Announcements and teasers…

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Roeshel

We have some exciting news from the DIY Club inc.!

I know you recognize both of these companies and we are so excited to be connected with both!

A couple of months ago Gorilla Glue showed an interest in featuring the DIY Club inc in their booth at the Country Living Magazine FAIR. We couldn’t say “YES!” fast enough! What an honor! If you have received your Country Living Magazine this month, you may have noticed the articles (check out page 27)!

The events are September 24, 25, 26 in Columbus, Ohio (Ohio Village) and October 22, 23, 24 in Atlanta, Georgia (Stone Mountain Park). I plan to attend the Country Living Fair in Ohio – if you’re thinking of attending, let me know! Sue Whitney of Junk Market Style will be in the booth at the Ohio location. Wouldn’t it be cool for us to meet her together? Fun time – let’s go!

We are also excited to be working on the Gorilla Glue party event in September, in addition to the regular monthly DIY party event that starts this Thursday night. If you’re not familiar with the monthly DIY Club party, you’ll want to check it out. You could already have a DIY project that qualifies for the contest and enter to win the huge monthly prize! We will also be unveiling a big secret over at the DIY Club this week…so stay tuned!

And if that isn’t enough excitement for you…be sure to stop back here Thursday when I have another announcement you won’t want to miss!

Toddler to Big Boy Room full of DIY details!

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Roeshel

I‘ve been blessed with girls so when it comes to decorating or anything related to boys, I’m clueless but that doesn’t stop me from loving a great boy’s room before and after makeover. I love this one from Hi Sugarplum! Especially when it involves creative ideas, repurposing and DIY. Here are some of her photos but be sure to head over to check out the full reveal and all of the details here.

It seems like only yesterday I was decorating my son’s nursery, but now he’s 9 and it was time to kiss the ‘sweetness’ good-bye. So while he was visiting his grandparents for two weeks, we surprised him with a room makeover suitable for a big guy. And the best part is, by using items from our house, updating his existing stuff, and shopping smart….the total bill for the room came to under $300!

Before:

Pale lime walls, puppy dog patchwork bedding, pictures he made as a toddler, Crystal Light carpet stains

And the awesome afters:

The bed was spray painted high-gloss white. The small Ikea sisal rug was borrowed from the laundry room and adds some warmer tones as well as texture. The over sized wall clock is from Marshalls.

Love the stripes!

DIY – cover a corkboard with burlap to add texture.

DIY – soup can pencils holders

Organized study area…

Gallery wall with room to grow and DIY prints from the zoo.

DIY cork map (A project on my list too – just waiting for the map to arrive. Great minds DIY alike!)A

Awesome job, Cassie (proven by his happy reaction at the reveal)! Loved that! Thanks so much for sharing your hard work. You created a fun big boy room – so creative with your budget. Great job!

Decorative Spheres

Posted on August 29, 2010 by Roeshel

One of my favorite inspiration sources has zinc orbs and spheres. My version isn’t an exact replica but for a few dollars, they’re the same idea and I love how they look on our coffee table…

Here is the real version…

Sale price $135-175

and these:

Sale price ranges $71 – 119

The prices are a little steep for me. I’d love to see the day where that is do-able on my budget but we’re not there yet. So, what’s a DIY-thinkin’ girl to do? Yep. Get creative and DIY!

I used a different technique to construct each. One orb is made with drywall mud and the other with decoupage and newspaper. Below are the instructions for making each. (The drywall mud technique was easier.)

Materials for drywall compound orb:
Gorilla Glue
Spray primer (leftover from another project) in “Rust”
Candlestick (thrift shop)
Styrofoam ball (craft store)
Finial (Rockler)
Sanding Bug (Rockler)
Assorted acrylic/metallic paints (Deco Art) I used Slate Gray,
Drywall compound (basement)

Materials for paper mache type orb:

Same as above but I used a larger Styrofoam ball (craft store), decoupage medium, newspaper and a wooden wheel and different finial (both found at Rockler). I also used pins as mentioned below to help with construction.

Tutorial for drywall compound orb:

1. Using my Norton Sanding Bug, I sanded a candlestick to scuff up the smooth surface. Clean.

2. Using the candlestick as a pedestal, I applied drywall mud by “frosting” it with a butter knife. Smooth as much as possible, which is nearly impossible! Let dry (but see step 3 first).

3. Before the plaster dries, poke the finial through the wet drywall mud into the Styrofoam on the top to poke a hole. Remove and clean the finial. I used the Birch Turned Finial on the left. (Rockler). You can also attempt to lightly sand the drywall – just be careful, it might crack!

4. Apply Gorilla Glue to the candlestick and stick on the Styrofoam ball. Let dry. My glue expanded a little but I just cut off the extra with an xacto knife.

5. Squeeze a small amount of Gorilla Glue into the hole in the top and insert the finial and allow to dry.

6. Outside, I sprayed the entire thing with the rust colored primer.

7. Next, I used a mixture
of Deco Art Americana acrylic paints and antiquing medium to come up with a few gray shades and Dazzling Metallics for silver shades. I applied the darkest paint first, allowing some of the rust to show through.

8. Then I took turns applying the lighter shades (and darker if needed) with a brush. I applied the last coats which had more white and silver paints last using a rag to apply and wipe off and let it dry.

It’s finished! (I do plan to apply a matte clear coat though.)

Tutorial for paper-mache type orb:

Using my Norton Sanding Bug, I sanded a candlestick to scuff up the smooth surface. Clean. (Same as step 1 shown above).

I cut out newspaper leaf shapes (a lot of them, more than needed but better to have too many than not enough when fingers are covered in decoupage medium).

Pour the decoupage medium onto a piece of cardboard. Now it gets messy. Using my fingers, I applied the decoupage glue to both side of the newspaper, making a crease in the middle. I don’t have pictures of this step however…both hands were sticky! I applied the sticky newspaper to the Styrofoam ball and kept repeating this until I had the entire ball covered. I used pins along the way to help keep the newspaper in place. When the entire ball was covered in newspaper leaves, I smoothed on more of the decoupage medium. Let dry. (Move pins around as it dries, as needed.)

With regular Gorilla Glue, glue the newspaper covered orb to the candlestick and let dry.

Using Gorilla Glue Wood Glue, stick the wooden finial to a the wooden wheel (Rockler toy wood wheel). Let dry. (Shown on right.)

Using regular Gorilla Glue on the bottom of the wooden wheel, stick to the top of the newspaper-covered Styrofoam ball. Let dry.

Spray the entire orb, pedestal and finial with rust col
ored primer.

Follow the steps 7 and 8 as listed above.

All done!

So, what do you think? Not a perfect copy obviously but it gives a similar unique look for much less!

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thediyshowoff.blogspot.com

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http://diyclubinc.com/

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So…care to share your DIY project? I’d love to see it!

SHOW IT OFF! What did you DIY lately?

If you’d like to link YOUR DIY project post to The DIY Show Off Project Parade:

You must use the button above and link to this post to share the linky love.
Include your name or blog name and project title. Add your permalink (not your blog url, but your DIY project post url). Feel free to link a Past Post, just invite your readers in a current post with a quick note.
Or email your link to thediyshowoff@gmail.com and I will add it for you.
If you notice your link has disappeared - please add the link back to The DIY Show Off to your post today with a quick note to your readers about the party and try again! I love when everyone participates and readers check out everyone’s links, but I think the return favor of linking back is the nice thing to do so everyone plays fair and enjoys all of the projects and links. Also – this blog party is for DIY projects only. Links not related to DIY will be deleted.

DISCLOSURE: As a member of the DIY Club team, some of my materials used for DIY, design, repurposing, creating and completing my projects are provided by sponsors. The ideas, tutorials and opinions are my very own.

