Refurbished Heart Shelf for My Little Lady

I spotted this country style heart shelf from Goodwill the other day for $6. While it’s not really my style, I thought a little paint could really transform this into a nice little accent piece for my daughter’s bedroom.

The shelf was in great condition for only $6. I really didn’t have to do any sanding since the surface was smooth and the wood was untreated. I just wiped off all the debris with a wet washcloth to prepare for my primer. This time I chose Zinsser Bulls Eye 123 Primer which works great for all surfaces.

Once the primer was dry, I painted the heart shelf with two coats of Rustoleum semi gloss white spray paint. Since the shelf had so many niches, I found the spray paint was the smoothest coverage.



I love the way the white pops, but I thought adding some fabric behind the shelves would really set it off from her light blue walls.



While shopping at WalMart, I noticed they sell quarter singles, 18x22 inch pieces of fabric normally used for quilting. I thought this would be perfect since each quarter single is only $1.30. I picked up three colors, pink, olive green and blue.

I had to iron the fabric since it came folded and I didn’t want to see any creases behind the shelves.



Next I measured the space between the shelves so I could cut the fabric to fit. I added 2 inches to each side so I had plenty of room to attach to the wooden frame.

I used a staple gun to adhere the fabric, starting in one corner, then attached the opposite corner. Once the four corners were secure, I stapled all the way around the frame. I followed this suit with each shelf.



I finally got all of the fabric in place and secure. I flipped over the heart shelf and voilà! Beautiful smooth colored shelf liners that really pop from the painted white shelf!



I added a couple of my daughter’s trinkets for now until I find some little photo frames to show off some of her pictures through the years. I’m happy for now tough.



Final costs: $6 for the shelf from Goodwill, $4.50 for the Zinsser white spray paint primer, $3.50 for Rustoleum semi gloss white spray paint, $4 for the three fabric quarter singles. My total was $17 to transform the country heart shelf to a bright and colorful shelf for my daughter’s bedroom! Not too shabby.



But alas, I was shopping at JoAnn’s Fabric over Memorial Day and spotted this modern pattern for $2.99 a yard that perfectly goes with my daughter’s room. So I ripped off the old fabric and stapled on the new stuff! It only took me 10 minutes to fully change out and get back up on the wall. Man, I love the fact that I can change the heart shelf fabric backing out as often and easily as I change my mind :)

Transforming an Every Day Lamp Shade

When I was researching stencils to complete my daughter’s bedroom wall (seen here), I came across a couple of articles online about using small stencils for ordinary lamp shades from the DIY blog Two Girls Being Crafty. I thought this was a perfect idea for my great room’s lamp, since the shade is white and kinda blends in with the stairwell behind leading to the lower level.



I figured I could completely transform the lamp shade by adding a damask wall stencil and some tasseled trim. First stop, Hancock Fabrics to find the trim.

My great room is mostly red, with a couple of accents of olive green, black and tan so I decided to work off that color scheme to complete my transformation.

First thing was to clean the lamp shade with a damp cloth to get rid of all dust or debris. Then I got all of my supplies in place: fabric paint from Michaels ($1.39 for the small bottle of gold and $2.39 for the large bottle of green on sale), blue painter’s tape to hold the stencil in place, stencil brushes that I had in my paint closet and the damask wall stencil from Michaels for $10.

To prepare, I taped the small damask wall stencil in place with blue painter’s tape. There was a seam on the back of the lamp shade so I used that as my guide for spacing the stenciling evenly. I then mixed the fabric paints, two parts gold and one part olive green. As seen below, I only had an Elmo paper plate to use as my mixing palette. Oh well, whatever works!

I applied the mixed paint with a stencil sponge that I had purchased in the past from Michaels art supply store. I slowly peeled up the stencil to make sure the paint covered all of the areas evenly.



I painted the back of the shade first directly up the seam, followed by the front and sides to space the stencil evenly. The paint dried quite quickly and wasn’t applied too heavily so I was able to tape down the next stencil immediately.

Isn’t she purdy? This project isn’t even close to complete yet and I’m totally in love already.

Next step, the trim along the top of the lamp shade. I found this rope cord from Hancock Fabric for $2.39 a yard. I used my hot glue gun to wrap it around the top of the shade.

I then glued on the gold tassel trim to the bottom of the lamp shade. I purchased this from Hancock Fabric as well. It was originally $11.99 a yard, but I got it on sale for 50% off. I purchased two yards for the bottom of the lamp shade.



The last piece to complete the lamp shade was a deep red large tassel from Hancock Fabric that I got on sale for $4.19.



Again, here’s the before and after transformation.



So total costs for this project: $14 for the paint and stencil from Michaels and about $20 from Hancock Fabric for the two trims and tassel. So less than $35 for the entire project. Yeah, I kinda think that I could have bought a new lamp shade for $35, but at least I can say it’s an Erin original :) And it kept me busy on a Saturday night.





Photos on my end table were taken by J’Lynn Photography in St. Louis. She’s amazing! Check out her website at www.jlynnphotoart.com.

