Night Table and Jewelry Box Before and After's

Night Table Before:

Old night table: $7.50 (Thrift store) Spray Paint: Rustoleum Satin Black $9.00 Hardware: Rona $6.00

Lovely chipped up top and ooooold style handle.

The new handle was a bit smaller so I got my handy hubby to drill me some new holes.

Spray painted outside - dried in about 20 minutes!

Night Table After:

Distressed slightly on the edges with sandpaper. Purdy! :)

Looove the new handle. I'm so excited to put this in my room :)

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Decor DIY ~ Candle holders

These were a couple dollars each at a thrift stoe - every one I went to has so many brass candle holders!

I spray painted them from top to bottom and bottom to top to make sure all the little curves and crevices are filled in.

All done! Distressed just a little - don't think I'd distress them at all if I did it again though -they looked nice and crisp before. Not a big deal though :)

Decor DIY - Mirror

I found this mirror at value village for $8. It is actually plastic! Completely fake, but who would know once it's up on the wall?! (Except you of course....shoot...)

The Before Shot - same brand of spray paint I used on the stool - again -wasn't pleased with it.

Masking Tape to cover the mirror - took a few coats to cover the gaudy dark gold.

All dry!! (One good thing about this brand of spraypaint is that if it gets on your floor it comes off with soap and water...not that I would have any experience with that ;) ....hehe)

A close-up of the distressing afterwards.

Moleskine Madness

So if you've never heard of Moleskine before, they're a brand of notebook.  http://www.moleskine.com/

But they are no ordinary brand - oh no. They are simple, durable, elegant and timeless. The little black dress of notebooks. They come  ruled, plain, with grids, bars for music or plain, durable paper for sketching or even painting. A lot of people add or change them (adding tabs, pockets, etc) these are called 'hacks'.

Here are some links for some great hacks:

http://www.organizeit.co.uk/2009/04/25/definitive-collection-of-moleskine-hacks-tips-and-resources/

http://freelanceswitch.com/productivity/the-monster-collection-of-moleskine-tips-tricks-and-hacks/

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/10-great-moleskine-hacks.html

This is another great resource for Moleskines - simply add your text to the MSK template and you can print out a page that will fit perfectly into your notebook.

http://www.moleskine.com/msk.php?display=wizard

I'll be posting some of my own hacks tomorrow just for fun. If you're not as notebook nutty as I am there are some more before and after pics in the works too ;)

The Stool - After Shot

Kitty sittin pretty.

Kitty hiding.

Kitty attacking stool. I guess she thought it needed more distressing ;)

Stool - Before and After Pics!!

So here is the lovely little stool before.

Disassembled - kitty always wants to help.

Tools of the trade

Yes - I sanded all the paint off on my living room floor while watching a movie - does that make me strange?

hehe it cleaned up in a cinch with the vacuum.

Fabric was $2 I believe from the thrift store. Wrapped it snugly.

And then staple staple staple! I didn't do the neatest job - but who ever looks underneath?! Then the edges were trimmed off. The corner's were trickier -folding it to make it the least lumpy. I had short staples, I would recommend the long ones as there is so much fabric on the corners.

(I had to use lots of staples so it would hold.)

The spray paint I used. First one I've ever tried - not sure I would recommend it as it didnt coat entirely evenly, the lid was impossible to get off, and it gave a tacky texture once dry. However, that could have simply been my lack of experience ;)

Painted and dried, I sanded off paint where it would normally have wear...the edges.

I did end up coating the stool with a varnish. It made the finish look a lot smoother and less tacky. I'll post that and the final results soon!!

DIY much?

Well I'm still admiring the creamy white/distressed look so let me show you another blog I've come across!!

Centsational Girl

Isn't that incredible? You could probably pick all that stuff up from a thrift store for less than $20. (More money to splurge on those rich soaps and nice candles heehee). I went to my local 'Sally Ann' as most call it (I have no idea why...?) and found some brass candle holders I might go back and get as my first 'distressing' project. We'll see. But she gave me another idea as well, a DIY entertainment center! have a look at what she did:

Now that just shows you the general idea. The only things I need to buy in this case are the two tall shelves on either side. But whether they come from a garage sale or walmart or otherwise I can't see them being too expensive. A piece of wood to li on top would be nice as well, I'm thinking if I actually do embark on this project maybe I'll employ my papa's skills to make a nice curvy beveled edge type thingy. (Can you tell by my descriptions that I'm new to this whole decor thing?!) And then when all four pieces are gathered....yes, you guessed it. Painting and distressing them all for a uniform finish. *Sigh* this is what I daydream about. I'm going to pretend I don't hear your snickering.  Tata for now....

