Salvaged Black Jenny Lind Bed

Raise your hand if you love Land of Nod. Mmhhmm. Me too! I'm positively in love with the black Jenny Lind style bed in their line-up right now. But...But...It's six hundred bucks. Yikes! Luckily, not long after I'd set my heart on the Land of Nod version, I came across an old Jenny Lind style bed at a salvage yard - for thirty dollars! Holla!

Granted, the bed was in rough shape, didn't have rails and took us six months to finish, but it was so worth the effort! Here is a before picture. Army green anyone?

I sanded the headboard and foot board, then painted them with Valspar black satin paint, Jesse fashioned slats and rails and was able to save on cost by using wood salvaged from a side job. We did run into a slight problem when we moved the bed into B's room, though. Oops! Measure twice, cut once!Once we got the length issue corrected and the bed moved in, we added a wall mounted reading light from Target as well as some basic metal wire with clothespins for displaying B's art. I made the pillow from two Turkish style kitchen towels and the duvet cover is from IKEA.
The room is finally coming together and I hope to wrap it up for a full tour style post by the end of the year - just need to finish up three more mini projects!

Thrifted Holiday Centerpiece

I enjoy dressing up our home for the holidays, but we have a lot of stuff going on, so decorations need to be easy to put up and preferably work for the entire season. For our dining table, I wanted a centerpiece that felt a smidge glam and festive, without being too committed to one holiday (i.e. work from Thanksgiving through New Year's) This thrifted centerpiece fits my need for quick and easy, Plus, it will be a nice reason to buy fresh flowers throughout the season. Or, better yet, a reason for Jesse to buy them for me!

Here is what I gathered for our centerpiece:

Thrifted mirror used as a tray - $4

Vintage Danish modern candlesticks - a gift from my mom last Christmas. Best gift ever!

Target glasses - $1 each

Thrifted faux crystal candle holders - less than $1 each

Taper candles - less $1 each

I used Frog Tape to create a zig zag pattern on the Target glasses and then gave them as well as the candle holders a coat of Valspar metallic gold paint. The photo below shows the candle holders upside down. After painting the outside, I let them dry for an hour or so and then flipped them over to spray the inside as well. 

While the spray paint was drying and airing out, I freshened up the frame around the mirror with three coats of white semi-gloss paint. Once everything was dry, I added some candles and flowers from Trader Joe's and we were in business! 

I'm loving that this centerpiece will work throughout the holidays, it could work year round, really. What about you? Are you dressing your table for Thanksgiving and Christmas separately? Covering the whole season with one look? Or skipping it all together?

This post is linked up with:

Link Party Palooza 12.19.14

How to Turn an Old Light Globe into a Planter!

I'm proud to say I've managed to keep an airplane plant, several snake plants and a dieffenbachia alive this year! Since I have a green thumb and all (not really),  I wanted to try adding some air plants to B's room. Being on a tight decor budget, I didn't want to shell out for fancy schmancy glass globes, so I started looking around for things I could re-purpose. As it turns out, many salvage yards have tons of inexpensive glass light globes that work perfectly for hanging air plants!

Supplies:

6 inch light globe - ours is from the Habitat Re-Store!

3/8 inch poplar sticks x 2 - it's a very poplar wood - get it, poplar?

Bandsaw

Yellow Carpenter Glue 

Spring Clamps

Tape

Nails, #18 x 5/8ths

Fine Grit Sand Paper

First, we made two six inch squares held together using glued lap joints. We cut the lap joints by measuring a line about 3/8ths of an inch from the end, turned the piece and made a line half way down the side. - so it looked sort of like an "L."

Then we cut the pieces using a bandsaw. Look! That's me using a ban saw for the very first time!
We applied wood glue to the ends and fit the joints together like puzzle pieces to make a square.

We used spring clamps on each corner to hold the square together while the glue dried overnight. Below is a picture of one square, but we made two. We checked for squareness by measuring from corner to corner.

Next, we cut four three inch pieces of poplar for connecting the squares together in a cube shape.
The next part is a bit tricky. We arranged the light globe with one square on each side. Then we used a clamp to hold a connector piece on either side.
 Next, we added a dab of glue to the top connectors and held them in place using tape pulled tight as a clamp. Then we flipped it over, removed the clamps and did the same thing to the bottom side.
 For extra strength, we drilled tiny pilot holes at each joint, then pressed in a nail that had glue on it.

We let the glue dry overnight before unwrapping the cube. We finished it by using a bit of fine grit sand paper to sand away little slivers and dried lumps of glue. As you can see below, the box sits well on it's own and would look neat on a desk or shelf. Since these are going in B's room, we wrapped chain around one corner so we can hang it from the ceiling. I plan to do a cluster of these over his dresser, which of course means I want to re-do the dresser now. Well, maybe just the handles...and the top...and the mirror that goes with it...

How to Make Wooden Place Card Holders

Place card holders are a great way to make dinner parties and gatherings feel extra special. These wooden place card holders could also be used for displaying business cards, notes or photos!

For this project, we used zebra wood from the scrap bin at a local woodworking shop. It was fun to search through the pieces and admire the beautiful colors and grains. I had no idea there were so many different woods - or how spendy some can be! These scraps, however, only set us back about fifteen dollars.

Supplies for this project:

scrap wood

square and pencil

wood working scribe

backsaw (or table saw)

bench hook

extra fine sandpaper

tack cloth

rubber gloves

sponge or soft cloth

clear polycrylic finish

First, measure and mark a line at one inch and two inches. This photo is a little off because I thought we would measure down the whole piece in one go. However, as Jesse explained, you need to measure and cut each piece individually because the saw blade takes off a teeny chunk that will affect your measurements. 

Next, use a scribe to cut a small groove along your measurement line. This will help the saw blade get started. We used a hand saw for this tutorial because I figured not everyone has access to power tools or feels comfortable with them. However, Jesse finished the batch using a table saw.
After your grooves are made, secure the block in place by clamping it to a table or work bench and using a bench hook. Then use an angled block as a guide to make the center cut, stopping about half way though the wood. Slide the piece forward, re-clamp and make the second cut all the way through the wood.

Once all the pieces are cut, the last few steps are a breeze. Use extra fine sand paper to smooth the sides and edges. A trick Jesse showed me was to lay the sandpaper flat and rub the block in a circular motion on the paper. Remove all the dust with a tack cloth and wipe on two coats of clear polycrylic, allowing for drying time between. I also gave my blocks a final sanding with some finish grade sand paper.