DIY Foamboard Valance

Continuing on with my mini kitchen makeover today.  I wanted to do a cornice board above the window but didn't want the hassle of messing with a saw and wood and all that.  I also didn't want to spend a whole lot on it.  So, enter foam board.  Foam board is great, it's stiff enough to hold it's shape, lightweight, and easy to cut.  It's perfect for this sort of thing.  I chose to do a pretty basic rectangular shape just to keep things simple, but you could do any shape really.  

Start out by purchasing a piece of 1 x 2 at your local hardware store.  I got mine at Lowe's for a few dollars and had them cut it for me.  We have molding above our windows so I had them cut this piece slightly longer than the width of the molding to give me a little wiggle room.  

Then, measure your foam board and draw a line where you are going to cut

then use your 1 x 2 as a straight edge to cut your board using an exacto knife

You will cut one large piece and then two smaller pieces for the sides.  Next, attach it to the 1 x 2 using some small screws.  The foam board I used was not long enough so I just pieced it together with some packing tape.

  

Then, you will cover the whole thing with a layer of batting and your material.  I chose to staple them both at the same time.  Don't press very hard with your staple gun because you do not want the staples to go all the way through the foam board.  This part doesn't have to be perfect because you are never going to see it.  

For the fabric I used a leftover IKEA curtain panel I had in my stash since they come in pairs and I only needed three panels for the baby's nursery, leaving me one leftover.  I like the subtle texture but the plain white and plain shape needed some oomph.  I originally planned to use ribbon I bought on sale at Hobby Lobby for a few dollars.  I taped it on there as a trial run because I wasn't sure if I would like the color or not and I'm glad I did.  This color just screams Merry Christmas to me, not quite the right shade of green.

So, onto plan B.  I planned to just tape off the design with frog tape and then paint it with a little fabric paint.  That's when I realized the frog tape was very close the the green I was going for.  So I took the lazy easy route and just used the tape to create my design.  You really can't tell it's tape, it just looks like ribbon.  Eventually I would like to use this stencil and create a trellis design that mimics Kelly Wearstler's trellis fabric.  So this temporary fix works great for now.

I just have mine resting on the ledge of molding at the top of the window because it's so lightweight it's not going anywhere.  You could screw it into the molding if you wanted to make sure it stays.  If you don't have molding above your windows, you could just screw another piece of 1 x 2 into the wall above the window to use as a ledge.  So there you have it, a very easy, inexpensive faux cornice board window treatment. 

on a side note, check out the cool vintage water bottle I found at the depot the other day.  Isn't it neat?  It's made out of glass, crazy how they used to make water bottles out of glass.  I guess as the old saying goes, they don't make things like they used to.

Hobnail Milk Glass Light

I've been wanting to spruce up our kitchen for a while now.  It's one of the areas of my house that I'm not totally in love with.  We didn't pick the countertops or colors because those things had already been determined by the builder when we bought it.  We did a few things like add a faux tin backsplash and replace the faucet but that's pretty much where we stopped.  So, I'm starting out by making over the area by the sink.  The pendant fixture above the sink seemed like a good place to start.  I had this milk glass pendant in the garage for a while.  My mom found it for around $5 at a thrift store and snatched it up for me.  The brass was in pretty bad shape so I gave it a quick coat of this spray paint.  It's definitely the closest thing to real brass that I've found.  (Thanks Centsational Girl for the tip)  

Krylon short cuts in Gold Leaf

Here's the area before with a basic pendant light

And now with the new addition.  I love that it's a little eclectic and vintage.  I'm working on a few other mini updates in this area that I'll share soon.

  

Tall Wingbacks

I ran across these chairs at Goodwill the other day for $12.99/each.  Not too bad right?  I know they are definitely not so hot the way they are right now but they have some definite potential.  They are much taller and slimmer than a traditional wingback chair, which is part of what drew me to them.  They would have been great on either end of my dining room table.  I talked myself out of them though because the cost for fabric and reupholstery would be pretty pricey.  Gotta learn to reupholster.  

I love the idea of two wingbacks as end chairs on a dining room table

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Found any good thrifting treasures lately?

yes, another starburst mirror

Maybe you are sick of the whole starburst mirror trend, but I'm still really liking it.  I think it's a classic staple in decorating that can make a huge statement in a room.  I bookmarked this project a long time ago and just kind of forgot about it until I needed something to adorn my dining room mantle.  Remember the ship painting I shared from my summertime mantle?  Well, it sailed (har har) on over to my sister in law's new apartment.  She really loved it when she came to my house, so I gave it to her as a housewarming gift.  Anyways, I was left with a blank mantle and remembered this project I had been wanting to tackle.  So, I followed The Nester's great tutorial.  It was so simple and cost me less than $10.  

I already had this mirror in my garage, a $2 Goodwill find, so I just picked up some posterboard from Hobby Lobby (around $3).  I also already had the gold spraypaint in my garage (always good to have a can of that on hand)

So here's my mirror before I cleaned it and everything

I started by making my template out of a papertowel, just like the nester did.

then, I traced my template onto posterboard

then I cutout the "rays"and just hotglued them to the back of the mirror.  I did them in a north, south, east, west pattern alternating them as I went

 I spraypainted it in Rustoleum's metallic gold spraypaint

If you get up close you can tell it's cardboard, but from a distance it looks pretty good, not bad for a few dollars

Two fun things

Thanks to you guys I have made it into the finals for the favorite nursery for the month of August on the Project nursery website.  Just click on this post and then vote in the poll for my daughter's nursery.  Right now I'm in 5th place, but I know with your help we can change that! :)  

Another fun thing I've stumbled upon lately is a site called thred up.  Have you heard of it?  It's a great site that sells name brand kids clothing for a fraction of the price.  Who doesn't love a good deal on name brand clothing?  They only accept items in excellent condition so you can be sure you're getting good quality clothing for a great price.  It gets even better, sign up here and get $10 to use towards your first purchase.  The $10 can also be used towards shipping so you can get some cute clothes for your kiddos for free.  

