DIY: gold dipped basket

I’m getting ready to do some traveling over this holiday weekend.  My man and I are going to Chicago. I’ve never been, and I’m so excited to venture into a new city!  My bro is giving us the grand tour, which means we will definitely be eating our way about the town.  I just hope I can still fit into my clothes once the weekend is over.

In the spirit of a quick week, today’s project is also a quick one!

I’ve been wanting to dip-dye a basket for quite some time, and even more so after spotting these round belly baskets which I referenced in one of my Friday faves posts.  A few weeks ago I spotted this tapered basket at Marshalls, I instantly fell in love with it’s protruding belly!  I usually gravitate towards a high contrast dip-dye, like black or white, but with this basket I decided to go a bit more subtle.

FIRST Wrap or tape a plastic bag in the desired location.  I actually ran out of tape (go figure) but lucked out that the garbage bag I used fit snug against the basket SECOND Spray a light coat of primer, this will help the paint adhere to the material of the basket THIRD spray 2 coats of your choice of spray paint, I chose Montana Gold spray paint in Gold Chrome. You can read more about other gold spray paint options in this post.

I’m pretty happy with how this turned out! I generally love anything strikingly gold, but this subtle contrast between the natural seagrass and the hint of gold adds a tiny bit of surprise to our living room.  I can totally tell our olive tree is happier with its newly gilt rump.

DIY: Antiqued wooden spools

I realize I hoard a lot of craft supplies. I’ll just go ahead and blame it on the DIYer in me comes with the territory, if you ask me! The other day I was attempting to organize my ribbon, which is ironic on its own because I used to make fun of my mom who has boxes and boxes of ribbon, organized by color, texture, material, sheen, you name it! Like mother like daughter, right? Well, there I was, organizing ribbon, completely unsatisfied with the various paper or cardboard “spools” which they typically come with. I wanted a prettier solution, and came up with these!

You can purchase raw wooden spindles from almost any craft store, they come in a bag like this below, or you can order through Amazon for larger quantities.

FIRST, I roughed them up with coarse sand paper, about 40-60 grit.  SECOND, I applied some dark stain with a paper towel.  Wear gloves during this step, trust me.  I let the spools dry for about a half hour before wiping away any excess stain.  Let them dry for at least 2 hours more before handling with ribbon.  THIRD, wrap your ribbon around the wooden spool then secure with a headpin

Now I need to make like a billion more.

How about you? Do you find yourself with too much craft supplies? What do you do to help organize (and keep household sanity)?

Friday I’m in love! {my favorite things}

//ONE this simple black, white & gold art print by OldEnglishCo quite possibly states the truest words I’ve ever heard //TWO if you’re thinking of re-designing your home office, consider designing around this must have acrylic & gold stapler by Waiting on Martha //THREE a laundry or storage basket has never been cuter, check out this half moon basket from LEIF //FOUR these chevron paper place mats add glam and sophistication to any dining soiree  //FIVE tired of using plain white serve-ware when hosting guests? This star serving tray also from LEIF is a delightful alternative

I’m hoping to enjoy some warm weather this weekend, how about you?

sources for spotted & snow cat fabric

You all must be gripping your chairs in anticipation of an upholstery tutorial, RIGHT, RIGHT?  Wellllll, it’s still in the works.  Bear with me, I promise it’ll be good!

While making the decision of which fabric I wanted to use to reupholster my French Bergere chairs, I conducted what felt like a billion web searches for spotted/snow cat fabric.  There are a ton of options out there, but I was looking for fabric less than $20/yard (actually less than $10/yard, however some of you might not be as cheap as me!).  I picked out my 12 favorite fabrics and am sourcing them for you today!

For my chairs, I bought 5 yards from a fresh stock of snow leopard velveteen fabric from Fabric.com, which was only about a month ago, and now it’s unavailable! GAH! Why!!!! Now I feel like I need to hoard my remaining supply.  Although, really it’s not a big deal because these 12 other fabric options are mighty comparable.

