End Table Makeover

 I bought this cute end table a couple years ago at a thrift store for probably like $10. I had never seen anything like it and automatically fell in love! It was actually the first piece of furniture we hauled to our apartment when we first moved in. Lucky for us, I have some hoarders for parents ;) and were able to furnish it almost completely from hand-me-downs! And that is awesome, don't get me wrong but everything  happened to be different shades of really dark stained wood! The couches, the tv stand, the coffee table, the desk, the end table, the bookshelf, the lamp, I mean everything. We live in a first floor apartment with only a couple windows and no overhead lighting in the living room, so it is dark enough already without all the dark furniture! There was only so much I could take, I had to come up with a solution. Soo, I've been going a little paint crazy the past couple of days trying lighten up our space/furniture. This is the first (but certainly not the last!) piece that I painted and even though it's stuck in a corner, it definitely makes a difference (in my mind atleast)!  So here's what it looked like before...   And here is what I used to paint it:   Kilz Latex Primer (water-base because I bought water-based paint).   And these awesome Paint Pod's from Ace Hardware. These things are really awesome, they come in rainbows of color, are only $4.99, and can paint up to 16 feet! The color I used for this is Mint Juliep, it even sounds pretty! To apply the paint, I just used one of those cheap foam brushes.   So first, I taped off all the metal. I didn't have painters tape but duct tape worked just fine!   Then, with the help of a trusty assistant, I shook up my primer until fully blended and opened that baby up!  I put on my first coat of primer and let it dry for about 30 minutes.... or maybe 20? Hehe.   If needed, apply a second or third coat as well. I did three but it just depends on how dark the piece is.  

And then I added two coats of my acrylic paint! I removed the tape and then let it dry overnight just to be safe.

  Easy as pie! I plan on antiquing it sometime in the near future but I just don't have any sandpaper right now. I'll get to it... eventually? It's almost the weekend folks! Hang in there! 

Plate Art

So before I found my amazing retro plates, I had this idea that I was going to thrift a bunch of mix match ones and draw on them. Then I found the plates but I still wanted to draw on some and I had this idea of a "plate wall" for a while so I combined the two! It's not quite done yet but I thought I'd give you a little preview and some of my sources of inspiration.

Hanging Cameo Plate 

 Plate Wall 

Love Plate

I know I'm kind of doing this backwards but here's a little how-to on how you hang plates.

Materials You'll Need:

Plate

Plate Hanger

Picture Hanging Thing (nail and the hook)

So you've got your materials, this is super easy. You get the plate hanger,

And you hook one side of the plate hanger to the top of the plate. Then gently pull the other side to the bottom of the plate. Make sure they are evenly place.

Nail your picture hanging thing into the wall where you want your plate to go.

Hang your plate!

Or two

I'll do another post on decorating plates soon, promise. And my soon to be, "Wall of Plates". It's going to be awesome!

 

Inspiration Monday: Summer!

So, I've decided I'm going to start doing "Inspiration Monday" posts every week! Every week it kind of takes me a day or two to get inspired and get back into the groove of work. Running your own business takes a lot of work and I think the hardest part is making yourself do it and still love it. So I always try to find inspiration everywhere I go and feed off of that to get myself to work. From here on out, I'm going to post a bunch of things that inspire me on mondays! I've recently joined Pinterest so that's probably where most will come from. If you're not a member, you should totally join because it rocks! Well, here goes nothing! Inspiration Monday numbero uno, summer edition!  

source.

source.

caramel and sea salt topped shortbread, yum! recipe.

Hanging rope shelf. source.

Frozen Strawberry Mojito, dubble yum! Recipe.

Love.

source.

source.

Rasperry Beer Cocktail; Recipe.

Color Chalboard; source.

source.

And I'll end with this awesome piece of art, I want to make one?

source.

Happy Monday everyone! Let's get this week goin'!

Daily Outfit Post: Studio

I wore this outfit to work and decided to switch things up a little! Instead of taking pictures in front of my store background I decided to take some pictures where I spend most of my time in my studio, on my makeshift couch/bench/thing! It was actually a coffee table that I spray painted white and made a cushion and pillows for. Since I run an online store, I spend a lot of time on the computer and here is where I do it! 

 Outfit Details: Grey Tank Top: Target Red Checkered Overalls: Thrifted Green Flower Pin: Thrifted Gladiator Sandals: Forever 21 

 

 

I'm so excited! In a couple days I'm going to implement a new store logo and redo my store's aesthetic! I've been kind of holding out because I still have like return address labels, tags, and other stuff with the old logo and I kind of wanted to wait till those run out but it seems like they never will! So I'm just going to go for it, I'm ready for a fresh new look! I can not wait to share. Well, have a good weekend everyone!

A Little Humor

for you Friday. Enjoy (:  

Hair Dying: Brown To Red

The original plan was letting the majority of my hair stay the natural color and dying the blonde tips blue or pink. And then one day I went to Walgreens and saw a girl with red hair and blonde tips and I just fell in love. I went straight to the hair care isle and bought myself some red hair dye! I feel like I should have been born a red-head. It goes so well with my complextion and freckles! The only drawback is that I was just starting to like wearing red lipstick and now it clashes too much with my hair! Oh well, I'd take the red hair over red lips any day. Anyways here's a little tutorial on what I did.  First, here's some pictures on what my hair looked like before. It's so weird, before I got pregnant my hair was like a light, mousy, brown but now it's super dark brown and I'm not exactly a fan. It's just soo dark and I guess I'm not used to it? Who knows, but I really like it red.  



 Here is what I used, first I had to lighten my hair (bleaching) so that the red would show up. I used about 2 ounces of 20 volume developer.  
And this violet Kaleidocolor toner (because I think I have a little red in my hair already and this kind of neutralizes it). 

 

Pour both into a non metal container and mix until some what smooth. 



I then applied it to all the brown hair about 1" away from my roots. I learned from experience that your roots will bleach faster than the rest of your hair because of your body heat so do that last.





Once you've finished that, leave on for about 5 more minutes and then go back and do your roots. Cover with plastic wrap to trap in the moisture and then blow dry on low for another 5 minutes.  

 
Rinse hair out with luke warm water. I always rinse my hair with a mild shampoo too, just to make sure it's all out.


 

You can either blow dry your hair a little or if you have the patience, let it air dry for a bit. I didn't dry it all the way but so that it wasn't too damp.

Now you are ready for color. I used this Revlon "Medium Auburn" (it was like $4 and the only color that I liked, score!)

Follow the directions on the box. Mix, apply to hair, timing, and so on.

 

I think I left mine in for like 15 minutes. And then rinse with whatever conditioner they give you.

And here is the after picture:

 I really love it. Oh and here is where I got everything:  20 Volume Peroxide, Kaleidocolors Toner- Sally's Mixing Bowl, Applicator Brush, Mixer, and Clips- Sally's Revlon Hair Dye- Walgreens