Friday Favorites

Wow.  My second link party in one week.  I have the lovely Caitlin to thank for that!

 

Simple Ocean Artwork

In my ongoing efforts to make a welcoming guest bedroom, I have completed major and minor projects, and have many others in the works.  I picked a beach theme for the guest bedroom, as listening to the ocean always relaxes me. This was a simple project that only took me about 20 minutes from start to finish.

What you'll need:

• dollar store frames with matting
• assortment of starfish and large seashells
• burlap
• glue gun and glue sticks

First, make sure that your starfish and seashells fit inside the frame (and matting, if you're using it).  Also, make sure that the glass is NOT glued to the frame (that happened to me once with a frame from Michael's and I was not a happy camper!).  The glass will go between the burlap and the rear of the frame.

Carefully remove the glass from the frame.  Take your burlap and cut it to the size of the glass.

Hot glue your burlap onto the glass by squeezing small amounts evenly spaced around the perimeter and the center of the glass (not pictured). Hot glue on the matting will not work, as the burlap will "billow" out through the matting opening and your seashells will not have a sturdy base.

Once the burlap is securely glued to the glass, return the matting into the frame and place glass and burlap face down.  Secure the frame rear.  Turn the frame it over and glue the seashells and starfish to the burlap inside the matting as pictured below:

Repeat this process for all the frames and seashells at hand.

Voila! Simple and inexpensive artwork that looks great together in small groupings.

Now I just have to hang them!

Submitted to:

Submitted to:

Mini Bathroom Makeover

As you all know, we just made a big move to The South from up north. I guess that makes us Yankees then, huh?

As with all things related with moving there was a LOT of clutter that I had to redirect in our house before it was liveable. Heck, some of the clutter was makeshift furniture! Haha. We sold a lot of our belongings to make the move easier and to start from scratch. Moving on up! Or, south, technically.

One eyesore in particular was the master bathroom (SO excited I get to type that!). Sure, we had a vanity under the sink, but it in no way was capable of housing all of our toiletries. The countertop was a minefield!

Notice the highly attractive black part underneath the vanity. Who the heck does that?! That same ugly bar also runs along the bottom of the kitchen cabinets and the guest bathroom vanity. Builder's grade materials, they're called. Why oh why?

What boggles my mind is that there are darker wood floors throughout, and a dark ceiling fan in the adjoining master bedroom. The wood colors don't match!

See where the wheels were turning?

I went to the local Lowe's (love that place) in search for a medicine cabinet to house toiletries. I vehemently abhor that oak color for cabinets. Oak wood floors? Fine. Oak furniture? Reminds me of my college dorm furnishings. I digress.

I fell in love with this Allen + Roth medicine cabinet at Lowe's, and after chatting it up with the store employees I learned that I could easily install it myself. Only problem was the builder's mirror currently on the wall. The geniuses glued it to the wall, so I would have had to break it to install a medicine cabinet. So over the toilet it would have to go:

The two tone wood furnishings looked dreadful so I just HAD to paint the vanity.

Finding paint to match the cabinet proved far more difficult than I thought. See how it has a gorgeous red glow to it? Paint wouldn't be able to emulate that. The paint I ended up getting had a blue tint rather than red, but that's for another entry. Tune in to see the transformation!

Oceanside Guest Bedroom Inspiration

Hi all.  It's been a little quiet on the home front.  I have been extremely busy crafting (well, between entertaining out-of-town guests, traveling, and keeping house).  I have tons of things to share with you, but getting around to blogging has been a little difficult.

I have been very preoccupied with preparing our guest bedroom.   I LOVE relaxing weekends at the beach.  My wonderful in-laws have a house on Cape Canaveral and the beach is only two blocks away.  Dreamy!  I love the relaxed color palettes of the ocean and thought, "Wouldn't it be nice to bring the beach to my guests?"  Haha, I didn't really think that, but I did think it would be nice to look in there from time to time and reminisce of relaxing summers on the beach.

As far as how to recreate such a memory, I don't like anything too kitschy, but I do like the creams, whites, blues, greens, greys and the sunlight sparkling off the waters of the ocean.  I've since secured a full size bed from a local wholesaler (I hate full size beds but the room is too small to accommodate a larger bed!), and a set of lamps and nightstands/end-tables from Craigslist.  Actually, the nightstands and lamps were only $75 total.  Not bad if I do say so myself.  I have plans for transforming the nightstands but I will leave that to be a surprise.  I did want to share with you the ideas I am working with for this room.  I've started to build a headboard (yes, build...more on that later in a separate post) and have plenty other things up my sleeve.

