String art

As promised from my Spring fresh start post, here's how we made our cute little string art projects!

Before we got started, we hit Pinterest to see what kind of afternoon project we should work on for our "Crafternoons" :)

We found a couple string art projects that looked fun and pretty easy.


Then we found the winner:


The only challenge was to re-create it. So Deb had the idea to print this out and use it as a template for creating our own.  We had a plan :) so it was off to the happiest place on earth.....Hobby Lobby.

We found these great wood pieces with frames on them, blank and just asking to be turned into something.  We also found the little gold nails and the perfect colors we wanted to use for the birds and twig.

With our print offs in hand, we taped it in place and started nailing in the little gold nails.  Luckily the picture showed the nails so we just put our nails right on top!

The nails are really small so we used these tongs to hold the nail upright.  I tried using my fingers, the nails kept falling over and when they didn't I tended to hit my fingers because they were in the way, ouch!

Once the nails were all in place, we pulled off the stencil, carefully, some of the nails wanted to come out with the paper so there were a few that needed to be hammered back in. With a free work surface we started winding the string.

When we were satisfied with the amount of string we tied it off and sat back to admire the handiwork.

Here's the finished product in it's happy little home. (This picture was taken before my Spring Time refresh but it's still on the same wall, just a new spot :)



Any new projects you want to try?  Tempted to try some string art of your own?

Basement Stairs re-do with the help of the best Dad ever!

Happy Father's Day everyone! This is my Dad.  He is quite possibly the best Dad in the world.  He's kind, hardworking, caring, would do anything for anyone and he's taught me and my sister Lonna those skills as well.  He's a carpenter and he helped me renovate my antique buffet.  Of course this wasn't the first project he's helped me with, and vice versa, I've spent most of my life helping him in his garage with various things.  He turned his old garage into a new master suite for him and Mom and I can't tell you how much mudding and painting I've helped him with, also the classic, "hand me a hammer," or "go grab me a few nails please" tasks you ask little kids to do to make them feel like they're helping.  Oh did I love it though! I loved snapping the straight chalk line after he measured, and most of the time I think Lonna and I did a lot more playing around the work than we did actual work but I don't think Dad ever minded.  I think it was his job as a carpenter is what made me so interested in home design and home decor.  I loved going to visit the large houses he was working on, especially when they were almost done and the finishing touches were being added.

Here's a little proof that this was in my blood since I was teeny tiny while I "helped" Dad build my Grandparent's house.

A few months ago (because I'm terrible at posting any fresh projects) he helped me make-over the stairs to my basement that cost only about $35.

First the before pictures.

 
They were so old!

It's like a linoleum from the 70's or 80's maybe.  and the white toe kicks or whatever you call them, the risers, were stained up and just in need of a refresh.

What was I going to do with them you ask? Let's take a stroll to my basement board for the inspiration Pins.

If you can sense a pattern I love dark wood! If I had my choice all my wood furniture/cabinets/floors everything would be dark wood.  Most of these pins was a matter of staining the wood that was under people's carpets or linoleum or whatever.  So I started scraping and peeling and after hours and hours I got this far:

Haha yes, just the landing.  It was so tedious! Whatever glue they used was really strong! Whenever you watch home improvement shows they make it look so easy.  Even when I "helped" my dad reno our bathroom when I was younger, he pulled up that old linoleum so easily pulling up big pieces in one yank.  Well not the case with mine! It was coming up in little tiny chunks so I'd have to pull and scrape so much! I never knew I could get such a long hard work out in one little area.

Anyway, after I saw what was underneath and my lack of ability to remove all the glue I decided staining what was underneath was not an option so I started shopping.  I didn't wan to use glue so peel and stick tile seemed like a good option.  Whomever laid the flooring in my mud room seemed to have used peel and stick tile and it looked pretty good and seemed like something I could handle in a relatively short amount of time.

I was able to find this peel and stick wood from Lowe's for under $1 per square foot!

I did the math, and then I did it again 4 times before I placed the order.  I was so scared I would get enough and I'd have to go back and risk it being out of stock.  I also was worried I'd get way too much, although that'd be better because I'm always doing projects, I knew I'd put it to use sometime.  As worried as I was about that, I was even more worried to lay it down and have it look stupid, or not make cuts in the right places and waste the tile.  That's when I called Daddy! I need his expert measuring skills.  He agreed to come so I scrubbed the linoleum that I couldn't pull up so the tile would have nothing to stick to but the stair itself and gave the toe kicks a fresh coat of white paint.

