When we first moved in we took down all the doors in our house… and our home remained in that sad state for over a year.  When we moved into our home year we knew that something had to give with those doors.  They were that awful faux wood grain, hollow core, and overall in a very bad state.

My original plan (always trying to save a buck) was to somehow paint them and add some trim… but we quickly realized that approach is akin to putting lipstick on a pig.  The faux grain had to go…

So, a month into our door-less state we found some hollow core pre-hung doors at Menards for $20 a pop!  A steal, right?  And they were smooth so I could paint and trim them out.  We installed them (which was no easy feat) and began painting the door frame.

Turns out our uber cheap doors had laminate door frames that could not, would not, should not be painted.  They turned out to be a hot mess, and suddenly we realized we spent $150 to buy doors just as crappy as the originals.

At this point we are frustrated at the whole process and let it sit (still door-less, since we had painted the frames and hadn’t bothered to rehang the doors) for another two months.

We shopped around for a more quality alternative, but found that the solid core pre-hung doors start at $200, each!  Spending over a grand on new doors did not sit well with us, so we procrastinated some more.

Enter my dreamin’ schemin’ mind… I tend towards over-confidence in our abilities and am a total can-do kinda person (or at least ‘Jake can-do’ ). My heart was set on having vintage doors with character!

I knew from prior visits that the Habitat Restore had oodles of gorgeous doors ripe for the picking! Why not save a buck and get all our doors there?!? Well, because – as Jake explained to me – they are not pre-hung.  Meaning that unless you have a pre-existing frame that is not faux-wood-grain or horrible laminate, you have to make your own.

Well… how hard could that be right?  Jake did not resonate with that sentiment, but he amused me and we visited my favorite store on earth.  The Restore!!!

Wouldn’t you know it… there were ten beautiful solid core oak doors in our perfect sizes.  (They even had some scratches and dents in them!! call me crazy, but I love a lived in look, a nice patina!) At only $15 a door, Jake was convinced.  He may have later regretted it, but none the less we had found our doors and stayed in budget.

We attempted to pick out the correct doors for left side hinges vs. right side hinges. (Turns out we were wrong on two of them.. so double, triple, quadruple check which type you need!).

So we had our doors finally, but now we had to figure out how to build door frames.  For the longest time we couldn’t find a frame kit and were thinking we’d have to build our own.  That caused another month of procrastination because we would need a table saw..

Finally we gave in, bought a table saw, then out of the blue found this kit.  It was a huge relief and was the push we needed to actually get started hanging our doors.

I’ve created this step by step of how we got our doors up, and some tips and tricks we learned along the way.

Just a little warning, this project is not for the faint of heart or inexperienced DIYer.  It’s tricky work and every detail needs to be spot on, so a LOT of patience is required! But, maybe you’re as crazy as us and just really need that beautiful old door in your home too

How to Build a Door Frame and Hang a Door

Materials Needed

• A door (preferably one with the hinges facing the correct direction)
• Door Jamb Set (love this kit as it’s primed and solid wood)
• Shims
• Nail gun & air compressor (ours was came in a set and has been great)
• Hinges
• Door knob
• 3″ screws
• Screw gun
• Chop saw (we ADORE ours, find it here)
• Door Hinge Kit
• Router
• Chisel

