All in the details…

May 23, 2012 6 Comments

Now that my mind is no longer consumed by our wedding, I’ve had a lot of time to think about other parts of my life. As you now know (down to the last painful detail), I’m focusing a lot of my mental energy on coming up with ways to balance the facets of my life (husband, blog, career, me-time). But I think another big part of brainstorming and restructuring is meditation – i.e. sitting back and NOT thinking. Sometimes my most creative ideas have come to me in moments of complete and utter relaxation. In fact, my best time for constructive thought is in bed as I’m falling asleep – Although this also has its drawbacks as I’ve been known to forget my “genius” ideas come morning…

The point is, a few positive changes I could be making to my life have “come to me” recently in moments of quiet reflection and I am excited to put them into play. One such change (or really ADDITION) happens to deal with the blog and I’m unveiling it to the world today!

Welcome to the newest feature on DreamGreenDIY: All in the details.

After getting an exciting response from last week’s “My top 20 most inspiring spaces” post, I decided to continue focusing on those spaces (and then some). I’ll be breaking down the elements of each room that work and why. It’ll give all of us a chance to really analyze what makes good design good and maybe help us hone in on what we can do in our own spaces to take it up a notch.

I hope that you guys will be part of this new feature by commenting away with your own thoughts on what makes these details work.

Source

First up, we have this gorgeous mid-century mod space complete with vintage details, pops of color and a great mix of textures.

THE COUCH

This couch could very well be the thing that makes this room such an inspiration for me. The shape is a perfect blend of 1970′s mod with contemporary textiles and finishes. If you want your living space to feel modern, the quickest way to get the look is with a sofa devoid of curves. Sure, curvaceous seating can read as modern with a good balance of sharp accessories and art, but getting it “just so” takes time. The sleek look of this sofa is contemporary to a “T.” And we can’t talk about the couch without mentioning the color. Coral is one of the “it” colors this season, but it’s also a great take on a neutral – At least it CAN be, when done like this. It’s pale and soft so as not to punch you in the face when you lay eyes on it, but against white walls it still serves as a great pop of a focal point.

THE ART

This is another one of those things that can be a bit tricky to get right. A vintage art gallery wall (when done well) is a great way to give an eclectic feel to a room. The idea is to collect mismatched prints and paintings and stagger them on a wall, as though thrown together. It can tone down a potentially formal space and is a great way to put that pile of unhung art in your closet to good use.

TABLETOP BOOKS

You guys know I love decorating with books (as seen here and here and probably a dozen other places I’m forgetting at the moment). I think it’s safe to say that we all have books lying around our houses, so why not put them to good use? They add color, like in this case, but don’t end up crowding a surface since they still offer a landing pad for things like your coffee mug of favorite owl trinket. Here, the stack of books is topped with an equally functional box, great for stowing away a remote or pack of playing cards.

THE TEXTURES

This space is a great study in mixing textures. From the heather finish on the couch and high pile shag rug, to the woven throw and fur accent pillow…It just goes to show that there’s nothing scary about mixing texture – If you are afraid to go bold blending colors, try mixing up the textures (in a single color) instead. All rooms need a little dimension and you can easily create it with texture.

Feel free to weigh in with your own thoughts in the comments section and take a look at all of my inspiring spaces here.

Filed Under: All in the details, How-To, Inspiring, Living Room, Our Influences Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Pinspiration Monday: Faux tile backsplash

May 21, 2012 14 Comments

It has actually taken me two weeks to muster up the emotional courage to tell you about this project. As you can probably gather, it didn’t go quite as planned. In fact, I am now strong enough to admit that it was a complete and utter disaster. But not ALL of our grand ideas will work out, right?

So here’s the story (plus an incredible amount of photos to document the horrors – Hope you have a big cup of coffee handy!)…

After redoing our kitchen cabinets, I was dying for some kind of backsplash. I would have loved to tile, but the expense and the work deterred me from ordering anything. So instead, I scoured Pinterest for ideas. I came up inspiration like a solid accent paint color, decoupaging take-out menus beneath the cabinets and even adhering metal tile to the wall.

