DIY Grey Felt storage bins

We're getting ready to fill the boy's new bookcase with storage, so here's a post on making some DIY Grey Felt Storage bins.  These felt storage bins are very popular right now at stores like West Elm and Crate and Barrel. Here's how you can get a similar solution for a fraction of the cost.  First you'll need some felt. Any fabric store sells it by the bolt.  I bought about 2 and half yards from Joann's  fabrics for $5 per yard and will make about 4 bins. You can make more with this amount of fabric since I had a lot left over.  I didn't pre-wash it since these will never be washed in the washing machine.  The first thing I did was cut them into 10" squares using my rotary mat and rotary cutter with a yard stick.

Next I made a solution of water and fabric stiffener in a bowl and used a 2" painter's brush to coat them with the glue.  

Then I laid all of my pieces on parchment paper and put them outside to dry for 24 hours.  They were nice and stiff the next day.

Next I used my sewing machine to sew 4 sides together.

Then I sewed the bottom on by attaching to all four side pieces.

Then I flipped the whole thing inside out so the seams were on the inside. However it looks cute with the seams on the outside too, just make sure your seams are perfect or use the same color thread. My thread was white, so I wanted my seams on the inside.  Next I folded down the top for more support and added design and then top stitched around the whole top.

Clearly I need to work on straighter stitches!

Here's a view from the inside.

I have finished two bins and plan to make two more. I'm trying my hand at some fabric liners for the last two so stay tuned to see how those turn out. :)

xo
Cathleen

Bookshelf Makeover

My new favorite furniture makeover!  Not only because of how it turned out, but because it provides a ton of new storage for the boy's room. I can't wait to show you their whole room when it's finished, but for now here is their new blue and white painted bookshelf.  

Here is what it looked like when we brought it home.  It was a $40 craigslist find.  And solid wood! Gotta love good bones at an awesome price.

This is what the bookcase was replacing. We're selling this on craigslist if anyone is interested.   This bookcase will grow with them and last a lifetime (fingers crossed.)

Here are the details.   First, I sanded the whole thing down with 120 grit sand paper.  Then I wiped it clean with a damp rag and let it dry.  Next I used Zinsser primer to coat the entire thing with a paint brush.  After waiting several days, I painted the shelves and inside with Olympic's One Interior Paint in the color "Sailor's Coat."  For the outside I used a standard off the shelf white that we had on hand.  I used two coats of paint for the whole thing.  After another several days, I put on three coats of Minwax Polyurathane Gloss Paint.  In between each coat I lightly sanded with 220 grit sand paper.  Then I waited for about 4 days before bringing it inside.   Joe anchored the whole bookcase to the wall and added a hole in the back for the radio to plug in.  We have big plans to add some light fixtures to either side and some fun storage so stay tuned for that! 

 
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AFTER

xo

Cathleen

Friday Fun Faux Taxidermy

These poor plastic animals never stood a chance when I got my hands on them.  They were a $1 score at a yard sale about a year ago and I've been waiting for the moment I needed to let out some anger. But seriously, it felt kind of mean and weird sawing their little plastic bodies in half.  

I tested out a few of our hand saws.  Sure I could have used a power tool but this was energy efficient. LOL.  The blue saw furthest to the right was my saw of choice. Giving me the cleanest cut.    I made sure to wear a glove on the hand that was holding the animal just in case.

After they were sawed in a half I spray painted them gold.  While they were drying I looked for a frame in the attic and found this one. It was once black, but I decided it needed to be different, so I sprayed it with primer and it got a few coats of shiny gray paint. 

And while that was drying, I added a layer of fabric to the backing board of my frame and put the glass away.  Next I used my hot glue gun to glue the animals to my fabric.

Then I popped it the back into the frame and voila! Gold painted plastic animal faux taxidermy in a frame!

It's up on a high shelf for now until I get other things ready for my daughter's "wall collage" that will be in her room. That to-do list keeps getting longer and longer.  

Have you made anything with fake plastic animals lately?  It's quite fun.  Hope you have a great weekend and a VERY happy Mother's Day to my Mom and all the great Moms out there.

xo

Cathleen

Inspiration: Aqua, Navy, Coral Girl's room

I'm so inspired by these colors for a little girl's room.  What do you think?

Sources:
Wall Color - Sea Breath by Valspar
Dresser - Poppyseedivin on Etsy
Erte Print
Fabric - Fabric.com by Waverly, Amy Butler, and Michael Miller
Gray Popcorn Rug - Target
Light - Lamps Plus
Mirror - Bed, Bath, and Beyond

xo
Cathleen

Spring 2013 Pinterest Challenge

It's that time again over on Young House Love for the very fun Pinterest Challenge. I love a good challenge and I've been pinning like crazy lady lately.

Since I'm redecorating the kid's rooms I thought it would be fun to paint the dresser in the boy's room.  Here is what it looked like before I got my hands on it. A little background. I bought this dresser for $85 at a flee market 6 years ago.  The brand says "ModernAge" in a cool retro font. The color is light green with an antiqued finish and it's a vintage dresser but in great condition. It needed a few facade pieces on the front sealed up and the doors needed new screws, but other than that it was the perfect piece of furniture to refinish.

BEFORE:

Here are the inspiration photos I pinned on Pinterest for the colors I liked.  Basically I was loving the gray finishes with gold hardware.

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So the budget conscience person that I am these days told me I should go ahead and scrounge up some gray paint that I already had and mix them all up to come up with a new shade of gray. So that's exactly what I did.  For the hardware, I bought a can of gold spray paint by Valspar from Lowes.

I followed my steps for painting furniture, except that I waited 1 full day between each coat to make sure it was really dry and durable (and aired out since it was going in a child's room.)

Here is the AFTER!

I really love how it turned out and it's hard to tell by these photos but it has a very glossy surface.

My favorite part has to be the gold hardware. It makes it look very fancy.

Just for fun I painted the inside doors "Weathered Glass" by Valspar.  Originally I was going to paint the whole dresser this color, but decided against it.  Wanted to stick with a neutral.

Now I can't wait to finish up the rest of the boy's room! Hope you enjoyed this furniture makeover!

xo

Cathleen

Blue and Coral girl's room

I'm having fun thinking of new colors for our daughter's room. Right now the walls are painted a sort of aqua blue color. The coordinating colors are pinks and whites.  Since she will be getting the new flooring soon (Dark brown) I thought it would be a nice time to update the colors. I think the easiest way to do that is to the leave the wall color as is (not introducing more chemicals is good) and to introduce dark corals or orangy-pinks. Here are some fabrics that I'm thinking about.

This one from Amy Butler could be really cute for curtains.



And oh, I might have already purchased this one to make a headboard (by Waverly.)



I'm also really loving the next two from Amy Butler, especially this one right here. It really coordinates with the headboard fabric.  Maybe Curtains?



I love the teal blues in the this one and it also has little hints of the coral color.



These two fabrics are by Waverly and could be fun pops of color for pillows.





I'm all over the place right now with design ideas for both the kid's rooms. SO I apologize, but want to get my ideas out here so I can have a clearer picture of where I'm headed. Both room are in progress, and probably won't be done for at least a month. It's hard to get all the projects in with three little ones to watch and we usually save the big projects for the weekends.  Hope you're having a great week!

xo
Cathleen