✥ Reader Feature: Pallet Love Sign ✥

I am super excited to introduce you guys to Hannah and her AWESOME "love sign" today! 

She's the first feature project I've invited to guest host here and I know you'll love her and this beautiful rustic sign.

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Hello From Gardners to Bergers readers! I'm so glad that Becca invited me to share my "love" art! My name is Hannah and I blog over at Young and Crafty. I'd love for you to hop over and check my blog out sometime :)

I'm sure you've all seen this headboard made by House Tweaking.

It's been on my mind ever since I first saw it. When someone asked me to make them some wall are for their master bedroom I immediately thought of this!

She wanted the shabby chic look and here is what I came up with:

I used old pallets for my wood. I wanted the worn wood look.

Wood pallets are hard as heck-o-la to take apart!

They build them like they have to hold heavy materials or something...

I ended up cutting off both sides and then pulling the nails out of the middle part.

By this point I was dripping sweat. It was hotter than hades outside.

I don't even sweat like that when I work out!

I flipped all the boards over to the side I didn't want to use and then pieced two pieces together to hold the shorter boards together.

I used a combo of wood glue and about a million nails. I really don't think the wood glue did anything though.

Here's the front side. So rustic! I hated to paint them but had to so that they were more shabby chic-ish.

I gave the boards two coats of white and then wrote out the word love in pencil. Then just paint over your tracing until you get the thickness you want.

Then distress like crazy. I sanded over everything so that it wouldn't look like I had just painted the letters.

This was after all the sanding. I then glazed it with my favorite glaze (used here, here, & here)

And here is the final product which I "love"! This one is going to be hard to part with!

As you can see I had a few variations to the original. Obviously the white paint is different and I also had to turn the boards vertical rather than horizontal in order to get the size I wanted.

I sure hope she likes it!!

http://www.homestoriesatoz.com/

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This makes me want to rip some pallets apart, ASAP! So many possibilities with that worn wood.

P.S.

I'm planning a weekly reader feature for you all!

I am so super excited to share some of you guys' projects and add to the inspiration found in the blog!  Things are a little crazy for me right now and I want you guys to still have awesome projects to look at and  to share, especially while my own projects are slowed down a bit!

I hope you guys like this idea, cause I think it rocks!!

✥ Happy Halloween Alphabet {Printable} ✥

Awhile back I did this alphabet art for my own gallery wall. It was a simple piece with a hidden personal message, "It's Worth It." I wanted a subtle message to make up those walking by, including myself, pause to take in a little uplifting thought.

I was thinking it would be fun to do a Halloween version.

 

Wanna Print me?

Two options: White, like my original.

Wanna Print Me?


And a spookier, more Halloween-y, black version.


To print them, I suggest clicking on the actual links, rather than trying to drag these onto your desktop and print them. 
The version in the linked document are a much higher resolution and should adjust to being sized a lot easier. 



I just felt like giving all you awesome peeps who read my blog a little something.
Sending you some Holiday love and a big THANK YOU!

Looking for places to link up your projects? Check out my Party page.

I'm also linked up here.

✥ Guest Post @ Young & Crafty ✥

Hello Ladies!

I'm super excited to be guest hosting over at Young & Crafty today!

Hannah runs the place over there, she has some super sweet projects you all need to see!
I stinkin' love both of her pallet turned art projects, seen here and here.

Also, she hosts "Friday Free For All"- a wonderful place to show off your newest projects as well as get some awesome inspiration! I always try to link up.
Not to mention she features her readers' projects as well- good to know, right?!

Please pop over and say "hello!" and don't forget to check out her projects!
I LOVE hearing from you guys ! :)

✥ Guest Host @ Remodelaholic! ✥

Hope you're all having a lovely afternoon!

This afternoon you can find me over at Remodelaholic!

I could not be more pleased to be sharing a project over there!

