CHEVRON

CHEVRON WALL

Love this look and the colors.   Painting a pattern really updated my upstairs hallway and added a little character.  Notice my faux wood doors.  I painted these doors earlier this year.

This only took about an hour since the wall was already painted a gray color.

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Love the look of wood without paying wood prices.  

 Base coat for the faux wood doors.

 Before

 Doors side by side

Faux wood vs white

Cubby in the  upstair hall painted with a free stencil online and leftover paint from another project.  Nothing beats free!

B I G girl room

CHIC-CHICK

________________________________ BIG-girl ROOM 

My inspiration for this project came from my crazy obsession with Pinterest.  I found a bed on Pinterest that I absolutely loved.  So began the hunt on our local craigslist for the perfect bedroom set that somewhat resembled the look.  

This project includes:  

• wall stenciling
• chalk painting
• headboard tufting

First things first...find the furniture!

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I bought the bedroom set including the tall dresser, bed, side table and desk for $250 off our local Craigslist

I purchased the chair at a local thrift store for $35.  A little more than I wanted to spend, but it was in perfect condition.

A little history:  The bedroom set was originally used by the owners of Chandler's bakery in North Kansas City, I would guess in the early 20's.  Beautiful set!  Any antique dealer is going to cringe with what I have done to this set.  Paint...paint...paint...

Guess I forgot to take a pic of the desk before the painting began.

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Chalk Paint~make it..don't buy it!

Chalk paint gives you a dull finish, but allows for the perfect shabby antiqued look. Also...NO SANDING!!!  Not to be confused with Chalk-board paint, completely different paint and concept.

You can buy already mixed chalk paint, but it is REALLY expensive, not to mention the cost of shipping.

I purchased the calcium carbonate on-line for $3.95

http://secure.sciencecompany.com/Calcium-Carbonate-Whiting-1-lb-P6641.aspx

Satin paint~bucket to mix~calcium carbonate

Calcium carbonate acts as a bleaching agent, so keep that in mind when you are choosing colors and mixing.

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My garage is always a mess with projects galore.  This one took the prize for now you really can't park in here!

Notice the 2 year old, probably with a can of paint and paintbrush in hand.

Tufted Headboard

I purchased peg board, layer it over the top of the headboard and free-handed the outline with sharpie.  

• peg board~cut with jigsaw

• space out button holes evenly and circle with sharpie

Buttons are used to pull thread through and tie to hold fabric colored buttons on the fabric side.

• trace foam to fit on top peg board and cut with knife

• place a lot of poly fill on top board

• place fabric on polyfill 

• Pull fabric and staple in place. Yes, you can staple peg board...SCORE!
• Cover buttons with fabric ( you can buy these kits at any craft store).  Really easy to do!

• Use upholstery thread, double thread.  Thread fabric colored buttons, pull and push buttons at the same time.  Use random buttons seen above to secure tie in place.  Tie off thread while fabric buttons are being pushed in (my hubby helped with this very tedious process).

Fits perfect..now the paint!

I used heavy duty velcro to attach the tufted piece to the headboard so I wouldn't ruin the integrity of the wood.  The heavy duty from Home Depot is a must since the craft store variety is just not strong enough.

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Time to Paint~Chalk Paint

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Before

 After one coat..took about 4-5

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After painting all of the furniture (many times) I sanded the edges and applied a bees wax.
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~Chic new room~

Her room was previously the nursery faux painted a couple years ago.  I should take a picture of all the paint cans I have in my garage...it's really embarrassing.


Before

After

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Louis XIV meets Elvis

~ zebra stenciling, zebra bedding, glitter walls, gold leafing~

I added a set of three mirrors over the bed and the turquoise wall is mixed with glitter, just enough to glimmer in the light.

zebra stencil purchased off ebay, but later found at the local craft store

~Gold craft paint over a pale blue~

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This is one of my favorites

Thrift store frame $1.99

scrapbook paper

Free fabric sample from the fabric store cut into a "E"

Until the next project........

T E A C H E R G I F T

 W E ~L O V E~ O U R ~T E A C H E R S

Crafty teacher gift idea.

Supplies

• jute (Jo ann's)
• 12 inch cardboard letters (found at Jo ann's)  $5.99 each
• fabric
• hot glue
• ribbon
• fray check
• ice for the hot glue gun burns....ouch!

Wrap...glue...wrap...glue...

I made one for each of my kids teachers.

~~~~~Finished product~~~~

Mrs. M

Mrs. T

Mrs. H

Every letter will need to be wrapped with jute.  It goes like this: wrap, glue repeat...wrap, glue repeat. This is a very time consuming a tedious process (easy, but takes a while).  I worked for several days.  I had to put it down and come back to finish.  My friend Kori said her mom made jute wrapped vases back in the day, so I guess this isn't exactly a  new idea.   Embellish your letter with whatever you want.  A easier and faster idea would be to spray paint your letters, maybe next year. 




Oh well, so much for next year!  Here is a bronze painted letter wiped with taupe paint with hand-made paper stars wiped with ink.  

Folded paper stars

 Merry Christmas!  

next:  80 year old couch

 upholstery craigslist find~ $20

5 hammer job is my guess...yikes!

L A M P Project

                                                                 L   A   M   P

Nurse Humor

Blue Magic Polish

A recent lamp redo was fired by my obsession with Pinterest.  The lamp motivator ended up being a FAIL.  I bought blue magic cleaner online to turn an old brass lamp into a chrome beauty.  In order for you to be able to rub the brass off it has to be plated, not solid.  dang!  The idea is that you take a wool pad, dip it into the blue magic, use LOTS of elbow grease and it turns into a beautiful chrome lamp.  

Here is a link to the idea:  http://www.remodelaholic.com/2010/09/turn-your-brass-to-shinny-chrome/

Krylon looking glass spray paint

Another fail!  The paint costs $11.99 at Hobby Lobby.  I did use my 40% off coupon, making the purchase a little less painful.  The paint went on just like the metallic silver paint, that is half the price.  Maybe I didn't add enough coats, but after 4 I decided to quit.  

This is what I wanted.

Before

Lamp on the left $1.99/ Lamp on the right $9.99 at the local thrift store.

This is after some serious polishing, solid brass.

After

I ended up with a pewter look after using the metallic paint and wiping it with a rag dipped in bronze spray paint.  

I'm still trying to find a shade big enough to fit the other lamp.  Going to try and find one at the thrift store and cover it in fabric.  Lamp shades are difficult to find used since they are so fragile.  Wish me luck.  I will post the end product.

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No before pics, but here is my chandelier redo.

• Ugly brass fixture, $7.00 at the thrift store. 
•  Package of crystals in the wedding section at Hobby Lobby 50% off at $5.00.
• Spray Painted bronze, wiped silver.
• Added a glass bead garland.
• Red to Red, Black to Black and copper to copper.

Months later I have added a drum shade that softened the light considerably.  A few snips and it fit onto the chandelier great!  Love it!

So much better than what we had before!

Next up:  completely crafty teacher gift