Frugal Home Ideas

Baby Shower fun!

2010-04-08T14:45:00.001-05:00

Remember me? Yeah, I'm the one who used to blog on here often! I wanted to show you guys a few projects that I did for my very best friend's baby shower.

The invitations

I made these diaper invitations out of plain white card stock for the diaper with a decorative safety pin and attached a tag and slipped the invitation right inside.

I don't do much paper crafting, but I really enjoy it. The only other thing I've really done is invitations for my son's first birthday party (made out of altoid's tin), which you can see here

The Cake

This was the most intimidating part of throwing this shower. I wanted a special cake, and I wanted to try and do it myself. I have a big problem with seeing other people's ideas and thinking "oh that looks easy, I can do that!" I always seem to bite off a little more than I can chew, but I think it turned out really cute, although not quite professional looking like I was hoping :-)

This was the second cake that I have ever made (you can see the first here, again my son's first birthday), I did NOT know what I was doing when I started, and it's a miracle it looks like anything at all. Thank the Lord for an amazingly talented dessert-baking-mother-in-law who helped me make the Royal icing for the hood. Who knew you could make an icing that would dry and turn hard?

After making this cake, which could be a blog post by itself, it was nearly a disaster a few times - (and I may have used a wallpaper smoother to smooth the icing...shhhh.) I was so worried about transporting it! I was that driver that you honk at turning left going like 2 miles an hour until there are completley through the turn. I will think twice before I get mad at one of these people again - they might just have a bassinet cake in their floorboard :-)

I went simple with the decor, since I had some other time consuming projects to finish. Just some pretty pinky purple flowers in a .50 cent cup from walmart with some easter friendly pinky purple M&Ms

The Favors

I got the idea for these favors from Bower Power, who was thrown a baby shower with bulbs being the favor. I loved that idea, and especially with a baby shower honoring baby Lily! So of course, I had to do Lily bulbs. I "planted" each one in a ready to plant garden thingy (I don't know much about this stuff - all I know is it cost $2 for 22 of these !) with a little pink Easter grass and wrapped it up in cellophone tied with ribbon and a tag on each one made from left over invitation paper. The tag says

A Lily for Lily

Lily Claire Penrod

Plant this bulb on the day Lily is born

The Presents

I love opening beautifully wrapped presents. You will never receive a gift from me in a gift bag! The joy of unwrapping is sometimes better than the gift itself! I saw this wrapping paper on olderandwisor.blogspot.com, and decided to get some similar. Well, I guess she shopped at Target, because I got the exact same paper. Even put a flower on it too. I made these flowers out of leftover yarn from the present itself. They are super easy to make, and so cute

Can't forget a present for soon-to-be big sis! (a "sisters" frame and some pretty lip gloss in a personalized case, and by personalized I mean that I ripped of the sticker that came on it, printed her name out in pink letters and modge-podged it on there). The letters on the gift itself is still left over invitation paper.

The present for Momma (or baby, I guess) was a blanket I crocheted with a basketweave stitch.

I did one just like it for Levi when I was pregnant with him.

Now, I just have to wait a few more weeks until I meet baby Lily herself! I can't wait!!

DIY West Elm-esque Decorative Balls

2010-02-01T20:11:00.004-06:00

I forgot where I saw this tutorial so if you know where this is from, or if it was yours - let me know so I can give credit.

I need some knick-knacks for my built-in in the dining room, but here's my problem. I just can't buy knick knacks. Yes, I've done it before - but usually only when staging a house, so I considered it more of an "investment" to get the house sold. Don't get me wrong - I love knick knacks. I walk through the aisles of Home Goods and drool. It's one of the first things I envy in others homes. But when it comes to forking over the cash for a ceramic dog, or in this case, "balls of string" (as my husband named them), I just can't do it. I can't pay for something that doesn't have meaning or function or sentimental value that will just need to be dusted. I hate the idea of spending money on something random purely to take up space.

But that doesn't mean I won't accept a gift! Or re do a tacky good will find, or make something from scratch. That I can handle.

So this time, it's made from scratch.

This is so easy, and I am pleased with the result.

All you need is a few balloons, a ball of twine and some Stiffy

(make sure you have your search engine on "safe mode" when googling an image of this product)

Blow up your balloons to your desired size, then wrap them in twine. You're just wrapping them at this point to determine how much twine you want.

Remove the twine from one of your balloons, and put it in a ziplock baggie

(this baggie was left over from a diaper consumer research that I participated in. If you are ever asked to participate in one of those - don't do it! Gross)

Then pour some stiffy in the bag to saturate your twine, rewrap the balloons, and hang 'em up to dry

(that poor little one on the bottom. the balloon deflated when it was already wrapped and it didn't quite turn out right. I was sad for it, like the runt of the litter. He did make it into the arrangement - I didn't have the heart to throw him away, but he's toward the back.

Tip: it may be worth it to invest in new balloons, rather than using some that has been kept in a tupperware tea pitcher at your mother in law's house dating back to at least 1985

Here is West Elm's version.

The largest chiming in at $50! Followed by the next size at $30 and the next at $10. My arrangement would have cost at least $75 from West Elm, but it only cost me about $8 total! Granted theirs does look way better - mine has the same-is effect for WAY less money.

I'm linking up to DIY day

My Hair-brained Schemes

2010-01-31T17:20:00.004-06:00

I'm always saying to Jarrod: "I have an idea." And while he is usually more than supportive when it comes turning these ideas into a reality, I can tell that this four word phrase strikes fear deep into his gut.

See, the thing is - while I managed to graduate from my pretentious over-priced University - I don't always see things in reality. I will come up with some whacky way I can renovate this into that, and convince Jarrod it will be SO easy and SO cheap i swear - my plans are sometimes bigger than our means :-)

Take my knock of PB chandelier that I posted last week. It's a nice dainty little fixture that is perfectly proportioned to our table, and our house for that matter.

This was not the original plan.

Oh no, I had much bigger things in mind.

This is what I was going for:

Pillar candles that are sitting on a frame of sorts. I got to thinking about how I could construct that frame. We don't have a table saw, so I couldn't take a large piece of wood and cut the middle out, I would have to costruct the frames out of pieces of wood.

It kept me up at night thinking about how I could manage this. It needed to be strong enough to hold 20+ glasses, so I couldn't just miter them together.

So I finally came up with an idea and ran it past Jarrod, who, as always, thought I was brilliant (ok, I might be exaggerating a little). He did say it would work, though.

We went to the store to get the wood for my ingenious frame thing. The cheapest piece was $5 - and I would need 8 pieces. That would be $40 alone, for just the wood. Way out of our "tuba playing budget."

I would often go into Home Depot and just walk the aisles trying to think of a cheaper way to do this. On one trip, I stumbled upon the typically empty scrap wood bin that was actually full. I needed eight pieces of the same width wood, and the pieces that I found were pretty wide. A lot wider than I had in mind. But they were 50 cents. 50 CENTS! So I took all the pieces out one by one, and laid them on the floor to find the least warped ones. I kept having home depot men asking me if I needed help - they didn't realize I knew exactly what I was doing. Or so I thought.

I got the pieces home and was so proud. I politely asked (okay, begged) Jarrod if he could make me my frame.

It started a little something like this:

Then we (he) cut the pieces to fit in the "holes," so it looked something like this. I left one piece of wood off for the picture so you could see my brilliant construction plan:

Then I spray painted it. Used like two cans of spray paint too

I thought it looked really rough, so I thought and thought of a way I could cover hide or the cracks. It wouldn't help much to caulk because while I did get the least warped pieces, I still ended up with some warpage. Caulk is good, but it's not that good.

So Jarrod is actually the one who came up with putting the bead board wallpaper on it. I was impressed, and relieved at his idea! He's my hero. So I went to work cutting the wall paper for this huge monstrosity

I needed help carrying this thing, that's how big and bulky it was. But I didn't really realize that yet, because I was so focused on trying to get it to look good. My spray paint was a disaster - and I wasted two cans on it.

Then I needed to paint the wall paper. I couldn't use more spray paint. I had used all but a tiny tiny bit of my cabinet paint that I had in the garage. It had been freezing outside for at least the last week, and the lid wasn't even on - I'm talking laying beside the can of paint. But I was not to be deterred. We couldn't afford to purchase more paint for just this little (okay it was getting big) project. So I got my 59 cent paintbrush out and got to work scraping as much paint as I could out of this can. I actually got it covered, but it wasn't looking great - and after I finished painting it, I was starting to realize how large this piece actually was.

It needed molding along the outside and inside edges, which would cost more than we were wanting to spend. I was also worried about this giant wall paper wood thing with 20 glasses on it crashing on our heads as we ate. Not to mention the fact that it was a large as our table below, and the room isn't that big anyway. This was a disaster.

I was mostly worried about the ceiling not being able to support the weight - and we had worked so hard on this stupid giant thing - from picking out the wood, to wasting two cans of spray paint on it, to scraping the very last of the clumped up freezing cabinet paint on it - I couldn't just let this project go.

Don't even get me started on the fact that it took me almost two months to cover those stupid glasses up with the contact paper. Not as easy as it looks, folks! Literally, Jarrod made the whole frame for this giant thing in the time that it took me to cover TWO cups. TWO!!

I hated this - it was such a good idea - and now it looked like I was going to have to throw in the towel.

There was an extra piece of scrap wood in the garage, and I brought it inside and put it on the table. It was the perfect size, and I got to thinking: what if we just made it out of this one piece of wood? I laid my cups on top of it, and I thought it might just work. As much as I hated discarding that horrible huge piece that we had worked so hard on, I thought this was actually a pretty nice idea. So I cut my wall paper and covered that one piece of wood (that we didn't even cut - just brought straight home from the store) and tried to scrape just a tiny bit more nasty clumped up frozen old paint to cover it. I managed to cover the whole thing with paint and leave just enough for the molding. You know, like when you're a kid (okay, 27) and you're trying to lick every last drop of the brownie mixture from the mixing bowl.

So in the end, I got my chandelier. And it's perfect. And if it weren't for that one piece of wood in the garage, and if it didn't turn out so well afterall, I would probably still be in bed crying about my great idea that just flopped.

I only wasted eight pieces of wood, the last of our cabinet touch up paint, 2 cans of spray paint, some wall paper, and a lot of hours of agonizing and working on this huge thing monster thing

Now any idea on what I can do with that huge giant wall paper covered scrap wood frame?

And the winners are...

2010-01-25T15:31:00.000-06:00

Thank you to all of you who participated in the paint color party!!

The first winner, the winner of the JUMBO ACCUBRUSH kit, which includes the handle, 3 refills, paint try, and instructional DVD is:

And the follower who will receive the ACCUBRUSH Roller with 2 refills and instructional DVD is:

So ladies, contact me with your mailing address!

Paint Color Party and Giveaway TODAY!!!

2010-01-21T22:39:00.003-06:00

I'm so excited about this party, because I seriously need to do some paint color shopping for a few rooms in our house.

There are 2 ways to win the ACCUBRUSH system (the most amazing paint tool EVER in the HISTORY of paint tools!!!)

1. Enter a link to your post with your favorite paint colors, making sure to link back to this party (this winner will receive the JUMBO accubrush set (roller, 3 refills, tray, and DVD)
2. All of my followers will be entered as well, so if you don't have a post you can still win - or if you do have a post and are my follower you have 2 chances to win! (this winner will receive the roller, 2 refills and DVD)

MckLinky will be open all weekend, and the winners will be announced on Monday.

Here are some of my most favorite colors I've used:

Behr Pebblestone:

Behr Brushwood

Below the chair rail here is Behr's Brushwood, but above is Valspar's Swoosh

Disney's Space Dust

Restoration Hardware's Cloud

Valspar's Stonington

This is what we have currently as our main color throughout the house. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the way it looks next to a crisp white. All of our trim is just Behr plain ol' white paint with no color mixed in. For the wall colors I always use a flat paint, and for trim a semi gloss.

In the front living room I've painted it Stonington, but the back wall has an accent wall called:

Valspar's Eiffel Tower

Valspar's Evening Eclipse:

I think this is a nice color, and I loved it while I was painting it, but it just doesn't feel right for this room, so I"ll be painting it again soon!

Sherwin William's Bittersweet Chocolate (cabinet Color)

PB knock off candle chandelier

2010-01-18T20:58:00.008-06:00

So, we have a large room that we've decided is a living / dining combination. But there is only one light fixture, and it's in the middle of the room.

We had contractors give us an estimate for putting more light in, but that is going to have to wait until we have more $$$

I wanted more definition over the area, so this is what I did:

I've seen these all over candle chandeliers all over, I've seen them at Pottery Barn, Z Gallery, Restoration Hardware, Crate and Barrel, and some high end boutiques. They always cost several hundred dollars. As always, I thought "I could make that myself"

The problem was, while this wasn't going to cost nearly what it would in the store - it would still be expensive with all of those candles. I mean you're still talking $4 for a small pillar candle from WALMART! So I put my thinking cap on.

I decided to buy some glasses at Walmart. They were $1.92 for a set of four, and I covered them in a waxy finish contact paper: So while the candles alone would have cost at least $100, I spent only $12. I put some tealights in the glasses, and I think they look pretty convincing as candles.

Then I got some scrap wood at Home Depot for $0.50, and covered one side in bead board wall paper.

And painted it the same chocolate color as our cabinets

I attached (and by I, of course I mean Jarrod) moulding around the sides and put the hooks where the chains could attach

(I didn't paint the inside, because no one will see it)

I painted the trim, and then hung it by chain from the hooks we put in the ceiling:

And Ta Da!! I put rested some of the candles on scraps of leftover trim to stagger the heights of the glasses (there are only two different sizes here)

Total Cost: $32.50

Cups: $12 (1.92 for a 4 pack at WalMart)

Contact Paper $6

Scrap wood $0.50

Trim - $7

Hardware (chain and hooks) $7

DON'T FORGET ABOUT MY PAINT COLOR PARTY AND AMAZING GIVEAWAY!!!