1. First you need to cut your jamb set header to size (presumably you have normal height doorways and you will not need to cut the sides).  If there was a previous frame in place, use those dimensions to measure and cut the header piece.  If not, then measure the amount the side frame pieces are inset at the top, add that to width of the door, and add 1/4″ inch to accommodate 1/8″ space on each side of the door.
2. Secure the header to the sides from the frame kit with your nail gun. Now you should have a free standing frame
3. Attach the hinges to the free standing frame while it is laying flat on the ground.  Only attach 2 at most. If there are three holes leave the middle one off; it’s too difficult to place all three at once. And lay the door inside the frame.
4. Place a paint stick between the top of the door and the header of the frame to ensure you have adequate spacing at the top.
5. Make sure that the door and the frame are flush with the pin-side of the hinge sticking down below. To do this, you’ll need to prop up the door and frame equally. Then mark on the frame where the hinges need to go.
6. Next, use your hinge mortising kit to router out matching mortises on the door jamb.  Pre-drill and screw the hinge to the frame and at this point you have a pre-hung door (minus the stop and some other pieces..)
7. Since actually hanging the door is the hardest part, we did this next to make sure everything worked before finishing the jamb with a door stop and a latch hole.
8. When hanging a door you’ll really need two people.  Set the door and frame up in the doorway.
9. Use some scrap wood or shims to prop the edge of the door up until the top gap between the door and the header is even.  Double check that the header and door are both level horizontally.
10. You’ll first attach the frame on the top hing side and it’s very important that you check all your gaps before securing anything. Insert shims (one on each side) between the doorway and the outside of the frame just above the top door hinge, making sure that the gap between the door and the frame appears the same and that the door is vertically level.
11. Once you are satisfied with the levelness and spacing, nail the frame to the doorway.  We tried to keep our nails in the middle so that the stop will cover them.
12. At this point we removed the middle screw securing the top hinge to the frame and replaced it with a 3″ screw that went all the way through to the door-frame. This makes the door hang more securely.
13. Check your gaps again and make sure that screw didn’t over-tighten the top corner.  If it did, just back it out a little bit.
14. Insert shims on the non-hinge side just above where the latch will go.  Again, adjust shims in or out to make sure you have an even 1/8″ gap between the door and frame. Once your gap is even, check that everything is still level.  If you are having issues at this step see my trouble shooting guide below.  DON’T just try to force it, I can’t tell you how many times we ripped out and re-did our door frames because we didn’t stop and troubleshoot.
15. Nail the frame and shims into place and repeat the above steps until you have shimmed and secured the top, middle and bottom of each side.
16. Hooray! Now check that you’ve successfully hung your door by stepping back and making sure the gaps are even and 1/8″ wide.  Open your door to the middle and see if it stays (if it swings, it’s not level).  Shut the door and make sure it doesn’t catch (if it catches your door frame might be twisted). Hopefully, everything works properly, but if you have issues with the above test, see the trouble shooting section below.
17. Remove the shims that are extending beyond the frame by running a utility knife along the edge and hammering until they snap off.

Troubleshooting

My door has the wrong hinge mortises

When we realized that we had bought the wrong doors and need our hinges to swing the opposite direction, there was a moment of utter panic.  We ended up resolving this issue by switching this hinges and using square cornered ones to cover the old mortise.

To successfully do this, you will need to chisel or router out the new correct hing mortise.  Additionally, you should drill out the existing screw holes and fill them with thin wood dowel pieces.  If you leave them and create new screw holes, the door could crack and you do not want that to happen.

By using square hinges set flush to the face of the door, we were able to hide the old mortise, hang the door on the correct side, and no one is the wiser.

My gaps aren’t even / My door swings / My door catches on the frame

There could be many reasons this is happening.  Instead of calling it ‘close enough’ and trying to force it how you want, stop and evaluate the source of the issue.

Possible causes:

• the doorway and studs could be twisted or not level, to straighten out the frame use a little more shim on the twisted side
• the frame is twisted (we found the above listed frame kit to be very good, but it is possible that your frame side pieces are not all the way straight), to straighten use the shims to ‘force’ the frame piece to level out
• the 3″ screw in the top hinge over-tightened and pulled the door up, re-secure the screw without using as much force
• the floor is not level, it’s possible that your floor isn’t level causing one side to be higher than the other, to even it out trim the bottom of the taller frame side piece

I hope this guide has been helpful for you in your brave quest to frame and hang your own doors.  Or perhaps it’s led you to learn from our mistakes and just buy pre-hung doors…

Happy DIYing!

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Although I haven’t personally tried any of these, they are all on my art bucket list.  So maybe one day I will have tutorials.  But for now, I will share my inspiration.  If any of you brave souls try some of these ideas I’d love to know!

The Over-Sized Animal Head Print

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Taxidermy is all the rage these days.  Change it up and with some framed animal head art. There is an abundance of free vintage animal prints, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find a quality sketch of your favorite animal.  Kristine from the Painted Hive offers tips on how to increase the size of your image for print.

