DIY Wall of Frames & Roman Bamboo Shades

Some of you may be thinking "Wall of Frames???? What ever does she mean?" As none of you know, I have a massive amount of wall space that you can see up my stairs leading to my second floor. The railing on the stairs are industrial with steel railing that you can see through (you'll understand what I mean when you see the finished product picture in this post)... That being said, I needed an idea that would cover A LOT of wall space.

I started searching around on Pinterest and quickly fell in love with the Empty Wall of Frames idea. Yeah, yeah, it may sound a little weird having a wall full of empty frames, but it is PRECIOUS and modern, yet chic. Here are some links of some examples that sparked my creativity:
My Pinterest - do.it.yourself.
HGTV Example
There are even Etsy Shops that will sell sets to you!

I knew I needed to get my hands on as many frames as possible. I went through my old college stuff, asked my mom for some frames and of course went to the THRIFT STORE. The thrift store is your friend when it comes to projects such as this... I made TWO seperate trips to the Thrift Store to get what totaled to be 25 frames. I tried to get as many versatile pieces as possible. Square, round,rectangular, octagan,small, big, thick, thin... whatever!... the more versatile, the better!

After my first trip to the Thrift Store, I went out and bought two cans of high-gloss spray paint and a tarp to put down outside. I thought I would quickly conquer this project by using spray paint. EPIC FAIL. I will repeat... FAIL!!!!!!! Spray paint is not very forgiving and as hard as I tried it did not spray on evenly and when I needed to get in the edges and nooks of the frames it would get extremely messy.

You can get a pretty good look at how uneven the spray paint took to the frames. After buying the tarp and spray paint cans and learning that hard lesson, it led me to my TIPS AND TRICKS #7: USE REAL PAINT when re-painting frames. :) I went to my local Home Depot and bought Behr Interior/Exterior Hi-Gloss Enamel straight off the shelf. I wanted a white, glossy look to look Shabby Chic and to have a "pop" off of my grey walls without looking too dramatic.

TIPS AND TRICKS #8: This project, depending upon how many frames you use, takes multiple hours. Paint a few frames at a time, let dry overnight and paint on a second coat. Trust me, the extra coat is worth it and if you try to knock out the frames all at once, you will want to pull your hair out!

I put a drop cloth on my dining room table and it took me an entire week to get all 25 frames painted with two coats. Yes, it took forever and yes, I wanted to give up, but in the end it was ALL WORTH IT!!!!!!!

After they were all painted, I measured how long my railing was and then used my floor space to use as a "mock wall space" to get the frames organized how I wanted them on the wall. This is a MUST. Spacing is important with frames... not getting them symmetrical.  This was a hard concept for me to grasp while hanging these, as I like all of my ducks in a row and in a perfect row! :) A-Symmetrical is very modern, which I try to embrace and I think I did a good job of this with the frames.

I started from the bottom of the stairs and worked my way up. I used basic nails. I would take a few frames from the floor and position them on the wall as to how I thought I would like them. This took a lot of courage to just "wing-it" but it was definitely helpful to have another set of eyes AND hands with me. I could not have accomplished this task without my mom, so be sure to have someone help you with this! TIPS AND TRICKS #9: Use a leveler when hanging frames, especially on a slanted incline. What you think it straight is NOT. Trust me.

After moving frames here and there and some re-organizing, I was happy with my new look!

Message me if you have any questions about this! I could go on and on about how I did this. All in all, it looks FABULOUS and I spent less than $60 on the project.

Now, on to the less exciting things... BUT money saving things! As many of you know, buying shades/curtains/blinds (and I won't even mention plantation shutters) can be VERY expensive. One day I hope I can afford plantation shutters as I think they are beautiful, but with this being my first home purchase, I wasn't ready for that kind of expense on top of everything else. While visiting the model home at my community, I noticed they used Bamboo, Roman shades. I FELL IN LOVE! They are so cute. Here are a few links to what they look like, just in case you don't know what I'm referring to!
Home Depot
Linens N' Things
Decor Pad

I have a 2 Bedroom townhome and am in the middle of my building, so I got lucky with only having 9 windows. STILL this is expensive when considering blinds. I searched all stores around town and finally came across Mirada, Home View brand at Home Depot.