Don’t forget – DIY Show Off Fall Festival on Fridays!
Get autumn inspiration or link up your fall related project! AND if you’re entering a project using Gorilla Glue, you’ll want to check this out:

Faux Barnwood Frame

Posted on August 28, 2010 by Roeshel

Loving the look of barnwood, I decided to give a black plastic picture frame a new look.

Materials:
Black frame
Deco Art Weathered Wood Medium
Americana Bittersweet Chocolate acrylic paint
Americana Traditional Burnt Umber acrylic paint
Americana Eggshell acrylic paint

Here is how I did it. It’s super easy!

I chose a black frame so I could see a little of the black in the technique.

After taking off the backing and taking out the glass, I used my Rockler paint pyramids to keep it elevated.

I painted the frame with the darker of the two browns, Burnt Umber, letting some of the black show through a little.

After that dried, I applied a coat of the Weathered Wood Medium.

Once that was dry, I mixed the a little Eggshell with Bittersweet Chocolate. That sounds like a terrible recipe but we’re not eating it! It creates a pretty lighter shade of brown.

I finished it off with a spray of Deft Clear Wood Finish in semi-gloss.

My frame is going on the wall, so I took off the “standing” thing that is used for propping it on a tabletop. The little tiny hanging wire was a huge pain to get on a nail, so I wet the back of the smallest Dischanger and stuck it to the center of the back frame (it overhangs a little) but after drying overnight, it’s strong and so much easier to hang.

I printed out “menu” and the definition/synonyms in MS Word, using a text box and selected a linen background. Here it is all done…perfect for our chalkboard wall and I love the barnwood look which is perfectly our style for this old farmhouse.

What do you think?

Kitchen Table or not?

Posted on August 28, 2010 by Roeshel

While we’re currently doing a mini makeover in the kitchen, I’ve been tossing around the idea of making it ‘eat-in’. We rarely use the dining room to eat. I use it all of the time when I’m working on projects and in fact, I can’t even see the dining room table right now. It’s certainly big enough for my favorite choices of kitchen tables.

So, I set about looking for some eat-in kitchen inspiration. Here is what I came up with:

Phoebe Howard

Phoebe & Jim Howard

What do you think? Do you have an eat-in kitchen? Would you? And after looking at these…I’m thinking my big kitchen all of a sudden looks much smaller! Maybe an island is a better choice. But I still would love an eat-in area in the kitchen or at least a spot to sit and talk to the cook, Mr. DIY, while he’s whipping up a delicious meal.

Burlap leaf garland and easy faux pumpkins

Posted on August 27, 2010 by Roeshel

Inspired by the cooler temps, I got the itch decorate a little fall vignette. I’m not ready for summer to end, but I’m hoping that by seeing this…I’ll accept it.

Here is how I made the garland:

Materials:

Burlap scraps
Jute twine
Gorilla Glue
Deco Art Dazzling Metallics

Cut a desired garland length from the twine, allowing for some scrolling and circles.

Trace a few leaves gathered from the yard onto some burlap scraps.

Cut out. Laying everything out on a piece of cardboard works best for when gluing. It’s the same color as the burlap, so pulling it up after drying doesn’t affect the look on the back.

Using a small dab of Gorilla Glue (it doesn’t take much), glue the burlap leaves to the twine and the circles to hold their shape.

Add weight to the glued areas. I use glass. It didn’t seem to glue to the project.

While it’s drying, I began the next step by painting a border on the leaves around the weights and then touching up the other areas after the glue was dry. I used Decor Art Dazzling Metallics that I had left over from last year. Pretty handy to use the leaf as a palette.

Note: If the glue expands, it’s okay. Just paint over it, it adds color and interest!

I love how it turned out. Getting me in the autumn spirit!

For the pumpkins, I spray painted my faux pumpkins white and let dry.

Then, I used the paint from the leaf borders to “paint” my pins. Just dip and swirl. Let dry.

c="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Ydn4kd0aaEY/THclQgz33pI/AAAAAAAADqA/ugRrlGaCPfg/s320/024.JPG" />

Next, cut a piece of twine and swirl and curl it, pinning along the way. Or create a monogram or other design.

I pulled off the stem and gave my pumpkin a “mop top”. I could get pictures because it involves both hands but here is what I did. Wrap twine around one hand 10-12 times (keeping ends at left or right edge of hand). Pull off, keeping a thick twine circle intact. Pinch in the middle and tie with another piece of twine, knotting in the center. Fluff. It’s a pom pom!

Apply Gorilla Glue (I used the white here in case I used too much).

Find the middle of an end of the twine pom pom, not the middle where the knot is but the underside of that and push down onto the glue. Add weight and let dry.

What do you think?

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thediyshowoff.blogspot.com

~*~

http://diyclubinc.com/

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It’s that time of year again! I loved all of the Fall related DIY projects last year. If you’re looking for inspiration, click HERE to get some ideas and more HERE from last year.

And if you’re an early bird and have a Fall DIY project already done, feel free to link up! I know it’s early. Still August! But I need a little fall cheer to help me welcome the cooler temps. I love fall. It’s the season after that – don’t say it! I’ll stress, start biting my nails and go into hibernation.

The DIY Show Off Fall Festival will start today and run every Friday until the snow flies or it’s time to think about something else. We’ll play it by ear and see how it goes.

Rules:

Create a blog post about an Autumn/Fall project that you’ve done
Add your blog name and project to Mcklinky (example: The DIY Show off – House # Pumpkins)
Type in the permalink address, not your basic blog address. A permalink is the address that links directly to your specific post. (example: http://thediyshowoff.blogspot.com/2009/08/house-number-pumpkins)
You must use The DIY Show Off Fall Festival button and link back to The DIY Show Off Fall Festival post so that everyone gets to join in the fun. Here is the button:
Although a tutorial is helpful, it’s not required. Anything DIY – autumn related is permitted.
Please follow all steps above or your link will be deleted. If you notice that you’re link disappeared, please make the correction according to the rules above and re-link!
Enjoy and be inspired!

Dressing up a Mirror

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Roeshel

The mirror in my daughter’s room is in a great spot (between 2 closets) but it’s so boring! It has tiny plastic holders and it sits low/close to the duct work/register. So…I decided to frame it inside the plastic holders and dress it up. A frameless dressing mirror in a princess room just looks out of place. Now it looks like this:

I love the little message. Who can’t use a little boost in self esteem once in a while? I may even have to get dressed in there. Here’s how I did it.

Using a dry erase marker, I measured and drew a line where I wanted the decorative trim to be placed. I measured that area so I knew where to make the miter cuts.

Then I psyched myself up to use the miter saw which is up there on my list of fears. Right beside spiders and sitting in traffic on a bridge. That scared! But I DID IT! And it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought. Truthfully, I made Mr. DIY do the cuts so I could watch and get brave again. Then, I noticed that the frame was too big. I sort of didn’t want to tell Mr. DIY and I was ready to be a big girl, so I re-measured and stood up to the big mighty miter saw.

Here I am in my cool pink safety glasses…safety first!

Next, I painted the four pieces of trim. Since I’m applying the trim directly to the mirror, I painted near the edge on the back as well (so it would reflect white when glued to the mirror itself).

I love this pretty white from Mythic. It’s the same interior semi-gloss that I used on the trim in my daughter’s room. It’s Mythic Sweet Silence. I didn’t see a disclaimer that it’d bring “sweet silence” from your teenager’s room but it is non-toxic and low VOC.

Once it was dry, I applied the White Gorilla Glue to the mitered edges to form a frame. I don’t have clamps for this purpose so I taped the edges and used paint cans to weight the glued areas. I did this on an unfinished concrete floor so if there were a few places where I used too much glue, I was able to pry it up. I let it dry for a few hours.

Next, I took the frame upstairs and flipped it so the back side was facing up. I added White Gorilla Glue to the back of the entire frame.

With my daughter’s help, we placed the frame onto the mirror (I did erase the dry erase marker lines before this). We held the frame tight against the mirror and taped it to hold until the Gorilla Glue dried.

