Claire's New Bed

The girls' rooms are still not in order yet, and my guilt levels have been off the charts for the past few weeks. It's time to get these little ladies more settled.

My sister sent me a link to this pretty bed that was listed on Craigslist and the price was right (cheap) so I went and picked it up the same day.

The full size frame is perfect for this little room. I have a pair of midcentury modern night stands in the garage that will fit just right here also.

The wood is not worth saving (even though I love the pretty design!).

There's a cracked part on the headboard that needs to be filled probably with Bondo, which means we'll need to paint the frame. I think white will make it look too PB Kids, so maybe something like black?

I want to upholster the inset of the frame. Probably not tufted this time, but I did a similar project here.

Ever since the yellow chair experiment, I've been thinking a lot about tone on tone frames and upholstery. Maybe a bright cobalt blue on the frame with this pale blue cotton fabric I picked up during a 50% off sale for about $9 a yard?

Maybe a contrasting tape under the nail heads, too?

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What would you do? Don't you just love it when the footboard curves back in? That's my favorite part of the bed and I think it will look even better when it's upholstered and outlined with tape and nail heads!

DIY Modern Sunburst Mirror

It's no secret that my love for sunburst mirrors runs long and deep - especially chunky antique ones in gold tones. So when it was time to figure out a mirror for the Pax makeover project, I thought nothing but a gold sunburst mirror would do to help break up all that dark gray paint.

I looked around for something to buy quickly because we were short on time, but it was important to me that the mirror fit the back of the vanity space perfectly (about 36" square was just right). It was obvious pretty quickly that the only (affordable) option would be to make something myself. This image has been in my mind for a long time and I thought the look would be perfect for this project.

Here's how I tackled this DIY for about $75 in supplies:

Depending on how big you want your mirror to be, you'll need to buy a lot of small wooden dowels from the hardware store. I used 55 dowels and I had leftovers. I bought 30 of the smallest size, 15 of the next size up and 10 of the size just bigger than that.

I used a miter saw to cut down the dowels to random lengths between three and six inches long at a 45 degree angle. The trick is the wrap a bundle of dowels in masking tape on the spot you want to cut. This prevents any splintering or fly away pieces, which can be really dangerous, so make sure you don't skip this step.

I wanted the mirror to look mottled and not new, so I rounded up my collection of gold spray paints. 

I threw all the cut dowels on a drop cloth and just started spraying and tossing the drop cloth to move the dowels around. I tried not to spray the dowels directly too much. I wanted the paint to sort of float down onto the dowels so there wouldn't be harsh lines if another dowel was blocking part of a piece. I found the best method was to spray from farther away with one hand and then use the other hand to move around the dowels. I think painting with the different golds really helped add depth to the frame. Each of the individual dowels looks a little different and is a slightly different color combination. I was so happy with how this worked!

I used my favorite gold spray paint from Design Masters to spray just the edge of a piece of plywood cut at the hardware store to 27" square. I also sprayed four pieces of flat trim cut at 45" angles to make a 26" frame.

It's super important to use the right glues for this project. I used Liquid Nails Paneling for glueing on the dowels to the plywood backing. This stuff dries quickly so it's best to work in smaller sections - like three or four inches at a time.

I ran a 1" wide bead of the glue down the plywood board and quickly stacked the dowels next to each other, varying the lengths and dowel sizes and the color. Pushing down really hard on the dowels makes everything line up. The glue will squish up around the sides of the dowel which helps everything stay put even better. 

The corners are pretty much the only tricky part. I use a few thicker dowels first and then filled in with small and short pieces. I broke a few down just with my hands to make them short enough to fit in the tight angles.

Once the frame is done, give it a day to dry out and then cover everything with a ton of mirror glue.

I had a 24" mirror cut at a glass shop for about $20. I glued the 1/8" thick mirror right on top of the dowel frame and then used more Liquid Nails to glue the top frame made from flat trim on top of the mirror, which really finished the whole look

I sat heavy books and other items on top of the flat trim frame and let it dry overnight.

I forgot to take a photo of the final step, but I flipped the mirror over (which was a two-person job, as was hanging it on the wall - pokey!!!) and screwed two small D-rings into the perimeter of the plywood. Then the mirror was ready to hang! It's been up for about a month now and it looks and feels super secure. That Liquid Nails product is amazing stuff and made this project a breeze.

Our Holiday Cards

Holidays are made for you at Zazzle. Find cards you'll covet at http://www.zazzle.com/holiday+cards.

Years ago, I used to really go all-out with our holiday cards. I'd spend hours and hours on the things, hand-crafting every part. But that was before my life became virtually one giant creative outlet, and in recent years, when I have actually managed to get cards out, they've been pretty generic. I had made it a goal to do something manageable AND special this year.

So when Zazzle invited me to use their site to make my holiday cards, I was happy for the chance to get them done early and done right.

For the front of our 5x7 card, I wanted a family photo that had a little something to do with Arizona and that told the story of our recent move. I made a tiny tissue paper pom-pom garland and strung it on a cactus patch sort of near our house to make things look a little more festive. While we were taking photos, a huge flock of about twenty peacocks came wandering by! It was awesome (and a little terrifying, to be honest). The girls have been talking about it non-stop since!

On the inside of the card, I wanted to do a photo booth strip insert. I drew some words on black foam board using this google search as a reference and I painted in the lettering with white acrylic paint. Looking back, it would have looked a million times better to use a white paint pen, but you know, whatever. Thank goodness for grainy photo booth photos.

We found a photo booth at a shopping center and took one strip of photos each while holding one of the signs. This photo booth made things super easy on me and automatically uploaded all the images online, which I was able to access later with a code. I picked one photo from each of our photo strips and photoshopped them into one new strip. I had the strips printed out three to a page to save money and I cut them to size for the inside of the cards.

