The most effective way to do it is to do it – Amelia Earhart

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Home Decorating Projects

Kitchen Reclaimed Wood Sign

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I like to change up the decorations in my home. My husband doesn’t fully understand why I would change out one decoration for another, but he usually just goes with it. 😉 The most recent area to get a make over is a wall in my kitchen around the french doors that go to our back yard. This was what was there before.

 

Styles change, and even though I still like the wall decorations that were up, I wanted to change things. I’ve always really liked those pictures so I kept them and hung them on a different wall. I may paint the frames, but still thinking about that.

If you know me you know I LOVE Decor Steals! If you haven’t heard of decorsteals.com go check them out. They sell loads of cute farmhouse style home decor. I purchased a huge fork and spoon and a mug holder from them and they went up in place of the plate hanger and pictures. But I needed something to go above the door so I started brainstorming ideas.

I recently started selling Chalk Couture and wanted to use one of their transfers to make a sign. I’ll fill you in on how to use Chalk Couture in another post but they sell silk screen transfers and chalk paste. The one I purchased to use for the sign I wanted to make is the “Its so good to be home” transfer. I’ll show you that in a moment but I needed to decide what kind of a sign to make first.

I decided on a reclaimed wood sign. I saw a tutorial on YouTube and followed it. You can see that here

I went to Home Depot to find wood. I wanted to compare prices and see what was cut in 1 x 4. I needed the sign to be about 12 inches tall so 3 boards in that size would be perfect. I found raw wood that I would need to stain and paint and some that was rougher and already stained. It was more expensive, but was going to require less work on my part, so I went with the already stained wood.

Home Depot will cut the wood for you so I measured my area before heading over there and asked them to cut that for me. I cut 3 pieces 54 inches long and then they measured those pieces side by side to get the length of the smaller pieces for me. Even though the boards were marked as 1 x 4 they were actually about 3 1/2 inches wide so I’m glad I had them measure for me to get the smaller pieces cut just right. Once I got them home I laid the longer pieces out side by side and upside down. I measured the transfer I would be using to see how much area I would need for the words I would be putting on the sign. And then made sure the small wood  pieces that would be holding the larger pieces in place were spaced right. I set the smaller pieces under the longer pieces and carefully measured to make sure they were all even and the same length apart on each end.

 

I used the power drill to make pilot holes before screwing the boards together. As you can see from the pictures I put the screws in from the back side so you can’t see them from the front. This was easy and the wood was ready to be painted.

I used Annie Sloan Old White and I only applied 1 coat. I thinned it out with a little water so it didn’t go on thick. I sanded it with a power sander and then it was time for the words.

 

After I used the silk screen transfer to put the words on I wet distressed the whole thing to show more of the grey stain. I used Rustoleum Clear Topcoat to seal the paint and the Chalk Couture Chalkology Paste. It was ready to be hung on the wall. I had my husband help me with this and we used long screws to screw it right into the wall.

 

I’m really happy with the way it all came together!

I don’t often build things but it was fun to make this easy, simple sign. Maybe I’ll try building something else. 😉 Also watch for a post on how to use the Chalk Couture products! I’ll post one in a few days and link it here to you can see how I did that.

Leave a comment below and let me know what you think of my sign or if you have any questions. Hope you found this helpful!

Thanks for taking a few minutes to read my post.

Cindy

Updating Home Accents with Chalk Paint

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We have built in shelves in our family room and they’re in the process of getting a makeover. I’ve changed out a few pieces but I want to keep a few and give them an update. Chalk Paint can be used on most surfaces including plastic, glass, veneer, metal and of course wood. I have a small decorative  chest that’s been on our shelf for several years. This was the first piece to get a makeover.

I’m going with lighter color decorations and accent pieces so the dark brown wasn’t working anymore.

I used a mix of Annie Sloan Old White and Pure White. After painting the first coat the stain from the wood and faux leather started bleeding though so I sprayed it with shellac before putting on the second coat. Shellac or a polyurethane will stop stain from penetrating/bleeding through the porous chalk paint.

This chest is made of wood, faux leather and metal. The chalk paint adheres to all of it. I used sand paper to distress the chest, then sealed the paint with Annie Sloan Clear Wax.

Not a brand new piece but a brand new look for my shelf.

Several more pieces will be getting a makeover including the cupboards. Chalk paint is a great way to keep what you have but get a different look. The cost to paint a small piece is much less than buying a new one. And you can customize it to get the look you want.

Stay tuned to see the final results of my shelf makeover. Sign up for emails to see future blog posts.