Justin and Cassity have an amazing blog where they not only share their own projects but also provide a platform for their readers to share a projects, as well. {Good to know, right?}

They're kinda bloggy famous, so I would guess a lot of you guys are already familiar with them- but if you're not, heck- even if you are- get your buns over there are check out their site.
It's practically gushing with project inspiration.

They also host "Remodelaholic's Anonymous" a Friday Link Party and "For Sale by Owner" a Saturday party to link up your Etsy shops and the like.
Gotta love a place to find inspiration and also share your own projects, right?

Swing by and make sure you check out their stairway makeover while you're there!

 

✥ Get What You Want {Thrifting} ✥

A good, well constructed hardwood chair can cost a pretty penny.
Since we've gotten a new couch I really wanted a chair that looked aged. Something with a vintage feel and a softer shape to contrast with the modern lines of the couch.

Here are some of the inspiration pics from my chair file. I kept these in mind while "shopping" the classifieds.
(I am so sorry, but these were not originally intended to be in a post, so I don't have links for them, sorry! Please let me know if you know where they're from so I can add the links. )

I love the curved back, outlined by the dark wood frame.

This is selling for 649$. Love how it was upholstered with two different fabrics and also love the sloped arms. 

Look at the curves on this baby! That high back is total drama.

This chair with the crazy fabric is selling for around $3200!? Sheesh!

Here's a great "after," I like how this chair's a little softer with the curves and its legs are gorg. I think I'm headed in a similar final destination with mine.

This is the one I've found. It took me a few months to find it because all the chairs that resembled my inspiration photos were priced starting at $150. Not a great starting price when you add in the cost of fabric, paint, nailheads, and the lifetime it will take me to finish this project. 

Can you see my "new" 1950's fan on the table behind the chair? Love it!

After several months I saw this guy in a classified and I knew he was "the one." It had only been listed a hour when I saw the ad, but when I called it was already spoken for.

I hemmed, I hawed about how much I wanted it. Then I remembered a post called Criaglist Ettiquette is for Suckers from Mandi at Vintage Revivals. {Do you read her, if no- then you should. She's completely awesome.} She mentioned how she was trying to buy though the classifieds and the item, a chair I think, was already sold, but not picked up. She offered the seller more money and they said, "Yes." Bold move, right? Maybe a little sneaky, but you snooze, you lose.

So I did it. I offered more money. The chair was already priced so ridiculously low that offering more was still a steal of a deal!

Here it is the the space. There's a lot of wood furniture happening in this photo, I know. But don't worry, it's just the before pic. Most every piece of furniture we had has been sold, will be sold, or has an appointment with a can of spray paint.


I think the hardest part of DIY isn't the labor or necessary skill, it's having the patience to search ads for months for just the right shaped chair, then to deal with the before phase -like orange/red paisley fabric- while you get the project done. 
Speaking of a completed project, don't hold your breathe for the results on this one. It's my first real upholstery job, you know, not a ottoman or headboard, so wish me luck! Now get out there and buy what you want!

Looking for places to link up your projects? Check out my Party page.

I'm also linked up here.

✥ "My" New Sectional? ✥

Here's what it looks like now, but here's a little story from the beginning.
Once upon a time a girl decided on a living room makeover.

She worked out a plan to sell all her old furniture and decor & then decided to spend the HUGE majority of the funds on the grey sectional she longed after wanted!

After many, many months a couch was finally decided upon and purchased from Bassett Furniture.
It had a foot print like this-

Four weeks later "a" gray couch arrived. 

Unfortunately, it wasn't our couch. I wasn't the couch we ordered. Here's a pic-

All the specs were right-size, color, fabric, cushions- BUT the footprint was wrong. It has a 90 degree angle at the corner, rather than the curved back it was supposed to have.
Bassett ordered the wrong sofa. {*Uggh} and {*Grrr}.

After two more weeks {of haggling} and {possibly some legal threats} the wrong couch was taken away. This blog actually helped me win our claim against the store!

