Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

A House Tour and a Ton of Simple DIY's and Super Quick Tip's

As you all know I moved and I have been shopping, DIYing and decorating like crazy! Here, I am going to give you a tour of my living room (in the video) and my room (through photos). 

In the video, while I am showing my living room, I am taking you around and showing you all of the awesome deals I got on everything. I try not to buy expensive things. I also show you the makeup I got at Ulta and Lauren Conrad shoes I bought at Kohl's. They were around $70-something and I bought them for under $20! This was a really fun day and I hope you enjoy it too!






My room is the big room up in the attic. As you can tell, I don't have high ceilings. The shape of my room is in the form of what a roof looks like. I kinda like it like that. I think it adds character. 

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And Then There Was Light:
This is my bed where I sleep at night. I got the comforter for Christmas and even though it wouldn't be my first pick, it is really comfy and looks cute. I bought my actual bed in high school and never did buy a head board to go with it. So, I made my own head board with stringy lights I bought at 5+Below. I love the light it gives off, making it look dreamy. I also hate having the big light on in any room, especially my bedroom, and try to avoid it at all costs. These type of lights are perfect for me. They are the only lights I keep on in my room. I have a different style of stringy lights in my kitchen that are colorful. They're adorable. And it's so simple. 

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Jazz Up An End Table:
My end tables were my first decor venture in this house. The end tables you are seeing were from my mom's house. She kindly gave them to me. Thanks Mom! I especially like how this one has that shelf to put stuff on. I have a notebook underneath a decorative box I got from Target in the $1 section. I throw my junk in there: reading light, a pen, makeup remover, Pocket Bac, etc. It's great because it catches junk but also looks cute. Stylish and purpose-serving. The drawer isn't a drawer. It's actually a filing cabinet. I want to use it but haven't yet. The last thing I want to do is start throwing stuff in there without any plan, place, rhyme or reason. That is how clutter starts and that is how you lose things.


Cheap DIY:
On top of the end table's, I have my bouquet's I made for $6 a piece from Dollar Tree. You can buy different fake flowers there. Be creative and put together your own flower arrangement! I think it adds a special touch. Nobody else is going to have that exact bouquet. To help the flower's stand up, you can add decorative rocks. They had a few different colors at Dollar Tree. I preferred the clear non-colored one's. They also have fake water at Pat Catan's for around $10, but I like to have the option of changing out the flowers. That glass vase is also from Dollar Tree. To me, it looks classy and stylish but I didn't have to spend a bunch of money and I also got to create something.


Instead of hanging up my wall art (bought at Ikea years ago) and make more holes in the wall, I decided to simply set them on the end tables. I think it looks cute! They are a little out dated to me so I wanna do some kind of DIY with them but for now, they look cute and totally go with the purple floral print on the comforter. I also have some silver photo frame's to go with my cool toned room, and some cute tea light holder's I bought at 5+Below for $1 a piece. They are on sale right now 2 for $1!

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Work With What You Got
My beauty dresser, as I never called it but-needed-some-type-of-name-to-differentiate-it-from-the-other-dresser, dresser. It was a surprise to me that the dresser which is darker wood went so well up against the cool toned off-purple walls. I quite like it. I made the nail polish rack myself. I bought the T-Bars at Pat Catan's {$4 and $10}. The bucket serves as another place to throw junk instead of having it laying out. My body spray's and lotions are sitting on an old candle tray I had lying around. Another Tip: Things that used to be used for one thing, could be used for something else completely another time around. I love that tip! Give something a new life.

The shelf I hung up has all the rest of my nail stuff. Manicure scissors, emory boards, that kind of stuff. I used an old candle jar from the small candle's from Bath and Body Works to store that stuff in. Told you! Give thing's a new life. And it even looks cute. Boom.

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T.V. Dresser DIY
This is another piece of furniture from my mom's house. This actually matched my "beauty" dresser but I decided to paint it to go with the cool toned theme that is my room. I wanted an off white base with silver accented drawers and that is exactly what I got. It looked cute outside when I painted it but I am un-sure of it at this point. I feel like it may clash with itself and even then may clash with the walls. It works for now! Maybe it will be cuter when I get some drawer knobs on there. Whoops. Haven't got around to it yet. The Off White Color I used is a spray paint from Krylon called Ivory. I bought it at Wal-Mart for like $5 a piece. I used the same color base coat from the same brand. It was only $1 extra. That equaled 5 cans total, including the base coat. I have used a top coat before when spray painting furniture and found it served no purpose in the long run so I didn't use one this time around.

For the drawers, I used a metallic spray paint called Silver from the Metallic Collection by Krylon. It was also around $5 and I only used 1 can of this and even have some left over. This really sparkled outside in the day light and I am in love with this color/finish. It looks a little more toned down in the house. It does however reflect objects in my room, picking up those colors making it cohesive with the whole room. I am just not sure if it goes well with Ivory which is the color of the dresser itself. I used 3 coats for the drawers.

