Let There Be Lights!

When we moved into the house there were some pretty interesting (read: ugly) lights that we immediately wanted to get rid of.

 

We immediately got to shopping for some replacements.

This is the light we got to replace #1, it was only $8 on clearance at Lowe's!

It doesn't put out a ton of light but I love the way it looks.

The replacement above the sink for light #2.

We got this at the local Habitat for Humanity ReStore and it was only $15!

An added bonus is that it puts out a ton of light and really brightens up dish-washing!

Replacement for ugly light #3. We had to get a specific light for this space because it needed to sit below the beam. This was the most expensive light we got and cost around $40.

This is the replacement for ugly light #4. We bought this in a 2-pack for $20.

New lights for #s 5 and 6. These lights are so much better than the outdoor lights that were in there.

We debated in the light aisle of Home Depot for a half an hour about whether the lights should point up or down. A helpful employee came along and suggested we point them up due to light coming from the ceiling. Definitely the right pick, I love how they look.

This is the other light from our 2-pack, it is in the middle of the kitchen. I don't have a before picture and actually can't even remember what was there.

The last new light we put in. We got this at the ReStore for $5. It started white and we gave it a nice coat of oil-rubbed bronze (post coming soon).

These lights made a huge difference in updating our house. We still have some of those old lights available if anyone is interested ;-) We actually heard they were worth money but I haven't been able to find them anywhere.

Easy Handmade Curtains

I have sewn 3 curtains for our house so far. Two of them were fairly easy and the other one ended up being quite the task.

The first curtain I made was for the kitchen window over the sink, I wanted to add a bright pop of color to the white cabinets. The yellow chevron fabric my cousin bought but didn't use ended up working out perfectly.

My aunt has had the pattern for this curtain for years. It is cut out on heavy paper and you can make the pattern smaller by folding it in the middle (or vice versa). We sized the pattern up to the window then cut out the fabric with some extra for 1/4 inch seam allowance. Then, I put the fabric right sides together, sewed them with a 1/4 inch seam allowance (leaving about 3 inches open at the top for turning), turned it right side out, sewed the opening closed, and that was it!

We hung it with a very simple curtain rod and clips because you can't see that part from the front anyway.

I have been searching for a yellow bowl for the table but the search continues!

In our living room we have two sets of windows. One is the big corner window that helped sell us on the house.

The other window sits back behind where we have the couch and is a much smaller window.

The window on the right in this picture (I guess that view was forgotten).

For the big picture window, we bought panels at Lowe's. We hung them about 3 inches from the beams so they just hit the baseboard heat. There are curtains on each end and one stationary curtain in the middle. they don't cover the whole window but added some bright color to our very light walls.

For the smaller window, we wanted the same curtains but didn't want to do full panels again. So I bought an extra panel at Lowe's and made a simple valance out of it. To do this, I measured the window and cut the size out of the panel (I ended up having to turn the panel on its side but you can't really tell because it is a geometric pattern). I hemmed the edges and made a curtain rod pocket. The fabric was actually really hard to work with and kept fraying but I didn't have a choice because I wanted it to match the other windows.

Next up was a curtain for our half bathroom.

This is the best picture I have of the window.

My mom had some fabric left over from her kitchen curtains that went along with the grey in the bedroom. We wanted a curtain that would cover the whole window if we wanted it to but also roll up to let light in. I am going to save the whole process for another post but here is how it came out and I love it. I would change a few small things but overall it came out great for a first attempt!

We added privacy window frosting to the bottom so we could still use the bathroom with the curtain up.

Phew.. 3 down, only 7 more windows to go!

DIY Floating Shelves for $30!

I absolutely LOVE gallery walls and all the possibilities that come along with them. I, however, do not love the idea of putting a bunch of holes in the wall (especially since I change my mind often and detest filling nail holes). I found some ideas on Pinterest for using shelves to create a gallery wall. Ana White's floating shelves (featured on Young House Love) are beautiful but I wasn't sure I would be able to convince Jason to take on the project. The postcard ledges that Young House Love recently featured were closer to the project I thought we could handle but they were just a little small for holding picture frames. I found these shelves on Save It For a Rainy Day and loved the size of them, much closer to the idea I had in my head.