Then just take it to Staples and ask for an engineer print (they are super cheap), and frame.  Voila! Over-sized animal head art.

Paint Over Thrift Store Art

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Spice up that boring old oil painting with some color blocking and neon!  The sky is the limit with this one, I mean seriously google this because there are some crazy awesome things people have done.

I personally would stick with the bright neons on a flower painting to start with.  What a totally awesome, completely funk piece of art that marries old with new.

Brushed Silhouette Art

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I just love this painting and I think it’s definitely DIY-able.  Cut a silhouette out of a piece of paper and use temporary adhesive to stick it on your canvas. Then take a large brush and use zig-zag/wavy strokes to paint down your canvas.

Peel off the paper and zoila! Instant designer-worthy art.  You could even use different paint methods like splatter or color blocking.  I really need to try this one…

‘Dipped’ Art

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Another awesome way to bring new life to those thrift store pieces.  Use different colors or all the same.  I personally love the mystique of the paint ending just below the eyes.

You could play around with this idea and do other geometric shapes over the old art for a fun and modern gallery!

Pixel Painting

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Recreate a favorite picture with watercolors.  You can find a full tutorial at Wit & Whistle. This is basically as easy as those paint-by-number pieces we did as kids.

Make it sentimental by using a photo from your favorite vacation or first home.  The sky is the limit here. I’d even like to see someone try it with even smaller pixels so the original image is more recognizable.  Or, instead of watercolor, use paint chips!

Stone Mosaics

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Wishing for a bit more marble in your life, but not up for a tile job?  Create a wall mosaic out of your favorite stones.  You get the look of luxury for a lot less money and upkeep than if you got new countertops.

My local Habitat for Humanity Restore stocks tons and tons of tiles. Find the ones that really speak to you, then invest in a tile cutter and arrange away!

Blob Paintings

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Ok, so I guess they are called abstract.  But if this painting is thousands of dollars and ultimately couture, why not make a blob painting of your own.

It can’t be that hard, right?  Antique the paper a little bit, then paint away. Heck, have your five-year-old do it for you.  Then tell all your friends you bought it at an art gallery in France.  I bet they won’t even bat an eye.

Inverted Color Blocking

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This one couldn’t be simpler.  Just pick your favorite colors and frame with a white backdrop, and frame a matching white paper with the colored backdrop.

It’s fun take on color blocking, looks chic, and can easier be made to fit your color scheme.  Think of the variations you could try!

I’m hoping some of these projects are in my near future. Have you ever tried to DIY a designer piece? I’ve tried once, it was fun and I’m itching to surf West Elm for more inspo.

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I was inspired by these gorgeous curtains from Design Manifest.  I loved the pop of color and how incredibly subtle it was!  Mine didn’t turn out quite as subtle, but I did try and fold my ribbon around the bottom edge for that effect like in the pic below.

So I started by cutting down some of the plywood I had leftover from the workbench.  Then I attempted to screw/nail the pieces together (I think they are 10″ tall and the side pieces are 8″).  When I say attempted… I failed to screw them together as the wood kept splitting.  Then, I managed to kinda nail them together.. they still wobble a little.  I definitely regret not recruiting Jake to help with this part!

I was going to buy batting to uphoslter the box with, but during an IKEA trip I spied a twin duvet is the AS-IS section for only $3, so I decided to use that.

I stapled on my duvet batting with my handy dandy staple gun.  One of these days I’m going to figure out how to use our pneumatic stapler and make my hands a lot happier with me.

I bought the standard white IKEA curtains and got one extra set to upholster the pelmet boxes with.  Word to the wise: iron the fabric before you staple it onto the box….  I missed that one.

Once the boxes were upholstered I hot glued my kelly green ribbon to the top and bottom making sure I had enough to fold over and cover the edges.

I did recruit Jake to assist me in installing the curtains and pelmet box.  Turns out they were much more difficult than anticipated… Isn’t funny how flooring seems like a breeze to us now, but installing curtains, now that’s a tough one!

