Fixer Upper Style Wall Decor

I LOVE Fixer Upper and everything Joanna Gains creates. But honestly, I think her store is a little pricey. Her cotton stems are $9 each, plus shipping! I just couldn't get myself to pay that. So when I heard Hobby Lobby started carrying them, I was beyond excited. I headed to my Hobby Lobby and luckily for me, they were 50% off too! They rang up $3 a stem! Score!! I bought this metal wall hanger at a yard sale for around $3 and I spray painted it with Rustoleum's Oil Rubbed Bronze. And then it sat in my office for the longest time until I figured out what flowers I wanted in it. I actually wanted to get the cotton stems for it, but again, I couldn't get myself to pay that price. So it sat and sat and sat until today! I love it and it gives my kitchen that perfect Joanna Gains touch!

DIY Pottery Barn Style Headboard and Bedskirt

I had noticed this gorgeous bed at Pottery Barn for a while. I loved everything about it. I love the material. I love the nailhead trim. I love the shape. Everything...except the price tag! Then when I saw this blog post on a tutorial on how to make a headboard from a drop cloth, I knew I could do it.

Here's my version (Don't laugh at my lack of photography skills. I promise to work on it!!)

Tenth Ave South has a wonderful step-by-step tutorial on the headboard! It was the same one I followed when making ours. I altered the size to fit our bed but that was the only change I made. I used the drop cloth she recommended and the nailheads she has a link to. It turned out perfect! My father-in-law had extra wood for us to use so I ended up only paying for the foam, batting, drop cloth and nailheads which totaled roughly $100. Not bad for a headboard that looks identical to the Pottery Barn version that retails for $800! Plus there was enough material left over to make a bedskirt!! 

Our bed it very tall...which I LOVE. My husband and I are tall so it works perfectly for us. We have drawers under our bed which it why it is so tall. I love the extra storage that provides but it also means I have to custom make a bedskirt because no one sells one to fit our bed. I've made one before so I kind of had an idea of what I was doing. I used a fitted sheet and put it on the boxspring. I then measured the top of the boxspring to the ground and added roughly 3 inches and then measured the width and made sure to measure around the curve of the corner of the bed. I then used the extra material from the drop cloth and cut 3 rectangles the sizes I had measured. I finish off the raw edges of the material on my sewing machine but left the top edge raw. I could have finished it off but I knew it would be under the bed and the only person who sees that is me. :) I then pinned each of the 3 rectangles on the fitted sheet while it was on the boxspring. This makes it easy to see where the bedskirt hits the ground and make sure it is straight. I added a lot of pins to keep it in place. I then took the fitted sheet off the boxspring and sewed the drop cloth to the fitted sheet. 

This is a tad tricky as it is so large. I just bunched up the bedskirt part to fit through my sewing machine and made sure to grab the fitted sheet and pull it to the side so it didn't accidentally get sewn under the bedskirt.

 Then I put it on my bed and added the mattress and linens. 

I love the way it looks. I love how it hides the drawers under our bed. I love how it matches the headboard. And of course, I love the price!!

Now my next project is to make of those nightstands! :)

DIY Whiteboard Makeover

This was such a quick and easy DIY craft that anyone can do it!! Years ago I purchased simple magnetic dry erase boards from Walmart similar to the one in the photo below or like THIS. Since moving into our new home, they just sat in my office not being used.

 I'm not even sure where the idea came from but I knew I needed a way to display all the cute announcements, cards, etc that we get from friends and family. And since the dry erase boards were magnetic, I thought about just covering them with some cute fabric and using magnets to hold the cards. 

 I bought some cute fabric and first tested the material and magnets to make sure my magnets were strong enough. I simply laid out the fabric on the board and made sure my magnets held up a card or two. Once it worked, I laid out the fabric and my boards. Since I wanted them side by side on my wall, I wanted my fabric to match up. I made a mark on the wrong side of the fabric of where the top of the boards would lay on the fabric. Then while the boards was still laying on top of the fabric, I simply cut the fabric out leaving a inch (or more) border to wrap the fabric to the backside. Then I got out one of my favorite products EVER! My 3M Super77 Spray Adhesive that I've had for 8 years and it's still going strong! Love this stuff. I took my fabric to the garage and sprayed one coat of spray adhesive to the entire backside of the fabric. 

 Then I carefully laid my dry erase board on top of the fabric using my marks as guides. I started laying it on the fabric at the top then flipped it over so I could straighten it out and get any bumps out. Once the front was nice and smooth, I made sure the fabric wrapped around the side and to the back. I pretty much folded the fabric in the back like I was wrapping a gift. 

I let it dry overnight (although I don't think that was needed) I only did it because this was a late night project, and I wasn't going to pound nails into my walls late a night and wake up my kids! The glue dries pretty fast. Once it's dry you can hang it up and enjoy your super easy DIY boards!!

DIY - Oil Rubbed Bronze Spray Paint for an Easy Update!

Our air vents needed an update. They were scratched, dirty and stuck out against our dark flooring! I seriously hated them!!

I was looking to replace them but at over $10 each, it was getting pretty expensive. I immediately thought of a cheaper option. I headed to Home Depot and picked up some RUST-OLEUM's Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint. It's wonderful! It covers nicely and looks professional!

I started by cleaning the vent up a bit to get all the dirt off. Then I flipped the air vent over and opened the vents. I sprayed over the whole thing in all 4 directions to get every angle. I started from the bottom, then sprayed the left side, then the top, and finally the right side.

 I let it dry until it wasn't tacky (maybe 30 mins) and flipped it over. Again, I spray painted over the entire vent from all directions.

I let it dry again and put it back in the house!

This project was so easy and made an immediate improvement! It looks brand new! So far I've painted 3 vents with one can, and I still have more paint in the can. At roughly $6.80 a can, that's a huge saving over buying all new vents. I'm so glad I opted for the spray paint!