Crafty Style

 Last night was the first meeting of my Crafty Collegiate Bible Study. We craft around the dining room table and in the living room, so I decided this season's dining room style would be crafty.

 Every week is like a craft party. 

 We made these cute bracelets!

 Oh and I made some coffee, and left the coffee pot on the stove, but accidentally turned the eye on... whoops!

I guess I will be shopping for a new eye today. 

Vintage Modern Room Reveal

This room was styled for a very cool, 15 year old girl. She wanted the room to have a vintage modern feel. She began collecting a few antiques when her great grandmother passed away, and these special pieces were the inspiration for the room. 

(We started with the blue quilt, the fan, the rooster canisters, the green floral chair, and the cat door stop.)

 We spent a few weeks this summer scouring antique shops to find unique pieces for the room. 

We replaced the knobs on her existing furniture with these from Anthropologie. We really focused on finding unique, quirky, and interesting pieces for her room.

 Her family loves to travel, so a vignette of vintage postcards from locations they visited was installed over her bed. 

 She is an artist and photographer, so I was able to pick most of these cameras up for her while I was on vacation. Two came from her grandparents after they saw her collection (how special!) Honestly, it was a little hard for me to part with this collection, especially since many of them still work. 

 We knew we wanted to find glove molds to display her jewelry. The window seat cushion was recovered with an antique table cloth. I made the pillows, some from old barkcloth. 

 We weren't able to paint the room, so the yellow, stationary curtains add a much needed pop of color. An eclectic combination of pillows helps the room look relaxed and inviting. 

 The chair fabric was original, but we painted the arms and legs to give it a modern look. We painted brass lamps for the bedside and the table to match the red, floating shelf.

I made this pinch pleat shower curtain for her bathroom to tie the rooms together. She painted the carrot seed pack on the right.

Here are a few before shots:

The EASIEST Way to Hang a Grid Vignette

I added this photo to my houzz.com Ideabook a while back and planned to use the idea to display a client's vintage postcard collection from her travels. 

Ava Lane via Kailey J. Flynn Photography @ houzz.com

But does the thought of obsessively measuring for hours atop a ladder seem intimidating?

I learned this little trick when I was in Art school. If you create an installation piece- meaning it matters how the art is hung, this would be standard procedure. 

Start with a big piece of paper- butcher paper, kraft paper, wrapping paper or tape pieces of printer paper together. Your big paper needs to be larger than the whole vignette. 

Lay the paper down on the floor, then arrange your pieces. Measure and level on the ground until you are satisfied with your arrangement (these are 2" apart.) 

Trace the top and corners of each frame onto the paper. 

 Level, then tape or pin the paper to the wall where you want your grid vignette to hang. 

 IF your frames have a ledge for hanging inside (like these ikea ones do) Push two push pins through the paper into the wall on the top line of each frame. 

(Your vignette will hang 1/8 of an inch higher  if you do this, so if that bothers you adjust the big piece of paper- trust me it is easier to pin through the lines.)

IF your frames hang from a wire or hanger you should measure the hook location on the frame and add it to your drawing (like is it half way across?). 

Once all the pins are in place begin removing them. Then remove the paper from the wall. If your frames are to heavy to hang by push pins, nail in the holes marked by the push pins. These little 4x6 aluminum Ikea  frames were very lightweight and could hang from push pins, so i just pit the pushpins back in the wall. 

Hang your Frames and scoot as necessary to make sure your lines are even. 

*If any frames are askew, it is probably just the angle of the nail/pin. Try adjusting the angle before considering a new hole.  

**If you plan on nailing the frames and do not have any push pins, you can nail through the paper, then gently rip the paper off the wall leaving the nails intact. I do not recommend this with push pins though because they will fly everywhere. 

Mini Styling Upgrades

While I was working at the honeymooners house from yesterday, I decided to make a few minor changes to make the whole house feel more like a home. Even though this is not their forever home, this will always be their first home. 

(new curtains are on their way).