Here's some cute items I've got my eye on for my little one.

cute huh?

Project Nursery

Have you  heard of Project Nursery?  It's a great site where you can share your room designs for little ones and fun parties as well.  This site is full of lots of inspiration.  My daughter's nursery has been picked as one of the "Nurseries we love" this week and I would be so grateful if you would click on over and "like" her nursery.  Click here to vote. (just click "like" at the top of the page) Voting ends Monday at noon.  Thanks so much, you guys are the best!

1923

As we were moving my sister in law into her apartment a few weeks ago my father in law stumbled upon this mirror.  I wish I had taken a before picture.  It wasn't in the greatest shape but I never (well almost never) turn down free.  It just needed a quick paint job.  It was nothing fancy just kind of an ordinary mirror but I liked the detail at the top and I noticed that it was particularly heavy for being the size that it was.  As I was taking it apart to paint it I noticed a stamp on the back.  It's a little hard to read but it says "May 29th, 1923".  How cool is that?  Almost 100 years old.  I guess that's why it's so heavy, they don't make things like they used to.  I was going to take it to my booth but decided to keep it for now, I kind of like having a piece of history in my house.  

It's hard to see in the pictures but because it's so old there are a lot of imperfections in the mirror, almost reminds me of mercury glass, which I love.

found any cool treasures lately?

  

DIY Bedroom Canopy Instructions

One of the questions I get asked most frequently is how I hung the canopy in my bedroom.  I'm going to try my best to explain how I did it.  I will admit it's a little ghetto, but it works and has held up for a few years now.  On a side note, looking at this picture makes me realize I need to update my home tour, I'll work on updating that soon.  

I started with four curtain panels (2 pairs) from IKEA. I believe I used the Ritva.

Then, I purchased two basic curtain rods, also from IKEA.  You really aren't going to see these so you can go with something pretty inexpensive and plain, like this one from IKEA as well.

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Now, you will need to sew an additional rod pocket on the curtain panel so that it will not move.  A picture is worth a thousand words, so here's a little diagram.

Then, you will thread your two rods through the two pockets.

Now, here's how I mounted the rods.  Mount one to the wall just like you normally would if you were going to hang curtains.

and this is where it gets a little ghetto, rigged up, whatever you want to call it, if you have a better method by all means go with it, this has held up for a few years for us and is still going strong but I don't want to be blamed for any curtain rods falling on anyone ;)

I mounted a hook to the ceiling, making sure it was anchored well.  Then I used picture hanging wire to attach the rod to the hook.  I wrapped it around several times and tied several knots in it to make sure it was secure.  I could have used the same mounting hardware that I mounted to the wall, but the gap between the ceiling and the curtain was larger than I would have liked.  If you are ok with the way that looks, that method would work too.  Also, I should mention that the curtain covers the wire and hook so you don't see it.

White Elephant

You saw this little guy yesterday in the nursery reveal but I thought I'd share the before.  I found it for a few dollars at Goodwill and thought with a fresh coat of white paint, he'd be good as new.  Notice there were two?  The other was a victim of an unfortunate accident involving the garage door.

Before, they were definitely a little weird and freaky with their red eyes not sure why they were painted that way but it was nothing a little white spraypaint couldn't fix.

(on a side note, Staples paper boxes are the best, I use them for everything including spraypainting)

and the one that survived with a fresh coat of white paint...

The Nursery

I think I've pretty much revealed the nursery through all the project posts I've done on it but I thought it would be nice to have all the pictures in one place as well as a source list for anyone who's interested.  A huge thank you to the fabulous Amory Anderson (who just so happens to be my sister) for the wonderful photos.  

Sources:

Silver Pedestal Table: Amazon

DIY headboard: Tutorial found here; Fabric: Fabric.com

"E" : Vintage letter found at a yardsale for $5, came off an old building

Frame around "E": thrifted and painted gold

Pouf: TJ Maxx

Curtains: IKEA

Birdcage light: DIY project, tutorial found here

Gold Sequin Pillow: Marshalls

Elephant Pillow: DIY project found here

White Blanket: Crocheted for me as a wedding gift from my grandma

Trundle bed: Craigslist

Gallery Wall: Antique shop & thrifted finds

Gallery wall free prints found here

Zebra Pillow: Marshalls

Brown and white damask pillows: Ross

Black and White stripe pillows: sewn by me from remnant fabric

Brown Quilt: Linens and Things

Yellow Cabinet: DIY seen here

Lamp: Homegoods with Vinyl monogram on lampshade made on Silohuette machine

Crib: given to us second hand by some sweet friends, you can find it here

White shag rug: Marshalls

White Elephant: thrifted and spraypainted white

Acryclic Bookshelves on the side of the cabinet: found here

Glider: Walmart.com

Ruffled Crib Skirt: (you can't see it as much as I would have liked) but Tutorial found here

Yellow crib sheet: Target

Paint Colors:

Wall Color: Behr Collectible

Ceiling Stripes and Cabinet: Martha Stewart yellow magnolia

I think that pretty much covers it, have any more questions?  Ask away!