projects

Welcome to the projects page! I love interior design. I was an interior decorator before Emmett was born and I really enjoyed it. I'm also trying to be more creative with my decorating and sewing to really make the pieces my own. I'm learning slowly! I can do basic sewing projects. I don't like sewing apparel; just home interiors. Some day, I would love to do upholstery. 

My mission is to have diamond style on a dime budget. I'm pretty addicted to craigslist and the Goodwill (bargain shopper!) and repurposing things. However, this is where the creative block comes in. I find a great piece, but don't necessarily know what I want to do with it. I usually figure it out. So, I'm becoming a better DIYer, one project at a time. Enjoy!

dresser tlc #2.

Here's another craigslist beauty for $20. :) I couldn't pass it up. Here are a couple of pictures before:

 lots of scuffs and scratches

 

It definitely needed some tlc. I sanded it, primed it, and painted it. I decided to keep the original hardware, but I repainted them. I might get some handles with a more industrial look in the future.

 I painted the entire piece a very light pistachio green. I decided it needed some more visual interest to I taped off the drawers and painted a 1-inch 'frame' for each drawer in a darker gray-green. 

 I put it in my kitchen for extra storage.

  

mounted engineer print.

I forgot to take before pictures of this one - sorry! I went to Staples and had an engineer print of a family photo made. It's about 2' by 3'! I used spray adhesive to carefully mount it to some heavy duty styrofoam board. I also painted the frame of the foam white and it looks like wood. I let it dry and nailed it to the wall. The only part I hated was cutting the foam board. It was tedious and I had to adjust the size a couple of times. I think it fits the space above our couch well.

dresser tlc.

I found this little beauty on craigslist for $20 and knew exactly what I wanted to do with it! 

I sanded some spots, spray painted the casters silver, gave it two coats of paint, and changed the hardware. Here it is finished! I put it in our entryway nook.

barbie boat.

I saw this on Pinterest and wanted to give it a try.

All you need is two plastic bottles, the caps and duct tape or any other rubber-like tape. Hold the bottles together temporarily with a rubber band while you tape them together. Then take a knife or scissors and cut seats long enough for the Barbies. Done and free! Ethnie painted hers herself and loves playing with it at the pool. :)

have fun, Barbie! 

chalkboard paint.

Last week, I bought some chalkboard paint for the first time. The stuff is genius! The can says you can make a chalkboard on virtually any surface - and it's true. We have a table for the kids to draw, play, etc. on and I painted the top of it with the chalkboard paint. Instant hit!

 I also painted these flower pots I have on our front steps.

  

bulletin board.

Our desk in the office/toy room is in constant need of organization. I have tried many different methods of organizing all of the mail and school papers, but they still pile up. I decided to move part of the desk up on the wall to free up some space. 

I found a $4 cork board at Goodwill, spray-painted the frame white and bought some scrapbook paper and three clipboards. I used mod podge to adhere the scrapbook paper onto the board and pinned the clipboards up and labeled them. Done!

birdcage #2.

I found this cutie locally at an antique shop. It came with a bird's nest inside. It just needed some paint.

end table.

This is a new craigslist find. I sanded it, painted it and added some handles. I think it looks much better after!

 

before

after

pedestal table.

So, I got this small table a LONG time ago. It originally had brass legs and the top is marble. I finally decided to do something with it. I spray-painted the legs and mod podged a piece of fabric over the marble. I forget to take 'before' photos so all I have is the finished product.

 

 

letter art. 

I got this idea from Pinterest. Have you ever used Mod Podge before? It is fun super easy to use. This project was fun picking out the supplies I needed too.

I bought the wooden letters, mod podge, and scrapbook paper from Michael's. The vintage silverware is from Hunt and Gather (LOVE that place!).

I want green to be the dominant color in my kitchen, with splashes of pink and yellow.

And here is the finished product on the wall. I traced out the letters and cut them out. Then I adhered them to the wooden letters with the mod podge and brush. I hot-glued the utensils to each letter and hung them up! It was a very easy project that you can customize to your taste!

nailhead trim.

The headboard in our master bedroom is very simple. I wanted to add some elegance to it by adding some nailhead trim. You can actually by a trim kit that does not require pounding in individual nail heads - glorious! The trim kit I bought only requires pounding every 5th head in. It was a frustrating process, but overall easy. We also have a simple bench at the foot of our bed that I added the trim to as well. I think it's just the right touch. For now.

before

after

chevron drapes.

I have been craving a chevron print in my home so I made these drapes for the living room. I think they make the room look bigger and brighter. They didn't take very long to sew. They are my first set and I know they're not perfect, but I think they turned out decent!

notice someone just woke up.

vintage bird cage.

This is a new craigslist find. I want to start collecting a few bird cages for my living room, as I kind of have a bird theme going. Not sure how that came about; I'm just obsessed with bird silhouettes lately. Anyway, I gave the off-white portion two new coats of paint to perk it up. It looks great! 

after a new coat of white paint. perks it up a bit!

halloween costume.

This is a Halloween costume I made from fleece and felt. It was pretty easy to sew up. Emmett's favorite stuffed animal is his Uglydoll monster so I made his costume to match. Let me know if you'd like to use it next year!

holiday wreath.

This was really fun to make. It's a grapevine wreath (which I love!) that I sprayed with adhesive and glitter. I then took ornaments and stuck them in. You could probably use this one all winter if you took out the glittery acorn ornament on the bottom to make it look less like Christmas. Super easy!

grosgrain ribbon frame.

Pretty self-explanatory. This is an inexpensive way to frame pictures or art. I taped the art to the wall using painter's tape, then hot glued the ribbon over the top. It seems appropriate for the play room.