If some of the glue drips, let it dry. It’s easy to scrape off of the mirror with a razor blade.

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All done. Much better! There isn’t enough room to frame the outside border of the mirror due to closets on both sides and the heat/air conditioning vent below so this was the best way to add some detail.

But…not quite girly enough for my princess. The solution? The easiest way to decorate a mirror – vinyl! This pretty vinyl art from Design Divas is perfect. It comes in so many colors. There are lots of other designs to choose from too!

Just peel of the paper backing.

Using a level, we placed the vinyl decal where we wanted it.

Rub with a credit card.

Peel the wax paper back

and…tada! Now it’s perfect!

thediyshowoff.blogspot.com

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http://diyclubinc.com/

A DIY Pond – Blue Loom

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Roeshel

I got a letter and photos from Kinga and Joe from Blue Loom and I turned green with envy (although I checked my thumb, and it’s still black…no luck with plants darn it!). They put a beautiful serene pond in their backyard. Not only is it gorgeous, they make it look so easy.

I want this in my backyard.

(Excuse me a moment. Attention: HGTV’s Landscapers’ Challenge, if you’re reading, “HELP ROESHEL”!)

Here is their letter:

“- our biggest landscaping project completed in 2007. It was our design and we did it ourselves with a big help from Joe’s dad who came to visit that summer from Europe. We used all natural stones and river rocks. We love to sit outside and enjoy the sound of water. It’s like having a little cottage in our own backyard. Our pond attracts many birds. They love to have a bath on top of the waterfall.“

Here are their pictures:

A hole for the pond…

The liner…

Fill ‘er up and landscape with pretty plants and rocks.

All done…

Their own personal park! The birds seem to enjoy it! Peaceful oasis. The waterfall is so cool! And that water sprout…fun!

Even a Prince Charming…

Bird bath! ” Hey Dilly, Is my backside clean yet?”

I‘d love to hang out back there all.the.time! Know what I’d be dreaming about?

Shrinking!

Beautiful job Kinga & Joe! Hold on tight to summer (it’s not over yet) and enjoy that pond! Thank so much for sharing your hard work! span>

A little DIY project inspires a big change…Part 1

Posted on August 25, 2010 by Roeshel

Thanks to True Value, we’ve added giving our 1980′s kitchen a much needed makeover to our DIY list, or at least up a few notches from where it was (near the bottom). SO exciting! Our dream kitchen knocks out walls/etc. so we haven’t done much in there since moving in three years ago but I’m ready to make a change. Because the dirty-looking-even-when-clean 20 yr old white linoleum floor (duct taped in places by previous owners) and blue laminate countertops are my biggest embarrassment. Our kitchen is functional but it’s butt ugly! We’re still saving for the dream kitchen but in the meantime, a tight budget mini makeover is just what it needs. Our first trip to True Value = “wow! Where do we start?” We came home with a few things to get us started and this

and our plans evolved from there.

Here’s the wall before (new kitchen paint color coming soon)! It’s the skinny wall between the two doorways.

Nothing useful going on there. (you get a peak into the dining room – another mini makeover in progress) There was a Pottery Barn phone hanging on this wall, however we don’t have a phone line to the house any longer and there isn’t one even there behind the phone. Probably the reason it never rang, huh? Purely decorative and now it resides in the basement junk pile awaiting an ebay debut or yard sale. Oh man. More work!

I filled the nail hole and lightly sanded the wall.

Then using a paintbrush and chalkboard paint, I cut in around all of the trim and used a foam roller on the larger middle section.

AH! Hide your eyes! You can see a peek of linoleum that I NEVER show! Dingy white and country blue flowers! Look Away! I line my paint tray with foil. Easy to cover between coats and keeps paint/roller/brush fresh! Paint clean up is one of my least favorite tasks so I keep it to a minimum!

I let it dry for about 5 hours then added another coat and let that dry. It felt a little rough to me so I lightly sanded again and put on a third coat. Then life got busy and crazy so I let the paint cure for a few days.

Love the sanding attachment for my Dremel Multi Max.

Sanding with the Dremel Multi Max makes the job easy and quick! It fits perfectly in my hand too. I love that it’s not awkward. More on that guy in another post.

With the side of a piece of chalk, I rubbed all over the chalkboard area then erased with a chalkboard eraser. I’ve skipped this step in the past and the writing was difficult to completely erase. This works!

Love how it turned out. Perfect place for writing down the day’s events, shopping list or even the menu du jour when Mr. DIY cooks.

It’s little projects like this that get my DIY mojo refueled, spark my creativity and motivate me to want to move forward with the kitchen, tiny budget and all. I love the little chalkboard wall but it looks out of place with it’s surroundings. Every time I walk in there, I feel my big 80s poof growing back! Plans to do something about that! Stay tuned! Oh - I conquered my fear of the miter saw monster so there’s no stopping me now!

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I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as my writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.

Ship Shape Big Boy Room

Posted on August 24, 2010 by Roeshel

I love this blog and her header just makes me smile.

“Home to 3 Duncan Boys and a mom who’s trying to make it hers too!”

Because I imagine with 3 boys, I’d have a hard time making “home” my style…girly. lol But she has an amazing style and I love her DIY projects. The latest ‘love’ is her son’s room, which makes me wish I had a boy, especially during the teenage girl drama stage.

Check out what she did, including the awesome light fixture and clever headboard and all of those darling nautical details! She has an amazing way of stretching the budget and gets a big bang for her buck.

BIG BOY ROOM REVEAL!

The “Big Boy” room is complete (for now)! I can not tell you how much I’ve enjoyed working on this space for my oldest son!

As you know, the inspiration for this room came from Serena and Lily’s Ronan Collection. Of course I didn’t want to copy the space, but there were a few key elements that had to be brought in from the ispiration. Here is my version of the Serena and Lily room!

The shipping palettes were a must in the design of the space! I think that is what made the Serena and Lily room so unique! I got such a kick out of my husbands response when I called him outside to help me unload them from the truck:-)

This light fixture turned out really nice, if I may say so myself! It’s the Melodi pendant light from Ikea. I have a tutorial coming up later this week on how I “hacked it”!

Here is the fixture with the light off (above). I think it ties in nicely with the nautical themed room!

Do you notice the closet?! You can’t have a nautical themed room without stripes! Taking note from the inspiration room again, I knew that I had to bring in the stripes. But, the price tag of the duvet didn’t work with the amount I had to spend on one;-) So with $20 and a little sweat, I think that the look was acheived and you can’t tell this was my first attempt at painting stripes (can you?)!

I haven’t decided if I want the storage cubes to remain in the closet or on this wall below

(I need a chair for that corner!)

By taking the toy storage out of the closet, he can use the closet as a little ‘nook’ to read or to play with his Legos

Seriously, what sailor doesn’t need a place to read “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish”?!

Here are a few close ups

Mrs. Limestones photography is the best!

"" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498409983199603554" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_mwatn6B2JB0/TE5Gv3YS62I/AAAAAAAADHk/p6CEz42Ti4c/s400/crab.jpg" style="display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" />Isn’t this the cutest hermit crab?!

Great room, isn’t it? It’s like waking up to vacation every day!

She has a post listing her sources too.

And I love that she shares her DIY disaster but doesn’t give up. Happens to us all, right?

You’ll have to visit her to see what I mean along the cutest little desk makeover.

And her entire blog full of inspiring DIY projects.

Thanks for sharing your amazing style and genius DIY ideas, Lakeitha!

DIY Project Parade

Posted on August 23, 2010 by Roeshel

How was your weekend? Productive? Definitely here…so productive in fact that I’m ready for Monday to be Saturday so I can have a weekend! Anyone reading have magical powers to make that happen? No? Doesn’t hurt to ask or dream. But here is one of the things I checked off my DIY To-Do list this weekend:

My Decorative Plate Wall…

I put up some decorative plates although I’ll be taking them back down to re-paint the dining room walls (dining room makeover in the works!) but sometimes I can’t wait to see how something looks…do you get that way? We’ll call it eager. Not impatient.

