Today is the last day of Round 1… That was an intense amount of DIY awesomeness for one week… One night this week, Jess and I had a text conversation that went something like this… Jess: Did you see all those awesome projects?Me: Yes! They're insaneJess: I think I'm mildly depressed from it all- these girls are amazing.Me: Yes, I believe I will quit blogging, go eat cookie dough, and mope around my house. Well, thankfully we didn't quit blogging, I didn't eat too much cookie dough, and we got over it, and are ready for Round 2 tomorrow! Before we say goodbye to Round 1, we are super excited to share our favorite Upcycle that was Linked Up this week!
Jessica blogs over at Dear Emmeline and we loved her Embroidery Hoop Pendant Light! We are definitely going to try this upcycle soon! Check out how she did it and don't forget to link up your favorite Knock off starting Tuesday! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ever get inspired by someone else's work to create something similar yet so completely different? When I saw View Along the Way's Dodecahedron Pendant Light I fell in love but I also knew that not only did I not have the tools to recreate it but it would be a TON of work.
Then I had the thought,"Is there anything I could use to create a pendant with a similar feel with a lot less work?" A thought sprang to mind, and here is the result!
It took us about 30 minutes of actual work time to make this fixture! If you want to make your own here's what you'll need:
2, 14" quilt hoops (we bought ours at Jo-ann Fabrics, original price $4.99 each) stain or paint 3/4" square dowel pendant light kit 7, 8-32 x 3/4 flat head Hillman knurled screws 7, 8-32 hex nuts drill wood glue clamps spray paint
Before we began assembling the fixture we gave the hoops and 3/4 dowel a coat of vinegar and steel wool oxidation stain to give them a weathered finish and used oil rubbed bronze spray paint to paint the cement colored part of the pendant fixture.
Next, line up the 3/4 dowel with the hoop connectors (outer piece of hoop) and mark a cut line. Drill a hole down the middle of the dowel. This will be the place that you feed the pendant cord through.
Remove the hoop fasteners and center your 3/4 dowel between the hoop tops. Glue and clamp each hoop to the dowel.
Feed the inner piece of each quilt hoop into the ball overlapping them to make an X shape.
Starting with the bottom, drill through each hoop overlap (there should be 7). Feed the screw through each hoop and fasten with a hex nut.
You could cut down the screws if you want the to end up being flush with the nut but we chose to leave them as is since the piece has an industrial look to it already.
I recommend drilling and fastening in the following order.
Feed the pendant cord through the 3/4 dowel and you're ready to hang it up!
We purchased an antique look filament bulb from Lowes to complete the look.
Isn't that such a creative idea? Amazing work Jessica! We can't wait to see what you link up this week! Don't forget that voting on the Round 2 Projects starts bright and early tomorrow!
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 Round 4 Projects Before we do anything else, we want to say thank you to all of our sponsors! This fabulous contest was made possible by them and we are ever so grateful! Also, a HUGE shout out to Homes.com and HomeGoods for sponsoring the Grand Prize round this week! You guys are the best! The Grand Prize Winning Team will EACH receive: $500 from Homes.Com $500 Gift Card to HomeGoods Project featured by HomeTalk
We just can't keep you guys waiting in suspense any longer! Without further ado… The Grand Prize Winner of The 1st Annual Creating with the Stars Contest is…
1. Sarah { Sarah M. Dorsey Designs } & Brooke { All Things Thrifty }
(Sarah, her hubs, and cute pup!) Colorful, Texture-filled Bedroom Makeover
Congratulations Sarah and Brooke! Sarah has delivered such amazing projects throughout this contest. Let's take a look back, shall we? Round 1: Statement Light Fixture
Round 2: Custom Cornice, Drapes and Bench
Round 3: Painted Secretary Desk and Accent Wall
We have LOVED having Sarah in the contest and have been continually inspired by her. Well done, girl! Make sure you keep up with all of Sarah's DIY awesomeness- Follow her on Facebook!
Melissa and Amanda have been awesome competitors too! They worked hard, stretched their DIY limits and came up with some super fun and stylish projects. Thanks for being a part of the contest, ladies! We also want to thank Beckie and Sherry for being amazing blog stars! Their partners loved working with them, and we already love them (duh!)
2. Melissa { 5 foot 12 Creations } & Sherry { Young House Love } Guest Room Makeover
3. Amanda { Love and Renovations } and Beckie { Infarrantly Creative } Reading Room Makeover
Here's the official vote tally…
This contest has been absolutely amazing and we're so thankful to all of you for playing along! Tomorrow we'll share how Sarah put her room together and then Friday we have a fun wrap up post for ya… think David Letterman top ten meets Monica and Jess. We know… you can hardly wait right?!? We'll also be sharing our favorite home decor project from the link up party (you have until Friday at 10 PM EST to link up right here). The good stuff just keeps on coming!: )
We thought Round 1 was pretty impressive, but Round 2 officially blew us away. Apparently all of blogland was pretty excited too, because we had a bajillion of votes over the last two days (yes, that's the official number, FYI). This round was the closest one yet, with 1st and 2nd place only separated by around 20 votes the entire time! Let's see who ended up on top!
The Winner of Round 2 {Knockoff} is… 1. Amanda { Love and Renovations } and Beckie { Infarrantly Creative } West Elm-inspired Wood Tile Dresser
We thought this project was amazing and it's actually been on our list of"Knockoffs to Try" for a while now! Thanks, Amanda, for showing us how it's done! Congratulations on the Round 2 Win! Who else made it to Round 3, you ask? 2. Sarah { While They Snooze } & Sarah { Thrifty Decor Chick } Anthropologie-inspired Sharpie Plate Art
We want to give Sarah a shout out for her project too. It was incredible and so many of you loved it and voted for it, too! Congrats Sarah! 3. Melissa { 5 foot 12 Creations } & Sherry { Young House Love } Anthro-inspired Ikat Console
4. Sarah { Sarah M. Dorsey Designs } & Brooke { All Things Thrifty } Schumacher Zimba-inspired Drapes, Anthro-inspired Bench, Custom Cornice
Ok, so now we totally know how Len, Carrie-Ann Inaba and Bruno feel on Dancing with the Stars each week…saying goodbye to talented people is HARD!! We're sorry to let the next three incredible DIYer's go, but wish them tons of success with their blogs. We've loved having them! 7. Jane { Life, Crafts & Whatever } & Jamielyn { I Heart Naptime } Horchow-inspired Mirrors
8. Ann Marie { White House, Black Shutters } & Shaunna { Perfectly Imperfect } Anthro-inspired Duvet
Once again, to keep things legit, here are the official results…
And here's a reminder of the awesome prize package that Amanda won from this round…
$100 Gift Card to Royal Design Studio A pair of $120 Robert Allen pillows from Chic Decor Pillows Project featured by HomeTalk
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Congratulations to the 6 contestants moving on! Are you ready to get your paint on? We hope so, because Round 3's theme is Paint!
Round 3 is our Semi-Finals Round, so this is when things really get serious! This week both the Contestant and their Star partner are in it to win it! The Semi-Finals Winner will receive: $500 Gift Card to Home Depot (Contestant & Blog Star!!) $100 worth of Martha Stewart supplies from Plaid Crafts $125 Gift Card to Lucent Lampworks Project featured by HomeTalk
Voting for Round 3 will begin on Monday March 25th at 12AM EST. Don't forget that you can link up your own Knockoffs through this Friday at 10PM EST…the winner will get an awesome prize pack and have their tutorial featured here on EC2 this weekend. Click here to link up! Make sure you check back throughout the week! Thurs, Fri, and Sat we'll have the full tutorials for the top three projects and Sunday we'll share the Link Up winner's tutorial! Thanks so much for making this contest awesome so far!
If you missed all the amazing projects in the first three weeks of CWTS, be sure to check them out below! Round 1 Projects & WinnersRound 2 Projects & WinnersRo und 3 Projects & Winners
We want to thank HomeGoods and Homes.com for partnering with us for this competition. They believed in this contest from the start and I'm positive the contestants have knocked their socks off! Since this is the Final Round, and we'll be crowning a CWTS 2013 Champion, we needed an awesome Grand Prize Package! The Grand Prize Winners -Contestant and Blog Star- will EACH receive: $500 from Homes.Com $500 Gift Card to HomeGoods Project featured by HomeTalk
Also, for this round, HomeGoods provided each contestant a $100 HomeGood's gift card! Jess and I adore HomeGoods and just last week we picked up about 8 rolls of the best wrapping paper ever! You never know what awesomeness you'll score!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay, now let's get to business! There are only 3 projects this week, so you're voting for your 1 and only favorite! We're so proud of each of these ladies and we know they've worked crazy hard the past month! As you're voting and commenting, please keep things positive & encouraging and just pick your favorite project. We've tried to keep things as anonymous as possible, so don't bother playing Sherlock Holmes.: ) Without further ado, We present to you… The Round 4- Grand Prize Projects
#1- Guest Room Makeover For my final CWTS project, I chose to makeover a guest bedroom. I envisioned a guest room that was full of personality…fun pops of color and an interesting mix of textures and objects that feels comfortable, unique and welcoming to guests.
What do you make with an old fireplace mantel and a shower curtain? Create a headboard of course! I loved the gorgeous detail in the border of the dark wood, in addition to the design of the shelf with the mirror and paneling. To complete the transformation to a headboard, I closed in the fireplace opening with plywood. and then I upholstered it with the blue and green ikat fabric---A.K.A a shower curtain from Target!
After I spent about an eternity installing bead board and chair rail, I felt like the room needed a really fun pop of color that would also work well with the headboard fabric. For balance, I purchased a white round side table at HomeGoods, and painted it with some fabulous emerald paint! In selecting bedding, I chose to go with a crisp white duvet cover, so as not to overshadow the headboard fabric and pillows. Picking out pillows was super-fun and HomeGoods never lets me down when I am in need of a"new pillow fix." I fell in love with the vintage camera pillow (also from Home Goods) and felt it added an interesting and unique element to the room. The blue lamps added another great pop of color. My goal was to incorporate interesting objects with a mix of coordinating colors and textures into the room…the collage below shows all the details that I hope will make overnight guests feel cozy, comfortable and inspired.
Homegoods was the perfect sponsor for the home decor round. HomeGoods is one of those stores where you may go in with the intention"just to browse"…but never leave without something"you just had to have!"
#2- Colorful, Texture-filled Bedroom Makeover The home decor challenge gave me the perfect opportunity to complete some of the projects I have wanted to try for a long time! Starting with a bare white room, I couldn't wait to add some color, pattern and texture
. To frame the bed, I created an accent wall covered with grasscloth wallpaper and used trim to frame the bed and nightstands. I love the touch of glamor that the nailhead adds to the space. While installing the nailhead, I tried a few new techniques that made it go surprisingly fast! Best of all, this wall is completely removable, renter or indecisive designer approved! I added a few accessories from Homegoods. And customized a few pillows using scarves, napkins and paint.
I constructed the headboard from lumber and cut the detail in the arms with a jig saw. I then upholstered it with foam and a bright coral fabric. I love the simplicity of the headboard, but the curved detail and bright coral color make it extra special!
I love the subtle texture of the grasscloth, and how the nailhead adds a little extra detail. I hope you enjoy this colorful, energetic transformation!
#3- Reading Room Makeover When it was time for the Home Decor round, I waffled back and forth on what to do until I remembered that I had this nice (relatively) empty room in my house just waiting to be turned into something fun. After playing around with a few ideas, I decided I wanted a place to relax, read, and spend a little quality alone time…and the next thing I knew, the reading room was created.
I took regular ol' Ikea Billy bookcases and turned them into built-ins (thanks to some crown molding and a little DIY magic) and amped up the room a bit with trim and some paint in a traditional"library"-ish color. To make it more modern, I painted the back of the bookcases with some chunky gold stripes and tossed in a cozy chair and pouf, a DIY-ed tree stump table, and a ton of bright and colorful accessories.
When I was shopping for the room, one of the first places I wanted to hit up was HomeGoods — I'm obsessed with basically everything they carry and knew their store would be perfect for our bookcases. I managed to snag that gorgeous throw pillow for the chair, as well as several of the cute accessories you can see on the bookcases (including my personal favorite, the blue elephant up at the top)!
I'm so excited to have this space now, and I can't wait to settle in and start reading!
Now, it's time to Vote!
You can only vote once and only for one project.(the past weeks you could change your vote if you wanted. You might have thought you could cast multiple votes, but nope- it was just changing your vote- it was set to just one per IP. This week we didn't allow vote changes, so make sure you have your mind made up when you vote! Good Luck- it's a tough choice!!) In order to vote, you must first LIKE EC2 on Facebook.
Our lives have been so crazy lately. I've picked up a couple extra shifts at work in the evenings, my hubs has been playing 2-3 softball games per week, and we're trying to cram in as many summer activities as we can into each day. That leaves very little time for planning and eating good meals. Remember one of my very first posts on this blog about being intentional with meal planning? Well, that idea has gone right out the window this summer. And that's ok. We'll get back on track when life settles down (hooray- softball ends this week!). All that to say, I miss good food.
Source: etsy.com via Jessica on Pinterest I totally agree. I just love food. Anyway, every recipe that catches my eye on Pinterest makes my mouth water. Here are three recipes that I can't wait to try, and I thought you might be interested in them too. We'll start with an appetizer/snack, then a dinner item, and then, of course, dessert.
Fruity Peanut Butter Yogurt Dip
Source: thewannabechef.net via Jessica on Pinterest Ingredients(Makes 6-8 servings):
1/2 cup fruit-flavored yogurt*
1/2 cup natural runny peanut butter
1/4 cup powdered sugar (or 1/4 cup honey)
Fruit/veggies for dipping
*To customize the flavor, use 6 tablespoons of yogurt and 2 tablespoons of any fruit jam. Mix together all of the ingredients completely making sure there aren’t any clumps. Move to a serving dish. Serve with chopped fruit and vegetables. Grilled Chicken Tzatziki Wrap (Mmmm…makes me long for my days inGreece. Such delicious foods!)
Source: styleathome.com via Jessica on Pinterest Ingredients
4 pitas
Extra yogurt for garnish
For chicken marinade:
1/2 cup yogurt
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp fresh lemon juice + 2 tsp lemon zest
2 tsp hot sauce
1 to 2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
Pinch salt
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
For cucumber relish:
1 English cucumber, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced (about 4 cups)
Pinch salt
1 cup seeded, finely diced tomato
1/2 cup finely diced red onion
6 tbsp coarsely chopped and pitted black olives
4 tbsp coarsely chopped fresh parsley
2 tbsp coarsely chopped fresh dill
1 garlic clove, minced
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 tsp fresh lemon juice
Directions 1 To prepare chicken marinade, whisk all ingredients except chicken breasts together in a bowl. Combine marinade with chicken breasts in a large zip-lock bag, seal and gently shake to evenly distribute marinade over chicken. Place in refrigerator and chill for 2 to 4 hours.
2 Meanwhile, prepare the cucumber relish. Lay cucumber slices in a sieve placed over a bowl and sprinkle with pinch of salt. Leave for about 30 to 40 minutes, or until cucumbers soften and their liquid begins to drain into the bowl. Stir occasionally.
3 Combine the tomato, onion, olives, parsley, dill, garlic, olive oil and lemon juice in a medium bowl. Stir in drained cucumbers, then cover the bowl and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.
4 Grease grill and preheat to medium-high. Remove chicken from zip-lock bag and discard marinade. Grill chicken breasts until cooked through, about 15 to 18 minutes. Remove chicken from grill, let rest for a few minutes and slice thinly on the diagonal. Lay chicken slices on top of each pita round and divide relish evenly among them. Garnish with a little extra yogurt and serve. Gooey S'Mores Dip
Source: tastebook.com via Jessica on Pinterest Ingredients:
1½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
½ cup marshmallow creme
1 box (13 oz) graham cracker honey sticks
Directions 1) In small microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips and condensed milk on High 1 to 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chips are melted. Stir to mix well. Pour into 9-inch glass pie pan, spreading evenly. 2) Drop marshmallow creme by tablespoonfuls randomly over chocolate mixture. Microwave on High about 30 seconds or until marshmallow creme is softened. Immediately with knife, make several small swirls through marshmallow and chocolate, creating a marbled appearance. 3) Serve immediately with graham sticks for dipping. And that's what's for dinner, folks…in a few more weeks.; ) What's on your menu for tonight?
Phew! We don't know about you, but we are exhausted after that month-long Creating with the Stars. But on the other hand, we really miss it! We could not be happier with the way our first ever contest went and hope you all enjoyed it and were inspired by it too! We are chomping at the bit to get back into the swing of our own projects,but before we do that, we thought we'd take a look back at the things we learned form Creating with the Stars 2013- David Letterman-style!
10. You get what you pay for. We learned this the hard way, for sure. We deicded to use a survey company that was very inexpensive to host each week's voting and we had major problems every week with it. You guys noticed it, too, and we promise that next year the voting will be sooo much easier! Putting out a little bit more money will be worth it if we can avoid all the hassles we dealt with!
9. Running the contest and trying to do each round's projects = Crazytown Even though we like the projects we came up with during the season trying to do them while hosting the contest, coordinating posts, emailing back and forth with stars and contestants, all while wrangling our kids and managing the rest of our lives and another HUGE project, we were on overload. Whoever thought of participating in each round (I'm pretty sure it was Monica,) is insane, and you WON'T be seeing that next season.: )
Week 1: Upcycled Door turned Desk, Week 2: Anthro Wood Cut Art Knockoff Week 3: Painted Piano, Week 4: Colorful and Fun Kid's Bathroom Makeover 8. You people are competitive! For real! We went into this season thinking it would be awesome and a whole lot of fun, not ever thinking people would be so into it! Even readers who weren't contestants got fired up about the littlest thing!. Honestly, we had no idea we would be dealing with so many Sherlock Holmes! Now we know you guys are in it to win it, and will back up your favorites no matter what! 7. Planning and preparation were key for these procrastinators! Posting seven days a week within a strict time frame is no joke. Usually, we decide the day before what we want to write about the next day, but not so with CWTS! We began seriously planning in October 2012- approaching sponsors and stars, writing emails, figuring out guidelines etc. We were super glad we did this because the contest went pretty smoothly. Thank goodness!
We finished our round 1 project last year at 1 AM. Procrastinate, much?6.The pressure is on when the world is watching, We absolutely hate it when something doesn't go quite as planned. We recognize there were a few glitches in the contest and because so many people were coming here every day, those mistakes were just that much more noticeable. Ick, we really don't like that. No more mistakes next year! 5. Go big or Go home! We always say we're not afraid to try or go after anything and it worked in our favor with this contest! We landed some amazing sponsors by just asking if they wanted to partcipate! Plus, we went out on a major limb (that involved pretty lame dancing and fake mustaches) to get our incredible stars on board! (PS. this video gets a little long, so feel free to skip the middle!)
4. It's pretty darn fun to help new bloggers get a step up! We were unbelievably grateful to Tam for giving us a platform to showcase our fun ideas when we won last year. It made people notice us, and we were so thrilled to do that for these 12 crazy-gifted girls. We hope that you'll continue to support your favorites and follow along as they grow bigger than us! 3. The Stars you all love really are that incredible! These ladies took time out of their very busy schedules to help better the contestants projects and photos. All of the contestants comments on how wonderful the stars were to work with. Thanks ladies!
2. It turns out we're not the only talented people in blogland. Ha! But seriously, the talent that the contestants showed, and the amazing projects you all linked up blew us away. We love that this blogging niche is so encouraging and open to sharing of ideas, and man, our list must-do project list grew by about a mile after all of the fabulous ideas we saw throughout the contest!
1. Creating with the Stars is the Most Epic Blog Contest on the Web! We already can't wait for next year's contest. It's definitely not too early for you to start creating awesome things because submissions open in February 2014!
What did YOU think of the contest? Will you get your game on next year?
Want to catch up on all the projects from Creating with the Stars 2013? Click below!
Phew! The contestants and their Star partners really set the bar high this week with their Round 1 projects. Almost every one of you commented about how hard it was to choose only three favorites and we felt that pain right along with you! We know that you're not really here to read lots of mumbo jumbo from us, so let's get to those results, shall we? And the Winner of Round 1 is…
We loved this project and think it was executed so well! Nice work Karianne!! Can't wait to see what you'll come up with for Round 2. Let's see who else made it to Round 2… 2. Sarah {While They Snooze} & Sarah {Thrifty Decor Chick} Trash Pile Made Trendy Table
3. Sarah {Sarah M. Dorsey Designs} & Brooke {All Things Thrifty} Statement Piece Light Fixture
4. Amanda {Love and Renovations} and Beckie {Infarrantly Creative} Televison Stand Upcycled to a Bar
5. Jane {Life, Crafts & Whatever} & Jamielyn {I Heart Naptime} Tin Tile Mirror
6. Melissa {5 foot 12 Creations} & Sherry {Young House Love} Lab Station Turned Dining Room Buffet
7. Nancy {Owen's Olivia} & Kari {Ucreate} Dresser Turned Modern Sandbox
8. Ann Marie {White House, Black Shutters} & Shaunna {Perfectly Imperfect} Floor Board Kitchen Island
9. Janel {Nellie Bellie} & Brittany {Pretty Handy Girl} Frumpy to On Fire, Fireplace
We're so sorry to say goodbye to the following three contestants! Boo, we hate this part. Thanks for all your hard work and excellent projects this week, girls! 10. Jourdan and Ashley {Little Yellow Barn} & Beth {Home Stories A to Z} Man Chairs
12. Nat and Holly {My Sisters Suitcase} and Jane {Tatertots & Jello} Little League Lounger
To keep things legit, here are the official results!
I'm sure she doesn't need a reminder, but here's what Karianne won this week! Round 1 Prize Package: $50 worth of 31 Gifts products $60 worth of Twysted Yarn products $70 of Henle Headbands products $100 Blog Re-design from 733 Design (who designed all the CWTS logos!) Project featured by HomeTalk We also want to thank Homes.com for being the Official Grand Sponsor of Creating with the Stars!
Congratulations to the nine moving on! You have your work cut out for you, for sure! Next week's theme is KNOCKOFF!
The winner of Round 2 will win the following AWESOME prizes: (to see the entire prize package, click here) The Week 2 Winner will receive: $100 Gift Card to Royal Design Studio A pair of $120 Robert Allen pillows from Chic Decor Pillows Project featured by HomeTalk
Voting for Round 2 will begin on Monday, March 18th at 12 AM EST. Don't forget that you can link up your favorite upcycle through this Friday at 10 PM EST right here for the chance to win prizes and be featured here on EC2! Finally, we're super excited because: 1. Tomorrow we'll be sharing Karianne's tutorial for her awesome bike clock. 2. On Friday you'll get to see how Sarah put together that amazing trendy tire table and, 3. Saturday, Sarah will be giving us the step-by-step process behind that insane light fixture! Be sure to come on back for loads of inspiration starting tomorrow!!
If you thought Round 1 was impressive, what do you think of these Round 2 Knockoffs? If you haven't already, stop everything and click here to vote for your favorite 3 knockoffs! We aren't exaggerating when we say we were blown away this round. And… lucky me, I get to share my knockoff today… no pressure right! Ha!
Before I share mine, let's enjoy a Blast from the Past and look at the Knockoff that won us Round 2 of Creating with the Stars in 2012. It appears that Anthro is DIYers favorite store to knockoff. Last year we tackled their Ordinal Dresser (you can see the full tutorial here)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now, onto my little ol' knockoff project…
I really wanted Anthro's Woodcut Print, but at ahem $1600… are you kidding me?? At that price, it had better grow into a money tree!! I'll take my $6.99 version thank you very much.
Here's how I made mine… it took about 5 minutes. I searched Google images for a woodcut picture I liked. It was black and white, but I wanted a red tone similar to the original. I brought it into PicMonkey (love that site) and used the tint effect to choose a new color. The options are endless as you can see from my screen shot below.
If I wanted a smaller size this project would have been FREE, but I needed a 12x12, so I printed it at Staples for $6.99. It's not an earth shattering knockoff, but I saved $1593.01- Woohoo! Jess and I love getting a high end look for less… Why pay full price, when you can just Knock-it-Off? The woodcut art is part of my new Kid Friendly Gallery Wall! Every single item on this wall is plastic, wood, or just plain paper. With 4 kids, and after about 7 broken frames I knew I needed a plan B!
I'll be posting more about this wall after CWTS, but here are a few pics for you to enjoy…
And yes, those prints are just paper, framed in washi tape. Break proof!
That metal print is SO us! Eric and I might be a wee bit sarcastic… It says,"National Sarcasm Society… Like we need your support"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alright, enough about me, let's talk about you! Are you ready to link up your favorite Knockoff project?
The winner of Round 2's link up 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 22nd at 10 PM EST. Jess and I are going to be choosing our absolute favorite knockoff project and revealing the tutorial for it on Sunday! If you win this week, we'll be contacting you sometime on Saturday for the tutorial, so be ready! Please remember a few things before linking up: 1. Before linking, please LIKE us on Facebook (Thanks!)
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. Want to see all the amazing Upcycle projects that were linked up last week?Click here!The Round 1 Link Up Winner was thisawesome light fixture!
How many times can we say we were floored by the Round 2 projects? Not enough, apparently, because, people, those projects were incredible. If you missed the Round 2 projects, you can see all of themright here. To see the bloggers you chose to move on to Round 3,click here. We're sure these girls are already working hard on their Paint challenge this week- ack! We're loving the suspense.: )
We have been anxiously awaiting the tutorial for this wood-tiled dresser since we first laid eyes on it. I'm not sure you guys realize this, but the contestants get about 3-4 days to complete their projects, photograph them and submit them to us. That is a crazy turnaround, but you would never know it with this one! It was so well-executed and came out beautifully. Love it! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Is it awkward for me to admit that I knew I would be knocking off this dresser before I even got into this competition? I've been in love with it for a while now, and I remember a week or so before I even found out I was in the competition I stumbled on it again and my husband Corey and I decided right then and there that if we got in and if there was a knockoff round, we'd be doing this guy.
(The inspiration — via West Elm) Luckily, we did, and there was, so here we are! Like I said, this dresser has been on my mind for a while because it's just so beautiful, but if you know me at all you know I'm not the type to spend $900 on a piece of furniture. It's just not gonna happen. So, Corey and I set out to re-create this dresser as affordably as possible, all while putting our own little spin on it. What we used:
An antique dresser
Scrap 1x4 wood — we used maybe one board total
White paint and Gray paint
Gorilla glue (or any wood glue you like)
3/4" dowel rods (for drawer pulls)
1/2" dowel rod (for drawer pulls)
We started off with this beautiful antique dresser that we found at a local flea market. We loved the clean lines, the tall frame, and (of course!) those casters. Drool. Our style is a pretty good mix of modern and more traditional/vintage furniture, so we liked that this would lead to a slightly less sleek and modern look than the original, which fits right in with the rest of our house. It was basically perfect.
The first step for us was figuring out a way to inset the drawers a bit so that when we added the wood tiles they wouldn't stick out. We wanted the entire front of the dresser to be flush (the West Elm one has the drawers slightly inset, but we thought a flush look would be a bit more fitting for our dresser). Our original plan was to just move the drawer slides back a few inches in the dresser, which would hopefully make the drawers sit the way we wanted them, but thankfully it was an even easier fix than that with this particular dresser — there were little metal pieces on the inside of the drawers that stopped them from going all the way in. All we had to do was pull those out and make some new stoppers with some little dowel rods and we were good to go.
Next up was cutting all of our wood tiles. Let me warn you — this project isn't for the faint of heart…it took forever! But, I think the end result is totally worth it, so I won't complain. For the tiles we took a few 1x4 boards that we had already laying around and cut them down to 1/4" thick tiles. It was the quickest way we could think of to do it, and it also meant that the end-grain of the wood would be showing, which added some fun texture. It was a pretty quick job to cut the tiles — we just used a chop saw with a piece of wood clamped to it to make sure all of the tiles were the same size. Our stack quickly grew, and soon enough we had a giant pile of wood tiles.
One they were all cut, we gave them a quick whitewash. I wanted a bit of variety within the tiles, so we did a whitewash on some of them and a gray wash on others. It was a subtle difference, but it makes the end product look a bit more random and varied, which I like.
Once our tiles were all dried and ready to go, it was time to attach them to the drawers. We didn't want to nail them in because then we'd have a billion different nail holes to fill, so we just used some wood glue. We glued 'em on in a subway pattern and then clamped a board to the drawer while it dried to ensure they all stuck. As the tiles got wet with the glue, some of them started to bow, so clamping it down also kept that to a minimum. We let it all dry together for about 12 hours (just to be sure!) then removed the clamps, sanded down the edges, and that was all there was to it!
The last step was creating the drawer pulls — we knew we wanted ones similar to the inspiration piece, but we also knew that actually finding and buying those pulls would be challenging (not to mention expensive!) so, we decided to make our own! Corey bought a 3/4" dowel, drilled two holes in the back, and inserted a small, 1/2" dowel piece. We then spray painted the whole thing with some oil-rubbed bronze spray paint, and screwed 'em in!
Once we put it all together, it looked a little something like this:
And that, my friends, is how we created our own version of West Elm's wood-tiled dresser — and under $200, to boot! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Isn't that fabulous?! An amazing knock off that even West Elm would be impressed by.: ) We were peeking around at Amanda's blog and found these adorable DIY Animal Magnets. Another knockoff, and we are obsessed.
This Dresser turned Media Console isn't too shabby either, is it?
Check back tomorrow because we're pulling a Young House Love on ya, and posting TWICE!! We'll be sharing the tutorials for the super fun Anthro-inspired plate wall and the Anthro Ikat Console!! Also, do you want to be a part of Creating with the Stars yourself? You can link up your favorite knock off project right here until tonight at 10 PM EST for a chance to win a great prize package and be featured on EC2!
This is so exciting, isn't it? We're almost into the final round of our first ever Creating with the Stars contest which is crazy! We know that the contestants are putting in hours and hours of work on their projects each week so that they are the best they possibly can be, and we just have to say that the caliber of their projects is blog star-level!
This week was Sponsored by The Home Depot, and isn't it amazing what a huge impact a little paint can have? Ah-mazing! Here's a little reminder of the epic prizes our Round 3 winner will receive… $500 Gift Card to Home Depot (Contestant & Blog Star!!) $100 worth of Martha Stewart supplies from Plaid Crafts $125 Gift Card to Lucent Lampworks Project featured by HomeTalk
The votes were neck and neck again this week, with only a few votes separating the top two spots. Only three contestants move on to the finals, so the pressure is really on! Ok, enough of our chatting, let's get those results!
1. Amanda { Love and Renovations } and Beckie { Infarrantly Creative } Painted Wall Mural and Dresser
This is Amanda's second week in a row in the top spot…for good reason! You just can't ignore that yellow dresser (Monica has a similar painted dresser in her dining room!) and set against that black wall, it's just stunning! Congrats again, Amanda!
2. Melissa { 5 foot 12 Creations } & Sherry { Young House Love }
Painted Chalkboard with Map and Games
3. Sarah { Sarah M. Dorsey Designs } & Brooke { All Things Thrifty }
Painted Desk and Accent Wall using Custom Stencils
Ack, this is just so hard to do (does it ever get easier?!!), but we have to say goodbye to these three amazingly talented women. 4. Sarah { While They Snooze } & Sarah { Thrifty Decor Chick }
Painted Map Coffee Table
5. Nancy { Owen's Olivia } & Kari { Ucreate } Painted Couch featuring a Custom Horse Stencil
Seriously, we could cry about having to let Nancy, Sarah and Janel go! You guys are welcome back here anytime. And, now we know who to call when we need something awesome painted! Here's the voting break down… the first and second place projects were separated by under 50 votes!! Insane!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ok, it's the finals now, people- the last chance these bloggers have to show what they're made of!
The prizes are stinkin' awesome this round (and the Blog star gets them too!) The Grand Prize Winners (Contestant and Blog Star) will each receive: $500 from Homes.Com $500 Gift Card to HomeGoods Project featured by HomeTalk
Next week the challenge is Home Decor- so anything (even a room makeover) is fair game! Tomorrow we'll be sharing the tutorial for that amazing mural and yellow dresser! We'll be so sad when this contest is over and we don't have these incredible tutorials on our blog anymore!
If you haven't already done so, please GO VOTE for your favorite in the fourth and final round of CWTS! If you missed all the amazing projects in the first three weeks of CWTS, be sure to check them out below! Round 1 Projects & WinnersRound 2 Projects & WinnersRo und 3 Projects & Winners
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We can't believe we are already in the final week of Creating with the Stars! This contest has far exceeded our expecations and has opened our eyes to so many new blogs and talented people! This week's challenge was Home Decor, and I knew right away that I needed to tackle my kid's bathroom. It was in bad shape- boring, dingy and gross. It had ugly vinyl flooring, yellowed rubber trim and purplish walls (we bought a $5 can of"oops" paint when we first moved in- big mistake!)
We made a lot of easy and inexpensive upgrades like replacing the old flooring with vinyl peel & stick tile (it cost under $30!), adding chunky baseboard trims, painting the walls and the vanity, framing the mirror, hanging a new shower curtain and throwing a new bathmat down (both were from World Market). Not to mention, I accessorized with fun stuff from HomeGoods. Thanks, HG!
This adorable bird shelf coordinated so well with the shower curtain and was marked waaaaayyy down from $120 to $30, which made me super happy. I lined the back of the shelves with coordinating paper for a fun pop of color.
And just for fun, here's the before and after shot for you.
Now it's your turn to link up your favorite home decor projects from the past year. Anything home decor-related, room makeovers included, are fair game! We can't wait to see what you've got!
Don't forget to checkback tomorrow to find out the Winner of the first ever Creating with the Stars contest! We're biting our nails over here!
Wondering how do you make a Farmhouse Table on the Cheap? We took told old tables and DIYed them into a huge, modern-meets-rustic farmhouse table. Even if you've never done any Furniture building, this will be easy enough for you!
I am sooo excited to finally reveal our dining room table with all of you! Not only am I going to show you the finished product, but just in case you want to try this (which you totally should) Eric and I are going to give you a little play-by-play (aka longwinded tutorial). Blue is Eric and Purple is me! If you haven't been following along with the journey to making our own table, check out this post first, so you know why we started this crazy project. I'll warn you that this post is a little long but, I think it's worth it in the end!
Now, the play-by-play… How to Make a Farmhouse Table (our way) 1. Aquire a table or two to be the foundation (aka find an old junky table) 2. Plan the length and width of your new farmhouse table 3. Build a Sub-frame from cheapy wood 4. Choose planks for the table top 5. Cut, Cut, Cut 6. Determine the layout of the table top boards (kind of like a puzzle) 7. Sand, sand, and sand some more (or buy a good router) 8. Screw, Screw, Screw 9. Create trimming edge 10. Stain the wood (I love the grey we created!) 11. Paint the legs and base 12. Seal the table Ok,
Monica wants me, (her wonderful husband), to do a little explanation on what we did to make our new, gigantic table. I'll do my best to describe. Let me explain, though, that I am NOT a skilled wood-worker or craftsman. The only thing is that I'm not afraid to try something I've never done. If you take anything away from this long-winded explanation of what I did, you should take this – anyone can do this stuff. You just need to be patient, determined, and not afraid to try and try again. Ok, that's all the pep talk you're gonna get. Here goes… (I must interject here that I think my hubs just gave all of blogland a motivational pep talk, and I love it and love him!) 1. The foundation…
Monica had ideas as to what type of table she wanted. She wanted it about 10 feet long and 4 feet wide. She had several sample ideas, but all of them required me to build the whole foundation of the table and the only tools I own are a miter saw, drill and hammer. Crafting the legs, frame and everything else seemed like more than I wanted to take on at the time, so we decided to look for an old, beat-up table that we could just make a table top to place on top of. We got the perfect answer when Grandpop Bunney (yes, that's really his name) called and said that at their retirement community, someone was selling two, identical, 5-foot long tables for $20 EACH!!! In case you're one who struggles with math (i.e.
Monica), two 5-foot long tables put next to each other make a 10-foot table! We had our foundation!
2. Planning… So the length of the table was good, but it was only 3 feet wide. This is just too thin for our big family. So, I spent a lot of time planning and researching to see what to do. My final plan ended up coming down to what could I do, as easily as possible, and without totally screwing it up.
3. Create a Sub-frame… The plan was to build a"sub-frame" on top of the existing table-top and then just lay the new table-top on top of the"sub-frame" (that's a lot of tops). I don't even know if"sub-frame" is a word, or if it is the right word for what I made… but, basically, this sub-frame is just some thin, skinny boards laid across the old table-top that would extend out past the edge of the old table-top and thus, create support for expanding the width of the new table top to 4 feet wide. The wooden supports are staggered because I changed my mind about the width after my wonderful husband had already cut all the pieces. Typical Monica move…Oops!
4. Choose your wood… I looked at all kinds of wood, but the nicer it gets, the pricier it gets.
Monica wanted wood that was had some character to it, so she wanted some knots in it and some distressed marks on it. Also, she knew that we have 4 kids who still think that the primary purpose of a spoon and fork are to play drums on the table instead of eating, so this table was not going to last long without some dings and scratches no matter how nice the wood was. I also didn't want to be a psycho host that was always worried about my friends and family marking it up. I went to Lowes and they have 1 inch thick, by 8 inch wide by 10 feet long pine boards for just $13. This is not your nice, cleanly cut wood. This is the uglier, knottier, more distressed looking wood. Believe it or not, I wanted to get the nicer wood, but
Monica wanted to cheaper wood (b/c of the character). At just $13 per board, I didn't mind giving in and using the cheap wood. Really, who needs a truck when you have a mini van?? Table wood and bootcamp supplies all fit!
5. Cut, Cut, Cut… So the boards are 10 feet long and 8 inches wide, right? So planned to just lay 6 boards across and we have a table that's exactly 4 feet wide (6 x 8 inches = 48 inches, for those of you mathematically challenged). I cut and laid the whole sub-frame for a 48-inch wide table.
One small problem… when Lowes says that the board is 8 inches wide, they don't mean that it's actually 8 inches wide. Each board was 7.25 inches wide! WHAT THE HECK!!! I built the whole"sub-frame" to the wrong width! This is definitely where my inexperience comes in. Just b/c Lowes says it's 8 inches wide, doesn't mean it's 8 inches wide. Why doesn’t Lowes just make the boards 8 inches?!? DUMB!!! I guess I should have known that though… everyone knows a 2x4 isn't actually 2 inches by 4 inches. Idiot! Well, now our table was going to be 7 boards wide, and each board is 7.25 inches. So our final width was 51 inches. I cut 7 boards 110.25 inches long to make the length of the table and then two 51-inch horizontal end pieces to cap it off.
6. Sanding… The whole table is cut and ready, now it's time to sand. Grandpop B lent me his hand-held electric sander, and boy am I glad. Typically, you would use a router to round the edges of the wood and give them that finished look. But, did I mention that I don't own too many tools? I spent my evenings sanding the edges of the boards until they had a rounded, finished look. Sanding was definitely the most time-consuming part of the whole project.
7. Screwing… In my mind, this step was going to be simple. Just lay out the cut, sanded boards on top of my"sub-frame" and screw them in from the bottom. The problem was that since we used those cheap, $13 boards, NONE of them were straight. They all had curves in them so when I would lay them side-by-side, there was always a large gap between the boards. I could live a small gap (1/8 inch or less), but I'm talking about about a ½ inch to 1 inch gap at some spots.
Monica and I spent about a ½ hour laying out different boards to see which ones would have the smallest gap in between when laying next to each other – it was almost like putting together a puzzle. Once we had an order, I screwed the first board starting at the outside. For all the table-top boards, I screwed from the bottom, through the table top, through the sub-frame and into the new table-top boards. After the first board was in, I just went down the line, screwing in the other 6 boards. The Pine boards were pliable enough that I could push any gap in between the boards almost completely closed tight before I screwed it in place. After all 7 long boards were in place, I screwed in the final 2 end cap boards in place. 8. Staining… At this point, the table looked pretty cool, but I was worried.
Monica and I paint a lot, and we're pretty decent at it but, I HATE staining! It just never seems turn out well. Since we both are afraid of stain … I used lots of extra wood to create sample boards… I first wanted to figure out how to go about distressing the table. This was my arsenal of tools…
Unfortunately, it looked like… well, it looked like I had attacked my wood with a bunch of random tools. Ugh.
I decided to wait on the distressing and focus on the color. I wanted a farm-table-meets-Restoration-Hardware grey color stain for the table. I tried about 14 techniques. Honestly, I did.
Fortunately, Anthony Lelli, a friend of ours is a painter and he talked with
Monica and got a custom grey stain for us that was EXACTLY what she was wanted. Yippee!! After some practice stains and several calls to Anthony for staining advice, I did it. Apply the product… wait a minute… wipe it off. Piece of Cake! 10. The finished product…
We could not be happier with the color and look of the table. The cheap pine (at least for now) looks awesome. It may get beat-up way faster than a nice oak or maple table, but for only about $200 total, we have a huge dining room table that can easily fit 14-16 people.
Seriously, I LOVE this project. When we first started thinking about building our own table, when neither of us are woodworkers, well we were very unsure. We couldn't have imagined how cool our 8 legged farmhouse table remix would turn out. So, are you ready to make one of your own?
**We've gotten so many great comments and questions about this project that there's a Q & A follow up post that you cancheck out here. If you still have questions, just shoot us an email. We love to hear from you!**
If you missed all the amazing projects of our first annual Creating with the Stars, be sure to check them out below!
Round 1 Projects &Winners Round 2 Projects & Winners Ro und 3 Projects & Winners Round 4 Projects & Winners -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sarah's unbelieveable bedroom transformation blew us away. The color combinations, details and style of the room were simply perfect and we fell in love immediately. She had a few awesome tutorials for her projects, so we decided to break them into two posts. Today, you'll see how she made that removeable accent wall that is a great solution for you renters out there, or those of you who have Design ADD like us!: ) When I heard that this week's theme was home decor I instantly knew that I wanted to do a bedroom feature wall and a dramatic headboard! With my amazing diy partner and husband, David, we got straight to work!
Living in a rental makes it nearly impossible to install classic wallpaper and nailhead, so we decided to build a separate feature wall! We wanted to incorporate two of my favorite materials, nailhead and grasscloth wallpaper. I love the texture of the wallpaper and the dimension of the nailhead! Want to know how we built the wall? Here we go!
We purchased three sheets of plywood from Home Depot and had them cut to 7' high. Since the feature wall is 12' long, it would need to be built inside of the room. We designed it so that it could easily be dismantled into three pieces to be removed. We tied the seams together with 1x3s and built a frame on the back with 1x3s so it was extra sturdy and straight. We then flipped it over and primed it so that they wall paper adhesive wouldn't soak in.
Once dry, we cut the wallpaper to the correct height, placed it to the side and rolled wallpaper adhesive over the primer. We then used a wallpaper smoothing tool to remove any bubbles. The steps were repeated with 4 rows across, lining up the seams. It was helpful to have two people so that it could be adjusted as needed!
For the design, I was inspired by this fantastic headboard by Annie Selke. We created the design in Illustrator, and calculated the distance between the nailhead and printed it on two sheets of 11x17 which were taped together. We then punched little holes through the dots and used a felt tip pen to lay it out on the wallpaper. Nailhead isn't the most fun thing to apply, but once you hit a rhythm you move pretty fast! Here are a few tips that I found helpful as I went. 1. To help protect my fingers from the hammer and to grab the nailhead more easily, I used rubber finger tips on my thumb and index finger (you know the ones that they sell in the office supply stores for sorting paper and such?) When I did hit my fingers, it hurt a lot less, and they weren't even sore when I was done! 2. If your wood is soft enough, push a few in with your finger first and then hammer. This saves time since you are putting the hammer up and down less frequently. Since our plywood was soft and hard in different spots, this wasn't always possible, but it helped when we could! 3. Lastly, this feature wall took about 2,250 nails. Wow, that's a lot of nails! So it was helpful to have two people or if you have the time, break it up over a few days. Total install time for the nailhead with two people was about 8 hrs.
It was helpful to install the trim (we painted first) before the nailhead reached the edge, so we knew exactly where to stop it. We used finish nails to secure the trim and then filled the holes with wood filler, sanded and painted once dry. Next, we decided that we wanted the wall to sit just above the trim, so we cut legs to height out of a 1x12 and secured it to the back frame. We then installed a few cabinet anchors through the trim into the wall to make sure that it was firmly attached. This wall was pretty massive! Almost the length of the room, but I LOVE the impact that it has on the space! Just because we are renting doesn't mean that without a little creative thinking we can't have a statement wall!
I mean, c'mon. That is genius, and we don't mind saying we wish we had done it first! Ha! Check out Sarah's fabulous blog, and then come back tomorrow to learn how to make that coral headboard! Oh yeah! One more thing! Have you linked up your favorite home decor project yet? You can do thathere for a chance to be featured on EC2 and win some great prizes.Fun for everyone!: )
If you missed all the amazing projects of our first annual Creating with the Stars, be sure to check them out below!
Round 1 Projects &Winners Round 2 Projects & Winners Ro und 3 Projects & Winners Round 4 Projects & Winners -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sarah is back today with another awesome tutorial from the home decor project that won her the grand prize in Creating with the Stars. I love the way she built this headboard and broke it down for us- it makes any custom headboard within the realm of possibility!Plus, it looks unbelievable with that grasscloth and nailhead accent wall!
To complement the accent wall, we wanted to create a headboard that wouldn't compete yet wouldn't get lost against the nailhead and grasscloth. We made a plan and gathered our supplies. 1/2" plywood (1 sheet cut to width of bed frame, ours was 62.5") 2x8" (x2) 1x8 (x2) 1x3 (x4) coral curtain panels from Target heat n' bond batting I drew a few diagrams for the basic construction and dimensions of the headboard. See below for some the specifics on the upholstery. Measurements are for a queen bed frame. Note: make sure to measure your bed frame first, in case yours is different! You want to make sure that the frame will fit inside of the arms.
For the arms, we screwed a 1x8 and a 2x8 together, measured and drew the circle with a lid. We then followed the line with a jigsaw to cut it out (we did remove any screws that were in the way first!).
For the foam, we cut a 3" camping pad in half and attached to the plywood with spray adhesive. Next we upholstered the back piece by wrapping in batting and then fabric. To make sure that the top was pulled evenly, we attached a thin strip of scrap wood and pulled tight. This made it much easier to get an even look!
Next, we cut the fabric to wrap around the entire arm, starting at the inner part of the arm, we put a few staples in (on the inside so it stays in place while you attach the arm), we cut little holes in the fabric at the pilot holes (where arms attach to the frame). We then installed the arms with heavy duty screws (we used cabinet anchors) and attached it to the 1x3 frame. Then we finished upholstering! We pulled the fabric tight around the arm and stapled, leaving it loose at the top. We cut the angles, almost to the edge, but not close enough so that it frays to the side of the arm, pull tight and staple. It doesn't have to be pretty on the top because that will be covered next. We cut a band of fabric the total height of the arm (accounting for the bends) plus a few inches and the width (2.5") of the arm plus enough fabric to fold under (at least.5" on each side, so at least 3.5" total). We folded the raw edges under and pressed with a hot iron so that the edges were crisp and attached the band to the arm with no-sew adhesive (my preference is Heat n' Bond) and a hot iron, staple to secure the ends. That's it!
I finished the bed off with a few DIY pillows. The euro pillow shams are made from a white table cloth and a scarf from World Market. Since the scarf was translucent, I doubled it up with the white table cloth. The throw pillows are white shams from Ikea, I then painted a border using painters tape and latex paint with fabric medium. The bolster pillow is a kitchen towel from World Market and the left over headboard fabric.
I love how the grasscloth slightly shimmers depending on the lighting.
The nightstand is from World Market, the sphere from TJ Maxx and I picked up little letters (to spell his and hers) from a local antique store. Books were wrapped in paper from the Paper Source.
Hydrangeas and Ranunculus are two of my favorite flowers!
This week was sponsored by Home Goods, and if you've read my blog, you probably know that I'm pretty obsessed with the Home Goods/TJ Maxx/Marshalls brand! I love the thrill of the hunt, designer names and the affordable prices! I picked up a cute accent chair, fluffy white rug (my puppy love it too!) and the white sphere!
Finally, here's where we got everything! Headboard: Fabric Coral drapery panel from Target (x2), Batting,
3" camping foam from Home Depot only $20! Feature Wall: Grasscloth wallpaper,
Nailhead (we used about 2.25 boxes),
Trim- I found 2.5"wide synthetic trim from Home Depot on clearance for $4/8ft board Accessories: Night stand (World Market — not on website), decorative sphere (TJ Maxx), His and Her letters (local antique shop), Throw pillow on chair, chair (TJ Maxx), lamp and lamp shade, duvet cover I'm crazy about our new transformation and I hope you love it too!
We totally love it too! Well done, Sarah! We 're ready for you to make a trip to good ol' Bucks County to fix up our master bedrooms. Any time.: )
The day is finally here! Submissions for Creating with the Stars are Open! We are so excited to see all of your submission projects!
This group of blog stars is pretty epic! One of them could be your new partner in crime! 1- Sherry from Young House Love 2- Whitney & Ashley from Shanty 2 Chic 3- Brooke from All Things Thrifty 4- Jane from Tatertots and Jello 5- Sarah from Thrifty Decor Chick 6- Beckie from Infarrantly Creative 7- Mandi from Vintage Revivials 8- Jamielyn from I Heart Naptime 9- Shaunna from Perfectly Imperfect 10- Beth from Home Stories A to Z 11- Kari from U Create 12- Brittany from Pretty Handy Girl------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Let's just recap CWTS a bit and then we'll get onto the How To details!If you missed the announcement post with ALL the details, click hereYou can submit one project that shows everyone your best stuff into the linky party below. Projects must have been made October 1, 2011 or laterand must be your own work. You have until February 21st to enter your submission. From those entries, 11 will be chosen by the blog stars and us as contestants and will be randomly paired up to work one-on-one with a Blog Star, to duke it out in a four-week competition to see who's the most creative. The Star will give suggestions, ideas, encouragement, and help so you can come up with the best project possible. Each round will have a theme and the bottom three will be eliminated based on reader votes. Once the contest is started, weekly projects are anonymous, so big blogger or rookie, everyone's on the same, even playing field! Find your favorite project to link up and be prepared to put your best foot forward if you want to survive!---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How to Enter CWTS:1.Link Up your Project. Use the Linky below to submit your project entry *Reminder: Be sure to link to the actual project page, and not just your homepage. 2. Grab a Button. You need to add a link back to EC2 in your submission post. Even if it's an old post, just grab the button code below and paste it into the post.
3. Follow EC2 on Facebook. Make sure you LIKE East Coast Creative so you get all the updates and info we'll be sharing there as well. (This step is a requirement to your entry- sorry to be big, bad, rule enforcers- We promise we aren't mean!)
4. Start Spreading the Word! The first 11 contestants will be chosen by the Blog Stars and East Coast Creative, but #12 will be chosen by popularity in the link party. Get your readers to come over and give your thumbnail a click- yours could be the most viewed!! (Just don't act like some weird robot and click on your own entry a million times, that's lame-o!)
And, as if you need any more motivation to enter, we have the BEST.SPONSORS.EVER!! The 2013 CWTS Prize packages Total over $4100!! A special thanks to Homes.com, HomeGoods, HomeTalk, and Home Depot for their generous sponsorship of CWTS.nWe're so honored to have them! The Grand Prize Winners (Contestant and Blog Star) will each receive: $500 from Homes.Com $500 Gift Card to HomeGoods Project featured by HomeTalk
All contestants that make it to Week 4 will be given a $100 Giftcard to HomeGoods to use during the week 4 home decor challenge! The Semi-Finals Winner will receive: $500 Gift Card to Home Depot (Contestant & Blog Star) $100 worth of Martha Stewart supplies from Plaid Crafts $125 Gift Card to Lucent Lampworks Project featured by HomeTalk
The Week 2 Winner will receive: $100 Gift Card to Royal Design Studio A pair of $120 Robert Allen pillows from Chic Decor Pillows Project featured by HomeTalk
The Week 1 Winner will receive: $50 worth of 31 Gifts products $60 worth of Twtsted Yarn products $70 of Henle Headbands products $100 Blog Re-design from 733 Design Project featured by HomeTalk
Okay, enough talking, let's get submitting! We're so excited to have each and every one of you!! Good Luck and May the Oddsbeever in your Favor (sorry, two Hunger Games lovers here!)
Ok, time for Round 2, and let's just say we're back and better than ever. Well, not us, but the contestants. Their knockoff projects are killer this week!
We can tell that they really want to win the awesome prizes from our fabulous sponsors this week! Let's just recap what they are, shall we?
1. $100 Gift Card toRoyal Design Studio. RDS is our go-to source for all of our stencil projects and our run on CWTS last year was where we were first introduced to them!
2. A pair of $120 Robert Allen pillows fromChic Decor Pillows These pillows are hand-made and absolutely gorgeous. We're sorta jealous that we don't get them.
3. Project featured byHomeTalk, which, come on, is kind of a big deal.
These are pretty fabulous prizes, but let's not forget that one contestant and their star partner will win the Grand Prize at the end of these four weeks! Woohoo!
$500 from Homes.Com $500 Gift Card to HomeGoods Project featured by HomeTalk
We are so impressed with how these ladies took these famous, really pricey items and put their own spin on them to make them unique and fabulous. Let's get this party started!
1. Anthro-inspired Wall Lamp
When I heard this week was knock-off week I knew immediately what I wanted to do. See, I've been seeing this lamp I wanted in the Anthropologie catalog. It makes my heart happy but…my budget doesn't allow for it. Well, could you afford $2800.00 for a lamp? I know, right?!? Ridiculous! So, I took it upon myself to figure out how to make this lamp accessible to mere peons. Or simply those that have a budget.
Granted, I had to change things up a bit. I used pipes more than wooden spindles. And Rub n Buff to achieve some of the finishes. I also wasn't about to do the whole thing in copper piping (have you seen the cost of copper pipes?) so I sprayed pvc pipe with copper paint and Rub n Buffed it to get a nice shiny look. All in all, I have to say that this ridiculously expensive lamp just got beat. Oh yeah Anthro…you hear me??…you are charging too much!
I'll agree that mine isn't exactly the same as Anthro's. True. But, let's see mine is…about 3% of the cost of their's. Okay, I'll make do with not exactly! Truthfully, I love this lamp. It's so quirky, fun, stylish, and feels like an art piece! I'm so glad this contest pushed me to create it, I'm in love with it!
2. Restoration Hardware-inspired Lighted Sign
When I think of knock off, I think copy cat (in a good way). I think of anything duplicated to the T, but is much less expensive. For this round, I chose not to duplicate, but rather I was inspired by this Restoration Hardware arrow and created something a little different. I'll tell ya… with the basic process, you can create just about anything you can imagine. A state, a letter, a number, a symbol, a phrase. It's totally up to you.
Perfect for outdoors.
Perfect for indoors.
3. Schumacher Zimba-inspired Drapes, Anthro-inspired bench and Cornice
I love designer fabric and furniture, but the high prices make it hard to justify (especially when I change my mind frequently!) I like to get a high end look at a fraction of the price by putting a little, time, effort, and creative thinking to work!
I've been obsessing over Schumacher Zimba fabric forever, it is absolute perfection for draperies! But, at about $100 a yard (that means about $300 just for ONE panel), it is definitely not in the budget. By creating my own stencil and buying pre-made white draperies from Ikea, I was able to get two panels for about $25!!
Ever since seeing one doubling as a window seat, I have been dying to build an upholstered bench ottoman. Inspired by Anthropologie's bench ottoman that costs $1,700, I built this ottoman for under $100. I cut costs by using an inexpensive comforter in lieu of foam, upholstry webbing as a top support, and a drapery panel for fabric. It's perfect for extra seating or a place to rest your feet.
Custom cornices can be very pricey especially when topping a large window. For this window, I wanted a 95" length which can cost over $850. I built this cornice using 1x12 and 1x6 to create the frame and a long tablecloth for fabric for under $25.
These three diy projects transformed this window area and cost me only $150. The time and effort was definitely worth it over paying over $3,000 for all of the originals! 4. Faux Chair Slipcover
It looks like a chair, but kinda like a slipcover too… Well, that's because it's a chair covered by a slipcover! Who knew this chair had such high ambitions? I did, that's who!
I saw this faux chair cover on this Danish website and I knew these covers would be perfect for my house. I drew a template and took it to a copy center to have it enlarged. Then I cut it out and appliqued each individual piece to a plain chair cover to create a faux chair on a slipcover.
It's a fun easy project that takes an afternoon. And now all my other chairs are a little jealous! I had fun making that plate wall, too. Just plates and a few vinyl birds. I think they're perfect with my"fancy, new" chairs!
5. Anthro-inspired Ikat Console
ANTHROPOLOGIE. I LOVE this store. I love the colors, the design, the textures, the ambiance, and inspiration that I always find there. When I saw this gorgeous ikat hand painted console, I knew it was the perfect piece of inspiration for my CWTS Knock off. (and at $1698--it's a great piece to knock off; )
Using a cabinet base from IKEA and an ikat stencil from Olive Leaf Stencils, I recreated the console, choosing a similar color palette, with some color adjustments to fit my own house and decor scheme.
They say"imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." Well, Anthro, you most certainly have mine. In honor of my love for this store, I styled the console using some Anthropologie treasures, in addition to some old wooden spools & candles, books and beautiful orange tulips. 6. Anthro-Inspired Sharpie Plate Art
Woo… week 2! After the crazy, hectic, eating-cereal-for-dinner kind of week last week was I was hoping for a"knockoff" project I could knockout quickly. Apparently, I don't know how to do that. I chose to knockoff Lost Arcadia By Molly Hatch sold by Anthropologie for $7,500! Since that's about $7,450 over my budget, I decided to see if it could be done on the cheap.
It's basically 30 plates hung together with a painted scene going across all the plates. At $7,500, that's $250 per plate. Luckily Dollar Tree sells white plates for a buck. And, since I was pretty sure painting freehand on the plates wasn't going to look all that great, I used a Sharpie and a projector. All you have to do is trace… easy.
I chose to trace a botanical print on my plates since I felt it looked a little more modern, but tried to keep the style and overall feel the same–very loose and all black and white. The plates are hung using Command Strips. At 5 feet wide and 6 feet tall, it makes quite the impact on the wall, not the bank account.
7. Horchow-inspired Mirrors
So, here we are at round 2 (Did you see all of the awesome projects in round 1?). This week's theme is Knock-Off, which I love. I'm cheap frugal, and just can't spend the money that some of the big name websites want for their stuff. Plus, I'm sure my husband would think I'm certifiably insane if I bought a $300 vase or $100 throw pillow. But just because I'm designing on a budget doesn't mean that I can't have nice things, right?
I saw these mirrors over at Horchow, and loved them. I'm one of those ladies that thinks that you can never have enough mirrors in your house. Mirrors to make your room look bigger. Mirrors to reflect light and brighten up your space. Mirrors to make sure you don't have food in your teeth. The more, the merrier. But $1095 shipped? Yikes. No thank you. But looking at them, I figured I could make them. A quick stop at Hobby Lobby for the wooden plates and big mirror, a not so quick stop by Home Depot for the rope and other supplies, and a call and stop by the local mirror place for the smaller mirror size that I couldn't find pre-cut anywhere. Then it was time to go home to paint, sand and assemble.
I did have to get creative with the black caps that Horchow has on the ends of their ropes. My solution? PVC end caps, simply spray painted black. Some black BBQ & Stove spray paint on the metal (which is holding nicely as long as you don't bang around the metal) and voila! Drill a hole in the PVC, hot glue the hooks and rope, and BOOM.
Slightly smaller, slightly lighter in color, but perfectly me. 8. West Elm-inspired Wood Tile Dresser It didn't take long for me to figure out what I wanted to do for this week's challenge. I've been lusting after this wood-tiled dresser from West Elm for months and months, but at a whopping $900, it just wasn't going to happen. So, this challenge gave me the perfect excuse to try and re-create it on my own! And I think it turned out pretty awesome.
I found this gorgeous antique dresser at a local flea market and knew it would be the perfect piece for this project. It's not quite as modern as the original, but it has some nice clean lines and wooden casters, which make me a little weak in the knees. With a fresh coat of paint, some DIY-ed hardware, and a whole bunch of whitewashed, hand-cut wood tiles it looks pretty dang close to the original.
Really, if I'm being honest, I like my version just a little bit better.; -) 9. Anthro-inspired Duvet When I first saw the Corin Duvet from Anthropologie, I fell in love with its details. Hand stitching, gathered fabric, pure gorgeousness. But it also came with a price tag that was way out of my league.
I wanted this look for our room but didn't want to spend $400 (and I didn't want to sew anything) so I bought a white duvet cover and a bottle of puffy paint. PUFFY PAINT?! Yes, I said puffy paint.
I used a picture of the original and a steady hand to paint the details onto my duvet.
