My Lucketts Score: Two Kitchen Stools' Makeover!

So I hit the HUGE Lucketts Fair this weekend with my bloggy buddy, Jocie...

I love that girl! She's from One Project Closer, a really awesome blog. Gotta check it out, if you haven't already! ANYwho...we got to meet up with some fellow bloggers and had a ball. Shockingly, the only thing I walked away with were two wooden stools. I know, I couldn't believe it either.

 

Wasn't particularly on the hunt for kitchen stools, but Paul and I have been wanting to get a new, bigger island top, so more of us can sit around our island comfortably. When that happens, we'll need some new stools to go with our expanded island, so I figured why not get started?! When I saw these super sturdy stools for a great price ($15 each) I immediately thought with a little paint job they would be fab.

I brought them home, and within seconds, Tinkerbell and Pocahontas climbed on up and gave them two thumbs up.

I took them outside and used Valspar Paint and Primer in One in Gloss White. That was it. No sanding or anything. That stuff works like a dream. It's this guy on the left:

(The one on the right is what I used when they were all finished - it's a clear protective gloss, I'll get to that in a minute;)

So after they were painted white, I wanted to stencil something on them. I decided it would be fun to number them. I thought about just a big 1 one on of them and a 2 on the other, then spelling out 'one' and 'two'...then I thought it would be cute to write 'No. 1' and 'No. 2' on them. Didn't have the stencils I wanted on hand, so I just found a font I liked and typed it on my computer and printed it out.

That font is called 'Modern No. 20' in case you're wondering. Blew it up to 250 for the No. part, and 400 for the 2. I planned on cutting them out and tracing them, kinda like a makeshift stencil. Then I wondered if I could just trace it reeeeally hard with a pen...if it would leave an indentation that I could just paint?

And no, that's not a paintbrush - it's actually a pen. Got it in Disney;)

Turns out, it worked!

Kinda hard to see, but it did.

Then I took some teeny tiny paintbrushes and some red craft paint I had on hand...

 

 ...and got to work...

It needed a couple coats, then I was done.

Then I took them outside and coated them with that clear gloss protective spray paint so it can withstand the constant beating that kitchen stools get in this house;)

I love my new Lucketts stools!

Can't wait to get our new island top - thinking butcher block? They'll look even better:)

Here's one last shot, the before and after...

$30 and got myself two cute new stools! Not too shabby. Thanks, Lucketts ~ can't wait to go back!

Meet My $9 Suitcase End Table!

I love my mom. I love that she loves a good yard sale just as much (probably more!) as me, and if I'm not out hittin' the town with her, she's always on the hunt for items she just knows I'll love.

Since I was going to Luckett's in Virginia for the big Spring Fair there on Sunday, I decided to skip the yard sales on Saturday. Mom's hard core, so she went solo. I got a phone call late morning.

"I'm right up the street, you gotta meet me. Lots of great stuff here! Can you run up for a minute?"

Soaking wet hair, right from the shower, I threw my shoes on and ran up the street to meet her.

Immediately I spotted them.

Oh my word, I had to have them.

Three beautifully worn out, beautifully blue (like, the perfect shade for my family room), old suitcases. A large, medium, and small size.

MUST. HAVE. THEM.

I knew the instant I laid eyes on them, what I would do with them.

Within 30 seconds of arriving, I had already scored big time. Turned out, I got a few other treasures there as well;)

The woman who sold them to me told me they belonged to her parents. Married 57 years, and these suitcases went on their honeymoon with them!! How cool is that?

So I took them home, stacked them up, placed a tray on top, and I have a new end table, complete with a beautiful history...for a whopping $9.

(And that's my $2 Yard Sale tray sitting on top;)

Seriously, I love this "table."
Had to add that vintage-y flair with the photo editing program for a little effect;). Now here are some regular shots in real color - 

I love a good unexpected piece of furniture, and this fits the bill. Great color, great size, great history, great price. I'd say this was quite the successful yard sale trip! Thanks, Mom!

$9 DIY Window Box AKA Mantel Dilemma SOLVED!

Holy cow people, I think I just built something?!

No one is more shocked than I am, trust me.

I've been wanting to do this project, oh, FOREVER, and I finally bit the bullet and gave it a whirl. Having no idea if this was going to turn out to be one of those major fails or successes, I attacked it on a whim in the middle of my kitchen floor, on a rainy morning, while the kids played legos in the family room.

'Cuz that's how this crazy lady rolls.

Let me backtrack a minute...

So we have our TV mounted above our fireplace. There are bookcases flanking it, filled with pictures, books, accessories galore. The last thing I wanted was more *stuff* on the mantel. Plus, it would all have to be low, since there's a tv above it.

Enter the beauteous planter boxes I've been seeing all over Pinterest over the past year. I've seen a gorgeous one at Shanty 2 Chic as a dining room centerpiece, and the very first blogger I ever followed, Sarah at Thrifty Decor Chick, made one for under her tv as well! Both are stunners, you gotta check them out. This would be THE perfect solution to my mantel dilemma - it's low, it's one solid thing, so I'm not adding a ton more accessories to busy it up...and how much fun will it be to decorate for all the seasons?! I had to make one.

So I did.

 

I built something, people!! This is huge news! HUGE. Sure, this is no big feat for most people, but this was a major accomplishment for me, let me tell ya. I was telling, ok, squealing, at my kids, "Look what Mommy just made!!"

God love my 5 year old. She was equally enthused. The 3 year old, not so much;)

So a quick recap of the deets. {Let me point out, I am the world's biggest rushing-no directions reading-on a whim decorator you'll ever meet, and I literally did this sitting on the floor in my kitchen, snapping pics with my camera phone because I wasn't actually convinced I could pull this off. If you want to see how the smart professionals do it, definitely check out those other bloggers, who aren't intimidated by power tools like yours truly.}

I used two pieces of 1x3x6s, each less than $5.

And here's everything else I used:

I carried a piece of wood over to my mantel, and realized it would be the perfect length at 3 feet, so I just marked it with a pencil right smack dab in the middle, and used a hand saw to cut it. I could have done this in no time, had I wanted to a) use the intimidating circular saw or b) wait for my husband to get home and use the circular saw. Patience and power tools are not my strong suit, so I just used the hand saw and it took an extra 2-3 minutes.

Then I placed the other piece in the middle, marked it with a pencil, and cut it.

Cut pieces for the sides and we were ready to start nailing.

Don't have a pic for some reason, but after this, I nailed the bottom piece into the long side there with 4 nails, then nailed the other long side into the bottom with 4 nails.

And this is when I realized, OMG I MADE A BOX!

I used Dark Walnut stain (which I already had from another project), let it dry all day outside, and sat it on my mantel, in awe of my accomplishment;)

My beautiful blue hydrangeas on the side of our house haven't bloomed yet (SO CLOSE!), so I ran out to Michaels to pick up some fake ones. They didn't have a huge selection of any other color than green, but I figured it would work. And get this. They cost $6.99 a piece, and I needed about 8. That's a lot of cash for some fake flowers, BUT...60% off, PLUS a 25% off coupon and my total, including tax, was $13.26!!! Heck yeah!

I LOVE it. And I can't thank those smart amazing bloggers enough for coming up with such a brilliant solution for my never-ending battle with the tv and mantel, and for instilling the confidence in me that I could do it too. I'd say this dilemma is officially solved with this cutie pie window box.

She ain't perfect, but for my first ever "construction" project, this box will always make me smile, knowing I actually built something.  
ME!
 :)

(Another!) Sisal Rope Lamp Makeover

So I have this plain lamp that I've always hated for some reason...

I know. I can hear your yawn from here;)

I knew I was going to do something with them, just wasn't sure what. Then I found the cutest lampshades at Target on clearance for $7.48!! Major score. And they were just the perfect size. (I keep saying *they* because I actually have two of these lamps, but I'm only using one for our bedroom).

I thought about spray painting...then it hit me!

Sisal rope!

If you've been a follower for some time, you know I have a thing for this stuff. There was the sisal cookie sheet tray, the sisal vase, the sisal rope planter, the sisal lampshade...

Now the sisal lamp!

I followed the same technique I've used in all the projects (which are included in those posts I linked above) - dab some hot glue, and wrap the rope around. Repeat until it's all done.

And since I had the rope leftover from another project, the only cost of this "new" lamp was the $7.48 shade;) Gotta love that!

Love that the rope beefs it up too - that lamp needed a few pounds;)

Have you done any projects with sisal rope? It really changes the look and feel of anything!

