Bananas for red spray paint

I really do have a spray paint problem.  It’s becoming quite obvious.  I can’t imagine that it’s a surprise to anyone that my latest project involves a can of spray paint.  What can I say?  It’s a super simple and cheap fix for about anything.

Jeff and I had been debating over which banana holder to get for some time now.  I have no idea why this is such a hard decision…it should be a pretty simple pick.  Nope.  So when I came across this banana rack at the goodwill for .55 I couldn’t leave it.  OH yes, I did say 55 cents.  As in the change on the bottom of my purse (if I had change on the bottom of my purse that is).  Since we had a pretty full weekend, I figured this was one project I could get done pretty quick.  I used Rustoleum 2x spray paint again, and was very happy with the results. 

 

Here it is… now ready to reside in my kitchen!

 

I find it quite amusing that 5 out of 7 days a week we have bananas.  I went to take after shots of this tonight and guess what?  NO bananas!!  Ugh.  I am sure you can squint a little and just imagine a bunch of bright yellow bananas are hanging from that hook. 

 

So what did everyone else do this weekend?  Any spray painting going on???  We headed to Monterey, VA for the Highland Maple Festival again…. seriously amazing fresh maple syrup!!

Another Pinterest challenge – they just don’t get old!

It’s time for YHL and Bower Power’s regularly programmed Pinterest Challenge!! You know you have been pinning, you know you have a dozen projects you want to do. Well quit looking and talking and DO IT! I have a bunch of pins that are just no-brainers for getting done. I am pretty sure I have my project picked out, too. So go check out your boards and pick a project, then come back here next Wednesday, the 14th, and share what you did! Link up in the comments! Those crazy girls over there teamed up with Erin from The Great Indoors and Cassie from Hi Sugarplum! for this challenge. And if you aren’t familiar with Sherry at YHL and Katie at Bower Power you need to remedy that situation right now.

I think I will do one of these… you will have to wait till next week to find out which!

And while you are at it…go check out what everyone did over at:

younghouselove
Bower Power
The Great Indoors
Hi Sugarplum!

(Both Pinterest Challenge banners were found over at yhl)

Let the pinning begin!!!

DIY chevron rug from a towel

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post that I am purging some towels from our home, I decided to see if I could find a way to use a couple of them in other ways in our home.  I have a serious lack of rugs in this house.  As a matter of fact, I have 2 rugs – one in each bathroom.  I really need rugs in the kitchen, I want rugs in other places in the house for décor purposes.  I figured I could try this out, and if it doesn’t work, oh well, nothing lost but a little time and very little of my paint stash. 

 

Ok, well here goes… I am still not decided if this is a success.  I will have to let it hang out for a while.  It was very easy, but I am not sure if you can get it done without the helper that I had

 

One plain white towel.  I cut the end off that has the design on it as well as the edge on the opposite end.  I wanted it to be uniform on each side.

 

Then I used a level (because it was the longest thing I could find to make the lines) and measured lines all the way down the towel every 6 inches.  The tractors had to make sure I was keeping things even.  I then started placing my zigzags pretty much the same way I did in this tutorial where I made a DIY canvas.  You can’t really tell if they aren’t perfect, so just use your best judgment.  I did each row at a time, all zigs, then all zags… make sense??  Of course it does.

 

I just overlapped the tape as I went and trimmed up any edges I didn’t like.  Oh, and I used a plain old masking tape, about 2 inches wide.

 

Once all the lines were on, place child on towel to ensure all edges are nice and tight.  The dog on the corners is optional.

 

Next I chose a paint.  I was going to use green, but I forgot I used it all on the green wall.  Yellow it is then!  I used a small sponge applicator since that is what I had on hand.  I didn’t want to use a paint brush because I was afraid it would lay too much paint.  I did end up putting more paint in the first row than I would have liked, but it still worked well.

One line done…

 

And paired up with my lovely sunbeam mug… coffee just tastes better in that mug.

And here it is… It does look like a towel huh?  My plan is to apply some non-skid backing on it to keep it from sliding as well as give it a little stiffness. 

I guess we will see how it holds up and if I like looking at it.  I am hoping I like it and can figure out other ways to use towels like this.  It would be awesome if I could make rugs for several rooms to at least use to get the house on the market.  I think I am going to need to break down at some point and actually spend a little money on a real rug.

 

And since I have a love for chevrons, check out this window display I saw at a shopping mall in Richmond a weekend ago.  I couldn’t help but snap a picture.

