Girly Toolbox

I like things that are pretty. Don't get me wrong - I'm a bit of a tomboy as well. I can drive a car with a manual transmission, I check my car's fluids regularly, I refuse to call AAA when I get a flat tire because I know how to do it myself and I love getting into the dirt and using the car jack like I'm on a NASCAR pit crew. That said, I like skirts and manicures and flowers and curling my hair. So when I wanted all of my new gadgets and DIY tools in one spot, I knew who to call.

Allow me to introduce a friend of mine. I bought this decorative, hinged box at HomeGoods about a month ago and didn't quite know what to do with it. I just knew that I loved it to pieces. Not literally into pieces, since it IS pretty sturdy.


As I gathered all of my goods, I knew that I needed to get them all together in one place so that I wouldn't lose anything. (I'm notorious for that.) This box handles the job with style! Here are some of the things I gathered together before I started filling it up.


Let's see, we've got a hammer. (Like Captain Hammer. Whedon fans, anyone?? Anyone?? Buehler?) Pliers. Check. Screwdriver? Check. So what else could I need in my toolbox? Wire cutters. Beads. Pretty ribbon. White paint for ceramics. Spray paint gun (not yet used, but soon to be my new best friend). Thread for my curtains. Tape measure.


I also added these items from our junk drawer. Why show you everything? One, I know you're DYING to know. And B, this can serve as an index for my husband for all of the things that I stole from his toolbox. If you can't find anything, sweetie, please reference above photos. And don't be mad if I also stole some items that are not pictured. Love you!


Just to prove that everything fits, here it all is. I also added my painter's tape, some nails... you get the idea. It won't look this neat for long. I intend to use it constantly!

P.S. We're on day 42 and a million for this rainy weather. Everything is moist. Eck. Someone send us some sun!

DIY Ottoman (The Footrest, Not the Empire)

Last week I found an old ottoman at the local thrift store for $6.99. The fabric was heinous, but it was a sturdy piece. I even sat my big ole butt down on it in the store and wiggled around to see if it would hold me up. It passed the test, so I gave it a mental high five for its success and tossed it into my cart.



So I took it home and started my first DIY furniture recovery/reupholstering. If you could even call it reupholstering, which I kinda think you can't. You'll see. P.S. Excuse the dark photos. I take all these over by my patio door since it's the best source of natural light that we have in our apartment. However, it's been raining for about 40 days and 40 nights, so our light hasn't been the best.


Anywho. So back to Ottoman Empire Redo. I took the legs off. I'll likely paint them antique white during my next project. (It's easiest for me to do several things at once, since I only have the outdoor patio for a painting studio. That and it was raining. Ahem. Big surprise.) One of them is missing the metal on the bottom. I'm not too concerned.


I unscrewed the metal brackets (??) that hold the legs in place.


It's always nice to have a furry detriment helper. I told you she loves DIY projects!


I removed about 1,000 staples (give or take) from the underside of this beast, as well as a few nails that are old enough to be my grandmother.



When I removed the backing, I realized that someone else had already done a recovery on this thing years ago. I'll forgive them for their fabric choice given that it was probably about 25 years ago. Seriously.


Here it is, stripped of the old fabric and old white quilt that was used as batting.


Yes, that's ANOTHER type of material that you see under there. That's because this is what it looked like underneath:


All right. For real, this thing is OLD. I am NO good with this stuff, but under the leather (faux leather???) it's filled with HAY.


Do I know how to pick 'em or what? Eesh. At this point, it was time to replace the material with some of my own choosing, so I pulled out my handy new hardware that we bought at the store's grand opening on Saturday. That's right. We didn't own a staple gun. I know, I know. We have one now. And some staples that are mondo-insane-humongous, so don't choose this size... I'll buy a few sizes down next time. Oopsie. Lesson learned.


I put the old quilt right back on it. And I don't even care. Free batting. And it didn't smell. That bad. Febreeze, okay? Works wonders. Besides, the whole project will end up being a kitty bed/perch/throne/scratching post in a few days anyway so "eh".

I didn't take a picture of it, because it was flat and beat up, but I used an old (OLD) pillow for extra cushioning. So there's the old leather. And then an old pillow over that, and an old quilt on top of that. I stapled the quilt to the wood to hold it all in place. Then, I added my material and stapled that in place as well.


Fold the material like you're wrapping a christmas present. (If I could wrap all of my presents with a staple gun, I'd be a happy girl.) This looks less like "wrapped present" than "awful mess" but it was going to be hidden under the backing anyway.


Some of my sides turned out nicely. We'll focus on those.


I replaced the old cardboard-y backing, and screwed the metal leg braces back on (easier said than done, I'll add).


Here's the detail of the material, which I chose for kitchen curtains that I'll be sewing together soon. I made sure than I still have enough for a valance. I liked the cream and red flowery toile pattern. It ought to country-up our little apartment. The picture keeps posting vertically even though I have it saved horizontally. Go figure. ^_^


It was getting quite dark, so the final "after" shot is with a flash. Ick. Someday when the sun comes out I'll replace this photo with a nice one.


It still needs a nice trim for the bottom edge, but for now I like it a whole lot better than what it looked like before. It's a lot more comfy, too, although slightly lopsided since our pillow was not in the best of shape.

