Spray-Painted a Dated Electrical Outlet

When you buy an older home you inherit the sins of the previous owners.  Usually those aren't so bad, and honestly our home here was pretty kicking.  The only truly awful monstrosity that this house had to offer was the dreaded Monkey Bathroom.  Not only had the entire room been wallpapered with a really obnoxious pattern, but even the outlets had been wallpapered.  Yuck!

So naturally in true fashion I gave the entire room a overhaul, and then looked at that discolored, outdated plug mocking me.  

So there was a blue dyed spot on the plug from being wallpapered.  I thought it was a scorch mark, and freaked out all over Señor Hotness.  He talked me down from the ledge, and told me it was just a discolored spot and not a sign of impending fire.

First, cut the power at the breaker.  Then I used a spray primer from Krylon especially made for use on plastic.  WARNING: This is a very thin product.  So make sure you use short spurts instead of heavy-handed spraying.  Otherwise it will just run right off of whatever your are spraying.  After the appropriate dry time I hit it with a white Krylon Fusion spray paint also for use on plastic.

Then my next step was to use a spray clear coat.  Also from Krylon.  I used this to protect my painted surface from the wear and tear of use.

Then try and I might I managed to overspray the tape just a smidge.  I also noticed that the sink surround needed to be re-caulked.  So after re-caulking the surround, I then touched up with the blue using a small fine tipped brush (the kind you use on hobby projects since I was dealing with touching up a really tight area).

You might ask why the heck would I do this instead of just replacing it.  While all the supplies will run you about $12 up front it could be used to transform many, many outlets.  In all honesty I would have normally just replaced this with a new outlet, but it was in a tricky place with the sink surround. So I would have had to modify the cover plate, and honestly I wasn't confident that I could do it without breaking it.  So I looked in my paint stash, and found all I needed for this frugal DIY project.

Its ok to continue to use something old if its still functioning.  Its better than it junking up a landfill somewhere, but there is no reason not to give it a little love and a new lease on life.

linked up at:  www.thededicatedhouse.com, www.savvysouthernstyle.net, jannolson.blogspot.com, mythirftstoreaddiction.blogspot.com

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Tricking Out The Trash: Baby Bed Springs

So I changed my blog name.  Backwoods Babies just didn't really describe me anymore (I will be leaving it up so the old links will still work).  If there is one thing that does describe us it is the gypsy lifestyle that we have always led (with the exception of that first 18 years of my life).  We have never lived anywhere longer than 5 years, and most places haven't even made it that long.  Someday I'm sure our roots will take hold.  Until then we will just enjoy the people and places we get to experience, and indulge our wandering spirits. 

Ok so in this house I've had a bit of a problem with garbage.  Do you guys know how many people throw away awesome trash around here, and what kind of crazy person passes up a curbside freebie?  I mean why scour craft booths and thrift shops for something you can do yourself.  I have gotten so many awesome freebies that you couldn't get in the garage it was so full. 

So one day I was bringing a giggly drugged up teen back from a dental appointment when I saw this totally awesome baby bedsprings just chilling on the curb.  Now if you are asking what the heck you can do with a baby bedspring you obviously haven't procrastinated on Pinterest before.  I mean I've seen it all from a laundry hanger (like over at A Diamond in the Stuff) to an awesome photo display (like over at Kammy's Korner).  The possibilities were practically endless.

So I wasted little time pulling a u-turn to nab this thing from its perch before someone else came across my treasure.  This thing had a fun rusty patina to it that gave it just the right about of shabby.  As I was putting this thing in the back of Stella (my trusty suburban) I was intending to give it the common treatment of photo display.  However, it just didn't feel right.  I was going to be hanging this on the wall at the foot of the playroom stairs.  That's a dark area as it get absolutely zero natural light.  So the rusty springs with pictures just kind of added to the darkness of the area.

Then I remembered I had a bucket full of drippy crystals that had been taken down from my confused dining room chandelier.  So I thought maybe I could use those to add a bit of sparkle to the dark space.  Something for the light to reflect off of.

