Decorating Cents

Hey good people.  Ha ppy Wednesday. I had a corner of the living room that was always empty.  I never knew quite what I wanted there.  I had always seen these ladders around the internet and thought about making one but never got around to it. So one day I decided to just go for it.  It was an easy project so I don't know what took me so long. Supplies: (2) 2x2x8 furring strips (8) 2 inch wood screws Stain of your choice I started with eight foot pieces.  They were less than $2 a piece.  I had the fine gentleman at Lowes cut them down for me.  Each eight foot piece was cut down to (1) five foot piece and (2) eighteen inch pieces.  This would give me a five foot tall ladder with eighteen inch rungs. I laid out my pieces to assemble.  The top rung is six inches from the top.  The remaining rungs are 12 inches apart from the top of the previous rung. Using two inch wood screws, attach the rungs to the side pieces. Stain your ladder.  I used

I like to look at the West Elm website and catalogs and drool over the nice tables and accessories.  I like pretty things but don't think I should pay a fortune for them.  I do have things from West Elm but they were on sale and I never pay full price. You may remember this red side table from the living room.   I've always like the shape of it but the love affair I had with it was fading.  I was falling out of love with the red.  While browsing the West Elm catalog, I came across these nesting tables .  It was very similar in shape and size to my red side table.  I knew with a little paint, I could come close to the West Elm version.     I started by unscrewing the wood top from the metal frame.  I gave the frame a few coats of black spray paint to cover up the red. Now it was time to move on to the top.  I decided I didn't want an all white top.  In the West Elm table, the table looks streaked.  To create the look of texture, I decided to go with whi

A while back I made a sphere from embroidery hoops.   I wasn't totally in love with it and it never stayed together with the little hands around here that like to touch.  I was thumbing through the newest West Elm catalog and saw these .  They're available in gold and silver. I loved them so much more than the wooden ones.  I wanted to make one but I didn't feel like running to the craft store so I used what I had, the red embroidery hoops.  I took it apart and started new.   I put three hoops together in the same shape as the West Elm version.  I had to use tape to hold the outer hoop together.   Using paper mache, I began to add layers of paper.   Once it dried, I sprayed it with black spray paint.  After the spray paint was dry, I gave it a good coat of silver craft paint.  It gives it a metallic look.  The West Elm version has rounder edges but I still like mine.   I've been switching out all my DIY pieces on this table.  The urch

I was browsing Pinterest the other night and came across this cute frame from West Elm.  I clicked the link to see if it was still available.  No, it isn't.  Bummer.  I actually liked the black and white graphic front. Well guess what, I can make my own.   I had one of these wooden frames from Michael's in my craft stash.    I gave it a couple coats of white paint.   You can see here where I used a ruler and drew the lines like the original frame.  I was sure to shade the areas that would get paint so I wouldn't confuse myself.     I painted the shaded areas with black.  I painted free hand with no tape.  When it was dry, I gave it a coat of mod podge to seal everything in.  It also gave the frame a little sheen.  It is the perfect frame to put a photo of two of my favorite people.     The black and white pattern works for this little table.     How about a side by side?  Such a cheap and simple project.   Y

Remember when I told you about scoring a great basket in Target that was similar to the West Elm version?  Well I finally bought a plant for it.  I was walking though Lowes and it grabbed my attention.  After looking through several rows of plants, I decided on this one.  It's a yucca cane.  I wanted something tall but nothing that would look enormous in the basket.  I could have gone for bigger but didn't want to spend a fortune on a plant.  Yucca cane doesn't take a lot to care for so I thought it was perfect.  I water it about once a week to keep the soil moist and it needs 3-4 hours of sunlight.  The downstairs gets plenty of sun during the day.  I didn't want a plant that would require me to devote extra time to it.  The outside plants and flowers are already sucking up enough. It adds a much needed breath of life in the family room.  I need to start adding more plants throughout the house.   A side by side comparison Do you love having ho

Look who's back with another West Elm knockoff.  Does it seem like I'm a little obsessed with the store?  Maybe a little.  I love their modern edge, bright colors, and super fun accessories.  I've seen these spheres around the web and some more versions in home decor stores.  This calls for a ( drumroll )...DIY!  dun dun dun dun! Here are the ones from West Elm. To make my sphere I bought two 6 inch embroidery hoops.  There are two pieces to each hoop so I had four pieces total. I took them apart and put them inside one another until they looked like this. To keep them together, I matched up the metals parts and screwed them together. I gave them a coat of red paint for contrast.  I was going to stain them brown but figured I already had a lot of dark wood.  The red pops off the console and looks good next to the blue lamp. The red looks a little washed out in this picture but doesn't look that way in person.  weird