Center Piecing

Finishing a new project feels super amazing. Finding out that finishing your project suddenly inspires 10 other projects? Ugh.

Here is one of the outcomes of a project inspired project. BEHOLD The Centerpiece:

Waa Waa.  Bad right? After dragging le’ Husband downstairs and receiving a it’s-ugly-but-I-still-love-you pat on the back I knew I had to take action. SURELY there was someone out there who had found the secret to The Centerpiece??

3 hours of le’ googling later I found this extremely helpful video:

A glimmer of hope, a dash of love, and a trip to World Market and this is what we ended up with:

 

Haha! Help?

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!

Home Harmony: Vertical Space

I used to live with my parents. I think most of us did that once. It was awesome and secure and cost me bupkis. Then I decided I wanted to be parent-free so I found my own pad. That transition was brutal. I had to figure out how to earn money and feed myself and speak different languages (my family spoke fluent Karen Carpenter, disco, and K-mart which doesn’t translate sometimes in real life). The biggest shock of my move was the cut I took to living space. Moving from larger quarters to one step up from a box requires even the least creative among us to pick up some tricks. Whether you’re in a humble this-half-of-the-room-is-mine or in a spacious 600 square footer there are things you can do to find harmony in your wigwam.

Tip #uno (wotd!!!*): make use of your vertical space. If you have walls in your home then this tip is for you! Behold the beautiful uses people made of their walls:

These demos are pretty simple to pull off!  All you need are some baskets, magazine files, this doo-hicky, and a shelf track kit (option 2 here).

More to tips to come!

*wotd (Word of the Day!!!) – “uno”

Pronunciación aproximada: OO-no

Significado: one, a, an

Aviso: The feminine form is una