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Articles Tagged “Theoretical DIY”

Bathroom Mood Board For Cris

The internet really is a wonderful place. It’s an amazing way to stay connected with friends and family. But it’s also a way to make friends. Today I am going to show you a mood board I created for a friend of mine that I met online. We have never met but only spoken on the phone and mostly through email and yet, we are friends. Crazy how that happens, isn’t it?

Cris, of the blog Kiss My Tulle, is in the process of renovating her house and I whipped up a mood board for her bathroom. She was lots of help before hand, she even pointed me to her Pinterest boards so I could get a sense of her style. Here is a picture of her house now and the basic layout of what she might like it to be:

 

She was really inspired by these colors so I took that into consideration. Here is what Cris said about her bathroom now and what she hopes it to become:

“The hall bathroom. It’s dark, there’s no windows,
and has poor lighting. I want to lighten it up and make it
clean looking. It needs to stay relatively neutral and cheap.

We’re definitely into making our own vanity out of
something. We are doing all white fixtures with satin nickel hardware + wide
white crown molding/baseboards. I know that I want a floor-to-ceiling shower
curtain (I can make one if needed). I basically have nothing purchased for
this bathroom yet. The main door is also going to be painted a soft dove grey
color with rubbed brass (the black looking type) hardware.

Here’s a link to my Home Board at Pinterest:
http://pinterest.com/kissmytulle/homey/ – it’ll give you a good idea of the
look and colors that we’re hoping for our home. Very coastal beach-y. Very
clean, contemporary cottage. We also prefer hooks over towel bars and want
to slip a narrow cabinet or storage unit between the door and the sink. I
like open storage but this will be a main bath so we also need closed
storage and a medicine cabinet.”

So here is the mood board I created for her:

You know what I love about Cris? She’s not afraid of a little DIY. You gotta love a girl who wants to do things for herself! Because of that, I added a few things that she can DIY.

First the ideas that I have for her to DIY and then we will get to resources. Cris said they wouldn’t mind making a vanity. Well, that’s great because vanities are expensive! The one shown is from Pottery Barn and at $1699 it’s a bit steep. So, I checked out Ana White’s site and found something similar that maybe they could DIY and get the same look. Depending on how handy they are, I was wondering if you could mix this plan with this plan to get something like the PB version. And although I really love the wood finish in the PB version, I know Cris would like everything painted white. You can’t blame here for that, I like white stuff myself :) Then add a vessel sink or countertop and BAM! You got yourself a vanity. This is a little of Theoretical DIY since I haven’t actually tried any of this stuff :)

The next DIY project I have planned for Cris has to do with the shower curtain. It is really hard to find long shower curtains. I have tried to find one for myself and ended up making one out of a curtain so I wasn’t surprised when I couldn’t find one for Cris either. Then I came across this beauty from Anthropologie:

Isn’t it lovely?! So anyway, I got to thinking. I remembered seeing a great bird shower curtain at Target (see the mood board above). It’s currently out of stock on the website but I just saw it in my store so hopefully there are some still out there! I also remembered seeing this tutorial to make a ruffle shower curtain here. So, my thought was, mix the two by adding some ruffle to the Target curtain and you will get a shower curtain like the one above and it will be long enough to make it floor to ceiling. What do you think? I love the idea and wish I had a place to put it so I could try it out for myself!

Okay, enough of the DIY projects, onto resources: 1. Tile that Cris already has and is planning on using in the bathroom 2. Shower curtain from Target 3. Bath Mat from Urban Outfitters 4. Vanity from Pottery Barn 5. Bath Cabinet from Amazon 6. Light Fixture from Lowe’s 7. Tumbler from West Elm 8. Waste Basket from West Elm 9. Hand Towel in Horseradish from West Elm 10. Faucet from Overstock 11. Mirror Medicine Cabinet from Amazon 12. Paint Color from Sherwin Williams – Creamy 7012 & Functional Gray 7024 13. Artwork from Etsy 14. Artwork from Etsy 15. Artwork from Etsy 16. Artwork from Etsy 17. Branch Hooks from West Elm

Slap some paint on that paneling and with the other new stuff like cabinets and tile I think the bathroom will turn out lovely and I vote that Cris send us the after pictures. Don’t you all agree?!

