The day of love is right around the corner and will be here before you know it! I asked L last night what he wanted to do for Valentine's Day, however we ended up shaking our hands and laughing... after all, we end up working every. single. valentines day anyways. What can ya do? We usually like to enjoy some yummy Italian cuisine in the North End (L'Osteria is one of my favorites!) and have a movie night afterwards! It's the best and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Needless to say, per our conversation on the topic last night, I felt inspired to put together a fun book of LOVE COUPONS to add to my Etsy shop. Homemade gifts are always the most meaningful, and this felt like a fun way for people to distribute something special to your special someone! 

I included a front page and back page for the book, as well as a page of additional blank coupons for you to personalize. Don't worry! All of the coupons are very PG and offer a fun pink ombre theme. I ended up printing mine on shiny card stock paper (the pictures do not do this paper justice) and bound them all together with some twine!

Check out my ETSY SHOP here and some other ROTATING FREE PRINTABLES here.
What kind of fun DIY Valentine's Day gifts do you have up your sleeve for your significant other?

Wine Cork Card Display

  By now I'm sure that you have read somewhere on this blog that I have a plethora of wine corks sitting around in apothecary jars and vases in hopes of finding a more permanent home. I collect them from everywhere, and continue to add to it everyday.  Originally, I wanted to create a fun cork board, but while trolling Pinterest, I came across a different rendition of your typical wine cork board - a cork board made of wine corks mounted on a meter stick! This was just the decoration that I needed to fill one of the bare spots on our wall.    I don't have a designated home for all of our beautiful Christmas cards that we receive, so I figured with holiday cheer in full swing, this would be a great project to use to display all of our incoming cards! The supplies are simple. All you will need is a meter stick, wine corks (43), glue, and some ribbon!  

I started gluing the corks from the top of the meter stick, which I later decided was a bad idea. So I would suggest that you start from the bottom and work your way up that way you don't run into any awkward "I have leftover centimeters sticking out from the bottom" problems.

Don't you just LOVE Irony Chardonnay? They're so witty!

I used Gorilla Glue because I had no other strong glue, or a hot glue gun on hand. If you do use gorilla glue, make sure you apply it right in the middle of the cork and not all over it because it expands and becomes a foam that will drip off the sides. What I have applied to this Raymond cork is too much.

Apply each cork one after another and try to make sure they fit well with the corks that they are laying next to. No need to look at any meter stick business that is showing through.

  I let my cork board stick dry for a couple hours and then anxiously decorated it with tree trimmings and cards! I love the natural colors that it brings to our very neutral living room palette.  

 
 And of course we can't forget our own holiday card that we ordered from Tiny Prints this year! Even Macy Cat made the cut! Lucky cat!

We went ahead and framed it for added Christmas decor around the place. We both love how it encapsulates our lives all in one picture!

Painting a Wing Back Chair

Has anyone ever painted a chair?

I spotted this BEAUTIFUL wing back chair on Craigslist and was able to score it for only $40! FORTY DOLL HAIRS!!

Here's a full on view of the beauty!

I love the size of it, however the color is a little too dark for my taste. I looked into reupholstering it, however because of the lack of resources that I have access to, I decided against it. Thanks to this helpful tutorial, I attempted to transform this dark purple plum into a bright and chic beauty.

The supplies:

- 1 Quart Acrylic Paint (I used Seashell by Ben Moore)

- Fabric Medium

- Spray Bottle with lots of water

- Mixing cup

- Paint Brush

- 220 Grit Sandpaper

- Painters Tape

Begin by measuring out; 1 part paint, 1 part fabric medium, and 1 part water.

Mix the paint, medium, and water together to create a watered down primer. This will act as you first coat for the chair.

I cleaned off the cushions and chair with a lint roller, and then gently wiped it down with a cloth.

I doused the area that I would be painting with water, and rubbed it into the fabric with my hands.

I painted the paint mixture against the grain of the fabric, and thoroughly made sure all of the purple was covered. I then went back over and painted it again WITH the grain. I did this all over the entire chair and cushion. This will act as you base/primer. It does not need to be thick, just lightly cover the entire chair. Let it dry overnight.

