Monthly Archives: May 2012

Vintage Door/Shelf DIY

I ♥ DOORS.

I paid $40 for this door that came off a house in Mexico.

I decided to make it into a leaning shelf.  And later thought to attach a light fixture.  I stumbled upon this glorious find on lowe’s.com. It was exactly what I was looking for and only $24.98!

Here are some of the other materials I used:

Instructions:

To be honest, I just kinda figured it out as I went.  Along with the sconce, I purchased the wood, composite board, and extension plug from Lowe’s. There, the employees answered all my questions and cut the wood and composite material for my project – All I had to do was measure the dimensions.

1. After I purchased all the materials, I stapled(with a staple gun) the batting onto the composite board. When I stapled on the fabric, I made sure it was tight, but not too tight – because then it can pull and look sloppy. I stapled the full right side and then the left. I did the same for the top and bottom, this way it was all even.

2. I measured where the sconce needed to be and sliced tiny holes(in the now upholstered board) for the screws and the extension wire. I, then, attached the extension wire to the sconce wire with caps and electrical tape(this converted the light to plug-in). I tested the light(it worked!) and secured the fixture to the board.

3. After the wood was slightly sanded and cleaned, I sporadically applied Annie Sloan Dark Wax. I let it sit for a while, and wiped off the excess – then buffed. This added warmth and polish to the unfinished pine.

4. Because I am who I am, I measured once for the location of the shelf brackets and wasted no time screwing them in. My measurements were, of course, wrong and I had to repeat this step :/

5. I laid the door on the ground and placed the the board in the panel grooves, and drilled in the two shelves. To be honest, I didn’t really check if the shelves were level, but nothing has fallen off and it looks flush,  that’s good enough for me!

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My Style Me Pretty Wedding

I’m just gonna spit out the good news, our wedding is being featured today, on STYLE ME PRETTY! Yay! So excited!  At the bottom of my post there is a link to the site so you can see all my beautiful wedding pictures, the Style Me Pretty Way.

You know, so you’re prepared for those times when you’re going to be photographed?  You know you do.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a girl’s night out or your wedding day, there’s nothing wrong with being prepared for the camera.  You could be thinking you have this big happy smile painted across your face, when really you look like you’re being held at gunpoint.  iPhones are very good for those of us who are unaware of our facial expressions, because you can see what you look like on the screen before taking the picture – it’s WONDERFUL! – then you instagram the heck out of it and you’re all set!

For all of you who practice your “photo faces”, in private or as a group activity, I tip my hat to you.

When you’re not aware of the kinds of faces you make, the results can be fatal.  What does this have to do with my wedding, you ask?  Take a look. AND MY PRIDE. IS. SWALLOWED.

The FACES of my WEDDING

AND

AND THEN WE HAVE SOME MODEL STATUS

JUST PRICELESS

FINALLY, I LEAVE YOU WITH THIS GEM

YEAH kids, be sure to practice your “photo faces” and drink your milk.

TO EXPERIENCE MY BEAUTIFUL WEDDING DAY, JUST CLICK THE PRETTY BUTTON BELOW

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Toy Oven DIY

On one of my many trips to Mesa, I stumbled upon something very interesting while shopping at the Antique Plaza. At first I wasn’t sure what it was, but came to find it was a toy oven.  How darling?!

I ended up taking it home with me, it was too special not to.

Here’s how I fixed her up…

ONE.

AFTER SHE WAS ALL CLEAN, I REMOVED THE HARDWARE.  BECAUSE THE PAINT WAS RATHER ”CHIPPY”, I LIGHTLY SANDED AWAY THE LOOSE PAINT.  I DID THIS OUTDOORS (When sanding older/painted things, it’s especially important to protect your eyes, and to wear a mask.  It’s possible there is LEAD in the paint, and that is TOXIC.  Always wear goggles and a mask when sanding).

  

TWO.

I TOOK A HAMMER TO THE RUSTY SCREWS THAT WERE STICKING OUT OF THE FRONT LEFT SIDE.  I JUST HAMMERED THEM RIGHT INTO THE WOOD UNTIL THEY WERE A LITTLE BEYOND FLUSH.

THREE.

ONCE THE OVEN WAS DRY FROM CLEANING OFF ANY DUST, I USED ANNIE SLOAN CHALK PAINT (PARIS GREY) TO PAINT THE INSIDE.  I PAINTED THE INSIDE OF THE THREE DRAWERS AND THE OVEN ITSELF.  LEFT TO DRY.

FOUR.

I TAPED OFF THE TOP OF THE TOY, BECAUSE I WANTED TO LEAVE IT UNPAINTED TO KEEP SOME OF THE OLD CHARM.  I USED THE CHALK PAINT (DUCK EGG BLUE) FOR THE FRONT AND SIDES OF THE OVEN, AND THE FRONTS OF THE DRAWERS.  I PAINTED TWO COATS.  LEFT TO DRY.

FIVE.

I PULLED THE BLUE TAPE OFF AND CLEAR WAXED IT.  I ADDED SOME DARK WAX ON TOP OF THE CLEAR AND BUFFED IT.  FINALLY, I REATTACHED THE HARDWARE.  IT WAS ALL DONE AND READY TO USE.  YAY!

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Broken Dish Wall Art DIY

OPA!

After

I prepared a lovely meal for my husband and myself;

After

Our little menace of a puppy jumped up and swiped a crab cake off my plate;

And after

We enjoyed dessert in our home in the desert, I cleaned up the mess.

I was in the middle of doing the dishes, when I dropped a drinking glass on the stack of plates below.  AHH! I was so mad at myself.  I have such fumble fingers; I’m always dropping things and falling down.  It’s no surprise that I was never a star-athlete.

But back to the story.

The kitchen was clean and I was left with a couple of broken plates.  I really liked these plates.  And they didn’t shatter either, just one chunk broke off.  This made the thought of throwing them away even harder.  So then I started thinking… I could just glue them back together! Nah.  I didn’t want to eat off gluey plates.  THEN I thought, since they broke so nicely, I’ll just take a hammer to the rest of plate and make some wall art!  I thought to make it look like two place settings.

So that’s just what I did.

I glued the plate pieces in back into the original shape of the plate, but not too close, so I could achieve a “mosaic” look.  But I’d need something to glue the pieces to.  I had these beautiful planks of driftwood.  I planned out the rest and made a list of the materials I’d need.  All that was left was: gorilla glue, nails, a hammer, three scrap pieces of wood(to attach the driftwood together), and some silverware.

I found the silverware the following weekend at local antique store’s parking lot sale.  Now, I was all set.

ONE.

I had to saw the scrap pieces of wood to fit the size of the driftwood.  After I figured out how I wanted the wood to face, I flipped the two pieces over and nailed on, the scrap wood.  Two vertical and one diagonally across the center for  additional support.

TWO.

I took the pieces from each plate and arranged them back together.  That one, it uh… it took me a while.  Once that was done, I positioned the dishes on the driftwood and got a-gluing.

*WHEN USING GORILLA GLUE, WEAR GLOVES!  JUST MAKE SURE TO FOLLOW ALL THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE BOTTLE, THEY MEAN IT.

THREE.

I waited for the glue to dry and attached the silverware with strong double-sided tape.

FOUR.

Finally, I attached two eye-hole screws and picture-hanging wire to the back of the wood.

And here we are.

It goes beautifully in the dining room or in the kitchen.  I love the how the three basic materials create a raw aged look.  All in, it only cost me about $15.  I’m sure glad I didn’t throw my dishes away.

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