Restoration Hardware Knock Off- “Metal” Chest

Years ago I bought a small chest.  Although I liked it and used it in my living room, I was willing to donate it to the cause of the teenage room redo.  It needed that industrial vintage look we are going for.  I like the chests at Restoration Hardware that are very expensive so I thought I would simulate that look. 

Here’s my version.

It seems a bit more silver in the photos because the light reflects off of it. 

Here is the before.

I liked the leather edges and strap and the brass latch.  I taped them off so that part wouldn’t get spray painted.  I wiped Vaseline onto the curved parts of the latch so the paint wouldn’t stick to it.  It worked like a charm.

It was really bright after I sprayed it with the aluminum paint.

The black glaze I used on the blocks helped tone it down.

It might not be exactly like the Restoration Hardware boxes, but it does look metal and paint definitely transformed the chest. 

Linking to

I Heart Craftastic @ Sew Can Do

Meet Me Monday @ You’re Talking Too Much

Sunday Showcase @ Under the Table and Dreaming

Zinc Blocks-From Country Cute to Industrial Cool

I think the most rewarding decorating comes from transforming something you already have into something new and wonderful.  It’s cheap or free and fun to see the transformation.  A lot of this will be happening in my son’s room redo.  It seems I am redoing the décor before I am redoing the room.  The décor is the easy and fun part.   Maybe I will labor with painting walls next weekend. 

When my son was really young I found these country wooden blocks that spelled out his name.  They have been put away for awhile and I thought new life could be brought to them with some paint. 

Here’s what they looked like before.

I sprayed a couple of coats of Krylon aluminum paint on them.

Bling bling bling!!!  Not the look I was going for at all, but a little black glaze would tone them down and make them just right.

I made my own black glaze with some craft acrylic paint and glaze mix.  I generously painted the blocks and then wiped the glaze off with a paper towel.

I love them.  Don’t they look like metal blocks now? 

I will show you another transformation soon. 

Linking to

Saturday Night Special @ Funky Junk Interiors

Sunday Showcase @ Under the Table and Dreaming

Vintage Industrial Vibe for the Teenage Room Redo

My son and I are trying to create a vintage industrial look for his teenage bedroom makeover.  I found some cool bulbs and light cage that I hope to be using in the space.

The light bulb is a reproduction and is so cool.  It is only $5.18.  Bulbs like this can be found at Restoration Hardware for twice the price.

I am going to try to use this cage on a lamp base.

If that doesn’t work then I will find another use for it. 

Here’s my son in his room the way it looks right now. He was sick from school Thursday and spent the day in bed.

You can kind of see the gray sheet I hung to see if it would work for window treatments.  Walmart has such cheap cheap sheets that work great for curtains.  

I am going to do some spray painting today because it is a bit warmer and no wind. 

We are going to clean out all of  his kid toys tomorrow and get rid of a Playskool toy box.  I am so glad he is ready to purge.  He tends to want to keep things he doesn’t use. 

I ordered my bulbs and cage from 1000bulbs.com if you want to check them out. 

What are you doing this weekend?

Turquoise Bottles and a Peacock Feather

I photographed this image for my Beyond Layers class and thought it might make for good table décor in someone’s home. 

The large bottle was my mother in law’s and the smaller ones I bought at Hobby Lobby awhile back.  My friend’s daughter is getting married this summer and her theme is Peacock.  Maybe this arrangement can be used at her wedding.

I love that the image is soft due to the lighting and textures I used. 

Project 52 Week 4 Self Portrait

Well I have tried the self portrait thing before and it was hard and I looked rather boring.  I decided to be unique with my self portrait for this challenge.  I spend several days a week running either outside or on my treadmill.  I came across this funny on Pinterest.

Sooooo I thought hmmm let’s see which one I actually look like when I am running.  I set my camera in front of my treadmill on a tripod.  I had to use an external  flash because it was indoors at night and I bounced it off the ceiling.   I was tempted to put it on the action setting, but I wanted to challenge myself so I used manual for my action shot. 

I think I might look somewhere in between the 2 photos above. 

I wonder if I will be on the only self portrait on a treadmill????  I bet so.  An advantage to this is I didn’t have to get all spiffed up.  I actually took this after I ran and had sweat pouring in my eyes while trying to set up my camera. 

Vintage Mailbox in my Kitchen

I thought this little mailbox might be fun for a change in the kitchen.  It ties in with some of the other black elements I have in there.  I was staring at the photo and wondering about creating open shelving in the cabinet above the bar. 

It already stores our everyday white dishes that all match.  I might leave the cabinets open for a day or so and see what I think. I am not sure I like the idea of everything being exposed to dust.  Things that make you go hmmmm.

Looking for Color Palettes for Son’s Room Redo and Trouble with Clicking on Blog Post Links

Cash is going out and ideas are coming in for my son’s bedroom redo.  I have bought new bedding, a ceiling fan, and sheets to turn into curtains.  When I make purchases towards something then it helps me get the room going.  I need to go buy paint soon so I will have it on hand when we are ready to paint. 

His room is hard for me because I know what I like, but he wants it to be what he likes.  What I like and an almost 14 year old like are not even in the same ballpark.  We have both agreed on gray.  He picked out the bedding.

I helped him find a fan on line. 

By the way if you are fan shopping check out Lamps Plus.  Great price ($99.95), no tax and I got free shipping. 

My son loves Coca Cola.  I am not a fan of it, but because he loves it we will find a way to use it in his room. 

