My Own Mini Art Gallery

I'm not sure if y'all remember my post about Eric hanging some frames for me in the den and me laughing at him because they were ceiling height.  That stuff happens when you get a 6'4" man to hang pictures, I suppose.   Anyway if you want a before picture you can check out that post here, it's OK it's a small post.  Go on, I'll wait for you to get back here before I reveal the new look.

Is anyone else humming the Jeopardy theme song?

I decided I needed something different in my house that wasn't just the same old, same old when it came to displaying photos, art, prints, etc.  I tend to follow the safe routine of asymmetrical wall hangings, everything being level... you know the drill.  When I stumbled upon an idea on the P site that I thought was pretty awesome, I realized I had an answer to my desires.  It helped that I had the perfect wall space to enact my own version too!

Before, after readying it for the paint job.

The mirror after painting it pink!

I was a little bit excited to pull it together, but once I got started it was more daunting than I had anticipated.  I still had to paint the ornate mirror I had picked up at a garage sale last summer for $3.00 and I wanted to hit Value Village to see if I could find some ornate frames to use for display purposes.  When we were there though, Eric found a tacky, but still so amazing, clock for $5.00.  I decided I'd paint the clock the same colour as the mirror.  I picked bright pink because it would compliment my Twisted Sister album that I had planned on incorporating into the scheme. 

The clock, before of course.

And after!

We were able to find 3 frames at V.V. that I used, and only one I had to actually paint.  I wanted to use some of the prints my friend Syx had given me last year of a photography project he did on Graffiti he found around Vancouver:  NoGraffito. 

This was an ugly brown frame before I painted it with left over green paint.

A pretty cool gold coloured ornate frame.

Things work in mysterious way... it's pretty interesting because not two days before I planned to start my project, I was cleaning out Roan's backpack for March Break (sometimes he leaves his left over lunches in there and a week of festering food is no good!) and I literally stumbled upon a folded up large piece of art he had completed at school.  A couple of years ago he brought a similar piece home and I had it framed and it now hangs on my wall in my office at work.  I was pretty stoked to find this masterpiece and immediately came to the conclusion that it warranted a spot in amongst my new wall display.  Funny enough I had a frame that fit the picture perfectly.  It just needed a paint job. 

So, now that I had my main pieces sorted out I knew I wanted to include some personal photos of the boys and Eric and I.  I can't believe that up until this past week I haven't had a photo of Eric and I displayed in my house.  I'm a terrible girlfriend.  But now I do!!  And it's in a pretty awesome gilded frame I got at Value Village for a buck. 

I then rounded out my project with the taxidermy frames that were the original pieces on the wall.  I still think they are crazy cool so I couldn't bring myself to part with them.  I'm still not sure I'm content with the placement of everything but it's working the way it is, and I know my laziness will probably take over and I'll just eventually be totally content with it as it currently stands.  

And here's my finished art wall.

I was digging the character the wall added to the den so much I forced Eric to just sit in there with me for a while to take it all in.   I don't think he felt the energy like I did.  I'm pretty pleased overall even if I make a few changes here or there.  I've never been brave enough to hang pictures that low or that high or in that quantity, but I'm glad I went out on a limb and took a chance.  Sometimes venturing out of my boring comfort zone brings excellent results!  Have you done something you wouldn't normally have thought you would do and been pleased with the results?  I'd love to hear about it! 

All You Need Is Love, and Epoxy

Last summer in my seasonal tour of garage sales I stumbled upon a stunning, faux fur, simple, metal stool for one dollar (yes, I think it warrants that many adjectives).  Yes, ONE dollar!!  I had an idea of what I'd like to do to it and actually had the parts to create my vision (that I'd scored at yet another garage sale for 1 dollar as well).  It's taken me until just now to get around to it.  I'm kind of kicking myself because the actual craft itself hasn't taken long at all. 