Let's start with the bed:

I love love LOVE upholstered headboards!  I love all the pretty shapes, colors, fabrics, heights, and embellishments!  I love the diamond-tufted ones, and tailored with nails like the one pictured above.  After much deliberating, I've settled on a sand-colored  headboard without tufting.  I also like the bronze nails accentuating the shape of the headboard.  I've seen similar headboards on the websites of Pottery Barn and Crate & Barrel ranging between $300 - $500.  Now that's a DIY project right there!

I've seen sunburst mirrors all over magazines and Pinterest, and although I'm usually not a fan of the latest trends in decor, the idea has grown on me.  I think the thought of one above the headboard would resemble the sun rising in the morning sky.  The only thing I can't decide on is whether I want a silver one or a gold one.  I bought antique gold upholstery nails for the headboard, and am planning on incorporating chrome elsewhere in the room.  I'm a little nervous about three different-colored metals in one room.  What do you think?

Since most of these babies run around $200+, I think it's safe to say that I will be whipping up some elbow grease and go the DIY route.  Which leads me to my next element: mercury glass.  I've just discovered this beautiful metal.  I saw some mercury glass votives at Michael's and fell in love with the look.

What is an seaside-inspired room without some beach elements?

I love the color turquoise and it is a lovely reminder of the ocean.  This looks like it is upholstered foam board with gold upholstery nails.  I like that they mixed in a silver sunburst mirror with gold accents in the room, like the gold pillows and a gold lampshade.  All of a sudden I am feeling a little more confident about my antique gold upholstery nails for the headboard and mercury glass accessories.

What's a guest bedroom without a nice place to sit on?  I saw this online and was inspired by the colors of the chair:

 Last, but not least, I have a few ideas for incorporating the sea (without being too kitschy).  They probably will not end up being on pillows but I liked how these looked:

I will post updates on here really soon!

Kirkland-worthy Homemade Wall Art

Don't you just love a well-decorated house? It's warm and inviting and cozy having an esthetically pleasing space around you. Unfortunately sometimes that comes with a price. Fortunately you can do this on a budget.

I found the idea on this lovely lady's site: Dream Home DIY. I have been wanting to complete this project for over a month now but haven't found the time. It honestly only took less than 20 minutes so I could have had this on the wall a long time ago.

What you'll need:

Ribbon ($2)

Key from Hobby Lobby ($9)

14x18 or 16x20 frame with matting ($18)

Upholstery spray adhesive ($5)

Burlap ($2)

Total cost: under $40. I already had some of these items so it truly did not cost me as much money.

First, carefully remove the glass from the frame and set aside.

Have the upholstery spray adhesive, burlap, and a pair of scissors handy. Look at what is hidden underneath the glass. Chances are you have a piece of cardboard to glue your burlap onto. Burlap has an open weave, so you don't want to glue it onto a light-colored background.

Cut your burlap to a size larger than the matting's opening, preferably to the size of the backing. Lay it on the cardboard backing making sure it covers the area completely. Glue one-half of the fabric to the cardboard. Smooth out any wrinkles and reposition as necessary. Work quickly so the glue does not dry and the fabric adheres incorrectly.

Glue the other half down and allow to dry for a few minutes.

Lay the matting, burlap and any other paper included in the frame. Top off with the glass for support, and finish by reinserting the back of the frame.

Play around with the position of the key so that it's to your liking. I didn't want the bottom of the key hanging below the edge of the matting so I positioned it a bit higher.

Use the spray adhesive and spray the underside of the key on the sections that touch the burlap. (I would do this over the sink or outside). Set the key on the frame on the desired location and let set for about 10 minutes. Take about 15" of ribbon and insert through the loop at the top of the key.

Carefully flip the frame over and securely tie the ribbon through the frame hanger. Careful not to tie too tightly or else the adhesive pulls away from the burlap.

Cut off any extra ribbon that would interfere with hanging. I placed a dab of toothpaste on the hook and pressed it onto the wall to have the exact location for the hook.

There you have it! The easiest project ever that goes nicely in a living room or dining room. About 20 minutes start to finish. I love it!!

Living room artwork

This is a really quick post.  I have been pondering and pondering what I could purchase to make artwork for our living room.  I'm not sure I wanted a picture of Tuscany landscape (that's more for my kitchen to accompany future canvases featuring wine) or any other landscape for that matter.  I've seen that countless times and wanted to truly mix modern + traditional decorating.

I came across a pin on Pinterest (surprise, surprise) with a conglomeration of different images in one.  It looked interesting so I opened it.  I never thought that I could find inspiration for our living room in that pin.  EVER.

