$1 DIY Rope Pillar Candles

I've been admiring Pottery Barn's Beachcomber Pope Pillar Candles for sometime.  But with the various sizes ranging from $9.50 to $30...there was no way I was shelling out the money for a candle with some rope around the bottom.   So I put down the PB catalog and shopped my house - and by that, I mean, I looked up at my mantle where the tall white pillar candle was screaming for some rope.

I had purchased the candle at the dollar store a few months
back and it's been sitting there naked for awhile.  I had some twine in the garage and a spool of hemp rope in my craft room from another recent project. (I got it at Walmart, in case you're wondering.) I knew either would work, but I went with the hemp rope since the color is a little darker.

Using a hot glue gun I started by putting a line about 1.5 inches long on the actual rope to get it started on the candle.  Once it was attached, I just started wrapping the rope around the candle putting a short line of glue on the candle every few inches.  When I got it about 1/3 of the way up the candle I wrapped it back around itself in a few spots to add a little texture.  I made sure the end of the rope was glued down nice and tight so it won't start to unravel. 

That's it! 

How to hang a picture...the no fail 'Why didn't I think of that?' way

Another day, another update in our ongoing master bedroom makeover...today I hung the huge mirror over our king size bed and I thought I'd share a quick trick I've been using to hang pictures. 

This way to hang pictures is seriously no fail...

All you do is turn the picture or mirror over so the hanging brackets are facing up.  Take a piece of tape and tear off a piece that's exactly the distance between where you want the nails to hit the brackets.

How to make a personalized DIY cake stand or cookie tray

It has been a very productive day and I'm currently on a DIY roll..so here goes another!

I hit up thrift stores today and came home with these two gems ugly things with the intention of making what turned out to be a $5 cake stand -- the cost of the candle stick and the plate combined (I already had the rest of the supplies.)

Here's how it went from a candle holder and plate to a cute cake stand or cookie tray...

I used the incredibly strong Epoxy glue to attach the two pieces.  It's heavy duty glue and it worked perfectly -- after about 30 minutes it was dry and ready to be spray painted.

I went with navy blue because I had it on hand and it would match my dishes. Just as I was about to pull the trigger, I decided to personalize the cake stand. 

I used stickers to write the saying and made sure they were all stuck down really well.

As you can see I am not the best speller because I actually spelled "sneaked" incorrectly.  Of course, did I catch this before I spray painted? NO! But, I did catch it in time that I was able to peel the "E" off and use a little bit of nail polish remover to scrub it out.  Then I put the "A" in the spot and spray painted that spot again.  It actually worked pretty well...but obviously I didn't win too many spelling bee's in my day.

Once it was all dry, I started peeling off the letters using the tip of a steak
knife.  This was actually the hardest part as some of the paint didn't want to stay where it was supposed to.  Or was it because I was impatient and peeling before it was completely dry? Hmm...

And here's the finished product. What do you think? I especially like it because it matches the rest of my dishes, too!

For the record...my husband says he doesn't "get it"? Probably because he always eats the last one!

DIY Front Door Decorations: Monogram Letter

(From Stephanie:) We recently moved into a brand new house so I've been busying decorating everything from the front door on in.  My latest DIY project was a front door decoration.  

I bought a thin but sturdy cardboard letter (you could also use wood letters) at the craft store.  After

painting it, I simply hot glued marbles on it  and used a gold ribbon to hang it from the door.

It's the perfect way to personalize the front our new home.

DIY Outdoor Lighting ideas that cost pennies

We have a large outdoor patio with a fireplace and fire pit that I've been trying to add some nice accent lighting to without spending much money.
  
                    

After browsing around for some ideas -- and stopping by my favorite inspiration, Pottery Barn -- I came up with the idea to use various size jars as votives.

Pottery Barn's $20-$55 version

I collected a few glass jars from spaghetti sauce and peanut butter over about a week.  To get the labels off I just soaked them overnight in a sink full of water.  The glue was a little tough in some spots, but nothing a rough sponge or razor couldn't easily handle.