The plates I made are strictly decorative. I printed my images onto Avery 8 1/2 x 11 inch clear mailing labels.

I found a bowl that was the right shape of the flat part of the plate. I traced the image on the clear mailing label (centering around the image) and cut it out.

Peel off the paper backing and place onto the center of the plate.

Easy, right?

Rub out the bubbles.

If there is a stubborn bubble, use an xacto knife to make a small slit and rub again…bubble gone!

I‘m sure by now you’ve heard of dischangers to hang plates. They make it so easy. I love that you can’t see a brassy plate hanger. They’re reasonably priced and easy to use too!

Using a finger, wet the back to activate the glue. Place on the back of the plate (if you have a design on the front, make sure that it’s place appropriately). Let dry over night.

To hang my plates, I laid out a pattern that I liked on the back of a sheet of wrapping paper. I traced them and labeled them so I’d know where each plate goes (to use as a guide after the nails are in the wall).

My wall is plaster. I used a pen to mark onto the wall through the wrapping paper where the nail would go. Then I mark a dot on a piece of tape and line it up with the hole on the wall then hammer into the tape. Using tape with a very sharp tiny black nail (I think it’s actually an upholstery tack), ensures that chunks of my plaster wall don’t crumble. Remove the tape once the nail is in place.

And finally – my wall of plates!

Tip: If you note that your dischanger is crooked with the design on the front of your plate, use a small piece of poster-tacky-stuff on the back to straighten it on the wall. I may be speaking from experience. I’m sure you noted that with my technical term “poster-tacky-stuff”…maybe.

What do you think? I love this look. Is it original? Nope. But it IS original to my friends and family and that’s who sees it.

As I mentioned, my plates are purely decorative and this would work for plates that can’t be heated and only dusted with a dry cloth but Jenn from Rook No. 17 discovered an amazing product for using transfer images on ceramic dishes. Check out her post here. Speaking of Jenn, random.org chose this as the winner of the Gorilla Glue Giveaway:

Jenn Erickson, August 18, 2010 12:53 PM 48: I follow the DIY Club

Congratulations Jenn! It’s your lucky day!

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So…care to share your DIY project? I’d love to see it!

SHOW IT OFF! What did you DIY lately?

If you’d like to link YOUR DIY project post to The DIY Show Off Project Parade:

You must use the button above and link to this post to share the linky love.
Include your name or blog name and project title. Add your permalink (not your blog url, but your DIY project post url). Feel free to link a Past Post, just invite your readers in a current post with a quick note.
Or email your link to thediyshowoff@gmail.com and I will add it for you.
If you notice your link has disappeared - please add the link back to The DIY Show Off to your post today with a quick note to your readers about the party and try again! I love when everyone participates and readers check out everyone’s links, but I think the return favor of linking back is the nice thing to do so everyone plays fair and enjoys all of the projects and links. Also – this blog party is for DIY projects only. Links not related to DIY will be deleted.

Misc. DIY Projects

Posted on August 20, 2010 by Roeshel

Woo hoo! Friday! Friday! Friday dance! Friday is the perfect day to share some creative ideas to inspire weekend projects because there is a DIY linky party on Monday as usual and you’re invited! I want to see you there! Any DIY projects planned? How about a thrift shop or estate sale adventure? Yessssss! That’s my plan. Along with ignoring my fear of the power tool monster. Time to get over that. I’m a big girl. Time to see the wizard for some courage because I can’t take NOT attacking some projects full force.

I went through some of the amazing DIY projects sitting in my inbox. It’s like a treasure chest of creative ideas in there but I really need a week to organize that area. Maybe a future tutorial which would probably only benefit me but if your inbox looks like mine, you understand.

Here are some fabulous ideas and transformations from the deep dark recesses of my inbox (sorry my friends, I haven’t forgotten you!). I hang my head in shame for some of these. I meant to share them with you a lot (A.LOT) sooner but again, the inbox disaster.

Junkin Junky‘s kitchen is so cute! She has so many other great projects too. Check it out!

Beautiful window seat from TellerAllAboutIt!

http://tellerallaboutit.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/weve-been-benched-chapter-1/

The tale of how we dismantled and demoed our window seat!

http://tellerallaboutit.wordpress.com/2010/02/09/weve-been-benched-chapter-2/

The tale of planning how to clean up the mess!

http://tellerallaboutit.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/weve-been-benched-chapter-3/

The tale of how we created the door!

http://tellerallaboutit.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/weve-been-benched-chapter-4/

…and lastly, the tale of how we finished it all off!

A princess reading nook at That’s Beeutiful:

Dress up a window pane. I love this idea from Pressed Petals!

Sweet nursery details at Girl In Air:

Kitchen Cabinet Redo from Shay:

To this…

Beadboard (natural) Home Depot = $60

Paint Behr sage with an umber glaze for texture effect – $50

Knobs & pulls – EBAY – the entire set (19 knobs, 10 pulls) $60

Awesome DIY wall art from samples and dollar store canvas at AKA Design:

Leather by Heather at Decor4Poor (lots of great projects):
This window….

and this leather jacket….

make a unique window cornice:

Fab furniture makeover at House of Thrifty Decor:

Dresser Before:

Ahhh…beautiful! Dresser After:

Love love love this table transformation too from Crafty in the Concrete Jungle!

Before:

Lovely After:

This china cabinet at Living on a Dime:

Became this pretty entertainment center!

So jealous of this closet makeover from Janet at Cul-de-sac Chic!

Awesome cork wreath at Garden Patch!

Fun weekend project! Homemade play-dough at Spearmint Baby! Who says you need kids?

Spiff up a door like Cassie at Hi Sugarplum!

Amazing foyer redo and gorgeous coat rack at Dignified Rubbish Blog:

A creative ‘spin’ on family portrait art from Brandy:

A simple and pretty weekend project from Scrapbook of My World …

She shares a great way to display them too (here) as well as hugs from Romania! Thanks, Mona!

Pretty tile necklace tutorial at Adventures in Creating:

Great tutorial at Pretty DIY Crafts – the name says it all. I love this doily clock!

Inspiration for me! A mini kitchen redo from Robin. Drool!

Beautiful front door makeover at the Rodden Family:

I love to sew. Isn’t this a brilliant idea and so cute! Towel kimono tutorial at The project Corner:

More sewing. SEW pretty! Dishcloth to Apron at My French Country Home:

One more sewing project! A precious triple ruffle pillow case dress! Darling! Tutorial by the Crafty Clique.

Before and after built-in cabinet painting at Impatiently Praying for Patience:

Dark before:

Fresh, bright, pretty after:

Tutorials for super cute handmade anime and video game dolls from Nikki:

Vivi from Final Fantasy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BHqtLV2ujo
Ico Sackboy video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnwZMKqpBwk
Ed Elric Sackboy video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaY__YLDoRQ&feature=related

300 Sackboy video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cLER-QD2uM
Sackboy Tutorial video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc4OEbajGvA
Totoro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDoO0HhBZxg
L Sackboy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5UKFqDL63Y

Make beautiful table cloth + drop cloth curtains (so creative!) like Burlap and Blue:

Easy silhouette art at La-T-Da….

Just a little DIY overload to get you through the weekend. If you still don’t have the DIy-bug, then hope to see you at Monday’s DIY Project Parade where you’ll see more amazing projects and if you’re working on something crafty or DIY … hope to see your link Monday too!

Don’t forget to enter the Gorilla Glue Giveaway!

All you have to do is be a follower and comment!

If you love to DIY – I know you’ll LOVE this prize pack!

More details HERE as well as info on an upcoming DIY Club Inc. party!