After they were hung, I hemmed the curtains and glued on the ribbon. Any suggestions for a good craft/fabric glue??  The one I got was awful and took 24 hours to dry and still shows some…. Frustrating. (notice there are no pics of the other window?  shhh..  that’s because I haven’t figured out how to glue the ribbon to those curtains yet without making another mess)

I think they pop nicely against our gray walls.  I can’t wait to get that sectional upholstered in navy.  Then we’ll have some really fun jewel tones going on in there.  You can notice above, we still to install baseboard, and then this room will be finished! (Well, the shell at least, there always plenty of decorating to do )

Little by little we are putting the human touches onto our fixer upper, and it’s going to be a beautiful home  I already have a few more ideas for this room floating around in my head.  But, right now the focus shifts back to our half bath, because we finished tiling it last weekend!!!  What a relief, I can’t wait to finish everything up and reveal the space to you  Until next time, happy Thursday!

Linking up at: Think and Make Thursday, the Handmade Hangout, Found & Foraged, Your Designs This Time, Frugal Crafty Blog Hop, Work it Wednesday, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, The Inspiration Gallery, Tutorials & Tips

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My sweet husband turned 25 last weekend! We had some fabulous BBQ to celebrate (like seriously this stuff was the bomb-diggity!).  And, as a gift, I attempted a garage makeover.  There were some rough patches along the way.. and although I didn’t quite complete the entire makeover, I did manage to construct a fully functional workbench, paint the back wall white, and gather lots of organizational tools to eventually use in the garage.

And, it was all a surprise!  Granted, Jake is the easiest person to successfully surprise. For one, he loves surprises so if he knows there is one, he will take go to great lengths to prevent himself from finding out.  Secondly, and probably most importantly, he is the least nosiest person I know.  Stuff that would make me say, ‘wait, a second…’ and ponder endlessly on, doesn’t even get a blink from him.  For instance, I had broke his power drill screwdriver bit (more on this later…) and had been using the weird removable bit from the hand screwdriver to complete the project and he asked me why it was there, and I just said, oh I needed it.  And literally he thought nothing of it.  If we could all have this trait when it came to the people in our lives, seriously, there would be no gossip.  It’s crazy his lack of the need to know.  I much admire him for it.

So, I had known I wanted to do this makeover for Jake’s birthday for a while.  Right now all the tools are living in our dining room and do not have a permanent home.  And the garage was pretty much hideous.  You can see a before picture below.  The previous owners had attempted to drywall but had never finished mudding the joints, they left holes in their drywall job, grease stains everywhere, and ‘wallpapered’ one side with Budweiser cardboard boxes (you can see some of this lovely art in the top right hand corner).  Classy, right?

(I spy two naughty kitties!)

I shopped around thrift store for a few months ahead of time to gather some organizational baskets.  And the week before I purchased some accessory items at Harbor Freight; a magnetic parts holder tray, a hose (since ours is severed in half…), a magnetic parts strip to mount to the workbench, and some locking casters for mobility.

I researched various workbench tutorials online and settled on this youtube tutorial on a $25 workbench and further modified by inspiration from this workbench by the Newly Woodwards to include a second shelf and blue paint.  The moment of truth arrived when I took a lunch break trip to Home Depot to buy wood pieces and get them cut to size for the workbench.  Now this is all very new territory for me, and as usual, I figured how hard could it be?

I hunted down an associate to assist me in locating the materials I needed and cut them to my dimensions, all while wearing my work clothes and heels on a time crunch during my lunch break to make it back for a training session.  This was a stressful endeavor in the first place, I was late by the time I got all my pieces cut, could hardly steer the cart full of wood to the front of the store, and then it all rang up for a number that was much higher than $25.  I instantly panicked, how could this have happened?  The video said he did his for only $25.  And in a state of panic over spending so much money, struggling with an obstinate wood cart, in the cold, I managed to load up my little VW golf with all the wood and drive back to work, late for my session.

