Beer Box Magazine Holder

An empty 12 pack Corona Light box (my beverage of choice) was sitting in our laundry room waiting to be taken out to the trash.  I thought it looked like it would be just the right size to hold magazines, so I quickly grabbed one of my HGTV magazines and tried it out.  What do you know... it was a perfect fit!!  So I cut the box in a "magazine-holder-type-fashion" (that's a technical term), wrapped it with some brown paper, and added some twine and raffia to dress it up.  Brown paper was all I had a around the house, but I bet it would look cool with some fun wrapping paper too.  (The Container Store is my favorite place for fancy wrapping paper fyi).

So in 10 minutes, with zero dollars, I turned trash into some fun storage!   This will be going in the study once I finish the built-ins.

I'm linking up at this link parties... go check them out! 

Tiny Sidekick - The Makers

Love Grows Wild - Time to Sparkle

The SITS Girls

The Happy Housie - Work it Wednesday
Redoux Interiors
Inspiration Gallery - Design and Diapers
One Project Closer - Creativity Unleashed
Blissfully Ever After - Inspire Me Please Blog Hop

Deck is Complete!!

Our bi-level, TimberTech XML, waterproof deck with "wedding cake steps" and storage underneath is finally completely finished!  I could not be happier with how the whole thing (especially the fancy steps) turned out. 

If you missed the journey of the deck, you can read all about the building process here:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

Sorry in advance for the barrage of photos... I'm a bit obsessed...

Tell me those steps aren't sexy!

Side view of the steps!

Now you see it...

Now you don't.

These next photos are not deck related, but this is the first time in my life that I have successfully grown something, so I have to share how great our flowers and veggie garden are doing...

The things in the middle are daisies and they are soooooo close to blooming!  That bright green stuff is potato vine and it's my new favorite plant.  The color just makes you smile :).

So pretty... I love bright colors!

Look how close the daisies are to blooming!!

Gregory watering the veggies!

We picked our first heads of broccoli yesterday and it was so good!

Potatoes!  Who knew potato stalks grew so big!

This has absolutely nothing to do with the deck, but I just thought it was cool that there's a beer named after me (which I am drinking as we speak :)).  And there's a tiny bit more of a peek at the family room progress.

I wish you could all come over to hang out on our deck and drink Colette beer!!

Update: A complete price breakdown of our deck can be found here.

Deck Input Requested...

Now that it's March (where did the past three months go?!?), we gearing up to finish our deck.  If you missed the progress we made in the fall, check out here, here, and here.  Our framing is complete and approved by our Township Building Inspector so the next step will be installing our drainage system on the upper level since we'll be using underneath as storage.  Then we can get to the fun part... laying the deck planks and putting up the railings and steps.  Greg and I visited a local lumber yard on Saturday to check out some composite decking samples.

I said composite decking, but we are actually going with an all PVC product from Timbertech.  After much deliberation we have narrowed it down to two choices and of course Greg really likes the one and I really like the other.  Here are our choices (shown next to our siding and the white railing that we will use):

Which option do you like better?  I should note that the second one is slightly cheaper than the first one.  It would only amount to a few hundred dollars difference though.

Empty Frame Gallery Wall

I've finally added a bit of decoration to our master bedroom walls:

Most of the frames I already had (isn't amazing how many random frames you collect over the years?). I wound up buying the 3 biggest ones at Goodwill for less than $10 total. I gave each a good priming (especially the wood ones, they were the hardest to cover) then sprayed all but the one with Rustoleum Metallic Champagne Mist spray paint (same stuff I used on my foot-of-the bed bench).

I used Rustoleum Berry Pink Spray Paint on the "accent" frame for some pop and to match the flowers in the canvas photo.

I laid the frames on the floor to get an idea of how I wanted them. Then I cut out paper templates of each frame and hung them with painters tape so I could see exactly what it would look like before I starting putting nails in my wall. I wound up trying a few different options before I found one I was satisfied with.  Then I just nailed right through the paper... no measuring involved!  I wish I had hung them a tad bit lower, but it will have to do as is!

 

 

Next up - some art for the wall behind our couch in the family room!

 

How are you all doing with decorating?  Any fun new ideas?  I love seeing pictures of rooms as they evolve so please share!

 

 

 Linking up with House of Rose "Inspire me please" link party!

FREE DIY Colorful Coasters

This little project was free and sooooo simple, and I'm so happy with how they turned out (after a bit of trial and error, which I will share with you so you don't make the same mistakes I did :)).

All that's required is some (free) laminate flooring samples (available in any home improvement store), some (free) paint swatches and some glue and sealer.  Behr swatches are the best because they are already square so there's no cutting required.

I traced the corners of the paint swatches onto my flooring samples and rounded off the edges (regular scissors did the trick), but that step is optional if you're ok with square corners.

Then you just spray the back of the paint swatches with some glue, place it in the center of the flooring sample, let it dry for about an hour then apply a few coats of sealer. I used a glossy shellac, but I imagine any type of multipurpose sealer would work. As for the glue, I tried three different kinds and this elmers craft glue (shown below) definitely worked the best. Also, the shellac is some strong stuff so you'll want to do that step outside or in an open garage, but I found that really cold temperatures caused some bubbles to form in the coating. The first set I did when it was about 45 degrees was fine, but the second batch was done in below freezing weather and those formed some tiny bubbles in the coating.

