DIY Roman Shade

Guys, I made black out roman shades for our bedroom... with a hot glue gun.

 During Reid's nap.

 It was that easy. 

I've had this fabric from The Designers Attic just sitting in my closet and I felt it was time to add something over the blank white shade from Home Depot (similar ones found here). In case you are wondering how to, I won't insult your intelligence by adding photos of me hot-glue-gunning the fabric onto the shade, but I will answer questions you might have: No, the glue did not seep through the fabric. I simply glued along the edge, going 4-6 inches at a time: glue, press down fabric, repeat. I also added a little 1" linen band to the edges. These shades are operable, but we like to sleep in a cave-like setting and leave them down, so I doubt they would hold up if you try to open and close them daily. 

It's a project worth trying if you are a girl on a budget. 

Fill those Walls.

Are you like me and leave your walls empty because the "right" or "perfect" piece has not surfaced yet? I am getting sick of two particular walls that I keep saying I will fill.

I saw a framed agate trivet tutorial from Erica Cook that I think looks beautiful and easy to do.

 

 

*High Street Market is a wonderful resource for agate options*

 

Another option I always earmark are framed intaglios. They can get pricey pretty darn fast, so I might follow Krista's tutorial.

 

To me, the scale of these frames is what makes an impression. Not to take away from the art inside the frames, but my eye gravitates towards the balance and scale of a room.  I say, when it doubt get a large mat and frame or do a series of prints.

Since you've been asking...

The top I wore in my maternity shoot is from Zara. I bought it in November, so I'm not sure if it's still around. I has a pretty gold zipper in the back and I left it unzipped for the majority of the shoot, that's the only way it could fit around me. I am very much looking to wearing it post- maternity."Liming" how-to. The can claims you don't have to sand your furniture, just apply a coat of the liming wax to a surface and you will have that white-washed look. I did that on raw wood and it just looked white. So, I stained the wood with a rag, a little bit goes a long way, and I didn't even let the stain dry before I applied the liming wax with another rag over the stain. I prefer staining to paint because you can play with the color and finish much more than you can with paint.If your furniture has an existing finish, I would sand it down to somewhat open "the pores", clean it off and then add the liming wax. Most furniture will have a lacquer finish and you want to penetrate past that, so sand it. You will know pretty quickly what the "finish" will look like. If you sand your existing piece of furniture down and the base color is too light, I would apply a stain, then the liming wax over the stain and let it dry. I wanted a dark grey for my headboard so the staining was an important step for me.

It's a very straight forward process. You can read more about another liming project here. Please share your projects with me if you decide to tackle this.

Liming Wax Review.

I have been meaning to share this project and product on my blog for a while. Back in September we upgraded to a king size mattress [and I have been a much happier wife ever since]. I needed to make a headboard to fit our new purchase, so I set out to recreate Restoration Hardware's Maison Bed.

I saw several blog entries where people have created a beautiful, gray washed finish on furniture and everyone used Briwax liming wax. Once I started using this wax over the stain, it made me want to strip every wood surface in my house and create this finish. It's very easy to use, but it did feel like it took several days to dry.

I used 100% linen from JoAnn's, ordered over-sized nailheads from Rowley and did my best to re-create the headboard.

(I wish everything was ironed, but that is by far my least favorite chore, so it never happens).
I am a sucker for all white bedding, but I loved how this pinstripe duvet from Pottery Barn accented the linen headboard. Also, this guy is in bed a lot and the stripe camouflages his ever-shedding hair.

DIY Shellac

I am recently obsessed with shellac-ing my nails. Are you all on board with fool proof manicure system that lasts for at least two weeks? In not, you should get on board, it's so revolutionary I don't know why anyone would get a regular-old-manicure anymore. I've been looking into the system. They are pretty affordable. By the time you pay for two manicures, you could buy yourself the whole kit.
I'm tempted to spend some upcoming birthday dollars on this system.

I carefully watched the nail technician apply my manicure. All she did was one base coat, two coats of polish and a top coat (with time for each hand to dry in the UV machine).
Should I DIY it? You can come over and I'll paint your nails too and ask "square or round"?

A Dose of Inspiration.

Allow me to share some projects my friends have created.

First up, Beth who writes the adorable blog, Embracing Twenty Something, made a garment rack to display her pretty clothes. She has an incredible, industrial apartment with a killer view of Buckhead. This rack is very fitting for her space.
Next up, Teri (without a blog but she should start one) is ditching old items from her home and she is busy buying, recovering or creating items she loves.

Teri used the fioretto fabric from Lewis and Sharon to recover her dining room chairs. I love the overall makeover these chairs received. They are so fresh and pretty.


I have this same fabric is our sunroom and I just adore it.

What projects have you been up to?

Events Overload.

I am multitasking at a very fast pace today, but this is the way I prefer to operate - with more to do than can be complete in a day. There are a lot of event details that I need to take care of for work, but I do not want to forget to pass along some wonderful tutorials I've seen on the blogs.

First, from Once Wed fabric poms. These are so precious I'm sure I will be making these to keep on hold for a wedding or baby shower or simply to hang them from my ceiling for any occasion. Next up, an Ice Cream Parlour from Eat Drink Chic
Amy Moss is a graphic designer in Melbourne, Australia. She's incredibly generous with downloadable projects and instructions on DIY projects. Her site is a must visit.

Burlap Lampshades.

I have been in need of lamps at my office. I detest fluorescent lighting and decided it was time to finally cross out one of my many "to-dos" and give my lamps a makeover. I found this pair at Good Finds {on S. Adams for you Tallahassee locals}. I love the burlap/seagrass/linen look and I thought I would try my best to recover these lampshades.