Revamped Desk for Kids Play Room

My daughter is a budding artist so I really thought she’d love a space to create and color of her own. While I was at Goodwill a couple of weeks ago, I found a great desk for $30 that was in pretty good shape. When I called my hubby to see if he could pick it up, he mentioned that his mother had an old desk in the basement from when he was a kiddo that we could have... for free!



I nervously passed on the desk from Goodwill to see if I could turn my mother-in-law’s trash into treasure. Luckily, when I saw the desk in the back of her basement covered in toys and books, it was worth the wait! While it had some scratches and dents, overall it was a steal.

So here’s the before... and after! Here’s how I completed the transformation:



The first thing I did after getting the old desk home was give it a complete cleaning. The bottom was covered in cobwebs and the drawers were a little dirty. I washed everything with some light soap and water. Then I sanded the entire desk down.

The top had a large ball of puddy stuck to the top which I had to use the power sander to fix. For the drawers and crevices, I just used some light grade sandpaper. Once I was finished giving the desk a light sanding, I wiped down the table again to make sure it was clear of any leftover dust and grime.



To prime the table, I used Zinsser cover stain with the brown label. I used a roller to cover the large areas of the desk, a brush to get into the crevices and the spray paint version to cover the drawers with a smooth finish. I decided to prime the desk with two coats since I knew it would get a lot of wear and tear, sanding the desk lightly between each coat.



Once it was fully cured, I sanded the desk down once more and wiped off all debris. Now, this desk is going in a play room for now, but eventually I hope on having this playroom turn into a nursery and move this desk into my daughter’s bedroom. So, in order to do this, I had to make sure the color scheme would fit in both rooms.

For the actual top coat, I decided to use Rustoleum white semi gloss spray paint on the base of the desk. For the drawers, I used an offsetting color of spray paint, Sweet Cream by Krylon. I wanted the drawers to pop a little bit off the rest of the desk, and I thought the Sweet Cream color would go perfectly with my daughter’s bedroom set once it’s moved.

To finish the project off, I coated the desk in Minwax polyurethane spray paint in semi gloss. This will really protect my paint job and give it some durability.



Total cost of this project: $23 for the can of Zinsser cover stain paint (with plenty of leftover for future projects!), $7 for two cans of Rustoleum white spray paint, $7 for Minwax polyurethane and $12 for rollers and paint trays. The rest of the supplies I already had in my paint closet, mostly just drop clothes and sandpaper. So, the total was $49 (yeah, remember I got the desk for free!). LOVE IT.

For the desk accessories, I found the pencil holder and organizer from WalMart for $10. I wrapped a green and brown striped ribbon around the pencil holder to bring out the colors of the room. I filled the accessories with my daughter’s favorite art supplies.



I will probably line the drawers in the future with some cool scrapbook paper and of course I need a chair, but until then it’s perfect!

Painted Storage Chest for Entryway

One of my favorite recent finds at Goodwill was this walnut chest for $30. I’ve always been wanting something for the underneath our wall cutout between the great room and kitchen and thought this piece would be perfect, but wanted to switch it to black.



So here is the before... and after! Here’s how I transformed the piece:

Once I got it home, I removed all of the old brass hardware. I was thinking of switching it out to something new and modern, but thought a coat of metallic silver might be worth a shot since I really loved the current hardware. It was a little ornate and out of the ordinary! Luckily the metallic paint did the trick and I think it will really pop against the black.



Once I knew I was going to keep the current hardware and holes, I used a light grade of sandpaper to quickly run over the entire console to get rid of any bumps. I washed the entire piece with a towel and water to make sure no grime was leftover or dust from the sandpaper.

When it was all clean and dry, I lightly primed the chest with two coats of Krylon black primer and let it dry overnight.



The next day I coated the entire unit in Krylon flat black spray paint, including the inside shelf and the inside of the doors. Once it was done drying, I used Minwax satin polyurethane as a protective top coat to give it a little bit of a shine. I didn’t want it overly glossy, so the satin was a perfect fit. At first it seemed quite glossy, but once it dried and I wiped it down with a wet cloth, the paint really became subdued.



I put the shelf back in place and attached the hardware and moved it to my desired location in the foyer. Ah, so in love with the finished product! The satin finish fits perfectly with my current pieces in the room and the black really pops off the wall.

So again, here’s the before space and after!





So, total costs: $30 for the furniture from Goodwill, $8 for the two bottles of Krylon black primer, $7 for the two bottles of Krylon flat black spray paint, $5 for the Rustoleum metallic silver spray paint and $7 for the Minwax satin polyurethane. Total cost was $57 and some change, but of course I have some leftover paint as well to use for future projects. Love it :)

Bachelorette Party at the Wineries

The best part of living in St. Louis is that you’re only a couple of minutes away from wine country, and this is definitely the time of year to enjoy it!

So my sister had a bachelorette party this past weekend for one of her college friends at a winery and asked me to help her make some personalized wine glasses for the event!