These could make a great housewarming gift paired with some wine glasses or a six-pack of your favorite beer!

 

 

Family Room Gallery Wall

 

I finally finished the gallery wall that has been sitting on my living room floor for the past month waiting to be hung! I'm thrilled with how it turned out. I think it's the perfect space for that wall in our family room and will look even better once I hang some curtains on the flanking windows. Since we don't have kids, the theme is our wedding/honeymoon. It feels a bit narcissistic, but it will have to be that way until we have kids!

 

I did the old "draw the outline on paper and hang the paper on the wall" for getting the layout on the wall just right.  I took pictures of the whole process, but unfortunately they didn't turn out that well so I'm not showing them.  Here's a step-by-step for a similar method from AKA Design.  It took me about an hour to get everything hung just right.  

Besides the canvas prints, the other things on our collage are:

1. Framed pressed flowers from my bridal bouquet... just taped them to some fun craft paper and framed... easy peasy.

2. "M" that I received for my wedding shower... it took me 2.5 years to find the perfect spot for it!

3. "Montague's est. 2010" sign... also a wedding gift that hasn't had a good home until now.  (I painted the outside part black so it matched better... it used to be dark red).
4. The frame in the bottom right displays 4 pictures from our amazing Hawaiian honeymoon.
5. 4" L O V E letters from Hobby Lobby (on sale for $2.39 each)

I already had everything for the wall except the frame for the flowers, which I got from ikea for $3, and the L O V E letters which were cheap, so the total cost for this project was only $13. (Big thanks to my sis-in-law for having those wedding photos professionally printed for me!)    

Our new couches are coming tomorrow... I'm so excited!!!

DIY Nailhead Trim Headboard

I finished our master bedroom headboard! 

 

I got my inspiration from the picture of the comforter that I bought online last month for our new king size bed.

Here's how I did it:

 

1. SKETCH IT... I sketched and cut out the shape I wanted for the top on a very large piece of paper (I actually printed this on the plotter at work... ssshhh.... don't tell my boss). You could also do it on a large de-constructed cardboard box or the back of wrapping paper or just tape a bunch of pieces of paper together. Or you could just sketch it right on the wood if you're that good. I held the paper up behind the bed first just to make sure I like the way it looked and the size was right before we proceeded.

 

2. CUT IT... The dimensions of our headboard are 76" wide x 42" high (about 30" shows above the mattress but I wanted the extra height below the mattress line just in case). We bought a 4'x8' piece of plywood from Home Depot and had them cut it to 76" (6 1/3') wide for us. We left the height as 4' so we had some wiggle room in case we messed up cutting the top. I attached the pattern to the plywood with thumbtacks and traced the shape onto the wood with a sharpie. I carefully cut along the line using a handheld saber saw (super easy to use!). It doesn't matter if it's not exactly perfect (mine wasn't) since you'll be wrapping it with batting and fabric.

 

3. COVER IT... I sprayed the wood with adhesive and laid the foam on top. I recommend leaving it a little long then you can just cut around the edges after it's attached. Then I laid the (pre-ironed) fabric on the floor, then the batting on top, making sure they were both pulled tight to eliminate any wrinkles. I trimmed each so there was at least 4" extra batting and fabric along each edge. I pulled the batting tightly around the wood and stapled in the back every few inches and did the same with the fabric.

 

4. NAIL IT... I used a nailhead trim kit from amazon.com. (I originally bought my nailhead trim from perfectfit.com, but it never came and they wouldn't give me my money back... grrrrr!!!).  I was worried that the kit wouldn't work with the shape of my headboard since it's the trim is a solid string and my headhoard is not straight on the top, but it was actually very flexible and easy to mold around the curves.  I suggest using needle nose pliers to hold the nails in place while hammering them so you don't damage your digits!

5. HANG IT... My dad and I had various ideas on how to hang the headboard, but we ultimately settled on hanging it on the wall with picture hangers and using brackets on the bottom for support.

 

 6. ADMIRE IT! Sweeeeeet! It's not perfect, but I made it so I think it's cooler than perfect :).



 

 

Here's what I used to make it:

MATERIALS:

3 yards of charcoal gray duck fabric from bigduckcanvas.com - $21.00

Nailhead trim kit from amazon.com - $11

1 piece of 3/4 in thick 8'x4' plywood - $30

Picture Hangers - $0 (already had)

Brackets - $4.00

5 yards of 3/4" thick upholstery foam (I only needed 2.5 yards, but I had to get two strips because it wasn't tall enough) - $20

3 yards of batting - $9

Spray adhesive - $0 (already had)
TOTAL: $95

TOOLS:

Saber saw

Staple gun

Rubber mallet

Electric screwdriver/drill
Needle nose pliers

I honestly think the hardest part of this project was ironing the fabric. But I'm a pretty terrible iron-er so you all would probably have an easier time with it. :)

What do you think?! 


P.S. I'm linking up to the Dog Days of Winter Party at Love of Family and Home.  Check out some of the other fun projects :).