Thankfully, after sitting through an hour and a half webinar on depreciation methods, I was able to calm down some and assess the situation.  First off, I bought high quality plywood for the top and shelves of the bench which cost $20 a board whereas the guy in the video had used one sheet of OSB.  Because of the dimensions I gave the Home Depot associate we could only cut one piece from each plywood sheet, resulting in much scrap leftover (which we can hopefully use for future projects).  After adding in the cost for outdoor grade garage paint and a blue high-gloss for the bench, I realized why the Home Depot bill was what it was.  In the end I made the choices to create a better quality bench for Jake, so I’m convinced it was worth it

When I got home that night, Jake was already there, so I had to tell him I was hiding his birthday present in the garage and not to look in there.  He complied with my request which also meant that I got to do garbage duty for the week as well.  The next day I had a little time in the middle of the day so I decided to get started on the workbench.  I knew enough to predrill my holes before screwing the pieces together, but I didn’t know it would take extraordinary feats of strength to successfully screw it together without completely stripping the screw and ruining Jake’s screwdriver bit…. which is exactly what I did.

In a panic, once again, I rooted through Jake’s tools searching for another bit.  I only found a screwdriver with a removable end that I was able to use in the drill.  Knowing that it was my only bit left I was very cautious and scared from this point on to do any skipping as I screwed the pieces together.  I also soon discovered that the 2″ screws Jake had were not long enough to attach the 2×4’s together.  So, that evening I purchased some 4″ screws planning on resuming the project the following week.

Well, when I went to resume, I realized that 4″ was entirely too long and would stick out of the wood a ridiculous length.  So once again I trekked back to the depot to buy some 3″ screws (this time I measured!)  Luckily it’s only a 5 minute trip because I arrived home only to realize I had purchased the star head type screws…. which I was unable to screw with my janky screwdriver bit.  So back I went, this time to get the proper phillips head 3″ screws.  Phew!  What a learning curve at this point.

Things went much quicker after that fiasco, I assembled the legs and top and notched out the corners of the plywood to sit on the 2×4’s using our miter saw (probably not recommended, by the way, but I am too scared of the circular saw and too weak for the hand saw…).  Once it was assembled, I primed it and called it a day.

The next day primarily consisted of painting the workbench (two coats) and cleaning and painting the back garage wall (also two coats).  Near the later afternoon (and countdown time since Jake would be home to see it in only a few hours)  I went to attach the accessories to the workbench starting with the casters.

Well, for some reason the holes to attach the casters were way bigger than my screwheads…. So back to the Depot I went to pick up some washers.  The associate convinced me to by some lag screw/bolt things to secure them with, but time was ticking and I couldn’t figure out how to install those, so I just used the washers I bought with my 3″ phillips head screws.  This worked out great until the power drill ran out of battery… so I spent the last hour trying to charge the drill just enough to at least finish off the casters.

When Jake got home, he saw the garage door was open and immediately drove past the house so I could close it since he wasn’t supposed to look in there (see?  such a good surprisee).  But, when he saw me standing there he figured it was alright so he drove up and was very surprised and excited about his early birthday present.

It still needs a little help, like we can’t figure out how to lock the casters, and it wobbles some once the wheels were attached.  Also, it still needs to be organized with Jake’s tools and to have some extra accessories attached such as the magnetic strip and an extension cord and power strip.

All in all, I’m really proud of how it turned out and Jake loved it!  Which is all that matters to me  I’m looking forward to sharing some finished pics once we get a few more things done in there (if it ever warms up enough to do so..).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JAKE!!!!

Linking up here: The Makers Link Party, Tutorials and Tips Link Party, Think and Make Thursday, On Display Thursday, Inspire Me Please, Inspiration Gallery Link Party, The Handmade Hangout, DIY Inspired Link Party, Your Designs This Time, Talented Tuesday Link Party

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Last week I visited my bestie, Abigail, and we transformed her wingback chair from brown and stripedy to be a fun and beautiful statement piece for her and her husband’s new home.  They just closed on their first home (just like us!) a few months ago and are doing an amazing job transforming it into a welcoming and beautiful space!  In fact, I’m hoping she’ll let me share some pics of it once they’re done.

Abigail received this chair from her parents and loved the lines, but knew she wanted to change the fabric to be a color and pattern that reflected the style of their living room.  She found an amazing deal on some upholstery fabric at Joann’s and I think it is such a fun and beautiful pattern!