From top left to bottom right:

// ONE Rescue II Dalmatian Spots fabric from suzzettesfabric.com at $7.50/yard // TWO Flutter Peachskin Spots fabric from fabric.com at $7.98/yard // THREE Charcoal Dots fabric by Domesticate from Spoonflower at $18/yard // FOUR Spots fabric by Hey Tangerine from Spoonflower at $18/yard

From top left to bottom right:

// ONE Dalmatian Dog Skin fabric by Marcus Brothers from inhomedecoratingservices.com at $5.99/yard // TWO Leopard fabric by Creative Cuts from Walmart (!!!!) at $7.97/yard // THREE Snow Leopard Spots on White fabric by Timeless Treasures from Fabric Paradise at $8.25/yard // FOUR Animal Print Leopard fabric from fabric.com at $8.98/yard

From top left to bottom right:

// ONE Large Leopard Gray Black fabric from fabric.com at $6.98/yard // TWO Snow Leopard Textured Velvet fabric from J&O Fabrics at $24/yard (OK, I broke the $20 rule on this one!) // THREE Seeing Spots fabric from Designer Fabrics Online at $19.99/yard // FOUR Cheetah Microsuede Fabric from Online Fabric Store at $17.65/yard

The fabric with a pattern most similar to the one I used on my chairs is the leopard fabric from Walmart! Who would have thought! I had no clue Walmart sold fabric.  I never shop there (imagine going to a Walmart in Oakland, CA *shudder*). The second closest option is the Snow Leopard textured velvet fabric from J&O fabrics.  Sorry it’s over the $20 threshold, but it’s definitely worth the few extra dollars if you want a velvety texture on your chairs. All the other options were real contenders, the decision was tough!

where you’ll find me today

I’m guest posting today over at Kirsten‘s incredibly fabulous blog, 6th Street Design School! Click over to see the full tutorial.

a little peek

If you follow me on Instagram {my favorite venue for social media – sorry Facebook!}, you may have seen the progress of these chairs I’m working on.  I’m also working on a complete tutorial to share with you with the exact steps I took to re-do these chairs, but before that’s finished, I wanted to tease you with a little peak of my precious.

I can’t believe I’ve had these chairs for just about a year now. I got them off Craigslist just before we moved into our loft, with full intentions to tackle them sooner, but with all the other needs in our place they became low priority.  And of course, as it goes with most of my projects, I had a feeling it would hit me hard once the time was right to work on them.  I usually become obsessed with a project once I have a clear vision of the end product, and in a nut-shell, that’s what happened with these chairs.

I’ll have more to share later this week on these chairs. Sit tight!

Friday I’m in love {my favorite things!}

// ONE I’m quite intrigued by this brass aperture pendant lamp with it’s overlapping metal leaves, it comes in two sizes, small and large // TWO I’ve been bewitched over this pillow design since I spotted Kristin’s pillow, and this square stripes pillow from Cost Plus would be the perfect alternative, and a bargain at $22! // THREE these drippy ikat clutches would be the perfect pop of color to match a simple summer outfit // FOUR I cannot get enough of these hand forged, pure brass serving utensils from Michele Varian, sadly they’re about $78 each and out of my budget // FIVE I’m still obsessing over flamingos, and if it was possible to transform my love for these pink birds into an object, this flamingo serving platter from Zara Home would be it.

Have a relaxing weekend everyone! My brother is getting married this weekend, it should be a rockin’ time! This means my wedding is 8 weeks away.  Eek!

OH, and speaking of, I wrote a little sneak peek about my wedding plans, which you can read here.

Curio Road & The Launch of the Wedding Collection

Wow, it’s Wednesday already! And it’s May. Where has the time gone? I have something like 60 days until our wedding – YIKES!

Speaking of wedding… when Curio Road approached me almost 3 months ago to engage in a sponsorship relationship, one of their growth projections was to launch a curated wedding collection.  After seeing the shops and artists Curio Road has has launched and featured over the last couple months, it only made sense to expect an amazing wedding collection.

Today I’m here to tell you that their wedding collection is officially launched! And not only is this collection amazing, it’s HUGE! There are hundreds of items listed in the collection, from bridal jewelry, hair accessories, beaded & crystal sashes, wedding garden signs, tabletop decor, and sooooooo much more.