Luckily, Jason's dad is pretty handy, especially when it comes to woodworking so he had some ideas on how we could make exactly what I wanted without spending a ton of money. Here is what we decided to do:

The first step was deciding how many and how long we wanted the shelves to be, we had a pretty big wall in the living room to fill. We used painter's tape to plan out the shelves.

I left enough room on the height of the shelves so they could all fit an 8x10 picture frame and I left enough room under the shelves for eventually putting a bench or table on that wall.

We ended up with 6 shelves:

• 1'6"
• 2'
• 2'
• 3'
• 4'
• 4'6"

We went Lowe's to buy rough cut 2x6 boards, plus a few extra feet just in case. The hardest part was finding boards that were relatively straight. Jason cut the boards to the lengths we needed for the shelves.

Jason and his dad then routed out key hole slots in the back of the shelves for mounting. We tried to space them out so they would hit studs in the wall and ended up with 2-4 key holes depending on the size of the shelf.

They also used a router with a V-shaped bit to put a groove in the top of each shelf for frames to sit in to make sure they wouldn't fall off. Last, they used the router to round off the edges of each shelf (so they would look a little less like 2x6's hanging on the wall).

Then, I got to work on sanding each shelf with a palm sander.

 Before staining them, we put the drywall screws in the wall. To hang them, we used a level to make a straight line across the painter's tape and mark where each key hole was on the wall.

About 90% of the key holes lined up with studs. Each shelf hit at least 1 stud and the long shelves all hit at least 2. They are pretty sturdy, good for holding frames. I wouldn't recommend pulling or hanging on them (obviously).

I got to work staining the shelves. We went back and forth on either painting them black or staining them dark and finally decided on on stain since all the frames were going to be black.

I used Minwax Gel Stain in Red Elm. This stain was pretty easy to work with, especially for what we were doing. The hardest part was stirring to make sure all the chunks were out. I used a foam brush to apply, waited 24 hours between each coat, and did 3 coats to get the dark color I wanted.

The final coat took 3 days to completely dry before we were able to hang them on the wall. Then FINALLY..

I LOVE LOVE LOVE how them came out. We need to get more frames up there to fill them out but this is exactly what I was hoping for. 

Total cost of this project: $30!!

And finished just in time for the Pinterest Challenge hosted by Young House Love, Bower Power, The Remodeled Life, and Decor And The Dog.

Canvas Art

When we moved into the house we were in need of some cheap art for the walls. Pinterest is full of ideas for DIY canvas art, so that is what I did!

First, I did chevron art for one of the spare bedrooms inspired by this link.

I didn't get any in-progress pictures of this project but I used 2 different sizes of painter's tape and a square to make the angles. I painted the purples on with a foam brush and used acrylic paint. If you look closely, the lines aren't perfect but they look great in the room.

Here they are hanging in the bedroom. 

For our bedroom, I used this link as a guide to make another canvas. 

I'm very bad at getting photos during projects apparently. But I used thick painter's tape and a level to get the lines relatively even (similar to the picture above). Then I used a foam brush and acrylic paint to paint the entire canvas. I was careful around the edges of tape so the paint didn't bleed through.

The final project hanging above our bed.

I did one more set of canvases for my mom for Christmas. I liked the flower idea from this blog but needed something bigger because the wall my mom plans on putting it on is large. First I painted both canvases with acrylic paint and the cut a ton of ovals out of scrapbook paper using an oval punch (this saved a ton of time). I laid out what I wanted the flower to look like then started to glue the petals down starting at the center and working my way out. At the end, I went over the top with modge podge to seal it all in.

These will hang side by side in an extra bedroom at my mom's house. 

I have 2 canvases left from the multi-pack I bought so I'm trying to figure out a plan for them. One is going to hang on the other side of the bed, I just have to decide what I want to do with it.