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Theoretical DIY: Junk Finds

Do you know what is even better than thrifting? Finding stuff for free on the side of the road! I have mentioned this before, but around here, people leave their trash on the side of the road and the garbage men come pick it up. I’m not just talking about bags full of garbage or garbage cans. I’m talking about stuff, anything you no longer want. When we put in new cabinets in the kitchen we put our whole entire previous kitchen cabinet set out and they picked it up. We were baffled by this at first because in Oregon no one does this but now I have come to enjoy it. I now prefer to recycle large items first if possible but I do put things out that are beyond repair. If you keep your eyes out you never know what you might spot and I have found some good stuff from time to time. I once found an old door and a few months later I decided I wasn’t going to use it so I listed it on Craigslist and someone bought it! I thought I was pretty cool for thinking of that one :) I realized this week that I have a little collection going of stuff I have found so here are a few pictures…

Just two weeks ago I found this ottoman. I know in pictures it’s hard to tell scale but this is a pretty big guy. It’s square and it’s nasty. No really, it’s gross. I spotted it when I was with my Mom and so we turned around and picked it up. All the way home we were commenting on how bad it smells and so it has stayed in the garage since coming to my house. It pretty much smells like wet dog. But, I have plans for it. I want to take off the existing fabric and recover it in outdoor fabric and use it on my patio. I’m kind of thinking that stripes could be pretty cool. What do you think?

Just last week I found this beauty. Or rather, it WILL be a beauty when I’m though with it! Remember when I painted my other chandelier? Spray paint can do amazing things and once I remove those ugly shades and add some paint this little guy will light up :)

You can find everything on the side of the road if you look hard enough… including the kitchen laundry sink. I actually found this one quite a while ago and I was super excited. It will eventually end up in the laundry room. It’s a tough sink and beneath the grime it’s in really great condition. This was definitely one of my favorite finds!

And lastly, Jason found this table saw a couple of years ago. It no longer works and he was always hoping to use the stand with the table saw we currently own but they won’t really fit together well. Recently I began to think that the stand itself is pretty industrial cool. If I take the table saw off and spraint the stand a matte black I think it could make a pretty cool base for a side table or for use as a sink base. What do you think? Does it have potential?

Pretty good finds, right? If you live in an area that offers trash pick up like ours, be on the lookout. You never know what you might spot. Some things might need a bit of work but I think it can be worth it. And for me that is part of the fun :) Now I just need to get started on some of these items I have picked up so I can put them to good use!

A question for you all. Do you like the thrift store finds posts? I don’t want to bore you all with my thrifting finds but if you like them I will keep them coming! In fact, I have a few more finds from recent weeks that I have yet to post :)

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Theoretical DIY: Birch Tree Decals

Today I got to thinking about birch trees and all the cool decals there are out there for them on Etsy and other websites. Some of you may be thinking these are overused and are tired of seeing them and in some ways, so am I. But on the other hand, I still like them, I just don’t want them in my own home… But I wouldn’t mind putting them somewhere else. And I have just the place.

The kids’ classrooms in our church are boring. Unfortunately I don’t have a picture to show you just how boring they are so you can just trust me on this one. I did paint one wall blue/green and the other walls are still the same greige color (which I love by the way it just doesn’t make for a very inspiring kids room). So I was thinking that maybe I could put some of those birch tree decals in one of the classrooms. They would be kind of fun yet easy to remove later.

I did a few Etsy searches and I wasn’t super stoked about the price. They ranged anywhere from $69 – $95 for a few trees. I know, I know, I’m a cheapskate. I also remembered that some diy versions have been done with paint like this one as seen on design*sponge:

Even though the paint version looks really cool, I got to thinking that the contact paper birds worked so well maybe I can make some trees out of contact paper.

So that’s my plan. I’m going to roll the contact paper on the floor and draw the design. I also might tack it onto the wall and use an overhead project to trace the design onto the contact paper and then cut it out. We will see how much I feel like winging it when it comes time. Then I will apply them to the wall just like a decal. I think it should turn out alright. What do you think? And don’t worry, if I tackle this project, there will be pictures! I’m hoping it will turn out something like this or this.