Decorating Obsessed – Man Cave

Posted on August 19, 2010 by Roeshel

Ashley from Decorating Obsessed is so DIY skilled.

They did an awesome job on their “man cave” but it’s so cool, I’d call it a co-ed cave. After all – girls get thirsty too!

Look at this bar her husband made. All DIY. I love the molding detail on the front, don’t you? Gorgeous!

Before:
After:

They gave the old wet bar a new look to match:

The wet bar project is almost done

Remember the ugly wet bar we had in the basement?

Well, it definitely got a facelift.

The most important task was replacing that dated green countertop with the matching countertop we got for the bar.

Unfortunately, pre-made countertops are one of the few things hardware stores will not cut (because of possible splintering), so this was a project Brent got to freehand. Yes, freehand.

So, he set up a cutting station using my other Craigslist dresser and a trash can, and went to work:

Brent did 3 practice cuts on the extra material before starting on the cut. To help prevent splintering, he placed masking tape down the center of the cut.

Before:

After:
I think it turned out great. And the best part? We only spent $60 on this update – and that was for the countertop. The mirror is one I bought on clearance at TJ Maxx 4 years ago, and could never find a home for, and I already had the black paint.

We still have to get a mini fridge for underneath, since the former one was sacrificed for the kegorator. We have some Best Buy gift cards left over from the holidays, so hopefully we’ll find something we like there.

Now, my absolute favorite part? Take a look for yourself.

(That’s ALOT of wine, Ashley…had I known, I’d have pitched in on that DIY step!)

My wine cork dresser

Remember this guy I scored on Craigslist for $20 several weeks ago?

Well, it found a new home behind the bar as a buffet.

I’m not positive for many wine corks I used, but I would say it’s in the 800+ range.

At first I started out using a hot glue gun, but I was having issues with all of the corks properly sticking – so at Brent’s suggestion I switched to liquid nails and those suckers aren’t going anywhere now. Once the glue was done, I did 2 coats of poly over everything.

Fantastic!

Super job Ashely & Brent!

Don’t forget to enter the Gorilla Glue Giveaway!

All you have to do is be a follower and comment!

If you love to DIY – I know you’ll LOVE this prize pack!

More details HERE as well as info on an upcoming DIY Club Inc. party!

A Multi-tasking, DIY'ing Super Grandma

Posted on August 18, 2010 by Roeshel

As usual, I’m so impressed with your DIY projects. Sometimes I wonder if YOU all should be writing my blog. I received this note in my inbox. It made me smile. It made my day. Notes like this get me every time.

I just love your blog and it inspires me. I have done several posts of things I have done and I would like to share. Please take a look at my blog and see if there is anything you like. Thanks, Janis

Of course I clicked the link and

HOLY COW! DIY heaven!

So, what did I do? I did what any curious DIY’er would do. I took a gander at her blog , went through the whole she-bang (back to the beginning of ’09 anyway) and I’m showing off a few of my favorite projects for “Grams”. Click the links for more details. Oh – and her writing will make you “lol”. I loved reading about her family and adorable grandchildren.

Master bathroom makeover:

Cabinet Rescue

Before:

Beautiful After:

Buffet to Vanity

Before:

Amazing After:

Shed gets a paint job – so cute!

How fun is this swing? Brings back childhood memories although the one I rode was just a plain ole’ tire.

And speaking of tires, check out these tire planters!

She’s also SEW talented!

And I love her red and white kitchen:

Spoon Bracelets!

She makes these awesome gifts and more too!

Well? What do you think? Pretty amazing stuff, huh?

Thanks for sharing your creativity and stories, Janis!

Don’t forget to enter the Gorilla Glue Giveaway!

All you have to do is be a follower and comment!

If you love to DIY – I know you’ll LOVE this prize pack!

More details HERE as well as info on an upcoming DIY Club Inc. party!

Vintage Revival

Posted on August 17, 2010 by Roeshel

When talented DIY’er Mandy at Vintage Revivals gave me the green light to show off anything I wanted at her site…I spent so much time going through her entire blog full of creative DIY projects. LOVE! She has a fun “Look What I Found” party on Fridays too and I haven’t shared my yard sale and thrift store finds in a long time. Woo hoo! Another reason to party!

Here are a few of my favorite posts but click above to check out more!

Isn’t this chandelier awesome? I love knock-off projects!

Pottery Barn Chandy Knock Off

Remember this {post}? If not I will refresh your memory.

It all started with this:

A beautiful chandy from PB that was $300.00. I love it, dont you?

So I was on the hunt and found this:

I really liked how it was more curvy than the one from PB and I REALLY REALLY liked that she was only $20.00.

So I loaded up on a MASSIVE amount of supplies (tacky glue and Jute) and started doing this:

I started at the bottom of the chandelier. I put some glue down and wrapped up to where the arms started to come out. Because I wanted it to look clean I cut 5 pieces of jute (about 3 inches each) and glued them with their ends poking out against the arm (see picture) and then I just tied a small piece around it to hold them in place.

Then I started wrapping the base of the arms. I started in the middle right below the arm and wrapped down to the bottom:

Then I used the same technique that I did on the main part of the chandy. I cut 5 pieces and wrapped them all the way around so that each end was by the arm and tied it to hold it in place.

Once that was done I started wrapping the actual arm. Make sure that all of the wonky end pieces are tucked in when you start wrapping. Wrap all the way to the other end and make sure that all of those pieces are tucked in too.

This is what it will look like

Do that for each arm. Next you are going to wrap the top part of the lights. Put your glue on like this:

and start wrapping like Jay-Z. Ha ha ha I had to get a joke in there somewhere!

Go all the way to the end and then flip it over and carefully wrap the upper lip

Finish wrapping the whole body and your done!

INSTALLATION:

The chain and electrical cord were way to short on the chandy that I bought because the people who build our house are dumb, so we had to change them out. Court cut the wires and stripped them

Then he spliced them together and put a new chain on. Obviously you need to weave the wires and the chain blah blah blah. Put your ceiling plate on. And your installation hardware.

Screw them to the ceiling and connect them to the house wires. You should prob have an electrition do it unless your husband is as manly as mine and likes to do everything himself.

Screw on your ceiling plate and if nesscary attach a hook to center it on your table.

Your chandy should hang about 30 inches above your table top.

Then stand back and make sure that nothing catches on fire! And admire your handiness and the fact that you saved $270.00.

Total Cost Of This Treasure:

Chandelier $20.00

Cord, Chain, Ceiling Hook: $19.00

Jute: $1.89ish

Grand Total: $40.89

Pretty Sweet!

~*~*~*~

And one of my favorite decorating materials is tree branches.

Check out this creative art project!

Bringing The Outdoors In…On Your Wall

I have yet to post a complete picture of my living room. I thought that I would post about the individual projects first and then do a post about everything collectively. So you’ve seen my yellow {end table} and my black and grey {wall} and my {chair}. My inspiration for this room are these beautiful trees.

I
love Quakies. They remind my of my childhood at our cabin. So this is what I based my colors on, Yellow, Black, White and Grey.

The wall behind my couch is ginorm. I have 12 ft ceilings and I have had the hardest time finding some kind of artwork that is cheap and huge. (Not a very friendly combo). In june I was at our family reunion in Cedar City, UT. My uncle lives in the middle of nowhere out there and every time we would drive past his house I would see these trees, so on our way home the last day I stopped on the side of the road and gathered some cut branches. I had no idea yet what I was going to do with them but I knew it would be cheap and cool. This is what I came up with…

I got 2 pieces of 4×4 subflooring wood from Homie Depots and had them cut each in half.

Cost: $6.00 a Piece ($12.00) but I only used 3 so I guess $9.00.

Then I mixed grey oops paint with water. After doing one board I hated it. It was to grey. So I added a bunch more water and some black tole paint swirled in to give it a little bit of dimension. I started out with a brush but gave up and used a sponge and covered each piece of wood.

