Easy Chair Redo {on the cheap}

My sister picked up this cute little seat (is it a chair or a bench?) at an estate sale recently.  She really liked the lines but wasn't crazy about the fabric it was covered in.

Not being much into diy, she asked for my help recovering it.  Of course I said, "Yes!"  Just give me a reason to pull out my staple and glue guns, and I'm all over it.  So anyway, her style is a little global, Pier 1/World Market-ish.  For some reason rag rugs popped into my head and the next thing I knew Michelle was at Wally World picking up one of these beauties for under $5.00!

I stopped by her house with my supplies between running kids to summer activities, and in around 30 minutes she had this refreshed little accent piece.

We were both pretty happy with the way it turned out.  The rug seat will be super durable and the colors and texture lend itself well to her global aesthetic.

Now I'm seriously thinking of what else I can recover in a rag rug.

Tootles,

DIY Bunny Art

Hi All! First, I want to say thank you so much for all the wonderful comments you all left from the One Room Challenge.  What a fun experience that was!  Today I'm sharing a quick and easy art project I did for Teddie's nursery.

When I started thinking about decorating for our new baby girl I knew I wanted to include a print from The Animal Print Shop.  There are so many adorable images to choose from but to be honest, they are a little pricey for me.  The 8 x 10 prints are very reasonably priced at $25 I believe, but I wanted something larger than that.  The larger size options are limited edition prints that are priced into the hundreds, which is also a reasonable price for a limited edition fine art print.  I'm just not willing to sink that kind of money into art for a baby's room.

I looked all over online for something similar to no avail.  Enter H & M.  Yes!  I stumbled across these wall decals at H & M online while I was shopping for pillow covers.  I grabbed a frame and mat board from Michael's and had myself a cute little knock-off in no time!

Cut out decal~

Center it on mat~

Apply decal~

Smooth out air bubbles~ 

Voila!

That's a pretty nice savings for a similar effect I'd say!  The great part is I still have a cat and dog decal that will probably find homes in Norah and Isaac's rooms.  Three pieces of art for less than half of the price of one sounds like a great deal to me!

Tootles,

Decorative Serving Tray

Hi Everyone!  Today I'm sharing how I transformed an old wood tray into a customizable decorative serving tray.  When I bought the tray (years ago) it was a cherry color wood with silver handles.  Unfortunately I don't have a true before picture because I sprayed it white before I started this blog.  This is how it's looked for the past few months ~

I thought it needed to be warmed up a little...the bright white paint just looked like primer to me. I also didn't love the way the silver handles looked with the white.  As you can see I just had a scrap of fabric in the bottom which wasn't very functional.

So I sprayed the handles with my new favorite spray paint ~

It's Rust-Oleum metallic brass.

The tray itself also got a fresh coat of paint in a warmer heirloom white. I wanted to add some color or pattern to the inside of the tray but I also like to be able to change things up depending on the season, holiday...or my mood. So instead of painting or decoupaging, I picked up some scrapbook paper and cut a piece of glass to size.

Now I'm able to easily change the look of the tray just by switching out the the decorative paper ~

The glass protects the paper, is easy to wipe clean, and gives it a nice finished look.  You can pick up a piece of glass very inexpensively from your local frame shop or hardware store.  Just make sure the measurement you give them is around 1/8" to 1/4" smaller than the actual opening so that you can get the glass in and out without any hassle, and to avoid scraping up your paint job.

And there you go ~ a decorative serving tray that is completely customizable! A super easy way to bring different accent colors and pattern into your room whenever the season, holiday, or your mood changes!

I hope your week is off to a great start! We are loving this taste of spring we've had here in the Midwest this week, it's been wonderful!

Tootles,

Sarah

*I'm linking this project up to some of these great blogs... 

