Spring Front Door Wreath

This is a cheaters DIY, because all you have to do is add ribbon, but none-the-less, it's sprucing up something from its original state. I picked up this wood chip square wreath from Pier One last week, 20% off too :), and wanted to hang it on my front door. It is a great shade of spring green, which is very much the trendy color right now, and I added a cream ribbon to pop against my black door.

What you need: 

• Wreath
• Ribbon
• Scissors
• Thin crafting wire
• Hot Glue gun & glue sticks

Wrap a piece of wire around wreath to give ribbon strong anchor to hold onto

Glue ribbon onto wreath back and then wrap around wire for support and hot glue in place

create a loop to place over your door hook by looping the other end of the ribbon against itself and securing with hot glue

With a new piece of ribbon, start your bow, leave length for the tails, I left approx 7 inches. Accordion fold the ribbon and hold firmly between fingers, make a loop and duplicate fold and hold against first fold

Wrap wire around tightly to secure bow, leave tail length and trim

you now have a neat bow. To cover center wire, fold a 4" piece of ribbon in half and tie into a simple knot

Place a drop of hot glue onto center on wire, and adhere knot to bow, wrap edges behind, secure with glue and trim access

To cleanup tails, fold ribbon in half, start at open-side bottom corner, and cut at upward diagonal, unfold and you have a very pretty hanging ribbon tail, repeat for other side

I decided it needed a little more bulk, so I took another approx 15" piece of ribbon, cut pretty tails, folded in half and glued to the back of my bow, see below.

Add a few drops of glue to your hanging ribbon and place bow on top

Hang on door, step back, and admire your handy work, so Simple & pretty!!

Hate to see you go, please come again soon! :)

New Kitchen Light

We have changed out a few lights here any there, but it has taken me forever to find something for above my kitchen table. I wanted something in brushed nickel because all of our appliances are stainless, but it's so hard to find that finish with out the "contractors" package look. Here's what we currently have....the contractors lighting :p

I know, horrible pic, this is from two years ago when we first moved in, but I dislike this light so much, it hasn't made an appearance in any other photos, pretty much looks the same as below (no offense meant to anyone who has this light, it just isn't my cup of tea)

source

And here's the pretty I just ordered from Lowe's. I saw it the other day, and wanted it right away, but of course it's special order, murphy's-law, because I am so about instant gratification, so I'll have to wait two weeks, can't wait to show you the update :)

Isn't she pretty, it's the Checkolite International 3-Light Hulton Specialty Pewter Chandelier and I ♥♥♥ It's specialty pewter patina painted gold with brushed silver finish, so it flows with our stainless appliances, but has a bit more character than brushed nickel, and then it also has a White linen shade, which kind of softens it. If I get it in and still absolutely love, I may end up buying another for the front entry way too, thank goodness the hub works at Lowe's and I get my discount, lol :)

60 Second Side Table Revamp

My husband is horrible about leaving a glass or something on the side table that leaves a ring. These are the mini side tables I purchased at Pier One two years ago when we moved in, and while they weren't a huge investment, I really wasn't looking to find something new for next to our beds, they are little, and that means there is a very small chance of them getting cluttered :)

 

So I measured the tops,  and I went by Joanns and picked up some pre-cut square mirrors with beveled edges from the craft department, cleaned off the tables, laid the mirrors down, and voila! Instant revamp, they reflect light up, cover the ugly water marks, and look oh so pretty, all for about $10, can't beat that!

 

Simplest - Revamp - Ever!

February Birchbox

My Birchbox was a little delayed, it got "snowed-in" due to the weather up north, but I finally got it in Tuesday. It was a red-carpet ready box, for the award season now in full swing. It wasn't my favorite box ever, but it did have a few good things. Here's the loot:

Ghiradelli's Caramel squares, Delish, love these, and this was gone within moments of this pic. Primrose candle, smells pretty good, set it on my tub ledge to enjoy next time I have time for a bubble bath :) The leave in conditioner and foundation I haven't gotten to try yet, but the conditioner spray smells really great.  

