Red Hen Home

Signs of the times…

2012-02-16T14:42:00.001-07:00

Things have been pretty quiet at the Red Hen Home lately (that’s not a bad thing). It’s still too cold here to do any big furniture painting, so I’ve been keeping busy with a few signs!

At least…that’s what I do when I’m not reading or eating Valentine cookies…

Here are a few samples of what I’ve accomplished over the last few days…

The discussions for future “in-home” projects are commencing! Hope to begin work on some changes for my long-neglected front room (it’s only been empty since August!) soon, and figure out what to do with my poorly planned laundry room!

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Linking up here:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday	Elizabeth & Co.
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Primitive & Proper	My Simple Home Life
Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Simply Klassic Sundays	My Repurposed Life
	It’s So Very Cheri
Common Ground

25 Things

2012-02-10T08:46:00.001-07:00

I’m typing this while my kids eat breakfast, so I can eat breakfast after they leave the table. I prefer to eat in peace!
We did NOT get an offer on our house after showing it for the 3rd time Monday night.
I’m miffed at these people who came and ate my cinnamon rolls and then didn’t have the courtesy to say, “You know, we changed our mind.”
So we’re staying here. That means I have a nearly uncontrollable urge to buy new furniture.
Or renovate my laundry room. Which shall it be?
We had six people come down with Strep throat in the last two weeks. Then I got it again. Sometimes life isn’t fair!
My favorite vintage-y consignment store closed in December. I am still in mourning.
I have a masters degree in Chemical Engineering. There are days when I think, “For this I went to college??”
But I wouldn’t trade being a wife and a mother for anything!
One of my dreams is to have fresh flowers in my house all the time. Normally I’m too ~~cheap~~ frugal to buy them, though.
I stole my husband away from the girl he was on a date with. But then, he stole me from the guy I was on a date with. Worked out well, don’t you think??
My last two babies were born at home. Yes, I am one of those women.
Frosted Mini Wheats is my breakfast cereal of choice.
I didn’t plant my garden last year. Still feel guilty over that one.
I think I want to buy my husband a smoker for his birthday. Because I want one.
I don’t drink soda pop. Not because I think it’s bad for you (although I do), but because I can’t stand carbonation!
I really want to build furniture. But I’m scared to try.
I love to get mail. I think it’s a leftover from my pre-e-mail college days.
I think fuzzy socks are one of the greatest inventions ever.
Right along with electric mattress pads!
Three years ago I was in a car accident that shattered my right wrist. I am grateful for the use of my hand every day.
My favorite people in the world are my brothers and sisters. I hope that will be true for my kids when they grow up!
I want to travel someday. But I’d prefer if someone else did all the planning for me.
I’ve lived outside of Montana for longer than I lived in Montana now, but it will always be home to me.
I think “capable” is a beautiful word. I hope people think I am.

Another Cedar Chest

2012-02-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

One of my sisters lives about 45 minutes away from me. It’s not too far…except that it’s TOO FAR too much of the time! We both like to watch the on-line classified ads, and the funny thing is that everything I want seems to be near her, and everything SHE wants seems to be near me!
Anyway, my sister loves cedar chests as much (if not more) than I do! Last summer I finished this one for her:

She is an amazing seamstress, and she needed somewhere to store her vast collection of fabric.

The hunt didn’t end there…next there was this one which she wanted to have refinished for her oldest daughter.

I painted the base in a soft gray “oops” paint that I transformed into homemade chalk paint.

I used a black glaze to highlight the pretty moldings…

…and I painted the handles with oil-rubbed bronze spray paint.

I used “ebony” Minwax stain (for the first time) on the top of the chest, and I really liked it! I think it took three coats to get the color as dark as I wanted, but I like that you can still see the wood grain through it.

The bottom drawer had originally been felt-lined, but the felt had—shall we say—“decomposed” over time! I sanded out the fuzzy remains, and then lined the drawer with a fun pink fabric (I used Mod Podge under and over the fabric to seal it in there). I think it is my favorite feature of the whole chest!

Just yesterday I picked up another cedar chest for my other niece…so I need to get motivated to paint some more furniture!

…and…the weather needs to warm up!

Unfortunately (but predictably), the groundhog saw his shadow, so there’s six more weeks of winter for Utah!

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Linking up here:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday	Elizabeth & Co.
Domestically Speaking’s Power of Paint	Stylish Once Again
	No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Primitive & Proper	I Heart Naptime
Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Simply Klassic Sundays	My Repurposed Life
	It’s So Very Cheri
Common Ground

More Musings

2012-02-04T19:27:00.001-07:00

First of all, I promise there will be a furniture project posted tomorrow!

But for tonight, I thought I’d ~~whine a little~~ fill you in on the latest bump in our roller-coaster house ride!

As I mentioned on Wednesday, we decided to take our house off the market on Tuesday. Tuesday night we got a call from an agent wanting to show our house the next day, and we said, “no.” That was hard! …but it was also probably a good thing, as I have continued to have sick kids!

Thursday morning, I get a call from our real estate agent. Three weeks ago, there was a couple who made an offer on our house, but we weren’t able to come to an agreement. Apparently, they were having second thoughts. Were we still willing to talk?

Well…OK…I guess….maybe…

After thinking about it for a while, we told them we would be willing…but that the price we had originally countered with wasn’t going to work for us. We had actually offered to sell for $2000 less than what I thought our “bottom line” should be…so I moved the price back UP to that line!

And so we waited.

When I didn’t hear anything back by noon on Friday, I figured it was a dead deal. OK, fine.

You know where this is going, right?

Friday afternoon our agent calls as says they are willing to consider it, but would we be willing to include any home furnishings for that price?

Well…OK…I guess….maybe…

We thought about it some more, and offered to include the couch and loveseat in our family room. Quite honestly, I have wanted to replace them, and it would be nice NOT to have to haul them back up the basement stairs!

And so we waited some more!

Today our agent calls and says they want to come look at the house one more time, Monday evening. We agreed.

So…what do you think? Do you think we’re going to sell our house after all, AFTER pulling it from the market? I don’t know what to think at this point!

My husband and I spent some in a quiet, peaceful place this afternoon, thinking and praying. And the thought that came to my mind was this one:

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and He shall direct thy paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

And so…I will try to do just that!

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Thanks for letting me vent!

A Beautiful Place

2012-02-01T19:39:00.001-07:00

If you’ve been following along with me for the last couple of months, you know that I have been searching for a beautiful place…

(You can read more about it here, here, and here.)

…but the search is over.

No, we did not sell our house. We have taken it off the market.

I won’t lie to you--it is difficult for me to let go of the dream of a newer, bigger, better home.

NOT that I don’t love the home we are in. I am grateful for it every day! But I finally had to decide that there were other things more important that “newer, bigger, better.”

In four short years, my little chicklets will start leaving the nest…what do we really need more space for?

And at the same time, we’ll have college and missions to worry about…do we really want to have more of a mortgage to pay?

We love our neighbors, and the kids are doing well in school…do we really want to start over?

Well, I can bet you can guess the way we answered all those questions!

No, our home isn’t perfect. And the garage certainly isn’t perfect! (We still can’t fit both cars in along with the freezer and extra refrigerator!)

But it is our home, and it is beautiful to us.

(And I certainly won’t stop trying to make it more beautiful!)

You will never know how much your comments, advice, and encouragement have meant to me as we struggled to decide what was best for our family.

So much more I want to say, so much appreciation I wish I could convey, but I can’t type through the tears…

…so I will just say thank you.

Happily Ever After

2012-01-30T09:11:00.002-07:00

One of my “virtual friends” noted that I have been a little MIA lately…sorry about that! My furniture projects tend to slack off in the winter months; it’s just too cold to paint outside! And then sometimes…life happens. Last weekend I got a nasty bout of strep throat, and then, being the caring, sharing person that I am…I proceeded to pass it along to two of my boys and my husband! Then my daughter tripped going UP the stairs at her school and gave herself a nasty sprained ankle, so she is in a boot and on crutches for the next few weeks. Whew! It’s been quite a week!

But I do have a project to share! Last fall I came across this sign from My Primitive Boutique and fell in love:

I had a niece who was getting married in December (yes, it already happened), and I thought this would be so perfect as part of her wedding decorations. However, the sign above was $159, which is a little out of my price range!!

So I decided to re-create the sign on my own. Using another of my salvaged cupboard doors (you can see other cupboard door projects here, here, and here), I base-coated the door black, then used my Silhouette to cut vinyl out for the words (those are the blue letters you see).

I brushed plain white glue on the board, and let it dry for a few minutes until it was just tacky.

(Note: you can also use a purchased crackle medium for this step, and to be honest—I think it works better. It’s not that expensive—especially if you “borrow” it from a friend! But use what you have on hand. Or what your friends have on hand.)

Then I painted a creamy white paint over the board, sticky glue, vinyl letters, and all! While the paint was still wet, I removed the vinyl.

You can see that the edges are a little rough, but that can be cleaned up with paint later if necessary. However, since the board will also get sanded and glazed, it’s not really a big deal!

The crackle finish takes a while to really show itself, but it’s so cool when it does!

At my niece’s wedding reception, the sign was displayed on a large floor easel right outside the door. It was super cute!

I have made two more of these signs for people who noticed them on my “Available Items” tab at the top of the page (mine were a LOT cheaper than $159).

The second one is going out in the mail today, but before I packaged it up, I put in on a easel outside my front door before some people came to look at our house!

I never claimed to be subtle!

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This project was featured at Simply Klassic Home.

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Linking up here:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday Elizabeth & Co.

Domestically Speaking’s Power of Paint Stylish Once Again

Hookin’ Up with House of Hepworths No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday

Friday Remodelaholic 2805

My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday

Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special The DIY Show Off

Primitive & Proper I Heart Naptime

Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Perfectly Imperfect {Primp}

Mod Vintage Life My Repurposed Life

Too Much Time on My Hands It’s So Very Cheri

Common Ground Simply Klassic Sundays

The “Painted Hive” Coffee Table

2012-01-23T06:35:00.002-07:00

Last fall I was contacted by Shelby, who was interested in having me re-do a coffee table for her. She wondered, “Had I ever seen the round table at The Painted Hive?”

Have I ever!

Kristine’s beautiful furniture makeovers are an integral part of my Pinterest “Great Furniture” folder!

Shelby brought me this lovely coffee table which she had found on KSL.com, and asked me to refinish it ala “Painted Hive,” although slightly less distressed.

The base was painted in a Behr Ultra paint color-matched to Sherwin-Williams “Creamy” paint. The top is stained with three coats of Minwax Antique Walnut stain, and then I hand-distressed and glazed the base to bring a little “age” to the piece.

I love the way the white shelf looks on the bottom!

Shelby also brought me this little pine table to get a similar makeover.

She planned on replacing the knob herself, so her it sits—knobless…

…but I think it will be a great complement to the “Painted Hive” coffee table!

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Linking up here:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday	Elizabeth & Co.
Domestically Speaking’s Power of Paint	Stylish Once Again
Thrifty Décor Chick	No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Primitive & Proper	I Heart Naptime
Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Simply Klassic Sundays	My Repurposed Life
	It’s So Very Cheri
Common Ground

Lighten up!

2012-01-19T06:00:00.001-07:00

I truly love this 15-pane window that I have hanging on my kitchen wall. I usually try to change it up a few times over the course of the year, but I’ve wanted to do something a little lighter and brighter for a while now.

So after Christmas, I just left my funky twiggy garland and some red beads hanging up for a while…

…until one day the mood STRUCK and I got out the paintbrush! I slapped two shades of white on, sanded lightly, and glazed it with some dark brown stain…

…added a little Valentine’s day sign: “Be Mine Forever”…

I love how it sounds like a command!

…and I think I like the new look! How about you?

Love Makes the World Go Round

2012-01-17T14:29:00.002-07:00

I just barely got around to showing my post-Christmas buffet, but now it’s been changed up for Valentine’s Day!

The jumping-off point for me was when I found an out-of-date globe at the thrift store. I painted it with chalkboard spray paint, and wrote “Love makes the world go round” on it. I wish I was one of those people who had beautiful handwriting (especially on a chalkboard)—but alas, it is not one of my gifts!

I covered five balls with strips of maps cut out of an old atlas I found at a garage sale. They make interesting little globes, as long as you don’t expect them to be geographically accurate!

Using my Silhouette, I cut out a bunch of hearts from the same old atlas, and sewed them together to make a banner.

Other map hearts were sewn together in pairs, then folded to make a 3D “ornament” for my twigs leftover from the funky twiggy garland I made for Christmas.

My other globe got to join the display, with a few more map spheres.

I tried to go along with the ‘theme” by writing, “The best place to be is wherever YOU are” for my family. Quite frankly, I don’t think they ‘got’ it!

So I have to ask…do you ‘get’ the theme?

Maybe it only makes sense in MY head!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Linking up here:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday It’s So Very Cheri

Common Ground My Repurposed Life

Hookin’ Up with House of Hepworths {Primp}

Elizabeth & Co. 2805

My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday

Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special DIY Show Off

Primitive & Proper A Simply Klassic Home

Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party

January Buffet (with a new treasure!)

2012-01-14T19:44:00.002-07:00

First of all, thank you to all of you who responded with thoughtful comments, encouragement, and advice on our home situation! I can’t begin to tell you how much it means to me.

If you didn’t get a response back from me, that is because you don’t have an e-mail linked up to your account, and I would love for you to consider changing that situation!

We actually had an offer on our home today…for a mere $20,000 less than our asking price! We politely said, “No, thank you.” We’re motivated, but not desperate!

On to more fun things…

Do you remember my Christmas buffet?

Well, the stockings came down, and the hurricane lamps moved to other places. I pulled all of my poinsettias together, including the ones from the suitcase wall, and made a new arrangement:

It was simple and pretty, and highlighted my beautiful flowers…

…but it still seemed to be missing something.

Lucky for me, a brief stop at a new antique store revealed that perfect “something” to me!

Do you like my new sled?? I adore it!

My boys are disappointed that it is to be decorative rather than functional!

And guess what else?? Even my husband likes this one!

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Linking up to Brambleberry Cottage.

Home Goals: Find One!

2012-01-11T21:59:00.001-07:00

There has been a lot of talk on various blogs of “home goals” in the last couple of weeks…usually that consists of a list of home improvement projects we would like to tackle in the coming year…

I’m not jumping on that particular bandwagon, because I’m not exactly sure where “home” is going to be!

You might remember that back in November my husband and I reached The Last Straw which led to listing our home for sale.

We decided that the time had come to look for a home that would suit our family’s needs (and wants, let’s be honest here) a little better. When we moved here over eight years ago, we really didn’t envision that this would be our forever home…but it’s not an easy thing to think of moving a family of eight anywhere!

So we found a home that we thought was “it,” and made an offer on it. However, the purchase of that home was continent on the sale of our home, and that hasn’t happened yet. In the meantime, another party—who doesn’t have a home to sell first—has made an offer on the same home, so it looks like they will get it instead of us! <sigh>

Really, I have no hard feelings about that. I don’t it was THE place for us, and I’m sure there will be another…

The question is…what to do next??

My dear husband is tired of talking about it, so I am turning to you, my dear virtual friends… I know YOU have a wealth of greater experience, and I am hoping to draw on that. I would so love any words of wisdom you can offer!

So, put yourself in my shoes.

You are lucky enough to have a husband who makes a comfortable income, and his job is about as secure as is possible in this economy.
You have six children, ranging from 4 to 14. You want your home to be a place where they will eventually bring spouses and grandchildren.
You love for your home to be a family gathering place. Having 24 people over for dinner is a common occurrence.
You are very frugal, and have a difficult time spending large amounts of money!

So my first round of questions are these:

Which is more important, getting the best house for the money, or getting the best house for the most money you can reasonably afford?
Would you prefer to buy a pre-existing home or build one, and why?

I’m going to stop there for tonight! If you’re willing, there will surely be another round of questions for the whole “build vs. buy” question at a later date!

Compass Coffee Table

2012-01-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

Oh, coffee tables…how I have missed you…

After my coffee-table-painting-spree last spring (all beginning with the French Chocolate table), there has been a dearth of coffee tables in my life.

It’s been very sad.

OK, that’s not really the truth. The truth is that this particular coffee table has been sitting around half-finished in my garage for months. But my post-Christmas don’t-know-what-to-do-with-myself-itis finally made me get it done!

I fell in love with Vintage Revival’s painted compass rug back in…let’s see, I think it was May—and promptly saved it to my “bookmarks.” (See, it was so long ago, it was pre-Pinterest!)

I thought the compass idea would be great for a table, so I went on the hunt for a round coffee table and found this one:

After sanding, I base-coated it white, but then I dry-brushed two or three (I can’t really remember anymore) other shades of white and cream onto it to give the color a little depth.

Then it sat…and sat…and sat…in my garage. It got dusty and dirty; it got paint remover spilled on it…it got circles of stain from the stain can on it…

I call it “character–building.”

Finally this week I decided to just GITTER-DONE (ala Funky Junk)! After touching up the paint, I generally followed Mandi’s tutorial, and with the aid of a yardstick and a 45-degree triangle, I drew my compass with a pencil. (I also did a Google search for “how to find the center of a circle,” because I no longer remember. I used the instructions here.)

Guess what? You can erase pencil marks off of paint pretty good. Thank heavens.

I painted the compass design with plain old acrylic paint, while crawling around on the floor next to the table. My knees are still sore.

I don’t really have too many intermediate pictures…sorry; my kids have to go to school sometimes…so let’s just jump in to the “after,” OK?

The distressed the table pretty heavily, going down to the wood in places, but also showing off the layers of “white.”

I glazed the whole thing with Jacobean stain mixed with Martha Stewart glazing medium.

I really, really love it!

Hmmm…maybe I should try this on a rug!

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This project has been featured at It’s So Very Cheri, Better After, Stylish Once Again, Elizabeth & Co., Bless My Nest, and…

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Linking up here:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday Elizabeth & Co.

Domestically Speaking’s Power of Paint Stylish Once Again

Hookin’ Up with House of Hepworths No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday

Friday Remodelaholic 2805

My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday

Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special The DIY Show Off

Primitive & Proper Thrifty Décor Chick

Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Perfectly Imperfect {Primp}

Mod Vintage Life My Repurposed Life

Too Much Time on My Hands It’s So Very Cheri

Common Ground Artsy Girl Connection

Painting by Numbers

2012-01-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

My love affair with numbers on furniture is well-documented!

One of my earliest projects was a numbered--and lettered--desk and chair (click on images to be taken to the blog post):

Then there have been several sets of barstools:

A couple of tables (Roman numerals still count!):

…and even a chest of drawers.

So although I fell head over heels for this set of old wooden folding chairs at my favorite consignment shop last fall,

…I thought they could be improved a little—with numbers.

Yes, this is what I do with the nervous energy that remains after the holidays!

These chairs have been featured at It’s So Very Cheri and {Primp}!

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Linking up here:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday Too Much Time on My Hands

Domestically Speaking’s Power of Paint

Hookin’ Up with House of Hepworths No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday

Friday Remodelaholic 2805

My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday

Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special The DIY Show Off

Primitive & Proper I Heart Naptime

Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Perfectly Imperfect {Primp}

Mod Vintage Life My Repurposed Life

It’s So Very Cheri

Common Ground

Two-Tone Table

2012-01-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

I actually wanted to call this the “Two-Friends-Two-Tone-Table,” but that was kind of a mouthful!

Once upon a time, one of my dear friends got it into her head that she wanted me to refinish a dining set for her. The fact that she lives 750 miles away from me was no deterrent to her…nor was the fact that she has never physically seen any of the pieces I have refinished. She was determined!

So the search began—long distance and on-line—to find a suitable table. We were on a tight budget, since her husband is one of the nation’s many unemployed.

Enter Friend 2. Upon hearing of our search, she offered to let me have a vintage dining set that had belonged to her husband’s mother. Yes, let me have. As in—for free. She knew it was for another friend of mine, and that they had no money. So out of the goodness of her heart, she donated to our “cause.”

Friend 1 and Friend 2 don’t know each other, and probably will never meet. But bless them both, for having faith in ME to put this little transaction together!

The table was completely disassembled when I first saw it, but I fell for the chunky legs…hard.

The table top has pull-out leaves on each end and a beautiful apron (it’s the piece on the right, leaning up against the dresser that later became yellow).

Plus a pretty stretcher (it’s not quite so blurry in real life).

And six chairs, one of which is an arm chair.

Friend 1 only ever saw the pictures, but she trusted me to bring this dining set into the current century! I’m sure she had a few misgivings along the way, though!

There were a lot of loose joints and such, so I had to do some gluing (this Bessey clamp was a marvel to work with—I borrowed it from a friend, and almost didn’t give it back):

…as well as some creative repair work on the arm chair. The dowel had broken off, so I used a 3/8” paddle bit to drill out the old dowel, and then I cut a new one to replace it and re-glued the arm back on the chair.

I enlisted some of my short help to sand chairs…

He looks thrilled, doesn’t he??

I sanded the table top completely down—you can see how dark the original finish was on the leaves!

The rest of the table top was not in nearly that good of condition!

The grooves on the top of the table reminded me of a checkerboard, and inspired me to try a two-color staining job. The only problem was that the grooves did not extend down the sides of the table top—but that was nothing a little work with a handsaw and some black paint couldn’t fix!

I painted the base of the table (and the chairs) black, and distressed them to highlight the turnings and carvings.

The dark stain on the table is Minwax Antique Walnut, and the lighter stain is Pecan.

Here you can see it with both leaves extended.

I love how the checkerboard effect shows up even on the sides with the leaves closed.

I wasn’t brave enough to pick out fabric for the chairs for someone else, so with the help of another friend, we took lots of pictures of bolts of fabric and sent them (via iPhone) before she chose this pretty black floral/paisley print.

The fabric on the seats wasn’t really dirty or in bad condition, so I didn’t remove it—I just added a new layer of batting and stapled the new fabric over all…plus a bit of my sleeve… (whoops!)

And there you have it: the Two Tone Table! I really love the look of it. It wouldn’t have been bad at all in my now-empty front room…

…but alas…my friend came and took it away (yes, from 750 miles away).

I hope it’s happy in its new home!

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Thanks to It’s So Very Cheri, Stylish Once Again, My Repurposed Life, and Simple Home Life for featuring this project!

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Linking up here:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday Topsy Turvy Tuesdays

Domestically Speaking’s Power of Paint Someday Crafts’ Whatever Goes Wednesday

Hookin’ Up with House of Hepworths No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday

Friday Remodelaholic 2805

My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday

Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special The DIY Show Off

Primitive & Proper I Heart Naptime

Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Perfectly Imperfect {Primp}

Mod Vintage Life My Repurposed Life

Stylish Once Again It’s So Very Cheri

Common Ground Thrifty Décor Chick

Year in Review

2011-12-31T20:12:00.001-07:00

I haven’t been on the computer too much this last week. First there was Christmas, then a niece’s wedding, then a Montana trip to visit my parents (and take down Mom’s Christmas decorations!)…anyway, not a lot of time for blogging!

But while the New Year’s Eve movie-of-choice is on (Unknown with Liam Neeson), I thought I’d follow a blogging tradition and pick a favorite project from each month to share

Hope you enjoy the journey!

January

The cabinet at the top of the stairs got a much-needed facelift! (However, it got replaced in favor of something with a little more pizzazz in September, but I enjoyed the change until then!)

February

A friend and I threw a baby shower for a neighbor! It was fun to decorate with ‘boy’ things.

March

My love of red came out in this cute numbered chest of drawers.

April

I shared how to replace a cane seat on a chair with kitchen utensils.

May

I knocked off an Anthropologie dresser, but in reverse!

June

Without a doubt, my most popular project EVER has been my French Chocolate table! That’s OK, because it’s one of my favorites too! It even inspired my to sell my sectional and buy a couch so I could keep it.

July

I was on a bit of a coffee table kick for a while! This postcard table is another favorite; my little sister claimed this one!

August

I experimented with a little “Steampunk” in August. I used old water valve handles as drawer knobs on this chest of drawers (it was claimed by another sister)!

September

I experimented with DIY chalk paint in September.

October

I dressed up the entrance to my home with vintage suitcase shelves.

And I’ll cheat a little in October, because there are two more projects that I just loved…

my Ballard Designs theater room knock-offs

and the TV armoire I converted to a sewing armoire.

November

I “discovered” a simple way to do image transfers using a home printer and an overhead transparency sheet.

December

And just two weeks before Christmas, I refinished my kitchen counter tops using a Giani Granite painting kit!

