Archives for July 2010

Bottle Cap Tray

I like using trays for various tasks around the house and was on the look out for one to keep my coffee station area nice and tidy. Enter Hobby Lobby. HL is known for it's deep discounts and that is where I found the most hideous pink glittered tray I have ever seen. (Vase is from Goodwill, it got painted too....) It was under three dollars and I could only hope that primer would cover up that glitter-gone-wrong!

Thankfully it did! I primed and painted it glossy white

Don't ask me how I thought of using bottlecaps in the bottom of it...I really don't know, I just wanted something fun and funky. I spray painted a whole bunch of them in my three favorite summertime colors, Blue Ocean Breeze, Ivy Leaf and Pumpkin Orange, and some white, all from Krylon. It actually took some time to collect this many caps, I wanted to do this earlier in the summer, it just took a while!

Just a word of caution if decide to try this project, make sure the handles are high enough, giving you plenty of room to contain the fluid and whatever you are submerging. At least half inch clearance.

I started laying the caps in and played around with the pattern until I was happy. The staggered pattern really worked with not too much wasted space (it wasn't a perfect fit).

Next, I used what is called acrylic water to pour over the caps. Now this 2 part epoxy is sold at HL and Michael's, but I found it the cheapest at Walmart, in their Floral Dept. I followed the directions, mixing the compounds and poured it on. It's self-leveling, which is great! The tough part was waiting the 48 hours, because it cannot be disturbed at all, and my house is full of disturbances!!! :) Luckily, the acrylic hardened without any incidents, and was ready for use!

It turned out really cute and retro funky, just what I wanted!! It will keep my coffee messes contained!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you're inspired! I bet a lot of different things could be "captured" under the acrylic! Pictures or buttons, anything!

*Edited*

I've had some questions about some of the caps floating up a little after the acrylic was poured. A few tricks I can suggest: pour very slowly and watch for floaters. Use something like a skewer or toothpick to push the cap down (not your fingers). Also, "tap" the tray a few times too on the counter to release any air bubbles. Finally, if the floater just won't settle, lift it out, let the acrylic settle into the space and then put the cap back down in the liquid. Any of these methods should work. If you should have any more questions don't hesitate to email me.

Have fun! :)

No strings attached

I know we're in a recession and the housing market has imploded. However, I still thought our house would have sold by now. We have gotten a great deal of interest in our house, with some buyers ranking it as their #1 choice - which is great. However, these buyers all have strings attached - they need to sell their home, or are waiting on details of their relocation package, etc... I need a buyer with no strings! It doesn't help matters when you have sellers who drop the price of their (nicer) home because they have a good relocation deal on their side. I feel like they just cut in line. I've been waiting in line longer than you have, darnit! Sorry, I guess I'm just feeling a little sorry for myself. I think we have a beautiful home and I'm getting a little frustrated that someone else hasn't snapped it up the same way we did. (We bought it after viewing it at an open house - so I'm one of the people you can mention who bought a house as a result of an open house).

I have done all of the staging things I'm supposed to do - I have decluttered and put a bunch of stuff in storage (PODS rule, btw), I neutralized the house with decor and even took down most of our family photos. I added a granite kitchen island, revamped our half bath (see below), and when we having showings this place is show ready. And we are also priced fairly (aside from the cheaters who cut in line). Feedback has been that we are priced right.

Here is a virtual tour of our house for your online viewing pleasure. If you know anyone in the Southwest Ohio area that's looking for a great house, send them our way. :-)

Our home - I might add that the window boxes are planted and look beautiful.

Dining Room

Home Office

Kitchen

Kitchen/Breakfast Room

Light and Bright Family Room

Half Bath - Might I add that the half bath used to look like this...

Old half bath, complete with pork chop counter and huge wall mirror

Finished basement - this was one of the big selling points for us when we bought it.

Oh yes, I repainted the basement in preparation for selling as well - see before...

Ok, this was mid-painting - it doesn't always look this chaotic

Another pre-painting photo

Basement - After

Another basement photo

Master Bedroom - I should update this photo - I have made changes to this room!

Master bathroom

Backyard - yes, we have a screened porch, but I don't have a picture of it!

So, there you go. A quick tour of our house. I buried my St. Joseph statue this week, so maybe that will hurry things along. :-)

Chic Seat

It's no secret I love to design on the thrifty side, so when my MIL decided to give this settee away, I snatched it right up! I knew she could become something beautiful! I mean one more seat in the house can't hurt right? Right.

The unique shape of the seat, beautiful! I've never really seen anything quite like it before! The "furniture tag" underneath dates it back to 1929.

Before:

Seat cushion Before:

After:

Seat cushion After:

The zebra upholstery fabric was in the remnant bin at Hobby Lobby, I paid under three dollars for it and still have some for another project. I've been wanting to inject a teeny tiny shot of zebra in the living room for some time now, and this was the perfect amount! The cushion came off pretty easy...I ripped off the fringe and stapled on the new fabric right over the old, it was very easy.

I primed the frame with metal primer then sprayed two coats of Almond from Krylon.
I'm still contemplating some fringe, like she originally had, but I'm not really a fringe kinda girl, but we'll see. It looks nice without it too.

Not too bad for an old girl!

Settee: Free

Fabric: $2.72

Paint: On Hand

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you're inspired!

Desk Job

What do you do with a beat up freebie desk? Well, several things, but lets focus on what I did to a beat up freebie desk. :) From it's original make-over a few years ago, from wood to painted black...I decided to lighten up a bit and give this ole desk another face lift.

Sorry, no good "before" shots, and even these, I had already sanded...

Deciding on a color wasn't too hard, I've been on a grey kick for a while, a lot less harsh than black, but it was still a little too plain....I decided to paint the top of the desk with chalk board paint, how fun would that be!!

I let the paint dry and I really liked how it was looking, but I still wasn't satisfied, shocker, I know... so I decided to add a little detail with paint. I was a little nervous, but if I messed up I could always go back over it with more chalk board paint. I decided to personalize it with a monogram, E for Edwards, and continued with a little bubble detail. It was easy, after the E dried I centered a clear glass plate over it and used the eraser of a new pencil to create the circle and I just kept dabbing all the way around the edge of the plate. I created a border too with the same technique, dabbing the eraser in paint, all the way around...

I seasoned the whole top and I was done!

I added some new hardware, hung a cute little thrifted basket that I spray painted orange, with one of my little flowers I've been making, and Logan likes to put his action figures in there too...