Gallery Shelves {DIY}

Our master bedroom has been a work in progress for what seems like FOREVER. It was re-painted well over a year ago, and every since, we've been slowly changing things out or updating them. The most recent addition has been some gallery shelves that W whipped up a few evenings ago. 

You can buy these from Pottery Barn for the hefty price of $55 but that would only get you one 4-foot ledge when I wanted two five-foot ones. Instead, we used Ana White's plans for these..she calls them the "$10 shelves" since that's how much the wood costs to make these. We just used pallet wood that we already had so they were free! Yay! Favorite price. They're basically just three pieces of wood nailed together. Super easy to make in a single night and very easily custom size-able.

So W built, I painted {high gloss white; 2 coats}, he hung, and I filled 'em with this and that from around the house/garage to have a look-see.

And so they sit above our yellow dresser,

where I can enjoy more memories from my bed! Yay for fewer blank walls!

Time for some more gushy, lovey dovey, romantic prints and pictures, no?!?!

Silhouette Project: Take 2

Last spring I used this awesome tutorial for making E's silhouette to put on our mantle. Seriously-- easiest way to do them, ever!

I loved how it turned out SO much! I figured if one is great, two more must be better! So I got to work. Here's what I needed to make my two more:

 - Two black and white photos {5 x 7s} of profiles

-Black craft paint

-Small to medium craft paint brush

-scissors

-surface to paint

First cut out profiles from the rest of the picture

Then cover each entirely with black paint

Let 'em dry {you could pass the time eating some oreos...you know, if you like that sort of thing.}

 

Frame 'em, hang 'em and enjoy!

I purposely put us this way because they coordinate with our sides of the bed--which we have very strong opinions about and may or may not have have battles in the bedroom over them. ;) I'm still looking for the perfect piece to hang in between them. I have an idea already in mind, but can't seem to locate it in stores. But, they are so cute that I don't mind if we live in earthquake country and they may one day end up on our heads.

And yup, did these puppies awhile ago...the same week in which I chopped all those lovely locks off. I loved these too much to redo!

Lighten Up, Why Don't Cha?!

I discovered the beauty of spray paint when I recovered the knobs in our dresser redo. And since then, have been itching to get my hands on something else to re-paint. I bought a slew of colors in our master and E's room color schemes just so I could spray at a moment's notice. Here's what I've been up to lately...

The frames I got for free from the side of a local frame shop. Every once and awhile, when E & I make our weekly walks to the library or bank, I'll find some frames marked 'free' outside the shop. It's one of the perks of our morning walks. ;) The lantern we had already. We have two others that I plan to lighten up after seeing the success with this one.

I removed all glass parts from each item, got my tarps and protective mask on. Then got to work. I wiped down the lantern with a damp cloth to get all the dust off. Next came a swift coat of primer for all pieces.

For the lantern, I picked light blue..."blue ocean breeze" to be exact.

Here it is after a few coats.

After a night of drying, I put back the yellow glass panels and put it on the dresser to have a look-see. Still working on those staging skills...

Two of the frames I painted with "sun yellow" and have an idea in the works that includes hanging them over our headboard!

My painting days have just begun. I still have at least four more frames to paint {that weren't pictured} as well as a few more fixtures that were in our room before, but just need to lighten up a bit to fit back in.

My Next Victim

The Swenson family hit the garage sales this past weekend. I must pause here to lament that we do not have any great thrift stores or discount stores in our area for furniture or home goods. I can get lucky on occasion at Marshall's but it's usually just small decor items. There's a serious lack of big, beautiful furniture pieces waiting to be recovered around here. Or maybe I'm just not looking in the right places?!

Anyway, I was really hoping to strike it rich when a local town was doing a city-wide sale with multiple families participating. Sweet! I wanted to find some potential end tables to fit in with our master redo, but I quickly learned that by having purchasing guidelines, I was also gambling. There was a big possibility of ending the day empty-handed. Win some, lose some, eh?

So, I was really happy to stumble upon this beautiful, mini table that was in a set with dresser. It's not a fit for our master, but I know the perfect little place for it in E's room. This was our only treasure from that morning. But definitely still worth the time, driving, and donuts it took to discover it.