My Dad came and we got to work.  I'd resume my old jobs of handing him more tile when he was done measuring, taking the trash and scrap pieces out of the work area, and making sure he had enough water and keeping the animals out of his way (ok that was a new job, we never were allowed pets growing up, probably why I have so many now lol).

Once he had the tiles in place, I'd follow behind and screw the stair tread caps back on. It only took about 3 hours and we were done!

Now the stairs have joined the 21st century! I can't wait to get a fresh coat of paint on the walls in this hall and get everything decorated up the way I like it.  Get excited because I've got a few more projects to do in this stairway before everything's all done. Stay tuned!

What do you think? Do you think you might try some peel and stick tile projects? Remember they don't have to just go on your floor.  Open your mind, stick them on the wall, or on a canvas, or in the back of a bookshelf.  The possibilities are endless.

Spring....a Fresh Start, even if it's almost Summer

 I definitely meant to post this a while ago but you know how time gets away!

With the coming of Spring it was time for me to give the house a little decor makeover.

I had been going through the rooms in the house and asking myself, what do I love and what am I just satisfied with?  If it's not a room I love, then how do I make it one that makes me feel happy and completely at home.  I've seen several pins on Pinterest about de-cluttering or making your house a home on my organization board and that's one of the questions you should ask yourself.


It's also a question I have made a habit of asking myself this year.  Life is too short, I'm aiming to follow the advice outlined in my new wall art from Kirkland's.

Ok you guys! I just discovered Kirkland's and I have no idea how I hadn't gotten there sooner! I freaking love that place! Anyway, I have this little beauty hung on the living room wall opposite the front door so when I get home from work every day, it's the first thing I see when I walk in the door.  Alright, I guess it's not the first thing I see, because there's usually a few fur babies right in the front door hungry for supper.

My next bit of "Pinspiration" is from all those Gather signs on Pinterest.  Hung in the dining room, it's a perfect vibe in a place to sit down for a family dinner or have some great friends over and share a meal or play some games, or just enjoy a drink and chat.  Here are my inspiration Pins:


So I went shopping at Hobby Lobby (Kirkland's is great but I'll never kick my Hobby Lobby habit) and I found the perfect metal gather sign and a great wall hanging with blue and brown accents that really pops nicely on my off white walls in the dining room:

They came as separate items and with just a couple nails they go so well together!  Under that I have a giant key that my cousin Katie didn't want any more.  She had painted it red and I was keeping it in my craft room closet waiting to paint it black or dark brown or maybe blue, I had no idea.  Well while Lonna (my sister) and I were dragging things out to decide what to hang in the perfect arrangement, my eyes landed on it, but it was just too much red.  Lonna and I decided if it was a little weathered so the black underneath the red, it'd look perfect!  We took some sand paper to it and worked it until it was right:

I have red accents in the kitchen so it's a great way to tie the kitchen and dining room together, along with some fake roses I have in a vase on the bookshelf. I paired it all with items I already had in the dining room, also all things that answered the do I love this/does it make me happy question. Among the items is my hand print that I made in Kindergarten and one of my mom's hand print from when she was 2 years old, and a chalkboard that I always customize for the season.  I have a koo-koo clock in the dining room and it plays "Edelweiss" and "Happy Wanderer." I decided for spring and to mirror the songs from the clock, I decided on "Bloom and Grow" for the chalk board.  So many meanings behind that phrase, inspiring, hopeful, and comforting.  What better feelings for your home right? Here's the full decor above my beautiful new/old buffet from my last post:

For the wall next to it I put some more Hobby Lobby finds along with a project I made with my favorite fellow crafter, :) it was our first intro to string art and was super fun and surprisingly easy. I'll show how we did it in a later post so stay tuned but here's the other wall:

The tree I already had, the birds make me happy and remember the bonding moments spent doing a new task together and learning along the way and ending up with something beautiful.  I also love that little hi sign :) such a nice way to welcome people to the heart of the home.