They were claiming the delivered couch was correct and that we just forgot what we ordered. You know, sometimes people just drop a large wad of money on a sofa but have no idea what it looks like! {huh?}

Luckily for me, I was able to send them my posts regarding our purchase. Showing I did know the difference between a couch with a curve and one with a 90 degree angle. That proof {along with some legal threats} finally got them to remove the wrong sofa and promise that the new, correct sofa would be delivered in an additional 4 weeks.

For those of you who weren't counting, that's 10 weeks start to finish!
Unfortunately, my old couches were sold before the first sectional arrived.
So the living room looked like this for an entire month! {plus two days, but who's counting?}

This house may or may not have felt like a college pad for a month.

Very inspirational, huh? Doesn't this photo just make you want to take design tips from me?!

Maybe you guys want to pin this? lol  

Here's the long awaited for sectional, in all her glory.
It feels great to be grown ups again and the couch came just in time for my family to come to town- thank heavens!

Not sure that I could recommend Bassett to any of you.
In fact, they were supposed to have nail head trim applied to the bottom of the couch before we came to pick it up. Instead each Bassett employee had a different reason why it would now take longer than we were promised. So we should just come to get the couch and have the trim applied in home later.
Awesome. So glad they promised something else they didn't deliver on. {not said bitterly}
I do believe we have a sofa that is great quality and will last a long time.

{Update} I've been getting some questions about the sofa itself.
I kinda feel like a brat. I didn't even think to mention the couch's good characteristics or all the  customizable options.

Here's the rundown-
-We were able to choose from a bunch of different layout options. However,  our space allowed for only one or two footprints. I mentioned in irritating depth that we picked a "Curved Corner Sectional."
-We could choose from tons of different fabrics. Way, way more than all the other furniture stores and believe me; I went to every single one in my area. We picked a chenille fabric called "Smoke."
-We were able to pick the size of the couch, like the actual frame size. It's a "large" or "Manor", as they call it.
-There were 7 options for arm shape, we picked a track arm.
-There were 6 back of the couch pillow shape choices. We choose a box edge to keep things streamlined.
-Best thing about the cushions, ever, is the LIFETIME Warranty! How great is that!
-The feet-you can pick a skirted bottom for a relaxed, slipcover look- but we picked a regular old square foot.

The couch is a great combo of soft and firm. Soft fabric, very cushion-y, but also great support.
Everyone who has come over has commented on it, even peeps who didn't know it was new!

So you've seen the "in progress" photos.
I am totally dying to start the next projects, I have a great idea for my over the couch art and can't wait to make some curtains and recover my old ottoman and finish my side table project and reupholster a new chair {along with 1,320,884 other projects}!

Gotta get crackin a lackin!

Looking for places to link up your projects? Check out my Party Page.

I'm also linked up here.

DIY Drum Shade from Metal Flashing

Do you recall the DIY Greek Key fabric I made? 

{if you missed the post head over for the tutorial and for a free printable pattern!}

The fabric belongs to this! My new drum shade. 

Here's how my project started.

One day I stumbled across this post from Classic Casual Home. Remodelaholic was featuring Mary Ann's loft makeover, which is an obviously gorgeous creative getaway. But what caught my eye was the chain of the lighting fixture.

It looks good, right? Not at all like an old brass light fixture with an old brass chain.

Incidentally, there's an old brass light fixture with an old brass chain right here in my living/dining room. 

Oh yeah, and it's even broken. If it were mine I could've fixed it and then painted it with green, high gloss enamel until I replaced it entirely. But since it's not... I decided to purchase a cheap drum shade with plans to either recover or paint it. After shopping around I realized 18 inches not not a cheap or easy size to find.

On to plan B, or C, I looked up ways to DIY a lampshade.

The Keylors, from The Keylor Family, have a awesome tutorial about making a 23 inch drum shade from embroidery hoops! Awesome, right? I have seen a few of these tuts, but they do a great job of explaining how to make the shade. Their version cost them around 20 bucks and it looks like they spent way more!