Thanks for stopping by

Cindy

 

Easy Christmas Garland for your Staircase

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When we moved into this house one of my favorite area’s of the home was our entryway. I love a grand staircase in the entryway of a home. My staircase isn’t grand but I love it. If you’ve read my blog before you may remember reading my post Painting and staining our stair railing  from about a year ago. It was a big job but made a huge difference in the look of our entryway. I’ve decorated our staircase at Christmas time for the past few years but this year I decided to change it.

Everyone loves a staircase decorated with beautiful lighted garland. What I don’t love is the price of the beautiful lighted garland. So instead of buying the ready made decorated and lighted garland I set out to make my own.

I discovered these cute little battery operated copper wire fairy lights on Amazon and bought a few. They immediately went up in a several places in my home, and then I purchased more. They come in a 6 pack on Amazon for $10 and the batteries are included. For small lights they are nice and  bright. Here’s a link to the ones I used if you are interested in buying them. (If you don’t see the link below, click on post header to open this post)

 

I found some inexpensive artificial Christmas garland at Hobby Lobby for $9.99, but they sell all holiday items for 50% off so each strand was only $5. I used 3 1/2 of those for my staircase. I also bought burlap and small gold and white Christmas bulbs at Hobby Lobby. I already had jute cord and that was all I needed.

I had to cut the garland for the short railing. The artificial garland has wire loops on each end so they string together for longer area’s. It’s wire throughout so you can shape it how you want it to hang on the stair railing.  Then I used the jute cord to tie the garland on.

I tied big bows because I wanted this to have a bit of a farmhouse look to it, and the big floppy bow and long curly strands add to that look. Once that was on I used the burlap to make simple large bows. I used the 5.5 inch wide size for the bows and tied them to the posts.

I wound the lights into the garland and hid the small white battery pack on the inside of the garland so it couldn’t be seen, but was easily accessible . Lastly I hung small ornaments all along the garland.

I did this on the stair railing going up stairs and along the railing across the upstairs hallway.

I used the burlap and gold and white ornaments so the decorations on the staircase would coordinate with the decorations on my Christmas tree.

In all I spend around $50 for the garland and decorations for my staircase. Not too bad!

It’s the first thing people see when they come to visit and I am really happy with it. It took a little time to get it up, but it was very easy and the price was right!

You could change up the burlap for ribbon and use a different color cord or ribbon to attach the artificial garland to the stair railing to get a different look.

If you found this helpful I would love to hear from you. I appreciate the feedback. Thanks for taking the time to check out my blog.

Happy Holiday’s!

Cindy

DIY Snow Globe

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Today I’m going to show you how I used a yogurt jar to make handmade snow globes. A few months back I spotted the Oui by Yoplait Yogurt at the store and decided to try it out. (It’s yummy by the way.) But I kinda bought it for the jar. 😉 They are so tiny and cute!! I saved several jars and decided to use them to make waterless snow globes. I took the label off, washed them and used Goof Off to clean them up.

I bought a few small wood slices, a little bit wider than the jar to use for the base, and some snowflakes at Hobby Lobby. I also bought a small package of Christmas buttons for crafting. I positioned the buttons where I wanted them and used a hot glue gun to glue them to the wood slices. I added just a little bit of the snow flakes to the inside of the jar and then put a ring of hot glue around the open edge of the jar and carefully set the wood slice on the jar. I turned it over once the glue was set and had myself a little waterless snow globe.

That was kind of my tester and I did the rest of them a little different. I really like the cute bottle brush trees so I ordered some of those on line. Then while out shopping I came upon some really cute wood trees and bought those.

I needed the bottle brush trees to be shorter so I took the gold base off the bottom and used wire cutters to cut the tree down. I trimmed the “branches” from the bottom so there was enough wire sticking out to place it back on the base. I then used a small amount of hot glue to secure it back into the same hole.

I made a few of these using both the bottle brush trees as well as the wood trees and glued them to the wood slice. Make sure it will fit into the jar you are using before you glue them down to the base. I again only used a small amount of snow to just cover the bottom of the globe. You want to be able to see the tree’s and not cover them.

After I glued it to the base I used a little Buffalo Plaid Ribbon that I also found at Hobby Lobby and glued that around the base of the jar.

I wanted some variety so I decided to change it up a little and turn the jar right side up and add some fabric to the top of the snow globe to give it an old fashion jelly jar look. I glued the tree’s to the bottom of the jar this time, added the snow and then used a round piece of fabric on the top. I pre-measured and cut the fabric so it would fit the way I wanted it to.

I once again put a ring of glue along the top ridge of the jar and set the fabric in place. Then I added more glue to keep the edges of the fabric down. To finish it off I used the Buffalo Plaid Ribbon around the top of the jar and tied it in a bow on the back.