 

 

Anyone else find any items to repurpose lately?  Maybe you made something or bought something you aren’t quite sure about? 

A new opportunity coming my way…

I am very excited…my sister-in-law is moving into her very first apartment (not as a college student!) and she is allowing me to help her with making her new place “hers”. (Can you see me jumping up and down I am so excited???) I have had so much fun in the last 4 months or so blogging and tailoring my home decor radar. I love to decorate, and it’s even more fun since her style is a little different from my own. I mean, I see things all the time that I like, and would love to have in my home, but they just don’t jive with my current style. So now I get to step out of that mold and have some fun! And did I mention she has great taste?? (She was key in my fabric choice for that ottoman – picture me standing in the isle with my face all contorted from the effort of trying to make that decision – lol, she gave me the nudge to get it!)

The apartment complex is going to paint an accent wall for her before she moves in (pretty awesome, right?) and she chose…. turquoise!!! Wow, bravery!! And I love it! I am currently putting together a mood board for her bedroom. It’s challenging, and I never realized all the questions I would have for her… and I really need to see the space. She moves in this weekend, so I will be able to check it out and hopefully get some before pics.

She picked up some items for the apartment already, and has been pinning things that suit her style. I think some inspiration “shopping” might be in order…after all, she is on a budget (aren’t we all these days, ugh) and I don’t want to deck her mood board out with items that our out of reach. She did splurge on some really nice Ralph Lauren lamps at Marshall’s…. check ‘em out!

Nice?? Oh yes. Funny, you can tell a little bit about a person’s style just from a lamp choice..

I am very honored that she values my opinion and wants my help with this …. so stay tuned to see what we come up with.

Pinterest art challenge!

Amanda over at Our Humble A{Bowe}ed announced a Pinterest art challenge a week or so ago.  It’s been a while since I participated in a challenge, if you remember, I did this little canvas for the fist one.  I love when I see these challenges, cause you know that you have pinned at least 5 things that say “Must do this!”  And…. you never get around to it.  You don’t? Well, I do…so, I decided that since I had a pin I have been looking at for a while, and all of the supplies at home already to do it, that I should jump in with 2 feet on this challenge. 

I had pinned this lovely canvas a while back.  I love some chevron and was really wanting to find ways to add it into my home.

 

Then I found where someone else had done it as well.  Here is the pin, for over at the embellished nest I used as a tutorial for my project.

 

Let’s get right into it.  I chose to get the kids involved with this one as well.  They love to help out, and I love having projects that we can keep for years made by them.

My supplies – plus several paint brushes, acrylic paints and little hands.

 

I followed the advice from my tutorial and measured out where I wanted my stripes to be.  I did this on both ends so that I would have markers to line up my tape.

 

Next I taped the straight lines that would serve as anchors for my chevron pattern.

 

I thought this next step might be tricky, but it wasn’t at all!

I simply marked the first side where I wanted it, judging distance without measuring.

 

The rest was easy peasy.

 

Now for the fun part!!  Painting!  I let the kids do most of this.  I filled in some spots and generally tried to convey to them what I was looking for.

Paint brushes in hand and paint ready… they went to town!

 

I think at one point Jeff even got involved.

And here you go…all painted!  I added some silver metallic for some shiny contrast at the end.

 

I let it dry overnight.  And when I looked at it in the morning I realized I had missed an important color.  Oops!  Yellow!  I had some puff paint handy, so I just streaked around some yellow and white puff paint to brighten it up a bit.  I ended up having to use an exacto knife to gently slice the puff paint where the tape edges were so that when I pulled the tape off, the puff paint wouldn’t slide off with it.

And here we go… project complete!

I have gotten into the whole staging thing, can you tell?  lol  I am still getting the hang of it.  I really like how this turned out…and the fact that the kids made it makes it double awesome!

 

Anyone else do some DIY stuff recently?  Any fun kids projects?  Please share! I love to hear what others are doing! 

Quickie DIY bathroom art

I have been trying to finish up the guest bath for some time now… almost 5 years if you want to put a number on it.  I have done a few things, like paint half of a wall yellow, add some colored circles and monogram letters for the kids above some dog hineys for hooks.  We had a colored shower curtain that I wasn’t crazy about, but it served its purpose for a while….that is until a certain miniature pinscher had a little stand off with a skunk.  UGH!!  So that was a farewell to the shower curtain.  The room started out like this when I started this blog :

 

 

 

It’s a pretty bare bones bathroom.  Builder grade mirror, light fixture, and even curtain rods.  I really need something to warm this room up and make it feel less bathroom at a local convenient store, and more like the kids bathroom.  I like the monogram letters above the towel hooks, so that stays.  I am not 100% crazy about the paint anymore, but it will work for the time being.  That wall behind the toilet is my focus for this post.