Instead of removing all the current upholstery, we decided to save ourselves a ton of work and just staple over it.  The fabric she bought was thick enough that the brown stripes don’t show through.  We started with the upper arms and then upholstered the back.

The process was a little tricky since we were working with limited fabric (Abigail bought all that was left, since the roll was on clearance).  But, we were able to make it work with some creative thinking.  She used a tan color for the back that worked out great.

Reupholstering this chair with her was so fun!  And I just love how it turned out and the way it goes with the space  Now I have the reupholstery itch… I need to reupholster another piece!!!

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I sewed the placemats with my dear friend (she dressed hers up a bit and added a gold hand-painted rose in the corner~they look fabulous!).  We used the SOFIA fabric from IKEA which I’d been eyeing for some time.  And the natural weave placemats were also from IKEA.

I kept it simple, and used my milky mercury glass vases as the centerpiece.  I think they transition quite well from fall to winter.  Shiny metallics fit both seasons well.  And, I think the subtle milky hue will lend itself well to the Christmas spirit.  (Oh, and did you notice my giant mirror in the background?  Clearly, I have not decided what to do with it yet… Still pondering ;))

Setting a table is a big deal for me, since normally I like having the entire surface clear for maxium space.  And… I would undoubtably spill all over placemats and stain them   Which I realize is actually their purpose, but they are just too pretty to spill on!

I hope we all get some time to reflect on what we’re thankful for today.  Sometimes it’s the simplest things that I’m most thankful for: a kind and loving husband, a warm and supportive family, my sweet and funloving friends, and a place to call home.

As I will be out of town with family these next few days, I am taking a rain-check on the Friday Five this week.  But, I will be back next week with the latest happenings!   Until then, have a wonderful Thanksgiving and an amazing weekend!

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I had one of those totally crafty moments this weekend and cooked up a bunch of new ideas for our apartment.  First up… a good ole Pottery Barn knockoff.  After seeing these gorgeous milky mercury glass vases by PB, I knew a DIY was in order.

I’ve experimented some with DIY faux mercury glass before.  There is a plethora of ideas and materials out there for making your own mercury glass.  But, surprisingly I could find nothing about adding a milky white glow to it.  After reading up a little on tinting glass, I tried my hand at making milky mercury glass.  I must say, I’m pretty happy with the results  If you are totally loving the milky mercury glass effect follow along with a tutorial below.

Make your own Milky Mercury Glass PB Knockoff

1.  Gather your vases, the chunkier and more organic looking the better!  I even found a vase with bubbles in the glass and really like the depth and texture it added.

Make sure the mouth is wide enough to spray paint into.   I bought several candle votive holders to do trial runs on.

2.  Get some all purpose white craft paint (that specifies the ability to paint on glass) and some nail polish remover.  Strange as it sounds, the nail polish remover acts as a paint thinner to provide translucency to your paint.

3.   Begin adding some nail polish remover to your glass container, just a very little amount.  You will then add 1-4 drops of paint to the nail polish remover. (1 for a very small container, 4 for a larger one)

4.   Begin swirling your glass container to allow the paint to mix with the nail polish remover.  Once they have mixed, gently continue swirling the liquid around until it has covered the entire inside of the container.  If necessary you can use a paintbrush to ‘scoop’ the paint up to the lip in order to cover the top of the jar.  Have a napkin nearby to wipe off any excess paint that drips out of the container.

Your glass should be clearly milky, but still slightly transparent after coating with paint.  If your paint is too heavy, add more nail polish remover to thin it.  If it is too light, go back with more paint.

5.   Once the container has been coated, set upside down on a paper towel to dry.  Make sure there is a waterproof surface underneath.  Drying time could take a while, I waited a full day before add the mercury paint.

6.   Tape a bag or papertowel around the outside of your glass to protect it from the spray paint.  Then coat the interior with Krylon’s Looking Glass spray paint.  Several coats may be needed.  Apply thinly to avoid drips, or if you like the texture of drips, spray away!

Once it dries, remove the bag and you are done.  In display, I would suggest not adding water or otherwise greatly irritating the interior.  I found mine scrapes off easily.

