Nerd Alert

I just spent my Friday night creating the image I have in my head, of our someday completed master bedroom.  Yup, I'm nerdy :)

One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure

Dan and I recently sorted through some clothes and had a few bags to donate to Savers.  While we were there, a few things caught my eye.  I've been looking for a yellow throw to go with my bedding, but apparently yellow isn't a very popular color for bedding because I couldn't find one anywhere....until I walked in to Savers.  There it was, hanging there screaming my name for all of $7. 

Then, from the corner of my eye, I saw a yellow lamp across the store.  Dan thought I was crazy when I told him we HAD to go check it out.  I did just get done making over two lamps last week, why would I possily need another lamp?  But, I couldn't resist...it was yellow and only $5.  I got it home, added a little bling to it by hot gluing a ribbon of beads and found it a home! 

I also picked up a couple books, seen under the lamps by the bed.  It's always fun to take a peek in thrift stores, you just never know what you'll find. 

And, just because she is cute, here is a picture of Paige :)

Bedroom Makeover: Part 3

Here is the final segment of my bedroom makeover...well, for now atleast. 

With the material that I absolutely adore, I covered some lamp shades.  It took more work finding a lamp that would work for this project (that didn't cost me an arm and a leg) than it did to actually complete the project itself.  After searching and searching and searching, I finally came across some clearance lamps at Pier1 that would do the trick!  Here is what they looked like before I started:

It's a nice looking lamp, but I wanted a shade a tad more interesting and I also wanted it to match our new bedroom decor. I simply cut off the fabric covering this shade and with a little hot glue, added my own fabric.  Simple as that!

Wait, I must retract my prior statement that the lamp shopping took the longest part.  That's a lie - a big lie!  How did I even forget that I first painted the fabric!  That's right...the yellow in the fabric was too much of a mustard color to match the shade of yellow I am going for in the room.  When I was at the craft store, I was in so much aww over the pattern of the fabric that I didn't even think about the shade of yellow (oops)...** sigh**  So I spent hours upon hours painting it the correct color.  It was worth it though :)

Here is the final look: (ignore the unmade bed and messy night stand...I was too excited to take the picture!)

I made two lamps, because in the future, I would like to have 2 night stands.  But for now, we just have the one.  And that completes the beginning of our bedroom makeover!

Bedroom Make-over part 2: Upholstered Headboard

I couldn't stop at the bedding, I had a vision and I just wanted to accomplish it! After looking online for an upholstered headboard and finding all of the leather/vinyl ones to be far out of our budget, I decided to make my own headboard. It's really quite simple, very affordable and added the perfect look to our new bedding. I could give the DIY rundown, but there are plenty of tutorials online. The one I followed can be found here: DIY Tufted Headboard.

The only difference between that headboard and the one we made was the way it is mounted. Instead of hanging ours on the wall , we decided to add legs that would attach directly to the bed, just like our last headboard did. Most of the work was a one person job, but adding the legs and attaching it to the bed was certainly a 2 person job. Dan and his handy man sized drill (as opposed to my handheld mini drill) were a big help!

Check out the finished look:

I'm in love :)

Jewelry Display DIY

Back in 2007, I worked at Flash Digital Portraits and had access to all the damaged goods, for free! Without a need for them, I still brought home 2 of their 8 x 20 picture frames. I figured, SOMEday, I'd find something to do with them. I managed to use one back in 2008 when a friend got married. The other one, however, I've been hauling around with me, move after move, still in the box without a need in site. I FINALLY decided to put the frame to use this past week. I have a jewelry box at home. You know, the kind that has square sections for all your earrings to sit in, get hooked together and you forget what earrings you actually have because you can't see them all and then when you need a pair you go digging for the two earrings that match. It's the same kind that you can hang your necklaces in, but half of your necklaces are too long or too chunky to really fit and still be able to close the door.

Problem solved, killing two birds with one stone: I'll use that frame I've never had a use for AND make my jewelry more organized and readily available. And I'll give myself some bonus points - this project only cost me $4!

Here's the DIY breakdown.

You'll need:

-One frame of any size

-Cardboard or thick sturdy foam board (my frame still had the cardboard in it)

-Material of your liking

-Hooks that have screwy things at the end (such technical terms, I know)

-mesh wire (I used a floral mesh wire, but chicken wire would work as well)

-hot glue

-spray paint

My frame was already black, just the way I wanted it. But if you have a frame that you want a different color, just spray paint it.

My frame came with carboard already in it, but if yours didn't or its an old frame, etc - simply measure the size of the inside of your frame and cut the cardboard/foam to size - so if fits with a tiny bit of wiggle room, into the frame.

Lay your material our, face down and place cardboard cutout on top of it. Cut the material so it is about 1 inch larger on each side than the carboard. Making sure the material is completely flat, wrap the edges around the cardboard and secure with some hot glue.

Measure wire, so once again, it is about 1 inch larger on each side than the cardboard.

Spray paint the wire to match your frame. The hooks come in to play later, but if those don't match your frame - and you want them too, you might as well spray paint those at the same time.

Once the wire is painted and dry, lay it flat, place cardboard piece face down and wrap the edges of the wire around the cardboard. Secure with hot glue.

Place cardboard/wire piece into the frame (if there is glass in the frame, remove it) so the front shows through the front of the frame. Close back of frame.

Flip it over, smile, you're almost done!

Measure where you want your hooks to be and screw the hooks in to the frame.

Hang on wall (duh :) )

Now you're done! Easy peasy and fun way to organize your jewelry for a low cost!

Step One of Bedroom Make-over

I have completed step one of what will be a very lengthy bedroom make-over. I have had the urge to redo our bedroom for quite some time, but given that we live in an apartment and have a nice bedroom the way it is, I've been resisting my urge. But, I, once again, won a drawing at work - so instead of spending my Target gift card on a bunch of stuff that I'd never remember (like toothpaste, chicken breasts and kleenex) I decided to get something worth showing. Something that I can look at and think "that looks great and I didn't spend a penny out of my own pocket for it...I won that!" So with that, I decided to go ahead and start the bedroom make-over. The last time I won a gift card from work, I purchased this pillow with it - as I knew I loved it and wanted it to be the inspiration for my someday (that came sooner than I thought) bedroom makeover.For a few days, I stared at these chairs, over and over again..debating which one I was going to get.

I love the thought of these chairs, they'd add such visual interest to any room! But, the realist in me took over. We won't be in this apartment forever, so as much as I'd like to think that our future home will have room in the bedroom for a chair, that may not be the case. So i'll continue to visit Target.com weekly to oohh and ahhh over these chairs!

Since the chair idea was nixed, I decided on bedding instead. After shopping the clearance racks, I walked out with more than expected...all without spending a penny out of my own pocket!!

Here is the final look.

Now, I'll have to very patiently wait (boy is that hard) til we have a more permanent bedroom to complete my vision!