I hope to see you all back here on Friday the 22nd to share all of your favorite paint colors.

Go see all the other great projects over at Kimba's!!

Crap to Fab Lamp

2010-01-17T22:05:00.004-06:00

I had a $10 Walmart crappy flimsy floor lamp. I hated it. My husband needed the light. I needed to make it prettier.

So, I took this lamp:

This tube that came from a bolt of fabric that I bought:

And this table runner:

And made this:

The metal pole was so skinny, and I was adding a lot of "beef" to the top of the lamp, so I need to bulk up the bottom. I spray painted the fabric bolt and the base of the lamp so it would all match.

The fabric was a little too short, so I added a little bit of a paper towl roll, and used painters tape to hold them together:

Classy, I know. Hey, it could have been a toilet paper roll!

I had a drum shade from a lamp that has been in a closet, so I stole it, stripped it and used it to make the shape of the lamp shade

I just cut the table runner down, and then glued the two ends together after wrapping it around the naked shade.

Total cost to me: FREE

Total cost if I didn't have all this stuff laying around: $14

Lamp $10

Table runner $4 (from Ross)

Before:

After

I'm linking this up to:

Between Naps on the porch

Twice Remembered
It's so Very Cheri
The Shades of Pink
Thrifty Decor Chick, Before and after party

Another No Sew Roman Shade

2010-01-06T20:57:00.000-06:00

I've been posting the play by play of our last "flip" house from two years ago, but I'm going to interrupt it to play blog party!

Shanty 2 Chic is having a "I made it without my hubby" party, and I just finished this last night.

I made one of these for my little boy's room (you can get the full tutorial here), and it was so easy I wanted to do the same for my kitchen.

This literally took me less than a hour to make with leftover fabric (from these other no sew window treatments) and the existing mini blinds. Fast and Free, and with my hubby!

Before: (pardon the mess on the counter)

After:

Kitchen and bamboo floors

2010-01-06T16:02:00.001-06:00

Originally posted January 3rd, 2007:

We got bamboo floors for the living and formal dining area. We got it because it was the least expensive option... but I really like them. They look really neat, they are really thick and substantial, and the pieces just slide right together. People are more eco-friendly these days, so bamboo will be a good selling feature since it's renewable.

The kitchen is getting closer. It seems like no matter how much progress is made, we are still about 10 steps away from the final product. It's starting to look about 30 years younger though.

We have completed:
countertops
tile
most of the paint
put up window treatments
Replaced stove, double oven and fridge

We still have to:
finish up painting
replace outlet covers
get a few more window treatments
Get a new dishwasher
finish installing hardware on cabinets
put in new baseboards
replace the light fixtures
replace door into the laundry room and pantry
cover damaged part of cabinet from the old backsplash
Replace window sill by the fridge
Remove old stove top, and connect new stove top

Kitchen before:

Kitchen getting closer

Breakfast room before:

Breakfast room getting closer:

can you find the tuba player in this picture below?

Demo and Reno

2010-01-05T08:31:00.000-06:00

This post was originally written on December 26, 2007:

Ripping down wall paper, and destroying the countertop. We were lucky that the wallpaper came off really easily. It was actually pretty fun!

Here's Jarrod prying off the old laminate countertop:

Things are really moving at the house! We've owned it less than a week, and we already have all of the granite and tile finished.

(this will look a lot better once we get the paint on there, and the new appliances, and the new hardware)

We got a STEAL on this tile. It's 18x18, and we were able to get about half of what we needed for $.50 a piece instead for $4.15 a piece. We got hundreds of dollars of tile for $35!!! I really love the way the big tiles laid on the diagonal came out. The kitchen is galley and not that large, but the large tiles really open up the space, and make it feel larger.

Yikes! Under construction. It's hard to see and end in sight with toilets in random places.

Jarrod and Phoebe being silly. We have the granite, sink, floor, and faucet done in both bathrooms, all we need now is the mirror, paint, hardware and light fixture

80s house revamp

2010-01-03T22:36:00.000-06:00

Our first home flip was a tiny little 800 square foot condo that was less expensive than most people's cars! From there we went onto a real house (my first love - the one that got away), my adorable little 1916 craftsman bungalow.

After we sold that one, we transported ourselves ahead 70 years and landed in the 80s.

I did a terrible job of documenting the first two flips, but for this next home I started a blog. This was way before I knew that there were other crazy people just like me out there who love DIY.

For the next however long it takes, I'm going to repost from my other (personal) blog the process from beginning to end of that 80s home flip. Keep in mind that this was VERY VERY low budget. No budget for accessories - I had to work with what I had and try to stretch my limited budget super far. Also, this was before I was introduced to the wonderful world of design blogging, and I can say that I have grown so much in my ability to design a space. I am on the verge of being embarassed about the final product on some of these... rooms, but we all started somewhere, right?

Here is the first post, dated December 26, 2007:

Third Time Around

This one has been a long time coming! We took the profit from the last house that we did and decided that I should quit my job. We have been working hard to build our apartment locating business. We have been in the apartment for nine months now... and it's been SO hard to rent again. It gave us a great opportunity to make sure that we could produce an income with apartment locating... but Jarrod and I were both really really itching to do another project.

After looking for MONTHS we found our current flip. We've owned it for 6 days now. We had the sellers fix the foundation for us, as well as provide us with closing costs. We are planning install hardwood (bamboo floors) in the living and dining, new tile in the wet areas, granite in the kitchen and baths, crown in the living, new fence in the back yard, all new fixtures, and all the little things that pop up as you're going.

We are hoping to have this home on the market by February 1st.

Here is the plan:

Here we'll straighten out the conrete walkway, replace all the trim on the outside of the house, paint the trim and the shutters an offwhite color.

We are replacing floors, countertops, appliances, light fixtures. We're taking down wall paper, retexturing and painting the paneling and walls.

There is some termite damage on the window sill, so we'll replace that

We are putting in bamboo floors in here, as well as putting in a new mantle. We are painting the paneling, putting in new light fixtures, and putting up some crown moulding.

We are replacing the floors, counters, sinks, and faucets in here. We'll replace the mirror and light fixtures, and pretty it up!

Master bedroom just needs a fresh coat of paint, new window treatments.... and decorate it :-)

Christmas at the Robertson's

2009-12-15T15:09:00.000-06:00

I don't have a whole lot of Christmas Decorations. We've never felt "at home" wherever we lived, and never put up much other than a tree. We've either been flipping houses, or in an apartment between flipping houses.

NOT THIS YEAR!!

This is OUR house! No intentions to sell it any time soon. So we got in our car, headed to Hobby Lobby and got a few things.

