DIY Riddling Rack

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I first stumbled on a Riddling Rack last year.  You can read more about the original function here.

Via

Via

Via

I couldn’t believe how much they cost.  Anywhere from $200-600! WOW. I forgot about it and moved on.  Then a few weeks ago I thought about them again and I realized I had the perfect place to put one.

I knew there had to be instructions somewhere on the internet and after a quick Google search I found some here.  Seemed easy enough. I cheated and used some left over fencing from the fence we built earlier this summer.

The whole project cost about $3. I had to go to get one piece of wood to use for the back.  The whole family got involved in this one, we each took turns distressing the wood and after it was all put together, I stained it with a mix of stains to give it an older look.  I could’ve cut the top part of the fence off for a clean edge but I liked the idea of letting it’s past life show through to remind us that even something we otherwise would’ve discarded could be given a new life.

I hope this has inspired you to look for the beauty and potential in everyday items.

Sarah

DIY {Spring to Fall Artwork}

Have you ever had a spur of the moment project idea and when you acted on it, it turned out EXACTLY how you had hoped? AND, it took less than 10min?  That’s how I felt the other day.   With all the fall decorating that has been going on over here, here, and here the living room was looking a little less than fall-ish.

I love the oversized painting above our sectional but it really is more for spring and summer. I like to decorate with the seasons and this painting was driving me crazy.  Last year, I tried a little collage wall

But didn’t really want to go that route again. Then it just hit me like THAT! I had a table cloth that was bold, graphic, and the perfect colors. After a quick trial run, I knew it would work, so I ironed that bad boy and whipped out the masking tape!

I laid the tablecloth on the floor with the painting on top and pretty much wrapped it like a present being sure to wrap tightly so I wouldn’t have any wrinkles.

It was a snug fit, I wasn’t sure if it was even going to cover the corners but luckily it did which means it was meant to be!

Viola!!!

Easy. Peasy.

I just don’t think it gets any easier than this. Best part is, when I’m tired of it all I have to do is just pull the tape up.  I won’t damage the canvas or the fabric.

Here’s a quick before & after shot

You also may have noticed my favorite blue chair is no longer with us. I picked this gal up last year for $5 at a yard sale and I’ve loved her ever sense. I’ve gotten my money’s worth.

RIP

This means I’ll have to learn upholstery 101 stat. I’ve already got the chair, if you can remember from earlier in the summer, and I already have an idea of what I want, I just need to find the right fabric and the time…

I hope everyone has a great day!

Sarah

Before and After {barstools}

After a showed you all the kitchen island makeover, a reader, Jenn,  gave me the link to a bar stool similar to these

Home Decorators Anthro Arhaus World Market

She read my mind! The World Market stools weren’t even completely out of budget but these jewels literally jumped out at me one day

You know the kind. Typical bar stools you can buy from any any big box store. I decided to buy the pair for $5 and decided to just give them a mini makeover until something else comes along.

Cosmetically, they were in rough shape. There were paint splatters on the top, stains on the legs, and the orange-y oak stain wasn’t working for me either. But they were solid wold and solid.  So my trusty sander and I got to work. I sanded everything down to remove the finish on top and most of the finish on the legs.

I aged the tops a little more by beating them with a hammer, staining them brown, and finally adding a layer of brown wax to finish them off.

For the legs I sprayed a few coats of gray spray paint for a nice even finish, then went over that with a black, hammered finish spray paint.

To give it more depth and to look more like the industrial finish of the inspiration’s I used a few other techniques. I finally added two coats of a wipe on poly to seal everything in.

To add to the industrial look, I added these metal chair slides.

I think I’ll keep them for now. At least until I find “the ones” during my travels.

Before and After {kitchen pendant light}

This is the light I used to have in my kitchen. It looked great when that area looked like this

Not so much anymore.

My style has been moving towards a more industrial chic meets rustic and I’ve really been drawn to these cage style lights but can’t justify or afford the price tag that goes along with it.

Do you remember this wire bell I got at the start of yard sale season this year? Or maybe it’s a birdcage? I can’t really tell.  Either way, it was just $1.

*disclaimer* I’m not down with the country decor of the ’80s. I apologize in advance if this offends any of you reading this blog.

Now that that’s out in the open let’s get this makeover started!

I cut off the top part and the heart shaped stick inside the bell/birdcage. I also had a pendant light kit from Lowe’s.

And this is what I came up with

I do need to get an Edison Light in the cage; it’s on my list for my next Lowe’s run.

