Project: Cheap Backsplash!

I REALLY want a tile back splash someday, however the current price for the glass tile I have my eye on is around 12-14 dollars per square foot. I have plenty of things that I could spend just under $500 on and well, I'm a cheapo :)

Chevron stripes!

I know that it is super trendy right now and so as far as long term...not gonna happen!

But for right now, I'm game!

I originally saw this pinned using vinyl for the whole thing. Great idea too! It costs about 5-6 dollars per square foot as well if you went through the Etsy site...

Here's what I did-

I painted the back splash area "Forsythia Blossom"

A great light yellow....I loved it until I turned on the kitchen light and then it held this fluorescent "highlighter-ish" quality I wasn't in love with...

So I did this-

Repainted it darker yellow!

When I took the paint back to be re-tinted the guy told me he had never had someone hate the color, come back and get it darker...

well there is a first for everything :)

I went with "Bumble Bee A13-6"

Above the cupboards I painted "Stormy Weather" a gray, so the yellow really pops.

Then-

I had a wonderful friend make me 2 stencils with her Silhouette...

Used left over "Witch Hazel" from a different project...I used a sponge brush-much easier when using a stencil!

Then-

Commenced to paint.

It was a long process because I only made two stencils and so I had to wait for them to dry in order to put them up for the next round. I took a lot longer than I planned, but I love the result...for now :)

Thanks for checkin in!

Project: Barbie House 2

For almost a whole year now, I have been hunting for an entertainment center that can be transformed into a Barbie House, because dear Katie's Barbie House was so amazing, it totally inspired me.

My last trip to the Goodwill, I found this! It was 12 bucks but very sturdy, and I was SO stinkin excited about it! My daughter saw it first, but it only took me five seconds to decide if I was going to purchase it or not.

When we got home, we washed it down and made it shine. We grabbed all of my daughters old shoe boxes, that I KNEW would come handy one day! My old material scraps and cute paper, the trusty Mod Podge and went online to print out some pictures... 

Wah-lah!  Here it is, so much more inviting and homey, don't ya think? 

For the Living Room, I printed off french doors, some photos of our family, and the dresser and TV. The couch was made out of 1/2 a shoe box with the lid ducktaped as the back. The fabric was manipulated and Hot Glued down. The chair is an old jewelry box.

For the Kitchen, I mod podged some paper down to the floor that resembled tile, and found a photo of a kitchen my daughter liked for the wall. I like this one because it has the same greenery and french doors like in the Living Room.

I just finished the table for this today, I will have to post it later.

My daughter and I had a lot of fun picking out fabrics for the beds. The beds are again made out of shoeboxes cut in half and ducktaped to make them sturdy, then wrapped in fabric and hot glued. Then we sewed the blankets and the pillows were stuffed with cotton balls.

We printed out pictures of Barbie and Disney characters and a couple dressers off of Google. 

We even punched out 1 inch circles and sewed them to make a garland, then we hot glued that off of the ceiling.

The whole project cost was 12 dollars! We got creative and used things we had in the house. It is a piece that will hopefully last for years! We have had hours of fun with it already.

Project: Kids bathroom redo

 We repainted the kids bathroom back in February.....and I finally finished it!   Nice to check something off the list.

The room started as a dark blue color.  Nice, but it didn't match any of my (3) shower curtains.  My friend had some leftover paint that I thought might match one, so we tried it.

 OOPS!  Have you ever had one of those - it was better before I did that - moments?  I tried to make myself like it as we finished painting it at 1 am.  Even after my husband pointed out that I would choose NOT to rent a house just because of a room like that......he was right.  And when I looked at it again in the morning I disliked it even more.  Okay, so I hated it.  Thank goodness there was paint leftover from my bathroom!  It was a nice shade of gray by evening.

Do you have any toilets that do this?  Gross!  I took the opportunity to add some caulk around the base....of all the toilets in the house.  Youtube it.  It is really very easy, and super quick!  And I did 3 toilets and re-caulked 2 showers for $10.  Totally worth it.

Ahhhh.....happy "not so much grossness to clean" to me!