By the way, for those of you wondering, the birds have been on the wall for quite some time now and they peel off like a dream. I’m not too worried about putting more contact paper on the wall :)

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Chair, Elle Decor, And A Basket Lampshade

I know you are looking forward to our guest post (aka my Mom) but she might not be ready with her post until tomorrow. So, until then, I just have a few odds and ends that I have been wanting to share and I figured I would just combine them all into one post.

First of all, when I posted about my couch, many of you loved it and wanted one for yourself :) Well, I found something that might work as a substitute. Just to remind you, here is my couch:

couch 1

And here is the substitute, this awesome chair from Urban Outfitters,

urban outfitters chair

It comes in three colors and is only $349. I think it looks a lot like my couch. If you are interested, you can find the chair here.

Last week, Jason noticed some traffic coming to our site from Elle Decor. He tracked it down and found that it came from here under Design Insiders’ Weekly Finds. Ez from Creature Comforts mentioned my hallway. I can’t believe after almost two years my hallway is still being mentioned out there! Anyway, it was exciting for me to see my little blog mentioned on Elle Decor’s site! (Thanks Ez!) Again, you can read it for yourself here.

And lastly, a month ago or so, my Mom and I were shopping and she mentioned buying a basket to use as a shade for a lamp. She has a lamp just like my arc lamp and needs a shade for it. I loved the idea, of course, and while we haven’t found the perfect basket for her, we did find this super cool basket at Hobby Lobby:

basket lampshade

Wouldn’t this make an awesome lampshade? My Mom is holding it up for me to snap a picture of it after we had already taken the lid off to show how it would look. Since just the bottom is open, I think it would work really well for an arc lamp or for a ceiling lampshade kind of like what I did here. And isn’t my Mom a great model? :)

So that’s it for me today. I need to keep working on projects for the shower/birthday party since it’s on Sunday. I love the ideas you have been feeding me and it’s funny how I have been thinking along the same lines :) Keep them coming!

Also, if you have any questions or would like help with a theoretical diy, please email me!!!

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Theoretical DIY: Vase To Lamp

Last week I introduced Theoretical DIY and I actually had someone ask a question! Yay! I was super stoked because I think these posts could end up being a fun little game. Okay, so our question comes from Sarah who says:

“I would love if you could do a little tutorial about how to make a lamp out of a curvy flower vase. I feel like it should be easy, but I’m too scared to try and I have WAY too many curvy vases!”

Here is a picture of the type of vase she is talking about…

TDIY vases

I knew that I had seen tutorials out there on how to do this so it really wasn’t all that hard to track down some instructions. Basically, you need a vase, a lamp kit, a drill, a drill bit for glass or tile, a lamp shade, a harp, and a wood lamp base.

First, find the center of the bottom side of your vase and drill a hole using your glass drill bit. Next, assemble the lamp parts together. Make sure to feed the wire through the wood base first then the vase. You could also use another type of material for the base, just make sure the cord will fit under it so the lamp will sit straight (here they used a plant saucer). Then attach your harp and lampshade. Done! I know those directions were skimpy but Country Home explains is so much better here than I ever could so I thought I would just direct you there :) I love that they used a wooden base, I think it looks so cool. And they estimated that it would cost about $110 but based on what I’ve seen for parts (assuming you already have the vase) I think it would cost somewhere between $30-$40 and that includes a harp, lamp kit, wooden base, and lampshade (if you get an inexpensive one). If you went with the plant saucer instead of a wooden base it would be cheaper because those are only a couple of bucks. Anyway, you could get creative with it and save $$$!

So what do you all think of Theoretical DIY so far? Can you follow along even though there aren’t step by step pictures? Are you getting excited to try some of these things? I know I am :)

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Hello, and welcome to my little blog! What started out as a blog to show some of my scrapbook pages ended up being a blog that shows all of my projects, ranging from scrapbooking to decorating to sewing to photography. I also run a little online shop called every jot & tittle where I sell handmade paper products. Take a look and leave me a comment to say hi! (Photo by Heather Smith.)

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