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Thank you for all the support, kind comments, and helpful suggestions you have offered over the past year! I feel very lucky in my community of Internet friends. You inspire me and motivate me.

I hope the New Year will be a fun and productive one for all of us!

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Giani Granite Review part 2 & Winner!

2011-12-26T21:21:00.001-07:00

In case you missed it…my review of the Giani Granite counter top refinishing kit is here.

As I mentioned, I was NOT enjoying the whole wait-14-days-for-the-polyurethane-to-cure aspect!

Well, guess what…

…I didn’t have to.

I e-mailed the link to my review to the Giani representative I had been working with, and she assured me that I really COULD start using my counter tops! Sure, it takes 14 days to fully cure, but I could start putting my small items back on.

I was so delighted…and relieved!

So although I ended up waiting about a week before I used my counters, by last Wednesday night we were pretty much back in business, as follows:

Wednesday I spread a tablecloth on the peninsula, but then we used it for a pot-luck dinner for eleven friends.
Thursday I baked 25 loaves of bread for neighbor gifts, and assembled about 15 bags of almond roca, pecan crunch, and white chocolate macadamia popcorn.
Saturday I made two pans of Potatoes Benson, Christmas Jell-o (my kids love it), Hawaiian haystacks, two pumpkin pies, one cherry pie, and one raspberry brownie torte.
Sunday I made bacon, eggs, Bubble bread, hot spinach-artichoke dip, ham, rolls, and spinach salad.

So I would say the counters have gotten quite the work-out in the past week! And guess what? No chips, no scratches!

I’m hoping they will continue to hold up as well after they are fully cured!

So without further ado, the winner of the Giani Granite giveaway is:

Anne from Creative Southern Home, who said:

Congratulations, Anne! I will be e-mailing you.

This Christmas…

2011-12-24T20:34:00.001-07:00

This Christmas:

Mend a quarrel.

Seek out a forgotten friend.

Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust.

Write a letter.

Give a soft answer.

Encourage youth.

Manifest your loyalty in word and deed.

Keep a promise.

Forgo a grudge.

Forgive an enemy.

Apologize.

Try to understand.

Examine your demands on others.

Think first of someone else.

Be kind.

Be gentle.

Laugh a little more.

Express your gratitude.

Welcome a stranger.

Gladden the heart of a child.

Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth.

Speak your love and then speak it again.

Howard W. Hunter

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May you keep the Spirit of Christmas in your heart all the year!

Love,

Korrie

The Day Before the Night Before Christmas

2011-12-23T05:00:00.000-07:00

We used to listen to this song over and over each December 23…

….now I torture my children with it!

Just remember: It’s no good being good for a day!

Christmas Table

2011-12-22T17:00:00.001-07:00

For the past three years, I have been part of a “Dinner Group.” Twelve women get together for a pot-luck supper on the 3rd Wednesday of each month, rotating so each gets the chance to play hostess.

Last night, it was my turn!

It’s not too fancy, but I thought I’d show you my holiday table.

Someday I hope to have a beautiful farmhouse table and lots of pretty dishes…(or maybe not…I don’t look forward to figuring out how to store them)…

…but for now my every day dishes, cups, and silverware work just fine. They just get dressed up a little for Christmas! I used miniature glittery Christmas balls for napkin rings. I have NEVER used napkin rings before! This is super fancy for me!

My “12 Days of Christmas” tablecloth and napkins (purchased after Christmas several years ago) get pressed into service often during the holidays because I love them so much(mostly I ignore niceties like tablecloths). I dressed up the center of the table with ribbons running the length of the table, and a gathered strip of tulle in the middle.

One of my lovely poinsettias that I showed here was dying (no, I don’t know what I did to it), so I clipped off the good blooms and placed them in a few old bottles. If you don’t know the trick to preserving poinsettia blooms, here it is: you have to burn the ends of the stems right after cutting. Who knew?

Then I added a few glittery Christmas ornaments and lots of snowflakes and stars around everything.

It was strangely satisfying to set a pretty table! Maybe I’ll be hooked now!

Don’t count on it.

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Don’t forget to enter the Giani Granite Giveaway! Ends 12/26.

Giani Granite Giveaway!

2011-12-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I showed off my “new” kitchen counter tops, courtesy of Giani Granite!

Giani Granite has generously offered to provide one of my readers with a kit of their own! They have six different color options to choose from, and each can have multiple different looks (click on the links to see some of the other shades).

There’s Sicilian Sand (my choice):

Bombay Black (Gail @ My Repurposed Life reviewed this one):

Chocolate Brown (I almost picked this one):

Plus there’s Roma Red, Emerald Green, and Sapphire Blue!

Each kit comes with a primer/base coat and three mineral accent colors, plus the polyurethane top coat and the rollers and sponges necessary for application. An instructional DVD is also included, BUT there are more helpful videos available on-line. Don’t miss them like I did!!

Note: Each kit is supposed to cover 35 sq. ft. However, one kit covered my 45 sq. ft. kitchen, if you don’t count the extra polyurethane I used trying to get the “perfect” finish.

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There are 4 ways to enter the giveaway! Leave a separate comment for each one.

Leave a comment telling me which color you would choose! Please leave your e-mail address if it isn’t linked up to your account!
“Like” Giani Granite on Facebook and tell them Red Hen Home sent you! Come back here and leave me a comment telling me you did.
Facebook, blog, or tweet about the giveaway, and leave me a comment telling me you did.
If you follow Red Hen Home, leave a comment telling me you do for an extra entry!

Good luck! Giveaway will close Monday, December 26, 2011, at 9 p.m. MST. Winner will be chosen via random number generator.

Review: Giani Granite–Countertop Makeover

2011-12-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

I have issues with my kitchen.

The problem is…there’s nothing really wrong with it….

it’s just not me.

The alder cabinets have weathered to an unbecoming yellow. The counter tops are in perfectly fine shape, except they’re gray….and I am neither a yellow NOR a gray person!

This is what my kitchen really looks like. No…actually, it’s cleaner than usual.

So I’ve been dreaming of replacing my counter tops and painting the cabinets, and I thought maybe 2012 might be the year. (If we didn’t have to spend our tax return on things like hot water heaters and water softeners, that is—that’s what happened in 2011!)

But Christmas came a little early this year!

Giani Granite offered me the chance to review one of their counter top refinishing kits, and I jumped at the chance! I figured, if I loved it—I wouldn’t have to shell out the money for new. If I hated it…I wouldn’t really be any further behind!

Decisions, decisions…Giani Granite offers SIX different color choices, but depending on how you apply the paint, you can get many different looks. I chose Sicilian Sand, to go along with my dream of a lighter, brighter kitchen (and yes, now that I’ve painted the counter tops I REALLY want to tackle the cabinets).

The process is not particularly difficult, although there IS a difficult step (I’ll get to that later)..actually two.

First, clean your counter tops very well. I used an SOS pad and rinsed twice. And yes, I used the SOS pad even on the wood edges of my counters, since I was planning to paint them too.

Next, I taped above the backsplash and on top of my dishwasher. I also taped around my sink.

You have to remove all silicone caulk, as paint will not stick to it. Lucky for me, I only had caulk on this little section (it covered the seam between the countertop and backsplash), because it’s a bugger to remove! This little cabinet was an “after-thought” added to my kitchen, and the color on the top never did match the rest—another good reason to paint!

Next, you roll on a primer/base coat of black. As far as I can tell, ALL the color choices use this same black primer. It’s water based, but not latex. It sticks really well, especially where you drip it on the floor—but then you have another use for those SOS pads you just bought…

Anyway, the base coat has to dry for 8 hours at 70 degrees. I did this after I got my little kids to bed, and just left the heat turned up for the night.

See? I covered up the ugly wood edges! That made me so happy.

The fun part came the next morning! Using an included sea-sponge, I applied the three accent colors over the base coat. You do this in sections, using all three colors at once. This gives the layered, blended look I wanted.

Here’s what it looked like after one color (middle section):

Now two:

And finally three:

I didn’t stop there. I went back over the sections with more dark or more light color, working in “flows” of color to get a more natural look. In addition, I also did a little color mixing so I actually had five shades to work with and not just three! I really liked the extra depth of color this gave me.

You can kinda-sorta see a lighter “flow” in the bottom left corner. I think that’s my favorite part of the whole counter!

After the color-work has dried for four hours, then you apply an automotive polyurethane. That’s the tricky part! This stuff is very thin, and it dries really fast. It has a great shine, but if you accidentally roll over a spot that has started to dry, or if you miss a spot---you’re going to know it, because it will leave a dull spot, or you may see a roller line.

Although I watched the DVD that came with the kit and read the instructions carefully, I had a very difficult time getting a smooth finish on my large peninsula. Too late I found that there were more helpful videos available on-line. By that point, I literally had 7 coats of poly on the peninsula! It’s still not perfect—

but I. am. done.

It’s good enough! I don’t think anyone but me will notice the imperfections.

You can see that I didn’t do a great job of pressing down my tape. Learn from my mistakes!

I had to go back with a small brush and touch up where the paint bled.

On the main sections of my counters, there is a metal strip the hides the seam with the backsplash. I don’t know if it’s “recommended” or not…but I just painted right over it!

The second hard part of the process is that it takes 14 days for the polyurethane to fully cure. That’s a long, long time for a family of eight to go without their counter tops!

We “make do” with folding tables here…

…and here…

…and yes, it’s putting a crimp in my holiday baking and candy-making! However, we are still trying to sell our house, and I figured the ONLY time I could take two weeks “off” from having it ready for a showing was in the two weeks before Christmas! NO ONE is going to be house hunting right now…right?? (So far, it’s working!)

Now, I fully recognize that it’s difficult to see the difference in the “look” from photographs…but trust me, it’s there. Instead of grays I have warm shades of brown, and I *don’t* have that wood trim anymore!

So while I still can’t fully use them, I briefly added a few accessories so you can see what they look like…

And now I want to paint my cupboards more than ever! I’m thinking a light almond color would be really nice in here.

So what do you think? Is this something you would ever consider trying? A Giani Granite refinishing kit costs around $80. Compared to $3500+ for real granite, I think I made out pretty well!

You can also visit My Repurposed Life for a review of the Bombay Black Giani Granite kit.

If you would be interested in trying Giani Granite in your home, be sure to visit HERE for a GIVEAWAY! Giani has generously agreed to provide one of their kits to a Red Hen Home reader—your choice of their 6 colors!

Disclosure: Giani Granite supplied me with a kit to review free of charge, but all opinions are mine. I received no compensation to write this review.

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Linking up here:

Domestically Speaking’s Power of Paint	Someday Crafts’ Whatever Goes Wednesday
Hookin’ Up with House of Hepworths	No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Beyond the Picket Fence	I Heart Naptime
Shabby Nest’s Frugal Friday	{Primp}
	My Repurposed Life

Stocking Pillow Winner (and a teaser)!

2011-12-16T08:38:00.002-07:00

Thank you to everyone who left sweet comments on the Stocking Pillow Giveaway. I was truly touched by the thoughtful and selfless gifts so many of you wished you could give!

Without further ado, the winner of the gray stocking pillow is:

Shellie B., who said:

Congratulations, Shellie! I will be e-mailing you for your address.

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Guess what crazy thing I decided to do in the two weeks before Christmas? I re-finished my countertops! Next week I will show them off, and there will be a giveaway for the great product I used!

Kitchen countertops BEFORE – gray and with a wood border I didn’t like…

More to come!

Christmas Hurricanes

2011-12-13T06:00:00.002-07:00

Hurricane lamps, that is. Didn’t want anyone to panic for me!

I don’t have a mantle, but I do have a lovely buffet that is the first thing you see when you come into my house…it’s my substitute mantel!

I had it all decorated, but I was feeling vaguely dissatisfied with it. It had a lovely vintage ceramic tree on it that is special to me, but I really didn’t care about/love the other pieces that I had displayed.

Then one Saturday I had to throw together a centerpiece for a family gathering, and I pulled out my three glass hurricane lamps.

The small center one I picked up at a garage sale this past summer, but the other two are very special—one came out of my paternal grandparents’ home, and the other out of my maternal grandparents’ home (where it was actually used). I put them together on a thrift-store tray I painted, and filled the bottom with some faux snow and some bits of greenery (real) and sparkly berries (not real). I loved the arrangement because I felt a real connection and sense of pride for these hurricanes…so I decided to ditch the original buffet décor and put my hurricanes up instead!