Source: BHG

Source: One Brooklyn Modern

Source: Casa de Valentina

But the one below was the one that stole my heart. It could have been because of the similarities to our own kitchen – cabinet/appliance arrangement, dark brown cabinets, long brushed nickel hardware – but it was also that gorgeous pastel backsplash.

In order to recreate the look of the shiny rows of thin tile without actually ordering any, I decided to use a combo of high gloss paint and extra-thin masking tape. My “faux tile” would theoretically give me the look with about half the work and a fraction of the expense.

Source: Unknown

So here is the room as it stood before leaping head first into the project – We are still loving our brown cabinets but really needed something between the cabinets and countertops to break up all of that brown and beige.

First I rolled on two thin coats of primer – The same can we used on the cabinets at the beginning of the year. In my head, I thought that the under-layer of white showing between my faux tiles would look like grout.

The nature of primer to be a little uneven in look would (again, in theory) mimic the uneven texture of mixed grout.

Time for the masking – This part ended up taking a looooooooong time, but my sister thankfully offered to help as she was visiting that weekend. It was all a matter of keeping the lines straight and also measuring equal distances between rows.

We decided to start the taping by going horizontally since it would take the most time versus the shorter strips that would go vertically. We started right under the cabinets and then measured a ruler’s-width down before starting a new line of tape.

Once we finished the entire length of the backsplash, we stepped back and took stock of things. Seeing the long green lines of tape actually really appealed to me – I began to second guess the vertical strips altogether. The look of the unhindered stripes read super “mod” to me and I actually favored the look. So out went the idea of vertical strips to create faux tiles and in came the idea of mod stripes. My thought was that I could always paint white lines over the top coat if I decided that I wanted the tile look afterall.

Time for the top coat…I bought a quart of pale, minty blue paint from Lowe’s in high gloss finish to really make it pop on the wall. Even though I was no longer trying to replicate the look of smooth glass tile, I didn’t mind the idea of a high gloss stripe, so we went with it.

Two coats later (at about 9:30 p.m.  at night – sorry for the awful lighting) and we were DONE. I already loved how the color was breaking up all of the brown surfaces. Before letting the paint dry, since I’ve heard the paint can come right off with it after it dries, I started removing the tape to reveal the undercoat of white.

This my friends is where things all went to hell.

…

…

…

Oh man, it was so so hard for me to even snap these photos for you guys. At that point, I could hardly breathe from sobbing and the shock of it all. We had been working on this project pretty much all day, sucking up an entire Saturday. I think it was even harder to accept because I had dragged my sister into it as well.

To tell you the truth, I have no idea what happened. But as you can see, when I started peeling the tape back (slowly and gently, I might add) the primer and the wet top coat started coming off in strips with it. I suppose there are two possibilities: (#1) the primer SUCKS and didn’t stick to the wall correctly, or (#2) the masking tape I used was way to strong. Either way, after the initial gasp upon seeing the ruined paint job, it turned into a full on melt down as I continued to remove both the tape and my beautiful painted stripes.

Somehow, through my tears, I was able to remove the rest of the tape and repaint the entire backsplash. The only thing I could come up with was to go with a solid color paint job and call it done – At least for the moment.

In the end and after recovering from the hysteria of the failure, I actually really love the way it turned out. Sure, there’s nothing “tiled” or “striped” about it, but at least all of those brown surfaces have something cool and funky to bump up against. I adore the color.

There are still a few areas we need to damage control, such as the uneven edges at the ends, but I’m giving myself a little distance before working on it. I think I’ll pick up a couple pieces of decorative molding to cover the lines and be done with it. Thoughts?

Oh, and before I go, I wanted to show you a little detail – As you can see in the photos below, you can still make out the stripes left by the masking tape lines. Sort of makes for an interesting texture I guess. While I wish that those lines could have been white, it is what it is and I don’t HATE it.

The fresh mint color looks a bit retro sitting next to our brand new orange stand mixer (a gift from our wedding) – I am absolutely loving that color combo and might even try introducing a little more orange into the space just to keep it going.

