tutorial Archives - Page 2 of 8

DIY Ombre Curtains

June 15, 2015 By Taylor 4 Comments

When I envisioned my dream craft room I knew I wanted everything very white so I could decorate with my bright (and loud) craft supplies and fabric. I searched for some fun curtains for months but couldn’t find any (that I could afford ha!). So I decided to make my own DIY ombre curtains! I went with pink but the color possibilities are endless. This project was so simple but I took a few pictures of my steps, I also did this in the middle of the day and the garage lighting is terrible.

Materials:

– White Curtains ( I found mine at World Market)

– Liquid dye (I used Rit Liquid Dye in Fuchsia)

– A large bucket

Instructions:

Fill your dye bucket with the hottest water from your sink and add a little salt. The salt helps the color stay vibrant! Then add your dye, I used two bottles because I had four panels and I wanted the color really bright.

Hang the curtains up somewhere that you can adjust the height, I used two hangers and my overhead garage door. My curtains were super long so I had to fold the fabric over on the top.

Then, start dipping the bottoms of the curtains in and out of the dye bath.

Pull them out a little then hang them and leave them in that spot for about 8-10 minutes or so.

Repeat this same thing a few more times. Every 8-10 minutes, pull the curtains in and out of the dye bath a few times then hang them a few inches higher than you did the last time and leave them for another 8-10 minutes. I did this about 4-5 times total until I was at the bottom of the curtains.

Then, ring the remaining dye out and rinse them in cool water. I sprayed mine out with the hose and let them drip dry in a tree because I like to make my neighbors think I’m crazy ;)

I let mine dry over night then I ironed them. I didn’t want to wash and dry them because I was afraid of them shrinking and mine are just the right length but washing and drying after dying would be just fine!

I really love how they turned out! They are a fun pop of color but still mostly white just how I like it :) Stay tuned later this week for some updated craft room shots!

Union Jack End Table

September 9, 2014 By Taylor 1 Comment

This project has been in my head for about two years now. I’m so happy to see it come to life! This piece of furniture because it was a little blah but my main problem (and why I didn’t try it for two years) is that I hate sanding and worried about being able to cover the black. Then, the one and only Martha came out with a new line of paint products… Vintage Decor Paint :) A Matte Chalk Finish, requires no prep, is self priming, and comes in 22 colors! OK!!

I used 3 colors for my end table: Red Wagon, Wedding Cake and Sailor Blue. I also used the Antique Wax and the Vintage Decor Paintbrush.

I started out by painting the sides, back and top of the table blue. The paint is super thick, almost like a thick gluey consistency.

I was super impressed at how well it covered the table! This is a very thin coat on one side. I could have gotten away with one coat but I waited about 30 minutes and did a second coat just for extra coverage.

Next, I taped off the Union Jack. All of the tape lines are where the white parts will be.

I also did two coats for the front of the table too. On the left is one coat and on the right is two coats.

When I pulled off the tape I had some major bleeding but it was because of my tape job (oops). This shows how I taped off the rest of the table to paint the white parts. I waited about 1-2 hours between each step to make sure I didn’t tape over any wet paint. I used three small paint brushes at the very end for all of the touch ups from the bleeding and that worked great!

I waited for it to dry overnight and the next day I sanded it to look more “antique”. I sanded the corners and edges as well as some flat surfaces.

The last step was to apply the wax. The instructions said to apply a thin layer and then wipe off the excess with a wet lint free rag. I was nervous about it because it was super thick and very brown but after you wipe, it all makes sense. You can see how it gives it a richer, darker more aged look.

On the left I had used the antique wax and I hadn’t on the right yet… it’s more obvious on the white parts.

After drying for a few hours you can buff it with another clean rag.

I am pretty much in love with the way it turned out! It looks so at home in our living room! Speaking of at home… I couldn’t get a certain five year old to move from the couch before these pictures were taken :)

Here is a video introducing the line and a coupon code for you to get 25% OFF all Vintage Decor Paint that is valid at Micheals Stores through 9-12-14. Be sure to visit Plaid Online and check out their blog for more project ideas. For even more inspiration you can find them on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Google+.

