May 27, 2010
My firepit sat out all winter uncovered and looked like a pile of junk this spring. I took pity on it with two colors of high-heat spray paint: black and copper. After several coats, the result is a new two-tone fire pit! Of course, after I finished and the paint had dried, I read the fine print on the cans that said not to spray paint anything that comes into direct contact with flames. So it’ll be interesting to see how the fire pit fares when we next use it. In the meantime, I have a very shiny fire pit in my back yard!
Before
After!
Listed in Decorating + DIY Tagged quick fix | Leave a comment!
May 10, 2010
I don’t profess to be an artist, but I really like to paint. My grandma loved painting. She got into it late in life, took art classes, and copied famous paintings. She worked with oils. They’re too intimidating for me, so I like to work with water-based craft paint and inexpensive canvases. That way, when I inevitably mess up, at least I didn’t lose a lot of money.
My sister had a printed canvas she’d picked up for $5, which had a bold tropical flower print. She was going to toss it, but I said I’d take it, prime the canvas, and start anew. I decided to make a painting for Mother’s Day. Unfortunately, once I got past the sea star, things went downhill. I wanted to paint over everything but the sea star and start over, but Boyfriend thinks the painting is great and won’t let me touch it. I am very sad about this but felt it was worth sharing for posterity.
Happy update! My good friend Macy decided she would like this painting for her guest bedroom. Yay! (6/24/10)
Listed in Decorating + DIY Tagged crafts, painting, upcycling | Leave a comment!
May 4, 2010
This doesn’t quite fit within the realm of “decorating,” but since wardrobe decorates me rather than my house, I’m including it.
My favorite, favorite pair of round-toed brown Steve Madden heels (with pink stitching – sigh!) finally got to the point where wearing them in public was akin to wearing ripped sweatpants, so I stashed them in the back of the closet. After seeing so many articles about revitalizing old furniture with a can of spray paint, I asked Boyfriend if he thought I could get away with painting my shoes. He said no. But he didn’t say anything about using a different color shoe scuff polish to transform them. While he was away on Saturday, I took it upon myself to coat my shoes in two coats of black shoe polish. The result is a pair of shiny black heels, no scuffs to be seen!
Materials: old pair of leather shoes, shoe polish (preferably a darker color – I used an extra coverage scuff polish)
Cost: $0 (I already owned the polish)
You might ask, “Couldn’t you have just bought brown shoe polish?” Yes, but then they’d look the same. I like having a new pair of shoes! Next time I am trying red polish.
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