Thrifty and Chic

DIY Simple Crate

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 23:14:00 +0000

I think its funny how I label everything DIY, but I guess most things I blog about is really DIY so sorry for the repetitiveness.

So, my laptop has decided to go to laptop heaven. Its been an interesting couple of days, my screen has acted like a scene out of The Ring. Its been going static white and grey and black...just waiting for some long haired girl to crawl out of it. Good visual? haha.Well, its not very fun at night when I'm in deep thought and then wham! white screen. Yes, its a little freaky.

Well, now I have a new laptop and the resolution seems to be stuck on annoying. It just won't go to a high enough resolution, so I apologize before hand if these pictures are little crazy...its quite a challenge editing things when you don't quite know what they really look like.

Now to get on to things.... I've been wanting to make some simple crates for awhile now, I think they are the perfect place to store blankets and pillows and what not when you are really low on storage space, as I am....a.k.a. the whole no closets in the house thing. Yeah. It gets pretty annoying sometimes, but it makes me improvise. And the crate is one of those improvisations.

This cost about $4 to make (depending on what size you make them). What you will need:

2-3 cedar planks
one 2x2
saw
nail gun (or nails and hammer)

Step 1: Cut the cedar planks to size. You'll need 4 of the same size for the front and back, and 4 of the same size for the two sides. So 8 cuts total (plus the ones you'll need for the bottom). I cut mine to about 30 inches by 14 or so inches. The best thing about this, is that you can make it any size to fit where ever you want! You can make it as tall as you want also, just add more planks. Easy peasy. You'll want to cut the 2x2 to the height you want for the crate. I gave mine a little bit of a gap in between the planks, so I think it ended up measuring about 12 or 13 inches high. Cut 4 of these.
Step 2: Secure two pieces of the same size plank to one of the 2x2s. Have it flush on top and bottom. Do this to both sides. (I started mine with the longest planks). I then took the other two long planks and did the same thing.
Step 3: Stand the nailed pieces up and place one of the smaller cut planks on the bottom, nail in place.
Step 4: Place the next plank on the top, make it flush, and nail. Just a hint, to make flush without crazy finger placement that may or may not be in the way of the nail gun, turn the whole thing upside down and finish it like in step 3. Do this to the other side too with the left over planks.

Now you should have all four sides done and secure. If you are using this for something heavy duty, make sure to secure everything with wood glue before you throw in the nails.

Next is to finish the bottom. The bottom pieces, depending on which way you want the planks to go, should measure the same size as the smaller cut ones you already cut or the longer ones. For mine, I wanted gaps in between them so I only needed 4 more of the smaller cuts. This would have worked also with two of the larger cuts. Start with the outer edges and place the planks down and nail them to the rest of the frame.

I then measure my gap with my level, makes things easier. Or you can just eye this really. And placed the other two pieces on the frame and nailed them down.

And there you have it! If you wanted to, this would be a good time to drill some holes into the two sides for some handles. I didn't need handles for this particular crate, but will definitely do some on future crates.

Next was to paint it. I really like the natural look of the cedar, but it clashed a smidgebit with my living room. So I just gave it a good white wash.

To get this look, I like using the 'gold stained' cedar planks. They'll leave your hands orange after touching them, but I find that they are perfect to get that aged look when painting them white. I only used one coat of white to achieve this look.

Here's the other side. Be sure to paint the 2x2 also, or else it may just stand out a bit. Oh, and another tip. Paint the inside of the crate! If you don't, you may or may not leave that orange nasty stain all over your blankets and pillows....or whatever else you decided to put in these.

I'm thinking the next step is to make one of these for all my shoes that are inevitably left by the front door...which I...and the hubs...and the mutt....trip over all the time. I'm sure that would make them very happy :) I say this truthfully..cuz I know from experience the piercing of stilettos into ones arch of the foot is painful...and its also very...very dangerous for dogs. Max went running through the house one time, stepped on a stiletto heel and ripped his paw apart....had to have stitches and all. :( Poor guy. Sorry to end on such a sad note....but he's all better now, this was like years and years ago :)

Have a good week and Happy Valentines day!

DIY Puckered Duvet Cover

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:29:00 +0000

Ever had one of those weeks where it feels like Friday and it's only Tuesday? or worse, Monday? haha. This is one of those weeks for me. Oh well, now it's like I've been gifted three extra days. See, you always have to look at the positive :)

Today I'm going to share how I got all my bedding in my office for 12 bucks. There aren't a lot of 'how to' pictures so if you are a picture browser like I am sometimes, sorry, you'll actually have to read the 'how to' today instead for some of this to make sense :)

So lets start with the comforter, well, actually, duvet cover. I absolutely can't stand paying over $20 for a duvet cover. I know. That's bad, cuz there aren't really any duvets under twenty dollars out there unless you get a crazy good deal on one. So, this next tutorial is how to score a duvet of your own for under twenty dollars!

What you need:
Old Comforter
Two flat sheets in same size as comforter
Sewing Machine/Needle and thread (if you dare)

The size of my current comforter was a full. I like using full size sheets/comforters on twin beds, it just looks better, and fits a whole lot better (besides the fitted sheet obviously). Since the comforter was a full, I purchased two flat sheets in full. These sheets were a little under $6 each, on sale at Target. You can get sheets for this price anywhere really, like Home Goods, Ross, etc.

Lay the two sheets flat on the ground, right sides facing each other. Pin up and down the bottom, and the two sides. Send these pinned sides through the sewing machine. I gave about an inch allowance on the outside edge. Then, if you like, on the top opening, sew about a 6 inch line inside from each edge. So the comforter underneath has a place to 'hug'. This is good opportunity to sew on some buttons or ties if you wish. I didn't on mine, and its been completely fine.

To get that puckered look, lay the sheets down again, inside out. and mark where you want the 'puckers'. I used a tape measure to make sure they were even. On every other line, have the marks be the same. On the lines in between, do the same thing, just mark a spot in the middle of the other line's marks. Did this make any sense? haha. Just make it look somewhat symmetrical...or not. Its yours to do what you want.

Now at every mark, kind of roll it in between your fingers, having the mark be the tip, and send it back and forth through the sewing machine -sans fingers.

Turn inside out, put your comforter in, and there you have it! Although the dimensions of the comforter and the sheets weren't exactly the same, you couldn't tell once the comforter went in the duvet. Oh, and probably you should iron the sheets before you begin this whole process. You can tell I didn't on mine, and once the puckers are in, its going to be a little harder to iron.

I used this same puckering technique on these pillows to bring a little unison in the room. I also have a tutorial here about a little different way to add puckers without a sewing machine.

The pillows on the bed were made from complete scrap fabric I had laying around. I'll have a tutorial on those coming soon. As for the bed skirt, I used the same Ikea mesh curtains that are hanging by the window seat. Just placed them underneath the top mattress and voila. Easy peasy. It adds just a smidgen of whimsy.

And there you have it, this whole bed was about covering up the old and making it look new. You should have seen those pillows before! haha. I'll have to take a picture for you of what all of this looks like without a little 'cover' therapy.

Recovered Salvaged Chair

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:23:00 +0000

So as you may remember...or maybe you wiped it from your memory as I have...my old office. And then if you can even recall, the 'chair' from my office. It was actually an ottoman that I got from the thrift store for like three bucks. I then made a slipcover for it with some dollar fabric. And yeah. I used it has my 'chair' for three years. It was a horrible experience, but kept strong and kept using it. haha.

Well. Since I had such a great chair that I totally didn't need to replace, I don't know why I even jumped at the idea of taking another chair home as its replacement. ...I'm being completely sarcastic right now if you can't tell :) ...

This chair was off to the dumpster when I snagged it. It was a little wobbly, but all in all, it still had a decent shape. I figured with my office redo I wouldn't want to keep my ol' ottoman in there as pretty as that would be, so I thought this would be a great replacement! This is where the sad music starts and the ottoman starts limping out of the room :)

Anyway, to start things out in this updating process, I started disassembling the parts. I took off the seat, then unscrewed a few screws to remove the back.

I was left with the frame. I could have spraypainted this, but even with great ventilation in my basement, the smell lingers in my house for days and days. Not so awesome. So I figured save some brain cells and hand paint it.

Yes. I paint in my kitchen. And as I said before, yes it drives my husband nuts. haha. oh well. Anyway. So I painted this Linen White, the perfect contrast for the fabric I was going to use for the cushions.

Next was to recover the cushions. I got the fabric from Hobby Lobby. It was a little more expensive than I wish it had been...heck I wish it was free...but who am I kidding :) I think I got it for about fifteen dollars for the yard. Which is THE MOST I have ever ever spent on fabric. But, it was the perfect fabric, so I had too :)

To start, I placed the cushion face down on the fabric, also face down. Cut about a 5 inch allowance around the cushion.

I then pulled the fabric on one end up and over the cushion and stapled it. I then did that to the opposite end, pulling that end tight and stapling it. To do the next two sides, I took the already folded piece of fabric from the top and put it together with the fabric right underneath it on the bottom (pictured above).

I then folded it towards the nonstapled side -like wrapping a present.

Held it there, and then took the bottom fabric and folded it over the rest of it. Pulling it hard, I secured it in place with a staple. Did this to all the corners. And then of course, stapled the rest of the fabric to the cushion up and down each side.

I then placed all the cushions back on the chair. And vavavoom! Ain't she pretty?

For the chair back, it was pretty easy to cover, I essentially made a 'pillow case' for it and slipped it in there. The back is upside down, but I sadly don't care.

I got really lucky with not having to replace the cushions and a little tightening of the screws made all difference in the world with its wobbliness.

I like to think its a little better than the ottoman. haha.

Here's how it sits today. I had to jazz it up with a little throw and pillow, cuz who would I be if I didn't over decorate things??

And on a different note, this is what I found sitting behind me today. haha. He totally had the monkey hanging on him like that all by himself. And yes he is sitting in my place, thats why he was 'behind' me. Thus being, me sitting on the floor. But how can you move such a sweet face??? And now you all know why I always have a blanket protecting the couch cushions :)

Office/Guest Room Reveal!

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Hey hey! Are you ready for this? I'm not, ...mainly cuz now you all get to see how my office has been off and on for ummm..about two and half years? But I figure, my cheeks won't stay so red for too long cuz I think the after is beautimus. But of course I'm a little biased :)

So, as you all have probably figured out by now, my 'office' redo morphed into an office and guest room redo since I'll be redoing our current guest room for a nursery...No, I'm not announcing anything yet :) but a girls gotta get ready for things, right?

Anyway. I had to find a way for an office with a lot of stuff. And when I say 'a lot', I mean a TON of stuff to coexist in a room where guests will be laying their heads. So, as promised, here's the before shot of my office:

I didn't even clean this room for ya'. haha. You couldn't tell? Just kidding. This is sadly a little bit better than its been but somewhat of its worse. I use to have a big desk in the middle taking up a whole lot of space. Not the best decision I made. Well, that desk was moved to the wall and then more crap was put on the ground in its place. Its called compromise. haha :)

You see the problem here is that I also used this for storage. Storage of anything from unused furniture to decorating accessories. And then I some how had my business and normal home office stuff jammed in there too. Anyway. It was bad. Obviously :)

A few sweat and tears later, here's that corner after! I pretty much finished this all in a week. I knew once I got started, I could not stop. If I stopped, who knows when I would get back around to finishing it...I mean, remember the before??? Almost three years people, three years. Need I say more?

And then here's the other corner. haha. whoa. So in my attempt to make this even more of an office, like two years ago, I bought a desk for $20. It was waaaay to small for what I needed it for-see, you can't even see it. But I still used it....like maybe a good two months straight....and then it became a surface to add more crap onto. See that little brownish fabric thing in front of the desk with the candle on top? Yeah. That was my chair. I know I know...way too posh, maybe a little excessive? I only give myself the best ;)

After working around crap for years, I figured I would give myself a new chair and update my desk. A little cleaner, no? haha.I don't have to hop over stuff, and bust my leg against corners every two inches now to get to something.

So, how does one keep all her crap hidden and still have a nice room for a guest? With curtains! I bought some bookshelves from Ikea -my biggest splurge- piled on the crap and then hid them with a curtain attached to the ceiling. I did this on both sides of the window.

And then to connect the whole look, I bought another shelf from Ikea, put it on its side, topped it with some pillows, and voila! A makeshift window seat.

This added the perfect amount of space for 'guest' necessities -towels, bath salts, soaps, books, etc.
Eventually I'll get around to adding a foam seat...but I'm in no hurry :)

This is so sad, but before, I use to not be able to open these closet doors. It was THAT bad.

These pillows I made from scrap fabric. The headboard I made from cedar planks -tutorial here.

The lamp was bought from Target for 75% off. Score! The frame and table are both from Ikea. The pitcher is from my kitchen. Instead of framing a picture, I opted to frame a passage out of Romeo and Juliet -I figured it added the perfect amount of romanticism in my romanticism-esque room -at least that's what my 'french' fabric says :) Actually. I think it says, 'abcd' 'jklmn' 'k' 'r' 'lmno'. Some French, huh?

Here's the view when you first head into the room. Oh, and this rug I got from Ikea also...a long while back. Its migrated from two other rooms to find a home, for now, in this one :)

And here's the 'office' area again. As you can see I 'lengthened' the desk. I also recovered this salvaged chair. Oh, and of course, the big white ball... I mean, hanging light :) The tutorial for this coffee filter light is found here.

Well. Lets see how long this actually stays like this, shall we? haha. I know myself and I know my habits. I figure, something drastic had to happen to break said habits. I would clean and re-organize my office before, twice or so a year, and sure enough, the next week it would look like it threw-up on itself again.

When things aren't too organized, there's little in it for me to make it stay not too organized. I like to make it worse :) But the best things about these curtains? The stuff doesn't have to stay looking organized and pretty! None of my boxes and baskets match. Half my stuff isn't even in a box or basket. But you can't tell, now can you?

Eventually I'll go through the dreaded process of organizing all the stuff for reals. Maybe when I'm expecting more guests cuz if they are anything like me, I would totally open those curtains and go through stuff :) Its kinda like using someone else's bathroom and opening up their cupboards.... come on...you can't tell me that you have never done that??? haha. I SWEAR that I have never done that (wink wink).

So, the total cost of this $275. It would have been about $250, but I really wanted to replace the table I stole from my bedroom with another one, so I figured I should add this into the total cost. Here's the breakdown:
Headboard: $7
Ikea table: $20
Target lamp/shade: $30
Ikea Frame:$2
Bedding: $12
Bedskirt: $4 (those were Ikea mesh curtains btw)
Curtains -mesh and linen, Ikea: $24
Ikea bookshelves: $100
Ikea 'bench': $40
Hanging Light: $12
Desk upgrade: $5
Misc. Fabric for room: $20

Holy crap, I love Ikea -obviously, can't you tell??? Its either bought at Ikea or handmade, figures.

Now I would have made the bookshelves myself. In fact, the plan from day one was to make the bookshelves to save money. But then I remembered, that was the same plan as the plan from 1 year ago and 2 years ago. And look where that got me? I figure, if things are too daunting...and essentially make you not do what you need to do....then find an easier way to do it. Yes, it may have been cheaper in the long run to make the shelves. But my time and sanity is worth at least twice the cost of my purchased bookshelves ;)

If you have any questions on anything, let me know! I'll be posting about more projects and how-to's in upcoming posts.

Oh, and Happy Compliment Day! Yep. and it is also Beer Can Appreciation Day, just an FYI :)

Ribbon Striped Pillow Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000

As much as I'm into headboards, ya'll know I love me some pillows even more :) I've had multiple posts about this...yes, you can say I'm a bit obsessed. So, it figures that I have about 10 pillows in my new office/guest room. Overboard? Maybe. But for me. No way...I could have had 20 :)

Here's a tutorial on the nice little striped one that found its home on the bed.

So first off. You need:

Fabric.
This Tutorial -my 10 minute pillow cover :)
Ribbon
Iron on hem
Iron
Sewing Machine

First step is to get your fabric read for sewing. You will want to have it cut to the right size, the flaps sewn, and then the fabric folded the correct size you want it including the edge allowance -make sure the fabric is right side out.

You'll want to pin the fabric 'square' in place around the edges so it stays in place. Then you'll want to get your ribbon and kind of just have fun with different designs with the it. I pretty much just cut 10 or so pieces at the same length, some a little longer than the others for the diagonal stripes. Then when I got an idea in my head of where I wanted the pieces.....

I took the iron on hem and cut it to the length of one piece of ribbon and placed it between the ribbon and fabric exactly where I wanted the ribbon to live. Make sure you leave some allowance on the both ends of the ribbon. The iron! Do this with all the ribbon pieces.

If you wanted, you can then take out all the pins and send the fabric and ribbons through a sewing machine to create a stitch on top of the ribbon as shown above. You don't have to do this though, this is more for just decoration and character.

Once you place all the ribbons on the fabric, you should have a good crease on the sides of the fabric that have been folded over. This will assist you with the next step. Undo all the pins and then turn the fabric right side in and refold to the same dimensions as before -use the creases to make it the same size.

Next sew along the open edges to close your cover -as shown in the tutorial. Hopefully you'll have some ribbon pieces in the stitch.

But on some, you won't. Especially the sides that didn't need the stitch. They should be hanging over like this.

All you have to do to fix this is cut the ribbon making it parallel to the 'seam'. This one was pretty close to a straight cut.

But this one was more of a diagonal cut.

And there you have it! Its a little more interesting than just a plain ol' bluish grey pillow, huh?

I like the juxtaposition of the somewhat modern feel of the pillow compared to the french script pillow in front of it and the headboard. Just adds a bit more interest.

Just an FYI. I tried sewing each ribbon on individually before the iron on technique. It could work if you had a lot of patience. But it was a complete disaster for me. The ribbons wouldn't stay in place and kept moving out of line and bunching up and ....I can go on and on. It just wasn't pretty. That's why I opted for the iron on technique...and then once they are all securely in place, go to town with the sewing machine. So much easier that way :) Trust me.

Next week? The full office reveal! Finally. I'm half tempted to show you the before of the office, but I'm going to hold out cuz right now I don't feel like being completely mortified and embarrassed :)

DIY Wood Headboard-with a little curve

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000

So, in my past couple of posts, I've shown you one end of my office: My lamp/desk area, and my somewhat organized wall behind said desk So this go around, I'll be showing you the opposite.

In designing my new office, I knew that it had to have two uses. #1. obviously, an office. #2. A guest room. But how does one make both coexist? I guess you'll have to wait for my main office reveal post, now won't ya? :) Sorry. Maybe if you have a really good imagination you can put all the pictures together and see how it looks before the reveal?

Anyway. As you all know, I'm really into headboards. I think I have like 4 or 5 just sitting around in the basement. Now that I say that, I guess the real question is, why don't I use one that I already have instead of building one? haha. Well, that wouldn't be much fun now would it? Exactly. Plus, none of my current headboards matched the style I wanted for this room. So of course I had to make one. I wanted something a little substantial...as substantial as you can get with one for a twin bed. I also wanted one to be rustic and a little time worn.

You can obviously get this by using reclaimed barn wood. But I'm a little short on that around here. So this is how I got this look using a few tools, some paint, and cedar planks you can get from the lumber store.
What you'll need:

Cedar planks -7 (5.5" wide, however tall you want) -for a twin bed, more for any larger size
Nail gun/Nails and hammer
Butcher/Craft/Wrapping Paper
Jigsaw
Paint.

First off, I found the length that I needed for the bed, which was about 39 inches. Luckily this fit almost perfecting with 7 of the 5.5" wide cedar planks. You could make this wider if you want. I think it fits just right though. I laid out all the planks on a level surface and secured them together using two pieces of wood, cut to the correct length ( about 35 inches) with a nail gun. Nailed one on the top half, one on the bottom half.

Next is to create the shape for the headboard. I had a shape in mind, but nothing really concrete. So I just took some butcher paper -I got this at the craft store, they sell them in yards, or you can use something as easy as wrapper paper or that dollar store craft paper I used on my Christmas presents this year.

I marked the width that I needed, 39 inches, on one side. I then made a mark at the top of the paper in the middle at 19.5 inches. I then started from the middle and drew a nice little shape down to one of the edges. I made sure to add an arch because I wanted one (or half an arch in this case I guess) that's the only real concrete idea I had in my head at the time. I don't know how it happened, but this was one of those one shot wonders. I thought I was going to have to trace and re-trace shapes until I got one that didn't look silly. But no, luck was shining on me that day :)

Anyway. Once you draw half of it. Cut out the shape. Then fold it over at the middle line you marked. Now trace out the cut out shape onto the other half of the paper. This will make sure that it is symmetrical. Easy peasy? Now cut that piece out also.

Next, I lined the paper up on the wood. Made sure the middle was in the middle and each side ended at the same level. Measuring almost OCD like at ever step and movement I made :) I then just used a pencil to trace out the paper shape onto the wood.

Next, use your jigsaw to cut out the shape, following the line you just traced!

It didn't need it too much, but some of the edges were little rough, so I just sanded them out a bit.

Now time for paint! Yes, I paint in wherever I feel is appropriate. This time around? The room in which the headboard was going to go. Hey-at least I put paper on the wall and the sheet on the ground :) and I was contemplating using the jigsaw in here. So. Things could have been worse.

Anyway. I didn't want a stark white finish, as I said before, I wanted it to look a little worn...old...rustic. Like barn wood, but not as grimy as barn wood. Yes, I've seen some pretty nasty barn wood. I'm just sayin'.
So, in my painting technique, I missed spots on purpose and only did one coat. And I didn't care to do the bottom cuz it was going to be behind the bed. I gotta say, it was the easiest paint job I have ever done.

Using this technique, made it look like it was painted years and years ago and completely weathered. Perfect!

Well, and there you have it. I love how you can still see the knots and texture in the wood.

It just fits perfectly in this place. Total cost for the project was about $7. Oh Yeah!

I have learned throughout my DIY endeavors that cedar planks are somewhat of a building necessity for me. I mean, you can make tons of stuff out of these babies; and they are soooo cheap! I think one of these posts I'm going to do a round up of everything cedar plank. Whataya think? Anyway. This project just reminded me of how awesome they are, yet again :)

And here it is all illuminated by candlelight....I mean, incandescent light. haha. JK. Don't you love that lamp though? Say yes, or I'll hurt ya :) It was one of the biggest splurges in the room, but I did get it on sale for 75% off at Target. It cost about $17, not including the shade. I say splurge. Yes. I know. $17 big whoopin bucks. Not that bad. But when that is about 10% of your room budget on one silly lamp, its considered a splurge :)

Well, there you have it. An very easy and inexpensive way to add a little character to your bedroom!

Easy Picture Hanger/Wall Organizer

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:30:00 +0000

Seeing that its January, it feels fit to be talking about organization. Just kidding. It just so happens to be the next project in my office that I'm going to tell you about...and it coincidentally happens to be January.

Two good things about this project. #1 -it was free. #2 -took me two minutes to make. I guess there are three...so #3 -now I have a place to put my little odd papers, pictures, and reminders.

To start, I took an old frame I had lying around. It was already spraypainted white from a previous project. Yay for undone projects! haha. Then I took some jute, knotted one end.

Secured it to the inside of the frame with a staple gun, making sure the knot was on the outside end of the staple. Strung across the jute to the other side. Knotted that side. Stapled.

Did this three times. Voila. See, easy right? Probably you could do this blindfolded and with one hand tied behind your back. Scratch that. Not blindfolded, we're dealing with staples and guns here. Okay, so maybe just the one hand thing.

Next was the clothespins. I was going to keep them their natural color, but it matched my wall too much, so I just used a brown furniture scratch fixer marker. Probably could do this with any marker, that sadly just happens to be the only markers I have. You could also modge podge these into something great! But. I wanted this to be easy, no fuss, no making sure the paper is just the right size with goop all over.

And there you have it! Easy cheap organization. I may or may not do something like this with a wider frame. A little more dramatic...oh and a little more organization. Just have to make frame like that first :) As I said, this was meant to be easy and quick.

Next post? The opposite side of my office :) Yay!

Coffee Filter Hanging Light

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:02:00 +0000

Update::: click here to see the full reveal!

So I finally just finished the whole re-do organization decrapification of my office. It was a pain in the keister...but I survived :) And now I finally get to enjoy it! So, as I said before, throughout this whole process there were a ton of projects. Enough so that I can blog about them for over a year :) So, with that said....here's the first one:::

...the show stopping piece! haha. Just kidding. Well, I guess it is the biggest thing in the room and first thing that you see when walking into the room...so I guess it can be show stopping :) I retract my previous statement.

So, I have been perplexed by all these coffee filter crafts, wreaths, and covered lampshades that have been going around. Who knew that something so beautiful can come out of something so simple as coffee filters....go figure. First off, who thinks of coffee filters as a craft necessity? Its amazing these creative minds that are out there.

So the story starts....I was in much need a better lamp for my itsy bitsy desk. The one that was currently on it didn't match the style of the room at all. So, I went to Ikea to get something...or search for inspiration. Sad to say, but it was like the third time I had gone to Ikea in a seven day period :) I love that place! haha. Oh, and let me tell you...not all things at Ikea are cheap :) $30 for a lamp shade??? umm...I think not. Anyway. So I decided, in order to free up some space on my desk I should get a hanging light. So I picked up one of those light bulb sockets connected to a long long cord. Good enough description for ya? I bet you knew what I meant though, huh? Well, then I saw the section of the hanging light shades. Did you know they make a paper one that looks like a floating pillow? Its awesome. A little...should we say..'different'. Anyway. So, right next to the pillow I found this baby, not quite the style I wanted, but it would work....

then when I got home to put it up, I remembered Allison's lamp she made out of coffee filters and figured...what the heck! Lets try it on this baby.

And so the process began. And when I say process....I mean like 6 hours of hard core labor :) not really hard core....nor labor. But my thigh did get a little bruise on it from folding the 800 coffee filters on it. Yes. 800. and yes. 6 hours. Thats just a warning in case you want to attempt to make this. It might have been closer to 8, I lost track cuz I had to do it throughout a couple of days. Oh, and I'm pretty sure I used 15 glue sticks. You think I'm kidding, but my lack of glue sticks currently on hand says that I'm not.

So, to get things started, I folded each filter like so. In half once, then in half again. I guess that would be quartered. And then I flipped up the point just a little bit and creased the bottom. This is what I did on my lap that gave me the bruise.

Next was to start hot gluing these babies onto the paper shade. I put a dollop of hot glue on the bottom side of the little 'triangle' on the coffee filter and pressed it in place. I then glued the next filter sort of on top of the already glued triangle section of the first one. Don't glue it like super next to it, but still have it overlap and let the top of the filters touch. Make sense?

I didn't quite know where to start gluing the filters so I started in the middle and started going around the globe, then I thought it would be fun if it weren't such a straight light so I made it swoosh up to the top. Once I did this, I thought I had ruined it.

Cuz then I ended up going the opposite direction I wanted to near the top hole. Luckily, these filters a malleable and I just kind of corrected it in slowly going the correct direction again and circled the hole. I then went the opposite direction to the bottom hole and did the same thing. Next I just started following the same path I had created and glued filters right next to the others...kind of following the same line, kind of not. At the end, it was more of just putting filters where there were empty spots and making it look nice.

As you can see, it didn't matter where I started or ended or what direction I went, the lines blend into each other. So I would say, just start wherever in whatever crazy design you want, you can't go wrong. I seriously almost stopped this project cuz I thought it was going to turn out retched. But in the end, it turned out beautiful!

As for the cord, I used this tutorial to cover it, and then just strung the finished cord through a hook on the ceiling.

This is it all lit up. It generates a good amount of heat. I'm not sure its from the light bulb I'm using, but I suggest using a lower wattage, just in case...and I wouldn't leave it on for forever. I won't be held liable for any random fireballs falling from your ceiling :) haha. Actually, I guess thats not a kidding matter. Lets just say I've had mine on for a good three hours now and its still okay and not warm to the touch at all, unless you put the hand inside the hole.

So total cost for this project was....variable. $4 for light cord, $5 for paper shade, about $5 for coffee filters, and all the glue I luckily already had on hand. So, lets round it to $15. Plus all the labor....well, actually, lets not even go there :)

UPDATE: View the other half of my office here. And the how-to on my wall organizer here.

Vinyl Record Cabinet to Updated Storage

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:35:00 +0000

I've been knee deep in projects this week. Literally. I've decided to conquer my office. If you would even call it an office anymore. haha. Its more like a complete mess of randomness. And, yes, its about a 11x13 room full of stuff knee deep....thats where the literal translation comes in. If you don't believe me, just wait :) I'll show you a picture soon.

Anyway. I haven't really found time to blog because of this conquest :) Although, once its all done....I'll have stuff to blog about for like a year, so thats nice. Alas, only a few of said projects are complete and I don't have any 'after' pictures yet, so lets get on with things.

I was given a small little vinyl record cabinet a few years back and had it sit at my mom's house until last year sometime. I finally brought it home and had it sit in my garage for another few months :) This is what usually happens with most of the stuff I acquire. Its one of those things thats like..."hmmm. maybe I'll use it. Yes. I guess I'll take it." and then months and months later its still sitting there. I have a basement full of stuff like this right now. Why would I say 'no' if I know it has great possibilities? Anyways. This was one of those times.
Here's the before, of course, just sitting in my garage::::

So last year, I decided to fix it all up, give it a good coat of paint and put it in the corner of my living room. I put it in there just to put it in there. No real reason for it, just that I had an newly empty corner and that would fit perfectly. Oh, and the color would add a little accent into my living room.

Ever since I put it my living room, its been an eyesore. The color wasn't the color I was hoping for. I couldn't put anything really on top of it unless it was white, brown, or black. I figure, if you aren't completely happy with something, why have it around?

Well, I liked the storage it offered so I wanted it around. The next thing was...if you aren't completely happy with something...paint it! haha. So I did. White of course. Now it blends in perfect with the rest of the room.

And the storage part??? Perfect to hold all my magazines and catalogues. Oh and its a great mail sorter also!