It won’t be extreme like this image I found.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pro-painter/3679766451/

It will be much more subtle and vintage.  We will use things like this old Coke can and the crates we got last year.

So I have been trying to find out how to do a color palette with gray and a touch of red. 

Design Seeds had some inspirational palettes available.

Have you ever checked out the site?  It is really fun to search for different combos.  Go here to check it out. 

I have a few other things to let you know":

This past week I have had trouble with clicking on post links.  The post would show up and then it would disappear and the screen would be white.  This happened with links on my blog and links to other blogs in linky parties.  I downloaded the Google Chrome browser and the problem is gone.  I was using Internet Explorer before.  If you are having this trouble then you might try Google Chrome.

I had a little health scare I mentioned last week.  I found a lump and my doctor thinks it is fine. I will get an ultrasound of it to be sure, but I feel good that he said he has all the good characteristics and none of the bad. 

Thanks for making me feel good about my story I shared.  

My Story for Beyond Layers

I signed up for Beyond Layers to learn to be more creative with my photography.  Our first assignment is to share our story.  Hmmm I didn’t expect that.   I almost didn’t participate, but that is not my style.  When I am expected to do something I do it.  So here it goes….the good, bad and the ugly. 

My story is I am oh so ordinary.  Does that sound terrible to you?  To me it is the best thing I could ever be.  It is quite a miracle that I am ordinary and that my life is pretty simple and maybe even boring.  It is just how I like it.

I guess to understand what I am you have to understand what I am not.

Well first of all I am not headline news that reads baby and mother dead by gunshot wound to abdomen.  Yep my mom was shot when she was pregnant with me.  What makes it worse is my dad is the one who shot her.  We both survived and she stayed with him until I was 5 yrs old. 

I am also not a user of drugs, seller of drugs or a thief to get drugs even though my dad is all those things.  He also made me do drugs when I was 4 and 5 years old.  I believe he is once again in prison and that’s a good place for him.

I am not an alcoholic although my mom was until she took her life 12 years ago when I was 29. 

I am not a hoarder although both of my grandmas hoard. 

I am not an abuser even though I watched my dad and then my mom’s boyfriends beat my mom regularly.  Although it scared and scarred me, it did not ruin me. 

I am not a victim.  I choose to use all the things that are shocking and seem horrible as examples of how not to be.  I choose to be ordinary. 

I am a college graduate and I have practiced dental hygiene for 20 years.

I am a wife and have been married for over 16 years.

I am a mom of a 13 year old boy who only knows a normal life.

I am a runner, photographer, and creator.  I am dependable, loyal, and honest.  I am a giver and not a taker.  I am really good at lots of things, but I don’t excel at anything. 

The photographer part is pretty new.  I have been learning how to be a photographer for about a year now.  I call myself a photographer even though I am not a professional.  I take photos almost everyday so that makes me a photographer right?  It has become quite a passion for me.  I try to learn all I can.  I take continuing ed classes at our community college and online classes like Beyond Layers.  If I won a lottery I would spend a ton of  money on photography equipment.  I have to restrain myself almost everyday.

I love my dogs like they were my kids and I love being home with my family.  I will give a lot and I expect a lot.  I am judgmental to a fault because I expect the best from people. 

I am not perfect, but I am not my past. 

I did have good things happen in my childhood and I have happy memories.  I almost didn’t share all the bad, but it shows you why I feel special living an ordinary life being an ordinary person. 

So that’s my story…………

Project 52 Week 3 I Dreamed a Dream

I took this challenge literally.  I couldn’t come up with a unique idea for it so I took photos of my son sleeping.  Ok so I made him pretend to be asleep.  My son wasn’t thrilled with his photo so I took pics of my dog sleeping and used one of hers for the challenge.  I took the photo using  only the light of the lamp next to the couch.  She likes to sleep on the top of the couch pillows. 

I like the angle of the photo and her bushy eyebrows.  I am just sure she must be dreaming about chewing up all of our possessions.  It seems to be her hobby. 

My dream is to take her to our future farm we want to live on when my husband retires in about 5 years.  It’s been our dream for a long time to have a house with acreage, trees and a pond.  I would have loved to take a photo of it, but we aren’t there yet. 

Burlap Lamp Shades From Target

A few weeks ago I changed out some lamp shades to burlap shades I found at Target.  They were very reasonable and I liked the tan color of them.  You already saw one of them when I posted about my side table that you can read here. 

I have a floor lamp and the burlap shade really looks good with it.

Have you ever wondered what this wall looks like when the photo isn’t cropped? 

Not much of a wall huh?  But you can see all that trim I need to paint.  I finally read how I am going to change up those beams without sanding them.  This will happen in 2012 if it kills me. 

Here’s the entire floor lamp.  I promise everything doesn’t look as junky in person as it does in this photo.

I also added a lamp with a new shade to my sofa table.

You can see both lamps in this next photo.

A close up of the lamp and my dust.  Would you believe me if I told you I dusted just 2 days ago? 

The shade is really darker, but the sunlight is making it look lighter.

Here’s my lamp on the side table I redid a few weeks ago.

I like the cohesiveness of all the same lamp shades in my family room and the nice glow that is let off when the light is turned on.

The texture really shows through the light. 

I will be starting on my son’s room soon.  I have been spending money on things that will look terrible if we don’t paint in there so it looks like lots of painting is in my future.  Maybe I will even get to that trim and those beams in the family room sooner than later. 

Linking to

Wow Us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style

Saturday Night Special @ Funky Junk Interiors