But don't worry, the look is nothing like those cheesy tee shirts you used to make!; )
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's time to vote! You guys have a ridiculously hard job- we don't envy you a bit! You can only vote one time, but you can vote for your favorite 3 projects. In order to vote, please LIKE EC2 on Facebook. Thanks! Thanks for voting! Check back tomorrow to see Monica's Knockoff that saved her over $1500! Did you miss the Round 1 projects? You can see them all here.Want to know the results of Round 1?Click here!
**Update:Submissions are NOW open! Click here to enter! You'd better be sitting down ladies and gents, because we're thrilled to announce that we are hosting the BEST, MOST AWESOME contest in all of blogland!! Remember that contest we won last year? Crafting with the Stars? Well, not only did we win it, but we also bought it! Tam, from Sew Dang Cute, took a leave from blogging and we jumped at the chance to run the contest that helped jump-start our blogging careers. We're hoping that we can help one of YOU jump start or boost your blogging career, too! Welcome to the new home of Creating with the Stars! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ We're super excited because it's bigger, badder and better than it has ever been. In case you didn't notice, we've renamed it Creating with the Stars, which means no limits to the incredible stuff you can create. It's not just crafts anymore, people.
What the heck is Creating with the Stars, you ask? CWTS is the ultimate creative DIY competition that pairs 12 contestants with 12 of blogland's biggest stars to duke it out over 4 weeks. Only one team will make it to the end to claim the Grand Prize. The best part? You, the readers, choose the winners! Here's a peek into our projects from the 2012 season…
One of our favorite parts of this competition is that contestants are paired with a super famous, awesome Blog Star! We've rounded up the best of the best and we know you all would LOVE a chance to work 1:1 with any of these bloggers!
Introducing the 2013 Creating with the Stars Blog Stars!
1- Sherry from Young House Love 2- Whitney & Ashley from Shanty 2 Chic 3- Brooke from All Things Thrifty 4- Jane from Tatertots and Jello 5- Sarah from Thrifty Decor Chick 6- Beckie from Infarrantly Creative 7- Mandi from Vintage Revivials 8- Jamielyn from I Heart Naptime 9- Shaunna from Perfectly Imperfect 10- Beth from Home Stories A to Z 11- Kari from U Create 12- Brittany from Pretty Handy Girl That's some serious talent all in one place! And let me tell you, some of these bloggers are in it to win it-they're all about the competition!! Wouldn't it be so awesome to be paired up with one of them?!?
We also have some ridiculously awesome sponsors, who are chomping at the bit to give you some great prizes! The 2013 CWTS Prize packages Total over $4100!! A special thanks to Homes.com, HomeGoods, and Home Depot for their generous sponsorship of CWTS! We're so honored to have them! The Grand Prize Winners (Contestant and Blog Star) will each receive: $500 from Homes.Com $500 Gift Card to HomeGoods Project featured by HomeTalk
All contestants that make it to Week 4 will be given a $100 Giftcard to HomeGoods to use during the week 4 home decor challenge! The Semi-Finals Winner will receive: $500 Gift Card to Home Depot (Contestant & Blog Star) $100 worth of Martha Stewart supplies from Plaid Crafts $125 Gift Card to Lucent Lampworks Project featured by HomeTalk
The Week 2 Winner will receive: $100 Gift Card to Royal Design Studio A pair of $120 Robert Allen pillows from Chic Decor Pillows Project featured by HomeTalk
The Week 1 Winner will receive: $50 worth of 31 Gifts products $60 worth of Twtsted Yarn products $70 of Henle Headbands products $100 Blog Re-design from 733 Design Project featured by HomeTalk
Here's how it all works: Submit one project that shows everyone your best stuff into the linky party here on East Coast Creative that will begin on February 5th. Projects must have been made October 1, 2011 or laterand must be your own work. You have until February 21st to enter. From those entries, 12 of you will be chosen by the blog stars and us as contestants and will be randomly paired up to work one-on-one with a Blog Star, to duke it out in a four-week competition to see who's the most creative. The Star will give suggestions, ideas, encouragement, and help so you can come up with the best project possible. Each round will have a theme and the bottom three will be eliminated based on reader votes. Once the contest is started, weekly projects are anonymous, so big blogger or rookie, everyone's on the same, even playing field! Find your favorite project to link up and be prepared to put your best foot forward if you want to survive!
What to do Now! Submissions are NOW open! Click here to enter! Be sure to Like East Coast Creative on Facebook. We're going to be messaging reminders, sneak peeks, and lots of contest info via Facebook, so you don't want to miss out! Also, start deciding what one project you want to submit for your chance to be a contestant! The sky is the limit and we're so excited to see all the amazing project submissions! Anytime you tweet about the contest, make sure you use #cwts2013 to stay in the loop and see what everyone else is saying about the contest!
If you have any questions about the contest, please email us at CWTScontest{at}gmail.com
We're so excited about our 1st season hosting CWTS and we hope you are too!! Spread the word, because it's going to be one awesome ride!
Guess what we have for you today?? Another Video!! Just kidding! Hehe… We're joint posting and will be sharing all about our Nate Show ornaments with you.
In the midst of our 48 hour challenge, my ornaments were pretty much one of my last concerns. I was pretty focused on building a pallet wall (details coming soon), moving and rehanging Jess' long wall shelves, and some other BIG projects. I had the room 90% done and was like,"Hmm… I guess the tree needs ornaments??" So here are some insanely simple and quick ideas for you to try.
1. Wooden Ornaments: Jess loves bringing the outside in… (which is sort of funny because she hates outdoorsy stuff and camping and and every year on our annual friends and families camping trip, she brings her family for dinner and s'mores and then leaves! Hehe) Anyhow, enough secret insider info, onto the ornament. If you live in the suburbs (like us) or the country you can find wood I'm sure. Nate reminded me that he can't just grab some wood in NYC (ha! Totally didn't occur to me), but he gets his at Michael's. You'll need to use a chop saw or find a willing friend to help. Slice them about 1/4 inch thick, drill a hole, add ribbon. It's really that simple! I also used some of these as gift tags on the presents I wrapped and just wrote on them with a Sharpie.
2. Bracelet Ornaments: Time to admit something here… these kind of happened as an accident! We were spray painting some of the bracelets to get rid of the gold color and some of them got tangled. Wait… Could that look amazingly similar to a ball?? A few twists of the hand and we had ourselves bracelet ornaments! All we had to to was add ribbon!
3. Scrabble Ornaments: Crafty people all around the blogosphere have been using Scrabble tiles for all kinds of cool things! Jules shared some scrabble ornaments she had found at a boutique in one of her blog posts and it got me thinking that it was definitely something to DIY not BUY! All I did was take Scrabble letters and hot glue them onto popsicle sticks that were part of Nate's Crate.
I just snapped off the extra wood (with my crazy-strong muscles) and then used a little sand paper on the edges to smooth it out. Add your favorite ribbon and voila! I was wondering today, if I sanded the tiles down a bit, if I could whitewash them a fun color?? Hmm… Let us know if you try that!
4. Accent Decor Balls: You know those balls that people use in vases or bowls for filler decor? Well, we had a bag of them sitting around and I thought, Hmm… I have like no time left and a whole tree staring me down. Let's just use those bad boys as ornaments! All I had to do was jab some wire into them and they were done. I only have a picture of one of them, but it yielded about 12 ornaments in 4 different styles. So grab your filler balls and you have insta-ornaments!
5. Sweater Ball Ornaments:Okay Monica, behave. Don't write anything embarrassing. You're a grown adult. Please excuse my note-to-self. So, these balls were created just using styrofoam balls from the crate and an old knit sweater. I cut the sweater into strips, wrapped it around the ornament, and tied the top and bottom with twine. I also think it could be fun with some really bold colored sweaters. I might need to try that next year!
So there you have it, my easy-peasy ornaments! And just to set the record straight… I am not a neat person. The picture of my nice and neat supply table was a"Made for TV" display… Here's what it turned into…
I had a lot of fun coming up with several different ideas for ornaments. If you haven't figured it out yet, I was going for a natural and organic in my decor, and I'm so happy with the way each one complimented the other. You might remember (if you watched our crazy video) that I had never made an ornament before this show, but it was sooo much easier than I thought it would be! And even if they don't turn out exactly as you had envisioned, once you put the tree up and turn the lights no, no one notices the imperfections! So here's the breakdown:
1. Jewelry Ornament: This one is a combination of a chunky, metallic bracelet and a pair of really funky earrings, both from H & M. The earring sort of reminded me of a Christmas tree, so it worked. I simply spray-painted the bracelet in our favorite Valspar primer in Red Oxide. (Mo used the same color on her reindeer artwork)
Then, I altered the earrings until nearly unrecognizable and hot-glued the whole thing together. Add some jute twine and that's it!
2. Jute-Wrapped Ornament: This one is my favorite ornament of all! Although it takes a lot of patience, it really isn't difficult to do. You also need hands of steel, because trust me, they will get hot glue burns. I found that the easiest way to do this was to start wrapping at the middle of the ornament and wrap the jute around until you get to the top. Then start in the middle and work down the opposite way. Make sure to push the rows together as you go so you don't see the styrofoam, and use hot glue to secure the jute along the way.
3. Pinecone Ornament: This one wins the reward for easiest DIY ornament. Right now you can get a pack of scented pinecones at Michael's or Joann's for around $3.00, which means loads of cute ornaments for almost nothing! I brushed Mod Podge on the"petals' of the pinecone in a random pattern and then sprinkled epsom salt on top. Pretty and wintery (or is it wintry?)
4. Burlap Ornament: I love love love this ornament. It was inspired by the ornaments sold here on Esty. Cut the burlap in strips and hot glue around the styrofoam ball. I totally didn't measure the widths, but I figure the messier the better with burlap. And if you don't want to make your own, go ahead and buy them. No shame in that.: )
5. Scrapbook Paper Ornament: I used the same method as we used on our decoupaged pumpkin, and it worked great! Cut your scrapbook paper into thin strips (about 1/4" thick) and slap a generous amount of modpodge on the back of the strips and wrap them around the ball. Make sure your strips are long enough to go the entire way around the ornament. I also mentioned that I used glossy modpodge for these, and it gave it a really nice sheen- a little bit dresser, if you ask me. Side note: I had a few brown kraft-paper ornaments in my crate that worked a heck of a lot better for this than the styrofoam balls, so use those if you can!
