My Creative Blog [Search results for Garage] 

You might remember that last spring I gave my front porch a face lift. I love the door, the planters, the numbers… I love it all! BUT… no one ever comes through the front door. We're those laid back friends where you can just swing by unannounced and you'd never dream of coming through the front door- and that's how we like it.

However, what we didn't love was the hideous garage entryway that we were making our poor friends and loved ones endure…

In my defense, we have a Bernese Mountain Dog that gets MUDDY in the spring, but still, it was nasty! We also had a bit of a shoe issue… Basically our kids never put them away! Grr!
My hubs was going away for a few days and I decided that a garage makeover would be a perfect birthday present- he was coming home on his actual 30th birthday. In 48 hours that tested me as a DIYer and a single mom, I managed to get the reveal done in time!

Isn't that SO.MUCH. BETTER? I love that it actually reflects what you're going to see when you get inside our home (not just a mud pit) and the hubs loves that the shoe issue is taken care of! Here's what I did…

I'll be completely honest here for a second too… the shoe bins actually work! Only once or twice have I had to remind my oldest (of course it would be the oldest) to put her shoes away. It's so practical and awesome!

I'm calling this a REAL LIFE Garage Mudroom Makeover because I was not going to go all out and spend hundreds of dollars on a garage- it's a Garage! I love some of the pictures I see in magazines and on Pinterest where every little detail is exactly perfect and pristine, but news flash… I don't live in a magazine… My 4 kids are messy, my garage is usually housing a DIY project, and is being spray painted in all the time. I wanted a makeover that looked good, but was realistic and not fancy just for the sake of blogging it. Here's an example… I could have painted the garage floor and it would have looked much cleaner, but really- spend time painting a floor that will get dirty or have fun with my kids? I went with the kids and I'm happy about it. So, I hope this inspires you to be willing to try a project- it doesn't always have to look Pottery Barn perfect.
Okay, off my soap box… Here are some more fun elements…

The rest of this week, I'll be sharing the tutorials for all the projects in the room. Lockers, Custom Rugs, Foot Artwork, and more! In the meantime, I have one final detail to finish… I am going to add some vinyl words to the door. We have a no knocking policy in our house. Honestly, there's one of Kaden's sweet little friends that always knocks when his family comes over and I give him such a hard time! (Matt, if you're reading this- no more knocking!) So, what I want to put on the door is something about friends and family not knocking, but I can't come up with a good way to say it. Can you help a girl out?

Leave me a comment if you have any ideas! I always get so inspired by all of you!
What do you think of my Real Life Garage Makeover? Stay tuned tomorrow for tutorials! Linking to:

We loved Amanda's project this round because they did some things we're totally into… Everyone knows I have a thing for yellow (check out my yellow dining room buffet here). We also use our projector any chance we get (check out Jess' gigantic shaped frame), and we just love that they were willing to stage their garage to get the PERFECT look! Well, it paid off, Amanda! Now, tell us how you made it happen… ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have to admit, I was pretty stumped with the paint round at first. I'm not super creative when it comes to thinking up wall art or paintings, and I didn't have a lot of ideas in mind for what I could do. But then, I remembered this little guy sitting out in my garage:

Corey and I have had this Bjursta sideboard from Ikea in our garage for a few weeks now — my sister was getting rid of it and asked if I wanted it, and I rarely turn down free furniture, so I said yes even though I didn't really have a plan for it. Corey and I figured it could live in our garage when we convert it into a family room (which we fully plan to do ASAP!), but that was the end of the plans we had for it. So, after a brainstorming session one night, Corey and I landed on a plan — we'd give this guy a makeover and set it up in a high-contrast room. The goal was punchy, modern, and fun. After some debate, we landed on this color palette, with paint from Home Depot.

(The colors are Sunny Side Up by Behr, Cordite by Home Decorators Collection and Totally Black by Home Decorators Collection) We started off with a black wall…

We just painted one of the walls in our garage for this particular project — down the road once we convert it, we'll probably do the rest of the walls black as well (or 1-2 black and the rest white), but I didn't want to go there yet. So, if you back up from our shot a little bit, you'd see…

Just Keeping it real, y'all. For contrast, we picked out a super rich, mustard yellow for the sideboard.

(Obviously this is not the finished sideboard — just with one coat on it! Just a reminder that things look crazy before they start to look good!) On the walls, we originally planned on just hanging a gallery wall, but when I got the idea to paint a world map on it, we knew it was the way to go. We pulled up a good map online and used our projector to get it up on the wall.

I was surprised by how quick it was to get the map painted — we just used some small paintbrushes and I outlined while Corey filled in. It took about an hour and a half from start to finish, which is way better than I expected.

(Yes, we do DIY projects in our pajamas. Don't you?)

Once everything was all finished and dry, we decided the sideboard needed a little something extra. So we grabbed some paint in the same color but a different finish (the main part is high gloss, the details are flat), and used the projector again to add some numbers. It's a super subtle detail, but we love that about it — when you're looking from straight on, the map is totally the star. But if you shift yourself a little to either side, the numbers suddenly jump out at you.

After the numbers were finished, it was just time to style! We added an Ikea rug to hide the concrete floor (and to add some pattern)…

.added a lamp for some height…
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…and then we finished it off with a few accessories and books. And it looks a little something like this:

I'm pretty head over heels with this little set-up, and I'll admit — I'm sad it's in our garage because I can't gaze at it every day! But, hopefully we'll be able to tackle the rest of this room pretty soon and I can go stare at it anytime I want to! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Talk about dramatic! Amanda's garage is now the prettiest one we've ever seen! It has been so much fun to browse Amanda's blog. One thing that caught our eye is this China Cabinet makeover. The chalkboard paint is such a fun surprise at the back and we loooooove that hardware.

Plus, this little table-length succulent trough is too cute!

We have two more awesome tutorials from Melissa and Sarah tomorrow and Saturday, so be sure to come on back. Also, if you haven't linked up your favorite paint project, you can do that until tomorrow at 10 PM EST. We LOVE seeing all the incredible things you guys do in your homes! We'll pick our favorite and feature it here on EC2 on Sunday!

We Interrupt this Post to Bring You Something HUGE!
We've had to keep this secret quiet for a while, but now we can dish. We were contacted by Proctor & Gamble about being the face of their home division. SCORE! The one catch… we're one of 4 bloggers in the running. Oh SNAP! So, today begins the voting on P&G's Facebook Page. We need you (and basically everyone you've ever met) to vote for Monica once a day now until October 4th. I know that the daily voting thing is a pain, but man, this opportunity would rock our world! So, pretty please, with a cherry on top- go vote for Monica (you'll even get to see our very cheesy entry video!)


You can VOTE once a day for the next 15 Days!!

Okay, now onto today's post. Thanks so much for voting!
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Probably the part of my Garage Mudroom Makeover that I got the most questions and comments about was the huge artwork of my crew (or at least their bottom half!) Staples Engineer prints aren't anything new to our blog (we use them all the time!), but every time I fall a little more in love!