We're planning on taking advantage of the huge after Christmas discounts this year so that we can go all out next year.

I grew up with hodge podge Christmas trees, and while they may not be the most beautiful, they are the most meaningful - and that's what it's about right?

I adorned our faux wainscoting with some garland and red ribbon

Put some fake snow on our built in and put Christmas-yish things on the bottom shelf

I put together these little bud vases with berries from a shrub in our front yard.

I think they add a nice subtle pop of Christmas

Not a whole lot - but enough to get us in the spirit.

Stay tuned for some really exciting news - my first blog party and first AWESOME give away you won't want to miss!! Details to come.

Spray Painting Blinds

2009-12-05T15:32:00.000-06:00

I was excited to see that the girls over at Shanty2Chic were hosting a Rust-Oleum linky party, because as you know, spray paint is one of my best friends! Seriously, is there anything that can't be made better with a few coats of spray paint?

The most dramatic change I've ever made with spray paint is when I decided to spray paint our blinds in our living room. We were on a SUPER tight budget when remodeling the house, so spending close to $100 for new blinds in that room was OUT. They were already sturdy and in good condition anyway - just ugly.

I was very skeptical that this would work, and googled the heck out of spray painting blinds and came up with nothing.

We hung the blinds outside on the swing set

And Jarrod commenced the spraying with Rustoleum's Espresso in a Satin Finish

Here's the Before:

and the MUCH improved with a can of spray paint after:

These were faux wood blinds, probably made out of some sorty of vinyl or plastic. But they had a fake wood grain in them which you can still see, so these really do look like espresso stained wood blinds!

Perfect!

Check out what others are doing with their spray paint at this party:

Piece of cake

2009-11-27T21:35:00.000-06:00

Today we celebrated my son's first birthday. I wanted to share the cake that my husband and I made.

I have never baked anything more than a box of brownies, so I was a little intimidated about making a "cool" cake, but I'm never one to shy away from a creative challenge.

He LOVES Baby Einstein, and this catepillar comes across the screen at the beginning of each DVD. My little guy gets SO excited, so I knew that's what we had to do for a cake.

The cake was made out of a sports ball pan. I used the halves instead of making the full ball, and the covered it in store bought fondant that we colored with food coloring. A LOT easier than I thought it would be!

The antennae are dum dums covered in fondant.

finishing touches:

Taste Test:

I think he approved:

He wouldn't stop eating it! Daddy got a little scared that he would get sick so we finally tore him away from the cake. I will absolutely be making more cakes in the future. This was a lot of fun!

The Best Turkey Ever!

2009-11-26T09:38:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving

From the sweetest Turkey of all time!

Easy No Sew Curtains

2009-11-24T21:16:00.002-06:00

These are the easiest window treatments in the history of window treatments to make. Well, now that I think about it, the blanket that I thumb tacked over my window in my first apartment was easier. But only slightly.

Let me rephrase.

This is the easiest window treatment that actually looks like a window treamtment in the history of window treatments.

If you're like me, and you're petrified of any sewing project, and you haven't been introduced to hem tape - I would like to formally introduce you to one of my new best friends:

I was even a little timid of this stuff at first. This was my first DIY involving any fabric - but it needed to be done.

Pardon me, I didn't take pictures along the way, but this is so easy you don't need them!

All I used for this project was:

5 yards (total) of fabric

1 Package of hem tape

2 packages of grommets (1 per panel)

Step 1 - cut your fabric into 90 inch panels (or however long you want yours to be, I like mine to pool a bit at the bottom)

Step 2 - use your hem tape to hem the bottom of the panel

Step 3 - use your hem tape to hem to hem the top, leaving enough room for the grommets

Step 4 - Using the template that comes in your package of grommets, draw the circles that you will cut out.

Step 5 - These grommets just snap together, and your circles that you cut out don't have to be perfect for these to work. I was the most worried about that part, but the grommets are very forgiving. Just snap them together on either side of your fabric.

Step 6 - Hang them up and enjoy!

I would eventually like to put a sheer of some kind to cover the entire door area, but our backyard is private enough that no one can see in. So instead of putting a huge long bar all the way across, I just got two small curtain rods to hang each panel on on either side of the door. I got these on sale at Hobby Lobby for $7.99 each! Way cheaper than getting a HUGE LONG curtain rod that wouldn't serve any purpose.

P.S. I moved my couch for this picture because my brown microfiber couch looks PURPLE when being photographed. I don't understand it.

Dreaming

2009-11-19T10:35:00.001-06:00

My husband, the tuba player, needs a room to practice. We have a third bedroom that would be oh so nice to turn into a beautiful (albeit manly) place to practice.

Here is my sketch I did in powerpoint. Two built in bookshelves flanking a little bench. The back of the bookcases are a grasscloth wall paper. The art above the bench is a brown square painted directly on the wall, then some moulding the same color as the wall and then another peice of molding the same color as the painted box. That moulding is going to make a frame for more grasscloth wallpaper. Inside those boxes will be artsy photographs of Jarrod's tuba, and my bassoon (I have a degree in music as well, playing bassoon and saxophone).

Now I just have to convince my husband that it will be a breeze to construct these built-ins ourselves. I would LOVE this as a Christmas present to each other. Maybe you could leave a comment to help convince him? I'll do tutorials all long the way, I promise

Mondo Acorns

2009-11-16T23:25:00.002-06:00

This is what I thought all acorns looked like. Nice, delightful little things.

This is what the acorns look like at the house we just bought:

HOLY MOLY!

Maybe I just don't get out much, but I had never seen or even heard of Giant Mammoth Acorns. They are ALL over my front yard. They dented the trunk of my car.

Here is my son playing with the giant acorns. They look big even next to him, who also is a giant (95th percentile all around)

So naturally, I wanted to incorporate these mondo beauties into my decor.

Failed.

First I just piled them in a vase to see what they looked like:

Hmmm... not sure how to arrange these guys. You see, I can arrange furniture - but I'm not so good at arranging botanicals.

Speaking of botanicals... have you ever been out on an evening family stroll in a really trendy area and found something on the ground that you knew you could turn into something really fabulous for your home? If so you probably did as I did, which is get down on your hands and knees right next to the fancy steak house patio seating area and the valet parking station to rummage around.

That's right folks, I have NO shame. NONE. My poor puppy was probably so embarassed. Not me, I had my husband take pictures :-)

But how could I resist, look what I found on the ground:

Aren't these beautiful?

So I tried combining them with my acorns in that huge hurricane/vase:

FAILED AGAIN

These are two really unique and beautiful natural items that I would love to incorporate in my home somehow. Please tell me how.

Any and all suggestions welcome! Please Help!

This post is linked up to Someday Crafts acorn party.

Wall Display Bookshelves

2009-11-16T00:21:00.004-06:00

So, this is wild. I took my son to the library for the very first time a few weeks ago and he loved it. I decided I wanted a really neat place for him to put his books. So, I went to my "drawing board" (powerpoint) and drew up a sketch of what I wanted to make.