In the end, in an attempt to add more color in my living room, it was a complete fail. I'll just stick to adding color through easily changeable accent pieces like pillows, curtains, and blankets :)

Year In Review: Top 10 Projects of 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 20:51:00 +0000

I can't believe its already 2012 (well not yet, tomorrow)..but still. Where has this year gone? I can recall every moment of Christmas in 2010 like it was this years Christmas. I hope 2012 takes its time being here. haha. and not run and leave us like 2011.

Even though this year went by way fast, I can't believe all the things that I accomplished in my house. Here's just a glimpse of the projects that 2011 brought. You can find all of the other projects in my Favorite Projects tab.

A new coffee table for mwa -tree stumps!

Updated my entry with these PVC Pipe Mirrors

I transformed an ugly 70's dresser into a functional...and cute....desk!

Taking inspiration from Ballard Designs, I dressed up my dining room with these knock off Garden District Mirrors

Found a solution for those darn alcoves that have been annoying me for years! DIY Built-ins!!

I now finally have a place to put the keys and mail with this custom built entry table:

Took my front room to a new level with this sunburst mirror made from cedar planks:

Nothing can beat a nice coat of white paint, as I did here with this sofa table makeover:

My old side tables were just too big, so I built some side tables in their place and had a little fun with the new design:

My old laundry room was okay, but I wanted more storage and needed to brighten it up a little bit, so I redid my laundry room redo...haha :)

I can't wait to see what next year brings! Its amazing what a whole year can change :) Happy New Year everyone!!!

The Best Way to De-hair Your Couch!

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 21:31:00 +0000

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! The hubs spoiled me with a new air compressor, finishing and brad nail gun and staple gun. What more could a girl ask for???? haha. Only you gals would understand the awesomeness of receiving something like this :)

So I decided to take the week off from work to get some stuff around the house done. I didn't think that one of the projects would be cleaning my couch in the front room :/ But seeing it in the day light with the full sun hitting it totally grossed me out. Like...nasty. Our dog, Max, has decided to make this room his own. When he's naughty and gets into things that he shouldn't...aka, spatulas, candy and knives off of the counter...he takes them in here to destroy. He also has claimed the couch has his own...see exhibit A below ::

and all his hair:::

Can't see the hair yet? Not gross enough for you? Well, look at this:

Now this is all over the couch....like allllllllll oooooover the entttiiire couch. Its sick. Its embarrassing too.
I've attempted to clean this couch in the past with the vacuum attachment. Works, but doesn't really work. It gets the loose hairs off. But when you have a dog that sleeps on something and rubs his head and what nots into it 8 hours a day every day, you need something a little stronger. The only other thing I could think of is the lint roller. It works, but I can go through a whole roll and still have hair stuck in all the crevices. That's 1: time consuming and 2: annoying.

I've tried a few things in between but nothing really worked. So pretty much nobody ever used this room because it was just too nasty....and its pretty pathetic that I have to have two lint rollers hidden in the corner for when people do use the room without knowing, they can get all the hair off their clothes when they leave.

Anyway. Well, I saw in Real Simple a few years back a good way to get rid of dog hair. And I was like...hmmm. I'll keep that in mind. But then I never tried it because I was like, really, how can that work when nothing else does??? Anyway. Now with a little extra time on my hands I decided to give it a try.

Use a rubber glove!!! Something so simple....can it really work???

I just rubbed my rubber gloved hand in a circular motion at first (wax on wax off...haha)....then up and down and back and forth....then it didn't really matter what direction cuz....

by golly miss molly, it was working!!! It started gathering the hair into little rolled yarn looking things. It felt like I was spinning wool....except not. haha. It was awesome to see!

After I was done with the whole couch, I just used one or two pieces of lint roller paper to pick up the clumps. You can also vacuum this up. So easy! This couch has never EVER been this clean and so free of dog hair. Its simply amazing. I'm half tempted not to let Max into this room again now that I have it all cleaned,...but it was so easy and quick to do...and it actually worked, so he can get on it whenever he wants :) I'll be off in the wings waiting for him to get off with my rubber gloves on..... :)

Reinvented Butter Dish

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 03:49:00 +0000

I know that Christmas is less than a week away, but I'm plum out of Christmas crafts this year :) I think I did maybe one, I'm not even sure. Oh well. I did do one non-Christmas craft though! I guess it could be Christmassy...maybe use it as a gift? Either way.

The hubs has decided to start leaving the butter out. I've never done this, I didn't grow up in a household that did this, so I just don't understand it. I guess the only thing that its good for is when a recipe calls for soften butter, then I don't have to wait two hours for the butter to soften. By then I usually don't care about the cookies or whatever anymore anyway. Or I just usually go the easy route and 'soften' in the microwave. haha. Well. Eitherway, it grosses me out. Mostly from the fact that if its just out in the open it can get who knows what on it. Dust, dirt, grease, little fly foot prints, the nasties on little fly foot prints..you get the idea.

So, I found this butter dish and cover at Tai Pan for about $2. Its functional. But not at all pretty. Type of pretty that would look great behind closed cabinet doors :)

I wanted to dazzle it up a bit. I was thinking of crazy things like rhinestones and paint. Nothing too extraordinary. haha. jk. I just hated how plain it was. So, I went to Hobby Lobby and found this great drawer pull for $3. You could do this with a knob, but you will have to use a Dremel or something of the sort to cut off the bolt. With the pull, I bypassed that step :)

I just attached the pull to the cover with some Gorilla Glue. Usually you have to apply pressure to the pieces while the glue adheres itself, but there was pretty much no way to do this, so I didn't. And it didn't really matter. The pull still stuck like glue :)

I tried hot glue to do this. FAIL. Super Glue. FAIL. The only thing that worked was the Gorilla Glue. It only took a couple of hours to adhere also, which was super nice. I was expecting an all nighter. Anyway. This was by far the easiest project ever.

And now its alright to have it out on the counter :) And I'm not freaked out by the butter so much anymore. The only thing now is how do I measure it when its out of the wrapper...there's no tablespoon marks anymore. haha. oh well. I guess I can measure it with an actual measuring spoon.

Luckily, the glue didn't bubble too much, I made sure to only put it on the inner most parts of the drawer pull that was touching the lid. The little bit that did come out came off pretty easily with a scrape of a knife. Now the hubs can have his soften, warm butter and I don't have to stare at it or worry about whats infesting it :) Its a win win for sure.

Hope you all have a great Christmas!

Neutrally Wrapped Presents

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 01:45:00 +0000

This Christmas I wanted to go with a real neutral theme for the presents. I did this somewhat last year...but then once Christmas got closer and closer that mostly went out the door :) Plus I wanted to do something really simple and somewhat organic this year.

To accomplish this, I ended up wrapping all the presents in craft paper. I got these at the dollar store and they have about 50 square feet on the roll. I've wrapped all the presents so far just using about two.

As for the 'ribbon', I kept it simple and used some cream colored yarn.

I used a mixture of felt, fabric, sparkly snowflakes and fake flowers for the decorations.

I just hot glued a clip onto this flower and clipped it on the yarn. Easy Peasy.

I rolled some felt to make these flowers and then just hot glued them right to the package.

Just hot glued the snowflakes onto the package too.

I love the sparkler mixed with the more natural elements.

On this one, I just rolled some fabric onto a circle of felt, glued some tulle to the back and beads to the front!
Can I just say how much I love wrapping presents? Its too bad people have to open them....haha just kidding. :) So, I have a ton more presents to wrap, have any fun ideas??

