New Vanity Bench

A few months back my sister called me to tell me about a garden bench sitting in her neighbors trash pile (you know those days when everyone puts all their 'junk' at the curb? I so look forward to those days!). So I decided to go check it out at night because I always fear the people will see me taking stuff from their junk pile even though it's out there for a reason. I guess it would probably look even weirder though to see someone lurking around your trash pile at night wearing a ski mask and all black. Ok, I didn't really go *that* far, I swear! And in my defense, there actually was a man who came out to see what we were doing as we sifted through his pile of weathered wood. Anyway, I digress. Here is a picture of the lovely little bench.

Ok, so it's not really *that* lovely, but I knew I could make something great out of it. After some brainstorming, I decided I could turn it into a cute little vanity bench. I really didn't care for the curvature of the top so I knew I would be making a new top for it...er, my dad would be making a new top for it. So basically the legs were the only thing salvaged.

I had my dad cut a piece of wood, but since pine comes in 12 inch widths, he had to glue and clamp 2 pieces together. Once that dried overnight, he routed the edges to spruce it up a bit. He screwed a strip of pine to the top of the legs and also screwed a dowel at the center of the X for extra support.

Now it's time to prime and paint!

I also used some stain to age the bench, which is the same treatment on the rest of my bedroom furniture. I just love how it turned out! It's going to be perfect for my vanity. I can't wait to post pictures of it after I move!

Ballard Designs Alphabet Ornament Knockoff

This last Christmas I was looking through the Ballard Designs catalog and find these great ornaments (Hmmm, I must've been snacking when I flipped through the pages! Haha).

It was love at first sight! Something about the contrast between the black and crisp white...and I just love letters! But $69 was just *slightly* out of my budget (Ok, a LOT out of my budget!). So about a month ago my sis and I decided to check out Marshall's (we were both kid-free. Score!) and I found these:

Ok, ok, so they are not the same, but they are pretty darn close, and at $15 I couldn't pass 'em up! I haven't decided where I will put them yet, but they deserve a special spot. I think next Christmas I will try making some similar ornaments by getting the clear glass ornaments (on sale, of course!), painting the inside white, and getting some type of alphabet stickers.

Scroll Painting

A while back I fell in love with a project from Lowe's Creative Ideas magazine where they used a rubber door mat to spray paint a design on some wood boards. You can find it online here.

Something about it reminds me of Hawaii, which has a very fond place in my heart, and I knew I had to make something similiar. The only problem is I was worried that the paint would bleed through, so I decided to do all paint, instead of stain for the background. It sounded like a great idea, but let me tell you it took forever to finish! And being a perfectionist definitely doesn't help the cause.

I bought the same door mat that they used in the magazine, which measures 24x36 inches. In an ideal world, it would be ready to go the second you bring it home, but unfortunately they usually come along with extra rubber that needs to be trimmed. I used an Xacto knife to get the job done and I only cut the rubber from half the mat and just flipped it when it came time to trace the other side.

FYI This step takes a long time and will leave you with a sore wrist! Anyway, after that was done, I had my dad cut 3 pieces (2ft long each) of 12-inch wide pine, which gives you 24x36 inches. I wanted each piece to be seperate, but I guess I didn't communicate that well and my dad ended up gluing and clamping them together to make 1big piece. No biggie though!

TIP: Before you start priming the wood, spray on some matte finish to seal the knots so that they don't bleed through later.

Next, I sprayed on 2 coats of primer and then my brown paint. I would recommend doing the background color as your base coat, but I was being resourceful and using what I had on hand, which was the color for the actual design. I just think it would be easier to paint the scrolls because the background requires painting itty bitty spaces. I hope that makes sense!

The next step is to lay the door mat on the wood piece and trace the design with a pencil.

If you use a dark base color like I did, it's kind of hard to see the design, but that's where some good lighting and a pair of reading glasses comes in handy =)

This is what it looks like after 1 coat of paint. Can you see the spots where I forgot to trace the design? =)

Here it is after 2 coats of paint (and before the touch-ups).

Now the fun begins: highlighting and shading. If you aren't good at figuring out where to put the highlights and shadows, like me, you can take a picture of the door mat in whatever kind of lighting you prefer (overhead lighting, straight on, natural light, etc.) and use that as a reference while painting. To create the highlights, I used a small brush to brush on some white craft paint and then used my fingers to smudge it to make it look more realistic.

Here is a picture of my painting with some highlights. It's still at a 'rough' stage at this point. The refining comes at the very end.

After the highlighting is done on the design, the next step is to create a shadow underneath the design. This will make the design really pop off the background. You can see the huge difference it makes in the photos below.

This painting is far from being perfect (that's the perfectionist in me speaking!), but I still love how it turned out. Just need to do a coat of poly (can you tell that's my least favorite thing to do and I always drag my feet?) and attach something to hang it with and it will be done!

 

Super Easy Coat Rack

While shopping at one of my fave stores, Cost Plus World Market, I fell in love with a coat rack. It had 7 hooks and above each hook was a chalkboard with a day of the week written under it. It was such a clever idea, but for around $35 I knew I could make something similar that was just as cute. So I got to work brainstorming and hammering out all the details, and of course, figuring out how to keep the cost down. As much as I loved the idea of having a hook for each day of the week, I really didn't want to make something that big. I also wanted to make sure the chalkboards were framed out, but didn't wanna have to do the work of making a frame for each one, which is where I got the idea to use these picture frames from Ikea.

