Magnetic

Some of you (ok, one person) asked what I was going to do with the rest of the dollar store magnetic sheet (check out the first project HERE).  Good point, what was I going to do with it?!

I racked my brain for a creative way to use the magnetic sheet, and came up with a groundbreaking idea.  I would make magnets, ha!  Sometimes the most obvious ideas are the best.  I picked up these little wooden squares from Hobby Lobby for a couple of dollars.

I decided to tape each of the squares at a variety of different angles and paint them with some paint leftover from a couple of other projects.  I love using the retro egg cups for small paint projects.  You can put the water in the egg bit and the paint around the outside.  It reminds me so much of craft time when I was little.

Then is was just a matter of decided which colours to use.

I like the nautical/flag like way they turned out.

Now I need to decide what to do with the rest of the little wooden squares.  Help!  I'm caught in a vicious cycle of leftover craft crap!

 Kate

xxx

 

Super Size Cross Stitch

Do you ever start a project and fall in love with it immediately?  That's exactly how I felt throughout my latest project.  Something about it was just so therapeutic.

Let me start by saying, I have never cross stitched before.  Ever.  I haven't let that stop me in any of my other projects (thank goodness for YouTube) and I wasn't about to start now.

All of the funky/retro cross stitch I have seen on Etsy and Pinterest got me thinking about creating my own version.  This one by Glitter and Wit really caught my eye. 

But I wanted something bigger.  No, make that BIGGER!

I started thinking about what type of canvas I could use to create my super sized cross stitch and came up with the idea of a pegboard.  It is cheap, can be cut to size and has the holes pre drilled.  My next stop was Home Depot where I picked up this 2' by 4' board for only $6.

By this point my imagination was in overdrive. I had a million different ideas about what image to create, and still might splash out on another peg board just so I can try some more options:

spell out Love
or Guest (to go above the bed in the guest room)
or Wash for the laundry room
an arrow with Exit below it for the hallway
an allover pattern - maybe a chevron (could also be used as a headboard)
paint the board a dark colour and use a white yarn (this would better disguise the remaining holes)

I initially decided to go with "Guest" and I started out by trying to sketch the letters onto the back of the board. 

Mistake number one.  I quickly learned that a grid was the way to go to work out what I was going to cross stitch.  I counted out the holes on my pegboard and made a grid by resizing an Excel sheet with the same number of squares.  I really wanted it to look like script, so changed my plan to "hello".  I had bought some brown fuzzy yarn about 6 months ago from Big Lots for only $1 a ball.  As with most things I end up buying, I had no idea at the time what I was going to use it for, but the thickness and texture were perfect for my over sized cross stitch.

Like a giant fuzzy caterpillar.

After the first night it was beginning to take shape.  I'm sure someone who was an accomplished cross-stitcherererer could knock this out in a night.  The fuzz on the carpet when I was finished was crazy, it looked like little Murph had been shaved! I'm amazed there was an fuzziness left! 

It took me 2 nights in total to complete it - luckily it was easy to pull out any mistakes or areas that didn't look quite right and correct them.  Had I had more yarn I would have made the Ls a little taller and had planned to do an extended loop into the H and out of the O. 

I do love how it turned out, especially as the whole thing came in under $10.

A super sized canvas called for an extra thick yarn.

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Kate

xxx



Red or Dead

In an effort to get a few more things checked off the "To Do List" (more on that HERE) I splashed out a whole $6.99 on this West Elm pendent light (bargain of the week!).  They had a free shipping event a couple of weeks ago, and today it finally arrived.  They still have some left in black, but it would be so easy to spray paint in whatever colour you wanted.

The plan is to switch our the strip light above the sink and hang this in its place.  At 8 x 8.25 its the perfect size for the space.

Now all we need is someone to wire it in!

Kate

xxx

H & Mmmm

Guess what arrived in our postbox last weekend (thanks mum!).

Our H&M cushion covers are finally here.  Can you believe they were only about $5 each (I had to order them from the UK site because they don't have a US online shop, yet!  The campaign starts now).  I love the bold geometric print and the dark grey colour.  The back is a teeny tiny repeat of the same pattern.

Luckily I had a pair of old cushions I'd been trying to sell on Craigslist for weeks (come on Birmingham, don't you know a good deal when you see one?) that were a perfect fit.

It's just a jump to the left:

And then a step to the right (see how I whipped up my own Captain Mirror HERE):

We have been making do with a couple of Euro pillows and a pair of side tables:

What a difference a headboard (more on that bargain find HERE), a pair of nightstands and some jazzy (yeah, that's right, i said jazzy) cushions can make. 

