Upholstered Headboard

No bedroom is complete without something pretty at the head of the bed.  In every bedroom I have ever had, there has always been something at the head of my bed.  Sometimes it was a headboard, others it was the fancy hat collection arranged on the wall above the bed.  My 5 year old daughter has a huge castle sticker at the head of her bed.  So when my husband and I painted our bedroom a deep chocolate brown, I knew I had to find something to complete the look.  The problem was, I couldn't find anything that looked right. 

One afternoon, I was walking through my local fabric store and discovered my inspiration in the aisles.   Because my bedspread has a floral pattern, I did not want anything that would compete with it.  I found this great stitched design and I was off and running.

I don't have any pictures of how I made this, but it could not have been any more simple...

*  Buy the cheapest piece of wood you can find at your home improvement store (tip:  Make sure it will fit in your car BEFORE you get it cut...I ended up cramming it in my car along with the help of a very nice construction worker who happened by me in the parking lot) 

*  Figure out how padded you want your headboard to be.  I used 2 layers of the cheapest batting I could find.  Staple it to your board starting with the middle and working to the ends.  A staple gun is helpful here.
*  Arrange your fabric and staple over the batting.
*  Cut a 2x4 on a 45 degree angle.  Screw one side of the 2x4 to the wall and the other side to the back of your headboard. (You can also attach legs to your headboard so it stands on the floor.)
*  Step back and admire your handiwork!  Easy peasy and, depending on the cost of your fabric, pretty inexpensive :)

Now all I need is the perfect little something just above the headboard.  Only time will tell what that will be :)

This project has been entered in:

Vinyl Wall Art

I know I have been MIA for the last few weeks.  My computer crashed and I haven't been able to access any of my pictures or anything else for that matter.  I won't be able to show you many of my latest projects because all the before pictures are on the computer that crashed.  We are still trying to decide what to do about the computer.

In the meantime, here is a little something I created for my son's room.  His walls are a yummy sky blue to match the blue parts of his Winnie the Pooh bedding set.  The problem is that the only things hanging on the wall are the comforter, which I added ribbon to so it hangs on the wall (I have never used the comforter with my baby!)  The other thing is a super cute Winnie the Pooh sign my mom made when the baby was born.  I adore the book "Guess How Much I Love You" by Sam McBratney.  In fact, it may be my favorite children's book.  My favorite part is the last line, "I love you to the moon and back."  Thus, my inspiration for wall art was born.  Yes, I have seen these kinds of signs all over the place, but I didn't want to just buy something else that would only be used for a little while.  I broke out the Cricut and cut the letters using the Keystone cartridge.  The moon and stars are made using George.  I used vinyl and stuck it directly to the wall.  I love the way it turned out.  What do you think?

I learned several things about making vinyl wall art while doing this project:.
1.  It helps to do a test run with inexpensive printer paper before committing to the more expensive vinyl.
2.  When using transfer paper, the top is VERY sticky, EVERYTHING (especially animal hair) sticks to it, so be very careful where you place it while you are working!
3.  My transfer paper had guidelines on the back of the working surface.  Not very helpful if you can't see them!  I put sheets of white paper underneath my project, then I could see the grid perfectly
4.  The letters do not like to stay put when you are trying to put the sticky side over them, I used very small pieces of masking tape to temporarily tape them to the backing so they would not move while I adhered the transfer tape.
5.  A level is very helpful when determining the position on the wall (laser levels are even better!).

Burnishing to the wall

6.  Burnish, burnish, burnish....then burnish some more.  To the transfer tape, then to the wall.  When you think you have burnished enough, do it some more,  it will make your project go much more smoothly.  The vinyl will not stretch if everything is burnished correctly.

Front Door Sign

I have a cute summery sign hanging on my front door.  It gives me joy every time I look at it.  Unfortunately, my cute summer decor has taken a beating in the harsh Texas sun. 

As you can see, the black words are still dark as ever, but the yellow background and cute ladybugs had faded.  Not wanting to spend the money for a new sign, I decided it was time to do a little face lift on my existing one. 

I taped off all the metal parts and sprayed primer all over it.  While the primer was drying, I rummaged through my cans of spray paint.  I didn't have any yellow, but I did have some dark blue.  It would have to do because I was determined not to spend a penny on this project.  This is a summer sign, so I lightly sprayed the blue and let some of the white primer show through.  While the paint was drying, I broke out my Cricut and cut new words and some ladybugs onto white vinyl.  Once the blue was dry, I painted the ladybugs red and gave them black spots.  Because this hangs on my front door and is exposed to all the elements (including the rain), I used a spray sealer.  Something went wrong here because there are some foggy spots left behind.  I decided that it just adds to the charm and home made look.  Here is my new sign hanging happily on my front door.

The world is good again :)

This project is being entered in the CSI Challenge:  Outdoor Decor

Spongy Clock

I am always amazed at what a little bit of paint and some paper towels can do.  My mom recently repainted her kitchen a pretty blue.  The problem was, she had this ugly green plastic clock hanging on the wall.  She didn't want to buy a new clock, and the only way to fix it was paint.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take the before picture before I sanded the clock, so you don't get the full effect of what it looked like, but you can get a general idea, it was plain and boring (and looked horrible against her new blue wall).

After taking everything apart, I fully sanded the frame of the clock (then took the before picture above...oops).   Because it was plastic, I gave it a quick coat of primer.  I let the primer completely dry, then came 2 coats of dark blue.  Being cheap frugal, I didn't want buy anything for this project so I used paper towels to sponge the wall color and white all over the clock frame.  And voila...beautiful cheap frugal clock.

I hope you enjoy your new clock mom :)

New Family Room

We have been very slowly repainting our boring builder's white walls throughout the house.  I have finished the master and kids bedrooms and now am moving to the other rooms in the house.  Our adventure for Memorial Day weekend was repainting the Family Room.  Here is the before picture. 

See how the pictures and curtains just blend right into the walls? Yuck! I have been living with this for two years before I finally pulled the trigger and selected a color. Of course, I agonized about which color to use because we spend the most time in this room, and I wanted to make sure I loved the color. Plus, it had to be fairly neutral since we will eventually get rid of our horrible couches (they are so old and stained, I wouldn't dare even picture them in public!). Anyway, I digress.  I looked at several swatches and finally chose Adobe Straw from Behr (my favorite brand). 

First thing on Saturday morning, we took the kiddos over to Grandma and Grandpa and started taping.  It is such a tedious process, but makes the painting so much easier since we don't have to worry about being perfect.  I don't know what it is, but I just love a room framed in blue tape, don't you?

After the taping was complete, we primed all the walls.  This isn't something I usually do, but I have found that these walls just suck up the paint since they were only sprayed by the builder.  Primer helps the color cover walls while using less of the more expensive high quality paint.  Since I was using a fairly light color, I did not tint the primer.  Here it what the wall looks like all primed and ready for color.

And 24 hours later.....voila....

My brand new family room.  I just love how the pictures and the curtains pop off the walls now.  It looks like the tile around the fireplace blends in, but it really doesn't.  The room is still a work in progress. I need something more on the main wall, all I have right now is a TV and speakers (you can see one of them in the top left of the picture).  I am waiting for inspiration to strike me with the perfect thing to hang on the wall.  In the meantime, here are the before and after pictures side-by-side.

Ahhhh, so much warmer and more welcoming now.