Here is my sketch:

So that SAME DAY, a few hours later, on Shanty2Chic's Gorilla Glue party, I saw Traci from Beneath My Heart post this! I couldn't believe how similar the bookshelf that she created was to the one that I had sketched just hours before.

This is why I love the blogging world so much. I had just sketched this out with plans to go to Home Depot that night and buy materials. I saw that she used plaques from Hobby Lobby to do hers, and I thought that was Brilliant! So I altered my boring plans to use scrapwood for the sides and splurged the extra $1.47 for the plaques.

This was a very easy and very inexpensive project that I think turned out really cute.

All you'll need is:

2 1X3's 24 inches long (or however long you want) - $0.50 from Home Depot Scrap section

1 12 inch plaque from Hobby Lobby - $1.47

1 set of wall hangers - $2.29

1 wooden dowel (mine was 7/16") - $0.99

Total Cost: $5.26!!

Step 1. Nail your 2 1X3s in an "L" shape

Step 2.

Cut the bottom off of your plaque so that you have a flat bottom. Then put it up against your "L" to see where you need to cut vertically so that it will be flush.

You should be able to get both sides of the shelf out of one plaque

Step 3

Nail the sides onto the "L"

I used my favorite tool for this:

Nope, not the nail gun. The Tuba Player holding it :-)

Now you should have something that looks like this:

By the way, these pictures are taken in our garage. We've only lived here a few months, and we haven't tackled cleaning this one out yet. The old owner had carpet down, which is terrible, but it works out well for all my painting I do out here.

Step 4.

Cut your wooden Dowel Rod and nail this in place too.

Step 5.

Paint them and screw on your wall hanger:

I also wanted to dress them up a little bit, so I bought some letters, painted them brown and polka-dotted every other letter with my wall color and the other letters I modge-podged with my left over invitation paper.

It's all ready to hang on the wall:

The Vision:

Getting even closer to the vision:

I will be posting this on DIY day over at A Soft Place To Land

and Metamorphasis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Pottery Barn inspired picture ledges

2009-11-12T08:09:00.001-06:00

I love you Pottery Barn.

Too bad I have never purchased a single item from you - and probably never will, because you're just TOO EXPENSIVE!!!

I am, however, lucky enough to be the recipient of the world's most awesomest diaper bag from Pottery Barn Kids (yes, awesomest is a word) that a dear friend got for me.

Unless any other dear friends want to buy me something from Pottery Barn (which you are more than welcome to), you will never see anything from that store in my home.

Here are two reasons why:

1. You can usually find the same looking stuff at Ross or Marshalls (it may not be the same quality, but at this point in my life I'm not really looking for longevity)

2. You can MAKE the stuff yourself.

Let's explore Reason #2.

Here is Pottery Barn's Modern Ledge

4 ugly picture frames from the Salvation Army bursting with potential: $5

1 6 foot long 1X2 cut in half: $3
1 8 foot long piece of Brick Moulding cut to size and mitered: $10

I gave the poor outdated picture frames a new fresh makeover, and painted all my other materials with some satin finish black spray paint.

Next you take your favorite tool: your handy dandy husband (unless of course, you're Shanty2Chic), to attach the 1X2s to the wall. We (I mean He), just used 3.5 inch long screws and hung them directly into the wall.

So then you end up with your anchors. If I did this over again, I would have gone for the the 1X3 or maybe even 1X4. 2 inches was not nearly as deep as I wanted.

The next step involves power tools, although I'm sure you could do this with a miter box and a really strong arm. We (he) mitered the trim moulding so that the moulding fit together like a box:

Then we (he) took a nail gun and nailed these pieces directly onto our anchors. I did not want it exactly flush on top so that there would be a little lip to rest some frames against. (I still need to touch up and paint over the nails, but I'll get to that when my next 1,000 projects are done).

The final product! Shield your eyes from the horrible natural wood color blinds. One of my next 1,000 projects is to make a faux roman shade for that window.

The vision:

Getting Closer:

Pottery Barn's Version: $90 WITHOUT frames

My Version: $18 WITH Frames

No Sew Roman Shades

2009-11-11T21:20:00.006-06:00

As I was doing my daily shopping on blogs for the next best idea - I found it! I almost fell out of my chair... really. I have always loved the look of roman shades, but the affordable kind you can buy at Target never seem to fit my windows. I am no seamstress. I own a sewing machine, and much to my mother in laws dismay, I have never even turned it on.

I was scared to use hem tape until a few weeks ago!

I'm over it. Hem tape is a breeze.

So anyway, back to shopping. I found on a few different blogs some brilliant ladies (I think Little Green Notebook was the original genius) made roman shades out of their blinds.

I will take credit for (on my very own) coming up with spray painting my blinds - but I can't take credit for this complete stroke of genius.

Here's what you do:
First, you take down the nasty ugly blinds you currently have which are a nice sturdy faux wood that someone either made into a really light natural wood color, or that used to be white and had yellowed over time. Make sure you let your blinds all the way out before taking them off

Next, I marked which slats would stay. I kept every sixth slat.

Then you'll want to cut the horizontal strings (the vertical strings are the lift strings). Don't cut the horizontal strings on the slats you are keeping.

Next you will take your bottom piece off (remove the plastic plug) and slide off all the slats.

I need to find some creative way to make something fabulous out of these left over slats. They are pretty sturdy. Let me know if you have any great ideas.

For my fabric, I used blackout liner (to keep that baby good and asleep during nap time) and then just a plain white sheet.

Measure your window and cut your liner to the exact size of the window (with some room at the bottom just in case).

Then if you're fancy and know how to use a sewing maching, I guess you could attach your fabric to the liner - however I used my fabric glue :-)

Then with my hem tape, I attached ribbon five inches in from each side:

Then turn your fabric upside down and place your blinds on top

Then glue your slats down on your fabric (being careful to not get any glue on the strings so that it will still operate). I did not glue the fabric down to the bottom piece, I just let it hang because when I reattached the plugs I had to put new knots in the cords, which then made the bottom piece a bit short for the window, oops!

Flip the slat over and glue it, then flip it back.

Then hang!

I ended up painting the decorative piece at the top of the blinds then reattaching it, but you could leave it off. This window would look a TRILLION (yes, a TRILLION) times better with a casing around the window, but there is no room! I should have planned for that when I made the shelves to the right of the window. (which are not done being "merchandised" yet)

Dang it!

I couldn't believe I could actually do this without cutting something I wasn't suppsed to, or gluing something I wasn't supposed to. I was sure that they wouldn't be operational. But I was okay with that because we have a nice view of the house next door but...

They are fully functional!

I am a few steps closer to my vision. Now I just need to put together some home made bookshelves, get a toy box, and put up a mirror for him to play in!

