Showing posts with label DIY Home Decor Ideas. Show all posts

Luxe for Less & DIY - Pottery Barn Mirror

I've loved this Pottery Barn mirror for years but at $699 it's overpriced and the wrong color.  There are numerous tutorials to DIY your own mirror  but they seemed a little too complicated aka they had math involved and I don't have the patience for measurements.  I also have an irrational fear that I might lob off a finger messing around with a circular saw so those tutorials weren't for me.  Nope, definitely not for me, I love my fingers.

Then, I saw this tutorial using Dollar Store mirrors and I figured, why not try it? Even if it was a epic fail I wouldn't blow a lot of money.

I didn't follow all the instructions in the link above because I wanted a much bigger mirror and needed a more sturdy and stable backing.



I started with 25 of these mirrors from the dollar store.  They're really cheap looking with a plastic frame and they come in black, brown and  I believe red.


I painted the frames with Martha Stewart gold craft paint


Since the mirror would have some weight to it and I wanted to hang it,  I purchased  this kit from Michaels for less than $5 to use.




I also purchased a sheet of 5 MM plywood and had it cut the Home Depot for $15. (no circular saw for me).  I screwed the hanging hook into wood on either side and I did pull my level out to make sure they lined up together.  The piece of plywood I used measured 43 x 54 3/8.



I made sure the mirrors hung over wood by about 1/4 of the inch on all sides and just lined them up by eye balling them and glued them down using E-6000.

Here's the final product.  Isn't it pretty?  I only had one mishap when I pressed down too hard on one of the mirrors over the hanging screws and it broke so be careful when pressing down over that area if you are going to try this project. Other than that mishap, it was an easy, peasy project than gives a great impact.



Here's a sneak peak of how it looks in my room.  I'm finally on track to finish the room after a gazillion years. Yeahhh!!!

Linking this to Thrifty Decor Chick 

Powder Room - Thirty Dollars Update

Did you ever start a project that took forever to finish?  Well my powder room was that project for me.  I started the room way, way back when here.  I was dying for brown room but I after I painted it, I didn't love it but I kept it for at least a year thinking it would grow on me and it didn't. 

 After living with it for over a year, I still wasn't happy (the dang thing refused to grow on me). While I shopping in Walmart, I bought a gallon of discontinued paint for $4 (Can you believe that price?) and immediately I thought of my powder room.  Yes a plan was forming.

After painting, I loved the color but I felt it was missing something so tada, I thought why not use the stencil I used in the guest bedroom.  Stenciling the wall in the bedroom was easy compared to stenciling the bathroom.  I did a lot #^%$@# when I got to the corners and behind the toilet.  After three days (I took a lot of breaks), I was finally done and it's so worth it and the best part is I only spent $30 for the drastic change. Yes, $30, I love a good bargain.



Cost breakdown
Paint $4
Frames - $11 (I bought them at Michaels for $2.50 a piece when they had the $5 coupon)
Stencil - Free
Gold Paint Martha Stewart - $6
Shade - $8 - Target
Art Work - Free (made by me)


 
Doesn't my fake flowers look good? #Don'tjudgeme


 Loving my free artwork and my $2.50 Michael frames


 




Now this makes me happy so much better than the brown, what do you think?

Linking up to:
A Bowl full of Lemons
My Uncommon Slice Suburbia
Addicted 2 Decorating 
Remodelaholic 
I Heart Nap Time 
Thrifty Decor Chick
My entry into Show Me Extraordinary sponsored by Appliances Online and Bosch Washing Machines.

Vacation Art Redo

I love a good vacation and I've been very fortunate to travel to many great places from London to Paris to Aruba and Mexico, just to name a few.  To save money for my trips, I wouldn't eat out and I would brown bag my lunch it and it was so worth it.  Nothing beats lying on the beach in St. Thomas or standing under the Eiffel Tower in Paris.  During every trip, I would always pick up a plate from each country and/or a cheesy sovereign.

During one of my trips to Jamaica, I purchased the following "art work" (I'm using this term loosely) and years later I'm still thinking the same thing, what exactly is it and is it getting uglier?  I could blame it on the margartias but since I only have one drink a day, that can't be it so let's blame on the sun and being relaxed... yup that sounds much better.

