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Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Button Initial Wall Art

 
In line at Joanne's Fabrics one day, I saw this little jar of buttons (it was so cute I bought it but had no project in mind) Then, I came across an adorable idea in a Pottery Barn Kids Mag, but it was really expensive and I never pay for anything I can replicate!
 
I can't find the picture from Pottery Barn Kids online,
but here's my little creation below.
 
Ignore the mess!


I already had the frame from a really tacky framed poem at Walmart, from a long time ago, and found the frame in the attic.  (One good thing about saving junk.)  It was brown, so I used a little metallic craft paint to make
it a shabby silver tone. 
 

An old pic of the frame and my crazy girl!

 
Isn't that button jar cute??? It's like candy!
I used the back cardboard of the frame and hot glued some leftover batting to it, then covered it with some muslin fabric I had as well.

I then used a template for the letter I wanted, and
sketched it in pencil onto the fabric.  Finally, I hot glued the buttons in random colors and overlapping for interest.

 

After the buttons were on, I popped it back into the frame, I think it's cute for $7.00!

This would be fun to do with a burlap backing and capiz buttons using our last initial!  ...maybe a good little project for summer decor!

 
 
 

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Ballard Design knockoff Chandelier

 

After a lengthy huge waste of time search for a substitute for this great chandelier, I decided to take matters into my own impatient crafty hands and make it myself.
6-Arm Grande Claire Chandelier
Ballard Designs 6 arm Grande Claire Chandelier $399


The spouse, once again, isn't understanding the sheer wonder of that Ballard light, so I couldn't justify the price and decided that my current dining room light "isn't what I wanted" anyway, ugh hem, so here's how it went.

Supplies:
Light fixture
vine on a wire (see pic below)
hot glue (my fav)
craft crystals in a bag (Joanne's in jewelry section)
Spray Paint (Krylon Oil Rubbed Bronze)

These are sold at Michael's, I had them on hand.

I glued the vines all over the chandelier

 Then I spray painted it and glued the crystals on in random spots.

and after many, many scalding hot glue burns, one of which I think will be on my left wrist forever..
I was done!



The finished product, not bad for about $20.00 vs $400.00!!





Thanks so much for checking in!

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

The Staircase Transformation

Welcome to my first blog post ever!




So.........this was a year in the thinking, two weeks in the making!  After stumbling upon ThriftyDecorChick.com, (while I was trying to find out how to paint laminate furniture-which I never did) she had refinished her stairs and I decided that I too, could take off my builder- grade carpet, and create loveliness in my home!  But the spouse doubted me, and as you know,  that just fuels my fire.

Now, I did not go into this thinking, "this is going to look like a model home with a hardwood staircase!"  etc., etc.


I knew up front that they would look old and rustic, but that's what I wanted.  So stop right here, proceed no further if you aren't a fan of the farmhouse wannabe staircase! 


 So... after an exciting Super Bowl Game, I ripped the rugs off of the bottom flight of stairs and the rest was history!


I had a ton of questions when I started this and really had no resource for how to do the landing and the outside edges of the treads so I am going to share my way!  Let me know if you have any questions or comments and I hope this helps someone else to...Bloom Where You're Planted!


This is the staircase before, yes there are kids and clutter all over my shots!








The tools I used: 


  • flat head screw driver
  • pliers
  • blue painters tape
  • DAP paintable caulk
  • Elmer's Wood Filler
  • (I could've used a second tube- but remember, I'm impatient)
  • paint brush
  • edgers- small ones
  • Porch Paint in black-for the tread
  • Semi Gloss trim paint in white
  • oh and my Favorite New Discovery, Working Hands (optional) : 
I left out the brands of the paint because, quite frankly, nobody endorses any of this so who cares, it was the cheapest one at Lowe's.

My stairs had the carpet wrapped around the tread.

(This became so much fun when removing the staples- I think the installer had a bad staple gun that misfired and shot out 5 staples in one shot? )









Look close at all that sand and dirt the grey stuff ewwwww








The landing has a curved edge but plywood, hmmm solution?





After the carpet came off, some of the spindles had gaps,



so caulk, 

and caulk again!

 Good.

 Then I sanded with a palm sander and 60 grit (whatever I had-remember - I'm impatient with 5 kids, not going to the store)




Finally some progress that won't destroy my nails,
I painted every other step, but a certain member of the household who isn't human, didn't understand me and walked his big hairy body up every stair, so I had to do some of them twice.  I should've taken
other blogger people's advice and done this when kids and pets are in bed!  Again, patience -zero.

I used a remnant of our new family room carpet and re-carpeted the landing.  Oh yeah...the spouse was impressed. 
So after taping and painting and taping and painting again, it's done kinof?



I want to add some trim under the treads like this one below that I found on Pinterest, and I love the mill work!



So now I need a compound miter saw.......