I have a few fun Christmas craft posts to share this week, but indulge me for a moment while I share some of my favorite ornament shots from this weekend… it’s going to be a very merry and bright Christmas at my house:
It’s sad that took me almost a week after I finished painting in my bedroom to get enough natural light to take a good picture of the results! But the rain clouds finally parted and now I can share with you how my weekend project turned out:
Painting the wall behind my bed was so gratifying. $14 worth of paint, one Saturday of work, and it totally transformed the room. I love the color; it’s called Poppyseed, and looks just like it sounds… a near black hue with hints of navy blue.
Here is what the room looked like before, major blah:
And for fun… one more stellar “after”:
Checking one project off the list of course means I’m just thinking about I want to do next… lamp upgrades, a new duvet, and perhaps some art above the bed? I’m never finished!
A few weeks ago I gave you a sneak peek at some decorations I was making for my friends’ wedding, and I’m happy to finally share the results.
I used some cake rounds, a little paint, and some ribbon to trim the edges to make the table numbers, and they were a nice pop of color to match the blue and orange theme!
This wedding was absolutely gorgeous. You MUST check out more of the amazing photos here at Bring To Light Photography.
I kept my promise and reworked the old toolbox I bought at Brimfield into a glamorous jewelry armoire last week. I can’t wait to share the “after” pictures, but first, let’s revisit the “before” picture of the rusty old tool box (this picture doesn’t do it justice, it was pretty banged up and dirty):
After hours of sanding down rust with steel wool (lots of help from a loving boyfriend) and several coats of spray paint later, I have to say, I’m a bit obsessed with how it turned out:
I’m mostly excited because I can’t believe how organized all of my accessories are now! There’s a little surprise on the inside, hot pink felt lining to keep my necklaces from rattling around in the metal drawers:
And to corral all of the teeny-tiny bits of baubles I spray painted an egg crate to match the metal.
It was quite the facelift — from holding to wrenches to cocktail rings!
Finally getting around to sharing the first of my Brimfield refurbishment projects! The story of my nightstands is a long and excruciating one. To start, I searched for nightstands to fit in the small nooks next to my bed for weeks on craigslist to no avail. At Brimfield though, I magically happened upon two matching nightstands, that fit my measurement requirements, and were only $20 each! Here’s what they looked like before:
They needed some love and some new paint and hardware. I found the perfect color, Glidden’s French Grey, and scored an amazing deal on some knobs at anthropologie. I fell for the intricate carvings and worn ivory texture of the knobs. They were perfect! (Or so I thought).
After painting the nightstands, and adding on the hardware — I was, to put it lightly, devastated with the outcome. From far away (as in — at the end of the bed), the knobs looked like unfinished wood and made the grey paint look much more like a blue. They had a shabby-chic-country look and that wasn’t my intention at all.
After some deliberation (and whining and moaning) I settled on changing out the hardware to see if I could “save” the look. I’ve admired ring pulls before and decided to bite the bullet and order them:
The result? A total save — I’m so happy with the new hardware. The grey looks more grey, and the nightstands no longer look like $20 outcasts!
I had an awesome weekend vacationing in Maine, it was perfect weather and gorgeous scenery. Check out some of the views I captured:
And sure, taking in the views and seeing a gorgeous sunrise were lovely, but the best part of the whole weekend? Getting a monogrammed tote at the LLBean flagship store in Freeport! A preppy dream come true:
Pssst: Don’t forget to head over to NewYorkDesignShop to check out all of the DIY Blogger Challenge designs and VOTE for me!
Today I’m going to be sharing the second of my CREATE COUTURE: The DIY Blogger Challenge tutorials, the Woodland Headband.
If you like what you see, don’t forget to vote!
To make Woodland Headband you will need to first gather your materials. You will need: scissors, a glue gun, a plain, thick headband, two large butterfly appliqués, and four large leather flower appliqués (I used the light brown and dark brown colors).
After you have all of your materials, take your scissors and cut the butterfly appliqués in half along the edges of the wings, and then again alongside the edges of the wings, separating the patch into quarters. This should leave you with four pieces for each appliqué.
Next, take your scissors and cut the leather flower appliqués in half, and the separate each half into three individual pieces. Cut the pieces at angles to shape each piece into an individual leaf shape.
Now you should have a pile of leather leaves and butterfly pieces. Arrange the pieces however you like, slightly layering each piece over the next and gluing them down onto the headband.
Keep gluing until you reach the bottom. I layered mine in such a way to try and create a braided effect. Make sure to let it dry before you try it on — you don’t want glue-gun strands stuck in your hair!
Remember: Head over to NewYorkDesignShop to check out all of the bloggers’ designs and VOTE!
Other than my eternal gratitude, there’s something in it for you too: by voting for the DIY projects you like the best, you could win one of the winning bloggers’ creations, so head over and cast your vote!
(PS: Thanks to my BFF for taking pictures of my completed projects!)
Brimfield totally lived up to my expectations; I was like a kid in a candy store, rifling through piles of junk and having a ball.
There was tons of jadeite, to my delight, though most of it was very overpriced, so I just enjoyed looking but didn’t come home with any new pieces. This table had me in a fit of excitement though:
One of the “trends” I noticed was lots of vintage bikes. This yellow one would have been helpful to tote around our loot with its big basket:
And this blue one caught my eye:
I saw that bike right at the end of our thrifting-marathon. The sun was wearing on us and I’ll be honest, I may have been feeling a little sleepy and full after hitting up the “food court” field (what can I say? I love fair food!).
Right behind the blue bike though was my score of the day — just what I had been hunting for, a pair of matching night stands, with drawers, that were under 16″ wide — a feat I thought for sure would be impossible. And they were just the right price, 40$ for the pair!
They’re an atrocious color and are missing hardware, but I’m planning to give them a fresh coat of paint and some fancy new knobs to spiff them up.
My other find of the day was a vintage tool chest that I’m also planning on giving a new life with some fresh paint. When I’m all finished I’m going to use it as a jewelry armoire.
All three pieces are being housed in my entryway, next to a Craigslist chair that’s also on my to-do-list to revamp. We’re now referring to this as the “furniture graveyard” until the temperatures drop and I can actually do some work on them without passing out from heat exhaustion!
Overall a successful trip — I will definitely be making this an annual (or bi-annual??) trip!
I have another before and after today — this time of the mirror I scored at the Todd Farm flea market. A fresh coat of black paint and this:
…now looks delightful in my living room like this:
I finally finished my upholstery class and have a brand spankin’ new desk chair to show for it. Here is what the chair looked like before:
And totally stripped down during the class:
And voila! My finished project:
And just for good measure, a nice before and after shot, side by side:
Now I’m already scheming my next upholstery project, practice makes perfect, right?
