My red bookshelf

Hello all ! I'm not gonna lie, this project took much longer than I thought it would. It all started last week. I hate just sitting around the house because I get bored really easily so I was trying to figure out what I could work on without spending a lot of money. I up and decided that all the furniture in the living/dining room is too dark and something needed to be changed. I nominated the book shelf.

Yep, its messy I know. Also, boring, I've had this thing for like 4 years almost, and its from Walmart. I figured, if I mess it up, I'll just hunt for another one at a thrift store. No harm in that. I cleared it off and man, I have a lot of books !! I took what shelves I could out and carried everything outside to my little patio area and started sanding. This shelf is pressed wood and laminate, so I did a bunch of research on what to do for prep work.

One blog told me I would have to sand every surface until white specks showed up like so.

A lot of surfaces to sand. I'm pretty sure my neighbors hate me.

I bought Kilz spray paint and went to town ! I didn't buy enough for sure, but I"m lazy so I figured it would all work out in the end. Here's what it looked like after I had run out of primer.

Not enough, I know. I'm lazy !!

Before trying this project, I had decided to try using just spray paint. There are so many bloggers out there that exclusively use spray paint for all their furniture and I honestly hated it. It was splotchy and if the wind blew it would get all over me. Back to the story though. I painted one side, noticed it was super spotted, so I figured it was from lack of primer. I grabbed some white paint and went ahead and painted everything white, then painted red over it. Some spots are still kinda spotted, but I was so sick of painting, I announced that I was done.

Honestly, It doesn't look so bad. I'll probably touch up just the red later, just not now. I had googled a red and white bookshelf and didn't find anything that looked quite like this, so I'm pretty proud of it.

*Sigh* I just love books.

(I'm currently looking for another shelf, same size to put on the other side of the window. Shhhhh)

How it looks in the room. Fabulous !!!

Some notes: If i was to do something like this again, I would just skip the sanding part and just buy some heavy duty primer made for glossy surfaces, and then of course not use spray paint. I like spray paint, just for smaller pieces.



My June to do list

I've been thinking with all the extra time I have that I need to make a list of stuff I want to accomplish. I have so many things I want to do and things I've pinned that I never know where to start. I wanted to make a list and put it out there for everyone to see so it would keep me accountable. I need stuff to do so I don't sit on the couch and waste away beautiful weather. No lie, there is a butt print on my couch. Anywho, here is my list for June :)

1. Get to the YMCA and get my membership started. (I get a free one because of the military, holla !)
2. Lose 5 lbs.
3. Find a tall dresser for the bedroom
4. Rearrange the living room
5. Go through all our stuff and make a pile for a yard sale
6. Go to the flea market
7. Clean !!!! I've been so lazy since my man left.
8. Find a few more vintage books and work on making a lamp with them.

I may add to this, but for now that's good enough. I'll let you know how I do ! 

 

My first dresser

Hello all !! I have been slacking soooo bad ! Bad blogger... My life has been turned upside down for the moment, so its taken me awhile to get used to it all and let things sink in. Phew ! What a month or so I have had ! Anyways, lets get to the point: my dresser !! I have finally finished it (besides for a couple things that no one will see but me) and I'm pretty proud of it. Lets start at the very beginning (I just started singing "The Sound of Music"). We live in an apartment and people are constantly moving in and out. Well, we got new neighbors a while back and when I was coming home one evening, I noticed a lonely little dresser sitting out at trash pick up. I ran back outside with a flashlight and checked it out. It had the cutest legs !! The only downside was it was missing a leg. Like, a dinosaur came and gnawed on it missing. I marched right back inside and told husband that he needed to come out and carry it in. He took one look at the poor thing and walked right back in. Now, you say, what did sweet, calm Susie do ? I carried it in all by myself :)

I completely forgot to take pictures of it before we started sanding, but the poor thing was in some rough condition. I think there had to be at least 3 different colors of paint under the black. Aren't the legs cute though !?

We finally got her all cleaned up ! Took what seems like forever and a lot of sanding. Bleh sanding. I also forgot to take a picture of the no legged-ness. After taking out the drawers though, I found the dead leg ! That made things soooo much easier. Husband took me off to Lowes and got us some wood glue and wood putty.

We stuck the sucker on and stood it up so the wood could dry. After that, he added a ton of putty and let that dry. Then came lots of sanding. Bleh.

Same leg but painted !! Its magical :) Eric also added a bracket in the back to just take some pressure off the glue and putty. Its wonderful :) There were lots of coats of paint. I'm sure my neighbors will be knocking on my door asking for me to paint something beautiful for them any day now :)

Bam ! So beautiful ! I grabbed some new knobs from Hobby Lobby half off and it looks good as new. The top is the part that makes it unique. I had originally planned on modge-podging things from my memory box onto it, but after some thought I didn't want to lose all these things I've saved for years. My second idea was to put letters between Eric and I when he was in Iraq. I actually tried that, but they were written on just regular notebook paper and became a see-through mess. After a girls night (thanks Ang, Car, and Kath !) I went back to Hobby Lobby to hunt out some scrapbook paper. I found a goldmine !! I love all things with script or writing on it. I just die for it, so I found scrapbook paper with old school postcards on it !! I know, I know... I've got crazy luck.

Its just lovely ! I'm so proud of it.

I'm now on the prowl for a tall 6-drawer dresser or armoir. If ya see one waiting for the trash, call me ! Haha. I hope this inspires you ! See what you can do with less than 50 bucks :)

Wedding Present

So, this is the first thing I've actually made by myself and I am so proud !! I was recently Matron of Honor in one of my oldest friends wedding. I've been trying to think of fun, imaginative presents to give recently and I finally thought of something I felt was appropriate as a wedding present. I absolutely love quotes, I have a whole notebook dedicated to them, and I know my friend, Bethany, likes them as well. I found one that would go really well in someones bedroom here on my pinterest page, and asked her what their colors were.

I ran to the store and grabbed yellow and white acrylic paint and a 12x18 inch canvas and went ahead and painted the entire canvas yellow.

When I had gone to the store, I had planned on getting a pretty stencil but I couldn't find anything I liked enough to get. I remembered something I learned from The House of Smiths that involved stickers, so off I went hunting for stickers ! Lucky me, I found them for 30 % off at Joann's and also in a cute font. I put the stickers down exactly where I wanted them after the paint dried.

Such a cute quote !! I'm totally using it one day. Well, I mixed some paint to make the perfect shade of grey and painted over everything, stickers and all. Just be careful around the edges of the stickers cause they had a tendency to come up. After painting a couple coats, I let it sit for just a couple minutes before trying to pull up the stickers. For that, you'll need tweezers.

Ta da !! I had gotten a little paint under some stickers so I had to do a few touch ups and add punctuation, of course :) After letting it sit for awhile, the more I looked at it, I felt like it wasn't finished. It needed something else on the right side to complete it. I'm not a painter at all. I've taken a couple of classes and I managed to learn a couple of things. The number one thing I took from it was, don't worry, its just paint. It can be painted over ! I decided to just to a couple little swirls and see where it went from there.

I actually love how it came out. I told Bethany that my feelings wouldn't be hurt if she didn't like it, I'd get to keep it for myself hee hee ! Unfortunately, she liked it and it will look great in their room.

Congrats, Mitch and Bethany !

My home

Hey guys ! Sorry its been soooo long ! I've been working on a couple things and been busy with the hubby. I wanted to kinda put down on paper (or website) what I want my home to feel like.

I've always always always wanted my own place. As long as I can remember I had always wanted a place to call mine, and to decorate how I want. I remember moving my room around all the time trying to find the best way to have everything. I would change my mind constantly !! Something as simple as those cheap foam stencils on the wall would make me feel like it was my own space.

Now that I have my own place with a very sweet husband that (almost) let me do just about anything with it, I'm trying to figure out exactly what I want it to say when someone walks in the door. The first thing I want is cozy. When someone walks in the door, I want them to feel like this is a place they could walk in, take off their shoes, and curl up on the couch. I've never understood why anyone would have a room that no one would be allowed in !