Old Mirror, New Life

Ah, another master bedroom post. Sorry, I'm sure you're getting tired of it, but it's kinda been consuming all my crafty energy these days. I do have a few non-orange and blue related posts up my sleeve coming soon, I promise;)

You know I LOVE shopping my house. I do it all. the. time. And since I love to switch things up constantly, there's always a stash in my laundry room of things that just aren't working at the moment, but could easily be transformed to work somewhere in my house at some other place and time.

This mirror was one of those items...

Bought it when we moved into our home years ago, and it was in the old family room for a while, then moved to the hallway...then it got the boot to the laundry room. I liked it, and didn't want to get rid of it...kinda just knew it would have new life someday so I held onto it.

Wouldn't you know it, while working on our master bedroom, there was the PERFECT spot for it! And I thought if it was a bold blue, it would just look phenomenal. So I grabbed what was left of the Glidden Deepest Aqua from my dresser makeover. I didn't want the mirror to match it exactly, so I mixed some white paint in there to lighten in a bit...then a little acrylic craft paint I had on hand in teal. I'm like a mad scientist these days when it comes to paint! Always concocting a one-of-a-kind-color until it matches my vision.

Then I added a teensy bit of plaster of paris so it would go on without any prep work, and also so that it would be super easy to distress. The plaster makes it feel very flat, and therefore easy to rough up. For the small amount of paint I was working with for this mirror, I only added a dash - maybe a teaspoon, if I were measuring. Once it was dry, I took some sandpaper and roughed it up, that was it. I didn't even really worry about taping the mirror off - I just used a smallish paintbrush, was (somewhat) careful by the edges, and just cleaned up the mirror really well when I was all done. I'm such a messy painter though - for those of you who'd rather do the prep work in the beginning so you're not cleaning afterwards, by all means, feel free to tape it up with some painter's tape to protect the mirror;)

Now I have the perfect mirror for our bedroom!

You can see the little bit of distressing here...

It's amazing how this one hum-drum mirror that was just taking up space in storage has literally become the focal point in our bedroom with a tiny bit of paint!

Next time you're looking for just the right thing, don't forget to shop your house first - you might have just the perfect solution! :)

Using an Old Sweater to Cover a Chair Pad

So I had this sweater. I think it was actually a hand-me-down from my sister. (Yes, I'm well into my 30s and still get hand me downs;) It's what happens when you're the fourth sister). Anyway, it's gotten a couple holes in the back. I don't wear it anymore. But it's orange. What color am I using in my master bedroom?! Orange. Naturally, I can't get rid of it. Cover a pillow? Maybe.

Or maybe...a CHAIR!

It struck me the other day, that maybe it would fit over this hideous chair pad on this GORGEOUS chair my mom gave me a while back. You might remember this pic from my Facebook page -

And you might recognize the one on the right as my daughter's bright pink "nightstand." 

I took the cutie on the left outside over the weekend for a nice bright white coat of spray paint (Valspar Paint and Primer in One in Gloss White), but hadn't made it to the fabric store to pick up just the right thing to cover the seat.

Enter my orange sweater.

First, I unscrewed the pad (it was just 4 screws underneath the chair pad), and popped out the staples of that lovely vinyl pattern...

...then slid the sweater over it...

Don't know why, but that picture makes me laugh. Like I'm getting a chair pad dressed...ANYway. Moving on...It fit!

I turned it over, tied the arms together, and stapled it all over.

Wow, those two shades of orange look totally different, huh? Weird. It's definitely not as light as it is in this shot.

So I screwed it back into place, and knew it needed something.

I grabbed some stencils I had (Martha Stewart's line at Michaels, gotta love it), a foam brush, some white craft paint, and got to work.

And here she is!

Not bad for 100% free, huh?!

Now to be honest, if I'm out and about and spot a to-die-for fabric, I'll probably buy it and replace this one, just because the paint makes it not the softest material. I would recommend fabric paint if you wanted to try something like this. But this chair is in our bedroom, so it's not like it's going to be sat on a whole lot. It's more decorative that anything. And it works for now, and was a lot of fun to make!

Hopes this gives you an idea the next time you're ready to toss a stained favorite sweater, or one with some holes in it...there's always a chair pad;)

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