Empty wall space above the TV

Our TV is up along a wall that is next to our fireplace and built ins. I left this space empty for at least a year and a half because nothing seemed to work there.  I wanted something up there that wouldn't look too busy with accessories in the built ins.  Yesterday I finally decided to just try something up there and see how I like it.  I have boatloads of extra wood in my garage so made a reclaimed plank to make a sign out of but couldn't figure out what to write on there that I would want my family and friends and myself look at every.single.day. 

The hubs helped me with this project which I rarely let him do but we had a nice time creating something together.  It was our anniversary which made it more special. 

We constructed the sign by cutting the ends clean so they would attached together well and then just used some wood glue and screws to keep the seams together. 

Through the awesomeness of Pinterest I found a suggestion to use soda tops for hangers which worked perfectly.  For the fabric on top, I just tore an old pillowcase into strips, twisted, and stapled to the back of Michaels $1 wood frames.  Then measured equal distance on wood board and hung nails.  Popped in some cool images from Arhaus catalog for now (will likely put family pictures in later) and Voila. Wall art.  Not sure if it jives with the style we have going in the room but have learned that decorating is an evolution and am going with it.

Fun easy project and only cost $4 for the frames and a pit of patience. 

Conquering fears

I don't know about you but up until about a year ago I had a HUGE fear of creating.  Yes, its a VERY silly fear but it was a strong one for me.  It was a fear of making it ugly or messing it up and I just hate wasting money.  I get that you have to try things and make mistakes to improve and succeed at things but when I fail the first time it frustrates me. 

I joined a Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) group last year who had a PINTEREST club.  I still can't believe I showed up to actually make crafts in a public setting.  I was determined to make some new friends after moving and thought they might wear off on me.  I created and failed and hung my head in shame.  I was jealous of the beautiful and carefree creations that my friends had made.  Looking back I feel like it was just what I needed though.  In the back of my head I have always wanted to be that crafty person and was being held back by my own fear and my silly idea of creating something 'perfect.'  I recently decided just to go for it and see what happens.  I have made a couple of different things like wreaths, ornaments and wood pumpkins, things I have never made before and while not 'perfect' they are a part of me and accept them.  I can proudly say that a boutique is selling a book wreath for me on consignment and I took the leap and opened a etsy shop. 

Here is my shop if you are interested in checking it out
HeatherBorerDesigns

Excited about the escape of this side of me and looking forward to where I go from here.  With whatever holds you back, be brave and just go for it!!!  It feels great to be on the other side

Painted wooden spoons

The holidays always gets me in the crafting mood.  I love giving handmade gifts and hope that the recipients enjoy them too.  I also should start now for this year so I am not up till midnight cranking gifts out!

I found the wooden spoons at Dollar Tree and then taped them off with Frog Tape as I wanted the lines to be super crisp.  I painted one color with acrylic paint, waited for it to dry and then did the next.  To protect them I used food safe shellac (most hardware stores carry, I got mine at Home Depot) on the handles. 

Merry Christmas in July!





Whoo is looking at you?

A very dear friend of mine had a baby, 8 months ago!! With two kids of my own its been difficult to find the time to make something handmade for this special little girl.  I honestly had planned on sending it months ago!  I can proudly say now that the gift has been shipped and can't wait for her to receive it.  The baby owls come out and hopefully will provide hours and years of entertainment and love.  All fabric was purchased at Joanne fabric.

I also sent a upcycled headband (made from a t-shirt) using this tutorial from Delicate Construction.  To make this type of flower just ruffle it a bit and leave off center button.

Happy crafting!

Buying new patio pillows but recover some instead?

With the warm weather I started getting the outdoor decorating bug.  I wanted to spend time outdoors but HATED our patio.  Old ugly iron table wasn't working for me, I had dreams of relaxing on a sectional patio reading stories to my girls and cuddling with my family.  Searched hi and lo for something that was in my price range that wasn't insanely ugly.  After much debate we settled on this Sandhill 7 piece sectional from Walmart.