With the shifting of items in the dining room there was a big white blank space next to the buffet under my red clock by the kitchen door.  I wondered what to put there and I thought of another of Katie's hand-me-downs. One of the many great perks of having a cousin who has similar interests and taste in decor, I've been gladly accepting her hand-me-downs all my life :)

I've always loved the color of this beauty! The teal pops so nicely off the almost white walls and anyone who knows my design style knows that wrought iron is my jam! I love it, all the intricacies and detail, it's awesome! I had this in my office for a long time but with the tan walls in my office it just didn't look quite right.  In the dining room it adds a great balance in the color in the room and the balance of large pieces.

And with that, I looked around my dining room loving everything I saw, and it was good. :)  I went into the office next and tweaked some thing in there too, making it a space I can get sh** done and let my creative juices flow.

So Beauty and the Beast just came out on DVD right? I've been watching it pretty much consistently all my life but especially since I got my pre-ordered DVD in the mail.  To say it's my favorite Disney movie is an understatement as reflected in some of the references in my guest room post ironically titled "Be our Guest" Now here's the reason for the Beauty and the Beast tangent, since I love the story so much, I got some Belle related art work :)

The picture on the left is a water color painting of Belle "with her nose stuck in a book" and the words read "That girl is strange but special"  I would say similar things can be said about me haha. Plus this is hung above a couch section I have in there where I sit and read from time-to-time. The picture on the right is of a dandelion with it's seeds flying away with the words that Belle singes in the meadow when she releases dandelion seeds: "I want adventure in the great wide somewhere" how inspiring? Both pictures have the letters in metallic ink so it's shiny and of course I love things that glitter, shine, or sparkle! Of course in the middle is a picture of my family at the Alan Jackson concert, who's music I also love.

Oh and I love my Dad, Mom, and sister too :)

On the wall by my desk is another great form of inspiration and this one is a bit more in your face which, when you have my procrastination skills, is sometimes what you need.

You Got This! Definitely a comforting and inspiring thing to see when the bills need to be paid, budget needs to be done, grocery list or to do list needs compiled and then completed.

And there you have it! A few minor tweaks can go a long way to take your house from like, to love. I, as mentioned, did some shopping in stores but I also shopped my craft closet.  I've been squirreling away items from my grandparent's farm, garage sale/Goodwill finds, hand-me-down decor.  If you are feeling the need to shift rooms from one you just have mild feelings about to head-over-heals, shop your house first.  Does something not quite fit in one room? Try taking it to another.  Forgot about that lamp you bought years ago? Dig it out and find it a home.  You can do a lot with things you already have.

How do you make your house feel like home?

Antique furniture flip!

Ok I'm so excited about this one!  Most of you have seen my pictures I've posted on Facebook but now I'm going to tell all about this project and the background behind it!

Around the time my parents got married my mom was given this buffet which at the time was in pretty good shape, had veneer in all the right places and there may have been a dent or scratch here an there but it looked good. (or so I've been told, I wasn't actually there of course).  So since my parents lived in a modest house there wasn't room for a fancy buffet in their kitchen so my mom stored it in a barn at my grandparent's farm.  And there it sat......for about 30 years!

Even though they covered it, as you can well imagine with 30 years of rodents and birds, bugs and a leaky roof, the buffet was not in great shape.

Here's the "kind of before" picture. (I forgot to take an actual before picture..oops. Bad blogger!)

This was right after we pulled it out of the barn.  The veneer was barely hanging on in some places. It was just sitting on the top of it.  Luckily any time my grandparents were out there and saw a piece on the ground, they'd pick it up and put it in the drawer.  The legs had these weird pineapple things all around each leg that I promptly removed.  Most of them were falling off anyway.  

I asked my dad to help me because he's a carpenter and I hadn't flipped any furniture before.  I told him I wanted to do most of it but I wanted him to help so I wouldn't do it wrong! Plus who wouldn't want to do projects with their dad? :) Most of the project was sanding and finishing but we did have to beef up the cabinets so I can put dishes in them and if I did that in the condition it was in they'd end up in a big pile on the floor in pieces.  We also nailed up the drawers a bit so they weren't about to fall apart at any minute.  So here's a better picture of it after we removed all the loose veneer.

This one is lying on it's back but you get it.  I was on the fence about whether I should paint it or just stain it but after I saw what was under the veneer on that bottom drawer my mind was made up for me. It was such a pretty oak wood grain that I couldn't cover it up again or I'd be arrested by the woodworking society or something. Bad joke but anyway, covering it up would be a crime!!