I bought 2 packs and used 5 of the 6 frames. They aren't top of the line quality, but they do the job, and really, who can beat $4 for 6 frames! So after doing the math and giving myself a headache (boy, do I hate math!), I figured that if I bought a 4' piece of pine, which cost $4 or $5, everything would be spaced slightly over 2 inches apart (yay, no cutting wood!).

The only thing that needed to be cut was the 1/8 inch plywood for the chalkboard paint. And the best thing about it is that you can use the glass, or in this case plastic, that comes with the picture frames as a template for the size you need.

Next, I primed and painted the pieces with chalkboard paint.

This is not a neccessary step, but if you would like to be able to remove the chalkboard, you can cut a notch on the top of the frames. It doesn't have to look pretty since no one will see it =)

After it's stained, you need to figure out how you want to attach the frames. I wanted to use black nails to match the chalkboards and the black hooks I got, but unfortunately, they didn't have black nails at Home Depot so I went with #14 (don't know what that number stands for) carpet tacks. I originally wanted to hammer them into the corners, but someone saved me from my lack of common sense and pointed out that that would split the wood...so, onto Plan B - hammering in the sides. This was probably the biggest pain of the project because since the frames are fairly cheap quality and are thin, I had to drill holes into the wood prior to gettin' the nails in (this is where that 6th frame comes in handy for practice!). I measured where I wanted the frames, put some Elmer's glue on the back, then hammered away. If you don't make a notch on your frames, make sure you put the chalkboard in the frame before attaching them. Sounds silly and pretty obvious, but I could so see myself doing that!
Now, after the frames are attached, you just need to measure where you want your hooks and screw them in. I got my hooks at Lowe's. Each pack of 2 was a little more than $2. I just LOVE how my coat rack turned out and it was (pretty) simple to make.

Here are some pics of the (almost) finished product. I just need to do a coat of poly and buy some chalk to write our names.

If this isn't your style, you can easily modify it to your taste. For example, you could do beadboard on the back with a whitewash for a beachy look, or do primary colors for a playroom, or use diamond plate for an industrial look.

Another way to change the look is to put pictures of your family members in the frames, instead of writing their name on chalkboard (this is where those notches come in handy 'cause you don't wanna be stuck with a 20 year old picture of someone!).

*UPDATE* Remember how I said you could use the plastic that comes with the frames as a template to cut the plywood? Well, I ended up painting the plastic with chalkboard paint to get a smoother finish. I haven't written on it yet, but it seems like it will hold up well. Aaaand if you use the plastic instead of cutting the wood, this is a no-wood-cutting project! Woohoo!!

Pretty Little Plant Pot

While on a quick trip to Home Depot the other day, I spotted a 75% off Christmas clearance table with the cutest little pot that only cost 97 cents!

Ok, so maybe the color isn't so cute, but I loved the detail at the top and knew I could fix the color with a lil' bit of spray paint. I was pondering doing a solid color, but really, what's the fun in that?! Instead, I decided to attempt the look of stone. This is what it looked like after a coat of primer and a bottom coat of brown spray paint.

I gathered several craft paints with absolutely no plans as to what to do.

I finally just grabbed an off white and tan color, wet the sponge, and started sponging away. This is what it looked like after the first coat (don't worry - it gets better).

TIP: If you are impatient like me, you can take a hair dryer to it vs. letting it air dry. Apply as many coats as you need to get the look you want. The most important thing is to use 3-4 colors and don't over blend. You want all the different colors to show through. Also, make sure to at least partially paint the inside since the soil usually doesn't come to the top of the pot. My pot has the detail at the top, which I could've painted more with the light colors, but I like how seeing the dark brown gives it some dimension and age. This is what it looked like after 2 coats and some touch ups.

Next, I sprayed it with some matte finish, which seals it, but the matte finish helps it retain the look of old stone.

And now for the finished product (drum roll please):

I am thinking I will plant an orchid in this pot, like the ones at Ikea.

UPDATE: I wasn't quite happy with how the pot had a cool tone, so I ended up staining it with some wood stain. I love how it feels so much warmer now.

Ode to Stain

While perusing the aisles at a local flea market in Roseville, I found this lonely drawer, waiting to be snatched up. I asked "How much?" and the vendor replied "$5". Now, normally I am all over bargaining, but I was happy with the price and told him I would take it! There were some water marks on the top and some other imperfections, so of course I sanded and stained it, but I veered away from my usual Minwax Early American (230) and went ahead with Minwax Special Walnut (224) just to add a little variety to my decor. This is what it looked like after it was sanded and before the stain:

And this is what it looks like now that it has been stained. I still need to do a coat of polyurethane, but it just goes to show the wonders stain can do. I think this will be perfect for storing all of my board games!

Chalkboard Craze

As with many other folks, I have been hit with the chalkboard craze, but was seriously disappointed when I tried to find some online. Well, I'm really impatient and didn't do a completely thorough search, but the best thing I could find (nice shape with a wood border) were some chalkboard labels at Pottery Barn Kids that cost $8 for 2 labels!! That might not sound disgusting to some people, but I'm cheap and couldn't bring myself to spend that much, so I got the bright idea to make my own. Buuuut while I was out shopping at one of my fave stores, Cost Plus World Market, I noticed that they had a 2-pack of the little stinkers for just $3.49 - That's MUCH more up my alley!

But as much as I loved the suckers, the wood was a little too light for me so I brought out the handy dandy sandpaper and went to town on them. Then I brought out my favorite stain, Minwax Early American (230), and gave them 2 coats.

The chalkboards on the top are the ones with stain and the bottoms are pre-stain.

And this is what the beauties looked like when I was done. The stain is only a little darker than the original wood, but it just warms them up so much!