How to Use an Old Atlas for New Decor

August 11, 2017August 9, 20175 Comments

Hello everyone! I hope you have all had a wonderful week so far and are ready for the weekend. Anyone have any awesome plans?

Well this weeks project was originally seen when I was in Seattle on my trip. I saw this and knew that I could make it myself. So with a small bit of help from my mom for the main supply, I am bringing you a wonderful DIY.

Supplies You Will Need

An old atlas or maps (mom found hers at a thrift store)

Glue

Paperclips

A pencil

A frame

Chip letters

Step 1

Decide how big you want your pieces. There was actually a pre-cut piece in the atlas that I used as my sizer. I would paperclip my sizer to the atlas and cut around it until I had the two pieces. I tried to use pages with a lot of blue so I ended up using a log of pages with the ocean or lakes as my pieces.

Step 2

Roll you pieces. I would put a small line of glue on the edge of the paper before I rolled it around the pencil. And at the end I would put more glue to secure the edge. I would then use two paperclips to hold it down to try to dry. That way the roll didn’t lose its shape and the glue could dry.

Step 3

Measure out your frame. I bought a 5×7 frame from Dollar Tree and took the glass out of the front of it. I turned the paper over so it was white and laid the atlas rolls out in a pattern. I found a few spaces that needed to be filled in with smaller rolls. After using some Elmer’s glue, I was able to move on to the final step.

Step 4

Attach your chip letters. Since I used atlases, I decided to make the word travel. And I felt like it was fitting since I saw this while I was traveling. So after a lot of gluing and drying, here is the finished product!

I love how it turned out. And I definitely plan on hanging this on my map gallery wall in my living room when I finally get around to it. I hope this you enjoyed this DIY and if you have any questions please let me know!

New Gallery Wall in the Dining Room

March 13, 2017March 12, 201714 Comments

Hi everyone! Did you all have a good weekend? I drove up into our mountains with Haley and enjoyed the beauty up there. It was so nice and green and the water in the river was flowing. I love the sound of the water running over the rocks. It’s so relaxing.

I have been trying to complete lots of little things around the house, but nothing is quite finished or it’s not enough to be blog-worthy. We have just about completed the entryway-I am painting the floor this week. Probably won’t get the stenciling done right away, but at least it will look better. We have had quite the adventure with the light fixture. I was going to order the one on Amazon, and then thought I would just see if there was anything similar at the local stores. I found the hanging lights where you can add whatever shade you want and thought that would work instead. There are so many pretty shades! But then we couldn’t find what we needed to hang it without it being too long. I also realized I already had a drum shade from the old house. We finally took everything back and found the ceiling fixture we needed and now it is finally up. That’s what happens when you try to be creative and not have something everyone else does! 🙂

*This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Any purchase made will not cost you any extra. Thanks for your support!*

I did manage to finally hang up some pictures on my dining room wall. I took everything out that I had and laid it all out on the floor. It stayed like this for an embarrassing long time. Here are just some of the pieces. I played with the different pieces until I found the way that looked best to my eye.

Here’s what I came up with. You can see I used different shapes and different types of textures. Using different textures allows you to have a more neutral wall, but not look boring.I also try to use odd numbers, whether on the wall or in a vignette.

On this side I used a metal diamond shape piece, a round rattan mirror and a square canvas.

Here I have a metal star, and wooden frame with a printable in the middle and a metal round piece that was actually a charger plate I found on clearance at Target.

Here is my favorite piece! I know it’s a little early for summer weather, but I am ready!

Here it is with the table. I love adding pattern with tablecloths and then adding items to the centerpiece. Using a tray helps things together and creates a vignette.

I added everything to a tray which helps create a focal point. It’s also easy to move out of the way if needed. I added a little bit of beach and a little bit of spring.

Well, one more thing to check off the list. This week is the entryway floor and the baseboards in the hall bathroom. I still don’t have anything over the couch in the family room, but oh well. I’m still on the search for the ‘perfect’ thing.

Hope you all have a great week! Talk to you next time!

*This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Any purchase made will not cost you any extra. Thanks for your support!*

Here are some other posts you may want to check out!

Light Up the Entry

March 6, 2017March 5, 20176 Comments

Hi everyone! I hope you are all doing well! I don’t know if you have noticed, but we have been a little bit absent lately. I have been busy getting projects done in the house and on the front porch and that doesn’t leave me as much time to write any posts. I have also had to work a few extra hours and then I am usually so tired, I can’t even think about writing something up!

I have been working on the entry and front porch these past couple of weeks. My husband took out the closet in the front entry and it has been dry-walled, primered and painted. I am trying to figure out what I am going to do with the cement floor. I am thinking about painting it and adding stencil to it, so wish me luck on that idea! I have painted both sides of the front door and fixed up the front porch a bit. Now I am on to lighting! This is kind of difficult for me…there are so many choices! My home has a bit of coastal influence, so I am trying to stay with that idea. I would love to have some kind of chandelier in the entry, but unfortunately, we only have 8 foot ceiling and the front door opens right under the light, so I can’t have anything too long. So I have been looking for flush lighting for the entry and a new outdoor light for the front porch. I thought I would share a few of my ideas with you!