I used a little washi tape to attach the strip to the inside of the card. I think I'll go back to the store to find some different colors of tape for when I finish assembling the cards over the next month.

I kept the printed message pretty short on the inside of the card to leave room for a place to write a personalized message.  I love getting (and sending) hand-written notes, especially during the holidays when we're all so busy. The extra care and thought feels really special to me.

Another one of my favorite things to do is to buy vintage stamps for the envelopes. You can get full sheets on eBay for just a few dollars and then just mix and match.

Zazzle also offers a custom stamp option that I was so tempted by! I had thought about printing out a photo of Linus with a big Christmas bow around his neck! :) They also sell some really cute vintage-looking stamps if you're not wanting to deal with the eBay route.

I'm so happy with the quality of the Zazzle cards and my large order came so quickly. I can't tell you what a relief it is to have these done this early! I'm feeling majorly on top of my game here. :) And now I'm wondering what are my chances for getting all my Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving? Can you imagine?!

How to Paint (and Even Wallpaper!) IKEA Furniture

Thank you so much for your kind feedback on the Domino article! I'm so excited to start sharing the behind-the-scenes projects and ideas today!

Pax wardrobes are incredibly versatile - they're really the perfect blank canvas when it comes to organizational furniture. Not only are the affordable shells are so basic and easy to customize, but then you also have all the handy shelves, drawers, baskets and other storage accessories made to fit the Pax at your finger tips.

I am crazy over these shoe trees. Each pull-out shelf holds 16 pairs of shoes, which is nowhere near enough for this shoe-lover, but a couple of the shelves comes close to fitting my seasonal shoe needs! :)

I love how much our Pax wardrobes store, and I'm thrilled that we were able to get a more custom look with just a few changes to the Pax frames. Painting probably took the most time and labor, but I think changing the color to match the walls was a key part of making these wardrobes look less IKEA and more custom.

I've painted a lot of IKEA furniture in the past. Spray paint usually at least sticks and covers, but the paint will almost always chip off eventually without the right primer, which I didn't know about until recently. With a coat or two of this miracle primer, you can layer on sprayed, rolled or brushed paint for the top coat, and it will stick - and stay - on your IKEA furniture!
The brand is Zinsser, but make sure you get the shellac-based version. It is formulated for use on laminate furniture, which most primers aren't.

Whenever I'm priming a piece of furniture for a dark paint color, I ask the paint mixer to tint my primer. Usually it just ends up being a bluey-gray color, but it seems to help get a darker, truer color in the end when you're not having to work to cover up the white primer.

I recommend either rolling or spraying on the primer coat (to minimize brush marks and the need for heavy sanding). I still really recommend the Critter spray gun, but spraying primer with this gun doesn't work as well as spraying regular paint. The finish gets almost a little dusty. I found that if I lightly sanded after spraying the dust practically fell off and left a smooth finish. It might have been quicker to roll on the primer here though.

I think, whether rolling or spraying, it's easiest to paint the furniture before it is completely assembled. You can get in all the nooks and crannies and to reach all the edges better when all the pieces are separate.

Once the frame was sprayed and it had a good sanding (why it looks so patchy here below), we screwed the units together and to the walls and then built up the top with a little box frame. Then we added crown moulding to the box (similar to what we did here). This simple step added about 12" of height the to Pax frames and instantly made the separate wardrobes look a lot more like a single piece of (giant) furniture.

For the sake of time and ease, I sprayed all the doors and drawers and shelves outside with my Critter sprayer and I rolled the wardrobe frames inside. I was interesting to see if there would be any huge differences in the rolled vs the sprayed finish.

I had to go back a do a little more hand sanding on the rolled paint and the sprayed paint looked a little more original and like a factory-finish, but honestly, both looked fine. So if you don't have an air compressor and a spray gun, foam mini-rollers are a great option for you. Just make sure you do several coats to blur out any roller lines.

In my little vanity area in the center wardrobe, I wanted to add wallpaper to cover up the adjustable shelf holes, but I didn't want any extra pattern or color (I knew my jewelry would be color enough!). I found this little roll of pre-pasted grasscloth look-alike at Lowes for about $20 and it seemed like an easy option.

Most of the wallpapering I've done in the past has not been with pre-pasted paper. And wow, let me tell you - it is SO easy to wallpaper with this stuff. A million times easier than the paper that's unpasted. For a smaller application like this, you can just mark all your pieces and cut them to size all at once.

Then you get the paper wet and fold it in half for a few minutes while the paste softens. No need to get the paper too wet or you'll have a huge mess on your floors and walls.

After you put the wallpaper up on the wall, use a large, flat spatula to pull out all of the air bubbles and extra paste (which you'll need to wipe off with a wet rag as you go). If the spatula is large and if you work from the same edge and pull down and out with every swipe, you'll have perfectly installed wallpaper in just a minute or two per sheet. It goes really fast with this pre-pasted stuff!

I used about half a roll for the vanity nook area and had more than enough to do the ceiling of the wardrobe too. 

I rolled on the same paint (Benjamin Moore's Advance line, tinted to Knoxville Gray) once the paper and paste had dried. I wish the finish look more like real grasscloth, but the texture is beautiful and subtle. I think it was worth the extra few steps to make the vanity look special.

So, I'll be honest, while the steps of priming and painting all the surfaces in these three wardrobes were pretty easy on their own, it ended up being a lot of labor and it took several hours over the course of a few days to get everything covered and smooth. I love the finish and the color though, so I think it was worth it.

More behind-the-scenes projects coming up!