 

I decided that I would use it as a side table in a little corner of the den that is tight on space and skimpy on light, yet close to a wall plug.  So I (rather Eric did it 'cause I was at work) took the faux fur and padding off which left us with an MDF thick circle of wood - perfect for the base of the soon to be table.   I then painted the base a glossy black (I have had the paint for about 5 years from a school project of Gage's, so that cost me nothing!).  Upon drying, I glued a Beatles album onto the black base with an epoxy (I tried a glue gun first, failed miserably.) and reattached the whole thing to the metal legs.  Et voila!  A new mini side table perfect for my little lamp that I recovered in twine months ago! 

Here it is in its forever home.  I took the red version of the album and made my own record bowl to hold our remote controls and stuff.  This entire project literally cost me TWO measly dollars.  Pretty decent if you ask me!  The more I look around my den as it starts to come together, the more I realize most of the stuff in there is a garage sale score, Kijiji find or thrift store purchase.  I'm kind of amazed at myself.  Because up to a year and a half ago, I poo-poo'd the smallest notion of a garage sale and I never would have imagined I'd be furnishing a room in my house with those kinds of finds.  I should probably take a moment to thank my best friend, Margie and her mom for taking me with them garage sailing two summers ago. 

 

Duct Tape Really Does Fix Everything!

I came across an idea on Pinterest (of course) months ago and I've finally gotten around to executing it this weekend. 

We have two occasional chairs in our living room that I bought a couple years ago.  The cats immediately took ownership over them and basically destroyed them in record time.  Bummer for me because I really liked the pop of colour they gave, but I still hesitated tossing them out because in my mind they were relatively new and still served a purpose.   Then I decided they just needed to be recovered.  What I chose to recover them with didn't match my personal decor though.  The 'material' was more acceptable for a teenager. What a coincidence!  I just happen to have one of those and he just so happens to be getting a new bedroom. 

Here is the side chair before I tackled it but after the cats tackled it. 

I basically just took my time and pieced it all together in as many large pieces of duct tape as I could.  The less seams the better as I have a feeling eventually someone will pick away at a seam.  The good thing about this kind of reupholster is that I only need a new piece of duct tape to fix it and it won't stand out like a sore thumb!  I hope he likes it.  I think it will be a pretty cool addition to a teen aged boys room and I have enough duct tape to redo the second chair if Gage decides he needs extra seating.  Or maybe I'll just reupholster the second chair and give it away to someone. 

This particular chair took one entire roll of duct tape and about 3 extra (long) pieces of another roll.  Not too pricey of a project when you consider these chairs were basically just headed to the dump.  Now this one has a chance at a 2nd life. 

Poop House

Last weekend I felt like I should be somewhat productive.  We've been lacking in ambition during the winter months.  (Kind of frustrating seeing as those are the prime opportunities to do work around the house, but I digress.)  Since we began building Gage's new bedroom quarters we have lost valuable real estate when it comes to storage options.  The one quarter of the basement that has remained untouched  had turned into a catch-all.  So we sorted that chaos out.   In the process of this cleansing Eric decided to amend the kitty pooping area sitch. 

Up until the walls came down connecting the finished and unfinished parts of the basement the kitties had the luxury of going to the bathroom in peace.  But since Eric was framing in a new wall, Dempsey has had free range of a kitty poop buffet.  Dogs are so gross.  Eric decided to help Dempsey avoid painful teasing of poop breath by his peers and designed a new poop house for the cats (I think I like the word poop).  Little did he know that I'd be coming home with the answer to his problems. 

At work we had a couple cremation container lids sitting around taking up space in the funeral home storage.  (When we cremate the rental casket after so many uses, we don't require a container lid thus we had two laying around without an option of disposal as they won't fit in our dumpster at work.)  I had originally thought I might be able to coerce Eric into building me a window bench using the wood but upon inspection he found a better use of them. 

 

I'm content with the end result and I'm glad we've cleared up room at work, and tidied up our space at home too!  It's environmentally friendly to boot!  I was worried at first that with the lid closed the cats wouldn't have enough vertical space to poop in comfort, but the evidence left behind suggest they have adapted quite well.  I promise no pictures of the evidence.  It didn't take long for their curiosity to get the better of them, I mean I wasn't even finished taking pictures of the finished product. 

