DIY Shelf

In my old room, I had an entire wall of shelves but when we moved to our apartment we had no where to put our books! I went through so many ideas before I settled on this one. I was able to make it myself for very cheap and it can grow with our collection of books!

This was kind of my inspiration for the actual desk part of it.  I probably spent around $20 for the desk and the rest was just scraps that were laying around. Here's how I did it:  I bought two spindles (I think these are supposed to be for stairs)  

I used screws we already had

Then I bought a 2" x 2" and cut it to the length of the spindles (for the back legs)

And then I bought a piece of 1" x 12" for the top.

I attached the spindles first, flipped it over and attached the two 2" x 2" pieces.

Then I bought a quart of white paint and put a coat on.

Here's the finished product. It was sooo unbelievable easy. Then I used some scraps from our bed and made crates for our books to go on top.

We put it right next to our mini papasan chair and now we have a cute little reading nook!

Haaaa, not really. The chair usually ends up as a catch-all but I'm just glad to finally have a place for our books! We are down to two unpacked boxes and I have hope! This house tour is being delayed longer than I thought but I don't want to rush anything. I know it takes time to really settle into a place, especially since this is our first place and I'm still collecting decorations to fill it up! But maybe within the next month... or two.

And I'll end this with a cute picture of Eliza, after destroying a bowl of fruit. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Kitchen Chair Makeover!

Remember this post? I shared my thrifting loot and one of the items was a pair of chairs I bought in Austin for my kitchen! I loved the retro feel but knew they needed a little tlc to reach their fullest potential! 

So I used the fabric that I got on my birthday and recovered them. And boy do they look great! Here's how I did it (this might be a little long):

First I took off the back and the seat (making sure to see how they went in and which sides are which).

 Then take a flathead screwdriver and remove all the staples. I'm not going to lie, on the seat there were just too many so I got lazy and just tore/cut the fabric off.  

 Next you're going to trace out the pieces of the original fabric onto your new fabric.  

Back:

For the top all I had to do was sew up the two sides.

Clip the corners.

And shimmy it onto the chair back.

 

Now here comes the tricky part. The chair has the wood back and then a layer of padding, this is how the fabric was sealed up. Cut a little slit on the side with the padding.

Then take the fabric against the wood, pull it over the top of the wood and staple inside (between the wood and padding).

Now take the fabric on the side of the padding and fold the top down just enough so that when you fold it down over the padding, it hits right in the middle of the wood.

Staple that sucker down with a staple gun!

Chair back down, chair bottom to go!

Bottom:

For the bottom I had to cut two pieces, a square for the seat and then a long rectangle for the sides of the seat. Sew the pieces together according to the original seat fabric construction.

Put your new seat cover on your seat and flip over. Your going to pull the sides over to the bottom and staple.

Then move to the side across from that, pull the fabric taught and staple down. Repeat to the other two sides.

Wasn't that easy? Then put it back on your chair and voila! A fabulous recovered chair!

I don't think Brandon is a fan of all the florals but Eliza and I are in looooove!

Now the only problem is, the chairs are too tall to fit under the table! Solution? I'm thinking casters on the table so I can easily move it. I'll update on that later! Today's Thursday, which means... WINGS!! It's really the highlight of my week, I can't even describe it. I just love them. So have a wonderul Thursday everyone! The weekend is almost here!

Up-Side Down Plants!

I'm sure I've mentioned this before but in our new apartment we have an awesome (and suprisingly roomy) patio. In my quest to create my own little garden retreat, I've fallen in love with gardening! I started with flowers and just couldn't get enough! Now I've invested in a couple tomato plants and one banana pepper plant, we'll see how this goes eh? So to grow these on my patio, I've done a diy version of the "topsy-turvy" upside-down planters. Here is what you need:  Scissors or knife Wire or string Plant (tomato, banana peppers, bell peppers) Coffee filter Soil And a large plastic bottle

We drink a lot of juice so I happened to have a bunch of these on hand but anything similar will work. Steps:  1. Cut the bottom or your bottle of, only about an inch.  

2. Now you're going to punch a hole in the two sides (not the front or back). Pull your string through the hole and tie it. The length of it will depend on where and how you are hanging it.

