Category Archives: DIY Ideas

How To Paint Your Floors White.. Holy Amazing.

I NEED these white floors! Obsessed! I first heard of this idea a couple of months ago on the Nate Burkus Show. I was basically glued to the TV.  There is just something about white, I  cannot get enough of it. I’m pretty much drooling over this living room.

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Painting our floors won’t be happening for awhile, since we plan to rent this place for a couple more years. Once we buy a house, I will be all over this. I guess I will just have to dream for now! Painting your floors white is probably the easiest way to add instant chic to your home. Well maybe not easy but you know what I mean.  Here is a really good extremely detailed tutorial I found over at Door 16.

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Someone please do this! I can at least live vicariously through one of you. We would love to hear how it goes and see your before & after photos too!

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As you can see white painted wood floors go with any decor. Shabby chic, modern chic, vintage, rustic, whatever you like.

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Xo, Melissa & Virginia

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DIY Chair Facelift – New Fabric & Paint

I have been growing sick of our dining room table & chairs for years now. I would’ve  loved to go out and buy all new chairs, but since they are in near perfect condition.. I couldn’t really justify getting all new stuff. Plus I wanted a fun project to do! I decided to brighten them up with a modern fabric and some white paint.

Definitely happy with our new chairs!

Supplies you will need:

  • 100 grit sandpaper – You can get away with not sanding your surface if its a flat non- shiny surface
  • Purdy paint brushes – they are a little more expensive but they are the best & never leave stray paint brush hairs behind!
  • A couple of paint trays
  • 1 can oil base primer – Oil based makes for a better finish, lasts a lot longer and is resistant to scratches, etc.
  • 1 can latex paint – I chose ultra pure white by Behr
  • Paint thinner to remove the oil base primer from your brush

If you plan to recover seat cushions:

  • Fabric of your choice
  • Staple gun & staples
  • Screw driver

Ok so here is what our dining room chairs looked like before……

I started off by giving the chairs a good sanding. I borrowed my mom’s electric sander.. 5 minutes in.. the sander broke!  Awesome. so I sanded the rest by hand.  You don’t have to go crazy sanding, just rough it up and get most of the shine out. The primer will stick better. Make sure to smooth out any imperfections in the wood.

I applied 1 coat of the oil base primer. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Something you should know: the primer is going to look uneven so don’t freak out. That’s kind of the nature of primer.

Once the primer was dry I applied two even thin coats of the latex paint. I had to go over some areas a third time. Two thin coats of paint gives you a better finished look and this way you avoid dripping.

I ordered my chevron stripe white & gray fabric to re-cover the seat cushions here. It only cost me about $25. Not bad for a little chair revamp!

We ripped off the existing yellow & white fabric off the seat cushions. I cut the fabric into squares big enough to cover all sides of the cushion. Then ironed the fabric making sure there were no wrinkles.

After that I basically just wrapped the cushions like a present. I pulled the fabric super tight while Clayton stapled away.

Yay!

Then he screwed all the cushions back on the chairs

Here is a before & after chair transformation!!

I decided to move our jute rug from our living room to the dining room. I am really glad I did. I love it in here! It totally makes the space more cozy. It creates more of a defined dining space. (Frank jumped in the picture too.)

.. and our cat Stewart’s tail snuck in too – they LOVE this rug

Loving the chevron design.. this was such a fun way to update & modernize our chairs

What do you think about our dark wood table? Good contrast with the chairs? Clay thinks we should paint the table too.

I can’t wait for the next project!

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DIY Picture Frame “Love Wall”

****UPDATE****

This is what the current gallery wall looks like now. Read more about that here.

After the wedding, Clayton & I had so many wedding & engagement photos we wanted to frame. My biggest dilemma was I didn’t want to fill my shelves and fireplace mantle with a plethora of random frames! I hate cutter. So I decided a picture frame wall with our top favorite photos would be the way to go. And might I add that we used a lot of the same frames that were used in our wedding (double sentimental!) The frames in the wedding were used as our table numbers. I love that we are incorporating a part of our wedding into our home.

{Here is exactly how I created the gallery frame wall}

I gathered up 17 of my favorite frames. I traced the frames in newspaper and junk mail so I could use these cut outs as a guide for what the frames would look like on the wall.

I tapped the junk mail cut outs on the wall and moved the cut outs around until the spacing of the frames looked good

(Trust me, it’s going to start looking better soon!)

one by one I nailed & hung each frame in the place of the cut outs..

In keeping with Operation Glam Chic I went to Lowe’s and grabbed some high gloss yellow and turquoise spray paint by Valspar

I decided to paint two frames yellow and two turquoise

What a difference these bright colors make!

After that we chose and printed our “love photos” to complete our love wall… So what do you think?

We love the bright pops of color! It is truly amazing what a couple of $4 cans of spray paint can do.

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Top 5 Creative Uses For Vintage Wood Crates

Wood crates are one of those things you can do just about anything with. They are pretty inexpensive and can be purchased at antique shops and fairs. You can also find them on Etsy.

{Top 5 favorite uses for vintage soda crates}

#1 Shelves

The top right photo is 12 crates that make up one awesome storage shelf ! I will definitely be doing this in my home office or kitchen – both need extra storage space at the moment. This is such a brilliant way to bring functional and pretty storage to any room. The bottom right photo could work in a children’s bedroom or an entryway.

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#2 Herb or flower planter

It’s amazing how old beat up crates can look so pretty when you add gorgeous flowers to them. Having your herbs planted in a crate would be so convenient. Just leave them on the kitchen counter and use them as needed while cooking!

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Love these adorable herb markers – Find similar ones here or make them yourself!

#3 Wedding Decor

I am absolutely obsessed with crates being used in weddings. We used them in our wedding at the cocktail hour. Crates can be used to hold your wedding favors, they can be used as reception table centerpieces, accessories at your dessert bar, or just for added decor.. the possibilities are endless.

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#4 Original use – soda crate!

Perfect for BBQs, kid’s birthdays & parties – weddings too! LOVE the bright colors against the rustic wood crates

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#5 Entertaining

Adding this to your buffet spread is a simple way to add style and a little shabby chic elegance.

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What is your favorite?! Have you done something similar to my top 5 fav uses? We would love to hear how you made use out of an old wood crate.

Oh and BTW, Melissa & Clayton’s wedding was featured on Style Unveiled!! Check out the amazing spread they did and the Q&A here!

Xoxo,

Melissa & Virginia

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Paint Stick Sunburst Mirror DIY

For the longest time I have wanted a huge sunburst mirror to hang over our fireplace mantel. But with all of our money going toward our skyrocketing wedding budget last year, I knew  there was no chance of me purchasing one of these stunning mirrors.

What can I say.. I went a little overboard with the wedding.

A couple of months ago I came across this amazing and super EASY DIY over on Centsational Girl. So finally last Friday night I went to Home Depot and Michaels to pick up all my materials.

{My Shopping List}

Home Depot

  • 16 1- gallon paint sticks –  FREE
  • 16 5- gallon paint sticks – FREE

The guy at the paint counter literally thought I was insane wanting that many paint sticks! I told him it was for a do-it-yourself mirror I was making.. and he thought I was even more crazy.

Michaels

Picture frame 3 pk kit – 3.99

  • 7″ embroidery hoop – 2.49
  • 7″ round mirror – 2.99
  •  Metallic Sahara Gold craft paint by Folk Art – 1.99
  • Metallic Pure Gold craft paint by Folk Art  – 1.99
  • 3 piece paint brush kit – 3.99
  • 11″ square piece of wood – free

Total cost = $18.00

****Update****

I finally got around to sawing the super long paint sticks down, making it much cuter! Here is what the sunburst mirror looks like now:

Read more how I updated the living room here & here

I followed Centsational Girl’s tutorial here. I have to say I am pretty happy with my sunburst mirror and very impressed with myself! I thought I did pretty good for my first DIY home project. It makes such a statement in our living room. Plus how can you beat $18?! It’s a lot less than what you would spend on a store bought Sunburst.

Below is our living room before we updated it eekks!

I love the metallic colors!

So there you have it. What do you think? You can really do any colors you like, to match with your home. Hope you try this too!

Some upcoming projects I am working on include painting and re-covering our dining room chairs & a picture frame gallery wall. Here’s a little sneak peak of what I have been slaving over this week.. sanding and painting. Stay tuned!

Happy Friday & enjoy your weekend

Xoxo,

Melissa & Virginia

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Baby Fever

There has been a lot of talk recently between Clayton & I about when we will have our first babe. I know I am probably getting ahead of myself but, I can’t help thinking about decorating the most to die for gorgeous nursery! I have so many ideas.. Some of which are a little much for the space we have to use. The room is a tiny 9ft x 11ft, but I am determined to make it work without making it look cluttered.

Something you should know about me? I cannot stand clutter!! Ask my husband. It drives him nuts. Half the time I will be too lazy to actually organize.. so I end up stuffing things into drawers so I don’t have to look at the clutter.

Here is my inspiration for our baby’s room. I’m loving the all white feel – Did I mention I am obsessed with white?

I love the dark wood floors so much. Unfortunately with our cat and  dog, both being blonde… those beautys are out of the question for me.

For me a chandelier is mandatory. Chandeliers just make a room feel so special, and I’m sure our little munchkin will love gazing up at it all the time. I love this one from Horchow. So gorg and unique.

Now for some color! I love white, but I also like a bold print here and there. Color makes the room feel fun and happy. Loving this chevron stripe rug! Overstock has an incredible selection of area rugs. The best part? They are a fraction of the price. Check out this rug from Overstock similar to the rug shown below. Or.. this one

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I have had my eye one this gorgeous blue & white medallion rug from Horchow for quite awhile. Found one just like it for half the price at Overstock – score!

I want to incorporate a sunburst mirror into the baby’s nursery.. maybe over the changing table. That could be really cute. These are really pretty!

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Gotta have a gorgeous chair! I have had a small obsession with tufted upholstered chairs, couches, headboards.. really anything. So glamorous.

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This one from ZGallerie is nice too

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Do you have any ideas for decorating your nursery? What colors are you doing??

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Pepsi Crate Obsession

I love the rustic feel these crates bring to my house.  I made a little centerpiece for our dining room table. The bright ranunculus flowers against the vintage Pepsi crate + the glam gold candle holders = AMAZ!

We actually used a lot of these pieces  in our engagement shoot that Clay & I did this past Sunday – photos to come soon!!

I also hung two crates as shelves.

I even made use out of one in the guest bathroom! As you can see, I am quite obsessed and the possibilities are endless.

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Wallpaper is back!

I know you probably think I’m a little crazy with the name of this blog post. Bare with me! Nowadays wallpaper is #1 MUCH cuter than the gross old 70’s styles we have seen in the past #2 easier to apply than ever bef0re & #3 A lot easier to remove.  So if you rent, this could work for you too.

I actually started my little wallpaper obsession about a year ago.  I was shopping at Nord’s with the BFF; while we were in the bathroom, I noticed they used wallpaper on the walls. It was such a unique way to dress up a room. I fell in love.

I mean look at these incredible designs & colors!!

Wallpaper from Farrow & Ball Source: Where the sidewalk begins blog

Wallpaper from Farrow & Ball Source: Where the sidewalk begins blog

I’m loving this blue/green color.

Source: Country Livng

Source: Graham & Brown

Source: Apartment Therapy

Source: HGTV

Honestly, I can’t wait until the wedding is over so I can have more time & money to put into decorating our house. I’m thinking it would be fun to do wallpaper in the baby’s room.

What do you think?

Check out these online stores. It can be a difficult deciding which style will look best in your home, so remember you can order a sample of some of your favorite styles, before committing to buy the whole dang roll!

Graham & Brown

Farrow & Ball

Flavor League

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