You can see I took the picture above the bed down.  I'm hoping having to look at the big blank wall will spur me on to finding/making something completely amazing to take its place.

Kate

xxx

Welcome home

Who doesn't like a nice warm welcome when you visit someones house.  I was wandering round Hobby Lobby the other day, and spied this little gem for just $3 (all of their chipboard was 50% off).

I painted it plain black and popped it above the doorway at the end of the hallway.  I love the old school typewriterish (totally a word) font.

 

 

You see it as soon as you come in through the front door, and it goes perfectly with our Nessy print.  I'm loving how painting the hallway cream really opened up the space compared to the dark sludgy green it was before.

 

I have big plans for this hallway which may involve adding a stripe or two, or maybe a gallery wall??  

Kate

xxx



Countertop Fraud

The last time I showed you our desk, I had crafted the desktop from cardboard and an old metal shelf (more on that HERE), but it was still looking very sad:

Thanks to some basic walnut look contact paper, the desktop was transformed into this:

It was surprisingly easy to stick on, and has a nice smooth finish.

You can see the metal shelf lip at the back of the desk, so the desktop doesn't slide around and is very sturdy.

Here is the desk area now with all of our accessories added.  Most of the items we already had (the stool was moved from being a side table in our living room, the lamp was an old thrift store find, the black 'in tray' was $2 from J&J Junk).

I did splash out $2 on the Michaels tulips and weekly planner:

I've been collecting these K's over the past few years:

The storage has been so helpful for organizing our important documents......

.......and my Better Homes & Gardens magazines.

The grey drawer organizers were from Homegoods and will hopefully prevent them from becoming junk drawers.

You can see how slimline the desk needed to be (one of the main reasons I couldn't buy new/used).

I'm so pleased with how it turned out - one step closer to organization.

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Kate

xxx

Desk phase 2

It's full steam ahead on the desk project.  I picked up 4 storage cubes at Michaels which put my flat-pack-putting-together skills to the test (more on that here).

I had the perfect space for the desk, a wall area next to the sofa.  The cubes are only 14" square, so the desk would be slimline, the perfect size for the space.

Here's Murph admiring my handy work, (or wondering what on earth I'm up to now!).

For the desktop I really wanted wood to contrast against the white cubes.  Ideally I would have used some wood we had leftover from another project, and stain it with some leftover stain, and seal it with some leftover sealer.  Unfortunately, we don't have any wood, or stain or sealer.  And we are on a major budget, so it was time to get creative and shop our house (ie rummage around to see what we already have).  I found lots of cardboard boxes and shelving and you can't get better than free!

I initially thought that a couple of sheets of thick cardboard might do the trick, but it was waaaay too flimsy, and wouldn't have held a cup of tea, let alone a laptop!  My next idea was to combine the cardboard with the shelving.  I started by cutting the cardboard the length and width I needed, and taping the shelving to the underneath.  It was all very technical :-)

Using a mixture of hot glue and packing tape, I sandwiched the second piece of cardboard so the metal shelving was covered on both sides by cardboard.  Just the lip was sticking out which would run along the back of the desk to help secure the desktop and prevent it from sliding.

I sealed all of the edges with some more tape.

I'm all for rustic, but even I draw the line at cardboard - could it look any more temporary!!

Check back on Monday for the big reveal - I guarantee you'll be surprised!  I've got a bit more styling to do and it'll be finished.

 

See the finished desk HERE

Kate

xxx

Dollar Store Ampersand Art

I really like the wood grain art I have seen popping up around the blogosphere recently, and was inspired to do my own take but on the cheap.  I mean really cheap.  I mean Dollar Store cheap!

What does Dollar Store have that is wood grain.........drawer liners of course!

I whizzed round my local store and picked up these supplies.  I printed out the Ampersand sign in a variety of fonts (I'm slightly obsessed with "&" art at the mo. but this would look just as great with your initial).

(Side Note: how amazing are these Dollar Store 11x14 frames!  I picked up two but will be going back for more).

I cut out the paper sign, traced the outline onto my wood grain drawer liner and cut around it with my Exacto knife.  I made sure the piece I used had a nice wood knot to really highlight the grain.

As if wood grain paper for $1 wasn't amazing enough, it's sticky so is super easy to mount on whatever colour background you choose.  I went for black card that we already had.  I added a simple matte and this is how it looked.

So for $2 I have some funky new art and if I still need to line my drawers, there's plenty left!

New here, thanks for stopping by. You can stay connected with me through Bloglovin:

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Kate

xxx