Above the head board art

Lately I have been obsessed with Craigslist.org.  I have the app on my phone and I am constantly looking to see what's been posted and what kind of treasures I can find and change!  Well, I found a head board that is faux leather and a rich brown color that goes along with our current furniture.  He was asking $75 and I paid $70! Whoop! :)  $5 off is a good deal, right?? Anyways, I am totally in love with it!!  It is so pretty and it's what I've been looking for.  A big thanks to my hubby for working all night then coming home at 7:30 a.m. and staying awake until 12 to watch Liam so I could go pick it up. :)  Good man!

The past couple days I have really looked around for something to put over our beautiful head board.  Done some research to see what other people have and finally decided on DIY art (duh, what else would I do?!).  I talked to my bestest friend Sarah, and she was telling me about her friend who bought a couple cheap canvas's and painted them with some stripes (using painters tape).  What a good idea! Stripes are awesome, but not really for the theme of our room.  So I decided I wanted to use 4 canvas' and luckily I already had 2.  Off to Hobby Lobby I go with my little mans. :)  I got a pack of 2 canvas's for $7.99!  Whooo!!  I decided to put some of the vinyl art on the canvas's.  I was also going to paint them the lightest shade of green that is also in our room (score, free paint!).  Anywhooo, looked at all the vinyl art they had and ultimately thought we need something circular to break up all the straight edges.  So I got these beautiful flower looking thingy's in grey-ish, silver-ish and black.  Here they are:

I think they are super cute!  These by the way were only $10!  They are usually $20 but since Hobby Lobby is AWESOME, they were 50% off!  Can't beat that.

Here are the simple steps:

1. Paint your canvas any color you want
2. Let them dry for a little bit (you don't have to wait too long since canvas's dry really quick)
3. Now, the FUN part!  Getting these little sticky guys on to your canvas!  

Just press firmly and they will stick just fine.  Here was my problem...

These little guys would stick together!!  Ugh, it was so annoying.  But after a little time and patience... I got it to work! :) Here is what it ended up looking like.  Now remember the color I chose is kind of hard to see with the camera, but its a very light green called "Celery Ice".

Here they are all nice and hung up above our head board:

So.....What do you think??  I am loving it! :)  It really gives the wall some length and really draws your eye to the bed, which is the whole point since I LOVE our new head board.  So there you have it! 

$7.99 - 2 canvas's
$10.00 - Vinyl wall art
                                       
$17.99 TOTAL!

For less then $20 you get a beautiful above the head board art piece.  Thanks for reading again!

DIY Memo Board or Bulletin Board

Well I decided while the second coat of primer was drying on my desk, I would make a small project (for barely nothing!) for our new office space.  I decided to make a Memo Board or a Bulletin Board.  This is a VERY easy project and quite inexpensive.  This is what the final product will look like:

Nice, huh?  Well thank you! Let me show you how to do this simple, cute project.  
What you'll need:

• A Frame
• Paint
• Fabric
• Foam Board
• Stapler
• Exact o Knife

Ok, so here is a little secret.  The frame can come from somewhere like a thrift store.  It doesn't matter how ugly the picture is inside the frame, toss that!  You can easily prime the frame and paint it the color you want for PENNIES.  Unfortunately, all my thrift stores stink!  I couldn't find anything.  So I went to my FAVORITE store, Hobby Lobby and found a plain wooden frame for 50% off!  I spent $7.00 on a plain frame.                         

So the first step is to lay the frame down on your foam board (also from Hob Lob - $1.99) and trace the size of the frame so that the foam board will slip right in.  Now cut the foam board with your exact-o knife.  Take your fabric and now wrap it the foam board like your wrapping a present. 

                                                    

You will use your stapler to secure the fabric to the board.  Now you'll want to paint your frame.  It literally took me 10 minutes to paint this wooden frame.  I decided to use a gray paint that I already had in a sample color I got from Home Depot about 2 months ago.  It'll look really pretty with the light blue color I am painting the room.  

Once its done drying, just take your foam board and press it into the frame and make sure its nice and snug in the frame.  I went ahead and hung it on the wall just you could see the finished project on the wall, but I'll be moving it soon when I paint. 

VIOLA!

Finished product!  Like the lamp next to it??  Me too!  It's staying! :)  I bought a gray rug from Ikea that will really compliment this new memo board and lamp shade (more on the rug later..)

So final costs on the Memo Board or Bulletin Board Project:

• Frame - $7.00
• Foam Board - Free (Already some left over)
• Paint - Free (Already had sample)
• Fabric - Free (Left over from headboard project)
• TOTAL - $7.00!!

Now, if you need to buy these items, go over to Hob Lob and these are the estimated costs:

• Frame - $7.00
• Foam Board - $2.00
• Paint Sample - $2.95
• Fabric - (3 yards around $3.00 per year) = $9.00
• TOTAL - $20.95!!

WOW!! Even if you have to purchase these items, it'll still only cost around $20, maybe less if you get the fabric you want on clearance.

Thanks again for reading Re-Stylin'!  The desk should be finished in no time.  :) 

The Office Re-do! In Progress...

Ok, first off - Excuse the mess!  So this is the first project I will be sharing with everyone on Re-Stylin'!  

My goal is to restyle this ENTIRE room for under $150.  We just moved into this house at the end of December 2010.  Let's just say that we haven't had time to do much to the house.  This space is our office or study.  This room is the first room you see when you walk in, so it kind of has to be awesome, right?? :)  It's off to the left as soon as you walk in.  We have three beautiful windows that face the neighborhood (I'll get a shot later) and we want to move the desk into the middle of the room so we can see outside and not stare at a wall.  So you'll see that the room already has gorgeous hardwood floors AND crown molding.  Not touching any of that...The first re-stylin' project is going to be the desk.  Here we go!

Ok, so we bought this desk at Office Depot about 3 years ago and it has been moved about 3 times.  It has scratches all over the top and lets just say it's been through a lot. Well I decided that I wanted to make our new office space a "spa" like look and feel.  I know that sounds silly...A "spa" like office?  Well, if I'll be spending a lot of time in there, I should feel relaxed, right??  So I am going to be painting the room a beautiful light blue shade (more on that later).  I thought with that color, we should make the furniture a crisp white color.  Since buying a new desk is NOT in the budget, I decided that I was going to paint it myself.  I also want to mention that this desk is not real wood.  It's in fact particle board.  "You can paint and refinish particle board, Kristine?"  Why, yes you can readers!  I am going to show you how!  Here is the desk in the garage (thanks hubby for helping me carry it outside, quite heavy I might add).  Let's get started on how I am going to do this!


Things you'll need:

1. Screwdriver
2. Sand Paper
3. Primer and White Paint (Paint brushes)

Ok, now that you have all your supplies, let's get to it!  First thing, remove all the drawers and doors and take off the hardware using your screwdriver.  I wanted to sand and prime my drawers first.  You can begin wherever you want. Once you finish sanding the area you started with, get a paper towel and just wipe off the dust and begin priming the area you just sanded.  Let the first coat dry and while it's doing so, go ahead and start sanding another part.  I waited about 15 minutes then went back and primed the next coat.

The two drawers after TWO coats of primer

Desk door and shelf after TWO coats of primer

I started to sand and prime the rest of the desk but my little man decided it was time to wake up from his nap so I hope to get the rest of the desk primed maybe tonight or tomorrow when the hubby is home. 

Please stay tuned for the rest of the desk re-do!  Thanks for reading my FIRST post on Re-Stylin'.