 I put some hooks on the back of the door to hide the kids towels.  They dry better this way anyway.

 I found some really cute bathroom printables here and gradually rounded up frames from the local thrift store. (Spray painted to match) I cut a square of foam board and covered it with some scrap fabric for the center square.  If I find a frame about that size I'll add the "comb your hair" print instead.  If you want some tips for how to hang a collage check out this post.

 It all matches!  And it isn't fluorescent!

 And it only cost me $8....for frames.  All the paint was leftover from some other project, and I've had the shower curtain/towels for years.  Though to completely finish the project....

I'm going to have to buy some ceiling paint.  Seriously people.  If you are going to take the time to put color on your walls, take the time to do it right!  Or no one will be able to appreciate the beautiful color you picked - all they will see is a crappy paint job.  Okay, so maybe thats just me :0)

Project: Adding Some Color

My landlord left me with one stipulation regarding paint in my house.  Don't touch the living room.....or stairs....or upstairs hall.  Basically, leave the yellow alone!  And its yellow.....very yellow.  A good yellow.....but a LOT of yellow.  And the "accent" wall is about a half a shade different than the rest.  On sunny days its livable, on cloudy days its suffocating.  So I set about adding some color!

 The easiest way to add instant color is throw pillows.  Especially since my couches and my carpet are essentially the same color :(  

The red pillow is actually made from some curtains I had in my kitchen a few houses ago!  Here are the tutorials I used:

Gathered Pillow: Make It and Love It
Bow Pillow: E Tells Tales
Flower Pillow: I just made a standard envelope cover.  Then I took strips of fabric 3 inches wide and sewed a basting stitch down the center of each.  I gathered them, then sewed them in a circle.  Kind of like the pillow here, but instead of straight lines, its circular.

These two are just plain jane zipper pillow covers.  The green one has the pear fabric on the other side

 I pulled out the spray paint and added some color to my lamp bases.  Which I really really love!

 Remember those leftover blocks?  Haha.....here are some more!

I sprayed painted my flower pot and added a curtain to the bookshelf.  Just use a shower curtain rod!  It works beautifully, and is sturdy.  This is my kids bookcase, and it gets used often.  I haven't had the curtain fall down once.

I would totally leave the open bookshelf if it was in a playroom, but its in my living room - I'll take the curtain.

This shelf above the front door has been a puzzle to me since we moved in.  Its at least half hidden, from some angles fully hidden by the chandelier.  What do you put up there?  Not something you want to be able to see well!  These pots (and the frame actually too) were $1.99 each at a local thrift store.  The pots were white with a blue design on them. (Sorry I didn't take a before picture!)  Add a little spray paint and viola!  For $6 I'm happy with it......for now :)

Of course there is the palm tree pot from before as well.  That was a nice stroke of red too.  And I think that about sums it up.

Overall - it is 100% better.  Not as great as a new paint job, but much cheaper and following the rules.

Project: Girls Bow Organizer

My girl's bow collection was beginning to overtake the bathroom and I needed somewhere else to put them!  Enter: a super easy project.  

I took a large frame and removed the glass.  I used foam board in place of the back - because thats what I had - and it worked well.  You can find large frames with all kinds of crazy pictures in them at the thrift store for amazing prices.  For this project the frame is all that matters anyway! (And there is always spray paint if its seen better days).

 I wrapped the foam board with fabric and taped the fabric to the back.  I later went back and re-stuck the fabric with hot glue.  Then I took ribbon and did the same.  Position, wrap, then hot glue.  Most of the 'bow organizers' I've seen just have straight up and down ribbons.  I am all about re-useablilty.  So I added some diagonal ribbons so that once they are done with all their ribbons and bows they can use it as a picture/note board as well.

 I added a few accent buttons and ribbons.  Because I had used foam board, I just stuck pearl head pins through the buttons and the foam then bent them on the back with pliers and hot glued them down.

 I also added an accent bow in the top corner - for the picture board idea....

 Then I put it in the frame and hung it on the wall in the girl's room!  Seriously took me about an hour.  So this is the view as a picture board....

 And this is what it looks like as a bow organizer.