These are all from Amazon. I could look for hours at all the different choices, but here is what I have narrowed it down to.

amazon-ceiling-fixture-clear-schoolhouse

1. Trans Globe Lighting 5128 ROB 1-Light Flush Mount

2.Elegant Designs FM1000-CHR Ellipse Crystal 2 Light Ceiling Flush Mount, Chrome

3.Design House 519876 Kimball 1 Light Semi Flush Mount Ceiling Light, Galvanized Steel Finish

4.Capital Lighting 3537PN-134 1 Light Ceiling Fixture in Polished Nickel Finish w/Clear Glass

This next set is from hayneedle.com. They carry so much more than lighting and have such great products. Here are a few picks:

1. Eglo USA Thebe 91166A Flush Mount Light

2.Golden Lighting Duncan 3602-14 Flush Mount Light

3. Sea Gull Lighting Bretton 7647EN Flush Mount Light

4.Z-Lite Chelsey 314F Flush Mount Light

Here are a few of the outdoor porch light I choose.

Maxim Wharf Outdoor Wall Light – 9.5H in.

2. Trans Globe Lighting 4632 BN 14-1/2-Inch 1-Light Outdoor Down Wall Lantern, Brushed Nickel

3.Kichler Lighting 9777WH 3 Light Chesapeake Outdoor Sconce, White by Kichler

4. Kichler Seaside 9 Outdoor Wall Lantern

Well, what do you think? Are there any you would choose or think would look good? Let me know! Hope you all have a great week!

Pumpkins and Spiders and Cats Oh My!

October 21, 2016October 20, 20163 Comments

Hello everyone! I would like to welcome everyone to the wonderful time of year where you need a parka in the morning and shorts in the afternoon. Not too fun when you need to plan two different outfits for the entire day…

Oh well.

So my roommates and I have been decorating our apartment for the fall/Halloween season. It’s been fun because we have all added a little bit to the decorations. So we shall start with the front door.

We had the burlap wreath hanging on the door with a “Give Thanks” plaque in the middle. So we took off the plaque and added the spider web and spider for the Halloween season. So Spoopy!

We also added my Halloween cat box with some Halloween garland and a Boo sign. We wanted it to look even scarier and left a bunch of real spider webs and leaves all over it to give it a spooky feel.

In reality, there was a huge wind storm that came through and added to our decor.

Next, we have the table. It is extremely simple…but there is candy! Just a simple fall lantern with some leaves, a ceramic pumpkin and candles.

Next we have the bathroom. We have added some candles (like, 5), lots of leaves, and even a pumpkin! Well, the pumpkin doubles as a candle, so we have the best of both worlds. We also have this adorable pumpkin towel. Doesn’t the jack-o-lantern look so happy?

Finally, we have the adorable kitties Halloween pictures. Now, as some of you may know I work at a pet boarding facility in my town and the employees can bring their animals in for themed pictures like the clients. So, of course, I had to take the opportunity to take Target and Amelia to get their Halloween pictures taken!

Isn’t the Amelia butterfly and Target pumpkin adorable? PS: I apologized to my coworkers who had to take the pictures in advance.

So, there are my fall/Halloween decorations. I hope you like the simplicity of what we have for decor. And of course, the cats are awesome and their pictures are great! Thanks for stopping by!

Upcycled Old Metal T.V. Trays

February 22, 2016February 21, 201620 Comments

Hello again! Did you all have a wonderful weekend? I pretty much just stayed home (saves money that way!) and worked on bringing some spring inside! We already have blossoms on trees and flowers blooming here. It’s probably too early, but it’s so beautiful, it’s hard to complain! I did get to work on a couple of projects too.

I have had these trays for years and could never really decide what to do with them. I have always used them for decorating outside because I felt like the floral design just lent itself to be outdoors. But they never had a specific purpose. I don’t know why this took so long to figure out, but an idea finally came to mind-at least for one of them.

I dug through some letters I have had for awhile and found enough to sort of make the word ‘garden.’ I had to add the leg for the ‘R’ and an extra line for the ‘E’, but I managed to make it work. I planned on doing the word ‘summer’ on the other one, but I didn’t have enough letters.

Now that I have my letters, I put a little glue on the back of each one and placed them on the tray. Probably a spray adhesive would have worked better, but I didn’t have any, so I went with what I could.

For the other tray, I tried covering the design with burlap and spraying around it.

With the letters attached on the first tray and lined up, I started spraying lightly over the top with white spray paint. I always use the Rustoleum 2X paint. Love this stuff!

Once I knew the letters would stick, I sprayed more layers of paint. It’s best to spray several light layers and let the paint dry in between. Once the paint was dry, I removed the letters.

I didn’t like how the second tray turned out, so I tried something different. I printed out 3 large flowers, laid them on top and sprayed around them. I didn’t like this either, so I am going to have to come up with a whole new plan. I will probably spray the whole thing white and then stencil something on top.

On the first tray, I sanded a little around the edges and over the top. I still wanted it to look like it belonged outside. After the sanding, I sprayed a clear sealer over the top to add some protection for the outdoors. I also added drawer pulls to the edges so it could be used as a tray for serving. At least one out of two turned out good!

I love how a little bit of the floral peeks through.

I wish it was warm enough to actually use this right now!

Hopefully it won’t be too long before we can enjoy a nice glass of tea out in the garden. Are you ready for spring? Have you started any spring projects yet? I would love to hear about it!