Love is in the Air

Valentine's Day isn't a holiday that I usually go all out decorating for. Most years I put something on the front door a few days before the 14th and that's about it. This year I've been having fun putting little decorative touches here and there around the house. I spent some time this weekend working on this little vignette ~

This is what this cabinet looks like most of the time~

I rounded up some things I had around the house and came up with this cute little display~

The branch with tissue paper buds was something I made for my sister's baby shower this past summer. Of course, I couldn't bring myself to throw it away afterward, so it's been hanging out in my daughter's room.
I embellished an old mason jar and photo holder with paper doilies and yarn~

 I added some romantic vintage postcards that I've had for years~

I propped up a weathered board to cover the art on the wall and added....you guessed it...a paper doily, yarn and postcards~

I pulled out an old antique frame to display this yarn ball garland that I made a la Courtney at A Little Glass Box~
 

I made a second garland to hang from the front of the cabinet.  These by far are my favorite part of my little vignette!  Courtney has an Etsy shop where she sells her cute yarn ball garlands, you should definitely check it out!

 Have a great week!
Tootles,

I'm linking up! Tatertots & Jello 

Six Sisters' Stuff

A Little Inspiration

Mama Mia's Heart2Heart

Under the Table and Dreaming

Positively Splendid 

Skip to My Lou  

Singing Three Little Bird

Mod Vintage Life 

The Girl Creative
Embellishing Life 
DIY Home Sweet Home
Lines Across My Face
Someday Crafts
Trendy Treehouse
It's Overflowing 
JAQS Studio
52 Mantels

A Line-A-Day Journal

This is one of the very first projects I pinned when I first got on Pinterest last spring. It's such a great idea, and so simple!

The Pin-spiration via Design Sponge

My version

The idea is to write a one line entry each day and just keep rotating through the cards every year.  It will be so fun five years from now to see what we did or my thoughts for that specific day.  I made one of these for each of my sisters for Christmas and one for myself.  I got the cute little berry crates from Anthropology and picked our vintage postcard stock at the shop for the dividers.  I picked up a date stamp and some index cards (that I cut in half) from the office supply store, and there ya have it!

Vintage postcards used for monthly dividers

Now, if I can just stay disciplined enough to write on it everyday I'll be in good shape!

Have a great weekend!
Tootles,

I'm linking up at Home Stories A to Z

 Lines Across My Face

Valentine's wreath

Hi there! I suppose I'll just jump right in and do a tutorial for my first-ever blog post! Let's see how it goes...

I've been on sort of a wreath making kick over the past year. It's fun to mix it up a bit on the front door depending on the season or holiday. I just finished up a fabric wrapped wreath for Valentine's day. Here's how it turned out~

First, gather up your materials....I used a straw wreath, various fabric, some vintage buttons, black ric-rac, and a metal "B" -our last name initial. Oh, and don't forget your trusty glue gun.

I ended up switching out the glittery heart for the black "B"

Tear your main fabric into 2"-3" strips.  Glue one end to the wreath and start wrapping.  When one strip ends, just line up a new strip with the end of the previous strip and tack it down with some glue.

Once you have the wreath completely wrapped, you can embellish however you like.  I did some rosettes and a little pom-pomish thing that kind of just happened.  To make a rolled fabric rosette, tear a 2" piece of fabric and fold in half.  Tie a knot at one end and begin twisting/folding and rolling tacking in place with glue as you go.  For the red felt rosettes cut a circle out of your sheet of felt.  Start cutting in a spiral until you get close to the center.  Then start rolling and tacking with glue from the center and work your way outward.  I stuck a shiny black button in the center of mine.

Next just figure out an arrangement for all your doo-dads and glue them on.  Here's how mine looked at this point.

All you need now is a strip of fabric to use to hang your wreath. I added some black ric-rac to mine. I also hung the metal letter I picked up from Hobby Lobby by stringing a narrow strip of fabric through the existing hanger on the "B" and attached it to the wreath.

Ta-Dah!  A cute, personalized wreath for my front door!

 

I'm thinking I may need to paint the "B" red so it stands out better against my dark door.  Here's a pic of it hanging against a white cupboard in the kitchen.

Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope you'll come back often!

Tootles,

 
I'm linking up at Tatertots & Jello  , Positively Splendid, Itsy Bitsy Paper, Six Sisters Stuff
Home Stories A to Z, The Girl Creative , Lines Across My Face