Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts

May 31, 2012

I love you because...

"There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage."  - Martin Luther (Figure in the Protestant Reformation)  
The union of marriage deserves effort, encouragement and constant pursual. Friends of ours are getting married tomorrow and I thought to make a little something in leu of their day. I should make one for Ian and I too... to daily spur on selflessness and thankfulness for each other with reminders of our love. 

This would be a great anniversary, wedding shower or wedding gift. You should make one! 


Use an old frame. I got this one at The Salvation Army for $1.21... score!


I chose a frame with a nail holding spot already. I thought of having the frame hang from ribbon but for practicality sake I thought it'd be easier to write on and more sturdy hanging this way. I also purposely chose a frame that could only be hung from a wall, not table standing as well to avoid unnecessary bulkiness as it hangs. Use a frame from home or check out your local Good Will store to scope their selection. 


Because the way standard wall frames are made I couldn't take out the glass so I covered the edges with painters tape and paper to avoid getting spray paint on the frame or glass. This took a tedious 10 minutes or so but stopped 95% of the spray paint from getting on the glass.


After spray painting, allowing the frame to dry completely and wiping the glass down I was ready to move on. I decided to lightly sand the frame around the corners and curves to give it a bit of a worn look, this picture doesn't show it well but some of the old dark green color pops beneath the blue. 


I measure and cut my paper, added stickers, hot glued the back of the frame and added some flowers. You can add a picture or two, stamp the paper... whatever your heart desires!


I added velcro stickers and an Expo pen to the bottom and wa-la! It's complete! 


This is easy to make, personalize and a cutesy way to daily write messages of loveeee!

April 17, 2012

Upcycled Dresser

With waiting to get into the new house, some of my DIY dreams have been on hold. It's hard to plan things when were not yet living in the space and such. Anyways... we had been looking for a new dresser to put in our bedroom. We had 2 dressers when we got married but are now down to 4 working drawers. I usually like Ikea but some of their items do. not. last. So on the dresser hunt, spending full price somewhere was NOT an option and neither was Ikea. A few weeks ago we got this dresser for free (score!!!) from a friend and knew we could make it look just how we wanted. We had a gift card from Lowes so this entire project cost us $12 - which makes me enjoy the dresser lots! Here's how we did it...

Before


No sanding required!


She was playing while we put the knobs on :)





Ocean Abyss
























Bought new knobs too!


















I'm so pleased with how it turned out! Note that we used a sponge brush and then for the final top coat, smoothed over the paint with a regular bristle brush. I'm glad we didn't have to sand the entire thing and am now ready to move on to our next bedroom furniture project: night stands!