My Home for the Holidays: Christmas Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 20:38:00 +0000

Yay! Christmas is almost here :) I haven't started a count down yet, but I think its around 18 days and 11 hours. haha. Just kidding. But seriously, it is 18 days away. Can you believe it? Have you all got all your shopping done yet??? I started to think that I was close, but in reality I've just finished one person and half of another...still like 10 more people to go. Oh well, ignorance is bliss.

So, last year I decorated my tree with all browns and burnt oranges, which I loved ...but wanted something different this year. The first year we were married I decorated the tree with reds and whites. This year I decided to decorated it with whites and browns. So it was perfect. I didn't have to go buy anything :) Just use all the other stuff...actually, I guess I did have to go and buy some mesh since I didn't want to use the gold I had last year. So that was like $7. No biggie :)

This tree is like super old, it was passed down from my in-laws to my sister-in-law and then to us. So its been hammered :) You can tell its not as full as it should be. Thats the reason for the mesh and brown fabric. Its my attempt to make it look a bit fuller then it really is.

Also, the tree leans a little ....as in a lot...to the right. So I had to anchor it down on the left side with some wire. Oh well, maybe next year we'll have a nice new tree! :) I want one super skinny and way way tall. Maybe three trees in varying sizes...that might work too. haha, a girl can dream.

The main decor for my tree is brown and white poinsettias, white berries, snow flakes, and lots of white mesh. I was thinking of doing huge ribbons but decided against it. For the topper I used a simple white poinsettia. I love how it all turned out :)

Here's the view from the entry way. For the stairs, I just strung garland and then where they meet put a small wreath in between. I kept the decor on these simple this year with just a few white poinsettias and a single snowflake on each wreath to mimic the decor on the tree.

And of course, no Christmas tree is complete without the lights. I absolutely love how magical this looks at night with the lights on, the white mesh just seems like glow :)

I wish you all luck with your Christmas shopping endeavours! I know I'll need it :)

My Home for the Holidays: Table Decor

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 01:36:00 +0000

Happy December! So this year, I decided to make my house a winter wonderland....except not have it freezing inside, it's like a warm winter wonderland, unless the hubs has a hand in it :) I'm using a lot of white and touches of pearl, silver, and shiny sparkly things.

The best part of this new table is the rustic-ness it naturally brings.

I decided to warm up the room with pillows and even a blanket :) The pillows were my outdoor pillows that I covered with some $1 fabric using this tutorial :) I think layering is the best thing for a house during the cold winter months.

The pears I got from an antique shop on San Juan Island. The pitcher was a great find from Tai Pan. I think it was about $10. It added to the rusticness :) I wanted to add some drama to the table too, so I spraypainted some old branches white and put them in the vase, then lined the the bottom with some more white berries. The branches go up as high as the chandelier. Love it :)

For the place settings, I used a simple gold charger to add just a little bit of shimmer and filled the bowls up with some ornaments. I love the way they sparkle and the juxtaposition of the glitz against the rustic.

These candles I just circled some white berry garland around them.

You can kind of see the white branches I was talking about earlier. This by far is probably one of my favorite tablescapes that I've done. Its so simple :)
Have you guys started decorating for Christmas yet? Is it sad that I had my done the Friday after Thanksgiving?? haha. I think it especially cuz I'm been stubborn about how fast the year has gone by and was trying to hang onto summer for as long as I could. I just know that if I don't have Christmas reminders everywhere, then Christmas will fly by without me even realizing. I hate when that happens! :)

My Home for the Holidays: Fireplace Mantel

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:12:00 +0000

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! And I also hope that you all got your Christmas shopping done :) Goodness knows I didn't. haha. Oh well. I did get my Christmas decorating done though!

First on the list was my fireplace mantel. Initially I wanted to do an all white mantel, kind of make a wintery wonderland, but the more I looked at my decor and things I had, I decided I wanted to add some brown into it.

I decided to something a little more natural this year also with the grapevine wreaths and pine cones. I usually put a garland on the mantel, so this look is a little new to me :) I keep looking for the lights to turn them on. haha. I'll get use to it.

These pine cones, which by the way are Gigantic, I found in a bag of cinnamon pine cones. I think there were only like two other pine cones in there besides these ones, they were that big. They added the perfect amount of texture and nature into the mantel....oh and the smell of cinnamon is a plus :)

And tradition has kept up this year. We put up (as in I put up) all the decorations on Thanksgiving night with the hubs only helping to bring up the tree :) Don't you love traditions? haha. JK. In reality....even if he tried to help, I would probably make him stop. I just like giving him a hard time :)

My Living Room

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:30:00 +0000

Holy cow, can you believe its Thanksgiving in just a few days??? Where does all the time go? Well because of this loss of time and being that Thanksgiving is around the corner, that means that I'll be starting to decorate the house in full holiday style :) Its tradition for us not to put anything 'christmassy' up until Thanksgiving night. And by us....I mean that means the husband won't let me and all he has to do in this 'decorating' process is bring up the tree from the basement.Anywho...

So to commemorate my living room before it gets transformed, this post is for it :) haha. Just kidding. Its for me to remember how it was decorated before it got all changed and moved around and glitter'fied...maybe that won't happen so much this year...but you never know :)

Do you ever see the pictures in the magazines where they have the dogs just laying on the floor being lazy in the background, or on the bed....or whatever? My dog likes to get in my pictures. I'm serious. Its like he knows what the camera is, if you don't believe, just go through all my posts and you'll see what I mean. Except, he's a little more dopey than the dogs in the magazines...I'm not sure if it has the same effect :) but I love him all the same.

Here's the fireplace/mantel/bookshelves...

oh. and the dog. haha. I totally didn't see him in this one until now.... lets just say he's a good fur rug :)

This chair has seemed so plain lately, so I spruced it up with a scarf...and changed the stuff on the wall next to it. I love the change, and there's no more falling sticks hit by Max's tail.

This bowl is definitely not fall-ish or winter-ish...but it reminds me of San Juan....and my husband. In there is drift wood, white rocks, and sea shells we found on the beach....and an antler...cuz the hubs complains there's nothing of his in there...haha. I also have a huge elk antler in the corner of the living room. I want to put it somewhere, but just haven't found the right place yet :(....so now, you may spot it in a corner somewhere.

Here's the mantel as it stands today. This lamp I also got in San Juan from an antiques shop. Love it :)

I love the view from the balcony...mainly cuz it shows of the rug sooo much better, don't ya think?

It's amazing how much changes in a year.

This was the room last year during Christmas. Holy moly. What a difference. . . different fireplace, no bookshelves, no tree stumps, no rug, no new side tables, no new curtains....etc etc. I could go on forever. I guess we'll see what next year brings!

White Faux DIY Farmhouse Table

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 04:47:00 +0000

As you all know, I like changing things up a little bit. Not too big of changes, but enough of a change to make me happy. We use to have a pub height dining table, which we still have, but was replaced by this nice farmhouse dining table when we moved into our new house. I love this table, absolutely adore it. But.... haha. You know what comes next, right? It was time for change. I've changed pretty much our whole house a couple of times, but the only constant has been the dining room. The table can sit 8 with the chairs they came with, but in reality, two bums can fit on one chair, they are huge! So, when we have more people over than anticipated, it can easily seat up to 16. The curves of the table are also glorious, and the color is beautiful....getting off track ;) ...sadly, I lost my sd card so this is the best picture I could find of it:

So, anyway. I've been drooling over beautiful rustic white dining rooms, you can check out my Pinterest board to see what I mean. Although I don't have many on there, but you get the point. I've been wanting to make a new white farmhouse table for the dining room for a year or so now, but I have no place to put the table we currently have. I don't want to paint it, it won't fit downstairs in the basement, I like it too much to part ways with it.....so....

I covered it up! Why not, right??