I came across this picture from Hannah's blog:

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="385"] Isn't it gorgeous?[/caption]

Hannah and her friends made this for her dining room.  Since the paint on her walls is identical (almost) to that in my living room, and I've been on a bronze metallic constant daydream recently, this really piqued my imagination.  Why couldn't I recreate this (with help) for our living room?  We have a big empty space above our sofa only emphasized by a vaulted ceiling.  It looks pretty bare (I'll post a picture when I have finished painting).

I can't wait to invite my artistic sister-in-law from Maryland and force entice her into doing this with me.  I LOVE it!  Amanda could even use this in her art portfolio.  She just came back from a month in Florence studying art.  I have the PERFECT person to do this for help me!

Hannah did it with canvas for $60, but if I get cheap particle board from Lowe's this would cost even less.  I can't WAIT to have this up!

Reupholstering Chair Seats part 2

This was a much more productive run!  Amazing what can happen when you have all the right materials at your disposal! Last time I sat down to reupholster a seat for my dinette I had a chair pad (foam) that was several inches too narrow on all fronts.  How frustrating!  I went back to JoAnn a few days ago and swapped those chair pads for squares ones that were 22" on each side.  They only had three 1" high density foam pads, so I had to get 2" thickness, praying that I had enough fabric (I did).

 

These covered the widest part of my seats (20").  My seats taper towards the back, so I will have to do some extra cutting.

These were my tools: a permanent marker and my bread knife.  You can be fancy and use an electric meat carver, but I don't have one.

Trace your seat with the permanent marker.

 

(This picture was taken at an angle so the seat looks square. It is not).

When you are cutting, MAKE SURE YOU MAINTAIN AN UP-AND-DOWN MOTION.  Do NOT cut at an angle.  I learned this the hard way.  Your seat will be lopsided and you will have to conjure up a way fill in what you've cut out.  (This high density foam is NOT easy to cut, so cutting small pieces to make up for mistakes won't happen).

 

Using an upholstery adhesive, you will glue the foam to your wooden seat for easier upholstery.  Trust me, you're gonna want to go outside for this.  This stuff sprayed out  like Spiderman's webbing shooting from his wrists. ( I wish my "spidey" sense had forewarned me). It was white, sticky, and came out in a vertical line as opposed to the usual conical sprays.  Do this on cement or anything you don't want to preserve, like grass.  It can get messy quick, if you're not careful.

Follow the instructions EXACTLY as printed.  I sprayed both foam and wood and waited about 30 seconds (under the hot Georgia sun) for it to dry to a "tack."  To me that meant no longer translucent.  Then I placed the foam onto the seat.  Note: this WILL be permanent so proceed carefully.  If you feel like you might have to reposition your foam for whatever reason, DO NOT spray both sides.  When they say "it is a permanent bond" they MEAN IT!  Once I set it down it would not budge.

Once you have your foam glued (should take less than 30 seconds--really) you lay your seat (foam side down) on cotton batting.

Staple the center edge on the first side.  Pull the batting tightly; and wrinkles or folds in the batting will create an uneven base for your fabric.  Work your way around and staple the center edge of the remaining 3 sides.  If it's not as snug as you need it to be you can always remove that one staple and re-tighten.  The cotton batting will smooth out  the transition from the foam's edge to the wooden seat.  In my case, the batting also provided padding for the uneven cutting of the foam.  I had to cut extra snippets and place them in the gaps to make up for my mistake.  Live and learn.

Work your way around the seat and staple the batting to the seat.  I used my permanent marker and circled the nail holes underneath the seat to remind me of the space I needed to have clear.

 

I played around with different folds until I settled for this one. I found this the least bulky under the fabric.  Trim off excess batting once you've stapled it all the way around, and staple your corners.

Then placed your seat base under your fabric so you can see exactly how you want the fabric's pattern to lay across your seat.  I was worried about the extra height of each seat and the 2.5 yards that I purchased.  I thought I would not have enough.  Thankfully I was able to take some time and carefully plan how I would maneuver my fabric so that the design would be centered on each seat.  I found that I could make two seats using the 54" of width of the fabric as opposed to picking a location along the 2.5 yards where the pattern looked nice and end up wasting fabric.  Smart, I know.

 

This ended up being a few degrees crooked (in my opinion) but, since the print is so busy, it hides well and I can live with it.

 

My faithful companion, Chip. I just love him!

Carefully lifting your seat with the fabric, staple the fabric onto the wood with one staple in the center of the seat's side.  Once I knew I had it where I wanted it, I stapled one on either side of that center staple.  I had not cut out my fabric yet so I wanted to be careful.

 

Work your way around the fabric, stapling and trimming until you get a rough square shape that's easier to work with.  While you're at it, take a tape measure and measure the width of the fabric so you have a general idea of how much fabric you'll need for each seat.

This was my first time reupholstering ANYTHING.  I know I could have measured the length + width of the seat, added 3" to each side (2 for the height and then 1 more to fold over), and then cut a square of fabric for that measurement.  However, I did not want to mess up the pretty damask pattern for the sake of simple arithmetic.  I also did not know if I estimated the correct yardage.  I ALSO was hoping to have enough fabric left over for a window valance for the kitchen and perhaps a scrap for an idea I have for an oven door towel.

 

I gathered the corner like the original seat's corners were. This lends to a nice rounded corner. If you want a square corner you would have to do a simple fold like I did with the cotton batting.

You can see that my fabric is not even around the seat--this is deliberate.  It was more important to me that the print was centered on the seat.  Once you have stapled the fabric snugly (but not too tightly) around each side, make sure your screw holes are exposed.  If not (see below, bottom right corner) you will have to trim back some fabric and/or batting to expose them.  You don't want the layers of batting, fabric and then the dust cover getting wound around the screw.  That would be a nightmare.

I brought the dust cover back out and lined up the holes from the screws in the wood to their corresponding parts on the dust cover.  As you can see, this dust cover is pretty see-through.  Remember, no one sees this side of the seat except maybe your dogs (and an extremely nosy relative).  If it bothers you, you can always buy black dust cover material at Joann.  I think it's $7.99 for 5 yards.  That was an additional $8 I didn't care to spend money on, so I reused what I already had at my disposal.

After all my work was done, I screwed the seat back onto the chair and admired my work.  Note that I already spray-painted the chair brown.  Might as well get that done while the seat was off, right?

Fabric Dilemma!

I am going to be making a bench for my living room in the near future but I am stuck on what fabric I should buy!  Help!

This bench will be going under our windowsill for extra seating.  I anticipate our bud Chip to perch himself on it constantly, so it needs to withstand constant puppy paws on it.

Here are my two options:

1.  Waverly Sun N Shade Outdoor Fabric-Chippendale Fretwork Mocha at JoAnn Fabric.  It is an outdoor fabric that resists stains and fade.  It's on sale right now for $12.49/yard.  It is 100% polyester.  Dry Clean Only.



2. Home Decor Print Fabric- Waverly Pen Pal/Parchment also at JoAnn Fabric.  This is on sale for $19.99/yard.  I only really need one yard, as I can make my bench fit the width of the fabric.  This fabric is 100% cotton.  Dry Clean Only.

What are your thoughts?  My inspiration is this bench from Ballard Designs, a European Inspired Design site.

It also works great at the foot of a bed:

 If you know how my mind works, you'll know that I'll eventually end up with two benches :)  But one at a time!

Give me your thoughts!!!

 If you're wondering what our color palette looks like in our living room, it is a taupe brown.  My goal is to infuse different fabrics in the same color family on the furniture, and accent with different colors in the accessories (pillows, artwork, ottoman, curtains...you get the idea).  You can find pictures of our [crude] living room as of yet by looking at my Wing Back Chair entry and my Peony Arrangement entry.

Statement Entry Wreath

Feel free to refer to this tutorial provided by Stone Gable.  It was their blog that inspired me to create mine.  I FELL IN LOVE with this wreath and knew that the ONLY way to have my very own was to make it myself.

I had a difficult time finding the same flowers as they did, and I also had to buy a similar wreath.  Their wreath was full and lush!  I bought a similar one at Hobby Lobby for about $14.  I used a 40% off coupon as well.  This wreath cost me a pretty penny.  In hindsight, I should have paced myself and bought these stems with more coupons.

It has only been within the past week that I've discovered that Michael's, JoAnn, and Hobby Lobby all have iPhone apps that have exclusive coupons oftentimes NOT found in print or on their websites.  It really does pay off to have the biggest arsenal at your disposal! 

StoneGable used green berries.  I had no such luck at either Michael's or Hobby Lobby.  But I WAS able to find green grape bunches for $1.99 a bunch, and the darker berries were about $2.99 a piece.  The costliest member of the wreath were the small, bright green bunches of hydrangeas.  They run about $11 a stem (with only 5 bunches of hydrangeas on each stem!) so definitely use your coupons for those.  I used green Queen Anne's lace for the round green bunches.  It was a nice filler that also provided wonderful texture and dimension.

Here are pictures of my finished product.  Again, I apologize for my lack of tutorial, but I will be more than happy to answer any questions you have!