6/27/2014

Etsy GIVEAWAY + Favorite Finds $20 and Under

Can we all just agree that Etsy is EVERYTHING? There are so many amazing items from hard working entrepreneurs, I could (and do) explore the shops for hours! 
So, Question: What would you buy with an Etsy gift card? 
How about this dinosaur succulent planter from Plaid Pigeon? It's pretty stinkin' rad. Know what else is rad? You guys! That's why I"m giving away a twenty dollar Etsy gift card this week! Tell me in the comments what you'd buy for an entry to win! PLUS! You can get extra entries for "Liking" Fifty Two Weekends of DIY's Facebook Page. 
Just for fun, here are a few of my favorite finds - all twenty bucks or less! 

Clockwise, starting from the polka dot canister:
1. Red Polka Dot Canister   2. Vintage Tea Towels  3. Wine Lover Coffee Cup   4. Gold Bee Earrings   5. Dinosaur Planter   6. Mystery Vintage T-Shirt - this idea is so fun!  7. Vintage Black Macrame Bag  8. Sassy Phrases Pencils   9. Kilim Pillow Cover   10. Turquoise Vintage Earrings - Eeek! I might need these for my collection! 

I can't wait to hear how you'd use an Etsy gift card! Good luck and happy Friday!

PS - This is my first Rafflecopter giveaway so I apologize in advance for the hiccups I'm sure will occur! :)
a Rafflecopter giveaway

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6/21/2014

How to Paint an Upholstered chair

I'm trying to spruce up our home office space, but since we are having the house painted this summer, I don't want to spend much on the project. Ultimately, I'd like to have a guest bed in there but for now I think pretty corner chair with some decor will do the job. I had this vintage slipper chair (it was previously located in B's room) and I thought it might be fun to try painting the upholstery.
How to Paint Upholstery Tutorial
Have you come across upholstery painting or tried it? It's been around for a while, and there are several good tutorials out there. This is the method I used, it's a little of this and a little of that from several other sources.
How to Paint Upholstery Tutorial
Supplies:
Latex satin paint - I used leftover from paint from our bathroom re-do.
Fabric medium - this stuff is usually located in the painting section with acrylic paints and brushes.
Painter's tape
Inexpensive, stiff-ish bristled paint brush
Spray bottle with water
200 grit sand paper - I didn't end up using this, but you might need it to gently sand away fuzzies, depending on the type of fabric your piece is covered in.
Mixing container with a lid
Drop Cloth - I always save old shower curtains and use them as drop cloths.
Glass of wine - optional ;-)
How to Paint Upholstery TutorialFirst, I mixed up a batch of fabric paint by combining one part medium, one part paint, and two parts water. So, my first batch was 2 ounces fabric medium, 2 ounces paint and four ounces of water. This wasn't quite enough to do the entire first coat, so I mixed up a second batch exactly like it. How to Paint Upholstery Tutorial

How to Paint Upholstery Tutorial
This paint solution is very watery and runs a lot, so I used a drop cloth and also taped the legs; I even stopped part way through painting the front to finish wrapping them! Next, I sprayed the fabric with some water, rubbing it in a little. This gets the fabric ready to absorb the paint mixture. Side note - I don't believe this process would work well with new upholstery as most pieces are treated with water repellent / stain repellent chemicals that would keep the paint from absorbing easily into the fabric. I worked my way around the chair, covering it with the fabric paint mixture. For corners and seams, like the piping around the seat, I used my fingers to work the paint down into the cracks. How to Paint Upholstery TutorialOnce the first coat was finished, I let it dry for twenty four hours. I suspect you could apply the second coat within a few hours, this is just how it worked out for me because it was the soonest I could get back to the project.
How to Paint Upholstery Tutorial
Here's how the chair looked after one coat of the paint, medium and water mixture. Still a lot of the yellow showing through.
How to Paint Upholstery Tutorial


How to Paint Upholstery Tutorial
With Juno's help and supervision, I applied a second coat of the watery mixture. Here's how the chair looked after the second coat of paint was dry. Still a little yellow showing through in spots.
How to Paint Upholstery Tutorial
After letting the upholstery dry for another twenty four hours, I used a final, much thicker coat of one part medium, one part paint, and a splash of water, followed by some touch ups.
How to Paint Upholstery Tutorial

How to Paint Upholstery TutorialHow to Paint Upholstery Tutorial

Overall, I'm loving how it turned out; the fabric has a shiny, leather-ish look and feel. Painting upholstery isn't something I would do to furniture that is for everyday use, but it's an easy and inexpensive solution for little accent pieces. Painting this chair cost exactly eight dollars plus a twenty dollar toss pillow from Home Goods. I haven't finished up the office, I have a few more projects and a super fun piece I found at Junkstock that needs a little work. I'm hoping to have a post to share in a few days!

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6/12/2014

Working on Curb Appeal - Exterior Paint Colors

Outdoor projects tend to be a little slow going around here, but we've been chipping away at it. Last summer we focused on the back side of the house by replacing our old rotted deck and also building a large garden shed. Er, well, Jesse built it. I entertained B. This year, our main goal is to get the house painted and possibly do some minor remodeling work to the front porch area.

I was absolutely dreading painting the house, mainly because I couldn't figure out what colors we should go with. Our roof is an odd terracotta orange brown color so I figured we'd end up painting it white, which is just kinda...meh. I was also dreading the task because I figured it would drag on all summer.

But then, a few days ago, I came across this beautiful image via Houzz that inspired me in terms of paint colors.

Isn't that gorgeous?  Our house is a Plain Jane ranch, but I think we could steal the color combo.

