DIY Upgrade your basic light fixtures with a little spray paint!

After pricing new light fixtures at the Home Depot I was inspired again by a pin on Pintrest.com and decided that I could update my basic light fixtures rather than buying new ones. 

Okay, so here is what I'm starting with.  This is your basic kit home room lighting.  Other than what I have upgraded, I have Brass everything (uggg...)  As I've mentioned before, my house needs an update and I'm on a budget so here's what we decided to do.

Materials:

Grey Krylon Primer (around $5)

Brushed Metalic Krylon Satin Metalic Paint (around $5)

MinWax Polyuethain Semi Gloss (around $5)

1 sheet of sandpaper (on hand)

Painters tape

Total Cost:  $15 because I had to buy all the spray paint.  I was able to redo my return air vent on my stairway so the true cost of this project was $7.50.

I started with your basic home light fixture:



Step 1:  After taking the light fixture apart I sanded down the brass base and the smaller pieces.  After sanding them, I wiped them down.  It was time to get ride of the brass look!  I taped the exposed light fixture up with painters tape and primed the fixture.

Step 2: The can states that it drys in 10 minutes but I choose to let it dry for about 30 to 45 minutes until I applied the next coat.  The next step was the Krylon Brushed Metalic paint.  This was a first for me so I wasn't sure what to expect.  I sprayed it on and it looked suprisingly great! 

Step 3: After about 45 minutes, I sprayed a light coat of the Poly on and let that dry for about 20 minutes. 

I was finished and I have to say it looks like a brand new light.  We are going to use this fixture in our basement and we're not ready to put it up but it looks great!  I was very pleased with this, so pleased that I started looking around at all the fixtures around my house and wanted to redo everything today!  But... I have to work at 4am in the morning and I need a little sleep.  :-) 

Here's how it turned out!  I am very pleased and now I've taken down my return air vent on my stair way and I've started that too.  I will finish that tomorrow evening and post pics then.

Total cost about $7.50.  This look jives with me a lot better than the brass look! 

I hope this helps inspire you! 

Thanks for looking,

Amanda and Ben

DIY Frame your Bathroom Mirror

Again, Pintrest inspired project number 2...

We have your typical standard boring bathroom mirror in our master bathroom.  I was browsing around Pintrest a few weeks ago and found a nice easy solution to updating the bathroom mirror and we thought; what the heck let's give it a shot!  ;-)

Just like the first project, there are things that I would do a little differently but overall I am very happy with the way it turned out. 

Here's what we started with:

Project Items Used:

Chop Saw for trimming the molding

4 pieces of Molding (less than $40)

Liquid Nails/for Mirrors / 1 tube (around $5)

Painters tape

Project Costs:

Around $45

Time:

Start to Finish: less than 2 hours not including time to set

Step 1:

Measure your mirror and wood and cut the edges at a 45% angle

Step 2:

Line the back side of the cut molding with Liquid Nails.  We used the Liquid Nails made for Mirrors on this project.  We were very generous with the application.  So generous in fact, we actually experience some run off and had to clean up our mess.  Tip, just be mindful of how close you apply the liquid nails to the edge of your molding.

Step 3:

Apply the molding to the mirror.  You will have to push on it and hold it into place for several minutes on each piece.  Repeat the process insuring that your edges are connecting correctly.

Step 4:

Take your painters tape and tape the corners together and the middle piece of your molding to ensure that molding sets correctly.  You will need to let this set for a few hours before removing the tape.  (Plenty of time to start a new project!)  ;-)

After a few hours, remove the tape and you have your new framed bathroom mirror! 

I have to say this is such an improvement to our old mirror!  We still have many many projects to go but this is one more step in the right direction.  Now we just need to replace our lights above the mirror!  :-) 

Lessons Learned:

1.  Don't apply liquid nails too close to the edge of the molding.

2.  Ensure your edges match up close to perfect. ( this is really hard and we are still trying to master this one)

Good Luck from Amanda and Ben!





DIY Skylander Storage Solution

As I mentioned before, we are techno geeks and with that we have tons of cords and games to conceal to improve the overall look of our home.  Games are typically managable and easily stored on the shelf but in this case my husband and my little ball of energy found a game Skylanders that requires figurenes to play and lots of them if you wanna maximize the quality of your experiance!  This is all fine and well, except the fact that they look aweful sitting out in the living room.  I thought seriously about throwing them out while they were asleep but well.... I can't do that now can I... 

This inspired my first project.  I had an old photo box that my little one colored all over and it was in pretty bad shape.  I thought before throwing it out I would give it a make over.  So, here's what I did. 

Homemade Skylanders Storage Solution:

I am on a budget so I made some homemade modge podge.  It works great and if you've never tried it, here's how you make it.  You will need to a jar of some kind.  I used an old Prego jar.  The mix: 1 part Elmer's Glue and 1 part water.  Close the lid and shake, shake, shake!  Now you have your homemade modge podge.  :)  Yep, it's that simple. 

If I can do it, anyone can.

I picked up 4 sheets of 10x10 scrapbook paper from Michaels while I was in town.  They are very cheap.  I picked mine up when they were on sale for 4/$1.00. 

 Now that I have my modge podge, my old photo box and my 4 sheets of paper I'm all set to get started on my project!

Items that you will need:

1 old box ( I used an old photo box)

1 pair of scissors

Modge Podge ( I made my own)

4 Sheets of 10x10 scrapbook paper or you could use fabric  $1.00

Foam brush (I had one in the garage)

Total Cost: $1.00

I measured and cut my scrapbook paper to ensure that the entire box would be covered.  This will require you to cut each corner at an angle to ensure that you can fold over the top of the box and cover the inside as well. 

Here are my cut sheets:

One by one I flipped the paper over and applied a coat of modge podge to the back of the paper and applied it to the box.  I repeated the process until I had each piece placed.  I had to push out any air bubbles.  When this was complete, I simply waited until the box dried to get the finished product.

Hindsight:

I would have sprayed a coat of primer over my daughters drawings on the photo box!  It blead through and because this was my first time and my total investment was $1.00.  I'll count it as lesson learned!

Here's what I started with:

This is the my how it looks right now:

This is going to be a temporary solution for now.  If you look closely, you can see that due to the lack of priming the box the marker is showing through a little.  Overall, I would say success.  I learned a lesson and all the little Skylanders are out of sight when they are not in use!



Our Story

Hi, Welcome to our blog.  Thank you for stoping in and checking out our site.  I'm a techno geek a mother of one little ball of energy.  My true passion is photography but i've given that dream for a practical job in technolgoy. 

Well, I've recently discovered Pinterest and my mind is swarming with exciting ideas about decorating our home.   For so many years, I just taken items that have been given to me or whatever was most practicle to keep in our home.  I've never been huge on customizing anything with the thought that I might have to sell it one day...

Please join me in my journey to transform our house into a home.  I am aware that my journey will be a slow one due to a very small budget and limited time.  However, I'm excited and I will try to document every step of the way.

Thank you for joining my husband and I on our journey.

Sincerley,
Amanda and Benjamin