DIY Cakestand and Party Dishes
Another bargain at Goodwill: beautifully tarnished sterling silver candlesticks – $2.99 for the pair. I thought I’d hop on the bandwagon and make these become stemmed partyware for my upcoming Valentine’s Day mommy party. The plastic bowl and small plate are dishes I had and didn’t mind re-purposing. I used Gorilla Glue, but I wished I had the craft size of Liquid Nails. Regardless, it seems to be holding up well, and I can’t wait to show you what I’m going to put in these.
And as a side note, these would be gorgeous in a guest bathroom with a decorative soap and hand towel, or in the kitchen with fruit, or on your nightstand to take of your jewelry at night, or…
I’d love to see your DIY cakestands, post a link in the comments if you’ve got one too!
Goodwill Party Pleasers
Needing to get out of the house the other day, I sent an “S.O.S” to my mom to meet me for lunch. Some mexican food and diet coke killed an hour, but I wasn’t ready to go back home, so baby and I stopped by Goodwill. I always hesitate when I go there because it’s such a hit or miss. Some days I leave with treasures, and some days I leave with fleas and ringworm. Despite getting the heebies, I found a couple great finds for a Valentine’s Day party I’m throwing next month.
This straight-out-of-the-seventies ceramic owl planter {$6.99} met my can of white spray paint {free} for a fun favor holder:
And this wooden tray got slightly less country and a little more Valentine-y when it met a fun pink spray paint {$4} and spray glitter {$3} and piece of scrapbook paper + mod podge. I wish you could see better, it is COATED in glitter!
Dining Chairs: These Were Disgusting
I bought these chairs on Craiglist for $5 EACH!!! After driving an hour away to pick them up {The Mr. wasn’t too thrilled about this}, we find out why. DIS-GUS-TING. I had protective wear when removing the cushion fabric because it was so nasty, and even nastier – they smelled. Ug. Gag. I’m reliving it now.
I mean, the owner was nice enough. He even bid me adieu with a “May Jesus bless your day.” But it wasn’t the chairs that were they sinners, why should these “vintage” Ethan Allan’s be sent to Outer Darkness?
I finished two of them today, tackling the other two next week. I had to remove the arms off of two of them because they didn’t fit under my table. But I also just noticed that with all four chairs under the table, they can’t tuck in all the way. DANG! I thought I had found the perfect chair for this cutie table. I guess I’ll live with it for a little bit and see if it drives me crazy.
And just a reminder, here are the IKEA chairs we had before…
{FIY: Heirloon White Satin Rust-O-Leum spray paint on top of Zinser primer, fabric from Home Fabrics in Pleasant Hill, CA}
Enough With The Pillowcases
I know. We’re not even half-way through September… but look how cute this one turned out?!
{Joann fabrics: Dancing Skeletons and Halloween Plaid}
Why so many pillowcases you ask? I had an itch to make them, and I don’t know when my little bug is going to be old enough for a pillow {3?}, so these are for family. Oh, and we just got the baby a jumper and he’s been in it for an hour and he’s still smiling away, so I’m keeping busy!
I also saw that Martha has some awesome halloween products this year: http://shop.marthastewart.com/. I LOVE HALLOWEEN!
Before and After: Cane Chairs
I didn’t think I could show my face until I had finished them. Why did it take so long? A combination of a four-month-old who just beat colic, and this chair not being the easiest to reupholster. But check out these beauties… I’m in love!
Hilarious how so many of us have these chairs. One reader had already redone her chair. Let me start by saying that this is not a project for the faint of heart. It did take some muscle and some patience, but look how cute! Totally worth it. Also note that I’m not a pro. Not even a semi-pro. I’ve only done mild upholstery jobs, so I just made this up as I went along, and it went something like this:
1. Remove the screws underneath the seat to release the cushion (My brother’s tip is to take pictures as you disassemble the chair in case you need to go back for reference when you’re ready to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.)