Then I took one of my favorite products in the world Ralph Lauren Faux Glaze in Black Silk and brushed it on just the outer parts.

Then I rubbed rubbed rubbed. I did this twice to get the color level that I wanted.

This is what they looked like in the morning after they dried.

I took my Quakie branches and tried to Gorilla Epoxy them on. It didn’t work so I just ended up using finishing nails. That’s also how I mounted it to my wall.

See how much dimension they have? LOVE it!

I love how they are so organic looking.

Total Cost Of This Treasure:

Wood:$9.00

Everything else I had on hand

I just love being cheap!

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Click the links below for more details on these awesome ideas:

Great Wall of Mirrors

End Table Redo

Chair Makeover

.blogspot.com/_schtd5RphwI/TE7_SX_jcRI/AAAAAAAABbs/FHS2ZNakBbg/s1600/photo%289%29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">

Are you in love too? Thanks so much for sharing your DIY amazing-ness, Mandy!

YOU DEFINITELY WANT TO VISIT VINTAGE REVIVALS TODAY FOR A CHANCE TO WIN an Anthropologie knock-off mirror!

Isn’t that it gorgeous? If I can’t win it, I’m definitely making one.

Please mention that you heard about it via

The DIY Show Off!

——————-

And!

Don’t forget to enter the Gorilla Glue Giveaway!

All you have to do is be a follower and comment!

If you love to DIY – I know you’ll LOVE this prize pack!

More details HERE as well as info on an upcoming DIY Club Inc. party!

Announcements and a Gorilla Glue Giveaway!

Posted on August 16, 2010 by Roeshel

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!
The DIY Club inc will be hosting an EXTRA party next month.

Today we are announcing our

September Party Event

and

A Gorilla Glue Give-a-way THIS WEEK,

on each of the 6 DIY Gal’s blogs. (This one included!)

Perfect timing for an upcoming party and you’re invited!
Easy to enter to win Gorilla Glue. Think of it as getting your party dress early for the party in September!

**********
Announcing:

The Gorilla Glue PARTY

will be open

Sept 9th through Sept 30th

Our theme is:

Something OLD

Something NEW

Grab the CREW (Get the family involved!)

And the GORILLA GLUE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Repurpose something OLD or create something NEW, Grab your CREW, just be sure to use Gorilla Glue in your project.

You have plenty of time, to plan what you will enter.

22 days to enter–why TWENTY TWO? Because it rhymes with NEW, CREW and Gorilla GLUE

We can’t wait to see your projects.

If you have entered a Gorilla Glue project into one of our monthly contests, you CAN re-enter it into this special event.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RIGHT NOW – You have 18 chances to win a gift box of Gorilla Glue!

DIY Project Parade

Posted on August 16, 2010 by Roeshel

What a week! I have a number of different projects going at once! I am loving it! But dreaming of days off and sleeping in, being served breakfast in bed inspired this DIY project.

Materials:
Old cabinet door
Wood filler
Sandpaper
Paint and Primer (Dutch Boy – Color: Lake Champlain)
Milk Paint (Antique White)
Deco Art (Pearl White)
Cutting Edge Stencil (that I used on my daughter’s walls)
(2) Cabinet pulls
Deft Clear Gloss Wood Finish
Adhesive Felt

Tools: Foam brushes, Sanding Bug, Drill, Scissors

Here is the cabinet door (before) from any ugly vanity we removed from our powder room. I removed the brass pull and hinges then gave it a bath.

I grabbed the first screwdriver I could find. We have more screwdrivers than pens. Seriously, we can never find a pen but screwdrivers sure are handy. I need a screwdriver with ink. Looks like this one is used to open paint cans.

I sanded both sides and wiped it down. Isn’t this sanding bug so cute? Works great on a small project like this too! Since it’s not real wood, sanding took some of the faux wood paper off, but I just kept sanding until it was as smooth as I could get it. One of the things I love most about DIY is the amazing transformation and the little imperfections that make it one of a kind.

Then I remembered that I needed to fill the holes. So, I did and sanded again once the wood filler was dry.

These Painter’s Pyramids sold at Rockler were really helpful and allowed me to paint on newspaper in the dining room. They kept the door up off of the newspaper and table. It’s been so hot and muggy outside so this allowed me to pain in the comfort of a cushioned seat and a/c. So handy!

And I wiped it down again before painting. I used foam brush and Dutch Boy Paint/Primer all in one. It took 2 coats. I’m a paint snob and I was very impressed with this paint! Zero VOC and eliminates household odors (isn’t that cool?). LOVE the color too (Lake Champlain) so you’ll be seeing this in future projects!

I like the easy to open plastic lid (although it takes some muscle to get it open the first time – insert Mr. DIY’s help at this point). The easy pour spout was cool too!

Once the 2nd coat was dry, it needed something in the center. I taped down my Damask Cutting Edge Stencil. The entire stencil was too large, but I only used the portion of the stencil that fit my area.

Using a small amount of Milk Paint on my foam brush (I kept wiping it off on a piece of cardboard), I dabbed the areas of the stencil. This was the first time I have used Milk Paint. I love t
hick paint and was like pudding. It looks good enough to eat or maybe that’s because of milk in the name and pudding’s main ingredient? Milk! I DO NOT advise eating your milk paint though.

Once that dried, I wanted to give it a little glam so using another foam brush, I added Deco Art Dazzling Metallics Pearl White to the stenciled area.

Then it was a few days before I got back to it but when I did, I sanded the edges a bit to distress it.

Spray both sides and edges with the Clear Semi-Gloss Finish to help protect the wood/paint.What a beautiful finish!

Next mark the areas that need drilled for the handles. Drill the holes for the handle in the middle of the left and right edges. Attach the handles. Or have a handyman do it for you because you’re cleaning up all of the DIY materials and supplies before guests arrive for a party you’re having in a few hours. Of course, that’s my experience. My day was chores/DIY and hosting a party but I’m crazy like that and love when I can squeeze DIY into my schedule.

After the handles were attached, I traced circles onto a piece of adhesive felt, cut them out and attached to the bottom side (1 in each corner) to prevent scratching surfaces.

Ta da! All done. A junk door becomes a pretty tray!

I‘m donating my Trash to Treasure Tray to the 7th Annual Trash to Treasure Charity Auction in St. Cha
rles, MN, The auction, hosted each year by the Pfarkel Sisters of Junk {Re}defined (in photo above), donates all net proceeds from the auction to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. If you have a project that you’d like to donate – there’s still time (although very little!) Click the button below for more details!

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It’s also time to vote on your favorite DIY project over at the DIY Club!

My tray above used at least one of the DIY Club sponsors and it would qualify for September’s DIY Club Contest. How about yours? If so, it’s so easy to enter and the prizes are awesome!

Click HERE to vote and get the details!

~*~*~

Now, my favorite time of the week!

SHOW IT OFF! What did you DIY lately?

If you’d like to link YOUR DIY project post to The DIY Show Off Project Parade:

You must use the button above and link to this post to share the linky love.
Include your name or blog name and project title. Add your permalink (not your blog url, but your DIY project post url). Feel free to link a Past Post, just invite your readers in a current post with a quick note.
Or email your link to thediyshowoff@gmail.com and I will add it for you.
If you notice your link has disappeared - pleaseadd the link back to The DIY Show Off to your post today with a quick note to your readers about the party and try again! I love when everyone participates and readers check out everyone’s links, but I think the return favor of linking back is the nice thing to do so everyone plays fair and enjoys all of the projects and links. Also – this blog party is for DIY projects only. Links not related to DIY will be deleted.

