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)?

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!

Les Touches fabric hack

When a tiny thought gets into my mind, it grows and itches like a weed until I do something about it! This pretty much sums up how this DIY went down.  OH, and call me slow, or the last one hitching a ride on the “Les Touches” bandwagon, but this stunning fabric just made its way into my life a few weeks ago and I haven’t been able to shake it from my mind since I found out that it was a million dollars a yard.  OK $40, but still, I have absolutely no reason to justify buying $40/yard fabric.

Scanned from Veranda Magazine

So, what does a DIYer do when he/she can’t afford the real thing? Hack it!

You really only need two things for this super easy hack:

1. white fabric (I used a thick white canvas to minimize any bleeding)
2. black Sharpie (get the pen with the fine point tip on one end, and the fat tip on the other)

Using this template as a guide, I copied the pattern first with the thin Sharpie, then returning with the thick sharpie to get the finished look.  It took me about 3 episodes of Fringe to finish the whole thing.  I finished the pillow cover by following this tutorial.  If you hate sewing zippers, follow this tutorial on making an envelope pillow cover.

Finally! My need for Les Touches fabric has been satisfied!

OH, and just a precaution – try not to bleach it if you decide to wash it.  Sharpie ink tends to bleed orange (turn orange?) with bleach.

Helping a patio in need

If you follow me on Instagram, you might have noticed I was using the hashtag #helpingapatioinneed throughout the weekend while I was helping one of my best friends transform her patio.  The hashtag itself is a bit silly, but in reality it’s a major issue! There are so many patios in need out there and we must do something to help bring these spaces to life!

After having many conversations with family and friends, I’ve come to realize “the patio” is hands down the most frequently neglected space in the home.  I hate to say I agree, but it does make sense that patios are usually neglected.  We opt to beautify our homes, our bedrooms, our kitchens, our living rooms – all the spaces we spend the most time – and it makes sense the patio is the last place we go.  Beautifying our homes can be an exhausting process, therefore it’s totally understandable that once we reach a point of comfort and satisfaction, the “oh we’ll get to it later” argument kicks in, placing the patio on the back burner.

One of my best friends, Annie, experienced this same situation with her patio space.  She was so focused on creating a home inside her walls that her patio and back yard ended up on the back burner.  Annie told me this weekend, after we finished all our work, that this was the first time she actually sat and ate a meal on her patio… and she’s lived in the house for almost 3 years!

Annie got the itch to do something with her patio space after seeing all the work we did on our Home Depot Patio.  I was recruited to help her turn this sad patio from an eyesore into a fun and vibrant space she can share with her family and friends.

Watch out friends, this before and after is going to knock your socks off.  At this point we had only used once resource: PAINT!

OK, and tape, but just look at this transformation!

We primed the entire patio floor, which was originally a colorful mix of different cements and concretes.  Painting it one color completely transformed the space.  We took it a step further by painting a 2′ chevron pattern across the entire floor, which I think turned out a thousand times better than I imagined.  In painting this chevron pattern, we followed the same process I used on our hexagon patio floor from the Home Depot challenge.

Annie has a house (and garage) full of original mid-century furniture which was passed down to her from her grandmother, including this rad patio set.  The chairs and table were in great condition, they only needed a fresh coat of paint to be brought back to life.  First we sanded the table and chairs down with a sanding sponge, then sprayed about 3-4 coats of Valspar’s “brushed rose” spray paint, which is a light coral color.  We sprayed a clear enamel top coat on the chairs and table to help protect from weather, wear and tear.

As I mentioned, Annie has a garage full of amazing mid-century furniture, including these 2 hexagon side tables.  I spotted them neatly tucked under a table in her garage and frantically asked her “what are you planning to do with these?!” She replied, “oh I’m not sure yet.” My reply, “LET’S PAINT THEM GOLD!”

I think I scared her into agreeing with me.

We gave the tables one coat of primer, which we painted on with a brush, then 2-3 coats of Design Master Brilliant Gold spray paint.  I love this paint for it’s soft and warm honey gold tones that reflect perfectly in the outdoor light.

Annie found this tutorial on Pinterest on how to make a garden bench from cinder blocks and 4″x4″ wood posts.  We hacked the idea and made 2 benches out of the materials, and made a cushion from foam and batting, as well as this gorgeous Robert Allen Kiki Pinata fabric from fabric.com.

We also made over 20 pillows (with zippers!) for her home and patio.  All the fabric you see below was also purchased on fabric.com.

And just because this floor rocks my world, here’s one last view.

I hope this transformation encourages you to take a tiny risk and spruce up that patio of yours! If chevron isn’t your thing, try stripes! Seriously, a little bit of paint goes a long way. You’ll be surprised how many people want to come over and party out at your house once you do

weekend project – patio re-do take 2!

Hello and happy Monday! Phew, let me tell you, I think I need another day off.  I’m exhausted! I spent the weekend with one of my besties helping her make over her patio in preparation for a bridal shower she’s throwing next weekend.  We worked every waking minute for two days straight transforming her space from an eyesore to something spectacular!

I’m in the process of editing the photos, but I just couldn’t resist sharing a sneak peek of the patio.  It really is amazing.

I still can’t believe someone is trusting me to help make over their space, but I suppose after busting out the Home Depot Patio Challenge, you can think of me as a patio makeover master! Ha!

PS, the full before-and-after will be posted later this week.  I’m so mean, sorry!

Ikea Lack shelves, and a wall with no studs

Let’s talk about Lack shelves, shall we? Do you love them or hate them? I honestly want to know how you feel!  I have always loved Lack shelves, I love their clean and simple design.  What I don’t love is how arduously deceiving they are! If it looks simple, it should be simple to mount, right? Maybe it’s me, maybe Ikea has finally found a way to test DIYers out there and by saying “good luck mounting this to your wall studs!”

I’ll spare you the painful story upfront and tell you I won the battle against the Lack shelves! HOORAH! {That’s my war cry, if you couldn’t tell}

Like I said, I’ll do you all a favor and spare you all the details of pain and frustration that I experienced with these shelves.  Instead I’m going to share with you what Ikea doesn’t explain in the picture-book manual: how to hang Lack shelves on a wall with no studs!

I actually shouldn’t rag on these shelves too badly, they’re very easy to mount, the caveat that Ikea so kindly leaves out of their instructions is, they’re easy as long as you have the right tools and knowledge of the walls in your home or apartment.

I think our building’s contractors were asleep when they put up our wall.  There are zero, and I mean zero, wood studs in our living room wall.  I kept thinking, there’s no way I’m the only person experiencing this problem.  So, after having drilled at least 15 pilot holes in our wall searching for a stud (with a stud finder no less!), I gave up. I patched the holes with putty then hung some framed wallpaper art as a temporary fix while I researched the solution to my problem.

Ok, so maybe I am divulging all the painful details… I’m sorry! I can’t help it! I performed a bit of research and found these glorious, magical things called “drywall anchors” that could hold up to 300 lbs on just one anchor! Say wha?

Be cautious when searching for the appropriate drywall anchor, there are a billion variations of all shapes and sizes.  I tried 2 different kinds, a metal one, and this WingIts plastic anchor, and this plastic one worked like a charm.

I picked up a pack of 6, which seems a little pricey at $11, but I’m telling you, totally worth every penny! The only bummer thing about using this wall anchor is…. you’ll need to drill a 3/4″ hole into your wall…

Deep breaths! Are you still with me?

Drilling a giant 3/4″ hole in your wall is SUPER painful I know.  We (I should say “I”) wasn’t too worried, since we’re renters and all, we could just slap a big wad of putty over the anchor whenever we move out.  Plus, you really only need to drill two holes for each Lack shelf, one placed at each end of the shelf mount.  I placed a third in the middle for good measure, but it was probably overkill.

Phew! I’m so relieved to have won the battle against these Lack shelves.  Now my man and I can gaze admiringly at these shelves whenever we’re in the room, and confidently think to ourselves ‘if we can hang Lack shelves, we can do anything!’

But honestly, I’m proud to have a tad more knowledge in my DIY bank – that when push comes to shove, use a drywall anchor!

DIY mini latte bowl candles

Friends! I can’t thank you enough for all your sweet comments on our Home Depot Patio space!  If there is anything you’re interested in knowing more about, please let me know, I’d be happy to divulge.  And don’t forget there are plenty more patios being revealed as we speak! The patios of two of my favorite bloggers, Whitney and Mandy, were already revealed, check ‘em out!

Today’s project is so simple, we’re going to make our own mini candles!

This project all started from the idea of making my own wedding favors.  I performed some beta testing, and these mini latte bowls were the result. They’re so cute!

The ingredients are fairly simple.  I used this shaved soy wax from Amazon, but you could easily re-purpose some old broken taper candles, tea light candles, or cheapo candles from the thrift store, Marshall’s, or even Target. The candle wicks are also from Amazon, the mini latte bowls from Anthropologie, and I bought a cheap pot with a spout from Marshall’s for less than $12.

ONE pick out your fragrance oils, I found mine at a local organic foods store similar to Whole Foods TWO place the wicks in the center of the latte bowls, and pour the dry wax into the pot THREE melt the wax on low heat for about 3-5 minutes, place 10-15 drops of fragrance oil while the wax is melting FOUR pour the wax into the latte bowls and cradle the candle wicks using two stir sticks so they don’t sink or droop.  Or you can do as I did and use two pieces of quarter round trim, which I had lying around from a previous project.

Who knew fashioning your own candles was so easy? I always though there was some old school science behind it, like we did in grade school when we had to dip, and re-dip long pieces of candle wick for hours until we made a teeny-tiny taper candle.  These mini latte bowls are so cute, and for $3 each, I’ve already put like 20 of them around my house