Summer Mantel

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Susan

My summer mantel. What I love about it.  What I hate about it.

summer mantel 2

First, what I love about it. My cool new fish tank from Walmart that’s what.  For months now I kept telling anyone who would listen I wanted a vintage fish tank. I would search the local Goodwill, thrift shops and yard sales. I did find a couple but there was always something wrong with them that couldn’t be fix or they were so gross I feared I did not have the required shots to touch them.

At my wit’s end I went over my local Walmart and found one for 13.43. Yes, that’s it, I thought what a strange price. I mean who came up with that number? Some of the other fish tanks I looked at were priced much, much more and they were used and who knows what diseases I would be coming in contact with.

Granted it’s not very vintage and it’s plastic and had a black band around the top and bottom but no worries, I also grabbed some gold spray paint while I was there.

summer mantel 3

I taped it off and gave it a quick spray of a glamorous gold and then added some shells.

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Now the hate. Well, not so much hate but bored with.

summer mantel 1

I’ve been wanting to make something new for the mantel to change-up my barn door art I made sometime back but I haven’t come up with anything yet. It’s such a large space so I want something BIG. The boats are my husband’s favorites and I always bring them out and they always end up on the mantel. I think they need a new spot.

summer mantel 4But for now the mantel is where they will stay…for now.

Thanks for reading.

 

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How To Make A Sunburst Mirror

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Susan

Sunburst mirrors you see them everywhere. Nowadays the lovely shape of the sunburst mirror is seen in shelter magazines, catalogs, Pinterest you name it. They are no doubt very popular and why not sunburst mirrors are just so pretty. I think I see a different one each time I’m in HomeGoods.

The sunburst mirror is such a classic they’ve been around for ages and I don’t think that it will ever go out of style. That style of mirror really turns heads, it turns my head every time I see one. I’ve seen so many different types made out of so many unique materials. All beautiful.

Personally, I love them but know what, I’ve never owned one…until now.

How to make a sunburst mirror

 

How To Make A Sunburst Mirror…using Skelton leaves. Seems different right, well that’s what I liked about it. Love different.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Skelton leaves  (I ordered mine from here)

Round mirror, I bought a pack of five from Lowes a while back for another project.

Glue gun

piece of screen

piece of poster board

Any project I can have finished in just an afternoon is great and this one is one of them. I had a little dread using the glue gun because I ALWAYS burn myself and this project was no different, so be careful!

sunburst mirror 11

First thing I did was to lay out the leaves on the table to give me a sense of the design I wanted. Also, this helped me to gauge the size I wanted and the amount of leaves I would need. Plus, this gave me an idea how it was going to look when I was finished.

How to make a sunburst mirror 2

The mirror was black and I wasn’t loving the contrast so I gave it a quick coat of cream spray paint.

sunburst mirror 7

 

sunburst mirror 3

Granted it took me longer to tape off  the mirror then it did to make the whole project but the cream color paint it perfect with the leaves.

While I was at it I cut a piece of screen larger than the mirror but small then the finished piece and spray painted it the same cream color. Why screen? Well, I wanted to use something that wouldn’t show through the leaves and I wanted to give the leaves some support. I didn’t really measure the screen I just placed the mirror on a piece poster board and cut a circle the size I wanted it and then traced the screen. I hope that makes some sense.

sunburst mirror 5

Next, I just started gluing. I started to attach the leaves on the outermost edge working my way in towards the middle. I had it all worked out in my mind but after I started to gluing it just took on a life of its own so there is really no right or wrong number of leaves to use. I think I bought three packs of leaves and I still have plenty.

Once I was satisfied with the amount of leaves I glued the mirror to the center and made a small hole in the screen to expose the hanger that was already attached to the mirror.

Done.

How to make a sunburst mirror 3

I am loving it.

suneburst mirror 8

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a great day.

 

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How To Make A Faux Stack Of Logs

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Susan

I was all set to share my how to make a faux stack of logs project yesterday but I ran into some technical difficulties. A technical Goddess I am NOT.

Well, I’m back from the technical abyss and I’m here to share.