Does this T-shirt Art Make Me Look Fat?

I crafted again!  I know right?  Like whoa.  Crafting Holly has been hibernating for a while, too caught up in the busyness of life as of late.  But this past weekend I felt like I needed to get something accomplished as I was feeling like I was wasting away my time off with absolutely nothing productive.  So I forced myself to make a craft with components I already had on hand.

Side note:  On a daily basis I struggle to find room in Eric's dresser drawers to put his clean clothes away because he has a kajillion t-shirts.  No lie.  He doesn't wear half of them but god forbid he be forced to throw them out or donate them to charity.  I found success a month or so ago and he was able to pull out FOUR shirts.  Yeah, my eyes are rolling.  Huge impact there.  The only reason he was able to come up with four shirts to part with was because I promised to make a craft out of them so he could still see them, touch them, look at them, and love them in all of their nostalgia. 

So t-shirt craft commenced this weekend.  I made wall art out of his t-shirts.  I used a couple of embroidery hoops for two of them.  And some Dollar Store art canvases (only because I was not inclined to build my own wooden frames) for the other two.  I think it should be considered pretty self explanatory on how I got to the end product so I'll save the step by step instructions.  Consider this easy enough to be a first crafting attempt if you should choose to venture down this road.  But keep in mind you will need a staple gun.  Those are all the components necessary to find success in this project.  I promise. 

So he seemed to like the end result.  I will admit I was a tad nervous slicing up his beloved torso-wear because until it's done, there is always the off chance that I might have just ruined the shirts.  But I don't know why I second guess myself.  Now we just need to find a suitable wall to hang them on.  I suppose the shed just won't do. 

In Theatres Everywhere...Tomorrow, I swear!

Phew!  I'm exhausted.  Aside from being fairly busy at work, I haven't found much reprieve even when I'm able to steal away home.  I'm beginning to see a pattern forming that commences approximately a week and a half prior to Gage's exams starting... The onslaught of late assignments that need to be completed and submitted before the exam in order for Gage to pass his course.  Sigh...I want to get so mad, but I'm pretty confident I did the exact same thing during my go around. 

So this past week (on top of work and still being sick) I've we've managed to complete the writing of a myth, the filming of a trailer for said myth, reading a book "The First Stone", completing comprehensive readers notes for said book on Characters, Plot, Setting, Archetypes, and Themes, writing a Critical Essay on the story, doing an essay on why Julius Caesar was a great leader, and studying for the actual exam!  I wrote that I've completed these things and then scratched it out because it merely feels like I completed all these things alone, but that's not true.  Gage and I spent a lot of quality time together this week and Gage and Eric actually worked on the video/movie trailer.  I can assure you all that if Eric didn't exist in our lives, Gage would be getting a zero on that component. 

We figured to do a tongue in cheek myth about why Gage struggles to hand his assignments in on time or at all.  Since he's probably such a frustration to his teacher he might as well make her laugh.  We pooled all of our ideas and came up with a mythological beast that closely resembles an Xbox but eats homework, takes over Gage's motivation and has an uncanny knack for stealing his writing instruments and replacing them with an Xbox controller.  The Procrastasaurus or something like that.   The clip below is the trailer about his myth that he handed in.  No clue what kind of grade he got on it but it sure made me laugh.  Especially the part at the end about it's arrival in theatres...Tomorrow, I swear.  Infamous last words his poor saint of a teacher has heard more often than not this past semester. 



There was a moment of hope this week though when Gage proposed the idea of doing his homework when it's assigned to him.  I've reassured him numerous times that we'd always be willing to help him but it would take way less time than 6 hours a night if we did it right away, or at least started it early.  He came up with the idea all on his own!  And he has figured out that Grades 11 and 12 are going to have strong impacts on his ability to get into a college.  It's so frustrating because based on the assignments and tests he did hand in and do his grade without trying would have been mid to high 70's.  With all his missing assignments he was sitting at a 39.  Completely uncalled for.  Sigh...here's hoping he's starting to mature and figure some of this stuff out.  Let's see if he follows through with this idea next semester.  I think I might have made it a little easier for him to stick to his plans by pulling in the reigns on his freedom and how much of it he has this coming term. 

