Burlap Monogram Wreath

I planned to make a burlap monogrammed wreath to hang on the front door for Emmie's shower, but unfortunately the wooden monogram didn't arrive on time.  I went ahead and made the wreath anyways and plan on mailing it to Emmie to use in Eliza Blair's nursery.  

I followed the tutorial from this blog and it was pretty easy to make. Because of my endless supply of burlap (which is actually sadly starting to dwindle) I only had to buy a few items.  I bought a styrofoam wreath form, straight pins, ribbon and the wooden monogram, which I purchased off of etsy. 

I started by wrapping the styrofoam wreath in burlap, then I cut 4 inch x 4 inch squares of burlap for the burlap "bubbles".  

Next I folded each square corner to corner and then folded the other two corners in and pinned it to the wreath.  

I continued the folding and pinning process and a few episodes of Keeping up with the Kardashians later, I was done. As you can tell from the above picture, Buford was intrigued by this project. I'm pleased with the way it turned out! I bought an extra wreath form and am planning on making one for our front door for the fall.

Guest Bedroom Headboard

Remember my $25 Goodwill find? Well, we are done refinishing the headboard and the bedroom is finally complete and put together at this point. We started by sanding down the entire head & footboard and then primed it.  

Next, James made a few changes to the headboard.  He added extra wood onto the legs to make it taller and added piece of wood across the middle to make it more structurally sound.

Then I painted the head and footboard Bennington Gray by Benjamin Moore. I prefer the lightened up look to the previous wood finish.

Finished product  

Next, I will be making an upholstered headboard with nailhead trim for our other guest room.  You could say I've been a bit headboard happy lately...

No-Sew Curtains

The third bedroom has been at the top of our to-do list lately, and this past weekend was no different. Once the bedroom was painted I turned my focus to this monstrosity:

                                       

This unit was existing in our third bedroom when James purchased the house and it serves as great storage, which is why we haven't torn it down.  While it does provide a good place to put things, I have been wanting to cover it up so that I wouldn't have to keep it neat and organized all the time.  The other annoying thing about the shelving unit is that as soon as you walk through the door, the left side of the unit is directly in front of you--not the greatest first impression or the most welcoming entry. When brainstorming about curtains, I knew I wanted a curtain that could cover the front of the unit and continue around the side with no gaps in between.  Since I knew I was going to be making the curtains myself, I just needed to find some hardware that would accomplish this look.

Ikea sells some curtain hardware that has an attachable bendable piece that can literally bend however you need it to.  Which was exactly what we needed in order to continue the rod around the corner of the unit. Figuring out the pieces you need can be a little overwhelming since they are all sold separately. I would highly recommend drawing out your measurements on a diagram to bring with you. Thankfully James, the handy analytical one, was with me and was able to figure it all out.  The hardware we purchased is shown below. 

Meet my new friend Bendy

Because I was planning on making no-sew curtains, we also bought 3 packs of clip on curtain rings. I had James mount the hardware while I put together the rods.

As you can see, with the connector piece, the rod will continue around as one continuous piece to hide the side of the unit.

Once we got all of the hardware up it was time to tackle the making of the no-sew curtains.  I went down to Forsyth Fabrics and came home with 7.5 yards of this brown and white cane print fabric.

When measuring out how much fabric was needed to cover the unit I first measured the height (88") and then added 2 inches to the measurement. Each panel was standard fabric width of 54".  In order to create a straight edge or seam, you have to fold each side in by one inch and adhere the stitch witchery, or hem tape. Before ironing on the hem tape, I folded the fabric over and ironed it to make a crease.  Once I had a straight edge, I ironed over the hem tape to fuse the fabric together creating finished edges on all four edges.  Keep in mind, I was planning on hanging these curtains with the clip on curtain rings, so I did not have to leave room for a rod at the top.  

All in all, the project took the better part of the afternoon, but I was really pleased with the way they turned out.  

View from the hallway looking into the room

Curtains opened

Curtains closed to hide all of the clutter

Moroccan Tile Pattern

We have been tackling some big projects lately. We don't have much storgage space in our house, so our third bedroom has served as a catch-all storage room for the last year or so.  James and my dad recently started building a shed in our backyard (a separate post and pictures on the shed to come) so that we could actually utilize our third bedroom.  We have officially cleared out and painted the third bedroom. The third bedroom used to be a hideous dark blue color that just had to go, so we painted it this greige color.