If you missed out on the introduction, Curio Road is a fashion and home accessory membership site that highlights extremely talented and upcoming hip designers and artists.  They host quick sales of jewelry, accessories, and home decor items that rival popular shops like Anthropologie, C.Wonder, and now BHLDN!  Last month Curio Road launched their permanent collection of their top rated and best selling items.

Because I’m really excited about Curio Road’s wedding collection, and you certainly don’t have to be a bride or bridesmaid to shop this collection! I’ve pulled a few of my favorite items together to give you a solid peek at what they have for sale.

I’m absolutely smitten with these chevron clutches now listed in the bridesmaid section of the wedding collection:

Gorgeous sparkly jewelry you can also wear on date nights or nights out with your girlfriends.

And giant letter tabletop decor, which can easily be re-purposed as decor in your own home.

I’m really excited about this phase of Curio Road’s business.  I think they’ve hit the nail on the head with fashion forward bridal accessories at prices that are beyond reasonable. I just ordered this crystal bridal sash for $60 that is almost the exact replicas of a sash I had my eye on at a bridal store, which they were selling for nearly $500!

Anyway, I think I’ve said enough. Head on over, check out their wedding collection, and don’t forget, you’ll earn cash to spend if you invite your friends!

How do you read your daily blogs?

I don’t know about other bloggers, but let me tell you, I read a lot of blogs, and I love it! Reading blogs of all shapes and sizes was actually the primary reason I started this blog – I realized ‘Hey, I have a voice and creative ideas, too! Let’s do this!’

I used to be able to manage my list of daily reads pretty well, but I’m now at the point where all the space on my bookmarks toolbars in Mozilla, Internet Explorer, AND Chrome, are completely maxed out!  I never cared or understood how to use Google Reader, and I didn’t think to research other reader alternatives, I was pretty satisfied with my morning routine clicking straight to the blogs I wanted to read in the same order, every single day. Talk about a creature of habit!

 I don’t even know how I stumbled on it, it must have been a re-marketing campaign while perusing the internet, but I landed myself on NetVibes reading about their awarded personalized dashboard and thought ‘what the heck, let’s give this whole reader thing a try’.  About two weeks ago I signed up for a free account I can’t tell you how much my life has changed.  Having a real time feed of all the blogs I read in a day makes me feel like I have the entire internet all in one place. It’s more than amazing!

NetVibes has been around for a while, but it’s completely brand new to me.  I’m still learning how to use it, but so far I’ve used 3 different views to read my daily blogs – the classic widget view (below), which is laid out in a tile board similar to Pinterest, and each tile lists the most recent 7 or so posts from each site.

 I also like the current activity view, you can see all the posts that were published today

My new favorite view is the image tile view for all posts most currently published.  I’m totally into this visual method of reading a feed!

 OK, OK, so I’m fully aware that utilizing a reader is a no-brainer for most of you folks, which makes me wonder, how does everyone else read their favorite blogs? What readers do you use? Or do you prefer to click directly to sites? Do you keep a list of your favorite blogs? I’m so interested!

PS: if you’re curious about what blogs I read on a daily basis, I created this page dedicated to them for easy access.  You can find the link to this page is on my right sidebar.

Friday I’m in Love {my favorite things!}

I’ve got moms on my mind this week, and these 5 special gifts would certainly pamper her for an entire day!

// ONE Capri Blue candles are a personal fave to light around the house and to give as gifts, plus they smell AMAZING you might just need one for yourself // TWO spruce up your mom’s reading nook or home office with this ravishing pharmacy lamp by Robert Abby // THREE carve out some relaxation time for mom, make sure she’s able to take a relaxing bath with these Pink Bath Salts from Anthropologie // FOUR give mom a bouquet that lasts forever, West Elm has a bunch of these adorable crepe paper flowers on sale right now! // FIVE treat your mom to a picnic lunch at the beach or the park with this perfectly sized natural picnic basket from Crate & Barrel

Can’t wait to shop for mom this weekend! Anyone have special plans for mom? Secret gifts in mind? Delish dinner menu’s planned? Do share