 

I pulled that shelf down and brainstormed for a while on what I was going to put up there.  I had decided that I was going to put something up there that I already have…no shopping for this one.  I dug into my craft bin to see what I could find.

 

I came a across some little wooden letters.  I had them for one project or another years ago, and just hung onto them because you never know when you are going to need to put some words somewhere.  Really?Am I the only one that does that?  Say it ain’t so!

 

I tried to put some words together that “fit” in a bathroom.  I settled on ~wash~rinse~clean.  I used some acrylic paints to paint each letter a different color, then used plain on Elmer’s to glue the letters onto a piece of white card stock.

 

I had some frames that were in use in that bathroom a while back that I spray painted a glossy white.  Into the frames went the cardstock and words… and here you go…simple and quick are.

 

 

Here are some close ups.. I still need to fill the holes from the shelf.

 

I have some more ideas in the works.. I happened to run by the Goodwill yesterday and found some fun stuff to see if I can work into the bathroom!  This room really needs a nice shower curtain.  And there is always the possibility of something happening with that mirror. 

 

Anyone else whip up some quick art lately?  Work with any monograms?  Maybe you followed a tutorial to the letter?   Please share!

Faux capiz chandelier

I have been meaning to write about the a project I did right before I started this blog.  I kept putting it off since I didn’t have any pics of the process,  and finally decided that it was actually a successful project, and I needed to share it.  I had been seeing capiz chandeliers in people’s homes (in blog land) and really liked them.  The problem is, these chandeliers are out.of.my.reach.by.miles in the price department.  Then I started to see where people had made faux capiz chandeliers.  Perfect solution, right??!! I mean, they are made of wax paper, string and various metal bases.  Cheap…possibly time consuming, but pretty simple.  The first thing I had to do was figure out a base that would work for me.  I was on the hunt for a little while.  I had seen several different options used on different sites.The main one that I used was this one from Freshly Picked.  I lucked out in September, when my mom was going to toss an old lamp shade.  She let me take it, and even let me borrow some spray paint to paint it white.  I didn’t take any pics of the process, but there are many great tutorials out there that I will link up to.  I used a couple of different tutorials to get this thing done, it took me a while, but I did get it done.   I will give the best recap I can without pics to demonstrate the steps.

 

My first step was to get all of my supplies together. Here is what I used:

 

wax paper

red solo cup

ink pen

scissors

white thread

frame (I used the metal frame to a tapered lamp shade)

hooks that screw into the wall

wire

 

The first thing I did was to pull all of the fabric off of the shade.  Once it was cleaned off, I spray painted it white.  That was probably the easiest step of this whole project.

Next, I took wax paper in strips about 2 feet long and ironed 2 pieces together.  I put the pieces together and laid them on the ironing board, placing an old shirt on top and bottom of them to keep any wax from melting on the iron or the ironing board.  Once the pieces were ironed together – I started the part that had me wishing I had just shopped harder for a cheap capiz.  lol.  I took the solo cup and traced as many circles on the pieces of ironed together wax paper as I could fit.  Then I spent countless hours cutting, and cutting and cutting… seriously.. buy a circle cutter if you are going to attempt this. 

I actually found the next step kind of interesting.  I chose how far I wanted my “shells” to hang down, and proceeded to sew them together in strips 2 times that length.  I followed this video, because at first I thought it was not possible to sew them with thread….I was wrong!  Hop over there and check it out… she gives a very simple tutorial on the sewing the “shells” together. 

 

This is pretty much the meat of the project.  Once you have all of your strips sewn together, drape them evenly around your upside down, spray painted lamp shade.  Once you feel you have covered the shade and made it as full as you want, you need to hang it.  I ended up making loops with some picture hanging wire in 4 spots on the top of the frame, then screwing some hooks into the ceiling around the light fixture that was already up (a boob light without the glass dome).  That’s it!  If you can stick it out through the circle cutting marathon, you will have an awesome faux capiz chandelier!

 

Here are some photos of the chandelier hanging…

 

 

 

Here is a shot from below inside the chandelier, it fits perfectly over the fixture.

 

And here is how it is hung… be very careful to get those screwed in straight and tight.