Ahhh....so nicely organized.  Now what to do with all that space in the bathroom!?!

Project: Master Bedroom Makeover....Part 1

We have moved into this great rental town home that we just love.  One thing I kinda love and kinda hate is that there isn't a single white wall in it!!  

Well the master bedroom is blue.  Luckily its a pretty blue.

I am the kind of person that needs my bedroom to be a relaxing place.  For me that means organized and clean.  My bedroom is NOT the catch all place like so many parents I know.....thats my office!  Haha.  I like to walk in and feel like "ahhhh....I can breathe.....relax.....sleep" 

So I'm giving it a makeover!  Because nothing I have matches with blue.

Step 1:  Headboard

My bed doesn't have a frame.  Which I actually love!  Nothing gets lost under it....its not so high that my kids need help climbing on it......my kids aren't afraid to sleep on the floor next to it (I like my sleep) .....but the wall above it is very plain :0)  I decided to make a headboard.  My goal here was to spend $0.  Which I did.....but only because I have loads of extra things lying around.  Even if I didn't though - this is a very budget friendly project.  And you don't have to sew!

You will need some picture frames.  These 3 are 16x20 inch frames.  They fit PERFECTLY above a queen sized bed.  My first step was to paint them black.....I didn't take a picture of that though!

 You could just use the back of the frame to wrap your material around, but because of the way mine fit into the front I couldn't do that.  So I cut some scrap cardboard to fit.

 I cut a piece of batting the same size as the cardboard, and a piece of material an inch or two bigger than the cardboard on each side.  I cut up some old white drapes and covered them with some white chiffon to make it look a little nicer.  Place the batting on the cardboard and cover with your fabric.

 Wrap the edges of the fabric around the cardboard (or frame back) and tape it.  I used packing tape.  Put the frames back together and hang them on the wall!

 I attached the bottom of the frames to the wall with mounting tape.  I can sit up against them or knock them in my sleep and they aren't going anywhere!  

The possibilities really are endless.  There are any number of black and white prints I would have loved to put in there.  Pick a fabric you love that matches the decor and you have a beautiful headboard!

Ignore the messy bed.  I haven't gotten to the bedding makeover part yet.  The yellow plaid quilt from grandma wouldn't have done justice - I figured the plain white sheets were better :0)   I still might add something to the headboard to make a design.....black ribbon.....flowers.....I'm not sure.  It depends on whether I love it once the bedding is all finally put together.

On a side note, my room ended up with the 'leftover' lamps....its amazing what a new shade will do.  We went from wicker and bronze to white and damask.  So much better!!  And you'd be amazed how cheaply you can find shades if you look hard/long enough.  Thats really the key to frugal makeovers, I think....patience!

Next Step:  Craft Cabinet and Table

(yes, my bedroom is also my craft room.....one day!......)

Project: China Hutch Redo!

This was a huge project for me...and it was hard!

Soooo many times I wanted to give up, get another part-time job and buy a new one!

You may be thinking..."all she did was paint it..."

Uhg...I wish!

I painted, but when I went to distress it, just like I did with the yellow bar stools, I was sad to see that my paint came right off! I FORGOT you HAVE sand the hutch down first...

I thought, "Ah, I won't have to sand this down..."

I will always sand from now on. BIG MISTAKE!

As the paint was coming off in HUGE chunks and the tears rapidly ran down my face, I realized that I just added about 10 more hours to this job!

So...I began by stripping the buffet with extra strength stripper from Ace, but I found out something very quickly about my sweet little buffet-The doors have PLASTIC molding! Yikes! The stripper started eating it up...and the tears came again!

I put the hutch and buffet back into my kitchen and couldn't look at it for WEEKS! I had no idea what to do with it!

The buffet looked like someone came at it with a weed wacker! I am not kidding!

I just had to Cowgirl up! (I am by no means a cowgirl, it just felt like the right thing to say) I got out the sand paper and went at those doors like I had nothing to lose...mostly because I didn't. I washed it down, painted it with another coat of Tropicana Cabana (Benjamin Moore) and then antiqued it by sanding it down.

Disaster turned livable :)

For what I really wanted to do, check out this site: HERE

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