Old Wreath gets a Make-over

I've had this wreath for a few years now and it has been whipped around in the wind on my front door and taken a real beaten.  So this year I wanted a new one.  Then I was on pinterest and saw some fabulous ideas on making fall wreaths.  I pulled out my poor wreath and I refurbished it and I love the new look! 

BEFORE:

I bought some ribbon from the $1 box at Walmart, a box of little fake pumpkins and one bouquet of fake fall flowers.  After I placed the ribbons where I wanted them (randomly around the wreath), I heated up my hot glue gun and placed the flowers, fall leaves and pumpkins around the wreath as well.  I had bought a letter W a while back and decided to throw that in the middle.  I spray painted it white and stapled it to one of the ribbons and Wah-lah...



It has a whole new look to go on my newly painted front door.  LOVE IT!

Creating my own Shelves

I have wanted to make these shelves since I saw them shown on Studio 5 here in Utah.  For the life of me I can't find the blog of the lady who showed these.  I had her in my favorites on my blog, but I can't find it for some reason. 

Anyway, she got the idea from Pottery Barn.  I believe she used either 1x4 or 2x4 boards.  I don't know if mine are 1x4's.  I think they are maybe 3/4" instead of 1".  They had been the slates in my kids old beds, so when I got them new beds I thought they would be perfect to use for the shelves.  Here is the final look...

And here is them on the wall in my living room...

So here is how I created them...

I nailed two boards together and then nailed the molding on with small nails.  I just bought a basic molding from Home Depot to use as an edging.

I then sanded the whole thing and applied a white primer...

I then took my handy Burnt Amber glaze (bought at Kwals Paint) and a rag and I wiped the glaze on.  Make sure you use gloves when you glaze.  It can be pretty difficult to get off especially if it gets in your fingernails (I had a glove break on me before).

And here is the final product after the second coat...

Here is the picture of one of Pottery Barn's shelves...

Mine are a bit more rustic, but they are pretty similar.  And they cost me next to nothing to make.  And even if you don't have all the supplies, I know Home Depot has scraps for really cheap.  I believe these are $35 for 3 and mine were maybe $3 for all 3. 

I then added a Polyurethane coating to protect them from wear and tear.  After I let that dry for a few days, I used long screws and screwed the backs directly into the wall.  I thought of other ways to mount them, but considering any screw would be hidden with whatever I put on the shelves, this seemed to be easiest way.  Here is the final product on the wall before I put anything on them...

Right now I am still experimenting on what I want to put up there.  I definitely want my Thomas Kinkade painting up there and since it is fall, I added the fall dishes.  I want the picture frames too, but I still might change it up. 

We will see.  For the fall I will leave it this way, since it will all change for the Chrismas season.

After the New Year I will look at other ways to put the deco's and maybe change things up.  It was definitely fun to create these shelves and a lot easier then I thought and cheaper than buying them from Pottery Barn.  I plan on making more.  One for my bathroom, except it is a 1x6 shelf and a couple each for my kids to put their dance and Taekwondo trophies on.  If you have any questions about the process let me know and I will be happy to assist.

Using Rustoleum stone spray paint

I have had this old metal milk jug for about 12 years.  The last couple of years I had been looking at it, wondering how I could change it up with the least amount of effort!  Lo and behold, I was in Walmart the other day looking at their spray paints, when I discovered Rustoleums stone spray paints!  It was perfect!  Here is what the jug looked like before:

Notice the darkening on the bottom.  It really was getting outdated and ugly.  Here is the spray paint I used.  I forgot to take a picture so I just looked it up online!

And here is the end result and it has a made a world of difference in the whole look of my family room!

So simple and so easy to do!  Those are some of my favorite projects.  It isn't really anything wonderful color wise, but it did make a difference in how the flowers stood out.  It also matched my the color of my new doors, another project found here: http://nikisoddsandends.blogspot.com/2011_04_01_archive.html