I like spending time with my kid and all, but come on! 

Gazing Garden Globes

I've been sitting on a couple bowling balls for just under a year now with the intent that I was going to paint them to look like bugs for my garden.  Haven't come close to getting there though.  I also stumbled across a huge bag of flat glass beads at a garage sale for like two bucks or something so I grabbed them (knowing I'd find a use down the road).   In due time all things became clear to me and the idea of a homemade "gazing ball" was formed in my head. 

So a couple weeks ago, after Roan was done being "SO angry" with me for dumping his Lego into his toybox, he and I got down to brass tacks (well glass beads rather) and went to work making a gazing ball for Grandma for Christmas (He'd already made her a 'touchy' card and this was to go with it.)  Whether it will weather the weather remains to be seen (since it's currently 1 degree with a foot of snow on the ground, we shall not be able to test out its durability until May or so.)  

Here's what we used (though the glue may have been the wrong choice, only time will tell.  It was fun making it though.)

Bowling ball
Hot glue gun and lots of glue sticks
Flat bottom glass beads (multi-coloured would be fun but use what you have)

Then I think it's pretty obvious what you do next right?  But if it isn't, you basically put some hot glue (not too much!) on the flat part of the bead and then you secure it to the surface of the ball.  Simple is as simple does.  Don't make it harder than it is.   Continue to do this until all the surface is covered and PRESTO!  You have a homemade 'gazing ball' or at best, a heavy lawn ornament that will blind you when the sun reflects off of a bead right into your eyeball. 

Sorry I couldn't do a staged shot, but use your imagination will ya?  We got snow last night remember!??!  And lots of it!  Let's gaze into the ball and long for spring.  Maybe with lots of eyes looking into it we'll be able to will the snow away.  Good luck.  Ready?  Aim....stare. 

This way! No that way! Wait, over here!!

So my sister in law made me this f*cking (yes it actually deserves the prefix f*cking 'cause that's how awesome it is!) spectacular Christmas present!  It's a directional sign for my yard and I wouldn't mind going to all the places she thought to include.  She knows me so well.  D'awwwww!!!!! 

Diagon Alley?  Be careful, there are some sketchy wizards lurking around.
Tardis Boarding?  Where will we end up?
How's about heading over to visit Sherlock Holmes on Baker Street?

Wanna play some Hunger Games over at District 12?  Don't die!
A trip to Castle Rock, Maine?  Be careful, nothing good ever happens in Castle Rock. 
Be careful that a house doesn't fall on you in Munchkinland!

Head on over to Hogwarts?  No worries, I'll lead the way!
How about visiting with the wizard in the Emerald City or taking a flight to Never Never Land? 

Take off for out of this world adventures to the Starfleet Academy.
Or venture off to Hobbit's Shire to see what they have in store for you. 
Or maybe a trip to the magical world of Narnia!! 

I'll likely just end up running in circles in my yard because I can't make up my mind!  So many great options.  This is seriously an amazing gift!!!!

Eric thought of incorporating it into the fence we are building this summer, but if I move, and at some point I will, I won't be able to take it with me.  That would make me a sad girl.  So I'll have to give it some thought on placement for the most optimal exposure to the masses. 

Who Doesn't Love A Cupcake?

I've been struggling like no one's business to find some semblance of Christmas spirit this year.  It's been hard and I can't find a true reason why I'm feeling this way.  Roan had been bugging me for a couple weeks to put our Christmas tree up but I was really dragging my heels.  There is not much more I hate than stringing those darn Christmas lights.  But this past summer I scored a pre-lit 7' artificial tree at a garage sale for 10 bucks.  And, up until a week ago I had been under the silly notion that my $30 60" Sony flat screen was my most awesomest garage sale score of all time.  I would be remissed if I didn't mention that this pre-lit tree was now right up there tied for first.  I swear I heard the choirs singing the minute I plugged that cord in and it was all lit up!  Total preparation time until ornaments could be placed? Ten minutes.  And that included digging it out of the basement! 