Here are some tutorials that are probably WAY better than mine:

Little Green Notebook

A Penny Saved

http://youvegottoseethis.myhomeideas.com/see_this/2009/08/make-roman-shades-from-mini-blinds.html

This will be posted on Transformation Thursday at the Shabby Chic Cottage

And Met Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Crazy Easy Wall Art is Spreading!

2009-11-10T08:12:00.002-06:00

While not quite at the same rate as the dreaded Swine Flue, the crazy easy wall art that I posted is spreading!!

I have received tons of comments of people saying that they are going to do this, which makes me so excited to begin with.

Then, I received a few emails from people WHO HAVE!

This is why I wanted to start a blog a few months ago. I have gotten so many great ideas from blogs, and my home is a much much nicer place because of it. I thought I would share with others the ideas that I have either come up with or applied to keep all this "beauty" going.

I can't tell you what it makes me feel inside to know that at least two other people saw my post, inspired them to do their own version, and now have it proudly displayed on their walls. I receive TONS of compliments on these when people come over, so I know that these pieces will give these ladies a sense of pride when visitors come.

It started with the Lowes Creative Ideas Magazine Article.

Lowes Version:

My Version:

My Friend's Version:

Elizabeth's Version:

Hannah, from Poppies at Play's Version

As these ladies can attest to, this is by far the easiest project I have ever done. Paint a canvas, put a rubber doormat over it, spray paint it and hang! Cheap, big impact, Super easy - just the way I like it!

I would LOVE to see if anyone else has done this art, or anything else from my blog, please send them my way! I can't tell you how excited this makes me, and inspires me to keep going and post everything I've done!

Home Flip Slideshow

2009-11-08T21:58:00.001-06:00

My husband and I have flipped three homes, and are planning to stay put here in our fourth!

I didn't do a good job of documenting our first two, just the typical before and afters. On the third I started a blog (http://doingflips.blogspot.com/) to document all of our home flips. I ended up getting pregnant during this flip and that blog turned into a more personal blog about my pregnancy and baby.

The slideshow below is a recap of everything. The beginning is before / afters and then it shows the process. Just watching this makes me tired!

Keep in mind we had a VERY MINIMAL budget on this home (NO decorating budget). Everything is pretty plain - just meant to "pretty" it up so we could sell it ASAP. We had two offers the first two weeks!

I'm so glad not to be doing this again for this current house, I feel I can make this home more personal. Also, since being introduced to the world of desing blogging, I feel I have grown SO much as a "decorator" and feel like I can tackle more DIY. I was afraid to paint the cabinets in this house - I wish I knew about this side of the blogging world during our flips - but I think I made the most of what our budget could allow.

Enjoy!

I am linking up to Met Monday

What can you do with an altoids tin?

2009-11-06T17:02:00.004-06:00

What can you do with an altoids tin? I made my son's first birthday party invitations.

I don't do a lot of scrapbooky type of DIY - I'm much better with a can of spray paint, or some canvases - but I knew I wanted to do something special for his invitations. This is what I came up with.

While it was pretty inexpensive (around $30 for all supplies and tools including the tins), it was a LONG process. Don't worry, it only took like 2 weeks for me to complete them all just to find out TODAY that I put THE WRONG DATE on them. THE WRONG DATE!!!!! HOLY MOLY!

At least there are only 10 families to notify of the wrong date.

Why did I spend all that time on those invites? Just look at my little 'bout to be one year old Turkey! I'd do anything for him!

Well, I guess he probably won't know anything about his first birthday ivitations... OK OK, I did it for ME! I love how they turned out. Just wish I put the right date!

What have you done with altoids tins? Have you ever made or received any other unique invitations? Do you have any other ideas or tips for a first birthday party? DO share!

DIY...Chick-fil-a?!?!

2009-11-04T08:31:00.001-06:00

Does that count as DIY??

I received in my inbox, from my mother, the gift of all gifts!!!! A 478 page cookbook with recipes that range from items you would find on the menu out Outback steakhouse to McDonalds. From how to make your own Vanilla Extract or your own OREO cookies!

I almost fell out of my chair, and I definitely squealed when I saw they had a recipe for Chick-fil-a nuggets. Chick-fil-a is one of those things that I could eat every day and never get tired of!

I had to make these immediately. I was skeptical - but I just had to try

Here they are frying:

Doesn't that sucker look just like a nugget from Chick-Fil-A?

Did it taste like the real thing too? Well I'm proud to say I have a new recipe for chicken nuggets. They were juicy, tasty and just overall quite good. My husband said they tasted like Chick-fil-a. I guess I'm just a connoisseur because they didn't taste the same to me. I'm not disappointed though, they were good and I did deviate from the recipe slightly.

Listen to what else is in this cookbook:

3 Muskateers Bar
Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream
Benihana's famous salad dressing!
Boston Market chicken (and sides too)
Burger King menu items
California Pizza Kitchen menu items
Dunkin Donuts
Girl Scout Cookies!
Krispy Kream donuts
Macaroni Grill menu items
McDonalds stuff (did you know they use 7up in their pancakes?
Olive Garden
P.F. Chang's!
Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
Pop Tarts
Red Lobster
Ruby Tuesday
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups!!!
Snickers
Starbucks Frappuccino
TGI Fridays
Taco Bell
Tony Roma's
and million other condiments, candy's, and fast food to nice restaurant recipes.

Can you believe it? I will post new recipes as I try them, or leave a comment if there's one you want :-)

Our Current Home Tour

2009-11-01T09:16:00.002-06:00

For all of you over here visiting from Thrifty Decor Chick, Welcome! Let me first take a moment and thank Sarah over at TDC. Hers was the first "design blog" I ever ran across (from a linky party at a non-design mommy blog). I was flabbergasted!!! THERE ARE MORE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD LIKE ME!!! People who, with a little elbow grease, a little creativity, tiny budgets, some spray paint and moulding try to make their homes beautiful. From her blog I found several others and became ADDICTED.

You'll see many of Sarah's touches in my home as well as other ideas inspired by other blogs. Seeing other people's creativity and ideas has made my home more beautiful - and I started this blog a short time ago hoping that I might be able to inspire someone with my ideas as well.

My husband and I have flipped three other homes, but we decided to settle in this one because we are now a family of three with the addition of our perfect baby boy (well four if you count our daughter-dog).

DISCLAIMER: We have only been in the house for under 2 months. There is A LOT of work left to do!!

Entryway:

before

after

You can see how I created my wall art here, but if you're a loyal follower of TDC, you already know!

Front Living Room

before

after

Before

After

You can see how I did this CRAZY EASY Wall art here

Before

after

Did you know you can spray paint blinds? Holy Moly!

Living / Dining Combo

Before

don't you just love the use of orangy wood and gallons and gallons of poly?

After

Before

After

Okay, I don't know why my sectional looks purple in photos. I really have to upgrade my camera situation, because these pictures are really bad.

Tutorial on how to make those curtains soon. I literally just cut my fabric off the roll, used hem tape at the bottom, and cut holes and mashed together grommets at the top. Super easy, super cheap!