I bought some burlap at Joann's and took out my trusty glue gun and went to work. I was not able to take pictures of the process, but I simply started at the top and laid glue every 2-3 inches and stretched the burlap over the glue. I pressed it down around 10 seconds and repeated the whole process until they were complete.

S-I-M-P-L-E.

I wanted to keep them in the guestroom after their makeover was complete, but I spend so much time in this office I thought I shouldn't deprive my workplace of style!

***A little hint- They do not allow much light to pass through. Perhaps if I removed the original shade before I recovered the 1st one they would illuminate more brightly, but the picture below is pretty accurate to show the amount of light that passes through.

Repurpose.

I have noticed a common idea floating around the world wide web of how to re-purpose painters drop cloths. Fellow blogger, Britt, from A Penny Saved used them as curtains: {You should scroll through her projects when you get a moment. Her work and creativity is awfully inspiring}

I think it is so clever to use the cloths as panels because they are heavy and they come hemmed. Because of my unending love of ruffles, I might take them one step further and add a strip of ruffles on the inside panel like I did for my dining room curtains.

See instructions on how to here.

Country Living added painted stripes and used them as tablecloths.

All uses are so clever, affordable and stylish.

Affordable Design.

Let me introduce you to a girl after my own heart. A true do-it-yourselfer. Her name is Jenny and her blog is the Little Green Notebook. This woman knows how to stretch a dollar and make the end product look entirely professional. It's truly a talent to see hidden potential in items and she is generous enough to document the how-to steps so in turn we can make our homes more beautiful. Best part, it's all affordable!

Her latest project was decorating her girls room. She did most of the shopping from her basement and gave a fresh look to old pieces. You can click on this link to see that project. What I loved were her pelmet window boxes.

I'm not going to duplicate her project word for word. But if you're interested in the "how to" of this project, Click here. Enjoy!

Dye-It.

I have this cream colored dress. It's a true cheapy {Forever 21} but that does not negate my love for wearing it. It's simple and summer-y and I have been unable to wear it for a year because of some sort of grease stain.

This is the original dress on our honeymoon

Certainly this can be salvaged. Here's how I did it:



Let it simmer in the pot of water for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally and wait. This is what Buster looks like when he waits for us to get home.

Rinse the garment under water until the water runs clear then enjoy your new garment.


Rit also carries a whitener/brightener product that I plan to use on our duvet. It's looking shabby and sometimes bleach doesn't cut it.

Simple Centerpieces

Did anyone happen to catch Eddie Ross's carnation post? He gave a simple tutorial on how to use carnations in large numbers to create beautiful centerpieces.

At my work, we had our Winter Board meeting and I offered to take a stab at creating our centerpieces in
#1. Hopes of saving some money
#2. Having an excuse to do a fun project.

I called Publix and ordered 10 bundles for this project (300 carnations in total). I underestimated the enormous amount of carnations that are necessary for each centerpiece. You need around 50 per centerpiece. We had 13 tables. 13 x 50= 650. Not 300.

No need to panic. I went back to Publix and bought some white mums. Only 10 mums were required per centerpiece. Each centerpiece took less than 5 minutes to create and the flowers stayed alive for a week after the event. I think they would be so charming for a wedding.

the picture tutorial via Eddie Ross

Mixed carnations and mums (i prefer the carnations) . I received compliments like a rock star and showed a few older women how I made them.

Weekend Project: Downstairs Bathroom

This past weekend was quite productive and spontaneous (which is such a wonderful pairing). It all started with a text from Jovanna on Friday afternoon that said:
"I still haven't run my 5k"
Me: "let's do it"
Jo: "I love you thanks"
So she signed us up for the ZTA breast cancer 5k around FSU. So fun and unexpected and we did it! great job Jo, next up, 1/2 marathon (that will be another post)

Run- check, now what? Enter our broken toilet. Since we've owned this house, the downstairs toilet has been nothing but a bother. It runs when it wants to and throughout the night and it stops at the most inconvenient times for our guests. (think Dumb and Dumber) Our handy brother-in-law, Bibb, talked the husband into demolishing the whole bathroom instead of simply replacing the toilet and then having to reinstall it when we decided to put up the beadboard, install the new tilt mirror, rewire the lighting to give us sconces, sand down the doors and repaint. So that's exactly what we did.

The before:

terrible mirror and light fixture:

the progress:

and the glorious reveal that makes me want to use this bathroom:

**I should be patient and post pictures when it is finally complete with guest towels and a soap dispenser and little nick knacks, but I get too excited and have to share. We still have to replace the plumbing in the tub and re-glaze or completely re-tile the shower but for now the shower curtain conceals that!

Home Made Goodies

It's hard to trace back what inspired me to make these coasters for Christmas presents, but I'm sure some picture set it into motion.
Here are the simple steps:
1.)I found candle votive holders at Big Lots (which I have not been able to find anywhere else, so please let me know if anyone finds them)
2.) I used My Publisher in Microsoft Office to get the font and style I was looking for
3.) Laminated the paper in order to make these as water proof as possible
4.) Sealed the paper around the coaster with E600 glue (the man at Michael's recommended it for water proofing and drying clear)
5.) Finished the coasters off with self adhesive felt

I made 4 coasters for my brother and sister in law. They live in South Florida and are newlyweds, so how cute are those smooching seahorses?

I also made a set for the most wonderful, I-hope-I-turn-into-her grandma, Nanu.

The second set was for Tony's grandparents, Meems and Peeps, that live in SC. I just did not want to show up empty handed to their house and thought it was a cute idea.

I love making gifts for people. I hope they like them as well!