2. Remove all of the staples and fabric. (I used needle nose pliers because it’s what I had, but my brother recommends an upholstery staple remover) Save this fabric because you’ll need it as a pattern to cut out your new fabric.
3. Sand your chair so the paint can stick well.
4. At least 2 coats of spray paint. My ultimate FAVORITE spray paint of all time – and will never stray – is Rust-oleum Painter’s Touch. No they didn’t pay me to say this, and they wouldn’t have to. I love this stuff like I love Cheerios for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The applicator tip is big like a can of hairspray so you don’t get carpal tunnel from spraying, and the coverage is by far better than any other brand. You can get away with less coats. The reason I chose spray paint for these chairs is because there are no brush marks, the caning on the sides would have been a disaster to paint with a brush, and it’s quicker. You can do a few coats within 15 minutes of each other. Note: I started with matte finish, but didn’t like how it felt so the top coat on these chairs is semi-gloss. Much better.
5. On to the cusions. A bazillion staples need to be removed, and you need to try to salvage the fabric as much as you can so you can make a pattern out of it.
6. My chairs had the original upholstery with the buttoning, so all of these buttons needed to be removed, again I used the needle nosed pliers.
7. The cushions were a little worn and needed some extra quilt batting to beef them up, and since I wasn’t going to do the buttoning, I filled the holes like Heather did to smooth it out. (Good thinkin’ Heather)
8. Used the old fabric to cut out the new fabric, plus a little extra. I wanted to be able to pull and tug on the fabric and then trim later. My fabric was directional and I bought 3 yards for both chairs and it was PLENTY. Probably would have been okay with 2 1/4 for both chairs. (btw- fabric was $5/yard at Home Fabrics in Pleasant Hill, CA)
9. The back piece facing out goes on first. I centered my directional fabric and stapled it tightly in the center working my way out. Pull hard and get that fabric tight. I used a PowerShot heavy duty staple gun and it worked great. Definitely an air compressor and nail gun would have been even better, but I didn’t have one – and they scare me. You can rent one and get even better results.
10. I had to make sure my fabric was straight before I nailed the whole thing down.
11. LOTSA staples.
12. Removed buttoning, filled holes and added a few layers of batting to the back cushion
13. Staple, staple, staple.
14. Trim the excess. This is where your piping will go.
15. Okay, this is where I got janky. I used the original piping from the chair because, lucky me, it matched my new fabric. As far as online tutorials go, I fail because I haven’t taught you how to make your own piping, BUT, looking at it, it doesn’t look too tough to recreate. the tough part is attaching it to the chair so you don’t see the staples. This is where the air compressor would have been great, but would have taken great precision, and since those things scare the bejeebies outta me, I glued. Yes, in the spirit of “I’m not a pro, let’s wing it,” I glued the trim. Wood glue. Seems to be holding up nicely. If I didn’t have the original piping I would do one of three things, recover the piping with a sewing machine. If you take it apart you’ll see how it’s constructed quite easily. Or I’d buy cording and glue two widths of it, or what Heather did was use nailhead trim. I’ve had a hard time getting nailhead to sit straight, but she looks like she got it down.
16. Last row of piping on the chair base and replace the cushion.
BHG Crafts
I miss my Better Homes & Gardens magazine subscription. I don’t have time for extra crafts right now (and I’m *this* close to finishing my chair but haven’t been able to work it in yet), but I’m sharing projects from the bhg.com website that I love:
Silk Scarf Room Divider
Fabric-Covered Organizers
Magnetic Memo Board
Colorful Candlesticks
Fabric Lined Chest
Cute As A Button Desserts
This is all going somewhere – my “Cute As A Button” themed baby shower post is coming up next. But these were the main attraction – little button-topped desserts. All the supplies needed to make these little buttons are at Bake It Pretty – and for cheap cheap! {Super cute baking supplies available here – even ready-made sugar buttons!}
These are tubes of candy! Mmmm… To make the buttons, all you do is melt the candy writer {$1.75} in some warm water…
Squeeze the candy into the button mold {$2.25}, tap out the air bubbles and set in the freezer for a minute before popping the buttons out.
