Simple, inexpensive sconce update

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

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

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

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!