Note: These say they are for "outside use." I was skeptical at first thinking they could be thinner than the indoor kind. But they were CHEAPER and THICKER than the inside. Maybe it was a fluke, but whatever the case, this particular brand was what I went with. After getting them home, I figured I should line these with some type of fabric to help block sunlight and add even more privacy. I went to my local Hobby Lobby and got a thin fabric to line these with. I unrolled each shade, measured, cut and hot glued them to the back of the shades. It DID NOT effect the shade's ability to roll up. Be sure to glue on the outside of the line on the inside of the shade where the pull is. AKA - Don't glue where you see string.

Very easy and a great money saver for those of us that can't quite afford those plantation shutters yet. :)

It makes me happy to share all of my DIY projects and ideas with my readers. I've been getting back such great responses. I have many more projects to share and I can't wait to start ROOM REVEALS! Until my next post...

LoveMyLoft,
Casey

Refinished Bedside Tables & DIY Valentines Wreath

I'm really excited to share this blog post with everyone, as there are TWO projects I will enlighten you on. :)

First, are my two bedsides tables. I wanted to find a pair (that matched, obviously) and were relatively inexpensive. As you know, I love Home Goods. Once again, my mom saved the day when she was out browsing and ran in to these bedside tables.

As you can see, they were NOT CUTE but I fell in love with the shape and the price $100 each, so I took the plunge. After getting them home, it was quite the ordeal for me to decide on a color to refinish them. I finally decided on "Grey Cashmere" by Benjamin Moore. I stole this paint color from my Grandmother... I'm so fortunate! I come from a family full of stylin' ladies. :) Grey Cashmere is used on my ceilings in my house in my 1/2 bath, and bedrooms and their respective bathrooms. It is kind of a modern feel with a traditional, classy approach as well. I could not be happier with that color choice.

After painting the tables, I decided I DEFINITELY needed a pop of color for the knobs. For those of you that don't know, Anthropologie has the world's coolest knobs. AND the most expensive... Therefore, you must wait until they go on sale. You may be thinking, "Anthropologie? Yeah Right!" But trust me, they do go on sale and pretty frequently to top it off. They are definitely worth the wait. After spending about 2 hours in their knob section I narrowed it down to these choices:
***Before scrolling to the completed pictures, try to guess which knob I chose!

After much deliberation I chose...

The yellow rose knobs!!!!They are PRECIOUS and add so much character to them. The coolest part about the Grey Cashmere paint is that it has the appearance of many colors... Grey, light blue, even the slightest greenish tinge. I was SO happy with my finds and it was beyond easy to refinish these. TIPS AND TRICKS #5: When refinishing furniture, get a VERY fine sand paper and sand as much as you can. Wash the piece of furniture off a with a wet rag and get to painting! I used Benjamin Moore outdoor slight glossy finish. It's stronger and is much more forgiving with lines/imperfections when you paint. AKA - it dries quickly and smoothly.

Here are both of them together! I can't wait for you to see them in my master bedroom ROOM REVEAL post. They look stunning next to my DIY door as a headboard. (See the headboard DIY post here.)

Both side tables, 6 knobs and Benjamin Moore paint for less than $250. The best part is if I ever want to change them, it will be super easy AND cheap! I have a good feeling I will keep these tables for a long time. Maybe even use them in a nursery one of these days... how cute would that be?!

Now, on to the DIY Valentine's Wreath. Before I even get to babbling about this project, I have to give FULL CREDIT to my mother, aka Gigi. (This is what my lil nugget, the mini Aussie, Lulu, calls Mom). She found this project on Pinterest and surprised me one afternoon when she came to visit me at my house. She even took the time to take pictures along the way so I could easily share with my readers.