This little bell/birdcage works perfectly.  It has a little door you can slide up and it’s the perfect size to be able to reach in and change the light bulb.  And I don’t mind that little heart accent on the door; my maiden name is Hart so it is a little special touch I do like.  Plus, it also matches another little heart detail from our remodel

This is the detail of our sliding door leading into our bathroom/mudroom.  More on that in the future!

So back to the Pendant Light. Here is picture overload

And here it is in relation to the the island

It gives off so much more natural light then the other light did.  No more yellow/orange haze!

And I just have to show you guys a blooper picture.  This is what I deal with on a constant basis.  Gunner has to be in every shot!

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!! I know I will and I’ll have the pictures to share later next week!

Sarah

DIY {shower curtain turned curtain}

i mentioned here that i was having a hard time finding curtains for my dinning room.  i wanted something fun with a large print in the colors of my choice.  I needed them to be 98″ which is really hard to come by.  Curtains are usually something like 81″ or 108″.  I had checked out Ikea since you can buy curtains super long and hem them to your desired length but even they didn’t have anything i really liked in the colors i wanted.  On a recent trip with my mom we stopped in Kohls. i was wondering through their linen department when i noticed they had all these really fun shower curtains.  i decided to pick this one up for the dinning room.

Again, too short but i liked the print so much that i decided to buy it.  here it is 2 months later and i finally got around to making them into curtains!

I went through my fabric stash and grabbed anything i thought could work with the print in the curtains.  I didn’t have a complete master plan, i was just going to wing it and work with what i had.

I set everything up on my new kitchen island, put the ipad to the newest episode of the Tudors i had on my que and got busy.  on a side note~ if you’ve never watched the Tudors you. need. to.  put it in your que stat!!  it is one great show!

i cut the shower curtain in half length wise. these would be my two panels.  lucky for me there was a seem straight down the middle from it being so nice and neatly folded in the package!

Next, i play around with my stash fabric, immediately got rid of the teal fabric, it just wasn’t the right color.  i decided to use the white waffle weave shower curtain. i liked the neutral color and the texture playing off the bold flower pattern.  i measured how much fabric i would need to match the width and desired length of the flower fabric.  I was careful to cut the white curtain using the existing hems so i could match those up to the existing hems of the flower fabric.  it saved me some time!  don’t forget to allow for your seam allowances when you are determining the fabric measurements.

i sewed the white panels to the flower panels.  and then decided to use the polka-dot men’s shirt and make 1 1/2″ strips of fabric to make a ruffle.  I used the back of the men’s shirt for this part.  i then attached the ruffles to the seam where the two panels of fabric met.

here is the finished product:

don’t mind the stack of frames on the floor-the are finding a home soon!

a close up of the ruffle.  there are two rows of thread going down the ruffle.  one is the line you use to make the actual ruffle and the other is the seam connecting the 3 pieces together.  you should easily be able to pull the thread out of the one used to make the ruffle.

this project took me about 3 hours to complete.  it wouldn’t have taken as long if i already planned the design but sometimes that’s part of the fun is letting the project take on a life of it’s own!

happy Monday!

Sarah

Before/After {The Guest Bedroom}

so i mentioned on Friday that we were expecting company this past weekend and the bedroom they were going to be staying in looked like this~

This is the bedroom that no one ever sees…until now…

the one where the door is ALWAYS shut…

the one where we tend to DUMP…

the plan was to freshen up the room using only things i had around the house.  i sort of started to collect flower still life paintings.  some i’ve bought at the dollar store just to fill the walls when we first bought our house, while others were painted by my Grandma. i’ve always wanted to do a big collage wall of them but wasn’t sure i could live with it and look at it every day.  i thought this room might be a good place to try it since it’s not a room we visit everyday.

this is the after~

the quilters hoops were taken out of little man’s room.  i’m trying to transition his room to a big boy room so these were definitely going to have to go.  nothing say’s “i’m a big boy now” like grandma’s quilters hoops!

and have i mentioned how much i miss my lens to my DSLR? I have? oh sorry…well i miss my lens! these pictures are just terrible…

ok. back on track. here’s more of the room~

This is the display of odds and ends on a cabinet

and that’s it!  one of these day’s i’d like to paint the room and do a few other things like replace the little light fixture. but it will just have to get added to the long list of other things that need to get done.

has anyone else tackled a before and after using only things you had on hand?  please share, i’d love to see!