Inside the little sparkly box was some Juicy couture perfume, smells great, already have used it up, and Dr. Lipp Nipple balm for Lips... just have to say this stuff was great, my lips were super chapped from all the wind this past weekend, and I have just about used up the whole little tube, will definitely be ordering the full size of this. 

What goodies did you get in Birchbox this month?

Haven't tried Birchbox yet? Check it out here, for only $10 month, you get a little box of surprises, full of all sorts of samples and sometimes full size goodies :)

Upholstered Headboard

So it only took me two years, but I finally have an upholstered headboard, all done for a cost of about $88, compared to my PB Inspiration of $899, I feel I did pretty good even though the finished product isn't exactly what I envisioned, but hey, that's DIY, you modify and adjust as needed :)

Inspiration from Pottery Barn

What you need:

• Sheet of Plywood: I would buy quality stuff so you don't end up with bowing. I bought 1/2 cabinet grade, and had it cut to 72" by 48"
• (3) 2x4s for legs, whatever length you desire for height, mine were 20" scrap pieces I had left over from another project
• Foam: available at JoAnn's, I had to buy two 2" thick rolls of 24" wide, which i had cut to 72" long
• Spray Adhesive...this stuff is awesome by the way
• Under fabric, i used a cream felt I had buried in the closet, this just wraps around the foam and board to give you a smooth surface for your finished project
• Finished fabric, I used burlap, but as you'll see below, ended up with linen
• Nail heads
• Hammer
• Power screw driver & screws
• Staple Gun

First set up your plywood on a workable station, i used two sawhorses. 

Spray an even layer over first half of board and lay down the first roll of foam, go around entire edge to make sure you don't have any hanging off

Repeat for the second roll

I used a base fabric because my burlap was very translucent, this was inexpensive  cream felt, if I had been able to find cream or white foam, I probably could have skipped this step. Drape over foam covered board, and make sure you have equal length around all sides.

Begin to staple fabric to the underside of the plywood. There is a little bit of a system to this, i start on the center point of each side and put in one staple and then move to the opposite side and do the same, and so on, make sure you pull and staple evenly, just make sure the fabric is taught, not overly stretched, you don't want bumpy edges. Continue until all fabric is attached.

Here's my top fabric, it looks all lovely and cream and full of texture, right? More on that later....

For the top fabric, I took my headboard inside and laid the fabric down on the carpet, Ironed it to remove and wrinkles or creases, and then laid the headboard, fabric side down on top of it, adjusting to make sure I had fabric on all side to attach. You will notice I don't have any fabric on the bottom, enter problem #01,  I didn't take into account the fabric width, solution, it will be behind the bed, no one will ever know! (except for anyone who reads this tutorial, lol)

In the same manner as before, attach fabric to all side, being sure to pull evenly. However, since I only had three sides to attach, I neatly stapled all along the top first, and then leaned the board against the wall and did the sides, so it was easier to feel how much I was pulling and to tuck the corners.

Folding in the corners, staple the top all the way to the edge, and then tuck in "middle" of fabric, and fold over side flab, hold tautly and secure with several staples

Once completed, I individually hammered in like 300 nail heads, it took FOREVER, and actually, once I got the headboard up, you couldn't even see them >:( You could however see the bruises on my fingers from holding those tacks and nailing my fingers a few times with the hammer! I forgot to take a pic, but for legs, i just placed three 2x4s on the bottom on the back of the plywood, and (both sides and middle) and attached with 2 1/4 screws, in about 8 locations.

Ta-da! Wait, it looks yellow, right? Enter PROBLEM #2. A). You can't see the nail heads, B). it looks dingy.

Slightly better in the morning light.....still not loving it though....

Solution, the next day I went and bought a linen, I simply pulled the bead and headboard forward, and wrapped the linen around and secured with staples as before, no, I did not redo the nails heads, you couldn't even see them in the first place.

I forgot to snap a completed pic, but here is a shot of it, when I was trying to see if I liked our joint monogram above the bed or not, trust me it is much more neutral and looks great against the tone of our walls. As for the monogram, after giving it a coat of satin white, the husband nixed it and said it was "too busy"...when did my husband become an interior decorator, lol :)