If you missed the reveal of my makeover, you can check it out HERE. You can check out the Custom Painted Rug tutorial HERE

On our final Nate Show episode, we used a really large wooden frame with some cool fabric and skeleton keys. All the furniture from the show was shipped back to us, so I knew months ago what I had in mind for it.

I knew I wanted to frame a picture of my kiddos' feet and put it in the garage, I just had to wait until my garage was no longer a disaster! Once the mudroom makeover was underway, I immediate saw the perfect place for my artwork!

I gave the Nate Show frame (originally purchased at a thrift store) a quick coat of spray paint using Valspar's New Avocado. I recently used the same color on some chairs and I'm a pretty big fan of it.

Since we've done this kind of project a few times before I'm not going to go into the full tutorial, you can check out one tutorial HERE or the other HERE.
I know a few of you have had questions about what kind of print to ask for at Staples etc… I went in and talked to our store and got the low down on some details for ya.

I did make a few small tweaks this time around. Since the frame was empty, I needed to use foam core to mount my image and then staple it to the back of the frame.

I sort of underestimated the size of the frame- it's huge! So I just mounted the left and right sides and left the middle… shhh, no one would ever know.

The process was really simple, and would have been even easier if I hadn't run out of foam core. I actually caught my finger in my heavy duty staple gun and a month later, my nail is still purple. Ugh. Although, it doesn't compare to slamming your finger in a car door and cutting off the top of it while taping a TV show for Nate… not that I know anyone who did that: )

For $6.99 I'm over the moon excited about the impact that this art makes in my garage. I come in and out of this door a million times a day and it's pretty awesome to have something I love to look at.

So, what do you think of my Shoe Artwork? Are you ready to try a Staples Engineering Print in your home?

The most important part of my Garage Mudroom Makeover was definitely the DIY Lockers. Honestly, even when our home was being built, and all we had were studs, I was envisioning a mudroom with lockers. My hubs thought I was certifiably insane!

I was pretty patient (especially for me!) and waited almost two years after moving in to create my garage mudroom.

Just as a reminder here's the before and after…

I surfed Pinterest for some inspiration, and then turned to the guru of all things woodworking… Ana White. We had the awesome opportunity to meet Ana at Haven and she was so down to earth and man can she rock out a pair of heels and a power tool like no one else!

The plans on her site are called Smiling Mudroom and they were really simple to follow.

I definitely made some changes to fit our garage and our needs. 1- I'm never a fan of anything scrolly, so I made the dividers straight. 2- I knew I wanted to add the foot artwork above the lockers, so I didn't add the top cubbies because I thought it would get a little busy. 3- I made four lockers, because well, I have four kiddos. 4- I added lots of extra wooden supports to the backside because my kids are crazy and because even I doubt the quality of my own woodworking skills. Since Ana has all the step-by-step directions, I'm just going to fill you in on a few things I learned along the way.
The very first steps were the trickiest for me. I was working alone, so it was hard to get the pieces lined up and nailed in with only two hands. A nail gun would have been SO helpful. I'd highly recommend using one if you tackle this project.

Thankfully Jess came over to lend a hand and one of my husband's buddies came by to see the progress and we totally put him to work as well!

I had this wood leftover and used it as additional support on the backside. It made the piece so much sturdier.

Have you used a Kreg Jig yet? I used the Kreg Jig Junior for this project and it worked so well. You use it to make pocket holes and it's a piece of cake. If you're planning any DIY woodworking projects, I'd recommend a Kreg Jig as one of your first purchases.

One thing I learned to love during this project was trim. It makes a rookie's work look all fancy-pants professional.
Before trim…

After trim…Booyah!

Here's a little tip that I figured out after making a few bad cuts when I was just trying to use a tape measure to get the length right.

If you're planning a garage mudroom, make sure you check out the edge of your walls. I overlooked the concrete lip and had to go back and notch out each base piece.

I gave it a quick sanding… AKA I sanded for about 30 seconds before thinking, This is for the birds! Let's get painting! Since I used a VERY cheap plywood it sucked the paint up and actually gave it more of a stained look, which I fell in love with.

I added some hooks to the back wall for backpacks, coats etc. I didn't have studs centered for each one, so I had to use mollys (wall anchors). I picked up the grey bins at Walmart for $3.00 each (they still have them- I checked this weekend)

The locker project was so simple and if my husband and I had worked on it together, we could have whipped it together in about an hour. I was honestly surprised at how easy it was because of Ana's plans.

To check out the Before and After post click HEREFor the Painted Rugs post click HEREFor the Foot Artwork post click HERE Tell me, do you have a mudroom type place in your home? If so, do you feel like it's functional? If not, would you want to build one somewhere?
And don't forget that we're in the running to be the New Face of Proctor & Gamble Home! Please head over and vote for Monica. You can vote once a day, now through October 3rd. We SO APPRECIATE you taking the time to vote each day!

Garage Makeover Tutorial # 1- Custom Painted Rugs!

Hopefully you got to see my Garage Mudroom Makeover. If you missed the reveal, you can check out the full post here.

Today I'm giving you the inside scoop on the fun rugs I made. I'll be sharing the other tutorials over the next few days.

I used the same Home Depot rugs that I used for my stenciled outdoor rug. Check out that post for all the details on where to buy them. They were under $20 each!

Instead of one big rug, I wanted two runners, so I folded it in half and cut it.

For the first runner, I decided I wanted some graphic arrows going in and out. I measured from the side, and used chalk marks to keep my lines straight.

Scotch Blue tape worked like a charm for really well sealed lines.

Once it was all taped off, I had to cover the rest of the rug. I had a pile of old circulars around, and they did the trick!

It was a tad windy, so the hubs helped by holding up a piece of foam core (we had used it as a target at Kira's Brave Party) so the spray paint wouldn't get all over the rug.

Because of the wind, some of the paper lifted and I had some bleeding. Thankfully, soap and water removed it all and I was left with crisp lines.

For the second rug, I was excited to use our new Silhouette Cameo. I wanted to write the word shoes nice and large so that my crazy kids just might happen to remember to put them away! So far it's working!

For this rug, I wanted to have the letters be negative space, so I taped off the area to be painted and then used spray adhesive to attach the letters to the rug.

I used the same method of covering up the rest of the rug so that I could spray paint it.

I was so excited to see how crisp the letters turned out!

I'm such a fan of graphic word art and these rugs make me excited every time I walk in the door.

What do you think? Will you be trying out some DIY Rugs anytime soon?

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So, last week I gave you a little peek into our newly organized garage with the easiest DIY coat rack known to man, but I saved my most favorite part of the makeover until now. Really, I was just going for a new functional space that corralled our junk, but the one thing I decided to do was add some personality to our garage door that leads into our house with a little leftover chalkboard paint.  

Isn't it cute?! We also painted the wall with paint we had on hand, painted the trim white, added a cute, super easy set of hooks for bookbags and coats, and organized our shoes and everyday paper products. I've had this chalkboard paint FOREVER, and it has served me well through many projects!

Once I did three coats on the entire door using this method, I then seasoned it using a big piece of sidewalk chalk. Make sure you use the side of your chalk, instead of the tip, so you don't leave any permanent marks on the door.


Definitely not the prettiest look after it's been seasoned, but never fear!

Once you wipe it down with a damp cloth and add your text, the door starts looking a whole lot better! I was inspired by this vinyl from Belvedere Designs, so if you don't want to make a big statement like this, but still like the sentiment, you can buy it in smaller form.

Some of the phrases make me chuckle every time I walk in the house like"Down Boy","I'll sign for that" and"What are you doing here?". 

I had an old frame laying around that I spraypainted and added heavy duty magnets to. I love the pop of color on the black door.

I can't even tell you how much a transformation this area has undergone! Now, I don't feel stressed every time I pass through. Makes mommy happy.

And the chalkboard step I added makes the kids happy.

It's a win- win for everyone!: ) What crazy things have you painted with chalk paint?

Like many of you, I was totally inspired by Monica's surprise garage mudroom makeover and decided to organize our out-of-control garage. By out of control, I mean can't-walk-through-without-tripping-on-wood scraps/kayaks/bikes/kids toys/trash/old furniture/tools etc. It was bad. Very bad. And while our garage is clearly not as cool as Mo's, it is at least more functional. So, with the helps of my hubs, I got my rear-end in gear and cleaned out the entire space, painted a few walls and built a super simple coat rack using materials I pretty much had on hand. I'm not showing you the whole space yet…you'll have to check out Infarrantly Creative this week to see that! 

How to build the EASIEST coat rack known to man: 1. Have a handsome man cut a 1x3 to the size you want.

2. Spraypaint it white (or the color of your choice)

3. Spraypaint cheap hooks. I bought mine at my local hardware store for around $1 a piece and sprayed them with a variety of spraypaints I had on hand.

Tip: Put the screws in a piece of floral foam to easily spray the tops, since they will be visible.

After I spraypainted my hooks, it started to rain a bit. I set up a makeshift shelter, and yes, before you even say it, I'm crazy. Thank you for saving my project, Elmo!

4. Mark where you want your hooks to go on the board and drill pilot holes. 5. Find your studs and drill the board into the wall.

We spackled over the screws, sanded and then touched over the paint for a seamless look. 

Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done and the colors make it fun! The total cost for this coat rack was somewhere around $5, because I only had to purchase the hooks. 

That's it! Make sure you stop over to Infarrantly Creative later int he week to see what I did to the rest of the space! 

What do you do to corral all your bags, coats and other necessary everyday items? A hall closet? A set of hooks? Do tell!

Hey all! Since we're already three-quarters of the way through 2012, we thought it would be really fun to look back at our most popular posts so far this year. We have so many projects up our sleeves for this upcoming Fall and Winter, but it's encouraging to know that we've already accomplished so much in our homes in the last nine months!
One of the biggest changes in Jessica's living room was her labor-of-love fireplace makeover using a honeycomb stencil from Royal Design Studio.

Another big statement piece that got rave reviews was the Gigantic Framed Photo we created for under $20. Seriously, this project was super easy and is a show-stopper!

Outside, Jess added some much-needed curb appeal to her house by painting her shutters and front door a happy blue, and Monica's front door facelift and tiered planters finally have the outside of her house reflecting her style.

Jess' kitchen was a major priority the past few months. She knocked down a wall, added a gorgeous wall stencil and painted the cabinets during her Kitchen Renovation.

And Monica made an impromptu decision to add a bold Chevron Accent Wall in hers…

We both went nuts with DIY rugs and saved ourselves a bundle in the process!

Stenciled Outdoor Rug

DIY Fabric Floorcloth

Monica showed how she's not afraid to design it how she likes it and added some serious personality to her foyer.

Monica's Foyer Tour

We were pretty thrilled that together we were able to pull off a surprise garage mudroom makeover!

Garage Mudroom Makeover

You know we like to keep it real here, and Monica kept it really real with her now-you-know-way more-than-you-want-to-about-her-love-life Game of Love.

Game of Love Tutorial

And finally, we're getting ready to share some awesome pumpkin ideas for 2012, but if you're itching to get started with your Fall decorations, check out our fab pumpkins from last year!

Thanks for hanging out with us so far this year! We have SO much more in store, and can't wait to share it all with you.: ) And don't forget that Monica is in the running to be the New Face of Proctor & Gamble Home! Please head over and vote for her. You can vote once a day, now through October 3rd. We know voting things can be a pain, but this one is simple and man, winning would Rock our World! So thanks so much!
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You guys. Every once in a while one of my crazy ideas actually pans out and is awesome. I have to say, that in my opinion, this project is one of them. You know me, I'm a whole lot less modern than Monica when it comes to decor (and most things, come to think of it), so I surprised myself with how much I liked this wreath!! Without further ado, here's my little bit modern/little bit rustic Wood Slice Wreath:

I pretty much adore this wreath that I made from a tree that was knocked down during Hurricane Sandy a few weeks ago. We were fortunate to only have a few downed trees, but we still need to figure out what to do with all that wood! It was pretty much free, since I used materials I had on hand. That makes it even better in my opinion. Can I get an amen? You'll want to let your wood sit inside out of the elements to dry out for a while before beginning.

Here's how to make your own:

1. Cut a slice of wood from a tree trunk using a chainsaw. I'm pretty comfortable with most saws, but I stay away from chainsaws! My hubs cut a slice for me at about 2 inches thick. These pictures are a bit deceiving because the diameter of this wreath is about 1.5 feet, so it's pretty large!

(Wondering why everything looks so golden? No it's not Heaven, it's the nightime lighting in my garage. Please tell me I'm not the only one using power tools at 11 PM in the garage. My neighbors love me, as you can imagine.)

2. Using a large drill bit, drill a hole in the middle of the wood slice. This makes it easy for you to start cutting with a jigsaw.

3. Cut out the middle portion of the wood slice to create the wreath. I was lucky to have a piece of wood that had distinctive rings for me to use as a guide for the jigsaw. Make sure you have a long blade that is specifically designed to use on wood. This will make the job SO much easier! I'll be honest, this part was hard work! I had my husband hold the piece of wood to give me some resistance as I was cutting. We eventually had to switch jobs because it felt like my arms might just vibrate right off!

4. Sand the inside ring of the wood to even it out and to get rid of splinters. Easy peasy.

5. Tape off the top of your wreath and spraypaint the inside a fun color. This step is optional, but I wanted to give my rustic wreath a little bit of glam. I used Valspar Gold Metallic spray paint and did a couple of coats. Warning: because of it's circular shape and it's 2 inch depth, the paint will deflect right back at you! My gray nailpolish quickly became gold!

6. Add Self-Stick Foor Care pads to the back of your wreath to prevent scratching. This wreath probably weighs close to 10 lbs, and the last thing I want is for it to bang around in the wind and mark up my freshly painted front door. Adding pads creates a nice barrier between the wreath and the door!

7. Add your desired ribbon and step back to admire your work! Isn't she pretty? (Yes, it's a girl)

Look at those multi-colored rings! You just can't beat the beauty you find in nature.

My gold ribbon is just the right touch, don't you think?

And the gold interior ring is just subtle enough that it doesn't steal the show, but totally complements the tones in the rest of the wood.

If you want your wreath to last a long time, I recommend brushing a water-based polyurethane on all the surfaces to seal it. Because it's water-based, it won't change the color of the wood or cause it to yellow over time.

What do you think? Are you digging it like I am?

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Oh yeah, did you hear? We want YOUR Christmas cards!!

Please please send them to us because getting Christmas cards is one of the highlights of our lives. A bit dramatic, yes, but oh so true.
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If you missed all the amazing projects in the first three weeks of CWTS, be sure to check them out below!
Round 1 Projects & Winners Round 2 Projects & Winners Ro und 3 Projects & Winners

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Sarah really outdid herself this week with her amazing paint project. She's consistently delivered high quality, beautiful projects in the contest! We are in love with her sense of style and the way she mixes patterns!

When I first heard that they theme for week three was paint, I instantly knew that I wanted to transform this bookcase! It had great lines and details, and with the help of a little paint and power tools, it's issues could easily be turned around! We started with a bookcase from Goodwill. They were remodeling the back end of the building so we got it for 50% off, which ended up at $30. I'm thinking the drop panel was originally intended to be a dry bar, Goodwill even had it staged with an ice bucket and martini glasses!
Turning it into a secretary was the perfect solution since it would fix the choppy layout and add more functionality! We also added little feet to help it look not as bottom heavy and swapped the hardware for something smaller.

Thanks for the help Home Depot!

We designed the stencils in the computer and cut them out on the silhouette. The big one is 9 — 12x12 sheets that were taped together! See those little lines? They were necessary to hold the stencil together, so I went back and filled them in with a little paint afterwards.

And a few pics of our process. We adjusted the layout so that it doors were together (on the bottom) and the shelves were together (at the top). I now love how the fold down door doesn't break up the shelving, and now acts as a desk!
To paint, I followed the same principles I always do: sand, fill in holes/dents with wood filler, sand again, wipe down with a microfiber cloth, prime, lightly sand with a fine sandpaper, wipe with a microfiber cloth, and then apply the top coat (3 coats)!
and a few behind the scenes shots …
This stencil was pretty exhausting since it was so big, I had to hold down the stencil as I went since it didn't want to stay flat on the wall. We did photograph it in the garage, but there is concrete there! I picked up some cheap (about $1 a ft) laminate from Home Depot. Finally, when styling, I'm big on placing it and stepping back to see what it looks like, David was nice enough to move things around for me: )

I found these brass pieces at a local antique store, only a few dollars each!

Vase and pencil holder are votive containers from Target.

I was so excited to see ranunculus, my second favorite flower (favorite = peonies)

See how thick that door is!? The doors alone were super heavy!

I really love how a little paint can completely refresh a piece! Goodbye worn bookcase, hello new secretary desk! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh my word, not only does Sarah have amazing vision, she's a pro at making her vision come to life! We can't get enough of the way those stencils complement each other and the way she staged the shelves. Isn't it crazy that Sarah did this in her garage too? Lucky garages this week, for sure!: ) We can't wait to see what she's going to come up with this week! I just spent way too much time drooling over Sarah's house. Make sure you take a look at her home tour- it's fab!

We'll probably be double-posting tomorrow (you know, we're crazy like that) so be sure to check to see which linked up project this week is our favorite!
We hope you have a wonderful Easter. This holiday means so much to us and we're grateful for what God has done for us today and every day!

During the Winter, plants and pots sits in the garage workshop, but when Spring arrives they move out in the sun.  The owners have designed the plant table themselves and it's a perfect working place.

The old garage has been renovated with Cement floor and ceiling tree balks. I love the colour of the tree!

Most of the furniture has been found at flee markets and auctions, and the working tables, as mentioned, the owners made themselves.

The plane bench cost just about nothing at an auction and the garden tools was bought used in Sweden.

The doors, with original numbers still intact, come from an old drying room.

Outdoor kitchen. What a dream a hot summer! This mobile kitchen is self made and just so smart and pretty.

Good morning, everyone! I'm so excited to share this project with you today! I've been slowly working on making over our dining room which was sorely lacking in personality and style. You may remember that it looked like this back in the Fall of last year:

Then, I got tired of everything the way it was and removed the hutch from over the buffet, decided to refinish the table, and move everything around in the Spring:

I'm going to be sharing the reveal of my new coastal/cottage dining room sometime in the next two weeks, but I just had to show you what we've been up to so far. When AT&T sent me a new phone and a gift card and asked me to do a project to see how technology could help me out, I knew exactly what I was going to do. I've been a huge fan of Layla's dining room"wonder wall" and decided to come up with a way to duplicate the look of an older house inside my newer, 15 year old house.

So, with a little help from my phone, and a lot of help from my hubby, here's what I came up with:

Now, obviously, this picture is completely undecorated, but I wanted to save the final reveal for later when the room is finished, but isn't it fabulous?!! This accent wall is actually remarkably simple and cost only $100! Here's what I did:
1. Decide on a layout for your shelves and mark on the wall with chalk. This is absolutely not neccessary, but it helped me a ton with visualizing the layout. I took pictures of it, so that I could look back and see the placement after the planks went on the wall. The camera on my HTC OneX phone came in handy because I documented the whole process (and texted Monica loads of pictures!)…

 2. Choose your supplies! Thankfully, I got a coupon from Lowes the day before we headed out to pick up supplies, so with that and the visa gift card, I knew I could get what I needed.

The funniest thing happened at Lowes. Kevin and I were chatting about our options and got cold feet right before buying the stuff we needed because we thought we should research our options online more. Just as we were leaving, I remembered that my phone had internet capability (remember I was living in the dark ages!), and that I could look stuff up while we were there. I pulled up Pinterest and got to work.

Our friend, Shaunna, used faux wood planked paneling in her dining room, and since it seemed relatively easy and looked gorgeous, we headed to that section first. Lo and behold, we found this 4x8 sheet of coastal cedar lookalike paneling.

We only needed 4 sheets to cover the wall, so this was going to be the most cost effective way to plank the wall. I snapped pics of the paneling and the price, so that I could go home and make sure the colors would work in the room, and that I was getting the best price on the paneling. Plus, I knew my hubs could use the extra guidance so that when he went back with the truck to pick it up, he could have all the info he needed right on his phone.

We also got 12 2x2's for the wood"studs" and flat, white paint, as well. 3. Measure, measure, measure and cut. We held each section of paneling up the wall and made marks on it where we needed to cut it with chalk. This project would have been super easy had we not had to make cuts around the window. We took it out to the garage and set up a makeshift workstation.

We honestly did measure at least three times before making our first cut. We didn't want to have to buy more paneling because of a mistake!

It was dark and our garage doesn't have the best lighting, so we had to hold a flashlight while cutting with the jigsaw. Not the perfect working conditions, by any means! 

4, Hang the paneling on the wall. The paneling is incredibly easy to work with. It's thin and light, which makes putting it on the wall a piece of cake. Make sure you level each piece before nailing it into place.

We shot nails into the ends of the planks, just as you would with real wood to give it an authentic look. 

\
There were some really tricky cuts around the window, but a jigsaw works wonders!

Once all the planking was up, I was soo excited! It was coming along just as I had envisioned. Now for the"stud" shevling. 5. Paint your studs. I chose to use a flat white paint for a rustic look. I laid them all of the 2x2's in a row and knocked them out in about 30 minutes.

6, Nail the studs into the wall, vertical ones first, then horizontal shelves. We used the nail gun again to hang the studs. We started with the studs in the corner, and worked our way in to the middle, evenly spacing them as we went. Level the studs so that they are completely straight before nailing them in place.

I really wanted these to feel rustic, so we kept the nail holes visible.

The space under the window presented a tricky situation, but my hubs angled the wood down from the sill, and it looked so much better! 

9. Caulk the seams and spaces around the window. Sorry! No pictures of this step, but I'm sure you know what to do.: )
I am so happy with the way it looks, and can't wait to show you them all styled!

This project really was an easy one, and I can't believe how different the room feels now that it's done. Much more cozy and warm. And, if you like it now, wait until I reveal the finished room with all the fun accessories. I want to thank AT&T for the amazing phone that made this project go so smoothly! I was able to research, document the process, and update you via facebook, instagram (follow us at eastcoastcreative and Jess_EC2blog) and twitter. Seriously, my blogging life got 100x easier with this phone! Don't forget that you can enter the contest to win your very own HTC OneX Smartphone here!

So, what do you think of my planked wall? Are you in love like I am? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oh! And there's only a couple more days to vote for Monica in Proctor & Gamble's Great Try Out contest, so please take a minute and go vote!

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The title of this post couldn't be more appropriate because I'm in Disney World with the fam this week. It has been an amazing three days so far and we did meet the"fairest of them all" while having breakfast the Royal Castle (totally worth the arm and a leg that they charge for it btw.) But don't worry, I'm not talking about Snow White today, I'm going to give you the low down on my"New" dining room mirror!

I need to give you a little back story first. Remember how I"stole" Eric's tool box to make the Anthro Dresser? Well, no worries, at the Liberty Thrift Store grand opening we bough him a new dresser for our bedroom and his old one is the new"tool box." I stinkin' don't have a pic down here in Florida, but it's awesome and I think will be very cool after some serious DIYing of course!
Well, the new dresser had this super scrolly, ornate mirror that I didn't plan to use in our bedroom. I was in the garage, near the new dresser and mirror and had a mini"Ah-ha!" moment. The fancy frame was the perfect contrast with my super-simple frame wallpaper. Score!! I consider this mirror FREE because it just came with the piece I bought.
So here she was… a real beauty eh? I told you she was totally all"Mirror Mirror on the Wall"…

Did I mention that this bad boy is huge and weighs like a million lbs? Ok, not a cool mil, but seriously over 75 pounds! To demonstrate its size, I did the professional thing measured it got my 4yr old to lay down next to it. (My poor kids have such a weird mom…Okay kids, go lay on the ground next to the thrift store mirror so mommy can take a picture)

So my first step after the official measurement, was to tape/paper off the entire glass surface. I thought it was going to be a nightmare with all the curves, but amazingly, the paper slid perfectly under the edge. Eric couldn't understand why I was freaking out with excitement about how easy it would be!

I did some ripping and angling, but it was still done in about 5 minutes. I used 8x11 scrap paper on all the edges and then a piece of craft paper down the middle. Easy Peasy.

I took it to the garage and used black satin spraypaint. This is the perfect opportunity to bring up some major beef I have… What in the world is up with Valspar's NEW spraypaint cans? They're awful! They spray all over the place, and are just plain terrible. Have you tried them? Are Jess and I alone in our hatred? I adore Valspar paint, so I'm bummed and hoping they change this new can A-sap! Anyhow… crazy rant complete…

After two coats, she was all ready for my dining room wall! I did wait a while for the paint to dry because I didn't want paint getting on my wallpaper.

I love the contrast in the fancy lines of the mirror and the simple, almost childlike lines of the wallpaper. It makes me chuckle a little bit.

I still have some serious accessorizing to do when I get home, but for now these recycled items will do just fine. Slowly, but surely this room is going to come together! What do you think of my"Free" thrift store mirror?

PS- Don't forget to check out our upcoming Nate Show Episode This Thursday, December 1st!

Linking Up: Stories from A to Z

If you missed the announcement about which nine contestants made it through to Round 2 of Creating with the Stars, click here! We're dying to see what those ladies come up with for this week's Knockoff theme!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are some nice end tables out there, but this one ranks way up there on the coolness scale (is there such a thing? If not, we just made one.) We love how Sarah, from While They Snooze, used something free to create something totally fabulous for her home. Booyah to pricey furniture everywhere. Let's take a look at how she made this bad boy…

On a run a week or so back, I passed a house in my neighborhood with 6, count 'em 6, old tires on the curb (Where you at HOA??). My slightly hoarderish brain immediately tried to think of projects I could use them for. Alas, as Beyonce blasted in my ears, I thought of nothing and ran past. Fast forward a few days to when the Creating with the Stars announcement was made and I learned theme one was Upcycle. In the midst of picking my jaw back up off the floor, I remember those grimy tires. Early Saturday morning, still bra-less and in my PJs, I drove to that house and hurled the one tire that was left into the back of my car. Let's hope the morning fog prevented most from seeing that. Don't be fooled, though the kids look excited, they are confused as to why mommy threw garbage in the car.

As the tire lay in my garage, it dawned on me that it was the perfect size/shape for a side table. 24" round. Just needed some legs and some (a boat load of) prettying up. Here's what I did.
Supplies:

• Old tire — Mine still had the rim… it will still work if it doesn't.
• Plywood — One circle for the base and one for the top. My plywood is 1/2" thick.
• Legs — Get creative! I used wood but you could use an upside down flower pot, metal, or buy pre-made legs from Ikea. This tutorial will show you how to make wood legs.
• Rope — to disguise the tire. I used 350 feet (yikes!) of 1/4" sisal and manila rope sold in little bags at Home Depot.
• Glue/Screws/hardware to attach the legs — This will vary depending on what legs you get.
• Construction Adhesive — To glue the tire to the base and the rope to the tire. I used Liquid Nails.
• Basic tools - This will vary depending on what your base is made from. I used a jig saw to cut the circles. A chop saw, table saw, and jig saw the cut the legs. Drill to attach the legs.

Step 2: Cut out two plywood circles. First circle should fit in the center of your tire to make a flat surface to form the table top. I measured, then nailed a piece of string into the center of my plywood, attached a pencil, and drew the circle. I had to sand the edges of the circle here and there to make it fit in the tire. The second circle is the base that the tire will sit on. Trace your tire and cut the circle one or two inches smaller than that.

