It Can Happen!

What I mean is, painting ugly laminate wood CAN be done!!!!  You have no idea how excited I am about that!

I started with an old shelf we had, because it's fairly small.  I should've taken a picture of it in the room it was actually in, but I forgot, and already had it in the garage.

I went to Home Depot, armed with my list, and got all the supplies I would need; Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 Primer, which Lindsay from Living With Lindsay recommended here, a gallon of paint, a small roller, foam brush and pan. 

I also borrowed my mom's palm sander, so that I wouldn't have to do this sucker by hand.  It would've taken forever!

This is how I transformed this shelf....



Sand everything down until you begin to see tiny white flecks on the surface.

 

Lay pieces out on plastic in well-ventilated area.  Wipe all the pieces down with a tack cloth and get ready to prime!

This primer worked amazingly well!  :)

I gave each piece two, thin, even coats of primer.  I waited about a day between each coat.



The can of primer says to let it cure on whatever you've painted for 7 days.  I waited 4, because, I guess I was impatient.  The longer you let it cure, the more scratch resistant, durable it is.  Because this is just going to have things sitting on it, I didn't really think it was a big deal.

I get a big giant FAIL for taking pictures of the rest of the process, but basically this is what happened.  I poured the white paint from the gallon I had bought and started painting.  I then realized that I was probably going to need about 7 coats to cover the entire thing.  I had some white spray paint left over from my first DIY project .... the one that is not quite done yet....so, I figured it was worth a shot.  Yay Rustoleum!!!!!  It worked like a charm.  I did have to make a run to Home Depot to get some more, but all in all, it only took 2 coats of the spray paint.

I left the shelf to dry for two days and then brought it inside.  My plan was to cover the back of the shelf in something that would go with the gray/yellow theme I want for my office, buuuuuut, for the life of me I cannot find scrapbook paper or material that I love or that I am sure is quite for this project right now.

Enter leftover wallpaper.  Again.  Yep, I still had wallpaper left from our bathroom wall, and from the necklace holder I made, so for the time-being to make it look presentable, I cut it to size and used in in the back of the shelf.

Here is the final product.

I love it so much more than the original, ugly, honey-coloured laminate!!!!  The wallpaper won't stay forever, but for now, it works.

Moral of the story: you CAN paint laminate.  Now about that desk...............

A Bunchy Update

Remember my double-sided tape DIY valance I posted about recently?  I managed to get it to go "bunchy" the way the hubs wanted it to begin with.

Here it is:

So, what do you guys think is better?

                      Straight                                             or                                   Bunchy



The ^#@%^! No-Sew Window Valance Project

Can you tell I was frustrated?!  I think I was frustrated right from the get go, because I was not planning on doing this project.  I went to the States the other day and hit up Joann Fabrics and Crafts, specifically looking for fabric that I could use to finish something I've had on the go for awhile.  I don't know if you've ever been to that store, but they have some beautiful fabrics, far better than anything I could find here.  However, they also have so many!  Not good for someone like me.  Luckily, I was with three friends and I felt pressure since we were headed to the mall, so thanks Steph, Sara and Nora!  :)  I managed to decide which fabric I wanted within about 15 minutes.  Had they not been there, I can pretty much guarantee I would've been there, deciding, for a good 2 hours.

So this was the fabric I chose.  I actually saw this same fabric in blue tones on someone's blog a little while ago and thought it was pretty funky.  They had the exact same fabric that I had seen, but I chose this one because with these colours, the white petals seemed a bit more white than on the blue, and I needed to have some white on the fabric.

At $39.99 per yard, I wouldn't say this fabric was a great deal, especially when you forget coupons and don't want to turn your phone on in the States and get charged ridiculous roaming fees, just to get the coupon you forgot, because you are cheap!  I decided to go with half a yard, because my non-math brain thinks of things in halves and wholes.  I questioned whether half a yard would be enough, but didn't even think to get 3/4 of a yard, or anything larger than just half a yard.  It wasn't enough.  Hence why I decided to do a window valance.

This is what our one kitchen window has looked like since we moved in three years ago.

Just plain, no window covering like all the others have.  I usually do have a little plant sitting in the window, but I removed it when taking the pictures....you know, for effect.

I don't sew, but after looking online and seeing numerous things on Pinterest that use Heat 'N' Bond, I thought, I can do this! 

I started by pinning each side of the fabric, so that the part that would show when hanging would be 15 inches long.

Then, I ironed all of that down, so that I'd have a nice crisp line.