Gigi got the red felt fabric at Hobby Lobby and used a 40% off coupon. Here is a link to my previous post that shows you how to get the 40% off coupon. She got the heart styrofoam shape at Jo-Anns fabrics. They frequently have sales as well, along with 40% off coupons that you can locate here. Gigi said that Jo-Anns was the only place in my town that she could find the heart form... You can also order these online at Jo-Anns! Total price she spent on materials was less than $10. She had some extra burlap material in her craft box, so she used that to hang it on my door.

TIPS AND TRICKS #6:  If you visit other coupon websites such as www.retailmenot.com you can find coupons for just about ANY store. They have online and printable coupons. This site is AWESOME!

Gigi used a 3" diameter cup to cut circles (she used a tervis tumbler, as you can see in the pic) for the fabric. She cut 20 circles at a time until the wreath was full. For specific instructions on how to make this precious wreath go to this site: The Idea Room. This is the site where Gigi found her instructions, so this is a good spot to get step-by-step info. :)

Here is the finished product! I've received SO many compliments from my neighbors and it looks fabulous on my door.

I hope you enjoyed this post... I told you I would get back to sharing all of my projects! Next post will be VERY exciting. 2 DIY wall decor projects and a quick money saving tip on my roman, bamboo shades I purchased for A GREAT DEAL.

Love My Loft,

Casey

I'm Baaaaacccckkkkkk!!!!!

I CANNOT believe that it's been almost three months since I've given y'all an update on my house. I don't want my followers to think that I'm not a "consistent blogger" so I will start this post with a statement that I promise to keep y'all in the loop and post many new and exciting DIY projects and beginning soon, ROOM REVEALS. I am beyond excited to share my house with everyone and all the projects and great finds that I have put in it.

Being a homeowner is crazy. A lot of my priorities have changed... Things such as, "OMG these $75 pair of heels would like aaaaaamazing on my feet, but yeah I've got a mortgage to cover so I better not." It was a hard pill to swallow at first, but I'm beginning to adjust just fine. :)

I officially moved in to my house in early December and since then it has been crazy-busy! Between having my family over for the holidays and being stretched very thin at work, blogging has taken the back seat. But fear not my friends, I am back in full action and ready to blog away!!!

Here is a picture that I snapped the day I got the keys to my house. It was such an exciting day!

One of the things that I was most looking forward to once I moved in was decorating for Christmas...duh! I know this is a little late, but I still want to share with y'all. Keep this good info in your back pocket for next year! :)

If you don't already know this, Hobby Lobby is one of the best stores ever. Not only are they reasonably priced, but they CONSTANTLY have sales. I'm talking 50% off sales... on Christmas Items... during Christmas Season. It doesn't get much better than that. TIPS AND TRICKS #4: You can visit HL's website and get an additional 40% one regular item coupon. You can always use one of these because, let's face it, sometimes the item we want is not on sale. *Be sure to watch the expiration on these coupons. They expire weekly and HL employees are not lenient on expiration dates.

I patiently waited for HL to get stocked with their Christmas decor. About mid-October I was in Christmas Heaven!!! Christmas is my favorite season and I was so excited to shop at HL and get some MUCH NEEDED decorations for my loft. First day I walked in there, lo and behold, they are having a 50% off Christmas sale. For those of you that don't know, I'm a pretty organized individual (unless you look in my closet) and the way HL has their Christmas tree ornaments organized is absolutely PERFECT... color coordinated! After much deliberation with my crafty Mom, we decided on a white and silver themed tree. This theme was inspired by all the mercury glass craze. I hit up that section of ornaments and bought at least one of just about every ornament HL had that was white and silver. Not only are they reasonably priced and 50% off, they are beautiful! I got all of these decorations for less than $100! 