6. Chalkboard Ornament: There aren't many things better than something you can change and customize year after year, depending on your mood or preferences. I used chalkboard paint on a round, flat, kraft-paper ornament, painted the edges with modpodge (what is this? An advertisement for modpodge? I promise you, we're not getting anything from them, I just use their stuff A LOT!), and rolled it in epsom salt. These are great ornaments, but you could also use them as gift tags for a super cute addition to your presents! Love that. I'm sort of in love with the Christmas tree I decorated for Monica's living room (and Monica's isn't half-bad either. Hehe.) I hope this inspired you to try something new, use what you have, and think outside the box! Well, there you have it! 2 Full trees of ornaments and not one from the store. DIY to the max!Now, it's your turn- we'd love to see what you come up with!
If you missed all the amazing projects in the first three weeks of CWTS, be sure to check them out below! Round 1 Projects & WinnersRound 2 Projects & WinnersRo und 3 Projects & Winners
We've loved seeing all the projects that have been linked up to play along with CWTS each week! This week we were thrilled to be introduced to Meesh and her blog I.Meesh.U I spent a long time on her blog last night and I just kept reading because her stream of consciousness writing style had me hooked! We picked this project because we felt that everyone deserved to know the secret of how to get that super-cool, Restoration Hardware finish! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
oh Restoration Hardware… how i love thee…
Restoration Hardware's Kenwood Bed Big A is currently in his converted crib. Problem is that he's getting too big for us to comfortably snuggle and read books in the glider. and sitting on the floor to read to him isn't fun. so mamma started searching for a new bed on craigslist… and look what i found. a glossy white Pottery Barn-looking bed. the very nice fireman who sold it to me even delivered it for free.
here's the headboard in our garage. the pix are a bit dark, but you get the idea. glossy white paint on a well-constructed piece. the beauty about Annie Sloan Chalk Paint is that you don't have to sand or strip any varnish before starting. you just paint. and the paint just sticks. and you're just happy. and yes, i've heard the complaints about how expensive ASCP is, but really, when you take into consideration the time you've saved sanding, stripping, and priming, it all works out. AND, with the 4 quarts i purchased almost two years ago, i've probably painted out 15-20 pieces of furniture. yes.
looks a little girly with the white glossy paint, huh? so here are my steps to achieve the ever elusive Restoration Hardware distressed and weathered wood furniture finish:
using a 3" brush, paint out the pieces in Annie Sloan's Paris Grey. make sure you get in all the cracks and crevices. you'll note that this piece is similar to a bead board, so there are lots of nooks and crannies. let dry.
using a mixture of MinWax water-based gray and dark Old English, brush on liberally on top of the Paris Gray. after a minute or so, wipe the mixture off with a rag, but don't wipe off 100% evenly. you want some of the pseudo-glaze to stick to the paint, creating some depth on the furniture. because this is a water-based stain, it's translucent and allows you to see the wood below it. the dark stain mixed in was intended to darken the color a bit.
in this experiment, i used about 1/4 cup MinWax, and 8 drops of the Old English. the above shot is taken without a flash and it looks more gray/brown. be sure you use the same mixture if you're remixing for additional pieces so that you achieve the same consistency and colors as you go.
in the above shot, i used the flash so that you could see that this glaze had more of a blue-ish gray hue.
go over all the pieces using a 220 grit sandpaper…very lightly, with the grain. play around with the pressure. i was trying to achieve a pseudo wood grain look, so kept my pressure very light to accomplish the right look without removing too much of the chalk paint.
then i brought out the Annie Sloan dark wax, my trusty gloves, and some soft rags. i generously applied the dark wax as i wanted a darker wood look.
what you'll notice about using the Annie Sloan dark wax is that you sometimes notice the brush marks. see in the above picture at the bottom center of the headboard? you see a dark area butted up against a lighter area. i've noticed this happens with AS wax… but never fear! the product is so malleable that you can buff it out and even out the look with some #0000 steel wool and elbow grease. that's right…get those arms in shape by buffing and making the wax more even across your piece.
see how i was able to get rid of the sharp contrast between the dark and light areas on the headboard? fancy.
i LOVE how this piece turned out.
thanks for reading!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks again Meesh! And make sure you check back tomorrow for the reveal of the Grand Prize Round Projects!! You're going to flip over them!!
Ok, guys, we are in the last two weeks of competition with Creating with the Stars and to say that the contestants exceeded our expectations would be the understatement of the century. We have six competitors still fighting for a spot in the final 3 and no one is going down without a major fight. If you missed the first two weeks of projects, check them out below: Round 1 Projects & Winners Round 2 Projects & Winners
This week some amazing prizes are at stake. The semi-finals winner will take home… $500 Gift Card to Home Depot (Contestant & Blog Star!!) $100 worth of Martha Stewart supplies from Plaid Crafts $125 Gift Card to Lucent Lampworks Project featured by HomeTalk
Now, we know you're all dying to see what amazing projects our contestants have come up with this week with paint! Let's go! 1. Painted Couch Featuring a Handmade Horse Stamp
We have all seen these couches before in someone's grandma's house. This vintage couch is not the good kind of vintage, but I may have some of you convinced that this traditional style can be made more modern. I painted the couch white, carved out a horse, and stamped the living daylights out of it with black paint from Home Depot. Enjoy!
2. Painted Map Coffee Table Painting! I'm not going to lie, I was pretty stoked about this week… and amazed I made it here. Painting is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to transform almost anything. And my table was in need of some transforming- big time. I picked it up at a flea market type place for $40… peeling, chipping, splinters, dirt and all.
I sanded and scraped (forever) until no more paint chips fell off when you walked by. Then I gave the entire table a coat of latex paint from Home Depot (mixed with a little plaster to make chalk paint), leaving some of the peeling paint texture on the legs. After that was dry, I taped off a large"X" pattern on the smaller shelf and added a painted stripe detail to IKEA storage boxes for the bottom.
On the top, I made my own basic map stencil by cutting away the continents on a large world map I printed out. I stuck the map to the table with painter's tape, then painted over top with blues and greens. Once that was"roughed in", I removed the paper map and spattered the rest of the painted detail free hand using mostly a plastic spoon and really watered down paint. The last step was to give the entire table a coat of protective finishing wax.
I kind of think the end result is out of this world… hehe, get it?
3. Painted Desk and Accent Wall Using Custom Stencils
I love paint! It sets the mood of a space and has the power to completely transform a piece. I found this large bookcase at Goodwill and loved the detail on the doors, arch at the top, and the drop panel but didn't like choppy layout, worn finish, and heavy bottom. Luckily, all of my dislikes were easy to fix with a little paint and reconfiguration of the layout.
With a little help from the Home Depot, I was well on my way to getting started. Thanks Chris!
Fix #1 — I moved the drop panel down to 30" so that it can now be used as a secretary desk. Goodbye choppy bookcase, hello new desk! Fix #2- Paint! The finish was worn and it had a few areas that needed to be filled with wood filler so painting was the perfect solution! I chose a classic ivory and paired it with a deep turquoise stenciled background. I created the stencil based on one of my favorite Farrow and Ball wallpapers. Fix #3-the thick base and doors made this piece look bottom heavy. To fix this, I added small feet to lift it off the ground and create a little visual space at the base. I also created a large stencil based on one of my favorite rugs. The large scale and contrast provides a lot of visual impact and adds variety from the small scale stencil used on the back.
With the help of paint and a few power tools, this bookcase has been given a new life and I love the way it looks in my new space! 4. Painted Chalkboard with Map and Games This week's theme was my favorite so far…I love the many many ways that paint can be used to make an instant change and impact on a space or an object. I also love chalkboard paint. This week's project is dedicated to my kiddos who surprise, surprise…love to get that their craft on too!; )
In designing the chalkboard wall, we decided to have a map of the U.S.A…I love the way it looks and it will be fun to track the different states we go to as a family. After coloring in the states my kids have been to, they commented"well that's not very many", so I let them each choose a state they would like to go to someday…which explains why Hawaii and Alaska are colored.: ) Lately my oldest child has loved playing tic-tac-toe, so I thought a large, interactive wall version would be super-fun! I also included many"frames" for the kiddos to draw their masterpieces in. I picked the step-stools up at IKEA and painted them in fun colors, and the animal hooks holding our chalk and erasers came from Anthropologie. It was a blast picking out all the fun paint colors at Home Depot! Because I was using so many colors and didn't need a gallon of each color…Home Depot made my day when they told me that they can mix any color in a small, 7.5 oz jar…perfect!!!
And after a super-busy week painting…I'll go to bed tonight and dream about being on a beach in…
;)
5. Aztec Wonder Painted Rug I have been in love with the Aztec inspired rugs that I have been seeing in catalogs and online lately. The drool kind of love. But alas, rugs can be expensive. They are not something I can change an a whim. So, when the paint round came about I decided that it was time for me to get my hands on my latest crush and do it in a budget-friendly way. In DIY style, of course.
Isn’t she beautiful?! This rug was a labor of love. And a lot and lot of sponges cut into stamps…applied one by one. Fabulous colors, a gentle application of paint from Home Depot, and lots of patience made this rug come together into something lovely.
My rug is more then happy living with me. And, I am so pleased to have my own version of this latest craze. And… you know what? I’m glad we’ve moved on from Chevron to Aztec. I’ve got my Aztec rug and I’m ready to go!
6. Painted Wall Mural and Dresser I have a thing for maps right now — doesn't everyone? So, when it came time for the"paint" challenge, I was pretty excited to hop right in and paint a giant world map on my wall. Because who doesn't need one of those?!
I used a projector to hand-paint the whole thing, and then for a bit of contrast (and fun!) I added an old Ikea sideboard we had laying around that I painted Sunny Side Up by Behr from Home Depot. For a couple more little touches, I added bicycle drawer pulls (because, why not?) and numbers to the door fronts — you can barely see them from straight on, but if you look at it from a different angle, they suddenly show up. It's a subtle touch, but I didn't want anything to compete with the map above it!
I love how the black and yellow work together, and I'm pretty excited to finally achieve my dream of covering a wall with the entire world. And, really, I find it hard to believe that this bright and sunny sideboard was once a plain, boring black Ikea piece — don't you love how big of a transformation paint can make?!
It's time to vote! You guys have a ridiculously hard job- we don't envy you a bit! You can only vote one time, but you can vote for your favorite 3 projects. **The voting glitch for Round 3 has been corrected and voting will be adjusted accordingly. Thanks! In order to vote, please LIKE EC2 on Facebook.
.jpg)
.jpg)