PS: I have so many unfinished projects at the moment, and a cruise (WAHOO) coming up in a few weeks that I may make myself wait until closer to the end of October to try anything. But then again.... I've never been a very patient person. We'll see what happens :)

Maybe....just maybe.....

Well I have spent the last few days wiping drool off my keyboard. Okay, thats not only an exaggeration its also a little gross - never the less - you HAVE to see what I've found. This blogs has me so inspired and eager I can barely contain myself.

Her name is Holly. And she is amazing.

How bout another?

So perdy. K one more:

So simple! Just some paint! (Love these airy french looking pillows as well...)

Her blog is In the Fun Lane.

So.....this got me thinking. We have a loooot of mismatched wood in our home. Outdated wood, plain boring pieces (that aren't really worthy to be called a 'piece') and all different shades and types :) So after reading this blog, my mind has wandered onto the DIY course. Why purchase new, expensive furniture when just a few cans of paint will recreate what I have already?? And then maybe, just maybe, some magic Holly dust will rub off on me from reading her blog and I will be able to create something almost as nice. Okay okay, I won't kid myself....;)

Fun Fall Projects

Remember that binder and the seasonal folders from my last post? I finally put them together with some scrapbook paper and stickers. Here's the finished result:

I love the rich burgundy and golden colour on the paper! The words read 'Love' 'Family' 'Sharing' 'Warmth' etc.

And the Seasonal folder! Some stickers just for fun and labels -because they're fun too. The labels dont quite match the bright stickers and the folders themselves, but they match the outside of the binder and well... I like them just fine. :)

I've also created a notebook to use, hopefully like Dawn uses hers. I love making collages, so it seems logical (? - to me that is -) to make a collage EVERY DAY (wahoo!!!) of my thoughts and things I see in magazines etc. Here is mine:

I have the book laying open so you can see the front and back - and a ribbon bookmark weaved through the spiral. I was going to take pictures of my first attempt at collaging my thoughts - but it was too messy. Maybe one day when I've got the system down pat ;)

And of course some fun fall decor projects from Michaels - LOVE that store.

For this very simple project I took a terracotta pot, a candle, a branch of fake fall leaves, some mod podge and a paintbrush. I separated the leaves into smaller bunches, and took 4 straight off their stems. These 4 I mod podged onto the pot. Then using a little wax to hold it in place, the candle was set. Lastly I stuffed in the leaves (not gluing them down so that the candle can be replaced easily).

This project took another little pot, some rub-ons and a tealight. Voila! Harvest-style candles. (I made 4 matching candle holders -apple, pear, plum, and cherries - would make a cute gift I think too!)

This was the easiest of all. Flower bunch + Vase = Fall floral arrangement. :)

Organization

I've been reading a blog lately called By Sun and Candlelight and been very inspired by her organizing. She uses a file crate system which looks quite efficient - however as I currently have no children, I don't think I have enough to organise to make this system worth it! However I am planning on implementing a seasonal planning system, a sort-of miniature file crate system if you will. I have purchased a binder, a notepad and 4 dividers with pockets. Blue - Winter, Green -Spring, Yellow -Summer, Red - Fall.




I'll post again when I've made this into something I will actually use :) But for now I thought I'd share what I currently use for my organization and planning.

Right now I have a home planning notebook, and an agenda. In my home planning notebook, I have 4 tabs: Hospitality, Organization, Food, and Money. In Hospitality I simply record who we have over for dinners when, what we eat and what we do. This may seem silly, but with my memory we'd likely serve the same people lasagna 3 times in a row otherwise :) Under Organization I have notes, organizing tips, details for projects etc - a whole mish mash. In food I keep lists of meals we like and grocery receipts are in a pocket in the front. I also have meal planning lists as well as a few recipes in here. Under money, I list our utility and gas bills. We have people living in the basement who pay half, so I have to have an accurate record of these bills and when they pay us! At the very front of my home planning notebook (before any of the 4 tabs) I have a section where I designate one month for each page. On these pages I write brief goals and notes. So thats that! On to the agenda.

Its a very simple Moleskine agenda with the days of the week on the left page and a lined page on the right for notes. In my agenda I record when I do (and don't) work, pay day, bill due dates, special events and things I have to remember. On the lined page I write my to do list.

The only other thing I use to organize papers etc is two folders on my desk 'To File' and 'Require Action'. For example, if I get a bill in the mail, I put it in the "Require Action' folder and note the due date in my agenda. When its paid, I write 'Paid' and the date in my agenda and put it in the 'To File' folder. About once a month I take all my 'To File' papers and file them! (I guess that would be another system I use - maybe I'll post on it another time - but in a nutshell its just a bin with hanging folders that hold all of our important documents, receipts, manuals, pay stubs, paid bills etc.)

Organization aside - I found a friend while doing the laundry today :) Kittins!

What do you use to organise?