Any way, back to the purpose of this post.  I decided a couple weeks ago (Sorry, I'm slow on the uptake here) since Eric was working that I'd do some crafting.  It's been a while since I've done anything in that department.  I was feeling the itch again.  This time I decided to make ornaments for the Christmas tree (well mainly just one, I'm gave the other 11 away).  So off I went to Michaels to pick up the supplies I didn't already have on hand.  And since I had a great coupon and a few straggler gift certificates in the bottom of my purse with small amounts left on them, this entire project cost me nothing!  The best kind.   So when I got home I got down to the task at hand and began making cupcakes.  Cupcake ornaments.

So here is the supply list you'd need if you wanted to replicate these.  By the way they were super easy and took me maybe 3-5 minutes for each cupcake.  I might even be exaggerating with the time.

Mod-podge
sponge brush or paint brush
1 inch ribbon (I chose brown for chocolate cake)
hot glue gun
glue sticks (that should be obvious, but I never want to assume)
sparkles for the icing (I chose blue and pink, you can choose whatever)
Wired holly berry decorations (for cherries of course!)
Cupcake liners
Christmas ornament balls (I used clear ones from Michaels)

So first I glued two liners together so they were thicker/stiffer.  I set those aside.  Then I removed the top off ornaments and set it aside.  I then put a trail of glue around the centre of the ornament and attached the ribbon.  I made cuts around the bottom of the ribbon, applied some more glue to the bottom of the ornament and folded the ribbon around the bottom.  Then I glued the ornament using hot glue to the cupcake liner and applied pressure with my hand.

I had two plastic shallow dishes for my sparkles all ready to go.  I applied a thin coating of Mod-podge to the exposed ornament and dropped sparkles on the glued area, taking time to shake off the excess as I worked.  Be prepared, your work area will look like a fairy shit all over it.  Once it was completely covered in sparkles I reattached the hook top.

I then cut a wired holly berry (now a cherry!) to appropriate length and hot glued it to the front of the hook holder (to help camouflage it).   Et voila!  A cupcake ornament.

I ended up with four blue, four pink and four blue/pink combination.  I think they turned out pretty neat!  There it is up there on our tree.  For a brief moment that particular weekend I was into the Christmas spirit.  I'm pretty sure I was over it by Monday.   

 

Merry Christmas my lovelies!!!  Much love and best wishes for a wonderful holiday with those who are most important to you and an awesome new year coming your way.  

A Side of Suitcase?

I made a piece of furniture!  No for reals I did.   This one right here.  Well not here exactly but right there below this sentence is a picture of it! 

I've run across a couple very inspiring 'suitcase' pieces through Pinterest and I've always wanted to make something.  I had originally purchased my blue hard case suitcase at Value Village last year for $5.00 with the intention of turning it into a chair like that one posted below.  But I just haven't been feeling it lately. 

Besides, I really don't have a spot in my house at the moment to accomodate a suitcase chair which is really about appearances and not about practicality.  Frankly it would just be a "neat-o" clothes holder or kitty chair.  Let's be real.  So when I stumbled across two nesting tables on Kijiji for $20.00 I thought, "EUREKA!  I've finally found a match for my suitcase."  And fit perfectly, they did. 

I ended up spray painting my little table a glossy white to match the room it was intended for.  It took me 4 coats of paint to get it even.  I didn't bother to waste paint by spraying the top, because well, that's redundant since you won't see the top!   Then I, put the suitcase on the floor with the bottom side up and I put the table on top of the suitcase table top down and I let Eric drill four holes.  (It makes him feel like a real man when I let him do stuff like that.  Trust me.)  Then we  he jammed the bolts through the holes and tightened it all up nice-nice. 