The sand costs about $2 for a huge (and very heavy) bag at Walmart and the candles were $0.50 each at AC Moore.  I wanted something a little taller, but to get them narrow enough to fit through the top of the jar, I was limited.  Then, using a little hot glue, I simply wrapped the top with hemp rope to add a rustic feel.

My husband -- who I might add has been wondering why I'm collecting all these jars -- took one look at them and said "I like it! They look very Pottery Barn."

Mission accomplished...

Here are a few other DIY outdoor lighting ideas that you can make on a dime. 

Outdoor Candle Lantern from In My Own Style: Use a tuna fish can, broom stick, and small vase to make your own tiki torches/lanterns

Hanging Mason Jar Votives from Home Depot: Use mason jars, wrap the top with black wire, add a candle and hang from coat hooks.

No Sew Drop Cloth Bed Skirt (perhaps the easiest DIY project out there)

If you've been following along you know I'm in the middle of a master bedroom makeover.  As DIYers 2IYers, Stephanie and I made the upholstered headboard and covered it with a drop cloth.  We used a 12x15 size and had half of it leftover.  I am planning to also make a bench for the end of the bed and cover it with the drop cloth and upholster it with the same nail head trim to pull the look altogether.   In the meantime, I've been looking at the bed -- which I mostly love -- and trying to figure out just what's missing.  Turns out it's the bed skirt.

Pottery Barn Linen Bed Skirt for $209

That's when it dawned on me to just use the very same drop cloth.  A drop cloth is perfect because it's large, inexpensive, and it gives you the linen/canvas look without the price of actual linen.

I might add --  Pottery Barn's King Linen Bed Skirt sells for
$209! That's $50 more than it cost me to make the headboard and the bed skirt.

My no sew drop cloth bed skirt was so easy it was almost stupid.  Here's how I quickly made it (I'm not very good at explaining this because I feel like I'm over complicating it, so I hope the pictures help):

DIY Throw Pillows from Standard Pillow Shams

I (Melissa) am trying to keep my bedroom makeover on a pretty tight budget -- one way I did that was by making throw pillows for a mere $2.50 each.   The bedding designer actually sells something similar to coordinate with my Poetical by Barbara Barry for a whopping $75 each! Oh, and did I mention these babies took me about half an hour to make all four?

My new king size comforter set came with two king size pillow shams, but my pillows are lost in them....so I decided to introduce them to my scissors and sewing machine to make four throw pillows.

The pillow shams were so large, they each made two large throw pillows.  Here's a quick tutorial for how to make throw pillows out of standard shams - making them this way you can actually either stuff them yourself with fiber stuffing or use 20x20 or 18x18 pillow insert.   (This only works for shams that have a center envelope style closure as seen in the picture below.)

DIY Drop Cloth Headboard with Front Nail Head Trim (tutorial)

It's only been a few weeks and I (Melissa) am happy to say that our master bedroom makeover is moving ahead full steam.  The biggest project -- and most rewarding -- has been making the upholstered headboard complete with nail head trim

Stephanie agreed to tackle the job with me and when my new Sleep Number bed was delivered we finally got the complete look.  Both of us were thrilled with our efforts especially after seeing how the look all came together.

I needed a new headboard because we were up-sizing from a queen to a king size bed. With a bedroom set already, I was trying to avoid having to match wood colors on a new headboard so decided going with the upholstered look would accomplish that.  While searching Pinterest for ideas for upholstered headboards, I came across this awesome drop cloth headboard by Tenth Avenue South.

DIY Dropcloth Headboard by Tenth Avenue South

It was practically an exact copy of the Pottery Barn Raleigh headboard that sells for about $1500 for the King size, which is what I needed.  The DIY version seemed easy enough -- and as it turned out -- it was.  We made the entire thing in the span of about five hours.

Pottery Barn Camelback Raleigh Headboard