Since I did not get to move in to my house until early December, I didn't think to get Christmas lights for my tree until then. BIG MISTAKE... BIG. I called and searched over 15 stores in my area and the 100 count, white mini lights were sold. out. everywhere. I thought I was going to have a melt down because I  had only bought about 5 string sets and wasn't ready to buy the expensive LED lights. After coming to terms with the fact that my tree would only have about 500 lights on them (I like 1,000+ on my tree. The brighter the better), my mom's co-worker said she had some extra! A special thank you to Mary for saving the day! Decorating my tree was so much fun. I was blessed to have my Mom, Dad and Brooklynn there with me to enjoy the special moment. I bought a real tree and within 30 minutes of it being up, it fell over. Long story short, the tree stand was not strong enough for my 9 foot tree and I should have listened to my dad when he kept saying "Casey, the tree looks like it's leaning... it's going to fall." Yes, a few ornaments broke but thank goodness no one was hurt and when the tree was finally up and decorated, it was worth it! 

I also want to give a quick shout-out to Pinterest. I found this really cute subway art for Christmas, sent it to Costco to get printed and got a 1/2 off frame at HL all for less than $20. I hung it in my kitchen for decoration and got so many compliments!

Look forward to my next post because it will be TWO DIY Projects. One for Valentines Day (full credit will go to my mom on this one) and the other about my oh so cute bedside tables that I refinished! And I promise it won't be three months until I post about it. :) 

LoveMyLoft,

Casey

DIY - Old Door as a Headboard

I must admit... I am MOST excited about sharing this DIY Project with you! There is nothing like a great headboard when you walk in to a bedroom. While thinking of new ideas on how I wanted to "re-design" my bedroom on a budget, the most obvious answer was a DIY headboard! :)

While on my quest for furniture for my loft, I had taken a special interest on the new look of using old doors as pieces of furniture in your house. I came across a few tips online and fell in love with the idea of finding an old door to use a headboard. Here are a few sites:

HGTV

Country Living

Martha Stewart

I quickly learned that finding an old door was going to be an adventure. Not only are they hard to find, but when you actually do find them, they are EXPENSIVE! I obviously did not want to go to Home Depot and get a new door as it would not have the character that I was looking for. So I hit the road and started looking at consignment shops. I GOT LUCKY! The first store I went to, The Blue Building, had my headboard. As soon as I pulled up, I knew it was destined to be mine. Price was a reasonable $35. That was the best price I had seen yet, so I jumped on it and loaded it up. I recruited my handy brother, Zeke to help me with getting the look I wanted for the door. This is what the door looked like before the refinish.

The door already had a worn look, which is what I wanted, but there were obvious signs of multiple layers of paint. The paint was also chipping which is something I wouldn't want falling on my head every time I slumber. Zeke and I immediately started sanding it hoping to get the chipping paint off of the door...

We had a cheap hand sander and it ended up not working out so great. We eventually decided to go to Home Depot and purchased some paint thinner to start really stripping it down. TIPS AND TRICKS #3: When dealing with old doors, or any piece of furniture that is older, make sure you wear masks as you could potentially be exposed to lead paint. :\  (For Tips and Tricks #2 click here.) SO, after purchasing some paint thinner, masks, gloves, a paint scraper and polyurethane... back to work on the door.

Gloves are a MUST because paint thinner is something serious! I wanted to get down to the natural color with only a little of the paint still showing. 

After one round of sanding and three rounds of thinner, I got what I was looking for! This door was once sea foam green, light blue, AND antique white. After washing the door with wet rags to get rid of any extra paint thinner, we added two coats of polyurethane. This gave it a little shine and protects it from chipping off anymore color.

As you'll notice in some of the links I posted, you can add wood trim and/or postings to spruce up a door as a headboard. They are all great ideas... I just wanted something a little more natural. The entire project was less than $75.00! How exciting is that?!?! I can't wait to get it in my new room and do a Room Reveal for you! Does anyone have any good tips on how I should hang this monster? *Remember, it is an old door and weighs A LOT, so I need to hang it as securely as possible. 

My next post will be a DIY on refinishing my two "new" bedside tables. Yay!