Then I flipped that bad boy over and VOILA, a suitcase table that looks like a professional made it.  And it cost me, maybe, $25.00 for all the supplies including the bolts and spray paint.  Now don't try to fool me by suggesting I could find a sweet bad boy like that pre-made for 25 bones cause I just won't believe you!   You wanna know the sweet bonus?  There were two keys inside the suitcase for locking and unlocking purposes (funny how keys do that) so now we have a lockable storage compartment built into my new kickass table for my den!  BAM BAM!  Double the pleasure! 

Disco at Home

I've seen a lot of word wall art in the past couple of years.  Between decals, stenciling, and wood letters...I decided to do my own version of word wall art for the new den.  I think it's a unique take on it and frankly it's another successful craft by Holly (in my opinion anyway, and frankly that's all that matters because I'm keeping this one!). 

I purchased four wooden letters from Michael's craft store (I'm thinking this could be one of my new favourite stores) for six bucks each.  Then I spray painted them silver (can of spray paint was $7.00).  Then I glued 10 1/2 rolls of nickels on them (I'm not so sure a hot glue gun was the right route to take as a couple of the coins have since fallen off and have had to be reglued with a different adhesive, but live and learn), which gave me kind of a disco ball effect (from a distance) on the letters.  So eleven rolls of nickels cost me $22.00 but you could probably raid your change jar if you're one of those people.  I'm not, Eric's coffee addiction and Roan's penny candy addiction would never allow me to accumulate enough nickels on my own.

The plan was to hang this homemade $55 dollar art above my couch in the new den on the dark navy blue wall but I decided to just stand them up on a white floating shelf instead.  Up against the dark wall, they look pretty awesome.  I'm excited for the room to come together and to display some of my own handy work.  I don't think I'd have been able to find art work to encompass that amount of space for less than that kind of money from a store.  So I'm ok with high price tag on this craft.

Dress Shirt Throw Pillows

 

 

So when my father passed away, my sister and I got nuttin'.  No, no, we're not bitter (I'm trying to convince myself of that).  Well I suppose she did get something, she got some books.  But whatever, I don't really count those.  I hold on to the fact that my boys got something special of his and I suppose that's my share in a way.  So when I stumbled on this following idea I called my mom and secretly hoped she hadn't gotten rid of any of his clothes yet.  She hadn't.  Thank goodness for grief.  Am I right?  (I'M KIDDING, JEESH!). 

So for now I've taken possession of all of my dad's dress shirts.  I've pulled two out of the bunch to convert for my own keepsies and I figure eventually I'll turn all of them (including my two) into throw pillows!!  What's that?  What it is is a brilliant idea!  I think it's pretty cool that my dad once wore my throw pillows.  Wha-what?

So here goes.  I picked up some pillow forms at a garage sale for a buck each.  So basically these pillows cost me a buck each, not a bad score.  I measured the pillow, this particular one was 16 inches x 16 inches.  So I cut my material into a 16 inch square.  I didn't add much room to spare as I wanted it to be taut and not all loosey goosey.  I decided to include the pocket.  The inspiration photo I originally came across did not include the pocket, but I think it adds character and gives the impression that it was once a dress shirt. 

Once my squares were cut out I flipped them so the outsides were facing each other and I pinned them together .  Then I ran all four sides through my sewing machine.  Upon completion of all four sides I unbuttoned the shirt and inserted the pillow form.  Then I straightened it all out and did the buttons up again.  Et VOILA!  A throw pillow reminiscent of my daddio. 

The Wood Will Renew The Foliage It Sheds

In the spring I thought it would be a brilliant idea to turn Gage's bedroom on the main floor of my house into a den and build him a new bedroom in the unfinished part of our basement.  On paper that seemed like a logical (still does) and quick transformation (not so much).  We are still far from finished the den and no where near completion on Gage's new space.  Instead he has completely taken over our rec room and destroyed it in the process.  Arg!  Following his room creation we'll be re-doing the rec room now.  No travels for us this year! 

Gage's room before furniture removal but after personal effects removed.