I bribed the hubs with lunch so he would cut them out for me.: )

Step 3: Cut out some legs. Since this table will be replacing another (ugly) table in my living room, I measured the height of that existing table. It was 20". The tire is 9" high, so I needed 11" legs. Side tables vary in height though. They should work well with the seating they will be next to. So measure your tire and then figure out how high you need your legs.
I must confess, my husband came up with the idea of using the rocker slats from our rocking octopus, cut in half, for the legs.

Since I didn't want to destroy the octopus (poor Ollie!), we took them off, traced them onto some scrap pine from the garage, and cut them out. If you don't have rocking octopus legs to trace: ) rectangles would be fine!
Trace.

Cut out.

Cut in half and sand smooth.

Step 4: Assemble the legs. Take your larger base circle and arrange the legs equally spaced around the perimeter. To make the table a little more sturdy, I cut some small blocks from the scrap pine to use as supports for the legs. I glued the blocks to the legs with wood glue and clamped overnight. Once they were dry, I glued them to the wood circle, attached L brackets, and put a screw in through the top of the wood.

At this point I stained the legs and the rim of the base circle. However, they didn't turn out that great. I'll fix that in a minute.

Step 5: Glue tire to base. Once the legs are secure and dry, flip the base over, apply generous blobs of construction adhesive, and set your tire in the center.

Step 6.: Glue smaller circle to top of tire. The smaller circle should fit slightly inside the inner curve of the tire so when it's in place, the whole surface is flat… or close to flat. Since my tire has the rim, I just glued to that.

Step 7: Glue rope to tire. Attention: hot glue does not stick to tires just incase you were considering it.: ) I tried… no go. Stick with the liquid nails. Bonus: Liquid nails is the same color as rope. Some of it bled through. You can't even tell. Turn the table over, start around the base, and work your way to the top of the table.

Keep going! Once you get around the lip it's e asier if you flip it back over. I used a combination of sisal rope (the lighter color) and natural manila rope (the dark color). Both are sold in 50' sections at Home Depot.

Once you get to the top rim it gets tricky. The rope kept wanting to pop off so I had to keep it taped down with painter's tape as I went until the adhesive dried.

Then, when I hit the plywood, I switched to hot glue. Much easier! (Does anyone else have toys mixed in with their projects?)

Step 8: Paint the legs. Remember how the stain on the legs came out kind of meh? Sarah from Thrifty Decor Chick had the great idea to"dip" them. Basically, I painted the bottom half of the legs bright citrus yellow. Not meh anymore!

And that's it. You can put the rope down. You're done. I can't wait to have people over and see if anyone knows it's an upcycled tire!

My staging assistant.; )

And so you know last week was one CRAZY week… here's a lovely shot I took of myself, gluing rope to a tire at midnight while the rest of the family snoozed. Enjoy.

Ahhh, so fun! You guys have to see the behind the scenes look at Sarah's round 1 project. You know we love it when people keep it real! Sarah is super talented with a sewing machine, but we totally dig these fun DIY Chevron Curtains she made from Ikea curtains.

Be sure to check back tomorrow to see how Sarah created that who-would-have-ever-thought-you-could-do-that-with-egg-crate-insulation light fixture. Omw. Soooo creative. Also, do you want to be a part of Creating with the Stars yourself? You can link up your favorite upcycle project right here until tonight at 10 PM EST for a chance to win a great prize package and be featured on EC2! Happy Friday, friends!

Before I could do any Christmas decorating, I had one major problem to take care of… the huge broken TV and the massive custom shelving built around it. It's funny because this was a HUGE part of my 48 hours, but because it wasn't just decorating, they hardly even mentioned it in the episode!

I knew that the TV was broken and the little one was being used temporarily, but I didn't know what to do with shelving that was made specifically for a ginormous box TV. I considered building shelving within the shelving and then remembered that I didn't have a clue how to do that and only had about 8 hours… onto plan B. One thing I did know how to do was build a pallet wall. Remember this project we recently finished?

I thought Jess and Kev wouldn't mind if I covered up the gaping hole in the wall with some cool pallets, and so I went to the garage to see how many they had sitting around and then sent the hubs on a little search for more pallets!
The first step was removing the molding all around the edges. (Oh, and removing the beast of a TV…good thing I'm super strong! hehe)

Next, we used 2x4s to create studs that we could nail the pallets into. This wasn't quite as easy as doing it on a normal wall because we had a lot of open space.

The process we used was exactly the same as our last pallet wall, so if you want all the directions head over to this post. My favorite part of this wall is the awesome pattern that some of the pieces of wood had. I feel like the circles are a great contrast with the natural tones of the wood.

I think the finished product is just a wee-bit better than before, don't you?

Once that little challenge was taken care of, I could breathe a sigh of relief and move on to some decorating!

I hope that seeing another fun wall 'o pallets is sparking your creativity! I think the two walls I've done have turned out to be some of my favorite DIYs in a while!
And just because it was too fun not to share… Tonight the hubs and I hosted a dinner and cookie decorating night. 35 of us had a blast eating, decorating, and spending time together. Jess and I are so thankful for the awesomely fun people in our lives!

I've shared my dining room conundrum with you in a previous post, and we're really making progress! My wonderful mother helped me score 14 chairs for free! The old Plumsteadville Inn was sold to new owners and they were getting rid of many of the old dining chairs. She knows her daughter well and within five minutes she and my dad had all 14 chairs in their garage. Best. Parents. Ever.
Look at these beauties…

Ok, well maybe I have rose colored glasses, but I think they can one day be fabulous! I do wish they had either a more square, modern look or a more ornate, detailed look. They're somewhere in the middle… somewhere around"blah and boring"… but don't tell them or you might hurt their feelings… they do have star potential, I just know it!

oh and the fabric…

So, my first order of business was to create a chair assembly station in the basement

Did I mention this is going to be a Big Project? Fourteen of anything takes a while…

4 screws x 14 chairs = too many to count (It's my goal not to lose any of these, but it's quite unlikely)

14 ugly cushions

Now, comes the decisions… What new fabric to use and what color should the chairs be painted. Originally, I was just thinking black, but hmm… I do love grey, or slate blue, or yellow??? See what I mean, I need some help! I've decided that I'm going to choose fabric first and then work the chairs and the room around the fabric. Here are the options… Yellow and Sable Birds

Grey, Yellow, and Slate Blue (black chairs?)

Slate Blue and Sable Birds (perhaps with blue, distressed chairs?)

Not sure I love this one…

My plan with these fabrics would be to choose a few and have a variety of fabrics for the chairs

Green and Grey (Charcoal chairs?? Black??)

Olive, Orange, and Blue (something about this really appeals to me)

Grey and Green

Bold Yellow (Grey Chairs??)

Here's where you come in… Please give me your opinion in the survey below. Help a Sister out because I'm stumped on this one! Oh, and if you have another Fabulous fabric, please send it my way!

(oops # 1 and # 9 are the same!) Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.
Thanks! Can't wait to hear your ideas!

P.S. The Hubs just previewed my post… BIG MISTAKE …"Birds?? Birds?? No Birds! When did Birds become cool?? We have Birds on the mantle; we don't need Birds on our chairs!"… I'm pretending he just told me he likes all the options and whatever the readers choose is going to be great. {Wink Wink}

Good morning, everyone! Before we get into today's post, stop everything and GO VOTE if you haven't already! The ladies did not disappoint with their Round 1 Projects. You just have to see the creative upcycle projects they came up with. These contestants and their stars are gunning for amazing prizes and they need your help to get there! Upcycling is kind of one of our favorite things to do. Last year for the contest, we turned an ugly, beat-up antique table into this:

Now that that's out of the way, it's time to check out our upcycle project this week. We have to say that it feels quite lovely to get to do the projects without all that extra pressure. We just get to do projects that we've been wanting to do in our homes! So, here we go!

Isn't that so fun? Unfortunately, the lighting in our basement is atrocious and my limited photography skills don't do this space justice. It's so cute and fits right in with the nautical basement makeover Monica gave me during our first Nate Show episode. We were originally going to use this door as a headboard in our Superfab Guestroom Makeover, but it just didn't work in the space.This door is over a hundred years old and has a beautiful, chippy, blue-green patina. It's been sitting in my garage waiting for it's new home and it finally found it! I could not believe that this door fit so perfectly in the nook under the stairs. It was most definitely meant to be!

This was a super-simple upcycle. We already had one filing cabinet on hand, and purchased another at Walmart for only $30. My hubs and I painted both with Valspar Paint + Primer in Beach Glass (a Benjamin Moore color we had color-matched).

The new filing cabinet was an inch shorter than our existing cabinet so Kevin built a base for it using leftover wood from our stash.

Once the filing cabinet was placed on the base, you don't even notice the difference!

We placed the door on top of the filing cabinets and might eventually *wink* actually screw it in to the cabinets, but for now it rests securely right on top. I couldn't stand the thought of making any holes in that gorgeous door.

I love that it blends so perfectly with the nautical lounge behind it!

Let's take a peek at the dramatic before and after, shall we?

Woohoo! That's quite the difference and I'm really happy with it.: ) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now it's YOUR turn! We are so excited to see what you guys have come up with!

The winner will receive an awesome prize package from Belmonili and Perfectly Imperfect Shop, and we promise you're going to love it! This link party will be open until Friday, March 15th at 10 PM EST. Monica and I are going to be choosing our absolute favorite upcycle project and revealing the tutorial for it on Sunday! If you win this week, we'll be contacting you sometime on Friday for the tutorial, so be ready!
Please remember a few things before linking up:
1. Like us on facebook!

2. Make sure you link back to us in your post. Only those linking back will be eligible for the prize! 3. Only one submission per person. 4. Choose a project that you've done in the last 12 months.
Ok, let's see what you've got!

You probably remember (or at least we hope you do) our pallet wall room for my son Callen… If you missed that post, you can check it out HERE, but today I wanted to focus on the Wooden memo board we made.

We had the room about 95% done and we realized that there wasn't anything over the bed… The original plan for the room was to put the bed on the pallet wall and then use pallet wood to create a platform-style base with all kinds of cool built-ins. It sounded amazing in theory, and looked great when we arranged it that way… BUT I had terrible thoughts of Cal falling out of the window (and it's way up high- Yikes!).

So, safety over design! We switched the layout and now needed something on the left wall… Hmm… Jess and I had this piece of barnwood sitting in my garage for a while, just waiting for some inspiration… I don't know that either of us really had visions of it being in a toddler's bedroom, but for CWTS, it was totally worth it.

The first step was to give it the same sort of whitewash we used on the wall, so that the wood tones matched. As you can see, I made about a 50% attempt to cover up my granite countertop… (the hubs wasn't around to see! hehe) See how much a simple whitewash can change the look of the wood?

Since this was an afterthought project, I used all supplies I already had on hand. This one quart has done so many projects. This one, this one, and this one! I decided one half would be a chalk board for the little man.

I really lightly sanded down the inside wood and then just slapped it on. It wasn't perfectly smooth, but chalkboard paint is pretty thick and covers a multitude of sins!

Then I had to come up with something for the other side… I had a leftover roll of cork in the basement, and thankfully it was JUST long enough! Phew!

I did this the lazy blogger way… I pressed the cork in, made a crease at the sides and then roughly cut it. I DON'T recommend doing it that way… it was really wobbly and way far from perfect. I used my staple gun to attach the cork to the wood. to

See, you end up with yucky, uneven sides. Now I had to cover the edges up.

I had this leftover Halloween ribbon, but clearly orange polka-dot wasn't going to match. Have no fear, I'm willing to spraypaint anything and everything! I grabbed some metalic silver paint and went to town (sorry, no pic of that process… I really thought I took one??)

Originally, I planned on being finished once the ribbon was added, but just before we brought it into the room, we walked past the Anthro knock off dresser and thought adding some stenciling to this piece would be the perfect finishing touch!

I got these simple stencils at Lowes for under $4! Sweet!!

Of course I didn't plan out how far in the alphabet I'd get, so we just started and ended where it ended. My hubs thought that was weird, but Jess and I had no problem with it.

Isn't it super cool? Seriously, I hope this kid understands how awesome his room is. A 2 year old has my favorite pallet wall, our Anthro dresser, AND this wooden memo board! Ah, to be a toddler again…(actually, there is zero part of me that wants to be two, but it just kind of finished the paragraph)

So there you have it! I think it was the perfect accent for over the bed, and now I don't have nightmares of little children falling from windows! Creepy!

I wanted to mention, that if you didn't happen to have this exact piece of barnwood floating around (which I'm kind of thinking most of you don't…) you could use some plywood and pallets to trim around the edges and make the divider. It would be easy peasy and then totally match the wall.
So, how many of you have awesome kids' bedrooms, and blah master bedrooms? (I know my master is still builder white with no furniture!)

P.S. Jess and I both had family pictures taken last night by the Amazing Stacy Salvatori and we're so stinkin' excited to see all the pics! Here's a sneak peek that we got last night! My oldest (and yes, she's only 9!)

And Jess' insanely adorable little family. Love those kiddos!

So, you all remember that little ol' magazine we were in last month? You know…HGTV magazine? Umm, yeah, it was a really big deal for us. You can find us on page 92 of the October 2012 issue sharing a super practical idea that your guests for Thanksgiving are really going to appreciate!

Even though the photo they used was awesome, we didn't get to style the products ourselves for the magazine, so we wanted to show you how WE would put together an awesome Thanksgiving leftovers station. One major advantage to hosting Thanksgiving dinner is that you end up with TONS of leftovers! One major disadvantage to not hosting, is NOT having any leftovers to make a turkey sandwich with! So, we came up with the idea of setting up a little leftovers station for thanksgiving guests – think of it as self-serve take out!

