Miss C In The House

Alright, though there have been more exciting times in the land of Miss C as far as projects go, we’re going to play catch up on the little things that have been happening because I’m assuming, just like Us Weekly’s “There Just Like Us” section, we all like little glimpses into the mundane.  Here’s a state of the union-

1. My Junk Drawer Now Looks Like This-

I’ve been wanting to do this for soooooo long!

2. I Make Green Juice Now-

I know….stop the presses. We’ve owned a juicer for many many years, but never used it. So I started, and I gotta say I like it. Super easy, a bit of a pain to wash the machine, but it tastes really good and is the only way I will eat that many veggies in a day.

I now include a bit more veggies than this, but that much stuff makes this much juice-

It doesn’t look like much in the picture, but it’s about half full, 16 oz. The key ingredient is the lime BTW….as far as taste goes anyways. Adds that some’in some’in.

3. Trading out the knobs in my Ikea dresser for fancy pants brass ones-

I’ve had this classic Hemnes dresser for like 7 years. I got these horn knobs from Anthropologie  for the top 4 drawers-

They were only $3, so for now they will be good while I wait for the ones I really want to go on sale, for like,mmmmmm, 4 bucks-

Anthropologie Antler Melody Knob in Tusk

So for the bottom 16 knobs of the dresser, I’ve been looking at these and trying to pick one. I don’t want it to be too shiny or perfectly new looking, and just the right shade of brass. I will probably have to order one of each to decide. Ugh. I hate paying shipping.

That’s a screen shot of my shopping cart at My Knobs. Anyone else a true 4th grade boy at heart if ya know what I mean?

4. Lastly, I’m going to be painting my room again

This is a shot from my Instagram of the paint patch tests. My husband literally walked around the corner and stopped dead in his tracks and said “what the??”. That may or may not be because it will be the 4th time I’ve painted our room. It’s currently pale grey, which I love (duh), but I want something a little warmer and a little lighter and brighter. I’m going with a very pale peach/pink. It will go with everything I already have in there, which has NEVER happened.

It’s actually a lot lighter and more subtle then that image would lead you to believe. Don’t panic.

DIY Stripe Candles

I made these for a company Christmas party client back in December (duh), because I needed a lot of them and did not want to pay upwards of $12 a pair. I ended up getting plain cream-colored candles from the Dollar Tree, but Trader Joe’s also has a 12 pack for a really good price. They are simple it’s true, but a couple of things to know that would make or break this project….

1. Clean the candles first with rubbing alcohol and a cotton ball

This step is pretty important because it helps the paint adhere to the candle

2. Next tape off the area you DO NOT want paint to be. 

I had to re-do this when I realized I did not want paint on the wick part, which means I have to put tape on that part. So, start by taping off the wick end first, then work your way down.

3. Paint with NON-OIL BASE PAINT. WATER BASE PEOPLE!

Super important if you don’t want your candle to burn in some kind of toxic mess. I just used my kids black Tempera Paint.

I used two or three coats, and it dries pretty fast in between coats. I used a shallow dish filled with dried beans to stand up the candle sticks to dry.

Lastly, peel the tape off, but do it gently cause it is easy to scrape off the paint (the down side of water-base paint, but, I’m thinkin’ the easy scratch off is a no-brainer compared to the choice of toxic fire hazard)

Searching For The Perfect Desk

So this crazy lady walked into a bar…….a furniture bar. And by furniture bar I mean store. And by crazy lady I mean me.

I have been hunting, searching, obsessing, going mentally bonkers over trying to find the right desk for my boys. I don’t want to be doing this. I want to find one. I want to just pick one! And be done! But nothing is quite right.

It needs to be long (close to 70″), not too deep (maybe 24″??), and hopefully have some kind of storage or drawers. And, I would like to not pay more than $200. I sound like the dummies on Selling New York who tell their Real Estate Agent they want a fireplace, a view, a doorman, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, all in Manhattan, for under one million. What am I smoking???

I thought this might work-

Cost Plus World Market Campaign Desk

I like the look, but in person it was really rickety, and the drawer was like an inch deep. Basically zero storage. Mashugana. I’m trying to avoid Ikea, because I’m hoping to find something with a bit more character. I’m probably looking at a DIY. I googled “long skinny desk”, and this is by far the weirdest picture that came up-

 

That’ll keep ya up at night.