We plan to spray paint it. It's a small enough piece and I already have the colors to choose from. So W will do some sanding and I'll do some spraying...just as soon as I commit to a color! Seriously, the biggest problem I face every project!!

In the meantime, I've been spray painting other items that will go into our master once they liven up a bit...

Happy Monday!

Pallet Statement Art

So I've been eyeing a lot of pallet wall art these days in blogland and on Pinerest. And I'm wanting one myself now. In our master, I think. It's in need of a 'statement' piece to balance out the dresser.

I first saw this over at house*tweaking...

And this week this on young and crafty...

Aren't they so gorgeous?! Both have great, seemingly easy to follow tutorials. And I'm loving that yellow! We still have some left over from our dresser redo. I'm just wondering what word or phrase W and I could use to make it even that more meaningful. Although "Love" works just as well in our master. ;) Brain wheels turning...

My love for pallets started when we were originally loving this idea for E's window seat bench. We went with the Ikea version instead because it just fit our space better. His room didn't have any 'good' corners to fit this fun nook in.

But from that short period of thinking we could, W hunted down several local sources for free pallets via Craigslist. Don't do Home Depot or Lowe's--we stopped at both and they charge ya!

While I'd love a piece like this to hang over our bed, I'm not too keen on having a huge chunk of wood over our heads here in earthquake country. So I'm thinking this space near our chair, W's guitar, and the windows should suffice...

Here's some other pallet inspiration I've seen...

If only I had some mad free-handed skills like this!

Check out 13 DIY pallet projects here, including these shelves.

And this reading bed found in this nursery.

The possibilities for upcycling these rustic pieces of wood are endless!

***Edited to add***

 I've finally joined in the pallet art club. Post here on my "rise & shine" piece.

Our New Headboard

We are in headboard business! Here's our new DIY headboard:

Although, it's not our DIY. One of my go-to girlfriends for DIY advice and inspiration, Jill, and her Will made this. Not too log ago, they moved into a new house and their master situation no longer fits the headboard. She knew about our future plans to make one {after all, she started the whole thing by sending me some tutorial links} and was so thoughtful to see if we wanted theirs! 

I love the blue fabric from her last upholstery job, but I still may hunt down some yellow. I'm totally loving the fact that we finally have something behind our bed besides the vast amount of wall space!!

I may still have W add some curves on to this, but I'm not in any rush. Here was my ultimate inspiration for the shape:

But now I'm thinking the current shape works much better if I want to hang a few prints above the bed. He may have just gotten out of a DIY project. ;)

We've also gone WHITE with our duvet cover several weeks ago. It's the first time I've ever done white {because, let's face it, I can't wear white without getting something on in within the first 5 minutes} and I was really hesitant. But I'm totally loving it: so crisp, clean, light and airy! A real difference from the rich chocolate brown duvet I switched it out with. I'm just praying we get through this newborn stage with less dry cleaning runs than last time!!

I still need to make some new Euro sham covers {could you tell in the pictures that there are none?}, new throw covers, update those side lamps with a fresh coat of spray paint, add some curtains {?} and accessorize. I'm love to replace our end tables too, but that ain't happening unless we find something cheap! Maybe time for more garage sale hunting??

I'm a Guest!

{Archive from 6.3.11}

Today, I'm guest posting over at my girlfriend's blog: the Newlywife about our DIY adventures and our awesome-ized dresser! Newlywife is a great resource for all things married, frugal, and household related. Take a gander if you get the chance!

Dresser Reveal {Not Your Gma's Dresser}

{Archive from 5.25.11}

What we thought would be a bear of a project turned out to be fun! We were going to leave this as the very last thing to do, but when some friends volunteered to helped, we jumped at the chance after E's bookcase.

Here's the before:

This piece was my grandparents. It's in really good shape--we were the ones to put all the scratches and scraps in it. My grandma told me they bought it at an estate sale in 1973 while they were living in Kansas. It was part of a multi-piece set and survived many moves. She grumpily gasped a little when I told her we were paining it yellow. The cherry finish is really nice, just not my style. She relaxed a bit when I said our new color scheme for the master is yellow and gray-- she had a lot of yellow in her house...classy lady, that one!!