I placed an old cupboard door behind the lamps so they wouldn’t get lost against the beige wall. With a couple of my beloved poinsettias (you can see my others here) and some bead garland, I love the buffet’s new look.

Above the buffet hang my children’s stockings. I cross-stitched each one for each child’s first Christmas—tricky with two December babies, but I managed it (barely)!

I have told my children that the stockings never get to leave. They think I’m kidding. I’m really not!

I love my buffet so much more now that it includes things that are unique and special to me. I think I’m tired of decorating just for the sake of decorating!

How about you?

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Linking up here:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday Topsy Turvy Tuesdays

Someday Crafts’ Whatever Goes Wednesday

Hookin’ Up with House of Hepworths No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday

Friday Remodelaholic Common Ground

My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday Sisters of the Wild West

Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special The DIY Show Off

I Heart Naptime

Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Perfectly Imperfect {Primp}

My Repurposed Life

Funky Twiggy Garland

2011-12-11T06:00:00.002-07:00

If you haven’t seen it yet, you need to check out Donna’s Christmas Garland Made from Twigs at Funky Junk Interiors:

Donna posted the tutorial for the garland on Wednesday, and I think I had one of my own made by Thursday night—that’s how much I love it! (I usually don’t work that fast.)

At Christmas time, our advent calendar hangs in front of the old window in our kitchen. I had some faux-snowy-piney garland hanging over it, but I wasn’t feelin’ the love…I like this twiggy garland so much better!

I bought a bundle of decorative branches at Hobby Lobby. With my 40% off coupon, they cost me about $8. I liked that half were dark and half light, so my garland isn’t exactly the same as Donna’s! I alternated colors the whole way—but I think it would have looked cool in larger ‘chunks’ of color as well (maybe three at at time?).

I tied my twigs together with red-and-white baker’s twine for a little subtle color. Then I dismantled a Christmas pick of faux berries and wired a berry about every 12 twigs.

As per Donna’s suggestions, I turned on a little Netflix and just tied twigs! (I think it only took about 1 1/2 episodes of Smallville—not too long!)

It's a fun, easy project. What do you think? Is it something you might like to try?

And what do you think…is it time for my window to be a lighter color, maybe?

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Linking up here:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday Topsy Turvy Tuesdays

Someday Crafts’ Whatever Goes Wednesday

Hookin’ Up with House of Hepworths No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday

Friday Remodelaholic

My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday Sisters of the Wild West

Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special The DIY Show Off

I Heart Naptime

Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Perfectly Imperfect {Primp}

My Repurposed Life

Stocking Pillows–tutorial & a giveaway!

2011-12-10T07:38:00.002-07:00

This is a re-post of a tutorial for my Pottery Barn knock-off pillows that appeared on Craft Gossip in November.

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Pottery Barn has terrific pillows, no doubt about it. However, they also seem to be rather fond of their pillows, based on the price they put on them! For example, their Knit Stocking Lumbar Pillow cover is $49.

Yep, just the cover—pillow not included!

I actually visited the store (for the second time in my life) to get a closer look at this pillow. It’s SUPER cute, but really there isn’t anything too difficult about the construction or design.

So…I decided to make my own!

The little knit stockings are (obviously) what make the whole pillow. I visited a couple of local thrift stores and bought sweaters that had small-scale cable patterns.

And what else? Skirts! I could have gone to a fabric store and bought off-the-bolt fabric for the pillow slips. But I’m lazy; I was already AT the thrift store!

Pillow inserts came from IKEA. The FJDRAR inserts are 16” x 24” and cost a whopping $3 each.

I drew a stocking shape on a scrap of tissue paper for my pattern. I pinned my pattern so the bottom hem of the sweater would become the top of the stocking—less finishing work that way.

Pin the wrong sides of each stocking together, stitch around the edges (by hand or machine), and voila! Three little knit stockings.

I used another scrap of sweater material to make the stocking hangers, but you could use a loop of ribbon or yarn or twine.

To make the pillow slips, you want to add 1” to the width of your pillow form (1/2” on each side for a seam allowance), but about 4” to the length, to allow for the hem and the buttons. Here’s a tip, though—if you’re using the IKEA pillow forms, they aren’t very “full,” so I actually didn’t add any extra for seam allowances—that allows me to stuff the pillows a little fuller.

If you are using a skirt like I did, make sure to take advantage of the already-finished hem for one side of your pillow, and you can even use one of the side seams for your top seam. (Don’t forget that you don’t need that 1/2” seam allowance then. Don’t worry if you mess up; pillows are very forgiving.)

It’s easier to stich on your stockings and trim if you leave either the top or bottom seam unfinished. Lay everything out and be generous with your pins! I stitched the trim down first, and then I “tacked” the stockings in place by stitching back-and-forth-and-back-and-forth for about four stitches at about four places around the stocking (right near the edges). This could easily be done by hand as well. And the trim? Well, I gave strong consideration to using hot glue!!

Isn’t it amazing how the colors changed mid-project?? Must be Christmas Magic!

The last step in completing your pillow is to add the buttons on each side. If you want to be able to re-use the pillow insert, you can use real buttonholes, or you can just stitch the buttons on through both layers of the pillow cover! And what you choose to do may depend on what kind of day you’re having… (guess what I did??)

Ta-da! Here’s my Pottery-Barn knock-off.

But why stop there? There are a whole lot more options when you’re making them up as you go along! I loved this combination of red with a subtle gray plaid (from another skirt)…

…or you can make it even easier by using a pre-made pillow cover (this red velvet one was $7 from IKEA) and just dress it up with the stockings! (See the candy cane? these are functional, baby!)

And maybe you can add some jingle bells since this one didn’t get buttons!

I had fun making the three pillows, but quite honestly, the gray one doesn’t go anywhere in my house! But I thought maybe one of YOU might like it!

If so, simply leave a comment here! Tell me…what one gift would you most like to GIVE this year if you could? Let me know, and you’re entered to win. Giveaway will end Thursday, December 15. Please leave your e-mail if you don’t have one linked up!

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Linking up here:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday Topsy Turvy Tuesdays

Someday Crafts’ Whatever Goes Wednesday

Hookin’ Up with House of Hepworths No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday

Friday Remodelaholic

My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday Sisters of the Wild West

Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special The DIY Show Off

I Heart Naptime

Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Perfectly Imperfect {Primp}

My Repurposed Life

Poinsettias, Reindeer, & Suitcases (oh my!)

2011-12-04T21:56:00.000-07:00

I love poinsettias! My husband and I got married in December (our 17th anniversary is almost here!), and my wedding bouquet was evergreens and poinsettias. I love them in all their variations…red, pink, white, variegated, and everything in between. There is an amazing greenhouse not too far from us (J&J Nursery) that grows acres of poinsettias every year, and I happily spend an hour…or two… there each year choosing a few favorites to bring home with me.

This year, I bought poinsettias to dress up the suitcase wall (in red, pink, white, and variegated!)…

…they have to share space with my small collection of reindeer (since I sold the bookshelves that were there home last year!)

The gold reindeer is this year’s addition to the collection—I found him at Tai-Pan Trading.

But mostly I don’t even remember where they came from anymore!

A few glittery birds perch on the suitcases as well. I am a sucker for fat birds!

Here’s hoping I can keep my beautiful poinsettias alive all the way through January!

Linking up to The Greenhouse Diaries’

Linking up to these great parties:

Hookin’ Up with House of Hepworths No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday

Friday Remodelaholic 2805

My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday Someday Crafts

Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special The DIY Show Off

I Heart Naptime

Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Perfectly Imperfect {Primp}

Mod Vintage Life Redoux

Thrifty Décor Chick Stylish Once Again

Christmas Oranges

2011-12-01T13:40:00.001-07:00

For those of you who wondered….

No, I did not repaint my orange door for Christmas!

Instead, I decided to EMBRACE THE ORANGE!

I purchased an evergreen wreath at a Christmas tree yard last night. I removed the two sprigs of fake berries, two silver-painted cedar branches, and the pathetic red bow.

Armed with pinecones, a bag of oranges from Hobby Lobby ($3.60 after coupon), twigs, spray adhesive, glitter, and a glue gun, I embellished the wreath to make my orange door a little more Christmas-y!

I have to admit, I wasn’t sure I was going to like it until I got the glitter on. Glitter makes everything better, though, I’m sure!

Today it is about 36 degrees with 60-100 mph winds (no kidding). Making a wreath was WAY more appealing than repainting the door!

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Linking up here:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday Topsy Turvy Tuesdays

{Primp} Someday Crafts’ Whatever Goes Wednesday

Hookin’ Up with House of Hepworths No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday

Friday Remodelaholic 2805

My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday My Repurposed Life

Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special The DIY Show Off

Primitive & Proper I Heart Naptime

Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Sisters of the Wild West

A Prize-Winning Wall

2011-11-30T10:31:00.001-07:00

I am so jazzed!

My suitcase wall…

won the November contest over at the DIY Club!

This contest comes with an amazing prize package. I think I should wrap it up and put it under the Christmas tree…but I probably won’t show that much self restraint!

Winning this contest is especially appreciated today, as I am making my daughter’s baptism dress and it’s not going particularly well <sigh>. I think I like sewing quilts and table runners. They don’t have to FIT anything!

French Bench

2011-11-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

I’ve been trying to organize my picture files, which I find almost as exciting as organizing my sock drawer. However, one good thing came out of it (and it wasn’t finding my matching blue-striped fuzzy socks, although I really would like to) – I came across one of my summer projects that never got to be posted! Poor thing.

Anyway, based on my French chocolate coffee table (which spawned a few more similar projects here, here, and here), I decided to transform this old bench…

…into a ‘vintage French’ piece!

My original idea was just to sand the top down to bare wood, and paint the base of the bench.

But do you see those wide panels that run along the front and the back? The bench told me (if you have read my blog, you’ll know that furniture often talks to me) that those spaces were perfect for more typography. So before I knew it (not really—it took forever) I had sanded the entire bench down!

I only worried about removing the old finish. All the knicks, scrapes, and dings are welcome to stick around. That’s character.

Next thing was to choose the perfect graphic (all of my French ads have been found at The Graphics Fairy), print it out, and then take it to an office store to be copied onto an overhead transparency.

Here I am at work…

If you’ve seen my other projects, you’ll notice that I’ve gotten a little smarter. I put this piece up on a folding table so I didn’t have to contort myself on the floor so much!!

And in case you’re wondering…I am using a plain old bottle of acrylic paint. (Others have suggested using paint markers or a Sharpie, but I don’t think they distress as well. You can use whatever suits you best.)

I really dressed up for this impromptu photo shoot, can’t you tell?

This is what the bench looks like before any distressing or staining.

I actually used lines from two other ads for the front and back panels of the bench.

They may or may not make sense with what the top says!

After the paint was completely dry, I distressed the lettering with sandpaper, and then wiped on a coat of Minwax Antique Walnut stain. I finished the bench with a couple of coats of Minwax Polycrylic.

This little bench went with me to an outdoor market in July. It was one of the last projects I finished before going, so it missed out on a ‘formal’ photo shoot in my home! But here’s what it looked like outside on a beautiful July day.

You may not have noticed it, but those two side panels actually hide a lower cubby. I envision this as an entry bench with a place to hide shoes! (I painted the inside black.)

So that’s my little French Bench. If this looks like a project you would like to try, be sure and check around for a used overhead projector. Lots of times you can find them at school surplus sales, or you might even be able to borrow one from your local school.

Ahh, summer….

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Linking up to these great parties:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday Topsy Turvy Tuesdays

Domestically Speaking’s Power of Paint Someday Crafts’ Whatever Goes Wednesday

Hookin’ Up with House of Hepworths No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday

Friday Remodelaholic 2805

My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday

Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special The DIY Show Off

Primitive & Proper I Heart Naptime

Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Perfectly Imperfect {Primp}

Mod Vintage Life Sisters of the Wild West

Thrifty Décor Chick One Month to Win It

The Graphics Fairy My Repurposed Life

Hello, Yellow!

2011-11-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

It’s time for a good old-fashioned furniture makeover, don’t you agree?

I picked up this little dresser at Deseret Industries (Utah’s version of Goodwill) during the summer. Prices at DI are a little erratic, but in this instance, it was a good thing! At $30, it took me about 0.5 seconds to decide this one was coming home with me.

I sanded down the top and the decorative backsplash and re-stained them with Minwax Antique Walnut.