I wrote this post as part of a paid campaign with Plaid Crafts and Blueprint Social. The opinions in this post are my own.

How to do a Patterned Dot Wall

April 22, 2014 By Taylor 99 Comments

When I found out I was pregnant last year I was of course thrilled for a new little bundle to join our family. Soon after it sunk in, I got super excited to do another nursery! We didn’t find out the gender with either of our boys and they were so close in age that I just used the same nursery for both of them. It was gender neutral and of the “pre-pinterest era” so I have had years to collect ideas and get inspired :) I already knew what I wanted long before I even knew the gender so when I found out this girl was a girl… I knew a dot wall was happening.

I know I’m a little late to the gold-vinyl-dot-wall-party but I still love it, so I thought it would be perfect for the wall behind the crib. I have seen the gold dots randomly placed on walls and while I do love random I wanted a pattern this time. I searched and searched for a tutorial on how to get THIS LOOK in my inspiration photo but I wasn’t able to find much. I called for backup, my mom and sister. I’m sure there are many ways to achieve this look but this is what we did.

I bought gold sticky vinyl online and used my cameo to cut 1.5″ dots. I have the silhouette file saved, if anyone wants it let me know.

Other than my dots, I used these supplies: a ruler, tape measure, piece of cardstock, scissors, some very sticky double sided foam tape and a pencil. The other must have tool is a laser level. I found this one at Home Depot for around $8.

After measuring my wall, my mom (the math star of the team) figured out how far apart my dots could be based on how many dots we had. I bought 8 feet of vinyl (8’x12″) and the dots were 1.5″ in diameter so she figured each dot needed to be 6.5″ apart. The very first two rows are the hardest because you have to get everything set from those, so we started at the top of the wall. Thank goodness for my mom and sister! My sister climbed the ladder for all of the tall dots, I didn’t take over until we were about halfway done. (grainy iphone pic)

The whole trick to getting the pattern to look like a pattern is getting straight lines on your wall, enter the laser level. I’m sure you could also use other methods like an overhead projector, use a regular level with a tape measure and pencil, pop a chalk line, etc. But I really liked this little tool. We used the double sided foam tape on the back which needed to be changed every few rows. Once you get it taped it up it rotates 360 degrees so you can get it lined up correctly after mounting it to the wall.

There is a level on the back but it wasn’t super accurate because of you move it just a hair the line at the end of the wall moves inches up or down! For the first row we started measuring from the ceiling and made a pencil line 6.5″ down on both sides of the wall. For the other rows we measured from the previous dot line. Then we just played with the laser until the line was touching both pencil marks on both sides of the wall.

This is a very hard picture to see but the laser line on the left is below the pencil marks so you have to play with the laser until the the line is perfectly on the marks like the picture on the right.

As far as the spacing on each row we also spaced the dots 6.5″ apart. Instead of holding a ruler or tape measure between every dot we measured a piece of cardstock and used that as the ruler. We measured 6.5″ from outer edge of each dot and made sure the top of the dots lined up with the red laser line.

After you get your first two rows up, its pretty easy. A few other tips… every other dot on our left side had to be cut in half. And I did have one dot that I had to put under the power outlet plate.

I really love how it turned out and I can’t thank my mom and sister enough! We worked one night from about 2-3 hours then I finished it up the next afternoon so it was a pretty quick project. The most time consuming part is getting the level lined up but I love the patterned look so it was worth it!

Here is a little peek at the crib. I will have the details on the bedding and quilt next week.