LoveMyLoft,

Casey

DIY Football Burlap Sign

One of the most important things you should know about me is that I am a DIE HARD Auburn fan. I love everything about that University and I received my Marketing degree from there, so I'm pretty partial. WDE!

My mom took notice to these cute burlap football signs that were starting to pop up all over town. Here is an example of one that is on sale at https://www.auburnart.com/auburnfootballburlapwallhanger-p-3336.html for $39.95. Well, we decided to get crafty and make one on our own! We think they turned out pretty cute and look great on front doors or back porches for football decoration. Don't worry, I will give you the run down on how to make them. Here are the supplies you will need:

1) Dark Brown burlap and scissors (and an artists hand and by artist I mean someone who can draw a half moon) to draw the shape of a football. You will need two footballs... One for the front decoration and one for the back when you glue them together!
TIPS AND TRICKS #2: Fold the burlap in half and draw half a football so your football will be symmetrical. If you are anything like me, you demand perfection and symmetry is a MUST! I got Brooklynn to model for me while I took pics. (For TIPS AND TRICKS #1 click here)

2) Puff Paint. You can use any color you wish, for any team or for any sport! They make cute gifts too! You can purchase these at Hobby Lobby or Wal-Mart.

3) Ribbon, hanging wire and tulle in the colors of your choice. 

Next I started out by writing War Eagle, just as I normally would, then made the letters thicker by continually going over my original writing. Puff paint is very flexible plus it adds texture to the sign, which is absolutely precious! I then took white puff paint and added some polka dots on top of the orange.

Then make the sides white, to replicate a football, and add the laces at the top. TIPS AND TRICKS #3: Instead of globbing up the puff paint, get your hands in there and rub in the paint to make it look a little smoother. 

Add some polka dots to the sides. Plain white wouldn't cut it for cuteness now would it?!?! :) I also outlined my orange War Eagle and the outside of the football with navy to give it a little extra pop.

After you have finished with the puff paint, let it dry. I let mine dry over night just to be sure. Once it has dried, get the other side of the football,*remember, you cut out two, get your hot glue gun heated up and start stuffing the football with polly fill. This can be found at Wal-Mart as well. Start gluing from the bottom and work your way up. After you are done gluing your football together, have fun making a super cute bow to go with it! I used tulle (because I'm pretty obsessed with it) and regular ribbon mixed together. Once you add the ribbon, get wire and clasp it to both sides to hold it together for support when hanging! And voila... you are done! This sign was made for less than $20!

Let me know if you have any questions and I will try and help you! Get ready for my next post! I am SO EXCITED about it... It will be a DIY on how my brother and I turned an antique door in to my new headboard!

LoveMyLoft,

Casey

I HEART WorldMarket!!!

Take notice of the ALL CAPS I put on the word heart. If there was a better enunciation on my keyboard it would have been put on that word which still pales in comparison to the true love I have for that place. Furniture, home decor, WINE GALORE, beer, worldly/weird foods (they even sell Kinder German Chocolate <which was my mom's fav when she lived in Germany>), jewelry, accessories, a little bit of clothing, paintings, bath linens, baskets, rugs... I mean SERIOUSLY?! Now you have Casey's explanation of how I go in there and spend hours of my time... sigh.

In this post I am going to take you on my journey through my recent purchases from WorldMarket, aka WM. There is nothing better than finding a deal, especially when you can buy brand new. With that being said, you need to become a "World Market Explorer"and sign up for their explorer program. Not only do you get notifications of the weekly deals, you get a 10% off coupon for your next purchase, AND you get family and friends 25% coupons every now and then too. TOTALLY worth it because World Market is the best and their products are extremely well made. Go here to become an explorer with me!!!