There were 18 total girls that were going to the party so we purchased some medium sized glasses from the nearby Dollar Store.

I then went to Michaels for the supplies. Since the wedding colors are navy blue and green, I chose scroll patterned ribbon to decorate the stems of the glasses and scored 4 total spools for $4.



I cut the ribbon into 6 inch sections, one of each color. Then I tied them into smaller bows around the stems.

Next I used fabric paint from Michaels ($1 for each bottle) to decorate the base of the wine glass with polka dots in navy and lime green. I used Scribbles fabric paint since it’s waterproof and shouldn’t budge with the condensation from the wine.


 Once the paint was dry, we placed silver stickers to spell out the names of the girls on the wine glasses, including Bridesmaid or Maid of Honor tags. We rotated capital and lowercase letters to give it some character.



On the opposite side of the names, we used silver wedding bell stickers and hearts. On the bride’s wine glass, we also included the date of her wedding.



Total cost of the project was $23 for the paint, stickers, and ribbon from Michael’s, plus $18 for the wine glasses. Pretty cute for around $40!

 

Damask Stencil Wall for Daughters Bedroom

Just recently I redecorated my daughter’s bedroom from its prior hot pink princess look and feel to a more serene setting with shades of blue, green and rose.

As blogged here, I’ve finished most of the redesign, I now just have a couple of finishing touches.



First task on my list, the accent wall that just seemed a little bland. With a little bit of internet searching, I decided to stencil the back light blue wall with a silver damask to spruce it up a bit.

I ordered one from Cutting Edge Stencils, a source I found online, and chose the Verde Damask. This stencil measures 17 inches wide and 22 inches tall, just the perfect size to cover her 10x10ft back wall.



I bought some silver acrylic paint from Michaels on clearance for $2.99 and watered it down a bit to it would have a translucent effect. I purchased a large sponge brush from Lowe’s (only $6) to apply the paint. You can actually use a roller brush, but I just felt like I had more control with something handheld.



I practiced my technique on a sample board first which I highly suggest to get your color combination right and to get comfortable with the stencil. Once I was content with my sample board, I started with the left hand side of the wall, about 2/3 of the way up (I decided on this strategy since I knew I had shadow boxes that would be placed on the wall at a certain height). I taped the stencil with blue painter’s tape and applied my first coat with a stencil sponge.



I peeled up the stencil every so often just to check that I was using the right pressure. I wanted a subtle effect, but needed to make sure it was even across the stencil.

When I was finished with the first round, I let it dry for a couple of minutes then I slowly peeled up the painter’s tape. The stencil has built in guides to lay the next piece so you can’t mess up the alignment.



The whole process when very smoothly! It only took me about 4 hours to complete the entire room, but mostly because this was my first time stenciling and I was going quite slow to make sure I wouldn’t mess up! I let the paint dry for 2 hours then moved back the furniture. It looks great! And I love how the light reflects off the metallic silver from the window and ceiling lights.



So the total cost of this project: $46 for the wall stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils with shipping (get 20% off when you use the promo code SPRING), $6 for the paint and $6 for the paintbrush. Under $60 total!

Updated Chair for my Kitchen Desk

The other evening the chair for our kitchen desk completely collapsed and broke while my little lady was playing at the computer. I had always been meaning to replace that old thing, but I guess now is a time as good as any.

I found this little wooden chair at Goodwill for $3. It’s in perfect condition, just needs a little love. I decided to try and paint it to match my newly purchased kitchen buffet.



The tools I need to try and accomplish this project: some black primer and spray paint by Krylon, Americana accent paint in gray, orange, red and white, plus a wire brush to give it the same old school effect as the kitchen buffet.

The chair seemed in pretty good condition so I didn’t need to sand it, just a quick buff with some light grade sanding paper so the paint adheres better. I wiped it down afterwards to make sure it was clean and ready. Next I painted the chair with black primer spray paint from Krylon. I only had to do one coat since the top coat would be black as well.



I let the primer dry for about 20 minutes then put on a finishing coat of black Krylon spots going around the spindles...I just had to keep reminding myself to take my time! I always use two coats as well, especially on something like a chair that will get a lot of wear and tear.

Once the second coat was dry, it was time to add the accent paint to the spindles. The kitchen buffet I recently purchased has bands of orange, red and gray, plus some thinner stripes of white so I tried to match as best I could with Americana acrylic paint from Michaels. I used a hard dry brush and lightly painted over the black spindles in designated areas. I tried to keep the brush as dry as possible to get the rustic effect to match the buffet.



To top everything off, I coated the chair with a light spray of satin polyurethane from Mirawax. This really seals in the paint, give the chair a protective cover, and adds a little bit of gloss to the final product.

Final costs: $3 for the chair from Goodwill, $3 for the Krylon primer, $3 for the Krylon black flat spray paint, $4 for the Americana paints, $.98 for two paintbrushes. I had some leftover satin polyurethane from a recent project, so my total bill was $14 and some change! Not too shabby for a new chair that matches my kitchen buffet.