3. Now take your coffee filter and rip a hole directly in the middle about the size of a quarter. Carefully place it over the top of the plant and gently pull the plant through.

4.  If your plant is one of those that can be planted in the container then don't worry about this step. If not, then you are going to squeeze the sides of the plastic container that the plant is in to loosen it up a little,  turn it side ways and carefully pull the plant out of container.

5. Turn plant sideways and place in your bottle with the leaves going towards the opening. This is the tricky part, gently ease the plant throught the opening of the bottle while making sure the coffee filter stays in place.  It's easiest to pull the stems through one by one. Once you're done, give the bottom of the plant an extra little push to make sure it fits nice and snug.

 6.  Fill your bottle up with soil, patting it down a little every couple of scoops until it's about a half an inch from the top.  

7. All that's left to do is hang and water!

I can't wait to see what happens and if it will actually work! I'll post an update in a month or two. I don't know why I'm into gardening all the sudden but it's kind of fun! Maybe it's a mom thing? I just enjoy watching them grow, they're like my little babies! I know, it's a little creepy. Brandon thinks its funny and calls me the "Plant Lady", like cat lady... but with plants. Oh well, when we have delicious home grown vegetables he'll be thanking me.

Helpful Tip: Coffee grounds are said to help them grow

Birthday LOOT

Last tuesday was my birthday! So for my birthday my mom came down and took me shopping all day long. Then later that night, the fiance and I went on a hot date to Pappadeaux, my favorite restaurant. Ever.  I had a lot of fun shopping for just myself on my birthday. It was hard to not think about buying things for the store but it was just what I needed. My poor mother had to chase Eliza around the store all day but we did get in some good mother-daughter bonding time.  Anyhow, here are some of the things I got from a local thrift store and Hancocks:  

I love the "Dream" sign and vintage tin can together, the colors are just fun. The black checkered fabric is actually waterproof and is now being used on my patio (I'll share later).

I bought this fabric at Hancocks, all on sale. The two larger pieces I am going to use to recover two kitchen chairs which I will share in a couple of days. 

I loved the turqouise in this fabric and the vintage candle thing is one of the few things I bought for my store.

It was such a great day and I have to say, although I don't feel much different, 20 is totally better than being 19.

20, baby!

 

Road Trip

The fiancee and I spent the weekend in Austin, TX to visit some friends and take a breather. It was so nice not to have to worry about Eliza all weekend and just have some fun. I also got a smart phone and was exploring some cool photo apps while in Austin. Here are a few pics:

I love how the city is covered in vines.

Someone stranded their bike for a little too long...

Dip Dying Hair: Blonde

I wanted to do a little something with my hair for summer without making a drastic change so I went with dip dying the tips of my hair blonde. Here's how I did it: 

You'll need: Plastic container to mix bleach/dye in Applicator brush Gloves  

 First bleaching: 20 Volume Peroxide (4 oz.)- $1.59Powder Bleach Packets- 2/$5 (I used like half of one though)  Round two bleaching: 30 Volume Peroxide (4 oz.)- $1.59Wella White Lady Toner- $4.79 

1. The first thing I did was decide where I wanted the blonde to start. I divided my hair into four sections and then put ponytail holders where I wanted the blonde to stop.

2. READ THE DIRECTIONS FOR THE BLEACH. Pour the correct amount of peroxide into your bowl.

3. Mix in your bleach till it's blended.

 

4. Apply bleach to tips and wrap with foil to keep it from getting everywhere else.

5. I have this plastic cap that I got from Sally's but you can use seran wrap to trap in the heat which will speed up the process. I left mine in for about 45 minutes.

6. This is after the first round. Next I did the same thing but with 30 volume peroxide and white lady toner (takes out the yellow).

And here's another after picture:

I wasn't aware of how many times it would take to bleach it. I should of gone with a higher volume of peroxide but that's ok! I know for next time! Also since I stopped using shampoo as part of my Going No Poo it doesn't hold the toner so well. You can use special shampoo to enhance it but that's all you.

Here's a great hair bleaching resource, I did a ton of research before I dove into this and am pretty pleased with the results! My original intention was to bleach it and then dye it a bright color but I just haven't gotten around to it yet. We'll see I suppose (;