Casey's TIPS AND TRICKS #1 - SHHHHHH... this is a secret, so don't go telling too many people about this, because I don't want WM getting too smart and finding out about me. I recently have made quite a few big purchases from there, and one day while I was shopping about to check out the friendly cashier told me that I could "double up as an explorer." All you have to do is use a different number (Your explorer ID is your telephone number), you can even use the same email address to get an additional 10% off coupon. I know, I know, you may be thinking that this is cheating the system or deceitful but I figure if a WM employee told me about it, then it must be safe and I must share it with my followers! P.S. - I've only done this twice and I don't plan on doing it again unless I really really really need it, so please don't "cheat the system" every time you go buy a bottle of wine. ;) 

Within hours of the purchase of my loft, I was on the computer for DAYSSSSS searching new home decor. Here are a few of my favorite places to look for ideas. Most of these stores are over my price range, so they are mostly for brainstorming, unless I can find a deal. Duh. 

www.potterybarn.com

www.restorationhardware.com

www.westelm.com

www.urbanoutfitters.com

www.anthropologie.com

www.pier1.com

And most obviously www.worldmarket.com

One of the very first things I fell in love with were some bar stools from Restoration Hardware. They have the industrial look, which is SO IN right now, and would look perfectly with the lofty/industrial look in my new home. 

Then this picture had me sold that I wanted these in my loft at my kitchen island...

BUTTTTT, they are $349.99 EACH at Restoration Hardware. Um, no way jose! Then one day my mom calls me and tells me, "you are never going to believe what I found at WM....."

Oh yeah baby, those are from WM!!!!! And they are originally priced at $109.99. I still had a hard time justifying spending  $330 on 3 new stools for my island, but being WM, they went on sale one weekend for $99 each. Lo and behold, I used my first Explorer coupon and spent $267 on three brand new industrial bar stools compared to what I could have potentially spent at Restoration Hardware, $1,050. THAT'S A $783 SAVINGS! They have great reviews online and I personally think they are even cuter than the ones that cost about a month's worth of mortgage. 

Another thing I quickly fell in love with was a floor lamp from Pottery Barn. 

This lamp is a hefty $319.00 + $69.99 burlap drum shade. Once again, WM pulls through and comes out with a "mix and match" campaign of new lamps and shades they released this fall. I stumbled upon a floor lamp and burlap drum shade that looks almost identical to the Pottery Barn version - at a fraction of the cost. $99.00 for the base and $29.99 for the drum shade. THAT'S A SAVINGS OF $260.00!

One thing that I knew I would need for my loft was a nice dining room table and chairs. I currently have a small pub table, and in my new space it would not work. I plan on posting the table to CraigsList (eek) to try and sell so  I can make a little extra moola. After searching and searching, I decided on a table from WM, the Sourav Collection! It has been around for years, is handmade and even comes with a bench, which was a dream list item for my new table. I never pay full price for anything, so I used a 25% off family and friends coupon to make this table affordable. I'm thinking about putting it with two of the Sourav chairs, and then two tufted, cute fabric chairs on the end. What do you think?

This picture does not do the table justice, but I will be sure to post my own pictures when it is up in my loft and I do "Room Reveals." This is an idea I stole from my college bestie, Sybil (see her blog). 

Another item I ran in to today while purchasing my table and bench was a painting that I have been eyeing. My mom originally liked it and it has grown on me over time. It is my second favorite flower, a peony. It was originally $199, then marked down to $99, and I also got to use my 25% coupon to make this 48inx48in painting, $75.00! Now, THAT is a steal! After purchase, we even drove out to the lofts and snuck in to a loft that already had their exposed brick wall up to make sure it would look cute on the wall... we had success!

  

Last item for this lengthy post. Another thing you'll learn about me is that I easily get carried away on things I get excited about. I wanted a cute and funky yet classic chandelier to go in my dining room. When I saw this "3 group pendant" set at WM, it was love at first sight. I purchased it for $59.99 and they even had a mounting kit for $25.00. Out the door with a chandelier for $75.00. Can't beat that!

I hope you enjoyed my WM journey! My next post will be a DIY project! Yay! :)

LoveMyLoft,

Casey