About Spray Painting:
I recommend spray painting furniture any day! Pick a spring or fall day where it is neither too humid or cold. It takes 10 minutes or less to do 1 coat and it takes 10 minutes for each coat to dry. Spray painting is goof proof. After the first coat you might be wishing you haven't even started it. It will look like you tried to tag up your piece of furniture but after that last coat, it looks even and opaque.

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 The Closet:
I used to organize my clothes from tank tops all the way to hoodies and then assort them by color. Since there is no door, I wanted it to look a little more aesthetically pleasing so I went with every single piece being organized by the colors of the rainbow. ROY G BIV. It's harder to find things this way so I don't know if it is going to stay like this, but for now it works.

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The Walls:

 I really wanted to go with a neutral toned silver. I went for a paint called Simple Shimmer from the Metallics line from Valspar. I bought it at Lowe's. It is a pretty penny- literally. {metallic humor} With the special paint sponge/brush, base color, and the actual paint it cost me around $100. If I could do it again, I would have went with something else. You can kind of see the strokes from the paint roller too. For $100, it just isnt worth it. They had paint similar to this from Martha Stewart at Home Depot. If your dead set on a metallic or a shimmery finish, look to Home Depot. The wall directly behind me in this photo {the wall with the closet and beauty dresser} was only painted with the special base coat paint.  After doing this wall, I kind of liked the way the base color looked and it was way less work. Luckily, we still have some left of each paint can so I need to come up with another project to play around with. You better believe I am not letting it go to waste!


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Computer Desk:
I painted this with the same method as my T.V. dresser. Only when I painted this, I used a top coat and sanded the whole entire thing. Seriously, an unfruitful venture in the worst way. This spray paint is by Krylon and the color is called Gum Drop. I used 4 cans of this but I think I could have went with less. I got a little paint happy lets just say. I painted this a couple years ago and I am not sure I would have chose this exact color to go with this room but I do actually think it work. In fact, I like it better than the T.V. dresser in this room which was thought out for this room exactly. Going with your gut isn't always the best option.

By the way, those pink drawers are from Target. I bought that for like $12 and they are also on sale right now for even cheaper. The drawers hold both my makeup and office supplies. Call me crazy but it works for me. 

That is rule #1. 
Find what works best for you. That's the best piece of advice I could ever give yah!


Writing all of this out made me think that it may have been better in a video form. I dunno. Whatever. 

So let me know what you think!
What do these room's need more of?
How awesome is that mirror and those shoes?! 

thank you for reading!
xoxo
Erica 


Friday, July 13, 2012

NOTW: Shabby Chic Floral Print

No, this is not a nail sticker. Yes, it is extremely easy to do! Do you guys visit The Beauty Department? You should if you like nail art! That is where I got this idea from!




Nail Polishes used: left to right: SH White On, SH Green With Envy, SH Sun Kissed, Avon Speed Dry in Strawberry. This picture is very true to color.




Quick Review: I hear a lot that it is hard to find an opaque white nail polish. Sally Hansen's White On was quite opaque after the first coat! I did 2 coats just because I always do, but if your in the market for a good white, here's your polish! Plus, it's only like $2.

You will also need: Nail Polish Remover, a piece of paper, & A small eyeliner brush you do not use. They used a normal paint brush. Just make sure your brush is tiny or has a fine point. I used an angled liner brush that I got with the Wet n Wild cream liner. It worked perfectly. I used the very tip of it and had no problems whatsoever.
  1. Paint your nails the base color (white) 
  2. When that dries, add a dab of the first color you want to use (pink) to create your flowers on the piece of paper.
  3. Pour a little bit of the nail polish remover in the cap so it is easily accessible. 
  4. Dip your brush into the nail polish remover 
  5. Transfer the nail polish remover you have on your brush to the pink nail polish on the piece of paper. Mix it together.
-The idea here is to mix 1 part nail polish with 1 part nail polish remover. Once you did so, you will create little flowers on your nails, obviously. The mix will make it look like a faded/watercolor type of floral print.-

        6. Use a dabbing motion when your creating the flowers as opposed to a sweeping motion. That will make them look faded even more so and you may even be able to skip the last 2 steps.    
        7. Once your done with your first color (pink), repeat steps 2-6 for the next 2 colors.  

-It doesn't mention to change out the nail polish remover with each step, but I think that would be ideal. You will notice the nail polish remover will be tinted the colors of your nail polish and we wanna stay away from mixing colors at all costs!-

-I used the same brush for all the colors. If your going to do the same, just be sure that your wiping the brush off really well between each color. I didn't use any soap/water/brush cleanser to clean it off. I simply dipped the brush into the nail polish remover, then wiped it off with a tissue until there was nothing on it.-

        8.  Now your going to add a dab of the white nail polish on the piece of paper. Mix 1 part white nail polish and 2 or 3 parts nail polish remover. 
        9. Make the slightest little dot at the center of each flower with the white mixture. If you have used enough nail polish remover, the white will slowly spread over the flower when you put the drop down, which in turn makes it look faded. I only did this step with some of the flowers. (see step 6)

Ok! Now just add a top coat and your good to go! If your more of a visual person check out The Beauty Department for pictures to go along with the directions! I do recommend checking the real tutorial out, But still read my tips which are in italics to have an even better understanding! I hope I helped! I have a feeling im all over the place! LOL!

