diy

Countdown to Spring Party…

February 21, 2011 By Maryann @ Domestically Speaking 6 Comments

Do you have Spring Fever yet?

I’ve got the itch for warmer weather, flowers blooming and digging my toes into the hot sand.

I’m starting the Countdown to Spring Party this Sunday, February 27th. Each Sunday I’ll have a new goodie to share with you as I prepare for Spring. You can link up to the party starting Sunday through the 1st day of Spring. You can share your Spring décor, recipes, traditions, etc.… anything Spring!

I hope you’ll join me and share your Spring inspiration with us.

TODAY is the last day to enter The DIY Club monthly project party!!! Remember… they changed the rules, so now you can link up any tutorial. If you haven’t entered yet, head on over to see the new rules and link up to win one of the best prize packages out there!

In final news… I FINALLY picked some fabric for my master bedroom makeover (thank you so much Cassie for your input). Here’s a little peak…

Brown panels will frame the windows and the new fabric will give my mini-blinds a makeover.

See you tomorrow night for the Power of Paint Party ~ starts at 7pm (PST)!

Technorati Tags: fabric,diy club,spring,party

6 Comments Filed Under: diy, Fabric, Spring Tagged With: PARTY

58th Power of Paint Party… Nightstands

February 1, 2011 By Maryann @ Domestically Speaking 24 Comments

Welcome Paint Lovers…

Last week I gave you another glimpse at my master bedroom makeover.

I received 2 nightstands from my brother-in-law… free, decent shape, but laminate.

There were a few chips and scrapes. I used wood filler to patch up the imperfections.

Once the wood filler was dried I sanded over those areas till smooth. I didn’t sand the rest of the piece.

Zinsser’s Bulls Eye Water Based Primer…

This primer is great for covering laminate! It sticks like no other primer I’ve tried. No sanding needed!

I put on 2 coats on primer and then 2 coats of Valspar’s white paint.

I used a foam brush & roller.

Bye-bye laminate!

So what have you been painting?

Power of Paint Party Rules:

This is a PAINT party… so pretty please, link-up only paint related projects.

I HATE deleting!

Please put my NEW nifty POPP button (you can find it up in my menu bar’s BUTTONS) in your blog post or a link back to this party somewhere on your blog… that way others from your blog can check out all the paint projects too.

Technorati Tags: furniture,paint,party,nightstand,primer,white

24 Comments Filed Under: diy, FREE, furniture, HOW TO, paint Tagged With: PARTY

2nd Master Bedroom Reveal… Beautiful Stenciled Wall

January 19, 2011 By Maryann @ Domestically Speaking 12 Comments

Last night I revealed {Phase 1} of our master bedroom makeover…our new master bedroom paint color. You can read about all the details at the Power of Paint Party this week here.

{Phase 2} of our master bedroom makeover came about from being a Resident Blogger with the DIY Club this year (I’m lovin’ it).

I had the privilege of picking out the perfect stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils and some shimmering Decoart acrylic paint to create this gorgeous focal wall in our master bedroom.

I LOVE it!

Head on over to the DIY Club to get the full tutorial… I’ll see you there!

I’ve got a lot more bedroom reveals to share in the coming days!

Thank you Cutting Edge Stencil & Decoart for helping in this master bedroom makeover!

Technorati Tags: paint,stencil,master bedroom

12 Comments Filed Under: decorating, diy, HOW TO, paint

3rd Most Popular Post… Ikea Shelves turned Built-In

September 17, 2010 By Maryann @ Domestically Speaking 6 Comments

I’m having so much fun traveling down memory lane this week. In case you just joined in… I’m celebrating my 1 year blogging anniversary this week. I’ve been looking at my top viewed posts and have some amazing giveaways.

If you haven’t entered yet… The Vintage Pearl giveaway is ending tonight (Friday)… you can enter and read all the details here.

I also have a giveaway from Priddy Creations going on till Saturday night here and I just started a giveaway from Wonderfully Wordy this morning. You can enter her vinyl giveaway here.

So continuing on in my countdown of most popular posts…

{Ikea Shelves Turned Built-In}

This is a project that has been happening in stages. When we first moved in this space had this concave space for the TV. We have a big TV, but I’m not sure they make one that would fill this space…

(See the back left corner)

I wanted to transform it into a classic bookshelf surround unit, but easily and cheaply… key words I try to live by!

After searching around we came up with this idea. We purchased these Ikea shelves… 3 of them.

I think they were about $25 each when we bought them 2 years ago. We put 2 on either end.

and then we placed the 3rd shelf horizontally across the top.

Then my dad and father-in-law came and added two shelves to stretch across the open space between on top of the tv and the horizontal shelf up top.