Aren’t these just perfect for fall?  I’m totally digging them

I hope you enjoyed this knockoff and tutorial!  (If you did, feel free to pin away;))  You can see more DIY’s I’ve done here.   Or check out my pinspiration boards.  Thanks all!

Let me know if you try it and how it goes for you?  Do you love the look, or prefer the traditional mercury glass appearance?

Linking up at Thrifty Decor Chick, Home Stories A to Z, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, House on the Way, Not Just a Housewife, Sugar Bee Crafts, The Farmhouse Porch, Tell Me Tuesday, Tell Us Tuesday, Work it Wednesday, Creations by Kara, Wow Me Wednesday, Simply Designing, The Weekly Creative, Craft Frenzy Friday, Liz Marie Blog, and Lovely Ladies Linky

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On one of my regular Salvation Army trips, I happened to spot this little guy over in the frames and clocks section.  Greek key! Lately I feel like everyone is going nuts about Greek key, and I certainly don’t want to be left out.  I really wanted it, although it looked strange and unlovable, I saw the potential in that poor, weird Greek key clock.  But, it was $4… meh, not bad, just too much to justify buying the crazy little guy.  When I returned the next week, it had been marked down to $2!  Now that price I can do

First of all, the colors, while not terrible, were kinda strange…. I don’t know, but I’m just not digging the funny silver/gold thing its got going.  Could I please direct your attention to that clock face, though??  I mean, what on earth is going on?  Besides the fact that the numbers are in fact totally upside down…. why are there Chinese symbols and strange black marks on it?  The poor clock face was due for an uplift… no, a full out botox!

Despite, the strange condition of it, I had a vision for this little Greek key clock.  I’ve been loving emerald green lately.  (As the Pantone color of the year, I’m feeling an emerald-love post coming on…)  So, I bought some Rustoleum spray paint in hunter green (I don’t like that name…), but I lied to myself and said it was basically emerald

Jake assisted in the disassembly of the clock (apparently he put one together once for a college project, so thankfully he was all over this!) since I was at a loss.  After setting up my fancy-dancy spray paint station, I got to work.  Note to self: spray paint disintegrates styrofoam, so don’t place place your to-be-painted-object on it unless you want it to fall off and get weird fingerprints all over it from you attempting to put it back up.

It looked all shiny and pretty after the spray paint coat.  And I really like how the color turned out (it’s not REALLY hunter green, right?? somebody help me out on this…)  Also, I had toyed with getting enamel spray paint instead, thinking it might be harder and glossier.  Since I didn’t get it, now I’m really curious about the difference between Rustoleum’s 2x cover gloss spray paint, and their gloss enamel…

I also had to spray paint some of the inner clock parts that are exposed.  And just because I disliked it so much, I spray painted right over that weird clock face.

So… I knew I wanted to highlight the Greek key detailing, and went back and forth on white or gold.  In the end, gold won out, it’s just a little more glamorous, what can I say?  After one coat of gold, my Greek key clock wasn’t looking so hot…  As you can see below, the paint didn’t quite cover the green all the way, so I had to apply two more coats.

Next, I googled ‘free clock faces’ and chose a very standard and neutral face to add to the clock.  So I printed it, cut it out, and fit it over the old one.

And finally, here she is!  My lovely little emerald and gold Greek key clock.  Perfect for our bedside table  I think it adds some much needed color (Hopefully I will find a lamp soon to tie it all together, and maybe make a tray as well)

Just as a funny sidenote… We had a little hiccup in the reconstruction of the clock, for whatever reason, instead of moving the arms, my clock likes to turn the entire face.  So the 6 is currently in 12 o clock position.   I think if I glue the paper down I shouldn’t have that problem anymore… hopefully!

Hope you have a fabulous Thursday! Here’s a quick birthday shout out to my mom, I love you so much, and hope your day is full of blessings

Linking up at Craft Frenzy Friday

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Let’s face it, I’m sure there are things that everybody likes and dislikes about their state (am I right? or do you all just love everything about yours?).  But, despite some of the downsides (and dirty politics), I can still be proud of my home state and appreciate the people who worked hard to make it my home.