We love it.  Its comfortable, assembled easily and seems to work in the space.  They included 3 neutral lumber pillows but wanted some color so started looking for some fun pillows.  Couldn't seem to find anything in the store that I liked or even coordinated very well. So being the DIY chick and garage sale addict I am realized, sew them woman!  Ordered some cute fabric from fabric.com (whom I adore, so much fabric candy there) and between a couple of garage sale outdoor pillows for guts, tada!   All the pillows with fabric set me back about $35.  Not bad considering I could have bought just 2 from any retail store.  BTW- Make sure you use outdoor foam or inserts for your pillows.  If you use regular throw pillows they will mold inside.  You can find these at any fabric store for about $5 a piece on sale. 

Richloom Solarium Solar Outdoor Cherry

Richloom Solarium Outdoor Sahalie Garden

Richloom Solarium Outdoor Zinger Kiwi



Oh, and to make sure this beauty lasts, I picked up some of this Thompsons WaterSeal Fabric Seal to hopefully keep the colors bright and waterproof.  This stuff is different than regular scotch guard and has UV protectant in it.  Only place I could find it was at Lowes and ran about $8.

Tree Stump Table vs. Ceramic stool

I love ceramic stools.  They are pretty and have a pretty shape.   I love them but now that I have been a mom for 4 years have learned not to always buy pretty things, I just end up crying.  I just know some kid during a playdate, or my own would take this out and break it.

Source - $225

I have seen the tree stump tables floating in blogland so thought I would give it a go.  I was planning on using it next to my fireplace but it was too short and I will be damned I didn't lug that huge heavy stump home in my car racing home before naptime for nothin'!  It works pretty well outdoors on my patio. I followed the steps on one of my favorite blogs bowerpowerblog.com. 

Love this picture of the hubs and my oldest sandin' away. 

Makes me so happy that this little baby cost me just a bit of gas money, sandpaper and outdoor poly.  West elm sells for $200! Craziness.


My version $10

West Elm
 

What is green with brown all over?

I have officially fired my husband from lawn care and I am taking over, like most other things.  This is our first year as homeowners and we are transplants from the northeast so we clearly have no idea how to keep a green grass, let alone the fact that we live in bone dry and hot Colorado. 

We had a NASTY case of crabgrass last year which I was determined to not let it come back in the spring and got the Scotts Crabgrass control and it worked like a charm. Awesome I thought, just water this baby and fertilize in the spring and fall and we are good to go.  Nope.  Some brown spots started creeping up and getting bigger.  Frick! So tried watering a bit more. Can't water the heck out of it due to water restrictions from the drought we are in so almost gave up. 

Saw my neighbor doing some pretty unpleasant yard work so stopped by to say hello and he said, yep, fungus. FUNGUS! What?! Yep, lots of work.  Kill, rake, reseed, topsoil.  sigh.  So dragged my 4 and 2 year old girls over to our neighborhood Home Depot (so happy its only a 3 min drive).  All ready to get my seed and go and the sales guy, who oddly enough used to be a car salesman tried convincing me to use Revive instead.  I was planning on treating the grass like a fungus now totally confused on direction I should go.  GRRRR.   Why is there no easy formula to this lawn crap!   So threw down the $20 for this experiment.  Fingers crossed the easy way wins! 

Deadness

More deadness



PUURDY!  This is the goal!

Masking Tape Wrapped Canvas

I was planning on returning these 3 canvas prints to Ikea because after getting them home they felt a little too colorless once I got them in the room.  Then I said, DIY! 

Idea 1: Wrap edges in ribbon but couldn't find the right color green. 
Idea 2:  Paint but terrified that if it looked horrible it was permanent and then would have an ugly piece of art. 

Thinking...more thinking....
Idea 3:  I realized that I could get the same look by painting some masking tape.

I got a large picture that had glass in it and cut four 31' strips of tape for my 30"x30" canvas and put tape on top of glass.  I mixed some acrylics that I had until I was happy with the green.  Painted on a couple of coats, let it dry and then trimmed out the canvas.  To remove the paint from the glass just used a razor blade and scraped at an angle.

TIP:  Make a bit more mixed paint before applying.  It seemed like the more paint I added to the tape it would lose some stickiness. 

It now has a little bit more life in the room and the color on the canvas are temporary so it can be switched out when tired of this look. Score!

Rosette Book Wreath

I was planning on going to bed early one night when I decided to quickly look at Pinterest before turning in. BIG MISTAKE.  Found this little guy and couldn't wait to make it after seeing a friends book wreath that she had made. 

I couldn't get the Home Depot fast enough (so awesome that they are a 3 minute drive away) to get some of this foam pipe insulation to make the wreath part and make this baby for $1! 

http://www.thepennyparlor.com/2010/09/coffee-filter-wreath.html

I curled it into a round shape and duct taped and then put it away to get started on the rosettes.  I discovered the next day that I had used REALLY old duct tape and there was not a big crease in the bottom.  GRR..  Once creased you are done. Fail. 

Plan B, go to Home Depot and buy yet another piece of insulation and try again or just go to Michaels (5 minute drive), pay a little more but save the aggravation of it not working again.  Went to Michaels and got a Styrofoam circle which was a little smaller than what I wanted but I was frustrated and wanted to start this silly project.

On to the rosettes.   Not gonna lie.  These little buggers took a couple of hours.  Totally worth the wait but hard for people like me who live for instant gratification with crafts.  Cut circle, cut in spiral, roll, glue repeat.  Do this until you are sick of doing it and then a little bit more. 

TIP:  Before you glue on the rosettes, be sure to wrap the Styrofoam or foam with strips of pages so you will just see pages if you don't get them super tight together or have a gap.

Here is my after, it needs some color and the light tan wall it is on is not the best backdrop.  I may add seasonal things inside like birds for spring or a colorful ribbon but here she is today in my entryway.  My total cost was around $4 but insulated a basement pipe too!!

DIY end table - my Ana White "Clara"

I love Ana White, not only because she saves me money but what an amazing story.  I used to be terrified of using tools and now I puff out when I am walking around my favorite Lowe's or Home Depot store picking up supplies and wood.  I have built a couple of things using her plans and oh what fun.  Seriously, if you haven't gotten tried it, go out to that garage now and start playing.  Nothing cooler than building something with your hands and having your kids cheer you on. 

I was planning on just buying a table from a store but found the Ana White "Clara" table and it had the look I wanted.  It is a kids size table and just sized it up for a large end table which I wasn't able to find in the stores.  Easy peasy!  Well may not have been if I hadn't ponied up for the Kreg Jig, which helps to screw things together from the back and underneath.  Didn't even have to use wood glue!!  Table maaayybbe cost me $20 after using stock wood and fits my space. I needed my table to be 30" x 30" roughly so used a couple of 1x6 (really 1x5.5") and squished them together since wood doesn't come that large in 1 big piece. Thank you friend for loaning me your mitre saw with a laser.  Can do with a circular saw too but mitre makes it so much easier.

Instructions:

1.  Figure out how large your table need to be

2.  Cut legs same length 

3.  Cut wood to go in between legs to support

4.  Cut couple of pieces of top of table

5.  Assemble with screws

6.  Sand with 80 grit, then 120, then 220 so smooth and stains correctly

7.  Stain.  I used dark walnut

8.  Protect with poly.  I used semi gloss

Ana White table

FREE Interior Design help

Ok girls, here is the offer of a lifetime! 

I just purchased my first home and have enjoyed decorating my new place and spending hours on Pinterest looking for the perfect furniture, accents, and colors. I understand the frustration and time that sometimes can go with setting up house but have also enjoyed it so much I am starting my own decor business.

Let me help you create the room of YOUR dreams. Give your house a soul by putting your touches into it. I can help with anything from picking a paint color, choosing furniture or placement, wall art, etc. I have a soft spot for DIY so I also help with limited budgets. I can sew too if you want custom bedskirts, curtains, and throw pillows.

Room mood board including sources - First 5 people to respond this month I will do for FREE!! ($25 value)

Send me an email or leave me a comment and let me know how I can help. Seriously, what do you have to lose?

I look forward to working with you!
Heather