Then the kiddos and I played with our miter box and saw and trimmed it out with some molding. (This was back last summer)

Now finally yesterday we caulked and painted it.

We placed a 1×2 piece of wood along the sides and up top to connect the shelves to the wall. (It’s hiding under the molding)

Not too bad for about $100!!

I’m sharing my flashback post at the parties in my PARTIES menu bar.

6 Comments Filed Under: diy, furniture, molding, paint

1 Year Blogging Anniversary… A Look Back

September 16, 2010 By Maryann @ Domestically Speaking 7 Comments

WOW… I can’t believe a whole year has passed since I entered this amazingly inspiring, encouraging and wonderful world of blogging!

First I have to thank you all… thank you for all your sweet comments and ideas that have spurred me on in making my house a home for my family.

Thank you for sharing in my life and letting me see parts of your world too!

I have enjoyed every minute of this last year!!! Having a blog is a great encouragement to get you looking at that to-do list that you’ve been putting off… I have learned a lot of blogging tricks and tips as I’ve worked to improve my blog and I’ve met SO MANY wonderful new blogging friends… so

THANK YOU!!!

So… I thought it would be fun to look back on my 1st post, 1 year ago today…

{Hollow Jute Twine Balls}

This is my very first ever blog post & I’m THRILLED to be linking up to Kimba’s A Soft Place to Land’s DIY Day! I’ve seen these cute twine balls in all my favorite stores, so my 4-year-old and I attempted to make our own MUCH cheaper version.

Items Needed: Twine, white glue, balloons & wax paper

As you can see we blew up the balloons. We mixed the glue with some water ~ about 3 parts glue, 1 part water. Then we started soaking a bunch of twine in the glue/water mixture.

Then came the tricky part… wrapping the twine around the balloon. I’ve got no great wisdom on this part other than repeating one section few times seemed to help it secure easier. Here you can see the 3 that we did all wrapped & drying on the wax paper. I let them dry for about 24 hours before we popped the balloons.

Now for the beautiful reveal….

The bottom ball is just a styrofoam ball wrapped in twine, but the top 2 are our creations. Here’s a pic of the large one on top of the hutch.

I just LOVE these fun creations & loved that I could do it with my preschooler too.

Stay tune… in my next post all share about the twine lampshade you can see in the pic above.

Thanks for stopping by.

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My small photos made me smile… the things you learn over time.

I’m sharing my twine creations at the great parties in my PARTIES MENU BAR.

7 Comments Filed Under: decorating, diy, twine

2nd Most Popular Post

September 15, 2010 By Maryann @ Domestically Speaking 14 Comments

37th Power of Paint Party and Kickoff!

September 14, 2010 By Maryann @ Domestically Speaking 14 Comments

It’s HERE!!!

My 1 year blogging anniversary week!

Thursday is my actual blogging anniversary, but all this week I’m going to be sharing my most viewed posts from this last year & having some AMAZING giveaways!

The first giveaway will start tomorrow morning.

So… of course my top viewed post had paint involved!

Here’s a flashback to January of this year…

{My Board & Batten Bathroom}

I’ve had this on my DESPERATELY WANT –TO-DO LIST since I first saw it done at It’s The Little Things That Make A House A Home. There is fantastic info on how they did it, plus links to other sites for more info.

Just to flashback… here’s what the bathroom looked like before… just a boring, builder bathroom.

Over the weekend I picked up my Dad’s nail gun and saw to make this project much quicker (2 items that I would love to own).

I started by putting pieces of 1×8 MDF across the top. I cut it into sections to go around this protrusion. I used liquid nails and my nail gun to attach my boards.

Then I nailed 1 1/2” slats in vertically every 12 inches.

The Lettered Cottage helped me plan the ledge shelf. I put a 1×4 on top of my 1×8. It was a challenge trimming out the center to fit around my wall extension… I’m glad my hubby helped on that. It would have helped to have a jigsaw (I think that’s what they are called).

Don’t you love my template skills… got to love play-doh!

One of those nifty “L” shaped pieces of molding finished off the ledge shelf.

A good caulking of all seams and putty in the nail holes gives it that seamless, finished look. I have to tell you I love DAP products… great caulking and their putty that is pink till it dries is brilliant.

A coat of glossy white made everything look just lovely.

I still need to finish the other side of the bathroom… see…

I’d love to replace the mirror and the light fixture I replaced earlier this summer.

I love how a few pieces of wood and paint can completely change a space. This was a pretty easy project too. It was my first time using a power saw and nail gun. So, if you’ve been thinking about doing a project like this… do it! You can…

14 Comments Filed Under: diy, HOW TO, molding, paint Tagged With: caulking, PARTY

34th PoPP & How to crackle…

August 24, 2010 By Maryann @ Domestically Speaking 24 Comments

This last week I shared with you guys my newest laundry room sign…

if you missed all the details on how I took a door from a free roadside end table to create this cutie click HERE for all the info.