 I went out to buy supplies and hit a few road blocks, then, that very day, I found this post from Kimbo at A Girl and a Glue Gun. 

{Stay with me, now-I'm getting there!}

Do you ever have those moments when you see something that someone has made and for a second you think, "No! That was my idea!" Well of course I didn't think that. Not like two people can't have the idea to hide an existing out dated light the same way, right?!

Kimbo used aluminum flashing to create the drum shape and wrapped her own fabric around that. Super smart!

I did the same. This was perfect for me because:

*it is super fast to make

*it is re-adjustable and reusable

*it can be sized {most precisely} to any circumference

*it is easier to get around the existing light fixture

Materials
*Aluminum Flashing {comes in different heights and 10 feet long, from Home Improvement Store}-$10
*Tin Snips {from Home Improvement Store}-$6
*Spray Adhesive {from craft store or Walmart}-$5

I purchased my supplies from Lowe's. I picked up two heights because I really wanted to use 10 in  high aluminum but was worried it wouldn't be high enough to cover the old light. Luckily it was, so that's what I used. I thought I had tin snips, but wasn't sure- so picked those up too, just in case! Of course I have spray adhesive, since I use it for everything, but I would run you about 5 dollars. A bonus, you have enough flashing to make several shades if you wanted to.

OK, the directions are super easy. Just measure the aluminum and use the tin snips to cut it to size.

I did two coats of spray adhesive, then applied the fabric on the metal. Make sure all the bubbles are out right from the beginning. Nothing like bubbles to make your new project look homemade instead of purchased.

Here's the view of the underneath. Looks exactly the same as before, white enamel. You have to get right up underneath it to see the bulb.

I only used a piece of electrical tape on the inside of the shade to hold it together.

 I overlapped the aluminum flashing  5-6 inches beyond what was needed to create the shade. That way I could remove the tape and reuse this shade making up to a 23 inch shade without changing a thing. 

You can see fabric on the inside of the shade because the fabric can be removed from the metal. I'm not sure how it will hold up over time, but I thought I'd save the extra, by folding over at the end. Just in case I wanted to remove the fabric and put it on some of the left over aluminum flashing. I could do a 28 inch drum shade in that case. Who knows what lighting our next home will have, but we're looking at older homes, so I imagine we'll need all the lighting we can get.

I love the aluminum flashing for a lampshade. It's stiff and holds a shape without looking a bit wobbly or flimsy. When you're holding 10 feet it's kind of heavy, but when you cut it to size it isn't at all. 

I have the same amount of light as I did before the shade. It looks really pretty shining above and below the light.

My total cost to make the fabric and the shade was $15-16. Though it may cost you more if you don't have tin snips or if you buy a more expensive fabric.

You can see the new drum shade pendent & in the background the mercury glass pendent I made last week. Love the contrast between modern and worn, vintage pieces.

So there you guys go. Two tutorials to make your own drum shade, a printable to grab. two homemade light fixtures for you guys to check out and {hopefully} some DIY inspiration!

Wanna print me?

Looking for places to link up your projects? Check out my Party page.

I'm also linked up here.

✥ Take a 2nd Look {Pendent Light} ✥

I've had quite a few questions from peeps wanting to see the pendent light I made with the light turned off.I didn't forget to take one that way, it's just that taking a pic of mercury glass may be a level or ten above my photography skills!
But I did my best. The reflective properties in the glass-like spray paint make the pendent appear like this. The reflective glass is great, it gives the feeling of light even when it's not on. Whenever there's a light on no the home the glass looks like this.

 Then with all the lights off and lighting coming on from behind the pendent, it takes on a smoky gray color.

 I really like that the pendent is ever changing. It's a fun addition to a kitchen that's begging for some pizazz. It was my hope that the exposed light hardware would add some edge to my otherwise boring space.

Thanks for asking to see more of my light, I'm happy to oblige- even if my skills aren't up to the challenge!!

Looking for places to link up your projects? Check out my Party page.

I'm also linked up here.