I really liked the look, but wanted a more textured feel to it.

So I pulled out a roll of gardening burlap I had on hand, and then hot glued it to the back of springs.  Now gardening burlap has a much looser weave than the crafting burlap that is so common.

WARNING: Make sure you use a wire brush to clean off as much of that rust as you can where you are gluing, or the hot glue will just peel right off.

While the crib springs aren't overly heavy they are to heavy to simply nail up.  So I spend $2.49 on some large cup hooks from Walmart.  Using a stud finder I pre-drilled and then screwed these straight into the stud.  I had visions of one Destructo Girl trying to free hang from this sucker so I wanted it to be sturdily mounted.

After I installed the hooks I ran into a little snag.  The hooks curved up too much toward the wall, and I wasn't able to get the spring hooked onto it.  So I had trim a portion of the hooks off with tin shears to allow the springs to be hung.

I really liked the end result.  Is it still dark?   Yup, but it lends a classy turn on what has become a traditional remake.  

So lets do a rundown of how much this cost me.

Crib Bed Spring: Free@ Curbside Special

Cup Hooks: $2.49 @ Walmart

Crystals: Free @ salvaged from chandelier

Burlap: I'm putting this one in the free category because I've had this forever, but a new roll (3' by 24') at Lowe's will run you $9.98

So for less than $5 you can have a super cool conversation piece to add little sparkle to a dark spot in your home.  All it took was a willingness to handle garbage to give new life and purpose to an old tired piece that had been heading to the landfill.  So here's to making something old new again.

linked up at: http://jannolson.blogspot.com/, http://mythriftstoreaddiction.blogspot.com, www.funkyjunkinteriors.com, http://lifewithlorelai.com, www.the-chicken-chick.com, create-with-joy.com, confessionsofaplateaddict.blogspot.com, www.thededicatedhouse.com

Tales from the Trash Pile: Fudging Architectural Awesomeness

Anyone in love with the DIY channel?  I really like HGTV, but the bulk of their programming seems dominated by House Hunters.  There isn't anything wrong with that show, but it gets old fast.  I prefer design shows that not only utilize smart design, but show us average joes how to pull of the look for less.  The DIY channel seems to marry great design with construction.  I'm a fan for sure.  So after discovering that our TV package included the DIY channel (YEAH) I have been wandering through their viewing selection as I've been pulling late nights getting our house ready for real estate pictures for the listing.  One of my new favorite shows is called Black Dawg Salvage.  Now I cringe every time I see them gut an old structure for all its beautiful parts, but knowing that these items will receive a second chance at life is awesome when you understand the building are going away regardless.

They are always looking for those unique architectural pieces that look awesome on their own, or can be made into something else unique and one of a kind.  I visited an architectural salvage yard in Jackson Mississippi, and it was straight up dreamy.  I'm pretty sure I just floated through there in a daze of possibilities (if only I was independently wealthy).

This is just a sampling of exactly how dreamy it truly was, and as always Miss Phoebe was more than happy to be my willing model.

I will say there was pretty much nothing there that I could afford.  Obviously I want the look, but now I just needed to mimic it for less.

Then the new year arrived, and with it a desire not to be a chunky chick anymore.  So I started taking the occasional morning walk, and I came across this gorgeous pile of garbage!  Can anyone tell what this is?  No?  Its a broken king size bed frame.  This thing is made of extremely nice SOLID wood.  No veneers up in here folks.  It had broken, and you could tell someone had tried to dismantle it...like an animal and done further damage to something that probably could have been fixed from the get go.  I came across this about midway through my walk, and I can tell you I've never finished up a walk so quickly before in my life.  The bulk garbage truck was in the neighborhood hauling off piles of garbage just like my treasure find.

So I practically ran home (a feat in and of itself), and jumped into my suburban, and drove straight there before the garbage truck!  I may or may not have played "We Are the Champions" on my slower drive back home.  To celebrate my obvious victory.

