The seat was sagging from deteriorated webbing underneath. I was so excited to rip off that old, disgusting stuff that I almost forgot to take "before" pictures (so sorry for the poor shots.)

Before:

After we ripped all the old fabric and webbing off (and a couple hundred nails pulled out,) we had to make a new seat. We chose not to mess with webbing and make something more solid.

The seat was a bit tricky since the four arms were solid down to the legs and the frame actually had a gentle arch to it. After cutting a template out of poster board, we cut it out of some 1/2" plywood with a sawsall. Then we cut it down the middle so we could get it in between all those arms. We cut a 2x4 to act as a center support to the chair (under our cut.) We then used drywall screws to attach it to the arched frame and the center support. We ended up with a very solid seat that slightly bows.

We cut our new foam using the same seat template. Using some spray adhesive, we glued the foam to the seat to keep it in position while we upholstered it. I also put a layer of quilt batting over the top to help soften the edges of the foam (lousy blogger that I am, I forgot to take photos of this step!)

My friend chose a cheery floral fabric that she said reminded her of her family's couch when she was growing up. We stapled and stapled, stretching the fabric over the foam and attaching it underneath the frame. On the back piece, we had to leave the staples exposed, so we covered them with some lovely gimp. We simply hot glued it over the staples.

And here she is after her little makeover:

I love the wood finish with the fabric. I could easily see it in a distressed ivory finish, as well. In these pictures she's only sitting in my foyer before she heads to her new home. I'll see if I can get a picture of her in her new home. Not only is this lovely chair all fresh and cute again, it is actually a very comfortable chair to sit in!

I wish I had been a blogger a lot longer because I would have documented a lot more of my before and after projects in the past. I found a few past projects that I actually had pictures of:

BEFORE AFTER

I replaced the caning on the back of the chair, stained them a maple color (the picture makes them look so orange. arghhh.) I also made a plywood seat (just more durable for a house with kids!) for these and added foam before recovering them. They're the perfect size accent chairs and now live in another friend's home.

BEFORE AFTER

Found these accent chairs for $10 each and recovered them in this nice nubby stripe. The playful fabric fits in beautifully in my friend's home of oranges and greens.

BEFORE AFTER

Found this great ottoman with 8-way tied springs and finally recovered it in some leftover vinyl leather.

Here's a couple of my AFTER upholstery jobs (I always forget those "before" shots:)

(l to r, clockwise: added and upholstered seat cushions to 2 pier one chairs; Third time covering this old chair from the Adirondacks-thought the leopard print would be a fun change; Found two $5 ottomans on casters and added legs and covered in a nice faux leather for easy cleaning; Two cute chairs for the front porch-just made some simple chair pads from an outdoor fabric.)

For this $1 yard sale chair I skipped fixing the broken rush seat and just plopped a planter in it to hold my seasonal flowers by the front of the house:

I just love taking something old and giving it new life and style. It's rewarding to re-use something and for little money turn it into something you adore. I've got two chairs and an ottoman that I'm getting ready to recover for our basement. I'll post those when they're done! Have fun!

This week I'm participating at:

Tea Rose Linky Party
Show off your Stuff Party
Frugalicious Friday
Furniture Feature Friday
Frugal Friday
Strut Your Stuff
Show and Share Day
Fabulous Friday Finds
Saturday Nite Special
Weekend Wrap Up
Show and Tell Saturday

Fall Mantle Display

2010-09-18T21:20:00.004-05:00

Oh, I'm loving my new mantle in my foyer! The weather changed this week and it made me ready to put together a fall display. I left a few elements of my summer version and then added some more natural textures and a pop of a beautiful orange.

(oops, the hammer and dust masks are NOT part of the display!)

I filled a glass vase with some natural pods and dried naturals. I put a flamless candle in a unique iron piece I found at Goodwill.

I bought four inexpensive floral bunches and tore them apart so I good attach them to a small grapevine wreath. I love the pop of orange (I know, it looks red in this picture.)

This is a view from my upstairs bridge. Oh, it's so fun to have a mantle again! I already have a few small touches up my sleeve to add when it gets closer to Halloween!

Internet Inspirations:

Here are some fun decorating ideas for fall.

Seriously, how easy is this? And yet it's such a cute combination for the kitchen or dining room table.

(by Phyllis Hoffman)

This is made by taking white carnations and spraying them black (I believe with a floral dye.) After arranging them, black licorice are placed in the container to hide the stems. A really cute party accent!

Another easy, but gorgeous display. Gather you glass containers (or get some cheaply at Goodwill-there are always tons there) and grab those candles. Fill with various nuts for a natural look.

Both of these arrangements are made by gathering either the wheat or cattails and tightly binding them with ribbon or raffia.

(martha stewart)

Martha always finds such lovely stems of berries. I'm really loving the yellow pitcher they're in.

Look at all these lovely branches, some painted fun shades, some dangling elegant lights or charming birds:

Where could I get such cute little lights? Darling!

(woman's day)

(phyllis hoffman)

(such pretty things)

I LOVE the painted blue branches with the silver container. What a beautiful combination.