So while I would still whole-heartedly call this a failure because it’s anything BUT what I had envisioned, we still managed to give the backsplash area a little pop. If you check out the “Before” and “After” photos below, you can see what a difference that mint color made.

Glad to finally get that off my chest after weeks of holding it in…

So spill the beans – What do you guys think? Have any idea what might have happened? I’m dying to solve the mystery…

Filed Under: DIY Projects, Inspiring, Kitchen, Kitchen Overhaul, Our Influences Tagged With: , , , , ,

My top 20 most inspiring spaces

May 16, 2012 10 Comments

Whether we mean to or not, our homes are influenced by something. Could be taken from a favorite television show or maybe the magazines you flip through, but it’s inevitable that bits and pieces of visual fluff will infiltrate your psyche and affect the way you structure your home. This isn’t rocket science and I know I’ve talked about it upteen times, both here on DreamGreenDIY and in my guest posting for Breathe Magazine. Yet, even though this information is nothing new to you, I think it’s a good exercise to look back on the most recent influences if, for no other reason, to see how tastes and tendencies have changed.

In honor of the eye candy I’ve saved up over the past year as an obsessed a faithful member of Pinterest, I am sharing with you all today my top 20 inspiring spaces. In no particular order, I invite you to feast your eyes on the looks, rooms and interiors that get my heart pumping and my planning mind working in overtime. I’d love to hear your take on my style and how you might characterize it (ala Emily Henderson – “Tuscan Modern,” “Southern Romance Meets Scottish Country Charm,” “Modern Urban Beach,” etc.).

Prepare to drool.

Source: decor8

Source: Mint

Source: Breakfast at Toast

Source: Kireei

Source:  Glitter Guide

Source: we <3 it

Source: BHG

Source: Schoolhouse Electric & Supply Co.

Source: Design Sponge

Source: HGTV

Source: M Street

Source: Yellow Brick Home

Source: The Marion House Book

Source: Style by Emily Henderson

Source: The Borrowed Abode

 

Source: Decorology

Source: Flickr

Source: The Inspired Room

 

Source: Unknown

 

Source: Style by Emily Henderson

If I were to give myself a style diagnostic based on those images, I think I’d call my style “Mid-century Eclectic.” What do you think?

For more on spaces that inspire me, click here for my full “Inspirational Spaces/Colors” board on Pinterest.  And feel free to share links to your own inspirational spaces (your own or someone elses) in the comments section. Let’s share our room daydreams…

Filed Under: Inspiring, Our Influences Tagged With: , , , , ,

Pinspiration Monday: Painted wood

May 14, 2012 6 Comments

There’s a first time for everything. Instead of being inspired by one Pinterest image for today’s “Pinspiration Monday,” I am combining two images to customize a fun and crafty centerpiece for our dining room table.

The first kick in the pants came when I saw these curvy, colorful wooden candlesticks. I really love color, but I actually hoped (in my head) to find a pair of plain raw wood pieces to adorn our table. I love the shapely lines but think our kitchen is pretty good on pops of color (what with our plate wall and newly painted cabinets).

Source: Casa Sugar

Source: Photobucket

As luck would have it, I found these two beauties at a local estate store for only $2. They fit my curvy criteria and were the raw wood I had been hoping for. I thought they looked quite lovely against the chocolate brown wall and, although their shape is fun and eye-catching, they don’t necessarily steal the show from the plate art.

But we weren’t done yet…You see, I also was inspired by the Pinterest images below of painted wood. The idea is to paint pops of saturated color on top of wood, but still leave the grain a bit of room to shine.

Source: Swoon

Source: Unknown…

So I decided to paint the candlesticks, but only partially. Where to begin though? Do I start halfway up the candlesticks and paint little colorful rings and leave it at that? Or maybe paint an entire half of the candlesticks? In the end, John suggested stripes on the flat base and I was sold.

For the colors, I went with the two trendy colors of the season – Mint and pale coral. I also decided to incorporate more of my metallic gold craft paint (as seen here and here). As you can see below, the gold is pretty subtle, but that allows the mint and coral to really shine.

I tried eyeballing my lines at first with a steady hand, but eventually caved and broke out the masking tape to ensure nice and straight edges.

While I adore the colors and the idea of stripes on the candlesticks, I did run into one painful issue…You may have already noticed, but my stripes look pretty wonky and fat towards the actual “stick” portion of my thrifted candle holders. When you see the stripes head-on, the part that runs into the elevated stick ends up giving the optical illusion of a curve when the lines are actually straight.

Here they are all finished on the table top – You can easily see that annoying optical illusion of bulbous stripes towards the center.

Although those lines look anything but straight, when seen from above, they really are pretty spot on.

Not sure just how much that optical illusion is going to bug me…I may lightly sand down the edges of the paint so that the ridges won’t show and just paint up the stick about halfway with new color to cover it up. I’d love your thoughts and opinions on whether I should keep it as is or experiment and tweak just a little bit more until just right.

Help!

Filed Under: DIY Projects, Inspiring, Kitchen, Product Search, Thrift Store Tell All, Weekly Pinspiration Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Pinspiration Monday (a day late): DIY Paper Bunting Flag

May 9, 2012 6 Comments

This is the story of a very tired girl…She was a week and a half away from her wedding day, scrambling to get the last few projects out of the way. “I’d love to have a beautiful, whimsical bunting flag to hang as decoration, but where oh where am I going to find the time to cut and sew multiple little fabric flags??!” she lamented to herself. It was a terrible, terrible predicament to be in. But hark! What’s this?! A knight in shining armor that went by the name of “Pinterest” galloped to the rescue and saved the poor tired bride from expending her last little bit of energy on one final project!! The solution was presented and the day was saved…The end.

Source: A Subtle Revelry 

The magical solution? Instead of wasting hours and hours on cutting, hemming, sewing and stringing a dozen little triangles of fabric to a line, I was inspired to simplify into paper triangles. Eliminating the need to sew was the biggest time-saver and it gave me the motivation I needed to knock this last little project off of my mental to-do list. (I do apologize for the quality of the photos in this post…I started the project late in the afternoon of a rainy day, so there was little natural light to speak of)

Supplies:

  • Scrapbooking paper
  • Twine
  • Hot glue gun and glue stick refills
  • Wooden clothespins
  • A pen
  • Ruler
  • Scissors

First of all, I needed a template – A thick paper triangle to use as my guide for all of the little triangle “flags” I would cut out. I didn’t have any thick cardstock on hand, but I did have the back of my scrapbook paper book, which just so happened to be made of thick cardboard.

To make my flag template, I used the ruler as a straightedge and just eye-balled it. The top of the flag was shorter than the two sides. It’s not exactly perfect, but I didn’t really need it to be – You all know by now that organic is A-OK by my standards.

Then it was just a matter of cutting out my flags. I used this scrapbooking paper scrap that I had on hand as a guinea pig of sorts, just to see if the project would actually work. I  flipped the scrapbook paper over, used the pen to draw around the template and then cut it out. To my glee, it worked like a charm.

Now to cut out a dozen or so more…I wanted the bunting line to be as colorful as possible, so I didn’t bother trying to find pages that necessarily matched. I wanted vibrancy, pattern and texture – I think I managed to achieve that with my selection. Goodness gracious, I LOVE scrapbooking paper!

Fast forward twenty-five minutes or so, and we were all done with the flag portion of the project.

Next, I needed to attach them to some kind of a string. To continue the organic, garden-y feel of the piece, I used plain natural twine. To attach the paper flags, I flipped the flags over, ran a thin line of hot glue at the top and gently settled the twine into the gooey adhesive.

Using the ruler to measure out approximately an inch, I grabbed my next paper flag and ran another line of hot glue at the top and attached that to the twine – And so on and so forth…

Flipping the string over and seeing all of the pretty colors and patterns work with one another down the line, I started to get really giddy…

But I wasn’t done yet. To finish off the bunting, I took a cue from my Pinspiration image and clipped a wooden clothespin to the center of each paper flag – It obviously serves more of a decorative purpose since the hot glue is what actually holds the flag to the line, but again, it’s that little styling that gives it the casual look I was going for.

Sorry to make you guys wait for the actual “After” photo of the line decorating the reception venue, but I’ll be sure to update you once we get the wedding photos back from our (AMAZING) photographer. Stay tuned!

Filed Under: DIY Projects, How-To, Seasonal/Holiday, Wedding, Weekly Pinspiration Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Pinspiration Monday (Guest Post): DIY burlap-wrapped candle holder

April 30, 2012 8 Comments

Good morning and happy Monday to you! John and I are catching a plane to our tropical honeymoon destination as you read this – Wish me luck as this is my first time flying and I’m sure my nerves are a bit frayed…Can’t wait to share all of the wild stories, which I’m sure we are bound to fill up on. In the meantime, we have Amanda of Bullfrogs and Bulldogs here today to share a precious DIY craft with you. Enjoy!

Hello! I’m Amanda from over at Bullfrogs and Bulldogs and I am so excited to be guest posting today while Carrie is off on her HONEYMOON! A big congrats to you two, Carrie and John!

I’d love for you to stop by my place and say “hi” sometime! You can find me here or on facebook, twitter and pinterest as well!

Despite our mutual love of budget friendly decorating and thrift store hunting, Carrie and I actually have something else in common. She just got married and I am on my way to the alter in just about two weeks! So, in the spirit of love, today I’m here to share my super easy (and super inexpensive) DIY Burlap Love Votive Candle Holder inspired by something I saw on Pinterest a few weeks ago.

Source: Gilt Groupe

Instead of the numbers, which I may have to do down the road, I decided to stencil the word “L.O.V.E” because well, right now there is a lot of celebrating of just that very thing going around!

So here you have it! Enjoy!

How to make burlap love votive candle holders for yourself:

1. Find any votive candle holder that suits your fancy.

2. Get enough burlap (there are so many colors to choose from!) to cover the votive. Cut the burlap to fit your needs.

3. Use foam glue or some kind of clear glue to prime the edges of the burlap from fringing. I just used a paintbrush and literally painted it around the whole parameter.

4. Once I knew the look I wanted, I used masking tape as my stencil and created the lines and the lettering. Using a foam brush, I dabbed the paint on where it needed to go.

And viola! Here is the finished product!

I hope you are having the best time on your honeymoon, Carrie and John!

Amanda is the blogger behind Bullfrogs & Bulldogs, a personal account of her transition from living in the city to living a more sustainable life with her fiance on the family vineyard and farm.  Amanda’s blog is full of storytelling, beautiful photos of the farm and its many furry friends, vegan/gluten-free recipes and DIY projects – All elements that keep me coming back from more! Bullfrogs and Bulldogs can be found here, here, here, and here.

Stay tuned Wednesday for a guest post from Lisa of SpareFoot Storage Finder – She’ll be sharing her tips on achieving an organized, balanced home.

Filed Under: DIY Projects, Gifts, Gluten-Free Lifestyle, How-To, Inspiring, Our Wedding, Weekly Pinspiration Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

One Word: Wedding

April 27, 2012 14 Comments

Good gracious!! Tomorrow I am getting married…Like any girl, I have been waiting for this day, dreaming about this day and praying for this day ever since I was little.

Life has thrown me some major curve balls along my journey to this moment, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. I’m the kind of person who has no regrets – Everything that has happened to me, good or bad has led me to this fate. I am marrying my very best friend tomorrow and, if that’s the culmination of my choices over my 26 years of life, then I’m happy to accept it all…I can’t wait!!

Although we will be jet setting to the tropics for a week-long honeymoon next week, I have made sure to line up some fun features via guest bloggers – You’ll get an adorable tutorial for fun burlap-wrapped candle holders, tips on organizing your home and ways to kick the excuses and get on track with a healthy diet (as long as my remote publication works as it should, that is – Not sure if we’ll have internet access to double check…). I hope that you enjoy them.

See you in a week!!

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Filed Under: Inspiring, One Word, Our Influences, Our Wedding, Weekly Pinspiration Tagged With: , , ,

Pinspiration Monday: Wooden hangers

April 23, 2012 16 Comments

I have really been into fashion lately…Not sure when my focus shifted from home style to clothing and accessories, but I can’t deny my love of a great outfit any longer. Now, I wake up every morning motivated to craft a colorful, cohesive ensemble down to the bracelet. It’s fun to mix and match patterns, colors and metals to make a balanced and sophisticated look – In fact, it’s really not much different than styling a shelf or arranging fabrics in a living space. The same principles still count here, just in clothes.

Obviously, a new love and longing for style means a little shopping was in order. I’ve bought a good amount of new clothes in the last month, but to keep myself on track I kept a list of must-have essentials with me and have kept to it like it was the law. So now I am rewarded with a closet of thought out pieces – Here’s my latest (and, as promised to my bank account, my LAST) big haul, this time from Target and T.J. Maxx.

One of the most affordable ways I’ve been able to feed my new need for fashion and style in my closet (beyond sticking to a list when shopping) is to work on making the most of what I already have. In the past month I have spent long periods of time in my closet getting rid of things I no longer fit into or that no longer fit into my style. Shout out to our local consignment shop though (Salvaged), I don’t donate clothes anymore – I bag them up and take them straight to consignment. So far, I’ve made over $100 – Pretty fabulous when I think about how I was just going to take everything to Goodwill for zero profit…

Another thing I decided to do was find ways to amp up the display in my closet, right on down to the hangers…After seeing these two Pinterest images of clothing hung on natural wood hangers and how it gave it a high-end boutique look, I knew I had to upgrade.

Source: The Everygirl

 

Source: barefoot contessa

My closet as it was, came dominated by plastic hangers. Now, I do think that plastic is a big upgrade from plain wire hangers, which tend to bend…But I could envision just how much better and more cohesive the space would look with matching wooden hangers.

Have you guys seen on Pinterest or heard this tip from a friend? Essentially, to make the most of your clothing, you turn all of the hangers backwards and then, as you wear something, you turn the hanger right-ways. That way at the end of the season, you’ll know what clothes you didn’t utilize by seeing their hangers still turned backwards – Time to get rid of them. I attempted this at one point (as you can see in the photo above and below), but eventually gave up. I have a pretty good handle on what piece make me feel good and what don’t. It was just about finding the motivation to actually get rid of things that I’d been holding onto for years.

My motivation? Upgrading the hangers. I eventually found my collection on Ebay for about $50 shipped for 80 wooden hangers (with pant bar in the middle). I knew that 80 wouldn’t be enough for the amount of clothes I had, but figured it would be that motivator for purging that I was looking for – Only the best and most important pieces would get hung back up in the closet, while the rest would get consigned.

First things to get lovingly hung on their new boutique hangers? The three pieces I bought for myself at T.J. Maxx. I could already get the sense that the new wooden hangers made them feel straight out of a fancy designer clothing store – In my own home, no less! Exciting news for a girl like me…

I spent about two hours in my closet that afternoon, making sure to choose wisely as to what stayed and what would be bagged up for consignment. With each new hanger put into place on the bar, the whole feel of the wardrobe started to shift from cheap to luxurious. It really is amazing how wooden hangers can do that to your clothes. As I purged and rehung, I started a new pile of plastic hangers – They eventually made their way into the box that the wooden hangers came in. SO MANY HANGERS!! I plan on donating them to a thrift store soon.

And now to show off the new look – Again, I just love how things look more high-end after the hanger upgrade. No more light “click click” of plastic hangers when I go to pick out an outfit. I’m loving the more substantial wooden ones.

Unfortunately, despite letting go of what felt like a TON of clothes and half of my wardrobe, I still ran out of wooden hangers. I just couldn’t muster the will to get rid of the last bit of dresses to make it even. I resolved to get some more hangers later on to remedy the mismatched situation.

UPDATE:  I went out to Target over the weekend for wooden hanger supplements hoping to buy no more than 10, but left with a value pack of 24 hangers for only $14. They don’t match the Ebay hangers perfectly, but they certainly do the trick, and I doubt anyone would notice the inconsistency other than me.

So what tricks do you all have up your sleeves (pun intended) for making the most of your closet space and wardrobe? How do you “dress things up”?

Filed Under: Simple Fixes, Product Search, Product Review, Inspiring, Weekly Pinspiration, Bedroom Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Pinspiration Monday: Golden corners

April 16, 2012 8 Comments

Welcome to a new week! I am feeling super motivated and energetic right now – Probably because of a productive weekend full of knocking off wedding projects and taking care of a few things around the house that have been neglected. It feels good to come home and know that my closet is organized, I have a few new pretty things to look at on the walls, the laundry has been done and the new window treatment hardware I bought ages ago has finally been installed.

::happy sigh:: Literally.

A big “Thank you!” to my amazing fiance for his patience and help in getting all of that accomplished with me! He’s such a good sport…We even managed to sneak in a Red Box movie last night – Anyone seen “Ides of March” yet? Pretty good flick.

Today, I am sharing one of the long-awaited craft projects that I completed over the weekend – It all started with this inspiration image, snagged from Pinterest:

Source: A Thoughtful Place

As subtle as it seems, I was instantly drawn to the idea of metallic gold corners on black frames. I am all about brass and warm-toned  metals at the moment, so I just knew I had to give it a shot. If you follow the link above, you’ll see that Courtney actually used metallic spray-painted masking tape to achieve the look of gold corners without the permanence of painting directly on the surface. A genius idea for those who aren’t sure they want to commit, but I was sure about the look and decided to go for it, all in.

This is the set of frames I chose to update:

They look nice on their own, but just “nice.” In my head, I imagined that new lux gold corners would really bring some added sophistication to the frames and the art itself.

Supplies:

  • Gold paint (I got Martha Stewart brand multi-surface craft paint)
  • Masking tape
  • Small foam paint brush
  • Sand paper

First, I taped off my corners. The glass (or in this case, plastic) inside my frames is glued to the inside, so I couldn’t simply remove it and just tape the frame. I had to tape both the edges of where my gold corners would end up and the plastic surface as well. To make my corners  even, I used a ruler and measured/placed them two inches in length from the outside edge.

After all of the taping was finished, I took some medium grit sandpaper and roughed up the taped-off corners. This step helped with giving the paint something to “grab” onto. I highly recommend this step – I thought maybe I could get away with not sanding and went ahead and painted three out of four corners on one of my frames, but ended up having to give them an extra coat of paint in the end. So sand, sand, sand for best results!

Time for the paint – I brushed on a thin coat of the metallic paint between the masking tape and then allowed for 30 to 45 minutes of dry time between. I had the TV on in the background for my multiple coats to keep me occupied. I didn’t end up counting, but I think it took about four or five layers of paint for the corners to look good and gold – It probably depends on the material of your frame (wood vs. metal vs. plastic). When you can’t see the color of your frame through the paint, you are good to go.

Here’s a quick photo progression of the first couple of coats:

From this close up below, you might be able to see some scratches from sanding the surface of the frame through the paint. Don’t worry if you can see this – After you get a few coats of paint on and it dries, the texture will even out to a smooth finish.

And now for the final reveal of the gold-on-black frame collection:

I think the new golden corners add so much interest, more than I could have even anticipated. The frames originally cost me about $10 apiece and the gold paint, only $1.99. For a total of about $11 each, this project really transformed the look of the collection – Of course, it’s just my opinion, but I think they look much more expensive now. So excited about the end result!

To try to convince you further, here’s a little side-by-side action of the frame before, and then after with newly-painted corners. I think the gold really pulls out the warm tones of the print too (speaking of, these photos came from Honeytree Etsy shop).

In fact, I love the collection so much more now, that I plan on beefing up the area. If you can’t tell, they are hung in our master bedroom – We recently received the shelf pointed out below as a generous wedding gift. I think I’d like to center the leaning shelf on the wall and then stack the prints, two each, on either side of the shelf. Of course, I’ll layer in all sorts of brass animals and bowls, etc. to carry that new gold tone throughout. Can’t wait to get that project styled and ready to share – Stay tuned.

Source: Crate and Barrel

Hope you all have a great beginning to your week…

Filed Under: DIY Projects, Simple Fixes, Inspiring, Weekly Pinspiration, Gifts, How-To, Bedroom Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Pinspiration Monday: Wedding sign

April 9, 2012 4 Comments

Only 19 days to go until the big day!!

With our wedding right around the corner, I am in “go” mode with all of the little details we still need to get done. There are a few more crafts that I want to finish up before April 28th, but luckily I was able to wrap up a few and call them DONE over the weekend. Today’s post will focus on a reclaimed pallet wood sign that I had my dad build for me. I’ve seen sweet little rustic wedding signs all over Pinterest when searching DIY wedding crafts, and knew that I just had to try it out for myself.

Source: Unknown

Source: True Connection (via Etsy)

Source: Southern Weddings

Sometime last year, John and I managed to snag some weathered pallet wood with big plans to use it in a neat way. Search “pallet wood” on Pinterest and you are bound to see miles-worth of scrollable projects using this inexpensive, pre-distressed wood. Unfortunately, no one aptly explained just how difficult it is to use. I don’t know if it was just our pallets or what, but the wood was nearly impossible to dismantle from the structure and kept breaking/splintering apart. We managed to save one slab of wood before John and I both gave up and took the rest of the pallet to the dump.

With that one little piece of wood in hand, I finally decided that it would be perfect for a weathered, rustic wedding sign – One with a little arrow to direct guests to the reception venue. So I asked my dad to cut the piece of wood in half and attach it to a stake, which is exactly what he did:

Alas, I forgot to mention that I actually wanted the weathered, darker side to be the front of the sign rather than the brighter, fresh-looking side. Here’s the sign flipped around so that you can see the more rustic edge on the back. You can probably notice the darker, almost gray coloration from sitting in the sun and rain for who knows how long. Love those rusty nail heads peeking through too.

So I bit the bullet and decided to flip the wood slats. I did mess up my dad’s beautifully calculated drill holes by flipping the wood around, but it’s still nice and steady in the end. Sorry dad!

Next, I needed to figure out what to write on the sign…I would have loved to put something like “Waller/Williams Wedding” or something descriptive, but I didn’t really have that much room. The wooden slat, once cut in half to create a rectangular sign big enough for writing, was only about a foot and a half across – Not a huge amount of space, and definitely not enough for a long cutesy phrase. So I opted for short and sweet and decided to write one single word across the sign: Wedding.

Not wanting to risk ruining the sign with a typo or botched design, I grabbed some black paint and a sheet of extra paper to practice. I painted the word both in print and in cursive and then asked the opinion of my sister who was in town for Easter. She immediately voted for print, so print it was.

I went slowly during this phase and did my best to take in the entire space visually while painting the words. I wanted to be sure I had enough room, so I just kept looking beyond the letter I was painting to envision the entire word on the sign. Somehow, I managed to fit the whole word and it seems pretty centered too.

Beneath the word, I painted on a simple arrow pointing to the left. My sister and I debated about which way to point the arrow since I’m not entirely sure where this sign will go, but my gut was telling me to make it go to the left so that’s where it went.

After painting another layer of white paint over each word and the arrow for a nice saturated color, we were all done.

I can’t wait to be able to share photos of all of these little crafts I’ve done once they are all situated and in-place at the wedding. Between this project, this project, this project and today’s post, I know it’s a little difficult to see how it will all come together, so I’ll definitely share the wedding photos once we get them back. Then you can truly see my vision.

Hope everyone enjoyed a lovely Easter weekend!

Filed Under: DIY Projects, Inspiring, Our Wedding, Simple Fixes, Weekly Pinspiration Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
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