I got home unloaded it in my garage, and just looked at it while waiting for inspiration to strike.

Fast forward a few months, and we are getting the house ready to show.  I have always been awful about hanging pictures and other things on the walls.  It just seems like a lot of commitment.  What if I hate it?  Regardless I needed to dress the walls to just take everything up a notch visually.  Not everyone is into the cool furniture pieces I have.  

My formal living room is a funky mismatch of furniture and styles that all somehow work with each other.  There was a space above my swanky sofa that was screaming for something cool, awesome even. So I went back out, and took a look at my awesome bed pieces again, and came across this broken bit off what I'm going to say was head board.  

It reminded me of some of the cool fancy door headers I've seen them salvage on Black Dawg Salvage.  So I set about transforming this headboard into architectural salvage inspired awesomeness. 

My first order of business was to cut off the joiner pieces that stuck out of either end.  That was a dead giveaway that it was from furniture, and not a piece of architecture at all.  So even though Señor Hotness was gone I gathered my courage and used the circular saw to cut the blasted things off myself.  I am happy to report that I am still in possession of all of my fingers, and no body got hurt although the teen was highly skeptical.  Then I used a rotary sander for the part in the middle where I had actually knocked off half of a broken fleur de lis.  I wanted to leave the edges looking as rough as possible without them actually being in danger of giving someone splinters.  Then I hand sanded the rest so it would take the spray paint better.

This middle part I'm going to gloss over since we had nothing but rain for days on end, and this was literally the only break we had had for 2 days.  Also there is insane flooding happening here in Northern Louisiana.  I feel very blessed that our home was not affected by the flooding because I know several were not so lucky.  Long story short I was so preoccupied with the time that I didn't remember to take any pictures.  I know, rookie mistake.

I used my spray paint stash to give this thing a few good coats of Krylon Blue Ocean Breeze.  After it was dry to the point of handling I brought it inside to finish drying in a less moist environment.  Once it was inside I thought the Blue Ocean Breeze was a little to intense looking.  I needed to dull it down, and help it to look more weathered.  

I opted to use a technique called dry brushing to achieve this look the best.  Dry brushing is done when you barely wet the brush with paint, and then wipe more of it off the brush before putting it on the furniture.  I personally prefer that you can see the brush strokes really well.  These are great, and you can use them to accent different features of your piece.  I was going for the look of an architectural piece that had been weathered outside. So I gather colors from my paint stash to help me out.  The first color I used was Benjamin Moore Wythe Blue, which is a super dreamy blue with a hint (super tiny hint) of green.  I'm a huge fan of the color, and have painted two room in this house that color and our family room in our Texas house this color.  It has a super relaxed beachy quality to it.  After dry brushing that on it helped to mellow out the intensity of the krylon blue.  Next I dry brushed on Krylon Classic Gray followed up with Valspar Shooting Star which is a super brilliant white color (I was very sparing with the white).

Then I let that dry for a hour or so, you won't need much time with the small amounts of paint actually used for the dry brushing process.  Then I used valspar glaze in the color barista (I have been using this same quart for going on 4-5 years now...it still has at least a third of the quart left).

That left it looking...awesome.  Don't mind the pizza boxes.  I horde them to use when painting.

As awesome as it looked sitting on the greasy pizza boxes I thought it looked a 1000 times dreamier perched on the wall above my formal room couch.  It brings just the right touch of funk, and class that the room needed.

And provided just the right backdrop needed for an impromptu sister photo session.

This was the nice polite one that they always take first, but then...

Their true personalities always shine through.

Just a few close ups of some of the dreamier parts of it.

I love the detail that was put into the background.

Just another picture of them looking deceptively cute.

And here is how it looks in the room.

