A Double Hack - Ikea and West Elm !!

Hi everybody,

It's been awhile , but I've been so busy with work (don't you hate it when work gets in the way.) and redesigning my 3rd bedroom  into an everyday craft room.

I've given my desk an encore as well as some bookcases, more about that coming up.

My next project, I know this is way out of order but...

I decided to complete a Double Hack, an Ikea hack and a West Elm hack!!
The inspiration for this hack was found at  West Elm. It's their 2 x 2 Console Desk. Pictured below.

When I looked at this desk, I saw 4 Ikea Lack tables and an Ikea table top!!
So, off I went to Ikea to get the Lack tables and a white table top.
                           

Ikea Linnom table top

Ikea Lack table

                                                               

Here are the Lack tables. 

The underside of the tables had to be painted as they would be visible.

I used these to attach the 2 tables to each other.

Here she is. Can't you just see yourself using all this wonderful work space. Ignore the mess on the floor, this room is under construction!!

 I  decided to trim 1" off all of the legs. I wanted my work table to be tall enough to use as a cutting table for sewing too, so I decided on a finished height of 35". 

Here she is.  The West Elm desk is currently on sale , it was $349 and is now $199.

It's 60w x18d x 30h. Not a bad deal right?

My table is 48w x 25d x 35h for a total of $69.00. 

Finished look

I decided to use 2 different size plastic containers. I didn't want to have to dig around in 4 large containers that were just "buckets" so I used some smaller ones too. To help organize the items in my containers, I used foam board from the dollar store and made dividers for the smaller containers. I was able to choose the size of the compartments within each container. Ones has 16 sections for lots of smaller common items!

Foam board dividers in the making.

When fully packed this container will hold the zillions of bottles of acrylic paint, organized by color!!

Stay tuned for the next installment on As the Room Turns ( into something useful and beautiful).

Quick,Inexpensive wall covering option- You'll love it!!

Now that I have finished my headboard I'm ready to move to another room and my "office/craft room/guest room" is next. Just the fact that the room has to serve all those needs tells you that this will be a challenge. And to top it off. it's not that large a room, its only 12 x 10.5 '. It currently just has a desk and 2 small bookcases in it. Oh, and a left over chest of drawers that is on it's way to the basement. One of the walls in this room loses about 3.5' due to a closet that "sticks" out of one corner

I'm kinda over this animal print look. After all, it's followed me through 3 different houses. I think I've had enough. I want a lighter more feminine looking workspace.

                                                                via 
These  pics speak to the general look ( remember I said general, no way will I have the budget or space to do all this) that I want. I like the light airy look of the first pic but I also want a bold accent wall.
                                                    

Not sure if I'm this bold, but I think I like it!

Very daring and I LOVE it!

I wanted to start with the walls. The paint in this room is in good shape, the room hasn't seen too much use so I don't have to paint. The walls are a very pale soft grey that only looks grey when you notice the white trim. The one wall that always catches my eye and whispers "accent wall, accent wall" is where I started. This wall  has white bead board half way up.  I wanted to really make the top half of the wall pop with color. After deciding that I didn't want a solid wall, I started looking for some fabric to apply to the wall. But then...

I spotted this wrapping paper in Marshalls and I fell in love with it,  What's not to love? It's a stylized chevron pattern using two of my favorite colors, turquoise and pink. This paper is really cool because it isn't paper. Nope, it's not vinyl either. This paper is called Stone Wrap by Loft 213, it's made from limestone!

The price was right, $2.99 a roll and because it's so wide, 30" I only need 2 rolls for the top half of my accent wall. That's less  than $6.00. You can't buy a quart of good paint for $6.00!  Next, I had to figure out how to get the paper ( sorry, don't know what else to call this stuff) to stay on the walls without damaging the walls. If you are renting or leasing ( or just live with someone who hates glue, paste, etc on the walls) you understand. Well, here's what I found and it really gets the job done. 3M Command Poster Strips work perfectly. They are so thin that they aren't noticiable at all. I used the small strips. A package of 12 for $3.00 at Targets.