Where you sitting yesterday admiring your wonderful  mother’s day gifts from your families when you mind turned to you staring at your fireplace and wondering what can you do with this big black void glaring at you now that the nice weather is upon us.

Alright, maybe not… but I have. In my quest to purchase every shelter magazine and reread the ones that I have, I’m always drawn to the photos of the fireplaces stacked perfectly with wood.

fireplace stacked wood

I like wood. It has a very cool sculptural look to it. Especially when it’s stacked.

I have wood coasters and I dig them.

I love to visit with KariAnne over at Thistlewood Farm. ThistleWOOD Farm she’s super cool, funny and has the ability to brighten anyone’s day.

ANYWAY…. the how to make a faux stack of logs project. Here’s what happened. I asked my husband to cut some wood from our wood stack and I proceeded to tell him what I wanted to do.

I just needed him to cut the logs for me because in my mind all of his saws he owns for cutting wood I thought if I used them, I would somehow damage them… by cutting wood.

So here it is. Simple. How to make a faux stack of logs.

Here is what you need: plywood, black spray paint, logs from your wood stack, a saw and about 100 screws.

Here’s what I did (really Russ because I took the girls to the mall and he made it while I was gone).

Russ measured the opening for the fireplace opening and cut a piece of plywood to fit the opening, then spray painted the plywood black.

faux logs 2

Next he laid out the pieces of wood attaching each piece of the wood with a screw. He worked his way up from the bottom fitting each piece together a lot like a puzzle.

faux logs 3

Note~ since Russ made the piece when I as out the pictures are from my very useful mock-up.

After you add all your log pieces you end up with this.

faux logs 4

The log pieces where cut to about 4 inches long. We left some loose and added them after the faux stack was in place.

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You may be wondering why didn’t you just stack the wood in your fireplace. Well, a couple of reasons. First we have glass doors and a frame around the opening. Second, we still like to have fires in the warmer weather. The other reason is I like the look of the wood.

faux logs 1

Yes, the mortar is still not fixed and yes I could have vacuumed the rug.

Now we can just remove the faux log stack when we’re in the mood for a fire and I can still enjoy the sculpture look of the wood without having to un-stack like a hundred logs.

faux logs 6

Thanks  for stopping by.

Have a great day.

Linking up to Savvy Southern Style Wow Us Wednesdays

 

 

 

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Weekend Spray Paint Project

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Susan
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Oh my, its spray painting season. The weather was beautiful around here this weekend so it was a great time to do a little spray painting.

I’ve been working on the girls room for what seems to be forever now but it’s coming together. I had a couple of items I wanted to use in their rooms but the colors needed to be changed up.

Spray paint project 1

The lamps on the right are ones I had around the house and the green one was a great deal from Target for only 5.96 of course I spent 17.00 for the shade but all in all  a great deal.

The girls wanted the green lamp blue and I thought they could use a bit of white so the other two got a fresh coat of white.

spray paint project 4

I’m such a freak about instant gratification so it’s almost to hard to wait for the paint to dry so I like to buy the fast dry spray paint and even with that there is a wait time. I did take the time to build my make shift paint box and tape everything off. Still managed to get the garage floor with the paint. Note drop cloths are not just for slip covers.

spray paint project 3

I picked up the bird artwork yesterday but I wasn’t crazy about the two-tone look to it so I thought I would spray paint the bird artwork black.  I also picked up a black and white area rug yesterday as well so I feel it will work and doesn’t every room need a like black?

spray paint project 5

The owl was a deal for only 5 bucks and has lived in my closet for about a year now waiting for the perfect home. I knew I would paint it but what color. The girls thought orange but when Russ came back with florescence orange instead of something I would actually use so I went with a hammered metal color for now. I just don’t know, he could be a different color by next week, we shall see.

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We still need to build the shelves because girl like stuff and need places to put the stuff, right? Right.

spray paint project 6

The lamps with the new shades look fresh in the room and add the orange color that was requested.. The green lamp was painted in the same blue as the frame but for some reason I didn’t take a picture of it .

Well, the work continues. I’ll share more photos this week.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy Monday.

 

 

 

 

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