All in all I would put this project in the mission accomplished category.  Also how great was my garbage find?  I mean really that was the best, ever.  Don't forget that it just takes time and imagination to make something plain become something outstanding, and in most cases you can get the look for less (or in this case completely free).   So get out there and make something pretty.

linked up at: www.funkyjunkinteriors.net, www.acrosstheblvd.com, www.simplelifeofafirewife.com, www.thededicatedhouse.com

Skirting The Issue: A $4 Sink Skirt Makeover

Hey remember when you were a kid, and sitting on top of cabinet doors was a thing?  What?  You never did that?  Yeah, I never did either.  Its bad enough when the little ones do it, but when your tween takes a spin at door sitting...

Lets just say that I was not pleased with the results, but it gave me an interesting challenge to overcome because...

all of a sudden we were experiencing a door gap.  Out of all the gap-iness one could be experiencing this is by far the most depressing.  Ok not depressing so much a annoying.

Our house is a modest 39 years old, which is a good vintage according to Señor Hotness, and the cabinets were custom built.  They were actually constructed very similarly to how we built our custom cabinets in our old kitchen. However, we have discovered that they didn't secure the joints properly.  They probably held up initially great, but 39 years of wear and tear and they aren't holding up the best.  So a new kitchen is probably in our future (the distance future).  Which means that when something breaks in our current kitchen we are looking for simple easy fixes that don't require a lot effort.  I like to call them duct tape and bubble gum fixes.  As in I fixed this with bubble gum, and that with duct tape.  The true challenge is finding a way to make duct tape and bubble gum fixes still look pretty, and not all janked out.

So since we aren't anywhere near ready to do a full kitchen overhaul right now I was looking at a duct tape and bubble gum fix for sure.  One that would look great, be practical, and be super low on cost.

One option would have been simply moving the hinge slightly, and then screwing it back in and hope that no one else sat on it. 

 

Then you have to worry about the old unsightly holes left behind, and while I'm not opposed to puttying the holes and painting over it, I wasn't wanting to be forced into that decision because of a stupid hinge that got pulled loose because a big kid decided to sit her tush upon it.

So I wasn't really on board with the 'lets just adjust the hinge' camp.  Since this was actually the sink cabinet I thought wouldn't it be cute if I just put a sink skirt on there.  It'll hide the unsightly holes, and look soft and whimsical at the same time.

After that decision was made it was time to absolutely agonize over ever other aspect of the project.

There was also a drawer to consider close to the problem area.  One that I use.  So any curtain rod I got could have a projection no more than 2 inches, or the drawer wouldn't be able to open and close anymore.  I thought about using velcro, but decided that wasn't the look I was wanting to go with.  I must have looked at half a dozen different types of rods.  In the end I went with a super cheapy "sash" rod.  It had a super low profile, and was a very petite rod.  The best of all was the cost.  It was less than $4 for one.  The only downside is its cream and brass color combo was less than desirable, but that is something a little spray paint can fix.

Then there was deciding what to use for the curtain.  I was going to use some drop cloth, and make a faux grain sack look.  I actually really love that look, but have I mention my intense laziness.  I have LONG periods of procrastination interspersed with intense bouts of productiveness.  Unfortunately there was a few weeks of procrastination period to go through before I was willing to do the grain sack curtains.  Then there was also the issue of it needing to be a water friendly curtain since it was going to be a skirt for the sink area.  Then I had a total light bulb moment.  What about a shower curtain?  Those are literally made for a wet area, AND we just so happened to have one we weren't using.  It was a really nice one that was up in the house when we bought it, but I put up mine that I was in love with and this poor thing had been just languishing in my closet.

Did I mention it was also a swanky Pottery Barn shower curtain.

So I measured 1 inch above the seam in the cabinet on both sides.  Then I held the bracket up there, and marked the holes with a pencil.  Then using Señor Hotness's power drill I predrilled the holes for the screws.

As you can see I chose not to fix the brassy issue right now.  Mostly because I really wanted to get it up, and see if I even liked the look.  So many things make sense in your head, but don't always pan out in reality.  That and the humidity was pretty high so I didn't bother.  Its a pretty easy thing to remedy at a later date so I went a head and got it going now instead of dealing with the janky hanging door.

And miracle of miracles...it was level.  Like I knew what I was doing or something.