I cut strips of Heat 'N' Bond and followed the instructions to a T, tee??,.  I followed the instructions just the way they said. 

Again, and again, and again.  Heat 'N' Bond was NOT working, AT ALL!

I gave up on that.  Then my husband called and I was telling him what I'd done.  He said he had some double-sided tape in the garage.  I figured it was worth a shot.  The hardest part was getting the paper backing off.



I stuck everything down.

Put the rod through.

It all seemed to be going well and I started bunching it evenly on the rod, since I gave the hubs a choice; bunchy or straight.  He chose bunchy.

And this is where it all started to fall apart.  In the middle section, the fabric part that folded over the rod was shorter than the rest and kept lifting from the tape, so every time I'd try to bunch that section, the tape would get stuck to the rod.  It just wasn't working out. 

So, I decided to hang it up straight and see how that would look.  This was the result.

Right now, it's just folded back, which is why you can see some extra fabric hanging down in the front.  I think it could be worse, but it's definitely not great.  And I won't even say what the hubs said about it.  I am going to take it down, take it to my mama's and sew it there.

Moral of the story; Pinterest = false confidence, right Cougs?!

We Interrupt This Program....

I know.  I am taking forever and a day to finish writing about our trip, but it's coming.

I just thought I would share this little DIY project that I did tonight.  I already have a post written that is entitled "My Very First DIY Project", however, that is on hold as I am still searching for fabric that I need to finish it.  So, this will have to be the placeholder.

One of my very favourite blogs to read is Young House Love.  Earlier this summer, I read about the Pinterest Challenge: Summer Edition on YHL, that was initiated by Katie at Bower Power Blog.  Basically, it was a challenge for people to (actually!) make something that they had pinned on Pinterest - instead of just thinking, wishing, hoping to get around to it one day.

So, this was my inspiration...

Because this is my reality.

I am not much of an accessory person, so this was never really an issue.  Lately though, I seem to have acquired more and more, especially longer necklaces.  I was getting really annoyed with them hanging on the knobs of the bathroom drawers and cupboards, because I have to go into them every day for something and the necklaces are always getting in the way.  I'd had enough! 

I must say, this wasn't the only necklace holder I saw on Pinterest.  There are tons of ideas on there and because I wanted something quick and easy, I chose the one above.

These are the materials I worked with:

• Wallpaper (leftover from a bathroom project)
• Hooks (Lowes)
• 1 pkg of two 12x12 Cork Tiles (Dollarama) <--picture shows two packages, but I only used one
• Stapler
• Glue Gun
• Scissors

Here is what I did...

 Lay the two cork tiles side by side.

Put hot glue all over one of the tiles.

Line up edges and stick the tiles together.

Place tile on wallpaper and cut out a piece, making sure that you have a couple inches on all sides of your tile.  Once you have your piece of wallpaper cut, put glue all over one side of the tile, centre, and stick to the wallpaper.  I forgot to take a picture of that step - oops!

Glue along the side of the tile.

Pull paper tight and hold for a few seconds until glue is dry.

Staple the wallpaper to secure it to the cork tile.  Then, do the opposite side the exact same way.

Next, fold the sides in as if you were wrapping a present.

This part was tricky to get photos of because I was trying to act fast, but basically I just glued where I thought it needed it (along edges, mostly).  I made sure to pull it really tight, so that the edges would look square from the front.  Add some staples as well, so that everything is secure.

Once all the sides are done, you should have something that looks like this.

The back of mine looked like this.  Oops!  It's not nice, but I figured since I was going to hang it, I didn't need to cover it.  If you are really picky, just cut another piece of wallpaper to fit over the back.

Figure out where you want to place your hooks.

Screw the hooks in.

It's coming together....

I decided to hang it in my closet, so I marked where I wanted it to go.

I used nine squares of 3M Heavy Duty Mounting Tape to hang this up.  It says to use four squares for each pound you are going to hang, not to exceed two pounds.  I wasn't really sure how much weight I'd even be hanging on it, so I just sort of slapped a bunch on.

I stuck it to the wall....and....

Voila!!! 



This was easy AND cheap.  All in all, it cost me about $7 to make.  I already had the stapler, glue gun/glue and the wallpaper.  So it was really just the cost of the cork tiles, hooks and the 3M mounting tape.  I even have a ton of extra hooks.  Maybe they will come in handy for another project.

Have you made anything you've pinned on Pinterest yet?  Let's see it!