Art Cards To Wall Art

After completing the major projects for functionality in my laundry room makeover, I wanted to  make it appealing to the eye with finishing touches.

If you missed the projects from the laundry room makeover, you can check them out here:

custom cabinets

in the wall ironing board 

chalkboard label tags

frosted etched jars

There really wasn't any wall space left for artwork or wall decorations; however, there was a narrow space between my storage cabinets and ironing board cabinet.  I wanted it to be meaningful and complimentary to the room, yet not overload the space.  

Last summer, my grandmother gave me these beautiful art cards she purchased from a local Seattle artist.  They are beautiful pen and watercolor sketches.  The talented artist is Gail Wong, and you can see more of her beautiful work here.

 I ordered this last one directly from her, I like to decorate in odd groups and needed a 5th horizontal piece to complete the set -

image source

I LOVE the northwest, both my parents were raised in WA and I still have lots of family there.  I used to go there for weeks every summer and have so many fond memories of this beautiful area.

These were perfect for my space, so I decided to matte and frame these art cards and display them in a vertical college - 

 

I think they work perfect for this small space!

Finally, I've Got Built-Ins!

When we built our house 7 years ago I dreamed of built-ins for our small loft that houses our office area.  However, I soon realized that custom cabinets = e.x.p.e.n.s.i.v.e!  I opted for these ladder book shelves instead - 

 It worked for a while, but I didn't get the storage, functionality, or display room that I wanted and envisioned.     
And then I saw Kate from Centsational Girl's Ikea Billy Bookcases turned custom built-ins, and all that I envisioned for this room seemed within reach!

She used these Ikea BILLY bookcases - 

 Added some molding and made them look like this - 

She is amazing!
Here is her after pic.  She painted the backs of the bookcases a beautiful blue - 

Gorgeous right?!

So, $250 dollars later I went from this - 

 to this - 

(The angle I had to take these make the bookcases look HUGE and overbearing in the photo, but in reality they are very proportionate to the space.)

I did these three pieces from Ikea's BILLY bookcase for my wall unit, total cost for this was $139.97 - 

 

I spent $100 on molding, calk, wood filler, nails, and paint.  I used Kate's recommendation of Valspar's Dove White, which was indeed a very close match.  Due to there not being a wall on each side of the shelves, I had to be creative with my molding on the end to make it look finished.  Here is what the side looks like - 

I love how Kate painted the backs of her's, I am thinking a soft shade of gray/blue might look good in the space. 

I have more plans for this space that I can't wait to complete and show you!

DIY Pottery Barn Jute Braid Pillow Look Alike

I have been eying this lovely pillow over at Pottery Barn for some time now, but $39 for just the cover?!  No thank you!!

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I figured I could make one that looked similar for a lot cheaper.

I started by visiting Hobby Lobby and purchasing this trim that had the braid look and color to it - 

I found some leftover off-white canvas from a previous project and used that for the pillow.


I attached the trim to the fabric first, and completed the entire square - 

The corners were a little tricky.  I didn't want rounded corners so I just cut and sewed the trim to meet at a point - 

Next I sewed both finished square pieces together on 3 sides.  Then I put my pillow insert in and sewed the remaining side closed.  The corners were to thick to run through my machine, so I close the all the sides and hand stitched the corners closed.

Pretty close to the real thing!

And...for 1/4 of the cost!  Can't beat under $10 dollars!!!

Blissful and Domestic Feature

I was featured today on 

Thank you so much!

Be sure to stop by Danielle's site to see all the cute fabric projects she is sharing!!

DIY Frosted Etched Jar Tutorial

I really wanted some cute decorative jars for my laundry room to hold my different soaps in.  I found some at Walmart for a GREAT deal, $9.99 for the 2 gallon, and $7.99 for the 1 gallon.  I looked at other stores and these were by far the best deal around. 

I purchased scrap booking letters and put them on the jar according to what I wanted them to say -

Tape off a square around your lettering and cover the rest of the jar so it doesn't get frosted as well - 

Then spray with Krylon's Glass Frosting -

Apply several thin coats and let dry.  Then remove paper, tape, and stickers and you have an attractive frosted etched glass jar - 

Storing things never looked so pretty!

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Reupholstered Arm Chair Reveal and Tutorial

My dear friend was given this chair and wanted to reupholster it.  She was brave enough to hire me to do it for my very first time!

Here is the before:

Here is the after! -

 

And here is how I did it...

I started by stripping the entire chair down of the old fabric and a GAZILLION nails.  Seriously, a gazillion!

Hours later I had this:

The fabric we used is a tan herringbone patterned upholstery fabric, very neutral that can go with any color scheme!  I started by covering the front largest piece first -

Next I worked on the upper and lower arms -

Then I pulled everything through to the back and stapled it - 

 The bottom seat was the last piece I added before completing the sides, back, and bottom.  The bottom piece I did a lining fabric in the middle of the seat just as the chair was before -

Next up was the sides.  I copied the way the chair was originally upholstered and did it in two separate pieces.  I started with the top side piece.  I noticed on the previous chair they had these cardboard strips that they used to flip the fabric over that was stapled to the chair.  I created my own strips by purchasing this display board at Hobby Lobby and cutting 1/2 inch strips off of it - 

Here is what it looked like once the fabric was stapled onto the strips - 

Before closing off this section of the couch I needed to replace the batting that was in the upper arms.  I used quilting batting that I double folded and stapled to this area - 

To roll the edges that aren't covered by another piece of fabric I used the existing upholstery tack strips that I salvaged from the original upholstery job.  To use these you figure out where you want the the edge of the fabric to hit when complete and cut the fabric about the width of the tack piece from that edge -

 Next you push the tack through and make sure the fabric is pushed all the way to the bottom of the little spikes -

 Then you roll it under so you have a nice edge and the tack spikes pointed straight towards the wood -

Then you hammer it in until flush - 

I did this to both sides and pulled the remaining side and bottom pieces around and stapled - 

The same goes for the back piece, cardboard strip at top, upholstery tack strips on sides, and bottom is pulled under chair and stapled.

To cover the bottom I used the original piece that is often used underneath most sofa and chairs and stapled it around on the bottom.

Due to the difficulty of getting the chair in and out of my basement (where I had more workspace), I waited until the re-upholstery was complete and protected it with a paint tarp to sand and stain the legs a dark brown.

I reupholstered the cushion and walla...

a new chair!

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