To show my appreciation for my home state, I tried my hand at watercolor state art.  It has yet to find a home, but for now here it is! (See below for a quick step-by-step tutorial)

Overall, it was a very simple and fun DIY.  I used a couple of tricks I learned from watercolor class I took several years ago.  To show where we live, I left the area blank and painted pink around it in the shape of a heart.  I just love it when families who have moved across the country, show their different homes in this way!

I borrowed a frame from my gold leaf bird art project to snap a few pictures.  Originally I made the watercolor state art to add to our picture ledge gallery, but I thought it looked too white with the white frame.  Perhaps it will end up back there after I find a better frame for it.

I’ve been trying to keep the gallery wall mostly neutral colors which is why I used gray and a touch of pink for the Illinois watercolor state art.  As you can see we have a mix of blacks, whites, browns, and grays going on :).  I have slowly but surely been adding to the gallery.

How adorable is that deer silhouette??  My dear friend (no pun intended! ;)) gifted it to me, and it is just too perfect with the Illinois watercolor art!  Clearly I’m going to need to find a frame soon and get it up there to keep Mr. Deer company.  Other frames and art I’ve added include the wood 5×7’s (one in picture above, other below) which I used to frame photos of our families from the wedding.  I used a black & white sepia mixed effect on the pictures, to set off the pretty wood frames (they were only $4 each at Marshalls!)

And finally, I’ve added the the running deer locomotion print which I found at Vintage Printable, a great resource for free art prints!  See…. the gallery wall is getting there! Slowly, but surely    And now a tutorial…

DIY Watercolor State Art

1. Find a picture of your state online, resize it in word, print and cut it out
2. Lightly trace around the the state outline with pencil onto watercolor paper
3. Draw a heart around your hometown/place of residence
4. *Quickly* use water to wet down the entire area, taking care NOT to wet within the heart (If you don’t go fast enough, your page will dry before you finish adding the color)
5. Once the state is wet, use your water colors to drip and paint within the space, the paint color will stay within the boundaries of the water borderline (if it starts to dry, just re-wet and use a brush to blend any water lines that dried)
6. If you want, use a distinct color to highlight your heart
7. Let dry and frame!

Linking up at Inffarantly Creative, Work it Wednesday, and Five Days Five Ways,

The post Watercolor State Art and a Gallery Wall Update appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

I’m pretty happy with how they turned out.  Most importantly they add a needed touch of decor to the nightstand in our bedroom.  I’ve been searching the thrift stores for a lamp to add to the mix as well.  (I’m always searching for another project…)  And…. I have another project in the works for the nightstand coming soon, so stay tuned!

When the light casts on them just right, they are very shiny! (Yay :)) But when it is dark, they tend to blend into the background paper… (not yay…)  Haven’t come up for a solution for this yet, I suppose I will refrain from admiring them except for certain hours of the day.

Now for the details and tutorial….

DIY Gold Leaf Bird Art How To

Supplies:

• Colored cardstock paper (I used scrapbook paper in a natural Kraft color)
• White cardstock paper
• Frame
• Gold leaf paint  (I bought Precious Metals in 18k Gold at Hobby Lobby)
• Paintbrush
• Bird silhouette
• Scissors
• Pencil

Steps:

1. Cut a white piece of cardstock to the size of your frame as your background.  Then determine how big you want your colored cardstock and cut accordingly (I used 1.5″ margins on all sides)
2. Find your bird silhouette and cut it out.  I googled ‘free bird silhouette’  Then lightly trace the silhouette onto your colored cardstock.
3. Begin filling in your outlined bird with the gold leaf paint.  Be generous!  This stuff seeps into the paper.  I had to do several coats to get the desired look.
4. Glue your art to the background cardstock and frame!  Now you have designer gold leaf bird art at a bargain price

 I hope you enjoyed my quick DIY.  You can check out my other home projects here.  Or feel free to visit me at Pinterest (Where I basically get all my inspiration ;)).

Linking up at Work it Wednesday, Five Days Five Ways, Craft Frenzy Friday, and Liz Marie Blog

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