This table felt cramped in the corner, so I removed two chairs, and added some happy place settings (which were a wedding gift from Spain!)

This house is still a work in progress, but it already feels more like a home. 

Bedroom Styling

When I was contracted for the job, I had an empty bedroom. 

I selected the bed, and began purchasing furniture at thrift stores and flea markets to stay within budget. 

The plan was to surprise the couple with a finished master bedroom when they returned home from their honeymoon. Our goal "happy, colorful, a quilt, and no clutter."

Styling Built Ins

Oh the magic of white trim paint! The oak built in cabinets below made this room feel outdated and too casual. 

Using white trim paint and minimizing the shelf styling, this room is transformed into a lighter, brighter space. 

An appropriately sized Television was installed in the center cabinet with the shelf moved to the lowest pegs. I styled this whole cabinet with $80 at TJMaxx and a few of the homeowners books (jackets removed and brow paper bag covers on any brightly colored books.) 

The digital frame on the bottom right was made by the home owner from his old laptop - great idea!!

Product Review: RustOleum Cabinet Transformations

This week, while working onsite styling this home, we decided to tackle the kitchen cabinets the owner hated.

They had oak cabinets and an oak floor, and if you don't like oak, this was not a desirable look. The countertops were a solid white Corian in great condition. The owner originally wanted the cabinets to be a glazed white or cream, but with the white countertop and back splash, the cabinets could have looked dirty.  

Because I had been wanting to try the RustOleum Cabinet Transformations product, I decided we would use that to change the cabinets. The product boasts of no sanding or stripping needed, just clean, paint, glaze, and seal.
This product review is NOT sponsored by RustOleum- just my honest experience working with this product for the first time.
After watching the instructional DVD, we took the doors off the cabinets and removed the drawers. (Cumbersome, but definitely necessary!!!)We removed the decorative valance from over the sink and replaced it with a piece of wood trim. Removing the trim piece took hammering from the back side since it was installed with finish nails. 

Step 1 - you apply the deglosser with the provided scrubby pad on all surfaces. This product did not have a very harsh smell (maybe about the level of nail polish remover) and seemed to work like a cleanser, removing grime, but not much of the gloss. 

The next step was to add the Bond Coat, which is the paint color you have mixed at the hardware store. 

 We selected Seaside which was a light blue gray. 

 The first coat did not cover well, so it needs at least two coats.

After two coats.

The next morning, we were able to apply the second coat and let it dry for 3 hours.

Although the home owner helped me paint the cabinets, he was uncomfortable with the glazing step. His wife did not want the heavy, even glaze displayed on the box. She wanted a more high end look with most of the glaze in the corners and in the panel detail.

Following the instructions on the DVD, I applied the glaze (which was really thin and watery) with a brush and wiped gently with the cloth provided. 

And TA DA..... it wiped the paint right off! WHAT!?! 

So...I decided to throw the instructions out the window and use my distressed faux finishing technique I have talked about before (and clean up most of the glaze with a moist paper towel). You get 1 very, very gentle wipe with the provided cheese cloth before the paint comes off and if it doesn't look like you desire - too bad, I guess. I ended up only glazing the panel detail.

The cabinets ended up looking GREAT. However, I am not a first time DIYer, so I feel like I may have had an advantage over the beginner DIYer. This process may look easy, but it was not. This is a product that should only be used by serious DIYers OR if you hate your cabinets so much  that anything would be better than what you have - AND you have a lot of time to start over until you get it right. 

I,will not be using this product again. I think it would have been more effective to tint a can of Latex Kilz and then glaze with 3 parts acrylic medium (a paint extender) and 1 part paint/stain/glaze.  

Although the box boasted of 24 hours to complete, it took two of us almost 72 hours.

Glazing definitely took more than "paint on and wipe off," as the instructions indicated. I recommend using my paint distressing technique . We did not use any glaze on the cabinet boxes/frames for the look above. I applied glaze only in the carved part of the doors and distress painted the edges of the doors and drawers. 

**Kudos to RustOleum, who refunded our money since we were not 100% satisfied!**