Here's the idea… Before guests arrive have an area designated as the leftover station. You'll need it to be in or near the kitchen, and have enough space for packaging containers and 1-2 food bowls at a time. How to Create a Leftovers Station:
Step 1- Gather fun containers to hold food for your guests. There are so many cute take-out boxes available at craft stores these days. We plan to pop a plastic sandwich bag inside each one so we don't have any messy leaks.

Step 2- Provide labels and markers. Your guest can put both their name and the contents of the container on labels. It drives us crazy when we order Chinese food and then have to open every container to find what we're looking for. Labels are helpful and to be honest, we think they look so cute! We're loving the mix of plain, functional and decorative labels.

Step 3- Have serving utensils available. Guest will be scooping all kinds of yummy leftovers, so just make sure you have utensils handy for them.

Step 4- Provide stuff for quick cleanup. Leftovers can get messy so make sure to have something on hand for easy clean up. We gave our roll of paper towels a fun look by suspending them from a basket using a tree branch. Now our guests can clean up in style!

STEP 5- Provide bags to hold each family's leftovers. Our plan is to let each family pack what they want and then put their containers into a bag, and we'll keep them on a shelf in the garage where they can stay cold until guests leave. Inexpensive brown bags from the craft store work great look awesome when stenciled with fun messages.

I'm really excited to try out the leftover station and we;re hoping it's one of those projects that our guests love AND one that makes the day even easier and stress free!

Will you be trying out a left over station this year? Have you ever done something similar for your guests?

I'm so dang excited to introduce you to today's guest blogger… seriously, can you feel how excited I am all the way from Mexico?? Let me introduce you to Lindsay Ballard…

As Tom Cruise would say, Lindsay"had me at layered frames." It was the first project of hers that I'd seen and seriously, I spent the next two days of my life reading through the rest of her blog, Living with Lindsay. She recently completed a crazy-cool master bedroom makeover that pretty much went viral in the blogosphere and on Pinterest. Lindsey, we're so flattered to have you here and I'm thrilled we're becoming blog buds! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Monica asked me to put together a post to share with you guys while the ladies were on their Mexican vacation (¡Olé!), I think I did a few high kicks. You see, I swear that Monica and I were originally fraternal twins separated at birth, and the RHBC gals are some of my favorites on the internet. Their combination of wit and style is something we all aspire to, right? Ever the Teacher's Pet, I really wanted to wow you (and them!) with a fun post. I racked my brain for days to come up with the right project to share. Then, it hit me (or I hit it, because I accidentally banged a ladder into it) that I knew exactly what project that should be. This is a design that I put together late last year, but it quickly became one my favorite projects ever…
What do you think of when you hear the word 'drum'? I'd assume that most people think of their kids loudly playing a drum kit in the garage, high school football halftime shows, or their favorite rock and roll band. But, most people aren't us, are they? We DIYers and home decor obsessed people probably have a drum shade spring to mind instead. Or, at least I do. I've been rolling around the idea in my head for the past few months on combining the best of both versions of drums. I'm glad that I let my mind wander down that path — it's a lot of fun when I can dream up something pretty farfetched that ends up becoming reality.

Creating this fixture was actually a pretty simple process once I figured out what to do. I put together a tutorial so that you could do it, too. DIY Drum Pendant Light Materials Needed: Used Tom drum Short piece of scrap wood 4 finishing nails Drill Jigsaw Pendant light kit (I HIGHLY recommend the cloth cord kits from Shanell's ) Scissors or X-Acto knife, if needed Canopy 1. I bought a used Tom drum off of Ebay for under $30 shipped. I'm sure I could have found a better deal at a thrift store or pawn shop around town, but I knew what I wanted and was willing to pay a little extra so that I didn't have to drag the kids all over town. This Tom is 12 inches tall and 10 inches wide. Any size will likely do — you'll just want to make sure it will fit in your space.

2. I removed the top and bottom of the drum by unscrewing the screws that hold it together. I was able to unscrew it with my fingers, but you may need a really small socket or"drum key." Please note, I know not one single thing about drums, and I'm sure the top, bottom and little screws have a name. I'm going to just call them my own terms so that other non-musician DIYers, such as myself, can more easily understand the instructions. The top and bottom will separate from the chrome ring.

3. I cut a piece of scrap wood so that it would fit tightly inside the drum without distorting its shape. I didn't curve the edges; I just cut it straight across. On either side, I hammered in 2 finishing nails to hold it in place (drill small holes first to make it easier). In the below photo, I hadn't hammered them in all the way so that you could see them more easily in the photo. Obviously, hammer them all the way in. I colored the nail heads black with a Sharpie marker since my drum is black, but they are pretty well hidden by the chrome rings once you put the drum back together, so you might not have to worry about that.

4. Once the strip of wood was in place, I needed to create a slot for my light fixture to thread through. I drilled three holes that were roughly the diameter of the the piece I needed to thread.

I used my jigsaw to connect all three holes into one long slot. The reason you need to do this is to be able to balance the drum. There is a clamp on the side of a Tom that attaches it to a drum kit, and it creates more weight on one side of the drum. The drum doesn't hang straight from the center, so a slot gives you the ability to slide the fixture around to figure out its balance point.

5. Thread your fixture through the slot. You can pick up a light kit at a home improvement store, which you will hang by a wire and chain. OR, you can do what I did and use one of the Pendant Light Kits from Shandell's. Instead of having the ugly chain, these kits are made from cloth cord. They come in several colors — red, gold, brown and putty — and in either nickel or brass finishes. These kits are $29 each and I couldn't speak more highly of them. They definitely give a much more finished and vintage look to a fixture.

I have a 60-watt blub in the fixture, but that could vary by project. You will need to test it on your own drum, but mine does not get warm to the touch at all, even when left on for many hours. 6. Replace only the chrome rim on the top of your drum (where the light fixture is). You may find that you need to cut (with scissors or an X-Acto knife) the little silver ring off of the what was then the bottom head (they part you don't play) and put that under the chrome rim. You'll see what I mean when you start to put it back together — you want the top to be open, but you may need that silver ring as a spacer in between the drum and the rim. Flip your drum over and attach the head (the part you actually drum) and rim to what is now the bottom of the drum. You can just screw the screws back in with your fingers.

7. Hardwire your new fixture to the ceiling. You'll want to buy a light canopy to hide the wires. I got mine at Home Depot and spray painted it chrome. I hung my new drum pendant light in a small area of our entry way. I could not possibly be more in love with its quirkiness and originality. I bet you will be the only one in your neighborhood with this light fixture!

My favorite part about it is the amazing light it throws off at night. There is an almost ethereal glow that comes through the drum head, and the light that shines on the ceiling really highlights the fixture.

And yes, I totally bribed my dog boys with treats to sit right there. I sure love those crazy mutts, even if their constant barking makes my head feel like I'm actually living in a drum! So, what do you think? Does the term drum shade have a whole new meaning for you now?