(by sfgirlbythebay)

These branches were painted black and added to a pebble-filled vase. Easy, again!

I love how this one is in a lovely gray pumpkin with some grass and twisty sticks holding decorative pumpkins. What a cute centerpiece!

That brings us to the most popular fall decor item, the pumpkin. Look at all these inspiring ways to display them:

With all the scrapbooking stickers out there, this could be done in minutes.

I love the black color!

(caromel colours)

I love the shades of these metallic mini pumpkins. They're so gorgeous together.

Oh to have the talent to paint these cute argyle pumpkins!

(by heather bullard)

(hgtv)

Love the natural with the mercury glass pumpkins.

(by homemadesimple)

These painted black and white pumpkins are stunning.

These leaves were just mod podged on!

(let it shine)

(meredith)

I adore the combination of the silver with the white pumpkins. I turns out so elegant.

(southern living)

What about these knobby and warty pumpkins? The colors look wonderful next to that lovely aqua color. Very unexpected.

(martha stewart)

There's something so lovely about this arrangement. I love the combination of the orange, grays, greens and the unexpected touches of gold.

A cute idea for the front porch.

(diy showoff)

These "mumkins" would be easy to do using a fake pumpkin shell and placing your mums in them. With a cute face, you've got a darling addition to the front porch.

Did you know that these heirloom pumpkins grow these colors? I may have to see if I can grow some next year!

(martha stewart)

How darling are these?! I want to make a whole army of these guys.

Love the look of the crystal glass and the gourds.

And just for laughs, here's a killer pumpkin snowman:

(my kids think this in hysterical!)

I hope you were inspired to create lovely and unique fall displays. Have fun!

I'm participating in:

Show and Tell Saturday

Weekend Wrap Up Party

DIY Showoff Fall Festival

Frugalicious Friday

Saturday Nite Special

Show off Your Stuff

Creation Corner Link Party

Frugal Friday

The Nester Mantle Party

Photo Editing For Dummies

2010-09-07T10:24:00.000-05:00

I absolutely love photos. I love using them to document all the fun we have as a familiy. I love using them in my decor. I just love trying to create artistic shots. Like many, I don't have the best digital camera yet (still saving for that) but still want to be able to get a unique and artistic shot. Thanks to this fabulous digital age we live in, when can get those magical shots by using some photo editing.

I know "Photoshop" is the "it" in editing, but life is just so busy that I haven't had time to take a course in it (that'll come with getting my nice camera!) In the meantime, here are some FREE dummy programs that I love to use because of how simple they are.

Picnik

First up, is Picnik. This program is so easy to use. You upload any photo from your computer files and start playing with it. You can resize, crop, sharpen, fix the exposure or saturation. Then they have lots of effects you can add. When you're done changing your photo, save it to you computer and print it out wherever you print your digital photos (I love Costco around here!)

Here are some examples of what I did to a few photos:

Oh, don't we feel like this after some of the days we have? This little guy was just worn out from a fun day. Look at those knees and the dirt on the face! For this photo, I used the soften, vignette and color effects.

For this one, I first cropped it a bit, added a very subtle matte and then used the Orton Effect to crank up the colors in it. I wanted the grass to be really vibrant. Love it!

I already loved this shot I took in a Portugal Castle, but I wanted it a bit more artistic. I played subtly with the exposure and saturation, then added a weak vignette, softened it a bit and ran it through cross process to make those yellow, red and green colors pop. That sounds so professional and hard, but it's so easy to use in the Picnik program. You just select the effect and slide a button until you get the level you want. Play with it! You'll love it!

Antique Editing

This next photo editing program is a Japanese one that makes your photos look like something from the late 1800's. It makes them sepia toned with all the scratches and wrinkles of age. It can be found here. If it comes up in Japanese, don't worry! There's an English button to change the instructions over. Like Picnik, you upload a photo, it changes it over to the old style, and you save it to your computer so you can order a print from Costco or wherever.

I took this shot in Italy and used this editor to change it into something you might find on a vintage postcard.

I ran this one through both editing programs so I could add a black vignette and change the sepia tone.

I picked a few favorites and framed them for our master bedroom:

Picasa

The next Editing program that is really easy to use is Picasa. They have quite a few of the same effects and tools that Picnik has, but also some unique ones. I just experimented with it's collage program. I saw and idea for making an architectural word collage here.

You can upload some free photos of letters and numbers found from signs and buildings. You then upload your saved letters to the collage program and creat a fun art collage. I did ours to say "Beusfamily.1993"

After I got the collage the way I wanted, I saved it to our computer, went to Costco online and ordered a $5 enlargement of it. A couple of hours later I threw it into a frame I had and Voila- easy art!

Wouldn't these make a fun family Christmas gift or a wedding gift for the art-deprived newlyweds? What about making each letter a 16 x 20 enlargement, frame them to spell out your child's name and hang on their wall? Hmmm....I just might do that one in my little guys room....

While you might not have the best camera yet, the magic of digital editing can really save those shots and create some stunning art for your home. Have fun!

FYI: all of my family shots and travel shots were just taken with my digital point in shoot, which is a Canon PowerShot SX120