The point of this post is to introduce you to the main hiccup or the most time consuming aspect of the den transformation.  Our pallet wall.  I saw this idea on Pinterest and I loved the raw look of the wood.  I knew, aside from the work, Eric would also embrace this idea as he loves all things woodsy and natural.  So pallet searching we-a-went!  We lucked out huge when a friend of ours was able to bring us a butt truck load of pallets on a few occasions.  This saved us driving around looking (which we only had to do once).  And of course not every board on the pallet was in decent shape or suitable for using so we had a lovely trashy collection of pallets on our patio all summer.

It took a lot of physical labour to remove the usable boards from the pallets.  We deemed it better to cut through the nails with a saw rather than try to pry the boards off.  Prying them off would just result in breaking and cracking the boards.  This was merely one aspect I didn't take into consideration when I envisioned a quick finish date. 



Eric showing me his displeasure.

The second set back was the fact that it was thought best that we pull the drywall down off the one wall we had chosen to recover.  Drywall/plaster, same thing right?  Nope.  Plaster is a son of a bitch!  So that took way, WAY longer than I had thought and created way, WAY more of a mess than I was anticipating.  The metal gridding behind the plaster was the bane of Eric's existance.   Finally with the wall down to the studs we were able to put up the two sheets of plywood we had purchased.  I think we got 1/2 inch plywood to put over the studs.  The thought process behind this was:  Because the slats from the pallets are of different variances if there were any small gaps or spaces between slats then it wouldn't be as obvious with the wood plywood peaking through it rather than a painted wall.  And, my wall wouldn't be jutting out an extra inch or so from the orginal studs.  Eric is so smart, sometimes his extra work pays off. 

Now it was finally time to put the slats up onto the wall (the one part of the project I was totally focusing on).   After 5 lines I was coming to really appreciate how this wall was going to look upon completion.  Thank goodness we were only doing one accent wall.  I can't imagine trying to 'panel' an entire room with this process.  Now that the slats are all up it looks amazing.  Even though this project set my den make-over back like 3 months (working full time for a living and trying to squeeze this in isn't always practical) I have no regrets about this decision.

It's time to start piecing the room together.  I can't wait to see the finished project with all the crafty stuff I've done for it and in turn, show you the end result!  I'm looking forward to having a new room to hang out in.  I'm starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel.  It will all be worth it.    

 

Table Lamp Make-over

It's so hard to find a lamp.  Well a good, loyal, loving lamp is often hard to find.  I'm glad this kitty found one.

I'm a lucky girl myself!  Last weekend at my sister in law's fundraising garage sale I saw across the stretch of yard a sweet, little lamp hoping to make contact with me.  It was touch and go there for a while because he's pretty little and he was buried amongst a whole lot of goods and ware, but kindred souls we are, so it was meant to be.   The adoption fee was a mere two dollars so together we left it all behind us.  I brought him home and gave him a little makeover.  He's feeling useful again with his new lot on life. 

 

 

I was in need of a table lamp (or two) for the new den, I bought one at a garage sale a while ago for five bucks and covered the throwback to the 80's with twine.  But it's been sitting on a shelf in my craft area because I haven't found a shade that I'm satisfied with.  Since I still had some twine left over from this project I decided to do the same makeover with this little guy.  Now if I can just find a similar shade for the larger one, I'll have two matching lamps.  A girl can dream right?  I mean who doesn't long for a unified lamp family? 

Couch Transformation

So most of you readers are already aware of my devastating situation with a beautiful couch I purchased for my newly transformed den so I don't really need to rehash that (it's just too painful, trust me).  If you want to catch yourself up on my pain and suffering you can go here. 

I ended up finding a shorter, smaller couch for my new living space, also on Kijiji but I got this one for a mere $40.00.  It wasn't and isn't anywhere near as cool and nice as the first one I got, but it shall suffice.  My intention was to spray it with Simply Spray Upholstery paint and make it grey like I was originally intending.  In order for the 'paint' to work best you need a lighter palette to start with.  So this blah, cream coloured love seat was a great jumping off point.  And if it sucked, well it was only $40 (plus the paint of course, but I was being positive). 

