Lamp Love

I am addicted to Lamps!  I have more than I need, yet I can't pass up a great lamp!


I found this beauty at the local Catholic Thrift Shop. I saw it, knew that I didn't need another lamp and left the store.  I drove around the block and decided that I couldn't live without it and went back.

The looks  I got from the cashiers and people browsing were priceless.  One lady told me I better have a pretty big house for such a large lamp.  It's amazing what a new lamp shade can do.

My house is not large, but I knew that with a new lamp shade this lamp would fit in perfect with the new decor in my entry way!  Another score at the thrift store for only $7.50!  Love, Love, Love a bargain!

Awesome Sofa Table Redo

So I used to be a furniture snob and had to have the best of the best.  That's what happens when you grow up in a furniture family.  Recently I decided that I really don't like all new furniture. (still love the smell of new furniture though. :) I like to trade out my decor so often that I can't afford to buy new, but would rather redo.  It makes it hard to spray paint a table that I spent more than $20 to buy.

I got this table a couple of years back for free.  It was on it's way to the dump because it had no nuts and bolts to put it together.  I couldn't let it go, so took a leg to Ace Hardware and the awesome helper guy fitted the legs with nuts and bolts.  It cost me a whopping $2.50 for the hardware. The table has lived in my garage, at my sisters house and now came back to me when she moved.

(it does have drawers, I just forgot to put them back in before I took the picture :)

I decided it needed a coat of Rustoleum heirloom white paint.

I coated the entire table twice over to make sure that it was coated really well. Then I glazed it with Home Depots Martha Living Faux Finish Glaze in black. 

I did the glaze a section at a time, brushing on and the wiping off.  It was a little too dark for me when I was done, so I sanded it with a fine sand paper until I got the desired finish.

I glazed the whole table table giving extra attention to the edges and making them a bit darker. It gave them that vintage rustic look. 

I wanted to stencil the front of the drawers so I found a pattern that I liked and cut it out of contact paper on my dinosaur of a plotter/vinyl cutter.  I bought my plotter in prehistoric times before the cricuit and silhouette were on the market. I sometimes wish I had a small one, but it works so I can't justify replacing it.

I spray painted the drawer fronts gray first, then put the contact paper on. 

The drawers needed a coat of the heirloom white next. When the paint dried, I removed the contact paper so the gray would show and then glazed the drawer fronts like the table.

The knobs were already a dark gray color so they didn't need to be painted.

This is my new favorite peice of furniture:

Now I realize that I need a new wall color.  Too bad I can't spray paint that too!

 

Front Door Delima

I love adding color to the outside of my home just as much as the inside.  My BFF Carli and I made Valentines Day wreaths to go on our front doors and they were fabulous.

We cut 1 1/2 inch strips of burlap in the red and white and rolled them up like rosettes.  There are tons and tons of tutorials out in blog land about how to make rosette flowers, but the simplest for me I learned from Carli.  We just tied a knot in one end of the fabric and started rolling and gluing.  You can make the flowers tight and small or loose and large.  Either way, I loved them.  Now here is my problem:

My house faces south and doesn't really have any protection from the weather.  My fabulous wreath faded in no time...  I decided that since I am so addicted to spray painting I would try something a little different this time.

I found this awesome wreath at the DI (Utahs version of the good will)  for $2.  It was a normal grapevine wreath covered in a gold baby's breath with glitter.  Some of the looks I got from others as I was carrying my treasure up to purchase were priceless.  I pulled the baby's breath off and used a utility knife to get the extra glue off, and spray painted it (of course). I am really hoping that Rustoleum spray paint can stand up to the weather here.  I wanted to add a little more to it, so I just rolled some fast rosettes in coordinating colors and glued them on. I did add a strip of fabric to where the door hanger was going to rub, because I didn't want any of the paint to chip off.

It cost me just over $2 to make considering I already had the fabric and spray paint at home.  I love when something this fun is under $5 to make.  It makes me happy to pull into my driveway and see a fun bright wreath on my door.  Hopefully it will last all summer, but only time will tell!

Inexpensive Colored Vases



I fell in love with these Funky Vases that my friend Erin posted on facebook the other day.  I am in the process or redoing the colors in my living room and knew that this was going to be the beginning project.  My biggest issue with decorating is that I change my mind on my decor at least every six months, if not sooner.  Redoing what I have or finding inexpensive changes make myself and my husband happy.

This is my rendition of Erin's vases. When I see something that I love, it is hard for me to focus on anything else but getting the stuff and making them for myself.  At some point, I think I may need to get some help, but for right now, this is my cheap therapy. I already have several projects in the works, but this one came together the soonest and was the easiest to do.   First of all, these vases were purchased at our local thrift stores for $6.50.  All that was needed was a little spray paint, some black glaze and a little love.  I followed Erin's directions and spray painted them upside down first, then right side up once they dried.  After they were fully coated and dried all the way, I used a dry paint brush and lightly brushed the glaze over the cream, green and yellow vases trying to only touch the raised parts in the vases.  The blue and silver vases I gave a heavier coat and then wiped off the extra glaze.  I love when things turn out better than I expect.  It's a good start to my living room redo.

I love how the vases look with just a little glaze on them.  I used a black glaze from Home Depot. It is something the paint guy and I came up with together and I don't know if we will ever be able to duplicate it, so I am being extra careful with making it go a long way.