I used the sturdiness of the table, and just gave it- should we call it- a wooden table clothe for decoration???
Well, then my husband says....its not that bad, but it just looks like you placed wood on top of the table. ....cue me..'duh hun, thats exactly what I did.'

haha. anyway. That got me thinking. Why not make 'legs' for my faux table 'tablecloth'. Make it look like a real table???

Thats when some cardboard, a jigsaw and some leftover plywood came in handy.

I simply measured the height I needed to cover and the width I would need to cover the existing legs. Then drew an outline of a leg I thought might work on some cardboard. Cut it out, put it on the table to see if it would work. Totally didn't...so I did this about three or four times to get the right curve.

Next, I outlined the cardboard onto some plywood and then used my jigsaw to cut it out. Did this eight times.

Then painted, and simply secured to the table top. Luckily when I had made the table top I had measured a little bit longer than I needed, this was the perfect amount to add the width of the plywood snug underneath it.

I'm going through this backwards, I know. But just to cover all my bases.

To make the table top initially, I used 6' long cedar planks, measured, cut, and puzzled together the pieces to get the length and width I needed to cover the table.

I secured them with a "Z" pattern as I did on my barn door.

Next I sanded the heck out of the wood.

And then painted it a Linen White by Behr. I placed some felt on the bottom of the piece to keep it from scratching the existing table.....then when it got down to putting the piece on the table, I was feeling a little insecure about the felt and put a beach towel down on the table to give it extra scratch-proofness. You use what you can, right?

Next was to secure the overlap. I did this using a smaller width cedar plank and nail gunning it into the top piece. Easy peasy.

.....then came the husband saying that looks like wood on a table....and the aforementioned table 'legs' :)...see, we came in full circle.

I then changed out the head chairs to some white ones I got from Ikea that live in my living room. I figure that once the christmas tree makes it appearance, I'm going to have to move them somewhere anyway, so why not here? I think its a good fit.

So there you have it. this cost me $30 to do. If you ask the hubs, it was too much. But you can't find a table like this for $30 anywhere, so I see it as a good investment and a happy wife :) And when it comes down to it, and I really want to make this into a real table, I have pretty much all the pieces already.

And its getting me that much closer to a rustic but modern farmhouse look. I just need the wood beams on the ceiling ;) Then I would be happy.

Subway Art

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 19:55:00 +0000

I'm really starting to dig this whole subway art thing thats going around. I even saw it on a fully upholstered chair the other day, it was awesome! So of course, since I'm loving this trend, I had to make one for myself. Not the upholstered chair, even though I want one, just the sign in general, but I wanted to do a little different take on it.

To start off, I took three cedar planks that measured 3.5"x6' and cut six pieces out of them at 32" each. The 3.5" width was perfect for my 2.5" letters.

I got the 32" length from laying out the longest name with the stencils before hand. It measured about 31" so I just added an extra inch for good measure. Since this was the longest name, all the other names would have to be spaced out respectively. To do this, I would line up the first letter of the name on one end and the last letter on the other end. Then I would somewhat guesstimate the amount between each letter. Luckily the way the names were sized it was a gradual descending order for the most part. For instance, I knew that it was about 2cm between the letters for the longest names that held 15 letters each. When I got to the name with 13 letters, I made the distance about 3cm, then at 10 letters, it was about 5cm, and at 9 it ended up being a little less than 5cm.

To make sure these distances worked, instead of tracing the whole letter, I would line up the stencil and only trace the right outer edge (for the word on the left) and the left edge for the one of the right. Then I would measure my distance, say 5cm, for that stencil mark and line up the next stencil and again just stencil the outer left or right edge. I worked the first word justified to the left and the last justified from the right, for instance, I would stencil Pine Valley in this order: P V I N E E L L A V. So put the first and last letter on first, work forward with the first word and backward with the last word.

The best part of only stenciling a small portion of the letter is if you mess up and the spacing needs to be corrected, its easy to erase the small pencil mark and start over.

After the letters are lined up correctly on the wood, I put the stencil back down on on the letter, being sure to line up with the original stencil mark. I then took a paint brush and some white paint and filled it in. I didn't really care if the painted lines weren't too straight, it added to the character :)

After I finished the phrases/names/dates I wanted, I lined them up and decided what the best order should be, I went more for the way it looked than the order of significance, etc.

I then measured 18cm from each edge and 3 cm down and drilled a hole.

I then took some wire I got awhile back for hanging pictures, I'm not sure what gage it is, but its pretty thick but very malleable. Cut a lot of pieces at 4" long. Then bent them around my finger.

This gave me the curve I needed.

I then placed this through a hole on the top of one piece and the bottom of the other and tied it in securely in the back. (you can see I messed up on my first name where I stenciled the whole letter and all the letters really really dark, and then the spacing was off, and since it was so much stenciling, I couldn't erase it and had to start over...this is when I figured out my aforementioned method :) )

Here's the view from the front with the wire.

I also hammered on of the claw thingies on the back to in order to hang it.

I thought about distressing this a little bit, but once it was all complete, I loved the way it looked and didn't want to ruin something that was already good.

This added the perfect bit of spunk into my living room and actually compliments the color of the mantel which I use to hate.

The total cost of this was just the price of the cedar planks, which was about $4. Not bad, eh?

San Juan Inspiration

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 19:18:00 +0000

I think my life has finally slowed down...which is a good thing....but the holidays are just around the corner, so that may not last long :) Can you believe its already November??? Good grief.

Well, as you know, I just came back from a trip to San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington. This place is just beautiful and so picturesque. And I've already told my husband that one of these days we're going to live there. And you know its a good thing when the hubs agrees with you.

I overloaded on pictures. And when I say overload, I mean it...I took like 800 pictures on this 4 day trip. haha. But I did get some awesome inspiration photos, which I'm going to share with you. There's a lot, but remember, I could have posted like 790 more :)

Now I know that some of these may not mean anything to you but I found inspiration in them so I hope some of you do also.

This is Friday Harbor. The first thing you see when you get off the ferry to San Juan Island. The facades of the buildings are just beautiful.

There are so many blues and greens around the harbor itself. Coincidentally, thats the colors of my living room. The best thing about these photos is I found other colors that would work beautifully with the current colors of my living room. Like the greys and dark browns of the wood, even the oranges of the moss and oars.

Roche Harbor is the other harbor on San Juan which is just a little drive from Friday Harbor. How quaint are these houses?

Everything about San Juan has complete attention to detail, from the harbor to the neighborhoods to the farms. The weather is beautiful there too -you don't have to live in snow for half the year or rain for the other half to deserve this beauty. Its sunny 240 or so days of the year and actually has seasons unlike where I'm from which we go from winter to summer right back into winter. There last significant snow fall? Five years ago. Now thats music to my ears :)

I'm not trying to be a travel agent or real estate broker, but if you ever need a nice get-away, this is the place :)

Another DIY Side Table

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 17:04:00 +0000

Sorry for the impromptu hiatus. I think its lucky that I'm even getting this post out :) We took a weeks trip to Seattle and San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington. I can now say that I found the place that I will retire. Its so quiet and quaint with absolutely beautiful weather. I took some awesome inspiration photos, which will come soon :)

And now after being home for three days, I'm out of town again...and of course I forgot my other sd card that had the process on how to build my second side table. Figures, right? haha. Well, I'll try to walk through it without the pictures, its really not that hard. You can see my other side table for a relative guess on what I'm talking about :) Sound good? Alright.