Kitchen Makeover at Adventures in Creating

Posted on August 13, 2010 by Roeshel

While I’m trying to get Mr. DIY on board for doing a temp fix up in our ugly kitchen until the day we have enough money in the budget for our ‘dream’ kitchen, I thought I’d share this beautiful kitchen makeover from Rachelle (isn’t that a great name? lol!) at Adventures in Creating. Here is her post:

Blast From The Past: Kitchen Redo

I started this blog only a few months ago, but there I’ve done other DIY projects in the past. One of the biggest was our kitchen. We live in a cute little 1930′s cottage in San Antonio. We love the house’s vintage charm but the kitchen was hard to deal with. It looked ok but wasn’t very functional.

This was the only counter in the whole kitchen. It was only 1′-4″ deep, your counters are probably 2′. We only had 4′ of actually counter space, and very little storage. I did make that colander light above the sink, I was sorry to see it go but it had to in the name of function! That door you see in the background lead to our bedroom. Good for the occasional midnight snack but not good when you smell garlic all night long in your bed. And there was no dishwasher by the way…

This is the other side of the kitchen. There was no counter space for me to put pots or ingredients when I cooked on the stove. So I would have to walk back and forth to the counter constantly. And the microwave was mounted really high up. Seriously? How did people in the 1930′s do it? They cooked all the time and didn’t go out to eat like we do. I love to cook but it was tough in this kitchen. So after about a year of this we decided to take the plunge and renovate.

The first thing we was close up the door to the bedroom and center the stove on that wall instead. The plan was to create a U-Shaped configuration of cabinets to make the kitchen more functional.

We created a “cubby” hole for the fridge to slide into, this way it wouldn’t take up as much space in the actual kitchen.

We tore out the cabinets and this is what was behind them! Wow! Yes our walls are made of wood. It makes hanging stuff easy because you never need to find a stud but difficult as well because the wood is so hard! (Petrified from years of San Antonio heat I guess.) We had an electrician come and rewire everything. It was also interested washing all our dishes in the bathroom sink.

Cabinets going in! We found these at the ReStore (after many weeks of searching).

Things are coming together! During this time we ate a lot of food that I had cooked beforehand and frozen, this way I wouldn’t have to worry about cooking and we didn’t need to eat out all the time.

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Counter tops and sink! And a dishwasher! I didn’t realize how much I would miss having a dishwasher until I didn’t have one for a year.

We got an awesome deal on the glass tile for the backsplash, it wa leftovers returned from another job. Since our kitchen is small we didn’t need that much. We installed it ourselves to save even more money. I was pregnant at the time so I think this would have been an easier task if I didn’t have a big belly in the way while leaning over the counter. Oh ya P.S.- this might be common knowledge for most people but I didn’t know. Wipe off your grout in sections, don’t wait until you have half the wall done. It will be almost dry and almost impossible to get off! My pain your gain!

Check out our faucet! It’s one of those single handle ones!

We kept the original floor, it was in decent shape and by keeping it we saved a lot of money.

We installed the microwave ourselves as well. It was a chore, of course we had no idea what we were doing so maybe that’s why.

The fact that our kitchen is small also helped keep costs down!

So- we went from a practically unuseable kitchen to one that is totally functional and fabulous! I hope you enjoyed reliving our kitchen reno with me.

Gorgeous, huh? I’m so amazed by all of the DIY talent in the blogging community. Thank you for sharing your hard work, Rachelle! I’m inspired.

Visit Rachelle to see more of her amazing DIY projects!

Have you remodeled your kitchen? How was it living with chaos or being unable to cook during the process? Mr. DIY is my own personal iron chef so he’s a little hesitant for me to start tearing things apart but really – it’s such an eyesore in this old farmhouse and looking at ugly linoleum and blue counter tops and orangy-oak cabinets is depressing. Any advice?

Jones Design Company

Posted on August 12, 2010 by Roeshel

Emily from Jones Design Company is a sort of new blogger and you’re going to get your DIY/decor fix when you meet her. Her entire home is gorgeous and I’m so honored to share a peek with you but then you have to head over to her blog to check out more of her DIY and decorating talent. Be prepared for lots of pictures, i.e. eye candy but I just couldn’t pare things down.

Here is her daughter’s nursery. Love the soothing muted color scheme. It’s so pretty and so comforting. And the vintage details make me want to live in this room.

My heart is happy every time I walk past Audrey’s nursery. The colors, the patterns, the fact that it is the girliest place in our house. At first, when Ryan saw the color I was asking him to paint, he questioned me. Why blue? It was my one chance to go pink, and I chose blue. I guess I’m just not as crazy about pink as I am blue. I’ve realized as I’ve spent time in her room, that if I could decorate my home any way I wished {without considering the four males that reside with me} it would look very much like our sweet Audrey’s room.

So let me welcome you to the nursery {beware, there are many photos!}

First, the before.

This was previously a boy’s nursery {go figure} and I loved the stripes. I originally wanted to use our guest room as the new nursery and us this room as the guest room so that I wouldn’t have to paint over the stripes, but that didn’t happen. So goodbye stripes.

And here it is now:

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We’re still missing a few key elements {a chandelier – I just haven’t found the right one; a large sheepskin rug; a canvas painted with her scripture verse on it; a few more pillows}, but it is as good as it will get for today. The rest will happen over time. I’m learning to be okay with that …

Some of my favorite things:

:: the wallpaper {actually flat sheets of gift wrap that I have adored for a long time}

:: the ruffles on the curtains

:: the old gold frames {from my grandparents’ collection. They passed before I really knew them, but I think we would have gotten along beautifully. Both were actors and artists – my grandfather did set designs for theater, my grandma taught acting classes to Judy Garland. My mom mentions often that I would have loved her home growing up – glamorous and eclectic at the same time.}

:: the vintage little dresses {I bought one before I was even married and the other was my mom’s}

:: the pink ruffle pillow {I was not planning on putting pink into the room, but I found the pillow and then my mom gave me the crown artwork and it just came together.}

"text-align: center;">I really love all of the room. I was concerned that I had a vision that I wasn’t going to be able to translate into real life, but I think I got it pretty close.

So, I wanted to live in the nursery but then I saw her amazing office transformation. I just love Emily’s style. Pretty, feminine details and the ‘painted wallpaper’ is stunning (tutorial HERE) and my office needs a chalkboard wall.

When you walk in the front of our home, to the right is this room. It started as my office, then we switched it to be Ryan’s office, then a sitting room and now back to my office {can you tell we’re a little fickle about decorating?}

Anyway, here is the room when we first moved into our home.

And, after hours of painting and a little fluffing, here it is now.

I wrote about the start of the project here & about the chalkboard wall here.

The self-induced motivation seemed to do the trick {albeit a few hours late}.

One more then you’ll have to visit her at her blog for more decor magazine worthy living. Her dining room is by far one of
my favorites. I agree with her. Barn door tracks are so cool and we plan on using one for a French door in our dining room that leads to our office but now she has inspired me. We have the perfect spot for a big beautiful window too. I love the glam-country atmosphere in here:

The first room you see when you walk in our front door is the dining room.

While we don’t use it often, it is such a luxury to have when we’re hosting a big party or holiday meal {in fact, my mom got engaged around this table at our Thanksgiving dinner last year!}

We had been wanting to do something to separate the space from the entry and when we saw this window at our favorite salvage shop, we knew it would be perfect {if not totally impractical}.

Ryan hung it from barn door tracks so that we can slide it open if we need to {but mostly just because barn door tracks are cool}.

Fortunately the boys have not paid much attention to the gigantic hanging single-paned window because old window + three rambunctious boys will never equal anything good.

Our massive table {shown here without the leaves} is from Restoration Hardware {bought at the outlet store for a bargain}, the chairs are slipcovered Parsons from Ballard Designs and the seagrass chairs are from IKEA {although I don’t see them on the website so maybe they are discontinued}.

The big dresser {affectionately called ‘the black thing’} in the corner is one of my favorite pieces we have. It swallows our linens, napkins and serving pieces.

The chandelier is also one of my favorite things … crystally, sparkly and old. We took it from our old house and guess it is from the 1950’s {although now that I think about it, we really have no reason to think that. Regardless, it is great}.