This is a fun and easy Christmas craft you can do with your kids. These would make great teacher gifts or neighbor gifts as well. You can be creative and use different items to create the scene you want in your snow globe. It was quick, easy and inexpensive. The Yoplait jars worked great but baby food jars or larger canning jars would work as well.

I hope you found this helpful. Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks for stopping by to take a look. And if you are interested, please sign up for my emails to see more posts like this one.

Cindy

Chalk Painted Gourds

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You know those little plastic cheap gourds you buy in a bag for the fall holidays. I decided to paint mine. I saw a few posts on Pinterest and decided to try it. One of the things I learned is you need to shellac the pumpkins and gourds before you paint them.

You can see that I started painting a few of them, but I was getting a lot of bleed through. So a few coats of shellac was required to stop that.

I picked 3 colors to paint these gourds. Old White, Old Violet and some left over custom color I still had from a previous project.

Another fun idea to change up those plastic pumpkins is to use Fabric Tape.

I painted these ones white so the orange wouldn’t show through. But you don’t have to paint them if you like the orange showing through a little bit. The posibilities are endless with fabric tape.

I gave the painted gourds a coat of clear wax that gives them a silky, matte finish.

If you want to give those cheap plastic gourds a make over to match your home decor this is an easy project. There is a little time commitment but well worth the effort.

Happy fall holidays to everyone!

Cindy

Hanging a Gallery Wall

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Gallery walls are all the rage right now. And it’s easy to see why! For a few months I have been envisioning a gallery wall in our family room. Here is the before picture of the same wall.

I always loved these pictures but it was time for a change. So I spent some time reading up on how to put together a gallery wall. There’s lots of examples on Pinterest, Instagram and the internet of gallery walls and ideas on how to plan one out.

This is what I did.

I started by finding a few pieces I really liked and wanted included on my wall.  I bought a mirror and a shelf and for Mother’s Day my kids gave me a picture they had taken of themselves. Of course that was going on the wall. 😊 I knew I wanted a clock on the wall and I found a large one I really liked at Hobby Lobby.

Once I had a few items ready to go I measured my wall and started laying out each piece on the floor to get an idea of what it would look like. I measured out the same area on the floor as the size of my wall so I could make sure everything fit.

It took about a week to find the last few pieces, so this layout was on my family room floor for that week. Once everything was laid out it was easy to see the holes in my gallery and I went searching for pieces that would fit those areas. The last piece I added was a sign I had made. I saw this “Nest” definition on another sign/picture at a store but it was too big for my area so I stole the idea and had this made to fit.

I love these cute signs. This one was custom made by JB Imprints. You can find them on Instagram and Facebook.

Next my husband helped me measure and start planning out where to hang things on our wall. As you can see from the pictures I have duct work that complicated things. So we measured the wall and planned around the duct work.

We got all our tape pieces up so we knew where to start and end, as well as where the studs were for heavier pieces. There were a few mistakes along the way but for the most part everything went up easily. (Well, after we measured and re-measured everything!) I did have to move a mirror because it ended up in the wrong place. Oops!

The other hiccup we ran into was hanging the vintage railing pieces. I don’t want the screws to go straight through and show so we put holes on the back side and screws in the wall and tried to set them on the screws. They stayed but they were wobbly. So we improvised.

My husband had some small rubber bumpers and we put them on the screws already in the wall and presses them into the holes on the back of the railings. That did the trick!  Sometimes a little jimmy rigging is needed right! 😉😂

Anyhoo my advice for hanging a Gallery Wall is to measure. ALOT! I was lucky enough to cover any holes we made by mistake with the pieces I hung so I didn’t have to patch anything. Lay out your pieces exactly as you plan to put them on your wall so you can see it before you hang it.

My other bit of advice is find things you love and add it to your gallery wall. Rearrange until it looks good to you. Gallery Walls all look different and they don’t have to be perfect. That’s what makes them fun. Check out Pinterest and Instagram for ideas, but make your Gallery Wall your own.

There are other ways of hanging a Gallery Wall including cutting out paper in the shape of each item you are going to hang so you can see how it will fit on your wall. That seemed like a lot of extra work to me, but if you are worried it is a good way to see it before putting holes in the wall.

Plan on spending some time hanging a Gallery Wall. Just the measuring and hanging took us nearly 2 hours. But if you put the time and effort in, your Gallery Wall will bring a smile to your face every time you see it! 😃

I hope this post was helpful. If you have any other tips or comments please leave them below. I would love to hear from you 😊

Thanks for taking a look

Cindy

Mixing ASCP to get a custom color

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Mixing Annie Sloan Chalk Paint to get just the right color is easy.  Sometimes you may want a different shade or color than the original paint colors AS offers. I always get a few plastic spoons and a plate and start mixing to get the color I want. I wanted a soft grey/blue color to paint a set of candle sticks and a clock. So I stared mixing Paris Grey and a touch of Florence and then added some Pure White. Here’s the result.