I also love this front door. Ours would look great like this; I'd need to strip off the paint first, but it's do-able!
So, now that I have general paint colors figured out, I'm actually looking forward to getting the house painted because...drumroll please....I don't have to do it!!! Yep. That's right. We are hiring a local contractor to paint our house. I know, I know. As my friend Rebecca said, "it completely goes against (our) DIY code!" Here's how the logic works in my mind; we can spend all summer agonizing, laboring and probably arguing over a half-painted house or we can invest in someone else and therefore invest in more family fun time. What do you think? Good logic?

Hiring someone to paint is a big purchase for us. It's a big deal, and I want to make sure we get it right so I'm debating a little on exactly which shade of gray to go with.  Here are a few images of our exterior. Oh boy, our house needs some some curb appeal in a bad way! I'm a little embarrassed by the current state, but we are moving in the direction and in a few weeks it will look lovely. Fingers crossed.



Here are the colors I'm considering:
Left of window: Sherwin Williams, Gray Clouds
Right of Window: Sherwin Williams, Silver Spoon
Under Window: Sherwin Williams, TinsmithThe colors are all very similar and I'm sure any of them would look fine; but I'm leaning towards Tinsmith because I think it would look the most like the Vermont Farmhouse. Jesse likes the darker Gray Clouds color. What do you think?

6/05/2014

Summer Style

(The links in this post are affiliate links and I will receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on my link. However, all opinions are 100% my own!)

Saturdays during the summer are the best! They usually go something like this; breakfast, DIY project or family outing to the park/zoo/museum in the morning, lunch, nap time (more project time for me), followed by a wedding, barbecue or some other social event in the afternoon. I'm not the fanciest gal, I spend half the weekend covered in paint or dirt; but when I get cleaned up, I favor a slightly vintage look.  This summer, I plan to spruce up my Saturdays a bit with some cute dresses from ModCloth. I adore all three of these dresses, but I think I"m going to order number five, it's on sale!
Do you have a full social calendar this summer? ModCloth wants you to share your summer memories with them! Include the hashtag #ModSummer when you’re posting your adventures and you could be featured on one of their social networks. Join in on the community fun, find some outfit inspiration in their Style Gallery, and get ready for the best (and cutest!) summer ever!

1.  Retro Dollie Earrings  2.  You Bow What I Meant Earrings   3.  All I Wanna Dewdrop Necklace
4.  Kick, Woof, Coast Necklace   5.Playful Picnic Dress   6.  Hooked on Haute Dress
7.  Do You Read Me? Dress    8.Punch Bowl Planner Heel in Strawberry
9. Tech Me on Your Trip Wallet  10. Summertime Fabness Bag  11.  Middle of the Night Sandal in Teal

6/02/2014

Dining Room - Reveal

The dining room area is finished! We started working on the space back in August and we finished up today, ten months later. I reviewed my first post about the dining space today and snickered to myself a bit. I seriously thought it would only take a couple of weeks?! Ha and HA!

I tried hard to keep the cost down on this space, so for the finishing touches I re-purposed a few things from around the house. The last little details are the most fun part of a project, aren't they?!DIY eclectic dining room on a budgetThe centerpiece is a trio of simple mother-in-law-tongue plants. Supposedly the plants tolerate low light and are very hard to kill, so they should do OK in this nook. I bought the whole set-up at Walmart; plants, glass containers, dirt and a HEAVY bag of river rock. Side note - the small packages of river rock in the floral department are overpriced. Go to the garden section and buy a fifty pound bag for three dollars, they just need to have the dirt/dust sprayed off.
DIY eclectic dining room on a budget
I made the "Hang Art Here" piece a few months ago, using a re-purposed thrift store frame and print. The other two frames were in storage, they just needed some white paint and now they work nicely for showing off B's artwork. The large "B" initial was on the wall in his room, but I don't think we'll have room for it once my plans in there are finished.
DIY eclectic dining room on a budget
The final touch was adding a couple of lumbar pillows to the eames style chairs. I used half a yard of fabric for the blue and gray one. The striped lumbar pillow is made from a three dollar thrift store blanket. Poly-fill isn't what I'd call "expensive" but when trying to mind every penny for a project, it's just another expense I try to avoid. For these lumbar pillows, I cut open two old square toss pillows and used their stuffing.
DIY eclectic dining room on a budget
Here's a shot from the other end of the room. The space is almost finished, although we need a large area rug. I bought one last week, but it was too small. There I go again, buying before I measure! Seriously, you'd think I'd learn. Luckily, it looks good in our home office. I'm also suddenly feeling like a velvet chesterfield sofa would be amazing. We'll see...
DIY eclectic dining room on a budget
And because everyone loves a good before and after image (right?!), here's one of our space. I get goosebumps whenever I looks at this!
DIY eclectic dining room on a budget
OK, I know it's gauche to talk about money, but one of my goals on this blog is to show folks you can update and style your home even without deep pockets. I think it's pretty cool that Jesse and I did this space for just over seven hundred dollars. A new dining set alone could have easily cost twice that. So yeah, feeling proud :)

Here is the cost break down and resources. If you have questions about anything, please give me a shout. Comments make my day!

Wall paint, Dusty Trail from Olympic and brushes - $35
Custom dining table - FREE - love my talented husband! I realize not everyone can make a dining table. I think a great alternative here would be a vintage cottage-y table with a bright coat of chalk paint.
Eames style dining chairs, set of 4, Amazon - $314
Area rug, NFM.com - $190 (I got a special price on it)
DIY light fixture, Re-store - $75
Potted plants, Walmart - $35
DIY Lumbar pillows - $8
DIY wall art - $45
DIY sliding barn door - $40
Total project cost - $742
This post is linked up with:
The Inspiration Exchange 6.3.14
Remodelaholics Anonymous 6.6.14
Link Party Palooza 6.7.14
Link'n Blogs 6.12.14
The Makers 7.1.14