Best Friends' DIY Day Take Two

Today Shannon and I had our second DIY day in one week!  Can you say awesome?

Today we worked on recovering her dining room chairs (because the person who owned them before her did not take good care of them).  The current white covers were gross and stained and had obviously never been scotchguarded.  So, we picked up some burlap and went to work.

See how nasty they were?  Need a closer look?

Yay we got all the seats off!

And VOILA!

So, what do you think?  She plans to paint them a dark brown, which will look awesome with the rest of her furniture!  Did I mention that she has this amazing teal table that she painted on her own (ok, with a little help...)

Pretty awesome right?

Oh and she also has one odd man out chair that she keeps in her room because her new dining room is pretty small.  So we did something a little more fun with it.

She plans to paint this one a teal color to match the fabric!  LOVE IT!  

What cool patterns do you have in your house?

Happy decorating!

My Mailbox!

I absolutely LOVE adding new fun stuff to our decor!  Finding weird or odd things that most people wouldn't even think about adding to their living room, kitchen...etc gives me a total creative high!  

The Story of the Mailbox

So a few years ago when I was up in Iowa visiting for my youngest sister's high school graduation, I saw this mailbox and thought it was pretty cute.  Now, this was when I was in my "Shabby Chic" phase that I went through. {Don't get me wrong...I love shabby chic, but I just feel like colors are more for me.}  Anyways, it was cute to me because of how simple it was.  Lucky for me it was at my Grandparents house and they had plans to get a new one.  So, I asked if when they did if they would mind sending me their old one?  Well like I said, that was over two years ago and I was beginning to lose hope, when out of the blue I got a Facebook comment from my Mawmaw [Grandma is just what normal people call grandparents ;)  Oh and that's right, I said Facebook].  She had just sent me my mailbox!  I was super stoked and couldn't wait for it to get here!  Seriously, I couldn't wait...I kept checking the mail and even when it finally did arrive and I was able to check the mail [for my mailbox ;)] our frickin' apartment office was closed already and was even closed the next day...ugh!  

This is what it looked like when I got it

Sorry about the painter's tape.  I was already finished covering the plate when I realized that I hadn't taken a photo of it yet.... :(

This is the finished product up on the wall

I am SO happy with the outcome...I'm going to put some silk daisies in it I think.  I'll post a photo once I have it done.  

What random stuff do you have around your house?

Two best friends walk into a Hobby Lobby...

So, since this is my last week that I have some "off time", I decided to get as much stuff done as I possibly could...including spending time with my bestie, who I don't get to see too often.   We have been best friends since the 5th grade.

She, bless her heart, hasn't a creative bone in her body...or so she thinks.  So, this week we are having two DIY days!  YAY!!!!  This excites me so much, especially after the insane DIY mood that I've been in lately.  Shannon, just moved to a new place and wants help decorating it.  So, since I have been making new pillows for our living room (to be revealed later after everything is finished...)  she came out to see me to maybe do some pillows for herself.  Well, our time today was limited because she has her "Bachelorette Watching Party" on Monday nights and this week it was at her place.  

So in the 3 hours we spent together today we managed to come up with some great ideas for Wednesday's DIY day (of course I'll take photos!).  Today, since I have a sewing machine and she doesn't and I don't want to tote it around...we sewed her a cute throw pillow for her bed.  We just used burlap and cotton.  I sewed a layer of the cotton behind the burlap to keep any stuffing from escaping and then sewed on ruffles.  To me, it totally looks like something from Anthropologie, which would probably cost you an arm and a leg if you bought it from there.  Instead we spent:

 $12.57

Much cheaper than even most solid throw pillows.  

The final product of our time spent together.  (I know that the bottom photo is kinda fuzzy, sorry it was taken with a phone.)

So the next time that you're going to redecorate and want to add in some cute pillows, think about making them yourself or calling up a friend who knows how to even if you don't.

Happy DIY week!

Our version of a "Date Night"....atleast for this weekend...

So, I got this creative bug over the weekend and still haven't been able to shake it.  I mean, of course...it's always there but there are definitely periods of time where..."The FORCE is strong in this one!" (My little nod to Comic Con which was this past weekend.)  Any who, thankfully I have this AMAZING husband who is incredibly tolerant and patient when it comes to this part of me.  He was all systems go this weekend to work on projects, and so we did! 

Project #1:  Decorating with a birdcage and two lanterns

So we sold ALL of the birdcages that were used at our wedding except TWO.  I wanted to keep them because I had some decorating ideas on what to do with them and so, naturally they ended up collecting dust in my "Craft Room" until Friday night.  So, last minute on Friday night we went out and got some white spray paint and dark turquoise ("lagoon" on the can) spray paint to paint one of the birdcages and hang it from the ceiling.  We got these pretty awesome hooks from Lowe's to hang them from.  

I didn't want to change the color of the lanterns, just the birdcage.  I am incredibly grateful to have a husband who isn't afraid of color. { Did I mention that I am pretty lucky to have him? :) }  So, while I went to work outside spraying the birdcage with white paint (a cheap solution to primer), he went to work  in the living room putting in the hooks.

We don't own a ladder so we used a "make shift"...ha ha ha

Not thinking things all the way through, he really needed some goggles to protect his eyes.  But since we didn't have any, he made do with a pair of my giant sunglasses. :)  Doesn't he wear them well?

I went to work sewing burlap covers for the string we were using to hang them by and then...

VOILA!  

Our decorating job was finished!  I am so excited with the way it turned out!

What do you think?  Do you have some decor in your living room that's cool and different?  Comment a link and share!  :)

DIY Frame Wall

Okay, so I realize I should have taken pictures of the frames BEFORE I sprayed them with my white paint primer.  But...too late now.  Our living room wall has been lacking for a while now.  It was empty for FOREVER and then a while back I put up some paintings that I did...not that I really wanted them on our wall, I just felt like it was TOO empty.  

So since like, November of last year, I've been planning on doing this frame wall and over time I thought of things to add to it to spice it up that wound up slowing the project down.  (ie: the Marilyn and Frank paintings I had made.)  I wanted something that I could also hang photos on because I am a HUGE photo freak and just love having pictures up everywhere.  

I bought most of the frames from Goodwill and one on clearance at Hobby Lobby and the rest were given to me.

After arranging the frames and paintings around or a while.  I finally figured it out.  Thank goodness my hubby came home when he did.  I wouldn't have been able to hang most of the stuff on the account that I'm a shorty.

(The center piece is just a canvas covered with fabric and ribbon stapled to it to make a photo board.)