 

I love this color. I will be writing it down so I can find another piece to paint this pretty blue. Do you mix ASCP colors? What’s your favorite color recipe? Would love to hear from you! 😊

Thanks for stopping by

Cindy

 

Christmas Tree 🎄Oh Christmas Tree

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Do you like to decorate for the holidays? I do!  Do you have waaayyyy too many decorations? Guilty! At least when it comes to Christmas. 😉 And don’t tell my husband but my holiday decorating hoard is still growing!! Haha

I have a few Christmas trees up this year. 3 to be exact. This is the one Santa leaves his presents under. 🎁 It sits in the front room.

 

I think traditions are important and we have a tradition of giving our children an ornament every year, so we have a tree in the basement for the kids to decorate.

I love this tree because every year the kids go through their box of ornaments and remember past Christmas’s together.

And because you can never have too many Christmas trees I have one for the porch.

Hoping everyone is enjoying the holiday season!

Sofa table refinished with Annie Sloan Old White

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I love any piece of furniture that has claw feet. I found a beautiful claw foot sofa table and put it behind my couch. I wasn’t sure I would keep it but it sat there for a while before I painted it. I was hoping to refinish the top but was afraid if I starts sanding it down I would go right through the wood inlay and get to particle board. I could see the particle board under the table. But I figured it was worth a try and started hand sanding a small area. The stain came off and I wasn’t going through the inlay.

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But the wood was really hard and hand sanding wasn’t going to do the trick so I got out the electric hand sander. I was still worried so I started with a fine sandpaper and wasn’t getting through. I went with a course sandpaper and was able to get the stain and clear coat off and expose the amazing wood inlay. This actually took a while because the wood was so hard.  I used a wood conditioner before staining it to get a more even coverage and then used Minwax Early American stain. I sealed it with several coats of Minwax oil based clear coat.

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I was so excited that it turned out so beautifuly. The wood inlay is truely amazing and I’m so glad I didn’t have to paint over this. I did paint the legs of this table. I wasn’t going to try to sand all small detailed areas. I painted it Annie Sloan Old White with minimal distressing and a coat of clear wax.

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She’s a beauty. Love the curves and the detail on the legs! And the contrast of the stained wood and white paint.

I love this table but I didn’t feel like it fit with the look I was going for in my family room/kitchen. So this lovely table is for sale in my booth. And here’s the table I replaced it with.

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I wanted something with a little more of a farmhouse look that matched the kitchen table I recently finished. I will do a post about that later. (I’m in love with my refinished kitchen table) This cute rustic table was made and stained by someone else. I found it on a Facebook yard sale site. A cute talented couple makes them and I love it.

Simple but pretty and with 2 levels I had fun decorating it!

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of both Sofa Tables. I would love to hear from you.

As always thanks for taking a look!

Cindy

Adventures in decorating!

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I’ve lived in my home for 12 1/2 years and for 12 1/2 years this wall has been empty.

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When it was time to paint I hired painters to paint this area because I didn’t want to even think about how to get up that high to tape and paint this wall. It’s 2 stories high and above the stairs. Not easily accessible. But once the walls and staircase were painted I started brainstorming what I would like to see hanging here. I found 2 cute old double storage doors that look like barn doors and my vision for that wall started coming together. I needed something else to go between the doors to finish the look I wanted. I do a lot of “window shopping” on the Facebook Yardsale sites and I spotted a post by a local seller who makes signs and I knew one of them would be perfect between the 2 doors. I bought it and had it shipped to my home and loved it. It still took me a few weeks to get the nerve to tackle this project, and talk my handy hubby into helping me! 😉 We dragged my oldest son into this venture as well. I won’t go into all the hairy details of what it took to get these mounted on the wall but after it was over I was grateful we didn’t end up in the ER! Haha 😂 2 ladders, 3 people, power tools and heavy barn doors = danger!

 

My husband loves it when I say “I have a project for you and it involves a ladder”! (Yes that was sarcasm 😋) But I would not have dared tackle this project without him. It took some engineering (good thing he’s an engineer), and a lot of planning to get this project done. Also some courage and muscle!

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It was scary but TOTALLY WORTH IT! It may never ever come down but I’m ok with that. I love the handmade sign. It’s the first thing we see when we all come out of our bedrooms.

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Alese sells these cute signs on her website www.handmadeutah.com and you can also see her work on her instagram page @2crafty4myskirt. You will love all the darling signs she makes.

Let me know what you think and tell me about your decorating adventures. I’m always looking for new ideas for my home and would love to hear from you.

Thanks for taking a look 😊

Cindy