So does anyone else have a dot wall at their house? Let me know if I left any info out… I am suffering from pregnancy brain lately :)

DIY Headboard

October 10, 2013 By Taylor 37 Comments

I am so excited to share this project! I thought about doing my very own DIY Headboard in our Master Bedroom years ago but I wanted to wait until we moved. So, this summer I was ready to get after it. A few weeks ago I hung some craft paper up over my naked bed and let it sit for a week or so. I traced a shape I thought I would like and wanted to live with it for a while. I never even took a picture of this stage but here is the sad, sad room before. Note the “filing cabinet nightstand”, 10 year old mismatched lamps and the “foot board shin deathtrap”…

I made a few changes to the craft paper template, cut it out then handed it to my husband. The next step included talking my husband into building the frame and cutting the wood for me. He is a night owl so these things magically happened late at night after I was asleep. I actually woke up one morning to a finished headboard. Yes I’m very lucky, I know :) He used plywood for the main shape and used 2×4’s for the frame and the legs.

For the upholstery part I used 1″ Foam, 5 yards of quilt batting, an old sheet and 5 yards of upholstery fabric. First I had to adhere the foam to the headboard. I only put foam on the plywood part of the headboard, not the legs. I had to use two foam panels and spray adhesive directly on the plywood.

I waited about 30 minutes or so to make sure the spray adhesive was dry. Then I trimmed around the headboard.

I did a little research before I started and I learned that many people suggested this next step. I was originally going to layer the foam then the batting then the upholstery fabric. But the tip I found over and over was to add muslin or another layer of fabric between to achieve “total smoothness”. I took it as a sign so I went with it. I’m really glad I did, I totally see what everyone was talking about. Fabric on fabric is easier to smooth out than fabric on batting. I used an old king sized sheet and put that on the floor first then I laid my batting down.

I used 5 yards of batting and cut it in half.

Make sure the sheet is pretty flat (I didn’t iron it but I should have). Then I started the fun part… stapling! My main tip is on the first side just make sure to smooth it as you go but you don’t have to pull, then on the opposite sides you have to pull really tight. I started on one side then did the top, other side and bottom last. I didn’t trim the excess fabric until I was done because in a few spots I had to remove staples and redo them.

After I went all the way around, the corners had some puckering. This is when I took out a few staples and redid them. This is also why it’s important to add the extra fabric layer because the batting catches the fabric a little.

Tada. Layer one done. I didn’t add batting to the end of the legs because we screwed the legs into the bed frame.

Here it is from the back.

THIS. FABRIC. I could die! It’s my most favorite fabric in the universe. It’s so me, made up of my very favorite colors and it makes me so happy. I saw it long ago on a chair. Then months later I started seeing it on DIY projects. I knew this was the fabric I wanted to stare at every night and every morning. It’s called Santa Maria Desert Flower by Waverly. They now sell it online and at Hobby Lobby. Ironically you can even get a headboard (in a very similar shape) in the same fabric from Land of Nod. Unfortunately my dream fabric is only 54″ wide so I was going to have to sew a couple of seams.

I thought about doing one seam right down the middle but I am not the best at matching patterns so I decided on two side seams. Honestly this was the hardest part of the project for me. I ironed my fabric then placed it right sides together. I kept checking for accuracy making sure the pattern lined up just right. I had to redo one side 3 or 4 times but on the other side the heavens parted and it looked perfect!

I made this fabric long enough to fully cover the legs.

I used the same technique for stapling. For the corners I stapled one side to the edge, then the other side to the edge then just pulled the fabric up to form a point and pulled it down right in the middle of the two sides and stapled. Once again, we screwed the legs to the bed frame really late at night so I didn’t take any pictures.

I have to say this is by far one of my favorite DIY Projects! I love the way it turned out. Isn’t it great when you picture something in your head and it turns out even better than you imagined? How cool that I get to sleep here :)

I ordered this bedspread almost a year ago and have been patiently waiting to put it on my new pretty bed. I made a triangle quilt pillow too because it can’t go totally pillowless. I found these amazing lamps from JC Penny. I told my husband I feel so grown up having matching nightstands and lamps, it’s the little things right?

Here is the other side. I love this dresser, we just got it from Overstock. My mom made the tree and that’s my Barrel Chair Makeover. Down the road I would love to have this one wall covered floor to ceiling with pictures and art.

I didn’t take a before picture of the previous fan but imagine it white, gold and very very squeaky… much improved! We also want to tear the carpet out one day.

There is it, my favorite piece. Do you have something you have made that you just adore like me?