Well, for some reason, I've come down with a case of hating matchy matchy pieces. Like, my old side tables matching were bugging me, besides the fact that they were too big which was also bugging me. So, when I started the process of building my new side tables, I wanted them to have a similar look and feel, but not be the exact same. Plus, I needed a place for 'hidden' storage' and my first side table didn't allow that for the most part. I guess it could have worked...but then there was the hubs that kept complaining that there wasn't enough room on the top to sit his drinks. So....I had to come up with a different design.

Which worked perfect! It hides all the dogs toys and has ample room for drinks and plates...and whatever else inevitably finds it way onto it.

This process was really easy. I took 6 equal lengths of a 2x6 with a miter cut on one end, flat on the other...I think its about 23" tall...and secured three of them side by side together with a 1x2 closer to the flat end. I then cut three pieces at about 18" long, mitered on both ends.

I secured the top pieces to the side pieces first just using a nail gun. Then to give it more stability, I placed two 1x2 pieces in each corner, one supporting the top, and one on the side. Screwed them into the side and top and then into eachother.

I hope that made sense without pictures. :)

If not, here's a few angles on the table.

After everything was screwed and nailed together, I sanded the heck out of the wood. Then got annoyed with not being able to get out some of those crosshatch marks...you know the ones...Anyway. I figured it added character. haha. I then stained it dark walnut to the match the other piece.

Alright. Well hope you all have a great weekend! My life gets back to normal next week, so hopefully my posting will become normal again. haha :)

Fall Inspiration

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:17:00 +0000

I'm going to keep it simple today and just give you all some eye candy. Here's some fall inspiration via Pinterest :)

You can find all of these and follow the sources on my Pinterest! Have a happy fall!!!

Decorative Barn Door

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 02:33:00 +0000

I just have to say, that when I come home from a long day at work to my pumpkins thrown all over our yard and my urns that were once full of dirt now emptied out onto our porch, it makes for a very very bad mood. I don't think that we live a bad neighborhood. Quite the contrary. I love our neighborhood, I trust it, I can go walking at two in the morning and feel safe. So, when this stuff happens, it really gets me going, ya' know?? Please tell me that this doesn't only happen to me? Every fall, something like this goes on with our pumpkins. Whats with that??? Anywho....

So, back the comforts of the inside of my house...where its safe, and nothing ever moves unless the dog gets into something and hides it. Which by the way...sorry honey, but he got into your pocket, chewed a hole through it...and ate all your gum.

When decorating my mantel this season, I wanted something a little modern and a little rustic. And substantial.

That came in the form a nice little decorative cedar barn door, which I think adds the perfect amount of homey to our little white room.

So to start, I took 6 standard cedar planks that are about 5 inches wide and about 5 feet tall, and 2 cedar planks that are about 3 inches wide.

I stacked the wide planks side by side and made sure the ends were even. I then cut the small planks into two equal sizes and then lined them up on the wider planks. I secured those with my nail gun.

To get the arch of the door, I measured about 17 or so inches down on each side and marked it. I then took a water hose and arched it, making it touch each measure mark on the two sides. I then verified that it was a symmetrical arch by marking other equal measurements on each plank and making sure the hose touched each mark. Next, I just traced the hose with a pencil! Instant arch :)

I used my jigsaw and cut along the pencil mark. I then sanded the edge just a smidge so it didn't look so harsh.

Next was to do the middle part of the 'z' pattern. I simply placed a long cedar plank on top of the already secured planks, and on the top section, marked one side with a pencil and the other side, then drew a line connecting them. This got me the angle I needed to cut at with my miter saw. I think it was about 30 degrees (I did this like two weeks ago, so I'm totally shooting from the hip with that guess.haha).

Once I got one side cut, I did the same thing to the other, and then secured it to the rest of the piece with a nail gun

Next was to get the perfect finish. I wanted it white with a little stain showing through. I didn't want it like stark white, so I mixed the paint with some water, and painted it on the door.

I then took some stain and rubbed it around the edges and cracks. This looked just the way I wanted it to the day I finished it....and then I came back the next day, and it was super dark. The wood had seeped up all the white paint! Ugh.

Well, at least I had the other side to play around with, right?

So this time, I didn't water down the paint, and just took a brush and brushed it right on, not very thick though. This gave me the perfect desired effect.

Nice, and white, and a little distressed.

This is the side I decided to use, even though now you can't see that darn 'Z'. Oh well.

Here's the way the other side looks. Not quite what I imagined. But I think when winter comes, I'll be staining this whole thing a dark brown :) Then I can use one side or the other depending on how I feel!

I hope you guys have better luck with your pumpkins than me!!! :)

A Neutral Fall Mantel

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 02:35:00 +0000

I've finally got around to decorating for fall! The funny thing is, that since I completely dreaded doing this, I now realize that my fall decorating tastes...all in neutrals...looks more like I'm decorating for the dreaded season after fall. haha.Cuz everything is in shades of white. Oh well.

The first step in the process of decorating my mantel was to create the centerpiece, the barn door/gate door. Whatever you want to call it. I'll take you through this process in my next post.

Because of the size of the door, I needed a large wreath. The first one I put on is about 2 feet in diameter. There was just something missing with only one, so I took apart one of my spring wreaths, and put it in middle of the big one. Perfect fit, wouldn't you say? :) I love not having to go to the store. haha.

I debated not using the finials that flanked the door, but once I got the pumpkins in place, they fit right in.

I used the pumpkins I created in this post for the mantel. I love the little whimsy they added.

As much as I procrastinating decorating, thinking that it will speed up the seasons or something, as if I have control of that...I decided that I need to embrace it while its here :) I just cant' wait until the temps fall into seventies so I can get some pumpkins out on my porch and not have them melt :) Although, I am enjoying these eighties...so I'm really in no rush.

Linked to: The Lettered Cottage The Shabby Creek Cottage

White and Jute Pumpkins

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 23:12:00 +0000

I've been very hesitant getting into the fall spirit this year. In years past, I've been know to put up fall decor in the middle of August. It's almost October and I've yet to put a lick of it in my house. It may be because I feel cheated out of summer. May and June were both miserable months full of rain....and NOT summer weather. July was alright. August was alright. But now that I'm feeling summer, fall has decided to rear its head...and you know what follows fall......ugh. I'm not even going to say it. That's probably the biggest reason why I haven't welcomed fall, because a certain season that begins with a 'w' is right behind it....and I'm toootaally not ready for that yet.

Anyway. Well, this weekend, since it was actually the first day of fall on Friday, I decided to do at least one fall craft. In past years, I grateful accepted all the full colors of autumn, with its reds and oranges, but this year, not so much. So, I had to find ways to make neutral fall decor.

Step one was to create these pumpkins!

I got some fake pumpkins at the store for about a dollar each on the big ones, and five dollars for the box of eight.

At first, I attempted to spray paint them. I sprayed one, and it looked ridiculous. I barely sprayed it, and the paint already started to run. Plus, it was really really shiny. So I decided to nix that idea and just go and paint them with some white craft paint.

Next I took some jute and glued the end piece to the bottom of the stem with some hot glue, then started winding it upward. Every so often I found that I had to put another dab of glue to prevent gaps in the jute.

To finish it of, on the top, I put a good dab of hot glue, and then kind of circled the jute around it and left a tail of about 5 to 7 inches long.

I then dipped that tail into some fabric stiffener and wrapped it around a pen to dry. For more loose curls you can find something bigger than a pen, or just slide the jute off the pen when its still a smidge wet, but yet hard enough to hold shape.

I made the tighter curls by twirling the jute around the pen and not leaving any gaps between one twirl and the next, and then secured it with a clip.

Any more ideas for neutral fall decor? I can totally use it :)

Linked to: Skip to My Lou I Heart Naptime The Girl Creative Making the world cuter
Between Naps On the Porch Someday Crafts 320 Sycamore