Sunday, October 28, 2012

Ikea Hack

Who doesn't love Ikea. It's full of color and shine and excitement, and $2.99 meatballs! I must say that I even enjoy building my own furniture, there is something magical about building an entire dresser with an alan wrench.  There is nothing more exciting than a great Ikea hack.  Now if your not familiar with the term "Ikea Hack" its basically an upgrade on a basic Ikea product.  Here are some of my ideas on  my Pintrest Ikea hack board


Now, for the Ikea hack over load, visit, Ikea Hackers Net.  People have hacked EVERYTHING. From functional furniture to the bizarre. There are great Billy bookcase built ins, to rat cages and cat litter boxes.  Regardless of the function in your own life, its still interesting to take a look around.

 
Here is one of my favorites from Better After, the whole article is at their website.  This is the Hemnes vanity and the Rattviken counter top for a total of $379.00.  This is another one of those website that you can spend all day at- so don't say I didn't warn you :)
 

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Fireplace Transformation

Finally after 20 years, this fireplace transformation is complete.  I could pull of 20 years of pictures in front of the fireplace, but with my recent computer issues, the only one I could find was actually just going to be Abby, but the fireplace was in the background. 
This is the way the fireplace looked since we moved in in 1992. It was always an issue trying to hang the stocking from the fireplace at Christmas for all these years. So I'm pretty excited for the holidays this year.

So off came the builder grade tile We added cement board where the tile was removed for the granite to be installed.
 
The glass doors were also removed.  Now it was not planned at first, but the mirror fell off the wall -that's a whole another story- but as it fell to the ground, it took the doors with it.  Turned out that the fireplace looks much better minus the doors.
 
 
And now... the finished project!
 
The carpenter was great, and we copied a mantel from the Ballard Design catalogue. 
 
A few hours later, we finally had a mantel and a whole new fireplace!



Saturday, October 13, 2012

Second Chance for Faux Flowers

I seem to have a number of faux flowers/plants around and even with weekly dusting they seem to get dusty and dirty.  I wanted to dry the floral cleaning spray so I tried Dri Splendor.  You should be able to get it at Joann's or Michal's.  I worked great, and I'll let the before and after pictures speak for them self.  The bottle says you can also use it with dried flowers too, I didn't have any around to try it on, but my guess is that you would want to spray lightly as to not over wet the flowers.
 
 
 
 
 
The Before:

 
The After: 
They turned out like brand new again!

Monday, September 24, 2012

Powder Room: Before and After

 
The before...very 1995ish, gotta love the watercolor wall paper and teal color scheme
 


 
 
The After:
 


 
Its a little hard to see in this picture but I just love the black Kohler toilet. 

 
My favorite part of the sink is the reflection of the ceiling on the drain

 
 
I'm so happy to finally have the room pretty much finished, just a few more pieces of art for the all and were done.
 

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Counters Installed

The new granite counters and sink were installed this week!  This mean all that is left is to hang a few pictures and I can post the before and after shots!
 
For the how to on the ceiling...click here

 

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Snaps & Kisses

I made some Snaps & Kisses a while back, but just got around to posting the recipe.  They went over very well and can be used with any colors of M & M's to go different holiday.

 

I used 1 bag of M & M's and 2 bags of Hugs(or Kisses)
 
1 bag of Snyder's Snaps pretzels was plenty.  I made sure to pick out the ones that were not broken.

With my ingredients I was able to make 2 trays of Snaps & Kisses, which was about 65 a batch.  The biggest pain was to unwrap all of the Kisses.

 
Put the tray in the oven at about 275 for 5-8 minutes.  I though that the Hugs (or Kisses) would melt into little blobs but they didn't, so don't leave them in the over for too long waiting for them to melt because the tops will start to burn. 
 
Once they come out of the oven place a M & M on the top of each one, and let them cool! 
 

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Garbage Chair

Garbage chair?  Yep. I got this chair from the garbage.  I know...why did someone throw it away?  I have no idea but it's my gain. It's a solid brass 1950's Italian Chiavari chair and its worth a pretty penny.  It fits perfect into the decor and its a great conversation piece.
 
The seat cushion had dissolved, so I removed the old fabric and cut out a new piece of foam for a cushion.  Then I covered the seat in two layers of quilting batting.
 
 
 
 
Once the whole seat is covered,
 
 
I cut the fabric to line up with the pattern.


 
Before stapling the fabric on the from I wanted to give the back a finished side.  I pulled some muslin out of my fabric drawer and stapled it to cover the raw edges of the batting. 


 
Once trimmed, the back looks finished!

 
 

Next, I started to staple on the seat fabric.  I rolled the edges while I stapled to give the back a finished edge.




I stapled the front and the back first, then did both sides before attempting the corners.  It was just a matter of playing around with the folds to staple.
 

 
Once finished there are no raw edges along the back.

 
And Finished!
 




Pretty awesome for a garbage find!