Good Luck!
xoxo
Erica





Saturday, April 7, 2012

Ombre NOTW

This is not the ombre your thinking of! Where you paint your thumb the darkest color, then your pinky the lightest color, ombrein' all the way down the hand. Nope, this is the actual nail! When I seen it, I thought it was too cute.


What you do: Take a solid color of nail polish, and paint your whole nail. Then you take a glitter and start at the tip of your nail, taking it down to nothingness at the cuticle. I have even seen people use regular glitter as opposed to polish, which gave a really pretty effect. Here's some really bad pictures I tried to take. Hey my nails were wet and I was crunched for time to get the picture and paint the rest of my nail, what can I say?


 see that glitter at the tip? Pull it down! I repeated that technique on each nail around 3 times. So I used 3 coats.





When I picked out the combination of the glitter & color I wanted to use, I was quite pleased with myself. I really like these 2 together. I usually only use Strobe Light (glitter) with pinks for some reason. Glad I went outside my comfort zone. Colors I used are as follows:



That is my NOTW! You guys like it? Just a reminder for the Spring Trends Series! I would like to post the first part at least before next week which is when I am going out of town for the day.  Either the first part or my fashion TAG! I made up a Fashion TAG which is a lot of fun! Let me know if you want to be tagged & also what you would like to see first on the blog! Thank you guys!

Have you guys tried or will you try this Ombre trend? What colors will you use or did you use?

Till next time,
Erica J

Monday, March 19, 2012

Giving My Makeup Station a Make-Over

 This blog is formerly Meet Makeup

Hey! Remember my haul from last November? I bought purple spray paint and a paint primer from Wal-Mart to re-do an old 80's looking desk I had. The problem is that I am always having to do my makeup in the bathroom. Which means I was storing it in there. When you store makeup in the bathroom, it goes bad quicker due to the moisture the shower makes. Not a good deal. Luckily I had this old desk to give it a face lift!

Disclaimer: I would be lying if I said I did most of the desk myself. Fact is, my boyfriend did most of the desk. He did most of the sanding and I did all of the painting. We didn't sand the whole thing though. And the side I didn't sand actually looks exactly the same as the side's we he did sand. If your thinking about DIYing something, skip sanding people! If your working with for mica, which is what the desk is.

Another thing I wanted to mention is that I had to go back to the store and purchase another can of spray paint. The desk isn't too big so if your going to spray paint a piece of furniture, you will probably need 2 cans. The paint I used is called Gumdrop and it is by Krylon. It was only around $5



Now that the desk is all done, I store my makeup in/on it. However, I still need to do my makeup in the bathroom due to the lighting. I really need to get some good lighting once and for all. I also need to up-grade my storage too as I ran outta room. So, once everything is fully done, I will update the blog about it.


All and all, I am extremely happy with my results. For one thing, nobody (as far as I know) has this exact same desk as I do. For another thing, I spent $15 in all! ($5 each for the Gumdrop paint, $5 for the primer, & we had the sand paper on hand!) How cool is that?


 So that is that!  I can't wait until the whole station is actually done so I can show it to everyone!

QOTD: Have you guys ever re-did a piece of furniture? 

Do You Guys Like The New Blog URL? How About The Blog Facelift?

Till Next Time,
Stay Beautiful!
xoxo
Erica J

Monday, January 16, 2012

P.S. I Made This Nail Polish Rack!


While browsing the web looking for a great nail polish rack I can buy, I quickly started wondering why they were all extremely overpriced and also bland. All 20 I looked at were just made from clear plastic **snooze**
So I actually found a video on Youtube about how to make one which I will link below if you wanna check it out.

I followed her guidelines for the most part, except I jazzed mine up a bit using pretty pink damask scrapbook paper, hot pink, & zebra ribbon. I must say, it is far from an eye sore and I honestly cannot believe I made this!
It was extremely easy to make as well as a lot of fun. I paid about $16 in all, as I had glue, a glue gun, & an X-Acto knife on hand. I am thinking about doing a step by step blog post on my other blog, Meet Miss Jackson. Let me know what you think and if you would be interested in checking it out. It is far more rewarding looking at my nail polishes all in place with my very own DIY polish rack.

 Sorry about the lighting in the picture above! I simply couldn't wait for a sunny day to show of my amazing talent haha!

If you are thinking about making your own, here's a list of the stuff you will need:

Foam Cord (2 large pieces)
Elmer's Glue
Hot Glue
Hot Glue Gun
Scrapbook Paper or Wall Paper
Ruler or Architectural Scale
X-Acto Knife
Scissors
2 Spools of Ribbon


Seriously easy-peasy. Make one!


Have you guys ever DIY'ed anything? I would love to know what!

as always, thanx for reading!

xoxo 
Erica J
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