The table is all set … I think we need to have a party!

I almost don’t want to share this with you because it lessens my chances but she is having one amazing giveaway!

Thanks Emily for sharing your gorgeous home! I have to tell you that I am so inspired. Your decorating talent is simply beautiful.

Fabulous Furniture Makeovers

Posted on August 11, 2010 by Roeshel

I just snagged a night stand for $1 at a yard sale over the weekend! Can you believe it? You won’t believe it when I show you. I actually already love the color and all I had to do was add a knob. But, the suspense of seeing it is going to kill you (not literally but doesn’t curiosity drive you crazy?) – I can’t show it to you yet. My master bedroom is a disaster. You’ll have to wait. Sorry! BUT to make it up to you, I have LOTS of reader furniture makeovers to share with you!

Check out these beauties! Click the links for more details and to visit these talented DIY blog friends:

Sweet Mint Studios – Trunk Surgery. Old to fresh and pretty.

Before:

After:

Cherished Treasures…

Before:

After: (love that headboard too!)

Saltbox Treasures – great tutorial for upholstering table top!

Before:

After:

Not convinced that white paint makes everything look better?

Red Hen Home –

Desk Before:

After:

Bombay Chest LOVE ~ (great painting tips!)
Our Southern Nest

Before:

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After:

Jennifer and her mom submitted a cabana makeover -

creating comfy lounge daybeds from a couple of army cots:

Before:

After:

Awesome Idea at

Frugal Mom x 3

Coffee Table to Console Table

From Amanda at The New Richardsons: I woke up last Saturday and thought that I’d check out the garage sales in our new neighborhood. I found a treasure! A $2 small shelf that would be a perfect accent piece! It was missing a drawer, but oh well. I knew I could just put a basket in it’s place. I immediately came home and got to work. I had never painted a piece of furniture, but I knew what I wanted the end product to look like. WAH-LAH! Two days later, I had our first DIY project completed! I found the basket at our neighborhood thrift store for $1.99 and with a little white spray paint, it does the job well!

Before:

After:

A dresser grows up at Hi Sugarplum!

Before:

After: Definitely more mature, right?

Creative Decorating on a Budget (my kind of blog!)

Dresser Before:

Stunning After:

And finally, for more helpful furniture makeover tips, visit Brendan at the link below:

http://bren
dancarpenter.com/featuredproject-1.html

~*~*~*~

Last day to enter the

$25 Photo Jewelry Making gift certificate giveaway!

So easy to enter and great gift idea – if you can part with it!

CLICK HERE TO ENTER

Master Bathroom Makeover Magic

Posted on August 10, 2010 by Roeshel

Okay, when your master bathroom has linoleum and a faux oak paper covered pressed board vanity with a broken door, there is nothing like seeing a bathroom makeover to motivate you to start planning your next DIY project!

So, when I saw this bathroom makeover by Karin at The Style Sisters, I could not wait to share it with you!

Remember when I spray painted my guest bathroom faucets (tutorial here)? I am so happy to see that I’m not the only one! And Karin – I did mine back in December and they’re still holding up! So, I agree – it’s definitely worth the hard work!

Here is her post:

Can you Spray Paint Bathroom faucets?…Oh yes you can!

Can you spray paint your bathroom faucets, lights, door handles and shower trim? Yes you can. Will it last?..
it remains to be seen.
So far so good!

We did a lot to this room. We added trim around the mirrors, painted the faucets, door knobs, cabinet knobs and shower trim black and I also made curtains for the shower area as well as the other side of the bathroom over the window.

Do you not love this little chandy!! It is candles so it is safe to put above the tub…well unless the dripping hit you while you are in the tub…but nonetheless it looks cute!

See the before pictures as you move on down…it is dramatic!

We are thrilled with the results!

Let’s take a trip down memory lane…here is the before shot of the shower area with the lovely orange and yellow wallpaper and brass trim around the shower. We used an oil base satin finish black paint for the trim. Here is the after!! We painted over the wallpaper with a delicious robin’s egg blue color and I made this toile valance from fabric that I purchased at
Wal-Mart probably 3 years ago!
It looks amazing made into a valance and then I simply whipped up a basic black curtain to go underneath. I think this just made the room pop!
I even spray painted the yellow tiered wire basket black!

Here is the other vanity on the other side of the bathroom after we painted the walls..but no knobs on the cabinets or drawers, no trim around the mirror and you can still see all the brass faucets and towel rack and the brass lights.What a difference! My amazing hubby added the trim around the mirrors, we spray painted the faucets with a textured black paint (close-ups are shown later) then we bought some silver knobs at Lowes and spray painted them black too. Again during the process..the main vanity……After with the black trim around the mirror, the black knobs, the new lighting painted black and the curtains hung.
We even took the door knobs off of all the doors and sprayed them black too. Here is the bath tub during the process. We could not figure out how to get the bath tub fixtures off so I had to tape all around everything to be able to spray paint them. It was a pain but….

So worth it don’t you think?Okay here is the one mishap…see these lovely brass lights…well we went to Lowes to find something to replace them….we did…the lights were gorgeous and seriously marked down…..Here are the new lights…they were silver so I spray painted them black…they have white bell shaped covers that hang off of where the blue tape is…. I was so excited to get them hung up…they were going to be perfect! Well….

As fate would have it..once we took off the old ones..we discovered that there were 3 separate holes cut in the mirror and the new fixtures (the ones that I had just spray painted ) only have one small base to cover it with! We tried all kinds of different ideas…cutting a piece of wood for a new base, we thought about adding more mirror to cover the holes…after running all over town trying to come up with a simple solution…. we ended up having to buy another new set of simple lights and spray painting them black and my sweet amazing hubby hung them up to cover the holes. (why didn’t we just spray paint the old ones you may be asking? because my hubby chucked them and they were gone) So I gave two sets to my sister for her new bathroom and I still have one that I hope to use somewhere else. Sink faucets before…

Sink faucets after! We took them off and lightly sanded them and then spray painted them with a textured flat black spray paint…I will get the name later. The paint can is in the garage. They look like Iron now and seem to be holding up quite well. I still have to figure out how to get rid of the cracks in the sinks. For anyone thinking of doing this….I would probably use a primer of some sort on the faucets underneath to help the paint adhere even better.
To clean them..I would use a clorox wipe…. nothing that would scratch it.
WE love love love how it all turned out !

Isn’t it pretty? I know how she feels (except I want to use the guest bath instead of the master bath) – every time a room is completed with our own two hands, it’s our favorite room in the house. I could sit in there all day. I love the black fixtures against the white and matching black mirror frame with the white vanity and soothing blue walls! Another DIY success!

DIY Show Off ™ – DIY Decorating and Home Improvement Blog

Budget Friendly Do-It-Yourself Home Improvement and Decorating blog

Monthly Archives: August 2010

Announcements and teasers…

Toddler to Big Boy Room full of DIY details!

Decorative Spheres

Faux Barnwood Frame

Kitchen Table or not?

Burlap leaf garland and easy faux pumpkins

Dressing up a Mirror

A DIY Pond – Blue Loom

A little DIY project inspires a big change…Part 1

Ship Shape Big Boy Room

BIG BOY ROOM REVEAL!

DIY Project Parade

Misc. DIY Projects

Decorating Obsessed – Man Cave

The wet bar project is almost done

My wine cork dresser

A Multi-tasking, DIY'ing Super Grandma

Vintage Revival

Pottery Barn Chandy Knock Off

Bringing The Outdoors In…On Your Wall

Announcements and a Gorilla Glue Giveaway!

DIY Project Parade

Kitchen Makeover at Adventures in Creating

Blast From The Past: Kitchen Redo

Jones Design Company

Fabulous Furniture Makeovers

Master Bathroom Makeover Magic

Can you Spray Paint Bathroom faucets?…Oh yes you can!