Dining

Before

After

See how I made these mirrors here ($40), and how to do this wall treatment here ($35)

Kitchen

Before

After

Before

After

it still needs some major work (and a new vent a hood), but at least you don't have to shield your eyes from the blindingly (is that a word?) shiny orangy-oak cabinets.

On the list is to get a new backsplash. I will discuss my backsplash disaster and why there is a baseboard on my countertop in a future post.

Before

After

Thanks, Sarah for the genious idea of covering your bar area with beadboard! Although, mine is the cheapy panels instead of the real stuff.

Nursery

Before

After

Stay tuned for future posts about how I made those floating shelves (and frames) for under $10

and how I made that collection of framed animal prints for under $20 (including frames)

Master Bedroom

Before

After

This is actually beadboard wallpaper on the walls

See... beadboard

HOpe you enjoyed my home tour. You can look at the befores and afters of our first home flip (1916 craftsman bugalow) here.

Thanks Sarah, for inviting us to your party! I can't wait to see what others have done.

I Love you, Spray Paint!

2009-10-16T10:08:00.001-05:00

What in the world would I do without spray paint? I would either be spending a lot more money, or be living with nasty ugly brass, and yellowy old looking wood blinds!

I really wanted to do something about these ugly blinds in our front living area. I do like blinds for privacy sake, and they are actually in really good condition, and are good quality thick heavy blinds - just an ugly color. So instead of shelling out $80+ for new blinds, I thought we would give spray painting them a try. I googled and googled and looked all over my favorite design blogs and couldn't find anyone who had ever spray painted their blinds. I was concerned that this really wouldn't work out well, but if I figured even if I mess up, I'll have to get new blinds anyway! So it was worth a shot.

Luckily we have a swing set in the backyard, so we took the blinds off the window and took the swings off of the swingset and hung them there:

Hi Jarrod's feet!

Then commence spray painting:

I chose an espresso satin finish rustoleum paint. It really worked out well! I can tell they are spray painted, but whenever I tell people who come over they can't believe it.

A reminder of the horrible before:

And the refreshing after:

Here are some other quick fixes you can do with spray paint:

Ugly brass door knobs:

Into sleek brushed nickel door knobs

Again, brass knobs:

Brushed Nickel knobs:

Nasty outdated brass cabinet hardware:

Into contemporary brushed nickel harware that pops off the new chocolate finish:

Now I need to tackle some ugly brass light fixtures until we can replace them. I'm not suggesting that these are great permanent solutions, but we just didn't have the budget to replace things like hardware, blinds and light fixtures and I certainly wasn't going to live with them the way they were! And since I don't notice how ugly they are anymore, replacing them will come WAY after we finish other major projects.

What have you spray painted? How did it turn out? What is your favorite spray paint?

What?!?! You Wallpapered your bedroom?

2009-10-11T14:12:00.002-05:00

I am participating in Rhoda's Beadboard wallpaper party over a Southern Hospitality.

When purchasing a home, I dreamed of something with character and architectural interest. We did get a cute little 50s home, but it didn't come with quite the character I was crossing my fingers for.

So I put it in myself!

I knew we were going to do beadboard or wainscoting of some sort in the master. We used beadboard panels on our kitchen peninsula, which turned out AMAZING! I'll reveal the kitchen soon, I promise - we just got our oven yesterday.

Then one day, I stumbled across THIS POST!!!! I couldn't believe it! I yelled for Jarrod to come look as quick as he could. "LOOK HONEY, THEY MAKE BEADBOARD WALLPAPER!!!" Of course, he didn't share quite the same enthusiasm as I did about this new found treasure. Then I told him how much it would save us to do the wallpaper in lieu of the paneling - and he perked up a little bit more.

Remember my vision for the room?

It's still a work in progress, the chair rail and baseboards need to be caulked, then I'm going to paint all the trim and the wallpaper itself a glossy white.

I would show you more angles of the room, but you would see some pretty awful paper blinds that have paint on them because I wasn't careful when painting because I knew I was replacing them. I am on the lookout for fabric to do a nice DIY roman shade there.

I hesitate though, because I'm not sure I love the wall color after all. I love the blue a lot, and I picked it because I wanted a stark contrast - but I think this is way too stark. I also had these bed linens to work with, and new bed linens were not in the budget.

What do you think? Any suggestions?

Power Point

2009-10-11T13:48:00.003-05:00

Welcome to all who are here from Between Naps on the Porch!

I wish I knew how to use something fancy like AutoCad, or even photoshop - but I don't. For a while, I was the Business Development Manager for a major food brokerage company. This fancy title meant I was in charge of making the presentations that our senior executives used to sell their business to other senior executives at retailers like Kroger, or manufacturers like Kraft.

So, I just played on powerpoint all day. That's where I am most comfortable. If I have to make anything on the computer, I at least start with power point. My header up there? Yep, powerpoint.

Not exactly sophisticated or cutting edge, but it helps me to visualize, or help others visualize those ideas constantly swarming around in my head. Here are a few examples:

Levi's Nursery:

It's still a work in progess. I am going to do chalkboard paint, a mirror for him to play in front of, a toybox of some sort below his window and a window treatment:

Our Front living room.

Those blinds used to be a nasty ugly natural wood yellowy color, and we just spray painted them to look like dark wood blinds. I didn't think it would actually work, but it turned out great!

Another angle of our living room with my CRAZY EASY WALL ART!

The original play was to do four of these panels, but I only ended up with three. I may add another later, because I feel like the space looks blank still. What do you think Im missing?

Our Dining Room:

Curly bamboo was too expensive for me, but I found these plants at Pier 1 for only $4 each!

See how to do this paneling treatment on your walls (it only cost $35!!)

See how to make these mirrors

Our Master Bedroom:

This was posted on Met Monday!

Wallpaper Art

2009-10-10T22:08:00.000-05:00

I love Thrifty Decor Chick! She always has great ideas, and when I saw this post - I just had to do it.

I chose my entryway "niche" for this project:

This art project was really easy. It is just canvases covered in textured wallpaper that I painted. Lowes had their textured wallpaper on sale for something like $3 and I already had the canvases from another project that failed miserably.

I covered the canvases in wallpaper, then painted them (our cabinet color). Then I took a little of the paint I used on the wall that these go on and mixed it with the brown to make a slightly lighter hue. I very lightly rolled over the canvases with this color, and it highlighted the raised part and it barely touched the parts that weren't raised giving it a distressed look. Then I went over the raised parts again with a small brush with the plain wall color.

The Lovely mirrored creepy entryway before:

The pretty and thrifty after (thanks Sarah!!)

Total Cost? $13!!! (2.50 for each canvas and $3 for the wallpaper)

Crazy Easy Wall Art!!!

2009-10-10T21:50:00.003-05:00

I saw this idea in a Lowes Creative Ideas magazine and thought it was amazing. I wish I had thought of it myself!