Hopefully, someday I'll be so awesome at this that I'll look back at this post and laugh my bum off at how terrible it was. But for now, it works for me!

Stay tuned for the final result of our photo wall, which is my next project.


This room needs lots of work, but adding something (anything) to this wall will be a nice start. As you can see I already arranged everything using cut up paper bags from the grocery store and some painter's tape... It's SO CLOSE to being done, I can taste it!

Paint It Black - Results!!!

Finally. My first REAL attempt at some sweet Do-It-Yourself action. I recently posted here about Layla's inspiring guest bedroom. I'm planning to arrange frames in a similar way in my living room on the wall above our television and DVD bookcases. The centerpiece will be this mirror, which I found at a thrift store for $8. It was icky gold, but definitely had potential. Here she is in all of her glossy black glory.


But I'm getting ahead of myself. Here it is before:


Yeah. Definitely just needed a coat of paint. First, I taped off the mirror and covered it with newspaper. Then, I scrubbed the dust bunnies from the nooks and crannies with a dry scrub brush.


Then, I proceeded to "go to town" with gloss black spray paint - purchased at, you guessed it, Handren's Hardware! I used Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch, in Gloss Black.


Of course, I made a classic rookie mistake. Oops. Notice how Scott was ever so kind enough to capture this epic moment in my DIY journey. Thanks, babe.


Here are some detail shots. The gold that you see is the underside of the frame, reflected in the mirror. Another rookie error, I suppose, but if it's very noticeable on the wall, I'll remove the mirror and paint the whole frame. We'll see. For now, as The Nester says, "It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful."








Woopsie. Kitty distraction. What's that, Lily? You LOVE DIY?!? Yes. She loves it so much that a nap is quick to follow. Or maybe the fumes from painting outside wafted through the screen door?


Anywho, I didn't just paint this mirror. Oh no. If I'm going to lay down plastic on my patio and get paint all over myself, I'm going to do it all at once. Really get down and dirty. I also needed to paint this old frame that Scott's had for about ten years, which he likely purchased at Wal-Mart for about $5. I'm guessing. You know, from the icky, fake oak wood-ness. Classy.


Here's the after shot for this fine specimen. For this, I used Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch, in Flat Black.


Aaaand notice that some of the newspaper lifted up during my painting, which I didn't see until after all was said and done. I may just remove the glass.


While I was painting, I had a brilliant idea to paint one of my vases. This baby was sitting in storage (due to its sickly green color) just waiting for a makeover.


My inspiration for this came from the spray paint can itself, interestingly enough.


Here's the after for this one, which I love! It looks a thousand times better in this flat black shade. Even Scott was feeling it. =)


This weekend I went to JoAnn Fabrics while I was in Portsmouth, New Hampshire visiting my grandmother. My mother and I took her out for lunch and shopping - and they were both surprised that I wanted to go there. They were reluctant to join me, as well, but I believe that I've converted them! I found some small wooden frames on clearance. Here's the back of one of them, so you can see the original color.


Here's the front, after I was finished with it.


Add one cute kid, and you have an instant hit.


In this case, it's Scott's four year old half-brother, Jon. He's only three in this photo, but it's the most recent one we have.

And that wraps it up! I've acquired some paper bags from Stop & Shop so that I can trace my frame sizes and shapes. I want to lay out everything on the wall in paper before we start nailing holes. =)

I also acquired some AMAZING old family photos from my visit to see my Memere. She's kindly let me borrow them, and I'll be scanning them so that I can get them into some frames and onto my walls. I have some of her and Grandpa's wedding in 1948, some of my great, great grandmother.... etc. Incredible. And some of them are just so NEAT... I can't wait to have them up where people can see them and enjoy them every day. Thanks for stopping by!

Yes I Can

Yes I CAN make make a vase out of an old aluminum can! Ugh. Puns are my comedic downfall. Bear with me. I wanted to put some flowers in our downstairs bathroom, but I wanted more whimsy, less elegance. Verdict? Enter aluminum can from whole peeled tomatoes (via last night's tortellini and semi-homemade sauce, courtesy moi).

Remove label. Wash inside thoroughly. If your manual can opener is a jerk like mine is, trim any sharp edges with a wire cutter. Measure the side, and cut a pretty piece of scrapbooking paper to fit the measurement.



Tape the paper onto the can. (I'm sure there's a much more professional way to do this, but we're working with old cans, here, so I didn't think it mattered much.) Here's the finished bathroom model.



And here are her two sisters, the diced tomato can and the smaller (but feisty) tomato paste can. Beautiful makeovers, ladies. They match since they'll be on a shelf together in my living/dining room.



Here's the orange complete with flowers. Fake. (I know, I know... But until I'm making the big bucks it'll have to be fakies.)



And the blue, holding my loose beads, wire cutters, paint brushes, etc... and the tiny one will do nicely for pencils and pens.



Here are the flowers in their new home. Not the nicest seat in the house, but they sure brighten the place up. This bathroom is small, and has no outside windows (I installed my own ^_^) so the lighting is terrible.





And the blue. You live there now.



Works for me!