Sunburst Mirror

Hooray!  I no longer have a big blank area above my fireplace!  And I love my new mirror.  :)

I used Isabella and Max's tutorial for this, but substituted bbq skewers instead of branches and kept the skewers all the same length, no cutting.  Here are the materials needed for this project:  2 packages (100 each) wooden skewers (buy at grocery store), hot glue gun, round mirror.  This mirror came in a package of 5, Martha Steward collection at HD for around $15.  I used the largest round mirror in the package for this project.

I taped up the mirror and started hot-gluing the skewers.  I glued in a pattern to try and keep the sticks going in the right direction.  I was also careful to line up the end of the stick with the inside of the mirror.

I kept gluing and gluing...  It took both packages to fill in all of the gaps--200 skewers.  Working on the floor and bending over for 2 hours wasn't the best idea, my back was not happy.

Finally, some bronze spray paint (ORB) on both sides.  The tricky part was trying to pick up the whole contraption and move it, flip it over, etc.  I did lose a few skewers in the process but just glued them back on. 

I've never hung anything on stone before.  I didn't want to damage the stones so I hammered a long nail into the mortar.  The nail went in a little and then started to bend, but it seemed sturdy enough for this mirror--which is really light, maybe a pound?

Like I said, I love my new mirror.  I couldn't decided for sure when I first hung in up but after about an hour I knew.  Yup.  I loved it. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

---Adrienne

Adventures In Upholstery

My first venture in reupholstery.  I have been wanting to try upholstery forever.  I was too chicken though, afraid I'd make a mess of something.  So, my humble, cat-scratched, beaten-up bench was a good first victim.  My inspiration and instructions came from Jenny's Little Green Notebook and Little Miss Penny Wenny.  Thank you for such great instructions and inspiration!!

I started by painted the legs white because there is too much dark wood in the room.  I didn't sand but used Zinser oil-based primer for the first coat.  After that I did a few coats of white latex.  I am purposely not showing a close-up of my paint job, it didn't turn out too well.   I went back and reread the tutorials mentioned above.  The reason (I think) was that I didn't do a thin enough coat of the primer to begin with, then I globbed on the latex with a paintbrush.  I think if I did a very thin coat of primer, then either sprayed the top coat or did a few very thin coats of the latex with a really good brush I would have been OK.

After painting we pulled out the staples and carefully removed the fabric so I could use the fabric as a template.  We uesd a flat head screwdriver, hammer, rubber mallot, and a pointy screwdriver I found in my tool box, not quite sure what its for but it worked wonders on staple removal.

If a staple was really far down into the wood we placed the screwdriver near the edge and tapped the screwdriver with the mallot to kind of dig the staple out.

I tried to use the fabric that was removed as a template but quickly realized I didn't want to upholster the same way it was put together.  The manufacturer used a lot of pieces and I wanted to use as few as possible.  Also, I wanted to eliminate the sewing of the arms and just staple.  When I removed the arm pieces I saw that they were sewn slip-cover style, so they lifted right off in 1 piece.  I am not good enough with the sewing machine to achieve those perfectly fitted arms.

I got this fabric at Hancock, it was $6/yd (I think it was on sale).  I bought 2 1/2 yds.  I choose this becuase it had the colors I was looking for (grey, white, black) and a busy enough pattern that I could get away with not matching up.  I kept all of the original foam and batting but if I were to do again I'd add a little more batting.

I got a LOT of staple gun practice.  I have a simple manual one I got at HD, pictured below.  It worked really well although I had my hammer handy because most of the staples didn't quite go in all the way so I pounded them.

 Here I am "in action".

The last step was to make the cording and glue/staple over the visible seams.  This was also my first shot at sewing cording and I opted to only do a single welt but I used a medium sized cord.  I used the original bench as a guide for where to put the cording and secured most with hot glue. 

And voila!  I almost can't believe I did it.

 This fabric matches the new color scheme I have for the room, can't wait to show you more!

---Adrienne


Linking to:
Miss Mustard Seed
TypeA
http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/2011/09/frugal-friday_29.html

Melted Plastic Bead Bowl

If you are in the mood for a quick, easy, rewarding craft this is it.  I read about how to create this cute bowl on some other blogs and so today we made one.  It is super cute--and easy!  All you need is some plastic melty beads, oil and an oven-safe bowl.

Coat the bowl with oil and add the beads.  The beads will stick to the sides of the bowl with the oil.  I pressed the beads down so there was only 1 layer of beads.  We kept adding beads until most of the sides of the bowl were covered.

I preheated the oven to 250 degrees (and I could not remember what I had read about the temperature to use).  It took a good 45 minutes for the beads to melt enough but there was no smoke and no odor (like burning) in the house, so I think the low temp is the way to go.  Once the beads looked melted, but still had some of their shape, I removed the bowl.  You could let the beads melt even more and have more of an smooth bowl, but I liked the partially melted look.

It took about 5 minutes to cool and the bead bowl just slid right out of the mold.  Its really cute, not sure what we'll use if for besides decoration...

...but I did stick a few of my daughter's pig heads in it just to give you an idea.

I'm thinking it would look cute with something white inside, like the individual wrapped lifesavers my coworker has at his desk.  Or maybe in the bathroom with small white soaps?

---Adrienne

The Beach, Summer 2011

I guess this summer is over with school starting on Monday.  Our house is a whirlwind of activity with school supplies, backpacks, organizing after school activities and squeezing in our last summer to-do's.   So, goodbye to summer 2011, you were beyond hot (I'm talking temperature) but we enjoyed you nonetheless.   

xoxoxo  ---Adrienne

Teen Room Makeover

Technically our "teen" is about to turn twelve, so I guess this is a 'Tween Room Makeover'.  I started taping up the room before I snapped the before pics.  We painted, built a board-and-batten headboard, and added a mirror and cork boards.  Also added a chair for the desk area/reading nook.  Here are some before and after shots of the room, enjoy!

Before :

After:

Before (but I had started taping where the headboard would go):

After Board and Batten Headboard (and I still need more cork board square).  A side note about the cork board squares:  they only stayed on the wall for about 24 hours using those adhesive white squares that come with the cork squares, :(.  All that measuring and leveling work for nothing.

Next up we need something over the headboard.

Desk Area/Reading Nook Before:

Desk Area/Reading Nook After (note the added reading chair):

-- Adrienne

Linking: