Decorating a mantle

Lately I have been trying to change up the look of my mantle in my living room. I have probably changed it at least 5 times in the last 5 days, and it just never seems quite up to par. I have been looking online for some fun ideas, and wanted to share some of my favorites.

I love this mantle from The Nester. It is so simple, but to be completely honest, I may be more in love with the detail on the front of the mantle. I do love the look though. There are some great tips on there about decorating your mantle, so I will share them with you here.

1. Scale–you want big stuff, you want small stuff, you want medium stuff
2. Layering–don’t be afraid to put stuff in front of other stuff
3. Height Variations–make sure you have tall stuff and short stuff
4. Texture–shiny, smooth, rough, glass, wood, soft, sharp? I can’t think of any more textures but you get the idea
5. Color–consider repeating the same color a few times
6. Natural–try to add in one thing from nature
7. Meaningful–kid made pottery, a grandma’s silver rattle, quirky photo, framed letter

I am super envious of this awesome mantle that I found on one of my favorite blogs, The Lettered Cottage. They did a mantle mania, and there are so many fab ideas on there. I will share some of my favorites.

I must say that this last one is my favorite! I actually drooled on my shirt a little...ok, not really, but I do love this!

Picture frame makeover

I am always interested in finding any type of frames, mirrors, or pretty much anything that has lots of detail on it.  I recently found these frames at a garage sale for $0.50, and I loved the detail on them.  I figured I could spruce 'em up a bit.  Frames are the easiest things to paint. seriously! A can of spray paint, some glaze if you would like, or perhaps just a bit of sandpaper, like I used.
Here are the frames as they were when I bought them :)

I mean, they were so great that I probably could have done nothing with them.  Look at those beautiful flowers printed on those cardboard backs..... Yeah, but anyways, I first pulled those beautiful flower pictures out of the frames, made sure the frames were dust free, and sprayed them with a couple layers of spray paint. Once the frames were totally covered, and dry, I took a piece of sand paper, and lightly ran it over the raised portions of the frame, and voila

Now I just need to figure out if I should leave them empty, or if I should do a little make over / cover up of te beautiful flowers, and have something actually nice in the cute new frames.....decisions decisions.

Pinterest

Many people have told me that I really need to check out Pinterest, but it took me a while to actually check it out. If you have not joined this site, you must! If you love crafts, DIY, sewing, and Pages upon pages of beautiful inspiration, you need to check it out! You can create "boards" with any and all of your favorite things, and you will also be able to add a pin to your browser so that you will be able to pin photos and tutorials and images that inspire you. These can be pinned to your Pinterest board from anywhere on the web! This is a great way to collect inspiration that you can come back to at any time, and you won't have to worry about trying to hunt it down again, because you will already have it saved to your Pinterest boards!!! You can also add images of things that you have created, to share with others. There is so much more to this awesome site, but REALLY, you need to check it out!

Anthropologie Acid Mirror

I am in love with these mirrors, and Mandi over at Vintage Revivals has a great tutorial on how you can make one yourself, and save a boat load of money.  How great is that!

This is the set that Anthropologie sells, and it is only about $700!  What?! For 7 old picture frames, this has to be a joke....right?

This is Mandi's version, which I personally prefer!

I have not attempted to make my own yet, but they are definitely on the list!

Awesome Garage Sale Trunk

This last weekend, while checking out some garage sales, I found this awesome trunk.  I envision this being a toy chest for one of my children's rooms, but as of now it is in the entryway waiting to get it's insides upholstered :)

This is the trunk as it was when I bought it.

There was rust running down the sides, blue paint peeling off of it, and it was just kinda ugly. I first had to sand her down to remove the peeling paint, and get the surface roughed up for priming.  Then I put on a few coats of Primer.

Here she is after a coat of primer.  Keep in mind, there were a few more coats after this one.

After the primer (I use Krylon spray primer) had dried, I started painting (with Krylon Ivory Gloss spray paint) light coats of paint on her.  You will need to let each coat of paint dry before you begin the next coat.

Here she is after her paint had been applied

After the paint had dried completely, I got out my Valspar tintable glaze (that I have tinted with black) and brushed glaze into the creases, and detailed pieces, then wiped away the excess with a damp cloth until I had the desired amount.  As a note, it is better to start off with light coats.  You can always add more glaze if you would like a more dramatic look. I did one side at a time, that way I could quickly remove the glaze and not allow it to dry.

This is the finished result, after the sanding, priming, painting and glazing had all been finished.  I am very happy with the outcome of this piece.  If the hardware would have been removable, I probably would have opted to remove it, and paint it with a brushed bronze, but since it wasn't, and it had already been painted, I just painted right over the top of it.  If you wanted  to, you could tape off everything that wasn't metal, and spray the metal pieces with a metallic finish.

There are really great Painting Tutorials and Glazing Tutorials given by Brooke, over at All Things Thrifty, that are very easy to follow and are a great start for anyone wanting to learn some best practices for spray painting, and glazing.

Re-purposed Windows Galore

When looking for vintage windows, it is common to find them with panes of glass missing.  There are many ways to repurpose your "broken" window into a functional and awesome feature for any room.  I love the idea of using  a "broken" vintage window as a corkboard, like the one I found at Doris Today Designs.

I also am in love with this window mirror from The DIY Club.  This is a project that I will definitely be taking on!

Or you could create a wonderful vintage sign for your kitchen, entryway, or pretty much any area in your home using a tutorial from The DIY Club

There are so many awesome things to do with Vintage windows, and I will be adding more as I find them, or make them.

The Ugly Butterflies

So here are the ugly butterflies that I found at an estate sale recently.  The only reason I got them is because my 2 1/2 year old is really into butterflies right now.  I knew I could paint them, so I decided what the heck, they are cheap.  Here is what they looked like before.

Here they are after a couple coats of paint, and a touch of glaze~

Much better, and now my daughter can see butterflies everyday.

Decorative Balls

As a weekend project, I bought some styrofoam balls and made them into decorative balls.  These are so easy to make, and cost soo much less than the ones you buy at the store.  The 6 styrofoam balls were around $5, and the rest of the stuff that I used was stuff that I already had at my house.

The first ball was made out of branches from a bush in my back yard.  I cut a bunch of the branches from the bush, took all of the leaves off, and got to work.  For the first pieces, i attached each end to the ball with a straight pin.  Once you have enough branches on the ball, you can just start weaving the remaining branches into the ones that are attached.  Also, as you can see in the picture, there is some white showing through, so you may want to cover the ball with natural colored coffee filters, or something along those lines, or you can just add a lot more branches until it is totally covered.  I was too anxious to get started, so I didn't do this :)

For the next ball, I had some fake flowers, and just hot glued them all over the ball until it was completely covered.

Next, I had some fake leaf/thick grass looking stuff, and pinned this so the ball at each end.  I continued to pin each piece until the ball was completely covered.

The next ball, I covered in lace.  I had gotten a bunch of strips of lace at an estate sale, and just wrapped the entire ball in it.  Once the ball was covered, I used a straight pin to secure it (I also used a straight pin at the beginning).

For the last ball, I sprayed it with an adhesive spray (I used an elmers glue spray, which is super sticky!) and I sprinkled it with glitter. Once it is dry, you may want to spray it again with the adhesive spray to prevent too much glitter from rubbing off, or you could spray it with a clear lacquer (I'm not exactly sure how well this would work, since I didn't try it, but I imagine it would work pretty well).

So, here is the group.  I still haven't figured out what I want to do with ball #6, but I'm not in a hurry.  Any ideas?

Knock off Decor

This site is great.  It shows all sorts off knock off decor that you can make for your home.  Check it out.

Knock Off Decor

Reuse your old lights

I love the old brass hanging lights!  My neighbors recently updated their light fixtures, so I took this beauty off their hands.  I didn't get before pics, I wish I would have, but oh well, you will be able to picture it.  This light was shiny and gold, and not very kind to the eyes, but now, it is a light that I love!  When I painted this, I spray primed it first (which I don't think was necessary), then I spray painted it with a red paint.  Once the 2-3 layers of paint were dry, I glazed it, and voila!

The Foof

Recently, I saw a tutorial on jones design company that illustrated how to make a "foof" out of a foam ball, and coffee filters.  Since this was such a cheap activity, I had to give it a try!  I am thinking that I used wayyyy more coffee filters than were used in the tutorial, I am talking hundreds of coffee filters here!  I still love the way it turned out, and even though it took quite a while to finish, I am glad that I did it.  This "foof" is now hanging in my daughters room (for now).

To see the tutorial, and make your own "foof", go here coffee filter foof tutorial

Mod Podge Letters

Ok, so these letters are super quick, easy, and cheap.  These can also be easily made to match the decor and color scheme of any room in your home.  I initially bought the plain unfinished (the cheapest) wooden letters.  I then went to good old Hobby Lobby, with my daughters comforter, and bought various designs of scrapbook paper that matched with the colors, Ink chalk pads, and ribbon.  Once home, I:

1. Decided which order I wanted the papers to be in

2. Traced the letters onto the back of the appropriate paper

3. Cut the letters out of the paper

4. Covered the wooden letters in Mod Podge and carefully placed the paper letters over top of them

5. I used Ink Chalk pads around the edges (to give a more worn feel to them)

6. I mod Podged over the finished letters, and allowed them to dry

7. Attach your ribbon of choice to the back of the letters (the ribbon may need to be attached slightly off                                    center to allow the letters to hang straight. If you look at my "L" you will see what I mean.)

8. Hang and enjoy

Here is the Finished product~

You can also do a multi pattern letter, which I will explain and show very soon.  Actually, the only reason I don't right now is because I am too lazy to go and take a picture of it at the moment :)

Great shelving!

This is such a genius idea! I found this on Neon Fox Tongue this is made out of dresser drawers that are set upright, painted, and have the interiors upholstered. I'm sure this would need to be secured with brackets or nails, but what an Inexpensive and awesome idea! I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I do.

check this out!

Talk about turning trash into something amazing! I happened upon this site, and was blown away, and totally inspired to go dumpster diving ha.

Cottage Elements

This is an old broom/mop holder that is holding mini glass bottles with flowers. Genius!