Faux Taxidermy - White Deer

I'm sure you've seen the beautiful faux taxidermy that have been floating around Etsy and Pinterest. Well, when I spotted one for the first time I was instantly in love. However, my hopes were dashed when I saw the price tag. Most of them were around $100 and that's just not within my "funky decor" budget.

So, what did I do? Well, you can probably guess it. I devised a plan.

After some quick research, I found the EXACT deer head on ebay that I wanted. (It also happened to be identical to the one I wanted to order on Etsy.) The only setback was that it was not painted white and looked like an actual deer. But he was only $40 and I decided that I would save the 60 bucks and buy a can of spray paint.

He's awesome and I'm so glad I decided to go ahead and do it!

All you need is your deer, a can of whatever color you want to paint him (spray paint), and a well ventilated area.)

 I painted mine on my back porch and was able to do him with only one can of paint. It did take a few coats to get all the different sides and angles of his antlers and ears, etc.. Easy peasy, though.

Last, around Christmas time I ordered some super cute doll-house wreath swags to wrap around his antlers. (I got mine here.) He looks great without them, but I decided to add the leaves and berries to give him some personality. 

I lovingly call him Dukey.

Home Harmony: Projects

I loved One Kings Lane’s commercial on projects.



A homemaker’s (or renting-maker’s) life is all about change. There’s always something to adjust, measure, rearrange, paint, or chuck and replace. Growing up, my Grandma was always about some project. I can remember opening the front door and finding my Grampy in one of the two same spots – the kitchen or reading on his day bed. I’d ask him where Grandma was and he’d always say something different: “in the garage”, “on the roof”, “in the garden”, “the dining room”, “by the fireplace”, or the most likely answer, “*shrug*” (which loosely interprets to “no idea but good luck!”). It does the heart good to be busy.

My humble list is nothing like super-Grandma’s but I have embarked on a few endeavors that have made her proud. My most recent project was turning this:

Into this:

Here’s how I did it.

Step 1: Picked my color (cool pallet here):

and bought my Milk Paint. Heads up, the colors listed in the pallet are Chalk paint but Milk paint is where it’s at. Just ask Miss Mustard Seed.

Step 2: Cleaned my coffee table. Notice how this step is not sand my coffee table? Milk paint is awesome because you don’t need to sand your furniture! Easy.

Step 3: Paint that puppy!

Step 4: Wait for it to dry (20ish minutes)

Step 5: Paint another coat

Step 6: Wait for it to dry. (This time wait 30ish minutes)

Step 7: Add a coat of furniture wax. Since I worship Miss Mustard Seed I would obviously recommend her wax:

Warning: the wax brush can get pretty pricy but it might be worth the investment. Check out this bodacious brush:

I introduce Waxwell. Isn’t he a hunk?

Step 8: Antique it! A little sand paper on the edges will do the trick.

Step 9: Replace those fug handles! I ended up picking these rope handles:

Step 10: Rearrange your entire living room to accommodate new coffee table.

Have you had any proud Grandma projects lately? Share your ideas with our readers!

Happy project-ing!