The Kitchen Island {before and after}

I hope you all like before and afters, I know I do, and you’ll be seeing them for a few weeks! We recently went under a renovation. We opened up our kitchen, added hardwood floors through out the main level, and updated the 1/2 bathroom. Luckily, it only took 3 weeks but it was the LONGEST 3 weeks of my life! Anyway, I’ll be sharing the before and afters over the next few weeks as I get rid of the dust bunnies get the pictures ready.

I found our kitchen island in a consignment shop. We knew we wanted something unique, something that looked more like a piece of furniture rather than a typical kitchen island. We really weren’t too picky other than the piece needed to fit our space. I was open to painting the island or leaving it as is.  I decided to paint this piece for several reasons.  The finish wasn’t in that good of condition in some areas and in other areas it had some nice wear to it that i thought would show nicely once the piece was painted.

I believe this piece used to be a sideboard in another life. The size was perfect and at 50% off $300 was a steal! After inspection, I new it would need a little bit of work. One of the doors was falling off it’s hinge, and the two top drawers were sticking. I knew these could easily be fixed, my dad is a woodworker and would be able to help me. So I asked the manager if she could knock off more on the price since it needed a little work. To my surprise, she took and additional 25% off!!!!! That’s right. My new kitchen island only cost me $112.

After getting it home, my dad came to take a look at it and realized it might need a little more work then I had originally thought. He reattached everything as well as reinforced the legs, replaced the bottom, evened out the drawers for a smoother glide, and rebuilt the actually slides the drawers slide on. It didn’t cost me anything extra (yeah!) since he had all the materials on hand in his workshop, but he basically rebuilt the hole piece. He spent slot of time on it and I owe him big. So a big THANK YOU goes out to him. Oh wait. He doesn’t read my blog. I guess I’ll have to thank him some other way!

The After~

I painted the island a light shade of green but didn’t like it once it was finished, so I painted it a dark gray instead and then used several different methods of antiquing the piece to achieve the look. I decided to leave the knobs the original wood to help tie it into the island top.  All that’s left to do is add a new light fixture and have it centered over the island.

A friend made that gorgeous butcher block top! I couldn’t be happier with it.

We added the bead board panel to the back and painted it the same gray and to finish the whole thing we added the large corbels.

I stained them with a cherry stain and made sure to get more stain in the carved parts to help them stand out.

now all we need are bar stools to finish it completely.  I’m loving these but at that price i’ll have to think of something else…hmmm…do i smell a DIY coming????

Source

have a great day!

sarah

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A Refashion

I stumbled on this dress at a thrift store. I loved the maxi length, the colors, and the ruffles at the neckline. And it was 3 bucks. What I wasn’t dig’n were the long sleeves or the ruffle at the bottom of the dress.

I used seam rippers to remove the sleeves and the ruffled bottom. Then pinned the new seams in place and set them with my iron.

Took it to the sewing machine, and 5 minutes later had a new dress!

Dresser before & after

Let me start with the after on this to get you as excited as i am:

My sister picked this old dresser up at a yard sale last summer. Let me say, she is sooooo lucky she just moved and needed a dresser, I would’ve snatched this up for myself!

It really was in good shape. It just needed a good cleaning and light sanding to get ready to take the paint.

I painted the whole thing white then gave it a light sanding and finished it up with a protective coat of poly.

I bought these cool anthro draw pulls on clearance and used a few other pulls I had along with 2 of the originals for a mix-match look to finish it up.

And just so you don’t have to scroll back up to see the before & after another shot:

Did you see that headboard in the mirror reflection? We spent some fun quality sister time designing and making it together. We used a microsuede fabric from JoAnn Fabrics that was on sale with a coupon and used different silver toned buttons to mimic the dresser for the tufting. it was a fun project that turned out fabulous and completely makes the room!

Everyone have a great day!

Sarah

A before and after {bread box turned cell phone charging station}

While yard sale-ing last summer this bread box jumped out at me and begged me to take it home. I loved the turquoise color, the size, and the shelf. I knew I wouldn’t use it to hold bread. Instead I use it as a catch-all to keep our kitchen counters clutter free. Oh! And I almost forgot the best part! It was only .25!

It was a little beat up on the outside but I think that adds character. The inside on the other hand needed some help. The shelf was dented and rusted. I flattened out the shelf and sprayed the inside with primer and then plain white spray paint. I used a drill bit to cut a hole in the back to slide the cord through. It isn’t perfect, in fact, it’s pretty ugly but it serves the purpose. I did file the edges down so it won’t cut anyone.

the after: