Spring Monogram "Wreath"

Last weekend I finally took down my Christmas wreath. Since it was red I figured it worked for Valentine's Day too, right? But not so much March or April.

Made by hot gluing fake berries on a M painted silver

So I finally got around to making a spring themed monogram. I have seen a few "wreaths" on Pinterest that are used with a frame. Well of course I have a large collection of frames from garage sales. I had a great solid wood antique frame which was perfect since it was already backless and glass-less. I went to Michael's and bought a wooden letter, some flowers, and ribbon. I spent $12 and the frame I already had was $1.

I pulled the flowers off of the stem and then hot glued them to the letter. I only used half the flowers so I put the rest in a vase inside.

I looped the ribbon around the frame and then hot glued it to the back of the letter. You can see how I looped it in the picture below. If I did this again, I would just staple the ribbon to the frame instead of looping it around like that. The problem with how I did it is that the letter hangs kind of crookedly in the frame. Its not bothering me too much right  now but I may fix it later. 

I then just tied my big ribbon around the top. I tried looking up different fancy bows but ended up just sticking with a basic bow...And then hung the frame by the bow on my wreath hook. I love that ribbon and have a lot left so I can't wait to use it somewhere else. 

Now I just need one for the summer! Already thinking of some ideas...maybe something with sand or shells?

New to Us End Tables

As we are trying to get back into the DIY spirit after vacation I did a quick-ish project two weekends ago staining our "new" end tables. 

In preparation for our bedroom re-do I started looking for new end tables the end of last summer at garage sales. I found one for $5 which I posted about here. I never found another one but then my mom gave me a table that someone gave her? Or she got out of the trash? It was not as stylish as the one I already had but after not finding anything else I thought some matching stain might bring the two tables together. 

The $5 table was wood veneer that was already stained and the free table was solid unfinished wood. I decided to try a new (to me) product: Poly-Shades by Minwax. It is different than regular stain in that it includes your protective polycrylic finish and you can use it over existing stain. Soo you don't have to sand or strip away the previous finish. Which is great news for me since I hate doing both of those things. 

I wanted a dark stain to match our dresser in the bedroom.  I didn't go so far as to bring a drawer with me to Lowes but I did bring a picture of the dresser. The stain on the sample wood pieces looked different then the color on the can so that helped with my decision. 

The directions say to lightly sand before starting and then to sand with fine steel wool between coats. I did it inside with a window open because I like to watch TV...but it was smelly and would be better done outside. 

The Poly-Shades was definitely thicker than regular stain. I had to stir it a lot and it was all goopy at the bottom at first. 

The transformation with the stain was amazing. After just one coat the tables already looked so much better. 

I thought that the free table may need more coats than the other table due to being lighter. After one coat they did look different but with a second coat on each they were much closer. I thought about doing a third coat only on the free table but Pascal said to leave well enough alone.

FIRST COAT

SECOND COAT

The unfinished free table definitely took the stain better. I think I was probably supposed to sand the pre-stained table more. The stain went on the pre-finished table more like paint instead of soaking in like stain. You can also see in the corners where it is darker because I got too much stain there. With regular stain you would wipe up any access with a rag but with this kind you brushed it on and then went back over right away with a dry brush to get any excess off. It seemed to get stuck in the corners though. Oh well I don't mind and Pascal doesn't care because this table is mine. It was good to try a new product though and I am trying to not just paint ALL THE THINGS. 

Instead of re-using the blah wood handle on the free table I bought an antique brass knob for $1.50 to match the existing handle on the $5 table . It really kinda just looks silver but it is good for now. 

Beautiful!

Our old tables had two huge drawers that we could fill with very important...junk. Since these only had one I bought some boxes at Target to add more storage. 

Pascal's box is cooler...Jealous. Clearance of course.

I am very pleased with how it turned out! Total project makeover cost $12 Poly-Shades + $1.50 knob + $5 table + free table = $18.50. When I tried to find new tables online I couldn't find any I liked for under $50 for one. So I think these were definitely a good deal, plus they are unique.

Master Bedroom Progress- New Rug

After a long awaited vacation it is time to get back to work on our bedroom! It was hard to come back from vacation but I did have our new bedroom to look forward to. Well part of it. We still don't actually have a bed but we do have a rug!

When I talked about our master bedroom plans here I planned on getting this rug from Target which was $250 for a 7x10. $250 is a lot for me but still less than most rugs out there.

Target Threshold Rug

Not long after that I saw an ad for Rugs USA saying that they were having a 70% off sale plus free shipping. Plus no tax since it is online. I have browsed Rugs USA before but always thought it was too expensive. However they have sales all the time so you just need to hold out for the really great ones. I looked at a lot of rugs but ended up with the same style as the Target one.

Rugs USA

With the on sale price it was $208 for the 8x10. So a bit cheaper than Target and a bit bigger. And it looked "fluffier". The rug arrived right before we left for vacation and it is definitely much bigger and fluffier than our old $20 Ikea rug! Totally worth the $208 and more. We did not buy a rug pad for it since our carpet is already messed up and we don't have to worry about ruining it any more...So far there doesn't seem to be any problems with it sliding around. It is very heavy so it is hard to even move intentionally!

Now we just need a bed to go with it! Although this carpet is comfy enough to sleep on. Okay well maybe just for a nap- not all night. 

Mid Century Garage Sale Find

Our master bedroom "redo" has officially started in that we now no longer have any of our furniture. We passed it on and we have just been staying in the guest bedroom. Its like being on vacation...in the upstairs of our house. Which incidentally is warmer, so maybe we should sleep up there all winter? Anyway. Part of replacing our bedroom furniture involves replacing the great big dresser that we used to have. I didn't really have any ideas of what type to get or where to get it. And then I remembered that we already have a dresser...upstairs in our spare room.

I bought said dresser last May at a garage sale. I had been out that morning with my grandmother at garage sales and then convinced Pascal to go with me to one around the corner at about 1 pm. It was one of the few times that he has actually gone with me. The garage sale was at an older couples house who was moving. They asked if we were interested in any furniture and said that they were really trying to get rid of it since it was the end of the day. The furniture was inside so we also got to see the house which is always fun.I am so nosy, I love to see what other people in the area have done to their houses since we all live in basically the same house.

They had what looked like a 9 drawer dresser but was actually a hutch. It had two bookcase looking pieces that went on top of the dresser part but were not currently attached. I didn't really need the dresser but it was beautiful and seemed like it was in good shape. It was a vintage Lane Furniture piece with dovetailed joints. I told them that I only wanted the dresser part not the top "hutch" part and the women said $25. I couldn't even negotiate with that fantastic price. She even said she would have her son drop it off since we lived around the corner and it was too big for my car. Sold. I decided that I would save it for when we one day have a nursery.

After I got home I did some research and learned that we really had gotten a great piece. I found a similar Lane dresser for sale online for $700! Here is another one that looks exactly the same as ours but smaller for $500! So all this time I have had this fabulous dresser just collecting dust. So it made sense to move it downstairs to our master bedroom where it would really fit much better than in a nursery.

The dresser did have some nicks and scratches on it but was overall in good condition. I cleaned it and used a magic eraser on some of the scuffs. I then bought Howard's Restor-A-Finish and Feed-N-Wax to polish the dresser. I read good reviews about it online and it was $17 for both products. I heardly used any of it so I will be able to use this on many other projects.

 

I used the Restor-A-Finish first and wiped it on with an old rag. After a half hour I wiped off any access. It already looked great but I then added the Feed-N-Wax once it was completely dry. The best part about that was the great orangey smell. Now I think the dresser looks basically new.

Before

After

Left Polished/Right Unpolished

Stylish Calendars

I am really bad about coordinating all of my calendars...Basically I use my desk calendar at work for everything. So don't ask me when something is on the weekend because I have to check my desk calendar. We do have a whiteboard calendar at home that I've tried to use in the past for personal stuff and bills but I always forget about it and everything just ends up being in my head.

This year I am going to try to do better with my date book. So keep it in my purse and keep it updated. I usually would just buy a simple one at Target but I happened to look on Paper Source. I got sucked in and ended up with not one but three calendars.

I bought this date book for $13. I love the brown paper and I think it looks kinda retro.

So that was the only thing I really needed but then I found a small motivational/quote calendar for my cubicle and a beautiful calendar for our house. These calendars are mostly just for looks...but I love the quotes in the small one and the pictures in the big one. I will definitely use them as art in the future. The quote calendar was $13 and the art calendar was $25. I never spent that much on calendars but they will get re-used. 

I like having it by the front door so I get to see it every day. And it makes me happy.