Easy Kitchen Update: The Faucet Factor

Although I'm not a huge fan of our kitchen sink (or countertop… or cabinets…), there have been other more important things on our project priority list around the house. It's not like our kitchen is out-of-date or anything like that, but let's just say that if time and money weren't an issue, I'd love to give it an overhaul. 

Anyway, recently an opportunity to make a small change presented itself, and we couldn't turn it down.

Here's our current faucet... nothing special here, folks. 

Just your standard chrome fixture.

DIY Jumbo Dog Bed Under $30

My latest DIY project was one born of necessity, not just the urge to be crafty. And it wasn’t even to benefit me – it was for the fur-kids.

We have a boxer and a big mutt (I say that with love), and at about 45 pounds and 75 pounds respectively, they require a sizable dog pillow. In fact, up until recently we had one 30” x 40” pillow for each dog, which took up a lot of space on the floor of our small living room. And half the time, they just ended up squeezing onto the same pillow anyway (they love to snuggle).

Overall, our dogs are pretty good about not chewing things up. But something must have gotten into them because they started chewing on one of the corners during the day while the hubby and I were at work. And once they discovered the stuffing inside, it was all over. We would come home to pillow guts all over the living room. Not good.

Fun with DIY Mercury Glass

Whew! It's been a busy few weeks, but I finally found some time to sit down and blog (before I fall asleep on the couch, probably). 

This is a project I actually did awhile back, in an effort to dress up my new display shelves in the living room. I'd seen the DIY mercury glass idea all over Pinterest and thought this would be the perfect excuse to try it out for myself. The only thing I had to go buy was the Krylon Looking Glass spray paint. 

It's a little pricey, but the cost was outweighed by my intrigue of the mirror-like effect it promised. Since I had several cheap little glass vases, I though I'd better test it out on one of those first.

Shelf Display #1: DIY Decorative Vase Filler

A couple weeks ago, I revealed our new (albeit empty) floating shelves in the living room. Well, they're slowly filling up with a combination of DIY projects, travel souvenirs, and yes, even a couple of items that were just bought from the store (gasp). So I thought I'd go through shelf-by-shelf and give a closer look at each display, starting with this one:

As you can see, the glass vase contains some decorative balls, which is a project I've been wanting to try ever since I found it on Pinterest several months ago. Depending on where you go to and what they're made out of, store-bought vase fillers can run anywhere from $5-10 a piece, which can add up pretty quickly if you have a big container to fill. 

DIY Pom Pom Bib Necklace

If the title of my post threw you off a bit, I understand. Usually when I have a DIY project in the works, it has something to do with furniture or other home decor. But this weekend, I expanded my craftiness into the world of wearables for the first time.

I don’t sew, so I can’t make clothing. But with this project, I found out that accessories are thankfully not out of the realm of possibility for me! Just give me a glue gun and let me go to town.

This necklace has been on my mind ever since I saw it on Pinterest several weeks ago (and repinned it, naturally). It is just so dang cute and definitely more of a “statement” piece than the simple jewelry I normally wear. I was just itching to give this one a shot!

{ via Little Miss Momma }

The materials list was pretty simple: felt, 100% cotton fabric, a necklace chain, and hot glue. (This is the kind of project during which you will develop a deep and meaningful relationship with your glue gun and fabric scissors.) I ended up getting the felt and necklace chain at HobbyLobby, and the fabric (1/2 yard, which was more than enough) at Hancock Fabrics. Most of it was on sale, so the total cost was under $5.

Floating Shelf Installation: More Space for More Stuff!

Until we finish our basement, I'm kind of running out of room on our main floor to display pretty things, which makes me sad. That means there's less opportunity for me to make fun DIY crafts, because I have nowhere to put them when I'm done. This is a real problem, people.

But I recently realized a solution... floating shelves! Since we can't fit any more standing shelves or other furniture pieces in any of our rooms, it's time to start utilizing the walls. I've had the idea for awhile but never bit the bullet because these kinds of shelves are so dang expensive. And yes, I know that we (i.e. my handy husband) could just make some if we really wanted to, but there's plenty of other projects on our/his plate right now and frankly I didn't want to wait six months for them (no offense, honey).

Additionally, I had extra incentive thanks to $50 in Lowe's gift cards from Christmas (thanks, Mom & Dad!). So, after much deliberation and multiple trips to Lowe's, I finally decided on four allen + roth shelves (two 18" and two 24") for our living room wall. Even with the gift card, I still ended up spending about $60.

Don't mind the lamp sitting on the floor in the corner; 

this was taken before I finished my side table makeover.

Exploring My Dark Side: A Side Table Makeover

Just call me butter, 'cause I'm on a roll! 

Sorry, I couldn't resist. I'm just feeling pretty good about myself and the long overdue projects I've been tackling lately, after what seems like weeks (if not months) of getting nothing done. Well, nothing fun, anyway.

Last time, I showed you my Goodwill cabinet makeover. And now that I've crossed over to the dark side... I like it there! We actually have quite a bit of dark/black furniture, and I'm on a mission to make some of our random pieces of furniture fit in a little better. Case in point: this little side table. (Or is it an end table?)

You can hardly see the table in these pictures because it's practically blends in to our wall color. Blah. I believe it was a hand-me-down and it's really nothing special, but I've kept it around thinking that it would make for a good project someday. And that someday finally happened last week.