Friday, August 31, 2012

Spare Bedroom Makeover Part 2

Remember the 3000 pounds of wood?  Well, its now spread across over 700 square feet, and looks wonderful if I do say so my self.  We went with Lumber Liquidators Bella Hardwood Brazilian Redwood.  It cost a little bit more than the Brazilian Cherry but over time it will turn to a rich dark brown.  I just can't get enough of it. 
 


Now comes the fun part.  I just ordered this awesome desk from, you guessed it, Pottery Barn.  It's on back order but I should get it in the next 6 weeks or so.  It is the perfect size and the crisp lines give it the modern, yet classic feel. 

Pottery Barn Ava Desk

I also picked out the Bourdonnais Bookcase from Ballard Designs.  It follows the same X pattern and again is another versatile piece.  I really think I could put this in every room of the house.

Ballard Designs Bourdonnais Bookcase




The final after is still a little ways away, this room has turned into a 5 month project.  But I know the finish project is going to be worth the wait!

 
Oh...how could I forget, look at these floor vents. They sit flush with the floor, pretty awesome.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Herbs?

Aren't these cute?  I made a little herb garden with .74 pots from Ikea and a little chalk board paint.  (What's a project with out chalkboard paint?) These are for the bridal shower that I'm hosting at our house this week, but I think they would also be a great housewarming gift.  Plus they smell great.  I never realized how strong fresh herbs smelt.
 
Now, if I can just keep them alive for the next week, I'll be all set.  The mint was looking a little sad, but hopefully the fresh soil and sunlight will bring it back.



Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Where has the Summer Gone?

I can't believe its almost fall.  Don't get me wrong I love fall, but I'm not sure I'm ready for the summer to be over.  McMahon has had a number of showings so we are very pleased.  The house we wanted went into contract last week, but just came back on the market today again.  So we will consider that a sign that the last deal fell though.  We have our St. Joseph planted in the yard, so hopefully he will do his magic.  We also found a second St. Joseph which appears to be freshly planted in the back yard, so it still a bit of a mystery where he came from but 2 must be better than one.

Remodeling is coming along over my parents.  The crown moldings went up in the bathroom today.  I love it!  Not sure how it was done to be honest, my uncle was the one who installed it.  It's over 7 inches wide, and we got it from Lowe's.  We usually never go to Lowe's just because there 2 Home Depots that are very much closer.  But I forgot how much I love Lowe's.  My dad and I must of spent 3 hours just wandering the store.  We found so many new products.  I can't wait to start my next project. Check out my favorite, its the L.J Smith Stair System Iron Baluster Fastener.  It's less then 6.00 a stair and in about 2 hours you can change all of your balusters from wood to wrought iron with only a hack saw and a screw driver. 
Zoomed: L.J. Smith Stair Systems Iron Baluster Fastener
 

Don't forget the wonderful folks at Cutting Edge Stencils offered all of The Welch Abode readers a 10% discount when placing an order. Use DIYFUN to get your discount today!

For the stencil ceiling how to, click here.

The 3000 pounds of hardwood gets installed next week, so there will for sure be an update on that!

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Black Walls

The walls have been painted!  The color is Black by Benjamin Moore. Yep, the name is actually Black.  I am just so in love with the color, I just want to go paint the whole house black.  (don't worry I probably will not) Still not done yet, but much closer to the big picture.  Can't wait for the crisp white crown and base mouldings!

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Chalk Board Champagne Glasses



Along with burlap, I'm also loving chalkboard paint.  I really want to do a chalkboard wall, but I think I'll have to stick to smaller items until our next house I guess.  I always needed champagne glasses, we only have our good Waterford ones in the china cabinet, and lets face it - I don't trust everyone with those. 

I decided to have a Mimosa bar at the shower that I'm holding and I needed about 25 or so champagne glasses, I didn't want a mixed set so I went to Ikea and was about to pick up 6 for $4.99.  Now you can't beat that!  No, literal I check around, even at Dollar Tree they are still $1.00 each.

I thought about putting little tags around each glass, but that can only be used once, so what about a little chalkboard on each one?  Now, that can be washed and used over and over, no more, "Is this my glass?"

I got Rust-Oleum Chalk Board paint from Home Depot.  I've tried the other brands from the craft stores- ONLY BY THIS BRAND!  Trust me, you will have to repaint if you don't!


 So, to begin, Step 1:  I dipped the whole bottom of the glass into the paint can.  (I first tried to paint with a brush, and it just did not look right)


I dipped the glass about 3/4 of an inch up the stem.


After removing from the paint I held the glass over to let the extra drip off.


Then I tipped the glass and rotated it around to get more of the extra paint off.


I tapped the edge of the glass to help the extra paint drip off.  (shout out to Brian for the next few photos)


I then used my brush to brush off all of the extra paint from the bottom and the edges.


Place the glasses on foil to dry.


Now once the top side is dry put them in the box upside down so the bottom of the glasses can dry.



Pop open some bubbly and enjoy with out wondering if your drinking out of your glass!