Linen by Eddie Bauer for Valspar (the top color)

We had a spare full bed lying around, and I was originally planning on having James build this reclaimed wood headboard, until we took a little trip to Goodwill last weekend. We weren't really looking for anything in particular, but I ended up finding this treasure:

A $25 head and footboard with moroccan tile detailing.  I am obsessed.  I plan on sanding it down and repainting it. I'm thinking I will paint it a darker greige than the walls.  After we got this gem home, I started looking around the house and realizing I may or may not have a slight moroccan tile pattern obsession.  Case in point:

Tray on our coffee table

Pierced ginger jar on our built in bookshelves

Fabric covered letters

Master headboard fabric

By the way, have you seen my blog background.  Yeah.... so I may or may not have a problem.  I can't wait to see how the headboard looks when it is done, not to mention the whole room. I plan on taking pictures as I go. Hopefully I will have a finished product post sooner than later. I'm heading out tomorrow in search of fabric for curtains in the third bedroom. Don't worry, they won't be moroccan tile patterned.  

Burlap Matted Frame

Ever since Aidan & Jinna Anne's rehearsal dinner I have had quite the surplus of burlap.  I've been stalking pinterest to find burlap craft ideas.  I recently found an idea to re-create these burlap matted frames from Pottery Barn. The Pottery Barn burlap frames cost $39 for an 8x10 frame and I was able to recreate them for free with the burlap and a frame I had laying around. 

Frame Before with a plain white mat

Supplies needed: Burlap, Spray Adhesive, Scissors and a pencil.

First lightly trace the frame onto the burlap in pencil

Next cut the traced burlap out

Finally spray the mat with spray adhesive and carefully place the burlap on top

Finished product: after placing the burlap mat and picture into the frame 

I love the way they turned out! I may just have to make one or five more.  

Monogrammed Beverage Buckets

Awhile ago we purchased these white buckets from Lowe's to hold ice and drinks when we have company over.  

I decided that I wanted to add a monogram to the buckets... just because that's what I do.  Basically, my motto is, when in doubt, add a monogram.  I'm not kidding, James is worried that if I buy a monogramming machine, he will come home to every single pair of his socks and boxers monogrammed.  I feel like that is a little excessive, but you never know...

I ended up finding a website that offers 3 large custom acrylic monograms for $24. The great thing about the website is that you don't have to order 3 of the same monogram-- so you could purchase one for yourself and the other two you could give away as gifts.  The process of transferring the monograms to the buckets was pretty simple.  The acrylic stickers come with instructions and you just have to be careful to center the sticker and transfer the it to the bucket slowly to avoid bubbles.  

So just to recap, the buckets are from Lowe's and cost $10 each, the monogrammed stickers were $8 a piece, and the project literally took 5 minutes to complete.  I think that's pretty good for a customized look that we will be able to use for all kinds of entertaining.

Lamp Revamp

I was feeling crafty this morning, so I decided to give the lamps in our bedroom a revamp.  Here they are before:

Nothing special, just basic white lamp shades.  I was never a fan of the yellow light they cast. So I headed down to the fabric store this morning in search of fabric and jute trim.  On my way back, I stopped at Michael's to pick up spray adhesive and fabric glue. 

First I traced the lamp shade onto the fabric using a pencil. I started at the seam, and slowly rolled the lampshade, tracing as I went. Shout out to James who was trying to work while I was doing this little project and had to put up with me nagging him to take pictures for the blog.  I mean obviously, documentation for the blog is much more important than tying out a financial statement for a multi-million dollar company.

Once I cut the two pieces of fabric out, I moved the project outside for James' sanity to avoid getting fumes inside the house.  Starting at the seam, I sprayed the lampshade with the spray adhesive and attached the fabric making sure to smooth out as I went to avoid bubbles.  

After the lampshades were dry, I cut off the excess fabric and glued the jute trim onto the top and bottom of the shades using the fabric glue.  

Finished Product:

I'm happy with the way the lampshades turned out.  It's funny how small details can make all the difference.