Here's why you should not lie to yourself, you know you can't see that tiny print. Go get your readers.!! I put the first 4 Command strips on wrong. But, so far so good.

Each piece of my paper is approx. 46" x 30", so to make sure they stay put I put a strip at least corner and one on each side mid way down. That means I'll need 18 strips total. That's $6.00 for Command strips for a total cost of approx. $12.00.

Just 3 other prints, there are even more available.

 

 This paper comes in so many cute patterns that I'm going to head back to Marshalls for more of it so that I can change this accent wall if I want. I saw two other patterns that would so work with the colors I plan to use in this room.

Here is the wall.

First sheet up, no problems!

Wall's all done!

If you plan to try this with other wrapping paper, go for it. My only word of caution is to look at your paper carefully before you cut it. I did discover a flaw in my second roll and had  to go back for more. But at $2.99 a roll, I'm  not too mad about it. I took the paper back and explained that I didn't see the flaw before I cut it, and they gladly exchanged it for another roll and apologized for the inconvenience. Way to go Marshalls!

This project took less than 40 minutes. I measured twice before cutting and spent time matching the pattern. I plan to paint my desk and bookcases white and will add a large chalkboard that I spied at Marshalls on this patterned wall. I also will be painting a 5x7 area rug that I got for $4.95 at a local thrift store. There's lots to be done in this room. Stay tuned, I plan to share it all with you.

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The Glam girl and Chickens!

It's time for my confession, I really (I mean really) like chicken & rooster figurines. Don't ask me to explain why, I don't know why. Why does a city born and raised girl who loves all things shiny,sparkly and glamorous like chickens? I don't really like real live walking around in the yard chickens , and I pass some everyday. Just figurines, nothing live. I don't remember when this began. I do have two chickens. I bought them for $5 at a thrift store in Mich., I have been told I got taken!! Anyway...

 I have 2 of these  Black chickens

I started noticing that whenever I went out shopping,( particularly thrifting) I always saw a chicken that I liked. I never notice cows, dogs or any other animal, just chickens. My good friend Shelly noticed that I was always looking at chickens and began teasing me about it. She was right, I was always picking up a chicken on our monthly outings to Scot'ts Antique Market, but I never bought them.

If you've been in HomeGoods or even Hobby Lobby lately, you've seen chickens. Or maybe you walked right by them cause, well,you're just not into chickens. They have lots of really cute chickens and roosters. Here are a few from HomeGoods that I saw that really caught my eye.

                                                                        

This guy is in one of my favorite color combos.
               

Love this color.

I just love this fat round bodied chick.

                                                           Great Paper Mache' Chicken

                                              I seem to be drawn to white, black and red chickens.


The same week I found these chicks and roosters at Hobby Lobby. What a great variety of chicks!

                Blown glass chicks have a totally different vibe. Not quite so country, more sophisticated.

                                                            My color combo again.

                                                            Metal, glass, wood and ceramic

Even though I really like these, I haven't bought any of them. Maybe I'm just meant to like them from afar!
Anything that you're attracted to that you just can't explain? Tell me about it.

The Amazing Duct Tape Projects

HI all,

Don’t know about you but I’ve been impressed with a lot of the pretty and funky designs you can find on Duct Tape now. Now, anyone who went to college (or was even alive) in the 70s knows that you could fix anything with good old Duct Tape. Come on, if you were like a lot of us poor college students, you knew you could almost rebuild your hoopty (that’s often the only kind of car we had!) with Duct Tape. So I’m glad to see it evolving into something even more special. With all the new colors and prints, it’s been calling my name lately.

A couple of weeks ago, one of my brothers laughingly suggested that it was time for me to buy a new case for my tablet. I could have been offended but he was so right! A $10 EBay purchase about 5 years ago, it had served me well. While it was still functional, it looked a mess, pealing faux leather, is not cute. I saw this as the perfect project for some Duct tape. I love bright colors and this pink, orange and green chevron print was speaking to me from the rack. I just noticed how often inanimate objects call to me, speak to me, etc…hmmmm.

Well here’s my case before:

                                                           This is bad, really bad! Really I hadn't noticed just how bad it was.

 And here it is now:

 

Not too bad is it? It was so easy, I just matched the pattern and done. It took less than 20 minutes and less than one roll of tape. Total cost: $3.86 (including tax) Note: I found that the tape is cheaper at Wal-Mart. The same tape was still over $1.00 more at Hobby Lobby with the 40% off coupon.

 So, if that was fun, why not do it again? So….  Here's my next bit of fun!

  

This was a KVZ bag that I love. I loved it so much that I wore it out!! Yep, carried it for more than a couple of springs and summers. Not the bags’ fault it ended up with a corner like this.

But I couldn't get rid of it. I think I kept telling myself that I was going to harvest the chains and rings to use on a purse I have yet to make.  Well, not any more. I decided to see what she would look like with a Duct tape encore. So, one (1) roll of tape later and here she is:

 

This was so easy, I didn’t have to really concentrate or think about what I was doing. I completed this while watching a TV show with my daughter.  I didn’t spend much if any time trying to match the seams. If you look really closely trying to spot the seams, you’ll see them. I however am not looking for them!!

 

 

As I worked on it, I decided not to cover the entire bag.

 

 

                             I simply very carefully used an Exacto knife to cut around the studs.

 

What do you think?  An encore for a favorite and in an animal print, one of the fall must haves!! For me that's a SCORE!

 Do you have something that has seen better days, but you haven’t gotten rid of it yet. (No, I don’t mean him; I mean a “thing”!!) What about Duct tape? Give it a try. Personally, I’m looking for a roll of snake skin print to cover a box for my coffee table.  Let me know what you do with some Duct tape.

 

This Little Light of Mine.... a DIY Lamp

Latest Bedroom DIY 

I've done it again. I've created another low cost, high glam project for my bedroom. Right after I finished my tufted headboard (see here) I began looking for lamps. And, fate was on my side, a quick trip to Tuesday Morning and I was in luck. I saw this lamp and fell in love.

As I danced over with my cart on the ready, I stopped dead in my tracks at the price $39.99 and I needed 2. I know $86.00 dollars wasn't a lot for 2 lamp, but I guess I'm just cheap. So, fate laughed and shook her finger at me as I walked out the store without them.

I began a search at my local thrift stores and a week later, I found 2 lamps for $5.96 each. The only thing I didn't like was the fact that they were gold.

Off to the garage and a can of silver spray paint.

After I figured out how to take them apart so that I could paint the inside, I got another bright idea. I cut a piece of silver glitter encrusted card stock into 2 circles that I put into the bottom of each lamp. I wanted the light to really sparkle when it was on.

My next stop was to find 2 tall slender drum lamp shades at an affordable price. I remembered seeing some shades at Tuesday Monday . They were still there at an ok price ( they could have been cheaper but what are you going to do), not wanting to tempt fate, I bought 2 of them. After I got them home I discovered  they had this wonderful ribbon lacing detail, how did I miss this!

These lamps really needed a taller harp to really look good, so I grabbed 2 from Home Depot.

A silver filigree ball drawer pull was added to a small wooden block to create a unique finial.

 At this point, my total cost for both lamps was $48.00!  My lamps are about 4" shorter than the inspiration lamps at Tuesday Morning. 4" vs.an additional $38. No way So not worth it.. To get the additional height I just covered 4 old hardback books and sat the lamps on them. I'm loving these lamps. What do you think?

 This post is linked to:
                             

                                
                   

                                           http://encorecreations.blogspot.com/2013/09/this-little-light-of-mine-diy-lamp_2.html