I promised I would share with you how I made this SUPER cool crackle paint effect…

with guess what… cheap, white glue!!!

OK… here is all the super, simple details:

{Step 1}

Paint your piece with your base coat. On my sign I did my base coat with white acrylic paint. I painted a few coats till the wood was fully covered.

{Step 2}

Once your base coat is fully dried, take white glue and with a foam brush, apply your glue in thick even strokes trying not to overlap. I put a lot of glue on my brush and made one long stroke till the glue appeared to be thinning and then re-dipped my brush. Once your whole area is covered it will look something like this…

Nice and shiny!

{Step 3}

Let your glue dry for ONLY 5 MINUTES! Then take your top coat paint, in this project I used black acrylic paint, and you want to paint like you did with the glue… in thick, even & non-over-lapping strokes.

Here is what starts to happen after only 1 minute:

and after 5 minutes… a little more cracking…

and after 30 minutes…

Isn’t that SO COOL!!! With white school glue on sale for only 20-25 cents you could be crackling a TON!

One last look at the final effects on my laundry sign…

I’m sharing my cheap, easy crackle paint tutorial at the parties in my “PARTIES” menu bar button!

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So what have you been painting?

Power of Paint Party Rules:

This is a PAINT party… so pretty please, link-up only paint related projects. I HATE deleting!

Please put my nifty POPP button (you can find this in my menu bar “Button” link) in your blog post or a link back to this party… that way others from your blog can check out all the paint projects too.

In the URL line, insert your blog post url… not your general blog address.

In the “NAME” line place the title of your post.

24 Comments Filed Under: craft, decorating, diy, paint

Check Your Pockets… Laundry fun…

August 18, 2010 By Maryann @ Domestically Speaking 54 Comments

If you follow me on facebook and/or twitter I asked for any guesses on what I might be making from this…

This was a door from this side table that I scored for free when our city had a free large item trash pickup last Spring.

I’m still planning to stain this for use as a side table in our master bedroom, but I didn’t need the doors.

So… what to do with the door?

Months ago I purchased a clearance vinyl from Shelley @ Wonderfully Wordy… have you seen her cute vinyl? You HAVE to check out her goodies.

So I had this cute vinyl and an old door… HUM?

Of course, I needed to make a cute sign!

I removed all the hardware and then filled in the hinge holes with wood filler. A little sanding & then I did my painting.

For my sign backing I used some foam board that I had in my craft/den/mess-of-a-room-at-the-moment. Then I followed the great application directions at Wonderfully Wordy to adhere my vinyl…

and I created a CUTE laundry sign that I’m adoring!

(I’m sorry for the horrid lighting in these laundry room photos… the room is a cave… one little window that faces the north)

I’ll share with you all the details on how to do this crackle paint job in a few days.

It’s cheap & easy and I LOVE the effect & the texture it gives!

I love this ruffle ribbon… a little girly’ness is always welcome in my laundry room!

I had this ribbon in my stash for my girl’s hairbows. I just put the ribbon through the knob hole.

Moms you know that you can’t remind your kiddos enough about this message!

So excited to have another part of my laundry room makeover done… still hoping to have it all finished this year.

I’m sharing my lovely laundry sign at the parties in my “PARTIES” menu bar button!

54 Comments Filed Under: art, decorating, diy, paint Tagged With: ribbon

Scallop {How to}

August 4, 2010 By Maryann @ Domestically Speaking 35 Comments

I promised to share with you all how I painted my daughter’s scalloped wall… so without further ado… here’s the details on how to do this cute paint detail.

{Supplies}

ruler

long level or yard stick

paper plate

pencil

paint

brush

roller

Q-Tip

I decided to make my initial measurement at 8 inches from the ceiling. I decided on this height based on the doorframe and closet frame in her bedroom. I wanted to see most of the scallop detail!

I took a ruler and measured 8 inch marks around the room, about 3 feet apart.

Then I took my long level and connected the lines to make a continual line around the room at 8 inches from the ceiling.

To create the scallop I took a cheap paper plate and folded it in half.

I took the flat edge of the folded paper plate and placed it along the line. I started at one of the corners of the room and worked my ways around, tracing around the curved base of the plate to create the cute scallop.

Here you can see how I handled the corners of the room. The beauty of the paper plate… it bends!

Then I took my Checkerberry pink paint by Glidden and my Purdy 1 1/2 XL brush (I LOVE this brush) to cut in.

Here’s a pic of what this brush looks like…

I bought mine when we moved here almost 3 years ago. I’ve used it to cut in all the painting I’ve done in this house… great around the ceilings, baseboards, kitchen cabinets… you name it!