In the Lowes magazine, they used high quality stainable wood boards. I opted for the more economical canvases:

Step 1. Paint your canvas that you got at JoAnne's for 50% off of $15.99 (or at least pretend like you're painting it because you forgot to get a picture of actually painting it. Don't forget your fake candid picture smile!)

2. Step 2- Align your rubber doormat that you got at Target for $19.99 on top of the canvas. The Doormat was slightly bigger than the canvas, so we taped off the outside border from the back.

Step 3. Apply your really cool $3.99 make-a-gun out of your spray paint can thingy (don't worry dad, it's not a real gun)

Step 4. Apply quick thin coats of spray paint

Step Five: Lift your doormat stencil off the canvas to reveal a BEAUTIFUL piece of art. Swoon.

Although I was originally planning on doing 4 of these, like I pictured here:

I decided on 3 because you're supposed to do things in odd numbers in design. It's a rule, I didn't make it up - but I think I might want to do 4 after all. What do you think?

A huge thanks to Kimba at A Soft Place to Land for hosting DIY day. Be sure to check out the party for other great ideas!

Big impact - Small budget. Faux Wainscoting

2009-10-09T23:47:00.002-05:00

After finishing my mirror project, the dining wall just looked so plain. It's a long wall with a lot of blank space, and I wanted it filled.

Keeping the Tuba player's budget in mind I decided to do a faux wainscoting treatment that I've been wanting to do forever.

So I went to home depot and loaded up with some boards and got to work. This whole project cost less than $40 and took one evening to install.

I wanted the wainscoting to be somewhat on the tall side so I got some 4 foot boards (1/4 inch thick) and had them all cut at the same time to 3 feet.

We spaced them about 20 inches apart:

Then put one all the way across and topped it off with a chair rail:

Then it was PRIME TIME

And after two coats of paint, this is the final product:

Before:

After:

Just a few hours and around $35, and a huge transformation.

Thanks to between naps on the porch for letting play in your Metamorphosis Monday

feel free to take a look around at the rest of my projects, and stay tuned for more!

Mirror Mirror on the wall

2009-10-09T23:12:00.005-05:00

Using mirrors can be tricky, because what they reflect is not always what you want hanging on your wall. I like to use mirrors across the room from windows because they reflect the outdoors and bounce light all around the room. I knew I wanted to put mirror up in the dining area of our combination living and dining room. Across from the "dining wall" is a large sliding glass door.

I was planning on using this mirror that I had made for a previous house:

All I did to make this mirror was to mount 8 12 inch mirrors onto a piece of plywood, and then frame it with some window casing. Originally I was going to have black dowels separating the mirrors, but I did my math wrong, cut one of the casings too short - did not have the budget to buy another piece of casing so I had to make do with what I had. It still turned out fine but it always bothered me.

When we moved in to this house that mirror wound up looking like this:

Whoops!! At first I was upset, but then I realized I had an opportunity to right what I had wronged.

Back to the drawing board (or back to Hobby lobby for mirrors). All they had were 8 inch mirrors, so I wound up making 2 sets of four mirrors.

This is a super easy project, and is pretty inexpensive - although moulding does add up - and it's best if you can catch the mirrors on sale.

For each one you'll need:

- a 24X24 piece of MDF (mine was 1/4 inch thick) $2.25

- 4 eight inch beveled mirros (you can usually find these in the wedding decoration aisle) $1.99 each

- 4 feet of lattice (I used 1 and 1/8 inches wide) - $1.20

- 8 feet of moulding (I used window casing and bought a little extra so there would be some room for error)

3.5 inches wide - $1.29 per linear foot

-Gorilla Glue

Total cost for each mirror= around $20!!

First I cut all my pieces, (Well, I had Jarrod do it this time so there would be no mistakes :-)), then doused them with some satin finish black spray paint. I worked from the inside out, gluing down the lattice in the middle. Once those were exactly where I wanted them, I put glued the mirrors down. After the mirrors were in place, I glued the casings as well. (I didn't want to nail the casings #1 because of holes to fill and #2 because I didn't want to budge the mirros out of place by nailing - or BREAK anything again)

This is what I wound up with:

Not bad for $20!

I'm linking this up to the Gorilla Glue party over at Shanty2Chic. Thanks girls, for all of your inspiring ideas!!

P.S. I'm sorry, I did read the rules and I'm disqualified from the contest because I don't have pictures of when I made these.

Our first house - 1916 Bungalow

2009-09-28T08:30:00.005-05:00

This was my husband and I's first house. We had just purchased a little condo, rennovated it and sold it and had our eyes out for the perfect real house to flip. I was 23, new to rennovation and design.

I came across this beauty: a cute little bungalow built in 1916. We purchased the home with then intent to fix it up and put it back on the market. I loved this house. This was our first true "house" together. But, it was not in the right area for us, and after the rennovations it was worth much more than we could afford. It took a little bit longer to sell than our first that sold in 2 weeks. This one was in a developing area - the street itself was precious, but there were some sketchy areas surrounding it.

Here is Front Before:

Front After a little red trim paint and a porch redo:

Here is the living room Before:

And the Living room After:

Here is another angle of the living room: Can you tell I was in my loving red phase? I think it looks good, but if I would do it so differently today, this was in 2005

Bathroom before:

Bathroom after: We would have kept the clawfoot tub, but since it was the only bathroom, we opted for a jetted tub instead and sold the antique cast iron on craigslist to pay for it

Here is the cute little kitchen before. I hated demolishing it, because it was just so precious. It just wasn't practical though. The countertop was a true drain board with the scores in the bark for draining and everything. It just wasn't set up for modern cooking though, so we gutted the entire thing.

Here is the after: The picture was taken from the same angle with the sink still positioned under the window. I still love the kitchen, but if I had to do it over again I would do things differently. I guess I'll always say that 5 years after a project.

The guest room before (with the boarded up windows)

The guest room after:

I don't have a before picture of the next picture, but there was just a single door that led from the dining room to the kitchen, so we opened that whole space up, and we used the same style of casing for around the opening. When I came home from work and the contractors had made a huge hole in the wall, and there was then a huge open floorplan - I was TOTALLY hooked on rennovation. I couldn't believe the difference. I can still feel how good that felt, and I'm sure my husband remembers me jumping around the house like a complete fool not able to contain my excitement.

See that huge kind of ugly thing hanging on the wall on the right? That was my very first DIY/crafty project. I was sitting in an Electrical Engineering class in college and I my mind was totally up in the clouds thinking about what to do above my brand new couch in my first apartment. I sketched this up, made my first of 2 million trips to the Home Depot, got supplies and whipped this thing up. It had sentimental value so it "hung" around (get it!) for a while, but I finally threw it in the garbage last year.

I will never forget this home, and I don't think any home that we own will be able to live up to it. I miss it, but am so happy that we now have a forever home (after 4 years 5 apartments and 3 home flips).

I am posting this on Thrifty Decor Chick's Before and After Monday.