 

I like how it turned out.  It doesn’t look like a real capiz to me, but I find it to be a cute alternative.  Hannah loves it and is ready for me to get going on the rest of her room!!  One step at a time… lol  One step that I didn’t take was adding a wire around the middle of the shade to add another layer to it.  I think it would look nice, but I am happy with how it is.  It’s good to know there are other options though!

 

Has anyone else been making any faux decorations lately?  Maybe you have some favorite light fixtures you have on display? 

Sharing the love–week 3

 

It’s that time once again.  If you want to know what I have been reading, you can check out my blog roll, or you can go check out One Project at a Time. The name says a lot, but don’t be fooled into thinking that the “one project” is anything small….these guys tackle some major jobs!  Right now they are elbow deep in a bathroom renovation.    Beautiful penny tile and mosaic tiles galore!  Erin, her husband Jason, and their little man, Ryder, have been putting hard work and lots of love into a foreclosure in efforts to make it a home for their family.  I think they are well on their way…. what do you think?

 

A beautiful living area

 

What an awesome laundry room!

 

 

Serious closet envy

 

My personal favorite, the playroom.

Take a few minutes to go check them out… heck, take more than a few minutes.  We’ll pretend its Friday and you don’t need to be super productive anyway.      Heck, in my book, getting to know great bloggers and getting ideas for projects is super productive.   And the best part of this blog?  They haven’t even scratched the surface on what they want to do with their home.  They have a whole list of projects waiting in the wings.

While your over there, check out their first house as well.  Gotta love a family with the drive to not only do one home, but start all over again with another!

 

 

While I am at it, check out what I pinned today… this little piece is inspiring me to get to work on another project… hope to have some progress this weekend!

 

 

What have you guys been up to this week? Any great blogs to share?  Already a fan of One Project at a Time?  Please share!

Spray painted lamps–the beginning.

I think that yellow is one of my favorite colors… seriously, I really like yellow.  And if you pair yellow with grey?  Love!  So it shouldn’t be much of a surprise when I decided that the lamps in the master bedroom should undertake a little bit of a makeover.  Since I finally got around to deciding what I really wanted to do with the master bedroom, I have been on a mission to make this thing happen!  Step 1… paint those lamps!  Step 2….figure out the shades.

 

I have a game plan, and that is a huge step for me on this one.  Not only do I have a game plan, but my plan has me pulling it off for less moolah than I had ever imagined.  Maybe that is what was in my way all this time?  Money… I’m thinking that is some of it, but a good portion of my hesitance in moving forward with a design is pure fear.  Fear that I won’t get it right.  Fear that I will put it together and it won’t be like I pictured it.  Well, you don’t know till you try, huh?  So here you go.  Moving forward with this room.  I am really excited to put it all together.  It will be one step at a time though.  I debated whether I should get it done, then give the big “Here it is!” reveal, along with the info on how I did it – or show all the little projects as I commence this journey and show the big picture when it is done.  I have decided on the latter.  I will be DIYing as much as possible and it will kill me to keep it all hush, hush until the reveal.  And let’s face it, with my crazy life sometimes, it may take a bit to get to the reveal.  So without further adieu…..

 

 

The story of a lamp.  We bought these guys at Lowes last year (maybe the year before?) for $11 each –with the shade.  That was a pretty good deal.  We had been all over looking at lamps, T.J.Maxx, Marshal’s, Lowes, Home Depot.  My husband’s style and mine just aren’t the same all the time.  So when we finally saw these, and the price tag, we jumped.  Although they are nice lamps, my plan includes yellow lamps.  Enter Rustoleum’s Ultra 2x cover spray paint.  I picked a can up at True Value on my lunch break for the tune of $4.25.  That’s a pretty good price to get 2 new lamps, don’t you think??  This is really my second attempt at spray painting anything beyond picture frames and glass jars, so I was a tad nervous.  Nothing to fear though, this stuff is amazing!  Great coverage and what a glossy finish!

I started out by removing the shade and the hardware that holds the shade.  Then I followed that up by wiping the hole thing down with a damp cloth to get any dust or residue off of it.  Once I dried it, I covered the cord with a plastic bag, securing the piece closest to the base of the lamp with a little frog tape.  I also stuffed the top part with paper, and covered it and taped it as well.  Pretty much – if I didn’t want it yellow, I covered it up.

Don’t worry, the dog wasn’t standing there when I painted… that’s Lizzie, our boxer/helper/droololigist.

