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I am helping my client Sara redecorate her home office/guest room/treadmill room, and I made this window pelmet for her window courteous of these instructions over at Little Green Notebook. The directions are really great, and super easy. I had to modify slightly by adding an extra hook or two on the back of it because this pelmet spans an 80" window. I wanted to create something sculptural and artistic for her so I simply cut circles out of various linens and layered them on the pelmet, attaching with a drop of hot glue. To give it a bit of shine I also added circular mother of pearl shell chips that I had ordered online for a centerpiece project I did years ago. We are finishing up this room in the next week or so, and I will be sharing several other unique, easy projects that I made for this room!
Nine names in the hat this week for the third holiday pillow giveaway, and it's your lucky day jenlbez.....congrats! Send your address to christie.chase@gmail.com and your pillow cover will be on its way to you! 
The final pillow cover up for grabs in my holiday pillow cover giveaway series is made from a former Marimekko table cloth, and an upholstery green/white ticking fabric. The pillow cover fits a 16x16 inch pillow form (not included in the giveaway) and has a bottom zipper closure. Shipping to U.S. destinations is included. To throw your name in the hat to win this pillow cover simply leave a comment on this post. I will draw and announce the winner next Wednesday. Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!
My friend Sarah picked up an old window at a flea market for $5 this past summer. She commissioned me to paint a botanical scene on the window for her bedroom. I used a wax pencil to draw my design onto the window, and then applied artist's acrylic paints directly to the glass. I finished it with a matte varnish, which gave the clear glass a frosted finish and will help protect the painting.
I have a really tall, narrow linen closet in my house, and I am constantly dragging a dining room chair into the hallway to access the upper shelves. Tired of constantly moving the chair back and forth, I decided to find a stool solution that I could store in the hallway near the linen closet for easy access. As closet space is scarce here, the stool has to stay out in plain view, so I wanted it to be somewhat stylish. I found an old folding stool in my garage that I got about 10 years ago. It was a bit rusty and the top vinyl was gross, so I gave it a little facelift to make it worthy of being indoors.
Pictured to the right is a "before" of sorts that I pulled from Walmart.com. While my stool was not pink Hannah Montana, you get the idea that it was not attractive.
This is my stool after it's facelift. I simply spray painted it black with a Rustoleum Metal spray paint, and recovered the top with a scrap of black & white fabric and a layer of clear vinyl for durability. The stool folds, and now fits nicely in an exposed cubbie next to my linen closet, and is making it much easier and pleasant to access the the closet.
With only two names in the hat for the second holiday pillow cover giveaway, your odds were really good!......and the winner is THE ROBERTSONS OF MUMBAI......congrats! Send your shipping address to christie.chase@gmail.com and your pillow will be on its way to you!
The third holiday pillow cover giveaway is made from a linen Ikat fabric remnant and backed with a dark evergreen colored upholstery velvet. The pillow cover fits a 16x16 inch pillow form (not included in the giveaway) and has a bottom zipper closure. Shipping to U.S. destinations is included for each pillow cover giveaway. To throw your name in the hat to win this pillow cover simply leave a comment on this post. I'm giving everyone a week to enter, and I will announce the winner next Wednesday, when I list the final pillow up for grabs!
I just received my copy of the new book 1001 Ideas for Creative Reuse, and am excited because one of my ideas made the book! I submitted to the book project earlier this year, and found out a few weeks ago that my reuse project was chosen for the book.
The book is visually really inspiring, and it is amazing what people can make out of something else. My only disappointment in this book is that I wish that each project had some description accompanying the great pictures. I would like to know exactly what each thing is made from, and maybe a quip on how the re-user did it. The layout of the book reminds of an art gallery guide, as each project merely has a number and then there is a catalogue of artists at the back. I agree wholeheartedly with this amazon review of the book.
bifold before
First, I painted them a light grey color. I used a Satin Enamel Latex paint, and applied it with a small foam roller.
I decided that I wanted to paint some sort of subtle trellis design on the doors, and I did not want it to be a long stencilling project, or cost much, so using a bed quilt I have (that has a stitched trellis design) as inspiration, I decided to quickly make my my own stencil using poster board and an oval bowl from Nancy's china cabinet. I traced the bowl in a couple different patterns on gridded poster board, cut them out, and held them up to see what I liked.
Next, once the grey enamel was dry, I held my homemade stencil up on the doors and traced my pattern on lightly with a pencil. (It is hard to see my lines in the above photo, but they are there.) I wanted the doors to have a freehanded feel, so I did not worry too much about measuring or exactly centering my design, I simply eyed it as I went. It took me about 20 minutes to trace the whole design onto the four closet panels.
Once the design was traced on, I used white acrylic paint and and 1 inch wide artist's brush and I traced over my pencil with the paint. Once the paint was dry, I painted over the entire surface with Sherwin Williams Metallic Glaze to give it a shimmery, polished, more subtle look.
Is it too early to start thinking about the holidays? Well, to get you in the mood, I am doing a holiday pillow giveaway for the next several weeks. I made the above pictured pillow from leftover scraps that have been milling around my studio. The front polka dot and heart are made from upholstery like linens. I appliqued the heart on with a blanket stitch. The back is made from a green upholstery tweed. The pillow cover fits a 16x16 inch pillow form (not included in the giveaway) and has a bottom zipper closure. Shipping to U.S. destinations is included for each pillow cover giveaway. To throw your name in the hat to win this pillow cover simply leave a comment on this post. I'm giving everyone a week to enter, and I will announce the winner next Wednesday, when I list another pillow up for grabs!
Good Luck and thanks for reading!
My friend Nancy has this heavy dinosaur of a bookcase in her bedroom. It is made of solid wood, and has a similar dimension to the Ikea Expedit. It provides her tons of storage space, but she was sick of how dark and overpowering it was. She is in the middle of a room makeover, and I helped her tackle brightening up the big bookcase.
We decided to leave the sides and front grid in the dark walnut wood stain, and paint out the boxes with a creamy white. To do this we lightly sanded the inside of the boxes and taped off the front grid with green Frog tape (I have been dying to try it out). Next we brushed a primer on and then painted each box out with a satin enamel for durability. We peeled the green Frog tape off and I was disappointed to find that some of the paint had bled through onto the grid. It seemed to work about as well as the blue painter's tape, so I don't understand the claim that it is better, and the higher price tag. We had to use some Acetone and a rag to clean up the wood stained front grid.
Once the paint was dry we purchased two sheets of 4ft. x 8ft. foam core board from the art supply store for $20 each. We cut them to the size of the back of the bookcase using a utility knife and a straight edge. Nancy had ordered the Graham & Brown wallpaper roll and we simply laid the foam board on the ground and adhered the wallpaper using repositionable spray adhesive. It took two of us to spray, hold and smooth the wallpaper. Finally we held the lightweight, wallpapered foam board up against the back of the cabinet and gently used small tack nails to hold it in place. I'll share some before and after shots of Nancy's bedroom makeover once her new upholstered bed arrives in a few weeks.
I am helping my client Sara redecorate her home office/guest room/treadmill room, and I made this window pelmet for her window courteous of these instructions over at Little Green Notebook. The directions are really great, and super easy. I had to modify slightly by adding an extra hook or two on the back of it because this pelmet spans an 80" window. I wanted to create something sculptural and artistic for her so I simply cut circles out of various linens and layered them on the pelmet, attaching with a drop of hot glue. To give it a bit of shine I also added circular mother of pearl shell chips that I had ordered online for a centerpiece project I did years ago. We are finishing up this room in the next week or so, and I will be sharing several other unique, easy projects that I made for this room!
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