Here is a picture of the chair after one coat. Because I am going from dark to light, I am more than likely going to need to do 2 coats of primer, and 2 coats of paint.

 Here's a little side action to put things into perspective. Making progress!

After is had sat overnight and dried, I sanded the rough areas with 220 grit sandpaper. Be sure to do this WITH the grain of the chair. This step makes a big difference. If you don't sand the rough spots, you will just continue to paint over them, and they will become rougher. The light sanding helps smooth everything out.

Once again, I put on another coat of 1 part paint, 1 part fabric medium and 1 part water a couple of days later. This definitely started to lighten it up and show some visible progress. Once dried, sand the rough areas with 220 grit sandpaper again. 

And then, I went on vacation for a week, came back and had to move and the chair has been sitting untouched for well over a month. Yup! It's a sad story. In fact, I have never left a project half done before, ever. I have completely lost interest and faith in this project 100%. It could be thanks to L and my dad making fun of it's scratchy not very soft texture now,  or maybe because it's extremely time consuming, and maybe even because I'm getting to the point where the amount I spent in paint/products alone is starting to add up to what the price of a brand new chair would be. Very disappointing. 

So without further adieu, this chair is going out with the trash tonight. I am so disappointed. My last strand of hope for this chair was to reupholster it... but when you crunch the numbers, materials and the time... that doesn't really make much sense either. It's hopeless. Let's be honest, the chair looks ridiculous. I'm almost too embarrassed to put it out for trash pickup! I'm not even mentally prepared yet for when all of the trash pickers check it out and go... "oh my, someone is throwing out a wing back! (walks over), Uhm, err what the heck happened to it? This poor chair". I might just have L bring it out tonight, when its dark and nobody can see the abusive chair owner in person. As much time, effort and money that I put into this project, I can honestly feel as though a weight will be lifted off of my shoulders when the trash men come pick it up, laugh at it for a minute, and then throw it into the truck and squash it.

If you want to see how fabric chair painting it really done, I suggest heading over to Hyphen Interiors for a much better and finished tutorial. She definitely knows how to get the job done, and has done so a couple of times.

Sorry guys, it just wasn't happening here.

Not to mention a scratchy, half painted wing back just wasn't fitting the style I had in mind for this home.

Table Time

If you're in the furniture carpentry mood, then I insist you stop by Ana White's website. It is chock full of a variety of building plans that will leave you proud and feeling accomplished after you tackle your first project.

I had been hoping to build a table for some time now, but had been unable to find the time to get out of the city to take on this fun project. However, this weekend I was able to put aside a few hours where I had no work or class to get things started!

I had been eyeing barn wood dining room tables for awhile, and new I wanted to take a similar route that resembled that distressed look, however I wanted something that didn't involve a great deal of tools and equipment that was not available to me.

I found this cute coffee table on Anna White's site that looked sturdy and adjustable with an easy to work with plan. After making some minor tweaks to the measurements, I came up with some dimensions that fit my needs. A counter height table that had a decent tabletop surface.

First, I trekked it out to Lowe's and had some wood cut.

I designed my table to be approximately 32" high x 32" wide x 48" long

Cut List:

4 - 4x4 Posts @ 34.5" (Legs)

2 - 1x4 @ 28.5" (Leg Joiners)

2 - 1x4 @ 33" (Side Aprons)

2 - 2x6 @31.75" (Breadboard Ends)

9 - 2x4 @36" (Tabletop Slats)

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If you are comparing my dimensions to the one that Anna instructs you to use you will notice that I opted out from using the end apron spacers, and the tabletop supports. I honestly didn't think that I needed the 2x2 table supports because I wouldn't be supporting that much weight on the table, and it would still be very VERY sturdy without them. I also didn't use the end apron spacers because I cut them too short by accident. Oops! Oh well. I didn't need them and you can't even tell I didn't use them because the breadboard covers that area anyways.

Each of the 28.5" leg joiners were screwed (2.5" screws) to the posts leaving .75"of the post uncovered on either side.

The 33"side aprons were securely screwed into the sides of the leg joiners to create your square.

I used three cans of Rust-oleum American Accents in Satin Blossom White to paint the legs and sideboards of the table. Be sure not to let it drip and/or run and to cover the areas evenly.