I had a can of “oops” yellow paint that I used for the body…

…and I brushed white paint over the appliques and in the grooves.

I distressed this piece more than I usually do. I actually don’t embrace the “shabby” style in general, but it seemed to work for this piece.

So that’s it. Short and simple! Hope you like it!

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This project was featured at Whimsical Perspective, Sisters of the Wild West, and

Linking up here:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday Topsy Turvy Tuesdays

Domestically Speaking’s Power of Paint Someday Crafts’ Whatever Goes Wednesday

Hookin’ Up with House of Hepworths No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday

Friday Remodelaholic 2805

My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday

Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special The DIY Show Off

Primitive & Proper I Heart Naptime

Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Perfectly Imperfect {Primp}

Mod Vintage Life

Thrifty Décor Chick

Meg & Mum’s My Repurposed Life

The Last Straw

2011-11-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

I mentioned that changes were coming….can you guess what I was referring to now??

Yes, the “Red Hen Home” has been listed for sale! Apparently, not being able to park the truck in the garage (see it in the driveway?) was the LAST STRAW for my dear husband. For the first time in eight years, he was ready to talk about moving!

We have found a house we love about 4 miles away from here, and the sellers have accepted our offer for it, contingent upon the sale of our home.

We would appreciate any and all prayers and good wishes on our behalf. Let me tell you, undertaking a move after 8 years, 6 children, and a staircase remodel is not something we take lightly!

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P.S. If you know of anyone looking to move to the Layton/Clearfield area, please send them my way!

Sleigh Bells from the Ivy Cottage–Guest Post

2011-11-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

Today Red Hen Home welcomes it’s first EVER guest poster! Amanda from the Ivy Cottage was the inspiration behind my Bedroom Bling nightstands,

and my beadboard pennant banner debuted on her lovely blog!

We both hope you’ll enjoy her fun Christmas project!

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Happy Holidays, Red Hen Home Readers!

My name is Amanda and I journal over at

The Ivy Cottage Blog!

My blog is filled with ideas, inspiration, DIY, tutorials, and fun. Stop by and check out some of my latest projects! Now, on to my post . . .

My mother-in-law inherited some BEAUTIFUL antique sleigh bells a few years ago. Every Christmas when she gets them out and drapes them across her mantel, it takes everything I have not to snatch them and run away yelling mine, mine, mine!

LOL, well, I do love those sleigh bells, but I cannot afford to buy some of my own. Here is my little knock off tutorial for Vintage Sleigh Bells!

Materials:

* Old leather belt

* Acrylic paint and brush

* Towel

* Jingle bells

* Measuring tape

* Awl & hammer

* Wire

I found this leather belt at the Salvation Army for $6. I chose it because the leather was cracked and it had a worn look. Unfortunately, the color was a little bit too yellow.

To cut down the yellow tone in the belt, I used the above acrylic paints to break down the color.

I started by painting a small section of the belt with the dark paint.

Then I used the towel to rub the paint into the cracks and remove the excess.

Afterwards, I went back with the copper paint and rubbed it on for a few accents.

Next, I measured out every 2 1/4 inches with the measuring tape and marked it was a sharpie.

To make the holes in the leather, I used an awl and hammer.

Make two holes side by side.

Be sure to put a piece of scrap wood underneath the belt when you are making the holes.

These are the jingle bells that I used from Hobby Lobby.

Cut a piece of wire about 4 inches long and loop it through the jingle bell.

Put the ends of the wire through the holes . . .

Then twist and secure them on the back. Repeat this until you have attached each of the jingle bells. I also ended up putting a piece of gorilla tape over the wire on the back to make sure that it does not scratch any surfaces that it sits on.

Thanks so much for sticking around til the end of my post! Be sure to pop on over to The Ivy Cottage Blog and check out some of my other Holiday projects here.

Transparency Transfers

2011-11-18T06:00:00.002-07:00

I’m a lot slower getting this posted than I had intended…sorry about that. But here I am now, with the BIG SECRET TRANSFER METHOD (no, not really) that I promised when I posted about my French Chocolate Bar Stools.

I have had lots of fun transferring vintage French ads (courtesy of the Graphics Fairy) to various pieces of furniture, such as the French Chocolate table, Café table, the Postcard table, the Black Coffee table and French Twist table. I used an overhead projector for all of those, and I really love the look I was able to get.

However….

…I had to choose my graphics very carefully, as I am limited in the amount of detail I can recreate with my paint brush. Plus…I simply don’t have the patience to do anything really teeny tiny, so that’s why I focused on tables!

So I wanted a way to simply transfer images without necessarily having to break out the paint brush. I tried Mod Podge transfers (there’s a good explanation here), but I had mediocre results. I shelled out the money for Citra Solv, and had good results—some of the time (this method is explained here). So I got discouraged.

But…the Citra Solv transfer PLUS the overhead transparency method gave me a new(ish) idea.

When I wanted to use my overhead projector, I had to print my graphic out on paper and take it to a copy store to have the transparency made. Ink jet printers (which is what most homes have) deposit ink on the surface of a sheet, so it will smear off if you touch it. Laser printers/copiers do something like injecting the image into the sheet, so they are permanent. (Yeah, I’m just shooting from the hip for this explanation. Just go with me here.)

Citra Solv transfers work because the Citra Solv re-dissolves the ink on your page, allowing it to re-deposit onto your project. (The issues I had with Citra Solv is that it DID NOT always re-dissolve the ink—maybe some toner cartridges are getting better??)

so one day I had an “aha” moment—if I printed on a transparency sheet using my ink jet printer, the ink was already “dissolved.” So…could I just transfer an image without any special solvents?

Well, let’s see, shall we??

Here’s a Citra Solv transfer onto a painted surface.:

…and an unpainted surface:

Here’s an ink jet transfer onto a painted surface:

…and an unpainted surface:

Pretty hard to tell the difference, huh?

I was majorly excited after this little experiment.

Like my cute little test board??

But then….I got stuck.

See, the real difference is that if you’re transferring from a laser copy, THAT ink is NON-water soluble (thus, you have to use the Citra Solv). If you’re transferring from an ink jet copy, that ink IS water soluble and it will continue to be so. If you wanted to wash your project at some point—the image would come off. If you try to use something like, say, Minwax Polycrylic (which is water-based) to protect your image—you’re going to end up with a big smeary mess which will cause you conclude that your grand idea is a huge failure and you might just hide your project board in the laundry room for the next four months.

Yep. Really.

But then one day (four months later) a new idea might finally occur to you—which you, being MUCH SMARTER than I am—probably already figured out!!

If you do an ink jet transfer, you have to use an oil-based protective coat.

That’s all there is to it. No water = no smeary ink!

For the stools, I used Minwax Hand-rubbed polyurethane, and I didn’t have any smearing problems. Such a simple solution, but seriously—it drove me nuts!!

Now, recently there have been some other projects in blog-land that have transferred ink-jet images using freezer paper. It’s the same principle, so you can use whatever substance you happen to have one hand (I promise I came up with this idea independently of those, and I have the dates on my pictures to prove it! )

The two slight advantages that I see in using transparency sheets are these:

After you’re done with your transfer, you can wash the ink residue off of the transparency, making it completely reusable.
Since the sheets are—you know, transparent—you can more accurately place your image on your project.

So here’s a quick run-down of the steps I use for a “transparency transfer,” using a cool old bread board for my project.

1. Slightly dampen your project to facilitate the ink transfer. I generally wiped it with a damp cloth, and then waited a minute or two for it to be nearly dry.

2. Print a reverse image of your graphic (I copied my images into Microsoft Word. Click on the image, and a new tab called “Picture Tools” will appear at the top of the page. Click on the tab and then on the “Rotate” option, and “Flip Horizontal”) directly onto an overhead transparency (you can buy individual sheets from a copy center; no need for a whole box). Tape it in place.

3. Using the back of a spoon (I have also used a bench knife), rub the image ALL OVER and HARD to transfer as much ink as possible.

4. Voila! You have achieved image-transfer-nirvana. If you want to protect your image, let it dry fully and then give it a coat (or two) of a non-water-based polyurethane.

That was a very long-winded explanation, so congratulations if you haven’t completely lost interest yet (image transfer----whaaa?? who cares??)

What do you think? Is this something you might try? Or is it so simple as to be…stupid, and everyone already knew about it but ME??

Note: The super-slick surface of the bar stools did not “take” the transfer quite as well as the softer wood of the cutting board, so I used a black Sharpie to darken up the image in places.

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This project was featured at Craft Gossip and My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia.

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Linking up to these great parties:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday Topsy Turvy Tuesdays

Domestically Speaking’s Power of Paint Someday Crafts’ Whatever Goes Wednesday

Hookin’ Up with House of Hepworths No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday

Friday Remodelaholic 2805

My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday

Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special The DIY Show Off

Primitive & Proper I Heart Naptime

Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Perfectly Imperfect {Primp}

Mod Vintage Life Redoux

Thrifty Décor Chick Stylish Once Again

The Graphics Fairy My Repurposed Life

Lucky Number 1111!

2011-11-14T22:35:00.001-07:00

I loved reading all the things you were thankful for in the comments for my “1111 on 11/11/11” giveaway post! You helped remind me of MANY MORE everyday blessings I have…thank you!

Without further ado, the winner of the giveaway is:

Please e-mail RedHenHome@gmail.com within the next 48 hours to claim your prize!

The Way They Were Meant To Be

2011-11-14T06:17:00.000-07:00

I have tried my hand at a few different image transfer methods, but I haven’t been terribly successful. After several failed attempts, I used my overhead projector method to make this set of bar stools:

…but I was never terribly happy with them.

THESE, however….

…turned out much more like what I had in mind!

The images all came courtesy of the Graphics Fairy.

I painted the bases of the stools with DIY chalk paint.

…and I made the image transfers with my inkjet printer and a transparency sheet!

…more on that to come!

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Linking up to these great parties:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday Topsy Turvy Tuesdays

Domestically Speaking’s Power of Paint Someday Crafts’ Whatever Goes Wednesday

Hookin’ Up with House of Hepworths No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday

Friday Remodelaholic 2805

My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday

Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special The DIY Show Off

Primitive & Proper I Heart Naptime

Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Perfectly Imperfect {Primp}

Mod Vintage Life Redoux

Thrifty Décor Chick Stylish Once Again

The Graphics Fairy My Repurposed Life

1111 on 11/11/11

2011-11-11T09:29:00.002-07:00

Several days ago, I glanced at my “followers” on my Blogger Dashboard and thought, “Wouldn’t it be funny if it turned over to 1111 on 11/11/11?”

Well….it did!

This is what I saw this morning:

I am just geeky enough to think that’s cool!

That must be worthy of a giveaway, don’t you think?

The winner gets a choice!

Either my red-and-gray “hang up your stocking” pillow…

…or a beadboard sign that looks like this EXCEPT it’s in graduated shades of turquoise (I apologize; I can’t get a good picture of the turquoise one to save my life).

(I tried. It’s much better looking than this, and in lighter shades, I promise.)

…or my “Village Mercantile” cupboard door sign.

How to enter:

Be a new or current follower of Red Hen Home AND leave a comment telling me THREE THINGS you are grateful for right now…for example, did your daughter load the dishwasher without being asked? Did you fix yourself the perfect cup of hot chocolate? Did you just put on your favorite pair of fuzzy socks? What’s going on around you at this moment that makes your day worthwhile?

That’s it! Giveaway is only open to residents of the continental United States. Random winner will be announced Monday, November 15. Good luck!

It’s not my fault!

2011-11-11T07:05:00.000-07:00

My dear husband does not share my love of refinishing furniture or tearing apart the house (but I still love him).

He is very tolerant of the upheaval in his home and garage…all he asks is that he be able to park in the garage by the time the snow flies.

So last week I did a major overhaul on the garage.

This is his side.

This is my side.

Now…for the irony.

This summer we replaced his 10-year-old Volkswagen Jetta with a Ford Ranger. Not a big truck by any means, but definitely longer than the Jetta.

Guess what? It won’t fit in the garage!!

But I kept my promise….it’s not my fault!

Apparently the builders of this home didn’t believe in storing anything—other than cars—in the garage. Our extra refrigerator and freezer, apparently, are not zoned for garage space.

So for now—neither car can park in the garage!

(The minivan is too long for that space as well.)

My husband does not consider this to be an acceptable state of affairs!