Look at the top of this thing too! Fantastic wood texture am I right?? And this was all covered with veneer before.  Who would do that to such handsome wood?  See that dark spot on the left side of that picture on the top?  That was where the drip in the roof of the shed was and it rotted out some of the wood in that spot.  Luckily though it didn't go all the way through because the thickness of the wood on top is pretty substantial.

Little by little we used wood glue to attach all the pieces of veneer detail back in place. If you look closely in the above pictures you can see my dad's blue clamps in place.  He only had about 8 clamps to use and there were about 30 pieces we needed to glue back on so this was quite a process.  In the meantime, we stained and sanded the top, the bottom drawer, and the silverware drawer.

We filled the rotted spot on top with wood filler, which looks a little different color but after we stained it it blended in nicely.

The picture above is what it looked like after we stained the drawers and the top. :) Love, love, love!!

And here's how it looks in our dining room!!! So super cute! it's like it was meant to be there this whole time!

We used to have a piano there but it has gone back to my great aunt's side of the family and is being played by her great-grand kids. :)  

So here's the whole thing before and after! 

 

So happy with how it turned out!! I may still paint some of the detail so it stands out more like some of these inspiration pins from my furniture makeovers board:

Christmas!!! Finally.....

So remember when I said in my Halloween post to stay tuned for my Christmas decorations?  Well I didn't say which year ;).

Jokes aside, the time has finally come! I'm so glad I waited because this year was my best Christmas decorating job so far!

Let's start with the tree!!! Because that's the most important part of Christmas right? You know aside from Jesus of course....and presents? Just kidding!

I always love color themed trees.  It makes such a great unified look that you can carry throughout the house! Plus the lights, oh the lights just make everything so magical! The following pins are from my Christmas board on Pinterest.  I love the red color scheme and the look of the white lights!

 

Aren't they pretty!!! So here's ours!

I actually used icicle lights on part of the tree.  It really makes it seem like there's tons of lights on the tree! My husband is responsible for the garland heart.  Let me tell you it took forever to get the shape right, but we used some of the shape-able branches to keep it looking good.  Of course we had to add the ornaments with our names inside the heart.
 we also have a picture ornament and our initial in the heart! How cute!

A cozy blanket and Christmas pillow always set the mood inside on a snowy day!

 James got his own tree too!  It's so fun to put a Santa hat as a tree topper!  He decorated with blue ornaments and a fishing theme.  #mantree ha.

 

One of my favorite ideas this Christmas was adding lights behind my sheer curtains in my living room and bedroom windows. The lights are actually bush lights that you put on shrubs and such.  It fills the whole window and even looks great from outside!  Double deal!!

I also loved the idea of stuffing lights in our little hollow end table! It's so magical and James did a great job arranging them to fill the whole stand!

It's always nice to have furry helpers tell you if it looks good or not :).

James's parents gave us a cool picture frame that lights up and the fence lights even change color! So cute! I love it!

A Christmas box is perfect for storing Christmas cards and letters for easy reading.

Twinkly light glass block!

I even put ornaments on the "family" tree!

 

My version of "Merry Mail" that's floating around Pinterest.

Christmas theme even goes as far as measuring spoons for fun filled cookie baking!

How cute is this bottle koozie!?! It's a sweater!

Please ignore the dirt and grime in the previous 2 pictures, I'm going to reno this stair hallway that goes down to my basement next I think!

My Christmas bells that my Grandma got at Target like 30+ years ago! They actually play like 7 songs!!

My friend Ashley made this Harry Potter themed ornament for me! "After all this time.....Always"

James's Grandma was thinning down her stash so I picked her cute snowman ornament!

Filling vases with ornaments is one of my favorite ways to decorate for Christmas!

Ok let's face it.  It's all my favorite!!!

Hope you enjoyed! Again sorry for the year long hiatus! My resolution is going to be do lots more projects and post all about them!!! Get ready for the transformation on our humble abode to be complete!  

Things to tackle this year include the office, hallway to downstairs, storage for the basement, doing something with the kitchen, and fingers crossed and wish upon a star that we'll have enough time and money to also finish the basement!!!!

What's your favorite way to decorate for Christmas??