And our after:

Now, my favorite piece of furniture we have!

Easter weekend, W was able to get some friends over to help with the hardest part: sanding down the dark finish. What would have taken him several evening hours, ended after 3 hours. It's amazing how far a bribery of beer and fresh deli sandwiches can get ya!

 The dresser: post-sanding

The guys were so quick that we had to call it a day because I hadn't even purchased the paint yet. So we had to let the dresser hang out in the garage. With our entire contents just hanging out in our room. Just lovely.

{This picture is giving my dad a heart-attack right about now.}

I'll spare you the pictures of what it all looked like post-vacation, a few weeks later. Not pretty. E started jumping on our piles like he does when I'm putting the laundry anyway. I knew it was time to get back to working on this sucker when we started collecting baskets of clean clothes on the floor too-- reminds me of my disastrous room in high school...eh. moving on...

After I finally committed to a color, it was back to the rollers again to prime.

Some light sanding and two coats of Behr's Citrus Zest later and we were in dresser business!!

After doing a bit of knob hunting, I realized that I didn't want to pay $5-10 dollars for just one knob when we needed 8. So with a bit of high-gloss white spray paint, we got some updated knob-age. This was my first time using spray paint and let me tell you, I'm hooked. Not so much on the fumes, but on the instant updated look! They were brass before, but looked porcelain/ceramic after a coat of white. Here was my take...

Then W stepped in with this contraption he made...

Seriously, this guy is the quintessential problem solver! Love him!

Well, she's a real beaut in her home. And will be a dandy, {temporary} changing table in a few months when Boy hangs out in our room before moving to his own. Thank goodness for protective coating and chux pads!

Break Down:

Roller, Tray & Brush Set: $11

Quart of paint: $12

Polyurethane Protective Coat: $14

White spray paint: $3

Sandwiches &  Beer: $15

Total: $55...but $30 for us with a gift card!

Think Grandma will approve?!?

List of Future Projects

{Archive from 4.7.11}

W may or may not now call me a DIYN..."do it yourself nutter." I can definitely see how this can be quite addicting. ;) Ever since finding Ana White's free plans, I'm a bookmarking mad-lady. I'm thinking we could shoot for a big project per month and still get some things done before this baby BOY joins us. EEK! :)

I was talking to my mom about this recently. In all seriousness, I haven't really cared all that much about what went into our house, until now, as along as it was warm, welcoming, and tidy for guests.. I mean, we were really fortunate that so many lovely pieces came from my grandma and parents during their respected moves {assisted living and the re-modeled grandparents' house} to decorate our house, but I didn't really know what I was doing or what my style was. My mom made a good point that now that I'm spending much more of my time at home, I care more about adding more personal touches to it. Now, if only I could harness that motivation for clean, clean, cleaning...oi!

Anyway, here's what DIY projects I've got on my list so far {not counting painting our & E's room}...

1) Definitely the next project, especially since we can re-use most supplies from E's bed project.

We'll pass on the legs and lay it horizontally instead against the window for a window seat/reading area. I'll make a seat cushion, throw pillows and buy some baskets for storage.

2) A friend just re-did a piece of furniture using this amazingly awesome color. I'm hooked and want to update our dresser with it now....in Behr's Lemon Lime

Her beauty--

Our potential--

3) Bookshelves

It's a toss up between these and another style that I've been eyeing for E's big boy room.

4) Update table lamps with spray paint & fabric
I don't know if I could get away with this much girlie-ness but this is my inspiration

It may end up looking similar to this, just different colors/fabric

5) New headboard: I've been talking about wanting a new bed for like 3 years now. I found this great tute on making your own headboard and thought it was a decent start and much more manageable on the budget.

 But, potentially with this fabric...to go with the whole yellow and charcoal theme I'm leaning towards for our master. W thinks this has too much potential for getting dirty, but it's SO cute!

 ... And way down the road when I start thinking about our downstairs...

or

I have to perfect spot for this or this and would really love some hidden storage for E's toys.

...I wonder if they have an DIYA {do it yourself anonymous} group?!...Heh.