Saturday, March 17, 2012

A DIY Casualty

So, after my painstaking DIY lamps, one of my naughty kitties knocked this over and broke it:


Drat.  I actually saw some lamps I liked at Target the other day for just a few bucks more than I had spent on these puppies.  Sometimes I wonder about all this DIYstuff, ya know?





Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Master Bedroom A-comin' Along

So, my little sewing/office/craft room is doing ok.  I try to keep it clean.  I love to sit in it and work, and I love to sit in it and not work.   That's the truth.

I have been going back and forth about the bedroom side of this project.  I couldn't decide what colors to use other than the wall color.  I bought a duvet cover and shams that I love, but what else was I going to do?  I've searched and Pinned and pondered.

Then, last Monday, I found a new designer that clicked for me!  She is an LDS mom and I found her... on Pinterest.  True story.  You must look at Sita Montgomery's boards and blog.  I saw her own kitchen posted and was immediately searching for more information about her work.

She did a design for a client, and posted the design board.  Then, I fell in love.


Design by Sita Montgomery
I already had the right wall color, and browns and white in the bedding I had purchased.  This is what took me to painting my new Goodwill lamps the color aqua.

And THEN, I got a really wild idea.  I have two very old nightstands.  One is from Goodwill and purchased years ago.  I always intended to paint it, but I didn't because I am a chicken.  

The other one was my parents'.  I love it.  It is sturdy and it reminds me of them.  I have never done anything to it.

  I decided to paint the Goodwill one a lovely blue - kind of a royal blue.  I NEVER decide to do something  in the morning and then complete it by that night.  NEVER - I usually have to stew and second-guess my decorating abilities over and over.  With the encouragement of my friend Traci, I decided to go for it. Hubby was out of town, and coming home the next day!  I had to get it done - I wanted to surprise him!  

First, I cleaned his stuff out of it.  Holy moly - what IS all that stuff??


I primed it with some oil-based primer from Lowe's (ew, so I used an old brush so I could just throw it out).  And then.....   I went for it!!


And what, you ask, is that little hole in there?  We must have cut it out for an electrical cord at some point.  

And, here it is in its proper location:


The little handle is... a ... paper clip.  Yes, I still need to spray paint the hardware.  I will, I promise.

You can see from the pictures that I have no bed skirt.  I am doing this a little at a time, ya'll. But, I did get the perfect accent pillow after buying and returning about 5 different ones.  That is the truth.

So, here is the room thus far:


I know, I may need to move stuff around, but I LOVE these colors and the flowers!

The "shrine", updated....

There's that perfect accent pillow...
The bed will hopefully soon look more like this:


This is found at The Yellow Cape Cod, another great blogger/designer.

Here's what I have left to do (since I'm sure you are all so very fascinated and curious):

~Paint the other night stand
~get a new bed skirt, or sew one
~get new sheets and a coverlet
~get new blinds
~sew some simple valances or curtains - I have a lot of muslin left over from the wedding events, so I may use that
~get a new pillow -dang, my neck has been hurting!
~find places for the redistributed files that were moved out of the new office area... dang, I don't know what to do with them!
~wall art - I have mostly none.

I want it done NOW!

But, as you know, I'll have to WAIT a little while.....

Master Bedroom Lamp Love - Or, Like.

I have become a DIY crazy woman lately.  Pinterest is a blessing and a curse - maybe I mentioned that before?  I have only spray painted things a few times, but while redecorating my bedroom, I decided that I really didn't want to spend a lot on lamps for my nightstands right now.  So, Pinterest helped with my plan.

I took a little trip to Goodwill.  I found the ugliest colored lamps possible that would have matched my home in 1985.  True story.  I have photos to prove it.  

Here are the ones I picked out:

3 buckeroos!
Aren't they so lovely?  
I wasn't even sure yet what color to paint them.  Sad, but so very true.  Low and behold, I found my new favorite blogger/designer, which I will spill about in my next post.  I chose aqua.  Oh, how I love aqua.  I primed them and then sprayed away with this lovely blue.


 And, after going to three stores,I found lampshades that don't fit very well, but they will have to do for now:


I love them like them enough for now.   Each lamp cost me about $13.

What else have I done?

You'll have to just WAIT a little while.....