DIY Vintagey Wreath

Here's a fun way to use vintage ornaments.

Start off with 15' of garland and a 10" foam ring.

Wrap the garland around the ring.

I used vintage ornaments, but any will do.

Hot glue the tops to the base of the ornaments so they don't pop off 

when you attach them to the wreath.

Thread the wire through the hoop on the ornament and wrap the wire around the wreath.  

Each time you wrap around, add another ornament.  Pull the wire tight or the ornaments will be loose and wobbly.

Twist the wire to secure it on the backside of the wreath and...

voila!

Mini Clutches!

The Mini's are here!

Get your Mini Clutches here!

Boy's Room

My boys share a room and I wouldn't have it any other way.  Forget that we live in a two bedroom house and I can't have it any other way; they get along really well and seem to enjoy sharing a space.  Decorating their room can be tricky because their tastes and my tastes clash sometimes, but we're flexible...so that helps.  There's a lot going on in that little room so I keep the palette neutral and accent with bright colors.  I had a desk in there but we needed storage, so I swapped it out for a dresser that I found on Craigslist.  

Here's the before...

yuck...I know.

But here's the after...

It took hours to sand down through all of that spray paint, but it was worth it.  I painted it linen white and Kevin sandblasted the metal drawer pulls and sprayed them matte black.

  

It's perfect!

Martha Stewart alphabet cards border the walls.

"frames" wallpaper from Land of Nod on one wall

hand painted numbers on the closet door

new bedding

aqua door

game armoire

The panels on the armoire doors came out easily and I was able to paste fabric with wallpaper paste to the front and back of each panel.  Once fully dried, I cut off the excess fabric with a utility knife.  

This is a really easy and inexpensive way to spruce up an old pine armoire.  

This little room has a lot going on but it all works.

Chevron Stripes

I thought I'd start off with a little project that was easy, inexpensive and provided (almost) instant gratification.  I'm always looking for ways to change things up in our house and painting is one of my favorite ways to do so.

This is my living room wall before.

  

The first step was to find the center of my wall, which you can do by measuring or by finding a focal point.  I used the middle hook on my shelf as my starting point.  Getting this line perfect is important because all of your other lines will be drawn from the first line.  I measured from the end of my wall (the far left) to the middle hook and marked the spot with a pencil.  It was 96".  Then I measured 96" starting from the top left corner of the wall and worked my way down.  I marked about 5 or 6 points and then connected the dots (vertically) with a yard stick.

Once the first vertical line is drawn, you can measure out from there.  I started from my first line (the line on the middle hook) and measured 19" to the right.  I did that at the top, at the bottom and a few spots in the middle.  Once I had a few points marked, I connected the dots.  Then I had two vertical lines side by side.  I continued from there until I reached the end of the wall to my right.  Then I moved to the left, marking 19" until I had vertical lines that reached across the entire wall.  

Then I taped along my pencil lines starting at the top and working my way to the bottom.

I used frog tape and was pleased with the results.  I have plaster walls which are anything but smooth, but I pressed the tape down really well, and considering the texture of my walls, there was very little bleeding.

http://www.frogtape.com/

If you tape to the right of your pencil line, tape to the right of every pencil line.

Your husband should be reading on the couch and looking up at you every so often for encouragement; this is an important step and should not be overlooked.

Next step is to mark every 14" down each strip of verticle tape. 

Make sure to mark in the middle of tape.

Once you're done marking, it's time to tape some more.  Start at the top and work your way to the right, connecting the dots.  I used a roll and a quarter of Frog Tape for this project.

Keep measuring and taping but make sure to do it quietly...you don't want to wake your audience.

Once you're finished, you can start painting!

I used Martha Stewart's precious metal paint from Home Depot for the white stripe

http://www6.homedepot.com/marthastewart/PDFs/paint/Precious_Metals.pdf

and another MS paint from Home Depot called portobello (satin finish) for the other stripe.  

Use a foam roller for the metallic paint.

http://www.homedepot.com/buy/ultra-dense-foam-2-pk-6-in-cover-for-smoothest-finish-54671.html

warning!!!  Precious metal paint is very, very runny.  I used 6 coats to get full coverage.  I would prime if I could do it over again.  

I painted two coats of the portobello stripe and waited a long 24 hours before I pulled off the tape.

  Remember, your existing wall color will be uncovered once you pull off the tape, so take that into consideration when choosing your stripe colors.

The entire project took about 20 hours...waiting to pull off the tape was the hardest part.