 

One coat…

 

2 coats…

 

 

 

3 coats…

 

And because I didn’t want to miss anything and there were a few spots… 4 coats…

 

 

You can already see the shine on that bad boy…And here we are…one yellow lamp.

 

 

I let this cure for a bit before bringing it in.  It dried really fast, and I only had to wait a few minutes between coats.  I am very happy with how this turned out.  I haven’t done the other lamp yet, since mother nature decided I needed to wait… 2-4 inches of snow to be precise.

 

And as always, because I love a before and after pic.

 

 

Now all that is left is to figure out if I am going to change the shades.  I may have to wait until I am further along with the room.  That yellow is pretty bright and I don’t want the shades to compete with it. 

 

Anyone else been spray painting lately?  Any success, or maybe not so successful, stories to share?

DIY Storage Ottoman reveal

Well… it took some time, and trial and error, but I did it.  I made a storage ottoman form a standard, non-storage ottoman!  If you recall, I scored this ottoman from Goodwill a couple of weeks ago.

 

 

 

Well,here it is!!  All decked out in new duds.

 

 

It was in decent condition, just outdated and lots of wasted space inside.  My vision was to make this a storage ottoman that could be used to store all sorts of goodies.  This is all in line with our need for more storage in our home.  I am determined to add storage, but only if it is attractive.  So my plan of action was to pull all of that fabric off and see what I had underneath. 

 

After I cleaned off all of the fabric this is what I was left with.  This is actually flipped upside down.  I was hoping there would be a top and bottom piece of wood, but there was only a top piece.  So much for using only what as existing… I would have to figure out how to create a top and bottom.  My sister-in-law had a good idea, pop off that piece that was already on the top, and use it as the top since it was the perfect size, then use a piece of plywood I had in the shed to create a bottom in it. 

 

Did I mention this thing had a lot of staples?  I mean a LOT of staples, it was ridiculous.  Whoever had built this thing was not intending for it to be taken part.

 

The next steps were pretty simple.  I measured the outside of the ottoman and cut my material about 2 inches longer.  The I laid the fabric on one side and began stapling it by stretching it over the top and then the bottom.  I did the entire top of one side, then pulled it tight across the bottom.  If you notice, I have tabs cut out around those supports inside.  I simply cut those pieces back when I had it all stapled on.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is where I ran into a bit of a problem…. when I got to the very end of the fabric, I had to attach it to the ottoman.  I folded it over and staples it.  I did not like how this looked at all.  I hopped online and did some searching for ideas of how to remedy this.  I found this tutorial over at Running with Scissors

 

 

I pulled MORE staples out… lol ugh!  This was actually an easy step, turn the fabric face to face and sew a quick seam in it.  Turn it right side out and pull it down over the ottoman.

 

 

Now you may have noticed that the inside of this ottoman is particle board.  I will have to be careful what I put inside this unless I line it somehow.  I had purchased a flat white sheet from the Goodwill a while back and was holding onto it in case I needed it.  That would work perfect for this ottoman.  So I put together a quick plan after measuring out the ottoman.

 

Thanks to my mom for helping me get all these pieces cut.  I am sooo new at this and she keeps me straight on cutting fabric correctly.   I lined up all the pieces before I started sewing them together, just to be sure I wasn’t horribly off on any of my cuts. 

 

I sewed all of them together in a circle, then sewed them onto a bottom piece of the sheet.  (Should I mention that I sewed the bottom on the wrong side the first time??  lol thank goodness for seam rippers).

Here it is!  I stapled my lining on at first, but I didn’t like how that turned out either, so I went back and hot glued it in.  I am actually quite pleased that this worked out so well, I came up with the liner all on my own, and I am NOT experienced in this sort of thing.

 

The next item to take care of is the lid.  Again, this part was straight forward.  Cut the fabric with some extra on the edge to pull over and staple.  Once it was all stapled, I hot glued a piece of that sheet that I had hemmed up as a liner to cover the particle board.

 

Here we are… getting close to the end!!  I purchased a piano hinge to attach the top.  I was concerned that it would not handle the job, but had seen lots of other ottomans using this simple hinge.  I also purchased a soft close hinge to keep this lid from slamming down on anyone’s fingers.  Specifically a 17 month old that would find it endlessly fascinating to hide stuff in there.

 

 

And here you go… here is the inside all put together and ready to go!  um, well, almost, the soft close hinge I bought was a right side hinge.  Because of the side supports I will need a hinge that can be attached either farther out, or closer to the center of the lid.

 

 

And, for a good before and after…here you go!!