  "Art Work"

This year I've decided to start purging and getting rid of stuff that aren't enriching my life, and of course this "art work" was on my hit list.  I was getting ready to throw it out when inspiration hit while I was playing around on Tagxedo.  Tagxedo is a cool FREE website that allows users to use words to create visually stunning typography shapes.


It's really easy to use:
Click Create from the Home Screen
Click Load, Add the text you want and press Submit
Click "Theme" to see what happens
Click Shape arrow button and select a shape and Viola, magic!
 To create my art, I uploaded the shape of Jamaica and added my words and presto, Tagxedo created the most fantastic art.  

 My Tagxedo creation... luv it


I, then printed the typography art at Office Depot in black and white since it was the least expensive option (it cost me less than $2).  Using Mod Podge I added the print to canvas and now I have piece of art that I can live with.  I think it looks way better now, what you do think?
Finished product.... (it's still a wrinkly because the Mod Podge is drying)


With all the endless possiblities with Taxgedo, head on over and play, the possibilities are endless.
  

3 Dollars to Pretty

Last year I bought an acrylic tray from Walmart for 88 cents during their summer clearance sale and even it looked okay I knew that I wanted to dress it up at bit since I wouldn't be using it in the kitchen.  Last week I was browsing the blogs and I came across a killer idea from Chelsea from two twenty one and I couldn't wait to try it.
Before

I downloaded the background from Sprik Space, she is very generous with freebies, make sure you head over and check out her blog.  I then edited the background in Picnik (Google has decided to shut down Picnik...boo...) adding my initial within a circle.  I created two tray liners and printed them at Office Depot for $2, cut them and Voila!!!

 After
  After

Aren't they purty?


Linking this up to the:
The DIY Show Off

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia 


It's Overflowing

Cheap Last Minute Gift - DIY Sugar Scrub

Did you get up this morning thinking "Oh Sweet Jesus" Christmas is a day away and I still need to get a couple of gifts, or oh crap, I ran out of money and can't afford to buy another gift.  Well since I have that pesky thing called a mortgage, (would you believe that bank has the nerve to want it every month) and I'm on a budget, I didn't want to spend a lot of money on Christmas this year but I still wanted to give my friends gifts they would love. Let's face nothing is worst than a scrappy gift.

I like a good sugar scrub and I started shopping around for a sugar scrub to give as gifts, but those suckers aren't cheap.  So of course I thought why not make my own because I roll like that. I did a little research and there so many recipes for sugar scrubs to choose from.  I tweeked the recipes and came up with my own.

Here's my recipe

3/4  cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon essential oil ( you can buy this at Michael's or a health food store)
 3/4 cup extra virgin oil


In a small bowl, combine the brown and white sugar. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well to blend well.  Spoon the scrub into a pretty glass jar and viola, great gift for less than $3.00.  I also created my own label to add to the jar.

A Hint of Gold

Here's a 5 min project I did today using a dollar store candle holder and using spray paint.



Cover outside of the candle holder or vase with paper, spray inside of the vase with mirror spray paint, let dry, then spray with gold spray paint and Viola...






 A fabulous little candle holder with a hint of gold.  This would look great with multiple holders with flickering candles inside.

Luxe for Less - Metallic Paint

I stenciled a room a couple of months ago and I used a metallic paint from Martha Stewart's paint line from Home Depot. The room came out great if I do say so myself.  At the time, the paint was only available in quart cans and was fairly expensive for a quart of paint, the bummer was I only used 1/4 of the can.

I'm now planning to stencil my powder room and headed to Home Depot for more paint, because of course I needed a different color.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that the metallic paint is now being sold in 8 oz jars and only for $5.48.  SCORE!  So if you're looking for metallic paint for a small project, head on over to Home Depot.

A Fabulous Update for Seven Dollars!

A while back I purchased an Ikea sofa for $99, after adding a new slipcover and cushion stuffing the cost came to $190.  Here's a look back on my shopping adventure here.   Even though the sofa was okay, I thought it was a little boring so I decided to give it an upgrade but the cost had to be nominal.