Simply Spray is kind of like dye in a can.  It absorbs into the fabric to change the colour so because it's not laying on top of the fabric it isn't crunchy to sit on like most fabric paints would be.  Each can covers about 17" square feet but that seems to vary depending on the type of material and how absorbent it is.  I ended up using 6 cans to do this love seat (and I have a little left over for touch ups) but I didn't bother to paint the back or one side because there really are no other placement options in this room so it won't be moved around.  They suggest waiting 72 hours to ensure it's completely dry before sitting on it (which I'll take to heart), but it's pretty much dry to the touch the next day.

I have to say, I'm quite impressed thus far with how it's turned out.  It sure makes the love seat more appealing to my eye.  Doesn't seem as dated in my opinion, looks more modern (this picture honestly doesn't do it the proper justice, I swear).  They have a vast array of colours to choose from and I'm pretty sure this won't be the only project I do using Simply Spray. 

**I haven't even been asked by them to do a trial and endorsement, I swear.  I had to buy all 6 cans of paint that I used.  If they ever read this, they should totally send me some coupons or free paint so I can do another project with their product and sing their praises.**

The only downside I found to this product is that it isn't widely available in Canada.  The only distributor that shows up on their site for our great nation is in Quebec and it's kind of costly to have it shipped.  Overall though, it was easy to clean up and easy to use.  And I'm loving that I now have an option of changing up furniture without the cost of re-upholstering.  Technology really is great! 

Placemat Pillows

So I was at Walmart the other day and I spotted these "Autumn" themed place mats for $3 each.  I scooped them up with the intention to re-furbish them into a completely different household item.  Holding plates just isn't in their future with this girl.

I decided to turn these cool, but maybe not the most practical placemats into throw cushions.  Then I quickly came to the realization maybe they weren't meant for my house but maybe they were meant for Eric's parents new rec room.  Who knows...but that's who they are intended for (a slightly tardy part of Jill's birthday present). 

First I pulled the seam out at the bottom of the pillow (with my handy-dandy new seam ripper outie thingy, thanks mom!) then I took some stuffing from an old pillow I had laying around and I crammed it all up in that leaf, getting it all nice and tight in the little tips and everything.  Once I had it filled to my liking and smoothed out, I hand stitched the opening and VOILA!  Placemat pillows!  And then I repeated the entire procedure again so she'd have two, uh, uh, uh, uh....two pillows (insert lighting bolts here)!  Make sure you read that last sentance as if the Count from Sesame Street  was saying it.  Go on do, don't be a square.  Be a leaf!   

Practical Garbage

Oh a crafting she will go.  She being me.  I went a crafting.  Not too much of a surprise there. 

So last week at work, we did a good deed for one of our competing funeral homes.  And as a thank you they sent us the most AMAZING fruit basket I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot!  By far, hands down, the best one to date.  I still can't get over how much food was stuffed in the apple basket.  Like for reals.  Here it is all spread out for us to longingly look at.  Can you believe it all fit inside that basket? 

Just a quick side note:  This whole fruit basket thing brings to mind Dimetri Martin - "I like fruit baskets because it gives you the ability to mail someone a piece of fruit without appearing insane.  Like, if someone just mailed you an apple you'd be like, "Huh? What the hell is this?".  But if it's a fruit basket you're like, "This is nice!".

Anywho's lets get back to the task at hand (I know it's really hard to tear your eyes away from that deliciousness spread out before you) shall we?  I took that apple basket and I decided it would be upcycled to lead a new life as a garbage container for my den.  If I don't provide a receptacle for the trash my kids are likely to just shove it down the cushions.  Have I mentioned how practical my kids are? 

Here's the before (pretty lame, except that it once housed all that food up there ^^). 

And here's the after using the leftover paint from the walls.  I painted the main body white and the trim navy.  Now we're all matchy-matchy.  Might be too much, but it's not always about looks, sometimes it's just about the personality practicality.  

Functional and Free!  Eric's right Double F's are pretty spectacular and sadly not experienced enough.