Once the paint had dried I attached the 2x4 slats, and 2x6 breadboards to the top. I just used 2.5" screws.

Using wood filler, each of the screw holes were filled, and then quickly scrapped off with a putty knife and sanded down. Make sure to buy the stainable kind!

I used Minwax Dark Walnut to stain the top of the table. This stain goes on VERY dark. I covered the entire table with one coat, waited an hour (because I am super impatient), and then covered the entire table with another coat. About one hour later, I covered the table with a finishing coat by Minwax. Ideally, you should wait 12-24 hours between each layer of stain and finishing coat, however I am wicked impatient and was also on a time crunch to get it done before I had to head back into the city.

After letting it dry, the results turned out superb. I'm so glad I only put on one to two coats of stain. It made the texture of the wood significantly stand out against the dark walnut stain. Beautiful!

Sorry for the bland instagram picture. I wasn't able to snap an attractive staged picture of it in the house before I had to leave, however next time I'm in Maine, I'll be sure to spruce it up and take a picture of it!

Next project up would to be to build some benches to accommodate this beaut! 

DIY "Boston Love" Bunting Flag Banner

There is this beautiful exposed brick wall in the apartment that makes the entire unit look 10 times better!

I felt as though this beautiful wall needed a pop of color and some love, so I created several fun and seasonal bunt flag banners to decorate it with. 

With that being said, let me introduce you to the current banner.

These were a ton of fun, and super easy to make!

First.

I printed the templates for all the letters from here, and then cut them all out.

Second.
I mounted each of the flags on a piece of card stock using double sided tape.
This helps to make the banner stronger.
Once it was mounted, I cut out a slightly larger flag.

Third.
Once everything was cut, pasted and mounted...
I took yards and yards of hemp and braided it all together.

Fourth.
I hung the hemp up, and attached the flags using mini wooden clothespins which I found at Walmart.

The reason I decided to just attach the flags using the clothespins opposed to just punching holes and stringing the hemp through is because I would like to use the flags and hemp for other themed banners, and this method made the whole switching them out process much easier!

I have many, many more flag bunt banners in the works and can't wait to share!

--Kaylie

Dresser Remodel

I found this real wood, heavy as a house dresser at the Goodwill the other day for only $40. Forty Bucks!

The drawers slide nice, there are 11 of them, and it was the perfect height that I was looking for.

Tall enough so that it doesn't take up too much space, yet wide enough so that I can still use it as a vanity, if needed. 

The only problem with it was it's blotchy mix of white and yellow finish.

It may be hard to tell in this picture, but I tell yea... it sure wasn't anything pretty.

I debated and debated over what color I wanted to paint it.

All the other furniture in my room was black, so black made sense.

But then I thought... how would a coral, or gray color look?

I decided against that, and went for the black. There is just something about the color black.

So I painted it black!

AND I love it!

It looks so much cleaner and put together!

--Kaylie

DIY Decorative Throw All Tray

Remember a couple of days ago when I said in my Friday 5 that this was a genius idea?

Well...  I have decided to create my own rendition of this project.

Basically, this is what happened...

I went to the Goodwill today and bought this $2.00 picture and frame. I tried to find one that was not very flat and aimed downwards towards the glass.

I took the picture and glass out so that all I was left with was the good old frame.

I printed a fun pattern off of the internet, and then changed the color scheme to gray... because everything matches gray. I'm starting to get hooked on the cross T pattern.

I've been debating over what I wanted the accent color for my bedroom to be. At first I wanted to go with yellow since that's what I decorated my old room with, and I have several pillows that would look great with it. Then I started to consider a bright green, and then a coral. Because I have no patience and get so antsy to start a project once I have most of the supplies, I decided on this coral color because it was the only paint I had at the time besides black. SO... it looks as though coral will be my pop of color!

I used the Valspar Color Radiance Paint, and it made my entire garage smell like bubble gum!?

After everything dried, I put everything back into the frame including the double T print, and am so pleased with how my decorative throw all tray all turned out! 

This beauty will more than likely end up on my dresser in my bedroom!

...or I could use it to put hair products on...

...oh the possibilities... 

(:

--Kaylie