1. Grosgrain ribbon & Stitch Witchery (Walmart) - $7.00
2. Lay the Stitch Witchery on the ribbon
3. To ensure that I had a same space between each ribbon, I used a ruler.
4. Following the instructions on the Stitch Witchery package, I fused the ribbon to the slipcover and Volia, FABULOUSITY!!!!!!









Not bad for $7.00, huh?

Home Tour - Guest Room

I'm finally getting around to completing all my half finished projects around the house, and trust me I have quite a few of them.  I'm going to try tackling a project each month.  We'll see how that goes. 

This past weekend I worked on my guest room and I think I'm finally done until my Design ADD kicks in again.

Here's a shot of the room before, in all of it's purple glory.

Here's the guest room now.

I know the imperial trellis pattern is "supposed" to be last season but I still love it, plus this pillow came from Target and only cost $10.  Can't beat the price and the shot of blue has a huge impact in the room.


The wall color is sauteed mushroom. 
  


I purchased the stencil months ago and was dragging my feet because I thought it was going to be a lot of work but it only took around 4 hours for the wall.  I used a roller and it was fairly easy except for last row since I had to bend the stencil. 


The paint for the stencil pattern was a metallic paint from Martha Stewart and the mirror was purchased from Home Goods.

 Every guest room needs a chair and this chair doesn't overwhelm the room, plus I'm a sucker for nail head trim.


I purchased this capiz shell chandelier from Target when they had their last global bazaar event, it was on clearance for $25.  This was definitely an awesome buy.  I do miss Target's global design event, I wonder if they'll bring it back.
Well that was the room in all it's glory, one project down, countless to go......

Transforming a Dollar Store candle

When I was working on my daughter's party, I was looking for ways to create cheap but beautiful party decor.  I knew I wanted to use candles on the tables, but I wanted them to look chic  but chic can sometimes mean expensive and my budget was tight.
I was in the dollar store when inspiration struck.  Why not use the plain white prayer candles that sells for $1 or less?

I purchased the candles for $1each, you can find them at the dollar or convenience stores and supermarkets across the country. They should look something like this picture below.


I, then printed a monogram on vellum paper, that I created for free from wedding chicks.

Then I cut the paper to the size of the candle and attached it using double stick tape 
and Voila Beautiful Personalized Candles for a cost of $1.10 each !!


Tip Junkie handmade projects


Lampshade Redo --- FREE

It's always amazes me how much lamps cost and I always tend to forget the sticker shock until I'm back in the market for a lamp. I've been on the hunt for a couple of weeks for a pair of lamps but I refused to pay more than $30 a lamp. When I finally found a lamp I loved and was under my budget, wouldn't you know it the lamp shade was RED. For one minute, I nearly didn't buy the lamp but then I figured I would like replace the lampshade but Ha Ha, the joke was on me, all the lampshades in the size I wanted was over $15. What is up with these lamp folks. After getting over the sticker shock of the price, I decided to revamp the RED shades and found out it was easy project.

While looking for my glue gun I also found a piece of burlap left from some curtains I made at my home and instead of buying fabric, I decided to see the burlap. I figured, heck if I did terrible job, the only thing it would cost me would be $0.

Here's the lamp after I purchased it from one of my favorite stores.... Home Goods


Here's a picture of the lampshade after I stripped the red fabric.

DRUMROLL PLEASE.........Here is the finished product, it really turned out better than I thought. I'm truly pleased, it was beautiful and FREE. Plus since the lamp was $25, I was under budget... Hey Baby!




What do you think?

Painting Laminate Countertops and Thermafoil Cabinets

I currently live in Laminate World. My kitchen countertops are laminate and all the cabinets in the house are Thermfoil. I've wrestled with replacing the countertops with a granite slab but it bothers me to add $4K worth of the stone on pressed wood cabinets worth around $800.

I also researched painting the cabinets and it seems that Thermfoil/Laminate cabinets is not paintable except to completely peel the laminate off the mdf door and then paint the mdf door. I really didn't like that option either since I'm an beginner DIYer, I didn't want damage the doors, so I gave up the painting idea and decided to live with my discolored white cabinets.

It seemed that Rust-Oleum heard my prayers and created a product especially for laminate... Yippee!!!!!! I'm so excited. I can't wait to use to product on my countertops and my cabinets.






Check out the link.



http://rustoleum.com/CBGProduct.asp?pid=208
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