You put them on delicious homemade cupcakes or cookies, but I {“she who does not bake”} put them on Safeway’s yummmmmy frosted brownie bites that my mom found.
$4 to make these buttons, and you can keep reusing the mold. I LOVE when beautiful things are also cheap and easy!
Dresser Before and After
…And you thought I’d be bored on my Maternity Leave…
This dresser was a wedding present from my mom, and we’ve had it for over 7 years. I love this dresser. I even loved it white but it was getting pretty dirty after so many moves. Here are the highlights:
- The dresser was almost raw wood so dusting and very little sanding was needed
- I had four of those little knobs left over from another project, so I decided to save a little money and use these knobs instead of purchasing a whole new set. I was able to purchase the remaining knobs at Home Depot.
- Paint color was Elegant Silk Interior Satin Latex Valspar Paint from Lowes. This was my first time using Valspar and my review is mixed. I thought the coverage was great but the paint dried too fast. Of course, this has to do with many variables, such as the weather, but I had to work in double speed to not leave brush marks
- I almost never have a plan when I head out to get paint. I knew I wanted a fun color, and that’s about it. I spent about 10 minutes looking for a color, and decided on this fun teal. I like how it looks with the black and white and even lime green {risky move!} in my bedroom.
Here are some tips for a quick paint job
Roll the paint first using a small roller.
Get the paint into the crevices with a brush. Use the same brush to smooth out the nap marks left by the roller. Be sure to go with the grain of the wood and make your brushstroke last the entire length or width of the brush so it doesn’t leave a mark where you started or where you ended.
Keep the bottom of the piece raised a little bit. I had my dresser on a furniture mover so it was elevated and I could easily rotate it to paint comfortably. You can use little pieces of cardboard underneath each corner so you can be sure to get paint along the very bottom of the piece.
But What Do I Do With It?
I bought this Michael Miller fabric in Portland, because I couldn’t leave it at the store. I was going to make laminated placemats, but I love my new laminated tablecloth so much, I may never take it off! Thinking…
Making a Vinyl Tablecloth
The last time my mom went to Portland, she came back with some cute vinyl to make a wipeable tablecloth.
While I was in Portland for the holiday, I did the same. This is Moda laminated cotton {I have a hard time finding moda fabrics online to show you, but here are some equally adorable laminated fabrics – Amy Butler even has some now!}. {oh, and you don’t have to go to Portland, they just happen to have a fabulous fabric store and NO SALES TAX.}
The only limitation with this is the width of the fabric. You probably wouldn’t want to piece the fabric together because you’d get a pretty heavy seam, but both my mom and I added a thick grossgrain ribbon to add a little length and width. Because I didn’t want mine to slide around, I mitered the edges to give it a snug fit. The project only took about 20 minutes {cut fabric to fit, add ribbon around the edges, miter the corners}, and I couldn’t be happier with the result!
Immortalized T-Shirt
I cut up my t-shirt and framed it.
It was a cozy t-shirt and I loved the print, but was a tad short {and more like a straight jacket now that I’m “with child”}.
Now I can see it everyday instead of hiding it in a closet. Oh, and hey, freed up another hanger for a new shirt. Win – win.
{It has become BLARINGLY apparent that I need to paint my master bathroom now that this white art is hanging.}
I have also immortalized t-shirts in the past… from little league to college volleyball – all the t-shirts I couldn’t part with have become the most COMFY cozy quilt.
Craft Night: Magnet Boards
For craft night with my friends last night, we made these magnet boards from the brilliant Crafty Nest {instead of the LoRan magnet board, I bought 8″x12″ steel roofing shingles from Lowes and cut them with tin snips}. We thought it would be fun to swap out the fabric with the seasons. My spray paint is drying and not ready to assemble yet, but here’s Monica’s Fall Magnet Board:
