The Married, Jobless life.

Andrew and I have been married now for a month and a half. Not having a job seems great and all, but it can get pretty boring around here. Moving to a new town means no friends yet, so I decided to do a few projects. I found a couple on pinterest and the directions sounded simple (they always do don’t they?) and set out to Lowe’s. I already had a bookshelf, two side tables, and a pallet. So this is what I decided to make…

A chevron pattern bookshelf using this DIY: http://community.homedepot.com/t5/Interior-Paint-Stain/How-to-make-a-chevron-pattern-on-stairs/m-p/42337/highlight/true

Refinished my end tables using this DIY: http://www.hayseedhomemakin.com/2011/12/farmhouse-end-table.html

And a headboard for my guestroom using this DIY: http://thehappyhomeblog.com/?p=2826

Now I will let you in on a little secret. Maybe it is because people write their instructions after the fact or they are superwomen….DIY project are always harder than the instructions make them appear. Soooo I’m going to add my suggestions in on top of what the originals said.

For a chevron pattern: the instructions I used didn’t tell you how big to cut the cardboard. So I measured the space between my shelves and kind of guessed. My shelves were 10 inches high so I did from the top of the v to the bottom, 10 inches, then I measured from one side of the v to the middle, 5 inches. To get the inner v that you will cut out, I did half of 5, 2.5 and marked a spot on each side and 5 inches up the middle vertically and drew two lines to it. I know that sounds confusing so look at my pictures if you need help. Then I drew it on the bookshelf. I used a pencil and it was really hard to get off after I painted. It smeared. So i recommend either using a regular pencil, not mechanical, or chalk. I recommend using painters tape, just make sure you press down the edges really really well because paint slipped through mine.

So this is what I ended up with.

So refinishing furniture is probably one of the worst things I’ve ever done. I read the instructions on the website I found and thought, “Oh I can definitely finish this in a day!” False false false! It took three very very long days and lots of help from my wonderful dad. So here are my tips. 1. Go to Lowe’s or Home Depot and ask someone to help you get the best stripper. You will need a putty knife, lots of sandpaper (I recommend having an electric one), lots of old rags, a drop cloth, rubbing alcohol. A stainer that doesn’t take 8 hours to dry, and rubber gloves. You will need a sealant too. The polyurethane one they recommended is a good one. The stripping is the worst part! I tried to only strip some of the old stuff off like the instructions told me, but when you do that and then put stain on top, it made it shiny. I ended up having to strip it down to complete bare wood. You can create your rustic look by sanding off some of the stain after that dries. So after you strip it off you’ll want to use the alocohol mixed with water solution to get rid of the sticky stuff. Let that dry for however long it tells you before you sand. Otherwise it will ruin your sand paper. Sand it down really well. You probably didn’t get EVERYTHING off with the stripper, so you can sand it off. wipe it down and you’re ready to stain. Follow the instructions for staining and when it dries you will need to sand all of it down before you seal, just sand more off to make areas lighter. Then seal it. Make sure you have the time to do it though! It is a process!

This is a bit of my process and finished product.

The pallet wasn’t too bad. However, I found a way to make gray stain using steel wool and vinegar. I followed the instructions and it came out browner than I had hoped, but I don’t feel like doing it again. Here are the instructions for that http://beingbrook.com/rustic-headboard-aged-wood/

I got a color paint that I liked from Lowe’s and after I painted on the “stain” I let it dry for a day and painted on my letters after writing them in chalk. I sealed it with the same polyurethane I used for the tables. This was by far the easiest one I did, but it did take longer than I thought to paint on my letters.

Here is what I ended up with!

Next I will be making a coffee table out of pallets so stay tuned!

Graduation

As I’m closing in on the last week of classes of my college career, I am sentimental yes, but I also am thinking about the gifts that I will need to be giving. So as I was brain storming I decided to look of course to pinterest. However, I do have an idea that I created on my own. I thought of course, as usual I would share these two ideas with you. They are great, not just for graduation gifts, but for your own home, or any type of gift.

The first is a canvas with your state.

There are two options for this one. You can leave the state the color of the canvas (white) or you can paint the entire canvas the color you want the state.

You will need a canvas

Three colors of paint, one for the state, background, and the heart

Directions:

Make a stencil of your state

Tap it down on the canvas

Paint the canvas the color you want the background to be. (if you want the state white)

If you want the state a color then paint the canvas that color first, put down the state stencil after it dries and paint over it to get the background a color.

then wait for it to dry and paint a heart over the city you live.

 

The next one is similar, but a lot harder. You need a piece of ply wood. Cut it the size you want. The paint it the color you want. Wait for it to dry and paint the outline of your state. You can also do a stencil, spray paint the state stencil and then paint in the state. Paint a heart where you state is, just like the other one. You will need nails. The nails don’t need to be very long (1/2 an inch). Nail around the edge of the state pretty close together and around the heart. Get some twine and begin to loop it across to nails around the heart. And you have some state love.

The last one is one I made up. So I go to UNC and the symbol on our campus is the Old Well. So pick a symbol from your campus or town. Print out a picture and cut it out. Get a canvas that fits the picture. You also need to make a reverse stencil by taking a piece of paper as big as your canvas. Put the stencil of your symbol on the piece of paper and trace it. Cut that out and tape the opening you cut together. Put the first stencil down and paint the back ground. After it dries put the reverse stencil over the background and tape it down. The splatter paint the symbol with multiple colors or just one. You can also use the the reverse stencil to paint the symbol a different color. either way it looks really cool. I will post a picture soon!

Programs

I know I said this isn’t a wedding blog, BUT I’m right in the middle of all my planning and it’s less than two months away so I thought I’d write this post. I am planning on making my own programs and I have found a few that I like, but none that I love. So I’m going to share the ones I found, but I would love for you to share your ideas with me please! I need ones that have how-tos on the site, but pictures are good too! My wedding is a rustic chic theme. We’re going to be on a farm and we’re decorating with a lot of burlap. My colors are peacock blue, which is close to navy, and lime green. So here are my ideas.

This week I hav…

This week I have been inspired a lot, however all the things that have been inspiring me are way to expensive to be tangible. I made a pinterest for work and started pinning furniture and lighting from the companies they order from. Let me tell you, I found some beautiful stuff. So as I was clicking through, I was drawn to the types of things that of course are more rustic. The things you can paint on to make them more interesting and unique. I know this post doesn’t give you any great ideas, but I encourage you to find the things that are interesting to you. Try something, even if you fail, try it. Make yourself better because the things you do, whether good or bad will help you become a better artist, crafter, DIYer, whatever you’re trying to be.

Crafting

So this past week was my school’s spring break. While all of my friends were lying on beautiful foreign beaches, I went home to Greensboro. I’m not complaining, I had a ton of things to do for the wedding so it was nice to have a week. I needed to do some crafting and I got three projects done. While I know this isn’t a blog about wedding planning, I thought I would share some of the things I made with you. The reason for that is because when I was decided what to make, I wanted to do things that I could then use in my house. I am going to focus on two of the crafts I did: painted mason jars and hydrangea wreaths. The mason jars are for gifts the guests, but you could use them in your kitchen as drinking glasses, vases, etc. So below is the instructions for you.

Painted mason jars

Materials:

Enamel paint from a craft store

Round paint brushes

Q-tips (for touch ups)

Stencil of your choice

Mason jars of any size

Tape to secure the stencil

So it’s pretty straight forward, but once you know what stencil you want you may need to cut it down so the edges are just wide enough for you to put tape on them. Then you tape the stencil down, get a little bit of paint on the brush and dab it on. The stencil is great because you can duplicate your design multiple times. If you go outside of the stencil, wet the q-tip a little and wipe it off. Even if the paint drys it scrapes off easily. The great thing about enamel paint is that once you bake it or let it dry for the allotted time, you can wash it in the dishwasher. I don’t recommend using spray paint unless the jars are only going to be used for a display, not washed.(The picture isn’t  mine because I couldn’t get a good one without a glare, but this is the idea).

Hydrengea Wreath

Materials needed:

Grape wreath

9 hydrangea stems-they can be pretty expensive so get them on sale or find a coupon

hot glue

burlap-this can be found at a craft store it comes in a roll

wire cutters

First cut the stems down to about an inch. Stick the stems into the grape wreath. You can space them out, they don’t need to be directly on top of each other, just so there aren’t any gaps. Hot glue the back of a few leaves and stick it to the wreath, turn the wreath over and hot glue the stems so they stay. Tie the burlap in a bow and hot glue it onto the flowers. You are done-super simple and they are cute! (Sorry about this picture too, it’s terrible, but still the idea is there, below is an example of one without the burlap).

Bedding

So, today at my work, we are having a Trunk Show on bedding. The line featured is Traditions by Pamela Kline. Her collection is beautiful and I would love any of it for my own bed. However, last night a …

Pallets

I believe in defining moments. Some are big, some small, but all important. Last Thursday was one of those moments for me. As I was walking home from class, a group of Memorial Hall employees were hauling out pallets to …

Planning

Andrew, my fiancé, and I finished registering this weekend for the wedding. Let me tell you, it is not as fun as everyone makes it out to be. Two and a half hours after walking into Bed Bath and Beyond, …