Gilded Home

Before

After

It always amazes me the effect a simple coat of spray paint can do. This is a simple DIY. The paper house cost $2.5 and $4 for a can of spray paint, but I have plenty of spray paint left. Lucky for me that gold is a popular finish this year. It will always work great for plans for decoration for the holidays. This transitions easily from Fall to Christmas.

Weekend Redo

This weekend I finally accomplished something I have had on my to-do list for awhile. This was my great grandmother's bed-set that she had given to me when she had given to me after she passed away. It was with me most of my childhood, and it has seen better days. (If you look closely you can see all the sticker residue.) My grandmothers was one of those who would one an item re-purposed than traded or hidden away. If it functions for you and makes you happy, that is all that she would want.

Total Make-over: $33
Spray Paint (2-cans): $6
Lace (1.5 ft): $5
Contact Paper: $4
Glass Knobs (6 knobs): $18

 

Steps to a great new look for your dress: 

1. Clean Dresser (Alcohol works best)
2. Fill in any holes with wood filler
3. Sand (Start with 120 grit and work your way up to 220 // If this is a Formica dresser make sure surface is dull looking after you sand so that paint with adhere to the surface)
4. Wipe down the dust
5. Cut and adhere the lace (Use book paste or spray adhesive)
6. Then spray paint in a clean well-ventilated area. 
7. Let it dry over night. 
8. Add knobs. (These are hand cut glass, so you can save money by using knobs that aren't as pricey)

Done!

Spray Paint is Magic

The trans-formative power of spray paint can turn rusted stair railings to primed and flat black in seconds, and can take any dime-store trinket from lame to stylish. I have relied on spray for years to help change up accessories with my favorite colors. I want to get more involved changing items around my house that currently were just gifts taking up space to unique home accessories (or maybe hitting up flea markets with friends to find a best buy).  Spray paint is easy to buy at craft stores, which often have 40% off coupons. So spray paint is a cheap and quick way to re-purpose old materials.

For beautifully painted pieces keep this in mind:

1. Always spray outside or in a spray booth
2. Make sure it the object is clean, and free of grease and dirt (otherwise paint won't stick well)
3. Spray in smooth, even movements (back and both).
4. Let it dry between coats or it will drip.

DIY Gift Tags

I finished up most of my Christmas shopping this weekend, which means it is time for my favorite part of Christmas—wrapping presents! There is a very simple DIY activity that you can do to make unique tags for each of gifts. This project is almost free—you need only 3 items:

1. Hole Punch: any hole punch is fine this one is from Paper Source and it is a special craft punch I had lying around.


2. Tag Punch: you could use a scissors or an exacto blade to cut out tags, but I had this special tag cutter from the 200 tags I had to cut for my wedding.


3. Old Christmas Cards: reuse those cards that you receive every year. These cards can now be reused in a unique and attractive way.

 Just use your punch or cutting tool to cut out any shape you would like. Then right your message on "interior side of the card". This project cost me nothing, and help me use old cards that I saved.

Recent Happenings

My time away from work is more exhausting than my 8 to 5 job. I have not been able to spend the time that I would like on my blog lately, so i wanted to share with you what was stealing all my time form you. I have done things I never thought I would be able to do. (like using a table saw).

Taking more time and more money than is we planned of course, but slowly but surely our house is coming together.

DIY Links

I have been getting inspired to create my house more into a home, so I have been taking a look at links to help me to make my home beautiful for cheap! Plus it gets me away from the computer:

• Custom Cutting Boards: as long as you own these tools or has a friend who does these make an affordable addition to your home or as a gift.

•  Lighting Up Your Kitchen: I like this idea for giving my kitchen a little more light. My kitchen has no windows and no direct lighting.

• A Bookshelf with Style: an easy way to give a bookshelf a style and personality.

•  Design Sponge at Home: I have almost enough money saved up to buy this book, and I can't wait to devour all the DIY projects inside.

• Granny Chic turned Sinister: This would be great for Halloween.

♥♥ Firsts ♥♥

Today is my first anniversary with my husband. This past year has felt like forever, yet has sped right by. We had a lot firsts this past year: first grown-up apartment, first garden, first grown-up job, and ect. One of the most exciting parts of the wedding was that creating a system of designs that were sent out to friends and family. It was one of my first experiences in a semi-professional way. Weddings can be a designer's crack. It's addicting to create all the pieces to the wedding, and it can be hard to stop from designing every single part of the event. Today, I am only thinking of good parts of my wedding: like the simple joy I got from taking the extra effort to make envelope liners for every single one of my invitations that I sent out. Yes, I did like doing that, and I took the extra time to punch out cards for all of my wedding favors, which my husband did not enjoy at all (because I made him help buy punching them out while I tied the tags to the jar). We are both glad that we got to share in the experience of bringing our wedding together, and supporting my crazy ideas.

Halloween Festivity

My coworkers called me crazy for creating this bat garland with--black paper, no. 11 exacto blade, and some thread; but it imbued the office with holiday spirit. The spirit filled my boss, and she began remmuaging around to find her halloween bowl, and went out at lunch to fill it with candy. Which is currently causing a problem with its proximity with my desk.

I was inspired to make this bat garland because of Paper Source. I do not have one locally, so I have to make my own fun. Knowing that I have my "bat cave" to look forward to in the morning makes it that much better when I show up to work.

 

Have you been inspired to create anything this week?

Home Trends: Typography

Trends are trends for a reason: they com ean dgo, but I found one trend that I want to hold onto:

Typographic Decor

I love type, so I want to be surrounded by it in my home. I found some great decor inspiration, most of it outside of my price range. For some of these I think I could go to the old standby of DIY. I hope to come up with a project soon and send it your way. until then, please enjoy!

BIG Grownup Experiences

I have some big grownup experiences coming up in this next month. I am going to try to keep this blog going even as the personal to do list grows exponentially. Maybe I will be able to share photos of the exciting new things ahead. Until then:

I have been working another card/print. Chevron pattern is huge right now. I see a lot of crisp zigzags filling the blogosphere. Using linoleum blocks enabled me to get a little grungy and organic. Of course each one is hand printed by me! this time I used turquoise ink.

Paintchip Lamp

 YES! I completed my lamp project. Below is a photo diary of my lamp that I decorated with paint chips. Being a graphic designer I am prone to hoarding. I have plenty of paint chips laying around my house. This project just included the lamp shade, paint chips, hot glue gun and sticks, a ruler, and an Exacto blade. From white to a vibrant rainbow, this lamp made a huge transformation.

My lamp as it was when I bought it.

My lamp as I began the project. Two weeks ago I
spray painted the base ivy green.

I have plenty of paint chips around. This project cost me nothing!

I planned out each layer with a pattern of values and hues.

My first night I got only halfway through. Starting to look good!

The lamp shade is done, only one step left.

The lamp all put together. A great addition of color for
my white and dark apartment.