Project Procrastination

So I was just looking at the inspired room blog, and they are having a project procrastination party! I have two weeks to completely remake these two chairs. I know I probably should have just thrown them out the window, but lets see how things go first. Wish me luck! Here are the before pics...

Pretty sick, but you cant beat a couple of free chairs!

A much needed facelift

My kitchen doesn't have a ton of storage, so a few years ago I bought this shelf. It worked great for the space, other than it was an eye sore. My excuse was that I was renting and I didn't need anything to look nice because it would be too expensive and too much work. So this sat in the kitchen for a few years just like this, but with more stuff on it...


I wanted to give it a face life and needed accessories. I have been buying white plates galore and I found this sweet little spice rack at the thrift store, but I could get more use out of it than just spices. So after giving everything a quick coat of black spray paint...


TA DA!!! Now it looks more like a hutch. I have made more space in the cupboards and I am in lurve every time I look at it.

It may not be a real hutch, but I love it! Now I used mostly things I already had. The spice rack was only three dollars and it makes the perfect top to these shelves. Total cost of project was under $15! Now what do you think of that??

Can I just say white plates are amazing! Every time I go to the thrift store I look for cute white plates, and usually am successful.

A needed shelf

I have been looking for a shelf for a while now. Nothing fancy, just something for my storage room. It is funny how you see thing differently when you are reusing and thrifting. This shelf has been in the garage since I can remember, and I never really looked at it. It was garbage. Left for the birds in a woodpile. Can you see all the grime and dirt. First I nailed and screwed it back together, then removed any loose nails or staples. Then got out the scrubber and cleaned out all the dirt and bird poop. This was not for the faint hearted. I had to put on the big rubber gloves for this job.
After I was done I needed a little snack and break. Yum chocolate milk and granola bar.

This is just after cleaning it up. After cleaning out all the dirt and removing the plastic from the shelf I found out that this used to be a Doctor Scholls shoe rack. Funny how things can be used.

Next I applied a coat of Kills, and white paint. I have used this for various projects over the years. It has been four years and I'm only 1/3 of the way through!

Wow what a difference! Perfect for the storage room and didn't cost me a thing. Now look through those junk piles, you may see thing differently when looking a second time!

Grapevine Topiary

Okay so I'm not sure if that's what these are called, but I love decorating with 'em. I have seen these made with larger branches and love it as well, but the grapevine I had on hand was this smaller size.

Here's a quick tutorial on making these. They come together pretty quick, but if your vine is prickly WEAR GLOVES! This vine was fine without gloves, but to be safe and splinter free put on the work gloves.



I like how versatile it is to decorate with these. I just put them on a candle holder or large vase. They just bring nature to a scene and complement the design.

The first step is to SOAK. I let them bath in the water for about an hour. Don't worry, the water maybe swamp like looking, but there weren't any bad odors.

After soaking it pull some of the branches apart. This part is probably the longest step and the most annoying, but this depends on how spindly your branches are.

Next wrap a branch around your finger, like making a yarn ball. First you twirl it around two fingers.

Then take another branch and twirl it around the the circle of branches. Keep adding branches and you will see the ball start to form.

Like this...just keep adding more branches to the ball, and it will get bigger and bigger just like a ball of string.

As you go along put the ends back inside the ball. This will keep the shape.

The last step is to put all the ends back into the ball. Just weave them back into the ball.

Viola!

And there you have it!

I bought the grapevine at the thrift store for $2.00, I have made four balls so far and used less than half of the total vine. Always keep your eyes peeled for a good deal on vines, because the possibilities are endless with a little vine and creativity!

A Renter's Wall Art

I have been wanting some wall art for a while without doing something permanent. I rent so I need to take it down when I leave. I wanted it to be less than five bucks to make. Well the total cost of this project was less than $2.67! I am so happy with this and even happier with the price.

The first step is to find some wrapping paper or contact paper. I looked everywhere for black contact paper, but when I came across this black wrapping paper at IKEA I knew I could make this work. So I used Sticky Tac ($1.00), wrapping paper ($1.67), and scissors on hand for this project.

It is time consuming for me to cut out a perfectly made flower, so I have a process. To make the flowers cut various size circles. I like to trace around canning lids.

Then fold over and cut out the circles.

To create the petals cut small triangles around the circle.

Keep doing this all around the circle.

How easy was that!

Now you have all these scraps. I use these to make the small branches.

See...

I cut out a large branch and stuck it to the wall.

Sticky tac goes a long way. use lots of small pieces all around the shape.

And place the flowers on the small branch.

See it coming together! I extended the large branch with another piece of wrapping paper cut to size.

Make little starts using scraps and place it onto the main branch.

This is the main branch and you can see the cut. To cover it up use ol' reliable Sharpie.

The corner needed something. A little chair would be perfect, but I didn't have one that was quite right.

So my night stand will do. It didn't fit well next to my bed, but perfect here!

Pretty great look for only $2.67!

LOVE IT!

Thrift Store Finds

I went to the thrift store a few days ago and found some steals, white dishes, decorating ideas, diaper bag, and an update on my media bookcase.



I absolutely love this magazine. They have the greatest ideas and they are filled with information. Whenever I buy one, I treat it like a book, and look through the pages over and over. So these babies are about $4 each, but at the thrift store only $0.25. Plus they gave me a free one, so four for $0.75 I found four inspiring books that I will read until the pages curl.

I have a huge bookcase that has DVD's. We have hundreds of DVD's, it is really an obsession, but I hate them staring back at me. I want to add some doors to hide the clutter. It's really easier than it seems to add a pair of doors to a bookshelf. I ended up paying $0.50 for the lot of them. There are eight good hinges, so I can make at least three doors. I am SO excited I found these.

Don't you love the look! It's Ralph Lauren, so you know its worth hundreds. I bought it for $4.00. I have needed an update on my diaper bag. The poor thing is peeling and stained. Well I got a lot of use out of that old bag, but I'm excited to get to know this new stallion of a bag!

Lastly are the white dishes. I love this style. It may not be a complete set, but it sure is a great update on my current white plates. Think 90's diner plates. For 7 dinner plates, three ramekins, and two salad plates it was $9.50. This was my big buy of the day. I was actually in there a few days before, but I wasn't sure I wanted to spend the money. But when I saw that most were still there, I knew it was meant to be!

At the end of it all I spent $15.00. Pretty good for all those finds!

Before and After

Yes I know I am a renter, but I just don't want to sit around and keep my surroundings frumpy. My mother has always said, beautify your life no matter where you live. I have permission to change my surroundings for the better, so I will take advantage of that. Here is a small, sad, abused cabinet. I decided to give it a face lift.
You see the veneer shining through? It has been like this since the day we moved in, and I have been bothered by it for four years now! Time for change.

I repainted some hard wear, sanded, primed, and painted. Now look a the difference!

Even though it is completely the same piece, it looks like it took a day at the spa.

Loven the new hardware! I really do enjoy the chrome finish. I will have to look into other metal colors. So exciting!