Changes may be coming…

Hang Up Your Stocking–The Pillow!

2011-11-10T06:30:00.000-07:00

Have you admired Pottery Barn’s Knit Stocking Lumbar Pillow like I have? Have you been appalled at the $49 price tag (just for the cover) like I have??

Well, head on over to Craft Gossip to see not one…

…not two…

…but THREE knock-off versions I made!

Check them out at Craft Gossip!

Going Vintage

2011-11-07T05:10:00.000-07:00

This post originally appeared as a guest post at Meridian Road in September.

Once upon a time, I used to go to Rod Works or Tai-Pan Trading and drool over the pretty home-décor items there. But then I was bothered that I would see the same things repeated in houses up and down the neighborhood. The “blog world” has opened my eyes to a new kind of decorating, and over time, I have learned that I prefer to have unique items with a history in my home, rather than cookie-cutter tsotchkes!

Today I wanted to share some of the vintage treasures I am slowly collecting for my home. They are probably old, usually imperfect, but definitely loved!

I found these two pieces of baseboard at an architectural salvage stop. There are at least three layers of paint on them! I like to imagine what kind of building they must have been in…something very grand to have 12” baseboards!

I have a very small collection of doorknobs. Yep, those three are the entire collection! I found the little wrought-iron piece at an antique store for $5. I don’t have a clue what it was originally for, but it makes my tiny collection a real conversation piece!

The three jars are vintage European canning jars. There capacity (in liters) is pressed into the bottom. Yes, these are the same jars that Pottery Barn sells for a couple hundred dollars. I found mine at a flea market for considerably less! Inside the smallest is my set of letterpress blocks. If you could see all the way around, you would see that they spell out “Harvest” on the bottom. I absolutely love typography (I don’t supposed that’s a big secret anymore)!

My rustic wooden bowl was a belated birthday present this year. My husband had tried to buy me something I wanted at a local vintage consignment shop, but it was gone by the time he got there. So he gave me a gift certificate instead! About a week later, this small dough bowl came home with me!

The bowl is filled with four hand-knit pumpkins I made a few years ago. I like the juxtaposition of textures.

My newly-created suitcase wall is a collection in and of itself! But it’s also a fun place to display other treasures—like the folding yardstick I got from Suzanne that sits next to my grandfather’s cloth-and-metal tape measure.

If you thought three items was a small collection, how about two? To this day, my husband cannot remember what these are: wire flower frogs. And when I tell him, I think he’s still at a loss as to why they’re sitting next to his lamp.

Because I like them, that’s why!

The big wooden “pedestal” is actually a leg off an old German piano. It’s another treasure from my favorite consignment shop…it spoke to me! What’s a girl to do??

Oh, look, another collection of three! I found three glass insulators FOR FREE on my birthday! They’re probably not real collector’s items…but they were obviously meant for me.

Oh, that enamelware pitcher in the back? Well, you caught me out…it’s from IKEA!

Thanks for sharing my treasures with me. I’m curious…has the blog world affected your decorating style? I would love to know!

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Linking up at The Shabby Nest, My Repurposed Life, Simple Home Life, Coastal Charm, From My Front Porch to Yours, House of Hepworths, No Minimalist Here, 2805, A Little Knick Knack, Common Ground, and My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia.

Inspire Me

2011-11-03T07:00:00.001-06:00

After wanting to tackle an armoire for several months, I ended up with TWO in the course of about a week! The first one, a television armoire, I turned into a sewing cabinet here. The second one started out like this:

Yep, it’s in two pieces, and the top one looks funny because it was upside down when I took the picture of it!

This piece had really beautiful trim work, but the cloth-and-wire treatment in the front of the doors was just…weird. And grungy. Eww.

I decided that I wanted to try gray again on this piece. Remember the gray buffet? Well, I really did take in my “custom” mixed color and had Home Depot color-match a quart for me!

With some gray paint, black glaze (and oil-rubbed bronze paint for the pulls), the bottom turned out like this…

…and the top turned out like THIS!

Yep. Mirrors. This piece needed them. But let me warn you…mirrors are expensive. The two mirrors for the doors cost MORE than I paid for the whole piece to begin with!

See the reflection of the new stairs and the suitcase wall? Not to mention my legs!

But I can’t really bring myself to regret it. My friend MJ and I had a brief—and sad—experiment with cutting Walmart-purchased mirrors…and we ended up with mirror shards all over the kitchen table! (Note to self: even if you have scored the mirror…DON’T try to use a hammer to make the break.)

I had a little fun with the interior of the armoire:

You know how I love to put numbers or words on everything! I decided this piece needed to be “inspirational.” Maybe words like “dream, create, imagine” will inspire the new owner to make the most of each day’s opportunities!

Well, it can’t hurt!

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This project was featured at Redoux and Stylish Once Again.

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Linking up to these great parties:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday Topsy Turvy Tuesdays

Domestically Speaking’s Power of Paint Thrifty Décor Chick’s Before & After

Hookin’ Up with House of Hepworths No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday

Friday Remodelaholic 2805

My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday

Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special The DIY Show Off

Primitive & Proper I Heart Naptime

Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Perfectly Imperfect {Primp}

Mod Vintage Life Redoux

Thrifty Décor Chick Stylish Once Again

Falling Down Stairs

2011-11-01T06:30:00.001-06:00

Just for a reminder….here’s the “before” and “after” of the stairway in my home. This is the first thing you see when you come in the front door (if you notice the rug on the left in the “before” picture…that’s right inside the front door).

So there is no real “entrance” to my house. You walk right in to the front room! I hate that particular design “feature” (please imagine that word dripping with sarcasm). But in an effort to make the best of things, I decided to make a more welcoming…and interesting…”first impression” space in my home.

The suitcase wall is detailed here, but today I wanted to show the changes we made to the staircase.

Here’s what we started with; plain old carpeted stairs, that were definitely showing their age after eight years with eight people walking up and down daily! The knotty alder wood has aged to an unbecoming yellow. My front room is tiny, and I thought that if the half-wall were replaced with an actual banister, it might open up the room a little.

So…we got to work. And by “we,” I don’t mean my dear husband…home renovations are NOT his cup of tea! Luckily I have a very handy friend and neighbor (we’ll call him MJ) who was willing to help…especially since he got to give the Sewing Armoire to his wife for a Christmas present!

First step…to cut a hole in the wall to make sure there were no surprises waiting for us (upper left)! Whew! No electrical boxes or ductwork. It freaked out my three-year-old a little, though.

Sot next…the half-wall was cut out (MJ’s job), and the carpet was removed (my job). Don’t worry, I only punctured my thumb with a carpet tack once. Hmmm….better check to see if my tetanus shot is up to date…

It would have been really great if the carpet removal had revealed REAL WOOD stairs. It didn’t. It was particle board all the way. That meant all the treads had to be removed, and it was NOT an easy job.

If I knew then what I know now…I probably would have just painted the stairs and called it good. Removing the treads was VERY VERY HARD work. They were not only nailed down, but also glued. I used a very thin blade tool to try to cut through the glue on the front of the steps (my house smelled like burning glue for days), and then I used pry bar, crow bar, hammer, tears, and prayer to pry each stair tread up. Yes…this part I did by myself.

And…we ate pizza for dinner that night.

We had to use a scraper to try to lift up the remaining glue so the new treads would have a (reasonably) flat surface to sit on. I actually then screwed the treads back down with two or three screws each…I had taken the old treads off before the new treads were ready, but this way I knew I could replace all the treads at once (using that term very loosely), rather than having to do them one. at. a. time.

I purchased replacement pine stair treads at Lowe’s (about $11/each), which is also where I bought a newel post, spindles, and a new hand rail. I chose steps that had lots of knots, divots, wormholes, etc., since NO MATTER WHAT they are going to look worn over time—might as well embrace the idea!

I had quite a staining party going on as I stained 13 treads, the post, the new hand rail, and the old hand rail (which I did by best to sand down to bare wood first). I used Minwax Special Walnut Stain, about three coats of it, and about five coats (no kidding) of Varathane Polyurethane on top of that.

MJ cut new risers out of quarter-inch pine plywood for me, and I painted those and the spindles to match the existing trim in the house (bottom right).

The bottom four steps are a thing of beauty. I decided I wanted those outer edge of those four steps to be exposed, but the ones I got from Lowe’s were only rounded on the front edge. MJ cut strips off the unused portion of the steps (they were each about 10 inches longer than I needed) and biscuit-joined them to create a finished side. He cut another scrap to make the corner piece; it is just glued in place. I can’t even begin to tell you how gorgeous I find these treads!

After these bottom four steps where stained, we used a drill press and a hand-made template to drill spaces for the spindle dowels. I started getting very excited at this point!

We also drilled the newel post so the handrail could be doweled in…

…as well as the wall. You may notice that this “column” looking piece is new. We discovered that the place where the half-wall came out of was NOT the same place the banister had to go in to. Plus the wall was kind of chewed up anyway. So MJ wrapped this portion of the wall in wood to create a fake column. We decided to take it all the way to the floor to highlight the look, and I think it turned out great. (Can you see my paper patterns on the wall for suitcase placement? I was serious when I said I lived with those up for a week!)

Building code specified that there could be no more than 4 inches between spindles, and that was difficult to make come out even. The inspiration came to place the spindles in groups of three rather than deal with half-spindles or spindles on the edge of a step, etc!

One of the headaches came when we discovered that the longest spindle available from Lowe’s (they had two lengths) was not long enough for the high spot on each stair. We lengthened those spindles my doweling an unused chunk of a short spindle on top.

Attaching the spindles was the other bugaboo. We literally spent THREE DAYS trying to figure out how to dowel them in to the handrail, but it was an utter disaster. Guess what? Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best ones. We used a pneumatic brad nailer to nail each spindle into the railing from its back side. Then there were just two tiny nail holes to patch (and what’s two more after the 236 on the rest of the stairs). So simple. WHY didn’t we figure that out sooner?!?!

After the Spindle Disaster of 2011 (it sounds more impressive that way), even cutting and installing 35 trim pieces was a piece o’ cake.

The rest of the story is the fun part.

I knew I wanted to give the stairs my own special “touch.” I debated about painting a quote on the risers, but I also had seen an idea on Martha Stewart where leaves were stamped onto the stair risers, and I loved that idea as well. I actually tried to combine the two ideas, but it was too busy…so my stair risers got painted twice!

Rather than using actually rubber stamps, I was struck by the idea to use actual leaf prints on my stairs. From the quaking aspen trees right outside my house, I picked several leaves of all different sizes.

I lightly coated the back side of the leaves with paint, and then pressed them down on the stair risers with a paper towel (this is before the risers have been installed).

This method does NOT give a perfect, uniform leaf print each time. Each one is different, imperfect…

…unique…

…just like Mother Nature’s.

And they look like they’re falling down stairs.

But I did choose just one word for my stairs, to be a gentle reminder to all of us each time we see it…

Blessed

…because we are.

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This project was featured at Designer Garden.

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Linking up to these great parties:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday Topsy Turvy Tuesdays

Domestically Speaking’s Power of Paint Someday Crafts’ Whatever Goes Wednesday

Hookin’ Up with House of Hepworths No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday

Friday Remodelaholic 2805

My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday

Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special The DIY Show Off

Primitive & Proper I Heart Naptime

Thrifty Décor Chick’s Before & After My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Perfectly Imperfect {Primp}

Mod Vintage Life Designer Garden

Lucy’s Very Hungry Caterpillar, pt. 2

2011-10-30T20:22:00.001-06:00

Before I get to the staircase reveal, I thought I ought to finish up the Very Hungry Caterpillar project! If you missed part 1 (the creation of the fabric picture), you can find it here.

Part 2 was the creation of the Very Hungry Caterpillar stuffed toy…which turned out to be SO big he’s more like a body pillow! I will admit that the way he turned out was not the way I originally envisioned him, but it must have been the way he was meant to be.

There is no pattern for this, so I can only share with you what I did! If you have more questions, feel free to e-mail me and I will try to help as best as I can.

I purchased the wonderful soft “minky” fabric for my caterpillar. Not knowing what I was doing beforehand, I purchased amounts that “looked right.” I think I bought about 1/3 yd of red and 1/2 yard of the green polka-dot.

When I got home, I realized that I had fabric to make a far bigger head than the body would support! I had to dust off my long-neglected math skills to figure out how to make the best use of my fabric to make the biggest caterpillar possible.

There were ratios involved.

I had to figure the circumference of a circle.

I think I even worked in two equations and two unknowns.

It was a hairy business, folks!

Suffice it to say…I cut off a third of the green material (lengthwise), cut that piece in half (also lengthwise), stitched the halves together, and added that new piece (widthwise) to the remaining green material so I could have a nice, fat caterpillar (that piece because the “belly panel”). Clear as mud? I hope so.

I scientifically traced a circle for the caterpillar’s head (thank you, Tupperware), and then I also cut a long strip of red fabric (I think I had to piece this) to be his “neck.”

I curved one end of the caterpillar’s back for his tail (top right picture), and also tapered the belly panel (bottom left) before I stitched the pieces together. Then I ran a gathering stitch width-wise all down the caterpillar’s body to create his “sections” (bottom right). If I were to do it over again, I would stitch in a narrow piece of elastic, as the gather stitches un-gathered more than I would have liked.

The caterpillar’s feet, face, and antennae were created out of felt. I actually liked having the “belly panel” as it was an ideal place to insert the feet (bottom left). I left his “tail” open so I could stuff him…he didn’t always appreciate it (bottom right)!!

Finally I stitched his tail closed…it was a moderately painful process (for me, not him…I kept pricking my fingers!)…and then I invited my beautiful girl to “test him out.”

She didn’t seem to mind!

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This project has been featured at I’m Topsy Turvy!

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Linking up here.

Making an Entrance

2011-10-27T07:00:00.011-06:00

I have posted about my front room “design dilemma” on a couple of occasions (see here and especially here)…well, I have finally been working on a solution!

Before you get too excited…the whole room is not ready. I’ve just been working on my “entrance” (or lack thereof). You never get a second chance to make a first impression, right?

I posted a teaser yesterday, and the suitcase wall definitely seemed to capture the most attention, so I’ll focus on that first!

I don’t claim credit for the idea of turning vintage suitcases into shelves. That came from this magazine…

…which my neighbor purchased, and I, shall we say--commandeered for several weeks!

Here are the things I needed for this project:

Vintage suitcases

1x10 wood

Painter’s tape and scrap paper (for templates)

2 1/2” screws (big ones)

3/4” screws (little ones)

Level

Jigsaw

Table Saw

Electric drill with a screwdriver bit

The hardest part—emotionally, that is—is that in order to get this look, you DO have to cut innocent luggage in half.

You can call me the Suitcase Slasher.

That may be my Halloween costume.

I don’t have pictures to share of that process. It is very hard to take pictures while running a table saw!

I measured approximately 6 inches from the front of each suitcase and drew a line, then I used the table saw to cut each half of the suitcase as far as it was able. THIS IS SCARY!! No joke. If you can, remove as much of the lining as possible before cutting, as when the table saw hits the fabric it will catch and make a funny sound and send your stomach leaping to your throat!

Now, my blade wasn’t high enough to get all the way through even one-half of a suitcase, so I used a jigsaw to finish the cuts (I originally tried to use the jigsaw alone, but my jigsaw couldn’t walk a straight line for a policeman). Since some of my suitcases had metal banding, I used a metal blade on my jigsaw (you DON’T want to send metal through any saw that isn’t fitted with a metal blade).

Next step: measure the opening at the back of your poor mangled suitcase, then cut a board to fit the opening (I cut my backs out of a 1 x 10 pine board).

I enlisted helpers to begin arranging the suitcases on the wall…

…and I actually used wrapping paper cut to size to get the layout right on the wall (I lived with that up for about a week).

There is more than one way to mount your suitcases to the wall. The magazine suggested cutting keyhole hangers in the backs of the boards, screwing the suitcases to the boards, and then hanging.

I didn’t do it that way.

I used a stud finder to mark out the studs in my wall, and then I screwed the boards directly to the studs. Your boards DO NOT have to be centered on the studs, they just have to cross over two of them. Start one screw (I used 2 1/2” screws), then level your board, then screw in the next one. It’s very helpful to have a teenage daughter help at this point!

Eek! A mouse! I promise, it’s just a Halloween decoration.

Once the boards are in place, I used four 3/4” screws to attach the suitcase to the board (one top, one bottom, on each side).

These things are sturdy!

I had fun “shopping” my house for accessories for my new shelves! My folding yardstick star (I tried to fold it into a pumpkin—major fail) from Suzanne at Meridian Road looks great next to my grandfather’s cloth tape measure.

A wooden spool is pressed into service as a makeshift vase.

Glittery spiders and pumpkins have taken up residence everywhere!

I haven’t decided what to do about the open space at the bottom. Either I need another suitcase (or two), or a narrow bench. What do you think?

I think it’s official…I am a despoiler of suitcases (remember this one that I painted).

But….I can’t summon up any remorse. I am in love!

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This project has been featured at Flea Market Style, Pamela Joyce Designs, Funky Junk, House of Hepworths, Décor Hacks, My Repurposed Life, Eye Heart Today, Mod Vintage Life, Sisters of the Wild West, Unconsumption, Charming Zebra, Simple Home Life, I’m Topsy Turvy, 2805, Shabby Love, Stylish Once Again, The DIY Home Sweet Home Project, Hating Martha, and Renewing Your Find Cafe.
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Linking up to these great parties:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Topsy Turvy Tuesdays

From My Front Porch to Yours

Someday Crafts’ Whatever Goes Wednesday

Hookin’ Up with House of Hepworths

No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday

Friday Remodelaholic

2805

My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday

Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday

Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special

The DIY Show Off

Primitive & Proper

I Heart Naptime

Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Perfectly Imperfect

{Primp}

CoE - Creative Final Resting Place

Mod Vintage Life

Stylish Once Again

Reasons to Skip the Housework

DebbieDoo's Copycat Challenge
Thrifty Décor Chick

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In case you’re wondering…I bought three of the suitcases for $10/each, one was $18, and the other two were given to me. It was not an expensive project!

Updated to add: You can see the staircase part of the project HERE!

Just teasing!

2011-10-26T11:13:00.001-06:00

Want to see what’s been consuming my time for the last two weeks?

Well, I’ve been turning this:

into THIS!

More to come!

Lucy’s Very Hungry Caterpillar, pt 1

2011-10-22T21:19:00.003-06:00

Sometimes you want to make something just to see if it can be done. In August, I visited a craft show where someone had made adorable jewelry and hair accessories out of fabric-covered buttons. These buttons captured my imagination—and I wanted to create something where they could really shine: a fabric picture. Just because I’ve never seen a fabric-button-picture doesn’t mean I couldn’t make one, right?

First step was to settle on a theme After considering and discarding several ideas (beginning with a fabric-button monogram…still floating around in my brain), my sister suggested The Very Hungry Caterpillar (book by Eric Carle), and knowing that my neighbor wanted to throw a Very Hungry Caterpillar party for her little daughter, that idea stuck!

First step was to get the general layout of the picture. I pulled a frame out of my garage (rescued from my parents basement), blue fabric (rescued from my stash), and we played a little. We had spent the afternoon making fabric flowers (for a previous idea that didn’t get off the ground), so we used those and yarn to outline the caterpillar’s body.

I backed the blue fabric with some fusible fleece to give it some body. I drew some wavy lines directly on the fleece, and then stitched them onto the fabric for a quilted look.

I made the caterpillar “pattern” by placing a sheet of tissue paper over the yarn outline I made, and then transferred that to dark green felt. I used light green felt to make accent pieces, and a red scrap of cotton for the head.

I free-hand cut the caterpillar’s eyes, nose, feet, and antennae out of felt. Each piece was appliqued onto the background (I sewed around and around and around….)

I used two different green rick-racks to make the flower stems.

I used a yarn needle and red and blue yarn to stitch the caterpillar’s fuzzy spine.

One afternoon was taken up with making 100 fabric buttons. I used two different green fabrics to make four different sizes of buttons for the caterpillar’s variegated body. (My button covers were purchased from Three Dancing Magpies Supplies..highly recommended). It wasn’t too bad…thanks to Netflix!…but it resulted in some sore thumbs!

I carefully arranged all the buttons on the caterpillar’s body, and then I used hot glue to fasten them on.

I cut a piece of scrap wood to the size of my frame (by now painted orange) and ‘upholstered’ it with a couple of layers of batting before stapling on my new fabric art.

And there you have it…one Very Hungry Caterpillar—recreated in fabric! (The color in the next picture is a bit dark…sorry.)

I added a little buggy “friend” for Mr. Hungry Caterpillar…look just below his “chin.”

Do you think Mr. Carle would approve?

Click HERE to see Part 2 of the Very Hungry Caterpillar project (the pillow).

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Linking up here and Mom on Time Out.

Off the Clock!

2011-10-19T12:09:00.001-06:00

Well, my friends, I’ve been “voted off the island!” My project for Round 3: Fabric of Crafting with the Stars was Lucy’s Very Hungry Caterpillar (including the fabric picture, caterpillar body pillow, and butterfly wings). It came in 4th place this round.

I had a lot of fun with my project; it was made better by the face that I created it for people I love (1st project was for my sister, 2nd for one neighbor, and 3rd for another neighbor and sister)!. However, I don’t think I picked well for this contest—it was a good fabric project, but not really a good fabric-home-décor project, and those are what carried the day! Congratulations to the final three contestants!

The good part is…I feel a lot less pressure at the moment! I have been hard at work on what would have been my Round 4 project, and this one is for ME! It’s actually nice to be “off the clock,” so to speak, and not be working on such a tight deadline.

THANK YOU to all of you who took the time to vote, whether or not it was for my projects! Your kind comments always make me feel like a winner!

An ORANGE door!

2011-10-17T00:05:00.002-06:00

The time from inspiration to inception for this makeover was very short (for me). I got my October Better Homes & Gardens magazine on a Tuesday, I think, that showed an orange front door…and I loved it.

By Wednesday night I had my first coat of paint on the door!

Boring BEFORE

Awesome AFTER

I’ve wanted to paint my front door forEVER, but I never could settle on a color. This is “Maple Leaf” from Behr (I had it mixed in the Behr Ultra paint). I used about 1 1/2 sample pots (four coats)—less than $6 for the paint.

My children think it’s cool; my husband is tolerant. He keeps asking if I’m going to repaint it red and green for Christmas.

You know what? I just might!

No, not really.

But I like it!

What about you? Could you paint your front door orange?

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Linking up here.

A Different Kind of Entertainment

2011-10-14T05:00:00.004-06:00

Almost three months ago, I received an e-mail out-of-the-blue from a sweet woman named Joy. Joy “knew” me from my blog, and she said she had an oak entertainment armoire she was willing to give me if I thought I could do something with it (she had been unable to sell it).

Umm…free furniture? Yes, please!

Yep, that was three months ago. Even though I knew almost immediately what I wanted to do with it, it was a BIG project (the armoire is over 7 feet tall), and it took a lot to get me motivated to tackle it (enter Crafting with the Stars, Round 2).

Of course, the reason these entertainment centers are virtually unsaleable is that the new TVs don’t fit in the same spaces. So here you have a perfectly good piece of solid wood furniture with beautiful moldings, lights, and leaded glass panels, and no one wants it.

Well, I thought, what if it housed a different kind of entertainment?

I envisioned this armoire repurposed as a sewing cabinet, or maybe one which would house a computer (those are two of my favorite forms of entertainment at least).

The first step was to build a big box that would fill the open space in the armoire. I had a friend help me (OK, it was really the other way around…WAY around) with this part. The idea was to have a pull-out shelf at working height, so all the other measurements were secondary to that.

Look, it fits! Always such a relief.

The other “building” part of the project involved the top drawer. See all those nice plastic dividers? They were meant to hold VHS tapes—remember those?

There were no sides for the drawer, so some spare plywood was used to create the sides and a back.

Next step was to remove the leaded glass. I wasn’t a big fan of the brassy gold trim, so I used Rub n Buff in pewter and black to stain the metal. (And my fingers.)

Then—I removed all the hardware for sanding, priming, and painting! Did I mention this armoire is HUGE? And I couldn’t ignore the inside of this piece. EVERY SURFACE had to be painted. That’s in addition to EVERY SURFACE of the insert!

The exception was the crown and base molding. My friend suggested that those be sanded down and stained dark, and of course this is a look I love. It was a MAJOR ORDEAL to sand it all down! …but I did it.

You may notice that I had already primed before I tackled the moldings. I covered them with plastic wrap and painter’s tape to protect them during painting.