I have looked at Goodwill probably 16 times, and visited local vintage furniture stores. I indeed feel like a crazy person, who will end up rocking back and forth perched on the edge of my couch chewing my nails, muttering “must find desk” over and over again.

For awhile I looked for a couple of filing cabinets that I could paint or makeover, and put a nice piece of wood or old table top over the top of them, but that has kind of bombed out.

I like the look of this, but maybe with some amazing brass hardware instead of those brushed stainless ones-

I would like to keep my sanity and find a desk soon……any ideas???

Christmas Party DIY’s- Bucks, Stripes, and Glitz

I realized I never posted photos for the Christmas party I did last month-

My favorite is the giant eight foot tall Buck I did. It’s just painted with kids Tempera Paint on the brown paper they sell at home improvement stores. It’s a giant roll for like 12 bucks. It’s intended to use as floor covering when wallpapering or painting, but I cannot tell you how many things I have used it for (including wrapping paper). Some of the best 12 bucks ever spent.

I also loved the DIY striped candles. I’ll do a how-to next week on that.

Countdown To Christmas – DIY Gift Series – Put A Monogram On It!

WARNING – IF YOU ARE RELATED TO ME, OR ARE ONE OF MY FRIENDS/ACQUAINTANCES/LONG LOST THIRD COUSINS TWICE REMOVED, DO NOT READ THIS POST, AND ESPECIALLY DO NOT LOOK AT THE PICTURES. NOBODY LIKES A SPOILED SURPRISE.

One of my favorite ways to personalize gifts is to add a monogram. In fact, you may have noticed that we P&C ladies are having a love affair with monogramming. It’s simple, easy, and in my opinion, totally amaze-balls.

Here’s a tray, that quite frankly I liked already, that I monogrammed for some very special friends for Christmas (which is only 6 days away by-the-by – YIKES!).

Before:

Step 1: Tape off your area to be painted, and sand away! You don’t have to completely sand off the finish, just scuff it up enough that paint will stick.  

Step 2: Add a monogram! I centered my “B” and affixed it to the tray by rolling blue tape. I then added the first layer of paint, focusing my strokes outward from the B.

Step 3: Layer, layer, layer! I removed my B, and added subsequent layers of paint until I was satisfied with the color, carefully tracing around the B each time. Be sure to let each layer dry before adding the next. 

And there she lies in all her glory! Now you see it…

Now you don’t….

Need more inexpensive, quick and easy DIY gift ideas? Don’t forget to check out some of our other ideas here and here!

Countdown To Christmas – A DIY Gift Series!

WARNING – IF YOU ARE RELATED TO ME, OR ARE ONE OF MY FRIENDS/ACQUAINTANCES/LONG LOST THIRD COUSINS TWICE REMOVED, DO NOT READ THIS POST, AND ESPECIALLY DO NOT LOOK AT THE PICTURES. NOBODY LIKES A SPOILED SURPRISE.

Ho Ho Ho and Merry Christmas!

Christmas is my favorite holiday. And I mean FAVORITE. I Countdown every year until the day after Halloween, which is when I get to start listening to Christmas music, watching Christmas movies, and get serious about my gift shopping. As the hubs would tell you, my shopping list is probably overkill pretty extensive. It’s not that I feel pressure to get gifts for a ton of people, it’s more that I like to use the opportunity of Christmas to show people that they are thought of and cared for. That being said, it can get a little expensive, and a sisters gotta stick to her budget at Christmastime – otherwise a sister will be in deep doodoo when January’s credit card bill hits the mailbox.

So this year I decided to start a new series titled “Countdown to Christmas” where I can share with you some of the ways I’ve found to give thoughtful, stylish, not super expensive gifts. These DIY’s are super friendly and simple, and even the most amateurish DIY’er will have an easy peasy time with these guys. This first one is literally the easiest DIY you could ever do. Ever. I’m serious.

One thing I always keep in mind when shopping is that if I see something and think “wow, that would be so cool if just this little thing were different” – I buy it, and make that thing different. The most obvious and easy thing to change is the color. So when I saw these beauties on sale at Target for like $8, I jumped on it. I wish I would have jumped on it twice and bought two sets, because I was really happy with the final product, and wish I had a second set to keep for myself.

Well hello you handsome little devil, you look so playful and happy chic, and you know what? You’d be even more awesome if you were gold.

What you’ll need: An object, in this case doggie bookends (but lets face it, any awesome shaped thing will do), gold spray paint, drop cloth or paper to protect your work surface.