The second thing I want is for everything to have a purpose. I mean like when you go somewhere and they have this fancy pants dining room that is only used at Christmas or Thanksgiving. I just don't see the point ! I also don't see the point in fancy china but that's a whole 'nother story. I want anything in my home to be for a purpose, and not just sit there for 362 days of the year.

Next, I want my house to be exciting. I live a crazy, fun, exciting life and I want my home to reflect that. The decorative pillows on my couch are the queen of hearts and king of diamonds :) They're probably one of my favorite things in the house :) I just love anything that can reflect the fun life my husband and I have chosen to lead.

That's all I can think of at the moment, but I'm sure there's lots I'm leaving out. No pictured in this post, but I promise, I'll hopefully be done working on my project soon so I can show it off :)

Phantom Scarf

Hello all ! I'm excited about this post, its my first accessory ! I originally saw this on pinterest here and I fell in love ! I adore all things covered in writing or script. Here's what I started out with.

I went to Walmart and found a plain white scarf for $5 and a black paint pen for $3

Then came time to decide what to write on it. I went through all the quotes I like, some lyrics and couldn't find anything I really liked. I started walking around the house looking at books and things around the house and I found it ! Phantom of the Opera lyrics ! I'm crazy for not thinking of it earlier ! I picked "All I ask of you" just because its awesome and romantic and I love it :)

I wrote out the lyrics just because knowing me I'd forget where I was and repeat a line.

Make sure you shake that paint pen like a shake weight cause it will not write without it. Also, bear down on it a lot. I had some left over cardboard so I did some practice runs.

Don't make fun of my cursive... Its been many a year since it was required in school. Besides when I've got the scarf on, you can't even tell I have not so pretty handwriting.

Tada !!!!! I was genuinely pleased with how it all turned out. Make sure though when you're writing on something like a table or something you don't want messed up, you put something between the scarf and the table. The paint did bleed through.

Super cute :) I like it and I've already gotten several complements on it already.

I hope everyone has a lovely day !

Birthday finds

My birthday was this week, and I turned 23 years old. It feels weird !! Before I get too nostalgic, I'll continue with the reason for this post. I got some birthday money from some family, and I immediately knew where I'd go shop... the thrift store !! Haha, every girl's dream huh ? I went to my favorite one on Dayton blvd. I think its just called the Red Bank Thrift store. I like it because the entire basement is always filled with furniture ! I went down there and hunted for anything I could use for a coffee table to no avail. When I was heading up the stairs though, I happened to spot this little beauty sitting all alone.

I've been dying for a birdcage, but every time I see one they are way more than I want to spend. Guess how much I paid for this little guy... $1 !!! When I brought it up to the register, I think the guy maybe felt sorry that I'd want something so ugly, haha !

I took it home immediately and started the clean up process. This thing was nasty !! It took me so long that I gave up on the bottom. I didn't really need it anyways. I had just enough red paint to go ahead and get it all cute. I think my neighbors think I'm crazy because I'm quite positive I'm outside painting something all the time hee hee. Anyways, it turned out really cute !!

It took me awhile to decide what to put inside it. I tried books but all the ones I had were too big. I'll eventually get flameless candles so I can can have the look like they're lit. Cute huh ? I also went out earlier that day to an antique store and found the lock attached to it.

I'm in love !! I have an obsession with keys so when I saw it, I flipped !

I also made some hearts out of book pages. It was really simple, I just cut strips and hot glued them together in the shape of hearts.

Now I just happen to have a kind of Valentines Day set up and I didn't even mean to haha. I"m not the biggest fan of Valentines day, but I am a fan of February 15th since all the candy goes on sale :)

I hope everyone has had a wonderful New Years. I know we did ! I've also made a couple goals for the year. I think everyone knows by now my hubby will be leaving for his 2nd deployment this year so I've jam packed this year to make sure I'll be extra busy :) The one thing I'm very excited about doing is redoing our bedroom. When we first got married, our furniture was a big mix of hand-me-downs and things from my first apartment. Its taken us this long to finally figure out our own style and fix up the part of the house everyone sees. We're finally to the point we can focus on another room, and I don't have a clue as to what to do ! I'll be researching and shopping for all kinds of inspiration for this new beautiful room. I'll keep you guys updated !