The upper display cabinet was backed by a mirror, but Emily from Décor Chick suggested that I cover it with beadboard to cut down on funky reflections. Since I had already planned on backing the main cabinet with beadboard, it sounded great to me! Especially since then I could ignore trying to keep the mirror clean (I would never have succeeded anyway).

I used Liquid Nails to adhere the beadboard directly to the mirror. It helps to use a spatula tool to spread a thin, even layer over the whole back of the beadboard.

Then I balanced precariously on a chair and held it in place and prayed and held it in place and taped it and held it in place and prayed some more. Sorry, no pictures of that…my photographers have to go to school sometime!

I also thought a “working” armoire needed a chair to go along with it. I have three chairs in my garage that were a curbside find—would you believe they actually match my kitchen chairs??—except they’re pretty well thrashed (mine are only a little bit thrashed). But hey, that means less sanding for me!

I painted a chair first green (to match the insert), and then in the same creamy white as the armoire. To give the chair a little more pizzazz, I used my tried-and-true overhead projector method to paint a vintage French advertisement that says something about corsets (it appealed to my sense of humor). I got the graphic from The Graphics Fairy.

I distressed the chair to show some of the green underneath, and glazed the whole thing.

Whew! So are you ready to see the end product?

Two functioning drawers, lined with a pretty botanical paper…

A completely extendable shelf (we used this slide from Rockler).

Chalkboard cupboard doors (these actually retract into the cabinet so you don’t get claustrophobic while you’re sewing/blogging). One side will be a magnet board when I can get some sheet metal cut for it.

A beautiful lighted display cabinet (that was fun to stage)…

An integrated work light and a power strip (found at Lowe’s)…

And of course the chair.

So, what do you think?

Would this be your kind of entertainment center?

Linking up to:

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This sewing armoire is going to be a Christmas gift for one of my dearest friends! Her husband is the one who helps me so much on my building projects, so we are making a trade!

This project has been featured at House of Hepworths and My Repurposed Life.

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Linking up here, Thrifty Décor Chick’s Before & After Party, and The DIY Show Off.

Felt Leaves Garland

2011-10-13T06:30:00.001-06:00

It may seem like I’ve been eating/sleeping/drinking Crafting with the Stars projects…and that’s mostly true, but not quite. There have been other projects in my life, I’ve just been too busy to blog about them!

I spent the weekend before last at my parents’ home in Montana. I generally try to take a little project along with me, and this year it was the materials to make this leaf garland.

My next door neighbor had pointed out this one she liked from the Pottery Barn Kids magazine (click on the picture to go to the catalog page):

And I thought it was really cute. She watched my three-year-old for me while I was gone, so I decided to try to make her one for FAR less than $49!

I probably spent a whole $5 on felt. I printed out leaf pictures on paper, cut them out, and then traced them onto the felt.

I hand-drew the “veins” on the leafs with the cut-outs—and then cut them out! I used embroidery floss to stitch the veins on the other leaves.

I spaced each leaf about 8 inches apart, knotted onto simple seam binding.

I ended up making 23 different leaves…enough for two garlands (not bad for $5)!

One for my friend; one for me!

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Linking up here and The DIY Show Off.

Round 2 results, and a winner!

2011-10-12T15:49:00.001-06:00

Thank you to all those who took the time to go vote in Crafting with the Stars, Round 2! I was astounded by the amazing projects, and it was a little hard on my self-confidence!

But…I got 2nd place again this week! At least I’m consistent!

Did you guess which project was mine? I was responsible for “upcycling” the television armoire to a sewing or computer armoire.

The detailed post on this project will be up on Friday if you’re interested!

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Next week’s theme is:

I had a lot of fun with this project…but it kept growing! Can’t wait to show you on Monday.

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The winner is the UPrinting poster print giveaway is:

Whimsical Perspective!

Please e-mail me with your address and I will pass it on to the company. Congratulations, and come back for Round 3 of Crafting with the Stars!

Crafting with the Stars, Round 2

2011-10-10T00:05:00.000-06:00

Round 2 of Crafting with the Stars begins today! You will have 48 hours to vote on your favorite THREE projects in the “Upcycled” category.

Round 1 eliminated three contestants, so there will be nine projects to choose from!

Click on the picture below to be taken to the voting page.

“Upcycled” is code for taking something out-of-date and making it useful and pretty again! Can you guess which project is mine? I can’t tell you yet, but I *hope* it’s one of your three favorites!

For a little extra incentive, if you come back and leave a comment telling me you voted, you will be entered in a UPrinting.com giveaway!

The winner will receive one 18”x24” Poster Print (semi gloss OR high gloss) with 1 business day print turnaround time and free shipping!

Poster Printing is one of the sought after service in the Online Printing industry. It offers photo enlargements for the artistic and crafty customers.

So what are you waiting for?? Go vote here for your favorite THREE projects, then come back and leave a comment telling me you did

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Giveaway ends at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, October 11.

Restriction: Giveaway is limited to US residents 18 years old and above only.

This giveaway is sponsored by UPrinting, no monetary compensation was given and I will receive a poster for hosting.

Fall Market

2011-10-08T07:00:00.000-06:00

I’m excited for the Scraps of Simplicity Fall Market next Saturday (Oct 15)! It’s a fun place to shop for fabulous handmade gift and home items, with a few great vintage-y finds thrown in for good measure.

I was a vendor at this market in April (you can read about it here and here), but I made the hard decision that I simply couldn’t fit that in this fall…turned out to be a wise decision with all the Crafting with the Stars hoopla!

But I can’t wait to attend next Saturday!

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Be sure to visit Monday for the link to vote in Round 2 of Crafting with the Stars! I’m not above a little bribery…so there will be another giveaway!

Theatre Room Knock-off

2011-10-07T05:00:00.005-06:00

The morning I found out I had been selected to compete in Crafting with the Stars, I frantically started flipping through the pages of the Ballard Designs catalog I had in my magazine basket, looking for an idea for my “knock-off.”

When I came upon this page…I knew I had my project.

One of my sisters has a super fun family room that is painted black with a filmstrip wallpaper border and several of those cardboard movie-character cut-outs standing around. Knowing that I happened to have her name for our family’s Christmas gift exchange, I decided she needed a little more movie “bling” for her walls!

The cost for this project was about $30, compared to over $300 if you bought all these pieces from Ballard! Here’s what I used:

One 4’ x 8’ of quarter-inch luaun. Any smooth piece of wood/plywood would do as well.

Clapboard: one piece 11” x 12”; two pieces 1” x 12”

Theatre sign: 30” x 10”

Ticket sign: 12” x 24”

Star: 18” square

Movie reels: 24” square; 18” square; 12” square (two each)

One 1” diameter dowel
About 7’ of narrow molding
Stencils of some sort (I cut mine on a Silhouette)
Various paint (silver, gold, metallic black, off-white, black, red, tan)
One binding post
Miscellaneous screws, painter’s tape, etc.

I cut all of my signs using a table saw or a jigsaw.

Thankfully I have a very good friend who also has much better tools than I do; at his shop we used a bandsaw to cut out the movie reels. TIP: Use a screw to hold the front and back pieces of the reels together, so you can cut them out at the same time. This can also be done with a jigsaw, but your circles may wobble a little!

Yes, I know this because I cut the largest inner circles of the big reel with a jigsaw (after drilling a pilot hole first so I had a place to start). Forstner bits were used to cut the smaller circles, but they only go so big! So yes, my circles may wobble a bit.

I used layers of paint to give the effect of metal reels. It was fun to play with gold, silver, bronze, etc. to get the look I wanted.

I cut my 1” dowel into one-inch sections to separate the front and back pieces of the reels. There is generally one center piece and three or four pieces around the circumference for stability. I liked the three-dimensional look far better than just a flat circle on the wall!

I designed all my sign lettering on the Silhouette Designer. I used a combination of stenciling (painting in the open space where your lettering should go) and reverse-stenciling (painting over vinyl or cardstock lettering, and then removing that lettering to expose the unpainted surface underneath) to paint all the words on my signs.

I didn’t use just any numbers on the ticket…I used my sister’s anniversary!

I used painter’s tape to mark off the stripes on the Ticket sign, and I “pounced” the red paint on to get clean lines.

The ticket sign really came together once the curved corners were cut out. I traced around a circle to get the look I wanted, and then I cut the corners out with a jigsaw. I hand-painted the border on as the last step (well…the last step before distressing and glazing, anyway).

I framed the theatre sign with some narrow molding I cut and glued directly to the Theatre board. It should have taken just eight 45-degree angle cuts for the trim…it took me about 17! I was glad I had bought a little extra for “just in case.”

The clapboard was a fun little project. I cut the ends of the two 1”x12” pieces of wood at an angle using a miter saw (a handsaw and a miter box would work just as well). This is necessary so that the clappers will actually open! I taped them together on the back so the angle of those little chevron stripes would match up perfectly.

The bottom of the clapper strip is glued directly to the board; the top strip is attached with a specialty fastener called a “binding post.” I couldn’t find one at Home Depot, but Lowe’s has them (it cost about $0.80).

The star was the brainchild of my tool-handy friend! I printed out a star from my computer, and then I placed the top point of the star at the top center point of my board. Then I used a yardstick to extend the lines on the star onto my board—that way there was no tricky angle-measuring! I cut it out with my jigsaw as well.

It is difficult to tell from the photographs, but the little movie camera is actually on a separate 4” circle that I painted and then glued to the star. Just another way to add dimension and interest to the piece.

Whew! There you have it…the complete theatre room set.

I didn’t wait until Christmas to give my sister her present. I didn’t think it sounded like much fun to read about it on my blog and not get to see it in person! So when I saw her this past weekend, I gave her a “sneak peak” of my Crafting with the Stars post and brought out all the pieces while she was reading.

It was great fun! I think she enjoyed celebrating “Christmas in October.”

I know I did!

Thanks for wading through this very long tutorial with me! ********************************************************

This project featured at House of Hepworths.

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Linking up here and The DIY Show Off.

Moving on and a winner!

2011-10-05T06:56:00.001-06:00

Did you guess correctly?

My Crafting with the Stars Round 1 project was the Theatre Room! I know some of you thought I was responsible for the Anthropologie Dresser, but I will take that as a compliment, since it was the first place winner! My theatre room was second.

That means…I’m moving on to Round 2! My project for the next round is almost complete. I hope you’ll stick around for the next round of voting, which will begin Monday, October 10.

Thank you…

…to all who voted in the last round! The winner of the “fall” beadboard pennant banner is:

Something Nice and Pretty! Please e-mail me your address, and I will get your package in the mail.

Crafting with the Stars, Round 1

2011-10-03T00:04:00.000-06:00

Round 1 of Crafting with the Stars begins today! Please click on the picture below to be taken to the voting page:

You will have 48 hours to view and vote on 12 *amazing* knockoff projects! The top 9 projects will move on to the next round.

I can’t tell you which project is mine until all the votes have been tallied, but please take a minute to go look at the projects!

Need a little encouragement? How about a giveaway?

After you vote, come back and leave me a comment telling me that you did, and you will be entered to win my “fall” beadboard pennant banner (which is actually pale yellow, not white as it appears in the picture), shown below.

What are you waiting for?

Click here to vote on your favorite Knockoff!

Giveaway ends when the voting ends: Tuesday, October 5, at midnight.

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday	Too Much Time on My Hands
Domestically Speaking’s Power of Paint
Hookin’ Up with House of Hepworths	No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Primitive & Proper	I Heart Naptime
Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Mod Vintage Life	My Repurposed Life
	It’s So Very Cheri
Common Ground

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday	Topsy Turvy Tuesdays
Domestically Speaking’s Power of Paint	Someday Crafts’ Whatever Goes Wednesday
Hookin’ Up with House of Hepworths	No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Primitive & Proper	I Heart Naptime
Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Mod Vintage Life	My Repurposed Life
Stylish Once Again	It’s So Very Cheri
Common Ground	Thrifty Décor Chick

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday	Topsy Turvy Tuesdays
From My Front Porch to Yours	Someday Crafts’ Whatever Goes Wednesday
Hookin’ Up with House of Hepworths	No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Primitive & Proper	I Heart Naptime
Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
CoE - Creative Final Resting Place	Mod Vintage Life
Stylish Once Again	Reasons to Skip the Housework
DebbieDoo's Copycat Challenge	Thrifty Décor Chick