Then go to town! The secret with spray paint is to do a few thin layers, allowing for drying time in between. If you layer too thick the paint will start to drip – bummer town.

Once you’ve done a few coats on the top and have let it dry completely, flip it over and come at it from the other side, that way you know you didn’t miss any spots that may be hiding on the seedy underbelly of the object.

And voile!  Check out how cute these little guys turned out!

Look at that gilded tushy!

 

 

Sneak Peek: Pantry Makeover

 

If you can call a hole in the wall with 3 shelves in it a pantry, I’m making mine over. I’ve been pretty obsessed with this, and this DIY Phillip Jeffries wallpaper. I’m so down with it. Zoom out of this shot and you’ll see the primer around the outside, the bottom part where the old paint is all chipped up and minus it’s doors, and the unorganized cereal boxes and school lunch boxes. But me showing you that would be like Lady Gaga stepping out for a cup of coffee in something other than an entire ensemble of theatrical pieces of clothing that have a deep meaning about the state of our society and a choice piece of wisdom about the presence that is humanity……it ain’t gonna happen.

P.S. I guess I bake things that are heavy on sugars versus flour. Entirely unsurprising.

The Easiest Pumpkin Decorating Ever

Halloween has long past (it’s been three weeks. That’s forever and a day ago. Sheesh), put pumpkins still can abound cause let’s not forget the much over looked Thanksgiving. This is a cheap and fast way to add some shine to your ‘kins-

I found both gold and silver thumbtacks at the dollar tree and went to town. This was for an event at our church that Miss P and I and several friends decorated. We got our diamond patterns on, our chevron patterns on, our star-fish-shape-at-the-top on…..you could spell something if you want to. This was the only one I took a picture of though. We liked mixing white and green pumpkins, and doing some pumpkins with mixed metals and some all in gold or silver. Gold and silver are friends. They can hang out.

 

Unisex Nursery

 

 

I LOVE this nursery. I love the colors and the fact that it doesn’t want to punch you in the ovaries with its baby-ness. Minus the crib, it could be a kid’s room of any age. Can’t tell if the paint is a dark ink like indigo, or if it’s chalkboard paint, but I love it with the coral. It’s still light and airy, but rich and with color. That wall is a DIY too. It’s not wallpaper but an off-set chevron made just using painters tape. I actually think the whole room could work for either a boy or a girl, although admittedly I have said that before about other things that my friends stare at me in disbelief about, like “um, no, that bright pink painting cannot go in your boy’s room”. But then the Novogratz did a boy’s room in different colored toile wallpaper, which is generally considered an ultra fem pattern, and I felt vindicated.

 

 

Nursery designed by The Brick House

How To Turn A Vintage Flag Into Art

I got this tore up old flag awhile ago at a vintage store around the corner from my house. It has been rolled up on a shelf in my garage while I figured out what to do with it. I’ve been working on my boys room a bit (slowwwwwlllllyyy), and needed a big blast of oversized something, and I wanted red in it. I want to eventually bring in some rich, Moroccan style textiles somehow (maybe big toss pillows for the bed), but for now I had this flag, and I wanted to use something I already had.

Now this flag is dur-tay. It’s got stains and rips all up on itself. I debated washing it, but decided I actually liked the dirt (gasp) and was worried the colors might bleed or the whole thing would just disappear in a poof of oldness in the washer. Disintegration.

All you need for this project is stretcher bars (purchased at your local art supply store) and a  staple gun (your new bff). When measuring for your stretcher bars, make sure to take into consideration you need to wrap the edges of the fabric (or flag) around the sides of the stretcher bars. So don’t get them too long.

The stretcher bars come in pieces, so you get all four sides and put them together. They come with groves in them that slip into each other, but, you also need to staple the corners together with your staple gun (like above picture).

When your done, it will look like this:

Next lay it out on a big flat surface (I just did it on the floor), and make sure to have the side that you want facing out to be facing the floor. Then you start stapling, and you start with two opposite corners, then do the other two opposite corners.

I find it easier to choose one of the sides, and place a staple in the middle of that side, then continue stretching the fabric and stapling it down the rest of that side.

I ended up standing it up on its side and stapling that way (after I did the four corners), because I couldn’t get a good angle on it while it was on the floor.

Emily Henderson’s living room is one of the first places I saw this idea…..imitation is a high form of flattery, right?