Before I cut anything I put it on to see if I liked the way it was going to look.  Please forgive the wrinkles.  I don't iron unless under extreme duress.

Then it was time for the drawer test, and we passed with flying colors.  Again it was like I had measured, and researched and thought through the problem!  So I totally scored one for successful problem solving.

My old foe.  As much as I hate ironing I really needed to get all those crazy wrinkles out, and I love the raw edginess of an unhemmed edge as much as the next girl but I wasn't going for that kind of edginess for my curtain.  I am needing this to last a while, and I am always so leary of the true longevity of raw edged curtains.  Then there was also that this was going to be in a high traffic area.  So I decided ironing, and using heat and bond tape would be in order to hem up the raw edge.

As you can see this stuff only runs about $3 at Hobby Lobby.  I've actually had this one for a while, and have used it for several little projects since I'm a non-sewer (is that the right word for someone that doesn't sew?  It seems like that is more descriptive of an area that isn't a sewer). 

Anyway I really like the way this one turned out.  I love the look.  It fun, whimsical, and is a total duct tape and bubble gum fix without looking like one.

This entire project only cost me a little less than $4 for the rod.  I didn't have to worry about how to hang the skirt since I reused a shower curtain which meant it came with its own hanging holes.  The sash rod was the perfect diameter to fit nicely into hanging holes.

So don't let a unsightly problem kill your design.  Use the weakness as an opportunity to add more style to what can be a blah area.  Now get out there, and make something pretty.

Linked Up: www.funkyjunkinteriors.net, the-chicken-chick.com, www.acrosstheblvd.com, www.simplelifeofafirewife.com

GET INSPIRED: CRATE EDITION...6 Incredibly Awesome Crate Upcycles

If you are like me you have all kinds of things just waiting to be made awesome.  I am so very guilty of buying things, and letting them sit for a while until inspiration hits.  The downside of this is I tend to have a few random ugly pieces sitting around because I haven't decided how to finish them out.  One of those things I've just let sit are the crates that I cajoled Señor Hotness into letting me buy a few years back.  I stained a few, but other than a quick sand down they've just been kicking about, looking all, blah.

So after surfing on Pinterest for a minute or two (or an hour or two if I'm keeping it real) I came across these awesomely cool crate upcycles.  I love sharing inspiration when I can so I thought I would share these with the masses.

Check out this simply beautiful crate bookcase that Kelly over at The Lily Pad Cottage pulled off. It's simplicity is all part of its charm.

via The Lily Pad Cottage

Check out this adorable pet bed that Nicole over at Meet the B's put together.  Its brilliance it how understated it is.  Not only would any cat love such a rad bed, but this would also make a fabulous doll bed that any kid would be proud of.  I really hate toys cluttering up the place.  Not to mention that toys generally don't mesh with the overall aesthetic of a space. This could be a great way of marrying those two worlds together.

Via Meet the B's

This bench that Christina over at Operation Home made out of simple crates is pretty impressive.  This brought an awesome pop of color to what could have otherwise been a bland porch.  This look doesn't need to be relegated to the porch alone, it could rock it in any space in the house.

Via Operation Home

This coffee table that Amy over at Her Tool Belt made isn't necessarily a beginner level project, but it is an absolute stunner.  Her post also shows detailed plans if you want to copy the look, and who wouldn't want to copy this gorgeous style.

Via Her Tool Belt

Check out this ingenious drink dispenser idea that Jocie over at One Project Closer used for a fabulous bridal shower.  This was brilliant.  I have a mason jar style dispenser myself, and it didn't come with a lift for easy drink pouring.  So when I saw this awesome idea it really hit home, and it is also perfect place to put the cups for the drinks too.  Great idea.

via One Project Closer

I love how Cat over at The Rustic Willow used these crates to spice up her otherwise ordinary mudroom space.  I'm all beautiful things also being functional, and this project hit the mark perfectly.

via The Rustic Willow

Great ideas abound if we only take the time to look.  NOW GO MAKE SOMETHING PRETTY!